Sledgehammer Living

Oh man! Hello, everyone out there in blogland. I am, once again, so sorry that it's been so long. I forgot about how incredibly busy it is easy to get during a DTS. My time is filled from 7am until I crash into bed at night at around 11pm, do my nightly crossword puzzle, and fall asleep.

I'm loving (almost) every minute of it, too. This DTS is really an awesome group of students-- they are totally excited and committed about being a part of what God is doing here and in the rest of the world. It's soooooo fun to get to be a part of a group like this, and a privilege to be the one leading them. Sometimes I just kind of laugh to myself, because I NEVER would have guessed, four years ago, that I would be leading something like this. And that it would be going well.

I think, in the midst of the incredible busy-ness, that I am really experiencing what it means to have "fullness of life." One of the students gave a devotion the other day, and he encouraged the school to participate in, as he called it, "sledgehammer living," which I loved as an analogy. Basically what he meant was to do things wholeheartedly, whatever it is that you are doing-- getting up for breakfast in the morning and being part of a community, sweeping the floor, chopping vegetables, leading a staff meeting, singing a praise song, listening to lectures, playing games in the lounge... whatever you do, do it with full commitment. Just like swinging a sledgehammer-- do it with strength and follow through. And once that thing is going, it's hard to pull out. I guess that this is not something that you want to apply to your every whim, but it is important, I think. If God asks me to do something, I want to do it wholeheartedly. Sledgehammer living. I like it.

Which brings me to my next step... I have been asked to lead a DTS in Guam, and I have decided to go. This might not sound like a huge deal to everyone, but it is taking more faith than I thought it would to follow through and make this happen. I prayed about it and really felt like this is something that I should do, and so I said yes. Now the reality is setting in that I am going somewhere where I don't know ANYONE and I don't know anything about Micronesian culture, and most of the students are Micronesian, and it overlaps with this DTS, which actually works out pretty easily, but still it is something to worry about if you like to worry, and is God really going to provide for me, and what about after that, and... seriously, it's kind of ridiculous what I can let myself get worked up about. BUT, the sledgehammer has already been swung, so I am going for it! I think that God has got some pretty cool lessons in faith waiting for me, and some pretty cool adventures, and... who is really swinging the sledgehammer, anyway? I know that it's my life and that I have free will, but sometimes it seems like this thing is swinging way harder and farther than my arms can actually take it, and I'm just holding on for dear life and watching the walls that are in my way crash down around me. Hmm. Food for thought.

Anyway, I'm off to dinner. Which I will eat wholeheartedly. :) To those who have been praying for me: thanks. The amount of energy that I have had the last month and a half is really amazing. A couple of years ago, I could barely walk to the end of the driveway (It is a long driveway, but still), and this school I have spent hours caving and kayaking and dancing and singing, and it is really cool to me that I can do these things again without needing days to recover, and it is awesome for me to be there for those activities with the school, too, and help process what is going on while it's happening. Woo hoo!

I am alive... just busy!

Hi there! Sorry to anyone who has been wondering what is going on with me. The answer is: a lot. I got back into NZ in mid-September and hit the ground running. It was a huge blessing for me to just be allowed back into the country, so I was glad that my conversation with NZ immigration went pretty well. Thanks to everyone who was praying!

We started staff training about 2 days after I arrived, and we have all new DTS staff this school, aside from myself and Scotty, who is co-leading the school with me. They are all awesome, but it has taken a lot of energy to remember to teach things that have become second nature to me! It's been great, though.

The DTS started on 27 Sept., and is off to a really good start. There are 12 students, and I already love them all ridiculously. They are a really great bunch of people who I am loving hanging out with, and they are really open to new experiences and to whatever God wants to do in their lives, which to me means that he will do a lot. I'm really looking forward to seeing how he is going to rock our worlds!

Okay, that's my quick update. I really do have to run... I hope that everyone reading this is doing well! I miss home, but it's really been great to be here, too, so far. Alas, I love too many places. :) I'm hoping to post some photos soon from my most recent venture in farming life: docking lambs' tails. Believe me, these are photos for the books. Anyway, that's all for now!