Easter Weekend

The Cadets and BCM staff were in charge of running Easter services at Wellington South Salvation Army.

We were split into 2 groups, 1 group in charge of Friday and 1 group in charge of Sunday... I was in the Friday group with Rob, Sammy & Lusi.

We decided to make the service like a funeral - we carried in two pieces of a cross at the beginning to the Passion of the Christ soundtrack and nailed it together up the front of the church - it was very powerful (see above picture)

All the cadets also did a powerful creative performance to an Easter song on the Friday.

At the end of the Easter Friday service, I led the procession (cross bearers) out the door and on a public street march - that was great.

Easter Sunday was a cool service too, with Dale & Philippa dressing up as the women from Israel declaring that the tomb was empty - it was funny - they came running in during a congregational song and interrupted it by yelling "Come and see, the tomb is empty!" and all of the cadets ran out of church after them. The congregation was left wondering what the heck is going on - it was fun. On Monday, I went back to Karori Wildlife sanctury for the day and had a great day exploring and finding all sorts of endangered creatures - as you see the tuatara up above - completely wild just sitting there when I walked past.
This little fella is the rare North Island Robin and they are lovely and not shy at all - I had a lot of encounters with these guys because they like to follow you on the track so they can get the bugs from the path we disturb - except this little guy above who was very interested in my drink bottle as he had a little poke at it.
And yes, these are ducks - the rare brown teal - and they are thriving in Karori
And this is a beautiful black shag who decided to put on a glorious display just for me or maybe he was telling me to go away - anyway I enjoyed his display.
I am always amazed everytime I visit Karori - it's like stepping back into NZ bush 200 years ago - the sounds and sights of the birds are fantastic - you will never see or hear anything like this in the native bush nowadays.

Anyway, I had a great Easter and I hope you all had a great Easter too.

The Prayer Warriors

Notice how everyone is wearing an apron except for me
The Prayer warriors serving our BCM community (apart from Shaun - who is taking the photo)
Sammy making her kissy face

Below: Murray (the cook) made the mistake of showing me where the lollies are kept

If you haven't caught on - my session's name is "Prayer Warriors" and there are 10 people in my session.


2 of my session mates are based in Auckland, and 8 of us are based at the college.


It has now been 3 weeks since I started college and I am enjoying it so much.


My favourite classes have been "Interpreting the Bible for ministry", which is just so interesting and has so changed the way I look at the Bible, and the other class I love is "Discovering the old testament" because I love history.


I haven't started prison ministry or Religious education in schools yet so I'm sure I will enjoy that as well - I start prison ministry this Sunday afternoon so that will be interesting.


My session has been having a blast getting to know one another and having fun together. We had our first spiritual day (which is a day focused on worship) yesterday (Thursday) and we had a great time setting up and cleaning up for the community lunch - as you can see from the photos.


I really want to say I am homesick but I still haven't got to that stage yet - I'm just having such a blast.

However, in saying that, I do miss my friends at the Faith Factory and wish they could be part of the fun.

The Welcome

It was the official welcome last Sunday night and my parents and friends came down to celebrate it with me.

It was a very special night but I was drained of energy on Monday morning and I had to say goodbye to my friends and parents.

But it was great to see everybody and no doubt I will catch up with others during this year.