cheers day

mmm tea is my only sustenance today. its been a solid SOLID fasting day... absolutely saturated in prayer... which i mean is normal but when its intentional it's always so much better. and fasting as a team is just amazing.. dinner prayer always brings something out. we really really really bonded... probably the best prayer session in a long time.

maaaaaaan what the flip have i been up too?! i haven't written since... that day.. when i was ... holy spirit week.. pingpong... volleyball... RUGBY!! we played some touch rugby yesterday... i found it most enjoyable. m m m m most. tackling would have been even better which also would have made the rules far more understandable to some people but once we got the gyst of it we had a blast. well i did.. and i my team did.. (probably cuz we had the 2 aussies, kiwi and fijian that had all played before) but it is a solid game. screw cricket though.. don't care enough. rugby aaaaaa-ok!

and... what... else... this is two free nights in a row and it is fantastic rest. i'm reading 'jesus wants to save christians' by rob bell and it is pretty dang good so far. i saw the best nooma i had ever seen before the other night as well.. 015 'you'. rocked my world. i need all of them on my ipod as well as 'everything is spiritual' and 'the gods aren't angry'. solid brain food. (like we learned today! 'cept with spiritual food! gotta feed that soul of mine y'know?!)

and... what... else... for freaking real i cannot remember what i've done this week. its been such a good week. thats all you need to know i guess. probably. were gonna try to go to cambridge or hamilton tomorrow night and have a man-night.. possibly a movie... which would be fantastico. either way, the beginning of free weekend with no reason to come back home (until the morning) is gonna be amazing. and IN that morning 8 of us are driving to rotorua to go class 5 rafting. should be dandy. and a half. i do believe i should go and paint and avoid being around food. i bid you good read deed seed and ... bleed plead peed AND heed.

3com: connected - signal strength: good day

i had a crazy uprising in brainwaves today. and yesterday. and none of it was focused on anything relevant or necessary to living in NZ. there was a lot about ping pong.. and a lot about tattoos... and a crap load of remorse for losing a sock wrestling match.. (nick johnson.. the bc bested me with his largeness... it was fun but i want to win!) but i beat lucas again, and it was a fight and a half.. a solid bout of head smashing into the ground and pretzel legs. it was our second fight of which i won again.. but really its cuz i'm super long compared to him. he's a good battler. i beat kristen as well but that was nights ago.. i think sock wrestling has taken over our gaming passion from mafia. instead of arguing, we just give each other massive rug-burns that scab then get ripped off again when we wrestle again. this is the good life. and pingpong. so pretty much my thoughts are exactly what i proclaimed them not to be about. living in NZ... necessary AND relevant. its holy spirit week this week as well.... good things to come i am sure. i'm almost done the mural in the prayer room... mebe i'll even give up a few megabytes and upload a pic for you to see. (but mebe i'll just wait for fiji then give you 14 facebook albums to look through muhahahhaa. i can wait three weeks. can you? you don't even have a choice.)

(bows and runs away whilst taking his pants off in preparation for getting sweatpants back on but realizes this is a crude gesture and raises his pants back up but not for you just for him as he confirms in his head that his only pair of sweatpants have been sullied by blood spots from his sock wrestling rug-burns... sadly he stops running and walks humbly into the bathroom where surely he considers pooping but decides then to just pee.)

drowningish day

we went to raglan!! it was amazing.. well if i could surf it'd be amazing... they were really thick (fat... slow...) waves so they were hard to catch, but mebe more possible if i was in the right area (which wasn't the one i was in.. there was a little bit of a current that pulled me to where the waves were really... out of my league...) i had no business being there... i got hit soooo hard then rolled over and over by two huge waves. it was scary... i was only in the water for like 20 minutes... it'll be better two weekends from now when i know not to go where only experienced surfers should go. bahaha.. little me..

we pretty much just hung out in town for a bit.. went to a kids bible camp where jake had helped out last dts... cool people... were gonna be staying with them when we go back to raglan.

its the weekend. next week is holy spirit week. next weekend is free weekend. next next weekend is bag to raglan.. i don't even know what to say right now. i'm fried. i wanna surf again and actually surf and not try to just not die. but thatsok!!!!!!!!!!

scrabble is amazing. i missed it.

ugly flowers have their day

hmmf... nothing to write about. other than capture the flag is pretty much amazing... i'm all bloody cuz of it. (stupid trailer hitches..) joanna sprained her wrist, lucas gibbled his shin... everybody wins.

its crazy to think we only have 3 weeks left on base.. so soon... which means i won't be able to keep in touch as often, but WHEN i do the quality will be better because i can finally upload pictures from the internet cafe's in fiji. super exciting business. i'm almost out of the only toothpaste i like... (coughmomanddadsendmesomecough)

i am crying cuz i just cut onions for ten minutes. i am a massive baby.

were having our first outreach meeting in half hour.. our team, our prayer, our plans! mmmmmm good.

yesterday during intercession i think i had a vision.. i wouldn't even go so far as to call it a vision, but just an illustration of what christians are. i figure we are like nails... strong, sharp... but without a purpose we are very limited in what we can do. you can take getting hit in the head with a hammer how you will, (i think persecution... honestly.) and until you are hit in the head you are just laying on the floor. we are in the way and hurting people's feet and deflating tires of moving vehicles. (which was probably put together by other nails that HAVE been hit in the head, thus fulfilling their purpose and building something for Christ.) so.. we need to be ready and available to be struck by the hammer (uh, God, persecutors, opportunities) and get driven into the wood that is christian life, (TRUE christian life.. biblical gospel spreading evangelizing discipleship-ing and glorifying (among other things of truth)) and then bring together something that can be used by God. or just being a part of his kingdom, fastening another section into place. we can use each other to sharpen one another (iron on iron! eh? eh? not bad huh) but we've gotta be ready and willing to be struck.

one day i'll pound that into a sermon or something and it'll be far more complete and will have scriptures laced into it an such, but think about it. Jesus freaks is still kicking my butt.. just about half way through. i'm very inspired by it.. i hope if i ever come across persecution on that level i won't EVER deny my God.. no matter how bad the persecution. God gives me strength, so what really do i have to fear. (uh, nothing i guess CHYEAH nothing.)

pray for north korea. i'd like to smuggle bibles. the persecuted church is such a powerful weapon against darkness..

totally forgot day

yeah! i totally forgot my favorite part of my sabbath weekend! flippin climbing! we went to a different place this time, and it was amazing (like usual). i climbed my first 35 meter wall... it was not as scary as i thought. just... really high. i discovered that its not the heights that bug me, its the edges. i could be near an edge 20 feet tall and i would get freaked out.. instead on a face 100 feet tall it didn't bug me. thought there was a spot where you had to cross over a big edge onto another face and so that caused intensely horrid rope drag for the last 50 feet.. felt like i was carrying someone up on my back with me. it was the most exhausting climb i've ever done but it was so satisfying.. mmm i love climbing. and lead climbing. after that we climbed top rope for a bit and i forgot how much more confidence i have when i dont' have to worry about clipping in an stuff... its such a different experience... all fun all the time though. i love climbing. i hate edges...

other'n that.. new week. john childres is our speaker, and he is pretty much amazing. authority of the believer is our topic, and john 1:12 (i think..) is our basis for discussion. its so good! he's a very wise dude. i'm also reading jesus freaks.. volume 2 and its consuming me. its so inspiring to read stories from believers that have stood up for the truth and died for it. honestly.. ugh. its so amazing. God wins. though through reading too much i think i've made my dreams depressing.. really depressing.. i was fighting with someone who was trying to kill me and i ended up killing him.. it was so sad cuz after i had (not gonna say how) killed him, he was dying and we were crying together cuz we were so sorry and uuugh i was so glad to be awake. thank goodness life is beautiful.

it may very well hit the fan. in the best possible glorious way.

and hurricanes day (2)

new zealand has the best apples. the best... this apple right now is probably literally the best apple i have ever eaten. i've just drooled on myself because of its tastiness and i don't even care. oh man, remember that day way back when i possibly said i was excited to find out about outreach teams... no more waiting. the staff tricked us pretty good... we were in our meeting pre-hamilton evangelism, and we were picking teams of 4, so we had captains. the staff spread out an started picking students until we had 6 groups of 4.. i was pretty stoked about my team. then they said 'k, this group combine with this group (it was corners pretty much) an so on so it was 3 teams of 8 (which i didn't notice cuz i was busy saying how stupid of an idea it was to put 8 people on a team to go do some evagelism..) to which chris came giddely around saying 'your going with pastor vulu.. your going with pastor jare... ' and he came up to our 8 and said you guys are going with pastor michael! i didn't get it for about 30 seconds until i heard everyone laughing and 'whaaat'ing.. cuz i didn't believe it! i was like noooo way.. this team is wayyyy too good to actually be this team. so here is my amazing team: the leaders are steph and nick, flippin awesome, and the students are lucas, alicia, jess, nik and i. (which is 7 i know cuz chris erika anna-rose and tyler were all on the team captains 'team' but they aren't going on outreach so... sneaky sneaky) i'm very very excited... it was cool for about 3 minutes until we realized who we weren't with, and then it got a little hard... really hard for some. (nobody was upset at all with who they were on a team with, but just the reality that our division WILL happen an we won't see each other for 4 weeks, little airport visit then 3 more weeks. then party, then depart forever...) yeah. kinda killed evangelism cuz nobody was really up for it afterwards.. (terrible attitude i know, but it was too bittersweet.. we got evangelized too more than we actually got to talk to people... though me'n annie saw tara again which was cool cuz she was actually walking this time. ji-won is crazy and probably needs a people leash cuz she will go up to ANYONE and talk.. if you look away she wanders off and we find her praying with someone... bahahaha...) but yeah. i'm going to lautoka with pastor michael where we'll be probably doing a lot of work with youth (sweet). the other lautoka group is lead by joe, with students ji-won, annie, john-mark, rims, and arby. they are probably gonna be working with a village outside of lautoka with pastor jare and staying at his house.. the suva team is lead by jacob and crystal, with kristen, rasa, joanna, sylvia and ithy. they are gonna be working with children i think, with pastor vulu. 3 more weeks...ish.. about a month actually. our prayer though really effective, has just kicked off. we tried to do an all nighter last night but it ended up only being me, alicia and john-mark around 1:30. (we didn't do it the night before cuz we were so exhausted from hamilton) but from 11 till that point a few other girls were there and we just prayed and talked and chilled in the prayer room. after they left me'n john-mark passed out immensely quick (probably due to the amazing future-disco dance party we had a few hours before (i'm sure you'll see pictures... it was.. fun.. no seriously. dance parties cannot be beaten.)) but alicia stayed up till 6 doin her thing.. it was her idea to have one an i didn't know she was doing it cuz God told her to fast sleep. good on her! i'm losing my ability to not need sleep. nah i'm not... i just was so comfortable on the floor... so we woke up at 7 an went about our day. sabbath day. on the sabbath weekend. so much chilling... so much studying... non-required.. i love reading now. i finished brown like coffee in 2 days (its only 150 pages) but i (don't call me a nerd) wrote a book report on it because it had so many flippin good points... an i picked up Jesus freaks vol.II from the library, so its not voice of the martyrs like i wanted but its still people living contrary to society for Jesus so i'm happy. should be a solid read... but its huge.. so i'll read slow.. and someone mysteriously left the 24-7 prayer manual on my desk. so i'm gonna read that as well. and hopefully mebe the bible. (not mebe, surely, but hopefully i start studying it as well.) gotta pick up a qu'ran as well... i must be aware! AWAAAAARE!!

butterflies day (1)

muse always gives me an epic song before i write. not always... but when it happens it makes me feel epic. like if its knights of cydonia or butterflies and hurricanes. today was the final lecture with claude hickman and todd ahrend... it was a really solid day. claude talked more about goers, givers, prayers, welcomers and senders. really the missionary calling is these five basic (b b b b b basic but solid) pillars... all of which could be the focus of any which day and could change at any moment depending on the situation you are in. just gotta be open... but yeah. we talked about what exactly we would even say to people back home when they inevitably ask 'how was dts?!' without just the usual 'oh it was pretty good..' (honestly if you are gonna ask me i'm either gonna write you an essay or were gonna have coffee or were gonna have coffee and i'm gonna read you an essay i wrote (but not really... really just ask an i'll tell you))

the fast was good... most of us decided that we had figured out which pastor we were gonna go with. a few of us were (not apathetic... but willing) undecided on where to go, and just stated that anywhere we were placed we were happy with. last night we were interceding for each other and just little things (surprise surprise tyler! flip.) kept pushing me to one of the names.... dont' even wanna say because i also wrote that honestly it did not matter where i went. i would be happy and trusting with whatever... i'm kinda hoping i don't end up where i felt i was supposed to go, but then mebe there is a chance for character building there. well.. undoubtedly there will be regardless but moreso..

pastor michael (laukota)
pastor jare (laukota)
pastor vulu (suva)

the staff are gonna pray about it tonight and see how it goes. they are pretty sure they knew, so we'll see if it lined up. all's well that ends well with prayer. john-mark and nik and i took the 3-5am shift last night as well (jik an jam took 2am as well) but we really didn't pray much cuz of the previous prayer pow-wow at 11 when we interceded for each other... but tonight OH tonight were gonna stay up all night praying and worshiping and hopefully celebrating.. we also go to hamilton for some ministry as well tonight, so were up for a solid night. then tomorrow is a dance party. chyess....

thinking hard HARD day

very... convicting thinking hard HARD day... i mean stats are one thing, revelation and understanding are another. all stats aside (one mean shove towards stats.. screw them all in all directions) the only way things are going to change is if we wake up and decide to change them. i like the phrase your either a missionary or not.. could be said about being a christian or not. if you are drawing yourself closer to God, he's gonna break your heart for what breaks his. people. nations. if your not drawing closer your getting further away... mebe one day i'll write down the lecture we got today but mebe someday i wont' and mebe someday i'll just talk about it with you. i'm sad not more people comment because i would LOVE to have discussions on here about what you think. be warned if you come with the attitude of a rich fat white dude who once said 'young man, if God wanted us to help the heathens he'd do it himself' then we will have a ton of fun discussion on how you suck. not judgingly, fully in love, but i will rebuke you and will be sad at your selfishness. we could change the world, if only we will. (so has been class so far this week. the most learning and discussion out of any week...) i don't want to piss people off and make lost people .. (well, they can't get more lost, but i don't want to be a road block.) i just want more awareness. that has been something SO key in my growth with God these past years, and its because 1) i asked for it, and 2)i've begun to gain understanding and awareness for the things and situations around me and what God wants done with this knowledge. some would call it wisdom.. flip i would. i do. i want mooore. a double portion. wherever i go it really doesn't matter... if i'm not living as a light i'm helping no one. ooo school is gonna be fun if i go back. (the IF depends on IF i get in or not.. really it should not be hard to get into a school i've been a part of for 2 1/2 years... but IF i don't i'm pretty sure thats Gods way of saying i can't come back yet. sorry... but not sorry. (you knew it'd happen) its not up to me anyways.)

TALK

heres a thought day

bombs suck. guns suck.

you know whats sweet though? brothers and sisters... were finding out who we go to fiji with this week... its super exciting and nerve racking at the same time. a looot of prayer and fasting coming up.. we have the locations, and we've gotta decide where God is calling us to. were having a prayer meeting tonight which'll hopefully lead into two days of prayer continuously... if everybody hops on board for an hour or two, it'll be no problem. (pretty much if you wanna pray for us as well with discernment... for the people were gonna encounter... the things were gonna do... lots more discipleship rather than evangelism, since its already one of the most evangelized nations in the world, were gonna give them some substance with salvation) but yeah... exciting times this week.

our speakers are really amazing as well... talkin about missions and how biblical missions really is... allllll throughout the bible. starting with genesis 12:1-3 (i'm gonna get prizes for knowing that) through till revelation... bible is missions! i just can't decide if i'm a goer, mobilizer, giver, or a welcomer... all good. i guess its not the time to figure out yet. if i get into school again? that could be an answer. we'll see what direction i get shoved in. but yeah... solid guys.. solid talk.. solid info... its like a college class, with dates and stuff to memorize.. they are good dudes. what?! suppertime?! oh my yes.

also, i forgot something from awhile ago... spiritual warfare week.. baryll played this tape for us, of some tiny church somewhere in europe where God showed up during a worship service. it was one woman with a tiny yamaha keyboard for worship, but the song was truth and the people were in the spirit.. so all of the sudden the music got louder, and bolder and fuller.. and you could hear really amazing voices singing the same chorus.. and harps.. oh man it was crazy. a heavenly orchestra coming down to an unknown church just worshiping God. there isn't a formula for how to get God to come down... but i guess he just decided to bless them that day. baryll said everyone was pinned to the floor in full reverence and awe... (someone went to the bathroom and couldn't get back into the room again cuz the doors wouldn't open.. ) dunno why i shared that. probably because thats not gonna leave me anytime soon and oh... so cool.. sooooo cooool. beef tonight?! oh yeah!

whenindoubtday

mmmm home... we all decided calling base 'home' fit very well. we were only gone 3 nights but a giant wave of relief hit us when we got back to our cabins... silly us... getting all attached after only 2 months... and now FMS is done and graduated so the base is super quiet! and we have double the work duty load... but that is just alright.

this weekend was really fun... camping was amazing.. 5 guys in a 6 man tent does things good. kristen finally slept better, but only cuz john-mark gave him his sleeping bag. we didn't really do... all that much. it was a lot of relaxing and moderate work..

the drive was pretty swell. 5 hours through beautiful north island nz valleys 'mountains' and forests... not as many crazy twisted roads as last weekend, but just enough. i slept a lot... but my back is still killin me so i always end up super sore. we got there around 1ish on friday, set up camp, met some surfers, skaters, the people who ran the dealy... it was put on my christian surfers (pretty much snowboarders for christ, but surfers) and we were there to just help out with whatever and do whatever.. unfortunately the surf suuucked but it was still a ton of fun, going out into the ocean 4 days in a row.. our tents were just off the beach, so going to sleep with waves crashing onto shore was soooo soothing.. so yeah friday surfing the waves were probably the most ridable of the weekend, but i couldn't get up at all cuz the board i was on had absolutely no wax, so i'd stand up and slip off it like i was riding a bar of soap. sucky.. but i learned wetsuits are amazing, they don't give me a rash, and it keeps me warm. sweetness... we had a massive ping pong tournament as well. it was kinda fun.. it was first to 7, so you had to play good... it sucks cuz all of our DTS signed up at the same time so we all had to play each other straight off the bat and eliminate ourselves. sucked.. all our good players.. i took out steph, then i took out nick, then john-mark.. all really sweet players gone in the first 3 rounds. then i played another dude who we didn't know in the 4th round, but i flippin lost cuz i kept hitting the ball over the table or into the net. i coulda beaten him.. stupid games only up to 7.. but who cares! that guy won the tournament anyways. a guy who has a ministry in fiji talked, and then we went about our night. (not having to be in a cabin by 11 was really sweet for once... oh freedom..) we finally had a campfire. mmmmmm

saturday the surfers (lucas kristen jacob and i) went to a golden aged surf comp, where we grilled bacon and eggs for a few hours. that was our work duty for the weekend.. grilling by a sweet beach watching surfers compete... oh so hard... we had a good day. then came home and went surfing ourselves, with no waves... sigh. we played more volleyball as well. then... we went to the YMCA in whatever town we were in (okura mebe..) and we planned on playing 2 on 2 basketball, buuuut 75 people from the camp came so we just set up a huge dodgeball tournament ... soooo fun.. i blew out my arm.. but my team was fun an we kicked butt, but we didn't win. same with the indoor soccer tourny after.. that was so fun but was over so fast cuz we lost... sigh.

sunday we had 'church' in the morning.. chris gave a pretty solid talk about ... salvation. oh yeah! happy easter it was. we went surfing again with no waves... i tried a short board.. but you know, no waves.. no surfing.. flip what did we do the rest of the day?!?! me'n nick made supper (ie stirred pre made stew until warm enough to serve.. such a hard life..)theeeen.. no wait before that we played beach volleyball... then after supper i took a quick 'nap' so i could wake up in time for the evening service. rims came in an said 'oh, good idea.' and he set his alarm for 7:30 so we could both go... it was 6:30 when we crashed. at 9 lucas came in an woke me up, telling me i missed the whole thing and was about to miss the bonfire.. i didn't believe him until rims said he tried to wake me up but couldn't so he just kept sleeping... and he didn't get up until the morning (13 hours for the flying dutchman..) but i went to the huuuuge bonfire (huge for me cuz i've always wanted a huge one and i've never actually been to one) so jess, joanna, arby, nik, john-mark, nick, and i ran into the ocean for a late night swim and it wasn't even cold! it was super nice. then we chilled by the fire until we were dry then we had a shower party.

then today we woke up, went surfing again (to which the waves were almost good, but then not really (they were really steep so everytime i tried to get up i'd nose dive and bail and then get tossed around for a few seconds. sick.. BUT i am getting a tolerance for salt water, as well as i'm getting way better at swimming and paddling without getting super tired. that makes me feel mighty good about meself..)) and then we packed up, drove home, and i was conscious for about an hour of it. home sweet home, dizzy, and ready for more lectures. booya

i love camping days

i think God made me for a few things... drawing on the world, drawing on people, (all for the sake of enlightenment and breaking worldly rules in order to make God known) and camping. i love camping. my body cramps with anticipation for camping. sleeping on the ground in a bag is the best thing in the world. even when its freezing cold... but this time we'll be on a beach, for 3 nights, with everyone on the DTS, and mebe even campfires (but i'm not gonna even let my mind think that its a possibility cuz the north island is one giant fire nazi) and lots of surfing. cold surfing, but who cares i'm canadian. lots of ping pong too... tournament apparently. must... train... more... been slacking on that with all our assignments and whatnot. which are all DONE for awhile... i don't count our CIR's as an assignment cuz in the end its for my own benefit and reflection so who cares! journal on.

brent finished off lectures today (since we leave tomorrow for taranaki... 5 hour road trip WHOO) and honestly the stuff he was teaching on didn't really have much impact on me, since i'm not a worship leader (it was worship as a lifestyle... i just used it in context with my art and it pretty much transferred over alright) but when he ministered to us it was really really sweet.. he's very gifted in prophesy, and so he gave us some really solid encouragement. what i DID learn was when he talked all about prophesy, and what its used for (IE encouragement, building up the church). it was a really good lesson... something we should all be practicing. and its not some crystal ball stupid 'see into the future' thing, its allowing God to speak through us to an individual or church body. its 'forth-telling' not 'foretelling'... bringing forth the heart of God, giving strength through uplifting words to the person being prophesied over. so cool... we talked a little on tongues but nothing as definitive (minus that when someone speaks in tongues, they are talking to God with pure honesty, holding nothing back.. being real. pretty much we should be doing the same thing in english, even if were not in a direct connection with God.), because of the nature of it... ugh so much mystery and discussion on tongues... but everybody can prophesy.

i did my sermonette on TIME. (muhahaha...) i wrote tattoos on the board, very teacher like.. saying i was gonna talk about it (woulda been fun) but then i went nah, scratched it out an wrote intercession. then manna. then edification. then erased all the letters minus the first ones, so it spelt time vertically. it was super lame, and i giggled inside. but pretty much i talked about the worry we place on the future, which is so contrary to what the bible says (matthew 6:34), as well as boasting about it an putting more emphasis on the future rather than now (james 4:13) (which is hard for me cuz i'm a do-er, not a say-er (so now i just don't say anything so i don't have to hold myself to my boastings)). cuz really, Jesus isn't gonna change (hebrews 13:8) even though we do, therefore we don't have anything to worry about. i talked about me'n the guys saying 'there is only one (ex)april 9, 2009' which means we only get this day once, so we must live it up. not irresponsibly, but with purpose! i used my failure to get to australia as an example with boasting, cuz that has worked out sooo well (i'd be there right now instead of here if i had gotten good grades. academics, lick it.). so yeah. i spat it out super quick and as soon as i got up there i was really really nervous and it felt like my face was on fire but it was still fun. nobodies head exploded but i'm saving that expectation for a discussion later on... i think God stopping that clock was a pretty solid smack in the face for me to focus. He knows i'm a visual learner...

so pretty much i'm leaving for another 4 days. it'll be amazing, i'm gonna have tons more pics and memories and stories and hopefully the world doesn't end before tuesday so i can tell you about it. but don't get your hopes up...

for a rapture either. bogus! (did your head explode?!)

yay + amen.

i am a productive day

C.I.R done... book report almost done... sermonette? haven't started. but i haven't asked God what to write about yet either, so that is my main problem. today i will get all this and more done. mebe not the sermonette. skate ministry day! woowoo! my back still hurts so i don't think i'm gonna be doing much skating... but i'll chill with the cool matamata..ians.. and build some relationships. ssssstoked! worship as a lifestyle is goin pretty well... brent is a very passionate guy and i appreciate that very much. i have a hard time focusing but.. i get what i get. the muso's are getting a lot out of it i hope... since he's a worship leader... who's songs we probably sing in church.. tis good stuff. he prophesied over us today and it was.. pretty flippin accurate. we gave things to God, scary things (like drawing for me.. i gave that to Him to do whatever He wanted with it..) but he gave it right back. with authority! it was a really cool morning. we watched the protector last night.. tony jaa is amazing, buuuut.. that movie was more fun in theatres. and it is just not as good as ong bak, but for a guys night movie it was a sweet time. we had icecream. then we all went to bed at 9 to read. i finished red moon rising.. such a sick book. i strongly recommend reading it. as well as reading velvet elvis, then blue like jazz, then sex god, then through painted deserts, then crazy love, then irresistible revolution... and you will have read them in the same order i just did! but seriously. read. read is good. read makes you lead. i really want to read voice of the martyrs, as well as Jesus wants to save christians. those are on my hit list. not many make my hit list. but... i don't read that often. but these books have definitely changed my life. oh, and the BIBLE. my sword. muhahhahaa. the first two days of the week offer not a lot of info for ya'll. lame as. (for now.)

free days

so... oh my. where to begin. friday was a pretty solid day.. amazing breakfast... hazelnut spread has become a part of my day permanently ( i feel like i'm missing something special when i only eat weetbix) but we had our last lecture with baryll.. we just had a prayer walk around our base (you know, praying for those scary dark areas that make us run... when we are alone.. and feel like our soul is about to be startled..) prayed the crap out of it. THEN we prayed for our countries.. since i'm a part of both the u.s.a and canada, i prayed for both, but realized that i have a far larger passion for canada.. i used only have my butt when i prayed for the states but canada got me engulfed in it (however this could be because there are only 4 canadians as opposed to like.. 10 americans...) but i still feel like canada is where my heart is. i grew up there for a reason i guess... my back still hurt very much this day. (ps, now it is back to 90% WOOOO) stupid straining back muscles.
then (oo fun) got a ride into town and went to rent our van! it was a very nice 11 seater mitsubishi... fun to drive (and manual!) a van full of 9 brothers an sisters... it was all 7 of us guys and arby, jess, and joanna. we headed down to taupo, a nice hour and a half away. but it was a pretty sweet town.. beautiful lake, beautiful pizza hut where we had real pizza finally after such a long absence.. lovely. then we witnessed what was surely the most beautiful sunset any of us had ever seen. EVER. this was a topper... i took no pictures for fear of stealing its beauty forever. (i had forgotten it in the van...) but i stole many pictures from people (by stole i mean ruined by diving in where i was only 2% welcomed). but.. you'll see. we found an ok campsite to tent for the night, which was absolutely freeee so we weren't complaining about quality or lack of facilities.. it was just nice to do something for free. the tents were so easy to set up, and we crammed 7 guys into our 6 man tent and the 3 girls took their own 6 man tent... we objected and offered to sleep a few of us in there with them, but not everyone is as comfortable as us guys are with each other. tis love. but we played mafia for a few hours then went to bed.. really cold and cramped.. but i slept like a baby.. nothing new. i sleep great in cold. that sleeping bag has already made me fall in love with it.. mummy bags are the best. so stinkin warm. in the morning kristen proclaimed his new hatred for camping (he did not sleep.. at all.. he did not have a mummy bag. poor aussie (also not everyone is used to the cold... it was like we were camping in may in the rockies.. cold but worth it. snuggles.)
after we packed up camp we ate subway breakfast then we drove the skydivers to the airport so they could do their thing.. i was kinda jealous watchin arby joanna john-mark nik and jacob go up.. buuut thats ok. too much money... it was cool to see their little white beacons jump out of the plane then soar to earth then light up the sky in pretty colours with parachutes.. i was ok with watching. they were ok with falling.. everybody wins! arby and jacob were super jacked up in the stomach from the parachute ride (they spiral down to earth.. i woulda puked or pooped) so arby sat shotgun as we drove off to the coromandel pensisula... 4 hours away. 6 and a half hours later we got there! (we chose to go the 'pretty' way along the coast. cuz its the coast! therefore beautiful. and flippin stupid. the windyest roads ever going uphill and downhill and sometimes gravelly and so slow and very testing on my manual noobyness.. (i'm a pro now. lets do this.) but yeah it was an adventure. just like we wanted. so no complaints! our destination was cathedral cove, (which none of us knew where it was. adventure, right?!) so we ended up in coromadel town, and found a sweet little hostel for $12NZ for each of us, and we tented on their lawn/crashed in the gazebo/hammocks/trampoline. they were very rad people. (also, fires are frowned upon pretty much anywhere on the north island. so far. we haven't found any place to have a campfire. and the names of the towns are all the same... not really, but they are all moari, and mostly start with T or P. like.. putaruru, tiarao, tiarua, punaninu, and every other combination of vowels mixed with T or P... and R... lots of fun though.) yeah... the long way was a fun way.)
we also found out cathedral cove was an hour and a half back the other way (in our trekking, we had come across a 'shortcut' through the heart of the peninsula that was the windyest most dangerous road ever, covered in gravel and steep and one lane wide at points and hecka fun to drive... had we not taken the shortcut, we would have ended up in whitiatangahhahdenngr or something where catherdral cove 'was' (but... i'll tell you later (but ALSO we wouldn't of found such a sweet hostel or enjoyed any of the luxuries it held. like an outdoor sink.. sweet as.)) so in the morning we headed out, the less scary way which only took about 45 minutes until we got to the town.. an found out cathedral cove was another 45 minutes south of where we were, which is where we had passed the previous day BUT IT DIDN"T MATTER cuz we enjoy adventuring. we finally found the place, had a sweet half hour hike to the beach and chilled for a few hours. (they filmed prince caspian at parts here. go to where you would say 'oh, they surely got a pass from God to film in heaven' and thats where we spent the afternoon. SOOO nice... i think the most beautiful place i've seen. it was a really good day. we ran into a few of our leaders who had come seperately... it was so strange when i was standing at the mouth of a cave to hear leader jacob's voice saying 'cmon! jump in an swim here!' but i did and it was him an nick and crystal.. cool friend suprise. chris an erika were body surfing so we went and did that with them for awhile too. it is very exhausting. there were several 10 foot breakers that tossed me around and put salt and sand in every crevice of my body. including my brain, because any time i bent my head over lots of salty liquid would pour out of my nose. sooo attractive..) we went home, and on the road ran into tyler and annarose in their car. we got home in much quicker time, 45 minutes early for dinner. we drove about 815km all weekend, so all in all it was a stellar success. now we are home, and new week begins! our topic this week is worship as a lifestyle. my bets are i'm gonna be grinning for awhile after this week. (giant contented sigh) time to go read my book for my book report due on tuesday. high fives.

long day

in loren cunningham's book, he said kiwis pray for everything... an they flippin do! its been another two days of (its not even craziness anymore... its just warfare) trust. i've been lacking and honestly i think staying on the fast might've been a better idea.. i too easily justified it. oh well.. there will be more time for that next week. fo sho. i think we finally got whatever was in ji-won out... there was more battling yesterday (which had some... not to say amusing, but some 'fun' moments (like when she was following it around the room trying to stop it.. then when it went in her she started warning us around her to be careful, and she did it so lovingly like she was protecting us (at one point she put her hand on ithy's head to protect him then with her other hand, fisted and tried to punch him (but leader jacob caught it) and then she called kristen out as soon as he mentioned the word truth (since it was a lying spirit) but oh man! the enemy is afraid of that girl...))that ended amaaaaaaaaaazingly when after awhile she just went limp, rolled her head back and sooo gently said 'i love you ji-won' straight from God for us to all hear.. and know.. but man! i hate demons. they suck. they suck so bad. today there was more crap to deal with but really i think it was lucas's day to shine.. i don't think he's ever cried before and he had a real good one. i was so happy for him... as sweet as spiritual warfare is i think i'm ready to move onto something less intense. it was well timed to have this week before weekend off... its gonna be so fun. just to relax, and camp, and not spend money, and roadtrip?! oh man i can't wait. cept my back is destroyed right now... i definitely did something wrong to it in the past day. it was fine until intercession this morning and since then its just gotten worse (no help to building more bamboo forest hottub in the secret man place) but hey.. i'll drug up, sleep up, then drive! responsibility is fun. all that is left is cleaning our house, breakfast, DTS worship, then the last lecture from baryll (which will be one last bit of intensity) then lunch then OFF to matamata to get our rental van.. stoked. peanut butter an jelly is all i'm gonna be eating. i think one of the coolest things i've heard this week is john-mark.. he's lost 23 lbs since he's come here, (yeah you can see he's gotten skinnier) but its not fat that he's lost.. he's let go of several things that have been holding him down (ie past experiences) and... now he is lighter. physically. SO cool. mebe i'll write again before the weekend, mebe not. i'm not bound by anything.

oh and i did laundry. oh yes, so exciting. FLIP i love here.