More than surviving...

Oh how hard it is to write and choose what to write but I was thinking over what I wrote and realised there is so much more to it...

There was definitely an aspect through high school and into teachers college of surviving, taking one day at a time but not really living but there was more too.

God helped establish friendships and relationships and desires more strongly in me during this time.

In High School I had experiences with learning other languages (Japanese, Spanish and Maori) and interacting with a variety of cultures through the buddy system and the different nationalities represented at Orewa College.  These helped to establish that I really enjoy other cultures and learning languages even if I don't necessarily say I am very good at it.

Also at this time I had a idea that I couldn't go somewhere unless I was invited and my brother and other young people really liked and enjoyed spending time with a woman named Momma.  I was too shy and not happy to go as I hadn't been personally invited.  Momma (Margaret Hubbard) sort me out one day when I was working at Woolworths and invited me to come and spend some time with her and others at the house that she was renting at the time.  That was the start of a very influential and special friendship which continues today.

Also from a young age I wanted to be a teacher and I knew that teaching would work well into the call I felt to be a missionary so even though I didn't know how or if I would ever be able to go overseas as a missionary I continued to pursue what I thought was for me.

Another influence was Jeff and Ruth Auty - they are the first people in my life that I think I associated with being missionaries.  Their work overseas and their sharing of their knowledge and their mentoring of a group of young people helped to form in me a bigger picture of missions.

So during the time of surviving living each day (As in post 2) God was working establishing relationships, teaching me more about the grand scheme of missions and growing my view of the world as a mission field.

God is good...