Dropping the Jigsaw Pieces

:Bangladesh:

2009-09-11T22:25:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the objectives of which we will be doing on our journey to Bangladesh.

ESL English lessons for surf club and community members
Jr. lifeguard training program
Swim lessons – teach the kids to swim so that they can learn to surf
Empower women to learn to surf/Our girls will set the example
Look for property
Experience God in Bangladesh
Learn the culture
Serve the local community especially the street kids and poor villages
Worship the Lord
Premier Gum for My Boat
Model for Bangladesh surf club the motto of “surfers giving back”
Hold and mediate surf club meetings
5th annual Aloha Surf Classic
Adventure, fun, Adventure, fun, Adventure, fun
“Preach the Gospel always and when necessary use words” – Francis of Asisi
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE

I am really getting more and more excited as the day approaches. Please keep these things in your prayers. Missions is something the body of Christ does together. It takes all of us. Prayer is huge. Thank you.

Wanna Support Surfing the Nations?

2009-09-08T14:21:00.000-07:00

Jedidiah Is a clothing company who often sells their clothes in stores like Pacific Sunwear. They sell t- shirts and boardshorts to help benefit many different organizations. Here are some of the clothes and the website. http://jedidiahusa.com/

These are the clothes that directly benefit Surfing the Nations. They are $25 and $10 goes to Surfing the Nations.

Bangladesh :Realities:

2009-09-08T14:16:00.000-07:00

These are some pictures of the everyday life the people in Bangladesh face.

Sri Lanka :Teaching Muslim School Kids:

2009-09-06T18:47:00.000-07:00

I taught at schools for Muslim children many times while in Sri Lanka. Teaching english was such an adventure.

:Bangladesh:

2009-08-31T13:28:00.000-07:00

Soon I will travel to Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh (September 17- October 15) with Surfing the Nations (STN), a Honolulu-based humanitarian organization that uses surfing to build relationships and serve communities within the 10/40 window, where the world’s neediest and most underprivileged countries lie. Along with Bangladesh, STN makes yearly trips to Sri Lanka, Indonesia, China, Israel and Egypt. They live by the motto of “surfers giving back,” believing that surfing can be used as a powerful tool to enact change in this generation.
Continually rocked by natural disaster, government corruption and massive population growth, Bangladesh remains a devastated country. It is one of the poorest and most densely populated countries in the world, with more than 150 million people - that’s about half the total population of the United States - living in an area slightly smaller than the state of Iowa and 82.2% surviving on less than US$2 a day.
Add to that children given brutal beatings by police and rickshaw drivers, 1.3 million homeless kids sleeping on the streets, gross deformities of beggars holding out shriveled hands for taka, and you’ve got a dejected community ripe for change.
The young Bengali surfers seem to have caught the STN vision. Where surfers have gained the reputation of being self-centered, counter-cultural punks who take from Mother Nature without giving anything in return, the Bengali surf boys are learning what it means to be unselfish and to have concern for the poor. These young surfers are becoming leaders, possessing all the potential to heal the wounds of their broken community.
“It’s cool to see how the motto “surfers giving back” plays out here,” says Kalama, who went on the trip last year. “Surfing the Nations is meeting both the immediate need—feeding kids who are hungry, loving and valuing kids who are neglected - as well as satisfying a long-term vision by trying to create a sustainable change and raise people up as leaders in the community.”
It’s a daunting task to help everyone in Bangladesh, to feed every street kid, to save every beggar - to fix Bangladesh - but Tom is not discouraged. He often tells the story of a man walking along the beach, where hundreds of starfish have become stranded by the tide. He notices a boy picking up starfish one by one and throwing them back into the water. He tells the boy, “There are thousands of starfish. You can’t possibly make a difference.” The boy stoops down and picks up another. Throwing it back into the ocean he responds, “It sure made a difference to that one.”

Although change for all of Cox’s Bazaar may seem a futile effort, it begins with just one.

:Bangladesh:

2009-08-31T12:30:00.000-07:00

Gum For My Boat: Surfing In Bangladesh Trailer from Russell Brownley on Vimeo.

This documentary by Russell Brownley was done during Surfing the Nations trip last year.

Sri Lanka Surf Contest

2009-08-27T03:31:00.000-07:00

A buzz in the town of Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka was brewing. As the surf club hung the streamers and the hotels and tourists joined Surfing the Nations to clean the beach, it was finally the day for Surfing the Nations to hold their first surf contest ever held at Arugam Bay. An anxious group of surfers were overjoyed when at last they got to show to everyone in town their skills. Tourists and locals alike showed up to give their support for the event. In the late afternoon the contest had finally ended and prizes were distributed. All together this is more than your average surf contest. It was a block party bringing the community together in a new light rarely shed before.

^This is a picture of all the contest participants^

:Kids Games International:

2009-08-21T12:47:00.000-07:00

Children flooded a dirt field full of cow pies and stickers not knowing what to think about this Hawaiian team. Truly a family gathering, mothers, fathers, brother and sisters gathered to watch the excitement. People from all around where coming out of their homes to see what was going on. Arms intertwined we sat side by side;”Duck, Duck, Goose!” And one jumped up after the other with a smile as wide as the difference between our cultures. As their bare feet chased after one another girls who rarely leave their houses join in an unusual freedom & joy. Hearts were affected by the time we so willingly spent so much of with them. Hands held, a high five, smiles exchanged. Moments that in eternity have lasting effects. May they’ve gotten a sense of the Jesus who desires so greatly to hold their hand.

Only a few more hours left

2009-06-03T21:17:00.000-07:00

Shortly I will be leaving for Sri Lanka and Indonesia for the next two months. Please keep the Sri Lanka/ Indonesia teams, and native people in your prayers! Thank you so much to anyone who has supported me on the adventure that the Lord is sending me and through me you as well on. I have lists of prayer needs on previous blogs. I love you all so much thank you thank you thank in advance for all of your prayers =]

SurfersGivingBack.com

2009-05-27T13:30:00.000-07:00

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

Waianae Surf Outreach Pictures

2009-05-27T13:15:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-20T00:21:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-19T23:01:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-19T22:51:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-14T18:33:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-04-29T21:35:00.000-07:00

This is a video of the mission I went to Israel, Egypt and Jordan. You get an awesome glimpse of what Surfing the Nations spirit is and a little of what we did there.

Whitney will blog.

2009-04-07T01:15:00.000-07:00

Well its been way to long and you guys seriously need to know all the coolness going on in my life =] I am now staffing with Surfing the Nations and am committed into working with them until next January. Surfing the Nations does international outreaches in the 10\40 window through the sport of surfing and delfless acts of service. We also works with the local community in Oahu with homeless, working poor, needy, drug addicts, underprivillaged youth ect all to see lives changed. I came to Surfing the Nations to better explore the calling on my life into missions. I began further digging into it by going to Israel, Egypt, Jordan from the tail end of Nov to the middle of Dec. I definetly want to show you guys some pictures from that! I am trying to go to Sri Lanka, Bali, and Bangledesh this summer all to give God the greastest glory in serving him and to let God work in my heart and soften it towards a people I could possibly be with for the rest of my life. So I gonna commit to updating this blog two or more times a week so you guys can feel free to comment about the lack if their is a break in that. love you all will talk to you soon.

Do you want to perish in safety?

2008-10-12T16:53:00.001-07:00

Today at church the pastor read this quote. I thought it was some good food for thought so I will share it with you.

(On one hand) I'd like to be brave, but I'd also like to be safe. My heavenly Father, on the other hand, loves me deeply enough to tell me the truth. He tells me I can't be both brave and safe. He wants me to be clear there's a choice, he wants me to choose to be brave. And choosing to be brave means choosing not to be safe.
In a fallen world, following the will of God will generate suffering in our lives. In fact, there are two things that are always the will of God and always dangerous in a fallen world: telling the truth and loving needy people. In fact, if my life of following Jesus doesn't feel dangerous , I should probably pause and check to see if its Jesus I am following. If I'm playing football and nobody is hitting me, I might check to see that I'm actually out on the field.. Football is about contact and following Jesus is about loving needy people, it turns out, its not safe. In fact, I generally try to keep neediness away from me. Think about those in your family who are the most needy and hurting, those in uor church fellowship who are hurting the most, those in our community who are in the most need, those on the other side of the city who are most vunerable. Them. Serving them and loving them is uncomfortable. It''s mesy, it's untidy, it's unsafe and can even be dangerous. And yet paradoxically, Jesus tells us this is where the deepest joy is. - Gary Haugen, President of International Justice Mission

Blessings..

2008-10-12T02:06:00.000-07:00

Its strange how I've only been here for 9 days but it feels like three weeks and at the same time it feels like it went so fast. I feel so comfortable here. Like it was made for me. Like family. As if I was really coming home when I left, not leaving home. The first few days seemed like I was in a foreign strange place. Everything seemed weird. In this particular organization the interns(aka me) are essentially thrown into the program immediately. I think thats why it seemed so weird. I was walking up the street to the girls house the other day just basking in how much I do not deserve this. I mean it is such a huge blessing. I just can not understand what I could have possible done to deserve something this awesome. I love the people. I love what we do here. I am absolutely in love with the landscape. I can always find something beautiful in nature to be in awe of God. Im on the college ministry and we do a bunch of outreaches with the college students, a bible study and get to hang out with them. On Thursday mornings we go to help out the Feeding the Hungry ministry. They feed tons of poor and homeless people in Honolulu. Basically when we get there everyone who wants prayer gets in this giant line. Sometimes this can be over 250 people and we,as a team, pray for them individually. I had a hard time with this concept at first. Not that I had a hard time praying for them. It was a true honor and joy to get to do so. I think it was as much of a blessing for them as it was for me. It was hard though to be genuine. I felt like I was praying the same sort of prayer for ass of them. And altough I genuinely meant everything I was praying for for them individually I wished so badly that I could peir into their hearts and see what they really needed prayer for. This put me in a rut. I really cared for them but it was hard to pray general prayers for people I really have a heart to pray for. All of that praying can be draining but it is such a joy. We pray so much here! I have never prayed so much in my life. We pray internationally and domestically weekly. We just pray so so much. It's awesome. I am really loving getting to be dependant on God through prayer. The other night after talking to some of the girls in the house about demonic stuff I started to freak myself out before going to bed. I was sitting in the dark just freakin out. Scared. So I grabbed my bible and turned to Psalms 71. Totally directed by God. It was perfect. It was about God's protection. I started to pray after reading it for peace and contentment. It was like a flood. I know it wasnt of me because it was unlike any sort of peace I had ever felt before. It was powerful. It was the single best night of sleep I have had since being here. So there's some of my week. I also wanted to let you know that I need $1650.00 more in support to go to Israel and my due date is October 29th! If you want to email ,wewolpert@hotmail.com, me I'd love to hear from you. I have a hard time getting time to email people back but I love you all!

I'm here!

2008-10-02T01:23:00.000-07:00

Wow it was a long night. I went to the airport at 12:00 last night for my flight that departed at 2:30 am. Once I arrived I was greeted by Kezia ,my RA Hawaiian style (an amazing smelling lay!). Once I got to the house most of the girls were still sleeping since it was only 5:30 am. Once everyone was up though the day went into full blast. There was an hour quiet time and then and hour of international prayer. We prayed for Nepal and for our team in Bangladesh. Three of the interns gave their testimony(sidenote: I too am an intern and will have to give my testimony to be able to graduate from the program). It was awesome to see how they had been wooed by the Lord. After that we went to do an outreach at the beach. I have already surfed! Woohoo!!! I was awful but it was fun! Everyone has been so awesome and welcoming. I feel like I have been thrown into the mix but it's a good feeling. I am ready to get this show on the road! Sorry no pictures this time hopefully I will get some up soon so show you all how awesome everything is going!!

The Final Countdown!

2008-09-30T07:47:00.000-07:00

It may be the most awesomely bad metal song of the eighties but it is also the very last day for me before I leave for Surfing the Nations and that song has kind of been my anthem for the last couple of days. I am definitely feeling all of the excitement from the last six months of waiting to leave rushing in on today! Last night I was feeling like it was definitely time to let out an "I'm so over joyed squeal". I am really nervous too. A good nervous though. As if I'm trying a new food or something. I mean Surfing the Nations is all very foreign to me. I know a lot about what they do and I've talked to their office staff a lot!! ha ha Please just pray for me. Pray that the flight over to Honolulu is safe and that I transition smoothly. If you would like to pray that I don't forget my toothbrush feel free because some how I always forget that little guy! Midnight tonight I'll be awaiting my 2 am departure into Honolulu. Crazinesss!!!

Prayer Bookmark!

2008-09-22T14:39:00.001-07:00

I created a bookmark you can print out to remind you to pray for me. It was sent out with the support letters but I also wanted to give you a chance to print it out if you recieved my letter electronically or perhaps you lost it.

Thus far

2008-09-16T16:12:00.000-07:00

In February, when I was first accepted into Surfing the Nations, I realized that I would have to send out support letters to help with everything. Never having to send out a support letter before I was terrified. I wanted to make sure that my letter was clear and concise and let everyone know exactly what I was doing. I didn't want to trick people into supporting me or something. I had actually never even gotten a support letter from anyone so I started researching and looking at how other people had written theirs. I wanted mine to be genuine and honest. It took me about a month and a half to sit down and actually write it, just as a side note it is so incredibly obvious to me that I did not write that letter because I am a terrible writer and it came out so well God totally prepared me and wrote that letter for me Go God!, but in that time of researching God did a lot of work on my heart. I was so afraid to send these out to real living breathing people. I didn't like asking people for money. It was like who am I to ask them for anything? God really showed me that there was no need to be afraid. Scripture says it. If you do not ask you will not receive. How will people know you need their support if you don't ask for it? Christian or non people love helping people who are helping people. Aside from the fact that we are the body and to better His kingdom we do it together. I fully believe that God will provide exactly the funds I need. I was so freaked out in Feb that I needed to save all this money and that I needed to take this really boring job even though I could have other jobs I actually enjoyed just so that I could have enough money to do this but now I realize that I didn't need to take that job because God has been saving for me. I mean hello God has been saving for me since he knew me. He knew that I was going to do this way before I knew. Where God leads he proceeds and where He guides he provides. I need so much support. Really I do. I mean as far as encouragement I feel like that is almost what I need the most aside from prayer. It is encouraging that people are praying for me......

I also wanted to note to everyone that while I'm in Honolulu at the school and while I'm in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, China and Hong Kong I will be posting pictures and hopefully some video to keep you all up to date on the happenings. So you can follow along with where I'm at in this amazing adventure I call life. I hope you feel apart of what I'm doing because if you are praying for me or supporting me in any way you are a part of it.

My support letter

2008-09-15T15:56:00.000-07:00

For the past few years, I have strongly felt God calling me to the mission field. I believe going to the farthest parts of the earth and letting people know what God wants to do in their life is an extremely important call God has given me. “ But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?” Romans 10:14 –15b.
God has presented me with the opportunity to go to discipleship school this October. While I am there God will be breaking me, molding and making me into the woman He has called me to be. I will be maturing in the basics of discipleship: prayer, fasting, scripture, generosity, evangelism, and devotion, “progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and clearly…” Philippians 3:10.
On November 25- December 21,after two months of training, we are taking a mission trip to the 10/40 Window. The 10/40 Window is an area of the world that contains the largest population of non-Christians in the world. Specifically, we will be going to Israel, Jordan and Egypt. While there we will be visiting orphanages, ministries to the poor and needy street kids, sharing our faith with Israeli, Palestinian, and Arab peoples and building relationships with the locals.Hopefully I will be going to China and Hong Kong in February as well to do another mission trip. We will be distributing bibles, teaching English as a second language, helping the poor and needy and teaching the locals American sports like surfing and volleyball.
Lately, I have been learning (and am still learning) to depend on God fully, that if God guides, he will provide and it is okay to ask others for help. James 4:2 says, “You do not have because you do not ask”.So I am asking for your prayers:
v. Pray that God prepares our hearts and minds to evangelize and love the people of Israel, Egypt, and Jordan.
v. Pray that God works through all of us to glorify Him.
v. Pray that we are kept safe and healthy through such dangerous territories and through all of our travels.
v. Pray that we rely fully on God, to trust Him and to pursue Him daily, surrendering to His perfect plan for us.
v. Jesus Prays for All Believers: "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they might be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17: 20-24

Beyond your prayers, if you are lead to support me financially, I will be forever grateful. I truly believe that this is the journey God has called me to and would greatly appreciate any level of support you are able to offer. All of your donations will go directly to me. I will be using them for travel expenses and things like that. You can send your donations to:

Surfing the Nations
P.O. box 29393
Honolulu, HI 96820

Please make your check or money order payable to Surfing the Nations and place my name in the memo line of the check.OrYou can also go online to make you donation via credit card through their secure Egiving system. Under the Purpose for gift note put my name. Surfing The Nations Foundation is a Nonprofit Christian Organization that mobilizes, prepares and trains Christians across the globe into missions. All Donations are tax deductible.

And lastly my prayer for all of you; “With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.” 2 Thessalonians 1:11

May God Bless You!

Whitney Wolpert

Dropping the jigsaw pieces..

2008-09-15T15:37:00.001-07:00

I read a great story that inspired me to change the name of my blog. Basically it was about how we all put together the jigsaw pieces of our lives the way we want to see it but we need to stop putting them together that way, drop them and let God pick up the pieces and show you the picture He has put together for you. Just imagine how much more beautiful and unpredictable the big picture of our life is without us always trying to put our own pieces in there. Its basically surrendering our life to the plans God has for us. I believe is ultimately what I will be trying to do in my life. To stop trying so hard to do what I want and to surrender to doing what God wants. This blog will be the adventures of where God takes me.