humidity;

First post from the land down unda! Well guys, its been a long time coming and a difficult and long trek here but I made it safe to Tauranga! The land is more beautiful than I ever could have imagined and I am more happy than I have almost ever been. The only thing that could make me any happier is if you were all here with me! ;)



This week has so far just been orientation stuff and getting to know one another, and real lectures start next week. There are a total of 25 or so students representing 10 different nations (!!!!) with a bunch more staff making it to something like 40 as a group! Everyone is so friendly and even though we have all known each other for only a few days, we feel like we have been together for much longer. Community living will do that to ya!  Its been awesome learning the different dialects between aussie, kiwi, canadian and american english. Its great. So many misunderstandings for good memories!


The first thing I noticed when I came off of the plane was the HUMIDITY. It is so humid here, in comparison to Calgary, you have to take like four times less breaths to get the same amount of oxygen. SO AWESOME!! My hair goes crazy!

I have a major praise item! Praise the Lord for my travels here as I came across quite a few scary and difficult situations as I have never traveled alone like this before. At one point Air New Zealand was telling me that I was going to end up in Sydney Australia and not Auckland and I would have to pay a bunch of money to change that. In that moment I just started to panic and think of the worst case scenario. I soon realized that I came into this knowing that there were going to be many things like this that are going to be completely out of my control (unlike what I would usually want) and I cant do anything about it but surrender it to the Lord. So in that moment I just gave it all to Jesus and surrendered. A minute later the lady came back after talking to someone else and told me that she 'took care of it'. haha! Auckland bound I was. YAAAA!


One of the greatest things that has been happening is that I'm realizing how much I really am called to be here.
Background information: a few different people from home, at different times, had approached me with a word and a picture for me. all three said 'Freedom' and the picture included a bird(s). I also had been seeing birds in random things, like my cheese.. (?) and very vividly in dreams. I knew what it was for face value but I didnt know what it meant for me, deeper.
A few days ago, Linda Cowie (the director) was saying that this building was built in the shape of a bird (it does kinda look like one from a birds eye view) and their intention was to have it as a nest to nurture and help young people grow. Also I had been talking to Nesi, one of my leaders, and she was saying that God gave her a word for this group of young people, and it was 'Freedom'. I didnt say anything to her at the time as I still had to process all that was going on.

All of this never hit me until yesterday in worship when out of the blue, I just had this epic moment when I realized that I had 'landed in the nest' and this is where Jesus wants me to me. I was so overwhelmed that I burst into tears and wept before the Lord. It was so awesome. It's amazing the way that the Father loves us and how much he longs to give us all that belongs to him. its blowing me away. I feel such peace about being here that I didnt feel before.

My time here is getting better every day. Thank you so much to all of you who are supporting me through prayer. I really, really appreciate it.

peace and blessings from NZ:)

Desirae