Sad Realization

Over the past few hours, myself and a few of my close, holy friends have come to the sad conclusion that we are, what you would call: old. Granted, we haven't quite reached the ripe old age where we need to start using walking sticks, bifocals and knitting needles ... although I do like to knit from time to time. We have only just hit the ages of Seventeen and Eighteen and in the rare case Fourteen (you know who you are :p) We have all hit the awkward age of, no longer a child, but not quite an adult. What brought all this on you may ask? Well tonight we participated in what is called a progressive dinner, where we go from one house and on to the next for a different course of a meal. It is coming towards the end of the school year and we are starting to integrate the older kids from the younger youth group, Tahu, into the older youth group, Lighthouse. Over the course of the evening we had the privilege watching the actions and, you could say, the boisterous behaviour of the younger ones. There is nothing wrong with how the younger ones were acting but something there was really starting to grate upon my friends and I. Over a year ago, we couldn't understand why the older Lighthouse attendees were what we would call 'anti-fun', but we are them now!!! I have become 'anti-fun' ... well not exactly 'anti-fun' but wanting something more ... wanting something that appeals to a slightly older age. I love doing silly things and hanging out and making noise when appropriate, but all the time? The madness and craziness just is too much for me. It has come to a point where it is no longer fun. I still absolutely LOVE youth group, but I love the calm, structured youth group. Again probably another sign that I am becoming old :(

The  next few weeks of my life will be life challenging ones, moving on from one chapter to the next, with the end of my schooling life, something that has always been a strong influence and structured constant in my life. Moving to Australia for a year will also be a shock to the system; maybe all this sudden change in my life has brought around this unease. Maybe the thought of the unknown is truly settling in, I know exactly what NET is all about, but it's just so different, my routine will be changed and my surroundings. I thought I loved change, but I guess I was wrong.

"You have nothing to worry about in your little boat when Jesus is the Helmsman and Mary is the Star. Let the storm come" - Padre Pio

Countdown

Over the past few weeks we have been organizing our big events for our fundraising efforts for NET. Today it was announced, to the congregation, that we are having our quiz night coming up. It's all go from now on ... fundraising to the extreme! Granted that today we only sold 8 tickets but people need to get their teams together. From this moment on I have 73 days before I leave to go to music training (if I am granted a place). I have to fundraise $10 per day from now. I may treat myself to a second job :)

It's such a great thing to do, to be able to spread the joy and love of our Lord, Jesus Christ to the youth, but right now it feels like a Mountain that needs climbing before I get there. The day that I can see the sun through the clouds will be a great and joyous day. $7000 isn't a lot of money spread over a year, including food, transport, healthcare etc but right now in less then 3 months that money needs to come from somewhere. Please, if you have room, put myself and the other 4 of us in your prayers for fundraising. In the midst of the cloudy fundraising madness, I know that God is watching and waiting for the most unexpected time and unusual place for me to discover the money. His timing is perfect. I have always been told by my dad that, 'Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves' ... if you didn't already know i am originally from England so it's not a quote that I put into Cents and Dollars. Even if I can put away a little ibt of money every now and then I can eventually build up a lot of money! Yay, pray for that. God's providence will always come through so, really I should have nothing to worry about, but being in my human state I still do. Fundraising will be a humbling and team building experience for the 5 of us, so it should be fun!

'Charity sees the need; not the cause' -German Proverb

Surprises

Driving, Mass, Lunch, Ice Skating, Tyburn Monastery: all the ingredients of a really awesome girls retreat. Life has lately been this hectic rush to get assignments finished, studying started and working extra shifts, but over the weekend I had the privilege of going on a retreat to Auckland with God's Girls. God's Girls is the girls group that I attend at church, run by the amazing Kelly and her sidekick Christine! It was an all girls trip to Auckland, with the complimentary boy, Joseph. I got to spend my weekend with the holiest women around. We set off from church at 7:40, 10 minutes later than we had planned, and took the 2 1/2 drive to Auckland, stopping at The Copper Kettle Cafe for a rest. I had the lucky job of driving; lucky until we arrived in Auckland. Never have I encountered so much traffic, incorrect directions and nose bleeds all in one go! First of all I had to contend with the nightmare one girl had of us all dying on the inside lane of the motorway, hundreds of millions of cars (albeit a slight exaggeration), directions to the Anglican Cathedral, not the Catholic one which is where we were headed in the first place, and one passenger having a nose bleed at the stress of all the traffic. We made it to the Catholic Cathedral of St Patrick's, eventually, and found the most amazing shop, one with all the Catholic things you can dream of. If I had been in the shop long I would've bought everything. We went into the beautifully crafted church, and to the delight of us all, adoration was taking place.

The vast ceilings, impressive size, beautiful sanctuary and holy statues all spoke greatness and pure elation of the heavens. It gave you an insight into the beauty that heaven holds, what is waiting for us. Unaware of the time we sat in adoration, and through a mass that we had no idea was going to be on, we were guided to this Holy place in time for the highest form of prayer by none other than the Holy Spirit. We couldn't believe our luck at the opportunity to join God in such a beautiful place. Soon after mass we went to the food court for some lunch, to my immense surprise we past an English Lolly Shop, so naturally I had to drop in, the alluring sweet smell brought me to the good old English lollies, so I bought some. During our planning of God's Girls trip to Auckland we decided to do something really fun that we hadn't really done before, not sure how we came to the conclusion of this but we all decided on going ice skating. It's something that not many of us had ever had the opportunity to do. It's crazy that being in such a cold place you can be so warm. We spent and hour and a half on the ice skating round, trying to look really good (we were the best there ... apart from the figure skater). We all had the experience of falling over, some more than others, myself bring one. I now sit here nursing a very sore, fat, black knee. It was o much fun just being able to relax and enjoy the present without the worry of assignments, jobs etc, but the best was yet to come ...

About two months ago I went with a handful of girls to Tyburn Monastery in Ngakuru, Rotorua, where we got to live out two days of being a cloistered nun, we went behind the grille and went to all their prayers, masses, helped with their jobs, particularly the gardens. We just hung out with them, I have never met such a joyful group of women, so naturally we all got along very well. Tyburn also have a Convent in Auckland and so we ended up staying the night there. We pulled up and rang the door bell, waited ... to my absolute joy, none other than Mother Justin walks out to greet us! In total shock I ran to give er a hug! I was not expecting this. Since going to Tyburn in Ngakuru, Mother Justin, Mother Christina and Mother Joanna have been transferred up to Auckland, Kelly did a very good job of keeping this all a secret! We got to spend time with Mother Justin before she went back to her jobs, we settled into our rooms, enjoyed some really yummy pizza and nun tea! There is something special about tea at a monastery, it just tastes so much better, it can't be beaten! We got to join in with their prayers and just relax. Just being somewhere so peaceful and calm is something I recommend, time out from the craziness of life. Games were played: snap, taboo and a game new to us, Bananagrams. We sat up till 11 playing this, realising that we should go to bed as we were getting up at 4:45 to attend the first lot of morning prayers. We attended mass, and cleaned up. We had to say our goodbyes to Mother Justin through the car window, and off we were home. We sat quietly for the next 2 1/2 hours, from sleep deprivation, I still had the unfortunate task of driving, even with my black bruised knee. 

The trip was an awesome trip that was enjoyable, with injuries, blood, shopping, mass and lots of surprises. A trip that will be remembered by all!