Long Time No Post

Hi everybody. It feels like such an age since I have sat down to write a post. I have been so busy over the past couple of weeks. Finally today I finished my last assignment I had to do before the holidays and I have a bit of a breather before I start preparing for short term mission next week.

During Research Week I tried to get my OT essay on Judges written. I managed to accomplish this but it was very hard going. So my whole research week was trying to get my essay done. I am finding it a lot harder here than at Grace Theological College to be disciplined to do my work. I am convinced it is the social aspect of living on campus. I haven't quite mastered the skill of going to my room and working instead of talking to people. This is something I need to work on.

Fortunately we have a two week break soon where I will be doing assignments to get ahead after the holidays. I am looking foward to that.

Next week I am going on short term mission to Mt Druitt. I have a few things to organise before then: Sunday School, Girls Bible Study, Kids Club, Testimony. Yeah, it is going to be so much fun on mission. I am starting to get very excited about it.

On the weekend I headed up to the Blue Mountains with Jody. We stayed the night at her parent's place in Thielmere on Thursday then headed to the Easter Convention in Katoomba on Friday morning. We spent the entire weekend at the Easter Convention. The speakers were Don Carson, Phil Nicholson and Grant Thorp. The theme of the convention was 'The Holy Spirit'. So most of the talks were from the book of Acts. Some very good teaching occurred and I was refreshed by my time away. We had some awesome singing there with 3000 people in a tin shed. It was great!!!

We stayed in a holiday house that belongs to a friend of Chloe's (a lovely girl in Wallace House). This was so much better than staying in a motel. On Saturday avo a few college people who were also at the convention came over for lunch and we hung out for the avo. It was a really good time of getting to know people better. I enjoyed it immensely.

Other people in college went home for the weekend. Tim G went home to see his family and give his nieces and nephews their easter eggs. Tim G is a pretty decent guy. We have good times hanging out in Greek lectures. He is an excellent photographer and takes pretty good photos. If you want a look, follow the link to his blog on my blog.

Well, that is all that is going on my life at the moment, apart from lectures and meals and other routine things. Next time I post will probably be after mission, so I will have a lot to write about. Until then.

Research Week

This week is Research Week at SMBC. This means that we don't have lectures or chapel or anything else in our normal schedule. So this week I have been locked in my room trying to write my essay about 'What is the purpose of the book of Judges?'. And do you think I have gotten anywhere with it? That would be a big fat N - O !!!!! Well, that is, I haven't started writing it. I have done all the preparation. So tonight I will start to write it. Hopefully I will get it written reasonably quickly. And that is my week to date. And there is nothing else to tell, so I will get off this computer and do some work.

Life Continues

Hi all. I just looked at my last post and realised that it was one week ago. I am getting seriously behind in this blogging business. The weeks here are just racing past and the week is over before it has hardly even begun. It's scary because Mission Week will be here in three weeks and then the holidays. In this time I have plenty of assignments due, none of which I seem to have gained any ground in.

I would recount the week's events but I cannot remember them. Soon some of the girls at Wallace are getting wireless internet so it will be much easier to blog and email because I will be able to do it from my laptop in my room anytime of day. I am looking forward to this.

Last night a small group of us went to Coogee Beach (I think that is spelt correctly). It was the best night out I've had since I've been here. We arrived there about 5pm and then we headed to the beach for a swim. This was to be the first swim in the ocean I have had since arriving in Sydney. So understandably I was quite excited. Well, to my dismay I heard a loud voice over a speaker saying that there were bluebottles in the water and to be extremely careful if you were swimming. Well I looked in the water and there was hardly anyone swimming. Well, being a brave kiwi I was not going to let some Aussie ocean creature deter me from having a swim. So I bounded fearlessly into the ocean waves and had a cool, refreshing swim. All the while I had to reassure Tracey that it was alright and not to let some small ocean creature spoil our time in the ocean. (Tracey has a much different story of course.......probably a more accurate one than the one I just relayed to you.....)

After our short swim (because we didn't feel like having a long swim..........not because of the bluebottles) we sat and chatted until the bbq was ready. Dinner was great. We had steak, chicken kebabs, salad, bread. It was ALL good. Then we had Tracey's delicious muffins for dessert (they aren't called muffins, but I have had momentary writer's block as to their proper name. The point is that they were oh so scrumptious). Some of the group played with the frisbee while I and a few others sat around and talked. This was an excellent opportunity to get to know people better. Kerridge and Ben shared their testimonies. It was a really edifying experience. I was heaps moved by both their stories of how God has worked so graciously and sovereignly in their lives to bring them both to the place where they are today. It is truly one of the most beneficial things to ask someone to share their testimony with you. And then you can have the opportunity to share your testimony also. It is a great way to build each other up in Christ.

After this we all headed back to college and went to sleep. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz................


Today I went to church in the morning and then I went into the city with Rachel. It was good spending some time with her and we enjoyed each other's company over lunch. Her boyfriend picked her up and then I headed back to college on the train.

This week you probably won't be hearing from me because I will be locking myself in my room. It is Research Week until Friday and I must get my OT essay and Mark essay written. Or else there will be trouble next week!!! I also have plenty of Greek to keep me busy. So I hope you all have a great week and I will talk to you later.

Weekend Activities

Well, let me begin on Friday. On Friday evening I went to work at Kip McGrath Education Centre. This is a regular event for me each week which I look forward to. It is a chance to be immersed in another world which doesn't have anything to do with college life. This is adding balance to my life which I need at the moment. Sometimes my world feels so small because all the facets to my life which I had in New Zealand are no longer existent now that I am living in Australia. Plus, I just love my kids!!

On Friday night I came back from work and we watched 'The Sound of Music' in the Glory Hole. That was great value. We all sang along especially when it came to 'Doe a deer...'.

On Saturday morning I went to work again until lunchtime. Then I came home from work, did some washing and Anita rang me!!!! I was waiting by the phone for it to ring and as soon as it rung I got totally excited and started chatting away to Anita. It was the best talking to Anita. We talked for almost two hours. It was so good to talk to someone from home. It felt like I could just hang up the phone and go to meet up with her. She felt so close. It was a strange feeling.

After talking to Anita on the phone I sat around in the common room and watched American Idol with Rocher (Rochelle, but I call her Rocher after the gelato flavour. She is one lovely, caring young woman). This was quality time with Rocher. Sharon was watching it with us too. She is another great person. She is from NZ so that really is a given!! It's quite nice having someone else here at college who is from NZ. She is also in my prayer triplet with me and Jody. That is good. Now Jody, I could go on about her for ages. She is awesome. We have become tight in the past few weeks since starting at college and I am loving spending time with her. She is one godly young woman who shows Christian maturity in her living and passion for God.

After much hilarity and cringing at watching American Idol ( i.e. laughing at all the mistakes people make and the strange things some of them do) we went to watch another movie in the Glory Hole. This time we watched 'Collateral' with Tom Cruise. I wouldn't put this on my highly recommended movie list. Now 'The Count of Monte Cristo' is a great movie. We'll have to watch that sometime.

On Sunday Tracey and I went to church at St James Anglican. Now Tracey is another cool chick. I think I have blogged about her and sung her praises so I probably don't need to go into too much detail. She is great value and I love hanging about with her on the weekends especially. Church was good and the message was very encouraging from 1 Peter about the certain hope we have through Christ's resurrection and the inheritance we have in Christ which does not spoil or fade. That was exciting to think about. I must admit that I don't often think about having an inheritance, when I know that I do. And it's an eternal one which God is keeping for us. I can't wait to receive it!!!!

Sunday lunch was fairly relaxed as we sat around chatting afterwards. Sunday was such a beautiful day. The blue sky was so clear and the air was crispy cool. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. I made good use of the opportunity and went for a walk down to Enfield Park and sat there for awhile under a tree relaxing and chatting with a friend. That has to have been one of my better afternoons since I have been here. The weather was so gorgeous.

On Sunday evening we ended up watching yet another movie. This time it was Starsky and Hutch. I love this movie. It is so funny and it had me in stitches laughing!!!! Favourite line - "do it, do it" - Ben Stiller. I had seen it once before. I am one of those people that have to engage with the movie when I am watching it by responding to the characters and the plot by talking to the screen. This annoys some people. I have yet to see if it annoys people here at SMBC. Time will tell I guess.

I like the fact that people's true personalities are now starting to show around college because we have been here for over a month now. People are starting to go into relax mode and I like that because it means you feel a lot more comfortable around people. It also means you can be heaps more silly with people when you feel comfortable around them. Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing for me though, because I can be quite silly if I am fully at ease around people. I think this side of my personality has yet to show itself here at SMBC ( well, show itself completely anyway).

Today has been one of trying to organise activities for Mission Week. Please be in prayer for Mission Week here at SMBC (April 3 - 10) We have lots of teams going out to different places in Oz and we need prayer. Especially pray for my team as we head off to Mt Druitt. I am excited about growing in my relationship with God during Mission Week and seeing how He will answer prayer during our week there.

Well I must go now. Off to do Greek before my lecture. Have to hurry!!!

Posting Mishap

Hello everyone. Long time no post. I actually managed to rectify this situation yesterday. I sat down for one solid hour on the computer and typed an extremely long post. Unfortunately I got to my last sentence and accidentally hit a key on the keyboard and lost the entire post! So I am sorry that you are not able to hear about all the interesting details of my life over the past week. I do not have the energy to sit down for another hour and write the post again.

Tonight we are going to watch The Sound of Music in the Glory Hole. How GOOD is that!!! I love The Sound of Music. This will be a good way to unwind after a night at work.....not that my work is stressful at all because it isn't. In fact my job has to be the best job I have ever had. I have a darling little 5 year old boy who is learning to read and write English. He is soooooooooooooooo cute!!!!! Today he was starting to put initial, medial and final sounds together to sound out 3 letter words. How clever is he!!! I was so pleased and praised him over and over.

Have a good weekend everyone.