Hello All,
Wow, it feels like such a long time since I blogged on here, and so much has happened since I did. In my last port I put a link to our outreach teams blog, so if you would like an update on my life in the last two months you can check there. But for now I could give you just a brief summary. Basically, I went to Thailand for 8 weeks and traveled all around and came along side other backpackers and shared the gospel with them. It was some of the craziest, most stressful, fun, exciting, challenging times of my life. You know despite what you might think, telling people about Jesus isn't always the easiest thing... okay I'm sure you know it isn't always rainbows and butterflies. But in all seriousness it was incredible. Being able just to step out into a world and a culture so unknown to myself and meet people living a totally different lifestyle than I used to can provide some really interesting and thought provoking conversations.
We flew from Bangkok, home to Christchurch on Feb 12, and were happily greeted by my dear YWAM family that I hadn't seen in 2 months. Needless to say it was fantastic seeing them again, and there was lots of story swapping and hugging for hours.
Our last week here on base looks very similar to lecture phase before we left for outreach. We have a regular daily routine of work duties, meals and worship and prayer. The only difference is our lectures now are more geared towards re-entry of when we get home, what is next for our lives, and what God has done for us throughout our outreaches. It has been really incredible so far just realizing what all He has done, and beginning to see the plans that He has next for me. I am still uncertain on a lot of things, but I know His plan will be revealed in His time.
With only a couple more days at base we are all trying to make the most of our time together and really cherish every moment we have. Tonight we had a time of worship and then praying for each other and whats next after DTS and it was awesome just being able to lift my brothers and sisters up as we all get ready to set out on the next adventure and phase of our life.
Friday is our graduation, and i'm going to do my best to blog about how it goes afterwards, as long as internet is available. and then I will be traveling to Australia for 10 days, and back to New Zealand for 9 more.
more updates on me will come soon, but for now sleep is needed.
God bless.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Monday, December 13, 2010
t-5 days
So my time at the oxford base is quickly coming to an end, as I leave for Thailand in 5 very short days.
my time here has been amazing, but I don't want to reflect too much because it isn't over yet, and so I don't want to get into that mindset yet.
However, this will be my last blog on here for a while, but I will post the link to my Thailand teams blog, which will be updated far more regularly than this one. Apologies once again for that.
But as a parting message, for a while at least, I will leave you with a little taste of the daily things I encounter here in Oxford.
-7 different languages (including "american")
-countless sheep
- pressing a button on the top of the toilet or on the wall to flush
-light switches that go down to go on
-stay to the left, while driving and walking
-you must turn outlets on for power to flow through them, again flip switch down
-stubbies
- sweet as
-daily tea breaks are mandatory
-cookies are called biscuits
- all stores close at 4 (in oxford at least)
- the same breakfast everyday
- if the shirt doesn't totally stink wear it
-daily work duties
- the most amazing stars i've ever seen
- anytime toast
-sitting in the student lounge way too late laughing about way too much
- 13 girls, 2 bathrooms
- wearing shoes only when necessary
- tim tam slams
- you can go into basically any store without shoes and not worry about it
- seagars
-hedgehogs
- no free running dears, only in fences
-horses, and horse drawn carriages
- an awesome chef cooking for us
- sand flies! (worst thing ever!)
- sleeping bag every night
- sharing a room with 5 girls
- random dance parties
- retro vans
- "have i taken a shower today?"
- breath taking views
- music always playing somwhere
- after shocks
- HAIRY men!
My Thailand teams blog; please follow and pray for us. http://thaitorches.blogspot.com/
cheers.
my time here has been amazing, but I don't want to reflect too much because it isn't over yet, and so I don't want to get into that mindset yet.
However, this will be my last blog on here for a while, but I will post the link to my Thailand teams blog, which will be updated far more regularly than this one. Apologies once again for that.
But as a parting message, for a while at least, I will leave you with a little taste of the daily things I encounter here in Oxford.
-7 different languages (including "american")
-countless sheep
- pressing a button on the top of the toilet or on the wall to flush
-light switches that go down to go on
-stay to the left, while driving and walking
-you must turn outlets on for power to flow through them, again flip switch down
-stubbies
- sweet as
-daily tea breaks are mandatory
-cookies are called biscuits
- all stores close at 4 (in oxford at least)
- the same breakfast everyday
- if the shirt doesn't totally stink wear it
-daily work duties
- the most amazing stars i've ever seen
- anytime toast
-sitting in the student lounge way too late laughing about way too much
- 13 girls, 2 bathrooms
- wearing shoes only when necessary
- tim tam slams
- you can go into basically any store without shoes and not worry about it
- seagars
-hedgehogs
- no free running dears, only in fences
-horses, and horse drawn carriages
- an awesome chef cooking for us
- sand flies! (worst thing ever!)
- sleeping bag every night
- sharing a room with 5 girls
- random dance parties
- retro vans
- "have i taken a shower today?"
- breath taking views
- music always playing somwhere
- after shocks
- HAIRY men!
My Thailand teams blog; please follow and pray for us. http://thaitorches.blogspot.com/
cheers.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
a little help needed.
hey all!
well my time here in oxford is quickly coming to an end, in 11 short days I will be flying off to Thailand and Cambodia for 2 months. It's hard to believe that I have to leave this family as well, because we have all gotten so close. yesterday a bunch of us sat in the student lounge and make Christmas decorations, and snowflakes to put around the place while listening to some good ol' Christmas music. It has been rainy the last two days, so it just seemed fitting that we would decorate if we could. So that is what we've been filling our days up with lately.
It has been a little overwhelming thinking that we are all parting after we have bonded so much, but at the same time we know that we are going to be like a flood just flowing out and into the world.
unfortunately this blog has to be short, because I have a book report due, and so I must get started on that. But I'm alive and more than well, and miss you all.
With the mention of outreach I have one quick favour to ask of you...
pray.
currently 5 of our staff members dont have enough money to finish paying for outreach, so please pray that comes in and if any of you feel led to donate you can go to: http://www.ywamoxford.org/pay-online/
well my time here in oxford is quickly coming to an end, in 11 short days I will be flying off to Thailand and Cambodia for 2 months. It's hard to believe that I have to leave this family as well, because we have all gotten so close. yesterday a bunch of us sat in the student lounge and make Christmas decorations, and snowflakes to put around the place while listening to some good ol' Christmas music. It has been rainy the last two days, so it just seemed fitting that we would decorate if we could. So that is what we've been filling our days up with lately.
It has been a little overwhelming thinking that we are all parting after we have bonded so much, but at the same time we know that we are going to be like a flood just flowing out and into the world.
unfortunately this blog has to be short, because I have a book report due, and so I must get started on that. But I'm alive and more than well, and miss you all.
With the mention of outreach I have one quick favour to ask of you...
pray.
currently 5 of our staff members dont have enough money to finish paying for outreach, so please pray that comes in and if any of you feel led to donate you can go to: http://www.ywamoxford.org/pay-online/
scroll to the bottom of the page and select donations
and for the "purpose" write Backpackers DTS outreach
as well as pray for our teams and the prep of getting ready to go. especially for team unity, health, finances, and peace, as we are all a little on edge to see what's in store for us.
thank you all.
cheers,
my outreach team ben, malori me and luca
Thursday, November 18, 2010
four voices, one ipod
Things are in crazy overload at the moment, as we just passed the half way mark of lecture phase. 7 weeks in, and a whole new perspective on life. I have this uncontrollable desire to just sit at the feet of Jesus, and just to soak in His presence. I have now just caught a tiny glimpse of how incredible He is, and I can't even contain it. His love is being to swell out of me. My pain, shame, inadequacy, come and try to haunt me, but then the love of my Saviour washes over me again, and they leave. I have experienced freedom, and forgiveness in a new light since being here. The Holy Spirit allowed me to break for a while, and brought up past pain and bitterness to my mind, so He could wipe it clean, in order to meet with Him more clearly. He is revealing truths to me, and passions are becoming stronger. God is good.
My school is filled with incredible people, and last week the snowboarders school, that runs from June to mid Nov. came back from outreach, for their week of debrief and graduation. Each of the students in my school had been given the name of a boarder a week before they came back, and were able to pray for them. Because the boarders have more students I was given two names. Aaron and Breezy, two 20 year olds from Colorado (they are so many colorado-ers here) Anyways, as I was praying for these two people I had never met, God revealed things about their lives to me, and areas to pray into and so I did. Then when I got to meet them, I shared what I had prayed for and what was revealed to me. and you know what? Things were freakishly accurate about what I saw and got. Here are these people I have never met before, that I know absolutely nothing about, and I'm speaking completely into their lives. The power of God is incredible. So as I mentioned in my last blog we beat them in soccer, which was fantastic! But there was these two guys from the boarders school, that I bonded with so closely. One, instantly, and the other after initial impressions had faded. Point is these guys are awesome. the night before they left we ended up talking and admiring Gods creation, and sharing testimonies late into the night. It is one of the beautiful things about YWAM, you may only have known people for a week, but you bond so quickly because of shared purpose and experiences. It's funny how God knows exactly what we need when we need it. Just as my relationship with some of the guys here hit a wall, and I started getting frustrated He put more brothers into my life to encourage me. God's provision is astounding at times.
You know what else is amazing about God? His love, and His ability to take over a situation at any moment. I think of lecture this morning, and how the spirit just came and decided to take over, and we ended up spending the whole time in prayer and worship, and how the Spirit spoke through our speaker over our lives, and it was far greater than any lecture he could have given.
Outreach prep is starting to come together, as our team now meets a couple times a week, to pray, fast, worship, and plan together. Yesterday was our first experience of how worship is generally going to look while in Thailand. Just four voices and an ipod. But it was beautiful. We all shared a good chuckle about the fact that our school is swarming with musicians and our team just so happen to be the only team without one on it. So we sat together around an ipod and sang, loudly and out of tune. But it was beautiful, and it was from the heart, and that worship is far greater than any big show or production that people can put on when they don't include their hearts. As the time grows closer, anticipation increases, but I know it will be good, and it is God's will, and that is enough, because He is enough.
cheers.
My school is filled with incredible people, and last week the snowboarders school, that runs from June to mid Nov. came back from outreach, for their week of debrief and graduation. Each of the students in my school had been given the name of a boarder a week before they came back, and were able to pray for them. Because the boarders have more students I was given two names. Aaron and Breezy, two 20 year olds from Colorado (they are so many colorado-ers here) Anyways, as I was praying for these two people I had never met, God revealed things about their lives to me, and areas to pray into and so I did. Then when I got to meet them, I shared what I had prayed for and what was revealed to me. and you know what? Things were freakishly accurate about what I saw and got. Here are these people I have never met before, that I know absolutely nothing about, and I'm speaking completely into their lives. The power of God is incredible. So as I mentioned in my last blog we beat them in soccer, which was fantastic! But there was these two guys from the boarders school, that I bonded with so closely. One, instantly, and the other after initial impressions had faded. Point is these guys are awesome. the night before they left we ended up talking and admiring Gods creation, and sharing testimonies late into the night. It is one of the beautiful things about YWAM, you may only have known people for a week, but you bond so quickly because of shared purpose and experiences. It's funny how God knows exactly what we need when we need it. Just as my relationship with some of the guys here hit a wall, and I started getting frustrated He put more brothers into my life to encourage me. God's provision is astounding at times.
You know what else is amazing about God? His love, and His ability to take over a situation at any moment. I think of lecture this morning, and how the spirit just came and decided to take over, and we ended up spending the whole time in prayer and worship, and how the Spirit spoke through our speaker over our lives, and it was far greater than any lecture he could have given.
Outreach prep is starting to come together, as our team now meets a couple times a week, to pray, fast, worship, and plan together. Yesterday was our first experience of how worship is generally going to look while in Thailand. Just four voices and an ipod. But it was beautiful. We all shared a good chuckle about the fact that our school is swarming with musicians and our team just so happen to be the only team without one on it. So we sat together around an ipod and sang, loudly and out of tune. But it was beautiful, and it was from the heart, and that worship is far greater than any big show or production that people can put on when they don't include their hearts. As the time grows closer, anticipation increases, but I know it will be good, and it is God's will, and that is enough, because He is enough.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
we are the champions!
so as I have previously pointed out my blog has taken a serious back seat, and so I apologize to all of you who are following along. Below is a copy of an email I sent a friend about the last couple days, so you get a little peek at what it has been like...
everything is going incredible here. yesterday was phenomenal!
the snowboarders school is here right now, and so we had the annual, boarders versus backpackers soccer game. its kinda a big deal here. like actually haha. and we won!!! yeaaa. then there was this huge bbq and hang out time after, then we had a worship time, and one of the boarders shared that his best friends little sister is on her death bed, and the doctors said she probably wont live through the weekend. so we just spent time interceding for her, which is crazy because that is what we have been learning about in lectures this week. and we sang and danced and screamed and just prayed for her, and it was one of the most amazing experiences ever. even though we only just met these people we have become close with them, and we all joined together as a body of christ and worshiped and prayed, and it was beautiful.
so my team for outreach is fantastic! we are already pulling together, and sharing common visions, and joining in prayer for thailand and for each other. it has been such a beautiful thing to be a part of. it was such an answer to prayer. everything about my team. because we are prayer warriors, and friends, and a family. the other girl is incredible, and i admire her so much. and the guy on the team just loves God so much it challenges me to grow in my faith. there were certain people from my school, i knew wanted to go to the same place as me that i knew i wouldn't deal well with if they were on my team, and God completely answered that prayer. as well as the two guys on my team (one being my leader ben) are two BIG guys, so i know that i will feel safe with them wherever we go, which is also a huge answer to prayer. man God is so good.
so besides crazy soccer games and awesome worship time, the other day we went on a weekend hike to a mountain about 3 hours away, and it was amazing. it was a bit of a chilly day, so that was nice at first. as we made our way through this dense forest, with snow on the top of the trees, the ground got really slippery. there was one point were i lost my footing and began to slide. thank goodness for april who stopped me and it was all good. haha.
the view on the top was totally worth it all, it was beautiful. there was about a foot of snow on the top. and it was freezing, be there were mountains all around us. then we hiked through more forest to this lake where we camped over night. it was a really tiring weekend, but so beyond incredible.
I will post some photos soon. but i must run to prayer now,.
cheers,
everything is going incredible here. yesterday was phenomenal!
the snowboarders school is here right now, and so we had the annual, boarders versus backpackers soccer game. its kinda a big deal here. like actually haha. and we won!!! yeaaa. then there was this huge bbq and hang out time after, then we had a worship time, and one of the boarders shared that his best friends little sister is on her death bed, and the doctors said she probably wont live through the weekend. so we just spent time interceding for her, which is crazy because that is what we have been learning about in lectures this week. and we sang and danced and screamed and just prayed for her, and it was one of the most amazing experiences ever. even though we only just met these people we have become close with them, and we all joined together as a body of christ and worshiped and prayed, and it was beautiful.
so my team for outreach is fantastic! we are already pulling together, and sharing common visions, and joining in prayer for thailand and for each other. it has been such a beautiful thing to be a part of. it was such an answer to prayer. everything about my team. because we are prayer warriors, and friends, and a family. the other girl is incredible, and i admire her so much. and the guy on the team just loves God so much it challenges me to grow in my faith. there were certain people from my school, i knew wanted to go to the same place as me that i knew i wouldn't deal well with if they were on my team, and God completely answered that prayer. as well as the two guys on my team (one being my leader ben) are two BIG guys, so i know that i will feel safe with them wherever we go, which is also a huge answer to prayer. man God is so good.
so besides crazy soccer games and awesome worship time, the other day we went on a weekend hike to a mountain about 3 hours away, and it was amazing. it was a bit of a chilly day, so that was nice at first. as we made our way through this dense forest, with snow on the top of the trees, the ground got really slippery. there was one point were i lost my footing and began to slide. thank goodness for april who stopped me and it was all good. haha.
the view on the top was totally worth it all, it was beautiful. there was about a foot of snow on the top. and it was freezing, be there were mountains all around us. then we hiked through more forest to this lake where we camped over night. it was a really tiring weekend, but so beyond incredible.
I will post some photos soon. but i must run to prayer now,.
cheers,
Monday, November 8, 2010
outreach
so my blog has become seriously neglected, and i will update it soon with all my excursions. there has been a lot.
basically the big and amazing news is last monday we were given our outreach options. we had 2 days to pray about them and give our top 3 places we wanted to go.
the options were:
india
thailand
australia
new zealand
fiji
so i narrowed it down to 1. thailand 2. australia 3. fiji
time slowly went by as we waited to hear where we were going, and trying to figure out whose team we would be on, and who our leader would be. well that day came, and it was today. 2 short hours ago, through the form of a riddle, animal noises, and some running, we figured out our teams.
i will be going to thailand!! for 7 weeks. we are going to be backpacking around, and that is basically all i know right now. my team is pretty amazing. Malori (from oregon) Luca (from switzerland) and my leader Ben(from alberta) together the 4 of us are going to become a family and tell people about Jesus!
i promise more details will come soon as well as an update on my life. All is good, and i'm so excited for my future.
cheers,
basically the big and amazing news is last monday we were given our outreach options. we had 2 days to pray about them and give our top 3 places we wanted to go.
the options were:
india
thailand
australia
new zealand
fiji
so i narrowed it down to 1. thailand 2. australia 3. fiji
time slowly went by as we waited to hear where we were going, and trying to figure out whose team we would be on, and who our leader would be. well that day came, and it was today. 2 short hours ago, through the form of a riddle, animal noises, and some running, we figured out our teams.
i will be going to thailand!! for 7 weeks. we are going to be backpacking around, and that is basically all i know right now. my team is pretty amazing. Malori (from oregon) Luca (from switzerland) and my leader Ben(from alberta) together the 4 of us are going to become a family and tell people about Jesus!
i promise more details will come soon as well as an update on my life. All is good, and i'm so excited for my future.
cheers,
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
the week of my life!
man, i have been here 2 and a half weeks and i have grown so much more than i could have imagined. Allow me to back up a little and talk about my trip to Akaroa like i mentioned in my last blog. well me, along with 7 other people made our way to Bon Accord hostel in Akaroa. it was this really cute little hostel right across from the beach, and it was a beautiful sunny day. So our drive provided some of the most incredible views I have ever seen. When we were there, we went for a walk on the beach, before making dinner, and just soaked in the sun. However, it was after dinner that the real fun began. Kristoffer, the Norwegian in my group, had found a bay, we there was supposed to be penguins, so after a little more investigation on my part, we headed off in our 1980's van, up a steep mountain to find this beach. We got to the top of this mountain just as the sun was setting, and had a spectacular view of God's creation. I was utterly blown away. After some time in prayer we descended down the back of the mountain on a steep turny gravel road. More than anything we were praying for safety. But our fearless leader Ben eventually got us there safely and once again we were blown away at the Lord's creation. Once at the beach our quest to find penguins began. We didn't want to scare them, so when we did spot them, we stayed back and watched as they came on shore. We had a small run in with the owner of the land behind us, but we some christian kindness he ended up showing us a penguin that was sitting on its eggs, he was right below me. it was soo cool.
so now as I promised my team i will share about our drive home. it isn't anything to spectacular, but as i mentioned we have this really old van that we travel in, and it has 3 sun roofs, so when we were on the front side of the mountain, on paved road again just for clarification, we opened to roof, to amazing stars above and city lights below us, and stood out of them and sang and shouted! (ben was not in approval, just for the record) It was liberating and beautiful, and almost worship like, just dwelling in the Lords beauty.
the next day, still on our penguin high, we set out to see some of the area, and to hike a little. so we drove up another bit of a mountain, and found a good way to hike to the peak. It was tough but amazing, and i'm proud to say I'm the only girl who made it to the top with the boys :)
we headed home later that afternoon, after a fair bit more prayer because our brakes gave out. no one was hurt, just a little shaken up. But Gods hand was with us the whole time, and i saw him so much in the beauty of creation around us, and the spectacular views, and various wildlife we saw in those 27 hours.
the rest of the week went on as most others do. we had a few more lectures, which i am LOVING! and friday night we went into christchurch. I was doing square ministry that friday. which, to say the least, i was not looking forward to. i have this idea in my mind of some one standing on a podium yelling at people to be saved, and that was what i was faced with when i got there. not by anyone in my group allow me to clarify, but by a man who was already there. His logic was a bit skewed, and his tone was not something that would bring me to repentance, but to each his own. so i ended up hanging out with 3 old men watching them play chess for 2 hours, and freezing. then proceeded to hide out in starbucks and warm up. haa. this week will be better.
saturday. now this i'm excited about. Castle Hill! For those of you Narnia fans, it is where the battle scenes take place in the first one. It is stunning. absolutely amazing, and a climbers dream. Now i'm not a huge climber, but there are a lot of them in my group and they were in there glory. We lucked out yet again and got beautiful weather! (for those of you wondering, the mornings here are usually between 0-6 degrees until about noon) so we were really happy it wasn't really cold. so it is tough to describe exactly what castle hill looks like, so i'll put some photos up below. but it is basically a lot of really big rocks. everywhere. with grass and hills everywhere else. So i climbed for a bit and explored, and held my breath as some of the crazy guys climbed and repelled off of rocks i was sure was going to kill them. but they were fine.
after lunch Malory and laurie and i felt like exploring a little mountain behind castle hill. So malory put on her shoes, laurie and i went bare foot because it was grass and sunny, and there is nothing better. and went off onto what turned into a 3 hour hike/exploration of the hills around. It was amazing. we got up onto this one hill and you could see all of castle hill, which was huge, and the mountain behind it, and the ones behind us as well as the lake below. it was beautiful. we also found some other great rocks to climb, and sang and worshiped God, and just soaked in his presence. it was such a liberating feeling, standing on top of a huge hill, wind blowing, sun shining, singing to your creator. Joy overflowed from us as the spirit was there with us.
heading back we met up with the other climbers again, and started back to the vans.
where i proceeded to smash my toe into a rock, and sprained it. At first we were sure it was broken, but i gained mobility back to it fairly soon. However, 4 days later and its still purple. the swelling has gone down and it doesn't hurt to walk anymore, but that was the bummer of the day. but other than that it was absolutely incredible. i love it, and i felt so much joy in being in the lords creation and nature.
castle hill
this is my house, from the back, the porch is right off of my room, and the bit of the red building beside, is our kitchen, dinning room and classroom.
man, i have been here 2 and a half weeks and i have grown so much more than i could have imagined. Allow me to back up a little and talk about my trip to Akaroa like i mentioned in my last blog. well me, along with 7 other people made our way to Bon Accord hostel in Akaroa. it was this really cute little hostel right across from the beach, and it was a beautiful sunny day. So our drive provided some of the most incredible views I have ever seen. When we were there, we went for a walk on the beach, before making dinner, and just soaked in the sun. However, it was after dinner that the real fun began. Kristoffer, the Norwegian in my group, had found a bay, we there was supposed to be penguins, so after a little more investigation on my part, we headed off in our 1980's van, up a steep mountain to find this beach. We got to the top of this mountain just as the sun was setting, and had a spectacular view of God's creation. I was utterly blown away. After some time in prayer we descended down the back of the mountain on a steep turny gravel road. More than anything we were praying for safety. But our fearless leader Ben eventually got us there safely and once again we were blown away at the Lord's creation. Once at the beach our quest to find penguins began. We didn't want to scare them, so when we did spot them, we stayed back and watched as they came on shore. We had a small run in with the owner of the land behind us, but we some christian kindness he ended up showing us a penguin that was sitting on its eggs, he was right below me. it was soo cool.
so now as I promised my team i will share about our drive home. it isn't anything to spectacular, but as i mentioned we have this really old van that we travel in, and it has 3 sun roofs, so when we were on the front side of the mountain, on paved road again just for clarification, we opened to roof, to amazing stars above and city lights below us, and stood out of them and sang and shouted! (ben was not in approval, just for the record) It was liberating and beautiful, and almost worship like, just dwelling in the Lords beauty.
the next day, still on our penguin high, we set out to see some of the area, and to hike a little. so we drove up another bit of a mountain, and found a good way to hike to the peak. It was tough but amazing, and i'm proud to say I'm the only girl who made it to the top with the boys :)
we headed home later that afternoon, after a fair bit more prayer because our brakes gave out. no one was hurt, just a little shaken up. But Gods hand was with us the whole time, and i saw him so much in the beauty of creation around us, and the spectacular views, and various wildlife we saw in those 27 hours.
the rest of the week went on as most others do. we had a few more lectures, which i am LOVING! and friday night we went into christchurch. I was doing square ministry that friday. which, to say the least, i was not looking forward to. i have this idea in my mind of some one standing on a podium yelling at people to be saved, and that was what i was faced with when i got there. not by anyone in my group allow me to clarify, but by a man who was already there. His logic was a bit skewed, and his tone was not something that would bring me to repentance, but to each his own. so i ended up hanging out with 3 old men watching them play chess for 2 hours, and freezing. then proceeded to hide out in starbucks and warm up. haa. this week will be better.
saturday. now this i'm excited about. Castle Hill! For those of you Narnia fans, it is where the battle scenes take place in the first one. It is stunning. absolutely amazing, and a climbers dream. Now i'm not a huge climber, but there are a lot of them in my group and they were in there glory. We lucked out yet again and got beautiful weather! (for those of you wondering, the mornings here are usually between 0-6 degrees until about noon) so we were really happy it wasn't really cold. so it is tough to describe exactly what castle hill looks like, so i'll put some photos up below. but it is basically a lot of really big rocks. everywhere. with grass and hills everywhere else. So i climbed for a bit and explored, and held my breath as some of the crazy guys climbed and repelled off of rocks i was sure was going to kill them. but they were fine.
after lunch Malory and laurie and i felt like exploring a little mountain behind castle hill. So malory put on her shoes, laurie and i went bare foot because it was grass and sunny, and there is nothing better. and went off onto what turned into a 3 hour hike/exploration of the hills around. It was amazing. we got up onto this one hill and you could see all of castle hill, which was huge, and the mountain behind it, and the ones behind us as well as the lake below. it was beautiful. we also found some other great rocks to climb, and sang and worshiped God, and just soaked in his presence. it was such a liberating feeling, standing on top of a huge hill, wind blowing, sun shining, singing to your creator. Joy overflowed from us as the spirit was there with us.
heading back we met up with the other climbers again, and started back to the vans.
where i proceeded to smash my toe into a rock, and sprained it. At first we were sure it was broken, but i gained mobility back to it fairly soon. However, 4 days later and its still purple. the swelling has gone down and it doesn't hurt to walk anymore, but that was the bummer of the day. but other than that it was absolutely incredible. i love it, and i felt so much joy in being in the lords creation and nature.
some of the guys bouldering
castle hill
this is my house, from the back, the porch is right off of my room, and the bit of the red building beside, is our kitchen, dinning room and classroom.
I realized I dont have any Akaroa photos on my computer yet, but i will get some and put them up.
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