The End

My time in New Zealand is coming to an end, and I have many mixed feelings about it. I’ve been on two more weekend trips since my last post—one to Cathedral Cove again, and one out to the Napier area—and I’m now on my second ministry week. For this week, I’m up in the Beachlands and Maraetai area near Auckland. We’re doing a kids afterschool program, Bible in Schools, helping with services, community service, and more. Basically we’re showing God’s love to the people around us.

Anyway, back to the subject of going home…I absolutely love it here. I’m learning and learning and growing and growing, and I don’t want it to stop! Not that it has to when I go home, but it won’t be as prevalent. And the people I’ve met here? Wow, I’m going to miss them! Yes, I’m excited to see my family and my friends from home, but it’s definitely bittersweet—especially concerning some people here…

Well, I’ve got about ten thousand pictures to show all of you when I get home! Just kidding. I’ll go through them and only pick out the good ones. :) Home time in two and a half weeks. I can’t believe it’s been five months….

Eventfulness...

Wow, this past weekend has been eventful! First, I found out that Dan, one of the guys who came on our trip to the Far North last term, was going home Tuesday. The five of us who went on that trip decided we had to go on another one this weekend before he went home. So Friday night after we all got back from our various youth groups, Mark, Janessa, me, Dan, and Matt headed to the beach. We stopped at some glow worm caves on the way and went on a midnight hike through the caves. It was amazing! Glow worms look like bluish stars.

When we got to our camp spot, it was about 2:00 AM, so we set up our tents in a picnic area and went to sleep. The next morning, we all went for a walk down Marokopa Beach, which was absolutely beautiful. The sand was black, and there were cliffs and hills and rocks. Wow, it was nice. And the tide was coming in, so we kind of got trapped and a little wet on the way back.

Next, we headed to Marokopa Falls, which we’d been to on two-week break, but Dan hadn’t been there before. It was raining though, so we didn’t stay long. Then we headed to Kawhia Beach, which is the hot water one I went to one my first family night here in NZ. Mark stayed in the car because I guess the plan was to only stay for like twenty minutes. We had a birthday party to get to that night still. So the other four of us headed to the beach. I should mention that Janessa and Dan started dating about three weeks prior to this trip, so they of course went on a walk by themselves, and Matt and I hung out.

Well, twenty minutes turned into an hour and twenty minutes. Mark didn’t notice because he fell asleep in the car. It was a really great time, and that beach is beautiful. One of my favourites I’ve been to in NZ for sure.

Anyway, we headed back to Hamilton for Ewen’s birthday party, which was a medieval dress up party (that was awesome). We ate food and then had a dance party. :) Janessa and Dan left part way through to talk outside. They’re both pretty quiet people, so it made sense. Matt and I were both extremely tired from staying up so late the night before, so after a while, we just sat on the stage and talked.

All right, here comes the crazy part. We got back to Capernwray about 10:00 (curfew is at 10:30), and Matt and I went for a walk. I should let you know now that I’d liked him for a while, and we’d been hanging out a lot more often lately, and I was going to tell him I liked him because it was obvious to about everyone but us that the feeling was mutual. Anyway, I was about to say something, but he brought it up just before I did. We talked, and…well, I have a boyfriend. :D He’s from Colorado, going to school in New York in the fall. I know it’s going to be difficult, but if Jesus stays in the center of it all, we’ll see what happens.

As for lectures this last week, the director of the South Island Capernwray (The Crossing) and his intern were teaching about the Progress of Redemption. Basically, we went through the entire Bible and saw from start to finish what God’s plan for saving us is.

Thank you all again for your prayers.

Update

Wow, I haven’t written on here in a long time! A lot has happened since my last entry. Ministry week was awesome. I absolutely loved it. My billets were cool, even though they lived 40 minutes outside the city we were working in. We did a lot of driving. Ended up in a ditch at one point. ;) If you want to hear about that one, ask me sometime.

Shortly after ministry week, we headed out on two week break, which was actually 18 days. That was absolutely amazing! I have to say, I was slightly worried about it at first because there were 13 of us in our group (we took a van and a car), and it’s hard to coordinate that many people. The first night camping pretty much sucked. We did a lot of arguing and getting annoyed with each other. But the next morning we prayed together, especially for unity in our group. And guess what? It happened! Things just got better and better after that prayer. The weather too. We had absolutely gorgeous whether the entire time. I mean, it was cold sleeping in tents and we had frost in the morning a couple times, but every time it rained super hard, we just happened to be staying with someone in a house! God is good!!

Hopefully you’ve seen my three albums of pictures on Facebook, but basically the gist of our trip was driving a lot, seeing lots of sights, bungy-jumping :D, and all sorts of other things. It was so much fun, and I got to know everyone so much better.

As soon as second term started, wow we had a lot of assignments. Bible studies to write, oral reports, study papers, organizing a big youth event called Breakthrough. It's crazy! I'd appreciate it if you'd pray for my stress levels. ;)

As for what I’ve been learning…well, I don’t know if I can even explain it. I feel as if I hadn’t grown at all last term, and now that second term is started, I’m just learning and growing like crazy! Simple truths that I always thought I understood have jumped out at me in new ways. Questions I didn’t struggle with before are coming up and confusing me like crazy. I wish I had a profound thought to share with you all, but I don’t. Well, except one...

It’s not about us. It’s about Jesus.

Ministry Week

Last week was ministry week at Capernwray. Basically, it's like a local short term missions trip. My group went to a church called Calvary Chapel in Hamilton. The church was based out of a school because they didn't have a building. Their denomination teaches straight from the Bible all the time, passage by passage, which I thought was pretty cool.

Anyway, our group did a lot with the church. We went to the service Sunday, church scavenger hunt picnic that afternoon, led worship at the prayer meeting Monday, led a homegroup on Wednesday, youth group on Thursday, street evangelism on Friday, another picnic on Saturday, and took the whole church service the next Sunday.

Besides the church, we worked with the school. It was about age 5 to 12ish. We were split into groups at lunchtimes and led optional activities for the kids. I helped with drama games. It was crazy because the kids were crazy, but it was really fun. And the kids really enjoyed it. :)

We also did community service type stuff during the mornings and afternoons. The first day, we dropped off letters in people's mail boxes, then the next day we knocked on people's doors to see if they wanted any help with anything such as housework or yardwork. We got a few jobs to do, and I think the people we helped were really thankful for it. The point of that was just to show Jesus' love to people through helping them out with practical work.

Some of the most challenging things for me on ministry week were sharing my testimony and street evangelism. I did my testimony at the youth group and...well, let's just say I felt I had to be open with them, and it was hard. But I'm glad I did it. And street evangelism was just something I've never done before. We went on in partners and had a youth culture survey to get people to fill out. There were a couple questions in it to start conversations about God. The hardest thing was actually walking up to someone and starting to talk to them. But I think we genuinely got some people to think about God more carefully and seriously. And maybe to ask more questions.

Okay, now a funny story. Sunday night, the first Sunday, a bunch of us went out for supper for one girl's birthday. On the way home, we dropped off a couple people at their billets. But it as dark and we couldn't find the next one. So we're driving around in the country (four girls in a van) in the dark, passed the house, turned around...passed it again. Then we tried turning around on this random side road. Not a good plan. Our wheels got stuck in a ditch and we absolutely could not get that van out. After probably 15 minutes of trying to get out and failing miserably, we called the pastor of the church we were helping out (also my billet) to come tow us out. He laughed. 45 minutes later, we're out of the ditch. It was hilarious and quite a good story to tell later.

Anyway, that's all for now. I've just left for two week break. Might get to a computer again. We'll see. Heading to the South Island!! :D

The Far North

Last Thursday, the guys at school all put on a girls’ night for us. It was super awesome. We all got dressed up and met in the seminar room. Then one by one the guys each came up to the room and escorted a girl. Basically it was just whichever was closest. At least for most people. We walked through the garden in partners and got pictures taken, which was kind of awkward but kind of cool. Then we ended up on the porch of the homestead. It seriously looked as if we were at a wedding or a grad banquet. The setting was beautiful. The food and dessert was great, and the guys served us all evening. Really great. Really cute. :)

Friday, I went on another weekend trip. Five of us—me, Janessa, Mark, Dan, and Matt—took Mark’s car and drove up to the Far North. The first night, we left about 10:30pm and reached the Bay of Islands at 4:00am. We set up our tents in a random lot on a hill and slept till 8:00. Then we went to a bakery for breakfast and headed off to Ninety-Mile Beach. We drove around there for a while. It was super fun! And we attempted skim-boarding but failed miserably.

After that, we went to some huge sand dunes that were 200 feet tall and so steep! We rented a board (sort of like a boogy-board) and sledded down the dunes. It was so fun! We got very, very sandy. Then we went to a beach and went swimming…tried to wash the sand off…failed. Then we had macaroni and creamy tomato mozzarella sauce—well, what Mark didn’t end up wearing. Check out the pictures on Facebook.

Then we headed to Cape Reinga, which is the north point. Oh my goodness, it was amazing! We stood on a huge cliff and looked out at the ocean, and there was nothing there. It was so cool! Again, look at pictures.

We drove to the Karikari Peninsula after that and set up our tents near a beach. Slept till 8:00 again, then headed home. It would have only taken us seven hours to get back to school, but we got caught in construction/accident traffic in Auckland for two hours. Anyway, great trip. So fun! Can’t wait for two week break!

Next week is ministry week. We’re split into teams of around ten each and spread all over the North Island. My group is in Hamilton at a church called Calvary Chapel. They’re based out of a school because they don’t have a church building. We’re leading a couple church services, hanging out with school kids at lunch times and doing activities with them—basketball, soccer, drama games, crafts. I’m involved in the drama stuff. We’re also doing community service stuff where we’re just going to go to people’s houses and ask if they need anything done. Like gardening, car washing, vacuuming, that sort of thing. Friday we’re doing street ministry. I’m kind of nervous about that, but it should be a good experience. Anyway, I could use a lot of prayer for that week. It’s going to be stretching. And pray for the people we’re going to meet, just that we’d be able to show Jesus’ love to them.

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate your prayers! :)

Wow...

Last weekend was absolutely amazing! Seriously one of the best weekends I’ve ever had. Ten of us took two cars and drove up north Friday night for the weekend. We stayed at one girl’s (Mel’s) house in Paeroa the first night. Then Saturday we headed up to the Coromandel Peninsula to Cathedral Cove (Narnia :)). That was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. We climbed over some rocks and went swimming at a beach where there were no people. Cathedral Cove was pretty busy. However, when we got back to our stuff, the seagulls had taken our loaf of bread out of the grocery bag, out of the bread bag, and eaten all of it. No lunch for us. Later we walked to a cave, looked around in there, swam to another cave, went in there. After that, we hiked back to the cars (it was about a half hour walk to the beach), and went to Hot Water Beach. Basically, it’s the same idea as the other beach I wrote about, except that the water was so hot that we couldn’t even stand in it. That is, once we could actually get to the water. We accidentally went at high tide instead of low, so we had to wait around till 10:00 at night to get to the hot water. But it was fun. We made spaghetti for supper…it didn’t end up getting cooked all the way, but whatever. It was still good. After supper, we went for a walk to some rocks and climbed on them. Yes, we did a lot of that. Then we went back to our picnic table and sang worship songs. That was fun. Finally, when 9:30 rolled around, we found the hot water…boiling, scalding water…and dug a little hole. It wasn’t really big enough so we ended up having a sand fight.

That night, we set up tents in an unfinished neighbourhood with only streets and grass. I slept really well.

The next morning, we got up and went to a town called Whitianga to eat breakfast. Well, we parked ourselves at a beach, but that was short lived. A police officer drove up to us and told us we had to leave because there was a tsunami warning. So we went to a café and bought muffins instead. Then we went to Mel’s friend’s house and hung out there for a bit. They were super nice, and their house was amazing! I don’t think I’ve ever been in a house with a better view than that.

After we left, we headed to Wairere Falls. The hike was only about half an hour, but it was all uphill. It was fun though. And the falls were beautiful. We got back to Capernwray about 3:30 that afternoon. What an amazing weekend!

Monday was Quiet Day. Basically, we had worship in the morning, we made a packed lunch, and we headed off by ourselves to be quiet and spend time alone with God. It was really cool. I took a blanket and sat in the garden most of the day. It was a really great day.

This week we had lectures on apologetics. We learned so much about how science and archaeology confirm what the Bible says.

Yesterday, me and two guys who lead youth group together went to a special creek before we had to go to youth. The water is special because it’s been underground for a hundred years. It’s really blue because it is so pure and clean. And it’s so cold! Oh my goodness it’s cold! We swam down the river and absolutely froze, but it was worth it.

Well, that’s all for now.

Praying Trees

Yesterday at Sunday fellowship in the evening, we did something really cool. At least, I thought it was pretty neat. There are a lot of trees on campus here. Some are native to NZ, but there are also a lot of them that are from other countries. Basically, we got into small groups and then went around the campus to different trees on a map we got and prayed for the country that specific tree was from. We prayed for the believers, the missionaries, the unbelievers, the governments. We spent a couple minutes at each tree, and it was so cool. We all learned a lot, and I figure, each country got about a half hour of prayer all together. Remember to pray for our fellow Christians in countries around the world who aren’t free to worship as we are.

God makes me laugh

I’ve been planning since I got here to get up in the mornings and do a quiet time of reading my Bible and praying, but it’s just so easy to hit snooze on the alarm. You know how it is. Well, there was a lady named Elizabeth Thomas who gave a couple lectures on quiet time with God and prayer, and it really made me want to do this even more. That evening, I asked God to give me motivation in the morning to get out of bed and go do my quiet time. Then I realized that could come in the form of a bug in my bed or something like that, so I took it back. Yeah, I know. Whatever. In the morning, I got up and went outside to spend some time with God—just me and him. And it was amazing. So glad I did it! Halfway through my quiet time, I remembered what I’d asked for the night before. Motivation.

That morning when my alarm (my cell phone) went off, I grabbed for it, and it fell off the shelf onto my bed. Then I grabbed for it again and it fell to the floor. When I realized that this had been my motivation for getting up in the morning, I laughed. God can be so amusing! Anyway, just thought I’d share that because it really impacted me.

Hot tubs and hermeneutics

I had one of the most amazing natural experiences of my life on Thursday! So at Capernwray, we’re placed in family groups that we do stuff with once or twice a week. As a kick-off, my group went to a beach near a town called Kawhia. It was about an hour and a half drive from school. We ate fish and chips first, which was yummy. Anyway, then we headed to the beach, but this wasn’t any normal beach. It had black sand, and there was something special that happened as the tide was going out. Can anyone guess what it is? That’s right (or wrong, depending on what you said)! There were hot springs under the sand, so if you dug a hold in the right spot, it would fill with hot water! We dug a natural hot tub! It was about a foot and a half deep in the middle and around seven feet in diameter. Basically, we ran back and forth from the hot tub to the ocean and watched the sunset. It was amazing! I have lots of awesome pictures I just put on facebook, so go look at them!

On Sunday, I went to the Salvation Army church. That was an experience. About thirty people, and totally unorganized. But it was really focused on evangelism. And everyone was really nice. The sermon was like five minutes. And the music was kind of…well, everyone sang their heart out whether they were on key or not, which I thought was really cool. So yeah, that will be interesting. We’re going to the same churches for the whole time we’re here.

Oooo! And we got to pick a seminar we’re going to do for the whole term today—out of four. I’m doing hermeneutics. If you don’t know what that is, look it up! I’ll write more when I can. :)

End of Vacation

I love NZ! It’s so beautiful here! Okay, so it rained a lot in the past two days, but that’s okay. It was still warm. We went to Mission Bay yesterday. It was nice, but just normal. Nothing special about it. We collected a lot of sea shells, and Janessa and I hiked up a mountain and found a memorial. That was cool. There was a great view from the top. I broke my flipflop, which sucked. That evening, we hung out at the hostel and played Dutch Blitz and Cheat. Fun times!

Today, we went to Long Bay. It was farther away, but it was so much more fun and beautiful! I finally found some cheap flipflops at a mall before we left. They were $2.50! Yay! Anyway, after the slow hour long bus ride, we made it to Long Bay Regional Park. We walked along the beach and over the rocks and took lots and lots of pictures. Then we hiked up the mountain and took pictures up there too! There were lots of parasurfers (no idea if that’s what they’re called) at the beach. That looks like so much fun, but I couldn’t do it. Too much skill involved. ;)

This evening, we were going to go to a Thai restaurant, but it was closed because it was a holiday here today. Some anniversary thing. So we ended up going to a Greek restaurant, which was really yummy. Then we came back here and packed up. We’re leaving for school tomorrow morning! Can’t wait!

Well, I’m finished in Australia. Went to see the fireworks on Australia Day, saw some more kangaroos, went shopping in Ballarat again, got a delicious dessert called a vanilla slice, went to the University of Melbourne with Imogen for her academic advice day. It was so hard to say goodbye. I had so much fun in Australia!

As for right now, I’m finally in NZ! And it really is the land of the kiwi. Everything has a kiwi bird on it! The hostel is really nice. And clean. That’s a bonus. We did a lot of walking today. Went downtown—to one of them anyway. Bought a few things. Went grocery shopping. Tomorrow we’re planning to go to the beach, provided we can figure out the bus system. Pray for us! I’ll post pictures on facebook as soon as I can. Off to school in a couple days!

Melbourne and the ocean!

The past two days have been awesome! Yesterday, Ebony and Imogen and I went to Melbourne. We took the train, which was totally cool! I wish we had a train to ride in Saskatchewan. It was so fast!

In Melbourne, we went to this adorable market called Vic Market where there were all these little shops and food. I bought a scarf and some kangaroo earrings (yes, I know, such a tourist! haha). Then we went to the art gallery, ate lunch, and saw some really old European paintings.

There was one painting I just couldn't get over--in the modern art section... Oh my goodness, it was, well, to say the best of it, unimpressive. It was just...paint. Red and orange and blue and purple and green and yellow spread over the canvas--and the frame--in no order or shape or anything! Not even a special texture! And some of the colours were overlapping, and it just looked terrible! I could have painted it with my eyes closed.

Then we went to a restaurant called Koko Black. It was a chocolate restaurant, and we had a drink called an iced chocolate. It had milk and chocolate and icecream and I don't know what else in it, but it was sooooo good! After that we went to a department store called Myer that was seven floors! That was a bit of an adventure trying to find what we wanted.

That evening, Imogen let me drive. That was totally weird, driving on the left side of the road on the right side of the vehicle...I kept turning the windshield wipers on when I wanted to signal. But an interesting experience. And now I can say I've done it!

Today, Imogen and I went to the ocean. We drove to Geelong and got lost there. When we finally found the Great Ocean Road, we went to a beach and went boogie-boarding, which was totally awesome! The water was surprisingly warm too. But yeah, we rode the waves, and I got salt water in my mouth and my nose lots. Got tumbled around under a big wave at one point. Kind of scary.

After we'd finished at that beach, we kept driving and found a fish 'n' chips shop. Besides the fish and chips, we had calamari rings...yeah, that's octopus tenticles. So gross! Well, actually, they didn't taste that bad except for the texture was slimy and rubbery.

We went to a lighthouse and to another beach. Got some more pictures. Then we went home. It was a great day.

Oh, and I found my new favourite chocolate bar ever! White chocolate KitKat. Mmmmmm :)

I also have a prayer request. I think I might be catching a cold, so if you could pray for me not to, that would be great.

Just an update

Well, I've been in Australia two days now, and it's been amazing so far! The flights over went okay...long, but okay. I didn't end up sitting beside anyone who was extremely loud, or smelly, or fat, or anything like that. ;) Watched some movies. By the way, Coraline is definitely worth seeing.

Something really amazing on the thirteen hour flight was that I flew from the northern hemisphere to the southern. It was dark the whole time, and the constalations changed. That wasn't even the coolest part though. It was that I got to see the world from God's point of view. That's how I see flying on a plane. It was amazing to see the stars that way. Silence on the airplane, staring out the window at a billion stars at the same level as me. I could have been on a space shuttle! It was absolutely stunning.

As for all the security and customs stuff, I got stopped at security in Saskatoon and in Auckland. Random explosive tests both times. I don't know, I guess my carry-on looked like a bomb. :P However, I got through customs fine. The baggage check took forever, especially since the guy who asked me if I had "anything to declare" (like fruits or vegetables or meat or drugs or whatever) kept the paper I'd filled out and didn't give it back. Supposedly I needed it later on. Go figure. The guy who was going to check my suitcases was super nice though and went to find the form for me. He was gone for like ten minutes, and I got so worried that he wouldn't find it or whatever. Eventually he came back...without the card. I was like, oh crap. And then he just said, you're done. Go ahead. I was sooooo relieved! Thank you, God!

I'm in Ballarat right now, a small town about an hour and a half from Melbourne. It's so cute. Lots of historical buildings and stuff. I'm staying with friends on the outskirts of the town, so I ended up seeing some kangaroos yesterday in the backyard! That was so cool! Definitely a highlight already.

Oh, and I got sunburn today. Just thought I'd mention that for all you Saskatchewanians in the cold back home. Supposed to be thirty degrees tomorrow. ;)