| ...I am spending covered in mud, wearing only my swimming trunks and digging a drainage channel for some missionaries. It´s hot in Brazil. And rainy. I was working the other day and getting so wet that swimming trunks were the only option left. Strangely liberating digging clay in the warm rain. It reminded me of being a kid. My brothers and i used to turn the hose on at the top of this soil area at the bottom of our garden (behind the hill, remember Mum?). Then we´d each build a wee river. Mine i remember was fast flowing and lined with tiny pebbles. Plenty of meanders. Deposition on the inside of the bend and erosion on the outside. Niall´s was wide and deep. Like the river Nile. I always found that funny. So as i sat in the dirt the other day with the rain fully lashing around me i smiled at the memory and was glad that all those hours in the soil weren´t wasted. |
Friday, December 16, 2005
This advent season...
Monday, December 12, 2005
Some honesty...
...invites me to briefly tell you of two recent miracles that occurred in my life. In Guatemala, all those moons ago. I, like an idiot, went swimming with our room keys in my pocket in the massivest waves in the universe, 20mins or something before we had to check out. If you don´t check out in time they make you pay for another night. Obviously i lost the keys. Obviously they had a spare which took four years to find. tick tick tick. Obviously i got down on my knees on the sand and said: God I´ve made a mistake can you help me out? Make the keys that would never ever ever wash up wash up, so we don´t have to pay more etc. I didn´t say ´´etc´´ to God, i was a bit more emotional and went on a bit. I went back inside, i couldn´t see the keys. Not so obviously, just as we were trying to pay, some kind of angel kid walked in with our keys in his hand. He said they had washed up along the beach so he brough them to our hostel. How he knew they were the keys to our hostel i will never know. They weren´t marked and there were loads of hostels. God answered my prayer, because he is amazingly good. In Peru we had the worst day ahead of us you could imagine: Get up at 3.30am and get three flights to the most dangerous city on Earth, Rio, to arrive at some other weird place at 11pm, having slept on a bus the night before. Pretty much the worst day on Earth to wake up with the worst food poisoning you´ve ever had in your life. Vomitting and the D word like crazy. And the feeling of a rusty axe wedged in your forehead, wobbling back and forward. In so much pain you can barely move your lips, never mind talk. With vomit soaking the back of your throat up to you eye balls and making you retch all the more. Trying to go through security and immigration, between outbursts of throwing up. I couldn´t believe i made it to the departure lounge. I was just considering not going on the flight, when odd stuff started to happen. I heard an audible voice tell me to sit up. Lucia was at the toilet and the others were further away. It was no one i knew. I sat up anyway. I looked around and there was no on there. In a weird way i very naturally assumed it was an angel and didn´t think to much of it. Sitting up was good. I pleaded with God to take away the sickness. Then i thought about His love for me for a bit. Then i started crying in complete joy and something broke over me. It felt like something snapped. Then (excuse the Christian jargon) the Holy Spirit came over me and it felt warm and nice. I´m very familiar with this happening, but it´s never happened in an airport. I asked God to release His supernatural power into this situation. He did. Out loud i described what was happening. As i descibed the feeling of complete joy i was amazed because i could speak. I was standing now. I finished speaking with: And now i´m.....better!. I´m completely better. And i was! I was completely completely healed. I could still taste the puke in my throat, but that was all. I jumped (that´s right jumped, like the leper Jesus healed) on the chair and shouted a thank you to Jesus. The others were so embarassed. Lucia even went back to the toilet. I was laughing so hard, under the influence of the Holy Spirit. And the others were concerned i would be committed to an asylum, but i couldn´t stop. I went over to the infomation counter, because i realised they didn´t have the most important information that Jesus loved them and us and you, so i wrote it down on their stuff. Completely healed, raised some stares, but didn´t care. I ate all my food on the planes and had a great flipping day. Thank you God. You are so Good. |
...
Stand By Me moments
| You know the film. You know the song. It´s full of good moments that film. One of the worse moments, however, involved some leeches. There is a lot of ticks in Brazil. They crawl up your leg or arm, looking for a a quite warm place to nestle in and suck your blood. Some of them are about a centimetre long and as black as coal. So yeah, put all these details together and you´ll come up with what i found to my shock and horror a few mornings ago. Yes the pain and revulsion of finding a massive TICK on my inner thigh, was eclipsed and redered infinitesimal as i discovered the OTHER TICK as i prepared to go to the toilet. I´m still in counselling. |
Neuvo Destino
| On a farm outside Itabarito, outside Belo Horizonte, outside Rio de Janerio, Brazil, a about ten years ago something special began to grow. A lady got a dream from her God. He showed her children from the streets coming in their droves to their farm to a have a good time and learn stuff about life and Him. After a lot of discussion with her God and her husband the time came to sell the farm. Morven and Fabio bought their farm having received 36000 pounds in the space of a week from people who they hadn´t even asked for money. Then they, with a team from an outdoor adventure centre in Scotland built an adventure centre. Yesterday the second group of kids ever to visit left. The lady´s dream is beginning to be fulfilled. The name of the farm, isn´t even cheesy because it was always called that even before the vision (in the hearts of men) to give the street kids of Brazil a New Destiny. We´ve been working on the farm for a week now. Building fences, digging weeds, building football goals and lots of other stuff. Then over the weekend we were helping out in our own Portugueseless way. It´s an amazing place. So peaceful, with such good food. Lucia and I´s old pastor, Ted, is the cook. Along with his wife Deidre, Morven, Fabio, Little baby Angus (sudden excitement about being a dad, kind of overflowing), Romeo, Fred, Rory and others have made us so welcome. It´s a good place to be and there is a lot we can give. And they have a pool. If you feel like praying, pray for this place, pray for the kids. Pray for breakthrough in their lives. That they would come to know the God who loves them, when everyone else rejects them. We know God loves this place, because He built it and dreamed it, so He definately wants to use it. Lets ask Him together. |
Brazil
| Films not to watch before coming to Brazil: City of God and that other one. People not to talk to before coming to Brazil: A lot of people. Truth is there´s a lot of murder and hardcore crime here. The place we stayed when we first got here, someone was killed around the corner during the night. Lots of gangland wars over drugs teritories in the Favellas. Should that stop you coming? No. It´s hard when everyone you talk to seems to tell you another horror story. People say things like don´t go out of the bus station- it´s dangerous. Other peole say, don´t go in the bus station - it´s dangerous. Don´t get out of bed - it´s dangerous. Where in the contract of life does it say it won´t be dangerous. I´m pretty confident at this stage that life is not about minimising danger. Danger is part of life. Rant rant. |
Team players
| Let me at this late stage introduce the others: James and Anna. They are 22 and their parents live in Carlise. I met them in New Zealand on my DTS. They met at Durham. James studied Physics, Anna studied English and Classics. We work very well together. We all like Scrabble and are equally matched. They are engaged to be married in April. Lucia and i will be getting married (God willing) late in May. So we have a lot of conversations that would probably bore people to death. Anna is amazing at bargaining and always gets us good deals on accommodation and food. James is fantastic at reading guide books and organising good stuff to do. (Incidentally my personality type, ``Performer`` is the least likely to read a guide book according to the bbc website). So i value James abilities highly. Lucia loves talking to strangers and making friends with people. I´m quite cool too. Basically this is a brief list of examples of how we are different, thankfully, and flow well together. We have laughs. Recently Lucia and i went a day ahead somewhere in Brazil to meet some people and we actively missed the others. It was the first night we´d been apart since the 15th of September. We do a lot of lending eachother money and doing eachother´s washing. We have our stuff in common. I´ve found myself refering to my knife and plate as the knife and plate. It is a subtle, but important difference. We have nights for couples sometimes. It´s all good. |
Monday, November 21, 2005
Tikal and Turtles
Did i mention Tikal? Pryamids and monkeys in the jungle. The steepest longest ladder i've ever seen. Lucia freaked out a little bit and managed to freak out this American guy at the top. She had to sit very still by the wall, clinging desperately to a prefunctory rock outcrop, laughing so manically. It was quite funny.
Monkeys swing and jump like mad things. Weird parrots, lizards and four million million ants. The ground was an unduating black sea of minature orks.
Turtles in Guatemala. Giant ones baby ones. The baby ones had a race to the sea. Only 1% will survive. So cute. Exactly like finding Nemo. No joke at all. Exactly like it.
Monkeys swing and jump like mad things. Weird parrots, lizards and four million million ants. The ground was an unduating black sea of minature orks.
Turtles in Guatemala. Giant ones baby ones. The baby ones had a race to the sea. Only 1% will survive. So cute. Exactly like finding Nemo. No joke at all. Exactly like it.
Nazca
In the middle of the desert some people made some drawings Art Attack style in the rocks. These are very important to some other people, more recently who believe they were made by Aliens. Or maybe it's they were made for aliens. The guy who worked at the weird tower we went to view them from, who had been fully asleep seconds before explained the shapes. We were right by the "hands," "tree" and "the lizard". Some Americans had built a road through the Lizard. Whoops. It's not like it wasn't visible. The longest was about 100m long formed simply from a trench, which is now only about 5cm deep.
These aliens were very busy. A level headed documentry i saw once attributed the lines to worship of some water gods who lived in the mountains. Flip did they need them. The place is a as dry as the Gobi desert. Interesting place, but as is a bit typical our interactions with the sleepy guide were a bit more fun than the lines themselves.
These aliens were very busy. A level headed documentry i saw once attributed the lines to worship of some water gods who lived in the mountains. Flip did they need them. The place is a as dry as the Gobi desert. Interesting place, but as is a bit typical our interactions with the sleepy guide were a bit more fun than the lines themselves.
Miami to Lima Peru
If you get the chance you should meet Becky, Summer and our friend Jeremy. Some excellent people who gave us an amazing one night stop over in Miami. Then you should go to Lima, where on a half hour walk six or seven people talk to you in a really friendly way and you can get a baked potato, a boiled egg and some spicey sauce for about 18p.
Lucia has a sore tummy pray for her.
Lucia has a sore tummy pray for her.
The Rich Young Ruler and People Who Steal Things
The rich young ruler thought he had it made because he was such a good boy. He never smoked or cursed and he looked after his old mum. But Jesus told him it wasn´t enough, he'd have to sell all his possessions and give them to the poor. The rich young ruler left, dejected because he was, as i said, rich.
Then he was on a bus last night from Nazca (where there are many lines, which he saw from a tall tower) to somwhere else in southern Peru and something happened which made him think. His bag was stolen. It contained his most valuable possession: A diamond emulate given to him as a dowery from his fiancee's family. The emulate was gone, along with his toothbrush and a set of postcards he bought of the many lines.
It was an odd set of events because in many ways it mirrored my recent experiences. My CD player got nicked last night from a bus. Some vague prophetic arrogance prompts me to believe i saw it coming (or going). It makes you feel a bit weird when something of yours is now someone elses and you know they don't care half as much about it as you did. It was my most valuable possession, given to me by Lucia.
It does, really helpfully make you think about the value of stuff. I told the police. They were very nice about it all. Easy come easy go. Life lesson is that you have to forgive people a lot for stealing from you. Banks, ATM machine's, Taxi drivers, Bus conductors, they all take their little share. But if you don't forgive them you go crazy and get really annoyed at beggars.
Then he was on a bus last night from Nazca (where there are many lines, which he saw from a tall tower) to somwhere else in southern Peru and something happened which made him think. His bag was stolen. It contained his most valuable possession: A diamond emulate given to him as a dowery from his fiancee's family. The emulate was gone, along with his toothbrush and a set of postcards he bought of the many lines.
It was an odd set of events because in many ways it mirrored my recent experiences. My CD player got nicked last night from a bus. Some vague prophetic arrogance prompts me to believe i saw it coming (or going). It makes you feel a bit weird when something of yours is now someone elses and you know they don't care half as much about it as you did. It was my most valuable possession, given to me by Lucia.
It does, really helpfully make you think about the value of stuff. I told the police. They were very nice about it all. Easy come easy go. Life lesson is that you have to forgive people a lot for stealing from you. Banks, ATM machine's, Taxi drivers, Bus conductors, they all take their little share. But if you don't forgive them you go crazy and get really annoyed at beggars.
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Volcano
And then we went up a volcano.
My trip isn't entirely about the Lord of the Rings. The film was really long, yeah, and it didn't even show all the in between bits. They made it look way easy to climb an active volcano. Towards the top the rock is at once crumbily and razor sharp, so it feels great in your socks. It is kind of like climbing an infinite sand dune made of tiny razors, which occasionally exudes plumes of sulphurous gas, in the suspciously warm areas. These warm areas are a little worrying on rubber shoes where you kind of think the thing is just going to melt stuck somewhere. And you'd be left having a bit of a Terminator Two moment.
The gale force wind doesn't help much either. But it lessens the searing heat as you try to steal glances into the crater.
In short it was flipping amazing. So weird
bye
My trip isn't entirely about the Lord of the Rings. The film was really long, yeah, and it didn't even show all the in between bits. They made it look way easy to climb an active volcano. Towards the top the rock is at once crumbily and razor sharp, so it feels great in your socks. It is kind of like climbing an infinite sand dune made of tiny razors, which occasionally exudes plumes of sulphurous gas, in the suspciously warm areas. These warm areas are a little worrying on rubber shoes where you kind of think the thing is just going to melt stuck somewhere. And you'd be left having a bit of a Terminator Two moment.
The gale force wind doesn't help much either. But it lessens the searing heat as you try to steal glances into the crater.
In short it was flipping amazing. So weird
bye
Friday, November 11, 2005
The Contents of My Backpack
Three sections:
The Top Pocket
Bible
Small black notebook
Larger silver notebook
Travel Scrabble
AW80 song book
"Let The Nations Be Glad," by John Piper
"The Invisible Man," by H. G. Wells
Occassionally some food, my contact lens stuff, toothbrush and toothpaste
A pack of cards
The Middle Section, wow this is big
(for the sake of this entry I´m assuming I´m naked)
One pair jeans
One pair light trousers (lovingly refered to as my emergency trousers)
One pair shorts
Two T-shirts, one white, one navy
One long sleeved T-shirt, white
Three shirts
One hoodie
One thinner stripey jumper
One coat (which is too big)
One cap
One broken camcorder with tapes etc in a hemp bag
One snorkel with mask
One sleeping bag liner
One sleeping bag
One Lonely Planet New Zealand
One Tuperware, containing first aid kit.
One washbag containing: razor, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, shampoo from a Mexican hotel, contact lens and case.
Two cups
Two plastic plates, green
Knife, fork , spoon set
Torch, headlamp style
Jasmine Tea
Swiss Army knife
Pen
Day sack, or Timmy.
Side pockets:
Five pairs of boxers, typically three clean
Four pairs of socks, typically all dirty
Things lost since the beginning of the trip:
One shirt, Philadelphia
One hoodie, Guatemala
One hat, Guatemala
One bottle of tomato ketcup and some oats, unknown
Things temporarily lost:
Money belt
Keys to Hotel room
The Top Pocket
Bible
Small black notebook
Larger silver notebook
Travel Scrabble
AW80 song book
"Let The Nations Be Glad," by John Piper
"The Invisible Man," by H. G. Wells
Occassionally some food, my contact lens stuff, toothbrush and toothpaste
A pack of cards
The Middle Section, wow this is big
(for the sake of this entry I´m assuming I´m naked)
One pair jeans
One pair light trousers (lovingly refered to as my emergency trousers)
One pair shorts
Two T-shirts, one white, one navy
One long sleeved T-shirt, white
Three shirts
One hoodie
One thinner stripey jumper
One coat (which is too big)
One cap
One broken camcorder with tapes etc in a hemp bag
One snorkel with mask
One sleeping bag liner
One sleeping bag
One Lonely Planet New Zealand
One Tuperware, containing first aid kit.
One washbag containing: razor, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, shampoo from a Mexican hotel, contact lens and case.
Two cups
Two plastic plates, green
Knife, fork , spoon set
Torch, headlamp style
Jasmine Tea
Swiss Army knife
Pen
Day sack, or Timmy.
Side pockets:
Five pairs of boxers, typically three clean
Four pairs of socks, typically all dirty
Things lost since the beginning of the trip:
One shirt, Philadelphia
One hoodie, Guatemala
One hat, Guatemala
One bottle of tomato ketcup and some oats, unknown
Things temporarily lost:
Money belt
Keys to Hotel room
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Guatemala
Guatemala.
Accomodation: 78p
Nicest meal ever: 2 pounds
God´s creation: free
Nicest people on Earth too, because they are kind of Mexican.
The lake. We´re staying by a really big lake and going horse riding and Kayaking. Enjoying life and the people around. Last night went to a church with lots of children singing very loudly about Jesus. I´ve never been somewhere so Christian. On the walls everywhere it says Jesus is Lord. I´ve never been offered pot and horses in the same breath so much in my life either. And of course the seemingly infinite banana bread. So good it hurts.
We´re having a good time. I´m learning loads about God, which is my favourite thing. Lucia is picking up Spanish at a phenomenal rate. Seriously she´s chatting away to people. It´s so cool to see. All you have to do really is add an O or an A to the end of the English and they mostly get it.
Accomodation: 78p
Nicest meal ever: 2 pounds
God´s creation: free
Nicest people on Earth too, because they are kind of Mexican.
The lake. We´re staying by a really big lake and going horse riding and Kayaking. Enjoying life and the people around. Last night went to a church with lots of children singing very loudly about Jesus. I´ve never been somewhere so Christian. On the walls everywhere it says Jesus is Lord. I´ve never been offered pot and horses in the same breath so much in my life either. And of course the seemingly infinite banana bread. So good it hurts.
We´re having a good time. I´m learning loads about God, which is my favourite thing. Lucia is picking up Spanish at a phenomenal rate. Seriously she´s chatting away to people. It´s so cool to see. All you have to do really is add an O or an A to the end of the English and they mostly get it.
USA end of.
Pittsburg.
Mary´s in Philadelphia. Body worlds exhibition- weird as. funfunfun. New car Mercedez-Benz C286 or something. Golf clubs. New York. Big big. Central park. Empire state. Times square. Good Bagels. Adam´s house. Washington DC. Whitehouse. (Being offered banana bread as we speak. It´s really nice. quiere comprar pan de banana mañana. The girls are tying in Spanish for me. It´s a friendly place Guatemala!) Kentucky. Aaron Paterson´s house. Motels Dallas Huston, Ben´s family. Stuff stuff stuff. Flights mania. Hiring a car. Forty million hours driving.
And we landed just about in Belize....
....where they live with ease.
Mary´s in Philadelphia. Body worlds exhibition- weird as. funfunfun. New car Mercedez-Benz C286 or something. Golf clubs. New York. Big big. Central park. Empire state. Times square. Good Bagels. Adam´s house. Washington DC. Whitehouse. (Being offered banana bread as we speak. It´s really nice. quiere comprar pan de banana mañana. The girls are tying in Spanish for me. It´s a friendly place Guatemala!) Kentucky. Aaron Paterson´s house. Motels Dallas Huston, Ben´s family. Stuff stuff stuff. Flights mania. Hiring a car. Forty million hours driving.
And we landed just about in Belize....
....where they live with ease.
My Saint Lucia
If you know me enough to ever read this blog. You´ll know about Lucia. You´ve probably met her too, she´s nice isn´t she? I think so.
I woke up, having slept really well considering the hurricane outside, at 5.30am. It was light and the shack was still around me so far as i could see. I got up. I looked through the shutters. The ground was wet from the surge, but there wasn´t the cnn scenes of stay dogs swimming and cars semi-submerged. Or crazy hicks, still on their front porches for fear of looters. I really wanted lucia to wake up. "Really wanted," became make lots of noise. Flip sake she sleeps soundly sometimes. She was at the other side of the room in the girls´ bed. (I´ve got well used to sharing a bed with James). I kicked something and luckily she woke up and none of the others did. She saw me. It was cool. (i won´t go fully into the emotions i was feeling, for fear any of you are diabetics) Very cool. We went out for a walk.
It was windy but not too bad, the hurricane was slower than expected and would really hit later that day. Phase one of my plan had been a sucess. Phase two was get to a beautiful place, so we went for a walk.
We found a pier. Something like 30ft waves were breaking out on the reef that thankfully was protecting the island. I told Lucia to look at them, then i got down on one knee. Phase three.
She wasn´t expecting it because there was a hurricane and she was more than a little afraid for her life. The suprise, as part of it, was essential for me. I had been so excited when i found out there was a hurricane for this reason. I knew Lucia would be distracted.
We hugged for ages. I gave her a ring I´d got in New Zealand. A friend had made it. It was wooden and had a cross embezzeled on it made from Paua shell. I´d carried the ring for about four months. She loved it. We´ll probably get a proper one when i get a job. hahaha.
I talked to her Dad later that day to ask for his blessing, which he freely gave (some people like these details). Then i rang my parents.
In between oddly we bumped into some friends of Lucia´s from London. Really weird to meet them on an island in Belize, during a hurricane.
No worries though all was good, the hurricane edged away from us and we got a chance to help a bit with the clear up after.
HAPPY ENDING.
I woke up, having slept really well considering the hurricane outside, at 5.30am. It was light and the shack was still around me so far as i could see. I got up. I looked through the shutters. The ground was wet from the surge, but there wasn´t the cnn scenes of stay dogs swimming and cars semi-submerged. Or crazy hicks, still on their front porches for fear of looters. I really wanted lucia to wake up. "Really wanted," became make lots of noise. Flip sake she sleeps soundly sometimes. She was at the other side of the room in the girls´ bed. (I´ve got well used to sharing a bed with James). I kicked something and luckily she woke up and none of the others did. She saw me. It was cool. (i won´t go fully into the emotions i was feeling, for fear any of you are diabetics) Very cool. We went out for a walk.
It was windy but not too bad, the hurricane was slower than expected and would really hit later that day. Phase one of my plan had been a sucess. Phase two was get to a beautiful place, so we went for a walk.
We found a pier. Something like 30ft waves were breaking out on the reef that thankfully was protecting the island. I told Lucia to look at them, then i got down on one knee. Phase three.
She wasn´t expecting it because there was a hurricane and she was more than a little afraid for her life. The suprise, as part of it, was essential for me. I had been so excited when i found out there was a hurricane for this reason. I knew Lucia would be distracted.
We hugged for ages. I gave her a ring I´d got in New Zealand. A friend had made it. It was wooden and had a cross embezzeled on it made from Paua shell. I´d carried the ring for about four months. She loved it. We´ll probably get a proper one when i get a job. hahaha.
I talked to her Dad later that day to ask for his blessing, which he freely gave (some people like these details). Then i rang my parents.
In between oddly we bumped into some friends of Lucia´s from London. Really weird to meet them on an island in Belize, during a hurricane.
No worries though all was good, the hurricane edged away from us and we got a chance to help a bit with the clear up after.
HAPPY ENDING.
Belize
"In Belize we live with ease, we eat our rice with meat and cheese."
-a lyric from some Rasta guy we met who played us too many songs, with too few chords one evening. Then he got pissed off and stompped off. Not very at ease.
The whole Rasta thing is seems like a big excuse not to grow up and an ample platform for judging people who have ambition. By ambition i don´t mean anything grand. A job is too ambitious for some of these guys.
WILMA came. If you don´t know where Belize is, scroll back in your mind (put the cursor over the arrow shapped like "<" and hold down the left mouse button. If you can´t find your mouse, I´m not telling you where it is) to Wilma on the news. Belize was pretty much obscured by the red area just beyond the eye. Not good really.
So day two of our relaxing time (a holiday in a holiday, if you will) on our beautiful tropical island, just about everybody at once informed us there was going to be a hurricane. Cat 5, the lowest pressure tropical system ever recorded. It´s fair to say we were a little unnerved. But in Belize they live with ease.
Most of the tourists started to leave. It was nearing the time of the last taxi boat before it was to hit. We´d spent a night praying and facing our own mortality (rather gleefully, it should be said). We vaguely decided to leave. None of us wanted to go. The ease of the Belize was rubbing off on us. I really wanted to stay.
The Island we were on, Caye Caulker, is both a pimp and a prostitute to tourists. It pimps us out amongst its various landlords all for the sake of their reputation on the Island and a fast buck. It prostitutes itself to us, tourists, because you can make a bit more money fishing the rich westerners, than Baracuda and swordfish. It both sucks and is wonderful. Their is a toursit price and a local price for everything, covert though it is. If tourism colapsed here, the islands four hundred inhabitants would colapse with it. Even the EASE of the rastas is dependent on the prolific marajuanna trade among our kind. It´s wonderful because this place is paradise; it sucks because of the schism between the tourists and the locals.
This is why i wanted to stay. It would be such a completion to our parasitism to leave when the going got tough. So under the final advice of the Pastor and a police man, who we bumped into on our resigned journey to the last taxi boat, we stayed. If our shack was washed away they said we could go to shelter in the school with the rest of the locals. Sounds kind of fun doesn´t it. So we stayed, had some rice and beans and i slept right through it. So i slept through a category five hurricane.
-a lyric from some Rasta guy we met who played us too many songs, with too few chords one evening. Then he got pissed off and stompped off. Not very at ease.
The whole Rasta thing is seems like a big excuse not to grow up and an ample platform for judging people who have ambition. By ambition i don´t mean anything grand. A job is too ambitious for some of these guys.
WILMA came. If you don´t know where Belize is, scroll back in your mind (put the cursor over the arrow shapped like "<" and hold down the left mouse button. If you can´t find your mouse, I´m not telling you where it is) to Wilma on the news. Belize was pretty much obscured by the red area just beyond the eye. Not good really.
So day two of our relaxing time (a holiday in a holiday, if you will) on our beautiful tropical island, just about everybody at once informed us there was going to be a hurricane. Cat 5, the lowest pressure tropical system ever recorded. It´s fair to say we were a little unnerved. But in Belize they live with ease.
Most of the tourists started to leave. It was nearing the time of the last taxi boat before it was to hit. We´d spent a night praying and facing our own mortality (rather gleefully, it should be said). We vaguely decided to leave. None of us wanted to go. The ease of the Belize was rubbing off on us. I really wanted to stay.
The Island we were on, Caye Caulker, is both a pimp and a prostitute to tourists. It pimps us out amongst its various landlords all for the sake of their reputation on the Island and a fast buck. It prostitutes itself to us, tourists, because you can make a bit more money fishing the rich westerners, than Baracuda and swordfish. It both sucks and is wonderful. Their is a toursit price and a local price for everything, covert though it is. If tourism colapsed here, the islands four hundred inhabitants would colapse with it. Even the EASE of the rastas is dependent on the prolific marajuanna trade among our kind. It´s wonderful because this place is paradise; it sucks because of the schism between the tourists and the locals.
This is why i wanted to stay. It would be such a completion to our parasitism to leave when the going got tough. So under the final advice of the Pastor and a police man, who we bumped into on our resigned journey to the last taxi boat, we stayed. If our shack was washed away they said we could go to shelter in the school with the rest of the locals. Sounds kind of fun doesn´t it. So we stayed, had some rice and beans and i slept right through it. So i slept through a category five hurricane.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
road trip USA
Your brother emails you a website: autodriveaway.com. You coincidently bump into one of your best friends in Dallas. He's been rerouted because of a Hurricane. His family helps you out a lot. A company gives you a free car to drive from Dallas to Conneticut. Which is flipping miles. They give you a free tank of gas in your 2004 Grand Jeep Cherokee, with blacked out windows, all the gadgets of a spaceship. Cruise control....ummmm. Flying along at a steady 70mph on Interstate 70 for a good 6 to eight hours. It's shocking how fun it all is. Can this really be working out?
Right now I'm in Pittsburg, Pennsylvenia, staying with a girl Anna was home schooled with then she was 15. She hasn't seen her since. They are all musicaians and such cool people. So much fun. And so so generous.
Slept in the car the night before, having been accused by the cops that we were breaking into a building. Ironically i had broken into it so Lucia could go to the toilet, but it wasn't that bad. Before that we spent three nights in Columbia Missouri with our good friend Stacey. Stacey you rock. Her parents were so good to us, as were her dogs. American football match.
Dodgy motel the night before.....CLASSIC. Ice machine, truckers, giant stinky bed. Ghetto.
God bless, We're good.
Conor
Right now I'm in Pittsburg, Pennsylvenia, staying with a girl Anna was home schooled with then she was 15. She hasn't seen her since. They are all musicaians and such cool people. So much fun. And so so generous.
Slept in the car the night before, having been accused by the cops that we were breaking into a building. Ironically i had broken into it so Lucia could go to the toilet, but it wasn't that bad. Before that we spent three nights in Columbia Missouri with our good friend Stacey. Stacey you rock. Her parents were so good to us, as were her dogs. American football match.
Dodgy motel the night before.....CLASSIC. Ice machine, truckers, giant stinky bed. Ghetto.
God bless, We're good.
Conor
Friday, September 23, 2005
Mexico co co
Hot. Noisy. Cheap. Smiles smiles smiles.
Today is the kind of day when four hundred of your prayers have been answered, you still don't understand much of what's going on and you have free internet at your hotel. HOTEL. Yeah, that's how cheap it is.
NEVER let a bad word be spoken about a Mexican. Apparently they are all supposed to murder, steal, cheat etc. It's a load of non sense. I fully believe i have never met nicer people. Like you sneeze in an internet cafe and the stranger beside you says: salut, or something, which means: your health. Everyone helps you. They all get together to help you. They barely care if you pay and they smile and smile and smile. The most relaxed people on the earth. Even the annoying street vendors aren't annoying. They are curteous.
Old men and children laughing playing in the park - no joke. People snogging, young and old, everywhere. In my line of sight right now i bet there are snoggers. Yep....there they are. So i can see about thirty people on average ambling around the square. That's one in fifteen mexicans are snogging at any given time. What a country! No wonder they never get anything done.
You can't stand confused for more than fifteen seconds without a few people coming up to you broadly smiling, willing to take you across town to help. COME TO MEXICO.
We saw loads of stuff in Mexico City. Then we went to see some Aztec pryamids out of the city and now we've come to another place to just chill for a few days.
All here are well. Lucia is loving not working, James and Anna are loving not organising. it's good mum, it's all good.
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Turkey is real
So I'm pretty sure I'm the worst blogger ever.
Dead sea. Swimming today. Wailing wall. Lots of places Jesus did things. Palestine.
Stuff like that. Teams from all around the world uniting again in Jerusalem. Loads of people have longer hair. Two of the staff got engaged. It's all goooooo. Met people from the Faroe island. Yes your right, they don't have a McDonalds there. Lots of guns here and windy streets. If i crane my neck i could see somewhere Jesus apparetly dropped his cross on the way to being killed.
I feel very relaxed and a bit tired. If i try to think about all the weird stuff I've seen over the past while my head starts to hurt. Also I'm thinking a lot about people like Michael and Ruth and their new baby, all you cool as people in N.I. and scotland. Then there is all these cool new people from all over the world. It's a bit odd. I have suspected for a while that the world is not that big. I've been around it now and i can confirm my suspicions.
Ruth once had a theory that the whole world actuallt was Ireland and that the whole map thing was just a conspiracy to sell lots of flight tickets. Yeah so it's true. But there's some really hot parts of ireland.
I went to estonia too. That was cool.
Northern Ireland really is quite cool. Be reassured. It's nice and the people really are friendly compared to pretty much everywhere else. Also they are relaxed and not rude. Pretty much the best.
Every country is pretty much the same. Oh and travelling really isn't that big a deal. all you have to do is book some flights and some hostels. Sometimes you need visas too, but you can check that out before you go.
What else can i tell you? I have a new found respect and love for Americans and concluded that the best tea to be found in the world is not in China at all. It's definately in County Down. Seriously guys, we forget how good we have it. A lot of the rest of the world sucks for most of the people in it. It really really sucks. This is not a nice planet. Humans are disgusting, in the words of a character from Iceage. People are not good. Most of them are quite dodgy, but it's good to be optimisitic.
Oh and it's dead easy to change people's lives for the better. But it's sticky in the existential sense of the word. You have to get involved. Three very important things are:
Breakfast Lunch and Dinner.
I feel very out of it right now, i probably shouldn't be writing. I'm finding it very funny though.
Take care all you beautiful people.
Some honesty first: The world is pretty crap, God is so good. I don't care about anything but Jesus. Because He is more real than even this blog. wow. He is everything that is good.
Ask Him if He isn't.
Dead sea. Swimming today. Wailing wall. Lots of places Jesus did things. Palestine.
Stuff like that. Teams from all around the world uniting again in Jerusalem. Loads of people have longer hair. Two of the staff got engaged. It's all goooooo. Met people from the Faroe island. Yes your right, they don't have a McDonalds there. Lots of guns here and windy streets. If i crane my neck i could see somewhere Jesus apparetly dropped his cross on the way to being killed.
I feel very relaxed and a bit tired. If i try to think about all the weird stuff I've seen over the past while my head starts to hurt. Also I'm thinking a lot about people like Michael and Ruth and their new baby, all you cool as people in N.I. and scotland. Then there is all these cool new people from all over the world. It's a bit odd. I have suspected for a while that the world is not that big. I've been around it now and i can confirm my suspicions.
Ruth once had a theory that the whole world actuallt was Ireland and that the whole map thing was just a conspiracy to sell lots of flight tickets. Yeah so it's true. But there's some really hot parts of ireland.
I went to estonia too. That was cool.
Northern Ireland really is quite cool. Be reassured. It's nice and the people really are friendly compared to pretty much everywhere else. Also they are relaxed and not rude. Pretty much the best.
Every country is pretty much the same. Oh and travelling really isn't that big a deal. all you have to do is book some flights and some hostels. Sometimes you need visas too, but you can check that out before you go.
What else can i tell you? I have a new found respect and love for Americans and concluded that the best tea to be found in the world is not in China at all. It's definately in County Down. Seriously guys, we forget how good we have it. A lot of the rest of the world sucks for most of the people in it. It really really sucks. This is not a nice planet. Humans are disgusting, in the words of a character from Iceage. People are not good. Most of them are quite dodgy, but it's good to be optimisitic.
Oh and it's dead easy to change people's lives for the better. But it's sticky in the existential sense of the word. You have to get involved. Three very important things are:
Breakfast Lunch and Dinner.
I feel very out of it right now, i probably shouldn't be writing. I'm finding it very funny though.
Take care all you beautiful people.
Some honesty first: The world is pretty crap, God is so good. I don't care about anything but Jesus. Because He is more real than even this blog. wow. He is everything that is good.
Ask Him if He isn't.
Monday, July 11, 2005
russıa
ıs awesome.
prısons, kıds camps, puttıng ın a kıtchen, not much washıng lots of camp fıres.
i love you all.
prısons, kıds camps, puttıng ın a kıtchen, not much washıng lots of camp fıres.
i love you all.
Monday, June 13, 2005
Horses
Mongolian horses are small, sturdy and strong. We spent our day off riding some in the countryside. Before we had even left the car a little band of Mongolian women had named an claimed us to ride each of their horses. They had discussed our weight height and suitability and assigned us each a horse. When we walked over there was a bit of a fight over Laura; the reasons why never became clear. We had a guide, he had a whip and we were off.
We crossed this deep river. The current was strong and the horses stumbled a little, but they made it. I got my feet wet. You don't wear helmets and to make the horse go faster you have to stand up. So it's as dangerous as it is exciting. i.e very. Hwai-jinn's horse, an independent sort, drove her straight into an over hanging branch. Completely slapstick. She fell off hard. It was not funny at the time. Then it was very very funny.
Laura's horse decided, without letting her know, to sit down on some cool mud it found. She was trying to take a photo at the time so she fell off into the same mud. It was funny even at the time.
My horse was thankfully quite feisty and was up for the occassional gallop. Ken's horse was badly stoned and didn't achieve much. Heidi and Ben did the best. Heidi had a crazed horse which suited her fine, because she has experience and Ben rode his bad boy like a cowboy.
We crossed this deep river. The current was strong and the horses stumbled a little, but they made it. I got my feet wet. You don't wear helmets and to make the horse go faster you have to stand up. So it's as dangerous as it is exciting. i.e very. Hwai-jinn's horse, an independent sort, drove her straight into an over hanging branch. Completely slapstick. She fell off hard. It was not funny at the time. Then it was very very funny.
Laura's horse decided, without letting her know, to sit down on some cool mud it found. She was trying to take a photo at the time so she fell off into the same mud. It was funny even at the time.
My horse was thankfully quite feisty and was up for the occassional gallop. Ken's horse was badly stoned and didn't achieve much. Heidi and Ben did the best. Heidi had a crazed horse which suited her fine, because she has experience and Ben rode his bad boy like a cowboy.
Finlanded
Flying from Beijing to Helsinki is confusing because you end up with 24 hours of daylight to begin with. Then you get to Finland and the sun refuses to set much anyway and you realise the next 9 days will be nightless.
Walking around a Finish supermarket today i had the most preculiar feeling of being at home and completely not at home at the same time. It reassuring to see fruit without worm holes in it and loads of food on the shelves, but it makes you wonder if it really is all necessary. It's weird to be back somewhere normal. It feels like a bit of a cop-out really. It's so easy.
Finland constitutes our three day holiday. Then we will do some "work" here and head into Russia next week. Work will be talking to a Finish youth group, packing some humanitarian stuff for Russian prisons and helping out at a Christian conference. Very very excitingly, Lucia is coming to visit on Sunday.
Walking around a Finish supermarket today i had the most preculiar feeling of being at home and completely not at home at the same time. It reassuring to see fruit without worm holes in it and loads of food on the shelves, but it makes you wonder if it really is all necessary. It's weird to be back somewhere normal. It feels like a bit of a cop-out really. It's so easy.
Finland constitutes our three day holiday. Then we will do some "work" here and head into Russia next week. Work will be talking to a Finish youth group, packing some humanitarian stuff for Russian prisons and helping out at a Christian conference. Very very excitingly, Lucia is coming to visit on Sunday.
Monday, May 30, 2005
Mongolia and China
They build things a lot here and when they talk it sounds kind of like slurping tea. I like that. Also pushing isn't rude, which is really interesting. If you bump someone's foot though, it's a really big deal and you have to shake hands quickly or they will probably hit you. It's a bit cold today, which is relief.
Beijing-Ulan Bator 30 hours of fun. Some things we saw from the train window : Wild horses, no roads and the Gobi desert. Camels too. And the great wall of China. Inside the train. Loads of lovely people. I made friends with these Chinese American kids and we played cards a lot. Lots of unrude pushing too.
In China spitting isn't rude. It's not uncommon for middle aged WI style women to "hock a lougie" as the Americans would say. Also a lot of leaning over delicately pinching one nostril and violently cleansing the other at your feet. It's beautiful. Not making noise while you eat is rude too. Slurping is required. Staring isn't rude either. Most of the places we were in China no westerners at all go. In one villages they had never seen white people. So there was a LOT of staring. Everyday someone had to have there photo taken with people. In one school I had to give autographs. It is so weird. They all think we are so beautiful too. The other day I was compared to David Beckham. You have permission to laugh heartily.
Seriously China is an amazing country. No wonder Paddington was so cool. All the rice paddies and noodles and 1.3 billion people. It's cool. In heaven one in four people will be Chinese. On Earth it's about one in five. I'm pretty sure that's relevant.
So I'm in this tiny hut in a village in China watching some American B movie on DVD by the open fire in the middle of the room. There are six boys in the room and a couple of Grand parents. They have to turn THE bulb out to put the TV on. It's a weird world seriously. It's hard not to see westernism as some kind of foul disease which is slowly eroding all variety in the world. Bringing a uniformity stamped and trade marked by a large yellow M and a starbucks logo. It makes me sad, but so too does under nourished and ignored kids and maybe Westernism has something positive to say to them.
Pray for all our health. I got a bit sick and the others are sick now too. Rice three times a day is not great for our pet bodies. Food in Mongolia is way more varied it seems. Last night at a Mongolian restaurant I had shepherd's pie. So weird. How did Shepherd's pie make it to Mongolia? To be honest guys I probably spend at least 80% of the time completely confused.
foreigners aliens strangers in this world, in every world maybe. We're praying to God for all our needs and He never disappoints. The other day we need train tickets there were none. We prayed, then there were six cancellations, all beside each other. He is so good to us. So much more. Helping Angels everywhere. Insight, truth. It's much better to hear in person. So pop over and I'll fill you in.
Beijing-Ulan Bator 30 hours of fun. Some things we saw from the train window : Wild horses, no roads and the Gobi desert. Camels too. And the great wall of China. Inside the train. Loads of lovely people. I made friends with these Chinese American kids and we played cards a lot. Lots of unrude pushing too.
In China spitting isn't rude. It's not uncommon for middle aged WI style women to "hock a lougie" as the Americans would say. Also a lot of leaning over delicately pinching one nostril and violently cleansing the other at your feet. It's beautiful. Not making noise while you eat is rude too. Slurping is required. Staring isn't rude either. Most of the places we were in China no westerners at all go. In one villages they had never seen white people. So there was a LOT of staring. Everyday someone had to have there photo taken with people. In one school I had to give autographs. It is so weird. They all think we are so beautiful too. The other day I was compared to David Beckham. You have permission to laugh heartily.
Seriously China is an amazing country. No wonder Paddington was so cool. All the rice paddies and noodles and 1.3 billion people. It's cool. In heaven one in four people will be Chinese. On Earth it's about one in five. I'm pretty sure that's relevant.
So I'm in this tiny hut in a village in China watching some American B movie on DVD by the open fire in the middle of the room. There are six boys in the room and a couple of Grand parents. They have to turn THE bulb out to put the TV on. It's a weird world seriously. It's hard not to see westernism as some kind of foul disease which is slowly eroding all variety in the world. Bringing a uniformity stamped and trade marked by a large yellow M and a starbucks logo. It makes me sad, but so too does under nourished and ignored kids and maybe Westernism has something positive to say to them.
Pray for all our health. I got a bit sick and the others are sick now too. Rice three times a day is not great for our pet bodies. Food in Mongolia is way more varied it seems. Last night at a Mongolian restaurant I had shepherd's pie. So weird. How did Shepherd's pie make it to Mongolia? To be honest guys I probably spend at least 80% of the time completely confused.
foreigners aliens strangers in this world, in every world maybe. We're praying to God for all our needs and He never disappoints. The other day we need train tickets there were none. We prayed, then there were six cancellations, all beside each other. He is so good to us. So much more. Helping Angels everywhere. Insight, truth. It's much better to hear in person. So pop over and I'll fill you in.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
my trip
okay quickly now....
12th May Singapore
12th May Hong Kong
18th May Other town in China, bit secret.
Then to Beijing
18th June My birthday Beijing to Finland
6th July Istanbul
Then to Bulgaria
Then to Israel
12th August Israel to London.
see you then.
Pray for love unity in the team, good times with strange people, protection and safety.
I love you all.
12th May Singapore
12th May Hong Kong
18th May Other town in China, bit secret.
Then to Beijing
18th June My birthday Beijing to Finland
6th July Istanbul
Then to Bulgaria
Then to Israel
12th August Israel to London.
see you then.
Pray for love unity in the team, good times with strange people, protection and safety.
I love you all.
Monday, May 09, 2005
friends
So I'm leaving here in two days to go to Singapore and then on to Hong Kong.
Then to china,
then to Mongolia,
then to Finland,
then to Russia,
then to Bulgaria,
then to Turkey,
then to Israel,
then to Barcelona!!!!! Exclaim exclaim! because there i will seee Lucia again and i shall be the happiest boy on planet earth.
It's a tiny bit sad to leave. I've made some truly amazing friends (this does nowhere near explain how cool these guys are; special amazing thank you to Ben O, Ben D and James) here and got to do loads of stuff I've always wanted to do. I'll still be hanging out with five of them and then we all meet in Israel for ten days at the end and get to graduate on the Mount of Olives, where Jesus originally commissioned His disciples. That'll be pretty amazing I'm sure. Guys, can i just encourage anyone thinking about taking time to do something like this - do it, for flip'ss sake. It's such a privilege to have the chance - take it.
Then to china,
then to Mongolia,
then to Finland,
then to Russia,
then to Bulgaria,
then to Turkey,
then to Israel,
then to Barcelona!!!!! Exclaim exclaim! because there i will seee Lucia again and i shall be the happiest boy on planet earth.
It's a tiny bit sad to leave. I've made some truly amazing friends (this does nowhere near explain how cool these guys are; special amazing thank you to Ben O, Ben D and James) here and got to do loads of stuff I've always wanted to do. I'll still be hanging out with five of them and then we all meet in Israel for ten days at the end and get to graduate on the Mount of Olives, where Jesus originally commissioned His disciples. That'll be pretty amazing I'm sure. Guys, can i just encourage anyone thinking about taking time to do something like this - do it, for flip'ss sake. It's such a privilege to have the chance - take it.
van
NZ is a blackhole for second hand japanese cars. This is fantastic for people here. They get cheap reliable cars almost anywhere. Everyone has a car. Also their car insurance is most not much more than 100pounds a year. Also fantastically, it's legal to drive with out insurance and the MOT equivalent test's standards are considerably lower thatn the UK.
Guys do you see what this is all adding up to?
For the last two weeks my friends and i have been the proud owners of a 1983 Nissan Vanette. It's got three seats up front and a bed in the back. Along the side in large blue letters is written: SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND and there's a "smile jesus loves you" sticker on the back window. Not my doing, but i was pleasently suprised. We bought it for $NZ 350, that's around 140 pounds. Bargin. It works well aside from not being a big fan of cold mornings. I've been on trips to the ice cream shop and camping. Three of us slept in the back, it ws cosy and well fun. This truly is comfortable camping. It came with a whole heap of camping stuff too.
SO MUCH FUN.
We took it away, had a fire and talked to eachother and Jesus. We cooked chicken and potatoes. I love life, seriously. No joke. I prayed for this van. I prayed for chocolate and Someone randomly gave it to me within 15mins. God will give you the desires of your heart. We asked for a van and this girl randomly phoned here offering one for cheap as. It's crazy.
Raise your expectations.
Guys do you see what this is all adding up to?
For the last two weeks my friends and i have been the proud owners of a 1983 Nissan Vanette. It's got three seats up front and a bed in the back. Along the side in large blue letters is written: SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND and there's a "smile jesus loves you" sticker on the back window. Not my doing, but i was pleasently suprised. We bought it for $NZ 350, that's around 140 pounds. Bargin. It works well aside from not being a big fan of cold mornings. I've been on trips to the ice cream shop and camping. Three of us slept in the back, it ws cosy and well fun. This truly is comfortable camping. It came with a whole heap of camping stuff too.
SO MUCH FUN.
We took it away, had a fire and talked to eachother and Jesus. We cooked chicken and potatoes. I love life, seriously. No joke. I prayed for this van. I prayed for chocolate and Someone randomly gave it to me within 15mins. God will give you the desires of your heart. We asked for a van and this girl randomly phoned here offering one for cheap as. It's crazy.
Raise your expectations.
Sunday, May 01, 2005
an itinerate itinerary
Loads of these dates are wrong, but the destinations are right.
16th Sept
Ba flight BA 243
LHR, terminal 4 1400
Mexico City 1915
1st Oct
American Airlines flight AA1066
Mexico City 0650
Dallas Fort Worth 0931
American Airlines flight AA2193
Dallas Fort Worth 1245
Belize City 1436
11th Nov 05
American Airlines flight AA2104
Belize City 1523
Miami 1821
American Airlines flight AA2111
Miami 2325
Lima 0500
02 Dec 05
Lan Chile Airlines LA531
Lima 0715
Santiago 1235
Lan Chile Airlines LA756
Santiago 1500
Rio De Janeiro 21200
23 Dec 05
Lan Chile Airlines LA755
Rio De Janeiro 0815
Santiago 1310
7 Jan 06
Lan Chile Airlines LA841
Santiago 0930
Easter Island 1250
26 Jan 06
Lan Chile Airlines LA834
Easter Island 1210
Santiago 1900
Lan Chile Airlines LA801
Santiago 2325
Auckland 0425 (28 Jan 06)
28 Jan 06
Quantas QF4103
Auckland 0730
Christchurch 0850
16th Sept
Ba flight BA 243
LHR, terminal 4 1400
Mexico City 1915
1st Oct
American Airlines flight AA1066
Mexico City 0650
Dallas Fort Worth 0931
American Airlines flight AA2193
Dallas Fort Worth 1245
Belize City 1436
11th Nov 05
American Airlines flight AA2104
Belize City 1523
Miami 1821
American Airlines flight AA2111
Miami 2325
Lima 0500
02 Dec 05
Lan Chile Airlines LA531
Lima 0715
Santiago 1235
Lan Chile Airlines LA756
Santiago 1500
Rio De Janeiro 21200
23 Dec 05
Lan Chile Airlines LA755
Rio De Janeiro 0815
Santiago 1310
7 Jan 06
Lan Chile Airlines LA841
Santiago 0930
Easter Island 1250
26 Jan 06
Lan Chile Airlines LA834
Easter Island 1210
Santiago 1900
Lan Chile Airlines LA801
Santiago 2325
Auckland 0425 (28 Jan 06)
28 Jan 06
Quantas QF4103
Auckland 0730
Christchurch 0850
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Topics, films, 19, alpha
God has a Father heart and He is Lord of lives. This is two topics we've looked at over the last two weeks.
Built a human pryamid. It was saturday and we were at a team building outdoor adventure place. The ultimate highlight was Hwai Jiin whose from singapore and is tiny. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, from the top of the pryamid that she was "Not okayyyyyyyy!!!!!" It was very funny.
Been doing some dancing. Definately having my second teenage years. Wasted my first being very confused. Now I'm just having a laugh with 19 year olds.
Gave my testimony at a local Alpha course, which was so much fun. Really fun because i made a friend. He works on a dairy farm and i'm going to visit it!
Two films:
We made two films over the past week or so. Found a camera a computer and a friend to do it with. Ultimate fun, seriously. We interviewed people on the street about God. They loved it, we loved it. It was the first serious film i've made. My film buddy is Ben. He's really good at loads of stuff. He can interview people well and is so good at editing. We stayed up really late and all. The other film, i didn't really make but helped with. Some friends wrote this song for one of our speakers and i filmed it. It was called "Shut up and Die" and was about the Lordship of Christ. Strange? not really.
Still sunny. Went down this freezing river on a body board and did some baking. Also enjoying the occasional trampoline.
Built a human pryamid. It was saturday and we were at a team building outdoor adventure place. The ultimate highlight was Hwai Jiin whose from singapore and is tiny. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, from the top of the pryamid that she was "Not okayyyyyyyy!!!!!" It was very funny.
Been doing some dancing. Definately having my second teenage years. Wasted my first being very confused. Now I'm just having a laugh with 19 year olds.
Gave my testimony at a local Alpha course, which was so much fun. Really fun because i made a friend. He works on a dairy farm and i'm going to visit it!
Two films:
We made two films over the past week or so. Found a camera a computer and a friend to do it with. Ultimate fun, seriously. We interviewed people on the street about God. They loved it, we loved it. It was the first serious film i've made. My film buddy is Ben. He's really good at loads of stuff. He can interview people well and is so good at editing. We stayed up really late and all. The other film, i didn't really make but helped with. Some friends wrote this song for one of our speakers and i filmed it. It was called "Shut up and Die" and was about the Lordship of Christ. Strange? not really.
Still sunny. Went down this freezing river on a body board and did some baking. Also enjoying the occasional trampoline.
Saturday, April 02, 2005
It works
Faith that is. A brief methodology.
Day one
Hitch hike 3hrs across the south island with a guy who loves animals. Increase $30, sleep in motel for free. Bump into other team. Attend mass. Meet a nun. Pray for food and accommodation - receive.
Day two
Free breakfast at church. Meet people at church. Give you lunch. Three families and one lovely old lady get together and plan a day of fun. Use the snorkel God told you to bring swimming in lake Kanerie. Go to a gorge with five friends and ample new friends. Encourage thirty people in the faith. Stay at a new friend's house with five friends. Cook dinner. Food given to you by an old lady. Have fun. So much fun. Sleep, praising God again and again. Enjoy friends and cousins.
Day three
Debate what to do. Pray loads. Talk to strangers. Relax on the beach. Praise God. Visit an old lady, with whom your friend left her shoes. Have tea. China cups. Cake. Full bellies. Visit an old folks home. Enjoy the elderly, let them enjoy you. Have fun. Pray for strangers. Have dinner with old lady. Stay at her house. She's 86. Let her tell you stories of how she hung out with queen. Look at her photos. Love her. Stay at her house out of respect.
Day four
Hitchhike to Ross. Pray, walk, pray pray. Ask for food. Receive from a stranger a bag of bread and cheese. Get a lift with Glen. Stay in a motel. Pay, but only two thirds the price. Have a banquet of cheese on toast. Praise God. Pray with friends, for friends.
Day five
Visit natural hot pools. Find them through praying. Needle in a haystack. Meet people in cars. Leave for a glacier. Pray for food. Ride gives you a bag of food, uninformed, unprompted. Praise God again and again. Hear from God. Deny it again and again. Give up hope. Learn and learn. Sleep in front of the altar in a church. Praise God.
Day six
Hitch hike. Chat with a Czech lady. Arrive back to Hokitika (the land of many returns, in maouri), Ask for food and a place to stay. Pray for chicken. Pray for Hot tub. Meet another team. Let them buy you lunch. Go to their place to stay. Enjoy the company of an american gentleman. In his palace. Enjoy his chicken. Enjoy his hot tub. Praise God again and again. Brighten his day. Love him. Pray with him. See Glow worms again.
Day seven
Do work in his garden. Enjoy the company of many friends. Relax. Hitch a hike. Chat to strangers. Get home in good time. Praise God.
From here on enjoy your changed life knowing that by the Grace of God living in NZ for $10 a week and seeing stuff is possible.
I can't really say all that happened, this is merely a sketch. All the amazing stuff all the heart stuff. I felt like i learned so much in three separate directions, but i can't really define even one of them.
Day one
Hitch hike 3hrs across the south island with a guy who loves animals. Increase $30, sleep in motel for free. Bump into other team. Attend mass. Meet a nun. Pray for food and accommodation - receive.
Day two
Free breakfast at church. Meet people at church. Give you lunch. Three families and one lovely old lady get together and plan a day of fun. Use the snorkel God told you to bring swimming in lake Kanerie. Go to a gorge with five friends and ample new friends. Encourage thirty people in the faith. Stay at a new friend's house with five friends. Cook dinner. Food given to you by an old lady. Have fun. So much fun. Sleep, praising God again and again. Enjoy friends and cousins.
Day three
Debate what to do. Pray loads. Talk to strangers. Relax on the beach. Praise God. Visit an old lady, with whom your friend left her shoes. Have tea. China cups. Cake. Full bellies. Visit an old folks home. Enjoy the elderly, let them enjoy you. Have fun. Pray for strangers. Have dinner with old lady. Stay at her house. She's 86. Let her tell you stories of how she hung out with queen. Look at her photos. Love her. Stay at her house out of respect.
Day four
Hitchhike to Ross. Pray, walk, pray pray. Ask for food. Receive from a stranger a bag of bread and cheese. Get a lift with Glen. Stay in a motel. Pay, but only two thirds the price. Have a banquet of cheese on toast. Praise God. Pray with friends, for friends.
Day five
Visit natural hot pools. Find them through praying. Needle in a haystack. Meet people in cars. Leave for a glacier. Pray for food. Ride gives you a bag of food, uninformed, unprompted. Praise God again and again. Hear from God. Deny it again and again. Give up hope. Learn and learn. Sleep in front of the altar in a church. Praise God.
Day six
Hitch hike. Chat with a Czech lady. Arrive back to Hokitika (the land of many returns, in maouri), Ask for food and a place to stay. Pray for chicken. Pray for Hot tub. Meet another team. Let them buy you lunch. Go to their place to stay. Enjoy the company of an american gentleman. In his palace. Enjoy his chicken. Enjoy his hot tub. Praise God again and again. Brighten his day. Love him. Pray with him. See Glow worms again.
Day seven
Do work in his garden. Enjoy the company of many friends. Relax. Hitch a hike. Chat to strangers. Get home in good time. Praise God.
From here on enjoy your changed life knowing that by the Grace of God living in NZ for $10 a week and seeing stuff is possible.
I can't really say all that happened, this is merely a sketch. All the amazing stuff all the heart stuff. I felt like i learned so much in three separate directions, but i can't really define even one of them.
Friday, March 25, 2005
Passover
It was passover yesterday.
We had this big dinner called a Sedar and our Messianic Jew (Jew for Jesus, or as his T-shirt says - Jesus made me Kosher) friend Will lead the procession. I'd love to tell you about how all the stuff the Jews traditionally do is acutally all about Jesus and for tells the future. But I don't fell i have time now, and i suspect i never will. Set yourself a challenge - find out!
The highlight of the dinner came for me as some one asked me to pass the Bitter Herbs.
I wittily replied: "Would you like me to pass them over, ha ha ha, passover them!!"
It was funny trust me. But having a strange accent as i do, i barely need to burp and it's funny.
Here's a joke i just made up:
Why was Jesus crucified in Jerusalem?
Because if He was crucified in America, it wouldn't be easter.
God Bless
We had this big dinner called a Sedar and our Messianic Jew (Jew for Jesus, or as his T-shirt says - Jesus made me Kosher) friend Will lead the procession. I'd love to tell you about how all the stuff the Jews traditionally do is acutally all about Jesus and for tells the future. But I don't fell i have time now, and i suspect i never will. Set yourself a challenge - find out!
The highlight of the dinner came for me as some one asked me to pass the Bitter Herbs.
I wittily replied: "Would you like me to pass them over, ha ha ha, passover them!!"
It was funny trust me. But having a strange accent as i do, i barely need to burp and it's funny.
Here's a joke i just made up:
Why was Jesus crucified in Jerusalem?
Because if He was crucified in America, it wouldn't be easter.
God Bless
Faith Week
From tomo (sat) morn to sat evening next week i will be kicked of the YWAM base with two friends and NZ$30. that is around 12 pounds. We're going to hitch hike around, follow God's lead, preach the gospel.
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
NZ to Israel
Over Asia. Hong Kong, China, Mongolia, Trans-siberian train to Moscow, up to St Petersburg, across to Helsinki and down to Israel.
Imagine the amount of Scrabble you could play on a seven day train ride. Also chatting to strangers, which is fast becoming my most favoured hobby.
In the team:
Conor (Irish, that's right I've become Catholic)
Ben (Texas, 20, dreadlocks, fun, leader 1)
Heidi (Finish, 20, great leader 2)
Ken (Half Aztec Indian (native American), 20, mountaineer, deep thinker and cool)
Laura (American, 35, ex air force)
Hwai-Jinn (Female, 26, Singapore (which is a country, not an airline), accountant and Manderin speaker)
So that's us. They're a great bunch of people and we should work well as a team. It's a little bit too exciting. Not certain what we will be doing yet, but we have contacts in the areas who are helping arrange stuff.
Imagine the amount of Scrabble you could play on a seven day train ride. Also chatting to strangers, which is fast becoming my most favoured hobby.
In the team:
Conor (Irish, that's right I've become Catholic)
Ben (Texas, 20, dreadlocks, fun, leader 1)
Heidi (Finish, 20, great leader 2)
Ken (Half Aztec Indian (native American), 20, mountaineer, deep thinker and cool)
Laura (American, 35, ex air force)
Hwai-Jinn (Female, 26, Singapore (which is a country, not an airline), accountant and Manderin speaker)
So that's us. They're a great bunch of people and we should work well as a team. It's a little bit too exciting. Not certain what we will be doing yet, but we have contacts in the areas who are helping arrange stuff.
Sheeeeppppp!
How can i explain how fun it was as i held a sheep by the face today and ran a shearer across its belly. The wool fell away in reams of yellowy white fluff. It was vaguely like licking an ice cream. The newly exposed flesh was a transluscent white, beneath which you could see a pinky red. It looked like chicken.
When you grab a sheep and hold it between your legs, it sits quite confortably on its bum and kind of looks around. For a split second you could imagine it sitting in some kind of sheepy hairdressers, shooting the breeze with the stylist. No doubt complaing about a husband or boyfriend. Using his name a lot, loudly. Or perhaps discussing sofa options they have recently been presented with.
Needless to say it was fun. I am still covered in sheep juice. Their wool is so geasy it's untrue. Apparently, i am reliably informed, the grease has medicinal properties. Forgive me if i don't lick my knees.
When you grab a sheep and hold it between your legs, it sits quite confortably on its bum and kind of looks around. For a split second you could imagine it sitting in some kind of sheepy hairdressers, shooting the breeze with the stylist. No doubt complaing about a husband or boyfriend. Using his name a lot, loudly. Or perhaps discussing sofa options they have recently been presented with.
Needless to say it was fun. I am still covered in sheep juice. Their wool is so geasy it's untrue. Apparently, i am reliably informed, the grease has medicinal properties. Forgive me if i don't lick my knees.
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Palm Sunday, A Holy high Five
Went to church today (called St Andrews) with three of my room mates. One English, one American and one from New Zealand (semi british land) sound familar? We weren't late though.
Lord of the trees
In my own special way i am an elf.
I spent a mysterious time climbing, travelling, floating through a giant hedge. They call it a hedge here, but we would probably call it a forest. We climbed giant limb to giant limb, beneath the canopy, high off the ground like some kind of naked Ewoks. Shirts ripped, skin tore, but onward we pushed. But lo there was a gap in the trees and we had to gently roll across the upper canopy. One girl, an elfin gymnast monkey barred her way across beneath. Truly a death defying feat. Until finally we had reached our quarry........it was known only as....the end. Yes and went we had reached the end, we did descend. And return to base camp, sweating, bleeding and with a degree of rash. But now we were men. Stacy was less pleased than ben and i at this.
Amen.
I spent a mysterious time climbing, travelling, floating through a giant hedge. They call it a hedge here, but we would probably call it a forest. We climbed giant limb to giant limb, beneath the canopy, high off the ground like some kind of naked Ewoks. Shirts ripped, skin tore, but onward we pushed. But lo there was a gap in the trees and we had to gently roll across the upper canopy. One girl, an elfin gymnast monkey barred her way across beneath. Truly a death defying feat. Until finally we had reached our quarry........it was known only as....the end. Yes and went we had reached the end, we did descend. And return to base camp, sweating, bleeding and with a degree of rash. But now we were men. Stacy was less pleased than ben and i at this.
Amen.
Saturday, March 12, 2005
Jesus and Caves
What i learnt from it was that: You can and your supposed to.
We were being taught by this lovely woman from devon who lived and worked with Asians all her life in their countries in their familes. She'd seen really cool things happen. Miracles including raising people from the dead. Now there's a headline for you.
I learned that Jesus did stuff by the power of the Holy Spirit and commissioned us to do the same. In fact he said we would do more miracles than him. Jesus lived for 33 years and did miracles and stuff only for the last three. I reckon this lady has, in a sense, done way more than he did. Which is cool, because then she is obeying him. Jesus had to learn stuff like we do. He even had to develope his relationship with His father.
I guess this is crazy in a sense. If you read the Bible having it in mind that nothing has changes since Jesus' time, your world rocks slightly. This lady and others like her are living this Jesus life and it excites me. I'm going to give it a go from here on in.
The caves weere beautiful inside, even though no one was there to see them.
We were being taught by this lovely woman from devon who lived and worked with Asians all her life in their countries in their familes. She'd seen really cool things happen. Miracles including raising people from the dead. Now there's a headline for you.
I learned that Jesus did stuff by the power of the Holy Spirit and commissioned us to do the same. In fact he said we would do more miracles than him. Jesus lived for 33 years and did miracles and stuff only for the last three. I reckon this lady has, in a sense, done way more than he did. Which is cool, because then she is obeying him. Jesus had to learn stuff like we do. He even had to develope his relationship with His father.
I guess this is crazy in a sense. If you read the Bible having it in mind that nothing has changes since Jesus' time, your world rocks slightly. This lady and others like her are living this Jesus life and it excites me. I'm going to give it a go from here on in.
The caves weere beautiful inside, even though no one was there to see them.
Caves and Jesus
Strange title i guess, but it's two things i want to talk about.
We ventured up this cave today. It was all underground, like most caves, but unlike most caves it had a river flowing through it. Actually I've just realised most caves do have rivers in them. Anyway the water was up to our waists and freezing cold. We had to climb up all these rapids and stuff. It was so cool.
We spent the week learning about living your life like Jesus did.
We ventured up this cave today. It was all underground, like most caves, but unlike most caves it had a river flowing through it. Actually I've just realised most caves do have rivers in them. Anyway the water was up to our waists and freezing cold. We had to climb up all these rapids and stuff. It was so cool.
We spent the week learning about living your life like Jesus did.
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Outreach options
These are the six outreach options as given to us today.
The idea is we pray about which ones we would like to do and make a top three.
Then the leaders choose the teams. We're not allowed (sensibly) to discuss it with the other students and we don't know which leaders are going where. It's so exciting, check this out.
South America: Chlie, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Spain, Israel.
Africa: Perth, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Egypt, Israel
Middle East: Hong Kong or Bangkok, India, Oman, Dubai, Bahrain, Jordan, Israel.
Asia #1: Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, Moscow, Russia, Turkey, Israel.
Asia #2: Indonesia, Thailand, India, Nepal or Pakistan, Egypt, Israel.
Asia #3: Hong Kong, China, Mongolia, Russia, Turkey, Israel
And possibly Ukraine or Romania or Bulgaria
Really not sure yet. Asking God a lot.
Conor
The idea is we pray about which ones we would like to do and make a top three.
Then the leaders choose the teams. We're not allowed (sensibly) to discuss it with the other students and we don't know which leaders are going where. It's so exciting, check this out.
South America: Chlie, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Spain, Israel.
Africa: Perth, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Egypt, Israel
Middle East: Hong Kong or Bangkok, India, Oman, Dubai, Bahrain, Jordan, Israel.
Asia #1: Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, Moscow, Russia, Turkey, Israel.
Asia #2: Indonesia, Thailand, India, Nepal or Pakistan, Egypt, Israel.
Asia #3: Hong Kong, China, Mongolia, Russia, Turkey, Israel
And possibly Ukraine or Romania or Bulgaria
Really not sure yet. Asking God a lot.
Conor
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Swimming in the Pacific
The waves were big. Supper big. I got totally flattened by one and scrapped my otherwise soft elbows. Then i learned how to duck under them and it was better.
After being flattened i learned something profound. I was just about to head to shallower water then i realised that:
Just because something's scary, doesn't mean you shouldn't do it.
Life skills challenge:
Do 2 things today that scare you.
God Bless
After being flattened i learned something profound. I was just about to head to shallower water then i realised that:
Just because something's scary, doesn't mean you shouldn't do it.
Life skills challenge:
Do 2 things today that scare you.
God Bless
Christchurch
Christchurch is a total rip off of Cambridge.
Punting.
All the names.
It's a really nice city. We did a three point tour. Down from New Brighton pier up to the hills and then down into the heart of the city. As we are YWAM we sang and prayed at each location. At first i was very confused about why and thought, arrogantly that this didn't fall in line with my personality, but then it was fine. We were just singing some songs. And they were nice songs and everyone really loved it.
People loved it so much they talked a lot to us. Then some of them wanted prayed for and then some of them wanted to become Christians too. It was so simple and nice.
Punting.
All the names.
It's a really nice city. We did a three point tour. Down from New Brighton pier up to the hills and then down into the heart of the city. As we are YWAM we sang and prayed at each location. At first i was very confused about why and thought, arrogantly that this didn't fall in line with my personality, but then it was fine. We were just singing some songs. And they were nice songs and everyone really loved it.
People loved it so much they talked a lot to us. Then some of them wanted prayed for and then some of them wanted to become Christians too. It was so simple and nice.
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Out of the eight boxes
So the world's quite big.
Until yesterday i had only ever been in eight boxes on the world map. Now I've been in loads of them. The flights were absolutly epic. Sat beside a nice coupleon the way over who totally took it upon themselves to look after me. Didn't stress me out at all. We flew over the tip of Greenland and down through Hudson Bay. Over Ice sheets and then down over the snow capped rockies. It was so amazing. I felt quite sick for North America, but felt better by L.A. Most of my brain power was expended trying to work out what time it was where. And why it was shorter to go over Greenland. The answer lies in something called a Great Circle. You move, the Earth moves. It's a complicated dance.
Until yesterday i had only ever been in eight boxes on the world map. Now I've been in loads of them. The flights were absolutly epic. Sat beside a nice coupleon the way over who totally took it upon themselves to look after me. Didn't stress me out at all. We flew over the tip of Greenland and down through Hudson Bay. Over Ice sheets and then down over the snow capped rockies. It was so amazing. I felt quite sick for North America, but felt better by L.A. Most of my brain power was expended trying to work out what time it was where. And why it was shorter to go over Greenland. The answer lies in something called a Great Circle. You move, the Earth moves. It's a complicated dance.
My Address
Youth With A Mission
PO Box 47,
Oxford,
Canterbury 8253
New Zealand
Write to me. Or write me.
I love it and I love you all.
PO Box 47,
Oxford,
Canterbury 8253
New Zealand
Write to me. Or write me.
I love it and I love you all.
a mini update
I went to church this morning. Shocking lack of Matt Redman (very popular songs about God guy) songs. Didn't know what to do. Had lunch at these people from church's house. SO good, so nice, loved it. The guy was a farmer who had lived there all his life. We had loads of very grown up conversations about farming and land and stuff. I really enjoyed it, bit sad, felt old.
Classes start tomorrow, which is exciting. The people here are quite serious about God, but there isn't too much spiritual chat yet which I'm loving. We have at least one feminist. Yeah! American feminists are always good for a laugh, so easy to annoy. Played volley ball.
Classes start tomorrow, which is exciting. The people here are quite serious about God, but there isn't too much spiritual chat yet which I'm loving. We have at least one feminist. Yeah! American feminists are always good for a laugh, so easy to annoy. Played volley ball.
Saturday, February 26, 2005
Oxford
Guys I've made it....I'm studying at Oxford.
Oxford is beautiful. Seroiusly, it's like leaving in the Leadmines. Which if you've never been, may sound bad, but it's actually beautiful. It's all windbush and sheep. Seriously a lot of sheep. The YWAM base is nice. It's quite bustling and there's always people everywhere.
Oxford is small. Oxford is Conlig/Strathkinnes small. There's like a newsagents, which they call a Dairy, a bank, a post office and a library. (people mention the library, that's how small it is) However the Bank the Post Office and the Library are all in one building. And the building isn't big. I suspect aswell that the opening hours are such that the building itself only opens on the overlap between each of the equivalents would be open in UK. So about ten minutes just before lunch I'm guessing.
The people are good. You don't really realise how proud you are of being British until you are in a minority. Two other physicists, which is great. Lots of Americans. They're fun. I think we'll enjoy our time together.
Praying people:
Oxford is beautiful. Seroiusly, it's like leaving in the Leadmines. Which if you've never been, may sound bad, but it's actually beautiful. It's all windbush and sheep. Seriously a lot of sheep. The YWAM base is nice. It's quite bustling and there's always people everywhere.
Oxford is small. Oxford is Conlig/Strathkinnes small. There's like a newsagents, which they call a Dairy, a bank, a post office and a library. (people mention the library, that's how small it is) However the Bank the Post Office and the Library are all in one building. And the building isn't big. I suspect aswell that the opening hours are such that the building itself only opens on the overlap between each of the equivalents would be open in UK. So about ten minutes just before lunch I'm guessing.
The people are good. You don't really realise how proud you are of being British until you are in a minority. Two other physicists, which is great. Lots of Americans. They're fun. I think we'll enjoy our time together.
Praying people:
- personal space, or rather coolness with not having much
- good relationships with roomates Ben, James, Tyler, Ken and David. Great guys.
- Thank God that no one snores.
We have to decide quite soon about our outreach, like where to go so
- Wisdom and openness to hearing from God
- Provision of funds for us all.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Scrabble Scores
So far I'm kicking ass
14th Feb
Alex 67
Ruth 89
Conor 173
Cathryn 120
20th Feb
Conor 398 "sulker" and "exits" 69
Lucia 189
22nd Feb
Conor 279
Rob 245
14th Feb
Alex 67
Ruth 89
Conor 173
Cathryn 120
20th Feb
Conor 398 "sulker" and "exits" 69
Lucia 189
22nd Feb
Conor 279
Rob 245
Monday, February 07, 2005
Newsletter no. 1
Dear Friends,
On 24th February I will be flying out to Christchurch, New Zealand to begin a six month discipleship training school (DTS). The school is run by a worldwide organisation called Youth With A Mission (YWAM) to give people a flavour of what it would be like to be a missionary overseas and the essential training required.
On 24th February I will be flying out to Christchurch, New Zealand to begin a six month discipleship training school (DTS). The school is run by a worldwide organisation called Youth With A Mission (YWAM) to give people a flavour of what it would be like to be a missionary overseas and the essential training required.
The course comprises two phases:
A twelve week lecture phase, where we will learn from the Bible, worship God and receive teaching. An eighty day outreach phase, where we will be backpacking around the world connecting with different travellers we meet and assisting different missionary projects.
That’s the facts. And now here’s the theory.
I first felt lead by God to do a DTS about a year ago. Although many other options seemed more sensible, the idea of doing a DTS kept presenting itself. Every time I prayed about the dreaded NEXT YEAR any fourth year student faces, God seemed to confirm the DTS idea. Sometimes it was in 20ft high letters, but mostly in a whisper to my heart. Beautiful scenery is important to me and travelling is just about my favourite thing, so when I heard about this particular DTS in NZ my heart began to race. I wanted to go now. To an impatient person ‘Now’ is the bit of time in between you and your dreams. That bit of time was longer than I had expected, more like eight months rather than three. I had originally planned to go in September, but my finances were in a bad shape and I didn’t have that sense of peace which I experienced about DTS in general. I was confused and pained for a while. After deciding to go in February everything kind of made sense again. It’s good to be wrong sometimes, it’s the best opportunity for learning something new.
So I’m leaving in about ten days now and I’m excited. I feel God has taken me by the hand leading me through each step to bring me to this point. The closer I get to going the more I feel I need Him, which feels right and good. It’s a strange paradox that the more things are out of your control the more peaceful you feel. I guess it’s like being a kid. Do you remember how stress free it was going out to a restaurant or to the zoo with your parents? No worries about paying the bill, attracting the waiter’s attention or even finding the toilet. Simply put your requests to your father and he’ll see to the rest. How amazing is it that we have such a Father at whose table we sit and whose means are infinite.
I’m not sure what comes next, but this feels like an essential step, in a sense, in my growth as a Christian. I hope to learn more of God’s heart for me and others, but also practical skills in helping others. Working with God like this I hope to learn more my own calling, because we all have one. Wonderful people – who have asked to receive this and others - friends, it excites me to be going through this with you. I’ve prepared a few suggestions for how you can pray for me.
A twelve week lecture phase, where we will learn from the Bible, worship God and receive teaching. An eighty day outreach phase, where we will be backpacking around the world connecting with different travellers we meet and assisting different missionary projects.
That’s the facts. And now here’s the theory.
I first felt lead by God to do a DTS about a year ago. Although many other options seemed more sensible, the idea of doing a DTS kept presenting itself. Every time I prayed about the dreaded NEXT YEAR any fourth year student faces, God seemed to confirm the DTS idea. Sometimes it was in 20ft high letters, but mostly in a whisper to my heart. Beautiful scenery is important to me and travelling is just about my favourite thing, so when I heard about this particular DTS in NZ my heart began to race. I wanted to go now. To an impatient person ‘Now’ is the bit of time in between you and your dreams. That bit of time was longer than I had expected, more like eight months rather than three. I had originally planned to go in September, but my finances were in a bad shape and I didn’t have that sense of peace which I experienced about DTS in general. I was confused and pained for a while. After deciding to go in February everything kind of made sense again. It’s good to be wrong sometimes, it’s the best opportunity for learning something new.
So I’m leaving in about ten days now and I’m excited. I feel God has taken me by the hand leading me through each step to bring me to this point. The closer I get to going the more I feel I need Him, which feels right and good. It’s a strange paradox that the more things are out of your control the more peaceful you feel. I guess it’s like being a kid. Do you remember how stress free it was going out to a restaurant or to the zoo with your parents? No worries about paying the bill, attracting the waiter’s attention or even finding the toilet. Simply put your requests to your father and he’ll see to the rest. How amazing is it that we have such a Father at whose table we sit and whose means are infinite.
I’m not sure what comes next, but this feels like an essential step, in a sense, in my growth as a Christian. I hope to learn more of God’s heart for me and others, but also practical skills in helping others. Working with God like this I hope to learn more my own calling, because we all have one. Wonderful people – who have asked to receive this and others - friends, it excites me to be going through this with you. I’ve prepared a few suggestions for how you can pray for me.
NOW
Practical preparations: Thank God for how He has brought me from idea to reality. For provision of good flights, other material things, jobs and donations. Pray that God would continue to provide and help me to be a good steward of all the things He has given me.
Spiritual preparations: Thank God for how He has held me up through good and bad times over the last few months. Please pray for
continued protection over my head and heart
Good use of my remaining time at home
For my family and Lucia, who I will miss a lot.
PHASE ONE 26th Feb 2005 – 20th May 2005
Please pray for…
A deeper revelation of God’s love for us and for others.
Good relationships within the team. For understanding, openness, vulnerability, bonding, ministering to each other, healing.
Guidance as to the exact locations of our outreach and how God would have us spend our outreach time.
PHASE TWO 21st May 2005 – 12th Aug 2005
Please pray for…
Protection as we travel in to difficult places.
Provision of funds and materials necessary to help.
Rejoicing in the face of persecution.
The Holy Spirit to be our strength and our source of energy.
The love of Jesus to be evident to others through us.
Peace in everything we face.
God to be Glorified at all times and Christ exalted in all we say and do.
I want to tell you about how I love being part of the true vine Jesus. It’s from John 15 and it’s wonderful. God comes to you, flows through you, renews you and uses you. Being part of Him we bare much fruit. Apart from Him we can do nothing.
Thank you so much for even reading this. As you know I really appreciate your friendship and support. I hope to write to you again soon, but if you want more news and to pray for more things check out my website thing given below. I hope to be adding to it fairly regularly. Until then…
Take care
God Bless,
Conor Hull
8 Stewart Road
Newtownards
BT23 7AZ
e. conorhull@hotmail.com
t. 02891 815820
m. 07742 030 292
www.conorhull.blogspot.com
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
newtownards
T minus about four and a half weeks until i leave for New Zealand. How exciting. Biggest news at the minute is that there are two other people from N. Ireland going. Also a girl from London, i found out is my Aunt's niece. That means we share an auntie Sheila and uncle Mark, but we aren't related.
Wild.
Finances not quite together yet. Should have enough for the first three months.
Praying people:
Wild.
Finances not quite together yet. Should have enough for the first three months.
Praying people:
- Peace, love joy, in the Holy Spirit
- Thanking God for all His provision, praying for more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)