A NEW ZEAL FOR LIFE!

we already have our shuttle tickets to take us to the airport in the morning. it is picking us up at 4:15 am!!!! we have our bags that we had mailed to auckland earlier too. we pray that we can get through all of our connections smoothly, safely, and with no hassles with our luggage. please join us in that prayer. thank you so much for every kind word of encouragement you have said or prayer you have lifted up. We have felt them and God has worked out all of our adventures here. this was by far better than the amazing race!
i sure hope to come back here one day again and i really hope you can come see this too!

tonight, i held my glass up to Julie and said, "TO A NEW ZEAL FOR LIFE."

THAT'S WHAT THIS TRIP IS ALL ABOUT AND I'M SO EXCITED TO HAVE THAT ZEAL! in case some of you were wondering why i called this "A New Zeal for Rice." i have an answer that it took me a while to completely realize myself. i knew that was supposed to be the name and i waited for God to help me with the analogy. obviously, it is a combined pun on New Zealand and Thailand (all the rice there). however, the spiritual analogy is so much more. I have a new zeal for rice (not the food), but the harvest. i saw how the harvest is ripe, but the workers are few. God gave me a zeal to be a worker in that harvest of all of those unreached people that need the Lord in Thailand and other countries. it's my passion and i pray i can continue to incorporate it in my everyday life. i'll always have the imagery of those rice fields i was surrounded by in Chiang Klang and how it represents that spiritual harvest of all of those precious people who need the Lord yet who don't know how to quite yet. God can use any of us.

The second part of my trip in New Zealand, should have been called "a new zeal for sheep." did you know there are more sheep in this country than people? what an amazing image that reminds us of how we are God's sheep and He is our Shepherd! so many of us are wandering aimlessly around and with the wool pulled over our eyes in life just in need of guidance. the future is unknown, and i've been in a place of making a lot of decisions regarding the future lately. i've been that sheep in need of the Shepherd. my zeal is also renewed for the other "sheep" out there in need of that same Shepherd.
praise God, He's there.

I LOVE EVERY ONE OF YOU!
I'M COMING HOME!
~not to worry, i'll keep blogging...

Waitaupo Thermal Wonderland

last night, the Lord sent an angel to us! Mikah is her name and she is a 20 year old German girl. She was staying in our room and asked me what i was planning on doing Friday. i told her we still had to go see the geysers and thermal pools near Rotorua. she had a car and wanted to go with us. she volunteered to take us all! that totally saved us money and it was so much more fun having her with us. just as we were about to finish breakfast, Gerard, the owner of the hostel, asked us what we were doing today. i told him and he all of the sudden looked panicked. he said we had to literally leave NOW! he wanted us to get there in time to see the geyser go off, which it does only once a day at 10:15 am. well, that sent us running out the door, literally. we all jumped in the car and off we went down the road to find this geyser. after we parked and made it to the site, it just started bubbling out. PERFECT TIMING! we saw the thing go off and it looked like "Old Faithful" at Yellowstone. maybe it wasn't as high as old faithful, i'm not sure. this is definitely the same type of scenery as Yellowstone, but on a much smaller scale. even most of the pools here were just bubbling mud pools, unlike the tons of hot water pools you see at Yellowstone. nevertheless, this was in NZ and i thoroughly enjoyed it. we hurriedly went around the park and saw everything on all of the walkways, because we had to make it back in time to catch our 2pm bus to Auckland. we had a great visit with Mikah and i'm truly glad we got to know her. she is from Stuttgart, Germany. maybe one day when i go to visit my uncle in Munich, i can swing by and visit her. everything worked out. the Lord provided so faithfully for the time schedule of events. we made it to the hostel, got our bags, and said our goodbyes, then made the bus. the drive to Auckland was beautiful again. we got here to auckland after 6pm and passed through Mata Mata, the town where they filmed Hobbit town. as we drove, i just kept thinking "okay, this is it, my last minutes of daylight in NZ." i have never been in a country where every second of driving is so beautiful. you could just take pictures the entire drive. i soaked it all in and gave so much praise to the Lord for His mercies on us and blessings for bringing us here and to Thailand. we have experienced the extraordinary these past two months.

MY CONCERT IN MIDDLE EARTH- A MUST READ!

After driving in the most surreal landscape of hills and gorgeous colors, it was an absolute wonder that hundreds of caves were just below us. we were on a fault line in NZ. julie and i decided early this am to not do the inner tubing down the freezing cold waters of the caves full of eels. i had second thoughts about that and so did she. we found out about a much more enjoyable way of seeing the caves by staying dry in a water raft and by walking through the caves. we went through two caves with a break for tea and bickeys in between. i learned that bickeys are cookies. the first cave was absolutely surreal- the GLOW WORM CAVE!

GLOW WORM CAVE- it was so amazing. we were walking around in what seemed like "perfectville" (aside from College Station, TX... WHOOP!) because it was truly like we were in hobbit land or something. you couldn't paint a more perfect place with the landscape and colors. all of the sudden you would see an entrance to a cave at the bottom of a hill and plants would be lining it or hanging down from the outside. in we went inside the cave! we got inside and got on a raft to take us down the underground river. once our eyes adjusted to the complete darkness, i looked up and was stunned at the sight of a vast galaxy! literally, i thought of how perfectly patterned the Lord is with everything. the middle earth looks like it was land with rivers in it and a sky with stars in it. the stars are the glow worms. hundreds are lined up and it looks like a galaxy. i tried to find the little dipper, but couldn't. :) julie and i were totally amazed that we saw glow worms in a cave in NZ. how cool was this?

we inched along the water in the raft just soaking it in. occassionally a cold drop of water would fall on us. because of all the rains, the waters have been flooding the caves, so we were lucky to see what we did today. the glow worms are fascinating. it is actually their waste product that produces a chemical reaction to make them glow. they either glow to attract mates or to signal hunger.

then we all left the cave for a break for tea. we went around our small group and everyone introduced themselves more. it was so picturesque sitting above the ground surrounded by these green hills and meadows.

THE SECOND CAVE- we walked in this cave and went through tiny channels and then the paths opened up into this huge vaulted room they called the "Cathedral." i thought to myself how amazing it would sound if a choir sang in there in the darkness with the acoustics. before i could finish my thought, the guide asked if anyone could sing or would sing a song because of the great acoustics. well, julie tapped me and decided to volunteer yours truly to sing a song solo in front of the entire group!!!!!! all i could think of quickly was a latin song i learned in high school back in the all region choir days. i had already been singing that to myself in the cave just thinking of how pretty it would sound. once i got past any embarrassment of the idea, i just went for it. you know, i'm in NZ, so why not sing in a cave for the whole group? right? so i just did it! it was pitch black and i start singing, "Cantate Dominum, Sing to the Lord." once i realized what i was singing, i was so excited that the words were giving praise to the Lord, considering what happened when we entered the cave. when we entered, our guide asked us all to bow our heads to pray for permission from the "gods or spirits" to enter the cave. maybe i was supposed to sing that song, so the Creator of the cave could be honored!

it was for sure an experience i will never forget. i had to blog about this one. it is not everyday that you go to caves in NZ and put on a concert!

we took a funny picture with a lady in the group who had a wedding ring. we posed as if it was the "ring" in Lord of the Rings. julie was embarrassed and said, "make it stop." oh, but she loved it, because she joined right in that picture for the pose! let's put it this way, our group knew who we were by the end of the day! :)

after caving, we hung out for a while in Waitomo, just a little village with only one or two stores. i just sat on a bench soaking in the sun staring off into the beautiful, surreal landscape. you couldn't help but praise God for what He has done. now i know why He said in Genesis after He made the world, "and it was good."

Absolutely Surreal day!

Alright, today we got on a bus at 7:40am and headed for the Waitomo Caves just two hours outside of Rotorua. The drive was one of the most spectacular drives I've seen here. It is as close to heaven as one can get. it looked surreal. there were bright green hills and the hills here literally look like they have been scooped by ice cream scoopers. they are perfectly round and the sky was a brilliant blue with just the perfect amount of white fluffy clouds in it. down below on the ground with the greener than green grass was better than a painting with the colors of the trees scattered on it. there were orange, red, and yellow trees in addition to green trees all scattered out in the most beautiful painting you have ever seen, yet it wasn't a painting. Well, it was God's painting. you can't drive past this and soak it all in. it's just too much. well, i am totally partial to this, because i came to NZ specifically for the green hills and the beaches with cliffs overhanging them. we weren't around water today, though. i just couldn't stop praising the Lord for being the amazing Creator He is. how can one drive by this and not see Him in it? in fact that's what i told Al, the busdriver we had who was agnostic. i remember telling him he lives in one of the most beautiful places on earth and how could he not just look out at a mountain or green hill and not see God in it. uhh, it's so much. you absolutely have to see it! i can't get it all in pictures. okay, this was only the above the ground journey we had today, we still had middle earth to see! :) talk about a whole different experience with God's glory. our bus driver had played rugby in Plano, TX, so he kept talking to Julie and me the whole way. he was mainly so excited about our stop for coffee. by the way, they have a better pace of life here. the buses always stop for snacks, tea or coffee breaks. this is the life! i needed that coffee today. i think the trip is catching up with me, but not for long, we are about to be coming home.

okay, read my next blog about my middle earth experience!

I ZORBED, HAVE YOU?

ZORBING! it's a new concept to me, but first introduced to me on the Amazing Race. they actually came to this exact town, Rotorua, in NZ to film that segment. Rotorua is the home of the original zorb. i know some of you are asking what is it? hey it starts with the letter "z" and i like it, so i of course had to buy a t-shirt saying i did it. basically you get inside a huge plastic ball and roll down a huge green NZ hill here in Rotorua. there are three different kinds. you can be strapped in, so you spin. that means crazy motion sickness for me, so i opted not to do that one. another option is you can hydroplane down the hill inside the ball filled partially with water. you can do these either down a straight steep path, or a zig-zagged path down the hill. well, my adventure started this afternoon in the rain! even though it was raining here in Rotorua, i decided i still needed some adventure like zorbing. i checked it out to see if they still did it in the rain, and they did! julie wanted to stay in the hostel to take a nap. so it was all me out on my own in Rotorua! they roll the "r" when they pronounce rrrotorrua. :) seriously.

i had to walk to a mall and catch a city bus which then took me to another stop where i transferred city buses. this is a small city, trust me. from there i asked to go to the agrodome where the zorbing was. on my two different buses, i got tapped on the shoulder by nice older ladies who politely asked me where i was from because they heard me talk to the bus driver and noticed the accent was different. one lady was so kind and she apologized profusely for their bad weather they were having and hoped that i was still enjoying NZ. of course, i was! she asked me all about my life and what i'm going to do with it. we had a lovely chat. she highly reccommended the zorbing too. when i got dropped off at the site, even the city busdriver blew me away with kindness when he said he'd make sure i got a ride back at a certain time and that he'd look after me. that would not happen in houston. how sweet. i was traveling solo for a short journey and experiencing that life. it was awesome talking to even more people around me. when i got to the place, it was just as i had seen it on the Amazing Race. yeah! i was there! i saw the giant human "gerbil balls" that i was going to get in. i met the nice staff in the office and told them to sign me up and get this thing rolling. they tried to guess what state i was from. one girl nailed it and said Texas! another guy said Florida. i had to go in a swim suit, yes it is still really cold here. it is winter! they gave me some wet gear to put on over that. one guy took my camera and had heaps of fun with it while i was in the back of a truck going up the steep hill. they guy made me dive like superwoman into a zippered hole in the ball and there i was inside the giant ball filled with some warm water for me to sit in. he made me stand up and told me to walk in the ball once he gave the signal of "tap tap tap" on the ball and after i started walkinig i would immediately start going down hill. at that point i was supposed to just plop down and sit in it and basically swish from side to side. he made me choose the zig-zag path for more thrill. it was opaque, so i couldn't see where i was going at all. it was a feeling of complete helplessness but fun. there was lots of laughter inside of that gerbil ball. just me, myself, and i laughing my way through my fear of the unknown. i literally was swishing side to side inside it and had no control of how i was positioned in it. it was so much fun. i kept having to tell myself, "EMBRACE IT, ZSILA, EMBRACE IT." i was embracing my fear. finally, i came to a hault at the bottom of the hill and thankfully, two members of the staff came to rescue me and unzip me and get me out. then the fun began. i became good friends with Alisa who is the supervisor there and she wanted me to take lots of pictures with them and email them so they can post them for advertising. then, she wanted me to come up with a slogan for a t-shirt or a design and if my design or slogan was chosen, they would send me the t-shirt for free. after all of that, Alisa offered to drive me back into town so i wouldn't have to take the bus back. how sweet? i love these people. she is australian. we had a great talk about cultures and she said more americans should ask questions about other cultures, since the rest of the world asks about our country and knows about it. they really do. for one thing, they see our tv shows and news programs and listen to our radio songs. they know our culture. do we know there's? not so much. i have gained wisdom from this trip. i enjoy asking about their lives and cultures. they see value in their homes too and would like for other's to respect it. okay, i'm off my soap box that she brought to my attention.

i changed clothes and went back to the hostel to find julie awake from her two hour nap while i was gone. everyone was hanging out together in the living area of our cozy backpacker's lodge. this was is truly great and feels like home. since it was raining and all the businesses were closed by then, i got julie to go with me to see a movie. we saw Sahara with Matthes Maconouhay and Penelope Cruz. it was action based and funny too. it was nice for us to relax. i told everyone at the hostel about my zorbing experience and how they should go. in fact, i invited everyone to go see the movie with us. everyone is going out tonight to see the premiere of Star Wars III at midnight. julie and i aren't b/c we have to get up so early tomorrow to go to the Waitomo Caves. we are going to go "BLACK WATER RAFTING IN CAVES AND SEE GLOW WORMS." how fun! i'll let you know! i heard eels are the water. ahh, please pray that they stay away from me. we will wear wet suits and sit in innertubes in the freezing cold water in the caves. i don't know exactly what to expect, but i know we will be doing it for three hours. hmm, interesting. it's something you are supposed to do here, though. so i'm doing it. tomorrow is our last night in rotorua then friday we go to the park to see the geothermal geisers before we head up to Auckland for the night. our flight on saturday is early early early. we have to be at the airport around 5am ish. then we have an 11 hour layover in LA, so my Tri-Delta lil sis, Sarah and her husband Todd are coming to pick us up and we are going to celebrate Sarah's birthday on the beach! it's supposed to be cold they say, which is what we are used to here. i cannot imagine what Texas weather is like. do you know what's funny, as i type this i hear my voice saying it in a New Zealand accent. scary! i better come home soon!

i'll update again before i leave. take care!

If you pray for rain...

It's Wednesday. well, last night i was in Taupo getting myself mentally prepared for the possible sky dive this morning at 7am. i was with a room full of girls from england who were also signed up for that early dive. after the lady at the bungy jumping place telling me i could not bungy jump, i did question how much different sky diving would be and if i could do it. it's all about the shear forces that your head goes through with the jerking and your not allowed to do it if you have brain injury, epilepsy, or neurological disorders. does brain surgery 10 years ago count and being on seizure medicine currently? i think so. i called the sky diving place yesterday and they said i needed to talk to the safety instructor. they said if he okay'd it then i would actually jump with him. that seemed safer. well, the real issue was the weather. i prayed a very specific prayer. my prayer was "Lord if you want me to go skydiving then please let it be obvious, but if you do not want me to go, please let it rain." guess what? first thing this AM i heard tons and tons of rain falling down on the roof. i got up with the english girls and we called just in case, but i knew the answer, duh, you can't go in the rain! i was actually relieved. i think i was starting to be a wee bit scared at the notion after seeing that i couldn't do bungy jumping. they say the force is different, it's more that your entire body jerks when the parachute pops out. whatever the case, i had a peace because i prayed so specifically and the Lord answered. so, i just asked Him if I could at least sky dive in heaven one day. :) or you never know, miracles can continue to happen.

today we drove only an hour and a half to Rotorua, the town known for it's geothermal geisers (like Yellowstone National Park), it's Maori culture and zorbing. we had a short drive with Jason the driver and said our goodbyes to the group. we will have two nights here and then head to Auckland on Friday. i have to tell you about what i did today in my next blog...

Taupo!

Hey there. i am totally relaxed! do you wanna know why? it's because we took advantage of Taupo's famous hot springs. we went in those warm waters for around two hours. julie and i were with an english girl who was super nice. we had a great time. we met an older man in the pool from england also who has transplanted to NZ. come to find out his daugher died two years ago. i asked why and he said from a brain tumor. wow. i knew there was purpose to talking to him. well, we had a great time in the pools just all four of us talking. then, we needed a ride back into town to our hostels. well, we hitch hiked. :) trust me, it was totally safe. we just stood in the parking lot and looked for cars exiting. the problem was that it was so cold and there weren't any cars leaving. finally, i saw a minivan with a motherly looking woman in the front seat and two small children in the back. i asked her if she would mind taking the three of us girls down into town. it was so close. she was so sweet and told us to hop in. i absolutely loved talking to her six year old daughter in the back. she had the sweetest new zealand accent. everything about this child was precious! i'm so glad i'm going to be working with kids. oh, the girl from england we were with is actually a pediatric nurse there. she is 28 years old. so, after the ride back, we walked to the grocery store and cooked a meal. it's been a relaxed evening.


let me back up to earlier today. the busdriver for kiwi experience named jason took julie and me to the hostel where we chose to stay. first, he stopped by a hill overlooking the lake and asked me if i wanted to go bungy jumping. i know, mom, you asked me not to go. for some silly reason, it seemed so safe when he asked. so i said sure, why not. i'll try it. well, don't panic yet, b/c i didn't go. i actually found out good stuff. i went inside and julie pointed out the sign of who cannot bungy jump for medical reasons. would you believe that i qualified for three things on the list! so, i feel better now. at least i know i am willing to try to live life to its fullest. i will stop short of medical risks, though. pooh! i was sad. i know there's good reason, though. mom, you totally researched that one well! i know you googled that one. you are right, as usual.

the question i'm researching thoroughly now is can i go sky diving??? seriously, i put my name on a list and called the company today. they said if the weather is okay, i should be able to go. i'm going to talk to the safety instructor tomorrow a.m. first. i would have to go at 7a.m.! what a rude awakening. that would be a morning i would never forget! how fun! we'll see. at least you know that it is in me to totally try for it.
i'll talk to you later! i'm so pumped to see you guys soon! it was awesome at dinner tonight. a friend of ours from NZ got really excited when julie told him we're going to be doctors in 13 days! his excitement just made it that much more real to me. it's unbelievable!

Horseback riding in New Zealand!

So, we took the opportunity to go riding on horseback here in Kaikoura at sunset. actually our ride started around 3:30pm at the footfills of the mountains. we rode with two guides, Julia and Kate. it was just the four of us. since julie and i have ridden, they let us do whatever we wanted. wow! i haven't ridden in so long! it was so much fun to bring that back. we walked, trotted, and cantered. it was all english style, of course. i loved it. we went over streams and in streams. we went over rocky land and hills. we went through bushes and forests. it was fantastic!

i'll talk to you later! i have to go, the internet place is closing!

we're going to wellington tomorrow which means we get on a ferry to go to the North Island!
we are leaving in 5 days! i can't believe it!
i'm so excited to see sarah in L.A.!

The flight for Whales!

okay, we joined up with another bus (Kiwi) this morning and headed for Kaikoura. can i just tell you this is my favorite place for sure so far!!!!!!!!!!! too bad we just have one night here. we are on the east coast of the northern part of the south island. it has the mountains and the green hills and the turquoise ocean all together in one scene! i absolutely love it! this is why i came to new zealand! i found the green hills and the cliffs falling into the ocean without the rain! okay, so the things to do here are to swim with dolphins or to see whales. we figured it is just too cold to swim with the dolphins, although i was willing to sacrifice warmth to do it. julie just could not. she really wanted to see whales. i have seen whales before, but wanted us to do something together. well, usually the whale watching is by boat. i had just gotten really carsick from the bus, and didn't know how i could do a boat. to my surprise, i saw a sign on the road for "Wings over Whales." basically, it was an advertisement for a company that takes small crop duster planes over the ocean to see whales. i checked into it and the price was the same for the boat. we totally agreed that it would be so scenic to see whales by plane! so we did it!!!!!!!!!!!!

i cannot believe that we were just in a little 6 seater plane today looking for whales. the sad part is that most of the whales have migrated to warmer waters. we were hoping to see one of the sperm whales that is always here, but we didn't. i was so enthralled with the flight, that i was okay with missing the whales. julie truly enjoyed the flight too, so we aren't upset at the loss. actually, we are blessed, b/c they gave us a voucher for the "next time we are here to go for free." okay, so can i come back? soon? :)

after the "whale" watching or water watching, we headed back to Adelphi Lodge. we love this place. it has a lot of character for a place for lodging. okay, so i also saw a sign for "Horseback rides at Sunset." julie has been begging me to go horseback riding ever since Thailand. it was perfect. we only have today and tonight here and since the horseback ride was at sunset we could do it right after we finished flying.

The trip with Al

Hi again. Yesterday, we left Franz Glacier and took a bus to Greymouth to meet Al. First, we met an englishman named Carl who was our age and who became great friends with us. He was also staying at the glow worm and was headed to Greymouth. so, we chatted the whole bus ride and he told us how he too is a "doctor", or PhD, shall i say. he has his phD in microelectronics. he showed me all of his video on his camera and it looks like he's hit the adventure scene here by swinging down in canyons, etc. the coincidental thing about carl is that he is possibly going to move to Austin, TX from England. considering that both julie and i are from Austin, he was in the right company for getting information.

at greymouth, we switched over to Al's bus. it was truly nice of him to take us back. it was just the three of us heading to Christchurch. i knew where the conversation was headed and julie and i were just waiting. al had already brought up our faith and how we seemed different from other backpackers and i had a feeling the conversation was headed back that way. it did. i was glad. he asked us a lot of questions about being a Christian and why we "believe." he wanted to know if it was about "fear" or "reward." no, to both. i tried explaining basically from the beginning and he was really open and a considerate listener. he was raised in a Christian home but became agnostic later. he is actually 25 y.o. now. at some points, i would stop talking and he would ask for me to go on. the mission trip was definitely not over! i was thankful for the opportunity to share about who I am and what I believe, considering miracles have happened for a major reason like this. i truly see Al one day as a youth minister. he has the passion for younger people in him, he just needs to get back on track. after we finished talking, i asked what he was thinking and he said he was stunned. why, i asked. he said b/c he was stunned at how passionate we were about believing in the Lord and how we wouldn't waver. he was also shocked b/c this was not the typical scene he'd expect christians to be doing. i asked what he meant and he referred to the scene of tourism and how tourism can lead to debauchery. hmm. i agree i have seen it for sure, but i don't view the way i travel like that. we were showing him that it is possible to defy stereotypes. he said i have defied every stereotype he can think of. good, maybe that should be my life motto! :) anyway, we had the option of doing what Carl was doing which was taking the Alpine train through the scenic ride through the mountains. we chose not to, because we knew we were supposed to ride with Al. i'm so thankful for that ride and we told him we are going to pray that God reveals Himself to Him. julie is going to pray that it's through a dream. will you join us in praying for Al? it's short for Allen. he is an awesome guy and i know he will turn around with a bit more time and prayer. the interesting thing is that he must have found credit to what we were saying b/c he wants us to talk to other Kiwi Experience drivers. i asked him why and he said b/c one guy was a strong Christian but slipped into the corruption of tourism, as he puts it. wow! sure we'll talk to him. i can see how someone can slip in tourism, but we know that it's totally possible not to as well.

We hiked the glacier today!

Well, today was the big hike. we set out this morning aorund 8:45am to meet up with the glacier guided group for the half day hike up Franz Glacier. it was a nice sunny, but cold morning. we literally were hiking through a rainforest before we got to the glacier area. it's just so amazing to see the rainforest next to a glacier! i still can't get over that here. we walked up to an area where the receded glacier once was and saw the glacier in front of us about 3 kilometers away. so we had a walk before we could get to the glacier to climb it. the guides provided us gear to wear and for hiking on the ice. we were with a group of people who were new. these weren't the kiwi experience people, who left today. we're just staying on our own an extra day before we meet up with another group in christchurch. the hike up the glacier was the steepest in the world, they say. they say Franz Glacier has the steepest incline of any other in the world! we didn't go to the very top, but we went high enough. the full day hike would have been even more amazing b/c they take you inside the glacier caves. however, i'm glad we just did half day b/c the weather changed as we were coming down and it started to rain. it rains off and on here a lot since we are in a rainforest. anyway, it was steep and a little dangerous, but they actually had ropes we could hang on to for most of it. i really enjoyed the scenery and the journey with the folks. i met some more neat people from england and ireland.

after the hike, all we wanted to do was crash. we were so tired. we had a good lunch and then headed to our new lodging for tonight. we are trying a quieter place. we love it! it's nice and clean too. actually, they have a living room area where you can watch videos. we watched the third Lord of the Rings this evening. we had a room full of people join us to watch it. i realized how universal this movie is. everyone knows it from every country. we were joking as we looked at the scenery and i was trying to figure out where everything was. i know i need to give it a rest. can you believe what i found out about the hobbit land area that still exists on some man's farm? apparently, he allows people to view it for around $50 and it's only the holes left in the hills with white boards left for where the hobbit's homes were. how sad! i guess he found his means of making a living. i heard there was even a minister in the NZ government for Lord of the Rings. that is crazy. here's the scoop on the rest of the movies filmed here... King Kong is being filmed by the same director as Lord of the Rings here in NZ right now just outside of Wellington. He also already has contracted to film the Hobbit here in NZ, too. (i'm glad about that!) i heard Last Samarai with Tom Cruise was actually filmed here in NZ too. as they say here, "oh there's just heaps of films here." every now and then, julie and i keep having to ask "what does that mean?" we just don't understand some of their words or expressions. the satellite tv here shows american tv shows. tonight we watched some of that as we tried to relax our muscles from the hike today. i still can't believe we did the grand canyon. the hike today was a bit like that except much shorter. it was the same rugged rocky trail that you hope your foot doesn't slip off of. we had talons on the bottom of our shoes for traction on the ice.

tomorrow, we get the bus to greymouth to meet Al and he's driving us back to Christchurch. i downloaded some pictures to a cd last night and after taking a break from seeing some of them, it was so awesome seeing the sites we have been blessed to see here. these places are truly breathtaking! the scenery is fantastic. today, i had to pinch myself when i saw a sign saying new zealand. it's still not real. neither does it seem real that we will be graduating in 15 days! julie pointed that out to me today!

On to Franz Glacier

Well, there are two major glaciers on the west coast of NZ that people see. one is called Fox glacier and the other is Franz Joseph glacier. they say Franz is more spectacular so our bus goes there. we are here right now and that's where i'm typing from. we are staying in a place called the Rain Forest Lodge. It really is the rainforest here. however, it's the most amazing thing to see a rainforest juxtaposed with a glacier running into it. who would think the two could go together with temperature and climate? it's cool here. it actually rained yesterday and they predicted rain for today, so julie and i postponed our half-day hike on the glacier until tomorrow (Friday). well, the weather was absolutely gorgeous today so we could have gone today. instead we took a day of rest around the town. we needed it. it was nice to sleep in. i'll have more news on it tomorrow after our hike. it should be great b/c we will hike up onto the glacier here. we are praying for great weather. it's really beautiful here! we will be in Franz for a total of three nights. tomorrow we are staying at the Glow Worm lodge just for a change. Then sat. we have bus tickets to get back to greymouth and meet Al for a ride back to Christchurch. the following day (Sun) we are heading up north i think to Kaikura. after seeing more places on the south island we take the ferry across to the north island including wellington, taupo,rotorua and back to auckland. we won't make the bay of isles, sadly. i just have to come back! i'm thankful we can do side trips from some of these cities to nearby places we should see, too, like we may go to Waikapo from Taupo. I also heard from Rotorua we should go to Mata Mata to see the "hobbit houses" from Lord of the Rings!! That would really be cool. they tore down all of the sets, except for this one b/c the local farmer asked for it to stay.

okay, i'll talk to you later! Thank you for your comments and emails! i love reading them!

The Kiwi Experience

Well, Julie and I left Christchurch aboard the Kiwi Experience bus which is a tour bus for younger backpacker types. Younger may be the key word. :) our bus started out with 15 people and we met up with the rest of the group in Greymouth on the west coast to make a total of 42 people.

The smaller bus ride was great. Al was our bus driver and Julie and I sat up front and talked to him most of the ride. I actually had to move up to the very front passenger seat just to his left since his driving seat is on the right. the mountain passes that we were going through made me get a little car sick, not too bad, though. Al is from the North Island around the Bay of Isles. He told me how NZ typically views Americans. He said that "americans are competitive and everything that goes along with that." i asked like how and he said, "read between the lines." interesting. actually, we are basically the only americans traveling here that we've seen. come on ya'll, come to NZ!!!! they watch our TV shows and even watched the whole election process live. can you believe it? they may know more about it than i do, given my previous med student schedule. Al then started talking about religion some, so i joined in the conversation and explained to him what all i believe. he claims to be agnostic and said he really has no need for it. he said he was really burned by hypocrisy in the church. i explained unfortunately everyone is human and he should really make the decision for himself and how it helps his life. i told him it was absolutely necessary for me to believe b/c i'm so in need of it. it has changed my life miraculously! we had a great time talking and then he offered to take julie and me back on saturday again on his way back from greymouth to christchurch and we can join up with another kiwi bus. he helped me change the schedule we were on so we could get more in on our trip with the limited time we have. i'm excited he helped me skip going back to queenstown. we spent a lot of time there and don't need to go back on the kiwi route, so he said we should just stay an extra night at franz glacier instead.

so, in greymouth we got dropped off and got on ginny's bus with everyone and had a good time getting to know each other that day and night. we went to some waterfalls (Punch Bowl) and did a hike up there. I walked next to a girl named Vivian from Manchester, England. Sure enough, she is 23 and wants to go to medical school, too. she asked me all about it and that was a great way of passing our time up the brutal mountain climb! it actually was raining lightly. the falls were awesome. we spent some time in greymouth before heading to Lake Mahanapua on the west coast. the west coast has gorgeous cliffs dropping off into the brilliant blue ocean. it is the rainforest area so there is often more rainfall.

ginny told all of us that we needed to shop a little for a mixer they were having that night for everyone to get to know each other. we had a theme party. it was "things that start with the letter P" party. so, people dressed up from everything to Pocahantus, Pinnochio, two peas in a pod, piper (an english homeless person), the two popes (one english and one swiss), pirates, pussy cats (julie and john), poet, and a pink angel (me).

we had a great time shopping hurriedly to find the supplies. i went into a toy store and with the advice of the toy store owner found the angel wings. i found a stethoscope and said i could be a pediatrician. she said i needed to let my hair down and be something else, especially if i was truly going to be a pediatrician this summer. so i let my hair down and became a pink angel. i saw a pink wig and tried to incorporate that, but decided not to.

we went to a place near lake mahanapua owned by a real new zealand older man. he does this everyday for groups and loves hosting the party. a lot of people on our trip are from england. this is where they travel, for sure. there are some from other places, too, like Denmark, Slovakia, Austria, Canada, Ireland, and Scotland. it's fabulous learning different things from these people. i'm learning a lot of expressions and phrases i have never heard in english from the brits. they speak really differently. julie has gotten to the point of writing them down b/c it's so funny.

before the party that night, we went to the beach and took pictures just at sunset. the coast was surrounded by truly green pastures with sheep on them and the sand was black. it was gorgeous!!!

so, Julie, Vivian and I decided to spice pictures up by making funny poses. we thought a picture with the sheep or running after them would be great. well, let's say i was the first one that started towards the sheep and i got a surprise! basically, as i started runnning towards the sheep i came to a quick halt and to my surprise i felt several shocks run down my leg. Yes, I ran into a fence made of three tiny red strings that send electrical shocks out to keep the sheep fenced in. thankfully, it didn't hurt, it just alarmed me. all i could do was yell, "i'm getting electricuted, i'm getting electricuted!" julie immediately burst into hysterical laughter. after realizing what was happening i jumped away, but i stayed there long enough to feel two good shocks.

note to self: don't ever chase sheep!!!!!

Christchurch

Hey again. I am now in Christchurch. today julie and i got on the intercity bus and rode to christchurch. it took most of the day. actually, the bus got delayed b/c of a huge 18 wheeler accident and one of our roads was closed. i didn't mind b/c we stopped in cute towns along the way and got to hang out at cafes and shops. at one point the funniest thing happened. we were sitting at the front of the bus making friends with the busdrivers. all of the sudden i looked up and thousands of sheep were all on the road heading towards us! yes, they just parted as we inched forward as if nothing was wrong or unusual about being on a highway. i think they purposely let them out every now and then to "mow" the grass along the roads. then at another stop while we were waiting for the road to open, there was an apple tree by the road. julie asked the bus driver if we could pick them. i confirmed with him that it wasn't illegal. he said of course we could pick them. so we proceeded to head over to the apple tree and julie climbed up in it to pick them. well, the trend caught on. there were then some women from china trying to climb up in the tree as well to get a free snack. they were gala apples! they came in handy on the long trip. our first bus driver was fun. we mentioned to him that just looking out of the window was like watching a movie, so it was entertaining. i told him that it's like i'm watching Lord of the Rings. he laughed and then proceeded to tell me every place we drove by that was the site of filming the movie! i loved it. for some real Lord of the Ring fans, or maybe obsessed fans, they have travel diaries in the stores here that have all of the places that they filmed it and then spaces next to it so you can journal your thoughts at each sight. no, i am not buying that!
i'm so excited, i finally found the perfect NZ t-shirt today! actually, i found two! i got them in christchurch tonight.
our second busdriver was hilarious. he was an older man and we spent the whole ride talking and telling jokes. we laughed a lot. i could only tell my one joke i remember from kindergarden. suprisingly he laughed really hard. :) julie told an aggie joke. i was like which one, there's 101 of them!
okay, well i'm glad i got to talk to momma today and wish her happy momma's day. happy mother's day to anyone else out there too!
we start our journey with kiwi experience tomorrow at 6:55 am.

Milford Sound

today we took a side excursion from Queenstown to go see Milford Sound. it was absolutely gorgeous. all along the way were green pastures with tons of white dots on the land... sheep! after a five hour drive we got there and got onto a boat to see the fiords. actually, milford is a fiord, but misnamed as a sound. a sound is a body of water created by a river and a fiord is a body of water created by a glacier. this one was by glaciers. we drove by a solid wall of mountains on either side of us. once we got to the water and on the boat, we rode out onto smooth water on a cold, sunny day. it was so majestic. we were completely surrounded by mountains that were in our face. they were big rocky mountains going straight up to the sky and we were on the calm water in between them. we headed through the area and saw a lonely seal perched up on a rock. there were so many areas to take pictures, b/c every angle was spectacular. we made friends with Angela, who is from Korea. she's also doing the Kiwi Experience, but we are going to different places tomorrow. she was so fun and learned quickly to expect silly pictures from us. i actually was very reminded of Alaska on the fiord trip then. even the land in this area looks like western canada or alaska. i guess it's like the earth's mirror image on the other pole. the main difference is the pasture land, it's just so green.
we are back in queenstown and tomorrow leave for Christchurch. then the next morning we'll head out with the Kiwi Experience group to do the south and north islands. somehow we'll do this even with our belated start by our end date May 21st. we were checking into leaving later, but i think maybe we shouldn't risk anything, since we do have to be back for graduation on the 28th.
i'm still searching for the perfect NZ t-shirt here. i found the best thing for mom! i'm trying to buy it tomorrow. as some of you know, she's always been known for looking like Wonder Woman. when she had long hair, especially. i always thought it would be cute to get her a wonder woman t-shirt. well, the name applies to what a great wonder woman she really is. she has an incredible testimony for the Lord and deserves the title. so, we walk by this store in queenstown and i stop and have to get it! it's a red t-shirt that has wonder woman on it and it says, "SUPER MUM!" isn't that awesome! :) i've been talking to store managers every day to get this. they are making me wait until after mother's day. so, yes, i will be at the store first thing monday morning 9am. i know, mom, you will not wear this in public, but you can at least have it and know you are Super Mum! Happy Mother's Day! I wish i could be there with you!

E for Effort!

Alright, we have made a few changes since we got here. we rented a campervan for two days and tried it out until absolutely enough signs or things went wrong to make it positively certain that we weren't supposed to be driving that. as you heard, i was thrown into the fire first by driving it 8 kilos b/c we didn't have julie's driver's license renewal yet. so to avoid $600 fine for expired driver's lisence, we opted for the "more reasonable route" --ME DRIVING. can you believe? i have never driven a standard stick shift in my life other than in a parking lot. i have never driven a large vehicle like a camper van and i have never driven on the left side of the road. after stalling out a few times and coming close to some near death experiences, we parked 8 kilos later and both loudly sighed with relief that it was over. then we got out of the car and noticed a strange smell of burned clutch or transmission or something. i guess it was good for my first time considering everything, right?

things progressively got worse. julie took over driving. she is used to a standard stick shift but in a car that is the size of a go cart, not a camper van. her hardest thing was dealing with the left side of the road. she has never driven mountains either.

just in time to boost our confidence for driving, our australian neighbors had to tell us a story to make us be careful b/c they heard about a group of tourists in a campervan who were looking up at scenery and got off the road and fell off the mountain and all died. my heart sank. i did not have a peace about her driving and for sure i wasn't going to.

then, as if our lack of confidence and complete fear of driving wasn't enough of a sign, we had TWO OBVIOUS INCIDENTS THAT PUT THE SUBJECT TO REST. we went to the grocery store and julie drove. i guess we both momentarily forgot that she was driving a camper van because we proceed to enter a parking garage until we hear a loud CRUNCH. yes, that was the top of the campervan being crunched into the roof of the parking garage. oh, is that why that sign is there that we saw afterwards, "absolutely no campervans in parking garage." hmm, a little late. common sense would have helped if we had it. we obviously were tired.

as soon as we finally get parked about 30 minutes later, we go into the store and julie is shaking. we already had purchased full coverage insurance so we knew we were not liable for the damages. thank you, Lord.

after our lengthy parking experience, we had to somehow get the thing out of the parking lot. well, these lovely people decided to help us guide the car back. i'm in front talking to julie about which direction to go. these people were behind helping, then we heard another CRUNCH. we were shocked. how did that happen? apparently, the people helping behind really weren't helping. what can you do? it was minor damage to the rear light, but still. we again were thankful the insurance covered it.

so, we went to plan B. it was time to get rid of the campervan and start over with another form of transportation. we went to the airport and talked to the campervan staff. i mentioned renting a car, but julie absolutely could not do the left side of the road driving. honestly, it was way too stressful just sitting in the car. i'm so thankful for the girl at that desk. she mentioned a way to go around new zealand called the Kiwi Experience. that's what we've been doing now. it's awesome. we get on buses that are organized for backpackers and they take us on a set tour. our tour will be for 14 days to see all the main places someone should see. we can sit back and relax in the bus and truly take in the scenery. we also have professional drivers. everything is so much better about this. plus, we are meeting really great people along the way.

The Luge down the Mountain

hey, i do have a prayer request: this time, i'm more sick. i did get a cold and i feel a little run down. i'm trying to not let it get me down b/c there's so much i have to do and see here. i would appreciate a miraculous recovery, though.

today, we slept in so we could catch up from the whirlwind past few days. then, we went to a nice cafe and had a latte and talked with the guys who worked there. they told me that a "southerly" is coming and that means the weather is going to change, i.e. rain here, colder, and snow on the mountains. well, it's night now and i don't think it came.

we are praying that won't happen, since we want to do the hot air balloon tomorrow morning for sunrise. sunrise here is 7:15am ish. it includes breakfast. it sounds awesome.

mom, we are not bungee jumping! don't worry. our neighbors, which are australian are adventurous and want us to paraglide off the mountain. the man is 53 years old and told me I HAD TO PARAGLIDE! he said it was the biggest buz of his life. he convinced his wife and other travel partners to do it. he keeps begging us to try it. he said there are no records of fatalities or emergency parachutes with this company. it's actually tandem and a guide is up there with you while he flies it.

we'll see, if the weather doesn't permit hot air ballooning, then maybe we'll paraglide. i just have to try at least one adventure thing up in the sky.

today, we did the LUGE down the mountain after taking the gondola up to the top and saw such an awesome view. the luge was so much fun. i sat in this cart thing and could control it by pulling on the handles to steer it or make it go faster or stop. i'm really glad we did it. everyone was having a great time and laughing as they went down the mountain. julie went ahead of me and i never saw her in sight.

we went to the grocery store and got dinner and made it. now we're back in the village just for a bit. we met a german guy tonight at dinner. he went to america and was really glad he went b/c he said most of germany doesn't like americans. he now likes americans. we all agreed that was the beauty of traveling and conquering any preconceived ideas.

Queenstown, NZ

Hey again. we had a great afternoon here in queenstown. it is a really nice, quaint resort sort of mountain town. actually, this is the "adventure capital of the world." so, we'll start out with the Luge tomorrow. we're taking the gondola up (we decided to wait) and then do the luge down. it will be so much fun and scary. i want to splurge for another adventure before we leave. my choices were paragliding off a mountain, skydiving, or riding in a hot air balloon. julie is hesitant to do the heights stuff with speed, so i think we can compromise and do the hot air balloon. it is a sunrise ride! so, we're going to stay another night tomorrow and do it early saturday am. tomorrow we're going to drive a short 20 kilos to Arrowhead and see Lake Hayes, famous for it's picturesque mirror lake and known for it's autumn leaves. we are truly seeing every shade of yellow and orange and red on the leaves. i bought a Lord of the Rings book today of all the places it was filmed so we can go see them. i also bought another NZ picture book so we can find the pretty places and go there. hey, that's the way i know how to go where.

well, julie tried driving a little and it freaked her out too. i kept screaming b/c she was going to the left and about to hit parked cars in town. i have to admit, driving on the highway wasn't that bad, but driving in town is too hard b/c of all of the weird ways to turn. trust me on that one. so we opted to park and walk the city today. the camp site is really not bad. last night we stayed in a hostel with people from scotland and colorado. fun! tonight we met families next to our campervan's spot and they are so nice too. everyone does this campervan thing here. the facilities are nice too. i was surprised. this is a first for both of us. tonight will be interesting. i hope we are warm. we have a heater. there is a huge lake here and we are surrounded by mountains. this town has a young adventurous spirit to it. tonight we even got free dinner by some place having a special. we're now going to download pics on to cd's. if i'm able to email it i will. we can't use snapfish here b/c there's no quickload upload tool. we'd have to do them one by one and it won't work with all of them.

i'm so excited we are finally here and living out our dream to come! we just met a girl from austin, texas who went to t.u. and is traveling here for 7 months! people are so lucky! i'm just thankful we have these two and a half weeks here!

NEW ZEALAND!!

hi i'm in new zealand!!!!!!!!!!
we arrived in auckland and just from the plane of even a city view i saw one of the most beautiful scenes in the world that i have ever seen. we spent one night there and may spend more time there at the end of the trip. we just had to deal with tons of errands and stuff and this morning we flew down to queenstown on the south island. right outside this town, a lot of Lord of the Rings was filmed here. i see it!!!! it's breathtaking. this is even more spectacular than auckland. there are tons of mountains around here some with lots of snow on them and others don't have snow yet. the trees here are totally autumn colors. it's so neat to really be in a fall season. i think we'll see four seasons after these two trips. the land is green, green, green! i love the green pastures. the weather is awesome, around the 50-60's. it's a beautiful blue sunny sky today. we are about to ride a gondola up the mountain to get a great view. we got our camper van and will be driving around everywhere now. i had to drive first b/c we had to go get julie's renewal for her expired driver's lisence off an internet place (that's why i'm typing now). i have never really driven standard outside of a parking lot, much less driven it on the left side of the road. talk about being thrown into it. i'm so, so sore from my back tensing up, but we made it 8 kilos with me driving a camper van, stick shift, on the left side of the road. wow! we totally prayed about that one. i'm turning the keys over to her. i can't stand it. it's hard and scary.

well gotta run, talk to you guys later. email me or comment and let me know how you are doing! this is truly SURREAL!

YOU HAVE TO COME HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It all went wrong in Hong Kong

i have to type fast, but here's the scoop.

we had a layover in hong kong for five hours. so we got off the plane and took a train into the city then a ferry across to an island and took lots of pics of the skyline. it's all so high tech and definitely not lacking in funds. it's very clean and sterile. it's like new york but more high tech. it's also kind of like san francisco b/c it's on a hilly island in the middle of the water. beautiful too!

okay, we made it back for our flight to aukland, NZ and had already checked our two suitcases from bangkok straight through to aukland. so we just had a huge backpack and smaller one to carry on in hong kong. well, as i try to go through the gate, a woman stops me and says my back pack won't fit in the over head compartment. i tried to nicely explain that it did in every other plane that is the same make and model of the one we're taking. she refused and showed me the dinky little basket that i was supposed to fit my bags in which were way smaller than the overhead space. so, then they told me to go check more bags in. julie was in the exact same boat. so, we go to check more stuff. they proceed to tell me it will be $250 U.S. !!!!!!!!!!! uhhm, hello, that is the price of another plane ticket somewhere. we had to pay supposedly b/c of the extra weight. of course we were overweight with luggage b/c we packed for a month in thailand and two different continents. we both hurredly realized we were about to miss our flight so we just scrambled sitting on the floor in front of the checkout desk with everyone standing in line behind watching us. we both silently prayed for a miracle. we needed everything to fit as carryon. they told us to throw away stuff. what was i supposed to throw away. so i started chunking shoes. good shoes! then i had a revelation!!!! i pulled out all of the clothes and yelled for julie to start putting on all of her clothes and i would too. we already had pants and a shirt on. well, we then had three more pairs of pants on top of that. we were standing there in a panic just putting clothes on top of clothes. julie stuffed more shirts in her sleeves! i have never done anything more ludicrous or hilarious in my entire life in an airport. i passed inspection and made it through the gate without having to throw anything away. wow!

we sat in the airplane hot as could be from all of our clothes we put on and had to take them all off and repack for our huge over head compartment space we had to put them in. a lady from NZ sat next to us. julie told her our story about the luggage. she said, she already knew b/c she sat there watching us. we made the biggest scene ever. note to self, don't ever go to hong kong airport again!

oh no, we have to go back through hong kong and do the same thing on our way home from new zealand. please pray that we can pull it off again.

The Tsunami disaster site

Wow, I think I spoke too soon on my last blog about the Tsunami. We were at the beach, Patong, which was hit but it already had so many repairs done that you could hardly tell. well, the next day we went to Kamala, the only muslim beach, and let me tell you it was wiped out! the entire valley was devastated. horrible. only buildings were standing as ruins or just concrete foundation. there wasn't any bad trash like you would expect b/c that had been cleared, but there were just piles of furniture, etc. from the inside of hotels. i stood in awe and amazement of the tragedy on the very sand where many people's lives were taken. it was very sobering. we saw military men camped out for the relief efforts. some people were still sitting in their shops just waiting for a visitor. no visitors were there, hardly. it was not a tourist site anymore. a lot of prayers need to be said still.

let me tell you what happened after i blogged last. i was sitting in phuket in the internet cafe and when i finished, a thai man asked me if i wanted to see a video that his friend had taped of the tsunami. i said yes, hesitatingly, but knew i should. he even sold it to me. which i do not condone profiting off of tragedy, but i knew it covered the costs for the cd. since i missed so much of the tv coverage, i wanted to truly see more of it to relate. i saw 10 seconds and that was more than i could bare. see, this lady's son was on a beach further down that was sticking out more in the water and it was hit first. he had time to call her on his cell and she was warned that it was headed to her beach. she then got her video camera and filmed it. i'd be running! i dont' know why she did that, but nevertheless, i saw the ocean slip back as if it was being swallowed and then i saw the huge tidal wave come. the next thing i saw was her camera moving everywhere as they were probably panicking and then i saw bodies floating every where in the water. that's all i could take. oh, it's so bad to think what they went through. do you know, the few people i've talked to are not shaken by it. they are very nonchalant and say it was just nature, what can you do about it. wow. maybe they are content in their reincarnation, but you'd think they'd still miss and mourn the loss of loved ones. i can't stereotype everyone, though. i will say i prayed so hard, that through this tragedy Christ will reveal more of Himself to these people. maybe they will experience Him as their Shelter or their Provider. they definitely have monetary and physical needs in addition to their spiritual needs.

we stayed in that internet cafe until 4 am. i couldn't believe it! when we were done, we decided to walk back to the hotel, but we were so tired we weren't thinking clearly. i asked a lady where hotel paradise was. julie, corrected me and said, no, hotel peace. what??? we finally laughed and realized our hotel was called graceland. thankfully, she directed us to this guy who gave us a ride on his motorcycle back to our hotel. the weird thing was everyone was sitting outside at 4 am eating dinner!! that's why we didn't realize what time it was.

i would love to share more about the tsunami with you later. it was an amazing experience to witness the site and prayer walk the area.

Motorcycles to Parasailing!!!!

Okay, today after lying by the pool for a long time watching the crystal clear water ahead of us, we noticed parasailers go by. it was on both of our minds to check it out. i've always wanted to do it but never have. i think i've put this pressure on myself that i have to do it in a really cool place to make it worthwhile. i think Phuket, Thailand counts! the price was incredible, so i signed up immediately for it. i watched the people lift off the sand and fly up in the air one by one to see if it was safe here. i totally agreed to do it when i realized a thai guy jumps on top and rides it with you. that way i didn't have to worry about steering it. i knew that could cause issues! :) i went first and then julie went after me. mom, i know you are saying, "my child..." it was awesome and maybe just a prep for what we can do in NZ. they have some serious adrenaline rush adventures in NZ like skydiving, riding in hot air balloons, and bungee jumping. hmmm, i'm excited to see...

it's all a faith walk for sure!

well, when we decided to parasail, we didn't have enough money on us, so the parasail guys offered to let us both go and then they would let us pay after we parasailed. they gave us a ride on their motorcycles to the hotel. the hotel was only four buildings away, so my rush on a motorcycle was short-lived. everyone rides motos here, even the nurses and nurse aids back at the clinic. i was even asked to go to one of the villages this past month with bruce on a motorcycle up a mountain. thankfully, we took the car. but we got a taste of it today. what a day! to finish off the night, we went around the island and ate in a village famous for seafood while you sit on the beach. we walked in the restaraunt and there were tanks of water filled with crabs and snappers. julie chose a blue crab and i chose a white snapper with ginger and coconut sauce. we literally saw our meal alive before it was sent to the kitchen. we even took pictures with our living food. once it was cooked it was awesome. oh, the thai waiters were hilarious! when i asked which of two items on the menu was the best, she just wrote both down and said, okay, thank you. uhh, language issues again! then we ordered dessert... and that was next to impossible. julie wanted a banana split but had to choose three types of ice cream. it took forever to find out how many scoops there were on it. finally, i mastered the technique of communicating!!!!!!! you don't pronounce things as you would as an american, but as a thai person would, then they can understand your english. for example, "VANILLA" was getting us no where. he could not figure out what we were talking about. finally i said, "WANILLA" and it worked!!!! he said, "oh, wanilla, okay." :) it's the cutest thing ever!

lo and behold, we sat next to a TEXAN! we haven't met any of those in Thailand thus far. he was actually working in Japan and on vacation down here.

it's been really special to be here as a tourist now after knowing how to speak some Thai and respect the cultures. it makes traveling here mean so much more. it's as if we are truly trying to invest in their lives and show meaning to our interactions with them while we are here. i'm so glad we do know some thai, it has really shocked several people here today and they have been smiling tons more!

tonight after dinner, we went to the area near our hotel which is really lit up at night with tons of shopping and restaurants. we walked around and met people from Portugal. the best way to communicate with them was in Spanish. that was awesome. here i am in Thailand, talking to Portuguese people in Spanish. crazy! actually one guy was a head of a hospital in Lisbon and we exchanged information, just in case one day maybe we'll go do medical work or a rotation there. You never know why we were supposed to meet them.

after that, i had to pull julie into a place where i heard one of my childhood favorites, "i love rock and roll." it was the most paradoxical experience! we dashed in and finished the song. i was actually up for kareoke, but i haven't seen any places. to my surprise, i looked around and realized the place was maybe irish and the singers were singing american music, but were Thai. everything about the place did not mix, yet it did! it was such a glimpse of how intertwined cultures are in the world and the ability to appreciate each other's cultures. if you closed your eyes, you might not notice anything different. well, maybe a tiny Thai accent. :)

a few days ago i never would have thought i'd be in phuket. i would have thought i'd be in laos. maybe laos can be for another trip. as for this trip, i'm so thankful for God's creativity in arranging our travel plans. NZ will totally be spontaneous. we literally are showing up and will just start driving around. i have a guide book and tips from people that will help. i'm so excited to be absolutely astonished at the beauty i'll see there. maybe i should say awe-stricken! i know it's going to be incredible! i pray we will have purpose there and glorify the Creator of the creation.

Definition of flexible: WE CHANGED PLANS

Hey there! Guess what, I'M STILL IN THAILAND!!! we just can't get enough! :) seriously, we had a change in plans at the last minute. we left chiang klang, the clinic we worked at on Saturday. We were supposed to fly from Nan to Bangkok and then to Laos. Yes, Laos, was the dangerous country I was asking you to pray about. Julie has a friend of a friend there. It's one of the darkest nations in Asia and is communist. needless to say, i had to hide my bible before we were going. i was a little scared about it but knew there was a reason we were going so i was okay with it. well, the Lord had other plans. our flight to take us to bangkok was three hours late, so we missed the connecting flight in bangkok and were not going to be in laos long enough to go an extra day late. so, i used my imagination, and came up with another plan. i'm so used to going down to plans "ghijklm..." in life, so we were there! no plan "a or b." as mindy and pan patiently waited with julie and me at the nan airport, we contacted julie's friend to see if she would be distraught that we weren't able to go b/c of the plane problems. she totally understood. then i asked if everyone would just hear my idea and see if it would work. i suggested to get a refund for the trip to laos and use that money towards another two day destination, i.e. why not the coast of thailand? we had already seen bangkok, so we didn't need to hang out there two days.

you will never believe where i am at the moment!!!!!! I am in Phuket, it's an island on the beautiful southern tip of thailand. does this sound familiar to you. i think you heard a lot about it these last four months in the news. YES, WE ARE WHERE THE TSUNAMI WAS!!!!

actually, it is surreal being here knowing what happened just a few months ago. i only suggested coming, b/c we've actually had several missionaries come down to help out recently and they said most everything was back to normal. i am absolutely honored to be where these people are down here. it is a very moving experience. i can't wait to share this history with you later. everything is fine here. tourists are back and you would never know it happened. i've seen only two buildings so far that are still messed up. we are being so careful to be sensitive to the people here in case anyone lost any loved ones. i've already talked to several store owners tonight who lost friends (families lost all at one time). it is absolute grace that i can be here and witness this. it was on my heart to come right after it happened. trust me, if we could find any relief workers here, we already said we'd rather be working to help them than use this as vacation. the problem is there aren't any that we can see so far today. so, we used the day to enjoy being finished with medical school. this trip is a blesing in disguise. this was not planned. but for all of you who know me, that shouldn't surprise you in the least. miss spontaneity at her finest! :) i absolutely love this island. the water is turquoise, the sand is white powder, and we are surrounded by small mountains. in each valley of the mountain is a beach village. we had the chance to ride in a tuk tuk through several villages today and see more of the island. God totally opened every door for us to come here. He gave us the flight and He found us a hotel with an appropriate name, "Graceland Resort." it is by His grace we can stay here. it is probably a four star, but the hotel isn't finished being constructed yet (it's brand new) so we got an amazing deal. Go God! He always gives the best!
we only have the weekend here, so we are using every hour here possible. i asked for the first flight in and the last flight out. we've met so many europeans here who vacation here. actually, God has blessed us b/c most of them have been to New Zealand and they are giving us great tips! We leave for NZ on May 3rd!!!!! We're leaving Phuket (pronounced Poo-get) tomorrow night! i have more to tell you about today and i'll blog it next!