Beautiful Mess!

           John 15:9-12 (NIV) 9"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends

I can’t believe today is the first day of May (at least here in New Zealand). Where has the time gone? April has been a really full and busy month for me and also a very rewarding one. On April 1st the youth group, some of their parents, younger siblings and I went to the Hamilton Gardens for an Easter, Stations of the Cross. It was a fun way to get the youth out of the church and doing stuff in the community. The Gardens are one of my favorite places in Hamilton so I was excited to go. A lot of local artist did creative pieces that told of what Jesus went through the last week of His life, the cross and the resurrection. There were a lot of lovely things that really got you to think. Some of the youth really took this in and let it affect their lives. It was a really fun social event!

           Then we had a week to prepare ourselves for Easter camp. We arrived to the camp site on the 5th of April to set up our tents and to go to our first worship session. It was fun seeing our group of youth so excited about the weekend. There were over 4000 people at this camp so there were a lot of tents and a lot of people. It was pretty awesome. We slept in our tents for four nights and had a lot of fun. I just want to talk about a few of the highlights of the camp. First off our group entered in to play sports. We played touch rugby and sort of got owned but we had a lot of fun. We only had nine people so not many subs. Then the next day we played soccer. It was pretty awesome; we even won one game and got milkshakes because of it. :) I learned that I need to get back in shape. Also before all of our group sessions we would have tribal wars. No Josh, we didn’t have spears or stones to fight. :P The stands were split in three sections and we competed by making the most sound possible, and believe me 4000 people can make a lot of sound. We also had various competitions such as crowd surfing and passing a cow’s lung around. It was quite entertaining.

Even though the games and activities were a lot of fun I think that my favorite time was this quiet space that they set up where you could go see art that told the Easter story. They had this long tablecloth set out with wine glasses, bread, and grape juice so that you could sit there, reflect and take communion. It was dark in the room with one stage light cast down the table, almost blinding. As I sat there I started to picture Jesus and His disciples sitting there. Jesus was telling us about what was going to happen. I wondered if I was there what would I have said, would I have understood? It was such a powerful moment for me and I just sat there in reflection and awe of God!

           The theme of Easter Camp was “A Beautiful Mess”. The speakers talked about how sometimes our lives get messy but God brings something beautiful out of it. One of the speakers really hit home for me as he describes us as broken glass because of our mess but how Jesus picks up those pieces and makes us into a beautiful mosaic! It really got me to thinking. I could imagine us as a mosaic and how beautiful we truly are.

           Even though I slept on a hard ground and was exhausted when Monday rolled around I had an amazing time. It was so awesome getting to know the six youth that went and watching them grow closer to God. God truly showed up at the camp!

The week after Easter Camp was sort of a busy week for me with getting assignments done and just catching up on rest. We didn’t have youth group that Sunday or the next because the youth were on school holidays. However, the 22nd of April the church had a shared dinner and a gentleman from Australia came and talked about Noah’s Ark, so I got to see some of the youth then. It was an awesome presentation and just went to show how amazing God truly is. I think that I want to look more into the topic of Noah’s Ark and also look into dinosaurs and the Bible. ;)

           Then last week was one of the busiest weeks so far; with an assignment being due that Monday and planning for my first Sunday in charge of the youth. Tuesday was my second time doing Bible in Schools. A lovely lady from my church called Judi asked me if I’d like to help her with this. We go to a little primary school in a town a short distance from Hamilton and spend a half hour talking about different stories of the Bible. It is a lot different being able to talk to children about God in school. I wonder if America could start doing this. It is a lot of fun and the children seem to enjoy it.

           Then Wednesday I read this book called Sacred Pathways for my Spiritual Formation group. It talked about nine different temperaments on how we worship God. There are: the Naturalist, Creationist, Traditionalist, Ascetics, Caregivers, Intellectuals, Enthusiast, Activists, and Contemplative. After reading about what each were and how they worship God and some temptations each type of person has, you answered a few questions and tallied your score to see which one you were most like. When I started reading the book I thought I would be closest to Caregivers or Intellectual. I was but they were my second and third highest scores. My first highest was Ascetics. When I started reading this book I had no idea what that mean but as I read the chapter I kept getting more and more excited, thinking how it sounded a lot like me. The author of the book talked about how it is kind of like the “monk” temperament, one who likes solitude, strictness/obedience, commitment and simplicity. For me that makes a lot of sense. I tend to worship and feel closer to God when I’m lying in bed, in complete silence, in the dark. Or when I stay at the church on Sundays after everyone goes home until youth group. The solitude allows me to truly focus on God. I find that noises, smells or just flashy worship can be distracting to me. Before I read this book I always would try to worship like everyone else expected of me but now I realize that there are many ways to worship God. I want to try this way that excites me and just feels right. Some of the things the book suggested to do was to have night worship, basically like I described about, fasting where you give up something to focus on God (Maybe my computer), and just silent retreats away where there are no distractions. I highly highly recommend this book. It is by Gary Thomas and is called, Sacred Pathways: Discover Your Soul's Path to God. If you are interested in finding a way to worship God in the way He made you to then this is an awesome book for you!

           This week I have also started my new devotional called “Trusting God” and have found that it is comforting to know that God really does have the whole world in His hands. I have also started my next assignment for my Old Testament Themes class. It is reading a book called “The Bible Jesus Read”. So far it is quite interesting and should be a fun read.

           This last weekend was the busiest part of the week. On Saturday I went to a youth conference that a group called Word of Life put on. Four of the Pathways’ student are interning there so it was awesome seeing them and doing workshops on how to work with your youth and ask them questions. Also, making sure our hearts are in the right place. That was an all day event but was also pretty fun. Then on Sunday the youth group from Easter Camp showed their video to the congregation that one of the youth made and shared some highlights from camp. I was super nervous because I’m not too brave speaking in front of people but God was with me and helped me get through it and it ended up great.

           Then the hardest thing that has happened to me since I have been in New Zealand, happened Sunday night, running youth group.  Since the couple that were running youth group are in Peru for four months I am now pretty much in charge of running youth group (with the help of this awesome guy called Ye-Gon and the pastor and his wife). Well, the pastor and I decided that we were going to take a detour from the book of John and focus on what the youth group should look like and how we are to treat each other at youth, outside youth, and on Facebook. I was so nervous coming up with the lesson, finding the right verses and presenting it in a way that they group would be engaged and willing to talk. And I have to say God is such an amazing God!!! He made things run so well. The group talked, laughed, asked hard questions, and gave great insight to one another! They are such an amazing group of young people and I am blessed that God put them in my life to be the first youth group to work with!!!

           So for the next few months we as a youth group might continue to put the book of John on hold and find answers to the hard questions that they are facing or just want to know about, to continue to engage them and help them grow in their walk with God. Also, this month we are going to be having a 40 hour famine social event and then in June we are going to be having a games/rootbeer float (They don’t have rootbeer here but I’ve found a store that sells it) night. I will be busy planning these events, lessons and doing assignments but I’m very excited about doing all these things. Also, the next two Sundays I will be working with our Livewire class (middle school age) and providing them their lesson during church.

           I hope everyone is doing well! Please let me know if you need any prayer or even just tell me how things are going in your lives. I would love to hear from you. If you guys could pray for my youth group and that God uses me to teach and guide them at youth group. Also, pray for my studies and that I can truly focus on then. One last thing would be either patience about waiting on buses because that is my only form of transportation (sometimes it is hard cause I have to plan an hour of travel each time I want to go to the church) or pray I miraculously have a car sitting in my driveway with my name on it. :P Thank you for all your support and I hope you are enjoying seeing what I’ve been up to.

Faith Prevails

Galatians 3:13-14 (NIV) 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

            First I want to apologize for not posting as often as I should. It has been about two months since I’ve posted last and what a crazy busy two months it has been. I am going to try and fill everyone in with what I’ve been doing while trying not to make this post too long. I hope that you enjoy the story of my adventure as much as I am!!! 

            The last time I posted I was getting ready to head to my first block course to meet everyone in my school. I had no idea what to expect with the school and I still hadn’t met anyone at the church I was to intern at. Well I got on the bus to my block course in Wellington. When I showed up Craig (principle) from Pathways pointed me towards my room and I slowly started meeting people. I was praying to God that I wouldn’t be nervous and that I would just take everything by faith. I soon started meeting all the girls and realized I wasn’t the only one nervous. Soon we all were talking and getting to know each other and by the end of the two weeks it seemed like we knew each other forever and became our very own little family.

            There are about 24 people in my program so it is a nice group to study and get to know. They are interning all over New Zealand so I only get to see most of them at our block courses. This semester I am taking six classes; Supervised Practice, Interpreting the Bible, Spiritual Formation, Old Testament Themes, Galatians, and Youth Ministry Elective. All of the classes are awesome and are helping me with my walk with God.

 Supervised Practice is where I have 3 supervisors with my internship; One Spiritual, one Ministry and one Academic. They all help me in different areas of life. The academic one helps with academics, the ministry one with how I’m doing with my youth ministry and my spiritual more on a personal level of how I’m doing in everyday life and spiritual needs. For this course one of my assignments was to write a learning contract, basically it was about what I want to work on and get out of this year. I talked about how I wanted to stop worrying so much and I want to put my trust in God. I have created a prayer wall where I physically write out my worries and give them to God. It has helped me to realize that I can release my worries to Him. I also put prayer requests on my wall as well. I am also going to be starting a devotional called, “Trusting God: A Girlfriends in God Faith Adventure”. I’m hoping that it can help me in the process of worrying less.

            My Interpreting the Bible course is pretty awesome as well. We are learning how to read and interpret the Bible. So instead of applying the verse directly to our lives we are looking at the background of the book, author, people of that time and seeing what it is saying to them. Then we find the Biblical principle in it and that is when we can start seeing how it applies to us now. I find it really helpful to see why something was written. I think that it allows me to understand and learn the truth behind what is being said. The philosophy part of my brain loves it. :D

            The Spiritual Formation class is a special class for me. It is where a group of us girls get together and talk about life. There are six of us all together and they are such wonderful people. We are reading a book called, “Sacred Pathways” to see in what way(s) we worship God. It is a pretty neat class.

            Old Testament Themes is pretty cool. I love how we talk about the connections throughout the whole Bible and how the Old Testament can indeed be fun. Our lecturer is pretty awesome and full of life. I find it interesting that he is only a year older than myself. He brings an interesting approach to remembering things and that is through food. He even had us drinking vinegar to remember the bitter taste of screwing up. It is neat. 

            I really appreciate my youth elective because that really helps teach me how to interact with the youth and what to expect. The phrase for this course is, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”. How true is that? I find that both showing people how much you care and allowing yourself to be vulnerable people open up to you more and trust you more. It is really such great way to live life.

            I think right now my favourite course is Galatians. We read it without chapters and verses but in letter form just as the Galatians would have read it. I find it full of so many themes but my favourite is that of Law vs. Faith. How Jesus came to take that law and wants us to live by faith in Him and the Holy Spirit. If we try to follow one law then we must follow all the laws. However, as people have shown it is quite impossible to follow all the laws so that is why Jesus died for us. People might say then what are the rules we are supposed to follow? I believe that if we have the Holy Spirit then we should allow it to be our moral compass.... Okay I could talk about this all day but I probably should stop here. Feel free if you want to talk to me about it to email me or whatever and I’d love to chat. :D

            So those are my classes that I’m taking this semester. Now back to what I’ve been up to. Block course 1 in Wellington was two weeks long and was the perfect time to get to know everyone that I will be studying with this year. Each and every one of them are amazing people. I can’t believe how close we got so quickly. It is really helpful knowing that they have the same passion as me, to learn and glorify God.  During those first two weeks I found that I wasn’t as homesick as I could have been because I realized that I am home. Wherever there are Christians and God then I am surrounded by brothers and sisters and my heavenly father. It is such a comforting thought. :D

            At block course I still didn’t know where I was going to be living or with who but finally a couple days before I headed back to Hamilton I found a place. I was nervous but so far it has been working out great. While feeling homeless at block course I realized that I had no control over it and had to trust in God. And like always God came through and provided. He is truly amazing. Also, a struggle was for the first month or so I didn’t have internet. It was hard not being able to talk to my family whenever I wanted to and also hard to get homework done. However, I learned that not having internet can be a good thing. It helped me to focus on some important things such as talking to God, reading my Bible, and just communicating with people face to face. There is so much you can get done without the internet. It is quite amazing. :D

            After block course we all went to our towns and internships. I headed back to Hamilton a little nervous about what was lying ahead. I hadn’t met anyone from the church, except a young couple who used to be the youth leaders. They are doing Pathways just like I am but they are travelling around New Zealand with gap year students and wouldn’t actually be at the church when I got there. I was nervous but the youth leader invited me to their social event on the Saturday. It was a swimming party. It was such a great way to meet some of the youth that I would be working with, in an informal way. They were all super nice and seemed excited to meet me which was so helpful. Then that Sunday I met the rest of the church. They were all wonderful and said hi. The pastor was extremely friendly and made me feel welcome. It was such a relief knowing that they were excited for me to be there. 

            So for the last month and a half I have been going to youth group on Sunday nights from 4-6. Our youth group only has about 10 youth but they are such wonderful young people. Sunday nights we have a social activity, a snack, and then a little lesson. We are studying the book of John this year. I have been leading the study for the last few weeks and it has been getting easier every week. We are finding different ways to engage the youth and make them want to come to youth group. Hopefully it is going well. 

            One weekend for our social event we went to a touch rugby tournament. Some of the youth didn’t seem to want to be there and some were even really nervous about playing. By the end everyone seemed to be having a great time and I loved watching the confidence grow in them. It is amazing what one afternoon of fun can do. I am praying that they grow even closer and more confident throughout the year. 

            I also meet every other week with my supervisors for life updates. I have some amazing women that are there to guide me and encourage me. It is amazing what comes up in those meetings just because the women are taking time to take interest in my life. I can’t wait to see what develops through these mentors. 

            Two weekends ago we had our second block course. It was really short, only about a day and a half. We did our lectures over Interpreting the Bible and had an awesome (dangerous) game of using reference books to complete a project. Studying the Bible can be fun. It was a great time to catch up with the other students and to see how they are doing with their internships and study. It was nice seeing how God is using them. I love the fact that we can get together and talk just like we haven’t been away from each other at all. Like I’ve said before, these people are amazing!!!

            Last weekend 6 of the youth and 3 of us leaders went to an Easter Camp where we camped for four nights and celebrated Jesus. There is so much to tell that I believe I will put that in my next blog post. Hopefully that will give you something to look forward to. 

            I hope you have enjoyed reading a brief update as to what I’ve been doing. Please feel free to leave comments/questions about things you’d like to know more about. Also, let me know if there are things that I could pray for you about. Some things that I could use prayer for is that the couple that have been leading youth group are going to Peru for four months. First I’d ask you to pray for them and their three boys that God keeps them safe and uses them for His glory. Second, that means starting the 29^th of April I will be leading the youth group mostly by myself (the pastor and his wife will be there for support) so pray that God provides me with the wisdom and strength to take on this challenge. I’m both excited and nervous. If you have any ideas for social activities that we can do for an hour before our study on Sunday please feel free to share (examples; volleyball, charades, etc.) :P Also, please pray for my school work and that I get the most out of it. Money is also another thing that could be prayed about, pray that I don’t run out before the end of the year.  I’d also like to ask you to pray for my youth group, that they grow deeper in their relationships with God. 

            Thank you for your support and prayers. It is wonderful knowing people at home are praying for me. I will try and update this blog more often. Next post will be about Easter Camp and plans for this next term for the youth. Right now it is the youth’s holiday so I’m able to have some free time to catch up on things. I thank God that He brought me here. I’m loving every minute of it and I’m excited to see what else is in store.