the kiwi life

Sorry for the lag time in posting… every time I sat down to write the past couple of days I somehow failed to finish a post, but I am determined now!

We’ve been in class a LOT… well, not so much in class as in the same building all day long. We get tons of breaks throughout the day, including “morning tea”, a personal favorite of mine J, but we do spend pretty much our entire day at the church building where our classes are held. We eat there, we hang out there, we have class there… needless to say I’m going to try out a different church this weekend just for a change of scenery!

Alright, so since it’s been a while…here are some highlights from the week!

1. Early in the week we each shared our stories, essentially just stories of how God entered our lives, how he has been present, what our pasts look like. I have to say it was a bit overwhelming. People have been through some really painful experiences – broken families, depression, drugs, anorexia, sexual abuse, homelessness – we are truly a community of the broken. I have to say, when I tell my story, I’m generally used to people thinking it’s pretty dramatic, but listening to the other students talk here, I realized I have no idea some of the things people have been through. But in every story, there is such great hope. Such faithfulness of God as our Comforter and Healer. It was extremely humbling for me and just a reminder of blessings that I often overlook.

2. I joined the dinner prep team and the worship team here, which is really exciting because those are two of my favorite things (cooking & singing) and it’s great to feel like I can use the things I’m gifted in to serve other people.

3. We’ve been learning about hearing God’s voice and engaging in intercessory prayer, which is essentially asking God what or who to pray for, and then doing so. So you are “standing in the gap” or interceding on behalf of another person, nation, country, etc. I’ve got to say, I have not mastered these topics. It’s a really new process for me to try to truly hear God (and no I don’t mean audibly, but just more like feeling/sensing his leading), and I often feel I just hear my own thoughts, but it’s a process I think and I expect there will be a lot of growth and learning over the next couple months.

4. I scheduled my flight home! So I will actually be coming home - - March 27. Which essentially gives me 20 days until “the big day” (!) I’ve got to say I’m getting more and more excited every day about this whole marriage thing. James & I have been getting to talk semi-regularly and he has just been awesome & so supportive, it’s pretty amazing how he can still encourage and help me from halfway around the world. With the past couple days being somewhat heavy/overwhelming, he has woken up in the middle of the night to talk (time difference issues!) and has grounded me with solid advice for which I’m very thankful...

All right, I don’t want to overwhelm you too much! Pictures coming soon.

Love to all.

updates from the weekend...

Well, I haven't posted in a few days, but we've mostly had free time, a LOT of which we have just spent getting to know each other, talking lots, laughing lots, wandering the city a bit as well. We've spend lots of time enjoying all of the cultural differences - we have people here from England, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, South Africa, Canada, New Zealand... needless to say we've had tons to laugh about. From Kiwis calling hoodies "jumpers" to Stephanie (one of the girls on our trip) telling hilarious stories of growing up with "redneck" parents (her words) and once cutting her leg open as a child and her mom sealing it closed with super glue!

Yesterday, a few of us went to church at Urban Vineyard, the church that is hosting us for our school (all our classes and meals will be there from now on). It's a very small church, but everyone was SO excited for us to be there, and took a special time during the service to pray for our group which was very sweet. Some of my favorite things about the church - they have a row of sofas on the front row, and during the first two songs before the kids are released to children's church, they give them all little bells/drums/etc. to play and they all play along with the band. It's quite adorable.

Today we officially had our "first day of school". And true to form, we spent it mostly doing orientation-type things. We've been told that the amount of lectures that we'll hear during our 3 months here is equal to 30 years worth of sermons. For that reason, we aren't even required to go to church (we are encouraged to though), but they said sometimes it will be hard to pack in any more information at the end of the week!

They told us today that we'll hear next week what the outreach possibilities are (there will be 3 options), then we'll have a week to pray about it and we make our decisions during week 3. So, two weeks from now I will know where I'm going, which is so exciting. We are finding out even sooner than I expected, but I still wish we were finding out even sooner!

Good news - the weather's getting better! I'm still freezing most of the time (luckily we have tea every 10 minutes here, so I can keep warm that way) but there were a few hours today when it was comfortable actually. We are going out to eat tonight with our "small groups" - each is led by a staff member - so I'm pretty excited to eat somewhere in the city! Will post photos soon!

Tons of love!

Final Updated Address

SORRY! My real address is:

Chelsea Nielsen

c/o YWAM Auckland DTS

PO Box 68913

Newton,

Auckland

1145

New Zealand

They updated the address today!!!

If you happened to send anything already, they are going to call the post office and try to retrieve anything sent to the other PO Box.

First Photos!

Here are a few photos so you can see where I've been and who I'm here with. Hopefully now when I talk about people you'll have a better idea of who they are!

FOR ALL OF MY PHOTOS: http://picasaweb.google.com/chelsea.alanna.nielsen

Here is our room! (It's a mess - no furniture so our stuff just has to stay out!) I am sitting on my bed taking this photo, I have a single bed not a bunk.

This is the kitchen in the hostel that we can use. We've been eating here for all our meals the past few days but soon we will be eating at the church where we have classes.

This is the "dining room" where we've all been eating together. You can see that one of the windows is open (it's broken) ... so it's not only freezing but the birds also come in, eat crumbs off the floor and then leave. It's like Snow White.

Here is a view from the street across from our hostel. The city has HUGE hills everywhere as you can see.

This is our hostel. My room is on the 2nd floor.

Just a street view to give you an idea of what the city looks like

Stephanie (FL) & Elise (TX)

From the back: Sam (MN), Becca (VA), Amy (CA), Rachel (London), Lesley (TX)

Erin (duh!) and Johanna (Germany)

Everyone on their computers because this cafe gives an hour of free wireless when you buy anything!

settling in

wow, once everyone got here yesterday, things really started to pick up. 3 of my 4 roommates are here so far - Rachel from London, Lesley from Texas, and Becca from Virginia. They are all really nice and we get along very well.

I was feeling a little nervous yesterday just being thrown into this, and especially because Erin and I were the first to arrive and our rooms were freezing (we have space heaters, that weren't on yet), but being around Lesley yesterday was so uplifting. She is 35, and her twin sister Elise is here as well, and she is SO excited about being here. Like, I'm talking, she said she kept pinching herself on the plane ride over here because it is a dream come true for her (her words). She and her sister resigned from their jobs, packed up their apartment into storage, dropped everything and came here. This is the last year they would be eligible for a DTS (Discipleship Training School - what my program is called), because once you are over 35, you have to do a "Crossroads DTS" which is meant for people who are married with children, and neither of them are married yet, so they really wanted to do the regular DTS with us.

Anyway, being around her and her positivity yesterday was really a blessing and an answer to what I asked ya'll to pray for yesterday - that we would focus more on what we have instead of what we don't have. I can already feel myself being more excited and focused on what a great opportunity this is, and how much I know God will change us and reveal himself to us.

And I also got an answer to the second thing I asked ya'll to pray about - that we would start forming solid relationships with the other students. Eating lunch and dinner together yesterday with everyone, it was so obvious how well we all get along with each other. While everyone is really different, we all still mesh well together - the conversations were so fun - all bantering back and forth, laughing, being ourselves. It was so obvious that the Spirit was working among us, sowing peace and friendship already. So thank you for your prayers!

I am going to post later today with a couple pictures!

Love to all,

Chels

the eagle has landed

We touched down this morning (Sept. 23rd) at 545AM Auckland time (1:45PM on the 22nd Eastern time) - so, we are 16 hours ahead of you guys! The flight was actually really good - honestly, the 5 hour flight from DC to LA was worse than the 12 hour flight from LA to Auckland! Air New Zealand was super nice, comfortable, lots of food and drink service, not to mention we were exhausted and slept for about 9 hours!

Two of the YWAM staff, Ben and Josie, picked us up at the airport and brought us to the hostel ("backpackers") where we'll be living - I am in a room with 5 girls - it is VERY small. There is one outlet in our room, and there is one shower on our floor . . . . a floor that probably has 30 people on it? At least. It will be very very interesting in the mornings... and it will be a big challenge to not have all the space/clothes/amenities that I have become really used to. For instance - I never thought I'd be living in a hostel long-term. It has already hit me pretty hard how high my standards are compared to what you really need to live on. I know it will continue to be a challenge, but I think it's a really good lesson to learn.

One of the reasons they chose the hostel though is because it is near to a seedy part of town where you will lots of bars/gay bars/etc. and prostitutes (prostitution is legal in NZ), and the group from last year had a vision of really living in the middle of that place and being a light there, which is pretty cool.

Anyway, we don't have the best internet access in the world - we can use the internet but very limited access to skype (for bandwidth purposes), so I think the best way to contact me will be email. (chelsea.alanna.nielsen@gmail.com), or by snail mail if you feel so inclined.

Let me update the address I listed before- they have given us a new one:

Chelsea Nielsen

c/o YWAM Auckland DTS

PO Box 68373

Newton,

Auckland

1145

New Zealand

and if you have to send a package for any reason:

Chelsea Nielsen

c/o YWAM Auckland DTS

Tabernacle Office, Plaza Level,

441 Queen Street,

Auckland

1010

New Zealand

We have met most of the people on the trip - there will be 16 girls and 5 boys total. There are a lot of students here from the US! So we have little pieces of home.

Okay, well, I have limited time here, but I wanted to update you all!

PS - the weather is terrible! They have been having a freak weather pattern and it is freezing and rainy. Hopefully it will get better soon.

Please pray just that we would be focusing less and less on what we don't have here and more and more on what a great opportunity we're being given. And just for the first few days here, that we would start forming solid relationships with the other students here.

Love to you all.

two days?

I really can't believe it... but it's really happening. We leave Tuesday!

I must admit I haven't quite been in the "leaving the country" mindset - my sister is moving across town and we have been spending all of our time helping her move countless boxes, bags, pieces of furniture, pictures, mirrors... you name it we moved it. But I think it's probably a good thing that I've been so busy and haven't had time to get nervous. Unfortunately I still haven't had time to pack my own stuff! It will happen...

I did just go in and find my Skype name - I haven't used it since Spain so I couldn't remember...

But for all of you who would like it, it's chelsea1230.

I have received some more support in the past few days, which has been wonderful, praise God.

I am now approximately $2500 short of my total need. If you would like to support me, please send checks made out to me, and addressed to 1032 Beechtree Rd Jacksonville NC 28546. Thanks in advance!

Okay, I think it's time to go start packing.

Blog Transformation...

Well, my blog is officially changing course. I originally created this blog for my photography class last semester, so feel free to look through some of my old posts for photos. But now, with 4 days left to go before I board the plane, I think it's about time that it gets a makeover.

Plans for the trip are coming together. (Notice, I said coming together, not ready to go)... but I am confident that everything will fall in place (or else, my mom will be shipping me things I forgot - - like .. shoes. No, I think I'll remember those. I even finally got a pair of Toms to take with me. So I feel pretty good about the kid in need who's about to get some shoes.

Things I have done: gotten insurance! Finally. Although it is mainly for catastrophic purposes... seeing as how anything I would actually need it for (i.e. all my arthritis issues) won't be covered because it's a pre-existing condition. So please pray that I won't have any major medical issues while I am gone, and maybe that the medication I'm on will start to work and I will have some relief from pain.

I have all my gear that I need I think... got a hiking pack and a sleeping bag, which made me feel pretty outdoorsy... even though I'm not. I think James liked it - we now have two good reasons to go camping.

I haven't packed - I haven't gotten my save the dates addressed and ready to go (something I'd love to do in the next few days)... I can't quite find my passport? and I'm waiting on my hard drive to arrive (I had to get it shipped off, but I need to take my computer with me). can't find my ipod, i don't have travelers checks, and I am not fully funded. At the moment, I am funded for the lecture phase (first 3 months) but not for the outreach phase (second 3 months)... so please pray for that to miraculously come in.

I know this all sounds VERY chaotic, but for some reason I am very much at peace with everything and I truly think it will fall in place somehow. I think a lot of my reassurance comes from knowing that I have a great team of supporters who will step in when I'm gone to take care of the wedding plans, and who will help me if there's something that I need once I am halfway around the world.

I am going to attach my little flyer that I made that just has all of my trip information on it... and one more thing - here is my address in New Zealand:
Chelsea Nielsen
Justice DTS 2010
YWAM Auckland Central
PO Box 68913
Newton
Auckland
1145
New Zealand

and my home address, in case anyone should need it, is 1032 Beechtree Rd Jacksonville, NC 28546. That is where you can send any support checks for the next 5 weeks.

More posting soon - what a crazy and fun adventure this will be...