todaywasabeautifulday.

today was a truely beautiful day.

though i was so jealous that all the other schools had like only dancers, i was so stoked that ours didnt, because i would not have been there haha and it was beautiful.

i have the beautifulest friends in the whole world. i love them so much.

i was ridiculously stoked that we won the most supportive/nicest people award. people actually had to vote for that, woohoo. i realised that as much as i like to think i hate chilton, it is actually beautiful, the people are so amazing, we're actually like a giant family. its cute, i think i'm actually proud i'm from chilts, even if it pains me to say that :)

directors did a great job!

i wish we were placed so bad. they deserved that, but considering everything, we did flippin amazing

faithexceeded

41.
that is a beautiful number.
that is a number i will remember for a long time.
that is a number 5 times greater than last year. (LOL)
that is number that will only get bigger.
that is the number of people we had at our Christian Group launch today.

lifeisbeautiful.

emerge

waaah. so christian group launch is next week, it's crazy cause i'm a weird mix of
a. way not excited/have enough faith for it
b. so so excited about what this will be the beginning of and
c. freaking out cause me and annalise are preaching.

how are two people supposed to preach... we are yet to figure that one out haha, but we decided that MCing games and messages will all be done in pairs for the first few weeks cause we have no idea what we're doing. AH. JESUS help :)

WAH. but honestly, it was over a year ago that i finally had the guts (and unlaziness) to write the proposal for this flav, and now a year later it's happening. yes i'm aware that at  most schools it takes a week or two, we're weird. (to be fair we did start last year for 2 weeks and we had an average of 6 people a week WOOHOO)

but HONESTLY.
faith is rising... slowly. but steadily, and tuesday we'll be ready to go off with a bang.

life is crazy.
lots of facetime equals a beautiful beautiful day.
i love annalise gregan :)
i love Jesus
i love life.
:)

so excited.

if only...

i think an awful lot.

way too much, like i'm talking way way too much.

generally not much about actual life, but just about life the way i'd love it.

Imagine if everything we wanted happened, like i'm not talking about 'i want a sweet ipod' i'm talking like i so want this person to get better. if only this person knew jesus. if only church was so big it had to be at the stadium. if only they knew how loved they are. if only they didn't have to go through this alone etc... and then there's the'what if' thoughts... generally they're just ridiculous and stupid. Like what if we could read minds. what if chocolate was good for you and apples were bad.

my brains funny.

but its fun.

sorta.

we're totally called to change our 'if only's. what if's are fun. but pointless. but 'if only's are totally what God's calling us to become reality. 

imagine what would happen if you could take "i can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" literally. i can do all things. what if God put "i can do some things through Christ who strengthens me". see 'what if' - just ridiculous and stupid. :P

i totally write blogs to myself.

ps. i know this probably makes no sense to everyone. i don't really care :)

irrelevant pictures. wahoo.

home.

so there i was, about to write a blog about how i love asia but i miss home.
but michelle beat me to it so i feel awkward if i do it now.
but i kinda have done it... or have i?
I guess a blog is a blog no matter the length.
But seriously... it's been the most beautiful two weeks, but i miss home a lot.
I think its partially being in this so 'not-christian' country over easter is like a mega downbuzz. no public holiday. no easter eggs. no acknowledgement of jesus. it really bugs me, honestly people, if you knew what he did for you...

anyway. just got back from the beach. it was so beautiful. i slept on a pirate ship last night. not really, but pretty much. It was awesome!!
I miss home a lot, but then i'm not really complaining, asian life is pretty sweet.
... but their tea isn't!

its been a crazy day to say the least.

today i woke up at six to go on a two hour trip to the country and visited the cutest kids in the world at this primary school, and decided i'm moving school unless chilts decides to make the whole school dance in the quad during school time :)

i went to probably one of the poorest house i've been to in my life to see why a boy had to drop out of school aged 13

 then i went to another house to meet a boy who doesn't have enough money for medical care and so stays at home in bed all day and hasn't been at school for the last five years cause he can't walk.

almost fainted... then was redeemed by lunch. which was crazy, like a zillion selections of vietnamese food.

Then we went to a childrens home for people who are disabled and so their families don't want them, or can't look after them.

 This girl here is the cutest thing in the entire world, and she's like 5 and really smart, but when she goes to school none of the other kids will play with her because she smells. And the teacher has to change the diaper for her, and because she has spina bifida she can't go outside and play with them either. So sad!! :(
Also like the cutest kid i've met in my life!

today has been a crazy day.

also drunk way too much green tea for my liking, it's polite to give it to people when they come to your place, we got it at the school, the restaurant, the houses, the orphanage. Never again will i drink that stuff... okay probs tomorrow.

but life changing day.

just taking it all in, one day at a time.

crazy.

change

"Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." - Robert F. Kennedy


i'm desperate for change.
change in the world.
change in my life.
change at school.
just change.

i am ridiculously pumped for the 40hour famine this year, it's going to be beautiful! Waaaah, but secretly freakiing out cause we've raised almost over $25000 in fundraising at school this term for CHCH and breast cancer. So its gonna be a mish to get more, but i'm so excited.

I'm also really pumped for Vietnam. I'm really praying that it changes something, its been 5 years now since Timor and Thailand. and i was only like 12 when we went over, and it was eye opening, but theres only so much you can take in as a 12 year old.

I hate injustice.
I hate poverty.
I hate unfairness.
did you know that $40 can buy 10 children in East Timor enough seeds to feed them for a year. FOURTY DOLLAR! Thats like how much some of us spend on food in a week, yet for every single breath we take someone in the world dies. Like dies, cause we couldn't give them $4. WOW.


imagine if the difference between life and death for one of your friends was $4. it's ridiculous to even think that someone would keep that money and let them die. Oh man. i'm passionate. it's really nice to be passionate about something again.

Life is interesting. very interesting. i just need change more than ever. JESUS help.

puppets

 iwonderalotofthings. usually not about me though.

i'm not very good with change.

not very good at all.

i think its cause when life's fantastic...

you just want it to pause. and stay like that.

but challenges are fun, 

its how you grow in God

it's how you learn your greatest lessons.

and its how you become who you are.

well maybe not fun. but definately... challenging

sometimes simple words of affirmation from certain people carry a lot of weight.

like their own little language.

one that i'm still trying to decipher.
life is fun.

what if we could actually read thoughts?

life group blows my mind. literally.

i remember the first week this year, even after my lifegroup merged with Mich's we had a grand total of one person at lifegroup, who's now moved from Wellington.

yet this weekend, all 13 of our girls are coming to passionate. It's the most beautiful thing in the entire world.

One of them came for the first time last friday and responded. She emailed me on sunday saying she's asked and she can definately come, 2 days after her first time at elevate.

Two more of them have only been twice, and they're both definates.

Jesus is honestly so good. We are going to have the most beautiful, life changing, fun, encouraging, jesus encountering, weekend ever. 

No words can describe my excitement.

No words can describe how awesome friday night sleepover will be.

No words can describe how loved they're gonna feel at the end of next weekend.

And no words can descibe how much their lives will change.

2011 is going to be a good year.

life's pretty close to perfect right now. 

minus a few schmall things. but there's always a few things.

we're a quarter the way through the year, 

and in my mind i think i've wasted a lot of time.

but i've actually definately grown alot, learnt alot, and done alot in the past three months.

ag. ni. gt. bf. al. ml. ab. mm. jb. et. lb. jw. bw. zf. hmb. kp. rb. vm. er. mm. kf. em. rs. al. em. ay. rs. am. gb. JC. 

i love you alot. it's an honour to do life with you :)