and everywhere in between

Trip to Senegal

2011-09-14T13:22:00.000-05:00

Answered prayers

I always knew the trip to Senegal for the YWAM West Africa conference was going to be tough but I was still looking forward to it. I was keen to meet other YWAMers working in the region and to get to know some of my fellow Malian YWAMers better. A couple of weeks ago I asked God to show me concrete answers to my prayers and I was looking forward to see what He would do.

What I hadn’t really thought too much about was just how many hours we would be spending in the bus. We left Koutiala at 4:00am Monday morning and what should have been a 6 hour drive to the capital to pick up other team members turned into an 8 hour one. We then had to wait 3 hrs in Bamako while the driver took the bus in for a service – which should have been done days before we started the trip. So we were running late but finally underway, we were all looking forward to getting to Kai a town about half way to our destination, where we were going to sleep the night. But the night dragged on and we didn’t get to the town till 4am, so we grabbed the food they prepared for us and took it on the bus and continued. The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful apart from some rather ummm... African... toilet stops behind bushes and even ‘not bushes!’ I played a few games with my neighbour like eye spy and the alphabet game – my neighbour is roughly the same age as me but let’s just pretend she was a kid, it makes me feel better that way.

So after close to 40 hrs after we left Koutiala we arrived at our hotel near Dakar. After the meal and orientation I went straight into the swimming pool, even though it was 11:30pm. It was soo nice to be the cool water and it did wonders for my massively swollen feet. The conference itself was pretty good, it was great to meet lots of new people and hear what YWAM is doing in the rest of West Africa. We were right next to one of the most visited tourist spots in Senegal, le Lac Rose (the Pink Lake) and also within walking distance to the ocean. As well as swimming in the pool and ocean I went on a camel ride, spent time in a hammock and listened to teachings. All in all pretty good.

Our Speaker Jim and Translator Our hotel

Me and a friend The SWIMMING POOL

At the beach

Swimming at the beach, the water was sooo warm!

Then came the trip home... we left the hotel at 11:00pm already tired from the travel there and then 4 days of conference. A few hours into the trip we stopped at a small town to buy water and all seemed fine until I looked out the window and saw our driver begin grabbed by the shirt and pushed along by two police officers. He was put into the police car but managed to talk his way out but he was still being man-handled by the young cops and it was quite a tense ‘discussion’ they were having. I prayed that God’s peace would come into the situation and literally 10 seconds after I prayed the whole situation just dissolved and everyone walked away. I have no idea how it was resolved or how it went from shirt pulling to walking away in so short a time but I do know God’s hand was at work (I wasn’t the only one praying by the way).

So, in the bus again, with our driver ... when day light came and we were getting close to the Mali border we saw miles and miles (not an exaggeration) of trucks parked on the side of the road. When we found the reason for this it was a big delay for us too. There had been some major flooding and in one place the road was totally covered in at least knee deep water. To either side of the raised road the water was up to the roofs of the houses and shops. Where the road was flooded a truck had fallen of the road and was on its side half covered by the water and there were many other busses and trucks who decided not to try and cross the road. Our driver however thought we could make it. We had 3 people walking in front of the bus to find the road and make sure it wasn’t washed away and we went forward very slowly. Water started coming in the front and back doors and I had images of our luggage floating around in the compartments. But we did get through the flood.

After that we had to cross a loooong bridge but the traffic in going in our direction (all heavy laden trucks) was at a complete standstill. So our brave and possibly stupid drive, decides to go across the bridge in the lane of the oncoming traffic which was fairly light. We get maybe halfway across the bridge before we come face to face with a big truck going the opposite direction, the drive of which was pretty mad about now being stuck on the bridge by a bus (the ones behind us) and I thought he was going to get out and beat up our driver, but he didn’t. So now we were really stuck but by grace we managed to sneak in the lane going in our direction when a small gap appeared. But we were stills tuck in the traffic.

One of our team members got out and walked the length of the bridge and came back and said we had a wait of at least several hours and he suggested we get of the buss and walk of the bridge as it wasn’t designed to hold a load of parked, full, trucks. One look at the swirling, muddy, flooded river told me that we would have no change if the bridge did collapse, not to mention there were only 4 people on the bus who could swim. But before we went to get off someone suggested we pray. So pray we did and, I am no kidding, within about 2 minutes we started moving and got all the way off the bridge! Straight after the bridge we got stuck in more traffic and it took another hour or two to get out but then we were on the home stretch. The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful but very loooonnnnggg and I can say I was very happy to get off the bus after 40 hours of travel!

Well done if you managed to read this whole story, it got a bit longer than I was thinking but I can’t seem to tell the story in fewer words. I guess what I got out of it all was seeing really cool and FAST answers to prayer and I give God the glory for bringing us all safe back to Mali.

Back

2011-08-08T12:25:00.001-05:00

I was quite excited to be heading back to Mali and getting the ministry with the garibouts up and running. Now after being back for a couple of months I am happy to be here but things are going very slowly with the ministry and that is a bit frustrating.

I have really enjoyed being able to talk with people here now that I speak French, I actually have to get to know some people again and them me but it is so freeing being able to express myself and understand! I do still have some difficulties with the language and still make a fool of myself quite often but hey, it is good to be able to laugh at myself keeps me from getting too serious.

In terms of the garibout ministry, I wrote a formal ministry plan and submitted it to the leadership team here and now I am waiting for their response. The problem is that it is summer now and everyone is on holiday and the leadership team won’t get together until October ... so I have to wait till then to start anything.

For the moment I am working on learning Bambara, the language the garibouts speak, I am doing a little research and lots of praying and planning. It is great to see how God is answering my prayers and I can see how He has been preparing things for this ministry; I am excited to see how it will progress.

My biggest challenges at the moment are finding people to work with me and finding a suitable house. I will be working with the garibouts from my house so it is necessary that it has a big yard with plenty of shade, also I would like a house with an inside bathroom and a kitchen, neither of which are really common here. When I find a house I will have to furnish it and that is easier said than done and I think I may be sitting on mats and cooking over charcoal for a little while.

I have some other thoughts I'd like to post with some photos but the internet isn't co-operating today so come back another day and I may have more up.

Just ... pondering ...

2011-04-29T16:24:00.000-05:00

When I die...

... I want to have lived a life that touched the individual. But for that to happen does it not mean that I must first see the individual?

... I want people to say of me that I inspired others and gave them passion and hope. But does that not mean I must be inspired and myself possess passion and hope?

... I want people to be at peace at my funeral. But does that not mean I need to live a full life, completing the work my Father gives so that at the end the only thing left to do is go home?

As you can probably guess I have been contemplating some of the deeper things in life and I am in the process if being inspired, gaining passion and maintaining hope. I am reading missionary biographies and autobiographies and it is indeed very encouraging and motivational. Something of a theme has been coming through these books and that is God’s provision. I myself can testify to the fact that if God calls you He will provide! Look at the best example of God providing in the Bible: God called the Israelites out of Egypt and He sustained them (all 3 point something million of them) IN THE DESSERT of all places and for no less than 40 YEARS! As Hudson Taylor put it “depend upon it, God’s work, done in God’s way, will never lack God’s supplies.”

I am excited to see how God will continue to supply for the garibouts in Mali and for me working with them. In using the word supply I mean so much more than money, I mean: food, good health, friends, livelihoods, joy, energy... and oh so much more.

... so now go...

Be inspired and one day you may be the inspiration

Be impassioned and one day you may be the passion

Be hopeful and one day you may be the hope

Paris

2011-04-18T07:03:00.000-05:00

It is good to be back in Paris surrounded by friends and familiar things, the only problem is the French (the language I mean)! I was worried that I would have lost most of my French but to my delight I haven’t. I have certainly gone a few steps backward and it will take some effort to catch up but I can still speak French and understand it.

You know what I did the first night back, I closed my bedroom door and .... I was ALONE! No 7 other girls in there with me! I liked my roommates and got on well with them but 8 in a room and not even anywhere to go on base to be alone got a bit much by the end. Now I have a whole apartment to myself for most of the day.

One thing I just have to mention: I got to travel business class from Salt Lake City to Paris – 9 whole hours of great travel! I don’t know how I will ever go back to economy class flying!!!! I was a total geek though, trying out all the different buttons, making my seat moved in all directions, eating pretty much everything they offered (and it was GOOD food), I even took a photo of myself to prove it was real!

I’m a little unsure of what is in store for me for this time in Paris, I am attending the same church as before and loving it, I am working a little babysitting and taking some time to reflect on all that happened in the past few months. I was reading a book about a missionary in Hong Kong who works with drug addicts there and the whole time I was reading it I couldn’t help but be in the Children At Risk mode looking at what she did and comparing it to what I’ve been learning about the best way to work with kids and starting up a ministry – she did pretty well I must say. It is strange now that I can’t get out of that way of thinking, which is definitely a good thing, I just hope it lasts and I don’t get lazy and revert to my old ways of thinking.

I was hoping to be in Mali for the beginning of May but something has come that may mean I have to stay a few weeks longer in France. We will see. Either way it is great to have this time to pray and plan more for the ministry.

Here are some photos from my last days in Mexico and some from Paris

Final week

2011-04-02T13:26:00.000-06:00

Before I get into the CRS as a whole I would like to say a couple of quick words about human trafficking as that was our topic for this past week. You know, I thought I knew about human trafficking, what it is, how bad it is and who it affects but boy was I wrong! I have been quite shocked this week by statistics and personal stories. Just hearing about it was challenging to me but also the feeling of I can’t do anything about it – not because I felt I couldn’t make a difference but because I know I am called to the garibouts of Mali, at least for the next while. I don’t know why but this issue of trafficking hit me harder than a lot of the other issues we have learnt about. Then I realised why ... the majority of the garibouts are trafficked! I had never thought of it that way before but they fit the definition, now I understand why I feel passionate about this issue and I will be working to fight it!

Now for a sum up of the rest of the school ... just to warn you, this might get quite long.

Where to start, where to start??? How do you sum up 3 months of intense learning, fun, relationships and outreach in a few words? I think I will start with what I what I wanted to get out of the Children at Risk School and go from there.

I wanted to get training what would help me set up and run a new ministry for the Garibout boys in Mali, but I didn’t want just any kind of training. I wanted to look at the hard questions, find out why kids end up in terrible situation like the garibouts, what God says about it all and of course how to help them.

I can say confidently that I did learn all that, of course there is always room to learn more and expand my thinking but I definitely got out of the CRS what I needed and wanted. Every single week I thanked God that I did this school before starting a ministry, I saved myself from making so many mistakes that would have taken a long time to repair.

I can say without a doubt that my thinking in terms of children at risk and how to work with them has changed. There are some things where I think it will continue to be a process of change but one of the main things I can share with you is this:

It might just be better for a child to stay with their family even if there are some risks. I know this sounds kind of harsh and even a bit stupid but what I have come to realise is that the family is soooo important for the child (if the child is at serious risk then of course it is better that they are removed from their family). Before I would have wanted to take all suffering children whether that be poverty, abuse, neglect... and put them in a home/orphanage but now I would rather have a focus of working with the family to create a safe place for the children within the family. This may mean a change in your approach and that you spend just as much time working with parents and caregivers as you do with the children themselves.

So what now?

Well, with all this new information and ideas I will be heading back to Mali to start a new work with the garibouts. I used to think I understood the garibout system pretty well but now I realise there is sooo much I don’t know, for example, it was only this week that I realised most of these little boys are victims of human trafficking, they are slaves, street kids and sometimes orphans. Putting these

labels on the boys doesn’t change their situation or who they are but it helps me understand them and better know how to work to help them.

I am looking forward to applying all that I have learnt and to learn much more along the way.

Immigration and refugees

2011-03-26T21:17:00.000-06:00

This week was a little different in that we had two speakers sharing on two different topics. For Monday and Tuesday we had Lenneke who is staff on our school and she was talking on attachment disorders. Lenneke has worked in childrens homes in The Netherlands for several years where the children had severe attachment disorders. She talked about the physical problems that occur in the brain when children are neglected and how that can impact their behaviour and thinking, I really enjoyed this as it took me back to my psychology days. We also went through practical things to do when working with children with attachment disorder.

One thing that really stood out to me was the research that shows the connection between attachment and nerve pathways in the brain. If the child does not have a caregiver that calms them and meets their needs they won’t be developing the nerve pathways for inhibitory neurons (basically the baby doesn’t learn how to calm itself). It is kind of scary to think that how parents interact with their babies can actually change the brain.

Something this teaching challenged me in the need to provide a safe place for children with attachment disorder and by safe place I mean stability, predictability, love... I know that sounds quite simple but when faced with the realities of this disorder and the often manipulative, violent, hurtful behaviour these kids display you may not feel quite like providing a ‘safe’ place for them. I have seen problems like this first hand and I know how hard it is to keep your cool and act out of your intelligence not your emotions. I ask God to give me grace and wisdom in those situations but I know I will still make mistakes; I am only human after all.

For the remainder of the week we had Phil teaching on immigration and refugees. Phil is from England and has been working with YWAM for many, many years and in many different roles but now he works in the USA with YWAM in urban ministries and also with a refugee agency. It was very clear that Phil is passionate about this issue and he has a way of pass that on to others. I must admit that I have never really thought much about refugees and immigrants but now my eyes have been opened!

A couple of points have really stuck in my mind:

Firstly: do you know that 80% of all refugees have been in a refugee camp for 5 years or longer and 50% have been in one for 10 years or longer? That is quite shocking and gives me a new understanding of how hard it can be for refugees e.g. some children are born and raised in these camps and knows nothing of life outside of it!

Secondly: there are many, many refugees from all over the world coming into our cities and there are very few Christians working with them. Phil was suggesting that God is bringing the nations to us, right to our door steps and that instead of focussing all our attentions on missions in villages far away we also need to focus on urban missions to refugees in our own countries.

There are two things from this teaching that have really challenged my, firstly I had to re-examine my attitude towards refugees? To be honest I haven’t spent much time thinking about this in the past so I really had to stop and think do I appreciate these people, do I have empathise with them, do I want them in ‘my’ country??? I have come to the conclusion that I do value them and am happy to share my country with them but I have not always had that view. This week has really helped me understand refugees, the horrors they go through in getting to a camp, what they experience in the camp and then the difficulties in moving to a new country and culture.

This brings me to the second thing that challenged me this week. Well maybe not so much challenged but it got me thinking. The 14 months I spent in Mali were quite difficult for many reasons but the biggest ones were culture and language, going from being a fully self-sufficient socially adept adult knowing how to communicate, cook, shop, make phone calls, travel... to someone who can’t do any of those things – not to mention the loss of family and friends. Now what I realised this week was that because of this experience I can really empathise with the little garibouts boys I will be working with; they have been given away by their families and often end up in villages far from home where they don’t understand the language and they don’t know anyone. But on top of that they are treated like slaves and forced to beg for all their own food and learn the Koran in a language they don’t understand. I pray that through my experiences I will have a deeper understanding of these kids and be able to help them more.

God's love for the poor

2011-03-19T22:24:00.000-06:00

God’s heart for the poor

This week we had Kit Danley who has been working with the poor in Arizona for over 30 years. Kit and her husband started Neighbourhood ministries which is an amazing ministry that touches so many different aspects of life in their community in the rough part of town. If you want to check out their ministry go to their web site: http://www.nmaz.org

The focus of this week was to look at how God sees the poor and also to go through some of the practical things necessary for starting up and continuing a ministry to them. The first day we went through some scripture to find out what God says about the poor, we have used this technique throughout the school so it was not new to me but this time we went more in depth into a few scriptures, here is an example:

Deuteronomy 24:14-15

“Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns. Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.”

- The creator of the universe has something to say about wages! He has something to say to employers.

- It is a sin to withhold payment

- Do good to others even if there is no benefit for you, even if it costs you something. If there is no-one holding the employer accountable they can get away with a lot but God is watching and will call them to

account!

- God heard the cries of the African slaves in America and He answered.

Another thing we talked about that stood out to me is that among the poor in ghettos there are two types of people; those that get out of it and those that don’t. The difference lies in how the people got to the ghetto, if they are there due to a series of unfortunate events like both parents lost their jobs and had to move somewhere cheaper they are more likely to get back on their feet and move somewhere nicer. But those that have lived there all their lives and their parents before them tend to have a different mentality and are unlike to get out of the ghetto on their own. I realised how important it is to understand this when working with the poor, you need to know their background.

That leads me onto something that had challenged me; that is the need to really understand the whole community in which you work, it’s history, the good, the bad and the ugly, what is it like today, who is working there and are the y effective, what does the community want... It seems much easier to rock up to a town and start working with the street kids but if you don’t understand the community and build relationships with them you will not really understand why these kids are on the street and you will not be able to make lasting change.

I know I have my work cut out for me when I get back to Mali; fitting into a new community and building relationships but to do that I will need to learn the local language. I am very grateful that I have friends there who have lived in the community for years and can help build those necessary relationships.

I felt this week of lectures was very practical and presented in a way that I could grasp and then at the end of the week we went to visit two different ministries to see how they got started and how they are run. The first was a rehabilitation centre for drug addicts; the second was an orphanage for street kids from the red light district and it was really interesting to visit both of them and see how they and God are changing the lives of children and adults in need.

This week was the second to last week of our local outreach ministry to the kids in the red light district and that is a little sad. I felt like we were starting to get somewhere with the kids as we were building up relationships but this last week there weren’t so many of the regular kids there so it felt like we had taken a bit of a step backward – just in terms of starting relationships from scratch again. After having been to the orphanage and hearing the horrific stories of how the kids have been treated at the hands of their parents and then looking at these kids we work with, I can’t help but wonder what sort of lives they live, what their family backgrounds are and if they are kids in need of rescue??? Those questions can only be answered when you have strong relationship with the kids and their families, something we are not able to do by running a program for them once a week – which in itself is not a bad thing as the kids are hearing about God and learning to place their trust in Him.

Well ... that was some of my ponderings for this week, come back next week for more!

Inner healing

2011-03-12T17:44:00.000-06:00

This week’s lectures were on inner healing and we had the lovely Christy Scott as our lecturer. Christy is an ordained minister with F.I.R.E. school of ministry and her heart is to see leaders, missionaries, pastors and their families encouraged and equipped through experiencing a deep encounter with Jesus.

We had lectures combined with the DTS (Discipleship Training School) so it was quite hectic and a lot bigger than we are used to. The teaching was really good, and we covered things like how much of our thinking and belief system is formed by the time we are 6 years old by our experiences. We looked at the fall of man (when Adam and Eve sinned) and the effect that has on us today and we also looked at how God works to restore our relationship with Him.

One thing that stood out to me this week was how since the fall and as a result of it, we are all striving for something, seeking something and one of those things is ‘home’. When Adam and Eve were sent out of the garden (for their own protection) they lost their home, they lost that closeness of walking with God in their home and since then man has been striving to find home again. But what God wants to say to us is that He is our home, that we can have that intimacy with Him wherever we are.

This is something that really struck me as for the past 5 years that I have been away from New Zealand I have been thinking about home and what that means. Everywhere I go I can find a part of home there, I can make my room (or bed) as homey as possible but there is still that feeling of I don’t really belong here or I am not completely comfortable in this place. A lot of those feelings can be changed over time as you learn the language, learn how to go shopping, make friends and understand the culture but that is a long process.

Over the past couple of years I have had trouble answering the questions where do you live, the answer is something like this: ‘well... umm... I kind of live in Africa but I am not there at the moment and won’t be there for a few more months, I am currently in Mexico and before that France but home is New Zealand...’ I want to answer that I live in the kingdom of God but that often draws funny looks.

I always thought that New Zealand would always be home but now I don’t really feel at home when I go back. The last few times I have gone ‘home’ to NZ I found that I do not quite fit in there anymore. Many of my friends have moved or they have got married and had kids and as much as the friendships remain my ‘group of friends’ and feeling of home that was with them has changed. But one thing that doesn’t seem to change is the feeling of home within my family.

Now I think that me saying that my home is in the Kingdom of God is not too far from the truth. I want God to be my ‘home’ and I want to take that home with me wherever I go.

HIV and AIDS

2011-03-05T13:28:00.000-06:00

This week’s topic was HIV and AIDS and our speakers were Larry and Joyce Sandberg, they have been missionaries to Africa for more than 50 years (and they still go to Africa yearly); he is a physician and biochemist and she is a nurse with specialist training in psychology. These lectures took a bit of a different approach to that which we have been used to, it was very medical/scientific which I really enjoyed but to be honest when we got into some of the cell structure and specifics of how the drugs work it was a little over my head.

AIDS is something I fortunately haven’t had to deal with yet in Mali, I know a few people who have it there but it isn’t as big a problem as it is elsewhere on the continent. Although after this week and my new, greater understanding of AIDS and the symptoms I think there were a lot more people around me suffering from it than I thought.

I know the information I got out this week will be very useful for me when I go back to Mali. We also talked about the social and psychological issues surrounding AIDS and that again will be information I can draw on in Mali, especially as the speakers have been working in Africa for so many years and they really understand the cultural issues and gave many examples from their experience which I really appreciated.

Our speakers were only here for 4 days of class so on Friday we had my good friend Lenneke teaching us. Lenneke’s back ground is in social work and she worked in that role in a home for boys with severe attachment and behavioural problems. For the past couple of years she has been working with the Womens and Children Advocacy Centre within YWAM where she has been focussing on ministries to children at risk. In her teaching Lenneke went over a lot of the things we have covered in this course and tied it all together in a really tangible way. We discussed different care possibilities for children who are no longer under their parents care and what options are best for the child.

Overall it has been a very informative week and I am looking forward to putting into practice what I have learnt.

child development

2011-02-26T16:47:00.002-06:00

This week out teacher was Leslie Freeman and she was teaching about child development. Leslie has been involved in YWAM for many years and has a degree from the University of the Nations (YWAM’s university) in education. Leslie and her husband (our speaker for the previous week) have 4 young boys and during the week we heard many different stories bout them relating to child development. This week there was a good mix of facts, readings, quotes, stories and practical things for us to get through which keep us engaged.

A couple of things stood out to me from this week’s teaching, the first being the importance of having realistic expectations of your children. Leslie took us through the developmental stages of infancy through to high school age and what struck me was that parents, siblings, babysitters etc. expect infants to behaving in certain way according to our expectations. But often the child simply isn’t at that developmental stage yet and is not capable of such behaviour. For example, a toddler cannot cognitively understand the difference between on purpose and by accident so we cannot really ask them if they did it on purpose as they will probably respond with ‘yes’ and then we will punish them for what was an accident.

Another thing that stood out to me from this week’s teaching was how detrimental it can be to a child to surround them with rules. We can’t expect children to know how to behave in a new situation if we never give them the chance to be in new situation i.e. we have rules for every situation so they never have to think about what they need to do and then when they are faced with something new they will not know how to figure out the appropriate response.

These two things have challenged me in how I have and do work with children. When I look back over my years of working with children in all sorts of situations I see many mistakes I have made and after this week’s teaching I see a whole lot more. I do not feel too guilty about it because I know it is quite normal and no-one is perfect but I do feel better equipped to work with kids in the future.

There is one thing that I would have liked to cover this week but we didn’t; the difference in development across cultures. I know there are some things in development that are the same across cultures but I don’t know what those things are and I would like to.

I have been saying for a couple of weeks that I need some baby therapy, meaning I miss playing with babies and little kids, and yesterday I had the opportunity to go to a local orphanage and cook up to 20 kids breakfast. It meant and early start for me but it was well worth it. After we had cooked the breakfast for the older kids I got to go hang out with the babies. I got vomited on, spat on and made some little kiddies smile so I was happy.

The nature and character of God

2011-02-19T17:39:00.002-06:00

The nature and Character of God... what to say about this topic, one could write a whole book on it, a Bible even! Our speaker this week was Scott Freeman, he is an American but he and his family are currently working in Costa Rica with YWAM. Scott has been in YWAM since 1996 studying and working on more than 4 continents and for the past few years he has been running Children at risk schools.

I have heard this teaching a couple of times but it is something that you never quite grasp all of, who God is and how big he is and it is a topic that I think we all need to re-study or re-think every now and then. To be honest I didn’t really take many notes during class as it was much easier to just listen and let it sink in, so when I come to write my blog I don’t have notes to draw on. It is also very difficult to put into words the change in my concept of who God is.

I guess the thing I can say that will make the most sense is that I have a deeper understanding of how merciful God is. Looking through scripture it is soooo clear how often God forgives those who have committed terrible crimes. There are examples from the Old and New Testaments alike, e.g. Abraham, David (OT), the women caught in adultery and many other disciples of Jesus (NT), where God works through people who have messed up, some of them even messed up while they were followers of God! It was refreshing to look at this again and to gain that deeper understanding of God’s love and mercy.

We also talked about God’s character in relation to injustices in the world. This is a very big topic and quite tricky to navigate and again I think it is something that I will never fully grasp but will always be working on.

Local outreach

We are continuing with the children’s ministry in the red light district and as we get to know the kids better and build relationships we are seeing more of the real kids behind the masks. Even though my Spanish isn’t good at all I am getting to know the kids, a couple of boys in particular, and I am really enjoying that. I miss having kids around and this time on Monday’s is a great to time to play but also to instil Godly principles. I really hope this ministry will continue even when our school is over as these kids really need to be loved and hear how precious they are in God’s eyes. It will take quite a lot of time and energy to see these kids really develop a relationship with God but it is exciting to see small progress.

Migrant Camp

2011-02-12T16:40:00.001-06:00

Very cute kids

Who played well together

We had a bit of a change of pace and scenery for this last week. A team of people were supposed to come and run a week long event called Not For Sale looking at human trafficking and prostitution, but unfortunately that event fell through. So plan B was to go to a migrant camp in a nearby town. Families come up from the south of Mexico hoping to find work but when they get here there is no work so they end up in these migrant camps working in the fields hoping to make enough money to get back down south.

On Monday we had lectures about the different forms of abuse and how to recognise the signs so that we might be able to help the children we would be spending the rest of the week with. We had been told to prepare for pretty rough conditions and to expect to see a lot of poverty and when we arrived at the camp on Tuesday we did find the living conditions fairly basic but the poverty was not as bad as I was expecting. Everyone had warm clothes, shoes and looked like they got enough to eat, granted there may not have been much variety and most people didn’t have electricity but the poverty wasn’t as bad as I have experienced in Mali.

Our first job was to clean out the rooms we would be staying in, they had dirt floors and some had wooden beds, a crude window, a door without a latch and no electricity. I can honestly say this was the first time I had to SHOVEL out rubbish from the place I would be sleeping in. We also painted the rooms which made them much more pleasant to stay in and also masked any unwanted smells!

Front view of the houses, there are several more rows behind this one.

The rooms we stayed in. The migrants will have whole families in these small rooms.

Painting the ceiling from the top bunk.

Team work!

The reason we went to this camp was to put into practice what we have been learning in class in terms of working with children at risk and their families. One thing that I struggled a bit with was relationships; everything we have been learning in class the past weeks highlights just how important it is to work with the people and not for them but that didn't seem possible in this situation. Building relationships was difficult because only about half out team speaks Spanish and also we were only there for 4 days. Of course it was different with the kids where the language of play will get you a long way, although to get to a deeper level and talk about God obviously language is important.

Another thing we talked about in lectures that I saw highlighted this week is the importance of understanding the culture you are working in; the mindset, problem solving strategies...etc. Researching the culture and having locals working with you is invaluable and will prevent embarrassing and sometimes painful mistakes. For example we wanted to teach the mums some basic hygiene and thought it would be a good idea to ask the mums what they already know about health care and share that with the other mums...but...we didn’t really understand the way the women think. So when we went up to some of them and asked them fairly bluntly what they tips they had about healthcare the conversation quickly became awkward and it was evident that we were going about it all wrong. With the help of a Mexican in our team we realised our method of questioning was too intrusive and abrupt so we changed tactics and developed a presentation about healthcare and invited the mums to that. Ideally we would have had time to build relationships with the mums and gather the information more informally or get the mums teaching each other what they knew but with only a few days with them that wasn’t possible.

Now what did we do???

Other than cleaning the rooms and painting inside and out we...

Dug a 3m hole and built an outhouse on top of it

The beginning

Looking up form the pit

We didn't have any ladders or even rope so it was a little challenging to get the dirt out and the digger towards the end but some good old Kiwi ingenuity got it sorted (it was actually more like Kiwi / Canadian / America / Mexican ingenuity that got the job done).

And we dug out clogged drains of raw sewage

Really dirty work

See the small child in the foreground playing in the drains!

We built a stove from cans and mud

And we taught the mums some basic hygiene, cleaned up A LOT or rubbish, filled in make shift rubbish dump where the kids played and of course played a lot with the kids.

Randomness: the DTS (Discipleship Training School) from the base here also came with us on this trip but they came a day later. When they arrived I had just taken a bucket shower and someone commented on that we were told we wouldn’t be showering, so I replied that I had fallen in the toilet and it took three guys to pull me out and that is why I needed a shower, but I quickly added that the toilet I fell in was the one I had been digging. But somehow the rumour spread and by the next morning everyone in the DTS told me how sorry they were for me and asked how it happened.

So all in all it was a very good week, I really enjoyed the physical work and playing with the kids and I learnt some new skills: how to build an outhouse and a stove, which I think may just come in handy in Mali.

Some good worship times around the camp fire

Ok so I didn't have any clothes to take that I could
get dirty so I had to take what I could find in the donations pile and so it was a little too big and not quite my style!

Fish tacos from a street vendor on our way back to base, they are as good as everyone says!

(thank you to Lisa for all the photos)

Week 4

2011-02-04T23:06:00.000-06:00

I think this week has been the hardest yet on this school, I have been very tired – mostly because I am on dinner clean up this week which means an extra 20 hours in kitchen. Due to my tiredness I have been more affected by some of the things I have been researching for homework and the things we hear in class. Looking into the details of what the human race is capable of doing to little children has left my heart sad. But do I know there is a lot of good out there and that good triumphs over evil.

This week we had three teachers, Ed and Kay Morales and Philipa who shared the topics of dominions and domains, justice and looking after staff and yourself. To be honest I wasn’t really looking forward to this week as I have heard the teaching on dominions and domains several times before during my involvement in DTS’s and I thought it would be a little boring for me. In the end I wouldn’t say it was boring nor that I learnt a lot but it was good to go over the info again.

I found the topic of justice a little more insightful and we did some more creative stuff to find out what we think justice is and what the Bible says about it. One thing I really walked away with from this was how necessary it is to have our understanding of justice based on God’s standards, Deuteronomy 32:4 says “He is the Rock, his works are prefect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.“ If we do not understand God’s ways of justice we will not be able to administer it.

This has really challenged me as I tend to view injustices and unjust people trough my own understanding on what justice is. I now feel like I could do weeks worth of study on what the Bible says about justice and how God administers it, although I am quite sure I will never be able to understand all of it as God’s ways are above our ways and His thoughts are above our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).

I was very interested in the last part of teaching this week, staff needs. This is something that I see as essential to any job. If you do not look after your staff and yourself you will not have anything left in you to give, especially if you are working in the very demanding area of children at risk. I have already seen the effects of stress and burn out on the mission field and it is very painful for everyone involved. Spiritual refreshment, encouragement and rest are absolutely necessary for healthy staff.

The one things that I don’t feel was covered in this week’s lectures is working in another culture. We talked a lot about knowing what we need to keep healthy emotionally, spiritually and physically but we didn’t talk about how to do that in another culture. I know I need my time to myself but who do you do that in a culture that doesn’t really have a concept of time alone, how do you communicate your needs without offending your friends and co-workers.

This week’s local outreach with the kids was good; I felt I could connect more with the kids on an individual level. I was supposed to teach an English lesson but as the time went on it was evident that it wouldn’t work this week but we will starting it up next week. I can the difference in our relationships with the kids as they are getting to know us; they are more open and easier to communicate with (even if it is all in flailing arms and noises). I am looking forward to see what impact we can have on the kids over the next two months.

Happy times

2011-01-29T19:00:00.000-06:00

Well now that I have finished my homework I can create a post just for fun, what a novelty!!!
...
...
...
I don't actually know what to say now so I will just put up some photos...

Look it really is Mexico, there are cacti and all!

The view form the base, I could get used to that!

How we spend every evening - ok well maybe just one so far but it was good

Blip blop - messy, great game

The fashion is a little different here but I think I am getting the hang of it.

Simple things

Yes it was 'refreshing' but well worth it.

We are a very social bunch, can't you tell!

I didn't play this game but the one after, it was me against a team of 10 and I won! And I never lie.

Week 3

2011-01-29T14:16:00.003-06:00

This week out topic was planning or more specifically how to set up a new ministry. Out teacher was Dave Swann and much to my delight he has worked quite a bit in Africa and even knows all the YWAMers in Mali, I know YWAM is a small world when I meet someone in Tijuana who knows my friends in Mali.

I had really been looking forward to this week and hoped to get a lot out of it and I was not disappointed. I have felt a little overwhelmed when thinking about starting up this ministry with the garibouts and I didn’t really know what the first step should be ... but now I do. I feel much better equipped and much less intimidated. It will not be easy, this I know, but I now have a new excitement to get started.

Through the lectures this week I really learnt how important planning and research are, you cannot do too much! We looked the story of Nehemiah (chapter 1-2) to get a Biblical perspective of planning. In short Nehemiah wanted to restore the wall of Jerusalem but he didn’t just jump in and start with bricks and mortar; he prayed and fasted about the problem , realised things needed to be put right with God, he probably did research about what things he would need to get to Jerusalem, then what he would need to do the job and then prayed that the king would be favourable to him. He also knew exactly what to ask, he had a good proposal, when he went to the king. He submitted to the King’s authority and got permission before starting anything. When he got there he checked out the walls to see what needed to be done; he did this secretly, maybe because he didn’t want to raise too much expectation in case they couldn’t actually do it. He then started to gather help, ‘come let US rebuild...’ giving them ownership, it is not all about Nehemiah, he is getting the community investing in it. He gives encouragement through showing what God has already been doing – this may also have been to help show is authority on this.

I have read this story many times before but never from this perspective and it was quite an eye-opener.

Another thing I learnt was how important it is to understand the real needs of a community before starting any project. Instead of coming into a community, finding a problem and trying to fix it we need to look beyond the problems we see (perceived needs) and even beyond the problems the community sees (felt needs) and get to the underlying cause of the problems (real needs). The only way to do this is through research: talking to mothers, fathers, leaders, children, making observations and understanding the culture. This is a long process but very much worth the effort.

I guess the biggest thing I learnt this week was that it is ok to spend maybe two years researching problems, culture and the community before even starting ministry. I want to start the ministry with garibouts the best way possible and I feel I already have a decent chunk of the research done but I know there is quite a bit more preparation to do before I can actually start with the boys but I am quite ok with that.

There was one thing I felt was missing in this week’s teachings and that is how to prepare a ministry and oneself for hand over or how to come into and take responsibility for an existing ministry.

Local outreach

Again this week we went to zona norte (the red light district) to work with the children there. It was a good time but I feel like we lack direction and purpose for the ministry. I think that is just because I don’t know the history behind it and why we are there. I am looking forward to next week though when I will start teaching English to the kids.

This week I also went to the red light district at night to prayer walk through the streets. This was an insightful experience and at times heart wrenching, especially when we went to the area where child prostitution is practiced. But I have to say I was not as affected as I thought I would be which concerned me a little but when I prayed about it I felt God saying this is not for me and it was Him that shielded me from feeling too much. God is good and He knows His plans or me.

Week two

2011-01-22T14:29:00.002-06:00

Our guest speaker was Steve Bartel who works with street children in Columbia. Steve has been doing this work for around 25 years and subsequently has a lot of experience and wisdom. I was particularly interested in this topic as much of what Steve has to say was very applicable to my ministry with the garibouts.

We started out the week taking about why children become street kids and came to the conclusion that it is usually due to dysfunctional families. We then looked to the Bible to look at dysfunctional families there. I have to admit I was quite shocked by the list we piled up: the very first dysfunctional family was Adam and Eve’s – siblings killing each other, then we also have fathers willing to kill their children (Abraham), fathers having sex with their daughters (Lot), mothers boiling their children to eat them, sacrificing their children to idols and also Jacob’s family (rejections, favouritism...), David’s family, Tamar... Lot offering his daughters to rapists to protect his guests and even the high priest Eli’s family was messed up. It wasn’t the fact that these stories are in the Bible that shocked me but I had never put them all together like this before; it makes for scary reading but also a little reassuring that these issues are new to our present time.

We spent quite a bit of time trying to understand street kids, where they come from, why they do what they do and how to help them. I was saddened to hear about these young kids, some only 5 years old, sniffing glue, being in gangs, getting beaten and taken by the police and many more atrocities. My heart goes out to them.

Steve also shared with us a model for developing a ministry with street kids. There are many aspects of Steve’s ministry that I would love to develop with the garibouts in Mali and but I am still trying o figure out how it will all work. These fist two weeks of the CRS (Children at Risk School) have really got me thinking about what I want the ministry to look like. I have had to examine my plans and dreams for Mali and see if it that would really produce a sustainable, successful and God centred ministry. The core things that I want to do have remained the same but I am re-thinking the methods and end goals. I hope this process of building up a plan for the ministry will continue throughout the school.

This past week we started our local outreach which is basically a weekly children’s program for at risk kids in the red light district. As it was the first week we played games with the kids and were just getting to know them. While we were playing the kids were just like any other kids, happy and having fun but I had to remind myself that these kids are probably from single parent families whose sole income comes from prostitution. I don’t like to think too much about the lives these kids lead out-side of school time but I hope and pray we can bring them some respite from it in the couple of hours we spend with them, also I hope we can share the gospel with them which will do much more in their life than I ever could.

Here are some photos from the ministry time.

First week

2011-01-15T19:01:00.002-06:00

Week one blog entry

Well, week one of the Children at Risk School (CRS) is finished and it was an insightful week! Our speaker was Janna Moats who is the director of the Children’s Advocacy Centre (WCAC) in YWAM. The topic for this week was “why we are here, a frame work for action” and we looked at why each of us are taking this school, what the Bible says about the poor and needy and especially children.

I was quite amazed to see how much God has to say about children, the poor and needy in the Bible; I always knew that was important but when you line up a lot of those scriptures you realise just how serious God is about it and how much we are missing.

We also looked a lot at who we are (the students) our gifts, talents and desires. God made each of us the way He did on purpose and He has a unique plan for each of us. Again I know this sounds very simple and of course everyone knows this but there was some fresh revelation for me about who God made me to be and the skills He gave me to do it.

There were some good challenging teachings and discussions, some of which I am still working through, for example some of my misperceptions about poverty and developing countries. There are many people who say that evangelism is more important than mercy ministries, I didn’t think I believed that but now I am seeing that somewhere in the far reaches of my brain I did. When describing my ministry with the garibouts I always try and make sure I through in something about evangelising to the boys - why do I feel the need to include that? Would it not be just as needed and successful a ministry if I were just looking after their material and emotional needs? Looking at all the references to children, the poor and oppressed in the Bible they say to stand up for them, help them and look after them and not so much about evangelise them.

I am not trying to say one is more important than the other, both are necessary, but most of us do tend to lean one way or the other and it is interesting to flesh out how I really think about it and then to hold that up against what the Bible teaches.

I am looking forward to much more of this challenging teaching over the next couple of months.

Mexico

2011-01-10T22:32:00.002-06:00

Heloooooo. I am back!
A lot has happened since 2009 when I last posted something on here but I will try and sum up in a sentence or two in case you missed where I was and what I was doing... I spent Christmas 2009 in Paris with my friends family and then I spent the better part of 2010 in Paris studying French. I have decided to continue working with YWAM in Mali ad for that I need to speak French, so France it was. I had a brief trip back to Mali and also Burkina Faso in September and then I went home to New Zealand for my first Christmas at home in 6 years!!! I had a great 3 months with family and friends in Wellington and now ....

I am in Tijuana Mexico doing a Children at Risk school with YWAM. Here is brief intro to the school
The focus is on children at risk such as orphans, street children, the handicapped and the abused. We will look at God's heart for justice, defending the cause of the fatherless, rescuing the poor, the weak and the oppressed, and we will also be working in the red light district of Tijuana through out the teaching phase to put into practice what we learn.

As part of this school I will do weekly posts about what I am learning and my thoughts and emotions around that. I will also be posting on the other two pages on here "risks children face" and "kids in the news today." Please feel free to comment, share your thoughts and ask questions about the things I post.

I am looking forward to sharing these things with you.

Tourists!

2009-09-04T15:35:00.009-05:00

Ok so it has been way too long since I updated this so here goes...
There isn't too much to say about general life on base, it has been going well, I am enjoying living here and the people are great. I am still SLOWLY learning French and it continues to be a struggle.

I had a visit from a friend from New Zealand last month and we had a great time. We spent a few days in the capital city then came to the base here for a couple of weeks and the we went to my old home town and saw the boys there, I still miss them, and then we became real tourists in Dogon country. It is a very beautiful part of Mali that I hadn't visited before and it was even more spectacular because it is rainy season and everything is green.

Here are a few photos, it was so hard to narrow it down to these ones and even still there are a lot so I will just give brief explanations about each... enjoy...

Me with Yero (the little boy we looked after) and his family. He remembered me which totally made my day!

Charlotte and Yerro's sister who was named after me (my Fulani name that is).

A big sand storm, it came in so fast we got caught in it but some really nice lady invited us in till it passed, great Malian hospitality!

Charlotte being quite impressed with the fish market in Mopti

Car wash, and I'm not kidding, just drive your car into the Niger and give it a clean.

A Dogon village at sunset

Village meeting house, only men allowed

This day we walked from one village to another, amazing scenery, see what I mean about the green.

There was some climbing involved, this was just the beginning of it

Our tour guide (a WAYMer from my base in Koutiala) and a great view

That trip was fun!

Slowed down by some cows

Pigmy houses from the 9th Century built into the side of a cliff, quite impressive really, they are my new 'most impressive people group'

The very famous mosque at Djenne. It is the biggest one in the whole of ---- somewhere, can you tell I'm really good with details! But anyway this is a big tourist attraction, although I wasn't very impressed.

The inner city streets in Djenne, and you don't want to know what that little 'stream' consists of.

They love America here and especially Barack, I guess he can fix anything even the windscreen on our taxi.

Koutiala

2009-07-05T11:00:00.007-05:00

It’s been awhile but anyway, here I am in Koutiala. I have settled into the base here fairly well and I am enjoying my time here. The people are very welcoming and friendly and I am enjoying living in community again. There are six of us living on base, 4 African guys, an American girl and myself. There are normally a few more but they have all gone home for the summer. There are many cultural things to deal with and learn but I am really enjoying living with these people. There are always people popping into the base for work, meetings or just to visit and because the culture is so relationship based everyone who comes greets everyone and it’s not just a hi & bye thing either. This gives me plenty of opportunity to practice my French.

The dorm and kitchen (teh red door on the right) at the base.

Our yard and office right down the back where the steps are.

My own playground on base! God knows what I like.

I am still trying to decide if in moving to the base my living conditions have improved or not. I am very blessed to have my own room and my own shower and toilet (and it flushes!), and I haven’t had to cook on charcoal yet. But on the other hand at the base we pound our own grain or at least the first part, and then take it to the mill, everything we make is from scratch, and I am eating rice, spaghetti or tou (an African dish I can’t explain) with either tomato or peanut sauce every day, and we eat lunch leftovers for dinner most days. The reason for this is pretty much finances, the African’s here can’t afford to eat any differently and in order for me to really be a part of the team I need to eat with them. But I am making up for the lack of variety by making yogurt and hopefully soon ice-cream, and buying vegetables for everyone so we can have salad.

Since being in Koutiala I have ticked off two more missionary check boxes; I cut my own hair and I now iron with a coal iron! The hair cutting went well, it was just a trim but it looks much better than before although it is clear it wasn’t a professional job (photos in next post). Strangely enough I am kind of enjoying the ironing, if I can just get the coals hot enough.

The iron.

Me and the iron, or should it me the iron and I?

There have been many end-of-year functions held at the base and they always include a good meal. Luckily for us when you prepare food at someones place it is cultural to give food to the people living there. So we have had some good meals and that has been one of our main sources of meat over the past weeks. Speaking of meat, you are pretty much guaranteed it is fresh here, here’s an example: the other night someone brought a cow into our yard and tied it up, the next morning it was being cut into pieces and then we ate it for lunch, another end-of-year function. Not many people have fridges so killed the same day meat is pretty much what you get.

The cow alive in my yard.

The cow not so alive in my yard.

The cow definitely not alive (sorry if this one was a big gruesome but that is everyday life for me here, maybe not in my yard but around town at least).

The cow being cooked.

The cow being eaten, it was quite tasty too.

Ok well now it looks like I have written quite a bit so I will stop, I hope you come back in a week or two for some more stories and photos. Ok well it is me that needs to make sure I come back in a week or two.

My French teacher and I. He is very patient and puts up with all my mistakes and problems pronouncing the French 'r.'

Good bye boys

2009-06-02T08:07:00.012-05:00

This post is mostly dedicated to the home I just left and the boys I left behind. It was very hard to leave and I miss the boys a lot but I want to focus on the good times I had there so here are some photos from the last weeks...

I went with my base leader from Norway and another missionary to Timbuktu, Leif quite enjoyed the off road driving he got a chance to do. It was nice to get away for a bit but that trip proved to be quite a turning point in my decision to leave.

Sandra and I decided to go on a picnic on our motos, so we went for a drive down the road out of town until we found a nice shady spot to stop...

As you can see there was plenty of shade to choose from!

But we did manage to find a good spot, off the road a bit and under a tree. We had a great time and I wish we had done it more often. It was so nice to get out of 'town' for a bit and into the stillness of the bush (well here they call it the bush, I guess we would call it the desert!).

Unfortunately there is a down side to motos, this burn was quite nasty and very painful for quite some time. Of course it is all a design fault and nothing to do with the rider, although in my defense someone else was driving and I was a passenger and I got off on uneven ground.

This is me at the local market, just thought I would give you a bit more of an idea of where I was living, as you can see I really stand out like a sore thumb, even wearing African clothes wouldn't help!

It is amazing the things women will carry on their heads, I mean don't they see the case has wheels! Granted they wouldn't do too well on the sand.

This is little Yero asking for a bath, he literally brings me the bucket and soap, very cute and it is too hard to refuse him when he does this.

One of the boys getting a hair cut from one of the older boys. They just use a razor blade and yes there is often a few extra bumps on the head by the end of it.

We have had a pile of mud out the front of our house for repairs to the mud roof, and the boys make the most of it to make cars, trucks and motor bikes.

They have talent and get quite creative. It is quite amusing to see the bigger boys, 15/16 years, running around the yard towing a mud car on a string but I am happy they get a chance to play.

They also make clay animals, these obviously are camels, they also make dogs, donkeys, cows... almost anything.

This is Boura, he has just gone home to his family in a village, I am happy he will now have quite a different lifestyle but it was sad saying good bye to him as I don't think I will ever see him again :(

And so ends my time there, well maybe it hasn't ended, it may just be on hold - time will tell.

The biggest thing that has happened this month is this.....

2009-05-02T00:06:00.004-05:00

My scooter (Moto as they are called here).

As you can see the boys are almost more excited about this than I am. They wash it for me and they are constantly touching it, sitting on it and looking at themselves in the mirrors. I am still getting used to riding but it is fabulous, and I have already used it to take a sick kid to the hospital saving the poor kid a 35 minute walk and a few other things like that. I got my moto especially to help out with getting sick kids to the doctor and other ministry related things but is also so great now that temperature had been hitting the high 40’s IN THE SHADE and it is almost impossible to walk.

I feel so blessed not only with the moto but in how I got it. Firstly as I was praying about whether or not to buy one I got an unexpected donation for almost the exact amount so I took that as a ‘go for it.’ But now that I had the money I had no idea how to go about buying one, so I went to the Norwegian missionaries who have been here for years and they bought it for me in another town and brought it here. Then I had to get up the nerve to get on it the first time and learn to ride it, luckily my friend Sandra, an experienced moto rider, FORCED me to do it but then there were some mechanical problems but our night guardian just happens to have another job as a mechanic so he helped me out with that. God is good, He has provided everything I need and I am so grateful for my moto every single day!

And now I even have a nice seat cooler ...

Thanks Sandra. I love the colour! And it really is practical because without it the seat really gets too hot.

Ok so enough about my fabulous moto. What else has happened... hmm, not a lot. I was on my own for a whole week as my co-worker was away, which left me to do all the shopping, cooking, cleaning, first aid etc. that comes with the now large group of 27-30 boys. I was a little nervous about it given my still limited language, but thankfully all went well. I even managed to buy the bulk rice and other ingredients and charcoal and even to cook food the boys liked!

One other bit of news, we now have a kitten! The rats and mice that are ever present around our house, thankfully not in the house, got a bit much for us, so now we have a mobile mouse trap! He is still quite little we hope he will grow into the job, he certainly has the character for it, he even scares our dog who is by no means small!

New Places

2009-04-09T07:10:00.007-05:00

Look what they did to my little Yero!
Actually I quite like the new hair cut and it suits his personality, the little punk!

This past week I have been in Koutiala, to the South of my home, for 3 days of meetings. It is nice to see new cities in Mali and check out the markets and stores. I can see that here they have A LOT more variety of fresh fruit and veggies in the market and the quality is better too. But I guess the further north you go the less variety there is and I do live in a small town so...

Here are some photos from the meetings and the base:

There are lots of Mango trees on the base and many had ripe ones, yummm.

This is how you get the mangoes down from the top of the trees.

but sometimes you just can't wait for them to fall down or be pulled down.

One of our meetings.

This is a Dutch couple I met at the meetings, it turns out they are from a small town in The Netherlands, Nunspeet (spelling?,) where I have visited and they know Lenneke!! What a small world ay?

Catch up...

2009-03-24T22:10:00.004-06:00

Well it has been quite a while since I last did an update and quite a lot has changed. I was in Bamako for 10 days in January and it was sooo nice to have some sense of civilisation with a flushing toilet and ceiling fans. It was also a good opportunity to stock up on a few items that I can't get here. The DTS team from my base in Norway visited and were here for 5 weeks and it was great to have them and the boys loved it too.

I went on a little drive with my friend when she borrowed a car, here are some photos of the scenery in the surrounding area - and some of the local wild life (camels) although I am not sure if anyone owns them or if they are wild. Apparently there is also an elephant roaming these parts but I haven't seen it yet.

And here are some other random photos from the past few months:

Mud bricks drying, you find these rows of drying bricks everywhere as people build new houses and prepare the old ones for rainy season.

A photo taken from the roof of our property.

A house under construction behind our house, this is where the little boy we feed lives, his family are the guardians of the property.

Our guardian making tea.

A BIG herd of camels on the way to a meeting one day.

Some of my boys and Bradley from the DTS walking home.

The boys are quite helpful around the house, watering the garden, sweeping etc.

Some of the boys, Annika and I.

There were lots of serious moments when the DTS was here.

Some people from my team at a potluck dinner.

Me being all African and carrying stuff on my hear - I was quite surprised at how well I did, nothing like the locals but I am getting better. I am only game to do that at night when people can't see me and laugh.

Boys having fun playing some hopping game that I don't really understand.

It is now the hot season (at least the beginning of) and that has meant a few changes in daily life here:
- I hardly ever have to dry dishes anymore, they dry by themselves in minutes.
- When I fan my hair dry (with a hand held fan) after a shower it is smells like when you’ve had the hair dryer too close to your hair and it got too hot.
- I have to buy an umbrella because I can’t use sunscreen anymore, I am sweating too much that the sun screen doesn’t soak in, even in the mornings.
- I am now sleeping outside under the stars, protected from all the bugs and critters by a thin mosquito net. It is way too hot to sleep inside now.
- The water coming out of the garden hose is so hot during the day it literally burns you.
- I keep going to turn down the hot water in the shower but then I remember we don’t have any hot water! That is just how warm the water in the pipes is.
- We are now drawing water from our well to water some of the plants at night because everyone in the town gets water at the same time and the pressure is really bad.
- I just laugh at all the bottles of pills, creams, food stuff and other things that say store in a ‘cool dry place’ as there is no cool place anymore and as the wet season approaches the humidity gets into everything.

Holiday season in Mali

2009-01-14T06:15:00.010-06:00

Hmm Christmas ... well yes it happened. It really didn’t feel much like Christmas as I was alone and the boys weren’t coming for meals, but I did have a really nice Christmas dinner with my Norwegian friend. I went to church Christmas Eve and Christmas day; both services started with all the women cleaning rice and peeling onions (the men sat around talking) for the meal after church. There was no one to translate for me so I got very well acquainted with the grass mats on the walls and ceiling.

A Christmas movie night with Sandra, we had a projector and big screen set up on the roof at her place and we slept there after the movie - a very nice night but it as you can see the night air affected me and left me a little strange in the morning.

Christmas day at church peeling onions with Sandra and then Christmas dinner prepared by Sandra, it was VERY tasty too!

New Years was also interesting as I went to a combined church meeting, I was the ONLY white person there and I felt it, especially when one of the locals came up and took a photo of me during worship!

As you probably know I quite like chocolate but that is one of the vital foods you just can’t get in this town... but I had heard this new shop in the bigger town nearby has Snickers and Twix bars. So I got all excited and at the first chance to go to that town I bought some but when I took the first bite of Twix I was severely disappointed, it tasted exactly like mothballs – no exaggeration, and going by the taste of the Snickers the main ingredient in it is washing powder! They were so bad I couldn’t eat them; I can’t even lick the chocolate off them (I tried) because that has the same taste. So I am back to my only source of chocolate being Nutella which is ok but nothing like the real stuff. Life is tough in Mali!

On another note, I had my first trip to the market without my colleague the other week. I went with my friend who is a teacher for the Norwegian missionary kids, and neither of us speak French or Fulani. It is truly chaotic on Sundays (the main market day) but I knew where to go for what and with both of our limited French and Fulani we managed to get what we needed, and the best part is that we weren’t too ripped off!!

The following week I went to the market all by myself, I had been dreading the day when that would happen but it went very well, I got almost all that I needed and again got reasonable prices. So now I feel more competent in the community, all I have to do now is buy some material and get clothes made by myself.

Here are some photos from the last few weeks...

Me and Little Yero the African way (it is actually really comfortable), we've also got him sweeping now, soon he will be washing our clothes

Me and some of the boys hanging out and drwaing/writing - Mez do you recognise those materials??? Thanks!

The Malians are very creative and resourceful.

Photos

2008-12-08T16:10:00.004-06:00

Hey everyone. I thought i would put up some more pics of my life in Mali. Enjoy :)

This is Lorna's and my garden. As you can see Lorna has done a great job of getting plants to grow. She has spent a long, long time working on this garden, and it is a real pleasure to have some nice greenery around.

Our pawpaw tree, looking forward to these beauties ripening up.

Lorna's dog, Jehosaphat (like the king in the Bible). He is a great guard dog, and very friendly, but he is still very young.

I'm not sure if i mentioned previously that i went to a Christian Fulani wedding. The tradition over here is to commission a new fabric and have the ALL the guests wearing that material! When people receive the fabric, they all go to the tailor and get something "nice" made up for them. Here i am at the wedding with some of the Norwegians who live here, eating in the traditional way of course.

African bunk beds :P

The boys lining up for dinner.

All their "plates" full of rice etc. Some of the meals that Lorna and I make take around 4 hours to make - but it is so very worth it!

If you are praying for us, please include Lorna and our night guard, who we call "Mitch".
Hope you enjoyed the pics. God bless you all.

November

2008-11-21T16:06:00.005-06:00

So one month into it and I am still going strong, ok well maybe not always going strong but still going at least. There are plenty of good times but also a few tough times. Life here is not exactly like it is back home, for one thing there is the cooking on a charcoal fire, not always being able to eat the bread as some morning there are too many bugs in it or it tastes too strongly of kerosene, the lizards getting inside and the frogs and...and... but to be honest I am still enjoying it here and learning many new skills. I think I just have to understand the culture a bit more, and the language.

I have had some interesting experiences with things being lost in translation, or not translated all. Like this YWAM lady was walking with me after a meeting and she was talking to me in French and all I got was “Me... home...” and she pointed to herself and then in the direction of her house. I assumed she was telling me she was going home but as we walked we were taking the road to my house, so I started thinking she was coming home with me and I was mentally preparing all the hospitality things I would need to do when we got there. But somehow it turned out I was supposed to go to her house. She was also talking about jam and I had heard that she sells jam so I thought she was taking me to her house to sell me some jam. And sure enough when I got there she pulled out this jar of jam, so I asked in French how much it was and I think she was a bit offended because she was giving it to me as a gift ... oops!

(Some of the villagers and me, i'm 3rd from the left in case you were having trouble spotting me :P)

In my last blog I said how the boys have taken to calling me ‘Bexie” or “Beckusie” but one time when I said it is “Bex or Rebecca” they started calling me Or-Rebecca, well that’s just great and I can’t get them to stop that either. And just to confuse things a little more the boys have given me a local name, I don’t know how to spell it but here it is phonetically: Eye-sha-ta

Here are some photos of a Fulani village I went to with some Norwegian missionaries on the weekend. They were having a hut building feast, but unfortunately (or not) we had to leave before they got to the eating part. The village is out in the bush (or a plain) and at night it is difficult to find your way out as there are no land marks, we did have an interesting moment or two until we found the main road.

(The main road ... i think)

(Traditional hut building)

(Pretty much the whole village)

Here are some p hotos of the village and some of the boys I work with... with Barbie. Oh and that reminds me, the when they were playing with the Barbie they said “Isn’t this Bexie” needless to say I was quite pleased with that :)

Blog update October 22nd 2008

2008-10-28T15:22:00.003-06:00

It is great to be back here with the boys! For details of the trip here see my previous post. I have been here four days now and I am convinced it is hotter here than Bamako and there isn’t any air conditioning or ceiling fans. I managed to get a head cold here. But I am getting better now and am coping with the heat.

This is a little friend Lorna found in her bedroom. Needless to say I always turn on my bedroom light now!

The Garibout boys here remember me from last time and were very excited to see me, even the new ones who didn’t know me knew all about me (and the rest of the team from the DTS). They kept asking me if I was leaving and every time I say I am staying they get very cute smiles on their faces. There are only about 10 boys at the moment because many of them have gone to work in the fields, they will be back in about a month.

Some of the boys.

Day to day life:

We get up at 6:15am and make the boys a breakfast of hot milk and bread (bought not homemade), the boys have eaten and left by about 7:15am. Then the lady i am staying with teaches at the school 3 mornings a week, during which time I do the dishes and other bits and pieces (and usually have a nap). Then we have a base meeting 3 days a week at 10ish, then some of the boys pop in and out during the afternoon and I play with them, sew up their clothes etc, and then prepare dinner. The boys get dinner around 7ish then head off, then Lorna and I clean up after them and get our own dinner and in bed by 9pm.

YWAM Base

Some funnies:

A few of the boys have started calling me ‘Bexie’ I have no idea where it came from and I tried quite hard to get to them to stop but to no avail, it has stuck. But there are some who can’t quite pronounce ‘x’ so they call me ‘Beckus’ or ‘Beckus-ie.’

One night I had to get up and go to the toilet (a long drop outside) and I put on flip flops to go but as I stood up somehow the heal of my flip flop caught on the edge of the hole and came right off my foot and fell into the toilet... that was the end of that!

My cool new "wash off-able tan" (nothing to do with the long drop! Just dirt)

While having breakfast one morning the lady i am staying with (the Canadian YWAMer) said ‘please pass the pile of milk.’ They only have powdered milk here but it seems so strange to have piles of milk.

Ok well I will end there but you can read more about my trip here below. I will try to upload some photos but the internet may be too slow so you will have to forgive me if there aren’t any.

What A Trip!!!

2008-10-28T15:10:00.003-06:00

I am in my new home town now and it is great to be here, but let me tell you it wasn’t easy getting here!!! I had to take a 12hour bus ride from Bamako and I asked God to send someone to go with me because I don’t speak the language, and just as it looked like I would be travelling John, whose house I was staying in, found one of the African guys at the YWAM base to accompany me.

We took an overnight bus because the temperatures during the day were too much for me. The trip started out well but only two hours into it the bus broke down. We ended up sitting on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere at night for 3 hours before the bus was fixed.

When we took off again we stopped every ½ hour to make sure the motor was ok. It was turning out to be a very long trip. Little did we know it was about to get a whole lot longer...

... Out of the blue the driver starts swerving all over the road and then we stopped, again in the middle of nowhere. But this time we stopped because the bus had hit a man. It was an old man walking along the road, they picked him up and put him in the isle, literally right next to me and Daniel and he wasn’t in good shape. When we came to the next police check point they put him in an ‘ambulance’ and took him off to hospital.

What amazed me about the whole experience was the lack of first aide knowledge the people had. I wanted to get up and help but there was a police man on the bus (acting as a guard) and a bunch of other people trying to help and I knew it wouldn’t go down well if I offered my opinion. So I just prayed for him. I was also surprised at how the people didn’t seem to be very affected by this incident.

When we came to the next big town we stopped and the driver was talking to the police there... unfortunately the man we hit had died. So now the driver was in big trouble and we couldn’t leave the town. Again we sat in the dirt and waited, and waited, and waited. It was 3 ½ hours before another bus and driver came to take us the rest of the way. By this time it was almost midday and stinking hot but we managed to go the last 3 hours without any more situations.

Finally we arrived here after 23 hours travelling (it was supposed to be a 12 hour trip). Lorna the lady I am living with, had arranged for someone to pick us up in a car and we were VERY grateful for that! But my troubles were not over, as it turned out my bags had not been loaded from our first bus onto the replacement one and I had to wait till the evening to get them. But that was African timing... I didn’t actually get them until the next afternoon.

So as you can imagine I was incredibly grateful that I had someone accompanying me on this difficult journey, even by African standards it was bad. But I know God was watching over me and if there hadn’t been so many people praying for that trip I hate to think how it would have turned out!!!!

Ok well this has been one very long blog so I will end with saying how great it is to be back and to see the Garibout boys again and I want to thank God for His protection and presence during my trip here.

Bamako - Mali

2008-10-16T11:48:00.006-05:00

Yes it is true, I am back in Mali!

It has been quite a process to get here mentally, emotionally and spiritually but I have seen God provide for me and walk beside me every step of the way. I have left behind some beautiful places...

I should have some photos of Wellington here but I can't find them now :(

But I have come to another beautiful place, it is not what comes to mind when you think of beauty but it is in it's own way. I know there is still a lot of beauty I have yet to discover here but I am looking forward to it.

Th first photo is a construction site down the road from the place I am staying in Bamako (capital city of Mali). If you look closely you can see that there is a big pile of dirt on the ground which gets thrown up to the 1st level where more guys throw it up to the top floor, not quite what we're used to back home!!!
The second photo is the Clark family.

I am staying with a lovely family, the Clark's here and it is such a blessing. They are looking after me so well and helping me adjust to the climate, people, culture and customs. There have been a few surprises here, for one the Clark's have a pet tortoise!

Can you guess what the blocks of concrete hanging off the wall are for ... holding up a vine that is growing on the other side of the wall.

The last photo is the security on top of the fence surrounding the house, it is broken glass bottles. It is quite common to see that on fences of nice houses.

Ok well this is a bit of a rushed post but I hope it gives you some idea of where I am.

Holiday on a tropical island anyone???

2008-07-26T23:05:00.006-05:00

Since I have been home in Wellington it has been cold, wet and stormy almost the whole time, so just as well I had tickets to go and visit my dad in New Caledonia and soak up some sun. My good friend Sandy came with me for the nine day holiday which was great because other wise I would have been very bored when my dad was at work. Here are some photos from the trip

The view from my dad's apartment, there were some great sunsets

The beach just down the road from dad's apartment and just across the road from his work! It's a tough life but someones got to do it.

These two pics are from a big flash aquarium; which is well worth a look if you are in the neighborhood.

As you can see my dad and I went diving, great visibility and we saw a great range of sea life.

Sandy found HER supermarket. I had prepared myself that Noumea might be rather underdeveloped, dirty and limited shopping ... but I was quite wrong, it is a very nice city and quite well developed and you can buy almost anything you need.

It took us a bit to figure out what these little sliding trays on the seats were, but we discovered they are to sit your hand bag on. I'm not sure if they are more of a hazard then they are useful.

This is what Sandy and I spent most of our time doing - reading and laying on the beach. Note how tanned I am!!!

It really was a great holiday, exactly what I needed and I got to practice my French. Now that I am back home I am continuing to learn French and catch up with my friends. It is good to be home and not be rushed.

Home sweet home...

2008-06-28T11:25:00.005-05:00

But first let me tell you about my days at Skjærgårdsheimen.

And what great days they were!
I really had such a great time at the missions course and with the people at the base. I learnt so much that will be very useful in Mali and I met so many great people. I had only been there for six weeks but I found it really hard to leave and I even shed a tear or two on my last day.

Here are some photos from time at Skjærgårdsheimen:

We made the most of being right by the ocean and the great sun sets.

We played volley ball and went on a few boat trips, lots of fun!

These two are class assignments ... ok so maybe only the first one is, we were dressed as Africans as you can clearly see and we were teaching a song and dance - yes Bex was teaching singing and dancing! The second photo is me recovering from teaching singing and dancing, the rest of the class was really traumatised and needed more than a face mask and cucumber!

Annelise, one of my friends from Borgen, was doing another course at Skjærgårdsheimen , it was great to have someone there I already knew.

And this is our class photo.

So now the course is over and after catching a train in Norway, a plane to London, then four more trains traipsing through the London underground (with a suitcase, on a hot day at peak hour!!!!!), a few more flights and an embarrassing sleep talking incident (which could have included sleep walking if I didn't have my seat belt on, see you should always keep them fasten while seated) I am back home in Wellington.

It is great to be home but i am having problems with jet lag, it is now 5:30 in the morning and I haven't slept at all nor do i feel sleepy yet, but the good thing is I have now updated my blog!

Hopefully it won't take me so long till the next update.

Spring

2008-05-13T12:06:00.005-05:00

Spring is now well underway at Borgen but here are the last shots of winter and the fun activities...

I built a snowman with some others from the base and I also made a snow shelter, but i have to admit that i made that one on my own - i was kind of bored one day so I spent a few hours outside sculpting away. It was quite therapeutic i must say, although the shelter had collapsed by the next day as it was above freezing and everything melted.

I think all the snow has gone at Borgen now, although I am no longer living in my log cabin in the mountains of Arctic Norway :( I am in the south of Norway taking a 6 weeks 'Missions Course' at the base here. On my way down I stopped to visit my friend Lene near Oslo and it was practically summer there! just check out these pics...

I felt so good i thought i could fly... but I'm afraid not...

I just managed to fall clumsily to the ground and embarrassed my self so much that I tried to run away and hide...but i got stuck in the fence ... just adding to my embarrassment.

But I did manage to find a rock to hide under, ok well it was more of a rest on but was nice none the less. I'm not quite sure what Lene found under the rock but it must have been fascinating!

This next photo is the view from my bedroom at Skjærgårdsheimen, it was literally taken from the door of my room that leads to the deck, really nice!

It is a little strange to go from staff to student again in YWAM and also going from having a whole house to myself to sharing a room again! But I'm sure it will all be good.

There are a few people here who have already been swimming, it is still only about 15 degrees outside, I think I will wait a few more degrees before i jump in though!

Fun in the snow

2008-04-15T04:23:00.005-05:00

This is the ice skating rink here at Borgen - sadly now that I have the time to use it the ice had started to melt :(

But there has been plenty more winter fun to be had... Here are instructions for a successful snow scooter trip (this trip was in Finland at our base leaders cabin).

First you must have stunning beautiful scenery ... check
Second, stunning beautiful girls... check (me on the left and Hanna on the right)

Third, overload snow scooter ... check - we had 2 adults and a child on the front, three adults in the sled being towed along and one adult skiing along behind.

Fourth (and most important), get snow scooter stuck in the melting snow on the lake ... check
Fifth, leave the two boys to get it out ... check

Sixth, crawl to safety over the melting snow ... check

Seventh, go back to the boys with girl power to help get snow scooter out ... check
We all had a great time even though most had boots full of water which then froze on the way back (only on the outside)and we had trouble getting them off.

I have also been doing some of that work like stuff...
I went to Sweden via Finland for a promotion trip here are some photos...

1. girls having fun. 2. sleeping in the van. 3. ice on the wheels

And Ma this one is for you, my new hair colour.

Long over due photos

2008-04-11T09:55:00.011-05:00

Ok so these photos should have been put up a very long time ago, sorry.

Here are some form outreach...

In the first photo people are selling animal body parts that are used in curses and such like, the second is on the bus we took for the 13 hour trip to Douentza and the third picture is typical a typical Malian toilet.

Douentza is a strange place, it feel like you have stepped back in time with people riding donkeys, cattle all over the street and people drawing water from the well. Everything you do takes a long time, here i am roasting and grinding peanuts to make peanut butter.

This is 'Mitch' the guardian of our property taking out my braids, strangely enough he was very efficient at getting them out.

Some of the boys we worked with. I love the last one, they are dressed in rags but still have style!

This is our team at the conference in Timbuktu, look how brown we are! We built the whole hanger from scratch -not an easy job in sand, we even has to make the drum sticks for the band, needless to say they weren't the best quality (due to the wood not the craftsmanship).

In the first photo we are cleaning rice for the conference and the second photo is of two of the boys from the African DTS that stayed with us, a great bunch of people.

New weight loss programe - 7 kg in 10 days!

2008-03-20T23:48:00.006-06:00

I tell you it works, for guaranteed weight loss results go to Africa on outreach!

I guess most people hear that I got really sick the last few days in Mali. A couple of people in our team had some sort of NASTY stomach bug and I got bronchitis on top of that. I have never been that sick in my adult life, I even fainted a few times and i have NEVER done that before. The worst part was that when i was most sick was during our travel days, try having vomiting and diarrhea on a 12 hour bus trip! Not to mention the planes. Once back in Norway the people who were still sick went to the hospital for tests - luckily all my results were fine.

But I did weigh myself to see how much I had lost after 10 days of hardly eating and being sick, to my surprise it was 7 whole kilos. My jeans were huge on me! But don't worry i have put almost all of it back on in under 10 days.

So yes I am back all safe and sound at the base in Norway, it is quite a difference going from this ...

to this....

in a few days!

I will put up more photos from Mali soon, the DTS is finished on Monday and then i will have more time.

Thank you to all for your prayers and thoughts, especially when i was sick, they are very much appreciated.

Timbuktu

2008-02-07T09:26:00.000-06:00

Well here I am in Timbuktu (or Tombouctou as the locals say). Now I feel like I have been to the ends of the earth and Timbuktu! It is really a desert here, the sand is very different to else where in Mali, here it is more white sand, just like a really nice beach, except we don’t have the water.

We have a nice house here, no furniture except for 3 plastic chairs, but we have carpet on some of the floors! We also have an air conditioning unit in our house, but haven’t needed to turn it on yet. We were all thinking that it was about 25 degrees C outside during the day and we were just really feeling the heat but then we found out that it is up to 37 degrees! By the time we leave it will be well into the 40’s, not too sure how well I will cope with that!

It is amazing how things can become normal that would usually be extreme. When we first arrived in Mali and saw kids laying in the dirt and rubbish I thought how disgusting it was. And when we got to Douentza and were playing outside with the kids we would squat rather than sit in the dirt. But it only took us a few days before we were all sitting in the dirt and donkey poo with the kids. And even the garibu boys that we were working with, they smell so bad and are so dirty but we picked them up and hugged them anyway.

Ok well I should be off, hope you are all enjoying yourself as much as I am.

I like Mali

2008-01-19T06:23:00.000-06:00

It’s true. I can’t put into words what it is that I like so much but I like it.
We left Bamako last Sunday and after a 13 hour bus trip in the stinking heat we arrived in Douentza. Luckily we had a man from the YWAM base in Timbuktu with us on the bus kind of as a guide.

Here in Douentza we are staying with a Canadian woman who works with the Garibu (not too sure of the spelling) boys. These are boys who have been given by their parents to be trained to memorize the Koran; they have a very tough life. They live away from their families and have to beg for all their food and clothes and everything.

So we have been joining in the Canadian woman’s ministry feeding the boys, we have also been washing their clothes, and them, playing with them and most importantly loving them!

Where we live there are donkeys, cows, sheep and goats just wandering around the village. They make a lot of noise and it often feels so surreal when reading in the Bible about Jesus’ life and seeing people using donkeys and drawing water from a well. It make it more real.

I've been trying to put photos on here for ages and it just isn't happening, sorry.

And just so you know i have been getting vry hot here but hte mornigns are still chilly when you get up at 6:15 am, I am not hte only wearning a jumper!

Bamako, Mali

2008-01-12T03:28:00.001-06:00

We have arrived all safe and sound in Mali. Not too many big adventures to report yet and since I don't have much time onthe internet I will just put up some photos of my experiences so far.

Me with some of the local kids outside our front gate.

Our mosquito nets, they are great, so roomy inside and they even keep the mosquitos out!

Our house and back yard, it is the YWAM base in Bamako.

Annother local kid.

One of the streets in the market.

I am having a great time here in Africa, and it isn't too hot!
Hope you are all well, remember to check out our outreach blog for more info and photos.

Off to Africa

2008-01-06T12:20:00.000-06:00

Ok well I have a good few days here in Oslo at the YWAM Norway conference and in just one day I will be heading off to Mali, Africa. We will be spending one week in the capital Bamako and then up to four weeks in Douentza and finally onto Timbuktu for another four weeks. For the most part we will be working with the street children.

We might not have much access to the Internet when we are away so this will probably be my last update for a while. Although we have team blog which we will be updating as much as possible, i have added it as 'outreach blog' under links so check that out from time to time and please feel free to leave comments on it :)

Bless you all,
Bex.

Christmas

2007-12-29T07:03:00.000-06:00

Oh dear it appears it has been over a month since my last update, what a slacker!
Here is a quick photo catch up of whats been going on...

This map was up on an airport wall believe it or not - can you tell what's missing???

This is what we look like when we go for a walk. I used to think the vests were geeky but then i started to drive here and realised how necessary they are, especially because there aren't many footpaths out where I live.

We have a small storage problem at Borgen.

It's funny how the very thing that caused the problem is the thing that can help. This was my second fall of the winter and left quite a good bruise which is still here 2 weeks later.

Our base Christmas party

Class (and teacher) graduation photo of the Basic Leadership Skill school. If you look closely you may notice that the man on the far right looks a lot like the King of Norway!

I don't know what caused these 'rainbow clouds' but they were soooo beautiful, I just stopped and stared at them for ages. People here said it is very rare and most people hadn't ever seen it before.

My Norwegian Drivers Licence!!!! Woooohoooo. Yay I got it, no more stressing about that one!

This is a photo taken on my favourite walk around here, this is as light as it gets all day and then it only lasts for 2 hours then we are back into the dark.

CHRISTMAS

I am house and cat sitting over the Christmas break. It is a very nice house...

complete with a real bed not a foam mattress like I have!

This is definitely a look and don't touch item!

Look how many keys I have, i must be real responsible!

I found a tree that had already been cut down (honestly it had) and i trimmed it up a bit and it turned out to be a great Christmas tree. The only problem was I don't have nay decorations to put on it ... but never fear my kiwi ingenuity came up with this solution...

Christmas was very quiet, just me and Katya a student from Russia. But we did find some extra people to put around the table (thanks mum). We had two Christmas dinners, one on the 24th when Katya celebrates it and one on the 25th for me.

It snowed on Christmas Eve and Christmas day which was very nice because all the other snow had melted.

Katya and I went for a walk at about 3:00pm Christmas day, look how dark it is!

I think i ate too much chocolate!

Happy new year everyone!

My Birthday

2007-11-12T09:24:00.000-06:00

What a day it was!
It came in the middle of a very busy week, we didn't even have a spare moment to breathe so I knew i wouldnøt be able to have a party and I couldn't have one in the weekend either coz were going to be in Narvik (see previous post). In the morning the staff and students woke me up at 6:25 with pancake and presents. And then after dinner when we were going to start drama practice the students blind folded me and carried me home where to my suprise Lenneke and the others had organised a suprise party for me. I though they might have had a cake for me but a whole party, that was great! Even Mel made a special appearance. And I had lots of cards, presents, emails, phone calls and skype calls that made me feel very loved, just the way you should feel on your birthday.

So a big thank you to eveyone who made that day specail for me!

Breakfast in bed

My family baked me a cake and ate it too.

I had asked everyone on the DTS to dress up coz i thought it was all we could do to celebrate the day. As you can see I really should have thought more about my socks and that top was only put on for the trip outside.

Mel came and enjoyed the food too.

Alot of the base people showed up. It was good food, good company and a good night.

Look dad I am becomming a handy man

Just like the old days ay?

And did you notice how great I looking in that top! I am evangelising even as I cart wood.

When there are no men around to fix the cars, the girls step in - ok so it was only a headlight but still I think we did a good job.

Computerless

2007-11-12T08:53:00.000-06:00

It has been awhile since my last update but at least I have a good excuse! My computer died!There was about a week when I thought I could solve the problem by myself but then it became apparent that I could not and now I have left it in Tromsø, hoepfully to get fixed.

But in better news,

we had a good trip to Narvik 2 weekends ago. We were a part of many meetings and even a porridge party - much to my dissapointment this was not a throw porridge at each other thing but more of a socail gathering for the different churches. It was great to see all the churches working together, and the Salvation Army looked after us really well!

I got to go to a Catholic Mass too so that was a big highlight, although it was in Polish of all languages. So I coulnd't understand anything.

Below are some photos from the weekend in Narvik.

I went with the youth team for school visits.

Two of our students leading a children's meeting.

Milka and I doing a drama at the porridge party.

Narvik! It really is a beautiful little town.

A posy shot of me with the harbour in the background- look how tough and Norwegianified I am, it was below freezing and i don't have a jacket or gloves!!

On the road again

2007-10-18T07:36:00.000-05:00

Yep we are on the road again, this time in Finland. Last Sunday we drove the 7-8 hours to get here, they even let me drive a few hours! We have been having teaching on Passion for God and it has been very good. The Finish DTS have 9 students and 8 staff so we are 29 all together and believe it or not I am the only English as first language person!

This year we decided that we would like our team to appear more unified, especially when out in the street so we have come up with a team uniform. As you can see there is a bit of distinction between staff and students which we also thought was a good thing.

There have been two big things on my mind the past month, the first was my visa to work in Norway. But a quick down to the local police station and a lot of money later I now have another 1 year visa.

The second thing is my drivers license. Because I have been in Norway for over 1 year I have to sit a practical driving test to continue to drive here. The test will be in Norwegian…argggg…. and in late November when the roads are all covered in snow and ice!! I have been getting in lots of driving time which is great and getting to dirve a variety of cars. The best by far is the old Volts Wagon the base was given. I don’t have a pic of the outside of it yet but here is the steering wheel and the duct tape that holds the whole interior together. And in case repairs are needed on the road there is a roll of duct tape in the glove box!!! But it is a really nice van to drive.

Note the size of the steering wheel! and the duct tape on the left.

The fisrt snow

The big smoke

2007-10-03T13:10:00.000-05:00

Shops, people and shops! Tromsø! I didn't quite know what to do with myself when I was suddenly surrounded by lots of people and of course shops.

The DTS went into Tromsø for a weeks teaching on Evangelism, when we arrived at the church where we were to stay, we found that we were locked out and couldn't get in touch with the pastor to let us in so....

We waited...and waited, for about an hour. As we had all our mattresses and bags with us and were standing outside the inner city church we attracted some strange looks from the passers by.

We were very blessed to stay in the church, in good ol' YWAM style.

We had lectures on evangelism in the university in the mornings and then our teacher practiced what he preached in the cafeteria. He was encouraging people to come to a public lecture he was giving at the end of the week on "If God is good why is there so much evil in the world?" We all handed out invitations to the students who stopped. It was quite a successful week!

At the end of a week of lectures and evangelism and participating in church meetings, I was quite happy to return home. And on the day before we left we found a store that was having a closing down sale, we could fill up a plastic bag with anything in the shop and it was only $20. The store was kind of like The Warehouse, so I got lots of things for the house! I am so happy to have some things that I own, they are really mine! ... Like this below.... it is one of my favorites, and oh so practical...

Gotta love a bargain!!

Now I just have to show you some photos of autumn. The colours are so amazing, well now the leaves are starting to fall but they were breath taking!

And one last story for this post. The kitchen in our house wasn't quite finished when we moved in and our base leader (yes the King of Norway - see previous post) asked if any of has any experience tiling. Non of us did so he said "great, then you can do the kitchen!" With about a 5 min description of how to put up the tiles he let us go for it. So far so good, will let you know how it turn out.

Arctic Extreme

2007-09-16T07:56:00.000-05:00

I survived another Arctic Extreme (tramp in mountains and soo much more), but it was more like Arctic Mild this year and much more enjoyable than last year. Even though I am staff this year I had to be a student on 'Arctic adventure' as we called it, which meant i wasn't in the know about all that was happening and I had to participate in all the activities the same as the students.

We started the adventure at 6:00am when we woke the students up with the fire alarm. We then had a short Bible study thing around the camp fire...

And then we had some team building games

And a food challenge! Helen, a fellow Kiwi, was in charge of this challenge and we had to eat whole fish thingies, liver stuff and a few other things but the best was marmite. Obviously that was no problem for me (although vegiemite would have better) but some of the Scandinavians really struggled with it.

The off we went up a mountain, blindfolded! OK so only two people were blindfolded at a time but still it was a challenge. Good excuse to go slow though.

One of our students in front of out tent, and yes that is REAL snow on the mountain in the background. It rained a lot of the time we were there and it also snowed and hailed on us! At night the temperature was below freezing, just as well i have a good sleeping bag :)

Up another mountain, we didn't make it all the way to the top though.

Turid, our leader, and Victor her dog.

It was very beautiful with all the colours of autumn.

Lenneke and I had fun.

Our final challenge, crossing the river at Borgen and yes it was COLD.

Team photo.

I met the King

2007-08-30T13:40:00.000-05:00

Guess what!!!
I met the king of Norway, I even go to shake his hand!

Some of the Norwegian Royals came to the area I live in and seeing as out base leaders wife is the mayor of this area and was the 'host' for the royals we went along to support her. Here is 'The King's ship' that they arrived in and a glimpse of the reception that the small country town put on.

Oh and by the way it wasn't really the King that came, it was the crown prince and his wife. The hand I am shaking in the photo belongs to Leif, our base leader.

My dad would be so proud

2007-08-30T13:19:00.000-05:00

Look what they are making me do ... all that silicone ... dad are you proud? We will be tiling part of the kitchen walls next. I like it here at the base, people don't just do things for you, they teach you how to do it yourself.

Apart from fixing the shower we have been having a very busy week with staff training. All the staff on the base are involved and we have been meeting for 3 hours everyday this week. It is good to see and hear the vision of the base and the passion of the base leaders.

In the afternoons we have been doing preparation work for the DTS, which for me has meant learning how to do the accounting - scary (they trust me with the whole budget!) but a good skill to learn.

This weekend we will be heading into the city to check out the night life. On the DTS we will be doing a bit of evangelism in the city so we are gonna check out where the youth are and what they do. So busy, busy, busy for the next week and a half before the students arrive.

Nature

2007-08-25T11:29:00.000-05:00

I just have to share with you all how amazing the nature is up here. Every time I step out my door I praise God for His creation and then I go for a walk and stand in awe at the views laid out before me ... mountains reflected in the water of the fjord, mist rising from the mountains, the river winding through the valleys, the smell of forest and fresh air.

Our house is the top of a small cliff and this first photo was taken at the bottom of the cliff. The second photo was from a bike ride Lenneke and I went on today and it shows you a bit more how were are totally surrounded by mountains.

These steps are the way up/down the cliff to the river and these are the mushrooms that grow on the steps.

And then there are the berries! There are so many raspberries and blueberries all over the place.

Here I am picking blue berries outside our house.

Well we had to do something with the berries, there was also jam but it was so yummy we've almost finished it.

Those berries are just sooooo good.

Home sweet home

2007-08-25T10:55:00.000-05:00

Here it is ... our humble abode.

I still can't believe that Lenneke and I are living here. It was one of the first builds at Borgen (our base) and just last year it had an extension put on so we have a BRAND NEW fabulous huge kitchen and new bathroom.

This the front of our house

This is the living room, the original building.

This is our brand sparkling new bathroom, we just have to fix a leak in the shower but other than that it is great.

Here is the kitchen, what can I say - just look at the picture! We have made good use of it with cooking and baking. We are so blessed that the previous tenants left behind all their crockery, cutlery and pots!!! Thank you Geoff and Milja.

And here is the view from our kitchen

So as you can see some of the rooms are a little bare and need a personal touch but we only came with our back packs so it may take a little while to fill up the place. We should be getting two other flatmates soon so that will help.

But clearly we are so totally blessed to be living in such a great house. I think that Borgen is definitely one of the, well I think THE best YWAM base ... EVER! The location is great, although to travel to it is quite out of the way but once you are here it is well worth it. The mountains all around, the fjord just down the road, a river at your door step, great walks and bike rides all over the place, the buildings are nice and the people are so lovely.

Ah it's the tough life for us poor missionaries in the far north.

I have added links to the Borgen website if you want to have a look around that. Also there is a link to the YWAM Norway DTS web page - have a look around it as there is a short video tour of Borgen on there. Enjoy.

Back in Norway

2007-08-17T12:58:00.000-05:00

I have been back in Norway for just over a week now and it has been great. The first 4 days back here were spent in Oslo at a conference and then two days at a DTS staff training conference, also in Oslo. Both conferences were quite good and it was nice to meet other DTS staff from all around Norway.

All YWAM staff on the conference had to do some 'work' and the Borgen staff were asked to direct traffic for the evening meetings - ha little did they know we like to be creative and decided to park the cars in shapes resembling flowers!!!

But alas there weren't all that many cars ...

So we settled for making car park gardens instead...

Even though the 'work' did get a little boring, a very exciting thing happened to me. I spoke my first full sentence in Norwegian to a Norwegian and they understood me!!!!!!!! WOHHHOOOOO

This lady came up to me and was asking me something in Norwegian (i must look the part coz it happens a lot) so I said to her, "Kan du snakke Engelsk?" and to my surprise it worked, she started speaking English to me. Ok I know it isn't a very complicated sentence but the success is encouraging.

And as you can see in the next photo i was looking my best for the rest of the conference - the pulled up socks are the fashion over here, it doesn't have anything to do with not being able to find any other socks or shoes in my back pcak!! In the second photo i am picking the first wild raspberries ... yummmmmm.

In the next installment of my adventures in Norway I will show you some photos of the house I am living in and it will make you all want to become missionaries in the far north of Norway.

My last days in The Netherlands

2007-08-16T12:04:00.000-05:00

Summer at last!!!

The last week I was in The Netherlands the sun was shining almost every day and with plenty of intensity. I was working on my tan as much as possible and even though you can't tell in the photos I did make some progress :) I was quite surprised that I didn't get burnt, must be the lack of hole in the ozone.

Lenneke and I at the beach (man made lake)

Sun, glorious sun! When was the last time YOU needed sunglasses when eating breakfast???
That is Lenneke's cousin Petra with me, she came to visit for a few days.
I got in plenty of bike riding, very Dutch, and I even had on an orange bike, even more Dutch!
Sunset was a beautiful time to go for bike rides, especially along the lake.

Maastricht
I went to the south of The Netherlands to visit my friend Machiel. We met on the Antarctic course I did and I hadn't seen him since February 2006 so I thought being only a few hours on a train I was too close to not visit. Machiel lives in Maastricht, an absolutely beautiful city and very old too. Here are some pics...

When in Maastricht Machiel and some friends decided to go on a bike tour to Belgium, so I joined them. I was quite happy Lenneke and I had been riding a bit so my bike bones had been conditioned! I mean a 20 minute ride into Belgium would have been quite uncomfortable if I wasn't in shape! I still can't believe I rode a bike into another country - aren't you supposed to take a plane to do that!

Anyway we visited some friends of Machiel and had a fish barbecue...not that isn't traditional Flemish, and we watched a video on a big screen outside - perfect night for it too. And of course this is what they do every weekend in Belgium!!!

We also went for a walk in the Dutch 'mountains.' The first photo is of Machiel and his girlfriend Sanne with the mountains in the background. The second photo is what a quite walk in the countryside looks like for the Dutch, and to top it off it was a very sunny and hot day.

Church in The Netherlands

I was in The Netherlands for two weeks and so got to go to two masses, the first was in Nunspeet where I was staying with Lenneke. It was a strange experience because as we sat down for the Mass a woman dressed in robes came in and began the service. My first thought was that Lenneke got it wrong and brought me to an Anglican service and as I couldn't understand a word in Dutch and everything in the 'Mass' was not what I was expecting I was getting more confused. But in the end we found out that the Church was Catholic but they didn't have a priest so obviously things have to be a little different.

The second time I went to Mass was in Maastricht and that too was an unusual experience. It was in a big old Church (Basilica I think) and almost the whole Mass was in Latin! Nice to experience but again I didn't understand a word! They even had an old man dressed in fancy clothes and carrying a sword, walking around the church throughout the Mass.

Where in the world is Bex???

2007-07-30T07:35:00.000-05:00

So which country do you think I am in?

And can you guess what season it is? 10 points to whoever can name the green vegetable, OK maybe 100 million points if you don't cheat by using the Internet.

And now which city....

Amsterdam

2007-07-30T07:15:00.001-05:00

I have been enjoying my holiday time here and have had a pretty relaxing time. Unfortunately the weather isn't that fab but there have been a few good days and the forecast says we should have some 20 degrees plus days this week.

The day we went to Amsterdam was quite nice, a little windy but warm. We spent the day wandering round the market, shopping and eating, it really is a beautiful city. We also met up with Annika who was staff on my DTS and is doing another YWAM course in Amsterdam. It was great to see her and here some news from Norway.

The first photo is looking out over one of the beautiful canals, sun shining and all. The next photos are of me and Annika by De Dam (city square) with the Royal palace in the background of the 3rd photo.

Abbey!!!

2007-07-15T05:45:00.001-05:00

Welcome Abbey Elise Monastra

On the 14th July 2007 my two good friends Mez and Ryan had a baby girl, Abbey Elise Monastra. Of course she is gorgeous and no I am not biased!

It was a wonderful experience for me to be with Mez and Ryan in the last weeks of the pregnancy, then to see them become parents and to be apart of Abbey's first days. I will take that experience with me always, thank you Mez and Ryan for allowing me to be apart of this special time.

Words seem to fail me, I don't know how to say all that I experienced in the last two and a half weeks. I can't seem to sting my thoughts into sentences so I will just put them down as one liners.

I loved seeing the looks on Mez and Ryan's faces as they held their daughter in their arms
I loved seeing them be excellent parents
I loved seeing the way Abbey would calm down when she heard Ryan's voice or Mez'
I loved the way Mez and Ryan turn to God to help them in this new phase of their lives
I loved the way Abbey would just melt into me when she fell asleep, how she smelt, how she smiled (I don't care if they say it is only wind at this stage, a smile is a smile) and yes even how she cried

Here are some photos, I have been VERY restrained in only putting up a few. If you want to see more check out Mez and Ryan's blog, there are some movies on there too: meznmoplusone.blogspot.com

Ryan and Abbey (a few minutes old) at the hospital

Mez, Ryan & Abbey just home from Hospital

Abbey and I on her first day home

I only left England yesterday and I already miss that family... I knew I should have gone through with this plan (see photo below), I'm sure Mez and Ryan wouldn't miss her ... but shhhh don't tell them I was planning this, they don't even know I took the photo ...

This is just a photo to prove that all the houses in each suburb ARE exactly the same or pretty close anyway!

So now I am on to the next the next step in my journey... where will I end up ??? Well for now it is The Netherlands - more updates to follow.

England

2007-07-11T06:52:00.000-05:00

I have arrived ... in England that is, not Norway yet.
After at least 30 hours travelling I arrived at Heathrow airport and then caught a train to London central and then another train to Nottingham where I am now staying with my good friends Mez and Ryan. I have to keep reminding myself that I am actually here in England and not just watching Coro St on TV. I still giggle to myself at the accents and am amazed at how all the houses look exactly the same!

Mez, Ryan and I are eagerly awaiting the birth of their first baby. Baby was due on 5ht July so any day now, and we are trying to distract ourselves each day by little outings, movies, baking and anything else we can think of. We haven't really done much, a bit of chilling out on the couch, walks and the odd picnic. But this slow pace of life suits me, like I aways say: there are few people who can do nothing well but I am one of them!

Here are a few pics of what we have been up to...

Good food

Working on our tans - yea OK so I have a lot to work on

Climbing trees-Mez skipped this one funnily enough

A touch of rock climbing

I will here in Nottingham until July 24th and then I head over to The Netherlands to stay with Lenneke and then we will both head over to Norway for the beginning of our year as DTS staff. Can't wait!

Procrastinating

2007-06-28T20:50:00.001-05:00

Only 6 days to go!!!!!!!!!

And I am sitting here updating my blog instead of packing and doing other bits and pieces.

But this is a very important update and I'm sure you won't want to miss it!

The Peniopeneeler (pee nigh open eeler)

When I was going through my boxes of stuff to see what I want to take to Norway I came across this most amazing tool. As you can see it is the epitome of practicality, a bottle opener, veggie peeler, orange peeler and knife all in one!!! Not to mention its great visual appeal (no pun intended). Some might ask where did you get such a masterpiece...but alas it is available only in Fiji for a small fortune of $2 NZ dollars (my great mathematical mind tells me that must be about 400 Euros)!!!!!

My greatest thanks to Rosie (AKA Wosie) for the purchase and gifting of said peeler/knife/bottle opener.

The Extended Peniopeneeler (pee nigh open eeler)

Here is a pic of our new and fully installed log burner ... ahhh let the warmth sink into the bones.

Ok well i think the next time I will update this I will in some far off distant land, England, Holland or Norway.

A little more depth

2007-06-14T23:19:00.000-05:00

And now for a little more depth.

It is only 3 weeks now until I say good bye to all my friends and family and leave my beautiful home city of Wellington. I don’t know how 3ish months went so fast, it doesn’t feel like I’ve been home that long, but on the other hand it feels like I never left.

I still think a lot about my time at Borgen and the great people I met there and I really looking forward to seeing them again. I leave New Zealand on 4th July and go to England to visit Mez and Ryan, two fabulous people who I’ve been friends with for years. They are due to have a baby on 5th July, I can’t wait. I will be with them for just over two weeks and then I fly to The Netherlands to stay with Lenneke for a couple of weeks before we both fly to Norway for the beginning of our time as DTS (Discipleship Training School) staff.

I am really looking forward to going back to Norway but I am also feeling a bit sad about it at the moment. When I left last time a lot of my friends were not in Wellington but now many of them have returned and I’ve really been enjoying spending time with them so it will be harder to leave.

I have been doing a bit of data entry and survey work and I am also on the unemployment benefit but I am finding plenty of things to fill my days. Now that there are only 3 weeks left before I leave it seems there are hundreds of little (and not so little) things that I have to do to get ready. But such is the life of traveling and moving.

I am really looking forward to be going from winter into summer this time instead of the other way round. Hopefully it will be a really warm summer with lots of sunshine; after having had 3 winters in a row my pasty whiteness has built up to an almost unbearable glare.

Hope you are all well and living your dreams.
Bless you,
Bex.

Long over due

2007-06-12T22:42:00.000-05:00

Ok, ok I know this update is way overdue and I don't even have a really good excuse!
I haven't been up to very many exciting things in the last month or so but here is a quick update.

I've spent a little bit of time with the twins I used to look after (Jonathan on the right and Matthew on the left) and Ruth their mum. Man kids grow up so quickly ... but adults on the other hand ... I know Ruth will never grow up and that is why I love her :) And no I didn't give Jonathan that bump on his head, he hit the coffee table.

I've also been on some great walks around Wellington with my friends. In this picture we were being chased by over sized bloodthirsty frogs and we had to race across the river to escape them. BUT the river was soooooo deeeep and sooooo strong that any slip was death, however due to Caroline's astounding athleticism we managed to negotiate the rapids and avoid all the rushing waterfalls. Good job Caro!

A picture of my beautiful city, from yet another but far less dramatic walk.

Well winter has very much arrived and my family have decided to get a wood heater so we will be roasty toasty and warm. The only problem is that it isn't fully installed yet, hence the fan heater inside it. But when it is up and running we will all enjoy the heat, ahhhhhh I can just feel it seeping into my bones to thaw them out.

Ok I gotta run and go to work, ok so only babysitting but you still have to be on time for that.
Bless you all
Bex.

Time fly's

2007-04-20T23:10:00.000-05:00

Time fly's when you're having fun! Since having been home I have had a lot of 'catch up' coffees and plenty of time to chill out .... ahhh ... it's been great. But for some reason I still can't get to sleep before 2 in the morning, which is very annoying!!!

We had a great family Easter, with a few friends thrown in as well, the more the merrier I say :)

As you can Easter Bunny came to our house - but he didn't wipe his feet before he came in and left footprints on our carpet (Nadine you wouldn't know anything about that would you???)

I had to say yet another hard goodbye - seem to be saying a lot of those lately. Nadine (in the middle), my friend who had been living in Wellington for the past year, moved home to Australia :( Now there is no one to make me lentil lasagna ... if you know what i mean ;)
This photo was at Nadine's going away meal with my family.

My sister Laura and I were making the most of the sun when it was out - can you see what our shadows make?

Today I went for a kayak with Caroline, great to be on the water again and we saw a seal up close and personal which made a nice change from seaweed and jellyfish.

Before all you DTS people start going on about the good weather in NZ when I said it would be cold, this photo is for you. It IS cold here but I am not too inspired to take photos of the crap weather so don't have much evidence that is really is cold. So here is a little proof; most days and we all sit around huddled under blankets in the evenings; I WANT CENTRAL HEATING!!!

And now for my final bit of news ..............
I have decided I AM GOING BACK TO NORWAY!
It is really scary, mostly the moving so far away from home and all the preparation work I need to do before I can leave. But I know God is good and He will help me through it all :) Oh I should mention that I have decided to go back but haven't applied yet (or been accepted) so I should really do that before announcing it to everyone ... oh well too late now :o)

I hope you are all enjoying your time wherever you are.
Much love
Bex.

Sweet home in New Zealand ...

2007-04-05T20:05:00.000-05:00

My return
After all my 27 hours of flights and hours of stop overs I finaly made it home. For some reason I had not thought about what things my family may have come up with to embarass me at the airport so when I walked out of the gate at Wellington I was a little shocked!

My family, Nadine and Caro rushed up to me with cameras and microphones yelling "there she is ... Miss Thomson ... can we get a comment..." The people from the pane and other onlookers stared and tried to figure out which celebrity I was. Quite amusing and very much a my family thing to do - gotta love em.

The weather in Wellington is much warmer than expected so unlike the above picture the only ice I've been seeing here comes in a cone ...

and is accompanied by long walks on the beach.

So now I am taking a week or two to chill out and will then get serious about what I am going to do next.

God Bless
Bex.

Russia was ...

2007-04-05T19:34:00.000-05:00

Outreach: Russia
Photo catch up

Our Hotel was not quite 5 star, maybe 4 1/2

We got to preach the Gospel and Christian songs in one school (even though it was illegal)

They told me I need to work on packing light!!!!!

We had a SMALL cockroach problem

This was a bad hair day

Coming home update

2007-03-14T16:12:00.000-06:00

Kia Ora everyone

Just to update you all, i am now coming home on the 3rd of April, arriving at Wellington airport at about 3.30pm. I had to change my flights cos i had like 4 days in London, and no-one to stay with (Mez and Ryan are going to be in the States when i'm passing through). I was also able to get rid of heaps of waiting time in Hong Kong, which is great.
We are back at Borgen now, and we are soooo glad to be 'home'! The outreach was great, but i am relieved that it's over now.
Ok, that' s all for now. Looking forward to seeing you all again soon.
God bless ya
Bex

I'm Coming Home!

2007-03-01T21:57:00.000-06:00

Hello again everyone,
Good news, I'm coming home in April! I leave Norway at the end of March, spend 4 days in London, fly to Hong Kong, fly to Auckland, get to Wellington on the 7th i think. So you can imagine how tired i will be when i finally get home. It will be a bit of a shock to have sun and warm weather - we have been surviving in -45C and i even had a minor frostbite incident. We are still in Nar Yan Mar, and will be getting back to Borgen soon.
We have had a truly awesome outreach in Russia, God really answered our prayers.
We had many ministry opportunities in Murmansk including visiting a young adults groups (all of them ex-drug addicts), teaching at a Bible school and visiting orphanages. Everywhere we went people welcomed us, we even got invited to a school which is unheard of for a Christian group in Russia. It was so clear that God was opening all the doors and He poured out His spirit of joy in each place we went. The children in the orphanages loved us and they learnt the phrase ‘please come back’ in English – very cute.

Funny things in Russia

-no *No toilet seats except in homes
*not allowed to flush toilet paper (if there is any) it goes into a bin beside the toilet -smelly
*Russians don’t smile and they don’t like tourists
*Everything is soooo cheap, Mars bars are like 50 cents
*All the shops are tiny and all the stock is behind the counters, you have to point to what you want and they get it for you, even in clothing stores.
*Trying to ask a shop attendant if the bottled water we were buying was sparkling or not, we had to point to the bottle and then say ‘sssssssss’ while making fizzy hand movements. They laughed at us of course but understood what we wanted. Can you imagine how you would ask for an egg or milk…?
*They really do all wear fur coats and hats
*There are dogs all over the place
*We found a good fridge in our hotel room – between the inner and outer window (their double glazing isn’t very sophisticated), but it actually froze some stuff
*Buying a banana is considered more of a treat than buying chocolate because we get so little fruit
*We can’t take many photos outside because your hands freeze in only a minute without gloves on
*There are cloud factories all over the place, billowing out smoke and steam – it really looks like they are making clouds and sending them out to the rest of the world

Ok, that's all for now. When i get back to Borgen i will put up some photos of stuff in Russia etc. Hope you guys are all well and enjoying summer. Really looking forward to seeing you all again.
God bless
Bex

Rebeccavicz goes to Russia

2007-01-29T20:50:00.000-06:00

Zdravstvuite! For those of you who don't speak Russian fluently like myself, that means hello - that's what the website said anyway.
Thanks for all the great comments everyone! I really liked seeing them there, and knowing a little bit more about what the rest of the world is up to.
We have been doing heaps more youth stuff, like X.Sport which was mainly soccer, but also a little bit of dance and craft. We had about 70 kids at the soccer which was awesome!! We have also been continuing with the movie nights which have been really good. It's been great getting to know the local kids and great to have so many of them keep coming back.
Just letting you all know that i will be incommunicado for the next 6ish weeks, so this is my last update for awhile. We are leaving Kautokeino on Sunday 28th Jan and getting to Murmansk, Russia by bus arriving on Tuesday i think. We will spend 10 days in Murmansk, then fly to Moscow then on to Naryan Mar. We will be there for 4ish weeks.
I guess that is all for now. I don't have any photo's to put up, but there are some on the Outreach blog if you wanna see some.
Ok, take care everyone, missing you all heaps.
Love and God bless
Bex

Photos from the far far far north

2007-01-15T07:58:00.000-06:00

So, another week has gone by. It is still really cold up here. But, it isn't as bad as i thought it would be. I am actually not as cold up here as what i am in Wellington. Strange i know.
So, a quick rundown of our time since arriving here. We have had two successful youth nights. One was a movie night, 1st with younger kids, then later that same night, the teens. Very good turnout and loads of fun. The next thing we did was a disco - yay, my favourite, DANCING!!! They could hardly keep me off the dance floor. They tried to make me do security work (check for alocohol etc) to keep me away, but that didn't stop me! We also did a bit of karaoke, can you guess who was singing the loudest??
Anyway, enjoy the photos and remember, you can leave comments on my blog!

This is the view from our kitchen window, pretty nice to wake up to eh? Loving the snow over here, it reminds me of the couple of years my family spent in Sweden. Which reminds me that i miss them - the family that is.

If you picture what happened a few seconds later, you can see why they locked me away. Don't worry Jung Im is recovering just fine, the pot hardly even touched her head! Nah, we were just making popcorn the old fashioned way - you know, what we did before microwaves.

This may look like they are dancing, but NO. What they are doing is a traditional Norwegian New Year blessing. The next step is to gently slap the others face to keep away bad stuff for the upcoming year. It's called the Koljugino - roughly translated as "have a safe new year, stay out of trouble and if you don't, you'll get a much harder slap."

I don't think this one needs an explanation. The top number is the outside temp, the bottom number the inside temp.

All the kids who turned up for the movie night, very cosy.

Playing cards with the kids after movie.

Karaoke after the youth movie - i didn't participate, even though everyone was like GO BEX. I knew that if i did, i would make them feel bad about their own inadequate voices. I know, i know i'm so good to think of others in this way, just remember tho, not everyone can be as perfect as myself in the singing stakes.

The police turned up to check out what we were doing, they were very nice, also turned up at the disco and said they hoped more peopole would turn up next time. Thanks to Mel, Hanna and Cherob for the decoy pose so i could get a photo of the poilice woman

Square dancing at the disco (before the kids arrived)- i did join in

Look how tough i am, wearing jeans in -30. ok so i did have thermals on underneath. No i haven't put on that much weight, i am wearing a down vest under my jacket.

Ok, that's all for now. Hope to see a few comments next time i pop in and check my blog. Take care everyone.
Love Bex.

A balmy -30 degrees C and sunshine!

2007-01-12T03:05:00.000-06:00

Hey guys

We have arrived up north in the Saami capital. It was a bit of a mission getting here - check out the outreach blog for details!
It is really cold up here, -30 degrees C the last few days, but the scenery is just stunning. Driving around in the van we can't see the scenery cos the windows are covered in ice - on the INSIDE!! We try to defrost them by blowing on them but it just refreezes almost instantly.
We spent some time in the local school where we will be doing most of our stuff, and they had the windows open! It was minus 20-30 C outside!! That's Norwegian's for you. Kinda like Kiwi's wearing shorts all year round.
Anyway, we are all really looking forward to our time here. Hopefully I will be able to get some photos of how beautiful it is up here onto my blog sometime.
Anyway, that's all for now, God bless.
Bex

Photos of my Christmas trip

2007-01-07T16:33:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone, here are some cool photos of London etc (most of the photos of me are funny ones, don't know why).
1st pic - camera batteries die, as you can see i was bitterly disappointed. Since my camera dies, most of these photos are Mel's so all credit goes to her.
2nd pic - Parliament in London, nothing on the Beehive.
3rd pic - $'s got tight by the end, water is too expensive so it's KFC coke poured into my bottle.

More pics

2007-01-07T16:15:00.000-06:00

WOW! Hot guys! Nah, it's just the sun, which we hadn't seen in... like months.

Me driving in England - I had to be really careful not to crash Mez and Ryan's car!!

Guess they don't want drunk pigeons flying around.

2007-01-07T16:10:00.000-06:00

Everybody, meet Eric. This is Mel's boyfriend. He's a really nice guy btw.

Christmas dinner at Mez n Mo's. It was sooo nice to have something other than jellied fish!

Lights in London

Robbin hood - what more could you say?

Mez and baby clothes - do you think she is looking forward to their baby arriving??

Well that's all for now. Just to let you know I am leaving for the far far north of Norway for 3 weeks, then to Russia for another 5 weeks, so I won't be able to update my blog very much. I may be able to access the internet once a week, so please don't be offended if you don't hear from me and don't panick - God's in charge! I have added a link to the Outreach Blog which will be updated regularly, so feel free to see what we are doing on there.
Ok folks, it's really late now and I am getting overtired, so I will go to sleepy byes now.
Hope you all have a great Summer in NZ or winter wherever you are.
Please pray for this outreach that we bring God's love and light into the dark in Russia and Northern Norway. Thank you.
Much love from Bex.