Brace yourselves, people. It's a long one.

So here we are, at the beginning of week 5 of my DTS... And I've only written one blog. At least you knew that would happen, if you remember anything about my last twenty promises to try and post more often. But now I have some catching up to do in regards to filling you in on weeks 1 through 4! Oh my lanta, this is why I should BLOG MORE OFTEN. Alrighty. Let's begin, shall we? 

No biggie. My views on the daily.

Week 1: Soooo our speaker was a guy. Yep. He spoke on stuff. Yup. Cool! It went well.

Week 2: Haha just kidding. Alright. Let's try that again. Just gotta get in the ZOOOOONE.

Whew. Yep. Zoning. Just wait for it. I might have to leave and come back to this. Gimme a sec.

Maybe I need some pump-up music. Thaaaaat might help... Or it could just turn into a dance party. Either way, I'm sure I won't be disappointed. ALRIGHT!

Week 1: Our speaker's name was Cheyne! He spoke on the Nature & Character of God. It was good! I learned so much every week I can't even start to explain it all here. But I have to admit, this was kind of a strange week. Our lectures only started on Wednesday, because we had just arrived at the base. So throughout the week was kind of an intro to life here on the base as well as getting used to the lecture format, etc. Yeah! We visited some waterfalls close to here at some point that week, I don't really remember when... And on the weekend we visited a beach near Whangarei called Waipu Beach. The surfers surfed; I was jealous. I got pushed into the ocean; I was unimpressed. So in the end I just went swimming. Yup. Sounds typical of my life. OH! Fun fact: In Maori, "wh" is pronounced as "f" soooo Whangarei is pronounced kinda like "Fungaray" but.... Better sounding. Anyways... End of week 1!!

I'm definitely in good company here! Mandy on the left, Maryam in the middle.

  

Surfers at Waipu beach.

Anyone recognize that bro in the middle? It's Fraser!
Tara on the left, Conner up top, Matthew on the right.

We just love each other a lot.

Guys. GUYS. I was at BAG-END in the SHIRE.
My life has been made.

Week 2: This week was insaaaaaane for most of us. We drove for 4 hours to Matamata, which is where our DTS was formerly held, and stayed at the base there for the week. Why, you ask?! Let me tell you! A team called Circuit Riders came to speak at a bible college in Tauranga (45 minutes away from Matamata) so we were joining with them and another DTS called YWAM Bethlehem. This was Evangelism week. Oh yeah. OH YEAH. So. Long story short, we had classes all of Monday and then on Tuesday afternoon we were sent out on the streets to share the Gospel. WHAT?! WHAAAAT?! I know, right? I was one of THOSE people, telling random strangers that Jesus loves them. It was hard to do. And it was stressful. Buuuuuut I can see how it would get easier after a time. I am literally NEVER going to see those people again, and everyone needs to be told how much God loves them. Sooooo it went well. The same procedure repeated for Wednesday (just classes) and then Thursday (more street evangelism). Nice thing was that we got to walk around a place called Mount Manganui, with it's beautiful beaches. That was sweet! AND! On Friday... I went.. To.. HOBBITON! Yeah bro. Real life. It happened. It was beautiful. And there is a plethora of pictures on facebook to prove it. On Saturday the surfers went surfing again, the music students went back to our base and us OP peeps went for another waterfall hike. This one was a biiiiit more intense and vertical than the last one, but we made it! And I didn't get a picture at the top, so my baaaad! Sunday we came back to our base in Paparoa and HALLELUJAH it was good to be home.

I love Tara.  She makes weirder faces than I do!

Week 3: You bored of this blog yet? I might be. But if I don't finish it now... I never will! So onward and upward and whatnot. Alright. Hearing the Voice of God with Josh Cole! Let's be real. It was AWESOME. So many people just got.. I don't even know. Totally were able to release past stuff from their lives, and lots of healing began in people. SO GOOD TO SEE! Ain't nobody got time for that crap in their lives, right?! That's what the DTS is for! After the finish an amazing lecture week, the OP crew went to a high ropes course! That was mega fun, even though I gotta say... I diiiiiiid struggle with letting go of the guide ropes, even though I was clipped on and everything. Just that mentality of potentially falling to your death... Wasn't so fond of that. The highest course was 14 meters up, man. Don't even laugh at that. Afterwards we went to these hot pools, which was niiiiice and then bam! End of week 3.



Week 4: RELATIONSHIPS!!!! Ahahahaha it was terrific. I can't even describe how terrific. And hilarious. Because in some Christian circles, people tend to think that 'sex' is a baaaaad word. That it's a taboo topic, for marriage only. Well, the lovely, polite Marty Emmett, in his kind and unoffensive way, told us otherwise. Kidding. He wasn't unoffensive or polite about it. He told us he actually WANTED to offend us, because it would stimulate us to think about why we were offended. He spoke a lot on how we should be more aware of differences between guys and girls, how guys are idiots, but girls are just plain silly. It's always good to hear someone lay out in a truthful way how the world has altered our view on relationships from being godly and selfless, to self-centered and polluted by unrealistic ideas. Pretty awesome lectures, if you ask me. It was a pretty huge learning time for everyone, I think, but especially the girls. So many girls in our society aren't treated properly and we don't even realize it sometimes. This week shifted a LOT of past hurts and created a new culture of honour on our base and hopefully in all of the student's lives. The guys even held a "Brunch for the Beloveds" and all the ladies on the base got to dress up and be escorted, served, and honoured by these brothers in Christ. The guys were actually shocked that we liked it as much as we did. They said they literally thought of every single cheesy thing they could do (candles, chocolate, flowers, serenading us) and... Went for it. Yeah. That easy. And so FUN! All the guys enjoyed it just as much as we did, so it was an awesome start to our day. Us girls also received a lot of wisdom from Marty's wife Candice and their friend Carrie, who spoke to us about being women who fear the Lord. We have all been so blessed by this team! As for this weekend, we did something called "Burn Night" starting on Friday at 8 pm and going to Saturday at 8 pm. 24 hours of worship! We kind of went in shifts, people signed up so there would be at least 3-4 people in the room at all times, with someone leading in 1-hour sets. It was pretty amazing, that was the only thing on our agenda for Saturday so when we weren't in the worship room, it was just a lovely relaxing day. And now it's Sunday! 

So here we are, about to start week 5. This week the topic is the Holy Spirit. It's going to be good, of course. And it's a free weekend coming up, so HEY I MIGHT GET TO SUUUUUUUUUURFF!!! Yessss.

Rugby in the field. The bunkhouse is the green one on the left!

That would be THE room. My bed is to the right.
This picture was taken our second day here, we've added some decorations since!

I feel as though I've accomplished something today. Let me know if you have any questions about where I'm living or what we're doing! Also, I've only received one postcard. ONE. Seriously. 

Kirsten Hitchcock

YWAM ZION

504 Wairere Rd.

RD1

New Zealand

0571

Write me. Something. ANYTHING. Give me your address, I'll write you back! I love you all! I don't miss you all, though. I'm too busy for that. Heh. Sorry. But not really. I mean, I'm in New Zealand, learning about God's call for my life and how to live it out. Why would I be sorry?! Be blessed, people, and keep praying for me! Outreach locations are going to be released soon, so let's see where else this wild ride is going to take me! Hugs all around!!!