- Student Life is a college ministry on the OU campus. I didn't know this until recently but it is actually directly affiliated with Campus Crusade for Christ, which is pretty cool. I first heard about SL soon after i arrived in Dunedin; they station themselves around Uni campus during O Week and hand out free jandals (flip flops) and ask students to fill out surveys of what they believe/if they're interested in hearing more about Christianity. I got my free jandals but then got involved with Grace and the Engage biblestudy, so i haven't done anything with SL until this past weekend.
- I have been making an effort to pray for all for each of my flatmates this semester, especially for Paula. We have been able to hang out a good bit so far in the last month and a half and get to know each other pretty well. She is super fun to be around and is really animated and hilarious and great to have conversations with because she is both a good listener while at the same time also very willing and honest in sharing her thoughts. In some of our conversations i have recognized that she is pretty opened to learning about Christianity and contemplative in her beliefs and on several occasions we've talked about what we believe and why we believe it.
- So go back to two weeks ago, when i first attended Engage biblestudy on Thursday (bear with me, this is a really cool story of God making evident opportunities). I met a bunch of new people from Grace and really loved it (i go to Engage every Thursday night now)...one of those people is named Ashwin. He's a 5th year med student who just has a real joy in the Lord, which is evident about from the moment you meet him. We chatted briefly and that was that.
- Then on Saturday Paula and I were shopping together (bad combination, we both just encourage each other to buy everything that we like, and she's got great taste too) and then we were on our way back to the flat when we saw Ash with some of his friends across the street. Paula shouted across and said hello (at the time Ash didn't recognize me from that far away, big street) and they chatted for a moment and then we continued on. I asked Paula how she knew Ash and she said that she met him at trivia night a few weeks prior at the Baaa (one of the local bars) and that they talked a while and the conversation somehow came to how Ash became a Christian, a story which he said he would share later when they had more time. Paula said to me that she wanted to meet up with Ash sometime again to hear his story, because he said that he had a near-death experience through which he committed his life to the Lord.
- This was all obviously really exciting for me to hear, and when i saw Ash in church that Sunday i told him what Paula said and told him that he needed to meet up with her to talk, that this could be so great for him to get to share his testimony with her. Later that night Ash texted me and asked if we could get together the next day and when we did he explained to me that there was a Student Life retreat happening that weekend, that maybe i should pray about asking Paula to come along to be able to learn more. So i was like, ok, yeah...maybe this could be good...
- Here's the thing: i am not afraid to share my faith with someone, but i get hung up on timing. Especially this semester it has been at the forefront of my mind to be very aware of situations and I've been doing my best to discern whether God is opening an opportunity for me to verbally share with someone or whether i am just going by my own timing and running ahead of God's plan. Waiting on the Lord for the right time to speak about how He has been working in my life has been a great lesson, and still a work in progress.
- Anyways, I got home after meeting with Ash and decided i should pray about this situation and refocus my heart on seeking God's timing, and not allowing myself to just operate on wanting to convert Paula. I journaled a bit and opened my bible to Psalms and the first passage i opened up to was Psalm 40...God makes me laugh sometimes. So, He was pretty clear this time on what i was to be doing : ) I spoke with Paula about the retreat, she thought about it, and then she said she was up for it.
"I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, as You know, O Lord. I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly."
- Psalm 40:9-10
The Student Life retreat took place at a camp in Queenstown, which is known as the adventure capital. It's where everyone goes to bungee, skydive, jetboat, etc. It's also known for Fergburger, a really popular burger place (if you couldn't deduce that from the 'burger' in 'Fregburger'). We drove Lucille the 3.5 hours to Queenstown and thus began a weekend of lots of energy, fellowship, and a significant amount of forced fun. Overall the retreat was good, and I'm glad we went, and Paula is as well. It was lots of fun and the speakers were good, we got to meet some new people and get to know others better, and we definitely made the most of our free afternoon in Queenstown on Saturday (more info about that in a bit). For me in particular this was a relatively humbling experience. We arrived late on Friday because we left with the second group of cars at 6 pm from Dunedin and joined in with the SL group as they were splitting off into teams to make chants that had to do with the heart (the weekend theme was 'heartbeat')...so immediately i was a bit of a poor sport in my head because i don't like things like this. But anyways i lived; after all it was supposed to be about team building. Throughout the rest of the weekend i continued to have a hard time with the forced fun activities. About halfway through the retreat i began to think more about what was really going on and, while i really truly don't care for skits and make-a-funny-song contests, there was more to my internal resistance than just personal preference. I realized that it had more to do with my role as a mere participant in the retreat. If i'm honest with myself, my real problem was based on the fact that for the last several years i have been in the trip-leading, activity-instructing, camp counselor role, having moved on from being a camper. But this weekend i was not the counselor or the trip leader or the boat driver or the faith pole belayer...i was a camper again. It was eye-opening for me, and i could feel the challenge that God was placing upon me - that while i know that i can be good leader for Him i also need to be content in sometimes being a follower, and this weekend was one of those times.
The retreat went well for Paula too. She found one of the speakers really moving and I was inspired by her choice to go into a weekend retreat, knowing that she doesn't share in the common foundation of the majority of the other participants, with an opened mind and wanting to learn. It had to have been a pretty intimidating endeavor and i really respect her willingness to step out into the unfamiliar. She hasn't yet committed her life to Christ and is still interested in learning more about what it means to be a Christian, and i know that God's got a plan with all of this, so the most important thing for me to do is daily refocus my heart on acting in his timing and remember that this is her decision, not something i can induce.
So other than the fun forcing and great speakers we did some really fun things in queenstown. On Saturday afternoon we had a few hours of free time and we decided on a whim to go paragliding. All morning we had been seeing people in parachutes off in the distance and it looked saweeet and we just ran with it (quite literally, hah!). Seven of us rode the gondolas to the top of the mountain and paid our fees and Paula and I were the first victims. We hiked to the top of a really steep hill and in a matter of minutes our guides had everything ready to go and my instructor (a friendly Venezuelan named Richard told me to run and not stop running. So there i was, running off the side of this steep hill/cliff and then we flew! It was seriously one of the coolest things i've ever experienced. We were soared over Queenstown and i got to control the steering a bit and took some crazy pictures...the gopro video from the trip is pretty great too. We paraglode for maybe 10 minutes (how long you can stay in the air all depends on the wind) and then i thought i was going to faceplant in landing but Richard managed to make it quite painless. It was a really fantastic afternoon.
Before we left to go back to camp for dinner we went into a few shops, one of which is called Peter Alexander. This store only sells pajamas, and they are like the coolest most unique pajamas ever, i want some soooo badly! But they are pretty pricey : | so i resisted. Later in the evening the main session wrapped up and we were free to do what we pleased for the rest of the night, but most people stayed together for an annual tradition...fireball. The main guy explained that this is something that they did the previous year and is highly not-allowed, but that obviously doesn't stop them. In a nutshell, they constructed a fireball - a soccerball soaked in diesel fuel - and they light it on fire and play soccer. This was such a bizarre situation, but provide one great photo opp. And the greatest part? Paula getting hit with the fireball, while filming the game.
The next morning the retreat finished up and we stopped back in the main of Queenstown before heading back to Dunedin. We went to Fergburger and it really was fantastic but shhhh, i need to share this quietly for fear of getting beat up fro saying that it's not the best burger i've ever had...but Fudrucker's still holds the #1 burger award in my opinion. But Ferg was still sooooo good, and had such a cool theme to it too.
Our last stop was at the AJ Hacket Bungee - the first bungee company in the world. This is the original (first officially established) bungee bridge. Now up to this point i have not really been that interested in bungee jumping, it just hasn't seemed worth the price. But i have to say i am way more inclined to go for it after seeing some people jump (and yes, ok, the promotional video helped too). I learned that you can go tandem, which is two people on the same cord, and i have a choice of two victims to go tandem with me...Matt and Spencer. Matt because he actually would do it and likes thrill, and it would be a sweet sibling bonding experience (enough to convince you to pay mom?) and I couldn't pay Spence enough to bungee, but it's a fun thought anyways.
I unfortunately forgot to bring Leonard along for the Queenstown weekend adventure, but i will be sure to capture him in our future endeavors, including the rugby match I'm going to tomorrow. Leonard is going to the most well-versed llama that ever has lived. Also, you can check out the queens life student gliding para retreat town weekend album to see more photos.
I understand that everyone back home is sick of the slow transition from winter to spring. I know that i have absolutely no room to complain about anything because i am currently living in NZ and having heaps of fun (that's kiwi talk for you!) but if it's any consolation, we are entering Dunedin winter and from what i understand that pretty much means 40 degrees and constant rain and wind for the next several months. Oh and in the mornings i can see my breath inside our flat. Down jacket = one of the best things ever created. In other news, congrats to SAF moving into a church, and to St. Paul's and their new building! Real exciting stuff : )
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