I believe in a thing called Love (week 5)

This week (check how my first sentence didn’t start with ‘so’ – my writing skills must be improving) our teaching was on relationships; with God, family, community and the whole who should you marry thing.

A strong emphasis was placed on using our identity and passion to come up with a creative response to a need in our areas. Suggestions on a postcard please (you have my address, or if you don’t then email/comment and I’ll send it to you. Not that I’d love a bit more of the old snail mail or anything. Yes, this is a guilt trip – I make no apologies). Speaking of which…

Heaps of thanks to the lovely ladies who sent me some mail this week. It’s great to hear from home and be reminded that it’s still there. Speaking of which…

The hostel has really begun to feel like home. My measure of home: somewhere I feel comfortable wearing no earrings. I have a friend who shall remain nameless, let’s call her ‘Sophie Edmonds,’ who once said that she’d feel more naked without eyeliner on than clothes. I’m the same with earrings. No make-up is easy, I do it all the time, but if you’re asking me to be seen in public with no earrings on then you’re clearly crazy/don’t know me half as much as you should to be posing such a question. So yeah, it was really sunny a few days ago (sorry people that are stuck in the frozen wasteland that is In-ger-land) and to avoid strange tan lines on my ears (yes I am that vain, and yes it is possible) I took my earrings out without having a mental breakdown and chilled out, in public, on the sun deck at the hostel. I hereby dub thee YHA City Hostel, Sir Home of Rachel the Wise.

We had Friday off this week as on Saturday we all took part in a super cool event called City Lights. A few churches across Auckland come together for a weekend a few times a year to serve local communities. Different groups did different projects e.g. painting a Girl Guides hut, gardening in a local school, helping in renovations at a women’s refuge. I was in a group that went to a home for young/expectant mums to do craft activities. Anyone who knows me well knows that I don’t like babies; I can cope when kids are old enough to talk in grammatically correct sentences but not before then. I’m being serious; I’ve only started talking to my brother this last year as he’s only just learnt basic English grammar. So when I found out where I’d be all day I spent the next hour holding onto my seat to stop me running for the hills (which never seem to be too far away in Auckland). However I surprisingly managed to survive the day, probs because there was never more than one baby in the room at a time. It was a bit awkward at first: ‘hello, we’ve come to spend the day hanging out and making Christmas decorations.’ Cue the speedy exit of mum and child. Not that we actually said that but that was the general reaction after we entered rooms. Or maybe it’s because we smell or something. The afternoon was a lot less awkward. I think my love of putting PVA glue on my arms and then peeling it off when it’s dry definitely got me branded as ‘that weird girl who kept putting glue on her arms’. Makes a change from ‘that girl who sat there and said nothing ‘so I guess you could say that it’s an improvement. One thing I realised from the conversations that we had was how complex their stories were. (Insert appropriate comment blaming the media/Rupert Murdoch and his agenda for world domination for encouraging our stereotypes).

All in all it’s been a tiring few weeks, I’ve never had my beliefs about God challenged on such a consistent basis and as a consequence my brain has melted. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a good thing, the only problem is (I really don’t have the time, I’ve got one night only, one night only…) that I somehow need to reform it, like a phoenix emerging from the ashes. I’m looking forward to what the next few weeks will bring.

Once Upon an Outreach

The promised outreach info:

There’s eight in our team, five girls and three guys. We have a quite mutlicultural team with a mix of Norweigan, Korean, American and British. At the moment the plan is to stay at the YWAM base in Muizenberg. One thing we’ll be doing is working with an organisation called Justice Acts who try to combat human trafficking, check www.justiceacts.org So we might be going into schools and doing presentations to ‘at risk’ groups about the dangers of human trafficking. Another thing we’ll be doing is going to a home for disabled children and hanging out with them. That’s all I’ve got for now. Will give more info when I have it.

I'm not coming home (part 2)

Dear Mum and Dad,

I am sorry to say this but I’m not coming home. I’m addicted to Moro Gold bars. You can’t get them in the UK and so I must stay in New Zealand or move to a country that does have them, Norway maybe. I know you’re probs wondering what this strange drug is. Well, it’s a ‘smooth textured chocolate flavoured centre with crunchy biscuit pieces surrounded in caramel all covered in Cadbury Dairy Milk milk chocolate.’ Sounds like heaven but with more calories right? Tale heart, a solution can be reached. All you’d need to do is have about 30 bars shipped to the UK every month and then it’ll be fine. If not then I guess I’ll see you at Christmas (the one in June not December). I hope that you’re all doing well.

Love Rach x x

Home Sweet Hostel (week 4)

Okey dokey, okey dokey, I’ve got a lot to cover so fasten your seatbelts and please keep all personal belongings inside the cart at all times. In case of emergency, your nearest exit is through the door behind you.

So last week’s entry (one quarter down, three to go – what a stupid title) was kinda rushed. I don’t feel like I gave you a proper idea of the week and so I shall endeavour, dear reader, to do better this week. My excuse is that I was super freaking out about packing (it usually takes me about two weeks to pack for anything and so the prospect of only having a couple of days was clearly inhibiting my brain).

It’s 9.30pm, I’m sitting on the sundeck listening to some of the guys play guitar and soaking up the super creative vibes in the hope that my blog will be more interesting if they lend me some creativityism (yes, that was a blatant fish for compliments, and yes ‘creativityism’ is a real word). I can see some of the lights of the city and hear cars driving past (I can also see into the flats opposite and so I’m checking them out for sniper potential). Life is pretty sweet.

For some life isn’t sweet. Our justice movie this week was called Human Trafficking. No prizes for guessing what it’s about. It’s a dramatization, based on facts, about a global network of criminals who buy and sell women and children and then force them into prostitution. It follows the lives of a number of women and children who end up working in brothels.

One woman was tricked by her new boyfriend into a weekend abroad and then sold and taken to America where she is forced to become a prostitute. She is kept under control by threats to her daughter who waits at home for her to return.

A teenager from an eastern European country (can’t remember which one) enters a competition for a modelling contract in America. The winners are then taken to America where they are confronted with the fact that the competition was a front and instead they have to work in a brothel.

A 12-year-old American girl is on holiday in the Philippines when she is abducted and made to work in a brothel. A young Filipino girl in the same brothel was sold by her father as the family needed the money.

These are stories of how many women and children end up being trafficked. This is the reality of the twenty-first century. Selling people is the third most profitable criminal activity after drugs and arms dealing. It’s something that happens in all major cities.

This is a particularly relevant message to those in London - where major sporting events are increases in trafficking and prostitution follow. While we’ll be celebrating the Olympics (or complaining about how many millions over budget it was, overcrowding on public transport and general shambles of the whole thing) there’ll be hundreds of women in our city being raped multiple times a day so that someone can get richer.

Wanna take some action? Check the ‘Act’ pages on http://www.stopthetraffik.org And, of course some serious serious prayer is needed.

I was totally gonna start this entry with last weekend but clearly those creative vibes I’ve been soaking up had other ideas. So yeah, we’re back at the hostel after a few days outside the city. We stayed on a Marae (Maori meeting place) near Tauranga (a city about two hours from Auckland) for five-ish days (Friday to Wednesday). It was a super great few days, I even got used to the whole all 27 of us sleeping in the same room thing. I certainly now have new appreciation for our five person room at the hostel. To be honest, I don’t think I’d manage sleeping in a room by myself anymore, I totally won’t be able to handle being in a house by myself. I’ll have to switch to ‘Ninja mode’ to cope (wearing a balaclava and black clothes, patrolling the house with a Samurai sword and hiding behind the fridge. And yes I do realise that ninjas and Samurais are different but if I need to mix my martial arts in order to feel safe then I will).

So yeah we stayed in a super beautiful part of Welcome Bay (I think that’s what it’s called. I’m still just getting into cars and not really knowing where I’m going or how to get there. I mean the YWAM cars not randoms. Stop panicking Mum). The view from the Marae looked out across Welcome Bay and over to Mount Maunganui (which I climbed, but I’ll get to that later).

I need to tell you about a very strange thing happened over the few days we were there: I had an overwhelming compulsion to be outside. Yes, Rachel-who-loves-the-filth-and-grime-of-cities, wanted to be outside in the country, where the air is clean and the wildlife lives. I seriously don’t understand it but for that day every spare minute I had I spent outside. Maybe it was just my body telling me that I needed to top up my tan. Or maybe I’m being converted to the ways of the country. If it’s the later please pray for deliverance. Next thing you know I’ll be driving a tractor and not understanding why you don’t know the difference between hay and straw (apparently they’re different things). This reminds me of something super monumental that also happened this weekend; I saw my first New Zealand sheep. They looked just like the British ones (once I’m country I’ll probs be able to tell the difference).

So about that mountain - on Saturday we went to the coastal part of Tauranga where I climbed Mount Maunganui. An actual extinct volcano mountain. You know Mount Doom? Well it looked like that but more green and with sheep. So I can now add ‘experienced Kiwi mountain trekker’ to my list of accomplishments - professional tap dancer (I figure performing in two dance shows makes me professional), experienced kiwi bush trekker (we went on a death hike in the bush a couple of weeks ago) and interpretive triangle player -  take that Mr Darcy I am properly accomplished). The view from the summit was super awesome.

During the week we had lectures in the afternoon and in the mornings we went to the Tauranga House of Prayer (THOP). Every morning they have four hour prayer sessions. At first I was like ‘four hours? What am I gonna do for the other three hours and 50 minutes after I’ve prayed?’ But it was actually really cool. Having an allotted four hours to spend chilling with God was super awesome. I often feel that there’s so many things I say that I’ll pray about tomorrow because I don’t have the time now and so having four hours to sit and be still with God was super cool.

The thing (well there’s two actually) that struck me most from lectures last week was that everything is for God’s glory. Even Jesus coming to earth, dying and being resurrected was for the glorification of God. I don’t think I’d ever considered that Jesus died and was resurrected for God’s glory. It was all about me. And how he had saved me. There’s a verse that speaks of doing all things for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10v13). That should be our ultimate purpose. I’m thinking, so that I don’t forget this, I’m gonna name my next pet Captain Glory Indiana Skywalker (Glory for short). For real. I just need to decide what animal to get. I’m thinking an Alpaca. Preferably a ginger one.

The other thing that really struck me this week was being reminded that God comes first, no matter what. In the context of social justice, no matter how important the cause what’s it really worth if we sacrifice our relationship with God in order to get there? If there’s no intimacy with God then we’re heading for disillusionment and burnout. In Matthew Jesus speaks of gaining the world but losing your soul (How do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Matthew 16v36). I used to think that this only applied to material possessions and striving to achieve everything the world said you needed in order to be successful. I now realise that achieving all you want, whether for justice, work, church or family is of little consequence if at the end of it you’ve spent so little time with God that you no longer care about him.

Another thing I realised this week (it’s been a week of revelation) is that Kiwis celebrate Guy Fawkes Night (I almost super overused some exclamation points there but I thankfully caught myself just in time). If I’m honest (and I feel that I know you, o virtual reader, well enough to be honest) before I came I was more upset about the prospect of missing bonfire night than my family. I now see this as another reason to stay in New Zealand (Benjamin you can stop rejoicing because you still can’t have my room).

So there it is – the last week or so. I know I said I was gonna give you some info on South to-the Afr to-the Ica but if you’re not exhausted from reading this then I’m certainly exhausted from typing. Bonus points for reading this far, if you let me know I’ll send you a sheep or something.

P.S. Have you noted the use of ‘super’? It’s my work for the week. Everything here is super. Everyone says it, you should say it too. Here’s some examples: “Rach your blog is super awesome” (this would also be a fitting compliment should you so wish to boost my ego in such a way) or “Rach, I super miss you” (so I know that doesn’t sound like it should work but it’s totally what you’re thinking right now. I’m a psychologist don’t you know, I read minds).

Fairtrade

Our justice movie last week was called Black Gold. Check http://www.blackgoldmovie.com/ Its about the impact Fairtrade coffee has on some communities in Ethiopia. As my family can testify fairtrade makes me angry (something which is usually quite hard to do, unless your grammar is really bad), mainly because I don't get why we don't get it.

Here's the scenario. You can choose one of two products, A or B. Both are made in the same place but by different farmers, A or B. Farmer A is part of a fairtrade co-operative. He receives a fair price for his produce, as a result Farmer A can afford to feed his family and pay for his children's education. Farmer B sells his produce onto a corporation. He receives less than 5% of its total value. Farmer B's children work instead of going to school as their father doesn't have the money to feed all of them. Farmer A is realising his dream of a better life for his family. Farmer B no longer dreams, he is caught in a cycle of poverty for which he sees no end. 

So which product would you rather buy? A or B? Fairtrade or non-fairtrade? Something which helps improve standards of living or something which keeps people locked in poverty?

I don't know about you but I'd rather buy product A. I know what you're thinking, "but Rach you told us that they taught you how to read minds at uni so how come you can't guess our reaction to Fairtrade?" You know what? I don't understand it either. I would have thought that more people, businesses and churches would care more about how they contribute to the economic slavery of millions but apparently they don't, saving an extra few pounds is more important.

There are a range of Fairtrade products available, including: coffee, sugar, tea, bananas, clothes, jewellery and flowers (take note boys queueing round the block to give me flowers - if they're not fairtrade then they better be made from recycled paper). Coffee, sugar, tea and bananas are easily avilable in most supermarkets. Clothes and flowers are a bit harder to access, although I think Marks and Spencer have a few fairtrade options for flowers. I've recently discovered http://www.peopletree.co.uk/ a UK-based fairtrade clothes company. So excited for coming home and being able to buy some.

So how do you know if its Fairtrade? It will have the fairtrade logo on it, you've probs seen it on Dairy Milk bars. Check http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/ for more details.

So yeah, buy more fairtrade. It's not that hard and I'll love you more for it.

I'm not coming home

Dear Mum (and Dad),
I am sorry to say this but I'm not coming home, I'm staying in New Zealand forever. I just found out that Christmas can be celebrated twice in New Zealand. Once in December and then again in June, when its cold. This is better than home, we only celebrate Christmas once. Maybe you could come visit me for Christmas.
Love Rachel x x

One quarter down, three to go (lectures that is)

We're going away this weekend to Tauranga so I'm posting this week's entry a few days early. We're gonna be spending some time on a Marae and at the Tauranga House of Prayer. 

This week our topic is the nature and character of God. Here's a few things we covered.

God is...

All-knowing - He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness, though he himself is surrounded by light. Daniel 2:22

All powerful - I am the Lord, the God of all peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me? Jeremiah 32:27

Spirit - For God is Spirit. John 4:24

Glorious - Everything he does reveals his glory and majesty. Psalm 111:3 

Creator- You alone are the Lord. You made the skies and the heavens and all the stars. You made the earth and the seas and everything in them. You preserve and give life to everything, and all the angels of heaven worship you. Nehemiah 9:6

Love - God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 1 John 4:16

And now for something completely different (yet entirely related).

So this is it. The moment y'all been waiting for (cue the dramatic/mysterious music). It's bigger than Lady Gaga (shock horror- who thought that was possible?). It's more important than the X-Factor final (I know you think that's not possible but trust me, it is). It's more exciting than the Die Hard films (I was skeptical too, but again you're gonna have to trust me).

Can you tell what it is yet? (I hope you read that in your best Rolf Harris voice)

The new Narnia Film?
                                   No.
The next Leeland album?
                            No.
Christmas?
                   No. 

It's (dramatic drumroll)...

...time to tell you where I'm going for outreach!!!! (when I started this blog I told myself that I couldn't use exclamation points and smiley faces to make my point, I had to learn to write properly. However, I think that outreach is totally worthy of exclamationising).

So yeah, I'm going to SOUTH AFRICA after Christmas. Yes you read it right, South to-the Afr to-the Ca. Muizenberg (think that's how you spell it) near Cape Town to be specific. I know what y'all thinking -'praise the Lord - someone there can fix her hair.' Now I don't wanna play the racism card but iz it coz I is Blak?!!

Will give more details later so be sure to tune in next week for the next installment of The Amazing Adventures of Rachel Holmes: Once upon a DTS                          

Week Two Already

I am so out of touch with current news. For the first time since I got here I checked out BBC news and discovered, among other things, that the labour leadership contest whatsit is over. I have absolutley no idea what's been going on at home so if y'all could comment something that has happened in the past couple of weeks that would be sweet.

I can't believe this week is over already, it seems like yesterday that I was writing last week's post. Phil Cunningham was our speaker this week. He's doing some super cool stuff at the mo - check out stepsofjustice.org

One of the things that really stuck out this week was the fact that we can all make a difference (super cliche I know) We tend to look at problems and go 'I can't fix everyone, the problem is too big so I may as well not bother.' Over this week I have come to realise that making a difference to one person's life is worth making the effort. It's not a failure if you don't change everyone's life, but it is a failure if you don't even bother to try to help at all.   

One of the things we did this week was pick one of three groups of people to represent for a day. Those who chose 'water' were not allowed to use water all day - including no showers, no drinking and no flushing the toilet. Those in the 'food' group were not allowed to eat all day but had to be present at all meals. I chose to be in the 'poverty' group. All we had that day was what we woke up with - so if you didn't sleep with shoes on then you had no shoes. If we wanted something to eat or drink we had to ask someone from the water or food group to get it for us. 
The point of the exercise was to give us a small insight into what it's like for people in these situations. I didn't know what a blessing shoes are until I walked to and from class in socks. I had a minor freakout when I took my socks off and saw how black with dirt my feet were, and I mean actual blackness - like midnight. The whole walk to and from school (I love calling it school) all I could think about was cutting my feet on something, getting an infection, followed by an awkward conversation with my mum explaining what I'd done and why I'd be home earlier than planned, and then naturally an amputation would follow (not that I'm overly dramatic or anything).

 Fortunately I didn't cut myself, but for those with no shoes who walk more dangerous routes than I did this is a real possibility. Unlike me, who would be treated in a nice hospital and would have my bills covered by medical insurance (unless they have a 'we won't cover you if you chose to go without shoes' clause, which is quite possible - the policy is 33 pages long and I would probs end up in a boredom induced coma if I attempted to read it all), those injured by not having any shoes may face being unable to work and therefore provide for their families, as well as being stuck with massive (supposedly not a real word, but if Shakespeare used it then why can't I?) hospital bills.
 
So what can you do? (Yep, the mind-reading still works). Well, if you're the praying type then a bit of the old knee-mail wouldn't go amiss. Supporting an organisation that provides shoes for those without would be super cool. I'd love to suggest an organisation to you but that's what google is for. If shopping is your thing then maybe you could buy some TOMS (again, google is the key here people).

So yeah, another great week. I also wrote a really long version of this post so email if you want to read it.

So You Told Me Slavery Was Over

so you told me slavery was over.
people were no longer bought and sold.
you said it was abolished by william wilberforce. 

you said wicked men came and forced free people onto ships in chains.
they had no choice. 
you said they were kept in degrading conditions
by those who cared more about money than humanity.

you said they were bought and sold at auction.
families torn apart in seconds.
you said they were forced to work long hours with no regard for their person.
you said escape was near impossible
they were trapped by stronger men.

it was seen as acceptable you told me,
no-one objected. 

no-one really cared.

we said how could they do that?
we'd never have accepted it
we would have put it right

you said the slave trade continued until a small group of people recognised it for what it was, 
disgusting
inhumane 
perverse

you said they worked hard to have the slave trade abolished.
then you told me it was finally all over.
 
bye bye slave trade
hello freedom

but what about today?

what about women promised better lives and then sold like cattle?
what about those kept in degrading conditions 
by men who care more about money than humanity?

what about children whose names are replaced by numbers?
those forced to satisfy the lust of 12 men a night?
what about those with no escape 
who are trapped by stronger men? 
 
how could you tell me it was over when it so clearly isn't?

you said it was seen as acceptable.
noone objected. 
noone really cared.
not us we said 
we'd have seen it for what it was,
disgusting 
inhumane
perverse
how could they have been so blind?
we would have put it right
we would have been abolitionists

but what about today? 
do we see it for what it is?

do we care?
or do we think it's acceptable?

will we be abolitionists?

Week One

NZ is 12 hours ahead of the UK at the moment and so everytime I work out what time it is back home I'm left feelin that y'all are really lazy. For example, if it's 7 in the evening here I'm thinking about all I've done that day and going 'man, those people at home are just starting their day! what have they been doing all this time?!' on the other hand it works out pretty choice (new kiwi word I've learnt) as I have an extra 12 hours to post my blog for the week.

So (I know you shouldn't start a sentence with 'so' but don't hate me cause I'm beautiful) it's been a good week but it's hard to sum up as there's been so many different elements to it. 

You could kinda say that this was an orientation week, a glimpse into what the next three months will be like. And (I know you shouldn't start a sentence with 'and' but again, quit hatin) if it's anything like this week I'm gonna be tired-to-the-max. I'm in bed and asleep by 10.15 most nights (wild times let me tell you) but I'm still tired by lunchtime. I think it's because my brain is actually having to work and the last time it had to work this hard I was trying to figure out the plot line in Pirates of the Carribean III. The other night we didn't turn the light out till (dramatic pause and drumroll please)... 11pm - the tears that were shed when we had to get up the next morning means that there will not be a repeat performance, atleast not on a school night. During orientation we covered the usual stuff like assignments, schedules and what to do in an earthquake (drop to your knees and pray was the general concensus). We also got to know each other alot better - answers to whether you would eat your dead friend if you were stranded on a mountain and eating them meant your survival were particularly revealing (there are a few people I'm not going hiking in remote places with).  

During the week we all had to share our stories - how we became Christians and why were were doing the dts. With my gift for public speaking I'm sure you can imagine the tears that were shed over what I had to say - particularly the tale of how God told me to go to deepest darkest Peru but instead I  wanted to go to the Bahamas and how I was thrown into the sea, swallowed by a giant fish and then spat out onto a beach and as a consequence am the humble person you all know and love.

On the level though - it was incredible to hear everyones stories and how God has brought us together for the next few months.

We also had a couple of lectures this week on 'hearing God's voice' and 'intercession'. Both topics were really challenging and made me question alot of what I had thought about them.

On Thursday we watched our first justice themed film. This week we watched 'Once Were Warriors'. It's about the breakdown of a family through domestic violence. It was a hard film to watch. One thing that really struck me during the film was how much it must grieve God's heart to have to watch this happen to those He loves on a daily basis. I found it hard to watch as it grieved my heart so how much more must it grieve the Father's heart? Feeling helpless to fix anything was a common response but we were reminded that prayer is more powerful than we think.

We've also done alot of fun stuff this week. On Saturday we visited an area of Auckland about 20 minutes away from the centre. We had some great fish and chips and then climbed a mountain. I kid you not, it was an actual mountain! We decided to go the quickest and most direct route which meant that I was practically crawling and holding onto grass to keep me from sliding all the way back down. It was totally worth it though as the view from the top was awesome. And not just the everyday kinda 'awsum' which is greatly overused and abused, but it was actually AWE SOME. I tried taking a few photos (which i'll try and put up soon) but it was impossible to capture the vastness and beauty that we could see. On one side was the city centre with the skyscrapers and the sky tower all nice and shiny in the sun, on the other was an old volcano (think mount doom). Inbetween was more of Auckland, and opposite that were (was?) a few islands off the coast.

So yeah, it's been a good week. I hope you've had a good one too.