The Surf Report #43: Europe Conference, South Africa, Tahiti WOW Premiere, CS Argentina

Chaplaincy - Highlights from Bells to the Maldives Abe Andrews reports slow but steady acceptance from the guys and Billabong included him as part of their staff team in Tahiti. Liselle reports that the women's tour is so much more closed and harder to crack. She persevered in the Australian events and now has a massive 5-month break. Brad Whittaker opted for shared accommodation in the Maldives event and was randomly picked to stay with eventual winner Owen Wright and his father, amazing Godincidence! Andy Pitt, Africa Chaplain, attended an O'Neill event before making it to the Mr Price Pro then J-Bay. An application for a Japanese regional chaplain has been received, which could be the first sports chaplain in their nation. CS Australia sent six leaders to a chaplaincy training course readying themselves for future chaplaincy in the amateur ranks. Regional chaplains are still being sought for Australasia, South America and Europe. Contact your CSI Regional Coordinator for more information. Contact us if you wish to join a chaplain's support team. Click here and note 'Chapliancy' in the comments to donate to chaplaincy to help Liz and Abe pioneer this new work. Son Surf South Africa After some decline in national missions in Son Surf South Africa over the last while, new national coordinator Richard 'Snoek' Leaonard is stoked to report they have doubled their missions to 18 this year and last month's conference went off! A new surfer friendly gospel presentation on DVD is currently being produced. The J-Bay office has relocated to a better building and two pioneering interns are serving well. Tahiti WOW Premiere Kevin Hemingway felt frustration at not being able to premiere the new Walking on Water film during the Billabong main event at Teahupoo. Seemed God had other plans and a last minute programming change enabled him to see the film shown to his entire nation on the week following the event on prime time TV! Pacific Regional Coordinator Alan Vink and Brett Davis had the opportunity to present Kevin with a belated 10-year service award during a visit in May. CS Argentina Maddie reports that CS Argentina had their first meeting in April, a surf camp. Two guys were invited by someone they barely knew and they're stoked to report that both became Christians! Maddie says "We were mostly gathered from two different spots in Argentina and the two guys showed up because God had something for them that weekend. We're happy to see how everything moves forward as we let God act in this newly emerging CS affiliate nation." Surfistas De Cristo - Venezuela Surfistas de Cristo (CS Venezuela) will be hosting a large outreach in conjunction with two local churches in July. Titled the 'Beach Kids Games' national leader Luis Gutierrz would appreciate prayer for the event to run well and lives to be touched. Walking on Water With structural changes, WOW are partnering with CS to roll out a world tour premiering their new film in Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. Very exciting for local CS missions to be able to host their own premieres with WOW support. Reversal Surf E-Magazine Bobby Schutz and his partner on Kauai have done an awesome job putting together a brand new e-magazine entitled Reversal Surf, along with this they have also produced a Gospel of John. Check them out and spread them around! Europe Conference 37 leaders and contacts from 10 nations met in Biarritz in June to discuss the best strategies to reach the booming European surfing community. These included two from Sweden, one from Switzerland and a host of others. Phil Williams is stoked to introduce Shane Sparks as our new European Field Worker, volunteering his time with Pioneers over the next two years. Spanish Surfers Bible The Spanish Surfers Bible is in the print line with Bible Society Brazil. A launch is hoped for in El Salvador at our Americas Conference July 24. We have 5000 Bibles and hope to distribute these at the ISA games and others soon. Contact your national leader or email us for details. Big thanks to Aldo and Peru team, United Bible Society and Gymea Baptist Church for funding and Aaron in the CSI office. To assist in the distribution of these Bibles, consider donating a box to a vital surf event - $200 for box of 40. Click here to donate. CSI Office Phone The CS International office no longer has a landline. To get in contact you can either email info@christiansurfers.net or call Operations Manager Aaron Hughes on +61 4 0367 2452.

Men's Surfing World Tour Chaplain: Teahupoo Praise Update‏

By: Abe Andrews

Dear Friends,

First and foremost, Thank you to everyone that was praying for injured work crew guy (BM)! He was unable to walk yesterday after tweaking his back hopping of the Jet Ski.

He literally collapsed on the wharf and was bed stricken all last night. This morning we had to lift him to take him to the toilet and he was still in heaps of pain and couldn't even sit down.

The Point Sunrise

The Pad

We decided to walk him around with myself and another Billabong staff member supporting his weight to see if it would help. As I walked with him I was silently praying and within minutes he started gaining his strength back.

The Goods Boards

Takeoff

Slab

He was then able to sit at the table and eat some breakfast fully unassisted. By this afternoon he was walking again.

Shark fin

Pretty panorama

Post heat interviews

Panorama Road

How Awesome! Praise the Lord for such a speedy recovery. I told him how everyone was praying for him and he was so stoked (this guy is not a Christian or anything).

Continue to lift him up in your prayers and thank you for your diligence in this; it is comforting to know there are a heap of people who are keen to lift up others in prayer.

Outside Peaks

Secondly, today was the end of round 2 and the start of round 3 for the Billabong Pro Tahiti. The conditions had finally improved enough for the contest to go ahead after many lay days.

Make it

Local Wildlife

Jezza in his elment

Chandiliers

I spent the day with some surfers caddying and supporting them in whatever they needed before their heats. It was awesome that a few of the guys I was with got through their heats.

Bowl

Boat chaos

Beasty

Bobby and Taj Burrow

Bobby Winner!

Bobby Stoked !

I was able to share some productive conversations with some of the surfers and my role is becoming more established amongst the top 45. We will hopefully finish the contest tomorrow and then it will be a month till the next event in Brazil.

Please continue to pray for myself as this contest draws to a close and thank you so much for supporting Lize and I over the past few weeks.

Thank you and God Bless


Abe Andrews

Men's Surfing World Tour Chaplain -
ASP (Association of Surfing Professionals)
Mission Coordinator - Gold Coast Christian Surfers



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