On the way home our van broke down...we were driving along a 4 lane road in an area of Christchurch in Vanilla Ice (the van that has a tendency to overheat and had overheated already earlier in the day). Our leader, Seth was actually on the phone with someone at the base to say that we were having trouble with the van when smoke started pouring out of the engine area. FYI these vans have the engine conveniently located under the passenger seat. The people in the back yelled out "Smoke smoke!" and Seth immediately stopped the van (at an intersection in the middle lane of the road) and everyone jumped out.
Luckily (or was it luck....?) there were people from the base already in Christchurch who could come pick us up quite quickly and also there was a big guy with a fire extinguisher behind us in traffic along with some other hefty guys who pushed the van out of the intersection to a side road. We were sitting on the side of the road being entertained by the Blakely kids (who had realized that the bark mulch by the sidewalk could be used as sidewalk chalk) saying how grateful we were for how things turned out when a lady who works with a Christian organization in the neighbourhood pulled over. She asked if we needed anything and offered to refill our waterbottles. By the time she had come back we had created a square ball court in a preschool driveway and were using our volleyball to play squareball. She brought us cupcakes and drinks and told us about the work their organisation does in the community.
Apparently the area we had broken down in was not one of the nicest areas in Christchurch (some bodies of people who had been murdered were found just around the corner from where we were stuck). Her organization works with kids in the area and at their first meeting almost all showed up without shoes. She felt like God was telling her to trace the outlines of each of their feet and put them up on the wall praying that God would provide them with shoes. The next week they had been planning to tell the kids about the cross and what Jesus did and then wash their feet and clip their toenails. She stopped in to visit a friend in the morning and her friend said she was really glad that to see her because she had something for her. She gave the lady we met her car keys and when she looked in the car there were bags full of brand new shoes. The kids have been praying into their needs and God has been answering their prayers....even to the colour of blanket they as for! Pretty amazing!
On Sunday it was kind of chilly out so we just relaxed at the house and worked on journals and book reports. The book I read for this book report was "Is That Really You God?" by Loren Cunningham. It's the story of how YWAM was formed and I would definitely recommend it if you want to know more about YWAM. It's a pretty amazing story!
Sunday evening we had twin night and I dressed up as a triplet with Angela and Anna who are also on the Earthcare DTS. It was so fun to see everyone dressed up and we had delicious Mexican food as well. Good times!
This past week we've had a speaker named Gordon Rosewell and the topic was the Holy Spirit. He used to be a highschool teacher here before he became a pastor so it was cool to talk to him about that. My favourite part of lecture this week was on Friday when we all had an opportunity to bring a song/verse/or word of encouragement that we felt like God had told us to bring. It was really amazing to see how each individual brought things that all fit together and spoke to the group. I brought a song by Ryan Donn called "I'll be There" which was really exciting for me because.....
My parents sent me a camera and Gordon (my brother) copied a bunch of music from my laptop so I can put it back on my Ipod....yaaaay!!!
Another cool thing that happened this week was on Tuesday (this is from my friend Angela's blog):
When I first got here, I wondered if living in community would be a challenge. I’m with the same people, pretty much 24/7. But it has turned out to be quite the opposite. It’s such a blessing to be in this environment that is just oozing with brotherly/sisterly love.
Yesterday morning, the guys came over to the girls’ house with breakfast they had gotten up early to cook for us. Usually, the guys have breakfast in the dining room, and the girls stay at our house to eat (cereal and toast). But yesterday the guys surprised us with chocolate chip pancakes, fruit, yogurt, BACON (!!), juice – everything we could have possibly wanted for breakfast! And then they did our dishes! All just because they love us and wanted to bless us.
It just so happens that on the very same day, some of the girls had planned to do something special to bless the guys. This was a complete coincidence that it happened on the same day – neither group had any idea the other group had been planning anything at all. Some of the girls spent part of the afternoon baking apple crisp and bread pudding. They cut out construction-paper hands and put a name on each one. We all wrote encouraging words for each guy on his paper hand. Later in the evening after dinner, a group of girls went over and got the guys, blindfolded them, and led them back to our house in a very round-about way (through a field, over a fence, etc. – all blindfolded … you know how boys like adventure). Then we sat them down and read them their encouraging words, then we all had the warm dessert (with ice cream) and coffee. What a fun day!
These are big examples of the love that abounds here, but people do little things all the time. Just the other day, I was sitting at the table working on something, and one of the girls came over and made me a cup of coffee – just because she knows I like coffee. At least a couple times a week someone will pull out a box of biscuits or chocolates to share. Several students have made payments on other students’ outreach fee accounts. People give each other compliments and encouragements on a daily basis. These so-called “little” things have enormous impact. As DC Talk used to say, “Love is a verb,” and I’m surrounded by people who really understand that.
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”
I Corinthians 13: 1-3
This weekend I went to the west coast to Punakaiki where the Pancake Rocks are. We stayed in a hostel that is literally right on the ocean....you could see the waves from our window. The waves on the west coast are so powerful and the landscape is gorgeous. I can't wait to go back later. At the hostel I met a guy from Israel and also a girl from Canada who is also a teacher (yaaay for teacher talk!). She is trying to get work here so hopefully we can keep in touch.
We are getting set for our outreach leaving for Bali in only two weeks so any and all prayers are welcome. I've definitely seen with my own eyes that God answers prayer. Anyway, I better go pack and get my journal entry done. We leave for Kaikoura (on the east coast) tomorrow morning until Thursday.
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