Tools to use and seeds to plant...

This past week was a busy one with all the snowboarders on the base, especially for me since I was on the lunch dish crew and then took another turn as weekend warrior for a friend.  Lots of cool information from our lectures and some interesting revelations for myself as well.

I'd like to start with a quick reminder that getting mail is AWESOME and this is my address:

Attn: Julie Forster

YWAM Oxford
PO Box 47
Oxford, North Canterbury 7443
New Zealand

We leave in less than a month for outreach (fly to Bali on December 14 and then to Cambodia on January 1) and it's amazing to think that this will not be our home for much longer.  We'll be back on base again on March 14 until our graduation on the 19th....after that travel and then....

Our focus in lecture was worldview and community development.  The first speakers: Joseph (Kiwi) and his wife Nancy (Egyptian) talked about how our worldview (our experiences....culture, religion, family, traditions...) colour the way we understand our world.  He showed us some exerpts from a show called "Meet the Natives which was quite interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV9GRNKqOKw

Joseph also taught us about SEED projects which are sort of motivators for the local church to minister to do small projects in their own home communities.  It was kind of an answer to prayer as far as I am concerned because the week before while our team was praying for our outreach time in Cambodia, I felt like God was telling us that we need to plant seeds as we go out into the communities.  That there are two ways you can plant seeds: you can take a handful and throw them out there just hoping that some will survive, or you can choose a small amount and really nurture them.  The nurturing one was the one I felt that we were being told we should do.  Then a week later here was Joseph teaching us about this ministry called SEEDs which encompassed so many of these ideas I felt like we might be called to do.  Cool stuff!  Here is the link for more info about SEED projects.  I challenge those of you who are at home to check this out....these are 1-2 day activities that help the church connect and serve their communities:
http://www.disciplenations.org/seed-project

 http://www.harvestfoundation.org/

We also had another lecturer from Bali, Rus Alit, who introduces simple technologies in developing countries to help the people to have clean drinking water and also to begin to farm more effectively.  He suggests the ideas to the villagers and then they make the decision of whether or not they want to invest in the technology or not and then take ownership of it themselves.  They pay for it (he uses local materials whenever possible), help build it, and learn how to maintain it.  Rus has worked for World Vision and has travelled all over the world with this ministry.  He is really cost-effective in his work and is passionate about using local talents and resources so that the community is able to relate to the technology (it's appropriate!) and therefore has the drive to continue using it.

Rus has now started his own school in Bali (Bali Appropriate Technology Institute or BATI) which we will be spending the last two weeks of December at finishing up our training, getting set for outreach, and also spending Christmas in Bali.  While he was here in New Zealand we got to see him make a Rus Pump so hopefully we will be able to use some of the knowledge he'll give us on our outreach.  He is in the process of setting up a website, but if you Google his name you can find way more amazing testimonies about his work.

http://www.campbali.com/BATI.htm

Outside of lectures we were busy with a Snowboarders vs Trinity (Backpackers, Earthcare and Crossroads) soccer game on Tuesday afternoon.  We also had the opportunity to hear testimonies from the snowboarders' outreach times in Turkey, Africa, Argentina, and China.  During the week leading up to the snowboarders' return we each were given a snowboarder to pray for.  All we knew about them was their name, age, nationality and also a little picture.  We were asking God for words of encouragement or anything else He wanted to tell them.  I prayed for a really awesome guy named Philipp from Switzerland.  It was great to be able to share the things I felt like God wanted him to know and just hang out after an amazing worship time on Wednesday night.

The Earthcare and Crossroads schools also helped set up and serve at the Snowboarders graduation ceremony.  At first we were a little bitter that the Backpackers got a free night in Christchurch while we had to work, but it turned out to be a lot of fun.  The dining room was transformed and Chef Ally did an absolutely amazing job with a 4 course meal for over 80 people.  We got to tag along at their dance and learned some new moves which was really fun.

I spent the weekend working on base again because I switched my extra weekend with my friend Anna who really wanted to go to Hanmer Springs (the weekend activity) which I had already visited when Mom was here.  I knew it was the right thing to do, but I'm not going to lie, I was kind of bitter about missing out.  It turned out to be best for me though. It was a really chill weekend and the work didn't seem as hard as the last time I was a weekend warrior (probably because I actually knew what I was doing).  I got to go to the beach for a couple hours in the afternoon on Saturday and witnessed Rebecca's first ocean experience (she's from Manitoba and had never seen the ocean or mountains before she came to New Zealand!!!).

The weekend was also a time where I realized that I needed to get an attitude adjustment going on.  I really have the tendency to want to get things done and I hate wasting time....I realized that my focus hasn't been on people here, which is silly because in the long run which is more important--getting the dishes done on time or building friendships/welcoming people to the YWAM base?  I was also finding it a bit challenging being on the worship team and working with people who have different leadership styles....I know I wasn't being a respectful team member, more like a punky little kid.  Anyway apologies were made so hopefully I'll be able to keep myself in check better in the future.

Other highlights of the weekend included watching the entire 3rd Lord of the Rings movie....wait no the highlight of that was the epic pillowfight in between discs which involved cardboard armour and weapons as well as full on foam mattress-throwing and giant doggiepiles of YWAMers.  We also watched The Princess Bride on Sunday night which is definitely one of my childhood faves.  Another highlight was a deconstructed lemon meringue pie sundae on a sunny afternoon with my friend Laura at Seagers....mmmmm.....