Day Five: Popcorn Harvest in Queenstown

Team Sherpa just pulled back into Oxford for a few hours before we head into Christchurch to catch our flight. So much amazing stuff has happened in the last few days that I don't even know where to begin. I'll try and just give a few highlights.
So we did end up getting that free accomodation at the Reaver's Lodge, which was a huge blessing and we had lots of opportunities to witness to other guests. The question then was: "What do we do with all this extra money that God has blessed us with?"
We prayed about it as a team and all felt that God was asking us to act in completely the opposite spirit of the town by giving it all away. We changed about two hundred dollars into two dollar coins and went all over Queenstown giving them out to people and asking them not to use the money for themselves but to bless someone else with it. Most people were just weirded out and didn't want anything to do with us but it also led to many interesting conversations with people and was a perfect lead-in to telling people about all that God has done for us and how seeking after money, possessions and pleasure no longer rules our lives.
Before we headed out that afternoon we had spent most of the morning up on a hilltop overlooking the city praying and interceding for the people that we were going to meet and even for the town as a whole that the spirit of generosity would be poured out over it. We always put on the armour of God together before we go out and I had this awesome picture of us rushing down the mountainside in full battle array and taking the city by storm. One of the things that I prayed was that God would go before us in power and take the victory for us. Several people got names or faces of specific people that we hoped to meet. So we were pumped up and ready to go but we had spent so much time praying and saying goodbye to our friends at the Lodge that it was lunchtime by the time we got into town so we all took an hour of free time and Anthony and I decided that we would take this opportunity to try out Queenstown's famous Fergburger. We were standing in line looking over the menu and trying to decide whether we wanted to splurge on the $16 version or not when this lady turns to us, hands us two burgers and says that they had double ordered, Merry Christmas. We were absolutely blown away. We spent a good half hour turning to each other and saying: "Dude, did that just happen?" It was such a clear sign of God preparing the way before us and working in people before we even started our "ministry time". As that burger filled my stomach a completely uncharacteristic boldness filled my spirit and I couldn't even wait for lunch time to finish but I went out and started talking to people right away, which led to the amazing experience of being able to meet Chris, who was one of the people that God had specifically pointed out to us that day. It was a new experience for me to shake the hand of a man that I had just met, look him in the eye and tell him that God had set him apart for a purpose and that we had been praying for him by name that very morning. I will never forget the look on his face. Priceless.
We're packing up in few minutes so other stories will have to wait for another time but praise God that He is already at work in unusual ways. I am longing to trust and love Him more.