Aiming in New Zealand

December

2006-12-11T19:21:00.000-08:00

it definately does NOT feel like December right now.

i just got back from the beach with a couple of the youth group kids! it was amazing. nights here are beautiful in the summer as well.
a few adventures that i've got to go on lately:

for Ashlyns 21st birthday a couple weeks ago, we went on a boat, and were catered by a french chef all day. follwed by a lunchtime swim in the ocean, kiyaking and snorkling. We had planned to go swimming with dolphins as well but we hadn't seen any, until on the way back to the shore we saw a pod of over 200 dolphins swimming next to our boat. we didn't get to get out and go swimming with them, because there were babies, and apparently that's against rules. but just seeing them was amazing. plus i was so tired i probably would have drowned getting in the water again.
that day was truly amazing.

aslo this month i've been on adventures with so many of my new friends i've met here, just exploring the beach, swimming in the ocean, going starfish hunting, and discovering that sea slugs are the most disgusting thing i can think of at this point in time, also discovering that sea crabs make me squeel like a little girl, and i dont think i've ever been such a big baby about anything in my life. i am most definately deathly afraid of those things. they're fast. they're like spiders, but bigger, and with pinchers. it's like death on legs. rediculously scary.

as far as work goes, bible studies are getting so intense right now. they're getting pretty challenging for me. but somehow God's putting the right words in my mouth. my friend DAn has started studying with one of my coordinators; Chris. which is really awesome. and just last week two of my friends got baptised on the west coast beach in Raglan. one boy named peter, that i've been doing internet studies with about baptism since about this time last year, when i first discovered i was coming, and the other was my friend Angie, who i've been studying with off and on since i got here.

We had our last bible in schools last friday. we had a huge christmas party to celebrate. the fruit from that is amazing. i remember our first bible in schools session we started out with 6 kids coming. and the last few weeks we've had everywehre from 30-40 kids come. this last one there was 57 kids that were in our class. The Greerton Primary School headmaster said that we literally saved bible in schools in that particular school.

ah. it gives me goosebumps.
currently we're just finishing up the year with a bang!
kids are getting ready to go on holiday in two weeks (as well as we aimers) and so we're having an end of the year party with the teens and young adults next saturday. complete with christmas caroling! (how akward that will be in the hot hot sun)

for christmas holiday i'll just be traveling with a friend.
i'm going to wellington for christmas, and then the south island; christchurch, and to a lakehouse in queenstown for new years.
it'll be good for a break and just time to lay around and relax, but right when we get back we jump right into planning and getting things organized.
in january right after we get back we have a camp for the intermediate kids (middle school age) then we're taking the youth group to a christian music festival called parachute, for the weekend.

i'm so excited!

Thank you guys so much for checking in so often and the emails are wonderful! and thank you again so much for all the support you're giving in making all of these awesome experiences possible for me. it's definately not something everybody can experience and i pray for you all every day and Thank God for you and your generous hearts.
can't wait to hear back from all of you!

i love you so much and i miss you.
have a beautiful holiday in all the snow.

Spring Break

2006-10-13T01:17:00.000-07:00

so it was just spring break here in good ole new zealand. :)
all the kids were out of school for a few weeks which was good sometimes and bad some other times.. nearly everybody from our church went away for holidays .. because crazy as it sounds.. Kiwis actually DO things on their holidays rather than .. stay home and clean house (cough mom cough) :) just kidding.
not only that, but since it's holidays bible in schools, and kids club weren't on. so pretty much when the kids are out of school EVERYTHING slows down. which was nice.. but felt like I was on holiday too. it was hard to find things to do. LUCKILY.. i managed to find some kids to hang out with and even had a good friend come and visit from the South Island.
I got to go to a huge concert in Auckland last week with a few friends. It was so much fun. one of my favorite bands, "underOATH" played. they were amazing, and i got so excited when they started talking about God.
Things have picked back up now, Bible in schools started again today. it's amazing how much our class has grown. the first week there were only 6 kids i think? today we had 27!! and they just keep bringing friends, and their friends keep coming back and bringing THEIR friends.
Its hard sometimes for Ashlyn and I to keep control of the class but we're currently looking for another helper.
:) Today we had an argument with a little boy about who made the kiwi fruit...
it was God vs. the supermarket.
:) we finally won.

last week we went with some of our coordinators to a place called "the corimandle" it was so awesome. so beautiful.. we had a picnic on the beach and then got to go to a place called "hot water beach". you take your shovel to this beach and you can walk around on the sand when it's low tide, and dig around and find "hot spots".. where the earth naturally heats up the water. like a geyser. but you just dig for ages until water starts coming up and you can make your own little hot tub by building a wall up with sand around where you're digging. It was pretty much the coolest thing i've ever seen. God is so awesome to have thought to creat something like that.

so here's some pictures from that day. :)

this is us at Cathedral Cove.

:( i'm a slacker

2006-09-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

yes. it's true. i've been slacking a bit in the "keeping in touch" department.
but - with good reason. my computer is currently down. i'm saving up at the moment to buy a new battery. but until then, i'll have to deal with pirating my flatmate, Veronica's, computer.
and she's off taking a brazilian dance fighting lesson for a couple hours so i'm taking advantage of that time!

i'm not kidding.
she's really taking a brazilian dance-fighting course.
impressive yes?

everyone thank Todd for getting me back into the blogging mode.
i had forgotten the password to my previous one so i haven't updated since i've beenhere.
again. quite slack of me.

well- for an update on things:

as far as work goes:
wow. we've really dove in. i've only been here three months but it's already starting to feel like home. i've made AMAZING friends here. inside and outside of the church. and that in itself really qualifies itself as "work".
Sunday and Monday are my days off. so i get to do my own thing then. which usually ends up being taking walks around the neighborhood to the park just down from my house and taking naps in the sun, or going to the waterfall just a 10 min. drive from my house. and sitting and journaling or reading my bible. or sometimes i'll just walk around town and kids driving by will yell out the window "emo" or "town fag" depending on if it's a townie driving by or an "emo" kid. it's quite funny actually. I've found the train bridge and a green tea frappacino from starbucks to be a new favoite though.
Tuesday mornings i meet with my coordinators and we have a bible study, sing some, and go over what we did last week, and people in the church that need to be visited in the near future. then we routinely go for morning tea. (which most kiwis have- just like a meal.. breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner(which they call "tea" sometimes) and supper (which.. is really like a cup of tea before bed.) crazy kiwis.
anyway- after morning tea we've been going over the ever popular "Mark study" with one of our coordinators Chris Miller. by the time that's done i usually have time to go grocery shopping and clean the house up.. it's kind of a "prepare for the upcoming events this week" type of day.
Wednesday and Thursday are spent visiting people in the church that need encouragement and bible studies. i've got two constant bible studies going as of right now, but both kids go to school- so on wednesday i hang out and study with my best friend Dan before church, and Thursday after school is out i do bible studies with Gabs. (whos birthday is this thursday!) annnnnd.. wait for it... DAN GOT BAPTISED LAST SUNDAY! sooo exciting! that boy is definately one of the most awesome guys ever. he was definately ready to take that step. i was so proud of him.
Friday s are my busiest day.
Friday morning is a thing called MOPS where we watch preschool kids while their mothers get together and do some studying. after that is Bible in Schools where we actually get to go to a primary school (elementary) and do a bible story and songs. kind of like a 40 min. version of VBS. but I'm definately taking advantage of that because you can't do that in the states.
after bible in schools is Kids Club. which is basically like a 3 hour version of VBS straight after school until about 5:30 for primary school kids.
Friday night we usually hang out with the Youth group kids and Saturdays are usually filled with them as well.
Saturday is a day of fellowship.

a few things that i'm looking into at the moment are
- Fullstop - this is like a soup kitchen on wheels. we ride around in a van giving sandwiches, fruit and milo's (like chocolate milk) out to people living on the street, or just people that'll come and get it. we travel out to some of the rough parts of town where people need this the most.

-Salvation Army- i think i'm going to be doing some volunteer work on tuesdays for the salvation army. don't know the jobs i'll be given specifically, but i'm willing to do whatever.

i'm just waiting for both organizations to contact me back.

:) last weekend was a ladies retreat i got to go on, it was awesome meeting girls from all over the island, and a few from australia.

now i'll leave you all with some pictures that you've been asking for :)

this is a tree outside by our driveway. it's the beginning of spring so all of the trees are starting to bloom, it's absolutely beautiful.

Gabs and I at our picnic/bible study last week.

this is my best friend Dan (the one who got baptized) and I..
and a BEAUTIFUL new zealand sunset.

Dan getting baptised sunday in a duck pond.