Reaching the World

One of the biggest things I learned on project was about reaching the world for Christ. As I mentioned before, that is where the strategic nature of New Zealand comes in; it has many, many international students coming there to study to get a better education than their prospective countries have to offer. Our team shared the straight up gospel with people from 34 different countries, that is 17.5% of the world (34/194)! Here they are:

New Zealand, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Fiji, China, Norway, Iraq,
Iran, Philippines, South Africa, England, Germany, Vietnam, Oman, Samoa,
Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, United States, Nile Islands, Tonga, Australia,
Cambodia, Brazil, Sweden, Mexico, Papa New Guinea, Switzerland, Chile,
Argentina, Indonesia, Venezuela, France

My eyes have been and are being opened to the world.

Much Needed Update

Hey, hey everyone. Please be patient with a full update, as I have just moved back into the dorms and am trying to settle in. For all supporters, thank you again so much, and expect a letter in the mail telling you all about my very Christ-moved trip. I have been reflecting for the week and a half that I have been back, and been able to formalize a little better what God taught me throughout the summer--more to come shortly.

THE BLOGS FUTURE:

God is moving so much on the University of Illinois campus that I want to share much of it with you as it happens. So, I will be keeping the blog going and periodically updating His work in and around me. I just met with some upperclassmen today and it was very encouraging and energizing to hear everyone's individual expectations for the year. I hope to post a sampling of them soon (someone typed them up conveniently!) Sound good?

-ae

Kisses from a French Girl

This will probably be my last ministry post, as tomorrow (August 1) is our last day evangelizing on campus. I wanted to focus on one thing in this specific blog entry: Sergio.

As I remember saying in my last post, I was praying to meet up with him as a Spanish conversation partner. Well, I had begun to lose faith Monday of last week, when he didn't email me back over the weekend and I went up to his graduate office and he wasn't there. Tuesday, though, after I lazily sauntered to the fifth floor of this one building with little faith he would be there--mind you, I had talked to him for like two minutes to try to hook up for conversations and he didn't know me one bit--he was actually in his office, and he was keen to hook up for some coffee and conversation on Wednesday, so that is what we did.

It was cool, not only did I get special privilege to the graduate/professor coffee shop, next to the library, I also got to know Sergio a little bit, and him I. He was decently fluent in English, but still wanted prompting to sound more natural. As for my Spanish, it was a mess; but we both had a good laugh, especially when I asked him if my Spanish sounded more towards South American dialects or dialects of Spain. His response was that my Spanish was "gringo." Whatever that means :D

As for spiritual things, I definitely told him I was with Student Life (Campus Crusade for Christ) and who I live for. He wasn't "religious," but knew he had a major decision ahead of him, so he was interested in learning about God; however, later after stressful school was over, unfortunately. Towards the end of our conversation I mentioned the International Dinner (Outreach) that SL was putting on, and it hit me, he should come! I asked and he was very interested in coming, especially liking the International aspect of it. Sergio showed up and heard the gospel, to make things pointed. Nigel, a New Zealand SL staff guy, who actually visited U of I in the spring, shared the gospel with him at the meeting for a second time, after the main speaker gave his seeker-sensitive message. This was very cool to see God working here. I didn't share the gospel with Sergio, but the Lord still got to him.

I was a little worried Sergio wouldn't want to meet up again, but he was still very up for meeting up again. I met up with him today in fact. He is still considering things, but it has been cool to share my life with him a little bit, and not just the gospel. Be praying for him. He is actually the only New Zealand acquaintance that I will likely stay in contact with. In other words, he is really the only friend, outside of my team, that I was able to make here.

Big praises though for my new friend Sergio! O, and as for the French girl...I was saying goodbye to Sergio and his friend Sara from France came out of the library to greet us. After hugging and kissing Sergio in greeting, she leaned in towards me; and let me just say, it took some serious smoothness, but I think I pulled off the least awkward kiss-greeting I could. After kissing her cheek, probably a little to strongly, I was so flustered it was funny. Not knowing what to say, I was like, what is your name? She gave me an odd look, expressing clearly that she had already told me her name. Quite funny I must say!

That is about all the fun I have for you today.

Prayer Requests:

1) Sergio, that I can develop a friendship with him, even over just email; and, pray that He comes to know the Lord.

2) Deepened relationships, prayer and praise, with my project team. Even as we close that the friendships would break the surface and become life-long.

3) Praise for a good trip. I am excited to see you all when I get back!



Pictures:

1) Wellington Bay Area

2) Amanda and I posing with our flats

3) Sergio!


God Bless,

-ae

Look at That Mountain. . . How'd That Sheep Get Up There?

One thing we learned on our weekend retreat to Rotorua, which I will tell you about in a minute, is that sheep will and can get anywhere on giant hills.

Well, it was a decently long week of ministry, topped off by our mid-project retreat to a town 6 hours north, Rotorua. Ministry continues to go well and develop. One of the things that I love about being here sharing in a foreign country is the diversity; and we have seen a lot of diversity while we've been here. At our project meeting on Thursday (July 19) we had sharing time, which I loved because I felt a little deprived in regards to God's work within our group. Well, we finally shared it with each other; being on different campuses all day, sometimes you don't hear everything that goes on. One of the coolest parts of that was hearing that the gospel had been shared with 24 different nations, including Iraq, Malaysia, and Germany (complete list on project blog).

A lot of people on project have follow-up appointments going on this week, which is a huge blessing of 4 solid weeks on campus; not only do we get to see people come to Christ, we get to see them grow in the Spirit as well. Some of the follow-ups are to essentially share the gospel again with people willing to hear it again, if that makes sense. Please pray for these follow-ups.

I am looking forward to our third week doing missions work in Wellington. My week is shaping up, but I have some prayer requests to go along with it. I am hoping hardcore to have a meeting with Sergio this week, but it has been hard to set it up through email, so pray for that. He is a Chilean PHD student (Hunter you will appreciate that), and I was hoping to set up Spanish conversations with him and share my hope in Christ with him. This has proved to be hard with him originally not knowing his schedule, and then with email tag, so pray that I can share with him, and improve my Spanish :D!

I have also been able to get involved in a type of evangelism the STINTers focus on, along with initiative evangelism, called "oikos" evangelism (hopefully I spelled that word right, it's all Greek to me :P). Basically this is relational evangelism, and can take part in many ways. What the STINTers do is join clubs and ministry to friends they make in the clubs. Matt Wounderly, one of the staff here does this oikos evangelism on the Ultimate Frisbee Team, and we were extended an invite to come practice with the club team on Tuesday mornings. Dave, the project director, two other guys (Ron and Chris), and I took Matt up on the offer last Tuesday. It has been cool, because we can bond over sports, but I have also seen some of the frisbee guys around campus and get to talk to them there too! Matt is currently pouring into Brock on the team, so the oikos ministry has been successful. Some of the other oikos ministries going on include the Spanish club, the Vegetarian club, and the late Improve Comedy club (Chris Burton, an Illinois STINTer having gone home).

As for our weeks other activities off campus, it was also an eventful, fun week. The black and white picture is our creative picture we took at our mixer dinner Monday night. Our band (Caleb, Kim, Kay, and I) are still looking for a band name...any suggestions? This picture is of some of us at Harry Potter 5 on Tuesday! It was a fun night, which included some awkward moose action when Harry kissed a girl in the movie. Ask me to do the awkward moose when I get home. And, all the way back to the first picture: a pic I took of the Wellington bay from the Kelburn campus on the hill.

Another exciting time was our Thursday meeting. We held a weekly meeting, but it was just for project members because the actual Student Life meets monthly. I actually got to MC the event with Emily (there is a picture up on the NZ blog of this), which was fun and included a hyphy madlib for our game we were required to come up with as MC's. Bringin' Hyphy Back (the Apartment can't kill everything!). It was fun, and like I said, included a very enlightening sharing time.

This weekend was full of fun aswell, after four days of campus ministry. We had a mid-project retreat to Rotorua, known for its natural hot springs, and as a result, for its sulfur smell. We had a lot of fun and got ready for another week coming up. The scenery on the way up included some of New Zealand's famous terrain, snow capped mountains and lots of sheep!

One of the more entertaining events of the retreat, seen here, was when Dave smashed into an Asian kid and I caught it on camera, haha! This was during our luge outing. You may also discover a picture of my wipe out on the summer project blog. No worries, I am alive and well, just a couple minor flesh wounds, haha. It was a fun whip out though. We were racing down the advanced track (after conquering the intermediate and scenic) and I decided it wise to pass one of the girls on a tight corner :D Nonetheless, my jeans are now in fashion, complete with holes and mud stains!

Some other people did zorbing and agroboating, but I headed back to the hostel after luging, and may or may not have read Harry Potter 7, the British version(don't hate).

I am looking forward to this week, but a couple of prayers:

1) Constantly for those hearing the words of God; unfortunately Peter didn't email me back, so hopefully I will see him around campus (this is a theme that has happened on a couple other occassions for me), so just prayer for that.

2) Meeting up with Sergio and witnessing to the frisbee team (as mentioned above).

3) One personal one, that I would be more and more teachable; something I have struggled with lately in all areas like reading and listening to people talk about God's Word, thinking I know it all.

See and talk to you all soon!

-ae

Wellington is for Lovers

First things first, the title really has little importance. I was thinking today that New Zealand should have t-shirts like those of states in the US, like Ohio: almost a state, and Vermont: spooning with New Hampshire since 1791 :D

Anyways, how's it going all? I waited a lil' bit to post again because I wanted to say a little bit about ministry in New Zealand, and we didn't start until Wednesday (July 11).

On Wednesday we started Student Life's "Tune In" [to God] campaign on campus. We had a booth on the quad, which is nothing like U of I's quad (it is more a covered courtyard). We also went around and did survey's of what people are tuned in to...friends, family, entertainment, God? Then, that night we called those that indicated that they would be interested in learning about God personally, setting up meeting times to share the gospel :)

I made two appointments, but unfortunately one skipped and another cancelled the day of. However, the good news is that God is still "majorly" at work already in ways that I am very excited to tell you about. Foremost, in two days of official ministry, Thursday and Friday, our project has seen 8 people come to Christ, 5 of which were with our team, and 3 with STINTers here!!! The Lord is assuredly at work in New Zealand, and has affirmed that all the more.

Personally, I have seen God working too. A couple specifics: the coolest to me was through a comment made to one of the guys I shared with here. I mentioned that he had to be gentler and less domineering while sharing, and I was skeptical whether I should even say anything to him, but I did, and the Lord worked through my comment. On Friday, he saw 3 people come to see the Lord, and I was talking to his sharing partner, who told me that he did a very good job! That was very cool to me, praise God. (Hopefully that was a coherent thought)

And then also, I shared with a second year student on Friday as well, Peter, who was definitely struck by the Word of God, and was going to consider things over the weekend. I went through the gospel with him, so please pray that he will not ignore what we went through together and that he would pursue the Lord this weekend. We exchanged emails, so also pray that he emails me back.

As for every day activities, we go to campus Monday through Friday. There are three campuses, Kelburn(Main), Te Aro(Architecture) and Pipitea (Law). Our team splits up at each and we basically evangelize for about five hours a day. During that time there is also other things, such as the leaders meeting with each of us for "discipleship time," where they go a little deeper one-on-one.

We have been able to squeeze in a little fun too! As meantioned, we had a scavenger hunt, where we ran all around Wellington, which Cassie and Johanna and I won, naturally. We got a little extra spending cash for Crepes A-Go-Go for winning, a delightful, tiny little hut that sells crepes. I had a banana/caramel/cream crepe.

This is a picture of my scavenger team at one of our 25 cites. This is a statue of John Plimmer and his dog Fritz; some call him the Father of Wellington, if you believe some people.
He essentially pushed to establish Wellington as a city. Anyways, it was a very tiring day nonetheless.

Today (Saturday, July 14), was a free day again for us, and I got some more tastes of Wellington all day, not having to go to campus or Bible study or anything like that.
About half of our group went up the Wellington Cable Car to see the towns botanical gardens, which had a good view of the city and harbor, which can be seen from this nice little cannon here underneath! It was a great day because it has been raining all week, and today was about as clear as it's been!

After the gardens we all hiked down the hill to downtown and hit the bars for some rugby action. The New Zealand All Blacks were playing South Africa. It was a good game, and the All Blacks won! Here is a video of the New Zealand team performing their pre-game ritual haka. It is a tribal dance to scare away evil spirits that they traditionally do before every game, www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTQDsu7mYdU. All in all it was a good day.

Side note, this is a picture of some of our team at the botanical gardens today; the two guys, Dan and Caleb, rep the big U of I!

I guess I'll finally conclude this long guy. Cultural note first, Brooke Fraser is a sweet New Zealand artist that we have all discovered and embraced here on project; check her "Shadowfeet" video by scrolling down a little bit, http://www.myspace.com/brookefraser. It is absolute money!



Prayer Requests:

1) Peter, as mentioned above
2) Ministry this upcoming week, that we would see more people come to know the Lord!
3) Lazyness/Unmotivation...Our weeks are crazy busy, and I lose attention when we go from activity to activity 5 days a week
4) That God would speak to me through his Word
5) PRAISE FOR HIS WORK SO FAR

Thank you so much, as I've gotten word that so many of you are and have been praying!

-ae

Choice, eh?

Hey everybody! It has been a while, probably the longest I have ever gone without internet actually.

To fill you in, we spent a week at New Zealand Student Life's Winter Retreat just outside Matamata, a small town of about 5,000 I think. It is technically, Hobbiton, or at least there is a sign that says it there! It was sweet as, bro. It started out a little slow for me, but it ended well, with some things and relationships culminating well. I got a good taste of New Zealand culture from the 100 or so New Zealand students there. They were from several campuses around the North Island, like Waikato, Auckland, and Wellington, which is where I am now. The Wellington staff/student interns were also there (STINTers), of which Chris Burton was one.

A couple cultural things of interest. They have a British accent with a twist here, and drive on the left side of the road; a very fun thing to figure out when you're crossing the street here. They say things like "sweet as" or "tired as" or any adjective followed by as, really. And, they also go the Canadian route a bit, by saying "eh?" at the end of things, rhetorically. The toilets, as far as I can tell don't flush the other way, but they are eco-friendly with two settings of water amount flushed.

The conference was like many American conferences. There were main speakers and worship at main meetings. They also had several seminars; one on post modernism that I particularly enjoyed. There was also an outreach event where all 150 of us hit the houses in Matamata and did door-to-door evangelism. Praise God, six people came to know Christ through it. It was rough going for me and my partner. We went to about fifteen houses, most of which were home, but made really quick excuses, such as, "It's raining." We did get to talk to two older ladies (the neighborhood was all older folks). It was very weird. For example, Rosie said she didn't know to the questions about who God and Christ are/were (a definite hard "in" to sharing the gospel). Pray for her if you'd like.

At the camp, we also had a lil' fun with a cartoon themed dance party, where, as I mentioned, about 10 project members made Care Bear shirts to wear. It was pretty bumpin' as, eh? Little known fact, Care Bears can bust a move. O, and one other sweet culture thing, they have like six meals a day here--breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and supper--so what more could you ask for; and, it is quite fitting for the home of Hobbits :P

Real quick, sorry this is so long, but a little about Wellington. We are currently bunked up in a hostel called Nomad's right in the heart of downtown Welly. It is very nice, and that is where I sit now using their internet. The city is expensive, but enjoyable, with coffee shops to your hearts content. I had a quiet time at Victoria St. Cafe today. The temperature is pretty cold, and a good amount of our project bought very expensive winter material today, but I have my trapper hat, so I am good to go :D We hit Victoria Uni's campus Monday, so we have the weekend to relax, as it is Friday here (18 hours ahead of central time, I think).

Peace out for now. Post a comment or email me what's going on (alex.etheridge@gmail.com), if you want.

-ae

Care Bear Love

So, I am currently sitting in LAX and have about 10 minutes to throw something up here before we actually take off for New Zealand. I am really glad I got the internet hookup here from a girl on project that brought her computer. I will not have internet access for a week, so I didn't want to leave everyone hanging.

Briefing and meeting the team here in L.A. was pretty good. I have a fun team and we have connected and are all ready to head out. Some of the girls on the team are entirely too excited...I have to settle them down at times or just sick Greg on them, a guy on project that could bench press a car (his entire checked bag is full of protein powder and the like...crazyzors). As for the title, when we land we first go to a Winter Conference, similar to Cru's Christmas conferences in the states. We won't be attending, but helping lead it in MataMata, a country sheep town--I'm told it has the terrain of what everyone expects New Zealand to look like. From there we eventually go to the capital, Wellington, that is more of a big town atmosphere. At the conference the theme this year is "cartoons," and the girls brilliantly came up with the idea of making CareBear shirts. Naturally, I am going to be Bashful Heart Bear...a solid choice if you ask me.

Here at briefing, we got to know each other, found out why New Zealand is strategic in reaching every student on the globe. It has international students that can strategically take Jesus' salvation back to closed countries that Americans can't reach currently. We also went through culture, norms, and expectations, and even had a bonfire on the beach last night.

Other than that, keep it realzors, and I will update you all in a week when I am back to civilization with internet access.

-ae

Hey peeps.

So, I take off Tuesday morning, bright and early at 6am, so I set up a lil' blog(spot) for family, friends and supporters to keep up with me if they want to. I don't know how much internet time I will have, but I will def throw a couple updates up here and there during my six weeks in New Zealand, and then during my semester abroad in Granada, Spain in the spring semester (assuming I get accepted to the program).

The summer project also has a blog, http://www.newzealandsp.blogspot.com/, if you want to take a look at that also.

I leave you with a lyric from Lecrae (my apologies to those in Cru tired of him, if that is possible) that I thought was....clever

"No one's signing up to go on missions this summa,
Rather sit at home and watch Xzibit pimp in a humma."

-ae