Hectic, Bro

     This week was, "hectic, bro!" as Caleb would say. But also very good. Sunday night was fellowship at 7:15 like usual only this time the activity took 3 and a half hours until curfew compared to the hour long night we usually spend together. The activity planned was to write out our struggles/lies we've told ourselves on our hand that we traced out and then lay it out around tables with all the other hands. There was a blank sheet of paper next to each one of our traced hands and all of us went around the room, laying our hands on the traced hands and praying for them, then writing on the sheet of paper something encouraging or more about that particular person. It was a time where you could feel God's presence in the room, moving and working. It was amazing. 
     The day after was quiet day where we took a whole day just to be reading the Bible and not interacting with each other. We had a packed lunch and so we could just eat, read, pray, dream, etc. whenever. 
     Tuesday was the start of lectures with Peter Bichan. Throughout the week until Friday, we learned about the minor prophets. We especially looked into Hosea and the meaning of the names behind his kids. We also looked at the different gods that people put in place of God and the crazy schemes people made up that the gods wanted them to do.
     On Friday, 6 of us girls went to a rest home. They were putting on a starry night theme for the 30 or so people there. I played a piano while the others served drinks and then they'd clap after each song. It was so cute. Later, once it got dark, I played By the Light of the Silvery Moon and Shine on Harvest Moon. They sang along and some got up and danced. Then the lights were turned off and the glow and the dark stars we had placed on the walls lit up. It was beautiful. We got to serve the food too for dinner and wear bow ties. I don't have a picture of the bow ties though - however I really liked it (I had a silver one).

      Friday night, I watched Sound of Music with a couple people including the one Austrian here who has never watched Sound of Music!!! Here's what she said: 
"So Anna, how do you like the movie so far?"
"Well honestly, I find it really boring." 
She ended up leaving half way through the movie. No!

   Today, I was part of worship band for a small church of about 8-10 people. The building was tiny and very old but quaint. I was supposed to play piano but when I saw it, I realized it was not a piano but an organ. It was very weird to play on it but it worked. Down below were pedals like on my pedal harp but when you pressed them, they added bass to the aura of the thingamajig. We played 3 songs, then had a testimony then morning tea. After that, one of the students presented a sermon based in Revelation. All in all, it's been a good and restful week. Next week is ministry prep and then on Saturday we head out to our different churches for ministry week. 

This is what IT looked like. By the way, it was a Yamaha.

My unicycling abilities so far.

Mow, unicycling, and gluten

This week, I presented my Bible study! It went well and I felt confident. You get feedback from it, both things to work on and things you did well on. There's another Bible study due on Friday of this week. That will make the third that I will have done. 

A couple of us girls went to a kiwi house on Friday night for some games with university students. We taught them the game of Mow in which the only rule is to not discuss the rules. You have to figure out the game as it goes along. Every round, the winner adds a new rule but no one knows it until you penalize them for something and then you have to figure it out. In the game of Mow, you hear a lot of, "penalty for discussing the rules", "penalty for incorrect card", "penalty for not saying who's there", etc. It's really frustrating if you can't figure out what you're doing wrong! 

This week, I learned how to unicycle! At least...I'm trying. Which means you'll find me pedaling while holding on to the fence with one hand...so technically I'm learning one-handed unicycling right now! 

So I found out everything in NZ seems to have gluten in it that doesn't in America! The cocoa puffs I've been eating for breakfast for about a month have gluten in them! I stopped right away, don't worry. Also, all hot dogs, marshmallows, and most chips have wheat/gluten in them. Weird, eh? (The "eh" is Canadian). Even the Doritos here have gluten in them (jaw dropper!). Since I'm gluten free, I've had to be really careful!

Friendly Resident Cat

I got taught poker and proceeded to win out of the 5 of us that started. I had a way bigger stack at the end. I had not idea what I was doing by the way. It was all chance and a bit of prayer.

Tomorrow is quiet day in which there are no lectures or talking until dinner. We just spend time with God and have a day to think about what we've learned and grown in. 

A Whole Month Away

I just finished my second Bible study! I'm going to be presenting it for 45 minutes this Thursday. I got to choose what passage I wanted and I chose Hebrews 12:1-4. It's 6 pages long and made up of 2,568 words all from my brain (besides the Bible passages)! It was a very interesting study and I enjoyed most aspects of it.
This week, we went over an overview of the entire Bible, mostly Old Testament. It was extremely interesting as well. I'd done a study like it before on my own last year but it's not the same as someone teaching and explaining. Our teacher, Dale, had been a metal rock star in his former years. He had long blonde hair in his old pictures - in fact he pointed out in class that his hair was as long as mine. That's long!
As for social life, I've been going out with so many different people to different restaurants and fast food places this week! It's been good to talk with people and laugh. I tried out cross country for the first time and ran 4K. I tried out soccer for the first time since I was 4 and loved? it. I sat on Emily's lap riding to ice cream because there was 6 people for a 5 seater car and I was the smallest. I went star gazing with 8 other girls at the beach and spotted Saturn, Mars, and Venus and saw two falling stars. I've done a lot of firsts this week!

Bible Studies

This last week, I worked on my Bible study which was due Friday morning. When we're presenting it, it should take 45 minutes to present but since this was just our first one, we didn't have to present it! The passage we did was Ephesians 5:15-21: 

15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

We did a main theme, 3 teaching points, illustrations, applications, a creative idea, context, background, supporting verses, discussion questions, introduction, and conclusion. And oh yes, 3 word studies. I was so confused by the word studies but the returning students were very helpful. Take for instance, the word careful that I did. First you have to look it up in a Strongs dictionary and find the verse (Ephesians 5:15) with a number next to it. If the verse is not there under careful, you have to find the Old King James version and see what it says! In the KJV, careful is the word circumspect. So you go back to Strongs and find Ephesians 5:15 under circumspect with the number you need. Now this number will show you the proper greek/hebrew word. Flip to the back of Strongs and find the greek section with your number (Greek is New Testament - Hebrew is Old Testament). #199 says akribos. Now you have your number, word, and all you have to do is find a definition! Here's the final end:

Word Study:

Careful (Strong’s 199) vs 15 (NIV) akribos {adverb}

Akribos means carefully (Vines). It’s important to be careful in the choices you make and the lifestyles you form.

Look under circumspectly. To the right, is Ephesians and with it the number.

At the back of the book under the greek is 199, akribos!