Wednesday, October 27, 2010

and the story continues! :)

soo... all the things we have done recently:
-ate lamb tail
-slept on a marae; this is where like moari communities grow up, come together, have funeral, big meetings and lots more that im sure im not aware of. but it was beautiful; we all got to sleep in the same room like 'family' (lots of snoreing and sounds! ahh)
-we have built some really sweet relationships with some girls from the school and church! awesome friends!
-got to walk 700 steps up a tower to see the point where the sun first rises in the world (it was beautiful, all of east cape had an amazing view!)
-got to paint the church at the marae, doing community service; such a good oppurtunity to help and serve
-got a radio in our big white van; sooo exciting! some new friends that we have made were able to fix it for us! soo nice of them!
-gone to the beach and played volleyball
-gone on a 9 hour drive to get to east cape, this pretty place where we painted the church
-we play settlers all the time; i miss it.
-we did a hangi; where we buried 370 lilttle containers of meat and veggies into this biggg hole in the ground and let it cook for like 5 hours. it was an experience and a half! getting up at 3am to start the fire and get the food in to cook
-we didn't end up doing that big long hike, instead we did a short one! about 2 hours; which still took us to really pretty views.. but my shoe got stuck in the mud and my sock and shoes were covered in that mud!
-we meet one of the guys off of the show called Shortland Street(its a really big deal over here in NZ... to us; not quite as much, but still cool! :)

im not sure of a whole lot else too say.. im sure theres more! so for now; heres some pictures :)

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

legit. solid.

God is good. all the time. all the time. God is good.

legit and solid are becoming the words that the Canadians say. and people are starting to pick up on them. its great.

Things are going really good over here. its cold. but gooood!
We are going to Equippers Church, we are involved in the youth group there and go to the young adult service. The youth group is reallly sweet! we are meeting a lot of cool people. and some really sweet young girls, we are just getting to laugh with them and getting to have some good discussions and getting to challenge and keep eachother acocuntable. i think lots of good will come from it and these relationships.
At youth this week we had to sing O Canada, voluntold pretty much. haha but than they did the Haka for us. it was soo intense. its like a tribal thing/like a call to war.
this is a link of it, if you wanna see it. they do it at the beginning of the all blacks rugby game. soooo coool! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cle20lQg0Qs&feature=related

We are also helping out Te Ora Hou. Which is like a youth program. We have a little meeting with all the leaders (at first it was really awkward.. we didnt really know anyone) But then we had to go and pick the kids up. And we went to this farm and forest, in the middle of nowhere. And played some games in the dark; almost like capture the flag and spotlight (where you have to get from A and B without getting the light shined on you and without getting caught)(I made it, pretty proudd!) And we got to hang out with some kids and the leaders, and just have a enviromemnt where you can laugh and hang out. build connections and friendship. Than the leaders went back to the base and had tea, by that time we were all laughing and hanging out together! :) we got lost on the way home.. minor detail really.

We are also getting to teacher aid classses in the morning. with year 10's which are grade 9's back home. that is gonna be an interesting and challengeing experience. but i see a lot of potential in it!

So everything is really good so far. this is a few stories!
britneeeee! <3

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

we like cookies and cream ice cream.

hi friends!
So I have been learning to drive a bit, standard. its scary business. oh! and what i get to drive is a big white van! but its great reallly. itll be our little adventure van! :)
We have arrived at our home over here in New Zealand! Its great, we have our little area with our rooms and a bathroom; than we can go over into the house for food, movies and hang out time! The family we are staying with are super great so far! So nice.
But we live on like a legit farm. like legit. the back of a dairy farm actually! We have yet to see the cows, but she said she'll take us down there for a little tour soon! So our milk comes straight from the cow.. thick and creamy, its great eh!
We are slowly meeting people and going to get really involved in a church and youth group. Melody also works at a all girls highschool, and does a small group; so we'll get to hang out with them as well! There are lots of retreats and fun stuff that we get to do coming up!
This coming weekend we are doing the Tongariro Crossing, its like a 7 hour climb up a mountian. crazzzy. but its pretty exciting! (http://www.tongarirocrossing.org.nz/)
and in January, which is the summer here in New Zealand, there are lots of camps that we get to be involved in! soo greeat. and we are planning to go to Parachute, which is like this big 4 day music and concert festival! it'll be some greatt time! i will be sure to update you on them! with pictures!

here are some pictures of where we are livingg:
this is the little home where we livee. the outside. my bed and my desk, its great. but kylie and i have sleepovers, so i haven't slept in my bed yet. hers is bigger. its great times :)