week one
Hi everyone! I have made it to New Zealand Yay! I arrived on the 26th and immediately fell in love with the country. I have almost been here a whole week (probably a whole week if you count the day I lost traveling!). This week has been orientation week to my program but also just an introduction to life in New Zealand. A lot of it hasn’t been super overwhelming to me besides learning different plant and bird names/species. That will take a while for me to learn but other than that it has been very beautiful in more ways than one
Right upon arriving we all drove off in our van with two of our RA’s/Student life coordinators/TA’s to embark on our new adventure. We had about a 2.5 hr drive up to Kaikoura from Christchurch and this is where I started to see cultural/environmental differences. There were sheep all around, we were driving on the left side of the road, people passing by had older cars, mountains were seen in the distance, and there was just a sense of eagerness as I looked out the window.
As we drove on into unfamiliar territory I thought of a new favorite song of mine “Evergreen” by Richy Mitch and The Coal Miners. The thing about this song was the first time I heard it I fell in love with the way it made me feel. I felt alive and joy as I heard the strumming of the guitars in this song. And the thing about New Zealand was that the second I stepped outside of the airport, I feel in love in the same way. And that love for this country and its people grows each day with each history lesson.
Then we arrived to CCSP’s campus and we spent some time with the people apart of the program.. and you guessed it the love for the place grew even more. The community of people was overwhelming in the way that they loved God, others, and their country. They made it clear that they are all about community and that translates into the way we learn. We all take turns doing dishes, swapping stories of our lives, and spend time not buried in our phones but walking on the beach. There is going to be a lot of beauty in truly being present that I am excited to get to experience.
We’ve been exploring a lot of Kaikoura in the town as well as the history behind it. My favorite things to learn has been about the Maori people and the language te reo. Soon we will have a class about both of these subjects which I am excited for but also nervous because learning a new language can be challenging. But its more than just learning a new language it’s learning about the people and paying respect to them. So learning about the Maori culture and people has been very beautiful. I look forward to more time learning!
It has been very easy to be here honestly. I was curious as to how I would feel being away from home and college with complete strangers, but it’s been very easy. Meeting new people is always challenging for myself because I care way too much about what people think about me. So I tend to be more shy or reserved just because I don’t want people to not like me. This was challenge to myself before I went and for 2023 was to give up that need to be liked. I don’t have to be this perfect person that everyone likes and never has opinions. I am challenging myself to be reminded that at the end of the day I must care only what God thinks. I am defined by God and who he created me to be. If I walk in his footsteps, obey his word, love others over myself, keep relationship with him, etc. I don’t have to worry about what humans think about me. It has been very easy to be myself around here because people are pretty similar to myself but It is always a challenge to not let that get in the way of my purposes.
A song I listened to quite a bit as I was traveling was “Heavy” by Birdtalker. It is a indie/alternative song which is my favorite type of music (along with Olivia Rodrigo of course) and this song just really resonated with my feelings. For a while I just felt like I haven’t felt a belonging with people or truly a shared interest in things. So, living here I wanted to just leave all the things that weighed me down and were heavy behind as the song states. I wasn’t going to let myself be defined by the past or I wasn’t going to bring past emotions/worries into my time in New Zealand. This has been challenging and a part of that is checking my phone which is only once a day for about 30min when I get Wi-Fi but I am going to try to scale back to be fully immersed. There are some heavy expectations I had for myself and anxieties while in America. I was talking to one of my new friends Lisa who is a woman who has always lived in NZ and she feels similar things when she goes to America to visit. I truly could relate with her on those fronts especially when she said things about the rush of America. She stated that she always feels a go go go mentality in the States and when she gets off the plane the society around her just makes her feel conscious about herself. She feels these similar expectations when she goes to the states of having to hustle and look a certain way. Which doesn’t always feel like the case down here. So letting go of those old ways of thinking and going to a whole new culture has been very healthy for me.
Again, living here has been going quite well and seeing who God is has already become apparent to me. When I wake up in the morning and I see the alpine mountains just off into the distance I see God. I was thinking about the song “Reckless Love” by Cory Asbury (and sung by many others) and the line that goes “There’s no shadow you won’t light up, mountain you won’t climb up, coming after me”. After being in the mountains for a while you realize that there is so much preparation and danger in hiking (or Tramping as the kiwi’s say here). You have to wear the perfect gear and pack the right equipment in order to make hiking successful. The mountains around here seem quite large and only a few attempt to treck through them. For some people this sounds like a nightmare to only live out of a backpack, live in a tent, eat dehydrated food, and filter water from a stream but Jesus would do it if it meant getting you.
It’s a powerful thing to think about the love that God has. God has that love for us and God has so much love that he created an Earth where all dwell/live. That’s what I am excited to learn about is that relationship humans have with our Earth, whether positive or negative.
Well hopefully you guys liked the super long post haha! But this coming Friday the students are all heading away for our long weekend to Picton, New Zealand! Yay! Then time for classes and probably some stress because I get way to stressed out about school! Any continued prayer for the people down here and that more may find God, my classmates and I’s weekend then adjustment school, and professors/TA’s as they begin to teach us would be much appreciated. As well as me continuing to be the hands and feet of Jesus here, getting out of my comfort zone, and school stress would be lovely as well.
Thank you all for reading and staying updated! My sister told me that the subscribe button doesn’t work and I will try to figure that out if I have time. If not you all just may have to check back every now and then ha!
