Hey everyone
First off I haven’t seen a kiwi yet. Sad I know, but I guess
they are nocturnal and hide from pretty much everything sense they can’t fly
and really can’t defend themselves. Oh well.
So my missions leaders made the comment “everyone needs to get
online and write a quick blog or
letter home to let everyone know you made it safely because people are calling
to check up on you.”
I just sat back in my seat and smiled to myself thinking
“ha, those concerned calls weren’t
from people I know. All my friends and family know that I am destined to get in
trouble, but then somehow everything works out. Its better to just not call at
all and wait for the email…even if it takes a while.”
SOOOOO….I MADE IT. (but just
barely.)
I almost missed my flight in Philly do to forgetting to
print out my boarding pass. (my fault)
Almost missed my flight in Memphis due to delays (not my
fault).
Showed up in Cali with no cell phone, contact numbers, and
not a clue where to find my team. Luckily I closed my eyes, started walking,
and ended up in the right spot. (not exactly what happened, but got just as
lucky by running into a teammate by mistake)
JUST BARELY made it on my plane to New Zealand. (TOTALLY MY FAULT) cause I was looking for a pay phone to
call my mom one last time (aren’t I sweet?!) But as I went to the phone, a friend ran up to me and told
me the plane was almost done boarding and I had to go. (that one would have been most
unfortunate)
But bygones shall be bygones, and now it is off to greener
pastures…literally.
New Zealand is so green, and as a native Vermonter, I know that going green is
cool!
We are staying at a YWAM base in Matamata HOME OF THE
HOBBITS! This is where they filmed the Shire for Lord of the Rings, and I can
not get over how gorgeous it is here.
It is green everywhere, hills flowing with gorgeous blue hydrangeas, natural pools filled with toxic hot
springs (I am not allowed in those)
and we are snuggled in at the foot of some “hills” which put our
mountains to shame.
Here is a picture of my group near the toxic water. We’re
not scared of the angry bacteria. (okay so the picture didn’t work but i’ll upload it later)
Over the next week we are going to be doing training: Such
as working on evangelism, community building, writing and practicing sermons
and getting more knowledge about what “life on the field” is like. I am really
excited about this training. I am in a weird limbo right now where I can not
believe that I am on the other side of the world, and yet I am chomping at the
bits to get started, and so this training is going to be awesome.
Prayer Requests:
Rest. Eww it was 37 hours of straight traveling for me,
starting in Philly, and ending up at my final destination. I am typing right
now and it is 4 pm my time
Tuesday and right now it is 10
Monday night for you. Weird I know right? Well just think how my poor stomach
is. I am hungry at the weirdest times, and I am running on 4 hours of sleep
since waking up Sat morning at 9 am. (don’t forget that I skipped over Monday
completely though, so its not as cool =) )
Austin’s luggage. My friend’s luggage got lost in
California, so he literally has the clothes on his back right now. If you would
pray it shows up that would be great.
Training-
I am really excited for this week. There is going to be a lot to learn.
I pray that everyone here with me is focused and excited to learn the skills
that will really help over this year.
Good-bye everyone- I’ll be keeping you posted, but not for
the next few days. We as a group
are going on a technology fast. We really want to be focused on our mission and
why we are here, so we are putting distractions away for a few days to really
focus on God and get accustomed to New Zealand.
So as
they say in New Zealand “BYE”
strange, we say the same
thing! =)
