sandwiches taste better in a hurricane
today has been very bland in comparison to the spiciness of yesterday. with a little hurricane force wind thrown in i guess... today was supposed to be the first weekend trip to the beach, as a whole school, but since it was a huge tropical storm we decided a chill day would be cool as well... we finally split into our two schools, muso’s and surfers/boarders. the surfer meeting was super short, cuz we just went over what we expected from it an stuff.. the muso’s took a long time cuz they had to fill a bunch of stuff out an cuz there is way more of them.. its cool. my school has kristen, lukas and i as students, with steph, crystal, jacob, tyler and chris for leaders... at times we’ll all join together to go surfing, but i’m more or less the only person not in any way involved in music... everyone can do something, so it can integrate both ways if we wanna hop in on each others schools. mostly... the music people get to make a cd (which i will own cuz these people are sickly talented) and the surfers get to travel around on weekends and find sweet surf spots. i’m super excited to be a boarder, cuz i’m gonna be come even closer with the people near me AND i get to travel while being outdoors constantly... so good.
now that we are headed into our first full week of school in a few days, assignments are starting to surface themselves.. which i don’t mind because its not gonna be a lot of work, just a lot of reflection and noting what we do.. i’m already ‘journaling’ every day so i can just pick apart what i’ve already said and put it together as a complete work of assignment. hopefully. sigh... i was sick all morning because i ate a sick variety of food yesterday... egg burger in matamata in the afternoon, fish sandwhich for supper (yuck) then a huge trough banana split that everyone dug into, but only a stupid few of us went too far with. anyways it destroyed my stomach, an i didn’t sleep much and didn’t do much at all today cuz of the stupid pain. but i took a sweet two hour nap an jacob gave me two heavy doses of fizzy vitamin c packets to make me feel better. which i did. we went boogie boarding down the hill.. an rolled down in a tire... but not me cuz i wasn’t 100%... it was solid tropical storm fun. then we watched lord of the rings. the good one. i got a super bad headache i think because i hadn’t focused on something for so long in a week... or it was the icecream. blasted icecream...
2.28.2009
2.27.2009
welcome to a new day
volleyball kicked bottom. pursuits won, woo woo. to the woo woo. breakfast of weetbix has been tasting amazing lately... its honestly my favorite meal of the day. start off with 7:15 intercession then lead right into breakfast? God then food does the soul well. here's why i will never forget today. and Lord help me if i do, i'll get another dose of spiritual reality.
my day started (kinda) at 4 am, cuz i signed up to do my hour of 24/7 prayer. i woke up less than excited, but determined to get some solid prayer in. 10 minutes in i was in a room with a few people from here, a few people from home, and a few unknowns or people from my past, digging through a kitchen fridge looking at pizza to eat.. so prayer didn't go over so well. there were a few points i thought i was out of bed and ready to head over to the prayer room, but i was actually still fast asleep. i think i justified sleeping through it because i was going base prayer at 5:30am anyways.. but anyhow! nick woke me up an we headed over.
now the leader of morning prayer/intercession is a big german man named sam, and he is awesome. he clearly has a love and understanding for Jesus, and his actions and teachings show it. he's the one who made me think about my intimacy and identity with God. but anyways! there is a lovely woman named claire in the family ministries team, and she has had an immensely dark spiritual life. she's only been a christian about a year and still has a lot of baggage, so to say. last night apparently she blacked out, and ended up about a mile away, covered in blood. she wanted prayer.. sam said ok! lets do it. so she sat in the middle of our little 7 man circle, and sam told the other guys an gals to brace her. she looked at me cuz i was new and said 'don't be afraid, this will be weird but you are protected by our God and you don't have to worry'. this... put me immediately in an uncomfortable position because i knew exactly what was about to happen. the second sam started to pray, she started writhing around, thrashing and screaming in a voice that was not hers. sam continued to pray, telling the demon that she belonged to Christ, that she was bought by the blood and that it had no right to be inside of her anymore. the demon protested and screamed that she belonged to it, and that it was gonna get sam too. clearly he has been through this before, because he was unphased. (oh by the way, she had a leg free and kicking so they told me to grab hold of it. i was holding on hard with both hands and it was really a struggle.. she was very strong. .. not something i'm used to, but something i've been aware of.) but... after about 3 minutes of hard prayer and struggle she started to cough and then slumped over, saying thank you in her voice. we stood her up and started praying thanks to God, (i was so relieved..) but then all of the sudden she turned again and went after sam. he just quickly allowed us to pin her down against the ground, i had an arm, james had her feet and nick had both arms and sam was above her praying intensely again. there was more arguing with the demon that was called.... something with a 'b'... not beelzebub or anything but mebe it was boltergiest or something... don't really care. her arm was even stronger than her leg had been, so it was getting tiring trying to hold on... (sam was so intense, but at the same time so calm. he stopped screaming for a second, and looked around at us and like he was a teacher explaining 2+2 was all 'this is this kind of demon.. this is what it does, this is where it comes fro- GET OUT OF HER!' it was nuts.) after about 5 minutes she started coughing again and went limp once more.. this time it felt real cuz she laid there for a few minutes then we helped her up slowly. we prayed about bangledesh and other places where the church is starting and christians are multiplying but i really couldn't focus.. me'n nick had a really good talk afterwards, just about life and living and how real spiritual warfare is and ah... just so good. i've never felt more reassured in my life. it was scary as anything, but afterwards just knowing how powerful and absolute and real our God is let me breath new life into my faith.
that was all before 6am... later, our speaker of the week was having his last lecture, aaand he was giving us white rocks to represent our invitation to Gods holy banquet (heck yes we are special.) but anyways, he was praying for us, and anointing us with oil and inviting the holy spirit to come and fill our lives. it was so calm.. so surreal.. the whole room was alive in worship but it was so quiet.. they prayed over bill henwood for awhile (he's been battling cancer for quite some time, he's the director of crystal springs) and all the students had their own interactions with God. i was just so happy to be having experiences on such opposite extremes in the same morning. today isn't gonna leave me for awhile hopefully. claire is back to being a sweet woman who genuinely loves God. i was a little shaky in the morning but i feel so close to all my staff and new bros'n sisters... my one on one is gonna be with tyler, a really cool guy from minnesota who's crazy into adventures and whatnot and is our paramedic and cool beans things. one on one with him will be sweet, and rims is his other one on one so we can bond more too. we guys are just gonna be our own small group in the house, 9 of us, nice'n perfect for getting intimate. MAN i can't wait to see what else happens.. haven't even been here a week.
my favorite verse i've decided is that verse in 1 kings... could be 2 kings... i have it written down but not here so just trust me. elijah is on a mountain (or maybe jeremiah.. but probably elijah. does it matter? no.) and he is asking to see God. a huge earthquake came and shook the earth, but God was not in the quake. then another big huge thing, which God also wasn't in. then fire, an God was not in the fire. but then came a gentle whisper, and thats where elijah found God. makes me smile...skillet has it right when they sing their chorus (i forget the name as well! flip!)
your a silent rain, your a hurricane. you are everything i cannot see i can't explain. (excited fist pumps)
my day started (kinda) at 4 am, cuz i signed up to do my hour of 24/7 prayer. i woke up less than excited, but determined to get some solid prayer in. 10 minutes in i was in a room with a few people from here, a few people from home, and a few unknowns or people from my past, digging through a kitchen fridge looking at pizza to eat.. so prayer didn't go over so well. there were a few points i thought i was out of bed and ready to head over to the prayer room, but i was actually still fast asleep. i think i justified sleeping through it because i was going base prayer at 5:30am anyways.. but anyhow! nick woke me up an we headed over.
now the leader of morning prayer/intercession is a big german man named sam, and he is awesome. he clearly has a love and understanding for Jesus, and his actions and teachings show it. he's the one who made me think about my intimacy and identity with God. but anyways! there is a lovely woman named claire in the family ministries team, and she has had an immensely dark spiritual life. she's only been a christian about a year and still has a lot of baggage, so to say. last night apparently she blacked out, and ended up about a mile away, covered in blood. she wanted prayer.. sam said ok! lets do it. so she sat in the middle of our little 7 man circle, and sam told the other guys an gals to brace her. she looked at me cuz i was new and said 'don't be afraid, this will be weird but you are protected by our God and you don't have to worry'. this... put me immediately in an uncomfortable position because i knew exactly what was about to happen. the second sam started to pray, she started writhing around, thrashing and screaming in a voice that was not hers. sam continued to pray, telling the demon that she belonged to Christ, that she was bought by the blood and that it had no right to be inside of her anymore. the demon protested and screamed that she belonged to it, and that it was gonna get sam too. clearly he has been through this before, because he was unphased. (oh by the way, she had a leg free and kicking so they told me to grab hold of it. i was holding on hard with both hands and it was really a struggle.. she was very strong. .. not something i'm used to, but something i've been aware of.) but... after about 3 minutes of hard prayer and struggle she started to cough and then slumped over, saying thank you in her voice. we stood her up and started praying thanks to God, (i was so relieved..) but then all of the sudden she turned again and went after sam. he just quickly allowed us to pin her down against the ground, i had an arm, james had her feet and nick had both arms and sam was above her praying intensely again. there was more arguing with the demon that was called.... something with a 'b'... not beelzebub or anything but mebe it was boltergiest or something... don't really care. her arm was even stronger than her leg had been, so it was getting tiring trying to hold on... (sam was so intense, but at the same time so calm. he stopped screaming for a second, and looked around at us and like he was a teacher explaining 2+2 was all 'this is this kind of demon.. this is what it does, this is where it comes fro- GET OUT OF HER!' it was nuts.) after about 5 minutes she started coughing again and went limp once more.. this time it felt real cuz she laid there for a few minutes then we helped her up slowly. we prayed about bangledesh and other places where the church is starting and christians are multiplying but i really couldn't focus.. me'n nick had a really good talk afterwards, just about life and living and how real spiritual warfare is and ah... just so good. i've never felt more reassured in my life. it was scary as anything, but afterwards just knowing how powerful and absolute and real our God is let me breath new life into my faith.
that was all before 6am... later, our speaker of the week was having his last lecture, aaand he was giving us white rocks to represent our invitation to Gods holy banquet (heck yes we are special.) but anyways, he was praying for us, and anointing us with oil and inviting the holy spirit to come and fill our lives. it was so calm.. so surreal.. the whole room was alive in worship but it was so quiet.. they prayed over bill henwood for awhile (he's been battling cancer for quite some time, he's the director of crystal springs) and all the students had their own interactions with God. i was just so happy to be having experiences on such opposite extremes in the same morning. today isn't gonna leave me for awhile hopefully. claire is back to being a sweet woman who genuinely loves God. i was a little shaky in the morning but i feel so close to all my staff and new bros'n sisters... my one on one is gonna be with tyler, a really cool guy from minnesota who's crazy into adventures and whatnot and is our paramedic and cool beans things. one on one with him will be sweet, and rims is his other one on one so we can bond more too. we guys are just gonna be our own small group in the house, 9 of us, nice'n perfect for getting intimate. MAN i can't wait to see what else happens.. haven't even been here a week.
my favorite verse i've decided is that verse in 1 kings... could be 2 kings... i have it written down but not here so just trust me. elijah is on a mountain (or maybe jeremiah.. but probably elijah. does it matter? no.) and he is asking to see God. a huge earthquake came and shook the earth, but God was not in the quake. then another big huge thing, which God also wasn't in. then fire, an God was not in the fire. but then came a gentle whisper, and thats where elijah found God. makes me smile...skillet has it right when they sing their chorus (i forget the name as well! flip!)
your a silent rain, your a hurricane. you are everything i cannot see i can't explain. (excited fist pumps)
2.26.2009
day an a half
yestahday! had a free night. therefore we played spoons, and me'n john-mark played a massive 13 game set of pingpong. it was the best either of us has played, and we made sure to tell amazing stories about how BA we were at pingpong. i'm gonna be able to play my bros decently after this... heck yes. apparently there is a nationwide pingpong tournament pursuits goes into every year during some weekend we go to in a few weeks.. we must own!
i hitchhiked for the first time today. 10 of us set out to matamata during our free afternoon.... its about an 8 minute drive or an hour walk. rims and his four girls (chi-won joanna sylvia and alisha) got picked up first (since we went in groups to disperse ourselves evenly) followed by rasa lukas and nik. then me'n john-mark were excited to get our turn, but it never came... we walked all 8k into town then skateboarded around a bit till we found everyone else. we thought we could skate the whole way, but the roads are pretty much tar with gravel pressed into it so it wasn't skateable... the one time we got close the dude got out of his car an starting swearing at us cuz he thought we flipped him off. nope... sadnesss...it was still a good trip.
tonight were played volleyball, pursuits vs. the family ministry. its gonna be fun hopefully. mebe more poker afterwards, possibly a serious game! or more skateboarding.. i learned how to do a shove-it. its easy.. so its nothing super special. but doing it makes me want to learn more, so i think i will. i've got time..
yesterday an todays lectures have really kicked my butt... on tuesday night sam ( a massive german speaker who is amazingly intense about everything (also destroyed me in pingpong..)) talked about having intimacy with God, into our relationship with him, which would lead to our 'destiny' or whatever. i wasn't thinking much of it, until my aussie roomate kristin started asking questions, like what a relationship with God actually was, and how he didn't actually know if he loved God. it freaked me out, because it described exactly what i have been thinking for a few years.. yeah, i undoubtedly believe God is the only absolute there is, and that he loves me, and that maybe i have a relationship with Him but i have never felt it... we had a pretty intense night of prayer with some of the leaders and other students, then later were discussing it in our room.. we started thinking about God AS our father, and that even though we may not go down the path were supposed to, with love and support he'd let us go into the path we wanted, just like a father would. it sounded amazing and profound and he said he didn't even really mean to say it, so we knew it was from God. then the very next mornings lesson was all about identity in Christ, and how God is a father and all that stuff... it was soooo cool... were both on our own little journey's to be hit with the holy spirit and start truly understanding our love for God. today was just another step as we watched the crucifixion on the passion of the Christ, i really felt overwhelmed of how much he loved me and wanted to be my friend, regardless of my disobedience and failures. i coulda cried, but i think i let pride get in my way. i signed up for 4 am prayer room duty, so i'm gonna really try to get disciplined and get to know God. love Him... i have a lot of understanding but its time for me to work on relationship. no more talk, i've gotta give all or nothing.
*sigh*
so i'm excited for tomorrow, and the next day, cuz i've got a lot to think about and experience. and TONS of ping pong to play. oh man. get jazzed.
i hitchhiked for the first time today. 10 of us set out to matamata during our free afternoon.... its about an 8 minute drive or an hour walk. rims and his four girls (chi-won joanna sylvia and alisha) got picked up first (since we went in groups to disperse ourselves evenly) followed by rasa lukas and nik. then me'n john-mark were excited to get our turn, but it never came... we walked all 8k into town then skateboarded around a bit till we found everyone else. we thought we could skate the whole way, but the roads are pretty much tar with gravel pressed into it so it wasn't skateable... the one time we got close the dude got out of his car an starting swearing at us cuz he thought we flipped him off. nope... sadnesss...it was still a good trip.
tonight were played volleyball, pursuits vs. the family ministry. its gonna be fun hopefully. mebe more poker afterwards, possibly a serious game! or more skateboarding.. i learned how to do a shove-it. its easy.. so its nothing super special. but doing it makes me want to learn more, so i think i will. i've got time..
yesterday an todays lectures have really kicked my butt... on tuesday night sam ( a massive german speaker who is amazingly intense about everything (also destroyed me in pingpong..)) talked about having intimacy with God, into our relationship with him, which would lead to our 'destiny' or whatever. i wasn't thinking much of it, until my aussie roomate kristin started asking questions, like what a relationship with God actually was, and how he didn't actually know if he loved God. it freaked me out, because it described exactly what i have been thinking for a few years.. yeah, i undoubtedly believe God is the only absolute there is, and that he loves me, and that maybe i have a relationship with Him but i have never felt it... we had a pretty intense night of prayer with some of the leaders and other students, then later were discussing it in our room.. we started thinking about God AS our father, and that even though we may not go down the path were supposed to, with love and support he'd let us go into the path we wanted, just like a father would. it sounded amazing and profound and he said he didn't even really mean to say it, so we knew it was from God. then the very next mornings lesson was all about identity in Christ, and how God is a father and all that stuff... it was soooo cool... were both on our own little journey's to be hit with the holy spirit and start truly understanding our love for God. today was just another step as we watched the crucifixion on the passion of the Christ, i really felt overwhelmed of how much he loved me and wanted to be my friend, regardless of my disobedience and failures. i coulda cried, but i think i let pride get in my way. i signed up for 4 am prayer room duty, so i'm gonna really try to get disciplined and get to know God. love Him... i have a lot of understanding but its time for me to work on relationship. no more talk, i've gotta give all or nothing.
*sigh*
so i'm excited for tomorrow, and the next day, cuz i've got a lot to think about and experience. and TONS of ping pong to play. oh man. get jazzed.
2.25.2009
shock day
i was too tired to journal last night. so this is a reminder to myself. keep asking questions. find truth and TRUST beyond anything you've ever trusted. you know the absolute and understand why. never cease to long for intimacy and never cease to stop seeking the true love that sets you free. God is moving and he's gonna get you... be persistent and devout in your pursuit and never give way to the enemy.
2.24.2009
discin day
the stars are freaking incredible here. seeing the milky way and tons of other stars so brightly illuminated with the lack of major cities amazes me... its such a nice change. today and tonight were very chill... we started sharing our own life stories and now that everyone involved has gone we have a deeper understanding of who we each are and where we have come from, and so our sibling bond has already grown solid. i’ve been here barely 3 days and it feels like i’ve been here weeks. i talked to alana tonight and she said the same thing... when you’re with the same group of people in highly intimate situations its impossible to not become close. i feel so blessed and am so thankful to be here... were all screwed up and we all have our issues but nobody knows.
the dudes are singing in the next room... musically bonding. i am bonding by listening but i am separate from the musical side of things. minus bands and stuff, which john mark has shown me a ton of bands i’ll soon steal from his computer and explore. its weird, i hadn’t listened to music other than acoustic worship since i got on the plane to NZ, so it sounded amazing after such a long (pfffft) withdrawal. we finally played some ultimate tonight.. nothing serious, just a little group gathered disc. it wasn’t intense but it was still a blast and i probably played a little too hard but it was amazing and hopefully these games will happen more often with a few other guys who love it as much as i do. and ping pong... OHHH ping pong... didn’t play once today, because we destroyed the only ball we had yesterday. BUT then i discovered a room in the old destroyed pool that had another table, away from everything else (like noise courtesy rules and such) and had lots more balls and paddles and was a better quality table. this room has a fable until this point, and it was nice to discover since opening doors that are unfamiliar to me tend to send me running with my shy tail between my legs. what if there were people having sex or like a possum family dwelling? the shock! these are the things i think before opening an unknown door. alana says that there are hedgehogs here too. i want one to reside near anywhere i am so i can feed him things that hedgehogs eat and name him curly or something ironic.
i found another guy who can’t bend his fingers very far at all... jacob from northern california seems to have the same digit affliction that i have. cept he’s wicked good at guitar. i’ve learned a few things but i forgot to mention them... that australian ‘shrimp on the barbie’ is incorrect. its ‘prawn on the fryer’ if its even mentioned... prawn, not shrimp. europeans play weird pool rules. when you scratch, you get two shots. when you sink the last ball before the 8 ball, you must sink the 8 ball in the opposite pocket of the ball you just sunk. it makes the game really interesting... and since it was doubles it took forever. people are good at backflips and sweet things like that here. it strikes me into awe and starry eyes. tomorrow is our first ‘lecture’ and i’m really looking forward to it. this week will be very chill in comparison to next week when we actually start this thing call ‘school’... but i’m excited. there isn’t much free time to explore, mebe two hours at most sometimes like today when we took a hike to the river and explored a little. its kinda cramped not bein able to leave the base cuz of things we need to do... but soon the mountains in the east will be fully conquered. and surfing will happen soon... yayyyyy
i didn’t do any pushups today. but i made lukas do 10. -110 vs. +10.
the dudes are singing in the next room... musically bonding. i am bonding by listening but i am separate from the musical side of things. minus bands and stuff, which john mark has shown me a ton of bands i’ll soon steal from his computer and explore. its weird, i hadn’t listened to music other than acoustic worship since i got on the plane to NZ, so it sounded amazing after such a long (pfffft) withdrawal. we finally played some ultimate tonight.. nothing serious, just a little group gathered disc. it wasn’t intense but it was still a blast and i probably played a little too hard but it was amazing and hopefully these games will happen more often with a few other guys who love it as much as i do. and ping pong... OHHH ping pong... didn’t play once today, because we destroyed the only ball we had yesterday. BUT then i discovered a room in the old destroyed pool that had another table, away from everything else (like noise courtesy rules and such) and had lots more balls and paddles and was a better quality table. this room has a fable until this point, and it was nice to discover since opening doors that are unfamiliar to me tend to send me running with my shy tail between my legs. what if there were people having sex or like a possum family dwelling? the shock! these are the things i think before opening an unknown door. alana says that there are hedgehogs here too. i want one to reside near anywhere i am so i can feed him things that hedgehogs eat and name him curly or something ironic.
i found another guy who can’t bend his fingers very far at all... jacob from northern california seems to have the same digit affliction that i have. cept he’s wicked good at guitar. i’ve learned a few things but i forgot to mention them... that australian ‘shrimp on the barbie’ is incorrect. its ‘prawn on the fryer’ if its even mentioned... prawn, not shrimp. europeans play weird pool rules. when you scratch, you get two shots. when you sink the last ball before the 8 ball, you must sink the 8 ball in the opposite pocket of the ball you just sunk. it makes the game really interesting... and since it was doubles it took forever. people are good at backflips and sweet things like that here. it strikes me into awe and starry eyes. tomorrow is our first ‘lecture’ and i’m really looking forward to it. this week will be very chill in comparison to next week when we actually start this thing call ‘school’... but i’m excited. there isn’t much free time to explore, mebe two hours at most sometimes like today when we took a hike to the river and explored a little. its kinda cramped not bein able to leave the base cuz of things we need to do... but soon the mountains in the east will be fully conquered. and surfing will happen soon... yayyyyy
i didn’t do any pushups today. but i made lukas do 10. -110 vs. +10.
2.23.2009
um k day
man oh man. orientation day? this is gonna be some heavy, intense, spiritual training. the leaders shared their summed up life story... 15 minutes. its our turn as students tomorrow, now that we know where our leaders are coming from. it got pretty emotional at some points. i almost lost it when nick was talking about his brother, and seeing how much he loved his brother really struck close to me. i’m so fortunate for the great privilege of having such amazing brothers. parents too, i don’t have much to say for my life stories in terms of ‘struggles’ and other things... i’m pretty blessed. extremely blessed. my life is not my own. so much to think about... pray about...
i took a few pictures. then i took way more. it was a rampage. my favorite place so far is the old swimming pool... there is not water, and its fully filled with storage things (including workout machines if we want... but screw that, i’m at 110 pushups so far. i suck so bad at paying attention... mine?! flip.) and its all old and decrepit and absolutely beautiful. basketball net in the deep end... windows no longer there opening to a sweet tropical green valley beneath... half of the roof ripped off from the last tropical storm. ugh its heaven. its hard to take enough pictures cuz they are all the same but i love it so much. i’m still waiting for a decent amount of time to just explore and find these aesthetic havens. there is a plethora of them here...
the guys and girls have been mingling more, and i think everyone is starting to become increasingly more comfortable in any situations. right now were having a heated debate about sept.11 and the ‘truth’ behind what happened. its great discussion.. following a long musical debate about what is ‘great’. intelligent minds spilling opinion onto ideas that have been formed and passed onnnnn and holy crap i’m listening to the discussion right now an its really hard to focus cuz were getting into craaaaazy conspiracies... tis exciting.
since its written on my hand, here is the number to call me if you want too.
+64 7 888 5784 -> ask for me, someone will come to find me, or you’ll call back later when i’ll be around, or i’ll call you, or you’ll email me, and i’ll email you back.
***fell asleep***
at like.. 3 am. woke up at 7 for prayer. found a taste for tea, and with that an almost instant dependence on the 'maybe' caffeinated tea.
2.22.2009
day of flies
oh man i missed all of friday. there was no february 20th, 2009. clearly i’m ok with it because i’m in new zealand now. i’ve met my new brothers and sisters, and they are awesome. especially the brothers. it’s weird cuz its been unconsciously split up between genders.. girls are quiet, and we guys are talkative and often dousing ourselves in pingpong. i’m sure we’ll all come around and mix soon, its just weird that it didn’t happen on the first day. but who cares! girls are trouble anyways. right?! right. i’m so very stinking excited for whats gonna happen here. its an amazing place… the drive from auckland was alright, nothing special… farm land upon farm land. but once we got here to crystal springs it was clear that being surrounded by farm land means your little area of solitude is going to be awesome. just awesome.
the flight was pretty sweet too… no it wasn’t that’s a lie. but it surely wasn’t bad. from detroit to san Francisco was a breeze… I was not awake at all except for sniping some pics of flying over mountains, which I had never seen before in all my experience flying. it was great. then the airport was alright… a solid 4 -5 hours of reading blue like jazz while hiding in the shade of my gate. then getting on a super huge 747 for the first time and witnessing the three rows of seating that i had always seen on movies but never in real life. my faith in the 3 rows was waning up until this point.
we got to auckland international airport around… early in the morning. our whole team arrived (the ones who were arriving at that time) and we were gathered by our school leader chris… he’s pretty cool. God’s gonna speak a lot of wisdom through him. i could name names and I will eventually… joanna didn’t get her bags. she is from switzerland and she speaks french. sad for her, but cool for all of us who have only chilled with north americans for 99.999999% of our life. i’m sure they will come for her in a few days bringing clean clothes and mebe shampoo or something.. that smells nice I’m sure.. cuz NZ is sweaty. there was a storm here and so its super humid. there are a lot of flies. But that’s ok too. They’ll die if I lose tolerance. we waited all morning at another YWAM base in auckland, where a korean DTS was taking place. we played ping pong all morning and stayed away from the cooty filled girls. for now. we also started playing a game… a very fun and challenging game. if you say the word ‘mine’ after being asked a question, you must do ten pushups. i’ll run you through how i was introduced to the game.
‘who’s hat is that?’
‘mine.’
‘wait, who’s?’
‘mine.’ (thinking he just misunderstood me. His name is kristen and he’s from Australia and he’s my roommate.)
‘yeah, but who’s hat is it?’
‘mine!’ (thinking he was an idiot for not understanding, but thinking I was an idiot for mumbling but then realizing my error.)
’30 pushups.’
i’ve done 60 pushups today.
the drive included riddle games similar to the broomstick game. but way better. i like it. no, i love it. Crystal springs is amazing too. Lots to explore… soon. and pictures will be stored. not shown… internet is super expensive here if pics are involved. we had a night of getting to know about crystal springs/matamata and who are leaders were. then we prayed a lot, about our roles as students, about our staff’s roles as leaders, and about our leader’s roles as teachers. we sang better is one day to cap it off and then played more ping pong. i'm the oldest male student, but its not like age matters one bit. some of the staff and leaders are younger than me, and i think that’s great. another weird thing is i’m the only surfer/boarder signed up. all the rest (16) are music/worship. but since its such a small group we’ll be able to mix it up a lot. the staff who surf will have plenty of time to show me how its done. and in the meantime i get to listen to a 6 other guys constantly playing guitar and showing each other new things. it’s a good community to be involved in i think… oh yes. i could type several dozen more paragraphs, but then i wouldn’t have anything to write on day 2. oh yes i would, i love ranting.
the flight was pretty sweet too… no it wasn’t that’s a lie. but it surely wasn’t bad. from detroit to san Francisco was a breeze… I was not awake at all except for sniping some pics of flying over mountains, which I had never seen before in all my experience flying. it was great. then the airport was alright… a solid 4 -5 hours of reading blue like jazz while hiding in the shade of my gate. then getting on a super huge 747 for the first time and witnessing the three rows of seating that i had always seen on movies but never in real life. my faith in the 3 rows was waning up until this point.
we got to auckland international airport around… early in the morning. our whole team arrived (the ones who were arriving at that time) and we were gathered by our school leader chris… he’s pretty cool. God’s gonna speak a lot of wisdom through him. i could name names and I will eventually… joanna didn’t get her bags. she is from switzerland and she speaks french. sad for her, but cool for all of us who have only chilled with north americans for 99.999999% of our life. i’m sure they will come for her in a few days bringing clean clothes and mebe shampoo or something.. that smells nice I’m sure.. cuz NZ is sweaty. there was a storm here and so its super humid. there are a lot of flies. But that’s ok too. They’ll die if I lose tolerance. we waited all morning at another YWAM base in auckland, where a korean DTS was taking place. we played ping pong all morning and stayed away from the cooty filled girls. for now. we also started playing a game… a very fun and challenging game. if you say the word ‘mine’ after being asked a question, you must do ten pushups. i’ll run you through how i was introduced to the game.
‘who’s hat is that?’
‘mine.’
‘wait, who’s?’
‘mine.’ (thinking he just misunderstood me. His name is kristen and he’s from Australia and he’s my roommate.)
‘yeah, but who’s hat is it?’
‘mine!’ (thinking he was an idiot for not understanding, but thinking I was an idiot for mumbling but then realizing my error.)
’30 pushups.’
i’ve done 60 pushups today.
the drive included riddle games similar to the broomstick game. but way better. i like it. no, i love it. Crystal springs is amazing too. Lots to explore… soon. and pictures will be stored. not shown… internet is super expensive here if pics are involved. we had a night of getting to know about crystal springs/matamata and who are leaders were. then we prayed a lot, about our roles as students, about our staff’s roles as leaders, and about our leader’s roles as teachers. we sang better is one day to cap it off and then played more ping pong. i'm the oldest male student, but its not like age matters one bit. some of the staff and leaders are younger than me, and i think that’s great. another weird thing is i’m the only surfer/boarder signed up. all the rest (16) are music/worship. but since its such a small group we’ll be able to mix it up a lot. the staff who surf will have plenty of time to show me how its done. and in the meantime i get to listen to a 6 other guys constantly playing guitar and showing each other new things. it’s a good community to be involved in i think… oh yes. i could type several dozen more paragraphs, but then i wouldn’t have anything to write on day 2. oh yes i would, i love ranting.
2.17.2009
day of.... right?!
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreginald!! i disagree.
i'm eating my last bowl of cookies'n cream icedcream. it is fantastic. there is oreo in my teeth and i don't even care. mebe i'll go on a cookies'n cream bender and try it wherever i go. so this is not my last bowl. by any near estimate. and i'm listening to the commencement. you couldn't set up a better pre-4am situation if you TRIED.
my bags are packed. that's a mighty thrilling feeling. i've cleaned up all i've destroyed, burned what i don't want to remember, and am tweaking my last list of things to do before i exit for awhile. next up... write marc. sleep may fit in there somewhere but everytime i think about it, those thoughts scatter away like sawdust when you blow on it and it gets into your eyes. i can't forget to enjoy my last few hours at home. they are always the hardest because i know i'm not gonna see them in awhile. i'll miss what goes on. i'll miss the smell of home. but home will always be here waiting for me... and that is the most grounding reality of all my wandering thoughts about securities and strongholds.
which also gets me super excited to get on my way. there is always a point at which i dread saying goodbye; my mom will cry and my dad will pray and that will make me cry. but after... after i turn my back for the final time and i go through security and out of eyesight, i'm always strongly overcome with an intense feeling of independence and freedom. this time i imagine it'll be far stronger than anytime before, because this is something so much newer and scarier and exciting than anything else i've ever done. then after takeoff hopefully i'll pass right out and quickly and conveniently wake up in NZ. if only...
this adventure mood seems to desire light, happy and soulful music. i am listening to Red, which is none of those minus mebe souldufl, except replace it with passionate.. angrily sounding passionate.. but for later! i think some obidiah parker... john mayer... florez for SURE... layovercarefree music. whilst reading. or tattoo drawing. something that will forever be remembered as the biggest travel day of my life so far.
its been about a year since these travel thoughts have been brewing. i'm extremely blessed to have been given this opportunity to drop life for a second to get better equipped to serve God on a daily basis. if you pray, pray that i have a safe trip, and that i would stay focussed on why i am going to NZ. i have a weakness for cute girls. pray that i would stay grounded and not let my emotions get the best of my reason and prevent me from growing. i'm going to try to update this as much as possible, and keep whoever cares informed on how i'm doing. hehehehe.... cute girls...
i'm eating my last bowl of cookies'n cream icedcream. it is fantastic. there is oreo in my teeth and i don't even care. mebe i'll go on a cookies'n cream bender and try it wherever i go. so this is not my last bowl. by any near estimate. and i'm listening to the commencement. you couldn't set up a better pre-4am situation if you TRIED.
my bags are packed. that's a mighty thrilling feeling. i've cleaned up all i've destroyed, burned what i don't want to remember, and am tweaking my last list of things to do before i exit for awhile. next up... write marc. sleep may fit in there somewhere but everytime i think about it, those thoughts scatter away like sawdust when you blow on it and it gets into your eyes. i can't forget to enjoy my last few hours at home. they are always the hardest because i know i'm not gonna see them in awhile. i'll miss what goes on. i'll miss the smell of home. but home will always be here waiting for me... and that is the most grounding reality of all my wandering thoughts about securities and strongholds.
which also gets me super excited to get on my way. there is always a point at which i dread saying goodbye; my mom will cry and my dad will pray and that will make me cry. but after... after i turn my back for the final time and i go through security and out of eyesight, i'm always strongly overcome with an intense feeling of independence and freedom. this time i imagine it'll be far stronger than anytime before, because this is something so much newer and scarier and exciting than anything else i've ever done. then after takeoff hopefully i'll pass right out and quickly and conveniently wake up in NZ. if only...
this adventure mood seems to desire light, happy and soulful music. i am listening to Red, which is none of those minus mebe souldufl, except replace it with passionate.. angrily sounding passionate.. but for later! i think some obidiah parker... john mayer... florez for SURE... layovercarefree music. whilst reading. or tattoo drawing. something that will forever be remembered as the biggest travel day of my life so far.
its been about a year since these travel thoughts have been brewing. i'm extremely blessed to have been given this opportunity to drop life for a second to get better equipped to serve God on a daily basis. if you pray, pray that i have a safe trip, and that i would stay focussed on why i am going to NZ. i have a weakness for cute girls. pray that i would stay grounded and not let my emotions get the best of my reason and prevent me from growing. i'm going to try to update this as much as possible, and keep whoever cares informed on how i'm doing. hehehehe.... cute girls...
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