Rugby Day

As you all know I am a small person. Small person + Rugby = Broken Person. On Saturday I joined the rugby team of Selwyn College, which is one of the dorms at the university. If you are unaware, the best way to describe rugby is American football without any pads. I only got the ball twice, and each time it was less that two seconds until I was tackled by a HUGE man. Although I could here my body crunch when I hit the ground I survived and was able to make some friends in the process. Please pray for the guys that we are meeting in Selwyn college. Also pray that I don't die playing rugby... really I'm not kidding...


That is me on the ground...
(below) I am the one on the end... facing the Asian guy

hip to the hop

Yesterday was an exciting day because I finally got to see exactly what kind of ministry I will be doing. I am taking a class on hip hop dance and a break dancing class to build relationships with people, and I joined a rugby team that is run by one of the dorms. I also joined Japan club... I am really looking forward to see what God will do this summer through these classes. I am constantly reminded how great God is. Yesterday, Jeff and I (my ministry partner) were walking around campus ( keep in mind that we don't know anyone here) and we were supposed to go "build relationships." I don't know about you, but I think that just walking up to people is a little strange and we didn't know how to just meet people in a campus of 25000 students. So we sat down and prayed that God would bring us to someone from a specific dorm and that they would let us be on their rugby team. About 15 minutes after we prayed we met a guy who was more than enthusiastic about getting us on his rugby team. It was so cool!

Last night at about 9:20 there was an earthquake here. I thought it was awesome but apparently the US news is saying that it will cause a tsunami. Dont believe it... we are fine and there is nothing to worry about. I can see the water from most places in this city and it has not started rising yet. Thanks for the concern though!

Its a little overwhelming to make friends with random strangers all day every day. Please pray that our team would be able to build relationships with ease and that we would be able to clearly share the gospel with them in the next few weeks.

Tropical Rain Forest? far from it... everything stays green even in the winter
The road closed sign on our way to Wellington.


Sheep I have discovered are very dumb creatures...

Some of the hills outside of Christ Church

They do get a little cold here I'm not going to lie.

Most of your team. There are students from 7 different universitys.
My first look at New Zealand.

I wrote this post over a week ago...but I had no internet

7-4-09

I have been in New Zealand now for about 4 or 5 days... I am really not sure how long to tell you the truth. The semester begins next week at the University of Otago and so we have one week to get adjusted to your new time zone (which is 17 hours ahead) and learn a little about Kiwi culture. The first two nights we stayed with a host family in the city of Christ Church before driving down to Dunedin. The weather here is cold... maybe not that much colder than an alabama winter, but there is usually not much heating in the houses... this is what makes it seem so cold. Usually I can see my breath inside the house. This makes for a chilly night and a very chilly shower experience. I was so thankful for the electric blanket in my bed at the host families house. 

Two days ago we left for the city of Wellington (the home of the first ever bungi jump in world). The drive should have taken about 8 hours... its not that long of a distance, but we had to drive through the Southern Alps. We drove about 4 hours and then it started snowing... 5 hours and it was a winter wonderland... 5 and a half hours, it was a blizzard. The next thing we knew there was a sign saying road closed... we had to find a new route. If we went ahead to Wellington we might have gotten stuck in the snow and even if had made it, the forecast said that we would have been snowed in Wellington for almost four days. So our guide (a kiwi university student named Amy) brought us to stay at her families house south of Dunedin. It just so happened that her family owns a christian youth summer camp that was vacant so we have had a place to stay these last few days while the snow storm subsides in Wellington. 

Today I slept while everyone was taking their showers... It was a bad move... its about 35 degrees outside... I would guess its about 50 inside... and the hot water ran out. I therefor took the coldest shower of my life. It was COLD! I cant even describe to you how it felt. My whole body was numb. 

Summer

Nineteen days and counting till I leave for New Zealand. I am currently out of school and staying at my parents house in Dothan where I have nothing better to do than constantly think about leaving for New Zealand. Some days I wish I were leaving sooner, but I hope to utilize this time to really prepare for a hard summer. I want to get all the fresh bread of the word I can while am here so as to fill my heart to the brim  that I may overflow once in NZ. This has been hard to do at home away from most of my strong christian friends. 

I recently went down to the beach to visit my friends who are at summer beach project. It was so refreshing to get to see how God has been working in their hearts. I am unable to describe how good it was to worship with my friends after the month that I have been on summer break and taking summer classes. There was a beauty in this worship that was rare. .. such that I longed for heaven more than ever. Light is always more beautiful in darkness. Summer break for me has been shrouded in darkness and therefore the light that I met during that worship was exquisite. I think its bizarre that in Christ we will never cease to experience more, for God is infinite in all aspects of his being. This fact is staggering! To see light so beautiful is worth traveling through darkness.