Getting colder but still praising the Lord

Is it just me or does time seem to be speeding up? I feel like every week passes so quickly I barely have time to realize it’s a new week and then it’s over.

The Lord is doing so much in my heart and in my life in New Zealand it’s hard to believe I wasn’t planning to come here! Working at the SPCA has been great. I love all the people I work with and am so blessed to get to play with puppies. I am falling in love with all the pups there and would love to take each of them home. It has been great getting to talk with the other workers about the Lord and church as well. Please join me in praying for more opportunities to share the Lord.

The church is going great and I am enjoying building deeper relationships with all the families. It’s really hard to think about going back to the states and leaving all of these amazing people. I can hardly believe my year is getting close to being over. But I still have a few months so I am making the most of every day. I don’t want to miss any opportunity to share the Lord or to be a part of the lives here.

loving coaching basketball

 

Church last sunday

On another note I didn’t get to update before on my adventures of being shoeless. I spent the first 2 weeks of May barefoot. It was really weird at first but the longer I went the more normal it became. The Lord really showed me the abundance of what we have and how little others had. It also gave me greater compassion for people that don’t have enough to buy new clothes when they want or have their basic needs met. I will be praying for them more! My feet grew somewhat callous to the ground and I even got used to stepping in chicken poo and sheep poo.

 

The winter is definitely here! It has been so cold the last few nights I put extra layers of clothes on to go to bed and an extra blanket. Plus my hot water bottle has been a life saver!!! I never realized how much I love the heater in my parent’s house. Without heaters here and poor insulation it is so cold. I am looking forward to visiting CA while it is summer and warm!

 

I am just trying to enjoy every day that I have here and learn from the Lord everything that I can. I pray that I can go back to the states and continue to live making every day count. It is really our attitude that makes the day what it is. If we purpose that the day is going to be a good day and look on the positive side then our day truly will be blessed. On the other hand if we have a bad attitude then our day will suck! Choose to see the bright side of today!

I am also so excited to be able to go to Tonga and Australia before moving back to the states! I will be going to Australia in September for about 2 weeks and then to Tonga with a team from our church for a week and a half in October. Please pray the Lord continues to provide financially for both trips!

Watched Anri play Netball

Played with bees with Dwayne a little freaky but fun!

Finding the Queen

Ellen's Goat!

I don't know if I will ever get used to seeing all the American Cities (especially California) on clothing and things here! Seriously every store has it!!

I am praying for a new place to live here in New Zealand from July to September. Please pray that the Lord opens the door for the right place!

Housesitting, and Term 2

This weekend was mother's day and it made me sad not to be with my amazing mama but I was able to look back on the amazing time we had together just a few weeks ago! Love you Mom!!

 

Life is back to being busy! I am excited by the things the Lord is doing and hoping to have a really good term!

Since I got back from spending time with my parents I have been house sitting for a lovely couple from our church. They have 9 chickens, 9 sheep, and 2 lambs. It has been so fun for me to look after their animals. I have also very much enjoyed the extra quiet time to really study more of the word and to study for everything this term!

 

The Lord has been speaking to me so much and giving me so much faith. I got back from my trip with my parents and was hit with so much spiritual warfare and confusion. I felt like everything I am doing here is a waste and that I shouldn’t even be here. The enemy has such a way of getting us down and losing faith. The Lord has been working in me and encouraging me and giving me direction.

I am also sharing the house with a lady from our church who is going through a really hard time and I love getting to pray with here and talk to her about the Lord. My friend Ellen is also staying with me here which has been a lot of fun! We are working on planning her wedding (July 13). We are also doing random fun things!  

This week I started volunteering at the SPCA. I really wanted a way to get into the community more and meet people and getting to hopefully share the Lord with them. I have been praying about what to get involved in and this seemed like the perfect thing. Monday was my first day and I enjoyed it so much and already had the opportunity to talk to one of the girls about church and the Lord. I am hoping to share more with her over the weeks and maybe even get her to come to church with me. Please pray for her and our relationship as I will be working with her every Monday!

Saturday I spent the day with Ellen driving around and doing random fun things! First we hit up a beach on the West Coast. It was stormy and rainy so we didn’t stay long. Next we drove to Kai iwi lakes. They are lakes that many people love camping at and visiting in the summer. It was beautiful there although it was so cold. We decided we needed to go for a winter swim, basically just to say we did it. We were so cold but it was really fun! Then we drove up to the Waipoua forest to see Tane Mahuta the giant Kauri tree! I had wanted to do that since I got here so it was nice to finally get to go! We really enjoyed our day together and being a bit crazy!

Freezing after swimming in the lake!

Sometimes you just have to swing for a bit

Tane Mahuta

 

A couple weeks ago we were painting with oil based paint and it got all over Anri's hands but we were able to get it off with just oil and salt you can read about it all here

Shoeless

So I wanted to tell you all about an amazing campaign that I am participating in here in New Zealand!

I am so excited about this that I have to share and want all of you back in the states to get involved and I will tell you how!

A girl I know here named Katie Boom she is amazing and she has been going barefoot for 6 months to raise money and awareness for people that can’t afford shoes and don’t have shoes or school supplies. Her aim is to raise awareness about the abundance of what we have and to give to those that don’t have! You can read all about her journey and the campaign here on her shoeless blog!

Most of you know that I love to walk barefoot or with sandels year round! So I thought this was the perfect thing for me to do! I have committed to going shoeless for a few days this month and the more money I raise the more days I will go shoeless!!

I will be updating more about my journey shoeless on my other blog thatworshipchick If you want to see how things go and such with going barefoot in my everyday life! Post one will be up today from day one of being shoeless!

So here is the deal and how you can support me and this campaign!

1: sign up to go shoeless and raise support you can sign up here

I know the states are not really the place to go barefoot but if you are brave enough then do it! besides it's becoming summer over there while it is winter here and we are doing it!

2: You can support me and donate money to this campaign by donating here!
20 dollars send a child to school for a year with school supplies, uniforms, shoes... 

 

3: if you live in the Whangarei area you can give me shoes that are still usable but that you don’t use anymore and I will donate them to the campaign!

4: you can pray for this campaign

I would love to see others get involved and I am excited to see how this all goes especially me going shoeless!