more Queenstown!

Late the other nite a few of us went to the sidewalk to do some practice poi, and thru that we met Toby and Paul, 2 Germans who are living close to Queenstown, and Nat and I hung with them listening to live reggae. Paul was more open to deep conversation and we learnt he believes in a higher power and pulls things from various religions, so we're definitely keeping these guys in our prayers. Sunday we had church at Vineyard, enjoyed the warm weather, met new people, and even got some attention with our circus act of poi and slackline. Everyone packed up that nite as yesterday was busy. we headed to Reaver's Lodge hostel which is blessing us with free accomodation for a couple hrs work/day (thx for the tip Sherpa!) and got busy cleaning and doing yardwork with the fabulous employees there. After that we headed to Wanaka to advertise the free BBQ that nite and then helped out with it. We got to see Mary and Julica (crossroaders!) again and a bunch of us, including some people we just met that day went out for pizza afterwards. We also got out our slackline and practice poi again as it's a great ministry tool. This morning we got to soak up God during worship and devos and glorify Him cleaning!!!!! We bouldered a bit and are currently chilling at Vineyard. God Bless!

Christmas!

Merry Christmas all! Let me attempt the impossible task of putting Christmas her einto words...after sleeping in and exchanging gifts we headed outside and Natalie (leader) took off across the street to the church, feeling God led. It turned out they were expecting us and blessed us with a free meal, we also got to meet a couple other travelers, including a girl from Winnipeg! (1 hr from me!) This church is special because it used to be a brothel, and they have turned each room into something unique-prayer, healing, spa, and of course sanctuary. It's small but full of Holy Spirit presence and power. To make a long story short, they ended up giving us a key so we can use their building for ministry-inviting ppl in to hang, enjoy a cuppa coffee, play games, worship, etc. They've also entrusted us with thei rtill and blessed us with the use of their internet. This is clearly where God wants us, so we've cancelled our Wanaka campsite and will be here until further notice. We even managed to find free accomodation in exchange for a few hrs of cleaning per day. Last nite we prayed for each other, which really brought us closer together. This has been an amazing unexpected Christmas. God Bless!

week update!

Hey all! This week we had David Riddell speaking...not my favorite week but still managed to get stuff out of it. He's a counselor so alot of the teaching seemed like something out of a psychology textbook and not as much scripture...last week was scripture scripture scripture which I loved so this was definitely different. Some of the new ideas/reminders I picked up this week:

-Beliefs(conclusions you've made and are living out) drive your life
-most churches have a set schedule and God must fit in during an allotted time
-we're human BEings...not human DOings~worth not determined by performance, doing must come out of being
-Spirit "I"
Body "Will"
Soul "Go"
-you won't quench the spirit if your mind is full of grace and peace
-tongues releases the river of living water
-As a man thinketh, so is he (Titus 1:15 "To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.")
-one of the most reliable guides to mental/emotional health is how well you take correction
-check up from the neck up
-if you always do what you've always done you'll always get what you always got
-how can you love one another if you have self hatred in your heart?
-that was then, this is not
-speak the truth in love~the sooner you say it, the smaller the degree of resentment
-*a good tomorrow starts with an early nite tonite
-Amos 3:3 "Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?"

This weekend was awesome too...some of us went climbing for about 4 hours on Saturday, being instructed by 2 awesome YMCA guys, learning so that we're confident in climbing and belaying, which will be useful as we're climbing a bit on outreach, and when climbing you put all your trust in your belayer...you need to know that they have you if you fall...its also a good bonding thing for people because communication is key. We climbed outside which was awesome...I love the natural rock, and it was cool meeting other people hanging out climbing. Also got an opportunity to lead climb, not just top rope, which is definitely my favorite. Today has been pretty relaxing, church was awesome this morning. There was a Christmas service which had a huge family sense, kids and youth were involved and ywam even went up and sang a song. It was great really strange though...alot of us were like wow! We're in New Zealand singing Christmas carols! So weird...and shorts weather in december...crazy! Anyway...hung out with my roomates a bit 2 of them are taking off in just over an hour. Earthcare DTS is leaving for outreach tonight, heading first to Bali and then Cambodia. It's almost 2 am here, most of us are either staying up to see them off or waking up in the middle of the night to see them off. They'll be missed, but we're stoked for them and definitely upholding them in prayer. I'm leaving for outreach in 6 days so this weeks going to be busy packing and cleaning up the base. I'll try and update yet before I go on outreach. Later!

couple pix from West Coast and when the van overheated...waiting for our ride

speaking in tongues!!!!

Today I received the gift of speaking in tongues when I pray....church this morning was sweet, really felt the Holy Spirit's presence. At the end the pastor asked those who wanted to speak in tongues to step forward and receive prayer. I had been prayed over once before to speak in tongues but didn't succeed at it, but I really wanted it so I stepped up with some others and a woman from the church came and prayed for me in soft tongues. At first it was hard, took me awhile to get going, just started off praising God, talking to Him in english, and suddenly my tongue was loosed and it was incredible as it started going nuts bouncing off the roof and floor of my mouth as I quickly spewed out to God in words/sounds unknown to me, not knowing what I was saying but really feeling it deep down inside. It was so fun and it's a great tool because when I can't find words to say, tongues takes over and I kept thinking of things to pray for, starting with a sentence in english and just automatically switching. I'm really stoked because this is definitely going to help me in my prayers...it was cool too because before I came here tongues was just some biblical concept to me, it never really occurred to me that normal people nowadays can speak in tongues. Apparently the pastor touched my forehead once I got going to and was like whoa, could feel Holy Spirit presence...that's what I heard, I was totally into talking to God and have no idea what was going on around me.

Some info on tongues:
-the miraculous part isn't the act of speaking; it's the language. You speak; the Holy Spirit provides "the utterance," the words, the syllables.
-tongues is an edifying way of speaking to God
-scriptures on tongues: (Mark 16:17, Acts 2:4, 10:46, 19:6, 1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14)
-tongues releases a river of living water

Later!

glory of God!!!!

Hey all! This week our speaker was Dalton Lifsey from Tauranga (NZ) House of Prayer and he talked about the glory of God this week. Some of the many things that stuck with me this week:
-worship=celebrating God's glory
-God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him
-God created us for His glory (Isaiah 43:7 says: Everyone who is called by My name, whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.)
-God enjoys us!
-Don't run from God, run to God.
-Timothy was never comfortable in the spotlight, relied on God for boldness
-prophecy is testimony of Jesus, proclaiming His heart and backing it with Spirit power
-in the original Greek of Ephesians 1, there was no punctuation til vs 13 because Paul was writing in frantic excitement...I think that's awesome
-True praise is the external expression of internal experience of the glory of God.
-In evangelism, figure out what the appetite of the person your talking to is inclined towards
-You become what you behold (eg: if you move to the south you obtain a southern drawl after awhile)...so behold the glory of God! (2 Corinthians 3:17-18~Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
-hunger and humility are important!
-The World is Not Ending, the Age is..and New Age is coming cuz Christ is coming back!

He is an incredible young man of God whose Biblical knowledge and application really inspired me to hardcore study my Bible...throughout lectures he was quoting scripture, quoting scripture, quoting scripture. He also did a lecture "The call to be a faithful witness to the gospel thru apostolic preaching" which was sweet, hands down my favorite message I've ever heard. Here's his website if you want access to sweet stuff...http://www.daltonlifsey.com

In other news, today we went cave streaming and bouldering! Cave streaming was sweet it wasn't even cold after the first bit...the best was crawling thru a narrow dirty tunnel ending with a sweet 10 ft drop down to the stream...bouldering at Castle was fun too...didn't successfully boulder anything but definitely enjoy trying...nothin like hangin out on rock, good hold, nothing else matters but the route, chalk on your hands...i can't really put it into words, but it's sweet. Anyway, I'm gonna hang out with my roomates. Later!

west coast

This last week was Holy Spirit week...a couple of the many things that stuck with me this week:
-the word "trinity" and "monotheism" aren't in the Bible, but Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are
-if we could coompletely understant the Trinity, the mystery would be gone, and we would be God
-we don't know who we are til we know whose we are
-Father, Son, Spirit have a pertichoretic relationship-all intertwined in a divine dance together
-ICE concept: Intercession, Compassion, Empathy

Went climbing Friday which was sweet, learned to lead climb!!!!!! Soooo fun, the climbing camp my teams going to here in NZ is all lead climb so stoked for that. This wknd was a trip to the west coast and stayed overnite in a hostel which was amazing. The ocean is so beautiful and powerful and it was just one cool example of God's creation. The hostel was cool too, we met a couple people from German and hung out with them, also blessed them by inviting them to share our food with us. It was my first time in a hostel and I really enjoyed it, can't wait to stay in more hostels, especially for Christmas, it's gonna be sweet to bless people there. Also a cool thing this wknd was going into a cave and seeing glow worms. The internets slow right now, but i'll upload some pictures hopefully soon. Later!

Friday/Saturday

This whole week has been pretty awesome as always, but the last few days especially. Friday we had an awesome day of being in God's presence and had an opportunity to lay things down giving them to God...I laid down 2 things:
-My passport: (of course i get it back!) as a symbol that I'm not going to focus on what parts of the world I want to see in my future, but what parts of the world God wants me to see
-my watch: i'm a huge time person and I gave up my watch because i want to focus on Gods time, not my time
We also had an amazing day of worship and it was cool to see some people really anointed with the Holy Spirit (some spoke in tongues, some just convulsed with the holy spirit)...I was completely ready to publicly declare my faith and I got baptized in the evening along with a couple others, after which we had communion.

Today we went to the beach and one van was already overheating on the way there, and on the way back it started smoking so we quickly got out and pushed it to the side of the road with the help of a couple helpful strangers behind us and Seth had contact with the base as the van started smoking...so help was on the way and we just chilled on the curb, still in pretty good spirits. After awhile we just spoke out this list of things we were grateful for and right after that this lady approached us and asked if we were ok and if we needed anything, and that she runs a Christian organization in town. (she noticed the YWAM Oxford on the van). Katie said it would be great to fill up her water bottle so headed to this lady's place, and they came back with jugs of water and homemade cupcakes. It was such a blessing! We got to talk to the lady for a bit about her ministry and she told us a few cool examples of how God provides which was totally sweet...and blessed us all before she had to get back home. So in the end, it was actually good that the van overheated cuz we got to meet this lady...ttyl!

another quick update!!

This week was a little insane but so much fun. The snowboarders came back from their outreaches and had debrief this week, so early on in the week they did presentations on their outreaches which was really interesting. We also got to have worship with them 3 times this week, which was really awesome, energetic, and filled with the holy spirit. The previous week during intercession we each got a snowboarder to pray for and this week we got to go up to them in person and pray for them and give them words God had spoken to us about them...it was really cool because they were so grateful...so much fun to bless them. We had 2 speakers this week who talked about community development which was interesting, and the second guy showed us pictures of his water pumps he uses in various places which was kinda cool. Someone described it as not just bringing physical water to communities, but the living water as well. Friday we got the evening off from evangelism and went to Christchurch free to just hang out...so I went rock climbing again!!!!! Tons of fun...today enjoyed a relaxing day sleeping in and then went to the beach. Really sweet cuz this was my first time seeing the ocean...had a blast riding the waves, collecting shells, writing in the sand, pictures, just hanging out...next week the topic is Lordship (which is learning to be in God's presence and stuff, I'll learn more next week! :D) apparently the speaker, Mark Parker is awesome so definitely looking forward to that. Yup, there's my week for you! Have an amazing day!

short update of the week

This last week we had a speaker names Femi who talked about God's calling and destiny which was really interesting. One thing we all loved about him was his lectures were Spirit led-sometimes during the middle of a lecture he would stop and walk up to someone and God would speak through him to that person which was really cool. Friday was off to Christchurch again for Friday night evangelism which is going great. My team met a bunch of people last week at the climbing gym and we always pray for them when we're driving home, which is awesome. We're seeing some of them regularly which is good because we can develop friendships with them and just live out our faith...like often people will ask what we're doing in nz, so we can tell them about Bible school. It's cool how actions speak louder than words too...on Friday one of the guys we met apologized for his coarse language because he's realized we don't swear. This wknd I was on WKND WARRIORS!!!! That means staying here while others go on wknd activities and cleaning, cooking, etc...which was not too bad got a great team. Last nite was fun we had a fancy dress up dinner for halloween, and we used table cloths, candles, water in wine classes, punch...the best part was seeing everyones suprised faces when they first saw it. It was awesome to bless people like that, and was a nice break too as we had the food on the tables, when usually we have buffet. Really relaxed, everyone left smiling full of pavlova and tim tams! lol it's amazing how it's not how much you do, but how you do it. When we went around to get people hot drinks they were so greatful which was awesome...had a really interesting speaker in church today talking about building God's house and how huge faith is...lunch is cleaned up got a couple hours of to chill before supper prep! later!

WKND

Ok just a short update...friday afternoon we headed to Christchurch (city 45 min away) and got to chill/shop in the afternoon...before EVANGELISM! I'm on the climbing team so every friday night we get to go to the YMCA climbing gym which is fabulous. We learned to belay but spent most of our time in the bouldering room which is free climbing...with bunch of giant gym mats for a floor..falling doesn't hurt at all. So much fun and you can meet alot of interesting ppl...we met a woman from Chicago which was cool cuz one guy on our team is from Chicago...and the guys met some climbers who go there every friday, so we'll be seeing alot of them. Can't wait to climb more. Saturday I went to Castle Hill (which apparently is where they filmed some famous fight scene in the movie Narnia) and we got to walk around and climb rocks and just chill...so fun...there was also a chance to boulder I didn't manage to boulder anything but had a great day anyway. Today slept in, went to church-really enjoyed the worship today. It was raining today so just chilled inside with hot chocolate and Tim Tam slams...for you non kiwis out there you're missing out...Tim Tams are these fabulous chocolate wafers with chocolate creme sandwiched in between them, all coated in chocolate. For a tim tam slam you bite off 2 corners, dip one end into your hot drink of choice and suck it until stuff starts coming thru...then stuff the whole thing into your mouth. Phenomenal! I know what I'm stocking up on before going home. :P....thats all for now!

Waiora

Kia ora! It's been awhile, I've been keeping busy though really enjoying new zealand, don't like to spend alot of my time by my computer when there's so much to see. Went hiking on mount oxford this weekend was AMAZING! Had an awesome first week learning more about things like worship, intercession, and devotions. Guest speakers for this week are awesome too I'm stoked for backpacker ministry. Also picking up talents like slackline! (thats what they call a tightrope here) and hoping to pick up guitar yet...got another 8 weeks before outreach to practice. Can't wait to try bouldering this weekend...sounds like something I would love to do. Today we went to Waiora Trust (waiora=living water) to get welcomed by some Maori people which was really interesting. First a Maori warrior came out to "check us out" and make sure we were ok. Then we proceeded slowly into the building and were given a hearty welcome, after which we shook noses. Yes, you read right, shook noses. They have this thing called a hongi (spelling?) where you push your forehead and nose together with the maori people as a greeting. Then they served us beverages and dainties, and we attempted to sing a song for them in maori. We also got to walk around their property and see the communal garden and an intense obstacle course.

Tuesday...settled in

Hey Guys! Saturday I got up and met some great people, and saw Mount Oxford which is incredible. Also walked around town and just chilled. Sunday went to a local church which is small but very close knit and really enjoyed it....then back to base for lunch. Our cook is amazing! We have a tightrope on base which they call a "slackline" (go figure!) so in free time I'm enjoying practising that...so far I've made it 2 steps! Also just playing soccer, chillin around our fireplace, and such. Yesterday was admin day and had amazing praise and worship in the evening...great to see the Holy Spirit in people and hearing testimonies of people being healed and such. Today breakfast and work duty...then 2 lectures with a tea break in between! Tea and biscuits is a huge thing here hot drinks are always available...so far I've drank like 4 cups of hot chocolate each day as it's nippy outside, and I don't drink coffee or tea. After lunch (Now) we have free time until some fire drill/earthquake drill stuff...but some afternoons will be busy with group time and such once we get going...thats just a short update for now!

pictures!!!

A few pix...first 2 are Sydney, the rest are Oxford, NZ

Love and Mercy (not my writing)

*a little expansion of a verse in my Bible*

"oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever." -Psalm 136:1

This whole chapter tells about God's enduring mercy. He loves us with an unconditional love. It doesn't matter what you look like, how much money you have, or what your past is like. God loves you anyway! Regardless of anything, God lvoes you just the same. That's the kind of love we need to have for each other. We need to look at the world through Jesus' eyes. There's a story in Mark 2 about 4 men who brought a man, crippled with disease, to Jesus. THere was not enough room for them, so they ripped a hole in the roof where Jesus was teaching and lowered the man down through the hole. now that's compassion. When Jesus saw their faith, He healed the man. These four men loved their friend with an unconditional love. They were willing to rip off a roof to get him healed. He was sick with a disease, so he prob didn't look or smell that good. They prob had needs themselves, but the only thing they were concerned about was getting their friend to Jesus! Unconditional love. Remember that God loves you unconditionally. Like those friends, He's willing to rip a roof off in order to show you the love and mercy you need.

Saturday

I'm in New Zealand!!!! Got to base at midnite last nite...finally got the rest i needed and met a bunch of great people this morning. Oh, and it was so funny cuz they drive on the left here, its totally backwards i almost got into the wrong side of the van. After breakfast we walked into town, which is small and quaint, and checked out the playground! It was way cooler than any Altona playground, that's for sure! Also, there's a quaint coffee shop called "Seagers" that I need to check out yet. Appparently it's divine and the cook even had a cooking show on TV! The view is breathtaking too...behind us is the mountain and it's amazing!!!!! Soooooo pretty! And lotsa hills I'll definitely take pix yet and post them. It's really cold here right now which is a bit disappointin, but that's ok, summer's coming! It was even supposed to snow today! Apparently it DOES snow in New Zealand occasionally. (not just on the mtn!) My house is really nice too, sharing a room with 4 girls but it's spacious, and I got the one bed that's NOT a bunk bed. There's prob gonna be 15 girls in this house once everyone's here, so should be lotsa fun. Our bathroom is TINY, but how much space do you really need lol. We even have a room with just a bathtub in it! Not that I like baths...but still interesting...and a kitchen! Haha the guys have to go to the dining hall to get breakfast...anyway, I'm gonna go chill with my roomies. Later!

Rebecca

Ps: Here, shotgun=shottie

friday (thursday for you!)

Sydney! I don't have time to explore, but i'm sitting outside enjoying the fresh air while i wait for my last flight. Vancouver to Sydney was 15 hr flight! I'm amazed i'm not tired. Of Course i got a middle seat, but I had a nice neighbor who let me use her as a pillow, so I slept lots. And the airplane food was really good! Once we landed, I saw a plane w/ a 'roo on it! And aussiee accents are sooo amazing! Anyway, like 15 hrs on a plane wasn't enough, once we landed our gate was busy so we had to wait, plus they had to spray insecticide on the plane and hold us captive for 5 min to kill any weird bugs we may have been carrying. THEN we had to wait in a long line for cutoms, and another line after the baggage carousel so customs could check baggage and let you exit the building. Thank goodness for that line tho, otherwise I wouldn't have realized my baggage stopped here, when it was supposed to check all the way thru automatically. There's warning signs around here that it's illegal for cab drivers to approach you. Oh, we even got complimentary blankets and pillows to use on flight! My excitement was short lived cuz they were scratchy, staticky, and stinky. I'm so blah now haha o well, i'll rejuvenate in NZ :D! Not sure how long the flight there is, but kno not 15 hrs! THank goodness; i felt like forever had passed, looked at the time which informed me we had 12 hrs left. I"m adjusting to the time changes really well tho. Havin fun with my cell Sam? Did ya use it the whole way home? lol man ya guys shoulda tasted my amazin complimentary sandwich before! Not! haha thick slices of ham and butter b/t huge chunks of bread. No way, Jose. Can't please everyone i guess, and the chic breast and omelette made up for it. It's funny cuz professional customs ppl hear adress guys as "dude." Good day mates are all around. <3>

Rebecca

Wednesday (wrote out by hand wed, that is)

I'm in VAncouver killing time for a few hrs til my next flight, and I'm tired! Only 830 pm here, but my body says 1030. It's been a long day...ran into trouble before i left what w/ immigration/visa laws and such, which ended up costing me, but oh well, it's all part of the adventure and it all worked out. Awesome! cuz landing in jail or being deported is NOT on my to do list. Shocking, I know! Slightly disappointed I don't have time to check out Vancouver whil I'm here, oh well, NZ is the main goal anyway. Oh yeah there were 2 ppl escorted onto my flight in handcuffs attached to a chain around their waist...kinda freaked me out but no worries, nothin went down. Too bad, that woulda made a great story! jk jk i'd rather have a boring flight. Sry I'm writing alot but i'm sooooooooo bored. My flight was only 2.5 hrs and i got bored, thank goodness for seatback TV! Too bad we couldn't figure out how to teleport, Beth! Man, my next flights gonna be krazi long! Sry this isn't spectacular, but I'm bored. Haha i'm piggin out on crackers now...good stuff. And fruit! Refreshing break from all the junk food i eat. Beth Beth! I found a guy for ya! he drinks lattes...he seems fruity, and weasly. That's all i kno, but i'll easily be able to kidnap him...i'll report back. Enemy is in sight. lol i've already eaten 1/2 box of crackers i'm so bored. Theres just some old dude nearby readin a newspaper...who i'd rather not strike up a conversation with. Aww he escaped Beth! There goes the entertainment...k i'll try and find somethin interestin to tell ya bout...like Fruit to Go! on the back it says, "What's in your fruit snack?" Good question fruit to go, no clue. There's even a website. Here's a thought, how bout i just read the ingredients? Gosh i'm goin krazi talkin to a fruit to go. Did ya kno "apparently" robots can do brain surgery! There's a poster behind me that says, "Where a robot entered my brain." Here's a random quote I love: "To accomplish great things, we must not only act bu also dream. Not only plan but also believe."

Rebecca

TODAY IS HERE!!!!!!

I'M LEAVING TODAY!!!!!!! I'm so stoked and a krazi mixture of excitement and nerves right now...but mostly excitement. It's gonna be a long 34+ hrs of getting there....but thats ok...half the fun is getting there right? To those of you who I didnt get a chance to say goodbye in person too, sry and know I'll miss u lots. Actually, its not goodbye its cya, cuz goodbye is forever. Thx for reminding me that. Thank you for all your support I'm so luck to have friends like you guys. I'll talk to you guys once i get to new zealand!

Rebecca

3 more days!!!

Hey guys! So here's the deal...I'm leaving for New Zealand on Wednesday, and I'll for sure be out there 11 weeks!!! Could be longer but who knows I may end up going to a different country for the mission outreach of BDTS...thats Backpackers Discipleship Training School. Because I would rather not have to repeat everything a zillion times and lose track of who I've told what, I've succumbed to the phenomenon that is blogging...my life is nothing to write about right now but hopefully once I get to New Zealand I'll have stories to tell. So if you wanna follow my adventure...here's where its at! :P yeah hopefully update everyday out there, guess we'll see how busy I am. Yeah. Now that I've bored you to tears I'm gonna header. Promise once I'm in NZ i'll have interesting posts.

Rebecca