pirate day

man... have i dropped the ball this hard? i had to search beneath the house because the ball fell through the floor. me oh my where to begin.. or END muhahahaa. nah but for real, i have one ONE ONE more week until we pack up from the base and head out. then.... precious precious traveling await.

so te aroha has continued to be different... in many ways. the first and foremost, it is a different level of spiritual intensity, compared to fiji. but to counter that we have seemingly more free time (seemingly because of internet, and time used on it can be deemed free and since it's FREE internet, our free time is spent not spending money.)... i've found out i don't hate kids... at all actually.. sure they are annoying sometimes but like people who need extra grace, God has given me a surplus of patience to deal with them. they are fun! i love the chaos, the shoulder rides, pushin screaming kids on swings.. having 4 year olds flip me off... its a wondrous thing. the only part i hate is the mess that comes with 25 kids in one place.. my gosh. its relentless. i finally understand why parents tell kids to clean up their rooms. at long last, my understanding of my parents is complete. (throws hands in the air) no WONDER...

each day we get up a little before 8 (if we are lucky, me'n nik eat breakfast because we sleep until the last possible moment.. no alarm clock) then we discuss what'll happen during the day. normally we agree to do something different with the kids, try some things out, and by 11 we realize that none of our plans are going to happen so we just try to keep kids content in their own games and chaotic pursuits. but after our discussion we pray, then get prepped for the kids. 2 1/2 - 3 hours later we are exhausted and completely unattraced to the opposite sex, lest those desires form little balls of energy that easily make messes. nah... i lie. we are tired, but most of us are satisfied and happy to realize that we don't actually hate kids. they are pretty rad... and our own kids one day? gonna be so much fun. myyyy goodness... i can wait. but now i'm lookin forward to it. my how things change...

for the first week an few of this week every afternoon we went on a prayer walk and tried to get all the streets in te aroha covered in the spirit... and we did that pretty quick so yesterday we did some street evangelism (or tried... i started following a path that led into the mountain hiking paths and had to try my hardest not to continue to explore... that was my battle. i love hiking. an nature. approaching people is so hard. once i'm in, i'm set... sharing my faith isn't an issue. its just hard to get in. thats why i like relationships better...) but i didn't end up talking to anyone other than rambunctious 13 year old girls who asked if i had a girlfriend. i told them i was a wee tad too old, and they kept walking before i could ask them if they wanted to come to youth group. no biggie..

then at night. ohhhh the nights. we often go to a church members house for supper, and we get treated really well. sometimes we even get some ministry done on us, cuz we are all messed up with plenty of issues... so night time is probably my favorite, because we have gotten to know some people really well and its gonna be hard to leave te aroha on sunday.. BUT people come and people go, i'll see them all in heaven non? oui.

and that is how te aroha has been... we have a few days left, and very shortly i'll be done school and traveling the south island, then coming home, then to canada a week later. i may post more, i may not.