You want Adventures? Read on for: Car Killers Round 2, Crazy Art, and Penguins

"Happy Birthday Kelcey!" we sang as we woke her up with breakfast in bed at 7am on Saturday. A yummy breakfast, chocolate bar, roses, and her crazy friends were worth waking up early for.

We got her all dolled up and then headed out on our adventure. 

There were 9 of us who went, so 4 went in Gen's car and the 5 of us roomies borrowed a van from some people in town and we were off.

We were off until we stopped to fill it up with gas...and not thinking put in unleaded gas without checking to see what this van took. It took diesel. Luckily we drove strait from the gas station to a McDonald's drive through.

Where it rumbled and died at the paying window and we had to push the beast through the rest of it.

We were a little bit distraught because this time the vehicle issue was our fault and we weren't sure how to fix it. Growing up in Africa had taught me how to drain a tank, but I didn't know how to flush an engine and since we had started the car we needed to flush the engine. We called one of the kindest men on earth, Werner, who has been a lecturer to us on multiple weeks. He lived only 5 minutes from where we were broken down and he came and calmed us all down. He said he would tow us to a place where they could flush the engine, and that we could borrow his car for the day because he didn't want us to miss the birthday celebration. Daniel took over the "driving" while we were towed which was super scary because there was no more power steering and the foot break didn't work either, so he had to crank on the wheel and use the hand break while we were towed around a corner, up a hill and then down one...I rode with him in the van and was so tense the whole time, but he did great! This was Werner's car that we ended up using.

And we made it to Oamaru. A cute old fashioned town full of little shops and art galleries, old funny bikes and carriage rides. 

Trying out a crazy bike...I don't know how people get up on these things when they aren't being held up by a stand! I would probably crash and die if I actually rode one!

Sometimes I wonder where people come up with their art ideas...this one gallery we went into had eyes and faces EVERYWHERE and was super creepy!

I found some nice birds to have tea with.

Shackleton's boat...not his actual one, but the one they used when they went back and made the movie. Pretty amazing! 

The birthday girl getting a carriage ride.

After a while we headed out to go find some penguins and seals.

This guy was HUGE and mean! He wouldn't let any of the littler guys share the warm sun on the beach with him even though there was plenty of room for them! He chased them away.

Making friends with a penguin

Precious little lovers

I got right up by this guy and said hello before he got scared and waddled away.

Such a fun adventure filled day! And this guy was off to an adventure of his own!

Happy Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year! We know it was actually a few days ago, but we had family night last night, so that is when we celebrated it. 

Gen spent all afternoon with many helpers cooking us some excellent food! 

We decorated the whole place with home made paper lanterns. 

 The salad started out nicely on the plate like this, but then as we said the proper things in Chinese we added the rest of the ingredients and then mixed it all up (very messily) with our chop sticks while wishing good things to each other.

 

It was the year of the snake this year, so we had snake decorations as well

And everyone wore read to feel a little more legit  

We had hot pot so we cooked the food right there on the table. It makes for a great time to just converse and enjoy each others company while you're waiting for another batch of food to cook.

 

And it was sooooo worth the wait!

Asian roomie pic 

An Adventure-less Day is No Day at All!

So yesterday me, Erica, Jess, and Amy borrowed Josh's car and drove it up to Christchurch to pick up our dear sweet Kelcey! It's been such a long 3 weeks without her here! Over break she went to the States to have surgery on her broken leg and so had to stay for some doctors appointments, but now she is back with us. Unfortunately, with me and traveling, there always has to be something that happens to make a good story, so let me back up and tell you this one...

Erica, me, Amy, and Jess on our way

We left after church and made it to Christchurch with plenty of time, so we drove to a shopping center. As we pulled into the parking lot the car started smoking and the temperature gage went up to hot. Luckily we were there, so we just parked the car and opened the hood. Now the four of us girls have had experience with not great cars, but not much with actually fixing them. So we checked the oil. It had oil so that was good. Then a nice man came over...praise God for nice men! And asked if we needed help. We said yes. He looked it over and said that it smelled like burning oil, but it was probably the radiator and we should let it cool down more first and then add some water. So we went shopping and came back with water. We put some in and then hoped that would solve our problems because at this point we needed to get to the airport so Kelcey didn't get there first. 

It started fine and looked okay, until we pulled out onto the street and then the gage started bouncing from cold to hot to cold to the middle to hot... We knew this was a problem but were glad that at least it wasn't smoking this time. So we pulled over at a gas station and I ran inside to see if anyone had any ideas for us. I told the guy what had happened and he said it was probably the radiator and we could probably drive it if we stopped every couple of minutes to put water in. oh boy. (We had about an hour and a half drive from the airport home.) Well, then the gas station man came out with a big jug of water and started pouring it into the radiator for us. He poured and poured and poured and poured some more...and was starting to get a really funny expression on his face when the thing wouldn't fill up. That's when I noticed a really long trail of water coming out from the car and and sliding down the slope to the drain. No wonder it wouldn't get full...it was coming out as fast as he put it in. And there was oil mixed with it. And there was now oil all over inside the hood. The guy stuck his head under the car (we thought it was obvious that there was a leak, but he looked anyway) and he told us that it wasn't the radiator, but that it had to be in the engine somewhere and if we drove the car it would probably light on fire. ...great.

See all the liquid coming out...

At this point Kelcey's plane had landed and we had no way of contacting her, because she doesn't have a New Zealand cell phone. So I was on the phone calling our school telling them we were stuck and Erica was on her phone calling the airport to try to get them to get a message to Kelcey and then we called multiple other people between the two of us and ended up figuring out that we would leave the car there since it had to be towed to a garage and no place was open on Sunday. We would have to hitch a ride to the airport. But the man who was coming to our school to speak that night was from Christchurch, so he would stop at the airport on his way down and pick us all up and take us back! 

We got our stuff out of the car and then looked around the gas station for a nice person with room for 4 in their car. I found a big tour van that was empty and said we should try that. Jess went over and presented our case, "We are on our way to the airport, our car broke down, and we were wondering if there was any way you could give us a ride there?" Hank, the driver, was so kind and did just that. He said he didn't mind at all and wished us luck on the rest of our journey.

Hank's sweet ride

 We got to the airport and started searching all the faces, because by this time Kelcey could have been anywhere and we had no clue where to start. As we were running around like crazies calling her name my phone rang and Patti, from school, told us that immigration had just called the school and there was some issue that they had just worked out, but that Kelcey wasn't through yet, and was just getting her luggage now. So we had just enough time to get over to the arrivals spot and pull out our posters that we made her before she came through! Then we went outside and not 10 minutes later Pastor Jason came and picked us all up and brought us home. Wow God is good with His timing!

Made it just in time

And with epic posters!

So, it's a bummer for Josh's car, because it doesn't sound like a cheap fix - if it's fixable at all. But we are all so glad to have our Kelcey back! And let's be real, how boring would that trip have been if all went according to plan...it probably wouldn't have gotten blogged about. =)

The Roomies Reunited (the 1st of all Term 2 Roomie Pics)

This Week:

This week has been missions week here at school. It's made me feel homesick. Usually I just get family sick, but lately I've missed the smells, the dirt, the sunshine, the walk to church, the sound of Swahili, the people I grew up with. 

This week my heart aches for the people I knew who have passed away. I think so often we try to just forget about hell, but sadly, it's a reality and a horrible one at that. 

This week my eyes have cried more than probably they have in the past couple of months as I hear one touching story after the next. I hear horrible stories of things that have happened to believers and I hear wonderful stories of things God has done, and sometimes those are the same stories.

This week I had the chance to write a letter to a woman who has been in jail for several years with a death sentence because she believes in Jesus Christ.

This week I heard the testimony of a man who was talking about his son who is a missionary in a persecuted area. This man said, "If my son is martyred I will be the first to rejoice." This man has his eyes fixed on Jesus, because if they were on anything else he would not rejoice in those circumstances. 

This week I am trying to fix my eyes so firmly on Jesus that I would not only be willing to lay down my life for His name, but would rejoice for the opportunity. In Philippians, Paul said, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain". 

But this week I also am trying to fix my eyes so firmly on Jesus that I would also be willing to lay down all I hold dear for His name. My things, my friends, and even my family. 

This week my heart is broken. This week I am praying hard that it will stay that way. I never want to be callused and uncaring, but it sneaks in so easily. Is your heart broken when you think about how many people go to hell everyday? I hope so. 

What about you...would you lay down your life for Jesus' name? Would you rejoice if I was counted worthy to lay down my life for the sake of the gospel? I would hope so.