So much to say, so much to say, so much to say.....

Ok I was going to post this a week ago, but never actually finished writing about everything and then left the base for a week.  Here goes an attempt to catch you up on the last three weeks.....

Life is not boring on the base that's for sure!  There has been so much going on that it's been kind of hard to decide what to write about.  It's like being in school so it feels kind of weird to tell you all about the things I learn in class, but at the same time it's so much more than school because it's all day every day....

The second week of DTS we didn't really have lectures during the lecture time so it was a bit different.  A couple from Christchurch came on Mon, Tues and Wed and led worship and shared their testimonies with my DTS and the Crossroads DTS.  Monday is also Work Duty day and I got to vaccuum and clean out some of the vans and cars so that wasn't so bad (other than when I got drenched with water...).

On Tuesday afternoon it was gorgeous out and I played volleyball instead of reading my book report book (which is pretty interesting....Eternity on Their Hearts by Don Richardson and is about how many other cultures have religions which point to belief in one all powerful God or have traditions and legends that are remarkably similar to Christianity....).  It was great to be outside because I missed most of that weekend since I was on weekend warriors.....oh but here is a picture from our Pancakes-giving:

We also had our first small group meeting on Tuesday which is made up of all the girls on Earthcare and our two female leaders: Jenny and Laura as well as Jenny's daughter Johanna.  Such a wonderful group of women.  I'm really glad that God called them here!

On Wednesday morning we had our first bible study and my group is studying Acts.  In the afternoon we went to Wai Ora which is a community-farming area which helps people get back on their feet from difficult circumstances using farming and also Maori-Christian principles....kind of hard to explain but our leader Rob helped get it started.  They did a Maori welcoming ceremony for us which was pretty cool and we did the hongi (a greeting where you touch noses and foreheads...it symbolizes sharing the breath of the spirit).  In the evening we had WAM (world awareness of missions) and are supposed to present a song tonight....some people got really into it  (not so much my group though...).

Thursday my DTS hiked through a valley in the Torlesse Mountains and enjoyed a little break from the base.  So peaceful and beautiful there.  It was a gorgeous sunny day and apart from getting eaten alive by sandflies (almost enough to make a girl start to eat Marmite every day...) even the pouring rain on the walk back didn't dampen our spirits.  That evening we had a Jewish-Christian speaker come in to talk about ministering to Israeli Jews (more for the Backpacker school, but an amazing speaker) and also an American girl who now lives in Lake Wanaka and has planted a Lighthouse church there.  For those of you snowboarders you should check them out!  They have churches in ski resort areas all over the world and are even planting one in Whistler right now which will probably be open for the Olympics which is pretty cool!

Friday our DTS went to a "wee hut" which belongs to a farmer and is in a beech forest just to spend a little more time as a group together.  Then we went to Christchurch for the evening to do some shopping (getting set for the West Coast next week) a spiritual treasure hunt, and then some ministry time at the Rice Cube (Alpha for ESL in Christchurch).

On the weekend I went to Castle Hill which is a whole bunch of giant rocks in a valley looking over the Torlesse Mountains.  I climbed up a whole bunch of boulders and it was really fun.  They filmed the battle scene from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe there.

I'm actually in this picture....look for the blue backpack on the rock!  Keith you would have loved it here!

The following week was jam-packed with lectures on God's Father Heart for us on top of worship practice, dish duty in the evening and getting prepared for a week and weekend away from the base.  The lectures gave me a lot of food for thought and really just encouraged me to pursue a relationship with God.  A lot about living a life of love and not worrying about doing things, but more about getting to know God and spending time with him.  Really takes the pressure off. The speaker's name was Jono Turner and he was amazing.  Very honest about his walk with God which I really appreciate.  We also started learning to speak Khmer (the language they speak in Cambodia) from Seang who is our support staff from Cambodia and a true blessing to our team!  It's really hard, but he's a great teacher and it will be fun I think...hopefully I'll be able to write a few words as well...the script is similar to Thai and very pretty.

The weekend after our Father Heart week (not this past weekend, but the weekend before) I went on an overnight trip to the Lewis Pass which is a mountain pass in the Southern Alps.  It was absolutely stunning!

We drove out from the base in the morning and then did a 3 hour (round trip) hike up to the Top of Lewis Pass up a mountain.  When we got to the top we were surrounded with snowcapped mountains and quite deep snow (I was hiking in snow up to my knees in shorts at one point).  We slid down the slopes of the mountain and rolled in the snow which was so much fun.

 

After we had exhausted ourselves hiking down the mountain we hiked two more hours on relatively flat terrain to a small hut by a lake where some of us camped out in tents and some were supposed to stay in the hut....unfortunately there wasn't enough room for us to stay in the bunks in the hut so some people slept out on the porch.  I managed to snag an extra mattress on the floor in the kitchen of the hut which was pretty sweet.

 

We did morning devotions on the dock at the lake and then hiked back out and drove back to the base in time for dinner and for me to pack up for a whole week away....

That week was spent on the west coast of the South Island which is absolutely stunning (I feel like I might be over-using these words, but I promise I'm not exaggerating!).  We drove about 4-5 hours through Arthur's Pass (another pass through the Southern Alps which is...you guessed it....gorgeous) and arrived in the pouring rain.  Instead of setting up camp in the rain we stayed the night at a hostel near our leaders' (the Blakelys) friends' (the Jones) home.  After a cosy night we got up early the next morning to use the tide to cross the river in boats with all our gear and set up our camp at Ounatai, the Blakely's property right on the ocean where it meets the river.

 

I'll work on getting some more pictures of Ounatai up, but I am still relying on other people's photos and cameras since mine is in the mail on its way to Fuji right now (hopefully going to be fixed very soon!!).

Anyway Ounatai is unlike any one place I have been before, but as I looked around here is the compilation I came up with: Southern Alps in the background like snow-covered Rockies, in the foreground hills like those outside of Hong Kong with many trees on them, near the beach a rainforest made of a combination of West Coast of BC and tropical rainforest (large tree ferns and vines everywhere), with a beach somewhat like those you'd find on Vancouver Island or on the coast but with waves crashing like you'd see and hear in Surfer's Paradise....

All 6 of us girls shared a tent from the 60's I'm pretty sure...our staff Laura nicknamed it the Mirage because it was massive (you could stand up in it and we could have easily fit 3 or four more bodies in it with room to spare.

Our first day at Ounatai was sunny and lovely and I jumped off the rickety as bridge and went swimming in the lagoon beside the beach (well it was more like a quick dip).  Went on a hike through the rainforest with the men bushwacking with machetes ahead and mud galore....my gumboot got entirely filled with mudpuddle at one point!  We had a huge bonfire on the beach and a few of us tried sleeping out under the stars (but I got too cold at about 1:30am and headed back to the tent which was kind of fortunate because it rained that morning).

 

The following day it rained most of the time so we spent most of it in the Blakely's small hut with the fire going.  The whole time we were spoiled with delicious food cooked over the campfire...I even tried goat (was a bit gristly and greasy for me...)

Next day was prep for our solo experiences in the bush.  Each of us had the option to spend one night completely alone in the forest.  We were allowed to bring in our gear and then were given a pot to cook on the fire and some food, matches, a tent or tarp and a groundsheet.  They led us into the bush to our spot and we were asked to stay within 30m of our chosen campsite at most times.  They forgot to give me a ground sheet so I improvised with ferns on the bottom of my bottomless tent (basically just the fly)....oh wait I forgot to mention, we didn't get any tent pegs or poles to set them up!  So I started my own fire and cooked my noodles and spent some quality time with God.  It was really good for me because one of my big fears is being lonely and I didn't feel afraid at all.  It was nice to have some time alone with all the people around.

After they picked us up the next day, I made chocolate chip pancakes on the fire (called pikelets here...pancakes are crepes) which was fun and then spent the afternoon on the beach and swimming again.  We had another big bonfire (or three) on the beach and watched the sun go down with a view of the Alps.

The next morning we packed up and brought our gear back to the hostel and had lunch.  Rob then drove all the girls (the boys needed a rest) out to the Doughboy where we hiked for a few hours and spent some time on the beach in the sunshine.  After some much needed showers, we had dinner in the most hillbilly pub I've ever seen!  There was lichen on the walls inside and possum fur on every seat.  It was a delicious dinner and we relaxed at the hostel and went to bed (in real beds!) early.

This morning we led the service at the Baptist church in Hokitika (about 25min away from the hostel we stayed at).  Rob played guitar for a few songs and then Mark and I shared a testimony and Liz shared a bible verse.  I talked about how God is teaching me to be His child and the picture of an infant sleeping on the chest of his/her Father:

And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

(Matthew 18:2-6 ESV)

and Mark spoke about how his own relationship with his father is changing.  Liz shared some verses about being still (Psalm 105) and also a bit from Jeremiah 33:3.  Then the congregation prayed for us and it was a real blessing!  After church we had a bbq on the beach in Hokitika and then drove back to the base where it was great to see the rest of our new family again.

Whew!  If you've made it all the way to the end of this good on ya! Sorry it's been so long...I'll try to update more frequently, but I really don't know what the future will bring.  We're on base all of this week.  Thanks for all your messages and prayers, I feel truly blessed here!