Haere rā

Time sure does fly! And what better way to end the semester than with lots of celebrating?!

After returning from the West Coast, we celebrated Thanksgiving like the big happy family we've all become. Everyone contributed their favorite Thanksgiving dish to the feast. Emma (Staff) made her first Thanksgiving turkey! And Jacob's (Messiah) homemade strawberry ice cream, with strawberries straight from the garden, stole the show.

Top Left: Emma (Staff) our wonderful kitchen manager put on a great Thanksgiving feast!
Top Right: Everyone is seated and ready to eat!
Bottom Left: Toni (Westmont) is about to enjoy Jacob's amazing strawberry ice cream.
Bottom Right: You better believe we had plenty of leftovers!

For our final homemaking session of the year, Emma taught everyone how to concoct their own herbal remedies. We made lip balm, tooth whitener, massage creams, and body butters. Most of the ingredients came from our garden.

Emma teaches everyone to make herbal remedies.

Up on the housetop reindeer pause. Out jumps good old Santa Claus! Oh, the Christmas joys!

While sipping some peppermint hot chocolate and decorating christmas cookies, we pulled everyone out one by one for a special surprise in the other room: a visit from Santa! Pay no attention to the resemblance Santa has to Lisa Bond. We gathered together to see everyone's photo on Santa's lap and sang the 12 Kiwi Days of Christmas. It was just what we all needed to get into the holiday spirit!

Everyone got a chance to tell Santa what they want for Christmas. The elves sure have some work to do, arranging all of the pony deliveries that were requested!

 During debrief week we spent time remembering, reflecting, and thinking about returning home. We shared fond memories, had a "white possum" gift exchange, made timelines for the semester, and much more! It was great to have these special times together to begin the process of saying our goodbyes.

As part of our "reflecting" session, we mapped out the many memories of the semester on a timeline.

Tuesday, we went to Sawcut Gorge for one of the best hikes of the semester! We walked along the river to the gorge, splashed around in the water, and even saw a few eels!

Everyone had a great day on our hike to Sawcut Gorge.

 A night of celebration was our grand finale to the Fall 2012 semester. We headed to the beach for fish and chips and one last opportunity to soak in the beauty of Kaikoura's coast. Once we returned, we began "Celebration". Everyone came ready with a gift to share with the group. We shared photos, songs, videos, and special handmade gifts with one another. After sharing Communion with one another, we watched a semester slideshow and concluded the evening.

As part of Celebration, SLCs Caleb and Kristen arranged some memorable items specific to the semester in the classroom. The Amish ice cream maker, bicycle helmet, Rummikub, research nets, wool sweater, and Minties all scream, "CCSP NZ FALL 2012!"

After Celebration we stayed up late playing Celebrity and sharing photos. The next morning, with everyone packed and ready to go, we headed to the Christchurch airport to send everyone off . We hope nobody had to embark on an "unexpected journey" aboard Air New Zealand on their way home!

Photo from http://www.tntmagazine.com/news/weird/video-air-new-zealands-hobbit-safety-video-goes-viral

We hope you enjoyed your hobbit themed safety videos and had a safe journey back to your families!

It has been a wonderful past few months getting to know all of the students here and we will all look back on the Fall 2012 semester with fond memories. It has been a blessing to live in community with all of you! We wish you the best as you finish off your college careers and start your next adventures.

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever he may send you;

May he guide you through the wilderness, protect you in the storm;

May he bring you home rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you;

May he bring you home rejoicing, once again, into our doors.

Whekī or Kātote?

The words kahikatea, rimu, totara, katote, and toatoa would have sounded like nothing more than gibberish or words from a Maori waiata before Joe Sheldon arrived to teach Terrestrial Ecology. Over the past 2 weeks, we've spent a lot of time out in the New Zealand bush taking a closer look at the flora and fauna that inhabit it. Early Monday morning we loaded up the vans and headed to the west coast for our big terrestrial adventure.

With the help of Joe and our forest savvy staff, the students were able to develop a lens to look at the forest more clearly. We learned about birds, trees, lichens, mosses, and more. From the pancake rocks at Punakaiki, to the Franz Josef Glacier and Rowi kiwis, to the enormous boulders of Castle Hill, we saw a number of the amazing sights that New Zealand's South Island has to offer!

Students kept a field notebook throughout the course detailing what they saw and learned about each day. This came in handy in order to study for the field identification exam. It was also an important tool when it came time to do research projects. Split into four groups, students chose various projects to complete over the course of two days while we stayed in Arthur's Pass. Projects ranged from bird surveying, epiphyte and understory growth comparisons between forests, and studying macroinvertebrates. 

Everyone worked hard, but there was plenty of time for fun too! In Hokitika we were just in time to get free ice cream from the Tip Top ice cream delivery truck at New World. Long car rides created the perfect conditions to make silly music videos. We had a fun night of fondu and sleeping bag  themed games to celebrate Mieke's birthday. And last, but not least, our visit to Castle Hill, the filming site of the final battle in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, was the perfect time to recreate some classic scenes. Check it out!

Getting our Feet Wet with Ecology

We've had an action-packed week of Marine Ecology, the first component of the three week course New Zealand Ecosystems. Complete with one early morning of Dolphin Encounter, four days of tide pooling, a dozen blue penguins, 13 pairs of gum boots, and one awesome Westmont professor, the week was the perfect recipe for learning about and experiencing some amazing marine creatures.

We were able to find some amazing nudibranchs and sea slugs, lots of beautiful sea anemones, colorful sea stars, and even got up close and personal with an octopus (all pictured in the collage below)! Swimming with the dusky dolphins was quite literally a "breathtaking" experience, as we plunged into the frigid water early one morning (the rough sea conditions also made it "breakfast-taking" for some). They were pretty impressive to see up close and personal. We also got to take a closer look at many kinds of algae in the tide pools. Algae may sound boring, but the variety of shapes, textures, and sizes they come in proves otherwise. Below you can see Jacob holding a large piece of bull kelp. We went tide pooling at a number of sites in all sorts of weather, and even got to learn about and see the little blue penguins nesting under the Coastguard building. All in all, a very busy, but amazing week!

Just a small look into our amazing week!

"Marine Ecology was a blast. It was so great to learn by escaping the classroom to enter the world of tide pools. Beth Horvath is the greatest professor you could ask for, being so passionate about what she's teaching. It was a crazy week with absolutely no free time, but it was well worth it! Swimming with wild dolphins was the icing on the cake to an already awesome week!"

-Toni Erickson, Westmont

For Homemaking this week, Kathy Chirnside tuaght us how to make ginger beer. She explained how to make and take care of the "bug" and gave us the recipe for the drink. We bottled it all up in used soda bottles we'd been saving for the occasion. Wait two weeks, and voila! Delicious drinks await!

Kathy Chirnside shows us how to make ginger beer. Important ingredients? The "bug", ginger, sugar, lemons, and water. Pretty simple!

The Fantastic Family Feast!

Most of the CCSP whanau with Loren and Mary Ruth Wilkinson after our family feast

God and Nature has come to a close. To sum up all they have learned these past two weeks, students completed various projects. The students were split into groups and completed a BioBlitz, art project or family meal. For the BioBlitz, students had to identify and learn about as many plants in our yard as possible, then take us on an educational tour. Melissa (Westmont) shared a little about her involvement with the project:

"As I was doing the research for the project, I was definitely interested in the plants. I like learning things; I enjoy it. Even so, though, that was all I really had: knowledge. I had developed a liking toward the plants, but there was nothing in my being really tying me to them. It was only after spending hours outside with them, touching them, seeing them, still armed with my knowledge, that my liking grew into love."

-Melissa, Westmont

The art group was encouraged to look at nature in a new way by presenting it artistically. 

Top Left: Sylvia (Calvin) shows a photo slideshow. Bottom Left: Sylvia (Calvin) talks about her pieces made from willow branches. Right: Courtnay (Staff), Jacob (Messiah), Daniel (Staff), and Mieke (Calvin) looking at Sarah's (Biola) project

"I really appreciated the comprehensive and holistic nature of the class. As we studied how the Bible talks about the entire creation and then looked at ways to live out a biblical perspective on creation care, I felt like what we learned was directly applicational. Because of that, the class was actually inspiring. For the final project where I made an art piece, I was able to tie in themes of not only this class but the last couple of classes we’ve had. My goal was to symbolize the importance of us humans delighting in the creation around us, for its functionality, beauty, and most importantly intrinsic value of it attributed by God."

-Sarah, Biola

The group making the family meal had to get as many local ingredients as possible, plan the meal, and prepare the food for all 25 of us. Matt went spear fishing throughout the week, we got some wild boar meat from Pastor Brent, lots of local veggies, and lavender honey-flavored ice cream, thanks to our garden.

Left: Jacob (Messiah) making ice cream for dessert. Middle: Matt (Messiah) preparing the fish he caught for dinner. Right: Mieke making wild boar meatballs. Yum!

"Through the process of this project, I really learned respect for the people who not only grow my food, but all of the people it takes to get that food from the seedling in the ground and onto my plate so that I can eat it. I had a really great time prepping for the meal, especially stopping at the Stoney Creek Fruit and Vege stand and talking with the owner. It was really great to be able to have a conversation with someone who had actually grown my food and be able to learn more about how that food was grown. Although the actual preparation of the meal got really stressful at times, I had a lot of fun planning and actually cooking the food with my team members. Overall, I felt that the God and Nature course really helped me gain appreciation and thankfulness, not only for the food that I eat, but also for all aspects of God’s Creation."

- Mieke Dykhouse

Our meal was complete with fancy place cards, menus, a presentation about where our food came from, and new napkin rings from Loren Wilkinson!

Everyone did a great job. Thanks to all the students for sharing your hard work with us!

Happy Halloween!

On Wednesday night we had a Halloween party. We had some great costumes turn up for the occasion!

After being broken into 4 teams, we competed in 3 challenges for a bag of Minties, a highly coveted NZ candy in the Old Convent community. 

The first challenge was the Minties challenge. Wrapped Minties candies were tied to a string. Contestants were blindfolded and had to be the first to locate, unwrap, swallow, and yell the slogan of the candy. This proved to be a little challenging and completely hilarious. Sam (Eastern) uploaded a video of the nonsense to Facebook at this link: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151161091632897

Row 1: Agatha got into the spirit of things! Legolas (Melissa, Westmont) made his 3rd appearance this semester and went hunting for peacocks (Toni, Westmont)
Row 2: Students competing in the Minties challenge. Jemaine (Kristen, Staff) and Brett (Sarah, Biola) from Flight of the Conchords showed up to the party!
Row 3: Jacob (Messiah) dressed up as his roommate Matt (Messiah). We went bobbing for apples. Scuba Steve (Tyler, Messiah) came most prepared for this challenge!
Row 4: Caleb (Staff) dressed up as Batman, while roommates Kris (Messiah) and Allie (Wheaton) came dressed as Russell and Mr. Hendrickson from the movie Up.

The next challenge was a nontraditional Jack-o-lantern contest. Each time had a different item of produce and had 15 minutes to create something. We had a pomegranate, pumpkin, pineapple, and swede. Everyone got to vote for their favorite carving. "Swede As", the pig carved from a swede, won this round.

Top Left: Two Face the pomegranate
Top Right: Timmy the pineapple hedgehog came in a close second
Bottom Left: "Swede As" the pig carved from a swede won this round!
Bottom Right: A Maori pumpkin, complete with waka and taiaha

For the final round, we went bobbing for apples. Some got a little more wet than others, but everyone who tried succeeded in retrieving their apple eventually!

As a bonus question, teams were asked to answer what vegetable was used as the original Jack-o-lantern. Amazingly, 3 groups gave the correct answer: a turnip.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Pasta, Scales, and Little Lamb Tails

Mangiamo!

This past Tuesday, God & Nature professor Loren Wilkinson taught us how to make pasta from scratch.

First, Loren explained to everyone how you must get the right mixture of flour and eggs blended together. After that, we started flattening out the dough by hand, and then through the roller.

Loren (Proffesor) shows Kris (Messiah), Allie (Wheaton), Sylvia (Calvin), and Mieke (Calvin) how to pass the pasta dough through the roller

We continued passing the sheets of dough through the roller multiple times, each time making the opening smaller for the dough to pass through. This makes the sheet thinner and thinner. After passing each sheet through, we hung them so that they wouldn't stick to themselves or each other. It's great to have someone tall around for this, like Mieke!

Mieke (Calvin) hanging the pasta sheets

Once the sheets of pasta were the appropriate thickness, we put the cutters on the roller. Depending on the piece you choose, the pasta will be different widths. We used two different ones, allowing us to make linguini and spaghetti.

Sylvia (Calvin) and Allie (Wheaton) making spaghetti

And voila! You have your flattened and cut pasta.

Loren and Mary Ruth cooked the pasta for us for dinner. They dressed the linguini up with a coconut crayfish sauce (thanks for the crayfish, Caleb!) and left the spaghetti plain for us to choose our own toppings. The meal was fantastic!

The coconut crayfish pasta was great. Thanks Loren and Mary Ruth!

As the weather has warmed up even more, the ocean has been becoming more and more inviting to divers. Staff and students have been hopping in to harvest some fresh food. Matt has been trying to catch as many fish as he can for our family feast this coming Friday. The meal serves as a project for God and Nature, where some students will have to find and prepare local food for everyone. 

Top Left: Jacob (Messiah) and Caleb (Staff) show off their fresh catch
Top Right: Daniel (Staff) ready for a dive
Bottom Left: We'll have lots of wrass this Friday at our family feast!
Bottom Right: Matt (Messiah) shows off his paua and wrass

Many students were keen to spend Wednesday afternoon lending a hand at the Topps' sheep farm. Some students helped Brian collect manure for the gardens on campus, and others had the chance to help with lamb "tailing" and herd marking. Did you know that sheep are born with tails? They're removed at a young age to keep them clean and healthy. You can keep this in your arsenal of random facts for the next family party; the holidays are coming after all!

Top Left: Sam (Eastern) with the disinfectant spray for the tails
Top Right: Betsy (Messiah) helps Kevin Topp with the lambs
Bottom Left: Daniel (Staff), Jacob (Messiah), and Caleb (Messiah) packing down the manure
Bottom Right: Jacob (Messiah) finishes off his hard work with a game of tennis with Sandy Topp

We All Scream for Ice Cream!

We welcome Loren and Mary Ruth Wilkonsin to the Old Convent for God and Nature! How could you not welcome professors who bring you an Amish ice cream maker?! 

This week for our homemaking session, the Wilkinsons offered to show us how to make ice cream. Despite the warm weather we've been having, we finished it all off before it even had a chance to melt. The flavor on the menu: citrus mint!

Left: Melissa (Westmont) helps Mary Ruth prepare the ice cream to be churned.
Right: Jacob (Messiah) holds down the ice cream maker as Matt (Messiah) cranks the handle to churn it.

Brian, Caleb, and Daniel (Staff) enjoying the ice cream we made.

Other highlights this week? 

We celebrated our beloved kitchen manager Emma's birthday, complete with an eel card. Emma's loves eels! Caleb (Staff) and I (Kristen, Staff) took over making lunch, dinner, and dessert to give Emma a well-deserved day off.

We enjoyed a lovely weekend here in Kaikoura. The warm temperature gave the feeling of a summer day, and everyone took the opportunity to get outside! A group of girls decided to spend an hour horseback riding through the bush on Saturday.

Betsy snaps a photo of Sam (Eastern) riding along the Kowhai River

God and Nature will continue next week, and students will delve deeper into what it means for Christians to care for God's Creation.

Term Break

Everyone is back at the Old Convent from their term breaks. As a group, we covered a lot of ground! Most of us explored Aotearoa, while 4 travelled to Australia. Here's an inside look at two amazing trips the students embarked on!

Jacob (Messiah) out for a surf

Team Snorkel!

Tyler Burns, Jacob Reisler, Kris Kline, Betsy Seigendall (All from Messiah College)

"For term break, we first headed south to head north. After a freezing, sleepless night in Christchurch airport, we flew to Auckland and drove way up to the top of the north island to the town of Whangerei. We stayed with the most accommodating, kind family in New Zealand as they housed, fed, shuttled, and gave us plenty of ideas on how to spend our week. After catching up on sleep, we explored the town and did some souvenir shopping. After dropping by the huge Kauri trees, we spent a day learning to surf on homemade boards (by a family friend of our hosts)–we even all stood up by the end of the day! The next day we caught a boat and snorkeled in the Poor Knights Islands, New Zealand's first marine reserve. We also stopped by The Kiwi House where we spotted New Zealand's most famous bird, and took pictures at the beautiful Whangerei Falls. Finally, we started the long trek home, which included a night of card games and way too much Dominos Pizza. It was a great week for sure!"

-Kris Kline, Messiah '13

  

Top Left: Team Snorkel! Jacob, Tyler, Betsy, and Kris (Messiah)
Bottom Left: Betsy and Jacob spend a day at work with their ophthalmologist host

Right: Betsy, Jacob, Tyler, and Kris at Whangerei Falls 

Party wave! The whole gang hangs 10!

Matt (Messiah) and AJ (Messiah) decided to spend their term break in Australia. They headed to Sydney and got to see the sights. From there, they left for Cairns to snorkel at the Great Barrier Reef and zip line through the Daintree Rain Forest.

Top Left: Matt and AJ standing in front of the Sydney harbor bridge.

Top Right: The Sydney Harbor Bridge and Opera house at night.

Bottom Left: Sydney Opera House

Bottom Center: Matt and AJ visit the Opera house at night.

Bottom Right: Matt feeding a kangaroo at the Kola Zoo in Kuranda.

We are happy to have everyone back with us and to hear about all of their memory-making adventures!

Ra Whanau Ki A Koe

We have had wave after wave of birthdays rolling in on the calendar! Since the start of the semester, we have already celebrated 5 brilliant birthdays. Here's a recap of the shenanigans that have ensued.

First up, our beloved Program Director Courtnay! We celebrated her birthday with an evening of world trivia. Students and staff were divided into four teams, representing 4 countries that Courtnay has lived and worked in: Canada, Japan, Belize, and New Zealand. CCSP alum Scott and Robin joined in too. Teams got very creative in dressing according to their country of origin!

Top Left: Team Japan, including sumo wrestlers, bonsai, sushi, and a Japanese tourist.
Top Right: Team Canada! Lumberjacks, mounties, hockey players, and bears! Oh my!
Bottom Left: Team New Zealand, complete with a birder, rugby player, sheep farmer, Legolas, and sheep.
Bottom Right: Team Belize contestants dressed as an orange, jaguar, tourist, and toucan, proudly displaying their flag.

The following day, we celebrated Kris's 21st birthday. Kris (Messiah) loves The Princess Bride, so we planned a party accordingly. After ice cream pie, 21 shots of milk (Kris LOVES milk), and a short game, we watched The Princess Bride...audience involvement style! Everyone got a list of things to do when prompted by the movie, like yelling, "Aaaaaaas youuuuu wiiiiiiish!" whenever Westley says it, booing Prince Humperdinck as he enters a scene, and throwing paper "boulders" at one another when Fezzik throws them at Westley.

Kris conquers her 21 shots of milk

Next up, Toni! Toni (Westmont) absolutely adores the color pink. We threw her a dance party, where everyone had to dress in as much pink as possible. We started off with a game of limbo and then danced the night away with DJ Scott. Caleb even taught us all to Dougie.

Toni and her 3 delicious cheesecakes

We all donned our cloaks, wizard hats, wings, other wear in celebration of Melissa's Lord of the Rings themed birthday. Melissa (Westmont) is a big Lord of the Rings fan. Split into two teams, students and staff competed for the glory of victory...and ginger beer! Teams versed one other in battles of wit and athleticism. The first challenge was a series of riddles from The Hobbit. Sam (Eastern), with her extensive Lord of the Rings knowledge, posed some tough competition for Melissa's team. Allie (staff) put up a good fight, and it ended up being pretty close! Melissa's team was victorious overall, winning the next two challenges. The second challenge was archery. Each team member had one shot to land their arrow in one of three rings of varying points. Last, teams had to embark on a quest to find and destroy the Ring of Power. They were given Lord of the Rings themed clues to go from station to station, find the "ring," and burn it in the flames of Mount Doom (a fire in the yard). Following the games were a pretty sweet as photo shoot, some hobbit dancing, and making a Middle Earth themed commercial for Bundaberg.

Top Left: Hobbitses Sarah (Biola), Matt (Messiah), and Kristen (Staff)
Bottom Left: Shelob (Kris, Messiah) attacks Frodo (Matt, Messiah)!
Right: Our birthday girl, dressed as her favorite character Legolas

A good-looking bunch if I ever saw one! 

Members of the Fellowship traveled far and wide especially for Melissa's birthday!
Jacob (Messiah), Melissa (Westmont), Matt (Messiah), and Tyler (Messiah)

Jacob's birthday was next (Messiah). We had carrot cake and played "pin the skis on the Jacob" before he and the other men headed off for a weekend hiking trip; All favorites of this Vermonter!

Jacob (Messiah) poses with "himself" after our game of "pin the skis on the Jacob." Jacob's hand-decorated birthday cakes, made by Caleb.

All of the men at Kevin Topps' hut during their hiking trip

Interested in learning how to sing "Happy Birthday to You" in Maori? Listen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3p9vhe_Xbo

"Enter the Duckness"

We enjoyed having John Dennison with us this past week for Environmental Literature. He encouraged us to try to interpret nature, rather than to simply describe it. Students worked in groups to write poems, focusing on this goal. Rather than coming across as a human trapped in a chicken's body, Melissa (Westmont), Betsy (Messiah), and Sarah (Biola) wrote the following poem to embrace and convey the chickenness of the chicken:

The Convent Chickens

The warm light ball is here

We sit and wait

Done

head….foot…head…foot

head, he, heaaaaad. foot.

Here come the freedom stealers

Like a tree, with naked wings, and the inner beat.

head. foot. head. foot!

What will it be?

Nibbles or taking my shelled chicks?

Peck, Peck. Head…foot. oh! a squirmy…peck. mmm. peck

We'll give the odd one a bad time

Peck…Peck…peck, peck, peck.

head…foot…head…foot…head…foot

For homemaking this week, Courtnay taught us some crocheting techniques. Some (including myself) were learning for the first time, while others took on the challenge of learning more advanced "granny squares." You will find a flurry of yarn and hooks at the Old Convent if you take a look around.

Allie (Wheaton) volunteered to cook us an amazing Moroccan stew for dinner on Wednesday. Everyone, including the Chirnsides, Allie's homestay family and guests of the evening, enjoyed the meal.

John has had a part in helping to organize a Christian environmental conference called "Lament, Hope, Action" held in Wellington this past weekend. Courtnay was able to attend the conference, hosted by A Rocha, the Otago University Centre for Theology and Public Issues, and Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand (the Catholic social justice agency). Towards the end of the week, John organized a service of lament for us to take part in. It was a time to reflect on the harm we've caused the environment, realizing the consequences of our actions, and inviting God to work in restoring the creation.

On Friday afternoon, the CureKids challenge stopped in Kaikoura. Sam (Eastern), the Tui, and I (Kristen, Staff), the kiwi, welcomed and assisted 35 teams of competitors dressed as such ridiculous things as smurfs, inmates, Shrek, cows, and superheroes. The participants were all part of a three-day contest to raise money for children with life-threatening illnesses, traveling from Auckland to Queenstown on $10 and completing challenges along the way. Sam and I instructed the teams how to complete the craft challenge and ended up judging who the winners were. It was a lot of fun and heartening to see those involved to support the cause.  The Flight of the Conchords conducted interviews with children about how we can raise money for the sick children, and arranged their responses into a kiwi star-studded fund-raising song. Check it out!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca4ty7tz9x0

Kristen (Staff) and Sam (Eastern) pose with competitors in the CureKids challenge dressed as nuns. The closest we've seen to real nuns since we started living in an old convent!

We ended the week with a night of poetry and prose readings and charades! The room was filled with an air of mirth as we watched one another act out the mannerisms of scorpions and snails. John put on a good show for everyone, including a particularly exquisite impersonation of a prairie dog.

We welcome Pauline Stevick to Kaikoura for next week's Environmental Lit II course. While we muse about Dickinson, Wordsworth, and Thoreau, we'll also be getting ready for to depart for our adventures during the close and coming Term Break!

Baking and Breaking Bread

If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.

                

-Robert Browning

This week's homemaking session: Breads and Spreads. The kitchen was filled to the brim with bakers. Emma supplied everyone with ingredients and recipes for cornbread, pretzels, cheesy garlic bread, and any other carbohydrate-filled dream our hearts desired. Compensating for a portion of the calorie intake, we shook up some cream into butter. Courtnay also whipped up a sweet and delicious lemon curd. There was more than enough to go around at dinner!

The bustling kitchen during our "Breads & Spreads" homemaking session

Top Left: Courtnay (Staff) and Allie (Wheaton) present their completed loaf of bread. Top Right: Mieke (Calvin) and Sylvia (Calvin) present their finished batch of butter. Bottom Left: Tyler (Messiah) and Kris (Messiah) with their cheesy garlic bread fresh out of the oven. Bottom Right: Betsy (Messiah) with her finished cornbread, perfect to accompany our chili at dinner.

We had Mick Duncan back this week for the second half of Sustainable Communitiy Development. Mick focused more on application and "take home strategies" for students as they return to their school and home communities in December. Students found his message convicting and empowering. 

Matt Hui (Messiah, '13) described his experience as follows:

“Mick was an inspiring professor. His stories challenged, but also encouraged, me in my walk with God. He taught me that sustainable community development is a lifestyle that anyone can and should participate in. After taking his class, I am more aware of Jesus' heart for the poor and inclined to come alongside those who need love most.”

There and Back Again

The journey to Wellington began bright and early on Sunday morning. We packed our belongings, lunches, and bodies into the vans, and headed to Picton for the ferry. Everyone got creative with keeping themselves busy during our 3-4 hour ferry ride to Wellington. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking. Many of us were able to see lots of new species of birds, including a white capped mollymawk (type of medium-sized albatross).

Top left: Students doing the "cool guy stretch" after our 2 hour car ride to Picton. Bottom left and right: Students and staff invented games to pass the time, including the exciting "hop on the yellow markers" game.

Upon arriving in Wellington, we were welcomed to the marae named Te Kakano o Te Aroha. We split up into two groups to attend two different church services that evening. Everyone thought the worship and sermons were great from the services they attended and were delighted to see how many young adults were in attendance. 

We had speakers come to the marae and also traveled into Wellington and around Lower Hutt to hear from individuals involved in local community development efforts. Everyone enjoyed visiting Billy Graham's boxing gym, where local boys are able to have free boxing lessons, form relationships, and build character. A few other noteworthy visits were with Ray Wallace, the mayor of Lower Hutt, to Te Papa, the national museum, and a tour of parliament, known as "The Beehive." Students also had time to explore the city of Wellington in smaller groups.

Midway through the week, students had an overnight experience with Urban Vision. They were split into smaller groups and distributed amongst various houses and flats that are part of the order. The community living experience and mission of this group left them all wanting more, and really left an impression on the students.

Top Left: Our group at Billy Graham's boxing gym in Naenae. Top Right: We visited the roastery for the fair trade coffee company named Peoples Coffee. Bottom Left: Tea time with Lower Hutt City mayor Ray Wallace. Bottom Right: While exploring Wellington, students were drawn in to the action of the Rugby World Cup sculpture.

On Thursday morning, we all headed off to Ngatiawa, the retreat center for Urban Vision. Before lunch, we all took part in various service projects in the gardens. From turning over soil, to running new irrigation lines, our small group made a big difference which was much appreciated. We also took part in community prayer, meals, and even a tea party. It was great to learn more about their community style of living and be part of it, if only for a short time.

Everyone got their hands dirty and broke a sweat helping out in the gardens at Ngatiawa .

Friday was a free day, and most students opted to travel into Wellington for the day. Despite a trip planned to spend the day on Kapiti Island for some being cancelled, 7 of us were able to see some really amazing birds at Zealandia. This mazing refuge tucked right in to the city of Wellington houses some birds extinct to the mainland. You couldn't take 5 steps without seeing a tui and we were even lucky enough to see a saddleback!

Students enjoying the sights and sounds of Zealandia. Top right: Saddleback, extinct to the mainland. Middle right: Tui. Bottom right: Takahe.

We made it back to Kaikoura just in time for the welcome home street party for the Huttons Shearwater. Kaikoura is this bird's last nesting site in the world. A large part of our group even walked in the parade. Welcome home birds!

Students and staff welcome home the Huttons Shearwater to Kaikoura.