It's so cold down here!!

I arrived safely in Auckland and was met by 3 screaming girls who proceeded to shake me within an inch of life in the middle of the airport. I had just been travelling for 24hrs but the adrenaline kicked in and I forgot about the jetlag. We had an amazing night catching up and celebrating crystals birthday! The following day I woke up sharp at 7am! Now for those of you who know me that is very out of character, but the jetlag had finally kicked in. The next day it was 4am sharp! But after working a couple of days on the late shift I was dead on my feet and finally got my sleeping patterns back.

I arrived on the Wednesday and was scheduled for work Thursday afternoon. It was great to go back to the bookshop. So many familiar faces but also quite a few unfamiliar ones. People wise the ship has changed quite abit. There are lots of people I don’t know and quite a few people that have left. But to be honest my main friends are still here and it feels like I have never been away.

Will try to update more later.

ok so ive been ordered by a british midget who shall remain nameless but she knows who she is to revive my blog........so here goes.
i have spent the last 4 months at uni studying my first semester of medicine. it has been a really challenging time and has provided me with a huge culture shock after living on the ship for the last year. At times this has been really hard to deal with but i have to remember that i am where God wants me to be.
The course itself is fascinating. There is lots of content which i didnt realise until i had to memorise it all for my first round of exams. these came straight after the christmas break and provided me with about 2 weeks of living in the library! I wil find out the results in about 3 weeks and i just pray that i pass. This week i hae started in the dissection room which is a little freaky but insanely interesting at the same time. it does mean alot more work though as vast amounts of prep is needed and work afterwards.
Christmas was spent at home withmy family. It was amazing and i reverted back to being a five year old and reminding people every five mins that it either was christmas or was nearly christmas. I was just so happy t be spending it with family as last year was such a struggle for me last year. However the tables were turned this year as i found myself missing the people on the ship like crazy.
I have found a house to live in next year which is really exciting! i will be living with nine people and we are renting a georgian mansion! it is huge and has so much character. just think of the parties i keep telling myself. it is three stories high. my room is the attic room on the third floor and the only bathrooms are on the groundfloor so by the time i have had a shower and made my way back up the stairs i am going to need another one! hehe!
Um what else has happened? oh yeah i am going to be a CU rep in halls next year. this means i wil lead a small Bible study each week and arrange evangelistic events in halls. Also it means just being a presence around to act as a support for those moving into halls.
ok i think that is enough for now
luv you all

home sweet home

ok i was just reminded by some nice person on the ship that i really should update this.
i have now been home for 6 and a half weeks and the time has sped by.
i spent a week away in wales relaxing with my family and the sheep. it was really nice to spend some quality time with my family after not really seeing them for a year. it also gave me a chance to adjust back to english culture after my year away. although i had been warned about culture shock it was the small things that took me by surprise. i was waiting outside heathrow airport when the pedestrain crossing went off and it sounded so weird. a sound that had been perfectly normal to my ears a year before now sounded so completely alien.
i then had a month at home. this was a great time to catch up with old friends and more family. I spent time with school friends and was able to catch up on their lives and eperiences over the lst year, as well as being able to tell them about the amazing year i had just had.
Church was an amazing environment to go back into. i felt so welcomed back and people were genuinely interested in my year, i had the oppurtunity to do a service along with my dad about the year. this was an amzing oppurtunity to really share alot of what happened to me personally and to say thank you to the people in the church who supported me so faithfully.
I am now at uni and have been here for a week and a half. it is so different to everything i knew on the ship. although i am living in halls and there fore living in community it is almost the exact opposite to that of the ship. this has provided me with my biggest re entry struggles. freshers week tends to consist of drink, drink and more drink. it is so hard to stand up for what i believe sometimes without being judged. but i have managed to find a good group of friends within my halls and within my medic course.
please pray that i cn be a good witness and just accepted for all my what may appear radical beliefs.

I leave tomorrow

The day is drawing ever nearer. It is bnow tomorrow that I will disembark from my amazing adventure onboard the Worlds oldest ocean going passenger liner! It has been an amzing year in which i have grown and learnt so much. It is now time to say goodbye to many,many dear friends and to move on to the next step of my life.

one very burnt knee!

i have just come back from a three day, two night overnight in South korea. It was a fantastic experience and let me see som eof the beauty of korea. We went to a small island just off the mainland and stayed in a church that overlooked 120 houses in a village.
We were involved in a childrens summer camp for 3 days. It was a real blessing to work with these children, many of whom came from broken homes. We spent time teaching them about Jesus and his love for them. We used the wordless book and got them to make their own. They loved it. We also spent some time playing with them and teaching them to swim at the beach. hence the very burnt 1 knee. not quite sure how I managed that - i still have my dippy side!
We ate amazing Korean food and generally had a very good time. Although the schedule was very packed we had time to enjoy fellowship with each other as a team and with the chundosaneem (pastor).
When we came to leave there were tears all round. The pastor said we had brought soem light into the village and that he was going to feel empty when we left. it is amazing th eimpact you can have in just a few days. i thank God for each and every one of those children who although we couldnt commuicate showed us so much love. i hope we showed them some of Gods love. They just needed the attention and love so much.
The overnight also gave me some time to talk to my cabninmate Mieke. She is one of my closest friends onboard so it was really nice to have this oppurtunity to do ministry together, and to get to know each other even better.
I will be home in 2 weeks so see you all soon!

Voyage of the Doulos! Gods Ship!

It felt like something out of Narnia. We awoke Tuesday morning to find ourselves immersed in thick fog while sailing. It was so thick that you could not see the bow from the bridge only about 20 meters. You can imagine how dangerous that is. Lights from other ships were not visible so we were sounding the horn every few minutes as a warning that we were there. There was also 2 deckies stationed at the bow to listen for other ships. At this point we are sailing up a narrow channel that has lots of islands!
The only thing to do is pray! The Captain then makes the decision to let the anchor down as it is too dangerous to continue. I have to admit myself that I was slightly scared! There was no way we could do anything if another ship or island appeared. We began to turn and slow the ship in order to let down the anchor. Just then a deckie spots an island a mile off! God has lifted the thick fog and as the channel we are sailing down is only a mile wide they decide it is safe to continue.
What a mighty God we serve!

South Korea

hey, i am in south korea now!! how time flies when you are having fun. im sure i have said that before but it is always relevant.
We have been in south korea now for about 1 month and it is the biggest culture shock yet for me! this culture is so different to anything i have experienced anywhere else in Asia.
I had the priveledge the other day of going to a memorial service for the Korean war. It was held at a UN cemetary so there were soldiers buried there from all over the world. It was quite a sobering experience as i had never heard about the Korean war and certainly didnt know that the uk was involved. So it was a learning experience for me and i got to lay a rose at the grave of a British soldier. The graves that were the saddest were the ones simply marked "Soldier of the British Army, known only unto God".
Over the weeked we were on the edge of a typhoon. It was headed towards Korea but the people on the Doulos prayed and so it went towards Japan instead. This meant that we did not have to sail out to anchor but we certainly felt the effects. 50mph winds and the ship rocking more than when we are sailing. Ltos of people were sea sick and we werent even sailing. The ship was attached to the quayside by at least 7 mooring lines at the front and 2 steel cables!! It was certainly an experience but i lived to tell the tale.
i have just heard about the earthquake in Japan and it was in exactly the same place that I went on break so please pray for the people living there. Our hosts were so lovely and I pray they have not been too badly effected.