katie sawrie

an idol

2012-01-11T05:15:00.001-05:00

I wrote a few weeks ago about idols, from a spiritual perspective, but I thought I would just share an overview of the experience!

On the way up the hill, we walked through this temple, with many incense offerings.

We passed through the dragon's mouth...

And came out to a long set of stairs. But, at the top was a great view of Hat Yai!

And this lovely lady:

On the grounds were many many statues. People would kneel before them and pray, or offer incense or fruit as well.

And here are a large pair of gold feet. Not sure if they will eventually belong to a new idol, or if the feet are the idol themselves...

A Buddha statue.

And, we happened to be up on the hill the day they opened a cable car! It was the grand opening, so we were able to ride for free.

On the other side, the top of another hill, were more statues. This is an 8 headed Buddha statue. There were many bells that you could ring up here, and you could buy flower necklaces to offer as well.

Or you could pay to shoot off fire crackers for good luck. This happened a lot, and it startled me every time. They are so loud.

A large 3 headed elephant. I saw many people offering plates of fruit in front of him and hitting a gong.

This woman was selling birds in little cages. You set them free and they are supposed to take all of your "sin" away with them. Another type of offering to the gods.

And lastly, there were a ton of elephant statues that had peoples' names on them. I think they represented money that had been given.

It was really interesting just being a fly on the wall and see what it looks like to actually worship as a Buddhist. I feel like I learned a lot, and it was great to be able to ask students about their experiences and ask questions when I saw them that week.

I'm slowly by surely posting more Thailand stuff, thanks for hanging in there :)

Engineering English Club

2012-01-10T01:58:00.001-05:00

My main area of ministry at PSU, in Thailand, was in the engineering faculty. It was great having an engineering degree myself, because I immediately had something in common with the students. We talked about classes, what they were learning, and compared classes to the US and NZ.

The first Friday we were on campus, the Engineering English Club threw a party to welcome us! It was so sweet. We played games, ate a delicious dinner, and sang a few kiwi songs. My dinner: authentic pad thai, a local soup that was AMAZING, and licorice jelly drink (yup, you read that right...).
Some of the girls I met at dinner that I spent a lot of time with throughout the trip, Khing, Pat, Biew and Pat.
Since the students treated us to such a delicious meal, we thought we should share a true kiwi favorite, some Pineapple Lumps.

The desserts were all yellow! Thai desserts are so different from anything I've ever had. It's hard to explain, but the flavors are really unique. Very good, but really different! (in ever photo we are nicely glistening with sweat...)

After dinner we had a cooking competition. We had to recreate a popular Thai salad after tasting it. See that large mortar and pestal? Yup, that's what you crush everything in and mix in as well. I think we were semi-successful, but the students got a kick out of us mixing stuff together. We almost added wayyyyyyy too many chillies and fish oil. Definitely a few ingredients I've never even seen before. But it was really fun. Everyone enjoyed watching the "white girls", or foreigners, trying to cook traditional Thai food!

Twice each week, the six of us assigned to the Engineering department, taught English at the English Club. I've never actually taught English before, so it was actually really challenging to come up with lesson plans and material! But it was fun and helped to further our friendships with students we were meeting. We would spend our afternoons in the Engineering department hanging out with our friends, having spiritual conversations, talking about Jesus, or trying to meet and talk to new friends. All of this was done with the help of the Thai staff as our translators :)
At our last English Club lesson, they gave us gifts!

2011 Wrap up

2012-01-04T01:41:00.012-05:00

Can you believe 2011 is over! It is already the 5th and that is just starting to hit me. I wanted to do a quick wrap up of this year. As I was looking through pictures I realized we lived in New Zealand for the entirety of 2011, and what an adventure it has been!

We started last year in Nelson on summer project. We helped to staff the mission trip where 45 students came to learn how to grow and share their faith.
From Nelson we headed to (pre-earthquake) Christchurch by train...

We loved Christchurch, it is absolutely beautiful. I have thought many times this year how grateful I am to live in such a beautiful place!

A few weeks later we kicked off our campus ministry year at staff conference. Our first picture of the Wellington staff team.

We moved into a new flat...with a teeny tiny kitchen.
We went to visit wine country over in Martinborough.

Our first week on campus, we met thousands of students, and were able to share the Gospel many many times.

We celebrated St. Patricks day with corned beef - Ryan's favorite :)

Autumn Retreat was a success!

And one of my favorite, we hosted a girls craft night.

We rented a large bunny costume for an Easter Outreach:
For Ryan's birthday we went on a little road trip to the Coromandel. We survived the epic rain hike to the pinacles, and discovered hot water beach!

I spoke at our women's spa night and really enjoyed getting to spend time with the girls.

Our staff team took a team bonding trip up to Napier...and visited a winery, and Cody's mom.

Ryan and I took a weekend to ourselves to get out of Wellington. We took the train to Plimmerton for the weekend. I love public transport.
We survived the chaos of V20 - the huge international winter student conference.
We started a new American tradition, a barn dance!

Seals came to Wellington!

We went on another road trip to the farthest north point of NZ, Cape Reinga.

I took a few students to Dunedin on a vision trip and climbed the World's Steepest Street.
NZ hosted the Rugby World Cup! Everyone's world revolved around rugby for those few weeks.
And the All Blacks won!
Our staff team survived the campus year, and I love each one of them dearly.
After school was out, Ryan's parents came to visit! We had such a great time with them and were very sad to see them head back.

We hiked the Tongariro Crossing while they were here.
And finally, we headed to Thailand with 13 students for the last 7 weeks of the year. (more on this soon)

We actually spent New Years in Bangkok before heading home.
What a year! We have been blessed to live in a country where it is fairly easy to get around and we have loved exploring New Zealand, it is beautiful! We have met some great people and the Lord has stretched us and grown us. I pray in 2012 that we would be willing to walk in that same faith and be willing to be stretched even more.

cast down your idols

2011-12-06T09:11:00.010-05:00

Hello again!

I keep sitting down to blog, but for some reason it's been very difficult for me to write out and process a lot of the things I have been experiencing. We are in our third week of ministry here and honestly sometimes it feels like we have been here for months. We have met so many students and it is fun that we are making many friends. Thai people are very friendly and polite, and for the most part willing to sit and talk with "foreigners" :). We have been able to have many conversations about Jesus and I have even seen a few students place their faith in Christ. For many, the choice to follow Christ comes at a huge cost. They are usually seen as abandoning their Thai culture (since that pretty much goes hand in hand with Buddhism), disappointing their family, and must learn a whole new way of viewing God.

I'm sure many people know this, but part of the Buddhist faith involves worshiping idols. Ryan and I have commented a few times that it feels strange to read the Bible in the morning and see a large golden idol off in the distance through our window. Yesterday we went to the park around the large statue and actually climbed up near it. It was a very eye opening experience for me. Growing up in a western culture I'm not used to seeing people physically bowing down and worshiping golden man-made statues.

(Hat Yai Municipal Park)

For someone in Thailand to turn to Christ it means completely rejecting those idols and the culture that surrounds them. Similarly, in western cultures, turning to Christ still means rejecting the idols that surround us. Throughout the Bible, we are repeatedly taught to turn from idols (Ryan did a search and the Bible mentions idols 223 times...that's a lot). We are even told in the 10 commandments to worship no other gods and to not make idols. In Philippians 3:19 Paul begins to describe idols in a new way, a less obvious way, "Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things." Now our stomach or setting our minds on earthly things can be put before loving and serving God...making it an idol.

Our idols tend to look a little different I think. They may not be large, gold, and shiny, but they are just as tempting. We can easily start to place career, money, safety, security, family, our spouse, or a million other things before loving and following Jesus. I am so guilty of this, and so grateful for a God of grace. He is completely worthy of my worship, attention, and thought every moment of every day.

I've been challenged, as it is so easy to judge, and say "I would not bow down to a golden idol!" But in reality what do I spend my time, money, and effort on to provide joy or contentment in my life. This is something our team has been wrestling with this week, and I have been encouraged by the discussions we have been having. I know the Lord is challenging students as much as He is challenging me. I know He calls me, an American, to turn from my 'idols' just as He is calling these Kiwi students, and the Thai students as well.

Thank you for praying for us - more exciting stories this week that I hope to write about soon.

ps- can you tell my English is getting worse? I speak so much broken English trying to communicate that I will probably need to re-learn grammar :)

Our team

2011-11-25T00:57:00.002-05:00

This is our team (staff and students) that are currently with us in Thailand! There are 18 of us, and so far we've been having a blast and getting very wet. Thank you for praying for us!

Yesterday I was having a conversation with several students and two of them prayed to receive Christ! I am planning to meet up with them along with one of our Thai staff to go through some follow up to make clear that they understand the Gospel. It was an amazing experience trying to speak in Thai/English and using a translator. But one of the guys, Ox, was very genuine and sat with us for over an hour. He had several questions, and P'Mitch was able to answet them so he understood. Please pray for Ox, as he is going home this weekend to see his family, who are mostly Buddhist. Pray that God would protect his heart and his understanding of the Gospel.

We have seen 13 students indicate a desire to begin a relationship with Christ in the last three days. That's crazy! It's exciting to see what God is doing, and we are praying we will be able to follow up with each of those students and be sure they understand fully who Jesus is and what that means for their lives. :)

Hat Yai

2011-11-20T08:35:00.006-05:00

We made it to Thailand!

After 13 hours, 4 full movies, a Friends episode, and two meals...we arrived in Bangkok. Our first task was to get all 18 of us to our hotel for the night. After several miscommunications, our shuttle being given away and some wrong turns, we made it! The next morning we flew to Hat Yai where we were greeted by the Student Life staff including P'Mitch. Mitch is a kiwi that has moved to Thailand with his Thai wife and children to work for Student Life (Campus Crusade for Christ) here. He has been a huge help in getting us here and getting us ready for campus ministry starting on Tuesday!

We have already met a ton of Thai students. We were on campus Friday for a prayer walk and were introduced to several student leaders within SL. We have already done one New Zealand cultural show, and have been in orientation for the past few days and there are a few thing that have stood out to me.

-something P'Mitch mentioned about the importance of us being here. He talked about how to be Thai pretty much means to be Buddhist (almost 95% of the population, other 5% Muslim). This can make it very difficult for Thai Christians to share their faith with other Thais because they almost feel the Christian is being disrespectful of their heritage and going against Thailand. By having us here, students want to learn about us, and it gives the Thai staff and students the opportunity to share the gospel when they otherwise may not be able to. The Thai students open their hearts and minds just a little bit more than they would normally.

-one of the staff here, P'Boy, told us yesterday how we, as a team, have encouraged him so much already just by being here. He said, sometimes they feel they are up against the world and not getting anywhere. But they are encouraged to have us here and be "going up against the world with them".

Anyway, just some thoughts for now, I'll check in soon!

On to Thailand

2011-11-13T04:31:00.000-05:00

I honestly can't believe we are leaving for Thailand in 2 days. I think we are both feeling pretty overwhelmed, nervous and excited. I'm sure we've shared with most of you about some of the difficulties and frustrations we've faced trying to prepare and plan for this trip, while still learning how to lead the team here in Wellington. It has been a very busy 5 months.

I am excited to see what the Lord has in store this summer. I am also a bit nervous at what the Lord has in store this summer :)

If you feel led, please pray for our team. Specifically for safe/smooth travels, logistics of moving 18 people, and for the students we will be meeting and sharing the Gospel with. Also, please pray for our health. It can be easy to get sick when staying in another country for an extended amount of time, especially when your stomach is not used to the food! It is inevitable that we will probably all be sick at some point, but I hope it will have minimal interference with doing ministry on campus.

Here's to our summer adventure!

Martinborough

2011-11-12T06:07:00.000-05:00

One of our last activities with the Sawries, was to head out to Martinborough for a little wine tasting! It was such a beautiful day, and I got sun burnt for the first time all year!

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

2011-11-11T06:01:00.000-05:00

I have never heard of Guy Fawkes before, but apparently he is a guy worth celebrating! Everyone shoots off fireworks, and there was a big show down on the waterfront.

Here is what I have learned about Guy Fawkes: Guy Fawkes (13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606) was an English soldier and a member of a group of Roman Catholic conspirators who attempted to carry out the Gunpowder Plot to assassinate King James I of England (James VI of Scotland) and the members of both houses of the Parliament of England with a huge explosion, which was prevented by his arrest on 5 November 1605.

And because there was a huge explosion, now it is celebrated every year with fireworks. Crazy!

A whole new set of holidays to learn about :)

Falls - Tongariro park

2011-11-10T06:06:00.001-05:00

On our last day in Turangi, we took a hike to Taranaki Falls. It took us right past Mt Ruapehu:

And to the falls!

On to Wellington next!

A day in Taupo

2011-11-09T05:58:00.002-05:00

After the Tongariro Crossing, we decided to take it EASY the next day and visit Taupo. We started with a boat ride on the lake.

Where we found some Maori rock carvings. And very clear water!

And Huka Falls...

And next stop...Craters of the Moon!

the Tongariro Crossing

2011-11-08T04:55:00.001-05:00

Warning, this post could get long! One of the highlights of our trip up to Taupo was the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. It is considered one of the best one-day walks in New Zealand, so we had to check it out!

We started bright and early, around 7am...yikes.
The sun was beautiful in the morning against the mountains. It was one of the first days of spring that casual hikers were allowed to go out, so the trail wasn't packed. (we soon found out there was still plenty of snow on the ground)

The terrain was so different from what we've seen in other parts of New Zealand. Very dry and desert like. Almost like the moon?

Like I said, there was still plenty of snow on the trail. Some of the trail markers were buried several feet down in the snow with only the tips sticking out. It wasn't until we were home and I was looking at pictures online that I realized how much snow there really was. Fortunately the sun kept us pretty warm despite the breeze coming across the snow.

Above, we are walking through a large crater, and below is on the other side. Check out the people in the bottom left corner for some perspective.

And after that climb it was time for lunch :) We were surrounded by three active volcanoes at this point, which is crazy.

Then we decided to add a little detour...climbing to the peak of Mt. Tongariro.

Along the way... I just think the colors are beautiful.

And we made it to the top to a great view of Mt Ngauruhoe (in the background).

Then we decided to take the "shortcut" back to the main trail. Only our "shortcut" turned into a "longcut" because it was a sheet of ice. We ended up with a few cuts and scrapes, but finally made it across!
Just in time for some fog to set it. But we were able to see the red crater, below...

And the emerald lakes, which were unfortunately still frozen over.

Then we started our trek down...

Which took much longer than these pictures give credit, but it wasn't as interesting as the first half :) We did end up by a nice stream and waterfall! Very different from the desert as the beginning of the walk.

And we survived! 8.5 hours, and 19.4kms later :)

Rotorua pit-stop

2011-11-07T04:21:00.000-05:00

On our road trip from Auckland to Taupo we made a stop by Rotorua. Home of a lot of thermal activity:

Hot pools in the middle of a beautiful flower garden.

And we took some time to soak our feet :)

Auckland

2011-11-06T15:02:00.004-05:00

Ryan's parents came to visit! We picked them up in Auckland as soon as they arrived in the country. We could hardly sleep the night before, ha, Ryan likened it to Christmas eve.

Anyway, once we picked them up we headed into the city, which was still decorated for the Rugby World Cup win!

Next we headed to the top of the Sky Tower.

You can bungy from the top of the tower in case you were interested :)

What a view!

Carlucci Land

2011-10-27T04:46:00.000-04:00

So, there's a putt-putt course in town made entirely of rubbish. Ryan has been eying this place since we arrived!

They take metal from the nearby landfill and turn it into art. Pretty amazing actually.

Ha, it's a bug!

Christchurch

2011-10-26T03:38:00.004-04:00

Ryan and I have been in Christchurch the past few days for end-of-the-year trainings. One of the "activities" planned today was to visit the central business district of Christchurch, which is still closed to the public due to the earthquake damage. We met with a pastor of St. John's church (above), one of the oldest churches in Christchurch, that was destroyed in the Feb 22nd earthquake. We heard about his heart for his city, and he feels like his role is in the new Christchurch.

And here is St. John's today.

Here is a view down towards the city. It's not a very good picture, but the city which should be bustling is now completely silent. Except for bulldozers.

It was a very sobering experience. Buildings and houses crumbling everywhere, but there is hope that the aftershocks are slowing.

staff time at the beach

2011-10-22T04:20:00.001-04:00

For the end of the year, our staff team headed to the beach. The Kapiti Coast, which was beautiful, and windy :)

Surfers catching the evening waves...

The wind on the waves was so pretty. The sea breeze blowing in the wind...

milkshakes

2011-10-21T18:00:00.004-04:00

After our last FUSE meeting with students, we headed down to Fidels for milkshakes!

Seriously they are huge! And I felt very sick afterward :)

NZSO

2011-10-20T05:18:00.001-04:00

This weekend Ryan's men's group decided to take their wives out to the Symphony!

One of the soloists is in Ryan's group, so that's why we chose that particular show. Our seats were neat, right behind the orchestra. It was lovely, and made for a great, and cultured, Saturday afternoon :)

Cults on campus

2011-10-14T20:36:00.000-04:00

Something we've unfortunately had to deal with a lot lately has been a few groups on campus that have false teachings. I can't be too specific right now as we're waiting for some new information to be published in the next few months which will help students to identify the differences between the Bible and what some of the groups teach. I realize I'm being really vague, but I hope to know more soon! We've met a few students that have made the big decision to leave one of these groups and it has been eye opening to hear about their stories. They genuinely wanted to get involved with Christian community on campus and were pulled into unhealthy relationships and teaching.

As the future leaders in their respective countries, University students are a strategic audience for us as Christians to reach with the Gospel. Unfortunately, many other religious groups have the same vision. Lately we have been encountering different groups who disguise themselves as Christian Clubs, but teach things contrary to God’s Word. Please pray for us as we interact with these groups and pray for the people involved with them - that they would come to know the truth.

I share this mostly for anyone reading this that might know students headed off to college this year. There are many groups in the US even that are well disguised, and can pull well-meaning students in the wrong direction. For those close to students new to college, or close to graduating, encourage them be watchful and to join established churches and groups at their universities.

the Haka

2011-10-10T05:15:00.005-04:00

Have you heard of the haka? Take a look...

The All Blacks perform the haka at the beginning of their rugby matches. It's a Moari war dance, and I'm pretty sure it is meant to intimidate the opposition. It's really pretty awesome to watch.

This weekend we were at Te Papa, the national museum here in Wellington, and saw a haka demonstration.

Ryan and Zoe learning the haka...

And lastly, Richie McCaw, one of the All Blacks, is being fashioned out of toast :)

Why not? Everyone's going a little crazy with rugby fever...

I like big boats

2011-10-06T05:44:00.000-04:00

Wellington is going crazy with Rugby World Cup spirit. This past Saturday, the harbor was filled with Navy ships. There were tons of people in uniform filling up the waterfront. The All Blacks were playing in Welly this weekend, so I think that was part of the celebration.

And showing their loyalty...

For some reason I've never noticed this bathroom sign before. Ha, the man really has to go!

And look what else we found! An ice skating rink. They really set up a temporary rink just for the festivities, how fun!

It was pretty crowded, so we didn't give it a go, but maybe next time!

Anyway, those were our Rugby World Cup adventures this weekend :)

Somes Island

2011-10-04T03:23:00.000-04:00

On a nice Saturday afternoon, we took the ferry over to Somes Island, which is in the middle of the Wellington harbor. The island has an interesting history, including a human and animal quarantine station, an internment camp, and a military defence position.

When they decided to use Somes Island as a military base, a few bunkers were built...but by the time they were built, the war was over :)

The island is really beautiful, and even though it is very close to the city, it is considered a wildlife refuge. There are a few species that are extinct from the mainland of New Zealand, but can still be found on Somes Island.

And there's a lighthouse...

Here's Wellington.

It was a little windy on the ferry! I have seriously never seen wind like we have in this city...pretty incredible :)

Autumn Advance

2011-10-02T01:58:00.003-04:00

This weekend was Autumn Advance! Our spring retreat to start planning for next fall. It's seems to crazy to be planning for fall when we haven't even enjoyed summer, but we've found that this is the best time to gather students' ideas before they break for the year. We had about 15 of our students come to talk about leadership and what we are all about with Student Life. We shared our vision of winning students to Christ, building them up in the foundations of the Christian faith, and seeing them sent into the world to fulfill the calling God has for each one of them.

Of course we had to play a little rugby...in the church auditorium...

Lovely girls.
And boys.
:)

Rugby World Cup!

2011-10-02T01:43:00.000-04:00

Wellington is in full-on rugby world cup mode. There's even a mini rugby field in the middle of Civic Square.

The All Blacks beat Canada today, so we're headed to the quarter finals!

Global Cafe: China

2011-10-01T05:17:00.004-04:00

In an attempt to get to know and build relationships with international students, we’ve started the “Global Cafe”. There is a huge population of international students here in Wellington, and we’ve partnered with International Student Ministries to try and create opportunities to get to know them and make friends. It can be hard and lonely moving to a new country, knowing no one, and also trying to learn a new language. Once a month we host a themed get-together to talk about different cultures, faiths within different cultures, and of course enjoy some food! So far we’ve highlighted Christmas as part of Western culture, the New Zealand culture and rugby, and China. One of our students, Adam, who is from China shared some of his experiences growing up as well as his experience with religion in China.

Next up, South Africa!

American store

2011-09-23T20:48:00.000-04:00

This post is long overdue, but when we were up in Auckland, we found the American store!! A whole store full of American brand foods that you can't buy in kiwi grocery stores. Fun things, like Jell-o!
Betty Crocker, Bisquick...

RANCH DRESSING! (yes, that is $8.50 a bottle...)

Ro-Tel...

and Macaroni & Cheese...

It was fun to walk through and see all of the things we can't really buy on normal grocery trips. Not that these were staples in our house, but it's nice to have the option :) After much deliberation, we settled on these:

And we ended our adventure with a trip to Wendy's! They have a few up in Auckland, but aren't lucky enough to have one in Wellington.

Anyway, yay for American food!

Dunedin

2011-09-21T01:43:00.000-04:00

Last week, I had the opportunity to take a few students down to Dunedin for a vision trip. Dunedin, is pretty far south, on the south island:

And it is cold there! Ha, it actually made me appreciate Wellington weather. Anyway, we are all about supporting student initiative and ownership, so some of our students thought it would be a great idea to check out what has been going on down at Otago University and see what we could apply back in Wellington. So Max and I boarded a plane with our best and brightest, and set out to learn all that we could.

To start, we found the world's steepest street! Yes, it's true. So, to start our epic learning adventure, we all climbed to the top. And the boys ran to the top.

We made it to the top, and celebrated by taking a "we're falling down the world's steepest street photo".
And this is where I didn't take any pictures of us working. But we all had an awesome time with the Student Life students and staff down in Dunedin. They were amazing hosts and were able to show us around campus, share their vision for seeing Dunedin reached for Christ, and show us some of the ways they share the Gospel on campus.

We are all about empowering students to reach their peers for Christ, and it was so encouraging to see how this can be done differently on other campus. I think our students were definitely challenged by some of the student leaders at Otago, and I'm excited to see some of the ideas they bring back!

On our last afternoon we had a little time to kill, and I headed out to take a few photos of the city. Did you know this is the second more photographed building in the southern hemisphere? It's the Dunedin Railway Station. Can you guess the first?

An old telephone booth...

And to end the trip, we ate some of the best burgers. ever.

Saffas and Fijians

2011-09-19T20:36:00.005-04:00

The Rugby World Cup is going on right now, and it's being hosted here in New Zealand! They are playing games all throughout the country and it's so fun to see fans from all over the world. Last night I saw several men walking around in kilts, in town to support Scotland. And of course, a million Aussies came over as well. We're really enjoying all of the excitement, and the more and more I watch rugby...the more I start to understand!

Anyway some of our team mates have been volunteering for the World Cup here in Wellington, and Sarah was nice enough to share some of her free tickets with us!!

We ran into Cody, who was volunteering at the game.

We were excited to see South Africa take on Fiji. The South Africans won by a landslide, and it was fun to be surrounded by some very patriotic fans :)

I'm starting to really enjoy rugby. It's really the only sport people get excited about around here, and rightfully so, the New Zealand All Blacks are usually ranked #1 in the world. Everyone is holding their breath to see if they can win it all here at home!

the Opera

2011-09-18T05:45:00.000-04:00

Sarah and I went to the Opera this past weekend. I really appreciate living in the "cultural center" of NZ. We enjoyed a nice Italian dinner, some wine, and beautiful Italian singing :)

Sanny

2011-09-14T04:44:00.000-04:00

Sarah and I have been meeting with Sanny every Monday afternoon. She is from Asia, but is studying English and medicine here in Wellington. Sarah met Sanny at an English help session around Easter, and they were able to have a brief conversation about God and His existence. Because Sanny studies medicine, she explained to us that she had found that God must exist because of the complexities of the human body - it is truly amazing to her! Sarah and I have been meeting with Sanny for a few months now to read through Genesis and Mark.

Since our first meeting I have been blown away by Sanny’s desire to learn about God, despite having no background in any sort of faith, and it being banned in her home country. As we looked at Genesis 1, 2, and 3, it was clear to her that the world was not as it was intended to be. That we were created for much more than we experience here on earth, and sin was very easy for her to understand. As we have explained week to week of our need for a Savior in Jesus Christ, Sanny responded, “I really need to think about this, it will change everything. It is a big decision.” We were blessed to see her understand that Jesus is not a band-aid that we stick on our sin, but must truly be the Lord of our lives.

I am overjoyed to tell you that a few weeks ago Sanny said, “Yes, I want to follow Jesus”. It has been obvious to me that God has had His hand on Sanny over the past few months. The depth of her understanding is amazing, and He has worked through language barriers to bring her to Himself. I am so grateful to have witnessed His grace in her life. It is amazing to me that God would bring us all so far from home so Sanny could hear of His love for her through Christ.

Auckland

2011-09-08T05:45:00.000-04:00

The last vacation post! Our last stop on our trip was in Auckland for a Family Life marriage conference. Which was actually the whole reason for the trip in the first place... Anyway, the conference was great, we really learned a lot and would completely recommend it to anyone (they hold conferences all over the world - familylife.com to find one near you!). This year has been a really different year of marriage for us, having to work together every day and do ministry together. It was nice to have someone else ministering to us and we left feeling refreshed.

On Saturday night they encouraged us to go on a date, so we headed into town to the waterfront. Auckland is also a harbor town (pretty much a theme for most of NZ), and full of boats.

We just caught the sunset before grabbing dinner at another fish and chips shop (a theme for the Sawries?).

We sat and enjoyed the evening on these fun lounge chairs.

And of course we needed to get a photo of us with the sky tower in the background. Auckland is sooo much bigger than Wellington. Almost 25% of the population of NZ lives in Auckland, so we experienced some traffic that we haven't in a while. Either way, it was a fun city, and full of excitement with the Rugby World Cup starting this week!

More on that coming soon :)

Rangakapiti Pa

2011-09-07T05:36:00.000-04:00

You might be wondering (probably not) why most of the pictures I use always have Ryan in them. Well, Ryan always looks so great in pictures.

And I usually end up doing some ridiculous, like this...

Anyway, here is the town of Mangonui again. They next day, after doing some kayaking in the morning, we went back to do another hike. This was up to an old Maori village, Rangakapiti. Yes, say that 5 times fast. And when I say hike, I mean we drove up the hill and walked about 10 feet - not quite what we were expecting.

I love how all of the houses are just nestled into the hillside. It was sort of a gloomy day, but it made for great afternoon nap weather :)

Like I said, Ryan always looks so great in pictures :)

Mangonui

2011-09-06T05:32:00.000-04:00

While on our holiday, we spent some time in a neighboring town, Mangonui. And if we're being honest, it was mostly so we could eat at a fish and chips shop there. Anyway, Mangonui is a cute little harbor town that has been around for a loooong time.

While we were there we ran into some legal trouble...

But were relieved to find that the fish & chips were just as good as everyone said they were :)

I promise we are almost finished with the vacation updates!

tip tip top

2011-09-02T18:05:00.002-04:00

We finally made it, to the tip tip tippity top of New Zealand! Cape Reinga is actually the point you walk out to, and here you can see to the east...

and then to the west...

It was beautiful. And definitely required a selfie. (Ryan has me adding 'ie' to the end of way too many words...)

Cape Reinga is actually a very spiritual place for the Maori people, so the whole area is protected by a national park.

The lighthouse was really cute, and actually still functions.

Right behind me here is where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea. You can even see swirls in the water from the different currents meeting. Just think...across that water is the good ol' U S of A.

A few last shots of the lighthouse:

What a beautiful day.

Sand dunes

2011-09-01T07:28:00.000-04:00

While we were up north, we headed to see 90 mile beach. On the way, we found the Te Puke sand dunes.

Ryan found a sled...

After walking through the dunes, we came to 90 mile beach. 90 miles of untouched beach...

And in the distance you could see "hole in the rock":

It was a nice walk through a stream to get to the beach...

And next we continued to the top to see Cape Reinga!

Mahinepua

2011-08-31T20:48:00.002-04:00

The next stop along the way to Taipa (where we were staying) was Mahinepua. We had picked a hike to do, and were pretty excited it was close to sunset.

When we started the hike, Ryan looked down and spotted a stingray in the water. So of course we watched it swim around for a little while.

We ended up stopping several times along the hike to take pictures of the sunset, I think have a million. But it was beautiful!

The water was so blue...

We made it to the end, enjoyed the view, and it was time to end back before it was dark.

There is just something about the sunset that screams God's glory. We have been studying Genesis in our bible study at church, and it has been so good to reflect on God's creation.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. Gen 1:31

Bay of Islands

2011-08-29T20:48:00.011-04:00

Last week I shared with you how it has been snowing here in Wellington, and we've been freezing...well, Ryan and I decided it was high time we got out of here and headed north (aka, where it is warmer!). That, and we were attending a marriage conference up in Auckland, so we added a few days of holiday and decided to explore the far north of the north island. Our trip looked a little like this:
We flew to Auckland, and started our drive north. After getting a little lost in the city...we managed to find the highway and got moving. Our first big stop was in Waitangi, near the Bay of Islands. This is where the Waitangi treaty was signed between the Maori people and the British. We thought it might be free to get in, but unfortunately no...so we settled for a pic with a statue.

Moving along, we found Haruru falls, complete with a rainbow!

Also, while in the Bay of Islands, we decided to take the ferry over to Russell from Pahia. Russell is one of the oldest settled towns, and officially the first capital of New Zealand.

The area is absolutely beautiful. There are thousands of little islands all around, with lots and lots of boats. Russell is a really cute little vacation town, with a lot of history. We scouted the area for dolphins, but no luck.

We actually stopped at the oldest church in New Zealand! Isn't that amazing? Missionaries came almost 200 years ago, and here we are trying to share the same message. Kind of crazy.

Anyway, we stopped for some ice cream, fought off seagulls, and then headed back on our way! Mahinepua here we come!

SNOW

2011-08-20T19:30:00.001-04:00

Snow on Cuba Mall in central Wellington (HD) from Ro Tierney on Vimeo.

Well, it snowed this week in Wellington for the first time in 40 years! There was rumor we were going to experience a big winter storm "coming up from Antarctica", but everyone was skeptical that there would actually be snow. I, on the other hand, couldn't get over a storm coming from Antarctica! I mean, that sounds cold!

Anyway, on Monday we were on campus handing out hot drinks to get the word out about an event we were doing...and the next thing we knew we could see big flakes falling from the sky! All of the students ran outside and started dancing in the snow. It was priceless. And for most of them, the first time they had seen snow. There were pictures being taken, snow ball fights, and lots and lots of dancing.

The snow didn't last long, and by Monday evening it had turned to sleet. And the rest of the week was bitter cold and wet...but not pretty snow wet. Oh well, I'm glad we were able to experience such a monumental occasion. I love the video, it captures some of the priceless expressions and the simple joy of snow :)

New Zealand film festival

2011-08-11T20:30:00.004-04:00

The New Zealand International Film Festival is currently making a stop in Wellington. We went and saw the movie "Terri"...which Ryan enjoyed, I didn't so much. Anyway, there were a ton of different movies showing in the old theaters around town. I'm sure that's how most film festivals work, and probably not worth mentioning...

market

2011-08-08T20:12:00.000-04:00

Every Sunday there is a big market that opens down by the waterfront. It opens bright and early and stays busy all through the afternoon. I absolutely love it.

Produce here in NZ is pretty expensive, and it's much more reasonable at the market than the grocery store. On Sundays after church, Ryan and I try and walk down to the market and load up on fruits and veggies.

There are a lot of green things. And quite a few that I still don't know what they are. Go figure, they have some different fruits and vegetables over on this side of the world :)

There are so many things to see and try. I always tell Ryan I feel so healthy just walking around all of the produce :) I'm not sure it works that way, but I really love it.

ladies and gentlemen, Zoe Cook

2011-08-05T00:42:00.003-04:00

One of our students, Zoe, is an amazing musician. She sings and plays all over town, and I really enjoy hearing her. This past Thursday we were able to make it to one of her gigs in town. So here she is!

2011-08-03T06:33:00.001-04:00

Otherwise known as depression.

Depression is a big issue here in New Zealand, and actually 1 in 6 kiwis will struggle with extreme depression and thoughts of suicide. Which means that everyone probably knows someone that is really struggling with depression or they are themselves.

We (Student Life) don't pretend to be experts ourselves, but we felt this was a great opportunity to try and serve the campus and the student body by providing information about depression and how to practically help friends and family. Student Life hosted an event this past week where we brought in a panel including one counselor, psychologist, a youth pastor with personal experience, and a student who also struggles with depression personally.

Both Chris and Jeremy (the youth pastor and student) did a fantastic job of sharing their own stories with depression along with things friends and family were able to do to help. Whether it's making sure a friend is eating well, getting exercise, or even encouraging them to get further help from doctors or counselors. After they shared personally, it was Q & A time for the professionals. Students were able to text in their questions anonymously and I think that went very well. We actually had a lot more questions than we had time to answer.

Overall, the feedback from students that came was very positive. They found it helpful and informative. Both Christ and Jeremy were able to share how Christ has played a role in their journey. I think it was a great balance of helping students, Christian or not, but also providing a glimpse at our ultimate hope being in Jesus Christ.

Thank you for praying for this! Depression is something that has been heavy on our hearts and we really want to break through and be able to serve and love students by providing information and help. We are definitely hoping to do this again.

more seals

2011-08-02T00:49:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago we hiked out to the red rocks to find some seals (here), and this past weekend we did it again! The Texans were hiking on Sunday and it was a beautiful day, so we decided to join them.

I was able to capture the 'red' a little bit more this time when I was taking pictures. And it always amazes me how blue the water is!

The walk is actually very flat, which is nice, and walks right along the coastline at the foot of some hills.
You cross over a few streams...

Climb a few rocks...

Take a few pictures...
And then find the seals! It is funny to take pictures with them because they don't really move. So, we could be taking pictures with dead seals for all we know. I'm pretty sure they aren't, but they are out cold.

Like this guy, lounging on his back.

It is so hard to get the mountains of the South Island to show up in pictures. They are very clear in person, so I am puzzled. But either way, they were snow capped this time.

I took this picture to try and capture the sun coming through and reflecting on all of the hills in the distance. I am constantly amazed by God's creation.

And lastly, us. It was such a beautiful day, and we are learning you have to really take advantage of those around here :)

Barn Dance

2011-07-30T08:08:00.006-04:00

In honor of the Texans being in town, they hosted a barn dance this past weekend. It was pretty funny since barn dances are definitely not typical here in New Zealand. But it was a great cultural experience all around :)

Sarah (above) did a great job putting together decorations and making it very festive. She is Texan, so naturally it was a good fit! We invited several students, and it was a great time to hang out with students we are trying to get to know as well as meet new students. Overall I think the international students loved it the most. They always enjoy learning new things :)

(Adam, Ryan, and Sam from Texas)

And of course some fake mustaches had to come out. Max seemed to really get into the spirit...

A lot of people actually came! And for most, it was their first time line dancing.

For part of the evening we were fortunate enough to have some professional instruction. They came and taught us a few dances and did some demonstrations as well. The whole night reminded me of the old college barn dances we used to have at Purdue. Only this time I didn't dislocate my knee...anyone remember that?

Exciting college memories :)

Texan Invasian

2011-07-25T05:02:00.000-04:00

This week we have had the blessing of half-hosting a group from Texas. They are really here visiting the Moore's, who work with International Student Ministries here in Wellington. We met the Moore's early on, who are also from the States, and their daughter is involved in Student Life with us. Anyway...a group from their home church in Texas came to visit them on a mission trip this week.

It's been fun to have Americans around and see their reactions to things around here. I know that sounds weird, but sometimes it's fun just to share this experience with other people that are coming from the same place we were and just laughing with them when it is just so different from home. They have been doing some ministry with us up on campus as well and I'll fill you in at the end of the week!

They will also be hosting a barn dance for our students which should be interesting since no one here knows what that means :)

Walking Soularium

2011-07-24T23:43:00.000-04:00

Second semester has officially begun! (like 3 weeks ago...someone is a little behind!) To start the new semester we tried a new outreach just to see how it would go. When most of us do evangelism on campus we use a tool called Soularium. Soularium is a set of about 50 pictures that we hand to students and then ask them a series of questions. Some being pretty simple, "How would you describe you life right now" to a little more serious, "How would you describe God?" Obviously they are encouraged to use the pictures to answer the questions. In an artsy place like Wellington, Soularium is actually a really good conversation starter and we usually have pretty positive responses. The hope always being that the conversation will head towards spiritual things and we can learn about them and talk about our own walks with Christ.

Anyway...back to our first week on campus! We thought, Soularium is fun, so why don't we draw even more attention to ourselves and stick them to suits and have "walking Soularium"! Genius right?
Ha, I think I was telling her I liked her blue mascara...

It actually worked! The whole anything-that-draws-attention-to-you must work idea came through for us. We were able to have a lot of conversations with students and many of us were able to share the gospel. And, to make it even more exciting, our Student Life students were loving it as well.

Here is a great example, Leigh engaging in conversation over the pictures on Max. I know, a little odd, but everyone just seemed to think it was funny :) The joys of working with university students...

ps- Thanks Eloisa for the pictures!!

book sale

2011-07-23T01:30:00.003-04:00

This weekend we happened upon a verrrrry large book sale in TSB arena. $2 for anything!

fun fun...
We walked away with some goodies. A book on Thailand for this summer, a neat road trip book for the US (go figure right?), a Lord of the Rings set location guide, and a NZ triathlon magazine.

Scorching Bay

2011-07-18T05:27:00.002-04:00

I don't know how this post dropped to far behind. A few weeks ago (er, months?) we headed over to scorching bay with some friends for lunch after church. Scorching Bay is just far enough away that you don't feel like you are in a city anymore, but close enough that it's about a 5 minute drive.

Anyway, it was a lovely area, and I would love to go back. (I'm mostly blogging this so I remember) There is a sweet little cafe right on the water called Scorch-a-rama that specializes in brunch/lunch foods. So, we put a buy one get one coupon into action making the food taste that much better as well!

fasting

2011-07-15T21:56:00.000-04:00

At conference last week we were really challenged by one of the seminars that spoke on fasting. The man that spoke is a kiwi but has moved to Thailand with Campus Crusade to work there. He and his team do a 40 day fast at least once a year to pray for students in Thailand to know Jesus. I was humbled by one of the women that works with him who shared that she had only been a Christian for 2 years and had already participated in two 40 day fasts in her young Christian walk.

All throughout the Bible it refers to prayer and fasting, but personally, I hardly ever fast. It makes me so hungry and uncomfortable, and well, I just really like food. And discipline isn't one of my strong points. But I have been challenged again that humbling ourselves before the Lord is so necessary in our lives. I found this quote the other day, which I thought fit pretty well:

"Fasting creates a habit of reliance in our lives. Hunger, which normally arises every five or six hours, becomes acute every five or six minutes. When we are fasting, hunger becomes a trigger mechanism prompting us to turn to God for empowerment. All day long we call out to God for strength, endurance, self-control, and wisdom.

Fasting makes us weak, and when we are weak, we are more humble. Fasting gives us a firm grip on our smallness, finitude, and lack of power - as opposed to coffee, which makes us feel fast, smart, and competent."

-Dan Hayes

And as someone that enjoys coffee quite a bit, I can relate to this comparison :) With the start of a new semester, and the trip to Thailand on the horizon, we are in desperate need of wisdom and power from God. We are praying His Holy Spirit will break through the strongholds we see in students' lives here, such as depression, apathy, alcoholism, sex, and loneliness, to name a few. We are asking for wisdom in how to lead the trip in Thailand and that God will be preparing students to go.

We will be fasting for the next 10 days (not quite ready for 40!), and will be seeking the Lord on these things. If you feel led, we would love if you would join us in prayer!

Date Night

2011-07-13T05:48:00.001-04:00

This week we headed up to the Mt. Vic lookout to take in the view.

This picture is a little blurry, but I like the city in the backdrop.

And here we are!

V20

2011-07-10T21:50:00.001-04:00

The winter conference we have been talking about for-ev-er! I think I've shared how this was New Zealand's first time hosting an international conference, so it was pretty exciting to see everything come together. About 500 students attended representing 40 different country of origin! So crazy. The opening ceremony starting with a parade of nations.

The theme of the conference was all about the Lordship of Christ. Students heard about why Christ should be Lord over all areas of our lives, and then challenged to take steps of faith. Whether that be sharing Christ with their friends, or in their future workplaces, or going on a summer project, or even interning with Student Life for a year.

Roger Hershey flew in from the States to speak at the conference. I've heard him at a similar conference back in the States and still remember what he talked about, so it was fun to see our students get to hear the same teaching.

The conference was over the 4th of July, so we had an American moment when everyone allowed us to sing the United States national anthem. There were about 40 Americans in attendance, with a summer project here and all of the STINTers from the Oceania region. Dave (a STINTer in Fiji) belted his heart out:

On the fun night, one of the campuses hosted a Kiwi hoe-down. Ha, most of the Kiwis had no idea what that meant. They should have just said American hoe-down :)

On the last night, they held a commissioning ceremony where students were challenged with specific action points to take away from conference. It always amazes me to see how God works to teach and challenge students at conferences like this.

Sarah and I with three of our amazing student leaders:

One of the highlights of conference, for me, was during our "country time" when we were with just the NZ students. There were about 200 kiwi students there, and Justin our National Director asked all of the students who were studying in NZ but weren't originally from NZ to stand up. Almost half of the room stood up, and I was reminded at how international this country is. There are so many students from China, Malaysia, Thailand, South Africa, Australia, the Pacific Islands, and so many more. It's so interesting! And so many of those students want to go back to their home countries and make an impact for Christ. It gets me excited!

A big issue

2011-07-09T23:24:00.003-04:00

If you have a few minutes, this is an article that was recently published in a New Zealand newspaper. One of the big issues we deal with here, among Uni students, is sexual promiscuity. Especially among women.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10737380

Please help us pray for healing of women that we come across. This is a huge part of the culture here, and we are always looking for ways to have an impact. Student Life just created a short documentary on the issue, and as soon as I'm allowed to share it, I will :)

a few things

2011-06-28T00:40:00.000-04:00

For my birthday, Ryan bought me a website! Did you know that was possible?? Now you can find my blog at:

http://www.katiesawrie.com

I feel so famous already :) Also, we will be gone for the next 10 days or so at winter conference, so I'll check in with you then!

Great India

2011-06-27T02:50:00.000-04:00

One of our favorite places in Wellington. After church we can usually find some students that are up for the lunch special at Great India.

A few weeks ago Max's family was in town and joined us.

Because Student Life staff have frequented Great India so much over the years, we have actually built relationships with some of the waiters. It's fun, they usually come to expect us a couple Sundays a month.

My birthday - Zealandia

2011-06-26T01:17:00.005-04:00

My birthday started by waking up to a delicious breakfast! Ryan made some French toast and then told me I had a few calls I was going to be taking. Little did I know he had set up several phone calls with friends and family from home. It was so fun!

Afterward, we went to a local attraction, Zealandia. It is a nature sanctuary nearby that is trying to bring back the original plants and animals in this region. They were having $1 days, which conveniently fell on my birthday.

Of course we saw a lot of wildlife. Beautiful birds and plants.

After soaking up the beauty, we walked home and made a delicious dinner. We celebrated my birthday the previous night with friends and teammates here in Wellington by getting dessert over at Strawberry Faire.

Thank you to everyone for a great Golden birthday!!

Seals at the Red Rocks

2011-06-25T03:44:00.000-04:00

The start of my birthday weekend! Saturday was another sunny day, which we are learning you must take advantage of. Especially in the winter. So, we decided to walk to the red rocks and see the seal colony. But, to make it an absolutely perfect day, we stopped by Starbucks first for a birthday treat :)

(I'm not sure why my head looks so small in this picture, but notice my green jacket?? That's my bday gift from Ryan)

Can you see the snow peaked mountains in the background? Ha, we think that is the south island. We were trying to think through our limited New Zealand geography knowledge to figure out what these peaks were. Jury is still out.

After walking about 5kms, Ryan was standing at Devil's Gate. Right through here is where you find the seals.

Do you see them? I thought I would point for you. The seals come here to sun in the winter when they are finished mating on the south island. Normally seals can be pretty aggressive, but they mostly slept the entire time we saw them.

And they were everywhere!

It was a great adventure. It's still crazy to me that you find these beautiful spots that are still completely natural so close to the city. Just lovely.

Plimmerton

2011-06-24T06:19:00.007-04:00

Ryan and I took a few days off this past week to relax. We've had a pretty full on month of June so far for work, even with classes being out for a few weeks. We've been preparing for our summer (Nov/Dec) trip to Thailand as well as the winter conference which starts this week. We decided last minute to head out of town to ensure that we didn't do any work on our days off :) Since our "office" also doubles as our bedroom, sometimes it can be hard to turn everything off and not work. Anyway...we went to Plimmerton, which is only a 20 minute train ride up the coast.

We rented an old boat house that has been converted into a little cabin. Since it was used to actually house a boat, it was right on the water and at high tide the waves would actually crash into the front wall.
This is where I sat most of the time with a blanket, cup of tea, and a book.

It rained for most of Thursday, but it cleared in the evening, and we could see a little bit of the sunset.
On our last morning, it was sunny! So we went and explored along the beach. It was such a lovely morning, and honestly around here you really can't find a bad view. We were even able to see the South Island in the distance.

Team Retreat - Napier

2011-06-20T02:04:00.000-04:00

Last week our team took a short trip to Napier to spend time together and "bond", and we worked so hard throughout the first semester. Napier is four hours north of Welly, on the East coast. Napier is interesting because in 1931 an earthquake leveled the city and it was completely rebuilt in art deco style. When we arrived, we headed into town and walked around to see the buildings.

(Sarah in town)

(the team by the water)

We rented a house which was right along the water. There was a great running path and park area across the street. The weather was beautiful! Napier is one of the sunniest places in New Zealand, so it was a nice break from the gray and wet Wellington winter.

(Ryan and Max played some frisbee)

(the beach!)

The next afternoon we all took a tour of a local winery, so pretty!

That evening we celebrated Max's 23rd birthday!

Enjoyed the sunset...

On the last morning we met our boss for brunch, who also happened to be in Napier. And after grabbing a cup of coffee, we hit the road!

some new decor

2011-06-13T17:55:00.001-04:00

We picked up these posters when we visited Martinborough earlier in the year (here) and I just love them. They are from their annual wine and music festival, but I think they are just lovely :)

Kaffe Eis

2011-06-11T06:22:00.000-04:00

Everyone's favorite place. Gelato and hot drinks!

Ryan and I stopped by for our date night last week and ordered hot chocolates. Only, they were HUGE. and yummy.

And we were back again to celebrate Sarah's birthday last weekend! Only we enjoyed gelato this time :)

Did you notice Cody's hair is a nice new blond color? Yes, he lost a bet...

We are going to Thailand.

2011-06-10T19:38:00.003-04:00

Check out our semi-big announcement over here:

http://www.hellonewzealand.net/2011/06/06/going-to-thailand/

Yay!

FUSE birthday par-tay

2011-06-05T07:35:00.002-04:00

FUSE, our monthly Friday night get-together, was birthday themed! There are a lot of June birthdays, and to avoid missing anyone's birthday throughout the year, we celebrated them all! Happy birthday everyone! Party hats, streamers, balloons, noise makers, and fish and chips!

Nikki and Harriet

Becca, Sarah, Shalita and Joane

Adam and Will

Sarah, Glenn, Zoe and David

Women's Retreat

2011-06-04T22:00:00.000-04:00

Spa night 2011! All of the girls met over at Pip's flat and we went through 6 treatments. Starting with face wash, then an exfoliater, toner, a face mask made out of eggs, hand cream, and foot soak.

Pip (one of the girls I disciple) putting on the egg/honey mask

Kimberley and Amy (two new girls in my bible study I lead) and their masks

We had A LOT of delicious snacks as well - this is why I keep gaining weight here!

Joane and Zoe wash the feet of Sanny (a girl that is exploring Christianity for the first time)

Becca and Sarah wash Shalita's feet as well

Throughout the evening we had some of the ladies that are leaders in Student Life share a little about what purity means to them. Even though we were focusing our spa treatments on cleansing the outside of us, what really concerns God is our cleansing on the inside.

To end the evening, some nice gentlemen came and sang to us! Sorry the picture is terrible. Ryan, Glenn, Cody and Adam serenaded the ladies, and they loved it.

All of the girls huddled around the window...

It was a great time of fellowship and getting to know some new ladies. If you might be interested in some of the recipes for the treatments just let me know :)

a taste of home

2011-06-03T19:24:00.002-04:00

Sometimes you just need a taste of home. A rainy Saturday spent at Sbux :)

Need coffee now??

2011-06-01T06:54:00.000-04:00

Even at the hardware store (think Lowe's or Home Depot) you can find a cafe to get coffee. Addicted much?

Auckland (and back) and Waikato visit

2011-05-28T01:38:00.001-04:00

On Tuesday this week I headed up to Auckland for a campus visit. Sarah and I were going to go visit the women staff for a little vision trip and then head down to the Waikato campus to visit the ladies there as well. What was going to be a quick 3 day trip turned into quite the adventure (maybe a theme of our time in NZ in general...??).

We arrived at the airport Tuesday morning ready to go, only to find out our flight had been delayed a bit. Finally we boarded the plane and as we were about half way into our hour long flight the pilot informed us that we couldn't land in Auckland. We were instructed to stay in a "holding pattern"...pilot slang for fly around the whole island in circles for an hour and a half due to fog. Yes, I literally saw Mt. Ruapehu through my window about 5 times as we circled in the air. Then the pilot announced we were clear to land so put on your seat belts, blah blah blah. As we started to descend, he came back on said "just kidding!" (not really) but that we were headed back to Wellington. Three hours and we were back where we started! Pretty funny actually, we had an entire tour of the north island. After an hour we re-boarded the same plane and tried again...successfully!

It was great to visit with our Auckland staff friends and chat with them about ministry this year (even though we were very delayed in arriving). Early the next morning we drove down to Waikato University.

We went to visit the staff team in Waikato to encourage them as well as get an idea for how ministry is similar and different on another campus. It can be extremely helpful to gather ideas since we all face very similar challenges, and it's just fun to help think through some of those challenges together. Outside of staff conference in January, and winter conference in July, we don't usually get to catch up with other staff that often.

Another reason for us going to Waikato was to try out a new evangelism tool they are using to see what we think. The "tool" consists of several cards, kind of like a deck of cards, that show different perspectives on God, purpose, Jesus, morality, human nature, that kind of thing. Then people can share their perspective. It's an easy way for them to identify with, or put words to their perspective on these topics. It was actually a great conversation starter!

After doing a little sharing on campus we headed over to a staff couples home for a bit, and then to dinner. And flew back to Welly the next morning! It was a quick trip, but really good to connect with fellow New Zealand Student Life staff.

Home is where the heart is.

2011-05-26T18:46:00.005-04:00

(via etsy)

I've been thinking about this quite a bit lately. We have been in New Zealand now almost 6 months and we get asked a lot how we are doing "settling in" and "how much we miss home". Both are very legitimate questions and I am thankful that people care enough to ask :)

I just never really know how to answer! Of course part of me will always miss home. I miss our family, sitting by the fire, watching movies, eating :), laughing, and our friends. There is a good chance we won't be back "home" for another year and half, so does that make us homeless? What makes a home?

I was telling a friend the other day, I think back to living in Indianapolis and I miss it a lot, but I also know if we went back it wouldn't be the same. I would be restless and would be scared to death that I would be stuck in that comfortable life for, well, the rest of my life. I think about living in Wellington and it still feels strange sometimes, but then I travel for a few days and want to come back home to Wellington. So I don't know, "home" seems so relative. Some days I'm so grateful for the adventure and other days I just want to be comfortable and in our own home.

It's just amazing really, when you are forced to adapt to something new, you really can! Wellington is our new home, at least for the time being, and it is starting to feel like a home as well. I was out of town this past week up in Auckland and I actually wanted to come back home...to our flat in Wellington. I feel like that has to say something! And let me tell you, our flat is nothing spectacular. It's pretty basic, but gets the job done, most of the time... There are so many things that I would use to describe "home"...comfortable, clean, decorated, full of our stuff, family and friends. Our flat isn't really any of those things, but, this is where we are for now, together, so it is home :)

Birthday pictures!

2011-05-13T06:26:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone for sending me pictures for Ryan's birthday! They were so fun and Ryan really enjoyed seeing everyone on his birthday. They're actually still hanging up almost a month later. I figure we might have to take them down here soon :)

(friends)

(siblings)

(family)

(friends)

Our Anniversary

2011-05-12T04:16:00.001-04:00

In honor of our wedding anniversary (which was a month ago now...) I thought I would share a few pics from our rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Gosh, we were so excited to get married! The wedding seemed like such a whirlwind, and it seems like time hasn't really slowed down since. A lot has happened in 3 years :)

As our team mate Cody said, "Well, here's to 3 more!" I hope it's many more than 3, but I appreciate his enthusiasm.

Lonely Girl

2011-05-09T04:43:00.001-04:00

I'm sure most of you have heard either Ryan or I talk about how one of the hardest things for us about transitioning to a new country has been the loneliness of being in a new place. Before coming I didn't have the expectation that we would be making friends left and right, but it has still been hard to be patient. At a time when we are being stretched in so many different ways, I want to run to my dear friends and cry over the difficulties, laugh at my mistakes, encourage one another, pray with them, and most importantly just be in their company. But, with thousands of miles, and a large ocean that separates us, that just isn't possible. For a person that likes to be around people, I can feel very alone some days.

I know God has brought us to New Zealand. I am grateful for all of the ways He has shown Himself faithful in the midst of our planning, support raising and decision making over the past year. Those are the things I rely on the most when ministry is hard. And when I just don't "get" why we're here some days, I look back to God's faithfulness and find some comfort. These are the things I want to remember when looking back over our journey here. It's hard, has required more faith than I've ever wanted in my life, and God has been faithful.

I've been reminded over and over again these past few months about the sufficiency of Christ. Even if I was stranded alone (no friends), in horrible circumstances (in a foreign land), with what seems like no hope...Christ should still be enough for me (not that I'm saying we are all alone in horrible circumstances, but even if we were...). Because of His love for us, and His grace, He doesn't usually leave us in that situation. But either way, Jesus should be more than enough for my joy and contentment. This theme is found all throughout the book of Colossians, but this section has been particularly interesting to me lately.

Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

Paul is really praising Jesus for who He is; that He created all things, was before all things, and in Him all things exist. And then he goes on to talk about how all the fullness of God dwells in Christ and that ultimately all things will be reconciled through Christ. What comfort to know that my Savior has such power! And to know that my loneliness is not beyond His grasp. So often I turn to the world to satisfy that loneliness, by looking at facebook, or going shopping, or reading another book...but ultimately those things are not even close in standing to the One in which all things consist. He is sufficient for me, and always will be.

Just some thoughts from these past few weeks :)

New friends

2011-05-07T06:40:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, new friends invited us over for dessert and games. Rob and Lindsay invited us and another couple over for feijoa and lemon pie, Riesling, and Balderdash.

I totally missed a shot of Cam and Ny, but it was great to meet them as well!

Lindsay is from Madison, WI, actually! She came over to STINT with Student Life a few years ago, met Rob, they got married and now live in Wellington. We were thankful for their great hospitality, lots of laughs, and for a delicious dessert!

Rugby

2011-05-04T04:16:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we went to our first professional rugby game! The Wellington Hurricanes aren't actually that great we've been told, but it ended up being a really good game. They will actually be using this stadium for part of the Rugby World Cup as well, which starts this coming September!

I tried to get some close up footage with my little point and shoot. Ha, here is a scrum:

And when they throw the ball in from the sidelines they actually lift each other up in the air to catch it. It's part soccer, part cheer leading?
And they actually won! At the last second! Woohoo!

Reason for God

2011-05-02T21:12:00.002-04:00

Have you guys read Reason for God by Tim Keller? It's a pretty great book, where he addresses many of the common objections to Christianity. We've been showing the dvd series at our weekly meetings and have had some great discussion. In the dvds, Pastor Keller hosts a discussion with 6 non-Christians about some common objections. It is interesting to hear people's thoughts and after the dvd is over, we split into smaller groups to continue the discussion with students (with afternoon tea of course!). So far, this has been going really well!

The topics include:
1. Is the Bible a myth?
2. Is there more than one way to God?
3. Why are there so many rules with God?
4. How can a just God allow suffering?
5. Why are Christians so hypocritical?
6. How can a loving God allow hell to exist?

Pretty controversial huh? It's good stuff, and on a campus like Victoria where students are extremely skeptical of religion and God, it's necessary that we are able to engage in these conversations. We believe Christians need to be able to dialogue about these things without becoming defensive and, well, prideful. We are learning, our students are learning, and non-Christians are brought into community to answer some of their deep concerns about God.

The promo:

The Reason for God DVD Trailer from Redeemer City to City on Vimeo.

There are six videos, and we are halfway through. Tomorrow we will have the discussion on how God can allow suffering. This is a big roadblock for many people, so we are praying several new students would come out to chat. Please pray with us that students would come and be heard, and that truth would be shared.

day 5 - long road home

2011-04-28T04:34:00.001-04:00

We had a little more luck on the way home of getting Mt Ruapehu to cooperate :) The second mountain is actually what they used for "Mt. Doom" in the Lord of the Rings movies, just in case you wanted to know! (totally right?)

day 4 - lots o' rocks

2011-04-27T04:26:00.008-04:00

We drove a little ways this morning to find a mystery beach! I was excited, Ryan wasn't so thrilled...but he is a good sport. We followed the instructions I had found online to a secret, unmarked, beach. And after hiking for about 30 minutes...we found it!

We weren't actually alone at this "secret" beach, but pretty close. It was a pretty big beach with about 6 people on it. It wasn't quite the sunny, "lay-out" kind of day, but it was still relaxing :)

Ha, did I forget to mention this is what we had to cross to get there? After the hiking mishaps from the previous days I was surprised I didn't roll an ankle or something. When you follow these rocks around the bend, you can find the beach!
Afterwards we went into the Coromandel town for a milkshake. Haha, exciting? And then we decided we wanted to climb to the top of this mountain. But unfortunately we couldn't find the trailhead! Big bummer. We drove around for about 30 minutes trying to find it, but by then it was starting to get dark. Probably not a good idea to head out into the wilderness?

So instead we watched the beautiful sunset...

On the way back home we also found this waterfall off the side of the road.

So we made little boats out of leaves and sent them over.

Another great day of exploration, and unfortunately we are headed home tomorrow!

day 3 - Hot Water Beach

2011-04-27T00:29:00.006-04:00

Warning, there are quite a few pictures in this post! After stopping by a local donut shop to celebrate Ryan's birthday, we headed up to Cathedral Cove. Cathedral Cove is pretty "famous" in NZ, due to several movies filming there, such as the most recent (I think) Narnia movie.

Anyway, we started our hike nice and early :)

Once we arrived we saw this sign, which looks pretty serious! New Zealand loves their exclamation signs.
Well, here is the famous cove.

It was such a nice sunny day! We were so thankful after the previous day's rain.

We decided (or Ryan decided, and it was his birthday) that we would ignore the scary sign and go through the ropes to the beach on the other side. Ha, notice the kids fighting in the water in the background.

Another look back across the beach. I thought the blue water, green trees, white cliffs and rock were just stunning.
After soaking up as much Cathedral Cove as we could, we headed on to the next bay, Stingray Bay. Also beautiful.

After Stingray Bay, we jumped back in the car and drove off to the real highlight of the day. Hot Water Beach! HWB is a beach (duh) with thermal activity underneath, so at low tide hot water actually seeps up through the sand. Crazy! So, the popular tourist activity is to dig yourself a hot tub on the beach. It's funny, you kind of have to fight for a spot!

Can you see the steam?? Our first spot wasn't so great because the water was actually too hot. We couldn't even sit in it!

But then the couple next to us decided to leave and gave us their spa. Ryan, my model:

Fabulous, a hot tub on the beach...

And you can kind of see how busy it was. Lots and lots of people. There are even stands renting out shovels, but we toughed it out with a frisbee :)

Another busy day, but we ended it by going out to dinner to celebrate Ryan's birthday! Woohoo 26!

day 2 - The Pinnacles

2011-04-26T05:27:00.007-04:00

We started the morning with some pancakes while deciding what we should do for the day. The Coromandel, so we've been told, is known for it's beaches, but there are also some amazing hikes in the middle of the peninsula that we thought we should check out. I thought there was no way Ryan would want to do a full day hike, but go figure, that's the one he wanted to do :) So...we looked outside, it was sunny, so we figured...let's go for it!

We spoke too soon. We hadn't really calculated the time it would take to get to the trailhead, so after almost an hour of driving through the back country it had started pouring down rain. Too late to turn around now! Luckily, I had left my rain coat in the car the night before so we headed off down the trail, thinking "it never rains ALL day, it must stop eventually"...

The hike did have these fun bridges across the river that we zigzagged across occasionally. The area we were hiking through was first discovered when logging companies hiked up here for the timber. The trail was created for mules that were carrying supplies up to the top.

La te da, just hiking in the rain :) I do have pants on by the way, I was just dressed for a little warmer weather.

A lot of pretty waterfalls, and well, just a lot of water in general.
Finally we saw a pinnacle! You are probably wondering what a pinnacle is? Well, a pinnacle forms when sediment builds up inside a volcano. Then, over time, the volcano falls away leaving the pointy looking sediment. That is my understanding anyway, I'm thinking maybe I should do some further reading. The view from the top is supposed to be spectacular, one of the must do's in NZ, but unfortunately the weather wasn't really cooperating...so we turned around and headed back.
More neat bridges and water. I believe it was right around this time that I slipped and fell, which left me with a huge bruise on the side of my leg and on both of my knees. Awesome :)

Here we are back down at the bottom after our adventurous (and treacherous) day to the Pinnacles. This was taken right before we found out our car wouldn't start... So apparently the adventure wasn't quite over.

I sort of freaked out at this time. There wasn't anyone around and most of the hikers make this hike in 2 days meaning they aren't coming down until tomorrow. We were 9kms from the ranger station with no cell phone coverage...and it was going to get dark soon. Yikes. I had my mind set that we were going to have to spend the night in our car until someone would come and be able to rescue us.

Ryan offered to start jogging to the ranger station while I stayed back in case anyone came along with jumper cables. About 15 minutes after he left two nice German guys came down and offered to give me a ride to the ranger station. I met Ryan there and a very nice ranger, Eric, was able to drive us back and get our car going. Woohoo!

On our way back to civilization we came across this sign. Apparently we were going to ford the river! Oregon Trail anyone?

From inside the car, it actually looks like we might be in the river...

On our way back to our "home", we stopped by another little beach to see the sunset. It was very pretty, and it made me excited for the beach the next day!

And then we crashed :)

Our mini trip - day 1

2011-04-24T18:07:00.005-04:00

The road trip! We left Wellington pretty early in the morning after picking up our rental car. The skies weren't looking very nice over Kapiti Island when we drove along the coast...

But quickly the day cleared up. We drove through the countryside for a while, which is so green! And of course, full of sheep.

We came to Taihape, where they have an annual gumboot (rain boots) throwing contest. I think that would be so fun to watch, so I'll have to talk Ryan into going sometime. Ha, it's only 3 hours away...

We reached Mt Ruapehu, which is almost half way and took a picture with the mountain. We haven't had much luck driving through, it always seems to be hiding behind clouds. One of these days we will get it!

And I stopped taking pictures of our road trip here apparently. It was about a 9 hour drive up to the Coromandel, and we didnt' arrive until late. It was an adventure navigating with poor maps and very windy roads. Anyway, check back, I'll share more soon!

on the road

2011-04-15T19:02:00.002-04:00

We are headed out of town for a bit to celebrate Ryan's birthday! We're actually renting a car and going to the Coromandel to explore some beaches and mountains. Yay!

In case you're interested...

http://www.thecoromandel.com

Yes, the Easter Bunny.

2011-04-13T06:30:00.004-04:00

For Easter, we thought we would try something a little different for an outreach on campus... You know how in the states people takes their kids to get pictures with the Easter Bunny? Well, apparently they definitely don't do that in New Zealand, so we thought...why not make a few people laugh and take their pictures with the Easter Bunny?

So we did...
Only our bunny costume we rented turned out to be pretty creepy. But, hey, even that works on a uni campus :) You can see his tail is about to fall off...

And sometimes he looks like a puppy dog?

Doesn't he just look sad? After we took students' pictures we asked them to fill out a quick survey to see what students had to say about Easter and why we celebrate it. We had some good conversations and actually met a few Christians on campus that are looking to get involved in bible studies. Fellowship in Uni is so important, so we were encouraged to meet some of these students!

Just hanging out...
Adam is big on showing off his guns these days. So when the bunny was busy running around campus to drum up business, you could get your photo with Adam!

And then the bunny joined us at our weekly meeting and participated in discussion! He was quite the celebrity for a day :)

Our hope is to be able to follow up with several of the students we met this week while taking pictures. We would love to get to chat about what we do with Student Life as well as why we celebrate Easter. Hopefully this creepy bunny will lead to some good spiritual conversations!

Calling all Ladies

2011-04-11T20:42:00.003-04:00

We had a ladies craft night this past weekend! Best night ever. Amazing women and crafts? Sign me up!
We had some snacks, and Sarah made a pumpkin pie! Pumpkin pies are sort of a luxury because canned pumpkin does not exist here. So you actually have to make it from scratch, boiling pumpkin and all. Very impressive! You also have to make the pie crust from scratch, pre-made pie crusts aren't easy to come by, and they are usually square...which is weird. Anyway, just wanted you to appreciate the joy we all found in having pumpkin pie :)

We worked on making necklaces this evening.

You can see us with our necklaces!

We're trying to have more of these "events" like this so we can invite other women into community in a very non-threatening way. We want our students to be challenged to bring friends along and start to build some intentional relationships. Of course, we have a lot of fun, but we also want to be building relationships with each other and women that are curious about Jesus or new to Student Life.

FUSE

2011-04-08T21:12:00.000-04:00

There is another piece of our ministry that I realize I haven't really mentioned. On the first Friday of every month we have dinner together with all of our students involved in Student Life. We meet at a church in the city, cook dinner, and enjoy each others' company.

Here, our team member Cody, is interviewing Joané and Jessie about their experiences at Autumn Retreat (don't you love the floral decorations in the background??). After dinner we usually split into smaller discussion groups and go through a passage of scripture. We usually end the night by trying to wiggle cookies down our face from our forehead to mouth...without our hands...I know, weird...don't ask.

Anyway, just another little picture into our ministry :)

Final Four

2011-04-07T21:39:00.001-04:00

I know everyone was worried, but we did get to watch the Final Four games! Here we are at our favorite pub where they show all of the American sports. A few students (Shalita, Sarah, Will and Adam) joined us and tried to show their excitement for a sport they hardy ever watch and try to understand why we have alliances to different universities? Anyway, we were able to pull for Butler!

And then they lost horribly in the final. Bummer.

Buckeyes in New Zealand??

2011-04-06T06:01:00.000-04:00

It's true!! Look what I found the other day...

Another package!!

2011-04-04T20:28:00.003-04:00

Yay! I did a little dance again, and then we ripped open the box :) Ryan's parents sent us some new warm clothes! It's starting to cool off around here, and new clothes are definitely welcome.

And! So I can get caught up on the important stuff, a People magazine! All we have here are the British mags, just not as interesting to this American. I had to convince some members of my team that People magazine is a high quality publication, totally different than the trashy magazines and worthy of sending across the world. And some yummy Starbucks VIA :)
Oh yeah, and the real reason for the package...our mail so we can do our taxes! Woohoo! (this post is a little overdue, it arrived a few weeks ago) Oh, and an early birthday card for Ryan!

Thank you, thank you!

Roller Derby

2011-04-03T05:31:00.000-04:00

Yup, they even have them here! We went to the roller derby last weekend, and had a lot of fun. They call it the 'Richter City Roller Derby'. Get it? Like the Richter scale for earth quakes? Clever. Anyway, it was fun, and always an interesting crowd :)

And we talked Adam into going with us. Ha, he tried to keep up, but there are seriously a million rules to the sport (?).

The half time show celebrated Maori culture with some dancing, singing, and chanting.

It was impossible to get any good pictures with them moving to fast. So, here you go! You can imagine what it was like?

Autumn Retreat

2011-03-30T01:03:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was our Autumn Retreat! This has been one of our biggest events of the year, as we try and get students involved in Student Life and to see our heart behind trying to reach students for Christ. We had about 22 students that came, and it was amazing to see the Lord teaching their hearts throughout the weekend.

Our speaker, Bob, came down from Auckland and taught through the book of Colossians. He works with a ministry called Priority Associates which focuses on new graduates in the workplace. Helping them to transition and what it looks like to be Christ in their new workplaces. It was a great fit for us as we want our students to understand that wherever the Lord places them, He is calling them to live for His glory.

Here is our meeting room, getting ready for one of the talks. Apparently Sarah and I are finding something hysterical.

One of the highlights for me was the summer project fair. You may or may not know this about Campus Crusade (Student Life) but one of the big things we do is send students on short term mission trips during the summer, both internationally and domestically. I had the opportunity to go on one while I was in Uni, to France, and I can honestly say it changed my life. Doing ministry overseas rocked my world as I was challenged in the true power of the gospel and the need to take it to the world. I loved seeing how Jesus broke through cultural barriers and struggles and is applicable in all human life. And here I am today...

Anyway, maybe I should write a blog just on that sometime, but back to the summer project fair... We had students share their experiences from this past summer so other students could find out information and start to pray and see if the Lord would call them to give Him a few weeks of their summer to impact the world. (more info: http://gosummerproject.com/)

Cody and Will talking about their two weeks in Fiji

Sarah sharing about her summer in East Asia

Zoe was in Australia

and Sarah was in Nelson with us!

Another highlight was womens' time, of course. We talked about women in our lives that have made an impact, and how we can carry on their legacy to make an impact on others. Preferably a positive, biblical impact :) And being the true girls we are, we then got crafty and made some cards for those women to thank them for impacting us.

I had the opportunity to lead one of our afternoon seminars on the topic of spending time with the Lord. It's neat to see how God has taught me so much in this area since I was in Uni, so it was fun to get to share some of that with our students. We had a great discussion about why it's important that we spend time with God through His Word and prayer. And then why we know it's good and still choose not to do it...and what we can do to change that :)

Ok, so maybe it was a long weekend for some of us! Just kidding, we had a ton of fun, and it was great to get to know many of our students on a little deeper level. We're still new here in a lot of ways.
And, most of the group! This was taken on the last morning, after two days of rain, mudslides, and possibly no showers. Beautiful :)

Happy St Pattys Day!

2011-03-29T15:54:00.003-04:00

Ryan claims he is Irish, so we had to have our corned beef and cabbage. Happy St. Patricks Day from us!

Some fun things.

2011-03-23T04:39:00.000-04:00

We visited the local Wellington museum a few weekends ago, and Ryan posed for this great photo! We learned a ton about Wellington, you can quiz me if you like :) Seriously, are we nerds? We only hang out at museums and book stores...hmm...

And, the other night we were walking down on the waterfront, and...we found a circus! A little random, but I feel like whenever we are in town we always find something a little odd going on. So, we sat down and enjoyed the show!

There's a very popular pizza place called Hell pizza, and when you have leftovers, you can fold your pizza box into a coffin. A little creepy? Yes. And when you walk in, it says "welcome to Hell". Good pizza, but I had nightmares for weeks. Just kidding, but still a little creepy.

There is this amazing German bakery near campus where one of our students works. They have delicious soft pretzels, and I am a total sucker for soft pretzels. Anyway, delicious.

And lastly, can you see the guy singing and playing guitar across the street here? This is actually a very popular way to make some extra cash. You can apply for a street performer permit, and anyone can play or sing. We see quite a few students doing it, which is pretty cool. I've mentioned before that Wellington is very "artsy", so musicians sort of migrate here. Anyway, I see him around quite a bit, and he's very good. And for all of you wondering, no, I don't just hang out at Starbucks all day. This is a very rare occurrence and I was actually just waiting to meet someone :)

Well, that was just a quick update!

Arty Bees

2011-03-22T04:34:00.003-04:00

The coolest used book store I've ever been to. There are loads and loads of books, and they're open late! We've spent quite a few date nights in Arty's just looking around at books. Hey, cheap date!

wall-o-love

2011-03-17T01:09:00.003-04:00

My new creation in our flat. It looks a little silly, like a 5 year old did it, but it makes me so happy. I love to see little notes and pictures that we've been given and have gathered over the past year or so up where I can see them. Notes, pictures, and postcards from along this crazy journey to and while being in New Zealand.

It makes me smile on those days that I really don't feel like smiling. When I miss home, miss having great community, miss seeing friends and family, I just walk and stare at the wall.

Ryan probably thinks I'm nuts, but that's ok, he probably already thinks that anyway. Adding some yarn and thumbtacks to a wall probably isn't changing his mind much.

To be a part of the wall-o-love, it's pretty simple, we aren't picky :)

the lighthouse

2011-03-15T04:41:00.006-04:00

Sunday was a beautiful day. Despite the worry of tsunamis the morning before, we woke up to another clear day, with some sun! After church, the Moores invited us over for a delicious "supper", which was fantastic because A) we're out of food, B) we always really enjoy their company, and C) Sandy is an amazing cook!

Afterwards we headed out to Eastbourne for a hike we have been trying to do, but have had some cold and rainy weekends the past few weeks. But! To take advantage of the rare sun we were having, we decided to go for it.

We realized at about this point we had forgotten sunscreen...a no no in the south pacific...but we continued on!

Eastbourne is on the opposite side of the bay from Wellington, and the hike actually took us to the edge of the bay, where it meets the Cook Straight. Because it was a pretty clear day you could actually see the south island, but it wasn't cooperating in the photos. The coast in this area is fairly rocky, and really beautiful.

Then we started heading up...and there was a peek of the lighthouse in the distance.

And we made it to the top! I'm so glad the colors turned out so beautiful. It was really stunning with the blue water, yellow bushes, and tall tan grass. This is looking out from the lighthouse to the bay.

And the lighthouse! And Ryan :)

My man, taking on the world.

And us, looking across to parts of Welly.

Overall it was about a 10 mile hike, so we were a bit worn out by the end of the day. But, it felt so good to get outside and enjoy some of the last days of "summer". Everyone at home can start rubbing it in now that it's getting warmer at home, and colder here :)

boo winter.

Otari-Wilton's Bush

2011-03-14T05:15:00.003-04:00

In New Zealand, they use the word "bush" instead of "forest" or "woods" like we would use back home. So! This weekend we went and tramped through the bush! And! It was sunny! This particular park is considered a natural botanic garden, which I'm not completely sure what that means, but it was pretty. And full of ferns and little waterfalls.

And! The Fernery! This reminds me of another new word I've learned...cattery. Where you can send your cat, along with $50,000, when you die so someone will take care of them and they can live a life of luxury? Anyone else heard about these? No? Alright, moving on...

And, can you believe it! We found the sacred silver fern. Well, maybe not sacred, but it is a pretty iconic thing here in NZ, so pretty exciting that we found one in real life!

We also found some great old trees. Rumor is there is an 800 year old tree in the OWB that we are going to have to come back and find one of these days...

And lastly, one of the soothing waterfalls.

So, after these pictures, and the pictures I'll be posting tomorrow, how could you possibly resist coming to visit us?? Just one quick (or rather long) plane flight away ;)

rotten milk.

2011-03-12T05:12:00.000-05:00

If you get queezy with food, maybe just pass on this one.

Have you ever tried to heat up milk for hot chocolate, and this happens?

Yes, my milk turned to a solid. Disgusting. I checked the label and it was almost a week until the expiration date, and it didn't smell bad at all. What the heck?

On the Journey

2011-03-07T02:03:00.000-05:00

This is our first big campaign of the year! We try to plug as many first year students into Student Life as we can within the first few weeks, before their schedules are completely filled up. For the first week, VUWSA, or the student association hosts "Clubs Week", where every club on campus is invited to host a table to talk about their group. So, our new chalkboards made an appearance...

We are very clear that we are a Christian group on campus, Kiwis do not appreciate being "deceived" by "religious" groups...
Students filled out hundreds of surveys for us, telling us a little about their spiritual journey and whether or not they would be up for having a chat about beginning a journey with Jesus Christ. And in return, we gave out free jandals (flip-flops), which were a huge hit.
We are the ones wearing the yellow shirts :) We definitely stood out.
The idea of jandals go along with our "theme" of On the Journey a bit...put these on and start your journey! Clever eh?

Several of our students came out to help, here are Sarah and Joané were great sports.

We unfortunately were rained out two days, which was a bummer, so we still have quite a few jandals left over :) So now it's time to get creative!

A package! A package!

2011-03-05T05:21:00.004-05:00

We received a package this week from America! How exciting! I seriously did a little happy dance as soon as I saw it on our porch :) And then proceeded to stare at it for the next hour waiting for Ryan to get home... It's so fun to receive things from home and feel that much more connected to everyone!
So...we tore it open, and check out the goodies!

Talk about love. Dan and Stephanie sent a lot of love in this package :) On top of all the snacks, they included a treasure from their trip to Guatemala. They recently went to Guatemala with Indy Metro Church (you can see our trip here, or read about their trip here), and brought us a little gift home from one of the girls, Beverly. It was so sweet, and reading it was so special. Thank you friends for all of your encouragement, we loved it, and have been savoring all of the treats!!!!

Chalkboards

2011-03-01T22:17:00.000-05:00

Getting ready for our first outreach by making some chalkboards :)

Coming soon...jandals!

2011-03-01T00:28:00.000-05:00

Our flat is currently full of 1000 pairs of flip-flops. Yes, our tiny flat with about 30 of these boxes!
Can't wait for 'On the Journey' week!

Day of Festivals

2011-02-28T21:50:00.000-05:00

Being in the capital city does have some perks, there always seems to be something going on! This past Saturday we happened upon the Pacific Islander festival, where we heard music from all over the...Pacific :)

Afterward we headed to the Greek festival! Where we enjoyed souvlakis, a kebab, and some desserts while watching a little Greek dancing.

Wellington is surprisingly multicultural, and we always seem to be finding new cultures (and food) to explore!