Day 7
Van and I do a video blog every night - I may see if I can upload one because they are super easy to do.
It's weird, hearing Christmas music when it's 90+ degrees outside - the stores have begun playing Mariah Carey and Justin Beiber. Not even the good Christmas music. I wanna hear some Micheal Buble, Barbra Streisand, maybe Kenny G.
Oi - the water was off for more than 2 days - we didn't have bucket showers for 2 days. Which means we were sooooo dirty. I thought I was getting tan. I wasn't.
By the way, that fried bread? It's spelled "Bobakau". It's so good. It's my favourite food here. Auntie makes it sometimes for breakfast and I eat until I feel like a balloon.
We've continued cleaning the church - I've scrubbed so many tiles that I thought my fingers might fall off! And then we painted more and it's nearly done! We finished up some last minute cleaning today in preparation for the opening tomorrow! It's so exciting! We learned a dance with the youth last night, and I feel quite tribal doing it! It involves a lot of clapping and shoulder-rolling. :)
We also visited the hospital the other night. Steph and I were together and we decided to visit the women's ward. Steph spotted one woman and we decided to encourage her. She was so sweet, her name was Alcosita (sp?) and she had diabetes and had left her home island to get treatment. She lost her leg and I think had to do dialysis. She gladly welcomed prayer and we talked to her for almost an hour - she really inspired me - her attitude was incredible in spite of the fact that she was all alone in a hot and dirty hospital for 3 months. I really got an attitude check.
Sarah has become my adoptive One-on-One - we had a lovely date the other day in the corner of the church during work break. She's going to marry a Kiwi and live in New Zealand forever.
I slept outside last night, thinking it would be cooler. It was. But Fijians are noisy. I didn't just hear the dogs last night, but some weird Hindi band playing their nose flutes and drums until 1 am. I will be sleeping inside from now on.
Also - there are "black fijians" and "white fijians". They all look black to me. But after church the other day, we were sitting around with some of the youth, jamming and one girl calls another girl white. I got so confused, I thought she was talkiong about me. Nope. Brown fijians are "white". What does that make me? Transparent? erp.
For those of you who planned on sending me stuff to the Fiji address, if you haven't sent it already, DON'T SEND IT.
I won't get it because I won't be there - I'll be in Suva! If you've sent it already, I should get it.
Bah, sorry my posts are so dry - I don't have much time in the internet cafes!
More to come soon!
Peace out girl scout!
Friday, November 30, 2012
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Real Hobbit Feet
If you lovlies want to send me somthing for Christmas -
Hannah Douglass
12 Kama Street
Simla, Lautoka
Fiji
:)
I love presents.
Anywho.
The past couple of days have been sooo interesting. Sleeping in the heat is getting easier, I still want to shoot all of the obnoxious stry dogs, but they tell me that I shall soon be able to tune them out.
We started working on the hall where Pastor Jare's congregation will now meet. Man, it's so dirty - we basically scrubbed for 2 days straight - we scrubbed chairs, walls, floors, toilets, sinks, stairs, everything. And I think all the grime made it's way on me. Which means I GET MORE BUCKET SHOWERS. yay! I'm getting used to them - the water is cold - which can be a blessing or a curse. It's so relieving after our long treks around Lautoka, but quite shocking early in the morning. Sometimes, the landlord turns off the water in the Pastor's house, so we run out of water. Which means we're thirsty and dirty. But the water eventually turns back on, so it's okay.
I'm pretty sure my feet are indefinitely dirty. They will never be nice again. They are so gross, always filthy, covered in dirt and the skin is getting so dry and calloused from all our walking and the glittery pink nail polish on my toenails is almost unrecongnizable, all chipped and brown.
On the bright side, there aren't any mirrors anywhere, so I never know how gross I look. yay. It's kind of crazy, how I have to depend on my team to tell me how disgusting I look.
I've basically stopped really caring how I look, but i know that this humidity is making everyone's skin better, so I'm praying mine does the same! Wanna get rid of acne? Do a mission trip in Fiji! Woohoo.
Haha, reminds me of something that happened the other day - Van walked in the living room and dejectedly said "I don't know which to charge - my iPod or my camera." There's only one outlet available in the house. #firstworldproblemsinasecondworldcountry
It was funny.
#YWAMhumor
more to come!
Peace out girl scout!
Hannah Douglass
12 Kama Street
Simla, Lautoka
Fiji
:)
I love presents.
Anywho.
The past couple of days have been sooo interesting. Sleeping in the heat is getting easier, I still want to shoot all of the obnoxious stry dogs, but they tell me that I shall soon be able to tune them out.
We started working on the hall where Pastor Jare's congregation will now meet. Man, it's so dirty - we basically scrubbed for 2 days straight - we scrubbed chairs, walls, floors, toilets, sinks, stairs, everything. And I think all the grime made it's way on me. Which means I GET MORE BUCKET SHOWERS. yay! I'm getting used to them - the water is cold - which can be a blessing or a curse. It's so relieving after our long treks around Lautoka, but quite shocking early in the morning. Sometimes, the landlord turns off the water in the Pastor's house, so we run out of water. Which means we're thirsty and dirty. But the water eventually turns back on, so it's okay.
I'm pretty sure my feet are indefinitely dirty. They will never be nice again. They are so gross, always filthy, covered in dirt and the skin is getting so dry and calloused from all our walking and the glittery pink nail polish on my toenails is almost unrecongnizable, all chipped and brown.
On the bright side, there aren't any mirrors anywhere, so I never know how gross I look. yay. It's kind of crazy, how I have to depend on my team to tell me how disgusting I look.
I've basically stopped really caring how I look, but i know that this humidity is making everyone's skin better, so I'm praying mine does the same! Wanna get rid of acne? Do a mission trip in Fiji! Woohoo.
Haha, reminds me of something that happened the other day - Van walked in the living room and dejectedly said "I don't know which to charge - my iPod or my camera." There's only one outlet available in the house. #firstworldproblemsinasecondworldcountry
It was funny.
#YWAMhumor
more to come!
Peace out girl scout!
Sunday, November 25, 2012
FIJI
Boy oh boy.
So sorry family and friends for not posting in quite a while. I was in denial that I was soon going to be leaving my DTS family forever and I didn't want to talk about it.
I may get around to talking about it one day.
Probably not.
But now, I'm in Fiji! Sitting in an internet cafe, sweating away.
It is super hot here - there's no AC anywhere, but I don't mind it so much.
Let's start with getting here.
It was a very quick 3 hour flight, and met Pastor Jare at the airport (he's Dan's dad!). We drove to Pastor's house, where we unloaded and found our rooms. One example of incredible Fijian hospitality - their family gave up their rooms so we could sleep inside - they sleep on the porch. And then we ate - and ate - and ate. That's all we seem to do is eat eat eat. People always want to feed us more. They say "come come, eat more, come come." Sunday morning when we woke up, we had devos, worship, and then we had Bomacow (sp?). It's fried bread.
SOOOOO GOOD. I want to eat it for the rest of my freaking life.
I'm in love with this place - Jare's family is the sweetest and I am so excited to help him build his church. We're focusing on the youth for this trip - our team is going to be pulling kids off the street and running youth services on SUnday afternoons. We'll also be doing prison ministry, on Wednesday, we'll be ministering to overcrowded men's prisons - chatting, singing, doing one of my favourite skits "Ropes". Man, I can't wait to get started. Mondays are our days off - we'll use that time to rest and fellowship.
We sleep with the windows open, on mats on the floor - if there's a breeze, it's really nice, but our mosquito nets don't do the greatest job of keeping it breezy. I don't sleep with a blanket or sheet or anything, it's so toasty. Also, we bathe using buckets. They're called "bucket baths" - heehee. I don't use conditioner because it takes too much water, but my hair naturally starts conditioning itself, thank goodness. And the humidity's so intense that I don't even worry about how my hair looks. And now I'm so happy i chopped it all off, or else I would be absolutely miserable.
Man, there's so much I want to say, I know this is a pretty dry entry, but I'm running out of time! I'll get around to saying it all when I can!
Love you guys, be blessed!
So sorry family and friends for not posting in quite a while. I was in denial that I was soon going to be leaving my DTS family forever and I didn't want to talk about it.
I may get around to talking about it one day.
Probably not.
But now, I'm in Fiji! Sitting in an internet cafe, sweating away.
It is super hot here - there's no AC anywhere, but I don't mind it so much.
Let's start with getting here.
It was a very quick 3 hour flight, and met Pastor Jare at the airport (he's Dan's dad!). We drove to Pastor's house, where we unloaded and found our rooms. One example of incredible Fijian hospitality - their family gave up their rooms so we could sleep inside - they sleep on the porch. And then we ate - and ate - and ate. That's all we seem to do is eat eat eat. People always want to feed us more. They say "come come, eat more, come come." Sunday morning when we woke up, we had devos, worship, and then we had Bomacow (sp?). It's fried bread.
SOOOOO GOOD. I want to eat it for the rest of my freaking life.
I'm in love with this place - Jare's family is the sweetest and I am so excited to help him build his church. We're focusing on the youth for this trip - our team is going to be pulling kids off the street and running youth services on SUnday afternoons. We'll also be doing prison ministry, on Wednesday, we'll be ministering to overcrowded men's prisons - chatting, singing, doing one of my favourite skits "Ropes". Man, I can't wait to get started. Mondays are our days off - we'll use that time to rest and fellowship.
We sleep with the windows open, on mats on the floor - if there's a breeze, it's really nice, but our mosquito nets don't do the greatest job of keeping it breezy. I don't sleep with a blanket or sheet or anything, it's so toasty. Also, we bathe using buckets. They're called "bucket baths" - heehee. I don't use conditioner because it takes too much water, but my hair naturally starts conditioning itself, thank goodness. And the humidity's so intense that I don't even worry about how my hair looks. And now I'm so happy i chopped it all off, or else I would be absolutely miserable.
Man, there's so much I want to say, I know this is a pretty dry entry, but I'm running out of time! I'll get around to saying it all when I can!
Love you guys, be blessed!
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Fiji Prophie!
So, as most
of you know, I’m going to Fiji with the MOST AWESOME TEAM EVA.
Here’s some
info:
(ps – I copied
most of my info from Steph’s blog – you should check it out - http://adventuresofstephreynolds.blogspot.co.nz/)
Leaders:
Dave Remus
Dave Remus
From
Ontario, Canada, this guy is pretty cool. He’s 19. One of my first impressions
of him was finding out that he was doing a weeklong fast. I feel like that
pretty much sums it up: He’s strong and well-disciplined, a perfect fit for
team leader.
Sarah Lowe
She my
American girl – or can I say California girl? My first impression of her was
that I thought she looked a lot like Emily Osment – you know, the girl that was
on Disney Channel? She’s got an absolutely gorgeous voice – we enjoy Civil Wars
duets together and she’s the momma of the group – not only because of her age
(26), but she’s got quite the momma’s heart.
Aleisha
Mclennan
Is a crazy
Kiwi. My first impression of her crazy dancing during worship. She, like Dave,
is also 19 and full of so much life and joy and passion! She’s definitely a driving
force in our team, her enthusiasm will be much appreciated! She also has a gift
for identifying and connecting with kids – she’s brought 5 or 6 kids to
salvation in the past month alone!
Students:
Me- Hannah
Douglass
Well, if you
didn’t know about me, I’m from Franktown, TN, in the U.S. of A. i enjoy singing
way too much and I love food. I also love people in general, but I can get
cranky if I’m cold, hungry, sick, or surrounded by Debbie Downers. So it’s a
good thing I’m going to Fiji, where it’s like 200 degrees everyday, Fijians
force you to eat literally tons of food (they’re well known for their
hospitality), and no one on my team is a Debbie Downer. It’s gonna be great.
Stephanie
Reynolds
Affectionately
known as “Steph” by all or “Stephy Steph” by myself, this chickadee is the bees
knees. She’s from Alberta, Canada and she lives off of rice and carrots because
she’s allergic to almost every staple food product. We love to talk about poop
together. On a more serious note, she is an incredible songwriter and she’s
also like a big sis to me! She is bold and honest, something that will come in
super honest on outreach. My first impression of her was her super hip self
playing the guitar at King’s Kids.
Bethany Roughton
Better watch
out! She’s our other crazy Kiwi. She’s our baby, 17 years old and she’s got a
passion and a boldness like no other. Quite the prayer warrior, she loves being
in that place with God. She’s quite the comic, always saying the funniest Kiwi
things that just make me laugh. She’s a closet musician and has a wonderful new
haircut. My first impression of her was her being engulfed in all her lime
green bedding. She loves green.
Jacob
McCormack
From Portland,
Oregon, he’s 20 years old and one of the the most fantastic, passionate, and
talented musicians I have EVER met. He rocks at piano, he’s a beast at guitar,
and he’s got a true heart of worship. He is an angel and always provides great
music for my songs – I’d like to think he’s the John Paul White to my Joy
Williams. He’s really super obsessed with kitty cats and purrs during worship. Jk
– but he is an excellent purrer. My first impression of him was “Poor guy.” Because
his airline lost his luggage and he had like a million hour layover in
Australia and he missed his birthday because of the international dateline
thingy!
Jacob Van
Zanten
He’s 18, and
all the freckles stand for the souls he’s eaten. JK! They stand for all the
souls he’s gonna save! This awesome kiddo always makes my day better with his
lovely smile and sincere affirmations. He’s got a gift for passionate prayer
and speaking that really now starting to reveal itself in his life. From British
Colombia, Canada, he has some strange vocabulary like “toque” (beanie) and “ill”
(that’s sick bro!), but I’m introducing him to new words like “ya’ll” and “fried
chicken”, so it’s okay. He's also the missing member of the boyband, One Direction.
What?
Outreach!
The
scripture for our team is:
"The
Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to
preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to
proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion - to bestow
on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of
mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be
called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his
splendor." (Isaiah 61:1-3)
We will be
doing all sorts of things - from street evangelism to door knocking to
children's ministry to helping out at churches... the list goes on.
Where?
Lautoka.
Pastor Jare
Paihia/NZ.
Operation Jerusalem.
Kaitaia/NZ.
Pastor Graeam
Auckland/NZ.
Pastor Trent. C3 South Aukland
When?
We will be
leaving New Zealand on November 24 and flying to Fiji. We will be in Lautoka
working with Pastor Jare. Pastor Jare is Dan's dad. Dan is one of the students
on my DTS and he is from Fiji!!!! Our base has been doing outreach with Dan's
dad for a long time, and finally Dan was able to come to New Zealand and take
part in his own DTS!!! How awesome is that! I am so excited to stay with his
parentals for a while! We will be staying in Fiji for about a month. We will
arrive back in New Zealand on December 26. So we will get to have a Fijian
Christmas! I am so pumped for that!
When we get
back we will be volunteering in Paihia with Operation Jerusalem. Paihia on New
Years is the place for young people to go and get drunk and party. So we will
have a booth, giving out free sausages and water. It will be a super
opportunity for us to minister to the youth of New Zealand! Beth is pretty
nervous to hang around drunken youth, so pray for her! (And the rest of us
too!)
Then we are
going to Kaitaia. While there we will be planning and running a children's
program. It will be kind of like Vacation Bible School (VBS)
And our last
stop will be in south Aukland. This is a rough part of Aukland and we will be
doing something at a big church down there called C3. There are lots of street
people and prostitutes and stuff like that in that area. During our DTS, we
have had 'Hope Cafe' every Monday, Wednesday and Friday during our break in the
middle of the morning lecture. There is coffee and cookies and icecream
available by donation. All of the money raised goes to the prostitutes in South
Aukland. So we will actually get to meet these girls and minister to them! Pray
for them
Why?
Why not?
Peace out girl scout
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
To Rebeka on Her Birthday
Dear Rebeka,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Little sister, I cannot believe you are SO OLD. Good gracious,
you’re 18 today! You’re officially a woman and it’s crazy to see my little
sister grow and blossom and become the beautiful woman she was meant to be. Sometimes,
your beauty literally stuns me. You are so independent, so strong, and so
secure in who God has made you that sometimes I have to remind myself that you
are younger than me in all your wisdom. I am so blessed to have a best friend
like you – a playmate since childhood and someone I’ve always been able to
trust. I miss our late night bedtime conversations; I miss car jamming with you
on the way home from church. I miss talking to you – you have such a deep and
meaningful, yet such simple outlook on life – you never cease to amaze me with
your maturity. I love your tender heart and your ability to forgive and forget
anything anyone does to you. I love that you always laugh at my jokes and
understand me better than any other human being. I love how you love others and
how you don’t seek to make people like you, but you seek to be the woman God
wants you to be. Also.
I want to apologize for always making you the prince and me the
princess when we played pretend.
Sorry.
I like being rescued! What can I say? And you liked fighting
the imaginary wolves and dragons.
Sorry.
I would also like to apologize for locking you into lots of
dark places i.e;
The trunk of the car
The pantry
The dryer
Our closet
Sorry.
Anywho.
I’m so proud of you! And I am so sad and sorry that I’m
missing your birthday this year! I wish I could be there to sing the birthday
song, help you eat the delicious Baskin Robbins ice cream cake, and give you
your well-deserved birthday spanking. But, alas, I live on the other side of
the world. So here’s to you, the best little sister/almost twin ever. I love
you!
Happy birthday!
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Invitations, Beaches and Hot Seats
My oh my,
what a weekend! We had an awesome morning of worship led by Matt on Friday
morning – I was so proud of the full band in the Gap! Then I received…A
PACKAGE. THANK YOU MOMMY AND DADDY AND REBEKA FOR MY PACKAGE!!!
You have no
idea how happy it made me. My letter from mom with literally a hundred
questions that I will try my hardest to answer, a lovely letter from Rebeka’s
boyfriend Bart (thanks buddy, love you too) and my sweet sissy Beks. Thank you
to Dominic and Angelina for my sweet card for Dakota, it touched my heart! AND
THANK YOU MOMMY FOR THE PRETTY PURPLE FLOWER, THE NAIL POLISH, THE FESTIVE
DECORATIONS AND THE…SOUR PATCH KIDS. I have suddenly become everyone’s best
friend here on base. Beth asked me “Are those American lollies?” oh how I adore
Kiwi lingo.
Then, we had
our last lecture with Beryl and we sadly bid her goodbye and I rushed back to
my cottage to pack for the weekend trip to Raglan. Being I had about 10 minutes
to do so, I was pretty frantic. So I ignored the knock on the cottage door and
continued my rushed packing. But Tasia answered and came into my room and said “Hannah,
you have a visitor!” So I stomped to the porch and upon seeing Jacob Van Zanten
(whom we affectionately refer to as Van) demanded “What do you want?”
And then he
put on his boy band face and began singing a remixed version of “What Makes You
Beautiful” to me. And I stood there, so incredibly confused as he serenaded me.
Then he finished, handed me an invitation to some dinner thing, I hugged him
and he ran away.
Turns out
the boys are planning some fancy dinner thing for the girl on November 7th
and all the girls were invited via scavenger hunts, secret packages, and chocolate
surprises. There is a lovely air of mystery about it and it’s absolutely
MADDENING. I just want to know what’s going on RIGHT NOW.
So yeah.
Then we
drove to the beach and the red van had wonderful, deep, meaningful
conversations about bioethics, evolution, Slurpees and nose rings.
Then we got
to the beach house.
It was
wonderful.
There were
three bathrooms.
THREE.
AND A TV.
YOU KNOW HOW
LONG IT’S BEEN SINCE I’VE SEEN A TV???
Plus, there
were hammocks and rooftop porches and lovely verandas and I was so happy.
So we
happily settled in, watched Soul Surfer and ate Dutch pancakes for dinner. Then,
being the restless peeps we are, some of went for a walk in an attempt to play
in the ocean.
We found a
playground instead.
Typical.
After we
satisfied the 6-year-olds inside each one of us on the seesaw, slides, and tire
swings we went back to the beach house.
Then Matt
and I wrote a ballin’ song on the roof. It’s no biggy. You’re awesome Matt.
Then I went
to bed.
Saturday
morning, Janessa woke me up! I had to make PANCAKES. Yummy! So we made
pancakes. On a really bad stove. The heat wasn’t really optional; it kind of
did whatever it wanted. Yeah.
But breakfast
was still yummy.
And Schnegg
is so funny. The entire morning, while we were making breakfast I was
constantly laughing at his silly antics. I think his French accent just makes
everything he says that much funnier.
Then, we
went to THE BEACH.
Raglan is a
surfers’ beach, which mean that there we HUGE waves. Just incredible –
lifeguards advised us not to go far in the water because to rip was so strong.
Oh, and one
more thing. It’s a black sand beach! The sand is volcanic and magnetized and
black and it’s so different from any sand I’ve ever seen! It sparkles in the
sun and is just so dazzling!
So we spent
a few hours at Raglan – just relaxing and watching people ride by on their
horses or families play in the low tide pools. Then Matt and Schnegg and I went
for a walk and we had fun collecting shells (or I had fun finding them and
putting them in Matt’s pocket) and I awkwardly stood by as Matt and Schnegg had
a male modeling photoshoot. It was weird.
Oh yeah.
I got
sunburnt.
In October.
How weird is
that?
Then we went
back to the beach house and relaxed while Johanna made THANKSGIVING DINNER.
I joined
Hannah and Schnegg on the roof and it turned into the MOST AWESOME jam session in
the history of jam sessions. I think we wrote like 5 different songs and
remembered like 3 of them. It’s funny how the genre slowly changed from folk to
gospelish to jazz and everything in between. Schnegg is an incredible guitarist
and Hannah has the most beautiful voice EVER and I don’t think I could ever get
tired of just jamming with them. They’re both just so beautiful.
Then we had
THANKSGIVING DINNER. Early for the Americans, late for the Canadians.
It was soooo
good. I had a food coma. We said things we were thankful for. I loved it.
Then I listened
to some of Steph’s wonderful songs. She’s got such a talent for conveying heart
messages in song. I just love listening to her play!
Then Jacob
and I worked on the song I think I want to record for the album. He’s wonderful,
I think I found my John Paul White in life. And then we worked on another song I
started writing.
Then we all
watched a movie and hit the sack.
Today, we
got up late, relaxed, packed, cleaned and left the beach house. We got coffee,
and I think I had about 5 cups of the delicious poison today. Guys, coffee is
such a huge part of the culture here. You can’t just buy a cup of joe. Drip coffee
doesn’t exist. You got your Flat Whites, your Mocha Lattes, your Vanilla
Lattes, your Double Dirty Mochas Extra Foam, but no straight-up coffee. And iced
coffee? It’s for babies. So yeah. Coffee. I had a lot of that. Which means,
halfway into our road trip, I had to pee. Not your regular, “a bathroom break
would be great right now” but a “IF YOU DON’T PULL OVER RIGHT NOW, I’M GOING TO
SOAK THE SEAT” kind of pee. I was miserable as we bumped over every obstruction
in the road. And we finally pulled over at Hamilton Gardens and I got to use
the ladies’ room.
And then we
finally went home.
And I was
tired. All I wanted to do was sleep. So I skipped dinner. But then there was
the normal Sunday 7 o’ clock pm meeting. Dangit.
So Elisa and
I trudged up to the A-Frame.
And then I was
on the Hot Seat.
If I haven’t
talked about it before, we do it every Sunday night. One boy, one girl, free
game. Tonight was the one night I definitely didn’t want to be on the hot seat.
First of all, I looked like I’d been hit by a truck. My hair was crazy, my
sunburnt skin made me look like a tomato and my crooked glasses and Elisa’s
oversized sweater just finished off the unkempt look. Nope, I definitely didn’t
want to be the center of attention for 29 other people. And I didn’t want to be
encouraged. I was in a moping mood. So of course tonight would be the night where
my name was called. Yep.
And I discovered
something. The hot seat isn’t about making Hannah feel better. It’s about
confirming God in Hannah. Woah. And I feel like it’s also for the encouragers –
I often like people after I encourage people and my heart for them. The hot
seat is so we all constantly have hearts for one another and I love that.
So yeah.
Insomnia.
Peace out
girl scout.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Wans, Hakas and Songs
Hello friends!
Sorry it’s
been so long since I’ve blogged – it’s been a crazy week!
Sunday was
wonderful – so relaxing with all the OPs still sailing, I managed to do my CIR,
finish my book and book report, write a few letters AND finish TWO songs! It
was great! And Elisa and I had a lovely date and watched Alice in Wonderland on
my laptop in my comfy bed! I love my German roomie! She is so funny! All the
Germans are! Marit cracks me up – in German, “v” makes a “w” sound and
sometimes they have little slip-ups which make the funniest phonetic mistakes! Last
week, Marit asked us “Who cleaned out the wans?”
Anyway, the Musos
had a lovely song sharing session and then the Ops got back super late and it
was so lovely to see all my sister and best friends again! I just hugged them
so much! It was funny, how in mere moments, our cottage went from empty silence
to comfortable noise that the normal pack of 6 girls makes on an average
evening.
Then came
wonderful Monday! This week, our own base director, Bearyl is our speaker, and
man is she a powerful woman of God with an incredible gift of deliverance! In week
four, she helped me get delivered from some serious stuff, so I have experienced
firsthand God working through her to bring people out of oppression. Man, she’s
delivered me from stuff I didn’t even realize was holding me down!
So Monday was
incredible. I had an unforgettable Holy Spirit encounter when Bearyl prayed for
me to receive the gift of deliverance. I feel like God is growing gifts within
me that I never recognized – the spirit of discernment, gifting in dreams and
visions and interpretation of both those and tongues. And the more I ask God
for these, the more He gives! It’s crazy! I’m continually asking God for an
increase in blessing of these gifts and to continue to develop them! I am so
pumped for Spiritual Warfare! Man, my prayer life has gotten rocked so much
lately and God is just pouring on the revelation!
On Monday,
Matthew and Schnegg sang a song that they wrote over the weekend, crazily
enough, over spiritual warfare! Man, it was so powerful and it was so great to
see my brothers in Christ to rise up and become warriors of God! I am so proud
of them! The boys also had their first Haka rehearsal. Watching them learn it
was pretty entertaining – they slowly moved from floundering spaghetti noodles
to strong warriors. The Haka they learned is “Te Waka” – a Maori battle cry
that prepared the men for fighting. Te waka means war canoe, and the men chant
about gearing up for war, getting in the war canoe and do preparing for battle.
Before fighting, the men would beat their chest so hard and furiously that they
would draw blood. If you’ve ever seen a group of native men preform a Haka, it’s
absolutely terrifying. Rich, a rather large Kiwi leader here, has Maori
background, and he leads the Haka, and it’s truly powerful. There is something
so powerful about it. This particular Haka has the words changed a little bit –
instead of declaring death, it declares life and fighting the Enemy rather than
killing man. And the boys did it on Tuesday morning, and I was so proud! Watching
all my boys become warriors and fiercely declare spiritual warfare on the Enemy
was so powerful and they blew me away! Well done boys! I mean, MEN! Though it's not nearly as epic as in real life, here's the vid:
Tuesday was
a blah day. Not gonna lie, a lovely string of things just shot my attitude and
Satan was determined to rob me of my joy, but God restored it to me after a “get
it together” chat with my one-on-one, Carly and some intense conversation with
Jesus. And they filled in my favorite potholes on the drive during work program!
I was so sad – I’ll have no more puddles to jump in on rainy days!
Oh yeah! I almost forgot about Tuesday! So, I run to breakfast, as usual, in my Pajamas and crazy hair, only to fins our entire DTS standing outside the A-Frame and Rich telling us that there had been a burglary and that they had stolen all the instruments and computers and equipment and we were all shocked. Though I was slightly relieved to learn that it was just a burglary, because my first initial thought was something had happened to Bearyl, who is fighting breast cancer. (please keep her in your prayers!) I felt so bad for people like Henk, whose beautiful guitar was left in there, or Noemi, whose iPhone was left there overnight. So we began to pray for the burgalers, waiting outside for the police to show up and fingerprint the place when the door to the A-Frame opened and out came the staff, all dressed up and fancy shmancy. And turns out, we were punked. There was no robbery. But there was BREAKFAST. Funny how my thought process went from Bearyl to burglary to breakfast all in under 5 minutes. So they beautifully served us a HUGE hot breakfast with pancakes, french toast, hash browns, eggs, bacon, fruit and yogurt, coffee, tea, juice - the SHABANG. Man, it was so sweet. I love the staff, they are such a blessing to us.
Then there
was yesterday!
God has been
blessing our school with some incredible angelic occurrences! During lunch,
Miranda was getting delivered by Bearyl, and I thought I heard a trumpet sound
in the lecture room, and when I looked in, all I saw was Miranda getting prayed
over by Bearyl and Aleisha and a couple other people, but I didn’t really think
about it, maybe I heard things, you know?
And then we
found out something crazy today. A lot of people heard a trumpet sound when
Miranda was getting delivered, but no one was blowing the shofar.
GUYS THERE
WAS AN ANGEL BLOWING A TRUMPET IN OUR LECTURE ROOM.
ISN’T THAT
CRAZY???
So yeah.
I had a
wonderful date with Jesus after an eventful community rec time of nonstop
cricket. I went on a walk, he showed me boiling water. If you’re really
interested in what the heck that means, please ask, I’d be happy to tell you.
Then I had
AWESOME prayer in the prayer room! Man, God is so good. Mom – you and I need a
skype date SOON.
Then Matt
and I had a lovely late dinner date with Rebekah and Schnegg and Henk. I had
Kraft mac ‘n cheese for the first time in MONTHS. Thank you Beth!
Then we
played with a random dog running around the base and went to sleep!
Today was
awesome – we dealt with generational strongholds. I love learning about this
stuff – I wish we had more than one week with Bearyl!
We broke
generational strongholds off my life today – from as far as ten generations
back all the way to my future bloodline. And man, was that powerful!
Then, Elisa
and Hannah and I had a lovely show at Robert Harris, the coffeeshop. We made
over $20 in tips today, it was crazy!!! We decided that we should go pro. So our
band name is…ready for it?...it’s super hip and cool:
Hannah
Squared and Their German Friend
It might
look cooler if we did it like this:
Hannah2
and Their German Friend
BAM
We’re going
to have a field photoshoot and everything.
And Schnegg
will be our official photographer.
He doesn’t
know it yet.
But he is.
AND
MACKENZIE PUCKETT.
You’ll never
guess what song I make them sing all the time.
Don’t you
worry there my honey…
Ladeedeedadeedeedeedum
Bunnies
J
Everytime I sing
that song, I think of you, my dear.
AND THEN
HANNAH AND I WENT ON A DATE.
Yesyesyes,
that required ALL CAPS.
Because it
was a really good date.
We went
swimming at Opal Springs – the hot springs next door.
I love me
some Hannah.
Then we had
our first outreach prep meeting! It was good! I am getting sooooo excited for
Fiji! God is giving me a heart for that place and all the members of my team! I
think I’m gonna copy Steph’s idea and do an entry where I do a profile of my
team. It’ll be awesome.
Oh yeah, i almost forgot!!! Musos are going to Raglan beach tomorrow to brush up on our songs for the album! I'm so excited to just relax at the beach house, just spend a weekend songwriting and chilling out! We're also going to celebrate THANKSGIVNGGGGG. It's been far too long since I've had the pleasure of a food coma.
Man, I’ve
written a Lot. And to think, it’s not even everything.
I love
Jesus.
And worshipping
Him is awesome.
If you don’t
do it very often, you should try it sometime. God created worship for US! Imagine
that!
I’m gonna go
shower now. I don’t think I’ve done that in a while. Woohoo
Peace out
girl scout.
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