thank you for your patience!!!

update letters are being printed and preparedas I speak! this trip took a little more processing for me on a personal level. Don't think you are not important to me! On the contrary, you are so important I wanted to give you my heart!

Janeen's site

http://ismnzjaneen.blogspot.com/ This is Janeen's site, my team leader and roommate for 2 months, in case you are interested!

Back...to the future!

After a 9 hour bus ride, 12 hour flight, 3 hour layover and another 2 hour flight, I returned to Tempe 3 hours before I left New Zealand on Aug. 7th!

It is nice to be back again. Rushing around trying to get things set before Ariel's wedding in Philly next week and school starting after that. A lot has changed in Tempe that need some getting used to. God is still reminding me of dependancy here as even my car battery died as I was preparing to leave to meet some friends!

I'm not sure how to sum up all of what God did in New Zealand. I am working on figuring that out myself before I type my summation on here. (Expect it in maybe a week or so.)

I can tell you, it was such an amazing thin gto see God at work in the lives of so many brothers and sisters from all over the globe. I really miss them.

Until next time...

Alicia

captain's log

i'm still alive! Just currently in teh South Island where internet is few and far between. We saw dolphins yesterday! I will update more when i get back in Palmy! Six days until I return to the US! love ya!

Last Night at Chinese Fellowship

Last night I taught over how to find God in Narnia. I took seen main principles from the new Prince Caspian movie, and tried to apply it to everyday life. It was so cool afterwards because X, a woman who has only been in Palmerston North 10 days, came up to me afterwards. She said she lived in Christchurch for over 5 years and had flatmates there reading 1 peter saying *though you have not seen or heard...* and she told me for the first time in her life, she got it!

She said she had an issue of actually believing God and now it all made sense! Praise God! Pray for X. That she will grow in her faith to God and be obediant to His will for her life! We only have one full day left in Palmy! It seems like such a short trip! Pray for great weather as we debrief together next week in the South Island!

Can't wait to see you all again in the states!

Nav Attack Goes to Middle Earth

Saturday night we ventured to the oval at Massey University and began a duel of Nav Attack!

Nav Attack is an altered game of capture the flag where the flags are glowsticks. You have two teams and instead of tagging the opposing team with your hand, you use a stocking filled with flour. So we drew up the teams and started playing. It was one of my most fun nights here in New Zealand. Koyo sifted a bunch of flour in Janeens's hair and Jess tried to take me down only to end up on the ground.

After all the 5 kilo bag of flour was dispersed on the grass, we headed over to a short night hike to see glowworms. It was probably the sweetest short hike I've been on since Colorado Summer 2002. We worn our gumboots and walked over little trees and through the river. It stopped raining just long enough for us to go. It was very enjoyable. Pray for our last week here in Palmy. That the non-Christians we met will make wholesome friends and our conversations will be glorifying. Pray for endurance for the team as we go about the many activities and divine appointments scheduled for the week.

God is at work in Tempe, AZ so I thank you for your prayers. I prefer not to give details, but situation became unglorifying to God and God wanted that rectified. That is all.

Thanks again for all the prayers and support...i hope i've given you a glimpse of how they have been answered!

A Week In Palmerston North

I love this photo. It is a grandfather chasing his grandson on a beach in Wellington. It was a beautiful day, and it just reminded me of God chasing us. You see, the boy would run about 15 feet or so and then face plant. Full out..plunk. And then his grandfather would wait a second, the child would pick himself up, and begin to run again.

It has been a week full of running. Every now and then we get to *plunk* and just rest, but it has been amazing here in Palmy.

For starters, the church welcomed us with a Chinese potluck dinner. We are helping lead their Chinese Fellowship group on fridays and wee able to teach them the bridge, as well as, put on a mini-leadership course.

Last Monday, I shared my testimony at a J2 (Jesus and Japan) worship night the students held. It was intimate and at the end I truly didn:t even realize we had been there two hours!

We went to an International Student Orientation expecting to run into Chinese and other Asian students. Instead, God put Europeans and Americans in our paths! From North Carolina is sheep farming Austin and girlfriend Emily. Also from there is Buddhist Bryce, Plain-ole Paul, and Frisbee pros Peggy and Liz. We met an interesting young man from New York named Russ and a German from Muenster named Dorty. ( I am naming them all so you can pray! Austin and Emily are Baptist..the rest are pre-Christians!) We held an All Blacks (the NZ rugby team) party (in image) where you can see people from all over the world joined as the Christian groups on campus joined us. This Monday, we prayed for all of them by name and ended up seeing all but Emily and Dorty the next day!!! How amazing is that!

I've also been able to meet with Michelle from the conference and at least see Jess to set up a time to meet. There were hearts shared in our tie that was a blessing to see.

I've also seen a lot of universals...bring a food or frisbee, and students come! We started playing ultimate frisbee at a place called "The Oval" on campus lunch time on Wed. and Fri. A lot of the Americans came and went and more are supposed to be coming this Friday. Russ, from NY, is seen wearing what he calls shackles in this photo. Pray he can find the truth that will remove his earthly shackles and for opportunity to hold conversation with him about Jesus. He was great at teaching new players the game of Ultimate! (in photo, Dorty, Russ, Meredith, and Masa)

We even set up a game of NavAttack for this Sat. It is a game like capture the flag, but instead of tagging people by hand, you hit them with a baking flour filled stocking. You would not believe how excited the Japanese and Americans were to hear about this game! We are afterwards going searching for glowworms so this is a future prayer request that it goes well!

There have been a few situations back at home in AZ, so pray they are resolved quickly as my friends and I are covering the situation in prayer. Pray I can stay focused as much more is happening this next week. And Happy Belated Birthday Grandma!