SurfersGivingBack.com

We have a bunch of awesome pictures from our Freedom surf contest on this site (( surfersgivingback.com ))

Waianae Surf Outreach Pictures

These are some of the pictures from the Waianae Outreach we have been doing for the past three weeks. We were teaching kids living in a homeless shelter there to swim and surf. It was amazing to see what the love of Christ can do. The last day of the outreach each kids coach gave them a lei and words of encouragement telling them how they had done the previous weeks. Those kids left on a spiritual high. They started out the first days being very difficult and by the end you could see how the love of Christ communicated through us had changed them. Each of them so desired the hugs and encouragement and love they had been deprived of. It was an awesome testament of transformation through love.

Prayers for Sri Lanka and Indonesia

Prayer List Sri Lanka

· I (Whitney) would to be used by God in Sri Lanka.
· For the team as a whole.
· For team safety.
· For lives to be changed in Sri Lanka.
· People to come to know the love of Jesus.
· Finances for all team members who may not already be fully funded.
· Housing.
· The war-torn countryside. Sri Lanka has been in Civil War for over 25 years and countless lives have been taken without the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
· The different ethnic groups Tamil and Singalese.
· Wisdom for the Leadership.
· The Sri Lankan government.
· The friends STN has made in the past.
· That God would open old and new doors.
· The Sri Lankan Christians.
· Missionaries who are stationed in Sri Lanka.
· The opposition to the anti-conversion laws making conversion illegal and punishable
· Trip planning and logistics.

Prayer Lists Indonesia

Prayer List



· I (Whitney) would be used by God in Indonesia.
· For the team as a whole.
· For team safety.
· For lives to be changed in Indonesia.
· People to come to know the love of Jesus.
· Finances for all team members who may not already be fully funded.
· Housing.
· The 7 day Boat trip.
· The different islands of Indonesia.
· Wisdom for the Leadership.
· The Indonesian government.
· The friends STN has made in the past.
· That God would open old and new doors.
· The Indonesian Christians.
· Missionaries who are stationed in Indonesia.
· Trip planning and logistics.
· An understanding of the culture and religious background to be able to minister.
· That one person who God wants you to impact and have as a friend for life.

There are so many individual prayers each of these countries I can't fit them all of my prayer list to the side here. So please keep these on your mind. It is always encouraging and awesome to know you have people faithfully praying for what's going on. Thank you all for all of your support and love.

Information about Sri Lanka/ Indonesia

On June 5th - July 1st, 2009 I will be going to Sri Lanka and on July 3rd - July 28, 2009 I will be going to Indonesia with a team from Surfing The Nations (STN) .While in Sri Lanka we will be traveling from the capital Colombo to the east coast of the island and a city called Arugam Bay. In Indonesia we will be traveling to these Indonesian islands Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Gili, and Nusa Lembongan. Our month long trip will focus on Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim cultures in this area of the world that is often referred to as the “10/40”

Surfing The Nations (STN):
Here is a little background information on who I am traveling with and what we will do. STN’s wish is to promote a positive image of the sport of surfing as a part of a healthy lifestyle and as a means of giving back to society. STN’s goal is to counteract the widespread perception that surfing is only about hedonism and individual fulfillment. We do this through:
o Feeding the Hungry Programs
o Weekly Surfers Leadership Training
o Island Youth Program/At-Risk Youth
o Surf Contests
o Surf Camps
o Local & International humanitarian/outreach trips
STN is a humanitarian/missions non-profit 501(c)(3) committed to impacting local and international communities through the sport of surfing by meeting needs and changing lives.

Goals:
Here are some goals to be accomplished while overseas.

Sri Lanka

-Tsunami Spiritual renewal/relief
-Evangelism
-Build relationships
-Surf/Serve
-Build additions to already existing surf centern

Indonesia

-Medical relief
-Evangelism
-Build relationships
-Surf

The combined cost for both of these trips including airfare, ground fees, and food is $3,486.

Waianae Surf Outreach

For the past three weeks I have been teaching swimming and surfing to underprivillaged kids. It has been amazing. These kids all live in a homeless shelter in Oahu . They are so in need of love and to just see people interact with one another in a relational sort of way. It has been really awesome making them more confident in the water. After only a day or so swimming with us they had already gotten word around the shelter that they word learning to surf. It gave them so much more confidence in themselves. Its awesome tro be able to work with them. A dream actually. These kids were off the wall. I'll try to get some pictures up of them soon.

Sri Lanka and Bali

Here is some more information about the outreaches I'll be going on this summer anddd I'll make sure to inform you all on what the territory is like over there asap! Love you all

Aprilll

With in the past seven months of working with Surfing the Nations in their internship/ discipleship school and then continuing on with them into staff God has been working mightily to transform my heart and mind.
So let me get you up to date on what has happened since graduating from Surfing the Nations internship. Shortly after graduating in January I decided that staffing with Surfing the Nations for the next year was where God was leading me. Surfing the Nations had recently moved to a town called Wahiawa and was going to be starting new youth program there. I was interested in the junior high aspect of the youth. With all of the neighborhood kids who would always come to hang out with us it was clear confirmation of what was to come next! So the junior high/ high school team merge together and over April have already begun to transform and get better since the beginning. Last week was hugely successful! Not only did we have a good size group of kids but it just felt like family already. I am so excited about the future of our youth program!
When I came to Surfing the Nations I wanted to get more involved in missions and a better taste of missionary work. God definitely has had a call on my life for missions. So I went to Israel, Egypt and Jordan at the end of November and through most of December. We got to go to many orphanages, hold the first surf contest ever in Egypt, and love on the Middle Eastern people. I am seeking more of what my call into missions could mean for me in the future. I am currently planning on going to international missions to Sri Lanka in June, Bali in July and Bangladesh in September. I will be telling you more about each individual outreaches in the coming months.
Let me just encourage you all that your prayers, finances and involvement is a huge part of what the Lord is doing here!

ps I am hoping on getting some pictures of the youth group up here soon!