Week 1: Orientation

     G'day! Wow what a week! It has felt like I have been here for a month. This place and these people are so great. This week was orientation so we haven't started our real schedule yet. Regardless, this week was full of great things. I got around to taking some pictures of the base so you can see where I am staying. This is my room where I am staying with 3 other guys (I am the only American!)

This is the view of the base from outside of my room (the base is where lectures, meals, hanging out, really everything is).

And last (but certainly not the least) is the view from right outside the base towards the prayer chapel.

       So yeah...this place is beautiful (and hot!). Our week went like this, Monday consisted of all of the boring details about the rules and how to live here on the base. Tuesday was a Powhiri which is the official welcoming of foreigners onto the Maori lands (Maori are the native people here). It was awesome! It involved dancing warriors, speeches, songs, and the Hongi. The Hongi is the traditional greeting for the Maori people. It involves touching foreheads and noses and it symbolizes becoming one in breath with them. Pretty legit stuff. Wednesday through Friday looked pretty much the same. We started something called life stories. Literally you just tell your life story (the good, the bad, the ugly, the very ugly). After that you get TONS of prayer. It was pretty scary to go but I went early on. It was so good to release all of my feelings. I realized that I didn't accept Jesus's death on the cross fully. I hadn't forgiven myself. Prior to this trip, it has been a while since I have felt God's presence. Even on Wednesday when I shared, it wasn't necessarily a "God moment". It was definitely an emotional experience (I cried pretty good). The next day we had some worship time and Shane (our leader here) said some people could stay if they wanted. I wanted food so I was about to walk out and he stopped me. He began to pray for me and something just hit me. It was something I wasn't used to but I felt like a truly felt part of God's love for me. Someone there got an image of me as a baby in God's arms. I got an image of myself sitting at God's feet and he being my teacher. I take that as God telling me that this is a fresh start. No father expects much out of a baby. I am meant in this time to receive his love for me and to sit and learn from Him. What a way to start this trip! Crazy things are happening and it makes me really excited for the remainder of this adventure. Other things I am learning is that I will never be "there". There will never be a moment where I don't need God. Accepting the cross and all he has done for me is a daily decision and that is something I am learning.

      Weekends here are mostly free which leads to exciting trips. On Saturday, a group of us went to the Redwood Forest which is exactly as it sounds. It such a beautiful hike. 

     Today (Sunday) we went to a church called Mosaic (they released an album that went #1 here in NZ!). The worship was crazy and the sermon was spot on. Afterwards we went to the beach and climbed Mount Maunganui which is right next to the town of Taurangua. This is a picture we took from the top of the mount.

Crazy eh?

      I think one of my favorite things about this place (focusing on God doesn't count), is how little I have worn shoes. This is probably an understatement but I have been barefoot 90% of my time here. I am aspiring to have feet like Frodo from Lord of the Rings. The other great thing about this place is how many different cultures there are here. Our school is from 13 different nations. There are 47 students and 17 staff. Only 10 of which are guys. I thought I was good to women before I came here but I am really learning how to treat them right. Cheers. I am trying to get an accent really hard too, can you tell? :) well as real lessons start soon, posts probably won't be this long. Thanks for reading!

P.S. I have a funny story: My friend Andrew read in a little kids book that little Jimmy caught and froze flies. He then glued their feet to a Popsicle stick and when they unfroze, they flew the stick away. We were inspired to give it a go so we actually stuck flies in the freezer for 5 minutes and they were stunned and didn't wake for about 3 minutes! Sadly, the gluing is where we failed. But it was such a funny time! Have a good week everyone!