A New Stage in Life

On the 7^th of December 2013, I had the joy and privilege of marrying Davis.  Looking back on the past year I cannot but think of the song which we sung at our wedding “Great is Thy Faithful”. God has blessed me beyond what I could ever deserve and greater than what I could have ever imagined.

The wedding day was lovely, one in which we were able to stand before God and man and make a commitment to one another, a day in which we can say we are thankful that God’s name was lifted up in both the ceremony and the reception, a day in which many people who have been a special part of my life were about have a part in an incredibly special day.

The food, conversation and speeches at our reception were all great!

On Friday the 27^th of December, Davis and I will be flying to Canada. Although I do not know the details of what it will be like I am certain of one thing, that God has a plan and it can only but be wonderful as He is an amazingly wonderful God.

A Trip in Time - Holiday Programme

For the past week I have had the joy of helping run a holiday programme for primary aged children at Riverbend Bible Church. It was great having the opportunity to share Christ with so many children.

One of the things I learnt more about was how well delegation can work and the how wonderful it is to work in a team.

On the first day we had six children and on the second God multiplied that by 6 and we had 36 children. 

Singing on the first day

Singing on the second day

 Each day we had games, morning tea (I was thankful to have Angie organise and look after this for me so I did not have to think about it all week), teaching time (which included songs, a Bible lesson, memory verse activity and a short segment called trip in time), activity (each day was different - craft, skit, archery/flying fox, field game), and a review game.

On the last day we had a BBQ and prize giving which the families were invited to. We were encouraged to have some come along and are excited to see what God will do now that the relationships have been started with people in the community.

The "Trip in Time" was about going back in time to see what has happened in the world, establishing the Bible as truth.
We started with the beginning and then went through the fall, flood, giving of law and life of Christ. In the "Trip in Time" segments we looked at some interesting things in history that verified what the Bible taught.

CEF Internship Summary

I have finished my time with CEF, it was a good 5 months of learning and growing in my walk with God. Below is a summary of the things that God helped me do in my time in Levin.

CEF Training: Teaching Children Effectively Level One
In the first 8 weeks in Levin I completed the TCE L1 over four weekends. I did well in the assessments, learning things such as presenting the Wordless Book, teaching a memory verse and teaching a Bible lesson using the CEF method.

Good News Clubs

Hinemoa House My first day with CEF was a Friday and I was there for the first Good News Club of the year. Apart from one Friday, I have been there each week. Overall, 28 children have come along to the club, many coming just once or twice but there has been a group of 10 that have been consistent. It has been a great joy to share about God with these children. They always want me to join in the games and when I sit on the ground for the lesson I am surrounded by several who all want to sit next to me. My Bible has become something that they want to hold and look up anything that is said and so it gets passed around a bit. I have had some precious moments that will be remembered for many years to come. One of those is sitting with a young boy and seeing him understand the gospel and make a profession of faith. Another one is at the end of club, having three 5 year olds take turns at getting hugs: one, two, three times, accompanied by laughter. Each of the children who have come to club have left an impression on me, and it is hard to leave.

York St
I have been attending York St Chapel, and through conversations and interest from Pam the idea came to start a club in the Levin North area at York St Chapel. The first week started off  with only three children, but that increased to nine children in the third week. Some of the children had not ever heard anything about God, and some others had. Two of the girls had been going to the other GNC but changed to this one as they could walk from school. It was great to get to know some of the ladies from York St a bit better as they came to help with registration and afternoon tea.

Wonder Club
This is a discipleship group for children who have made a profession of faith at the Good News Club. We started teaching about the Bible and have been working through Mailbox Club lessons. I got to know these children a bit more than some of the other children with seeing them twice a week and having opportunity for one-on-one time. At the end of the term there were eight children coming.

Bible in Schools

What at joy! I have been teaching the new entrants class at Levin School. I started with nine children and finished with 19. The class was a mix of ethnicity and backgrounds but something they had in common was an eagerness to learn. One of the children told me one day, “My Mum doesn’t believe in God. Thank you for teaching me about God.” That is a good reason to keep going, while the schools are still open to people coming in to teach about the Bible. I was always amazed at how much they remembered from what I taught them. They loved to sing the songs and would often sing them before class while playing and during the worksheet time in my lesson.

Girls Rally
I was mostly helping with the junior girls, aged 8- 10. Rally was only every second week so we did not have many weeks, but there were certainly some relationships built in the time that we had. I shared the teaching and taught memory verses. We were working through an ‘Answers in Genesis’ curriculum, ‘Seven C’s of History’. The girls were all keen to look up verses and read from the Bible themselves.

Visitation
Before going to Levin I knew that follow up was important and had wanted to do visitation. While there I learnt that it really is not that hard or even as scary as I had thought before. It was good to see a bit of what the children were going home to, even if it was heart breaking at times.

Good News Camp

The second week of the April school holiday was spent helping with a CEF camp in Christchurch at Waipara Riverside Park. It was a different camping experience for me but one that I enjoyed. It was wonderful to be a part of the team. Because I wasn’t a cabin leader, I did not get to know the children personally as well as I might have, but it was good to be able to support the leaders in doing their role both with the children and encouraging them in their own walks with God.

Office work
One of my biggest jobs in the office was to organise the literally hundreds of resources that Pam had in the office. My job was to sort and catalogue all of them. I began this job in the first weeks in Levin and have worked at it, only finishing in the last week. I have helped with preparation for TCE level one courses and organising different things that were happening.

Living at the Beach
Morning walks, the sound of waves and birds, fun conversations, getting to know my grandparents better, beautiful sunsets and sunrises are some of the things I have loved about living with my grandparents at their beach house.

Impact Bible Conference

This past week I have had the joy of helping with set up and then attending the Impact Bible Conference hosted by Riverbend Bible Church. It has been refreshing to be back up here and am looking forward to moving back in the July School holidays.

One of the great parts of set up is working alongside others and getting to know them a bit. During the actual conference it was wonderful to catch up with people who I know from different parts of NZ, some I knew while at Riverbend, others I hadn't seen for a long time. Meals times were a great opportunity to catch up and also get to know some new people. The two following photo was taken by a friend, Levinia.

Another of the wonderful parts of Impact is the teaching sessions. Both the singing and teaching were great. There are many things that I have learnt and much to process to apply in my life. This year the conference title was "A Dynamic Body - The purpose, priorities and practices of the local church". I am thinking about what can I be doing differently as being a part of the body of Christ; in listening to sermons, giving and relating to others - being a part of others growing to be more like Christ. 

CEF Camp

The past week I have been at Waipara Riverside Camp helping at a CEF camp. It was a wonderful week working with a wonderful team. My role was quite different to previous times at camps, I was called a floater. It involved being a support to the leaders (with discipline and also giving them a break when they needed some time), doing dishes, setting up games, running an activity (I was on the confidence course), and generally just being available to run around and do jobs.

This is Variety time where they sung songs, had
prayer time, memory verse and had a Bible lesson.
I did the Bible lesson on the Friday which went well.

Lined up for a meal. They got point for being the
first cabin lined up so happened really quickly.
The cabin with the most points at the end of the day
go to choose a special breakfast the next day.
They also got points for quietest cabin at meals and
night, cabin tidiness, and outstanding behaviour.

We played lots of whole camp wide games.
This is capture the cones.
Having fields with trees was great.

We had a day of rain so it was games in the main hall. 

We went for a walk to the river where they had to build their own fire and cook their own lunch.
It started to rain but everyone was having fun.

Although my interaction with the children was a lot less than normal I enjoyed my time. I learnt more about camping and also had a good time spent catching up with friends before and after the camp.

End of term one

It is now school holidays. The first term for 2013 has ended. It has been a good term with different things starting up for the year and getting involved with them. Over all I have met many children and had some wonderful conversations with them and teaching opportunities. 

This is me teaching at Good News Club. I have taken the Bible lesson once and done the memory verse activity a couple of times, as well as leading the games and singing. Over the term we have had 26 different children come with 12 of them being consistent. 

Wonder Club has been a little up and down. There are 6 children who come but it is hard with only two of them coming every week. An hour seems a short time to cover what we have. However, it seems to be going well and starting to build stronger relationships with each of them.

This is the front gate of the school I teach Bible in Schools and the classroom. I am loving teaching this class. I now have 14 five year old children in the class and it will be going up again next term. They are very interactive and remember from week to week what I have taught them which is encouraging. 

Helping out with Girls Rally at York St Chapel, the church I am attending, is going well. There are 9 girls who come and I have a lot of fun talking and joining in with them.

The first week of the holidays will be quieter for me, catching up with family and then I will be heading down to Christchurch for a CEF Bible camp in the second week. 

Morning Walks

One of the good things about getting up early in the morning is that I have time between being ready and breakfast. Most mornings I use this time to go for a walk down the beach. I either go across the road and straight out to the beach, walking along the shore or I walk up to the bridge and go across to walk through the trees and dunes to get to the shore.

Looking up river from the bridge

There are many beautiful sounds to listen to including waves and the birds all doing there morning singing.

One of two fantails that were flying around my feet

A Tui singing at the top of a tree.

Most mornings I do not see anyone which means I am not disturbing anyone when I go over memory verses out loud or sing songs of praise to God that come to mind.

An NZ bush walk

On Saturday, Andrea, Dad and I went for a walk along the Manawhutu Gorge track. It was a lovely walk through beautiful NZ bush.

Afternoon at the Park

Had a lovely Sunday afternoon going down to Raumati Railway Park with my grandparents and meeting Dad and Mum with my oldest niece and nephew. 

We watched the trains then had a turn ourselves.

This is such a neat idea. Someone loads but the container with sand then it is pulled up and then tipped down a pipe taking it back to the bottom. Curtis loved it and spent ages there. Required working together with which ever other children were around.

Leira thought the seesaw was great fun.