Back from NZ, Now in Canada

Culinary Updates

2012-01-29T17:44:00.001-08:00

This is my chaud froid platter:

Using mayo and aspic we made the white gelatin like base, let that cool. Then put the inlaid garnishes in and covered that with aspic, let that cool. Then added my canapes.
Starting from left to right:

Parmesan crisp with a goat cheese mousse, Radish salad on carrot cream cheese, Tuna Tartar with avocado salsa, Curried Chicken salad with Frisee, and more Parm crisps.
This was our first project with chaud froid and aspic. We poached our trout then added garnishes.
You can also see the inlaid garnishes in this pic. My final project was a MUCH smoother platter. This one is blah.
all of our fun garnishes we learned.
Do you see the apple swans? :)

Loving school so much still. Job update: I quit! Woo Hoo! And got another job as a server at a fine dining restaurant at school. HR is still going over all my papers, but my last day is tuesday at my old job so I am hoping to start up my new one within this next week. That's the most exciting news lately. Other than going back to Wisconsin in approximately 20 days! I cant wait!! Thats it for now.

Christmas break...

2012-01-10T20:41:00.000-08:00

Andrew and I on top of Marmot in Jasper.
The snowboarders at Jasper.
View from in the trees at Revelstoke.
View from just off the highest Chairlift at Revelstoke.

Trees.

Revelstoke.

Making a jump for sledding in Sicamous.
Me, right after seeing the hill we were going to be sledding down!
My first Poutine!

Cindy and I doing the Canadian norm...
Here's my breakdown of my busy Christmas break...

-Last day of class was the 19th. We had a cleaning day where we deep cleaned the whole big kitchen then took our Range exam.

-After class I packed up our stuff for Jasper! On the 20th Andrew and I hit the road after his last exam and met up with Trish, Yvonne, Jared, and Laura at our neat little loft hotel room.

- The next 3 days we did a fun secret gift exchange, skied on Marmot, went in the hot tub, and out for a nice dinner. There was a lot of 'Times Up' playing too!

-Skiing was SO beautiful and fun! Even though I did get a bit cold it didnt put a damper in my day.

-After Jasper we hung out at Bryan and Debbie's house for Christmas. Opened lots of presents, ate turkey, and just enjoyed eachothers company lots.

-Christmas Eve we went to Trish's and had fondue! That was lots of fun too. I also skyped with my family back home and I really liked that.

-On the 26th we were on the road again with our married friends: Ryan and Cindy, & Dave and Ashley. This time to Sicamous, British Colombia. Another amazing trip!!

-We went sledding, had a campfire, went skiing at Revelstoke (and Andrew went 2 times!), played lots of games, watched movies, AND Gloria and Nick came out to visit which really made my trip. Let's just say fun is an understatement :)

-We drove back on the 30th

-On New Years Eve we started off seeing Trevor and Raelene, and played some Cranium. Then we saw the dumb new Tom Cruise movie...Mission Impossible 13 or something...haha. It was nice being with Laura, Bryan and Debbie though. Then we celebrated the night at our friend's( Dave and Barb, plus new baby Blake) parent's house. Played cranium again, hot tubbed , and ate snacks. A great night.

-The next week up until school started was just normal. I started back at work on the 3rd...we tried to hang out in Devon as much as possible because Yvonne and Jared were still in town.

-Andrew got new hockey skates, gloves , and a stick for Christmas so hes been skating lots and we played speed scrabble a lot too.

Thats it for now, Im in Garde Mange class right now,

...garde manger

[gahrd mahn-ZHAY]
A French term for the cool, well-ventilated pantry area (usually in hotels and large restaurants) where cold buffet dishes are prepared and other foods are stored in refrigerated units. Some of the items prepared in a garde manger are salads, PÂTÉS, CHAUD-FROIDS and other decorative dishes. The person in charge of this area is known as chef garde manger.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/tools/fooddictionary/entry/?id=2674#ixzz1j7ius0Z8

but its bed time, see ya later.(Also I am coming back to Wisconsin in FEBRUARY! See you all then.

-e

Picture Updates!

2011-11-14T12:25:00.000-08:00

Winter is here...
we miss the fall...
and hardly remember summer!

Our kitchen remodeling project...that used to be a full wall, so the kitchen was so dark and not great. therefore we took out a chunk and half of the wall and eventually it will be a breakfast bar area with some shelves on the side. Now its just a mess.
AFTER WE PAINTED :) love it
BEFORE WE PAINTED

Minx sitting on the sleeping Andrew
Our kitten :)

So...
Life is still busy. This past weekend was Remembrance Day, so we had a long weekend. On friday we had Dave and Ashleys wedding, which was beautiful and SO much fun. We danced the night away. Saturday I went over to Cindy's house with Katie and her daughter Ava and we made some Christmas cards. Then, in the night, we went to a Haiti fundraising dinner. On Sunday we went to First CRC again (we are really liking it!) and after just cleaned cleaned cleaned! 7 loads of laundry later and furniture moving =our house in tiptop shape. For dinner we went out to Dad and Debbies house. We had apple soup! Quite tasty! and a Roast with potatoes for main course and crepes for dessert. This week should go by without a problem.

Oh, and the contest went really well. We got first PLACE!! All that hard work paid off :)

Here was our Menu:

Smoked Whitefish on a wild rice and lentil crepe with a grainy mustard celery root slaw

then,
Braised bison short ribs sausages with lentil and homemade rocotta cheese perogies. Pan roated guinea hen with a wild mushroom sauce and pickled beets.

for dessert: dark chocolate cherry triffle(the laters being mousse, whiskey and amoretto soaked pound cake , sour cherry compote, crumbled almond cookie, more mousse.

Early Mornings

2011-10-12T22:34:00.000-07:00

This week I wake up and go to school by 7am so I can practice with my partner for the cooking competition/scholarship contest I am in. It'll be like this for abit. I feel like a real chef though putting in 13 hour days...WOO COOKING!

Also i got a letter from my best friend Emily today...Made my day/night/week/weekend! Miss her even more though. I miss a lot of people from home.

Weekend Recap...

2011-10-11T12:56:00.000-07:00

Friday: I worked til 9pm

Saturday: Woke up and got to school by 10am to help with preparing food for feeding the homeless thanksgiving dinner. I sliced and sliced and sliced turkey! Then Andrew, Laura and I packed up and went out to the acreage (we brought minx too!) We spent the rest of the day lounging then Cindy, Ryan, Tyler, Wes, Brent, and Grant came over and we played a really fun card game that had us running all over the house! We eventually took the game to a bigger scale and had a scavenger hunt type thing in Devon. (My team won! )Then we had a bonfire. And earlier we ate homemade pumpkin pie that Cindy made from scratch..so good!

Sunday: We slept in and then listened to a sermon from BCRC on 1 John 3. Then the rest of the day was lounging , studying, prepping food etc.

Monday: Thanksgiving!! We woke up and the power was out! So we couldnt start cooking the turkey until we packed up everything to go to Trish's house and right as we are about to walk out the door the power comes back on!!! So noon the turkey was put in. Then we did homework and made more food until about 5 when we had dinner. Good times. I love my family.

Turkey Dinner...plus Minx

2011-10-10T21:48:00.001-07:00

Turkey Dinner!:

Turkey, Stuffing, Sweet Potato Wedges, Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes, Corn, Gravy, Cranberry Sauce, Apple Pie, & Pumpkin Pie+Interesting Music+Laura& Andrew = AWESOME DAY
And this is me and minxy on a sleepy day :)

Happy Thanksgiving...

2011-10-08T18:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend is Canadian thanksgiving! So Andrew, Laura and I will be celebrating on monday with a full on turkey dinner. Im SO excited to cook. Im thinking turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, corn , green beans, homemade stuffing and gravy, sweet potato dish and pumpkin and dutch apple pie...wish me luck!

This week went really well. I sent in an acceptance letter for a scholarship cookoff contest and got in! First year students are partnered with second years. So my partners name is Allen, and my teacher was so happy I got him, cuz he is one of the best students right now! woo hoo! so the contest is november 5, and we are going to meet this tuesday to start preparing for it. I am SO EXCITED. k bye

A weekend with Gloria!

2011-10-02T21:45:00.000-07:00

This weekend Gloria came to visit! She got flown in for a concert in Calgary on friday, so Andrew, our friend Jaryn, and I all drove down to see her. We were also hanging out with Nicole and Russ, some of our other friends. The cool part is that our thing in common is that we all went to Capernwray! So yeah, drove down friday night and stayed at Nicoles house with the girls. Andrew stayed at his buddies house. Saturday morning we went out to Cora's downtown for breakfast with Chris, Trevor, and Raelene (the 2guys are Andrew's friends from Capernwray and Raelene is Trevor's wife). Then we went over to the little festival/BBQ that Nicole's brother was putting on at their church as an outreach. Gloria and Jaryn sang and then this old guy came and was like, "I have my congos in my car, can I play with you guys?" they said sure, so there was a sweet jam session. Andrew won a corn eating contest. typical. After that we drove back to Edmonton and went over to Bryans house for his birthday. Sunday we went to Connie's Church, First CRC. I loved it. Lots of old people and lots of young couples. :)Which is good for Andrew and I. After church Glory and I went to West Edmonton Mall, which is what you kinda have to do if you go to edmonton. After that it was time to take her to the airport and say our goodbyes. (Miss you already glor!) When Andrew and I got home we started the renovation of our kitchen wall... it was fun ripping parts down! Then I got to skype with my sister Anne. Good talks. Now were off to bed...wonder what God has in store for this week?!

Recipe...

2011-09-28T22:09:00.000-07:00

For about 2 lbs sliced chicken...

2 onions finely diced

1 piece of ginger, peeled and grated

2.5 tablespoons garlic, minced

olive oil

cumin

turmeric

garam marsala

coriander

cayenne

5-7 mangos

2-3 cans cocoanut milk

liter of cream

Heat olive oil. Put onion, ginger, and garlic and stir constantly to sweat them (meaning get their flavor but dont put color on them.)add Spices to flavor...the more cayenne the spicer so be careful. Add chicken, mangos, coco milk and cream. Add more spices and salt and pepper to season! Taste lots throughout the process, cuz thats what a good and smart chef does!

Serve on basmati rice...and maybe garnish with some sliced green onion. Sorry no picture, I'll have my phone to take one next time.

Mango Cocoanut Chicken Curry

2011-09-28T21:58:00.000-07:00

Today, in Short Order class, my group made Mango Cocoanut Chicken curry for our daily special...and I don't mean to brag, but WOW was it good! I had the idea from this past weekend when Andrew, Laura, and I had a canned version of it. It was pretty awesome too, but I thought how great it would be to make it from scratch. So, with the help of my chef professor, we did!

And it sold :) I felt proud. I also felt proud because today was the day our teacher takes us aside and tells us our grade and just how we have been doing so far, and he gave me the highest mark he has ever given and that I am doing a great job and he sees that I am a natural leader and that he sees alot of him self in how I work. It feels great because I am working hard and pushing myself and loving what I do. Although I can't let this praise get to my head. So I am praying for humility and my attitude. And thanking the Lord each day for this amazing opportunity to go to school and mom and dad too!!!

love you,

Married!

2011-09-26T13:29:00.001-07:00

some wedding details
andrew and i
ceremony
andrew
me.
Hey,

Thought I would start this up again. At least try. My life is VERY busy here! Being married, full time student and having a job, well yes I'm busy! Wake up around 6-6:30 do anything from exercise/shower/read my Bible then go to school. Classes are from 8:15 to 1:15 and then 1:30 to 3:10 and then work right after that until 8-9pm. Then home to my sweet husband Andrew and our cat Minx.

We have been busy hanging out with friends doing some of the following: Bible study, camping/hiking, bonfires, birthday parties, dinners, shopping, and just hanging out. thats lots of fun. ill try to get some pictures up.

This morning I read 1John(love it!) and psalm 25 in honor of Emily's birthday yesterday. :)

Thats it for now...off to work.

-e

Away from home?

2011-02-06T09:34:00.000-08:00

Ok so these are in reverse order that i wanted to put them on but here is backward since being home... Got engaged Oct. 7, 2010
Moved into my first (and only ) apartment all by myself, downtown Milwaukee August, 2010
I visited Andrew in Canada. We climbed a little mountain Aug. 2010
Andrew came to Wisconsin and we hung out with some mutual friends: Chris and Calvin, plus hanging out with family and friends July 2010

I can't believe I am coming up to being away from New Zealand for almost a year. I miss it everyday, I feel like I am away from my home. It is cool to see what God has done in my life since coming home. In my relationship with my family, deeper relationship with my friends, a God-fearing husband to be ;), my own apartment, a full time job, a Bible study, and much more. It is definitely harder in the real world to keep my heart focused on Christ and to be in His Word and talking with Him. Capernwray had this uplifting greenhouse to grow heaps in my faith, and I am finding it hard being planted out in the big 'woods' of Milwaukee! God has me here for a reason though. (Although I won't be here for long...162 days til the wedding and after that honeymoon-home-pack-road trip to Canada-culinary school-married life forever :)...I love you Andrew)

Purpose of this starting up again was to keep me accountable and I guess uplift and encourage anyone who still reads this long-outdated blog of mine. Thank you Shelly for encouraging me to start this up again. Plan goes as followed: look back on my Capernwray notes, reflect and talk about it. Hope some cool things resurface and I can share what I learned in New Zealand to you.

love,

Elizabeth

welcoming committee

2010-07-02T18:05:00.000-07:00

sister, me and laren
shelly, emily, me, and devan
dad, anne, me, christian and chasie (mom was there too, but just taking the picture, thanks momma)

2010-07-02T17:53:00.000-07:00

im back in wisconsin.

Coromandel

2010-06-26T22:43:00.000-07:00

on the coromandel coast :)
Me, Katie, Claire, Steff, and Justine in front of the huge L&P bottle. yum!
me, Claire, Steff, Justine, & Katie just being silly.
attempting a jumping picture...
beautiful west coastline of the coromandel
us in front of a cloudy view that cleared later

Saturday we attempted to go to Cathedral Cove and hot water beach...that was an unsuccessful trip because the roads were closed. All the rain washed some areas out. But we still had a GREAT time- I love road trips.

6 days and counting...

One day less than a week until in WI

2010-06-23T22:26:00.000-07:00

Last week was Ministry week! I stayed with awesome Lennox family (as shown: Me, James, Lynette, Stu, and Olivia) They absolutely made the week. Later I'll put up a picture of the hat and matching mittens Lynette made me that are so beautiful! The week was at Te Awamutu Baptist Church in Te Awamutu and we spent the week running programs, visiting retirement homes, and volunteering etc. I had a great team as well.

Other thoughts:

Wow time flies. It seems like yesterday that I arrived in Auckland New Zealand. This past year has been amazing, so so so wonderful. God has used Capernwray, the staff, these opportunities, and this environment to change my heart. If feels like normal home life here... I feel normal here-so odd. I guess it just goes to show the saying "home is where the heart is" is true. My heart is God's and therefore where ever I go I am at home with Him. (That sounds a bit confusing, but it made sense in my head )

Anywho. I am excited to go back to Wisconsin, I'm ready :) Yep. I love you all, thanks for following my blog!

Beautiful rainbow

2010-06-08T23:59:00.000-07:00

Taken at the batch in Waiuku.

"God said, “This is the sign of the promise I am giving to you and every living being that is with you for generations to come. I will put my rainbow in the clouds to be a sign of my promise to the earth. Whenever I form clouds over the earth, a rainbow will appear in the clouds."

Genesis 9:12-14

Bit of a rough day

2010-06-03T19:27:00.000-07:00

Today Andrew left New Zealand to go to Cananda. I am sad. My heart aches and I cried heaps. Here's the thing though. Prayer is powerful. Our God is powerful, I should say. The peace from God that I have about everything is amazing. The joy i have from my heavenly Father is so great. Right now i know with all my heart that as long as I am living for Christ and his will, all is good. Not easy all the time, or ever I guess, we arent promised that, but just living for him. Phew. Soon it will be my turn to travel back to north america. Can't wait to share all I've learnt. peace.

great weekend

2010-05-30T22:02:00.000-07:00

I just had a GREAT weekend. Up in Waiuku with Andrew, his mom and James at the batch(more pictures to come when they get emailed to me). Chill weekend. Played some golf, cooked some food, read my Bible, sat in the sunshine, went to a lighthouse, had a free photoshoot, talked talked talked, watched a movie, enjoyed life, I'm all smiles. God's so good and heres the thing-I've just got to trust Him with EVERYTHING. yep. Thats the dealio. peace.

2010-05-23T20:29:00.000-07:00

Friends Zakk and Rachel in the kitchen.
Beautiful sunset view from outside the back kitchen door.
Me after a bike ride into town, great hair aye?haha

Just some picture updates. 40 days.

"And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by his Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:5

Sister

2010-05-16T19:08:00.001-07:00

(Us in New Zealand)
(Us in Winona)
I miss you sister. I love you.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1Peter 1:3-9

but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31

But you must return to your God;
maintain love and justice,
and wait for your God always. Hosea 12:6

Hanging around

2010-05-15T22:56:00.000-07:00

(oldie but a good memory-Sumner beach, Christchurch 2009)
Just hanging around here in NZ...actually I'm really busy. Balancing my time between the kitchen, peers, and Andrew. And just me and God time of course, but its sad how easily that gets pushed aside. Why is that? A bit of a stuggle I'd say. 47 days in counting. It's going to be hard going home.

HAPPY MOTHER's DAY!

2010-05-08T14:01:00.000-07:00

(Queenstown)
(Routeburn Track)
(Homer Spit, AK)
(Last Mother's Day)
I have the best mom ever.

I love you mom, and I know how much you love me...

Thank you : )

All your hard work and patience really means a lot to me.

love, Elizabeth

Ephesians 5

2010-05-08T13:46:00.000-07:00

"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people.

Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them.

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:

"Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."

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

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ."

Ephesians 5:1-21...

What a great passage. This morning I woke up and thats the first thing I thought of. Cool aye? I am living life each day for Him. Its great here. The students are awesome, the staff are amazing and God's love is seen all around me. I'm going to miss this community so much. Thank you God for this opportunity to come to New Zealand. Only 56 days left.

Prayer

2010-04-30T16:57:00.000-07:00

Matthew 6:25-34**

These last few days have been a little rough. New Zealand is still amazing but I am being bombarded with all these thoughts and worries about home and all the things with the future-when I really feel like I should just be here when I'm here, you know?(When am I going to get the chance to be at a Bible school in NZ again?)

James 4:13-15

"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say,'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'"

Psalm 37:3-8, 23-26

" Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret-it leads only to evil...If the Lord delights in a man's way he makes his steps firm; though he stumble he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed."

Galatians 2:20

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The live I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

1 John 3:16-24

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. Ad we ought to lay down out lives for our brothers .If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set out hears at rest in his presence whenever our hears condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command; to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us."

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and hte God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."

Philippians 4:4-9

" Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving , present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me-put into practice. and the God of peace will be with you."

**Matthew 6:25-34

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

I love God with all my heart, I just need to trust him with all my heart too.

I've been inspired

2010-04-23T16:33:00.000-07:00

Lemon custard in meringue cups
Them again with the sunflowers i bought :)
Morgan at work!
Bible study in the park in Cambridge. (with the farmers market in the background)
Yesterday I hung out with Beth. She's awesome :) We talked talked talked and baked an amazing lemon dessert. She also shared with me some of the baking blog sites that she has found with wonderful recipes and beautiful photos to match, which resulted in my inspiration to go out and get some more batteries and actually use my camera. So today I went to the park to work on my Bible Study(1 John 3:1-6) and then visited Morgan at her work. On my way back to the car I stopped at the farmers market and picked up some sunflowers and then took pictures. Now they are on here! Another thing-Beth and Joe are keeping a really cool blog with amazing photography (they are taking the pictures and blogging to document their time here and also get better with the camera...) So for the time being I'm on a actually blog kick. (but we shall see how long this lasts)

Tonight we are having a mediterranean/ greek themed meal and I'm working with a few other students to make it. (Pitas with chicken, hummus, tzisiki, eggplant and courgette thing, and greek feta salad+ caramel slice for dessert) Theeeen Morgan and I are getting dressed up and going to Hamilton to hang out...hopefully some pictures to come. 70 days in counting.

2010-04-20T01:34:00.000-07:00

The TOP if Mount Doom!!
On the way up Mt. Doom...itwas ruff. We started climbing at 3 AM and got to the top by 6ish.
My ministry week family. They are awesome. Really really really really fun :)

Last Term

2010-04-16T19:27:00.000-07:00

Monday is the beginning of my last Term here in New Zealand at Capernwray Bible school. So weird to think about! I've been here for about 9 months. I come home in 77 days. Wow. I've learned so much and really made my faith my own and my relationship with Jesus Christ is really the most important thing in my life now. (Or at least I'm working towards that. Its a long hard process out of the ways of the world I was wrapped up in before). I can't wait to see everyone.

"For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me." Psalm 31:3

Quick update

2010-04-09T02:23:00.000-07:00

woah almost a month has gone by since my last one...
right now I am in the middle of 2 week break, but unlike my last one in October I am just hanging around Cambridge area and the Lodge on lake karapiro. It's fall, but not many trees drop their leaves here. Tonight is the first night of Xposure (a camp for 14-18 yr olds that Andrew is leading, and im cooking) but tomorrow i have to leave for the day to help out with a wedding! I'm really excited.
Oh yea! and last thursday night I left here at 11:30 pm and Andrew and I drove 3 hours to Mt. Doom (you know from Lord of the Rings :) ) and started hiking at 3am ish! we got to the top just in time for the AMAZING sunrise-like a big fire in the sky and we could see for miles and miles. On our way up it was a bit foggy then we broke through the clouds and we walked the rest of the night/morning in the light of a big full moon. (lots of stars out too) talk about gorgeous, probably one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen, also one of the hardest things I have ever done, but you dont really remember that part of it.
Monday and tuesday I might be spending with my billets from this past ministry week. They are amazing people! We stayed up most nights and talked till pretty late and just you can really see how much they trust God. Also they have 5 kids with one on the way...all 6 and under!!!It reminded me of my cousins :). The kids were a blast and real cute.
After break is done I will be going back to Monavale and I got asked to intern in the kitchen!! I am really really really pumped for that. baking and cooking are kinda my thing. Plus the chef there is really cool and I just know I am going to learn alot. I'll still be going to lectures and have homework and stuff, but with a different dynamic added.
Keep me in your prayers, I really miss home...only about 80 days left.
Keep reading 1 John..the more you read it the more God reveals things to you, open up yourself to Him.
(>>Andrew is coming to visit around the time I get home...hope you all are excited to meet him :) he says hi.)

Random Pictures! Horay

2010-03-15T18:52:00.000-07:00

At Andrew's beach house in Waiuku(near Auckland) Andrew, Jochem, Gloria, Talia, Steph, Russ, and Me and Nicole in the front.
Stephanie and I when she came to visit(Steph was my roommate at University last year)
(Gloria and I on Pirate themed graduation night. She was Tinker Bell...I miss that girl!)
(My Capernwray family last semester:Bottom row-Rachel, Kestral, Me, Leah, Lynette and the kids. Top row-Jon, Patrick, Kevin, Levi, and Leijf
(Christmas Eve heres the family in Queenstown at a really cute local restaurant: Dad, Mom, Chase, Christian, Me, and Anne)
(sister Anne and I in Rotorua)
(Mom and Dad on the Routeburn track in the Milfred sound area in the tip of the south island)
(In New Zealand traveling with my family also on the Routeburn track)
(In Australia at the famous Bondi Beach)
(andrews mom, Andrew and me when we went golfing-which was my first time ever!This was right after Australia when I stayed at their beach house for a couple of days)
Me and morgan at her work( with a ninja turtle hehe)

2010-03-01T13:37:00.000-08:00

Well it has been quite a while since my last update..sorry about that. I have 10 days left of this ABS, WOW time flew. We have done some amazing things this time and more than I did when I was in it in October. Things like surfing in Raglan and a 2 day sea kayaking trip around Rotorua. The weather has been gorgeous and hot. Signs of autmn are coming tho! (I missed the bright yellow maple trees at home!) It seems weird to think I've been thru winter, spring, and summer and fall is just around the corner...8 months here! I think its around 124 days til I go home (July 2) I'm still learning a lot from God. The most recent thing that keeps coming up is how important it is to be living in Christ's love. (I've been reading 1 John a lot)So everything I do and say and think should go through the "love filter", just Jesus standard. Another thing is how my relationship with God feeds into or impacts all my other relationships.

Soon we leave on a 4 day tramp...which means hike in NZ terms
Heres some other NZ lingo that I've gotten into the habit of saying:
keen
rubbish
sweet-az
eh
she'll be alright
no worries

Alright heres a good verse to memorize, I'll leave you with that
1John 3:18 "Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue, but with action and in truth"

Another Adventure

2010-02-01T15:16:00.000-08:00

Another Adventure Bible School 6 week program starts today, except this time I am an intern! I'm a little nervous-excited for it all to begin. There are going to be alot of awesome things for this one and I will try to post up more pictures. My latest adventure is re-learning how to drive stick shift and doing that in New Zealand is great :) Keep the staff here and all the new students coming in your prayers. I love NZ!

At the Lodge

2010-01-25T23:26:00.000-08:00

dear friends and family,
today was my second day on the job :) I got asked to be an intern here at ABS again! The 6 week program starts up on Feb. 2 so this week is all prep work. I will be pre-baking alot with another staff member named Cloudy. The weather has been so hot here althogh right now there is a thunder storm-its wonderful! and the rain is needed. My Australian adventures finished up with almost a week back in Waiuku, NZ with Andrew's mom, Trish, and her boyfriend James and Andrew came up for the weekend. They are such lovely people! We went golfing and out dancing and just had a really wonder ful time. And now I am back here and to be honest I feel a bit at home :). Oh! ok so keep Sarah, andrews sister who is in Haiti, in your prayers and check out her website: olivetreeprojects.com

some pics

2010-01-13T17:48:00.000-08:00

Me, Andrew, Jen, and Jesse playing in some fountians

Sydney Opera House

view of Darling Harbor in Sydney

just a funny picture jumping off the steps in front of the Sydney Opera House

**all pictures thanks to Jesse, becasue my cameras batteries died...

:)

2010-01-13T17:19:00.001-08:00

Back in Sydney after a few days of traveling mostly on the coast including Newcastle, Hornsby, Cronulla, and Richmond(but that was inland). I'm on my own for the next few days, Andrew left yesterday :(. A great surprise tho is that I found out another student from Capernwray is in Sydney these next few days too...God provides a way for me not to be alone, thank You. So these next days I plan to spend a lot of time in the word, also reading the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan(thanks to my friend Shelly...what a great Christmas present and its amazing so far and I only just finished chapter 3!), I'll be taking day trips out of the city to surrounding areas because I got a train/bus/ferry pass for the week, and well lately I've been reminded that I really need to be living with everything I am for God and to glorify him. I must confess that before recently I forgot for a while how important that is. " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it:'Love your neighbor as yourself.' " Matthew 22:37-40.

ps. Please pray for Andrew's sister Sarah, who is in Haiti right now. She has an orphanage/ midwifery place there. She is ok from the earthquake and is helping now with all the damage. Just pray for Sarah and Haiti in general. Thanks

AUSTRALIA

2010-01-09T15:29:00.000-08:00

I'm in Australia and man is it hot here!! But so beautiful and wonderful. The first 2 days i spent in Sydney and yesterday took a train up north to Newcastle. Beaches, Cafes, shops and just meeting new people is awesome. I'll try and keep you posted.love, elizabeth

3 weeks...

2010-01-05T11:28:00.000-08:00

The last 3 weeks have been good with the family. We have seen amazing landscapes and done some crazy adventures. One of which was a 3 day trek in the Milfred Sound=wow! and the boys went bungee jumping some other day. We have been through a lot of cute little towns and seen mountains and beaches and fiords and rolling hills, all part of what makes NZ great and a total display of God's handiwork. Today is the last full day we have here and then the family is back home and I am off to Australia. Wish me luck :)

quick update

2009-12-26T12:50:00.000-08:00

I hope everyones Christmas was lovely! Ours was good and interesting thats for sure. Not your normal white Christmas with chestnuts roasting over an open fire...instead we river boarded down rapids and went off water slides and jumped off cliffs...so fun! The rest of the day was pretty chill and we had a nice family Christmas dinner together. The next day we rode ATVs in an off roading thing and then drove to Te Anu and stayed at another campsite. This morning we are off to Milfred Sound on a boat tour..gotta go :)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-23T21:03:00.001-08:00

Hello all and Merry Christmas! :)
The family has been here for a week now and I can't believe how fast the time has gone. So far we havc stayed in a night or 2 on the north island and then on the south: Nelson, Greymouth(saw pancake rocks in the morning in Punakaiki then beautiful scenery down the west coast the rest of the day), Haast(on our way there we stopped in Fox Glacier area and took a helicopter up to the glacier and hiked on it...WOW, super beautiful, then drove through more awesome landscape and ended up in Haast at a kind of a sketchy place), and tonight in Queenstown(but during the day we did an intense jetboat ride and walked around town a bit and had a meeting for our hike in a few days. the hike is 3 days long in milfred sound...reminds me alot of ABS so I am pretty excited). Soon we are off to eat at a small family owned recommended restaurant.

I just wanted to say from me and the rest of the family..we wish you the best this Christmas season and dont forget what it is all about, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who came as a humble baby, lived a perfect live in love, died for our sins and the sins of the world and now lives again in our hearts. Thanks God for that sacrifice.

Family's Here

2009-12-21T13:31:00.000-08:00

It has been way to long since my last blog, please forgive me. I guess I just got really busy with the end of the semester finishing up. It was really weird saying goodbye to some people that, realistically, I might never see again. The semster finished up great though. And now I am traveling with my family and we are currently in Neslon in the south island, Horay! They got here late friday night and drove to the Lodge(where ABS was). We stayed there with Andrew and then the next day headed into Cambridge to see the school (Monavale) and get some groceries. Then off we went! Our first stop was in Waitomo caves area where we did an undergroud caving tour and saw the famous glow worms...very beautiful, and stayed the night there. The next day we headed more south and did a bit of driving and ended up in a small beach town on the west coast, Hawera Beach. Then the next day was more driving in the beautiful landscape of NZ and south to Wellington, where we took the ferry to Picton in the south island. The ferry was SO ROUGH in the start, up and down and up and down, but as we got further out it leveled out a bit-felt a little sick though. Once in Picton we got right on the road and drove to Havelock for some seafood (altho I ordered pupmpkin soup, yum!) and then made our way to Nelson to stay the night with a couple my parents met on their Israel trip. And thats where I am now. So what has God been doing in my life lately? I really enjoy my quiet time with Him every morning and seriously it makes or breaks my day, I just feel malnurished(spiritually) if I dont spend time with Jesus. And I am excited that I have that desire. I've been reading 1John everyday-great book. Its only 5 chapters, I recommend taking 5-10 minutes and reading it. I guess thats my challenge to you all. (1 John is found in the end of the Bible right after 2 Peter). Alright thats enough for now...I'll keep more updates and maybe some pictures coming.

back at monavale

2009-12-06T21:59:00.000-08:00

hello there, elizabeth here and im back at monavale with 12 days to go. yipes!
but my family gets here in 12 days so i am realllllly excited for that. currently we have choir practice and lectures every day and we had our first 2 performances today and they went really well :)it seems odd to be singing christmas carols in summer like weather.

im also spending alot of time researching colleges, so keep that in your prayers. what else? oh! today in lecture we came across this verse and it pretty much describes whats been going on lately...
"Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory" 1Peter 1:8

key things in that verse is the inexpressible joy. ive grown so so so close with God and thats what i get from it. pure emotion and i just am glowing for Him. whoop whoop thats it for now.

ABS has finished...:(

2009-11-21T16:31:00.000-08:00

hiking trip
rafting trip
waterfall hike
another hiking trip
in a hollowed out tree (hiking trip)
what an amazing 6 weeks i have just had. here are some pictures of the group in the many activities we have done. I am exhausted tho, but i just have a constant smile on my face remembering and realizing all i've learned and done. Thanks God for that opportunity and your love.

more adventure

2009-11-01T18:47:00.000-08:00

alright, wow is it awesome here!
caving
hiking
repelling/absailing
rafting
building rafts
camping
running
aerobics
friendships
nature
so much more...everyday i learn new things about myself, God, and our relationship. I am here right now and loving it. i miss everyone from home tho. you are in my prayers.

more ABS

2009-10-21T14:34:00.000-07:00

so i have to make this quick because i don't have alot of internet time BUT ive been keeping a journal every night of what i do so heres some things : last week we went on a trip and stayed in a farmers wool shed at night and during the day we did TONS of caving and then some other hiking and other scenery aka God's beauty. i am completely surrounded and completely in awe :) and the caving was really good and all different types and my favorite was the muddy cave. SO MUDDY, we had mud fights and went down slidey stuff and well yeah i was covered from head to toe...right up my alley! after those couple of days we came back to church and then the past week has been at the lodge still doing morning excerces (6:30 am today we did sprints) and then durning the day we have lectures at monavale and work on kayaking (white rapids tecniques at the lodge) the other day we learned eskimo rolls and i actually did it!! ok got to run...more later, keep me in your prayers ps:ive been doing my quiet times in Romans...SO GOOD a chapter a day..you should start reading there..im also memorizing all of chapter 12, wish me luck.

ABS!

2009-10-13T18:32:00.000-07:00

ABS (Adventure Bible School ) has officially begun and it is AWESOME! On Monday the bus picked us up from Monavale around 4 and then we headed to the Lodge(which is our homebase on abs). Right after we got there we put on our swimming suits and running gear then went for a 3 k run and then a swim in the lake=woah cold! The next day I woke up at 6 am and then we ran 2 miles as fast as we could at 6:30 J thennnn we went on a 5 hour hike up and down a mountain. Yes folks a mountain. And it was steep and muddy and wonderful. A really good work out and good bonding time. Then, are you ready for this? We got woken up by the fire alarm at 4 AM.yipes.(haha funny tho when I heard it I jumped down from my bunk and ran out side...pretty quick reflexes for someone half asleep) then we were told to get on our thermals and wet gear and we kayaked from 5 til 9, then ate a little breakfast and got on our bikes and biked 10 k BUT one girl was missing so me and caleb, a friend on abs, biked into town which is another 14 k oh oh i forgot . i was in a kayak with a girl named Becca and for some reason our kayak rudder was broken so we really learned alot because we had to be patient and positive and work together because our kayak was broken. That basically resulted in us doing a zig-zag pattern the whole time. Lets just say we laughed alot. Thats all for now... I dont know how often i am going to have this opportunity of internet so keep me in your prayers. ps i really like psalm 19 lately :) especially vs 14...read it :)

back in christchurch

2009-10-04T21:09:00.000-07:00

ello ello ello,
i am back in christchurch until wed. night, then i go back to my north island home. a family from the elim church here is housing us and they are SO NICE. it is wonderful to be with such God-loving people. our prayers were surely answered! the weather is ok here altho some sun would be better...um on a random note: my sister was homecoming queen!!woo hoo she is so beautiful inside and out (i sure miss her alot) but good job annie! i love you :)

more pics?

2009-10-01T15:11:00.001-07:00

jill and gloria on the random mountian we climbed
beauty on the coast
coast again

Pictures...finally

2009-10-01T14:25:00.000-07:00

pancake rocks (punakaiki)

some of the southern alps (franz josef)

sunset :) (lake paringa?)

southern alp :)

us at the hostel in christ church(gloria, corina, me, debbie, rachel, jill)

still in the south...destination unknown :)

2009-09-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

alright,
im in a bus that was transfered into a computer place in frans joseph (its all so different here)
the sun is shining and there are BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL mountians in the background. Me, Jill and Gloria are in a pink rental car which=hilarious, we all burst out laughing when we saw it.
thats it...no pictures yet ...sorry

DAY 3

2009-09-26T03:16:00.000-07:00

Alright quick update:
TODAY WAS SUNNY WOO HOO and it made such a difference!
after we woke up we went to this free dance workshop(with a friend we have made, lena, who is german but is living in aussie and a sweetheart) at the art gallery and it was hiphop and we learned a routine and it was soo funny, but really good too.
then we spent the day around christchurch again and in the big markets that they had just looking and cool things and watching silly street performers and there was also a break dancing thing. overall a wonderful day. God is good and tomorrow we are going to Elim church here, so that will be nice :)

Day 2

2009-09-25T00:03:00.000-07:00

I dont know if i will keep this up of doing a post everyday, but I am going to try. alright today we all got caught up on sleep and woke up around 10, which was real nice. Ate breakfast and then did some work out stuff hehe like abs and some pushups. it prolly looked kinda funny with all us girls but it was fun and good to do, you know? then we packed lunches and set out town. We walked around and went into this antique store and jewelry store where i met the coolest lady ever. she had her own little store and i was admiring the artwork on her wall and asked who the artest was and it was her! She was really good and of course that was art and so we had something in common to talk about and that got us both going and we talked for a good 30 minutes. God came up a few times which was good, but mostly I think she just saw the joy in my heart i have for God and that was enough. I took a picture with her and so i might get that developed and give it to her with like a verse on the back or something, but i havent decided yet. then we walked around more and went to the big art gallery and saw some sweet exibits and then split into 2 groups (me, glor, and jill) and walked thru town some more. it is beautiful here and im excited for the next week. Um i read 2 corinthians 12:7-10 today. so good. read it and dwell. and ill leave you with that :)

SOUTH ISLAND

2009-09-24T02:35:00.000-07:00

Today i arrived in Christchurch! woot woooot. I woke up at 3:30 this morning and hit a shuttle to auckland then kinda barely made our flight and quick hilarious story: soo there was a really long line for security that was on top of the escalator soo once we realized that there was no room at the top of the escalator for us it was too late to turn around...soo funny because there was like an awkward bumping into people situation and a bunch of "oh um sorry, oh " dude so funny. anywayssss once we arrived it was kinda gloomy out and we were all tired BUT we worked through everything. we just finished up a very well budgeted dinner that was tassstey! and just nice to sit around a dinner table together and pray and eat. very nice. later we are all going to read 2Peter 1:3-9 seperatly and then come together and just talk about it. horay for Bible studies. looking forward for tomorrow and all God has in store.

Soccer!

2009-09-16T23:05:00.000-07:00

Alright so this week we are spending all our time in the town of Cambridge. Each day we (me &jaryn are rooming together) and go to our home church (Elim) and we have done all of cleaning inside the church to helping set up for events and then we started building garden boxes this morning. Oh and yesterday we walked through near neighborhoods and put fliers in mailboxes and it was sweet. It was a BEAUTIFUL day. wow so great so we walked for 2 hours and it was a great quiet time and also important for spreading the news of a thing they are having at the church. But anyways...at noon all the ministry groups meet at a church that hosts a lunch for us all to meet and eat. We eat and then talk about what has happened and pray for the rest of the day. Thennn our specific group either has time off or a little prep time and then we have soccer! and man has it been awesome. We started off with 14 kidsish and now we are up to around 30. The weather has been great and the programs are running smoothly and yea its all working out. After our soccer we have different events for the community each night and so far so good with those too. As for me I am well. Its nice to be in a different setting although I miss our homestead at Monavale... After this week we go back there for a week and then off on 2 week break!!! keep that in your prayers. love you all:)

2009-09-10T22:20:00.000-07:00

Hello!
so this week is ministry preparation week so me and 8 other sweet student are all on a team together and we are sent to a specific church to help them with whatever they need(like with lawn care, ministry work, etc.) and then in the afternoons our team gets to do soccer with the kids. and some of you might be like what? you soccer? BUT im getting better haha. plus i like working with kids so its all good. :)
Other than that ive been hanging out in the beautiful sunshine and thinking about my 2 week break. (Sep. 26-Oct. 10) which is some exciting news because i am going to fly down to Christchurch in the lower east coast of the south island WOO HOO! Its me, gloria, jill, corina, debbie, and rachel. We got our roundtrip tickets for $115, which is an AMAZING price, (give thanks to God for sure)While we are down there we are going to spend some time at a hostel and using their bikes to get around and then other times staying at churches and maybe the public transit, like get a metro pass? Also we will be on the beach, going to see live music, festivals, and just taking every good opportunity that comes our way :)

Side note: October 12-November 23ish I will be on ABS(Adventure Bible School) and pretty much adventure=hiking, waking up each morning and exercise, Bible stuff, its only 18 people so its like growing a family, and the rest is surprise (so each day we dont really know whats going to happen, and previous students that have been on it are sworn to secrecy). Also very little communication with the outside world!!

ministry week

2009-09-07T21:35:00.000-07:00

Hello!

so this week is ministry preparation week so me and 8 other sweet student are all on a team together and we are sent to a specific church to help them with whatever they need(like with lawn care, ministry work, etc.) and then in the afternoons our team gets to do soccer with the kids. and some of you might be like what? you soccer? BUT im getting better haha. plus i like working with kids so its all good. :)

Other than that ive been hanging out in the beautiful sunshine and thinking about my 2 week break. (Sep. 26-Oct. 10) which is some exciting news because i am going to fly down to Christchurch in the lower east coast of the south island WOO HOO! Its me, gloria, jill, corina, debbie, and rachel. We got our roundtrip tickets for $115, which is an AMAZING price, (give thanks to God for sure). But we are planning on staying a few of the nights at an all-girls hostel that has free bikes for us to use and then the rest of the time we are there we might stay at churchs or other peoples houses that are connected to Capernwray. Also there should be some cool live music things we want to check out and other local art things...sounds like a dream right? Thats it for now.

Life update!

2009-09-03T20:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went on a hour and ten min. run! It was soooo good. Something that I have been praying for lately is that God will open my eyes, heart, and ears to what he has to say to me or show me. So my little rule for myself is not to wear my ipod while I run 1.)Because if I am with someone else I want to talk with them and get to know them and 2.)If I am by myself I want to open my self up to God and just be in his nature and glory…im not saying my music is bad, its just nice to set apart time for quiet too. So going on this crazy run I start to sing out loud while I am running (all praise music) just because its nice and it works on my lung capacity but im sure that if someone saw me running they probably laughed out loud to see this random girl running and singing off tune and out of breath but anyways… so I sang for a while and then started just talking out loud to Him and man was that crazy too. I begin thanking God for all the things in my life and I realized I could keep this up running everyday for long periods of time and thanking God for things and never run out of things to be thankful for!! Heres an example to get you started thinking about it…so while im on my run im thinking thank your for legs to run, and lungs that work, and roads to run on, and great weather to run in and beautiful scenery to see, and cows, and agriculture, and farmers, and people in general, and people at Capernwray and the opportunity to be here and the list goes on and on and on. You get the picture ☺. And then I remembered that yes I can thank Him for everything now but I most importantly have to remember to thank him when times are hard. That’s the big challenge. Hmm what else here? OH! It is finally spring! Officially on September 1st. the sun is shining as I type! Amen for that! Alright More coming later...love you all, keep praying :)

Is it the 5th week already?

2009-08-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

Time seems to be flying by! My days are always very filled now. When I am not doing homework I am in lecture or spending quiet time with God or running or trying to stay on top of my emails and skyping. And where is sleep supposed to fit into the picture? So because of my lack of sleep i think i have another sinus infection, bleh. But im on a slow recovery :) I love getting emails from people so keep them coming :) Something that i've learned lately is to trust God when i pray. Like is says in James 1:5-8 (look it up!) that i need to have faith in the Lord and not doubt when i ask in prayer. So i have the sniffles but im still positive! alright. i also need to be taking more pictures, because i am totally lacking in that department lately! Read all of James while you are looking up vs. 1:5-8 (James comes right after Hebrews in the New Testiment). I love you all, cheers!

Whats been going on....

2009-08-16T23:26:00.000-07:00

Corina, me , Gloria
Girls Night me and Jill
Cool View

Yipes it has been a while. All right, every morning I’ve been trying to wake up early and spend some quiet time with God. I’m reading the Purpose Driven Life (which I highly recommend!!!!) and just working on my relationship with God my Father and Friend.

Two weeks ago we finished up lectures on the book of Daniel, it was a really neat time because most of what I know of Daniel is from Sunday school and this gave me a chance to learn more and dig deeper. The principal of Capernwray was the speaker (Peter Thomas, or PT as we like to call him.) Here’s a quick overview of the book of Daniel: Daniel (along with Hananiah, Mishael, and Azarah…better known as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) was captured by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzer. The cool thing is even tho he was captured he didn’t conform to their culture or ways and God used that to show his power. Daniel also could interpret dreams, to benefit God. Then there was a time that Neb. became crazy, actually insane, until he humbled himself before God. There is the part where the 3 get thrown into a fire, but God saves them and they come out of the furnace and they don’t even smell like smoke or have ashes on them or anything… and then the famous story of Daniel when he gets thrown into the lion’s den, because he got caught praying to the true God and not worshiping Neb. like the decree said BUT God saved him from the lions. Woohoo! Daniel goes on to interpret more dreams thru God’s help. Then later in the book there is a very historically accurate part about the future kingdoms to come: first Babylon, then Medo-persian, then Greece, and then Rome. Lets just say I learned a lot and you should read the book too .

This past week Dave Sharman (the principal at the Australia capernwray) spoke on the character of God. It was SUPER informative and really great. This guy was just being super real with us students and was really on fire for God. He loved talking about Jesus. We talked about different terms, the Bible being inspired by God and how that’s determined, Hermeneutics (which is like studying or interpreting scripture, and I also have a separate class of that once a week!), who God is and his names/titles, works of God, angels, Satan (scary), sin, humans, and Christ! A lot was covered, and I tried to absorb as much as I could. I learned so much about how important it is to have a great relationship with God and through that I can truly live.

Outside of lectures I have been having a lot of fun too. The other weekend me and 3 other girls went on a night hike up mountain Kakepuku and camped at the top. The view was crazy awesome and we saw all the different lights from the major cities from the top, like Hamilton, Cambridge, and Te Amutau plus lots of cows and other mountains :). Last Thursday was girls night. The guys invited all the girls to a special night for us where we dressed up all fancy and they served us food and then we danced! The theme was masquerade, so we all made masks and just had a great time. This Saturday I went with a group of 10 guys and girls into Hamilton for shopping and then to an indoor water park, which was pretty fun. We took underwater pictures and went on this floaty tube. Just silliness.

I’ve been skyping with some people, which is really nice, but I miss home a little, especially summer. It’s dreary here with rainy spring on the way. But each day I learn something new.

2009-08-08T21:38:00.000-07:00

this is the second part....

2009-08-08T21:30:00.000-07:00

This is the first part of the tour of where I'm livin'

Here for a week!

2009-08-04T18:50:00.000-07:00

Roommates! me, sam, and melinda : )
our lecture room with a pretty sunset and some friends too!
view from the top!
half way view on our hike
Alright so it has been a while since I've first arrived and written, but I'm over jet-lag and finally all the way adjusted to life here in NZ...well kinda. It's pretty laid back and slower paced here, but I love it. The homework is def. not slow paced tho. I'm working on a Bible study on John 15:1-8 (Jesus is the true vine and we are his branches etc. ), memorizing Isaiah 61:1-11 (truth be told I haven't really started it is kind of a daunting task buuuut soon), and also working on my testimony that I have to share :) Some of the pictures are from the awesome hike we did....it kinda reminded me of Alaska! Yesterday I got to talk to Emily and Devan on the phone and it MADE MY DAY. I love you guys so much! then i played rugby and that was spectacular too...Oh! another thing I am working on is reading the book, A Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren..I just finished the 4th day! woo hoo! Heres the verse for today, "This world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever" 1John 2:17 (NLT). alright I will leave you with that for now because its time for work day...and my duty is washing sheets! wish me luck and ill be praying for you all.

4 days and counting...

2009-07-30T21:23:00.001-07:00

a cute bird :)
me and the cows right outside my dorm!(wisconsin??)
Alright quick update!

So heres my day:

6:30 wake up and run with some girls, shower

7:30 breakfast

8:00 worship then 2 lectures with a few breaks in between (the lectures have been REALLY cool. I've just been absorbing them and such. Some of my homework is to memorize Isaiah 61, do my own Bible study, and yeah more to come.)

10:30 Morning tea then another lecture

1:00 Lunch

then after lunch it kinda changes from each day...we have duties like cleaning each day and spending time with other students in groups called family groups, and devotional groups.

Yesterday we went to where the ABS campus is and all stayed there overnight. During the days we did all these crazy games and just bonded. The ABS place is in a valley kinda with cows around and also a lake, but its so beautiful. Mountians in the background too.

Everyone is really nice :) All the girls and guys and returning students are really helpful. The food is great so far...we have cerealy stuff for breakfast, pastay stuff for lunch with fruit, and same kinda stuff for dinner.

um thats it for now, I know I'm slacking on the pictures, but I'm still warming up to people so I wanna be creepin on people.

ps thanks for everyone looking on here I love you all!!

I'm HERE

2009-07-27T21:39:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Just a quick note, but I'm here-tired-info overload-happy. Alright thanks for all your prayers.

Its beautiful here, not too cold (yet) and yea I didn't take any pics or anything, this is really boring, ummm i taught someone how to play cribbage today! yea idk we eat soon. Oh and thanks to Joan Riley for picking me up from the airport, she was awesome and a sweet heart. :)

Pictures from the hiking day(that I forgot to post)

2009-07-24T23:38:00.000-07:00

GLACIER!
sweet pic showing the path up
a great view...but only at about the middle
straight up hill
dog sledding

The Last Few Days...23

2009-07-24T17:52:00.000-07:00

Travis and a sea otter (3)
"Elephant Rock" and my parents in their kayak (3)
A silly picture :) (3)
View on Kayak Trip (3)
All the families in the Backroads group(1)
Holly, erin, River guide, Mom and Dad(1)
Dad me and anne in our river gear!(1)

(1) Alright back to July 22: We woke up early and got right on the road for a rafting trip on the river. Our tour guide was awesome and while we were out there we saw tons of eagles and and 5 bears...yeah thats right 5 brown bears all together, just lounging around in and around the river. It was great :) After I bought some really cool earrings that are made from a bonsai tree. After that we went on a 5 mile hike (and kinda run on the way back) but at the end of the hike there was a waterfall that had salmon trying to swim up it... straight Discovery Channel!

(2) July 23

I was crazy today and woke up early to go on a 4 mile run with Holly, Erin, Travis, Nathan, and Kendall. It was so beautiful out though and definitely worth it. Then packed up in our buses for a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to a park in Homer. Heres where the real craziness begins... I did a 32 mile bike ride and there was a lot of up hill areas...only 6 people out of the whole group did the 32. It was really hard but the views were AMAZING and it felt good to work that hard and succeed. We ended at our hotel on Homer Spit. (I forgot to mention that we found an alive starfish on the road while we were biking in the mountains ...so we put it in a bag with water and let it loose in the ocean later! ) Later we went and ate dinner "down town" and saw Captain Jonathan from the Discovery Channel show, "The Deadliest Catch". We talked with him for a while! Christian was super pumped, because he really likes that show. We checked out the shops too and I found a sweet wool sweater to keep me warm in NZ. (I also didn't really have my camera today...sorry)

(3) Today July 24

We woke up and went out for a sea kayak trip around an island near Homer. We took these little boats out to the island then went halfway and stopped for lunch. Right before lunch 2 boys tipped in the water...whoops! Lunch was great tho. Then back on to our kayaks for the rest of the island. Throughout the trip we saw a lot of wildlife: eagles, otters, jellyfish, anemone, and seals. All the guides and boat drivers were awesome too. Tonite is kinda our farewell dinner. It went so fast. Im off to NZ soooo soon. yipes, keep praying!

The Hike...

2009-07-21T18:50:00.000-07:00

Could have been one of the toughest things I've ever done, but super worth it! An 8 mile total hike up a mountain right next to a glacier. When I say up I mean steep! :) It was also raining and windy the whole time, plus at the top part there was 40 mph winds... yea, crazy. I think we were around 3, 000 something elevation. It was nice to talk with people tho on the way up and down, we even sang the "Boom Chicka Boom" song(in a million different ways). I think it was a little over 6 hours total. I forgot to mention before that adventure we went on a sled dog ride. Now considering it is summer here there isn't really any snow, so we were in a cart with all these dogs pulling us. They were a little different than the Disney view of sled dogs...pretty scrawny mutts and bred for speed, they were super hyper. After we saw the puppies! What a dream :) Later we go out to eat... I'm going to upload pics later:)

DAY3

2009-07-19T22:22:00.000-07:00

view from the river
fireweed flowers in the scenic route
Fifi with the boat in the background
sibs being silly
DAY 3:

We woke up and went on a river tour and fished a little for Salmon...although no one caught anything, bummer. But our tour guide was super legit and it was a great time even though it rained a little and I waded too deep in the water and got a wet butt. Then we packed up in the B&B and walked around town a bit then headed back to Anchorage. We took the scenic route which was a gravel road through the mountian...kinda crazy! We went to dads friend's house for dinner (halibut and burgers with a salad, then apple pie for dessert, yum!) His friend was someone that climbed Mt. McKinley with dad 25 yrs ago! They had a great family :). Now we are in the hotel and our adventure starts tomorrow!

Before New Zealand...Comes Alaska :)

2009-07-18T16:05:00.000-07:00

beach in talkeena
in airplane

DAY 1:

Arrival, we flew from Milwaukee to Dallas (whaaat?!) then arrived in Anchorage, Alaska around 8:00, which was about midnight our time. We drove 2 1/2 hours to Talkeena and stayed the night in a B&B.

DAY 2:

We, woke up and went on an air plane ride...not just any airplane, one that went over Mt. McKinley and other Mt.s and Alaskan terrain. Crazy. Can I just say God is an amazing artist :). Once we got back from that we walked around down town, where I am now at a restaurant using their Wi-fi, enjoy the pics!

*in airplane and Anne and Chase in front of the plane

3 weeks at Fort, the 4th with Emily, and an afternoon with friends and their babies!!

2009-07-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

Good days

2009-07-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

ok. wowo. 1st of July=emotion. Great, joyful, POWERFUL emotion. I am soooo loved and soooo taken care of and God is just amazing. Tears. 1. Great sermon this morning about trusting in Jesus and His knowledge and following his waysand what he does and it just applies that I need to trust Him with my life. 2. An Invisible Children video was shown by my friend Laura who is super passionate about the movement and her passion is just moving in on its own. 3. Every little anxious thought/worry about NZ is being blown away and I have just this crazy realization on how much God loves me and the power He has and that He has a plan and I am His and wow life is gonna be ok with God.
=emotion. So I'm sitting in my car journaling this to be put on the blog(right now :) ) but God is good.

Fort Wilderness

2009-06-27T08:43:00.000-07:00

Today is the start of my last week at Fort Wilderness( a Christian camp in the north woods), can I just say the past 2 weeks have been amazing and I'm sad to go home in a week. I started on June 12 counseling JV camp and I had amazing girls, then I went and counseled another week at Outpost (another part of the camp and a little more "rustic"), but it was a dream. Let me start off saying that I was blessed again with amazing girls to counsel. They all are so special in their own way and I hope I helped in their walk with Christ. Um, another thing, my co-counselor pretty much is one of the greatest, most down to earth people I have ever met! She is such an inspiration to my walk with Christ (and my artistic aspirations as well). All the other staff I worked with were so inspiring too. There's something about being surrounded by christians that are onfire for God... it started the spark back up in my own life. I'm alive!! and living in the love of Jesus Christ! During my quiet times I started reading the book of James, and memorizing different verses in it, which is really hard for me but SO beneficial! ...alright quick story: the NZ countdown is like super super soon and I'm having anxiety about it and just really needing God to just calm me down, you know? so I went to have my daily devotional time and my Bible opened (because I had put in some pictures in it randomly) to a verse in Psalms that I had highlighted before..."how long must I wrestle with my thoughts and everyday have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on my and answer, O Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; my enemy will say, " I have overcome him, " and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me." Psalms 13:2-6. Alright basically I was just like what am I worried about? God knows all my fears and thoughts, he will answer and I can find hope and I have sooo much to be thankful for and I don't need to worry at all about my future because he holds it in his hands. Thats the story and thats what I've been dealing with lately, but God is good and his love endures forever. So I've got one more amazing week at Fort, and I'm just going to soak it all in! (then its home to pack, pack, pack, but I have a peace about it now :)

Lazy Summer Days

2009-06-08T07:56:00.001-07:00

Today is a lazy monday :) Here are some things that have been going on in my life... going to the lake with Emily, Shelly, and the girls (thats the picture), I just got the new Dave Matthews Band album, Big Whiskey and the Groo Grux King, and also the Live Trax Album from Alpine Valley... they are AMAZING wow (few of my favs: Shake me like a Monkey, Out of my hands, Money, Alligator Pie, You might Die trying, and Louisiana Bayou). I've been keeping busy with staying fit and playing a little rugby, so thats good. Im also slowly but surely packing for New Zealand... scary for sure and just packing all my stuff into 2 suitcases, backpack, and a carryon...ummmm possible? i sure hope so. Im also getting ready to counsel junior highers up north then home for 2 weeks then Alaska in 39 days then New Zealand in 48 days. Start praying now for a safe flight and layover in LA. Alright I promise I will start writing more, but thats all I've got for now...

verse I need/am working on memorizing: Ephesians 5: 15-21

First year of college...COMPLETE

2009-05-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

So summer has officially began for me today 1. because school is done and 2. because i found my first mosquito bite (whaaaat?). It has been a crazy year though, definitely lots of ups and downs. I'm home and thinking about now and the past and the future and it sure is scary. Scary because i am in a dry spot with God right now, scary how much God has changed me in the past and what He has done in my life and through me so far and scary because only He knows this crazy future He has in store for me and i have no idea what's going on. This summer is going to be jam packed with making memories with friends and families i can take to New Zealand and preparing my heart for NZ (volunteering at Fort, devos, and lots of heart-to-hearts of course). Another scary thing is going away from things that im comfortable with and feeling like im missing out while im away. But my first year of college is done. That is surreal to say and it went sooo fast. and i made a best friend while i was there and lets just say she is awesome!! (and im gonna miss her a ton, thats her in the picture with us studying of course) So first year of college...check...a year in NZ...here i come.

The last stretch...

2009-03-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

The spring rugby season has started! And now my countdown for the end of the school year starts too...46 days. I don't think it could come any sooner. My days are filled with homework, drawing, lifting, eating, practice and much more. As each day goes by it gets harder and harder to stay motivated, procrastination, yipes! But looking forward to this summer is something to get excited about. Heres whats going on: Hopefully me and Steph can go on a roadtrip together because school gets done so early and we have all of may before summer really starts, then working at Fort Wilderness in the coffee shop from June 13-26, then family camp there for a week, then only 2ish weeks after that my family goes on a trip to Alaska and on the 26th of July I leave for NEW ZEALAND! (125 days from now :) ) bring it on, thats all I've got to say about that. I have one thing though that is saddening... the fact that the past 2 summers I have gone to the DMB concert at Alpine Valley, but this year I will already be gone. Maybe Dave will come to NZ? One can only hope. Lately life has been having its ups and downs, so keep me in your prayers, but God is here and in Him alone I find hope, strength, & life. Some encouragement to dwell on...
" When a person's steps follow the Lord's, God is pleased with his ways. If he stumbles he will not fall, because the Lord holds his hands" Psalm 37:23-24 (Message)

The rest of the verse

2009-02-10T12:13:00.000-08:00

So I really thought I should add the rest of that verse because it rocks my world...
"Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," Jeremiah 29:12-14a

2009-02-10T11:29:00.000-08:00

I thought it might be time for another entry, so today is all about simplicity. My focus on it is that even the littlest things should be appreciated and can totally make your day spectacular...some examples that have happened in my life recently: unexpected warm weather with a sprinkle of rain(brings a smile to my face as I write about it now), listening to pandora.com and having a song come on that is just your song, getting a beautiful bracelet in the mail from someone who loves you (the story behind that one is, it is from Shell and it is for NZ to remind me of her, stay strong, trust in God, and love...you can see the bracelet in the picture, its the cross one), getting mail in general, another simple thing is making facebook videos on peoples walls, participating in class, finding an old journal, and reading an inspiring Bible verse...there are many others of course, but those are a few that stick out to me right now. Oh and sparkling water, yum! Hmm I've been in somewhat of a slum lately but today, realizing how great my life is and taking into the consideration of the little things, slum is gone gone! lets see...what else...I know alot of people have me in their prayers so that is super reassuring, thank you everyone!! :) I'm at a blank now with anyother interesting info... so I will end with this:
"I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Creation of this blog

2009-01-26T11:15:00.000-08:00

Sooo the purpose of this blog is to journal my time at Capernwray Bible School in New Zealand. The trip is a while away yet, but considering that everyday I think about the experience I am going to have, I thought I should start now...right? thats pretty smart, although I can't take credit for this idea... Shelly (my friend or basically big sisterish) thought of this and well she is pretty smart so I'm following thru. This is gonna kinda be an accountability on my part with God, and just being true to myself...

"I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13...lets do this! :)