At the Lodge

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

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...

:)

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

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...

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

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!

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.