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 29th 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.
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