Friday, February 26, 2010

Life Is...

I came across this quote today and love thought it was definitely worthy of it's own blog post. Hope it inspires you like it did me!...enjoy:

Life is an opportunity. Benefit from it.
Life is beauty. Admire it.
Life is a challenge. Meet it.
Life is a duty. Complete it.
Life is a game. Play it.
Life is a promise. Fulfill it.
Life is a sorrow. Overcome it.
Life is a song. Sing it.
Life is a struggle. Accept it.
Life is a tragedy. Confront it.
Life is an ADVENTURE. Dare it.
Life is luck. Make it.
Life is a fight. Fight for it.


Be blessed today! Later!

Monday, February 22, 2010

home sweet home

After a long journey home as each flight was delayed, I arrived in Winnipeg last night to a posse of my family waiting for me. I stepped outside to a brisk winter air, which was apparently not cold at all (I did this in chacos for the record!) and was whisked away to get my well deserved A&W fix. Mozza burger, how I love thee so. After being driven home on the right side of the road I showed my family a Tim Tam slam and made sure they tried some of NZ's finest biscuits. My family all look sick, they're so ghostly pale and think I'm so dark, my hair is so long, and apparently I now have highlights in it. Late last night I enjoyed getting to sleep in my bed again. My parents were smart enough to know not to expect anything of me today and I got to sleep 14 hrs which was glorious.Later on I took my baby bro (who is now as tall as me and heavier! He's grown so much!)to hockey...back to the usual chauffeur role I guess. Oh, all you mennonites out there I also enjoyed some comsborscht again! Oh, how I missed mennonite food. It's such a strange shift to back home but it should be good. It's good to be at home where milk is cheap and plentiful, and there's always real hot chocolate in the cupboard! On a more serious note, I was reminded of a few good points as I looked through some lecture notes today:

-your passion, what drives you should be rooted in God
-Give God full on, don't just go through the motions
-it don't matter if ppl disagree with you and your opinions, just know why you believe what you believe. You best be able to explain yourself.

Here's your bone to chew on for the day:
I think you're beautiful. Yeah you! Actually, I KNOW you're beautiful! Know why? Cuz God made you that way!

Have a spectacular day! And God Bless!

Friday, February 19, 2010

new season

Graduation is over. I now have one more certificate than I did a couple hours ago. But I have so much more than a piece of paper compared to 4.5 months ago. I've gained more appreciation for life, and realized I can live on alot less. I'm so very rich and blessed with what I have, and I definitely have been taking it for granted all my life. I've gained more understanding of how big and amazing God is, and I know He's Lord of my life and totally worthy of my everything and then some. I definitely still have alot to learn though. I've learned that our greatest fears are like tissue-paper thin, and a single courageous step would take us right through them. And taking that step feels amazing. I've obtained so much joy which I don't even know how to begin to put into words, and I'm just stoked for life. I've learnt I'm capable of so much more than I realize, and to just go for it. So as I go home, that's exactly what I'll be doing...JUST GOING FOR IT! Living life to the fullest, for God. For now this means serving at home, and I've applied for Basic Leadership school back here in Oxford, so hopefully 6 months down the road I find myself back here. Here's your bone for the day: You already possess everything necessary to become great. God Bless!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Happy Valentines Day!

Team NZ/Fiji arrived back in Oxford safe and sound last nite and found ourselves wide awake upon arrival at base to run out and greet our sisters and bros we hadn't seen for 8 weeks and excitedly sharing a zillion stories and realizing there's still so much more to share. Our last week in Fiji we moved to a different resort. After demanding new beds we enjoyed the air conditioning, tried our haggling skills at a market, saw a Fijian dance/fire show, went on a day cruise, met an English guy who wanted to learn everything about Canada, and met 2 Canadians. Jordan and I also got to pray over one of them and we have faith God will heal her. We also celebrated the end of outreach together at Hard Rock Cafe where we ate good food and too much of it. This morning getting the rest of our stuff out of storage and having options of what to wear and more than 1 clean shirt was such a blessing. It's wonderful to have it cold enough to use a sleeping bag again too. I can't emphasize enough how I learnt how little I can actually live on during outreach, and will definitely be reassezing my closet when I get home. This past week our team also watched a cool short video about the amount of noise in our lives. Here are 3 questions that stuck with me after watching the video:

-Is there such a thing as visual noise?
-Is there a connection between the amount of noise in our lives and our inability to listen to God? -Do you really believe God's voice is more interesting than the voices around you?
-Also Deuteronomy 27:9 is huge: "Then Moses and the priests said to all Israel, "Be silent, O Israel, and listen! You have now become the people of the LORD your God."

After this we split up to have some quiet time just listening to God which I really enjoyed. Here's what God told me:
-Come into the great wide open, I've got an ocean of opportunities for you
-Just jump! You already know how to swim, you'll be fine
-You have no idea how big I am. You haven't even touched how big I am
-I'm going to show you miracles

Later on in Fiji my outreach leader got a picture of me running all over the world nonstop...so thats cool, cuz I definitely think God wants me to see more of the world.

So it's definitely stuff I'm keepin in my prayers now. I'm just stoked for life, ready to go back to Canada for a bit before hopefully coming back to New Zealand. That's all for now. God Bless!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

vinaka!

Sunday we attended a Fijian church which was completely in their native language. It was so weird to be the only white people there, but I really enjoyed it. We were warmly welcome and while I honestly couldn't understand a word being said, I could see the passion/fire for God and feel the Holy Spirit's presence, and also really enjoyed the music. Another interesting thing we did this week was ride to town on the back of a really rickety pickup "taxi"...apparently that's how it's done in Fiji if you get tired of waiting for the bus, as in Fiji time, there's no guarantee if/when it will come. This week also had a little excitement as a farmer started a fire just over the hill for us, and do to the dry brush from not enough rain it soon turned uncontrollable. When it got too close too the resort for comfort we packed up and left our bure and joined the crowd watching mesmerized. However, before dinner we had prayed for rain, and as we watched it began to rain, which put it out. Good thing too because the fire truck got stuck in the sand on the volleyball court! Only in Fiji! Now God's showing His skill cuz it's rained the last 2 days as well, which is definitely needed here. Soon we moved back to our beds and slept well knowing God had things under control. We also boated down a river to a beautiful village one day, where we were escorted in by a Fijian warriour, welcomed with kava, and shown around. After a great lunch we were privileged to watch some dances by the warriors and ladies before being pulled onto the dance floor. We also swam by a beautiful waterfall, props to God yet again. Also we rode on a bamboo raft a bit. Cool to try, but slow moving. Tomorrow it's off to our next resort for a week. Later!