I Know the Lord is Always with Me Even in Recovering from an Amoeba!

It’s been six weeks since I have been “resting” and with the bug being gone at around 3 weeks I naturally thought I would be all energy today. I mean the doctor said 6 weeks, right? Well, I am learning that it is going to be a much longer journey than I anticipated… I should have listened to the doctor’s in New Zealand who said 6 months because New Zealand just knows how to live a much slower pace than America!  That’s one thing I LOVE about New Zealand! 

For those of you who may not know all the details of my journey the past couple of months with being sick here’s a little snapshot:

The very last week I was in Nepal I got really sick. I mean I literally couldn’t keep anything in, but by the grace of God and a lot of grit I just kept on going. I mostly recovered at least I thought I did when I arrived back in New Zealand. I still had a few symptoms, but I just thought it was adjusting back to being in first-world nation again. I literally believe that God gave the strength to make it through outreach and debrief week. Once I left YWAM Bethlehem my body crashed. I was completely exhausted. I was staying with my mama’ best friend in New Zealand. I just thought my exhaustion was from the intense time in DTS then the next week my friend from the states came to New Zealand so we could do a little bit of exploring together. We spent one day walking around Auckland and towards the end of the day I felt like I was going to faint. It was a close call. We canceled our plans and instead spent the week at my mama’s friend as I continue to feel faintish and have no energy. We would do a few things a day and then I would need to rest. I went to the doctors in New Zealand where I got blood work done as well as stools samples sent to the labs. The doctor said I probably got something in Nepal and it would take 6 months to go through my system and that I just needed to listen to my body. I flew home and pushed through the holiday season with my family. I finally got my test results back where they discovered that I got a rare amoeba. Basically the amoeba has been eating all my nutrients so my body wasn’t getting what it needed to function hence why I felt weak and faintish. I went to the doctor’s here in the states and got some medicine and a few check-ups. I sent in another stool sample and it came back saying NO more amoeba! (happy dance) The doctor said I just need 6 weeks of rest (which is officially today). BUT guess what I still feel tired and can’t do very much in day, but I much better than I was a month ago where I hit rock-bottom and couldn’t do anything. I am learning that it’s going to be a journey gaining back energy and healing my digestive tact and not in the timetable I was hoping for… it’s been hard. My life has turned a complete 180 and I am terrible at resting for so long! I just get ants in my pants and want to do something!!!

So it may be a long road of recovery up to 6 months and to be honest right now that sounds daunting and disappointing (naturally), but I am also realizing that I am learning a whole lot during this time…

I am realizing that I am weak, but God is strong. I am learning what rest means in my life and that it’s hard for me, but what I need it. I am learning what self-care look likes. I am learning to give up pride every single day!  I am learning how to simplify my life and think about what really matters. It has definitely been a deep soul searching time. A time where I have had to be really honest with God. A time where I have to learn in a BIG ways how to trust God in the valley and to keep resting in Him. He is my only source of strength. 

I hope to look back on this season and see all the good in it. To see all the wildflowers in the valley, but right now I am fighting for it be over to be honest. It’s never fun to be in the valley! 

On the bright side I get to hang out all day in leggings, drink lots of tea, read tons of books (I need some lighter-reading books. I have been reading a lot of heavier thinking books and my brain needs a break. Haha! Any good suggestions?), spend time with my grandma, cook yummy meals, write letters, enjoy watercolor art and journal and not feel guilty about any of it because it's all I can do! Someday I will be working again, someday I will be in small group again, someday I will be able to drive the car again and more... it's a season and it will evidently come to end...yay! 

Thanks for all your prayers, support and encouragement. This words of affirmation lady sure appreciates it! If you could please continue to pray that my body would heal, that I would learn how to slow down, that I would create healthy habits for the future and that I give myself lots of grace in this season! Thank you so much! 

Much love, Daniella

Holding onto this promise always! 

My DTS Outreach in a Snapshot!

Hey, all! Can you tell we are excited to be the hands and feet of Jesus?! :)

Oh, the stories I can tell… from the crazy bus ride where I fainted (it’s a funny one if you want to hear it let me know) to eating the same meal everyday for 10 days in the village to playing “hot corn” with the village children to trekking 32 miles in two days with half my team sick to loving on children in a children’s home and daycare to hanging out with the youth in New Zealand to talking with a homeless man and woman on the street to making crafts with an elderly lady. There are so many stories to tell. So many people to tell about. So many experiences. So many lessons learned. So many joys and trails. Where do I even begin….

Trekking and Backingpack for hours throughout the villages! 

There is no way that I can put into words everything that I want, but I would love to give you a little snapshot of what God did during my time in the Himalayas as well as in Hamilton, New Zealand. Let me just tell you God is the same no matter where you are. He  heals, saves lives and brings hope to the hopeless everywhere. It was amazing to be apart of what God is and continues to do in both of these nations. Truly amazing! 

New Zealand or Himalayas one thing that is always the same, God! 

So let me begin with the very beginning, the Himalayan mountains. Just WOW! These mountains are stunning, but incredibly challenging. Never in my life did I feel so exhausted, and yet so amazed by God. As a team we trekked through the dirt roads, hills, steep paths to remote villages in order to deliver bibles to every home in the village. We encountered villages were some had never heard about Jesus. What?! It was completely amazing and heartbreaking at the same time having the privilege of telling someone for the very first time about who Jesus is and that He loves them and wants to have a relationship with them (this is something I dreamed about doing ever since I was a little girl growing up in missions and always hearing teams come back with their testimonies!) BUT how can it be that there are still people who have not heard about God? It just puts urgency on my heart to get pass my passivity and tell everyone around me about the most important relationship in this world, Jesus Christ. We were able to pass out 500 hardcopy bibles in their native language as well as 500 SD cards containing an audio reading of the New Testament reaching an estimate of about 3,000 people who now have access to the Word of God who didn’t before. And the most amazing thing about this whole experience was that we were able to partner with a local church in one of the villages who now can continue to invest in the lives of these people. How cool would it be if bible studies and community groups started breaking out in these villages. Would you pray for seeds to be planted and a hungry for God’s word to create a revival? 

Handing out the Truth! 

Speaking truth and beauty to these beautiful young ladies!

I love village life. I love the simpleness of it. I love the sweet people. I love that smiles and laughter are our “same language”.  I love how curious the children are. I love the beauty of hospitality the pastor and his family showed. I love that we had the privilege of being there all for the glory of God. It wasn’t about us or what we could do. We didn’t do any service projects or bring any of our western ways… we just brought the best gift we could ever bring, the Bible; the truth of who Jesus Christ is. It was worth every weakness, every mile, every sickness, every bumpy bus ride and fainting,  and every pain. It was worth it because Jesus is worth it and I want everyone to know about Him! 

It was a JOY to spend the afternoon with these kiddos singing, laughing and "talking"! 

After our time in the mountains, we returned to the capital city for a few weeks to partner with some long-term works there. We were able to share the gospel on the streets, see healing(s) and salvations. We had the privilege of spending hours in the prayer room interceding. Playing with children at a children’s home and a daycare. One of my favorite parts was being able to connect with people and hearing about different organizations and people’s heart for the nation and now this place will always have a special place in my heart with all that I saw and heard. I learned how much I love being in that type of role of organizing and building relationships with different people and ministries.  Our time in the Himalayas went so quickly…

I absolutely fall in LOVE with these girls at the Children's Home! 

Telling people about my best friend, Jesus! 

Soon we found ourselves back in Tauranga, New Zealand attending a Mission Conference and being challenged to dream a vision with God by Pete and Shirley Brownhill (The speakers for the week from Perth, Australia). {Someday I will share the vision that God placed on my heart, but for now it’s being modeled and shaped in my heart and trusting God for the timing.} We also gained a deeper understanding of the call that God has placed on the nation of New Zealand. It was an incredible week of learning, processing and loving the fact that I grew up in YWAM and get to be apart of an organization that is making God name known throughout the entire world! 

Love these ladies! 

The last part of outreach was spent in cute city of Hamilton among rolling green hills with sheep and cows and partnering with a local church doing practical work like cooking, cleaning for pregnant moms, farm work, helping host women’s ministry events, street evangelism and investing in the youth groups. I also had the privilege of speaking to some school-age kids in a program called “Bible in Schools.” I was able to share about my best friend, Jesus to these students who attend a public school. It was awesome! My team also performed foot-lose for them and we had a bible verse shout-off! It was so incredible to be able to a ministry in a public school!  We also came along side the vision that YWAM Bethlehem has for the nation of the New Zealand that “one day every Kiwi will love God, love the church, and love the lost.” It was just so lovely to do kingdom living with my team. We had the privilege to stay in some people’s homes as well as at camp. We met and made relationships with amazing people and we were all so sad to leave Hamilton and a few of us were so sad to leave the yummiest ice cream shop ever! Hamilton will always have a special place in my heart! 

Freezer Meal Prep for Mamas' to be! 

Youth Group! 

The Beautiful Rolling Hills of New Zealand! 

With all we saw, all we did and all we spoke the lessons that I learned the most were hard, but good lessons: First,  It’s all about humility (it’s all about Christ and how He wants to use you), in my weakness He is my strength (My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9), the joy of the Lord is my strength (Nehemiah 8:10) and that I completely come alive and JOY spills out of me when I am living out the passion that the Lord has so clearly put on my heart which is sharing the love of Jesus with children in whatever capacity He places me in whether that’s teaching, ministry, babysitting or hopefully one day being a mama. He has so clearly once again shown me that loving on, listening and singing with children is His passion for my life. 

Yes, outreach changed me. Yes, DTS changed me. But it’s not stopping there. This life is all about a journey and allowing yourself to be only changed by the one who created you, God. And my prayer is that each person I encountered didn’t see me, but saw Jesus! This life is so worth the heart-ache, the pain, the growing, and seeing the broken because in return you see the best thing ever- you see God do His work in incredible ways and this happens everyday no matter where you are. God is always working and He is always with us. [More on this glorious topic of "Kingdom Living"  in the next blog post coming soon].

Thank you so much for your amazing support and encouragement and prayers! 

Love, Daniella

  

It's a journey friends, let's keep running the race with our eyes on Jesus always! 

Afghans

Today, two of my dear DTS friends were suppose to visit for a night. We had plans of dinner out, making our favorite New Zealand cookie, Afghans and reminiscing about all that God did in our lives the past 5 months as well as seeing the cute windmill in my grandma’s town. I guarantee you there was going to be lots of laughter, maybe a few tears and lots of words of encouragement. BUT plans changed not once, but twice. Our original plan was to meet in Seattle, but that was canceled because of my season of rest. So plan B was made to come to my place in my grandma’s basement BUT then it stupid snowed (the worst and biggest snowstorm in 10 years were Emily lives in Oregon) and there was no safe way for them to get here. So our little get together is postponed until next time Alea is back in the states! 

SO  when plans change what do you do… you still make cookies. It makes you feel a little bit better. And the cookie of choice was course Afghans because today I seriously and totally miss New Zealand and all the memories I have there. Oh, how I wish these two were here helping me make them! 

Couldn't the weather just be sunny just like this?! 

Thanks, Belinda for teaching me how to make these delicious cookies at my home away from home in New Zealand! Miss you heaps today! 

These cookies are worthy of being documented on here because they are that good and easy and found in almost every cafe shop across New Zealand with a flat white of course! 

Drum roll please…. Here’s the recipe: [ Your welcome those who live in the US because after the first failed very flat cookies batch I figured out the measurements so now they are perfect… why can’t we all use the same units…unity friends, unity?!] 

Ingredients 

Cookie

200 g (7ozs.) butter

75g (3ozs.) (1/2c) white sugar

175g (6ozs.) (1 1/4c) flour

25g (1oz) (2T) cocoa powder

50g (2ozs.) (2c) cornflakes 

Chocolate Icing 

100g (3 1/2oz) butter

25g (1oz) (2T) cocoa powder

100g (1c) powder sugar

25g (1oz) (2T) milk or boiling water

Walnuts to place on top! 

Soften butter, add sugar and beat to a cream; add flour, cocoa and lastly cornflakes. Put spoonfuls on a greased oven tray and bake about 15 minutes at 180C (350F). When cold, ice with chocolate icing and put walnuts on top. Best to store in the fridge! 

Much love, Daniella

My DTS Testimony

This blog post is long time in coming. There are so many times I wanted to just sit down and write, but it just didn’t seemed to happen. Even now as I think about all I want to write it seems like so much. Where do I even begin. The past 5 months, my DTS, what I all learned, outreach, being sick, fighting anxiety and rest, saying too many good-byes. My heart just feels overwhelmed. So please bear with me these post over the next few months may be raw, may be all mixed up, may be me spilling out my feelings as I learn to process all that has happened this past year. 

So let’s start at the very beginning. My DTS Testimony! The past 5-months have been everything I hope it would be and more through the joys and only a few lows. I am in awe of all that God has done in my heart and so thankful for the promises He has sealed. 

{We pursed intimacy with Jesus together all being apart of the Intimacy to Impact DTS track}

God showed me that sees me. I’m not disqualified in His eyes. He loves me. He showed me how I can believe in who He created me to be. God is my protector. He has given me a voice to speak truth about who He is to others. I learned that God is with us through it all. That He is worthy to praise. He is worth all my devotion. 

{My DTS Friends & Biggest Encouragers NOT pictured: Our wonderful Staff}

I fell more madly in love with Jesus.

A place of exposing to me that I can find rest in who God created me to be. The inner beauty He put in me… my character for His glory. The desire to live my life like Psalm 27:4 “One thing I asked of the Lord is to dwell in House, gaze upon His beauty and inquire in His temple.”  The deep intimacy and journey He has taken me on. The season of refreshment.

My DTS Family

Realizing the importances of my name Daniella (God is my judge) Joy (the only JOY that will truly satisfy me is found in Jesus). Realizing that the only opinion to listen to is God’s. 

{My dear friends}

God refreshed me and brought me to a place of identifying who I’m. That He has a special plan for each and everyone of us. That He loves the desires of our hearts and wants deep intimacy with us.

McDonalds (aka Mackers was visited at least twice a week}

Spending time with Jesus is the most life-giving time I can have. He loves my complete devotion to Him and through that flows His love through me to others. 

{Loved adventuring with these people}

It was amazing being able to spend 5-months digging deeper into God’s heart, worshiping with other believers, spending hours in the THOP (Tauranga House of Prayer), building deep friendships and loving the New Zealand culture (peace and slow-back pace, the beauty all around me, friendly people, different vocabulary, flat whites and sweet treats.) 

{My dear flat whites!}

New Zealand was so good to me- a place where God allowed me to be •refreshed •restored• renewed• I am forever changed! 

Love, Daniella

P.S. If you have any questions please let me know or if you want to hear more I would love tell you more... we can schedule a coffee date, Skype date or phone date or any other date! :) 

No more striving…

My life the past three years I have realized have been like a movie on fast forward x16. I have just kept going. Kept pushing forward. Kept hoping for breakthrough. Kept wishing to be done and out. Kept striving. 

Ding. Ding. Ding. Striving. Do you know how many times I have heard that word this week? And each time I do my heart just burns knowing that word is what my life has been feeding on for the past three years and I am finally coming to reality that it can’t sustain me. I NEED to STOP striving. It needs to stop now. I just need to rest in the one who has created my soul. Who has created me to be. I need to trust in the one that has put me here on Earth. To say “yes” to being refreshed and renewed. To say yes “He has called me by name and I am His.” He has walked with me through this past season and He is continue to walk with me. He will not allow me to be consumed by the things of this world. To be taken astray by enemy, but instead He will shine His true light through. I am His and I am not going anywhere out of His presence. 

“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”  Isaiah 43:1-2

The waves of striving... the bay of rest and peace! 

And in this new season He is asking me to rest. This so goes against all that I have been doing and in living in the past three years. I have just been going and going in culture that doesn’t stop, but now God in His super funny ways has brought me to a place where I am literally be forced to rest. YWAM Bethlehem DTS(s) are located a small bible college out in the country side of New Zealand. It has sheep, cows, chickens, orange trees, avocado trees and macadamia nut trees. To get anywhere you have to get into a vehicle and drive. Yes, they are beautiful places to run and walk to, but you get the picture out in the middle of the beautiful no-where. Although the DTS schedule is pretty intense; there are moments of free time normally in the late afternoon or evening (times when family and friends half away around the world are sleeping so FaceTime is not an option) and internet is very limited here (super slow and expensive as well). So you get the picture of where God has placed me… in slow-easy going beautiful countryside New Zealand…

In a good way I feel like God is just smiling down on me saying “Daniella- I have set this up perfectly for you so that you can just use your moments to rest in me. To enjoy my presence. To read. To go on runs/walks. To take a nap” (I am slowing learning to embrace naps as not a waste of time, but as a time that allows God to refresh you). To be honest about all of this… this past week I have fought the desire to rest. I have tried to fill my time with being with people (which is good but not all the time), I have sat on my bed wishing that I could just scroll through Facebook or talk to family and friends back home. I have sat around bored. Kind of like a little toddler throwing tantrum. Oh, dear! My heart has a whole lot of working to be done and it’s starting with fighting the desire to strive, but instead rest. To take advantage of those moments and not complain about moments that God has created for me to rest in. To fully embrace them and enjoy them. So, here goes to taking on this deep desire of rest that God has placed on my heart for this season. Rest, Daniella, rest!

New Address in New Zealand

Hi friends,

My address is changing again! Yahooo! This time you will find me in New Zealand for a few months! 

A few of my favorite things are spending time with family, sitting in coffee shops, reading, studying the word, traveling, listening to pandora station: Bethel, running, getting mail and writing letters to friends around the world.

I promise if you write me a letter I will write you one back! :) 

Here’s to celebrating the art of letter writing! 

Daniella Rottier
749 Welcome Bay Rd
Welcome Bay, Tauranga
New Zealand 3175

Daniella Rottier

PO Box 15-134 

Tauranga 3030

New Zealand

OR 

Daniella Rottier

C/-Faith Bible College

Private Bag 12006

Tauranga 3143

New Zealand 

All three address work so take your pick! 

Love, Daniella

The In-Between “Season”

The past three weeks have been a blur of spending time with family, saying good-bye, parties, a road-trip, getting lost in books, sleeping (yay!), and being refreshed since I have moved back from South Korea. My time here in the states is short though as I get ready to embark on another journey… New Zealand! 

The past week I have spent many hours preparing for this journey through shopping, packing and sorting my things as well as reading so much about the culture of New Zealand. I can’t wait to truly embrace this new culture.

Half the time I think I am crazy for quickly moving back from Korea and jumping right into moving to another country in less-than-a-month time period, but more than ever God has confirmed over and over again this is exactly what He has called me to do in this next season of my life. Am I afraid that I will never teach again? Am I afraid that I don’t have my exact plans in place for after my DTS? Honestly, no! Was I? Yes, but God has shown me this week over and over again how faithful He is to provide. How faithful He is in His timing and ways. As I have reflected over my last three years in Korea even though they were so challenging and I would never ever want to live through it again I am so thankful that I can see how faithful God was/is and that there were many good things out of my time there. {Wildflowers post & Oh, Korea Bye post}. 

As I prepare over the next week for my adventure in New Zealand I am taking time to spend with my mama, catch up on Skype dates with dear friends, loving on my grandmama, finishing last minute details for NZ and just resting. I know that my time in New Zealand will be so refreshing, life-changing and a safe-anchorage! Tauranga- the city that I will be living in literally means a safe-anchorage which is something that God has been speaking to me over and over again this year. He has been teaching me that He is my only safe-anchorage. That only in Him will I ever feel complete, and satisfy. That when I lose track of who I am or allow fear to overcome me. He is right there safely welcoming me into His embrace and making me brave again. My prayer over the next 6 months is that I would become brave in Jesus. Brave to boldly proclaim His name. Brave to stand up to injustice. Brave to be different. Brave to live a life following after Jesus and not the standards of the world. Brave to believe in the desire of my heart. Brave to dream big and follow after them. Brave to be me. 

Would you like to join me in prayer for this next season of my life? If, so please email me at daniellajoy9@gmail.com. I will be sending out weekly emails with updates and prayer request. Something else that God has been teaching me a whole lot about is the power of prayer and asking others to join you. It is a step of being vulnerable, but something that God honors so deeply. {More to come on this some time soon}. Thank you so much for partnering with me! 

Let’s be BRAVE together! 

Love, Daniella