Adventures, A New Term and FIJI

Two week break has ended and term two has officially begun J 

On two week break I flew from Auckland to Christchurch, in the South Island, and travelled the south island for 2 weeks. Here’s a quick summary and a few highlights:

-Christchurch.  It was a gong show.  The roads are crazy and still under construction everywhere because of the earthquake.  Our first day in the car a lady beside us rolled down her window and asked us if we had any idea what we were doing, and when we told her where we were going, she threw her head back and cackled and just drove off.  I guess we were going the wrong way. Lol. There was a really cool mall in Christchurch made entirely out of shipping containers, built after the earthquake. 

-From Christchurch we drove to Geraldine, where our sister Capernwray centre, The Crossing. It was really cool for me to visit and stay the night there, especially since I had been enrolled to go there before I decided to come to Monavale.  I am still happy with my choice to come to Monavale even though The Crossing is also a lovely place.
-Oamaru.  We met a cool guy, David, who ownd a bike shop and let us ride his penny farthings.  He rode a penny farthing from the bottom to the top of the south island in 3 weeks, carrying everything he needed on his back.  He was also a Christian man, and prayed over us. Super cool :) 

-We went to Lake Tekapo/Mt. Cook, Dunedin, drove along Catlins Coast, and made it to Milford Sound, one of the most beautiful places.  The drive there is rated the #1 drive in the world by CNN in fact.  And I got to drive it :) In Dunedin we drove up to a lokout spot over the whole city at night, and drove up the steepest street in the world!

-In Queenstown we went to Fergburger (YUM!) and I bungy jumped 134m!  It was absolutely terrifying, and the bus ride up to the jump was the most stressful ride of my life.  I signed up, immediately got on the bus, and within an hour had jumped! We took a little tram to the floating base where we jumped off of and looking down from the base made it 10 times worse. Lol.  Once it was my turn, they tied me up and hooked my feet together and gave me no time.  I was so nervous, I missed the first countdown.  Without even thinking I just jumped on the second countdown and it was the most liberating feeling ever.  It went by so quick I didn’t have any time to think, so I barely remember it.  But I would recommend it to everyone.  Definitely up there on the best things ive ever done.

-Puzzling world in Wanaka.  In Franz Joseph we hiked to a glacier, and drove up the rest of the west coast.  We made our way to the very north of the south island and went to Golden Bay and Able Tasman, both stunning places.  I kayaked in Able Tasman along the coast for a day.  I kayaked to shag harbour, where there were about 20 baby seals swimming and jumping around me.  I even touched one.  It was so super cool!!  There were tons of other seals along the way too, and I even found a perfectly good apple in the ocean (And ate it of course:) ) and a hose with spring water coming out of it.  You never know what you can find in the ocean :)

-Finally we ferried back to the north island.  We spent a few more days travelling; we went to the Coromandel and to Cathedral Cove (where Narnia was filmed!!) and a hot water beach where we dug a hole and sat in really hot water, basically a natural hot tub :) We spent the last day in Auckland and made our way back to Cambridge. 

The whole break was quite the adventure.  We tented (there was lots of rain), ate like we were on a budget (cause we were), and met a lot of awesome people, and a lot of crazies too.  Although it wasn’t very relaxing or refreshing, it was a really amazing time of experiences Gods creation and revelation of His character.  God’s power and might were continuously revealed to me through the majestic beauty of the mountains, ocean and nature.  I could not get over it!
All together, we flew 1100 miles, biked, boated, kayaked, actually flew (bunjy), and drove 4500 kilometers in 17 days. :) 

School officially started on April 29^th.  I got a new room, 2 new roommates, and new excitement for my time here.  There are also a few new students; one from Brandon Manitoba!! :D  Im really excited to see what God has to teach me in the next 9 weeks and the fun that will come with it.  In 6.5 weeks, I will be going with a group of 10 or so to Fiji for 2 weeks to do missions. I’m super stoked!  It’s pretty expensive, and I have prayerfully considered whether or not I should go and feel that this is where God wants me to go on ministry week.  The trip is going to cost about $2000, partly for travel/trip costs, and part to invest in projects we will be working on there. If you are interested in supporting me financially, you can email me at katelyngoertzen@capernwray.org.nz or contact me some other way.  You can also visit http://www.capernwray.org.nz/support/missions and donate there.  Just be sure to put my name in the form :) Also, if you are willing, I would also love for you to join me in prayer for the trip, the people we will meet, for safety and for us. :)  All your support is super appreciated and means a lot!!

Some other things you could pray for are:

-I have to prepare a devotion for the school for Monday, a bible study for friday and an oral report on any topic i choose for may 14th; all of these things take a lot of time.

-The new students to get connected well and feel welcome.

-For our smaller community (We’ve gone from 43 to 25 students) to adapt well.

-Me regarding my future university plans. 

Thanks for all the support and encouragement~!

Cheers,

Kate