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| Tauranga with one of its many bays |
With me finally
catching that nasty stomach bug, my start into week 3 wasn’t exactly desirable.
But, oh well, it could only get better from there, right?
On Monday, I spent most of the day in bed
reading which was probably a good idea, concerning the fact that I still felt
dizzy every time I walked for too long. Monday night was – as always when I’m
tired – another little homesickness attack but after writing all my (very
distracting) thoughts down and talking to my parents, I felt much better, not
to mention a lot less insecure. The time here has been amazing and I’m learning
so much about myself and my faith but sometimes, the lectures make me question
everything I have believed so far, sending me down a slippery slope into slight
panic. This week really taught me to reflect on everything critically, a process
that actually helps discovering my faith and opinions more efficiently than
just agreeing unquestioningly with the speaker.
Our second
lecture topic was “Hearing God’s Voice” and when I joined the morning lessons
again on Tuesday, I very much
enjoyed Cheyne’s views on that (very big and controversial) part of faith.
Following the lecture and delicious tomato soup for lunch (The food here is
amazing!) was the Medical stream afternoon. The teacher talked about “Transformational
Development”, blowing us all away with her explanation of the difference
between transformation and development and saying that, in order to make a
lasting transformation, one has to
restore things to their “original design”. According to her, the original
design means that “the families, church and leaders in a community live in a
healthy relationship with God and the rest of creation” which lead her to the
four basic relationships and what it would mean for them to be healthy. I loved
that idea not only because I actually knew of the four basic relationships from
school but because it is a concept of respect rather than restriction. In the
end, everyone was quite sad that the meeting didn’t go on for longer.
Wednesday passed without any special incidents and on Thursday, we had a practice of hearing God’s voice during lecture
which turned out to be pretty cool and seemingly incredible (as is a lot that
happens here, I guess). In the afternoon, I joined a trip to the city centre
where I found an ATM (thank goodness) and a cute cotton shop. The experience
was slightly lessened by the pouring New Zealand rain, though. Apparently,
there was a cyclone passing in the Pacific and the South Island has been
struggling with floods, landslides and destroyed roads for the past few days.
Friday was tired
day for all of us and – as last week – it was a miracle that I didn’t just fall
asleep during worship. The last lecture of the week was a powerful finish,
contrasting the rather uneventful rest of the day. The only thing that can
really be said about Friday night is that everyone was looking forward to the
weekend, enjoying the free summer night and that the stars here look absolutely
stunning 💕
On Saturday,
Maeve, Leslie, Jesse and I (all from my room) took the morning and early
afternoon to drive to Mount Maunganui and stroll around town where we ate sushi
and ice cream and went souvenir and dress shopping – basically having a normal
girls’ day in town that we all loved! Saturday night was journaling night just
like Sunday afternoon is blog afternoon. It’s always nice to at least pretend
to be productive – although reading this page, I actually was this time :)
This morning in church, I heard the preacher that is going to teach next week and I’m sure it is going to be amazing! I’ll tell you then.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a joyful, not-to-stressing week!
xx, Annika
This morning in church, I heard the preacher that is going to teach next week and I’m sure it is going to be amazing! I’ll tell you then.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a joyful, not-to-stressing week!
xx, Annika
