Scuba in the Great Barrier Reef!

Hey everyone! Well, it's my last night in Cairns, and it's fabulous end to my travels for this semester! Kels and I took an old wooden sailing ship out to the reef with about 20 other people on an excusion! I signed up for an uncertified dive and went down for 30 min! A day was not enough to spend- you would need a life time to be sure! I saw schools of fish jump out of the water, a sting ray and coral that was colours that i didn't think were possible! Check that off my life's to do list! We've spend the day in the sunshine, chatting with our roomates and eating the most delicious food! (mango sorbet! best ever on the water!) I fly tommorrow at three, stay overnight at the brisbane airport, fly to NZ on friday the 19th, pick up my bags on a 4 hr lay over, jump the plane at 7:30pm to sanfrancisco, have a 5 hr lay over and finally land in Vancouver at 10:30 fri the 19! I love heading east! I look forward to seeing you all and sharing adventures and happenings over the yr! loves and see you all soon!

From Snow to surf!

Hey everyone! Well, I got back from Christ Church and headed up again to Oakridge on a long but lovely bus ride home. (I was driving the worst petrol stickshift of my life!) We did make it out snowboarding in an absolutely amazing series of events! I can't wait to tell the full story! So now I can say I've ridden in CND (which is still the best!), America, Austria and New Zealand! I made some SWEET AS connections as well! More on that later...

We kicked into high gear back on base with Mark Parker speaking on the Lordship of Christ, and that was phenomenal. Our last lecture went til 1:30 in the morning! I packed all day on Saturday and stayed the night at the Blythen family's place! It was so lovely and a perfect send off the next day, I went to church and then caught a ride back with Mark Parker. He wisely suggested to crash at the Auckland king's kids base instead of sleeping at the airport, and I could store my stuff here for free until I get back to Aus. He was super kind to me, and so are the people at this base. They are Americans from a school and they're doing a short term mission here in NZ. They totally have taken me as one of their own in only 2 hrs. I went to the equivalent of a hill songs church, and had amazing fellowship and a delicious and free latte with dessert! My journey has begun on such a high note, and I'm really excited to keep asking the Father for favor on this trip. It's a big stretch for me, but I'm game for the challenge. :) I was quite sand to leave my little log cabin, my swing and my beautiful flat mates, but it'll only be a fast 8 weeks before we reunite again! My next update will be (hopefully) in Aus!

Loves!

Snow in the SOUTH!!!

Good sunday morning to everybody! It's the 31st of May and it's dumping snow on the Oxford base just outside of ChristChurch!!I'm down here for a staff conference, but we (myself and 3 other staff) came early to check out the city, which is absolutly beautiful- then we were driven 1 hr to Oxford! The staff conference is slowly winding down but we're winding up for the chance to ski Mt. Hutt, which is the main hill in the area- it opened yesterday with a 100 cm base (huge!) and now it's snowing ON THE GROUND here in Oxford- which means it's dumping there! I'm so pumped to go riding- there are some major kinks such as money and transport, but myslef and my friend are committed to make this work!! We leave on Tuesday to go back to the north island and finish the final week of lecture- then i'm off to AUS!!! It's all very exciting- but there is a lot to do until then. We'll see how it all goes!

Southern Comfort

Hi everyone! This week was nuts- we had a woman that had the anointing of the spirit- people were receiving spiritual gifts, Joy, sorrow, healing- it was out of control. I've never seen anything like it- I went down (slain in the spirit) and received the gift of intercession. It went on all week like this! After though, we all needed a earth check; several of the students and local youths went paint balling on Saturday and on monday in about 10 degrees a few students and I went off a rope swing into ICE water in Whangerie Falls! It was a blast! I'm super excited to fly south tomorrow to ChristChurch on the lower island! (I would LOVE to snowboard, however it is out of this girls' price range- so I'm waiting on a winter miracle! We are in our final days of school- and I'm glad to say that my part is winding down. I am ready to bounce for a little while! 

Loves, Laura

Stevo and Sunshine!

My old base director came to teach on Evangelism this week. It turned into fear of the Lord and Father-heart. Tonnes of ministry and teaching- everyone loved Him and it was really cool to catch up with him again! We had a baptism in the ocean at my church in Ararua this sunday and on monday I helped out at the farmer's place shifting stock on a quad with a german girl in a cowboy hat! We had a BLAST!!! This family has been so kind to me and I really appreciate all that they do- the mom is always asking me over for tea and the weekend- she says I need to come "home" on Sunday and monday! It feels so cool to be in this community- because I really is a full on tight group. Also they are all related somehow. ;) It feels like a second summer here and the land is so beautiful. Outreach is a mere 3 weeks away- and there is so much that needs to be done. I'm fairly stoked to be heading over to Aus to meet up with Kelsey Crebo up in Cairns! That's a very brief and causal take on this week. Hope the spring is coming around nicely- I heard it snowed again!

loves

laura

Ice on the windshield, sun on the sky diver!

Well, I did a 10 000 foot jump on Monday morning, 10am! Best experience of my life so far! I would most certainly do it again! Seven of us, (including katie Redding) another staff and my self dropped at about 200 km, and it was way to much fun! On Sunday after church 11 of us went to Waipu beach and surfed and swam in the most perfect sets of pacific rollers ever! It been an incredible week. 

In the last week we had a speaker talk about the Holy Spirit, and there was an out pouring of Joy, I laughed away every fear for 4 hours and was drunk in the spirit- Like nothing I've ever encountered. The days are shorter and cold, but our house has a fabulous wood burning stove, and it's so cozy. I'm experiencing the 2nd true Autumn of my life and it's incredible! So I love you all in Hawaii, have a wonderful holiday!

(but no worries about me, I'm having a pretty awesome time!)

Loves

Laura

Oh you know, it's Just my life...

Monday morning our school swam with the DOLPHINS! We went on a snorkeling adventure where we took an hour ferry out to a group of Maori islands called the poor knight's Islands. It was unbelievable- they hadn't seen anything like it for at least three years! There were about 15 in this pod, and because it was mating season it was like SEA WORLD! They jumped 10 ft out of the water, spun around, came all around us, swam up to our masks, some people got to touch them! The crew on the boat jumped out to swim with them. We also went into the biggest sea cave in the world and had a whole tour of the islands. I got to kayak and snorkel into some smaller sea caves- just about died of fear :s it was a stretch for me for sure. Next we have a speaker on the holy spirit, but before he even started we were anointed by our "elders" for healing and I got healed! Not only that, but I started to laugh, the whole room started to laugh and continued to laugh for 4 hrs! God just healed me in so many ways on Tuesday! The staff has been going through a series of counseling sessions and there's a light at the end of this Oakridge tunnel. The staff are going down at the end of May to the Oxford base down in Christ church! Its been an exciting few days and I'm exhausted, but very stoked to see things come together.

loves!

laura