It's officially started!!

So.
I'm here!! all the preparation and packing and needles and working and buying first aid kits has lead up to this! I"M IN MATAMATA!! on YWAM!! It's ACTUALLY happening!!!

My beautiful loving family decided to make a little bit of a holiday out of dropping me off, so we stayed a few nights in Taupo (and ate LOTS of hashbrowns) and they then dropped a rather nervous, slightly excited and just all round jittery me at the base yesterday afternoon, where I got SUCH a warm welcome! Everyone is so lovely here! and although I still havn't got to know them all that well yet, lovely friendships are in the making! However me and the ONE OTHER kiwi student do feel slightly like foreigners here with so many Canadians and Americans! I caught me self saying something with a slight Texas drawl today... Needless to say I was quite upset by this!! WE'RE IN NZ for crying out loud!! plus I've only been here a day! :O Be warned... there is a very strong possibility that I'll come back with a strong American tang with slight German inflections!

Anyway... God is soo good!! after an interesting night which included my alarm going off at 2.30 am... and being woken up by a cow strolling past our cottage in the early hours of the morning (haha the joys of living in farmy areas!) we had an awesome morning! We all came into the meeting room to find the leaders involved in an EPIC worship session! So we spent the next half an hour just full on praising God! It was so cool... God got me straight away and I had tears running down my face just overcome with the joy of the Lord... God's going to do big things on this course...it's going to be awesome!

The rest of the day was spent doing kind of orientation type things until this evening when all the leaders shared their testimonies with us all. They were all so open and honest and so inspiring each with a massive love and heart for god and others. They then announced that we all have to share our life stories over the next few days aswell!! WHAT!?? So basically tommorow I've got to share my heart... fears and insecurities and everything to about 30 strangers... a TAD nerve wrecking but I'm so sure that God will bless this :)

So yeah :) that's pretty much what has been going on! Feeling excited and I'm not going to lie, a tad overwhelmed by what's to come! But God's got it in control :) and is amazing!

Love all you friends and family and church family back in Welly!
Peace out!