ministry week

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!

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?

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....

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.

this is the second part....

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

Here for a week!

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.