Posted in General Posts by Justine Zins on 8/24/2010
Volcano Pacaya. Antigua, Guatemala. One of the first days of our trip.
When I look back to the beginning, I can hardly recognize the girl that so ambitiously walked out her front door and into the nations. There is a whole world between her and I, now, yet there is something so familiar in the very deep parts of her, the very essence of her person: that part seems stronger, brighter,and more true. I am more myself now, than I have ever been, because I am more of Him, than I have ever been.
We set out to change the world, to find that it is God who changes us by it.
God has blessed me with this journey to find something most peculiar, yet I knew it all along. I have hiked the active volcano in Guatemala and roasted marshmallows at the top. I have crawled through the underground tunnels in Vietnam, and sent lanterns into the starry skies of Thailand. I have stood in the cell of the slave castle in Cape Coast, Ghana, and walked soberly through the massacred villages of Jos, Nigeria. I have worshipped at the Berlin Wall crying out for a city and a nation, and I have stood in a concentration camp. I have swam in many oceans, and beheld the beauty God has clothed the nations with around the world, but it has given me one enticing promise as I walked it with Him: the promise of my Home Country: Heaven. The world for which I was made; perfect fellowship with Him, both here now, and There then.
I will be speaking at Destiny Christian Church, my family's home church, on
Wednesday, September 8th
7:00PM
You're Invited!
I will be sharing on the different ministries we worked with in each country, the many experiences we went through, and my personal experiences and encounters throughout the year through pictures, and stories.
I would be overjoyed and blessed to have you in attendance that evening.
I would love to share more of my year with all of you who have gone with me in reading my blogs, praying for my journey, and supporting me financially.
I would be honored if you would join me.
Hope to see you then!!!
God Bless,
Justine Hannah Zins
DCC Burnsville Directions
From The North
35W South to Hwy 13. East on Hwy 13 to 121st Street. Turn Right. Turn Right on 16th Ave South (approx 1 block). Church is on Left.
From The South
35W North to Hwy 13. East on Hwy 13 to 121st Street. Turn Right. Turn Right on 16th Ave South (approx 1 block). Church is on Left.
From The East
Take Hwy 13 West to Cty Rd 11. Turn Left. Turn Right on 122nd Street. Turn Right on 16th Ave South. Church is on Right.
From The West
Take Hwy 13 East to 121st Street. Turn Right. Turn Right on 16th Ave South (approx 1 block). Church is on Left.
It was the eleventh month of the eleven months, I can hardly believe it. I am standing on the other side of journey, I have finally reached the top of the mountain and I am looking over it all with such satisfaction. It is a beautiful view from up here!
Our last leg of the trip was spent in Odessa, Ukraine. While praying in Germany, in the month of July, God had given me the word Odessa. I wrote it in my journal with a big question mark next to it, not knowing what it meant. Maybe it was a name of a person, someone I would meet perhaps. Toward the end of July we spent some time in Moldova. Our contact was talking with us about transportation and mentioned the word Odessa, which caught my ear immediately.
"Did you just say Odessa?" I asked. He told us how it was a city in Ukraine. My mouth dropped. I shared with my team how God had given me that name, but I had no idea that it was a city (I am learning to listen better when God talks to me - next time I will do some research). Our team called our squad leader to find out if Odessa happened to be a ministry location out of our choices. Sure enough, it was - and the matter was settled. Odessa was where we were going!
It has been the best possible ministry we could have gone out with. We spent a week at the Black Sea helping out with a children's summer camp. We taught English, shared our testimonies, told bible stories, life guarded (entirely outnumbered), and played games from morning until late evening. Sometimes we would have 12 hour days, but it was incredible! The camp consisted of half Ukranian
children, and the other half gypsy children. This was the first camp mixing the two, and it couldn't have gone better. We fell in love with the kids. It was an absolute blast!
*This is a picture of Raj, a gypsy boy during Wacky Hair Day at camp.
*These are the boys I was the leader of when it came to swimming in the Black Sea.
We went out hard and strong! Our squad is now meeting in Kiev and we will be flying to Dublin, Ireland on the 26th for our final debrief. Our remaining days of the trip are now in the single digits, I will be returning home to my family on September 3rd.
We will spend the last week debriefing with our squad and then joining all the squads on the field right now for a annual conference called the Awakening. I am beyond excited for the journey ahead. Thanks for traveling with me on it!
I hope you are all enjoying a beautiful summer under a more mild sun then some places around the world. We have spent the past ten days in a small village in Moldova (a nation sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine). The first few days we were in our tents in the mountains with a steam to bathe in and drink from. From there we traveled a few hours south to another small village where we lived in a church and were fed by grandmothers. They would cook for us all day and carry their pots of food to the church, testing their strength, but strengthening both their hearts and inspire ours to serve. For water we drank from the village well, and pulled up buckets to take birdbaths.
Our ministry consisted of traveling through the surrounding villages to share the gospel, encourage the neighbors, and pray for the broken-hearted. We had a 100% crying average, since each house we entered the Holy Spirit would meet them and they would weep, spilling their story and their heart. They would welcome us into their homes as if we were their own family. They would pull out their nice teacups, tea, coffee, fruit, candies, and sit back and delight in watching us enjoy. We would talk for hours sometimes - sharing stories, and praying for them.
We also would lead bible studies a few days a week, and Brad, our team leader would preach on Sundays. It was a beautiful road, walking the gospel led by the Spirit. Many lives were touched and we even witnessed a woman who struggled with alcoholism come to the Lord in weeping and great joy. We were able to put bibles in their hands and hope in their hearts; the hope of Jesus Christ.
After the ten days we traveled to Chisnau, the capital city, to meet the rest of our squad for one of our last times together. We have just one month left until we return to our home country, and our amazing family, friends, and churches. We will be leaving tomorrow night by train for Ukraine, our last ministry location.
My team will be in Odessa, a city near the Black Sea. We will be there for three weeks before we head to Ireland for our final debrief.
I ask for prayer for our entire squad as we make the transitions and preparations for our return home. As you can imagine, this will be just as much an adventure as when we began a year ago, with the possibility of just as much culture shock. Pray that we are able to pour ourselves out to the last drop that we may return home completely spent.
May God bless you with the immense revelation of His unconditional, unchanging love for you, and I pray that you may be united to Him as Christ was united to the Father!
Here is another GREAT blog from my teammate (Erika Baldwin).
"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:2).
It has become normal to hear the sounds of Heavenly instruments playing wherever I go, all throughout the day.
I has become normal to hear angels harmonizing with us while we worship.
It has become normal to see armies of angels standing in front, behind, and on either side of us when we pray.
It has become normal to experience God's presence EVERYWHERE.
It has become normal to hear God's voice audibly.
It has become normal to not just read the book of Acts, but to LIVE the book of Acts.
It has become normal to see the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit descending over us when we worship Him.
It has become normal to have our eyes so fixed on God, that we become completely unaware of ourselves.
It has become normal to say things we ourselves did not think to say; to pray things we ourselves did not think to pray; to sing songs we ourselves did not write.
It has become normal to pray in a Heavenly language.
It has become normal to weep uncontrollably over the things that grieve the Holy Spirit.
It has become normal to fall madly in love with complete strangers.
It has become normal to be the ones telling the stories of God's love and power, and not the ones hearing about them.
It has become normal to break out into side-splitting laughter with the joy of the Holy Spirit.
It has become normal to believe in AND TO SEE healing and deliverance.
It has become normal to see the harvest of our labor.
It has become normal to fight alongside our brothers and sisters with a fiercely INTENSE love.
It has become normal to be contagious, and to INFECT TRUTH wherever we go.
It has become normal to live a life of BOLD FAITH.
It has become normal to walk in our callings and our giftings.
It has become normal to cry out for more of God, and then to receive it.
It has become normal to live a life of expectancy, excitement, and hope.
It has become normal to be Holy Spirit filled, Holy Spirit led, and Holy Spirit empowered.
It has become normal to live in the everyday miraculous.
It has become normal to actively pursue "Your Kingdom Come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven."
It has become normal to break loose from all chains and bondage and step into a life of COMPLETE FREEDOM!
It has become normal to have significance, purpose, and destiny.
I have come to realize that the "normal" Christian life means miracles, spiritual intervention, and revelation. I have come to realize that the "normal" Christian life means having an appetite for the impossible that cannot be ignored, wished away, or satisfied by anything else. I have come to realize that the "normal" Christian life means continuous encounters with the incomparable power of Holy Spirit. I have come to realize that there is SO MUCH MORE than what we can only see, hear, touch, taste, and smell in the natural realm. I have come to realize that NOTHING satisfies my heart like seeing so-called "impossibilities" bow to the name of Jesus.
Anything less than all of these things is ABNORMAL and unfulfilling.
God has given me fresh Kingdom eyes to see what "normal" Christian living ought to be.
I can't ever go back to living a stale, unsatisfying and hollow Christian life. I can't ever go back to who I was. This has become my normal.
"It is unnatural for a Christian to not have an appetite for the impossible."
This is a blog you want to read. It is written by my teammate, Jamie Neumann, and I am a witness to her life that she is truly changed forever because of the power of God. This is REAL Christian living! Hell yea!
I might be putting myself on the line here for this blog. You might
view it as radical, or stuff that just does not happen anymore. You
might blow it off, and that's okay, because one day God will reveal the
truth to you. But here is what I have come to know... I don't care what I think anymore.
This
has been year of self-discovery and invigoration of my faith. I wish I
could articulate what I have grown to learn, but I cant. All I know is
I have a greater understanding
of the things I already knew along with a whole new ball park of things
I wouldn't let myself believe in. My whole life I spent searching for more.
Originally I thought I would find God in the university, in getting a
great 6 figure job, and finding the perfect husband.... because that is
what America is all about right? You go to church every Sunday and go
back to whatever you were doing for the rest of the week. But
little did I know I would find a better understanding of God by living
out of a backpack for a year with the lost, broken, homeless, orphaned,
and widowed the i ever could with the ordinary way of living. I guess I should have paid attention to the scriptures when it said the first shall be last.
I used to think that God was stagnant; I was calloused to His ways and how He worked.
I used to think praying for the sick and dying was futile.
I used to think people couldn't have physical encounters with God.
I used to think people who got emotional or danced during worship were embarrassing.
I used to think God didn't work miracles through people anymore like he did in the ancient of days.
I used to think that tongues were a fake babbling of people who were pretending to be spiritual.
I used to think people couldn't literally hear angels sing.
I used to think casting out demons was a scary thing.
I used to think raising the dead only happened the 3 or whatever many times that it happened in the bible.
As a culture we have taken God out of the equation. We no longer live with a reckless faith where "all things are possible through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil 4:13).
Its so easy to take God out when you can just go to the doctor when you
are sick, or go to the store to buy food when you are hungry, or turn
the heat on in your house during the winter. But the rest of the world
isn't like that. They still have that reckless faith
to depend on God for their needs. Don't take me wrong, I don't think
you should stop going to the doctor, or go hungry at night, or sleep on
the streets (although more power to you to deny yourself) but it all
goes back to the heart. Why
do we live the way we do? When the first shall be last and the last
shall be first. If lilies and the sparrows depend on God for their
food let us complex humans (the best of all His creations) put Him back
in the equation. But after a year
like this, and thinking about all those things I used to think about
how God couldn't move I have decided I don't care what I think anymore.
Now I cannot deny that God is more then alive; I am now brokenhearted yet full of joy for how He works. I now admire reckless unguarded worship. It
is so contagious when you actually meet people who worship like they
really believe in heaven and hell; people who actually cry, shout, and
dance when they are encountering God himself. Worship is amazing when
it is unplanned and led by the spirit. Freedom in that kind of worship
in how He moves is what I experienced today in our 24 worship session
in Berlin Germany. God is so alive here. I now know passion so deep that you cannot help but express it.
I now know that God speaks directly to me if I actually take the time to listen. I now know you can sing with angels when they encounter you during a worship session and the entire room hears them. I now know
that the sick can be healed because I have seen it with my own eyes
when we prayed over a lady who could not walk in Nigeria, and then
miraculously walked after our prayers. I now know
demons can be cast out and freedom is so sweet because I have seen it
with my own eyes in Cambodia as 12 men prayed for hours over a man who
was delivered from the fire of hell.
I now know that the dead can be raised, because my friend Dan Synder
<-- (click on his name to read the blog about it) had enough faith
to pray for a little boy in Africa who died but came back to life.
I
cannot explain any of these things, and believe me I am the first to be
cynical over any of this spirit stuff. Believe me I have tried many
times to deny any of this stuff was actually happening, but
when its real its real. God will not relent. He does not want us to
live boring mundane lives he wants to encounter us every minute of everyday. I wont be satisfied with anything ordinary, I wont be satisfied at all. I want You.
I
just don't care what I think anymore. I cannot wait for more. For
more will continue to come if I just carry the faith, deny myself, pick
up my cross, and Love.
(thanks
to Justine, Jess, Bekah, and Alana for taking part in the photo shoot
for what they are learning here in Berlin) Check out my facebook album on our Burn Photoshoot for more.
Yesterday, our two teams here in Berlin worshipped together in the "burn room". We all sat on the big, cozy rug in the middle of the big hall. Jordan started out sharing her heart for worship, and what God had put on her heart for our worship set during the event this upcoming weekend. Alana encouraged us to be still before the Lord, and listen for what we need to hear from Him, not what we want to hear. She began playing on her guitar and singing to Him. We all were standing, sitting, laying before Him communing with our Dad.
A song began to rise up out of me in that shadowed her voice. I was surprised because the melody and words were pouring out of me like they never have before. I sang over and over again. Then I quieted myself and just listened. Soon I began to hear this beautiful voice harmonizing to Alana's song. It was a woman's voice, and it was breathtaking harmony. I began looking around the room trying to find who was singing with her. Alana had just written the song, and I didn't know that anyone knew the words yet. My eyes didn't give up searching the mouths of the people in the room, but not one was singing, speaking, or praying aloud. I was baffled. I kept hearing it from the same corner of the room, but no one was there. I decided to just lay back and listen to the woman sing with Alana. It was so beautiful. It dawned on me then, it was an angel singing with her. I just laid there smiling, enjoying what I knew was God's beautiful gift that morning.
Later that night we practiced the songs a few of us wrote. Alana began playing a new song she had written that day. I immediately remembered that morning and began to tell her what I had heard while she was singing. To my surprise, Jamie jumped up screaming, "I heard them too! I heard them too!" She told us how she had heard a man's voice first, and then the woman joined him later, both accompanying Alana. She said it was the most beautiful harmony she had heard. She, too, stood up right away searching the room for the voices but couldn't find them, for there was no one in the part of the room she was hearing them from... the same corner.
We both were practically jumping up and down at this point. I am sure God loved watching all of this unfold and our childlike excitement as we delighted in His creation. We turned to Alana and asked if she had heard them too. She told us that she does hear them sing with her when her heart is in a place of worship, and not performance. She just laughed and explained that she didn't realize other people could hear them too!
The funny part is, when I thought back to the song that I kept singing - that just flowed right out, I remembered that I was singing, "the angels dance around us, and sing over us."
Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
Psalm 148:2
Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.
Psalm 103:20
...And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship him."
Hebrews 1:6
Yesterday, I spent the late afternoon in a square downtown Berlin. It was one of those days where you feel more alive than ever and can sit back and honestly say, "I love my life." I sat with a few friends as we watched a few men break dancing and performing skateboard tricks for an increasing crowd. As they ended, and the crowd dissipated we made our way toward the fountain and began to strum guitars, beat our drums, and sing together as a group. Soon, a sax player joined in, then another drummer, and minutes later we were joined by an accordion. We worshipped right there in the center square with complete strangers.
A little earlier in the afternoon I began to make my way towards I group when my eyes met a pair of piercing blue eyes lined in plenty of black eyeliner. Immediately I heard the Lord say, "She is cutting." My heart jumped a beat. Lord, I have to be sure about this one before I go over there - confirm it for me somehow. I glanced back as I passed her to see a hot pink mesh sleeve on one wrist; just the confirmation I needed. I listened for a bit as I asked the Lord what He wanted me to say. I didn't hear much, but knew I had to say something. I made my way over to her and her friend. I sat down and started a conversation that would be awkward for a bit, then again at 12 and 13 - I would be weird no matter what I said. After some small talk I felt God prompt me to ask her what she wanted to be when she was done with school. So, I asked. She told me how she wanted to become a counselor, she wanted to help kids that had problems, because she too had her issues. I looked down to see scars on her wrists, covered and uncovered. Confirmation, again. It was the open door He needed.
"So, I'm going to tell you the real reason I came over here." I began to tell her how while I was across the park, God shared with me that she had been cutting her wrists and that He wanted to reach out to her. I began to share my testimony with her. I shared my messy background of starting to drink at thirteen, smoking pot on my 14th birthday and the down hill slope of boys that messed me up. I shared how by my senior year of high school I was depressed and felt no hope, but to get hit by a car in traffic. I told her my testimony of God reaching into my life, healing my heart, and flipping my world upside down to my full joy and hope! I prayed with her and invited her to the 24 hour worship event we are holding this Friday. By the end of the conversation she was asking to bring friends with her!
I love the fact that I could look into her eyes and say, "God has big plans for you. I am from across the world, and sent me here to talk to you today." The significance of one child is beyond our comprehension. She is His beloved daughter and He has pursued her heart, and loved her before she even entered this world.
Pray with me this week for what God is about to do in Lisa's life, and those of the friends she brings! Our worship event begins Friday night at 9pm and goes until 9pm Saturday night. We will fill a 2 hour time slot Saturday morning, leading prayer and worship. I will probably try and pull an all-nighter, something I haven't done since my drunken college nights. This time, it's all for the glory of God.
By the way, I LOVE Berlin!. God is doing HUGE, history-changing things here. I am lit up like a Christmas tree!
Right now I am on a train heading for Berlin, Germany. Some of you may recognize that this is not part of our original race route. Three times throughout the year we have an ATL (ask the Lord) month. We pray as a team about where we feel God is leading us; location, ministry, contacts, etc. My team was appointed by God to go to Berlin - long before we knew it. Our path to get there has been nothing short of the divine orchestration of God.
Though God's plan has been in the works longer than I can perceive, He began revealing His plan to me in month one: Guatemala. I was sitting in a room with my teammates of "180" (our team name) that I had spent only days with, my squad leaders, and my amazing coaches, Mike and Patti Paschall. It was Launch for our World Race, and I had no idea at that point in time the journey I was about to embark on, and that just nine months later I would not even resemble the same woman I was in that room. We each went around answering questions we were asked about our expectations, our strengths, goals, etc. Then Mike and Patty would speak life, or prophesy over us as individuals, and then as a team.
After I had shared what was on my heart, Mike began to prophesy. He said, "I keep hearing Germany. Germany, Germany, Germany." He began prophesying over me and my experience to come in Germany. Afterwards, a few people had a bit of wonder, considering Germany was not on our race route - so we chalked it up to a possible final debrief location. That word stuck with me. I wrote it down, and trusted God to get me there. A few months later we found out that our final debrief was scheduled to be in Ireland. My heart sank a little, but I still hoped that our team would make it there through our Europe ATL, keeping in mind that I had five others to consider as well.
The next run in with that word was in Cambodia during month four. My teammate, Melina, was reading "Red Moon Rising" by Pete Greig and Dave Roberts, and I was next in line. It is a book about how the 24/7 House of Prayer movement got started. These houses of prayer started in Europe and spread like wild fire to the rest of the world. It is a place open 24 hours a day, seven days a week where people pray, worship, and intercede. People have experienced God in incredible ways; witnessing or experiencing miracles, healing, prophesy, visions, the power of God, as they pray and intercede for the nations; the Church; God's children.
We both read testimony after testimony of God's incredible move across the earth through this medium. We read about countries all over the world that were witnessing moves of God. One of these countries being Germany. We read about Burn24/7, a branch of the movement that had made its way to Germany among many other countries. We both instantly felt we were supposed to get there. We began praying about going there as team 180 for our Europe ATL.
Three months later we faced a squad-wide team change, and 180 was no more. I joined my new team, "Judah" around the table as we began to talk about finishing the year, team goals, plans, and ATL for Europe.
To my amazement, and complete joy, my entire team wanted to go to Germany. Every member felt called to go! I shared the word that Mike had given me in Guatemala, and about Burn 24/7 in Germany. Since God loves to blow me out of the water, Jordan chimed in next, telling us that the man who runs Burn 24/7 in Berlin contacted her and has been following her blogs! We contacted them immediately and they were excited to have us.
On top of that, we are taking Melina's team with us to Berlin! Her and I just finished coffee in the diner car, talking about how crazy and exciting all of this is. We both knew in our little tree house in Cambodia that we were meant to be there, and here we are... well on our way.
Our two teams consist of people that are incredibly gifted musically, and all have a passionate heart of worship for the Lord! We are beyond thrilled, and I am both elated, and astonished at God's hand in all of this. He is SO good, and so faithful. His ways are so much higher. His divine providence for our lives is truly better than we can ask, think up, dream up on our own! I am so blessed!
"I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together!"
Psalm 34:1-3
To learn more about Burn24-7 please check out their website:
This is Viile
Tecii. It is the beautiful home of our contacts, Abi and Lilly, and their four
children. We stayed in their home and did ministry in their village, and the
neighboring villages. Lilly cooked us Romanian dishes from the vegetables in
her garden, and meat and dairy from their livestock.
.
.
This is Abi
Stoica and his son, Adi. We stayed with him and his family. He is a pastor of a church in the
village. He does outreach to the gypsy people in his village, and the villages
near by. He has a heart of gold, and is an incredible husband and father.
This is Alexandra Stoica, Abi's fourteen year-old daughter. Alexandra and her sister Andrea, 18, were a great blessing to our team. We spent much time with them in the village and at home.
Annie Walker and I are removing paint from this door. Our team worked on a small building downtown Bistritia, Romania. It will be a church for the gypsy Bistritia.
We spent a few days a week in the villages preaching, teaching, praying for families, and playing with children.
Today
I woke up to rain outside my window. I decided to spend the day in with God in
this little apartment. I felt led to listen to this podcast called "Grace
Driven Effort" this morning. The sermon is by Matt Chandler, at The
Village Church in Texas. It lined up perfectly, as if a sequel, to the blog I
wrote yesterday.
It was exactly what I needed to hear. I have spent the past
few months feeling as if I am bumbling around in this world, like my body parts
are disproportionate. I am doing my best to put to death my 'works-driven,
self-righteous, striving for the Lord' cloud of a mentality I had been walking
in. Now, on the other side, I am learning how to walk with God sober, instead of in my
drunken stupor. It's all very new to me! Rest,
grace, and standing on His finished work are all very foreign. I feel like I
am trying to become accustomed to walking backwards, or upside down.
This sermon addressed many of the things I have been dealing
with. For those of you who are Christians, I highly recommend
taking 50 minutes to listen to this! It would be a good investment.
This
has been year of self-discovery and invigoration of my faith. I wish I
could articulate what I have grown to learn, but I cant. All I know is
I have a greater 
As a culture we have taken God out of the equation. We no longer live with a reckless faith where 
when
it is unplanned and led by the spirit. Freedom in that kind of worship
in how He moves is what I experienced today in our 24 worship session
in Berlin Germany. God is so 
Yesterday, our two teams here in Berlin worshipped together in the "burn room". We all sat on the big, cozy rug in the middle of the big hall. Jordan started out sharing her heart for worship, and what God had put on her heart for our worship set during the event this upcoming weekend. Alana encouraged us to be still before the Lord, and listen for what we need to hear from Him, not what we want to hear. She began playing on her guitar and singing to Him. We all were standing, sitting, laying before Him communing with our Dad. 
