update seven: ticking along....

....(13 hours ahead!)

It's all been quiet on the (extremely south) western front here... well apart from more noticeboards! so the photo above this week is a rather gratiutous one of my lovely family back home who recently sent me a great package containing a cadburys creme egg (my all time favourite!) and a packet of mini eggs (my all-time second favourite (yes Easter is a happy occasion for many reasons on my calendar!))

from l-r : sis (the lovely rachey), me, (me) dad ( Jaoow), mum (Mrs Grace Bates), and bro (rod-er-ney.)

Well, another week, another scintillating round-up from Rangiora... yes yes, the highlight of your week I know... simmer down now,... (certainly the highlight of mine (and sadly that last comment was not made in jest...!)

Ive added little gizmo to my site which you should see flashing away in the side bar....... it tells the time and temp in ChCh (general rule of thumb,...add a couple of degrees celsius on for Rangiora as we tend to be quite a bit warmer here-something scientific to do with the mountains!!)

It's probably beginning to dawn on you that there really is not much to report this week! Well apart from a lovely fun dinner with Alexandrea and Paul and Gwendolyn (they are so fab!) where Paul shared his inspiring story of his arrival in London 'sans-very-much-at-all' and how God came through each time he was on the wire! Some unprompted encouragements I REALLY needed to hear so that was great!

Also I have been asked by a lovely couple at church, Jacqui and Paul to help them out with their Silver Wedding Party in a few weeks.... great to get my hand back in with this area but whilst I really enjoy it and am keen to show people what can be done on a budget, it has made me realise that working on such events is perhaps not my big dream after all..!

I mentioned noticeboards earlier...(and no.. they're not my big dream either!) Warning: people who are not fully signed up members of 'Noticeboards Anonymous', you can skip to the next paragraph!

I'm now working on the one in the Parish Hall which is the main one seen by non-church users (ie line dance class attendees and the like (Laura they need you!)) Whilst taking down the current info today (see photo: above), I came across an info sheet from the AWA (Anglican Womens Association) An extract from which, read as follows.....

"This year we have a very interesting programme.... At one of our meetings Sister Annette will join us and help us with the church linen which needs cleaning and ironing.

I think Ive just lost the will to live.

More generally speaking, Im eventually getting to grips with the accent ('ixccent') Simeon and I entertain ourselves for hours by getting each other to repeat certain words in our respective accents (ixxcents) Im always right of course (well I DO speak the Queens english and its everyone else who has the ixxcent)

Kiwis may as well be speaking Klingon sometimes though with their heavy (hivy) accents (ixxcents.... OK I'll stop now)

Exhibit A

I remember my first week here (all those years ago....) I was just heading out for my first trip into Christchurch, and I asked Christine for a few tips on what to see..... Cathedral Square featured highly and as well as the (rather obvious) must-see of the Cathedral, this included the sculpture of (and I quote) The "Cellist" , a landmark of Christchurch....

A little while later, fresh of the bus I found myself in the square by the cathedral (looked like a typical parish church to me!) and so after a polite look around that I headed to the sculpture.... now pause a minute to look at the photo...

Can you see how this depicts a 'cellist'!?.......

....No. nor could I, but I spent a good (and very determined) half an hour walking round it, standing back, moving closer, squinting at it through half closed eyes... etc etc- perhaps it was a particularly abstract pretentious 'interpretation'...

Eventually I rather grudgingly admitted defeat and resorted to my trusty 'AA Essential guide to NZ' for the explanation......

'........oooh...... a "CHALICE"!!!!!'

drat.

Exhibit B

I was helping Christine to sort the angel costumes for the pagaent....

me: "can you pass me a pin please Christine..."

Christine: "a pin or a pin?"

me: "err" (silently ...EH!!??) "..a pin!?"

Christine: "a PIN pin?"

me: (beginning plot how I could begin to back away slowly whilst making no sudden movements....) "um yes a pin"

Christine: "so you want this (holding up a pin) not this" (holding up a pen!!!)

aha!

and herein lies the fundamental flaw with the (otherwise fab!) kiwi accent..... the 'e' in any word is replaced by an 'i' sound but the 'i' in any word remains as an 'i'. So for example 'Les' becomes 'Liz' but 'Liz' remains as 'Liz' so 'Liz' could be 'Les' or 'Liz' and you don't know until the rather ambiguously-named person turns up, whether you are about the meet a 'Liz' or a 'Les'..... (a rather irreverent but practical thought has just occurred to me that this could potentially prove very useful for any guys called Les out here planning a sex change).

On that rather unfortunately seedy note ......I'll say goodbye! (I warned you there was no real news this week!) hope you're all well... would really would love to hear all your news too!

cx

ps just want to clarify that any emails you send me will go directly to my private email address as normal and will not be published for all to see on this site as some have feared!!!)

update six: a grand day out...

Jessica (back) and Emma (front)

hello, just thought I'd share some pics from our day out with Jessica and Emma (her little sister) it went so well and it was such a joy to take out two such beautiful and special little girls and spoil them rotton!

We just laughed all day, even though the 'long hot summer' broke for the day into downpours on and off - typical!

The funniest moment came on the way back to Rangiora as we drove into a garage after the car started making funny noises; as Chris and I looked under the car (not sure what I was looking for..... dead possum or something I suppose!Chris spotted a load of liquid dripping round all the mudguards and the tyres were all wet, fearing a petrol leak or worse she grabbed the nearest useful looking person- a handily-close man in a boilersuit who ran the tyre centre there.

After a lengthy explanation of the situation and examination of the leak with much concern all round, he looked at both of us and said (in the cheery but pitying manner that only Kiwi's have mastered.......) "er....tyres are all wet because you've just driven through that big puddle over there...."

we followed his gaze along the length of the wet tyre marks from the roadside across the garage forecourt leading all the way from our car back to the rather waterlogged kerb.....

oh.

On to other news... well I have been very busy whilst the family are away on hols, starting in earnest on projects around the church.... first things first.. the noticeboards! Hold onto your hats!!!

Seriously though, This kind of thing is where my passions lie.... I think this is important, its the face of the church... the only 'window' that so many people using or passing the building see into the church and currently whilst there IS a lot of good stuff happening at the church, the face they are showing to the outside world perhaps suggests otherwise.

I was exploring Kaiapoi (the neighbouring town) the other day and came across a local guide in the Tourist Info office. Turns out that St John's Church is in a lot of the guidebooks as Rangiora's main attraction!! (no comment) The building IS beautiful and is one of the oldest buildings in the area, built only five years after the first settlers arrived in the Canterbury region, and also it lays claim to being one of the largest of Canterbury's numerous wooden churches.....

...anyway so I reckon that a few tourists may well come this way and I think its a crime that they come and find a tired, old-fashioned and seemingly unloved church. (think Vicar of Dibley territory,and double it then add five)

It's tricky working with so few resources, I think I took what I had for granted at HTB, they are very blessed there. Everything takes twenty-times as long as I have to keep stopping to go and find what I need, buy it , or -more likely- improvise!) Today I spent half an hour wrestling with a dodgy stapler, I never realised that its possible to fully staple your finger to a noticeboard.. but believe me it is!! I thought for a while I was going to become a permanent fixture on the new display... Consequently I am typing this with one hand (so good news for the slower readers amongst us....)

I realise I'm making this out to be Third World stuff, of course its not at all, a million miles from that! Its just that in the areas I'm working on, nothing has been touched for years (if ever) and it all needs to be started from scratch. That's something I always wished for when I was churning out the same old stuff that had been happening for years at HTB so moral of this story is... 'be careful what you wish for!!!' (p.s. I thrive on it really!)

Other excitements of the week (are you sitting comfortable on the edge of your seats?) I got a phonecall from my friend Jarrod who's just arrived back in NZ, how lovely to hear a friendly, familiar voice and talk about familiar things and know that they're not on the other side of the planet! Can't wait to meet up with him and Debra soon and their new son Levi!

Also my flatlining social life will experience a significant, but highly positive, blip tomorrow night as I head off to Alexandrea and Paul's for dinner!! yey!

thats all for now! Oh just one more thing.... it's been 39 DEGREES here today.. yes I know you've probably had the same temperature but Im talking celsius not fahrenheit...(don't be cross)

and email with all your new year's news! I'd LOVE to hear it! If you cant email via this blog then just use my normal email.. all goes to the same place!

Charlotte x

ps I'd love to commend to you a fab talk you can download off the 'plumbline ministries' link on this page.... It's called 'Surrendered to Love' and whilst the title may well want to make you vomit, as it did me, the story itself is absolutely mindblowing! Something I certainly aspire to!

update five:

new year... new priorities

I took myself off to Rangiora Races this weekend... the jockeys dont sit on the horses but behind them in strange buggy contraption things... all very odd!

WELCOME BACK TO WORK!!! (BOO!) just hope the District Line is working for those of you who that matters for on a Monday Morning!!

Im going to rather cheekily kick off this time with a couple of prayer requests for those of you praying for me......

Prayer request 1) update on Jessica ....... Chris, the lady who runs the childrens choir called me the other day and asked if I would be free to help her take out a few of the girls from the choir for a day (to get them off their parents hands as it is the long summer hols here!!) now that was a complete answer to prayer as I had been thinking a lot about Jessica and how I would love to get to know her more and encourage her but felt I wasn't in a position to as didnt know her parents at all etc etc so could hardly turn up as a random (& foreign!) stranger on their doorstep and ask to if I could take her out! Anyway so now I get the chance to! hurray! please pray that it does all work out so we can take them out for a day trip.... it would be so fab to get the chance to spend some time with her and the other girls, a lot of whom also come from difficult backgrounds......to begin to develop a real friendship and trust so I can truely get alongside her. God really has given me such a heart for her (Ouch!)

Jessica came bounding up to me at one of the pageant rehearsals before Christmas, seemingly really pleased to see me after my trip away which was nice...... I was having a rotten day feeling VERY sorry for myself (I have mastered that particular art to perfection!) she sat by me all through rehearsals and at one point turned to me and said bluntly 'You smell just like my mum who's been dead for two years.' This threw me into silent but total panic that my personal hygiene habits needed a more than radical overhaul.. ) however panic swiftly abated as she then went on to ask what perfume I wore (phew!) Anyway it led into me being able to chat to her about her family....so Im really glad I smell like her dead mum.

Prayer request 2) a job!!!! (still!) its just not happening! I have decided to concentrate on the Rangiora area (I have a heart for the place now!- that in itself is surely a modern day miracle!) but it really limits me.. My CV doesnt really qualify me for a future in dairy farming or irrigation or the like! God's going to have to pull something out of the bag here!!! There is SO much to do at the church and that is my first priority but its a voluntary role and to enable me to get lots done there Im going to have to get a local job. Andrew and Christine are being massively generous in their hospitality here but I would love to be able to give them a little rent (for my own sake as well as theirs!). Anyway, I knew when I came that I was not coming to make my fortune(!) and that God knows what i need here and He WILL provide if this is where I am meant to be! From past experience it's often been eleventh hour stuff anyway!

That's been one of the best bits about stepping out of my comfort zone... waiting to see how God is going to get us out of THIS one.. a bit like a scene from a James Bond Movie when you KNOW that Bond ("Oh James"!) is going to end up on a boat with a lovely lady sailing off into the sunset but current circumstances , as hes backed into a corner, perhaps suggest otherwise!

It was scary going from having a regular wage and (whilst never being rich!) not having to think or worry about the rent or giving a thought to buying a coffee or newspaper etc, as money was due in the bank month in month out.

Since July (my last paycheck!) I HAVE been provided for incredibly, its come from anonymous or other gifts or rebates from previous bills. One example.... The day after I quit my job back in May I booked a MUCH needed holiday costing 150pounds (no pound sign on NZ keyboards!) with my brother. I really hesitated before quitting my job that particular day (as we were planning to book this holiday!) and subsequently then on booking the holiday (as I had just quit my job!) then the very next day I get a cheque from someone I had done a tiny bit of voluntary work for (my cost for that had totalled about 20pounds) the enclosed letter said the cheque was to cover costs and a 'little bit' extra... the total...?? 150pounds!!!!

The night before I gave up my job I was in bed feeling awful about life and just crying out to God asking him why wasnt He doing anything.... the answer came.... ' I WANT to do things but you have to make the first move...' (hence the quitting the job thing which was long overdue but was my comfort zone). Since then the holiday money story has been repeated (in slightly different ways) over and over again, a cheque dropped though my parents letterbox for me to use "as you feel God leads you", (after a good cry about how wonderful it was, that went on my NZ visa!) , someone giving me a leaving gift which went on my digital camera, one of my most favourite possessions that gives me so much pleasure(and without which I fear my blog would be rather dull!).... I also got a rebate on my London house bills the very day I had to pay my travel insurance.. guess what? the cheque was for the exact amount of the insurance!! I could go on and on....

these are merely financial examples... the point is not that I dont ever need to work again as God keeps giving me free money... though if thats your will Lord then I completely and humbly submit to it ;) ... but rather that it wasnt until I got to the end of myself (I was trying to cling onto my 'safe life' however miserable- but simply could stand it no longer) that He was able to begin blessing me so outrageously! ("Wake up O sleeper and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you :Ephesians 5:14- that verse came to me time and time again when I was in London feeling that life had reached a complete dead end)

I made the decision before Christmas to stay here for now (incidently the same day my friend rachel did her bungee jump so that evening in Queenstown we celebrated taking the plunge in more ways than one!) and so cancelled my return ticket.. so really feel I want to give this a go. -that this is where I should be.

Waking up on Boxing Day it was like I had turned a corner and whilst circumstances havent changed I have perhaps come to a recognition that there is a vast element of choice as to how I approach this and in response, my choice is to roll up my sleeves and get stuck in! Whilst being here almost feels like Im putting my life on hold in so many areas (career, marriage potential!) etc etc, I am also experiencing a sense of freedom and 'joy' that I never have had before, I think that comes from simply being where I'm called to be for now.

It's dancing with Him but not knowing the next step so He leads and I simply have to submit and follow and its exhillarating but also scary and not necessarily as glamourous as Strictly Come Dancing! but I wouldnt have it any other way, to go back to how I was living before would be a deadening blow to my soul. (I dont want to be sitting on the sidelines wistfully watching others dance!)

I've had a few thoughts and dreams about initiatives I could get going here but thats all they are at the mo, there is just SO much to do but I need to offer them to God and see if He agrees! We'll see.

What I do know is that whilst Im lonely here its a different type of loneliness than I was experiencing in London- its not a miserable loneliness...hanging over me even though I was surrounded by people and friends... more merely circumstantial - just a case of not having anyone to hang out with and share stuff with. Nothing more than that!

Ive actually started talking to the cats....which is perhaps a bit premature given my age but good preparation for my future potential career as a crazy spinster! I think I need some friends and quickly, problem is the lack of people here my age and unmarried so I can make friends to a point but no one that I can call up and hang out with...and no one that calls me as first port of call... Im coping possibly because Im quite a loner at heart and can do stuff on my own and I have been, but there are limits! Also, being female I have to be sensible about what I can do... ie no overnight tramping/camping on my own which I would love to do... Its frustrating!

anyway, this weekend was quite exciting for whilst I won nothing at the races I made a new friend! Alexandrea is a cousin of Steph King (for those of you not from Camberley, Steph is a lovely lady from my family church in Camberley!), Steph put us in touch after realising I was moving to the exact same random part of the world that Alexandrea had moved to a few months before from California along with her husband Paul and young daughter Gwendoline.....

We had coffee on Saturday morning (pic taken on self timer so forgive the rather fixed facial expressions!) and it was really fun! Gwendoline (3) very solomnly asked me where all my friends were... I told her that that's something Ive been asking myself a lot recently(!) but that I was enjoying the chance to make new ones with her and her mum!! They were completely lovely and am very much looking forward to meeting up with her and her husband Paul again soon!!

Anyway that's enough news for now Im sure! speaking of news... there was a piece on tonight's bulletin about Prince William starting at Sandhurst... they showed a few pics.... very strange to see a familiar Camberley landmark in my lounge thousands of miles from home!!

lots of love!