The Harvest Is Ripe in America

Dear friends,

I am filled with such joy as I am able to tell you just a handful of the amazing things that God has done in my life, the lives around me, and in the world over this past summer.  It has been nothing short of overflowing with testimony after testimony of God's love for His children and deep passion for all to know His name an fall deeper in love with Him.  I have never in my life been more convinced that the Gospel really is the good news and the power that the blood of the lamb and our testimony has.  God is alive and moving in the earth, and me & you get to be a part of it.  How exciting!

Exactly 3 months ago (to the day!) I wrote you and shared what the first two weeks of the Summer Quarter looked like.  As I read back over what I wrote, I am amazed that it only got better from there.  Our expectation for the summer as a whole was that the Lord was going to do something out of the ordinary, that he was going to knit our hearts together and bring us somewhere in the spirit that we had never gone before, because of the unity we had with each other, and the holiness and purity we walked as we chased after being fixated with one thing, and one thing only; the man Jesus Christ.  And as I write you three months later, I am more than thrilled to report the summer has been just that… more than we expected and full of promises fulfilled by the Father.

I was so blessed to have many of you invest in prayer & finances as I got to go to Pennsylvania for Circuit Riders this past month!!  One day, we were praying for all of the CR schools going to Fiji, LA, Pennsylvania, Kansas City, Kona, & Norway, something began to happen in my heart unlike anything I had ever experienced as we prayed for the one in Lancaster, PA and I said to myself "I have to be there."  I didn't know how I was going to get the money, or if I would even be able to go…. Housing, food, transportation, and so many things were ahead to figure out but I knew I had to be there.  Something inside of me knew that if I went, my life would be changed forever.  After only one week, I think actually less than 7 days, someone pledged to match $1.00 to every $1.00 that I was able to raise!!  So I got myself in to gear and did everything I could.  At the end of those handful of days, the Lord had provided above and beyond what I needed!  He also got me free housing with some of my best fiends that was walking distance from the school being held and almost all my food was taken care of!  God is the God of abundance!

Circuit Riders kicked off in the heart of Lancaster, PA for a full week.  Every day we would have training with about 500 other students who had signed up for the school.  And every day that number would grow because people would get saved, and immediately want to come to training to learn how to preach the gospel…. and this was a reoccurring story!  Every night we opened up the place to whoever wanted to come as we worshiped the King of Kings, and heard a message from one of the leaders.  And again, we started at around 1400 people the first night, and by the last night we grew to just shy of 2,000 people!!!  In just 2 days of outreach we saw over 320 salvations and 60+ hearings, just on the streets in this small town!!  People are ready to hear the gospel, the harvest is ripe!!!

Every day I could feel more and more fear break off of me as I became convinced at the reality of the Gospel, and the sacrifice of Jesus' life for not only mine, but every single person in the world.  If God send His son to  died for every person, wouldn't He want every person to know about it?  And as Christians, we have the answer and the privilege of sharing it with a lost and dying world in need of a savior.  We all were there at one point, we all have been saved by Grace and not by works, but by a loving Father who is so desiring a world to fall in love with Him…. and now from that place of knowing who we once were, and where we once were, we get to tell the rest of the world the good news.  Hallelujah!!

As Circuit Riders traveled all around the world (but mainly in America), they figured out that there was 1 salvation for every minute of outreach.  Jesus Is Alive!!!  He is awakening His bride, saving the lost, and preparing us all for His great return!!  Being a part of this story is one of the most exciting things in the earth.

We were so privileged in Kona to have held a Circuit Riders two weeks after I returned and it was also amazing!  I got to lead a small group for training of about 14 people.  As we hit the streets all of the outreaches as a whole saw 10 salvations in town and a handful of healings too!  I personally was able to be a part of 3 stories of 2 young women and a teenage boy coming to know Jesus.  It was so wonderful to see things like this happen in Kona, right in our back yard!!

After going to PA, I was able to go to Washington, DC with one of my best friends, Grace.  While I was there I got a call from my dad saying him & my mom wanted to visit me before I headed back to Kona.  Our time together was so sweet! We were able to just enjoyed each others company, share stories from the places we all had been over the last 8 months apart, and were also able to love on people in the streets of Washington, DC.  It was so fun to be able to share the gospel with my parents by my side.  It made something in my heart come alive and it was so fun!

It's been four weeks since I returned back to Kona and have continued in the Track.   Just two weeks ago we had our quarterly Love Feast.  This is pretty much where we love on each other like crazy!!  We eat good food, we dance, we honor each other, and we have presentations from the electives that we have (Song Writing, Preaching & Teaching, Biblical Studies).  We had such a fun night all together and were able to reminisce about all the lovely things we were able to all experience over these past 3 months.

We are now at the end of the quarter & preparing for next quarter!!  The schools in the Track this past quarter were Compassion Ablaze, Community Transformations, and Crisis Response International and they have all transitioned into Staff Training and preparing for all of their students in the DTS' to come in just two short weeks!

I had the privilege this quarter as many of you know, to lead the Track with Blake & Shannon Casteel for the first time, and it went amazing.  So amazing that they have asked if I would join official leadership of the Awakening Leadership Track, and there was no hesitation in my heart!  In less than 2 short weeks we will kick off everything again for the Fall.  With around 100 staff coming to join us to be trained to staff DTS' this coming January, it is again the largest quarter we have ever had… and it just keeps growing!!  We are so blessed, and quite honestly blown away at how rapidly things are morphing into something that is wanting to be replicated on many YWAM bases across the world.  I don't know how I got into this position, other than the kindness of the Lord.  There are no qualifications on my part, except that He is my strength & qualifies me by His love and mercy every day.  Being in the Track, and now helping lead, my life has been extremely transformed in every way and I am so thankful for God's plans for my life overriding my dreams that I thought would satisfy.  He is so committed to each and every one of this and I am more convinced of it everywhere I go and with everyone I talk to.

In 3 weeks I will be headed home to North Carolina to spend 2 weeks with my family!  I am able to see one of my best friends from childhood get married and to meet my niece Dylan Rose for the first time!! I am very excited for this trip and appreciate your prayers as I am traveling!!

Thank you to every person who has invested in my life on this journey.  I am full of gratitude and thankfulness as I think of how each of you have had a part to play in this wonderful story.  I am blessed beyond belief!!

Have a wonderful day filled with the fullness of all the Father has to pour out on you!

You are very much loved.

-Lizzie Stein




For more information on the history/vision of YWAM and the purpose/heart of The Awakening Leadership Track, please visit another page on this blog:
http://shebegantofly.blogspot.com/p/vision-heart.html

If you would like to partner with me in prayer or be a one-time or monthly support please email me at oceansroar@gmail.com or click the following link: http://www.uofnkona.edu/support/missionaries/5644