Tools

On our way back from Tarawera Falls we got not one, but two flat tires! Wow...what are the chances of that??!?! The first one we had to pull over and put the spare tire on...which was a bit of a challege since we could not find the jack. God's favor is a great thing...some nice man stopped and let us use his jack....we were also blocking his driveway, so I guess he didn't have too much choice but to help us! ha. Anyway, then just outside of town Lori noticed that we were losing air in the other rear tire. This time it really was the favor of God as we pulled into a gas station that had a service station in the back and we got there just before it closed. We got both tires fixed and it was there that I found the biggest wrench I have EVER seen! Hope all is well on that side of the planet!

Tarawera Falls

Hello There!!! Sorry it has been a long time since I have posted anything! Things here have been so busy...but very good still. Couple of weekends ago we took a trip to Tarawera Falls to celebrate one of the girl's (Christa N) birthday. We took a short little hike along a river to the falls which were so beautiful. I felt like I was in a scene from the movie Furngully! We had a great time...more pics and stories on that to come! Love ya!

GREEN TEAM!!!

Outreach to Fiji!!!

Last week our leaders gave us a slip of paper with the colors blue, red and green on it. They asked us to pray for a color...rather, that God would give us a color...this is how our outreach teams would be decided. My first instinct was blue, but I figured it was just because it was my favorite color. So I went to my spot on the boat where I can usually find some peace and quiet to ask God if blue was the color for me. I really felt Him saying that I was a new creation in Him, that this is a new beginning, and that He wanted me to pick green. Cool!!! But you know me...I have a bit of a tendency to second guess...everything! So I went back down to my bunk and took the slip of paper out of my pocket, when I unfolded it blue ripped off the end...the paper wasn't even folded there! So GREEN it is!!!
TEAM GREEN:
Caroline Black
Celia Serre
Christa Hemstreet
Christina Jessup
Christine McAlpine
David Mulder
Esther Mitchell
Hope Bushby
Josh Clark
Kate Goodell
Matt Nelson
Nalani Hasto
Stacey Domingues
Emily Eucken

The plans are really sketchy right now and they really want us as a team to have the opportunity to pray about where to go and what to do specifically. We do know that we will be sailing from Auckland to Fiji on April 7th. We should arrive in Lautoka Fiji between on April 12th or 13th. We plan to spend a couple days there recovering from being sea sick before sailing to Yasawa for a week of outreach. Right now it looks like we will be doing some teaching in schools about how to take care of your teeth and true love waits, HIV...maybe a few other things. Then on April 22nd we will all sail to Venua Levu for another week of outreach in Savusavu. On April 29th we will break into our teams. Our team and the blue team will stay there in Venua Levu until around June 1. The red team will sail back to the main island of Fiji then fly to Samoa.
Now that we have our teams established and we are starting to meet and pray and plan it is all starting to seem very real!!! Our team would really appreciate your prayers as we plan and prepare. Apparently Fiji is a pretty dark place spiritually, so any prayers for wisdom, courage....all that good stuff would be great. Also just that we would really seek and hear from God about what He wants us to do for Him in that country. I will keep you posted! Much Love!!

A Lil' Weekend Fun

Weekends are GREAT!!!!! Couple weekends ago a friend of ours took Esther and I out on his jetski. Having been away from my car for six weeks now I have been craving driving something fast. My need for speed was satisfied...well, at least until I threw myself off! I was basically going full speed ahead and thought it would be a good idea to change directions and head back the other way. The jetski was cool with that, but my body was not!!! See if you can find my feet! It was one of those moments that you wish you could see how stupid you look.
Later on that night several of us went kayaking in the Glowworm Caverns. It was a bit scary kayaking through this lake at night...my night vision is terrible, I might as well have been blindfolded. Caroline and Celia were in the same kayak and got beached, they actually ran themsleves right onto land. They had to use their oars to push themselves out of the mud and then find the rest of the group. It may have been because english is not Celia's first lanuage, therefore she struggled a bit with left and right! The Glowworms were really cool though. We kayaked into this cavern where Glowworms lined the walls. It was like bright green stars all over the place. Once again the night vision thing came into play when I paddled Esther and I into the wall. I am happy to say that we all made it out safe and sound!

Hearing God's Voice

The second week of lecture was rather intense!!! The topic of the week was hearing God's voice. On wednesday the speaker, Donna Jordan, asked us to write down anything that could be hindering us from hearing from God...things like unforgiveness, false statements against us, sin, all kinds of things...I had a page front and back. On thursday we went out to Gideon's Field for a bon-fire. We actually put those things in the fire...at the foot of the Cross. It was an extremely frustrating process for me, that did not really help me to feel free like it was intended. The rest of that day was hell...the enemy was attacking me from every angle...my self-worth, whether or not I should be here, all kinds of things. On friday we were given a classmate that we were supposed to ask God what He wanted to tell that person through me, and we were to ask God about yourself as well. When I asked God what He thought of me I could hear nothing of Him...only garbage. When I asked Him about my classmate, Esther, He gave me the words to tell her. So we go back to the group and we have to share with everybody what we got for the other person. The guy who had me said that he got that God wanted me to slow down and trust His timing. I thought that was applicable so I went and got the paper from him and went back to my chair and started to tell the group what God gave me for Esther. Donna stopped me and said "wait, I think He has more for you." So she asked God what He wanted me to hear through them. The first thing that she said was that I was not to be called Bushby anymore...she asked what my full name was and I told her Christine Hope...she said she felt that God wanted me to be called Hope! (2 of the leaders here had said that day or the day before that they did not feel i should be called Bushby anymore) Of course I immediately started crying, but my classmates had heard so much...it was like popcorn all over the room....2 people had a vision that I was standing on top of a hill as a conquerer, someone had a vision of a feather floating from place to place and impacting those places, but making my home in Christ, that He was my shelter and protector...someone had a vision of a yellow rose (which is a symbol of Hope), someone said that they felt God saying that I carried so much pain and that He just wanted me to let it go (she was probably the 8th person in 10 days to say something to me about letting go w/o being prompted)..someone else had a vision of a walnut cracking and growing into a beautiful tree...someone else said that God wanted me to know that I was supposed to be here @ this DTS and that I was important part of this school....IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!! It was amazing to see how faithful God is...when I could not hear Him for myself about myself He prompted my classmates to speak to me! WOW!!!

Hope is Everywhere!!!

Mom always said that she wanted her ashes spread somewhere...but I could never think of any place that I thought would be perfect. I did a little thinking about this and desided that the best thing to do would be to spread a little of her ashes in every country that I go to. We thought that this would very much honor her!! So here I am in New Zealand four years after she was taken home...I hope I found the perfect spot to start our journey! I was very blessed by a friend of mine that hiked to the top of the mountian with me and prayed for me so that I wouldn't have to face this alone(Thank you so much!!). It was amazing...not only is it beautiful up there, but knowing how much this would please Mom, brought something to my heart that I cannot put into words. Thanks to all of you who prayed for me and my family on that day...we really appreciate it. HOPE IS EVERYWHERE!!!

The Father Heart of God

"LET GO" seems to be the theme for me these days!!! I think I have had 8 or 9 people say that to me without being prompted and often without knowing much about me. Let go...let go of what?? After spending a week on the Father Heart of God, I figured it was about time I let go the pain and grief that I have let define me for years. And allow the love of God to shape me back into the person He intended me to be. Easier said than done though!!!! HA!! There is a long journey in front of me, I know...but I am learning to allow God to carry those burdens, pains and fears that He never wanted me to carry in the first place. Please pray for me as I rediscover my identity in Christ and trust Him to fill and restore me! Much Love to You All!!!

Karangahake Mines

This weekend several of us went up to the Karangahake Mines. It is basically a bunch of old gold mines that they have turned into hiking trails. It was so pretty up there. We spent about three hours walking these trails. About the first twenty minutes of the hike was along this old railroad tunnel through some hills. Then we went up into the hills, along the river and into the old gold mines. We saw some glowworms!!! I had never seen any of those...they are cool little suckers!!! Anyway, we had a great time. There is a river that runs through there. Mark (from Oregon) and Lisa (from Germany) were trying to cross part of the river to take a shortcut to the other trail. They were trying to jump from one rock to the other but Lisa had her backpack and she thought that it would be a good idea to throw it across. Well it slid right off the rock and floated probably 150 yards down the river before Mark caught up with. It was so funny! It took a couple days, but finally her camera dried out and is working fine! There were a couple of suspension bridges that were nice and bouncey....we did a little experiement on what it will be like on the ship at sea. I think I may have a struggle with sea sickness. HA! So...thats that! Hope you are all doing good! I miss everybody! Heaps of love!

DTS Week One

New Zealand is a beautiful place!!! Our boat is docked at a port in the city of Tauranga..which is on the east coast of the North island of New Zealand. We will be docked here for 11 more weeks before sailing to The Great Barrier Island, then to Auckland for a few days, and then a five day sail to Fiji for outreach! I am not sure what type of things we will be doing on our outreach, but we will be there for 7 or 8 weeks. The next 11 weeks there will be various speakers coming to teach on topics like The Father Heart of God, Hearing God's Voice, Communicating Your Faith, Broken for His Purpose, Identity In Christ, and several others. This week we had a couple different speakers come for a day. Jesse Misa spoke on Embracing Change...he refered to this program as heart surgery, not school. Linda Cowie told some amazing stories about her journey with God including one where she was starting a school in Greece. The building that they acquired to have the school in was on the beach. But they had very little money to fund the school, or feed the kids. After some time things were a bit desperate but they managed to get by and feed the staff and kids. One morning the students and staff were gathered together to pray before school started when someone yelled for everybody to look out the window. There were thousands on fish washing up on shore. They spent the day gathering the fish, teaching the kids how to clean them and were able to eat for some time. Linda is a lovely woman of God and so facinating. She and her husband, David Cowie, began Marine Reach about 16 years ago. The next day David Cowie came to speak to us about the cost of following Jesus. In an attempt to prove a point he whipped out a can of lamb's tounge to share with us. I had to pass this time!! Theresa Micalina also spoke to us that morning about finding your identity in Christ. Anyway, not only is this a beautiful place, but God is at work here. I know that He is going to teach me so very much in the coming weeks!! Love you all!!! More to come soon!

Why would you jump out of a perfectly good plane?

well...why not...it's kinda fun!! I agreed to go skydiving with Erin once she was done with her senior seaon...now I am hooked! Thanks alot Erin...skydiving isn't exactly the most economical addiction! I thought that it would be a good idea (most of you will disagree) to try to skydive in every country that I have the opportunity to visit. So last week when I was in Mexico with G-Ma, Pops, and Uncle Kevin I figured I might as well go for it. Actually, I wasn't going to do it, but G talked me into it. However, they all refused to join me!!! They did sit on the beach and wait for me to land. So anyway, this plane made the last one that I jumped from look like a 737....it was tiny! Dad will probably laugh, because I am sure that the one I jumped from in Mexico was the same size or bigger than the ones he had to jump out of. Anyway, when I jumped in Alabama I have to admit that I closed my eyes when I got to the door. I just couldn't look down with 14000 feet between me and the earth! Once I was out of the plane and it was too late to chicken out I opened my eyes. Well, this time I did not have that option becuase we actually had to get out of the plane onto this little bitty step and jump from there. So I actually did look down and kept my little eyes open the whole time!! IT WAS AMAZING!!!! I'm not sure that there is a better way to see God's creation! It was so beautiful!!!!! I reckon New Zealand is next on the list!!

Home Sweet Home

....well, at least for now this is my home!!! For the next five months or so I will be living on the Pacific Link! There are about 40 people living on this ship....I think 24 girls...with 3 showers. HA!!! So the living quarters are extremely small! I live in a little...i guess you could call it a room...with 3 other people. I have a little "bunk" type area that I sleep in...it has a tiny little cabinet that I can put a few books in and stuff. It is a pretty cool little setup!!! The ship has a pretty good size lobby that we have our classes in...we also spend a good bit of time just hanging out in there. We have a projector that we can watch movies on. And this is the best spot for the wireless signal!! Guess I will be in here a good bit!

Anyway, things are great so far!! Lots of new faces to learn and it will be an adjustment trying to learn how to live with 40 people....40 pretty cool people that are in love with God! The director talked alot this morning about how much they as a staff prayed for each and how it is not by accident that we are here. That was really good for me to hear, as it was hard to come this far away. So as hard as it will be sometimes to be so far away from all of you that I love dearly, I know this is where God wants me to be!!! I am so excited to see what God is going to teach me! More to come very soon!!! Much Love!!!!