SCF 2008

Here is a picture of a picture of my wonderful class. We are already 1/3 of the way though school with the first month going very fast. In the end we have six students with the other six who were accepted not coming for many reasons....but the six we have are great. It is fun to have so many different cultures...so many so I am the only native English-speaker.
I am doing well. I have only one staff so we are very very busy at times, but it has not been overwhelming. And that is even though I was teaching and leading the first two weeks.

It has become very beautiful here...autumn colours are out in full force, and some days are very beautiful and clear days. I really enjoy being at this base and am getting to know the people. Having a car makes a big difference to feel free to get out and off the base.

Evening Photos

Weekend in the Norwegian Mountains

I got to have a great relaxing weekend recently with my friend Turid when we went to a cabin/hut in 4 hours north of Oslo. Now the hut to Norwegians is as a bach is to Kiwis so it is like a well setup little house (without electricity or hot water mind you). We took Turid's dog and her parents dog with us and they pulled us up the hills. They also tried to pull us down the hills but that was not as fun.
Always it was a nice relaxing time of chatting, reading, sleeping in and a few hikes....good times!

Turid and VictorBelinda

A farmers hut we found on a hikeThe Cabin

Sweden

Here is an update which is basically the same as my newsletter info....but hey! It is still news!

Greetings from my new home in Sweden. It is a nice feeling to know that I will be in one place for a while. I have committed to work with the YWAM Restenäs base for two years in starting the School of Communication Foundations (SCF) and continuing to work with the University of the Nations development team.

The work is continuing to stretch me and refine my skills to be used effectively. I expect I will be working even more with staff development and teaching. I am really enjoying to teach but I do keep thinking that all this teaching stuff should be left to the older experienced people…then I realize that in 1 year and one month I will be 35 years old….. how did that happen???!!!! Please check out my web pages for my latest photos.

Odds and Ends: I ended my time in Central Europe with a road trip to the French Rivera with 3 friends. We stayed in an amazing campsite high on the hills over looking the Sea. In our short weekend we saw Cannes, Nice and Monaco which was all great. It was a busy time and a long drive but fun! See my flickr site for photos.

It was also great to have Mum and Dad visit for a few days near the end of their European Trip (I saw them in Switzerland as well). It was a blessing for them to see my new base….and also buy a car!! They will use the car when they come back here next year…in the meantime I get to use it! I have not had a car for 8 years now so it is a HUGE blessing. I feel like I have a greater opportunity now to get off the base and integrate more into society and have more of ‘life’; avoiding the danger of just been stuck in the YWAM environment. This would include taking Swedish lessons next year.

SCF 2008 in Sweden: And that brings us to the rest of this year. I am now preparing for the first SCF in Restenäs. So far we have 10 applications and do not think we will accept many more for this year. I only have one staff which will make my job harder; but it is doable. Have a look at the www.ywamrestenas.se to see more of the base and read about the SCF.

I believe this year will be one where I will stay around Sweden (rather than travel too much) which I think will be a good thing. I can see now that my ministry focus is coming more to a point. Now I want to zero in with the skills I have into areas of education and training. There may even be some doors opening on the horizon in teacher training in developing nations. I really never saw myself going back to preschool so it is interesting to see how these new opportunities will form.

Thank you all for your love and support! While it is easy for me to become a very ’here and now’ person, I never forget my friends and family around the world. If you want to know more specifics about what I am doing then email! Until next time….

First photos of Sweden

Just down the road

Entrance to the base

Mum and Dad visited for a few days

Very beautiful area

Past APC...into SCF

Ok finally.....(how many times do I start my blog with those words!!)

It gets very tiring to look at my blog and think I should update it (I WANT to update it) and then the day slips by and woosh two months pass by.....

I am now five weeks into the School of Communication Foundations, still here in Burtigny, Switzerland. But first a little update for the past few months.....

The APC school was one of the best times I have had. It was so great to be a student again and really great to be challenged in my thinking and how I view the world. I did my final paper on the current situation in Russia; and it was very interesting to really look at what the Russian people are wanting and choosing as their leaders. I tied top-of-the-class in grades so I was amazed and happy with that. After many years telling myself that I am of average intelligence and average grades....it came as a surprise to know that actually I do have a brain that works quite well.

What made the first three months most memorable was my classmate and staff. We just got on so well and became a very social close group. I still miss them today...thankfully 4 of the students are still here on base doing various things and of course the staff are still here as well.
In the few days between the two schools I went to visit my new base of operations. I am moving to Restenas in Southern Sweden in July to start the communications school there and continue my work with the YWAM University of the Nations. It was very good to go there and be reminded of where my work and home will be for the next two years. The people there are super friendly and welcoming so I am looking forward to moving there……Still miss my friends in Borgen though.
Now, as I said, the School of Communication Foundations is in its 5th week. I am co-leading with Susi who was my leader when I did the school in 2006. We have 10 students and 3 staff....a small group but one that is very diverse in ages and cultures. It has been good to practice my teaching skills as I taught the Public Speaking week, it went well and I learnt a lot as well. I am looking forward to seeing how this class will grow and what God will teach us though the school.

Plus Mum and Dad where visiting that week and were able to sit in for a couple of sessions which was great. They are continuing their 4 month trip around Europe and I will see them again for a few days in Sweden in July.

Thank you to those who are still bothering to check my blog site! I will not promise I will write soon, but I do hope to. I am also on facebook...so if you are there (and I know you) connect!

PS...Update on my computer which I mentioned last time. My insurance paid out the cost of replacing the screen, I have decided to use that money to go towards a MacBook which I am saving up for now. It will take a little while to save, but until them I can keep using my Dell, although the dead pixals are slowly taking over the screen!

PPS Here are a couple of random photos...check out my photo site for more....

Switzerland...

OK FINALLY i am back. Excuses?? Well I am super busy, but it has been on the back of my mind everyday that I needed to update on my blog...only to find that two months have slipped by.
So I am in YWAM Burtigny, Switzerland as a student on the "Advanced Principles of Communication" APC school. You can go to the website to see what the school is about... http://www.jemburtigny.ch/

APC CLASSMATES

I am really enjoying my time and am with a great bunch of staff and students. I feel quite at home at the base here since I have staffed another school here last year.

The school itself is very challenging; both in time and energy but also in the depth and push to learn to think in a deeper Biblical way. To many thinking in a 'Biblical' way may sound like we start to talk all this spiritual jargon and really not be not understood by most of the world....in fact the opposite it true. It is about seeing that God in the Bible is talking about EVERY area of life; how to run a good government, health care, business, good leadership qualities, good family lives....and on and on and on. We, as Christians, have often just made it sound all so mystical and 'holy' that we even have no idea how to practically put these principles into practice. These changes do not come easily though because I need to change the basis of my thinking; and that is a lot of hard work.

I have never had to work so hard on homework either. I am famous for being a huge procrastinator and leaving my work to the last minute.....here I need to do homework every night and 6 days a week. OUCH, thus nothing else seems to be getting done.

On another note, I have really excited to learn that in a photo competition I entered for kiwis on flicr (photo website), one of my photos was chosen from over 3000 photos to be in an exhibition of about 70 photographers and 100 photos in Auckland Art Gallery 6-9 March. The photo is below. Do not know if I one anything; but I am just happy to see it been chosen anyways.

On a sadder note; I dropped my computer last Sunday. As you can see from the photo below that screen has now got some very artistic inkblot decorations. There are cracks in the screen and slowly the dead pixels are spreading. The good news is that it should be covered by my insurance; now I just need to get all the paperwork in order for that to happen. I do not know what they will cover and since my computer to over 2 1/2 years old now it has depreciated a lot. The very good news is that 1, I have insurance 2, the computer is working and i can still use it now, 3, I am the one who dropped it so no one else needs to feel bad. It happens.

So there was a little insight into my life at the moment. I hope I will be a little better in updating my blog in the coming month. See ya soon