This week has been rather hectic as we’ve all been packing and preparing to leave for Easter break. Ben, Amber, Cara, and Jordan will not be retuning after break as they will be going to ABS (Adventure Bible School) up on the North Island.
On Tuesday, we had our secret sister revealing party. Hanna was my secret sister and I had Kelsey. We chatted, laughed, exchanged gifts, ate a chocolate fondue (minus the chocolate because none of us actually wanted the extra sugar), and watched Julie & Julia.
On Wednesday evening, after an afternoon of intense cleaning, we had a formal diner where Patti taught us formal etiquette. We had way too many forks and knives, three courses, and three glasses for ‘wine.’ For the first course, we had the option of Greek salad or ???. The main was chicken au vin or steak cooked and served beautifully. For desert there was Panna Cotta or Tiramasu. Dale showed us how a proper toast is done. The guys were wonderful and escorted the girls down and seated us and stood whenever any of us stood. It was tons of fun! And the staff were amazing because they prepared the meal, served us, and even did the dishes afterwards so that we could all hang out!
In the evening, we had out ‘un-talent show’ and it was quite the success! We had several musical number including Justus on the drums accompanied by Michael on the piano (Justus is doing incredibly well on the drums!) and several original compositions. Us girls put on a snow white skit that had everyone laughing uproariously. I recited some poetry. And the crowning achievement of the evening was the guys doing the Haka. They did it out on the lawn so they were just illuminated by the lights on the porch and they were all dressed in black. It was quite intimidating!
Today, Thursday, after a final room check and our Thursday ministry (Bible in Schools), we will be heading out for our two week Easter break. I’ll be traveling with Cara, Bryan, and JB down towards Queenstown, Wanaka, Dunedin, Milford Sound, and Teanau. For the second week of break, most of the students are heading up to the North Island where they have rented a beach house. I’ll be staying in Christchurch to volunteer at the Easter Te Mapua camp (the same camp my team went to for the first ministry week in the first semester). I would really appreciate your prayers over the week of camp!
This morning (April 1st) we were woken up to the sound of the fire alarm at 6:30. It took me until we were all leaving the building to realize that it was a drill and it took me until we were all coming back in to figure out that it may have been an April fool’s joke! Oh well! At least I now know that my reaction time was good!
I will attempt to blog over break, but I may not have access to computers so for now, au revoir until the 18th of April!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Week 23
This week was slightly insane. I probably didn’t make it better by spending most of last weekend working on putting together a recipe book of all our favourite recipes at the Crossing. This week, Gordon, the pastor from the Life Church in Timaru, taught us on the book of Nehemiah. What an awesome book! And it’s been so encouraging to hear that he teaches the truth and therefore that the attendees of the youth group I go to on Wednesdays are hearing solid truths every Sunday!
On Monday and Tuesday, we prepped and practiced for a service we put on Thursday evening to get the word out about what Capernwray is. Cyril had booked Stonebridge (a beautiful hall and property just outside of Geraldine) for the Thursday night and then came to Dale saying “I’ve booked the hall and now I’d like you to put on a service.” We had music, a short message, and some testimonies (I gave my testimony), four guys sang in beautiful harmony (the ‘Capernwray quartet), and we did a skit. Cyril tells us he prayed over every chair before the service asking God for a bottom on every chair. We had to go get more chairs from storage! I pray that I will have simple faith like Cyril’s!!
On Wednesday, we (Ben, Adam, and I, that is) went to our last youth group meeting before Easter break and since we weren’t sure if we’d be coming back and since Ben is leaving for ABS, they had a big ‘goodbye party’ for us. We played games and they made cards for us. Some of the students even bought us gifts! And I got to share with them how encouraged I have been this week after being taught by their pastor and tell them a bit about the awesome truths God has been teaching me from the book of Nehemiah.
Thursday afternoon was spent running through the Stonebridge service and exploring the Beautiful Stonebridge property. The feedback from the service was really encouraging and people were really generous in the love offering they gave to support our mission’s trip to Fiji. After the service, Gordon told me that he can see me in a teaching role in the future. The interesting thing is that he’s the second one to tell me that this week! It’s definitely something I will have to take to God in prayer! After the service, a bunch of us stayed up really late chatting and laughing. It’s been really neat to see the awesome fellowship we have. It seems that God has given us the unity and community we felt we were lacking just a few weeks ago. It will be sad to see Amber, Ben, Cara, and Jordan leave after Easter break for ABS up at Monavale on the North Island.
On Friday evening, a bunch of us watched ‘The Passion of the Christ’ on the big projector in the student lounge.
For supper on Saturday, Cam, Rob, and I cooked tea. We made cheese blintz and applesauce for the main course and Welch cakes for pudding. It was a wonderfully delicious piece of home!
Saturday night, a bunch of us decided to pull an all-nighter. We started off the evening with an activity organized by Patti: ballroom dancing lessons. A lady from the church came in and taught us a bit of waltz, some samba, and some cha-cha-cha. It was sooooo much fun! Sheryl, Michael, and I are planning on attending her courses on Friday evenings in Geraldine. Later in the evening, we played a few rounds of body-body before heading out on a scavenger hunt that JB so generously put together for us. Unfortunately, this activity was cut short by some drunk people at the skate park who dumped a beer on the seat of Sheryl’s car and took our list of clues. (We managed to leave peacefully without a fight though.) I decided to go to bed at 3am which meant that I missed the “silent” capern-rave and toilet-papering the Epp’s car (they took it well). We had a blast just chilling and hanging out.
On Monday and Tuesday, we prepped and practiced for a service we put on Thursday evening to get the word out about what Capernwray is. Cyril had booked Stonebridge (a beautiful hall and property just outside of Geraldine) for the Thursday night and then came to Dale saying “I’ve booked the hall and now I’d like you to put on a service.” We had music, a short message, and some testimonies (I gave my testimony), four guys sang in beautiful harmony (the ‘Capernwray quartet), and we did a skit. Cyril tells us he prayed over every chair before the service asking God for a bottom on every chair. We had to go get more chairs from storage! I pray that I will have simple faith like Cyril’s!!
On Wednesday, we (Ben, Adam, and I, that is) went to our last youth group meeting before Easter break and since we weren’t sure if we’d be coming back and since Ben is leaving for ABS, they had a big ‘goodbye party’ for us. We played games and they made cards for us. Some of the students even bought us gifts! And I got to share with them how encouraged I have been this week after being taught by their pastor and tell them a bit about the awesome truths God has been teaching me from the book of Nehemiah.
Thursday afternoon was spent running through the Stonebridge service and exploring the Beautiful Stonebridge property. The feedback from the service was really encouraging and people were really generous in the love offering they gave to support our mission’s trip to Fiji. After the service, Gordon told me that he can see me in a teaching role in the future. The interesting thing is that he’s the second one to tell me that this week! It’s definitely something I will have to take to God in prayer! After the service, a bunch of us stayed up really late chatting and laughing. It’s been really neat to see the awesome fellowship we have. It seems that God has given us the unity and community we felt we were lacking just a few weeks ago. It will be sad to see Amber, Ben, Cara, and Jordan leave after Easter break for ABS up at Monavale on the North Island.
On Friday evening, a bunch of us watched ‘The Passion of the Christ’ on the big projector in the student lounge.
For supper on Saturday, Cam, Rob, and I cooked tea. We made cheese blintz and applesauce for the main course and Welch cakes for pudding. It was a wonderfully delicious piece of home!
Saturday night, a bunch of us decided to pull an all-nighter. We started off the evening with an activity organized by Patti: ballroom dancing lessons. A lady from the church came in and taught us a bit of waltz, some samba, and some cha-cha-cha. It was sooooo much fun! Sheryl, Michael, and I are planning on attending her courses on Friday evenings in Geraldine. Later in the evening, we played a few rounds of body-body before heading out on a scavenger hunt that JB so generously put together for us. Unfortunately, this activity was cut short by some drunk people at the skate park who dumped a beer on the seat of Sheryl’s car and took our list of clues. (We managed to leave peacefully without a fight though.) I decided to go to bed at 3am which meant that I missed the “silent” capern-rave and toilet-papering the Epp’s car (they took it well). We had a blast just chilling and hanging out.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Journal for week 21
Sorry about all the journals being out of order! I seem to have forgotten to post some...
- Honesty with God bring intimacy with God, therefore, I need to be completely honest with God in my prayer life. It is dumb when I try to conceal the truth because He is God! He already knows what I am going to think and why and nothing I ever do will surprise Him.
- I also need to remember to be reverent as I come into God’s presence. Too often, I rush into prayer without pausing to recall that I am coming into the presence of the almighty God through the blood of Christ.
- If God was small enough to understand, He wouldn’t be big enough to worship!
- My worship of God needs to be active, not passive!
- Honesty with God bring intimacy with God, therefore, I need to be completely honest with God in my prayer life. It is dumb when I try to conceal the truth because He is God! He already knows what I am going to think and why and nothing I ever do will surprise Him.
- I also need to remember to be reverent as I come into God’s presence. Too often, I rush into prayer without pausing to recall that I am coming into the presence of the almighty God through the blood of Christ.
- If God was small enough to understand, He wouldn’t be big enough to worship!
- My worship of God needs to be active, not passive!
Journal for week 23
- The main thing I have gotten from Nehemiah is the importance of committing everything to prayer and the fact that if God calls me to do something and it succeeds, it has nothing to do with my ability to communicate, my speech skills, or my intellect, but everything to do with God’s hand upon me.
- Vision begins to develop when I know whose I am (God’s), when what concerns God begins to concern me, and when I face the truth about what is happening around me. And it is this vision that will drive me to petition God and will be my motivation to press on.
- How big I perceive God to be will determine how big I determine my problems to be. Realizing how awesome God is will put everything into perspective!
- Just like Nehemiah, I need to realize that my ministry is not my ministry and that I cannot do it on my own strength and therefore need to continuously come to the Lord in prayer.
- Just like Nehemiah, I need to fully trust God but also be fully dedicated to the task He has called me to.
- I need to be faithful where God has placed me by starting by doing what is there to be done.
- Like Nehemiah, I want God to teach me to always bring everything to Him in prayer.
- When I am doing what God has called me to do, opposition will come, so I need to have a deep conviction of where God has called me and then I need to defend myself by always remembering to turn to God, by allowing God to strengthen my ‘exposed places’ and by being vigilant.
- No vision can be accomplished by an individual, which is why God calls us to work as a team as part of the body of Christ.
- The more I try to deal with my fleshly/sinful appetites, the more they will have a hold of me. I therefore need to live by the spirit and stop working in the strength of the flesh.
- What I have gained spiritually this year must be maintained: I need to guard myself against attacks by the enemy by focussing on God and living in the spirit, by worshiping God, and by making sure I have strong spiritual leaders in my life.
- The three indispensable qualities required of a Christian leader are integrity, fear of God, and a submissive spirit.
- I am not responsible for the outcome of the spiritual harvest (I cannot make seeds grow), but I am responsible for planting seeds.
- “The joy of the Lord is my strength” can also be translated “Delight in Jehovah is a strong refuge.” Way cool!!!
- In my walk with Christ, it is important to keep the joy alive (mourning brings repentance, but continued mourning is only self-centered), to remember what God has done in my life, and to maintain fellowship with other believers.
God
- My priorities shouldn’t be 1. God, 2. Family, 3. Church, 4. Me... but
- Vision begins to develop when I know whose I am (God’s), when what concerns God begins to concern me, and when I face the truth about what is happening around me. And it is this vision that will drive me to petition God and will be my motivation to press on.
- How big I perceive God to be will determine how big I determine my problems to be. Realizing how awesome God is will put everything into perspective!
- Just like Nehemiah, I need to realize that my ministry is not my ministry and that I cannot do it on my own strength and therefore need to continuously come to the Lord in prayer.
- Just like Nehemiah, I need to fully trust God but also be fully dedicated to the task He has called me to.
- I need to be faithful where God has placed me by starting by doing what is there to be done.
- Like Nehemiah, I want God to teach me to always bring everything to Him in prayer.
- When I am doing what God has called me to do, opposition will come, so I need to have a deep conviction of where God has called me and then I need to defend myself by always remembering to turn to God, by allowing God to strengthen my ‘exposed places’ and by being vigilant.
- No vision can be accomplished by an individual, which is why God calls us to work as a team as part of the body of Christ.
- The more I try to deal with my fleshly/sinful appetites, the more they will have a hold of me. I therefore need to live by the spirit and stop working in the strength of the flesh.
- What I have gained spiritually this year must be maintained: I need to guard myself against attacks by the enemy by focussing on God and living in the spirit, by worshiping God, and by making sure I have strong spiritual leaders in my life.
- The three indispensable qualities required of a Christian leader are integrity, fear of God, and a submissive spirit.
- I am not responsible for the outcome of the spiritual harvest (I cannot make seeds grow), but I am responsible for planting seeds.
- “The joy of the Lord is my strength” can also be translated “Delight in Jehovah is a strong refuge.” Way cool!!!
- In my walk with Christ, it is important to keep the joy alive (mourning brings repentance, but continued mourning is only self-centered), to remember what God has done in my life, and to maintain fellowship with other believers.
God
- My priorities shouldn’t be 1. God, 2. Family, 3. Church, 4. Me... but
Journal for week 22
- I learnt from 1 and 2 Kings that, even though Israel had strayed ‘further’ from God than Judah, God sent His most powerful prophet to Israel. This shows that God is always willing to provide a way back to Him, no matter how far I have strayed. And He loves His people so much that He is willing to send His best to our worst.
- It would have been humanly impossible for the prophets to go through what they did without God as their strength. God also provided rest, He proved that H was in compete control of every situation, and He directed and provided in every situation.
- If I say “God, I’ve let you down,” that implies that I actually had something to give God in the first place. Instead, I need to rely on God as my sufficiency.
- The account of Elisha shows that God is interested in the small things in my day to day life.
- I have to be wiling to bring God the little I’ve got and trust Him to work with and multiply that (like in the account of the widow who took care of Elisha).
- I want to be like Elisha who was still preaching on His deathbed: I want my life to be 100% submitted to God.
- God tests me to reveal what is in my heart, to convict and to bring me to repentance.
- It makes sense to try to do things on my own until they begin to fall apart and I are forced to rely on God. But God wants me to rely on Him for everything.
- It is brokenness that brings the power of God in my live.
- True faith is believing that God is who He says He is. If I just have ‘faith’ that all things are going to go well, it is not true faith.
- My horizontal fellowship with others should be completely linked with my vertical fellowship with God. This fellowship with God is living and joyful.
- To have fellowship with God, I need to walk in the light because a compromising Christian is one of Satan’s most powerful weapons. I also need to confess my sin because the purpose of coming into the light is to reveal sin. There can therefore be no secrets. The love of God should motivate my obedience.
- The characteristics of fellowship are righteous and pure living, consistent victory over sin, assurance of salvation, discernment, and love of others as Christ loved.
- I am not to ask the Lord to walk with me but instead ask that I may walk with Him!
- I need to love God and enjoy the world, not love the world and enjoy God.
- I need to come to God recognizing that I have nothing to offer and thirsty fot His living water just like the woman at the well.
- The consequences of fellowship with God are burdenless obedience (motivated by love!), victory over the world (because God is in control, not me!), assurance of salvation (because my salvation is based on Christ’s work on the cross, not my own effort!), confidence in prayer (yay!!), and the strength to persevere.
- It would have been humanly impossible for the prophets to go through what they did without God as their strength. God also provided rest, He proved that H was in compete control of every situation, and He directed and provided in every situation.
- If I say “God, I’ve let you down,” that implies that I actually had something to give God in the first place. Instead, I need to rely on God as my sufficiency.
- The account of Elisha shows that God is interested in the small things in my day to day life.
- I have to be wiling to bring God the little I’ve got and trust Him to work with and multiply that (like in the account of the widow who took care of Elisha).
- I want to be like Elisha who was still preaching on His deathbed: I want my life to be 100% submitted to God.
- God tests me to reveal what is in my heart, to convict and to bring me to repentance.
- It makes sense to try to do things on my own until they begin to fall apart and I are forced to rely on God. But God wants me to rely on Him for everything.
- It is brokenness that brings the power of God in my live.
- True faith is believing that God is who He says He is. If I just have ‘faith’ that all things are going to go well, it is not true faith.
- My horizontal fellowship with others should be completely linked with my vertical fellowship with God. This fellowship with God is living and joyful.
- To have fellowship with God, I need to walk in the light because a compromising Christian is one of Satan’s most powerful weapons. I also need to confess my sin because the purpose of coming into the light is to reveal sin. There can therefore be no secrets. The love of God should motivate my obedience.
- The characteristics of fellowship are righteous and pure living, consistent victory over sin, assurance of salvation, discernment, and love of others as Christ loved.
- I am not to ask the Lord to walk with me but instead ask that I may walk with Him!
- I need to love God and enjoy the world, not love the world and enjoy God.
- I need to come to God recognizing that I have nothing to offer and thirsty fot His living water just like the woman at the well.
- The consequences of fellowship with God are burdenless obedience (motivated by love!), victory over the world (because God is in control, not me!), assurance of salvation (because my salvation is based on Christ’s work on the cross, not my own effort!), confidence in prayer (yay!!), and the strength to persevere.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Week 22
Two more weeks till Easter break! Please pray that plans will come together! So far, I am looking forward to touring for a week with Bryan, Cara, and JB before spending a week volunteering at the Easter Te Mapua camp in Christchurch. We have to be out of the house on Thursday afternoon (April 1st) and we are allowed back Sunday afternoon, two weeks later.
This week, it really hit me how little time we have left in this beautiful country. It made me realize that I really need to be faithful with what God has given me here and now. It’s been really neat to see the relationship here evolve over the last semester. We are all becoming more real with each other. This means that conflicts are arising, but it also means that friendships are growing deeper.
Highlights from this week include a youth service in Geraldine, a rugby game in Christchurch and star gazing.
This week saw most of us scrambling to get our final Bible study of the semester finished. We got to study the passage in John 4 about Jesus healing the nobleman’s son. Since our afternoons were filled with ministry prep and practices for the youth service, this meant several late nights.
On Tuesday for family night, my group went to Dale and Patti’s for supper and and evening of games. Patti fed us scrumptiously, as usual, with pasta, bacon-wrapped chicken, barbequed corn and carrots, and two delicious salads. For desert, she made us white chocolate panacota with raspberries. Mmmmmm...
On Wednesday evening, I got to share my testimony at the youth group in Timaru.
Friday evening, half of the Capers put on a youth service in Geraldine for teens from all around the area. Michael gave a really good talk on apathy, Cara shared her testimony, and Adam, Cam, and Joel shared a bit about what they have been learning this year at The Crossing. I preformed in one of the skits. All of us here at the crossing would greatly appreciate your prayers for the youth in Geraldine. Some of the regular youth group attendees are starting to get excited about their faith and are wanting to take it to a deeper level while others don’t even know the difference between the old and the new testaments. It’s really exciting to hear how the God has been using the Capernwray students through the youth group and to see the youth group start to come alive.
After getting home from the service, a couple of us headed out for a walk. The stars were beautiful so we lay in the middle of the road (only in New Zealand!) for at least half an hour watching the sky and seeing the occasional shooting star and marvelling at God’s awesome creation.
On Saturday, we packed up the van and the flower power car and headed into Christchurch for a Crusaders (rugby) game. They were played the South African Lions and, of course, the Crusaders won! We all painted our faces red a black and waved flags and swords to cheer on the home team.
This week, it really hit me how little time we have left in this beautiful country. It made me realize that I really need to be faithful with what God has given me here and now. It’s been really neat to see the relationship here evolve over the last semester. We are all becoming more real with each other. This means that conflicts are arising, but it also means that friendships are growing deeper.
Highlights from this week include a youth service in Geraldine, a rugby game in Christchurch and star gazing.
This week saw most of us scrambling to get our final Bible study of the semester finished. We got to study the passage in John 4 about Jesus healing the nobleman’s son. Since our afternoons were filled with ministry prep and practices for the youth service, this meant several late nights.
On Tuesday for family night, my group went to Dale and Patti’s for supper and and evening of games. Patti fed us scrumptiously, as usual, with pasta, bacon-wrapped chicken, barbequed corn and carrots, and two delicious salads. For desert, she made us white chocolate panacota with raspberries. Mmmmmm...
On Wednesday evening, I got to share my testimony at the youth group in Timaru.
Friday evening, half of the Capers put on a youth service in Geraldine for teens from all around the area. Michael gave a really good talk on apathy, Cara shared her testimony, and Adam, Cam, and Joel shared a bit about what they have been learning this year at The Crossing. I preformed in one of the skits. All of us here at the crossing would greatly appreciate your prayers for the youth in Geraldine. Some of the regular youth group attendees are starting to get excited about their faith and are wanting to take it to a deeper level while others don’t even know the difference between the old and the new testaments. It’s really exciting to hear how the God has been using the Capernwray students through the youth group and to see the youth group start to come alive.
After getting home from the service, a couple of us headed out for a walk. The stars were beautiful so we lay in the middle of the road (only in New Zealand!) for at least half an hour watching the sky and seeing the occasional shooting star and marvelling at God’s awesome creation.
On Saturday, we packed up the van and the flower power car and headed into Christchurch for a Crusaders (rugby) game. They were played the South African Lions and, of course, the Crusaders won! We all painted our faces red a black and waved flags and swords to cheer on the home team.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Week 21
Week 21! Wow! This semester has been flying by! That means only three weeks till Easter break. We’ve begin making plans, applying for camps and booking flights. Highlights from this past week were the guy/girl weekend, an awesome game of ‘body body’, a long, wet, beautiful walk in the rain, French lessons, and lots of warm fires.
For the guy/girl weekend, us girls headed out to a camp just outside of Christchurch in a bay similar to Akaraoa. Debbie Bryson from San Diego was our speaker with lectures on ‘Moments with the Master.’ We enjoyed some encouraging and challenging lectures, ate some delicious food, swam in the pool, and went for some beautiful hikes. Our cabin was at the top of a really steep hill so it was really nice to be able to get some exercise climbing the hill several times a day. We also took the opportunity to make a day trip to Christchurch for some shopping since prices are way better there than here in Geraldine.
Apparently, every single one of the guys plans for the weekend fell through. They had been hoping to go possum hunting and boating, but both cancelled at the last minute.
When we got back on Sunday evening, we all played a few rounds of ‘body body’. Basically, all the lights get turned off (and we play relatively late at night) and one person is the murderer (we chose by picking cards from a deck). If you get touched on the head by the murderer, you have to simply drop, limp, to the ground without making a noise. The murderer then has the option of dragging you to another location or hiding your body. The game continues until someone finds a body and yells “Body, body!” at which point the lights are turned on and everyone meets around the body. A vote is taken as to who the murderer is (after much debate and logic). The person chosen is eliminated. If the person chosen is the murderer, the game is over, otherwise, the game continues and the person chosen must sit out while the murderer is still on the loose. The game continues until the murderer (or murderers, depending on how many you choose to have) is eliminated or manages to kill everyone. We played until at least midnight.
On Wednesday morning, I got the opportunity to teach French to a bunch of 5 to 8 year old homeschooled kids from the area. We learned about farm animals and memorized John 10:11. I get to teach French to them twice more before Easter break.
On Thursday, the rain came, and with it came the cold. I enjoyed a wonderful long walk in the pouring rain (and discovered that my raincoat is not completely waterproof) followed by a nice warm mug of Milo (NZ’s almost equivalent to hot chocolate). It was exactly what I needed to lift my spirits.
The cold weather has continued and we have built several fires. The formal lounge has therefore once again become the favourite hang out place as we congregate around the fireplace to attempt o restore warmth to our fingers and toes. This has given me the opportunity to perfect my new favourite snack: apples over the fire. They are quite simple and quite delicious. You will need: one apple cut into 8ths, one warm fire, and a utensil with which to roast the apple. Peanut butter and graham crackers are an optional treat to accompany your roasted apples. Simply roast the apple wedges over red coals (you definitely want coals because if there are still large flames, your apple will taste like smoke) until the edges start to go slightly black. The end result is a wonderful treat that tastes like apple pie without the crust! You may also want to try it with a graham cracker topped with crunchy peanut butter or even dipped in cinnamon.
On Thursday, we had been warned by the electrical company that they would be turning off the power from 9am to 4pm, so in the morning, we filled countless jugs and buckets of water and set the table with paper plates and plastic forks.
On Saturday, we got together with the Geraldine youth group for a game of soccer, which my team won! (Although I was off the field for the last minutes of the game.)
Although I had meant to blog and work on my Bible study on Sunday afternoon, I fell asleep after lunch and slept till supper. And yet I still managed to fall asleep at a reasonable hour and slept in this morning! On Sunday evening, Amber, Cam, Adam, Hanna, and I drove into Timaru for Isabelle’s ballet recital. They kids were quite good and the younger ones were really cute! They were almost synchronized.
For the guy/girl weekend, us girls headed out to a camp just outside of Christchurch in a bay similar to Akaraoa. Debbie Bryson from San Diego was our speaker with lectures on ‘Moments with the Master.’ We enjoyed some encouraging and challenging lectures, ate some delicious food, swam in the pool, and went for some beautiful hikes. Our cabin was at the top of a really steep hill so it was really nice to be able to get some exercise climbing the hill several times a day. We also took the opportunity to make a day trip to Christchurch for some shopping since prices are way better there than here in Geraldine.
Apparently, every single one of the guys plans for the weekend fell through. They had been hoping to go possum hunting and boating, but both cancelled at the last minute.
When we got back on Sunday evening, we all played a few rounds of ‘body body’. Basically, all the lights get turned off (and we play relatively late at night) and one person is the murderer (we chose by picking cards from a deck). If you get touched on the head by the murderer, you have to simply drop, limp, to the ground without making a noise. The murderer then has the option of dragging you to another location or hiding your body. The game continues until someone finds a body and yells “Body, body!” at which point the lights are turned on and everyone meets around the body. A vote is taken as to who the murderer is (after much debate and logic). The person chosen is eliminated. If the person chosen is the murderer, the game is over, otherwise, the game continues and the person chosen must sit out while the murderer is still on the loose. The game continues until the murderer (or murderers, depending on how many you choose to have) is eliminated or manages to kill everyone. We played until at least midnight.
On Wednesday morning, I got the opportunity to teach French to a bunch of 5 to 8 year old homeschooled kids from the area. We learned about farm animals and memorized John 10:11. I get to teach French to them twice more before Easter break.
On Thursday, the rain came, and with it came the cold. I enjoyed a wonderful long walk in the pouring rain (and discovered that my raincoat is not completely waterproof) followed by a nice warm mug of Milo (NZ’s almost equivalent to hot chocolate). It was exactly what I needed to lift my spirits.
The cold weather has continued and we have built several fires. The formal lounge has therefore once again become the favourite hang out place as we congregate around the fireplace to attempt o restore warmth to our fingers and toes. This has given me the opportunity to perfect my new favourite snack: apples over the fire. They are quite simple and quite delicious. You will need: one apple cut into 8ths, one warm fire, and a utensil with which to roast the apple. Peanut butter and graham crackers are an optional treat to accompany your roasted apples. Simply roast the apple wedges over red coals (you definitely want coals because if there are still large flames, your apple will taste like smoke) until the edges start to go slightly black. The end result is a wonderful treat that tastes like apple pie without the crust! You may also want to try it with a graham cracker topped with crunchy peanut butter or even dipped in cinnamon.
On Thursday, we had been warned by the electrical company that they would be turning off the power from 9am to 4pm, so in the morning, we filled countless jugs and buckets of water and set the table with paper plates and plastic forks.
On Saturday, we got together with the Geraldine youth group for a game of soccer, which my team won! (Although I was off the field for the last minutes of the game.)
Although I had meant to blog and work on my Bible study on Sunday afternoon, I fell asleep after lunch and slept till supper. And yet I still managed to fall asleep at a reasonable hour and slept in this morning! On Sunday evening, Amber, Cam, Adam, Hanna, and I drove into Timaru for Isabelle’s ballet recital. They kids were quite good and the younger ones were really cute! They were almost synchronized.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Journal for Week 20
- If we – the church – believed what we said with our mouths we believed, it would revolutionize the world. The gospel of Christ is not just knowledge, but doing something about it.
- To those much has been given, much will be required. Much has been given to me, what am I going to do with it?
- I need to ask God to break my heart with what breaks His. I should live simply so that I can support missionaries who are changing the world, one life at a time. I should spend time in prayer and fasting on a regular basis for the people around the world who have not heard the message of the gospel.
- I cannot rely on my own knowledge. Instead, I need to rely on God’s wisdom and He will give me only as much as I need for the situations He places me in.
- To those much has been given, much will be required. Much has been given to me, what am I going to do with it?
- I need to ask God to break my heart with what breaks His. I should live simply so that I can support missionaries who are changing the world, one life at a time. I should spend time in prayer and fasting on a regular basis for the people around the world who have not heard the message of the gospel.
- I cannot rely on my own knowledge. Instead, I need to rely on God’s wisdom and He will give me only as much as I need for the situations He places me in.
Oups!
I realized (in retranscribing it) that I made a rather crucial error in one of my journal entries. It should read:
- No matter what authority I am under, I am to submit to it for the Lord’s sake. This is the key to a right attitude. I should never demand justice for myself but I should never stop being just to others.
- No matter what authority I am under, I am to submit to it for the Lord’s sake. This is the key to a right attitude. I should never demand justice for myself but I should never stop being just to others.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Week 20
This week was our missions focus week so we had different speakers come in from different missions and tell us about what they are doing. We’ve also each had to prepare a five minute presentation on a country and have been presenting it to the class after meals. I did my project on Senegal.
In order to get a taste of what people eat around the world, Sheryl has been making special meals for us. On Monday lunch, we all sat around a picnic blanket on the floor and had a bowl of white rice which we ate with our fingers. On Tuesday, we got upgraded to chopsticks and we even had soy sauce to put on the rice.
Tuesday night was our family night. For the first time this semester, we did a small event, just in our family groups. We played spoons and a game where you had to bend over with only your feet on the ground to pick up a Tim Tam (a small chocolate candy that is only about three centimetres off the ground when it is lying on its side) with your mouth.
On Thursday, we had our quiet day. I was feeling pretty rotten and tired, but that meant that I had to sit down and just focus on God. He gave me some good reminders. Last semester, Joseph was teaching on one of the letters to the churches (in Revelations) and he encouraged us to write ourselves a letter like that, so I did that on quiet day. Here is my letter:
These are the words of the creator of the heaves and the earth, of whom all creation sings praises day after day. I know your deeds, that you strive for justice and obedience. Yet this I have against you, that you are lazy and do not seek Me with all your heart, soul, and mind. I see your desire to live a holy and blameless life, but you put your hope and seek strength in yourself and the fading things of this world. You want to do big things, but I tell you this: you must first be faithful with the things I have already entrusted to you. For to him who is faithful with little, much will be given. But to him who is not faithful, even what he has will be stripped away. He who has ear, let him hear.
Today (Friday) we all leave for guy/girl weekend. The guys are heading down a little past Queenstown (a 7 hour drive!) and us girls are going to a women’s conference just outside of Christchurch that a lady wanted to pay to send us all to (to say thank you to Patti for some conferences she has organized in the past).
In order to get a taste of what people eat around the world, Sheryl has been making special meals for us. On Monday lunch, we all sat around a picnic blanket on the floor and had a bowl of white rice which we ate with our fingers. On Tuesday, we got upgraded to chopsticks and we even had soy sauce to put on the rice.
Tuesday night was our family night. For the first time this semester, we did a small event, just in our family groups. We played spoons and a game where you had to bend over with only your feet on the ground to pick up a Tim Tam (a small chocolate candy that is only about three centimetres off the ground when it is lying on its side) with your mouth.
On Thursday, we had our quiet day. I was feeling pretty rotten and tired, but that meant that I had to sit down and just focus on God. He gave me some good reminders. Last semester, Joseph was teaching on one of the letters to the churches (in Revelations) and he encouraged us to write ourselves a letter like that, so I did that on quiet day. Here is my letter:
These are the words of the creator of the heaves and the earth, of whom all creation sings praises day after day. I know your deeds, that you strive for justice and obedience. Yet this I have against you, that you are lazy and do not seek Me with all your heart, soul, and mind. I see your desire to live a holy and blameless life, but you put your hope and seek strength in yourself and the fading things of this world. You want to do big things, but I tell you this: you must first be faithful with the things I have already entrusted to you. For to him who is faithful with little, much will be given. But to him who is not faithful, even what he has will be stripped away. He who has ear, let him hear.
Today (Friday) we all leave for guy/girl weekend. The guys are heading down a little past Queenstown (a 7 hour drive!) and us girls are going to a women’s conference just outside of Christchurch that a lady wanted to pay to send us all to (to say thank you to Patti for some conferences she has organized in the past).
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