Vacation with God time!

  18 day break of Capernwray NZ life. This is currently our 5th day touring the North Island. Us includes me, Elise (Netherlands), Seline (Kiwi (NZ)), and Scott (USA). After we said long goodbyes to everyone on Thursday, we headed up to Auckland to get our rental car, went ice skating for an hour and than across 3 and a half hours to Coromandel. 

  

On Friday, we went to Cathedral Cove which was featured in the Prince Caspian movie. It was a 45 minute walk down to the cove and then back up but the scenery was beautiful!

Saturday, we headed to Whitianga for the day. We explored a designer's dress shop and a glass-blowing shop. 

 Sunday was my favorite day in all so far in that it was very relaxing. I got up at 6 a.m. for a swim out to an island but I didn't get even half way out before I had to turn back. The water wasn't too cold but I was afraid of sharks:) By the way, I don't think there were any in that calm bay. After that, we checked out of our little cottage on the ocean and headed to church. The worship and sermon was really good and then there was morning tea afterwards. After mingling with the good church folk of Coromandel, we hiked up to a view point of the ocean admist Kauri trees. Driving down to lake Taupo turned into the whole afternoon and we got to the house late to meet another group which we're staying with for 2 nights. The other group includes Raphael and Anna (Germany), Emily (USA), Ryan (USA), and Julianne (Canada). 

Huka falls where we went today

Today, Monday, we went to see the waterfall (Huka falls) where the hobbits went down in barrels. The water was so blue and the noise and sights majestic. 

Left to right: Elise, me, Seline, Julianne, Emily

And finally there's been plenty of time to have my quiet time with God, of prayer and Bible reading and enjoying the early morning atmosphere. We also are doing devotionals as a group every couple days and taking the time to talk about the past term together. There's lots of good opportunities in the car to talk about the lectures and what we have learned the past 10 weeks and applying now what we have listened to. 

Ministry Week

On Saturday the first of September, everyone left Capernwray to be billeted out to different houses around New Zealand. There were five different teams going to five different locations to help out churches around the north island. Of all the teams, my group was assigned the farthest location four hours up north in Whangerei, NZ. Everyone was gone for eight days and then we all came home yesterday on Sunday. I was a group of 10, the biggest group of all. We helped the church do different projects like cleaning and church services and youth groups. They also hooked us up with the primary school next door where we went for four days and were like first-year teachers to the kids in the classroom. I was in classrooms with 5, 6, and 10 yr. olds. I also got the opportunity to go to a rest home slash hospital for old people. It was a very busy and full week but it stretched all of us to get out of our comfort zone and be initiative to talk with people and do tasks. It was beautiful there too but at nights it was so cold. NZ homes don't have central heating all the time like we do in the states so the bedrooms would be as cold as outside 42 degrees. In my billets house, we had very good food because she made her own applesauce and everything just like my Mom does. She was gluten free as well so we had cauliflower based pizza and cookies which I found out is called biscuits in NZ. Everyone we talked to was very purposeful. We got talkings on different subjects we helped in like teaching in a primary school, being an assistant in a rest home, what Chaplins in hospitals do, etc. Everyone had a devotion prepared to share and something they'd speak at like a youth group or young adults group. I was prepared to give a Bible story for a youth group of 9-12 yr. olds. All week, we made relationships at the school and then invited them to come on Friday to the event which was called 9-Up. I was handed a microphone last minute which was super intimidating but once I got up there, my quiet shell fell off and I conformed to the role of presenter, storyteller, and extrovertedness according to my group even though I didn't feel it too much, it came naturally thanks to Mom. Even though my voice wanted to shake, I told about the story of Caleb and Joshua, had the sin chair skit prepared which half of my group took part in, and then shared the gospel at the end because most of the kids were non-christians from the school. This was Friday night when I had the whole week behind me of busyness and I could just focus on the kids. God did an awesome work, bringing about 40 to 50 kids to 9-Up that night compared to the 17 they usually had I heard. Our whole group participated in it through the skit, working downstairs with the youth, and then our leader led a huge competitive round of musical chairs that got the kids pumped with candy or as the New Zealanders say lollies, at the end. On Saturday we went to the beach where we relaxed on the sand and I explored the tide pools and brought back so many beautiful shells. Wednesday and Thursday night and then most of Saturday were our only free days. It was a lot of driving and working but we had to rely on God all the more because we got tired so easily on our own strength. Michael the leader and I were billeted together and driving to pick and drop every one off plus the drive up and back down and every where else resulted in almost 24 hours of driving! I definitely learned some new songs since we played soundtracks constantly, over and over. Some were fun and others....ugh, I got them stuck in my head! I want to upload all my pictures so badly but my computer won't let me right now so I'm going to post without them.

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!

Facts and Differences

Emily looking out over the lake.

This week concluded orientation. On Friday, we did a full out day at the ABS lodge situated on a lake with lush jungle around it. We went on a walk and then made up activities among our family groups that we're assigned to. After that, I talked with various people for several hours before dinner and hokey pokey ice cream. Hokey Pokey ice cream is the best ice cream. I love it! It's like vanilla with bits of crunchy caramel mixed in. 

Every week, I find out more and more about people and I love it! I've talked to everyone in more than just a hi and bye manner and it's amazing to hear about the way God's brought them here. 

Politics have been brought up numerous times since I've been here. Mostly the Canadians who ask what we think about Trump and then say all that they think from a Canadian view point. Very interesting!

Last night, Elise (dutch), Rahel (german) and I made dutch pancakes for all 30-40 of us! It was quite the experience! We ladled them out on pans and flipped and flipped and flipped!

Differences:
Here in New Zealand, everything is Kilometers and Meters and Celsius. The money exchange rate is different and the hot sink handle is on the right side not the left. Public restrooms never have toilet seat covers. Drive on the left side of the road - not the right. Police Cars are checkered blue and yellow - think taxi? Flowers bloom even in winter and we have resident ducks with 8 tiny ducklings. Gas prices here are about $7-8 american dollars. Gas is expensive! Weather can never make up its mind here. Sun, then rain, cold, then hot - all day long. Makes for an interesting wardrobe:)