What am I doing New Zealand? Since I've been here for almost a month (weird ), I thought I'd share what a daily schedule is like here in Oxford, New Zealand. From the day I arrived, October 8 until a few days after Christmas, I am here at the Oxford YWAM base in classes learning how to be a disciple of Jesus.
I get up between 6am-6:30 and have until 7am to shower and eat. A few of the mornings I get up before sunrise and walk up to the Oxford overlook. It's a little area with a view of the valley and a few picnic tables. I have seen some of the most beautiful sunrises...it's always worth it!!! From 7am-8am all students and staff have devotions (quiet time reading the Bible, journaling, praying, etc). From 8am -8:30am all students have a chore. We are a community, so we have to take care of the place we live. I clean the main house upstairs bathroom every morning. It's humbling and joyful!
At 8:30 sharp, we have announcements and a sermonette (brief 5 minute sermon) from one of the students. I did my sermonette on the first day and got it over with early. At 9am we start lectures. We have a guest speaker come each week and speak on a specific topic. For instance, this week is Biblical Worldview. It's all about how do we know what truth is, how do we know the Bible is true, why do we believe what we believe and how does that fit into the world? Some of the other topics we will have in our three months is: Father Heart of God, Holy Spirit, Prayer, Spiritual Warfare, Love of Jesus, etc. We have lectures all the way until lunch with a tea time in between. Just like England, everyone here in New Zealand like to have tea times! It's fun...I just wish I liked tea more. :^)
This morning scheudle is the same every day. Our afternoons differ depending on the day. Some afternoons we have Bible Study, community work duties (around the base and in Oxford), small group meetings, WAM (World Awareness and Missions) Night, outreach team meetings (my Thailand team!!!) and worship nights.
Every Friday the whole team goes into Christchurch for evangelism. And then the during the weekends we have planned activities. We don't have to participate, but it's a great opportunity to see more of New Zealand. This weekend we have a choice of a day hike or mountain biking. I think I might go mountain biking...we'll see.
After these three months, our school will split into our outreach teams and we will go into the mission field. Two teams are staying here in New Zealand, one team to the middle east, one to India/Nepal and my team to Thailand! We will be gone for two months...mostly we will stay in hostels and evagelise to people we meet that backpacking their way through the country. Our Thailand group will also hopefully get to stay at and orphanage up north for a while.
So, for those of you who wondered what I'm up to...there it is. God is radically changing my life and perspective here and I can't wait to see what he has in store for me in Thailand!
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