cold house

I had a dream last night featuring Jeromy and the one and only Jon Misarski. Well, it was more featuring Jon but as I drove past this garage sale that Jer's family was apparently having I saw him dancing with his much younger, very adorable cousin. I asked him today in an email whether he has one of those or not, so we'll see :) And then- you know how in elementary school your class assembled into a line whenever you all walked somewhere? Well this class that Jon and I had been in last semester was walking down a hall in a single file line, and we were all giving the person in front of us back scratches. He was in back of me, and if dreams are any indication of reality then Mr Mizz gives quite a mean scritch.

Today is infinitely sunny but slightly too windy for sitting out on the beach of Army Bay in shorts for an hour+ reading. Which i did. but i was a little cold at times. i had fun with seagulls, but i just wrote that account to jer, and just suffice it to say that i love watching seagulls fighting and being territorial. it cracks me up. i've seen so many bird fights during my time here.

this weekend, you will be proud to know that i made some friends!! it's true. i even went out with said friends on monday, which was the Queen of England's birthday and, as such, a national holiday. i met Ally and Jo, sisters and both 19, at a church service at Whangaparaoa Baptist at 6pm on sunday. i also went to a 10am service at Christian Life Center in Orewa (oh-REE-wah) and have decided that i will go to both services each sunday that i can manage to. the good thing about having so much time is that i can fill it with church activities. like small group (working on it) and two services on sunday. the CLC service in Orewa was pretty cool- but one thing that i still am musing over is the band. for starters, the entire band consisted of kids- none of whom could possibly have been over 23. i'd never seen an entirely youthy church worship band, save for at Gordon. then, there were 5 lead singers. and the 5 of them (3 girls, 2 guys) looked like a teen band- stylish clothes, stylish HAIR (that was the big thing, they had teen pop star hair), and all of them were beautiful. it was an interesting part of the service. the pastor, however, was phenomenal. a great great great speaker. he compared us as believers to shops- and Jesus to what we have inside our shops. how do we get people to want to come in? Jesus is the door, but we are the pre-door, the potential door to Jesus' door. are our shop windows clear to see through, or dark/dirty/tinted? is our shopdoor closed or open, locked or unlocked, difficult or easy to open? etc.

the second service was the most active baptist service i've ever been to, but it was a specifically youth service. we heard about direction and were charged with thinking about what God wants us to do... not in the years to come... but even within this very week. what is my purpose in my short time here? the typical college student doesnt spend her entire summer break in some far off country with so much time on her hands, in such proximity to a native family, etc.
here's the concept that stuck the most with me from either of the services:
Have faith in God
not faith-in-God-working-in-a-particular-way in a situation.

Praying specifically is called for sometimes. but othertimes, we are blinded and handicapped when we provide God with options on how He can work in a scenario. as of sunday, i started praying differently in that respect.

well, thank you dad and mom for calling. and thank you dustin for writing me a letter :) i swear i think of writing letters everyday but am holding out because Mandy and i are going to hopefully make some nice stationary/postcards. and thank you jeromy for your frequent and ever-witty emails.
i love you all, everyone- and i miss you!