KIDS HOLIDAY PROGRAM

I’m very excited about the holiday kids program, that we will be running for 3 days! I have high expectations about it! I really believe God is going to move and touch the kids their hearts. We have a small team at YWAM. Me and Pam, the wife of the leader of YWAM, did basically all the preparation for the program. Thinking about a theme, what kind of games, schedules, teams, time frames, supplies, food ect. 


It was a lot of work but I kinda like to organise things. So I felt I was in my element.  But It’s nicer to work with a bigger team so you have more input. But we succeeded and came up with some awesome games and the theme: SUPERHERO’S!

We made a schedule that started with a hour ministry. Then we had a snack break, 3 games, lunch break and then 4 more ministry items like, dance, arts and two games. During the program we had a lot of extra people that helped out as leaders and assistant leaders!


I made a club dance on the song “Superhero” from Hillsong kids. It was a big success! Everyone knew the dance in no time and the kids sang it at their loudest! I taught them this dance during the ministry. We also did a funny drama play about different people that loves their own Superhero! The funny part was that we had a Spiderman that climbed on coconut trees, a Cat Woman that loves drinking coconut milk, a Wonder Woman that is secretly the best Cook Island dancer and Tarzan that jumps from palm leaf to palm leaf with Jane on his back! But one of the girls had Jesus as her superhero! She explained why and we all wanted to know Jesus as our own Superhero! Cause He is REAL!! And wants to live right here in our hearts! 


We ended the play with the prayer below and the kids repeated it as loud as they could! 

Dear Jesus,
I invite you to live in my heart and to be the superhero of my life
but also to be my guide, my protector and my best friend.
I give everything into your hands. 
I trust and love you.

— In Jesus name we pray, Amen. 


I got goosebumps when I heard and saw the kids that were praying this with full dedication! If this already happened in the first hour of the first day of the camp what more will God do! God is so good! 


We had a lot of fun games and all the kids were mostly smiling non stop! The kids love food! Because of that, they really loved the donut bite game! Haha, it’s too funny to watch the kids try to eat a donut from a line blind folded and their hands behind their backs!

At the last day we organised a water play party! Woehoeee
The waterslide was the most successful of all! They had to compete with the other team! You had to make 5 rounds around a cone, then run and slide, run to the next cone, again make 5 rounds and then run back, Slide and tag the next person of your team! Everyone was cheering and screaming! It was amazing. 

I would be writing forever if I would mention every game that we played and how much joy we all had. I will just let you see some photos and then you can see the smiles on the their faces yourself. 


Something really special happened at the end of the program! One little 4 year old boy on my team couldn’t speak English well, but came to me. He started talking. I could not hear him loud enough, so I asked him to repeat, and he said: “Jesus lives right inside of me!” I got the biggest smile on my face!! YESSSS! He does right here in your heart!! replied: “No, not only in my heart, but in all of me, I can feel Him!” I gave him a hug and I have never felt a hug that tight before! He was so happy and thankful that he hugged me with all the strength that was in His body! It was the sweetest thing ever! Thank you Jesus for this revelation in his life and in the lives of the rest of the kids! 


This is exactly why we organised this holiday program! Then it doesn’t matter if things don’t go according to schedule, or if we have some struggles or don’t know how to deal with things that shouldn’t supposed to go the way they go. Its all about you Jesus! You are in control! Make yourself known and protect the kids and the seeds that has been planted over these three days in their lives! 

Local School

travel blog-2.jpg

I love to dance and share this passion with others by teaching them! I was asked to help on a local school where Rachel the daughter of the leaders from YWAM goes to. It’s amazing that they gave me the opportunity to teach dance every Tuesday and Thursday to the older students. 

The age was around 12-19 years old. The students were just like me, super excited! These people have a lot of rhythm in their bodies! They dance the traditional dances on the island but they never had a hiphop dance class before. But they have seen hiphop groups online and couldn’t wait to learn some move themselves! 

I started with a catchy warming-up, that Rose-mary taught me once. Its called “Instruction” and the students liked it very much!  I made a choreography on the song “Angels” by AK, Flame. I loved to create a dance this time that was a bit more heavy with fast movements that they needed to dance with lots of energy and expression. 

I had no idea if it would be hard or easy for them to pick it up, but they did really well! I was amazed by their timing, energy and smiles! It was pure joy for me to teach this group! They were really willing to learn and we had fun at the same time! They will perform this piece of dance during one of their youth rallys. It was the perfect combination for me as a teacher to share my passion and to bond with the local kids! 

After dance training, I stayed to help out with after school athletic training. They had a big match the next week, where they compete against the other schools of the island, so they needed to train! I helped Peter, the teacher, with the warming-up and stretch. It’s lovely to hang out with all of the kids and encourage them!

It became like a routine that after each dance class I stayed for a while on school property to play with the kids and spend time with them. They loved my camera haha! Miss, Miss!!! Look at me!!! Miss Take a photo! Look what I’m doing! Haha those cutie pies! I will never forget their lovely faces! 

Cruisin' around the island 

travel blog-2.jpg

IMG_4505.jpg

Finally I’m feeling better and have a day off to cruise around the island by myself with the scooter that I’ve rented. I really needed a peaceful day just by myself. I woke up early this morning and went off to the local market downtown. On my way I stopped by Black Rock. It’s a nice look out place over the ocean, with a lot of as the name says it already black rocks. I grabbed my tripod and took some pictures at this wonderful place. 

There are a lot of street dogs at the island but they are all very kind and friendly.
During my photoshoot one of them joined me and kept me some company. 

I headed further to downtown to be on time for the market. It was pretty busy when I arrived. There were a lot of little shops with food, flowers, music and clothes. I went straight ahead to the… yeah you will properly guess it right.. to the toilet. After that I quickly went to the stage cause at 10.30 am they have live music and traditional dancing! Well I didn’t want to miss that! It was amazing! The beats were so fast and the hips of those girls moved even faster! It was really impressive! 


IMG_4522.jpg

My belly told me it was time for lunch! So I took my scooter and drove a bit looking for a nice place to have some food.

There it was!! A nice little restaurant on the side of the road that looks out over the ocean! I stopped and looked at the menu card. HHMM Thai chicken, that sound great! I ordered it and the funny part was when they served it.. I found out it was a Thai chicken PIZZA haha! It was the best surprise of the day and very delicious and tasty! 


Okay its time to continue the trip.. Helmet check, sunglasses check, scooter check! Let’s gooo…… 

Did I already told you they drive here on the left side of the road?? I have never done that before so that’s already an big adventure haha! Lucky for me they basically have just one main road, no traffic lights or whatever. So its pretty easy and a good island to learn driving on the left side. 

I really wanted to explore more of the green mountains here! I just took one of the side roads hoping to get closer! And YES! I got the right road straight away! I came close to such an amazing jungle view! And then I saw the buggy tour passing by! Oh YEAH I just gonna follow their route! It was so cool to drive on the off-road ways through dirty and mud straight through the jungle! Hoping that the scooter will survive it with all the rocks haha. YEAH the scooter and I are still alive and are having such a great time. I was a bit over excited, and lost the way back to the main road. I crossed the buggy tour again and the tour guide helped me to get back on the right track. Woehoeee this was so amazing! 


After that I drove by the Wave church. They were running a kids camp. When I arrived, the big kids went off to kill two pigs for the big church party the next day. So I hung out with the younger kids and made some nice flower bouquets, had some lovely talks on the picnic blanket, and laughed with each other.   


I continued to cruise around the island and stopped on each wonderful spot to take some nice photos. I arrived back at the YWAM base around 5 pm. Took a nice shower, grabbed some food and watched a movie at Pam’s house. It was a good and peaceful day!

Thank you Jesus for your promises! 

Devotion & prison Ministry

Devotion at the local school

Wow! It’s such an amazing day! This morning we ( Levi, a YWAM staff and I ) were asked to lead the devotion at a local school from 8-9 am. I prepared a piece about how the kids are made in Gods image. I really felt like God wanted me to share about this topic. I found the song: “Made in His Image” by Hillsong Kids. Levi told me the kids do not know this song so it would be a great opportunity to dance to it and that way they can hear the words and watch the dance. 


I was really nervous this morning! So I wanted to be there on time and called Levi to go. We only had 10 min before 8 and hadn’t even left the base yet. I took my scooter and was waiting for him next to the road. It took forever.. Suddenly I see him next to me in the car.. asking me where I was! He was waiting for me in the car! Haha So we took off both on our own vehicle to the school. 


We had a big group of kids! We started with an introduction of ourselves, the theme, sang a song and then there was the dance performance. It’s all new for the kids to see the modern/jazz dance style. It felt like they didn’t know how to respond and some started laughing a little. But I truly felt God was moving. Somewhere in the dancing I did a handstand and the whole group responded WOOOW!!!! and at the end they all gave a big applause. They really loved it. Thank you Jesus for dancing through me and to inspire these kids to dance for your glory! 


We prayed and then I shared a piece about how they are made in Gods image and even through the storms of life, God is right there to mould and form them more into His image and character and they will become like a royal prince or princes. We played a game and after that Levi shared his testimony! That was very special. I ended our time with prayer and blessed them. 


Prison Ministry

Straight after the devotion we were heading to the prison ministry.  I wanted to go there already in the first week but they thought it wouldn’t be smart to go there as a women. But today I had permission from the pastor that was leading it to join them. I was so happy and had great expectations. We were with a group of 4 men and 1 woman.


The first man that came to sit with us shared his struggle and he really wanted to give his heart to Jesus. We listened to him, gave him understanding about Gods word, His promises and truth. He prayed and surrendered all of his sin and heart in the mighty hands of Jesus. I also felt the desire in my heart to pray for him. When I started speaking, I just felt the Holy Spirit took over and spoke so many blessings over his life! It was an amazing experience! 


The second guy that came to sit with us wanted to hear Levi’s and my testimony. Levi shared about how he learned to hear Gods voice more and all the ways that God can speak. The inmate was really curious and willing to learn about that! I shared how God was right there in the lowest point of my life, took me out of it, healed me, restored me and is faithful at all times and because of God I am where I am today. His response was, “So because of God, you came out of your deepest point in life?” I was so happy to respond; “YES, Its all because of Him that I am able to shine and laugh again and do the things God promised over my life.” He was really encourage by our testimonies. 


The third guy is getting out of prison next Friday! I was so happy for him. But when I asked him if he was joyful about it, he said something that touched my heart. He said; “No, not really, I don’t have family or good friends around here. Don’t know exactly where to go. I do have a place to stay to sleep, but thats basically it.” I prayed for him that God will guide and protect Him. So that these men will continue to walk in freedom literally and spiritually.

It was such a blessing to meet these people.
To hear their stories and to see a piece of their heart.
It was precious to also share our own stories and pray for them to completely surrendering them in the arms of Jesus and pray blessing and protection over their lives. What an amazing opportunity to be a little light into their lives!

Traditional cook island women

travel blog-2.jpg

Today I went to the Rarotonga Bible School to visit some lovely ladies that are gathering together to do some sewing. They make the most incredible creations! From pillow cases to blankets with an amazing hand made print on it. These ladies welcomed me so warmly!


They all said in chorus, “Kia Orana Lizzy, welcome! Do you want some tea or a donut? Here have a seat!” Kia Orana means “hello” in the Cook Island language. Its amazing to visit them, see them working, having fun, being a blessing and to hear their stories. These are the real Cook Islanders traditional women. They wear the traditional Cook Island clothes and hats. Their dresses are stunning and bright, with lots of flowers and prints.  


I was asked to take photos of them being at work. I was so excited!
I couldn’t wait to grab my camera and capture these wonderful ladies. 
In the beginning it seemed they were a bit shy for the camera. Thats why they started to make jokes about it and everyone started laugh so loud! And that is exactly what I wanted to capture, their wonderful and honest smiles. 


See here the results of the beautiful Cook Islander powerful women!

God's promise Today 

travel blog-2.jpg

So in my previous post, I told you guys about the rough time I went through. the previous day, I just felt like giving up. I surrendered everything to God. I can’t fight this battle and try to overcome it anymore. I’m too tired, Lord you need to do it for me. Give me new rest and new strength. I follow a prophet on instagram Jolynne Whittaker and one of her post popped up on my screen. It was a video that had such a powerful message! 


She shared the following message: 

I got to release this word. It’s a “right now word” it’s an “in season word” it’s a “word you have to grab or hold on to”. Just internalise and get it in your spirit. ‘Cause the lord said that I need to tell somebody that as of right now, as of today, it’s gonna be all smooth sailing from here. The difficulties, the struggles, the battles will sail smoothly from now on, in Jesus name. The sickness, the challenges, the disappointments smooth sailing from here, In Jesus name! You have to get it in your spirit. 


I was literally crying so hard when I heard this message. My spirit was longing for rest and a smoother season. I felt hope that the time of battles has finally come to an end and things will get easier from now on! I prayed for this message to become true in my life and felt much lighter and hopeful after my prayer.


The day after I had an amazing day off and spent it by just touring around the Island with my scooter! God was so close and it was my first day of peace in a long time! I felt so happy. I will share another blog post of all the amazing things that I did that day! 

IMG_4674 2.jpg

God is sharing His love and promises to me!
He showed me this piece in my bible diary and the following bible verses. 

⇝♥⇜


God’s promise today

This is what you know for sure: Your life is good
And I help you always through the storms around you.
I will help you when it storms in the world
and I will help you when it storms inside of you.
I will lift you up above every devastating whirlwind
and self-destruction will never have the power to destroy you. 
If you are tired I will carry you in my arms. 
I will make you strong and give you a new song.
Have peace with yesterday and
fill your heart with new hope for today. 
My loved one look around! 
Look and see the spring of life. 
Everything is new, everything is fresh.
Everything is possible and it all belongs to us. 


Psalms 107:28-31 

‘Then, they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper, and the waves of the sea were hushed. They rejoiced when the waves grew quiet. Then he guided them to the harbor they longed for. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his faithful love and his wondrous works for all humanity.’

3 John 1:2 CSB

‘Dear friend, I pray that you are prospering in every way and are in good health, just as your whole life is going well.’


Thank you Lord for taking care of me! Thank you that you carry me when I can’t walk anymore. Thank you for being with me and giving me hope for the future. Thank you that you fight the battles for me. Thank you for your power and grace. 

I love you!  
— Cruisin' Lizzy

NON STOP BATTLES

Hi everyone, 

I told you guys from the beginning that my blog would be real and honest with the highs and the lows. Since last year was a year of surviving, fighting for restoration, forgiveness and overcoming. I truly believe that God wanted me to do this journey to come to rest, be a blessing in His peace, to give me new energy and wisdom for my next step of where He wants me to be, to restore even on a deeper soul level. But when I started planning my world trip other battles began. For me it was a sign of walking in my purpose. There is only one that doesn’t want me to walk in God’s promises! So I kept on going and praying for all the things that I was going through. 


IMG_4500.jpg

I went on my mission to Hawaii believing things would get lighter, easier and that I would get more in the promise of a peaceful world trip. But oh wow, it felt like there became even more battles stronger and heavier. Every time that I overcame one the next one was ready to get me down. I hoped it would stay in Hawaii but unfortunately they just followed me to the Cook Islands. 

I really didn’t understand why this pattern of non stop fighting and surviving has to be part of my world trip. Don’t get me wrong, I feel so blessed to do this trip, I feel that I’m in the right place where God wants me to be. I feel He uses my testimony, dance and photography for a higher purpose! I’m really thankful for this lifetime opportunity! I had just a different expectation of walking in my purpose when I started this journey. 


A few examples what I had to go through.


Hawaii:

  • Are the moles that has been removed dangerous? Do I need to go home for further treatment? (Thank God everything was okay! And I didn’t need to go home!)

  • Luggage gone for two weeks

  • Got painful stabbings. lots of doctors appointments, painful and uncomfortable researches, stressful waiting for test results. They still don’t know what it is.

  • High medical cost that is not getting paid back by insurance 

  • Freedom ministry was awesome but also something that cost a lot of energy and takes 30 days steps to continue in freedom. It’s also brings spiritual warfare with it.

  • Flight to cooks was cancelled. Lucky it was quite easily fixed! 

Cook island: 

  • got really ill after 3 days. Almost two weeks in bed. Couldn’t do anything but running to the toilet. Feeling much better now but still not completely healed.

  • Still got the pain at times that started in Hawaii. 

  • Lots of cockroaches here. One was in my bed and freaked me out. Couldn’t sleep the whole night. Have a mosquito net now for protection. Hopefully that helps! 

  • Didn’t have my own transportation the first 3 weeks of my stay. 

  • Cook islands is really expensive! My budget goes fast. 

  • I lost my GoPro in the sea and all the footage that I shot here on the island! Including the awesome videos of the kids from the local school. 

  • My canon camera charger doesn’t work anymore. Have nothing to charge my batteries. I’m almost out of power.

  • Canon camera got issues again. Doesn’t work properly.

So this is a small list of my battles. It cost a lot of energy to fight them daily. That’s because I feel attacked on a physical level, a mental level but also a material level. I asked God so many times to make it stop and to take it away. I don’t feel like i have the energy to fight even longer. I put on the armour of God everyday but it still feels some days are too heavy. 



I called with Wieke, one of my lovely friends from the girl’s connect back home! She prayed for me and encouraged me with this text!

IMG_4489.jpg

How can you know that God will always help you?
Because you are His royal child.
He has clothed you with royalty.
You are born of Him, who is the great King.
To Him, you are the most precious treasure there is.

He has His eye on you.
He has a royal plan with you.
First He heals and restores your soul, with His love.
Restoration and cleansing is the first step.
Showing you His love.
Forgiving your past and clothing you with
a new worth and identity.

This is a deep process where He leads you to let go of the past and move into the new with Him. The transformation of who you are.
Being born again from His Spirit. Then He will work on your character, to become like He is: righteous, honest, gracious, pure and loving.

He trains you in the circumstances of life, to mold you into His image of love and purity. His goal is to raise you as a ROYAL PRINCE OR PRINCESS, so you will be able to reign with Him.

There are no shortcuts. No easy routes. No quick solutions.
In the fire and the deep waters He shows you His love so you
would learn to trust Him and not lean on your own strength.

Only when your own strength and pride is broken and you fully depend on His Spirit, will His glory become manifest through you. See the trials and troubles as a royal academy of preparation for your royal destiny.

He will never leave you, but He is close by your side.
This is one of the main realities He wants to reveal to you,
through the trials: I am with you!

The more you trust His presence and you live from His presence, the more His glory will flow through you. His goal is not to get you to heaven. His goal is to get heaven inside of you! So heaven can be manifested through you, on the earth.

Gold is refined in the fire. If you are in the fire, it means you are gold. Allow the purification. Learn what He wants to teach you.
Admit and stop wrong behaviour.

Then you come out as pure, shining gold, radiating His glory.


By reading this everything falls into place! It gives me more peace about why these things are happening And that it all will work for my good. It still isn’t easy but I want to succeed and preservere. I asked God multiple times to form and mold me during my trip. i Didn’t know all of this would be coming to fulfill that prayer so be careful what you pray for, haha. I can’t wait to come out of Gold and to trust God in each area of my life. I want to be a truthful follower with my foundation deeply rooted in god.

It’s an adventurous process with ups and downs!
It’s gonna be a bumpy ride, but He is right there on my side!

♡ I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! ♡
— Cruisin' lizzy

First impression YWAM Cooks

Here we go! Heading to my next location the Cook Islands! It al started early in the morning at 4pm. John, one of the awesome kokua crew members, took me to the airport in Kona, Hawaii. When I wanted to check in they told me my flight is cancelled.. OOHH Noooo.. What do you mean canceled? They came with another offer that I lucky liked way more! They will book me over to another company and I will fly at 1 pm to Los Angels and then get on the same connection as I had booked before to the Cook Islands! In stead of flying 20 hours it took me now 14 hours! Whoohoo! 

I went back to the Kona YWAM Base to sleep and rest a bit more and in the afternoon John brought me again to the airport. This time everything went smooth! I got on my flight right in time ready for my next adventure! At Rarotonga Cook Islands airport I met the lovely lady Pam! She told me I am the only volunteer at the moment. 

They came to the Cook Islands two months ago to take care of the YWAM Base. I will be part of their family for the next six weeks. They have 3 kids! Rebecca 12 years old, Joshua 15 years old and Rachel 19 years old! It’s nice to have them around! Rachel love to dance just like me! Can’t wait to have dance parties with her here on the base. 

When I arrived at the base I was just amazed by the wonderful nature around it! It lays between the mountains, palm trees and in front of the base there is the most amazing white sand beach! I’m sleeping in a dorm room by myself for now. Next week some kids come over for a mission trip and I will share the room then with them.

I already noticed that things around here goes way different then I was used to in Hawaii. Here we take everyday as it comes and let God guide us in what we can do each day. We have morning devotions around 8/8.30 am. I already love this time! God is so close and its nice to have deep conversations and prayers with a small crew.  

After that, I help out on the base. A lot of things need to be cleaned or organised and I help in the kitchen with cooking. I am also curious about getting to know the traditional woman from the island. I would love to take photos of them and encourage them with it. I will also be organising a kids holiday program here on the base and I will teach dance to the kids on the local school every Tuesday and Thursday. They gonna have a big performance on the 11th of october during the youth rely.

I’m Looking forward to all the things that the Lord will provide during my stay here. Can't wait to see where he wants me to serve, help out and be a blessing for this island.