A day in the life of... Amanda

Sooty the Third

2010-01-13T12:30:00.008+13:00

I can't believe its been almost 3 months since my last blog...

Anyway, I've moved up to Auckland and I begin my new appointment at Auckland Bridge tomorrow...

I've also got a new 11 week old baby boy who I've named 'Sooty the third' - he was born a day before my other 'Sooty' died so I feel blessed to have this little sweetie...

Tribute to Sooty

2009-10-27T09:31:00.004+13:00

R.I.P. - Sooty

September 1993 - 24th October 2009

Sooty was full of character -

affectionate and loving,

playful (he loved boxes),
cute and loved (and he knew it!),

mischievious and funny...

But most of all,

he was my allie when the world was against me,

everywhere I went he would follow,

and I will never forget him...

and I will always love him....

Goodbye Sooty... sleep well until we meet again...

Australia vs New Zealand

2009-10-07T07:24:00.004+13:00

I had the privilege of going to an international rugby game at the cake tin on

Saturday, 19th September...

It was All Blacks vs Wallabies and it was an exciting game...

Our seats were really good and we got to enjoy Corey Jane scoring a try

right in front of us...
There was quite a few of us that went together - the atmosphere was good
until people drank too much...

but over all the drinking, we had an awesome time and

I would go again if there was another game...

Parachute roadshow

2009-09-07T19:32:00.002+12:00

I had an exciting night out the other night at the Parachute roadshow, featuring

Rapture Ruckus, Julia Grace and the Parachute band...

Below is me, some of the cadets and some of BCM youth waiting for

the fire truck to give us the all clear to go back inside...

yes, you got it.... the good old smoke machine does it again...

This is me and Juanita chilling out at the concert...
It was a great night and Rapture Ruckus was awesome - he is so much better live!!!

The Down hill slide

2009-07-27T10:21:00.005+12:00

I'm now halfway through year 2 of officership training, which means it's a downhill slide from here - this year is going really fast!

Anyways, I thought I'd share some photos from our mission weekend we had at Levin a month or so ago...

This is me showing the Levin kids on Sunday morning how to fit

your whole body through an A4 piece of paper....

Mission impossible kids story...

This is the second photo Sarah has taken of me eating 2 cheeseburgers together.... We all enjoyed some lunch at Maccas....

When we weren't doing mission, we mucked around in the Levin playground - some of us adults had just as much fun as the kids....
This is the youth event we ran at Levin on Saturday night - we played old school youth group games and the youth loved it - I drove home a van load of youth on Saturday night who were just so buzzing over the night they had....

My new Nephew

2009-05-29T16:02:00.004+12:00

Well, it's been a few weeks since I updated my blog so I thought I would

renew my blog with pictures of my new nephew "Caden"...

Caden is my brother, Matthew's son and he looks like his father too....
I had the privilege of having quite a few cuddles with Caden
and he is really cute...

Below is a photo of our whole family together which doesn't happen often...

This photo was taken at Taj's birthday party on 2nd May....

In the photo from the left is:

Deonie (my sister) and her husband Conrad,

me & my 3 month old nephew Caden,

my nephew Taj (Conrad & Deonie's son), mum & Dad,

Matthew (my brother) and his girlfriend, Nicole (Caden's mum)

EASTER CAMP WAS AWESOME!!!

2009-04-17T17:50:00.008+12:00

A few of us cadets had the privilege of going to Easter Camp last weekend and we had an awesome time...

This is Kylie, Sarah and myself at Rotorua airport
This is all of us at Wellington Airport getting ready to board our flight to RotoVegas...

This is Kylie and myself at Maccas...

This is self explanatory as is the next photo...

We had a great time and the laughter was never ending....

Here are some hi-lights below:

Amanda gets married....

2009-04-01T15:17:00.005+13:00

Are you in a state of shock????

Don't worry, we didn't actually get married - we had ceremonies class and Geoffrey and myself were the unlucky ones that got picked to practise a marriage ceremony on...

So meet Amanda Hugandkiss and Jack anjil Hill...

This is my bridesmaid, Lusi Intheskywithdiamonds and the bestman was Pati toomuch...

and meet Amanda Hugandkiss's mother Roberta Hugandkiss - isn't she beautiful...

Our officiating minister was Commissioner Van Van...

This was a lot of fun and it was hilarious... we wrote our own vows and had the congregation in fits of laughter....

CHURCH AT THE BEACH...

2009-02-11T07:13:00.003+13:00

My mission placement for 2009 is Miramar and so my first day at Miramar Corps was church at the beach - Worser Bay...

I took Nilla and Olwin with me so they could get a feel of how different NZ Corps are and also a chance for them to have a swim at a NZ beach...

But as you can see, although it was a scorching hot day, the water was freezing but we did go swimming...

I am joined by Hana (below), a first year cadet, at my mission placement this year and she has two boys, James (below) and Ashley...
The kids had a treasure hunt in the ocean, which was a lot of fun and the adults had great fellowship and a time of worship on the beach...

January 2009 activities

2009-01-28T17:03:00.003+13:00

Even though we've all been working very hard, we have still found time to have some fun!

Phillipa and myself had the awesome opportunity to take our new friends out sightseeing in Wellington this week...

Our new friends are Olwin and Nilla from Indonesia and they will be studying with us this year...

We went sightseeing and then we took them tenpin bowling, which they had never done before and they enjoyed it alot - along with Shawna and Talei...

Back at College for 2009

2009-01-12T12:49:00.003+13:00

Well Christmas and new years is over and it's back to college life - it's pretty quiet down here though and I've been suffering from the flu but I had a great holiday...

It was a fun Christmas day with my family and I enjoyed watching my nephew Taj open his presents...
My parents and myself had the great privilege of visiting Tiri tiri matangi island, which is a bird sanctuary and got to enjoy the flourishing Saddleback that were everywhere in the bush...
We got to meet Greg, the Takahe, who is huge and likes to steal your lunch - naughty boy!

And we also got to enjoy the Hihi (stitchbird), which was also flourishing on the island and everywhere in the bush.

I had a great and relaxing holiday and look forward to seeing what God has in store for me this year...

I'll keep you all posted...

Christmas is nearly here....

2008-12-16T10:13:00.004+13:00

This is the last week at college until I return home for Christmas so I thought I would update my blog.

This has been a busy month and among other things, we were involved in running a Christmas Concert for our Upper Hutt primary kids.

Here I am below getting them excited and dancing to Superhero... (the kids at the front with me are my Bible in School kids)

We performed a play which was based on 'Sticky TV's Sticky I' solving the mystery of where the baby King was - below is Shaun who fell out of the time machine...
Here I am again, pretending to be the star who kept running away from the Sticky I presenters...
And finally, we have just finished Commissioning weekend and it was a real privilege to watch Kylie and Stu get commissioned...

So this is me signing out for the year so my next blog update will probably be in the new year - it's been a great year and I have enjoyed every moment of it - although it has gone too fast...

I wish you all a merry Christmas and a safe new year....

SCHOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER

2008-11-24T08:25:00.005+13:00

I have finished all my assignments and exams for the rest of the year - yay!

The next 4 weeks is going to be filled with cleaning houses for next year's intake, Christmas concerts & celebrations and preparation for preaching in January...

Last Thursday we ventured out to Laserstrike to celebrate a year well done...

We had a great lunch there and great fun....

Some of us a little more serious about laserstrike than others...

But we had a lot of fun... especially Sammy!

Upper Hutt Mission Weekend

2008-10-13T10:03:00.004+13:00

We had a mission weekend last weekend and my leadership role for the whole weekend was really looking after the kids. I took 15 kids to the pools on the Saturday morning and we all had a great time.

Then on Sunday morning, I was involved in the leadership of the Sunday kids church at Upper Hutt Salvation Army which was also a lot of fun - we had a great time grooving to Jesus you're my superhero!
Then on Sunday afternoon, we all had to get dolled up for Andrew & Rochelle's wedding, which was a really good wedding...
As you can see at the reception - the chocolate fountain was flowing...
My job after the reception was to clean this fountain, which was not easy but I found that pouring hot water into it made really good hot chocolate...

TIME OUT WITH THE KIDS

2008-10-02T16:38:00.003+13:00

It's been first year review this week so all the kids from last year are staying on campus as well as the Tongs and the Toganivalus'.

All the girls put on a show by the flag pole, dancing to High School Musical on their MP3 player so they invited me to dance with them...
It was great to let my hair down and have some fun with the kids...
It's been great having kids on campus again and I'm looking forward to next year when the new cadets move into college with all their kids - it will be a noisy, fun place!

FURTHER UPDATES

2008-09-12T16:20:00.004+12:00

I'm running out of pictures to use because all I'm doing at the moment is studying so I'll use some random ones...

Twice a month we share a community meal at Booth College of Mission and we get the privilege of doing all the dishes after it but I'm not complaining because it was a free meal...
Last week, Upper Hutt had it's Spring Festival so all the streets were blocked with markets and rides and all sorts of fun...
This is the Hutt River, which is just 5 minutes down the road from where I live - isn't it beautiful...
I love the Upper Hutt City Logo because I really do think it's a great place to live...

So there are my random pictures - life is going so fast down here - it's already September and not far to Christmas.

Study is going well and sermonising is going well - there is going to be another mission weekend at the beginning of October so will have more pictures then...

Even though Upper Hutt is a great place to live, I still miss West Auckland and everyone up there...

Life in the past few weeks

2008-08-14T16:43:00.005+12:00

I had a great time out at Masterton a few weeks ago, helping to paint the house that Stu & Kylie want to turn into a community ministries and corps. It's always good catching up with the Tongs.

I've had a busy time down here in the last few weeks with organising leads, preaches & assignments but it was great to catch up with some of the Faith Factory family last week when they attended the Leadership Jesus way conference. Upper Hutt even put snow on the mountains for them...

Amanda's little holiday

2008-07-21T10:26:00.004+12:00

Kidz Matter 2 us rainbow disco - the kids were having a great time dancing.

My first look at Ano & Falute's new baby boy - Victory!
I had a great time playing with my nephew Taj and will miss him heaps...
I will especially miss my cuddles with my cat 'sooty'...

I'm back at college after a 2 week break, which seemed to fly past too fast!

I had a great time catching up with family and friends when I was in Auckland but it wasn't long enough.

It was great coming back to the Faith Factory for Sunday services and seeing good changes and lots of new people.

I look forward to coming back at Christmas time to see how different it is then too.

On the friday, before I left, I went along to Kidz Matter 2 Us kindy rainbow disco, which was a lot of fun and I have included some of those pictures up above.

Taranaki Mission Weekend

2008-06-16T17:04:00.005+12:00

This photo was taken from my host's kitchen window - spectacular.
This is the marae that we beautified
This was the Corps Social - a lot of fun...
This was the Sunday service drama
This is all of us and our friends from Stratford Corps

We had an awesome time in Taranaki at Stratford Corps... we had great fun on the drive up and back and we had a great time with our hosts, where we were billeted out to, although they hardly saw us because we were on the go...

We started at the Marae early on Saturday morning with the powhiri and then got straight into beautifying the marae and getting to know the marae folk.

On Saturday night we ran a social for the Corps folk and had great fun with game shows such as "Are you smarter than an officer?", "the big quiz" and "the generation game" and of course, my team won.

On Sunday, we ran the meeting and had a very powerful drama with monologues of Salvationists from 100 years ago to today and then the corps put on a great feed for us.

Then it was time for us to go home...

But we got to know the Stratford folk and they are a great bunch of passionate people, young and old with a fantastic corps officer who visited the Faith Factory a few weeks ago - Major Maureen Ashton.

It was a blast and none of us will ever forget the people there and their loving hospitality...

Brrrrrrh!!!

2008-05-12T16:10:00.001+12:00

I say brrrrrh! it's cold down here...

there must be some snow in the atmosphere

I say oh-e-o-e-o ice, ice, ice, ice....

(that's my little cheer from "Bring it on")

It's only May and it's freezing!!!!

I'm an Aucklander and I need to harden up!!!

BOOTH COLLEGE OF MISSION SPORTS FLOP

2008-04-28T16:25:00.007+12:00

BCM made it to Taupo to compete in the North Island Salvation Army's Sports day.

We managed to get together 2 teams, who both played in the amateur league. Our teams were called the "All Booths" and "Booth's Army" - I was in Booth's Army.

We played Netball...
We played soccer...
We played touch rugby and volley ball too...
But my team, Booth's Army came very last out of 41 teams and we won the wooden spoon.
Oh well, at least we brought home a trophy!

Freedom Congress in Dunedin

2008-04-09T15:06:00.004+12:00

Well, all us cadets went to Dunedin last weekend to celebrate 125 years since the Salvation Army was established in NZ and it was a very fun weekend...

We all got to know each other very well and had some great laughs - my fijian friend Pati carried one of the motel's flanels with him wherever he went as his handkerchief, which I thought was very funny so I managed to sneak a few photos of him with his flanel...

As you can see below, he gave me a wave with the flanel during the march...

Another laugh all weekend was the fact the men had to wear their caps so I decided to wear a cap too and I must say, the girls look better in the caps than the guys do....

During the weekend, we had the chance to wave our flags but I decided it looked better as headgear - could be a new uniform look...
Below are some photos taken during our march in the main street of Dunedin - of course BCM and cadets are at the back of the march with the double decker bus...

I got to catch up with Neil & Gill and also Nigel, Christine & Joseph and Craig & Amie while I was down in Dunedin so that was great...

Isn't Joseph cute....

It was a lot of fun and I managed to stay awake and even make it to the Youth meetings at night which were a blast...

However, this week I am very tired and finding myself taking nana naps in the afternoon when I should be studying....

Easter Weekend

2008-03-24T17:46:00.004+13:00

The Cadets and BCM staff were in charge of running Easter services at Wellington South Salvation Army.

We were split into 2 groups, 1 group in charge of Friday and 1 group in charge of Sunday... I was in the Friday group with Rob, Sammy & Lusi.

We decided to make the service like a funeral - we carried in two pieces of a cross at the beginning to the Passion of the Christ soundtrack and nailed it together up the front of the church - it was very powerful (see above picture)

All the cadets also did a powerful creative performance to an Easter song on the Friday.

At the end of the Easter Friday service, I led the procession (cross bearers) out the door and on a public street march - that was great.

Easter Sunday was a cool service too, with Dale & Philippa dressing up as the women from Israel declaring that the tomb was empty - it was funny - they came running in during a congregational song and interrupted it by yelling "Come and see, the tomb is empty!" and all of the cadets ran out of church after them. The congregation was left wondering what the heck is going on - it was fun. On Monday, I went back to Karori Wildlife sanctury for the day and had a great day exploring and finding all sorts of endangered creatures - as you see the tuatara up above - completely wild just sitting there when I walked past.
This little fella is the rare North Island Robin and they are lovely and not shy at all - I had a lot of encounters with these guys because they like to follow you on the track so they can get the bugs from the path we disturb - except this little guy above who was very interested in my drink bottle as he had a little poke at it.
And yes, these are ducks - the rare brown teal - and they are thriving in Karori
And this is a beautiful black shag who decided to put on a glorious display just for me or maybe he was telling me to go away - anyway I enjoyed his display.
I am always amazed everytime I visit Karori - it's like stepping back into NZ bush 200 years ago - the sounds and sights of the birds are fantastic - you will never see or hear anything like this in the native bush nowadays.

Anyway, I had a great Easter and I hope you all had a great Easter too.

The Prayer Warriors

2008-03-14T13:30:00.003+13:00

Notice how everyone is wearing an apron except for me
The Prayer warriors serving our BCM community (apart from Shaun - who is taking the photo)
Sammy making her kissy face

Below: Murray (the cook) made the mistake of showing me where the lollies are kept

If you haven't caught on - my session's name is "Prayer Warriors" and there are 10 people in my session.

2 of my session mates are based in Auckland, and 8 of us are based at the college.

It has now been 3 weeks since I started college and I am enjoying it so much.

My favourite classes have been "Interpreting the Bible for ministry", which is just so interesting and has so changed the way I look at the Bible, and the other class I love is "Discovering the old testament" because I love history.

I haven't started prison ministry or Religious education in schools yet so I'm sure I will enjoy that as well - I start prison ministry this Sunday afternoon so that will be interesting.

My session has been having a blast getting to know one another and having fun together. We had our first spiritual day (which is a day focused on worship) yesterday (Thursday) and we had a great time setting up and cleaning up for the community lunch - as you can see from the photos.

I really want to say I am homesick but I still haven't got to that stage yet - I'm just having such a blast.

However, in saying that, I do miss my friends at the Faith Factory and wish they could be part of the fun.

The Welcome

2008-03-05T19:01:00.003+13:00

It was the official welcome last Sunday night and my parents and friends came down to celebrate it with me.

It was a very special night but I was drained of energy on Monday morning and I had to say goodbye to my friends and parents.

But it was great to see everybody and no doubt I will catch up with others during this year.

My first Week of classes

2008-02-27T20:06:00.009+13:00

Well, I began my first week of classes this week and it has been information overload but I'm enjoying it...

We began the week with a Maori welcome and official pinning of our sessions banner, which I had the privilege of pinning...

Our session name is "Prayer Warriors" so I was very proud to have been asked to pin the banner on the flag...

I've had a fun week of orientation and on Monday night, us girls went out and celebrated Alison's birthday (Gloria Hobb's niece) and when I got home very late, the moon was out looking very spectacular so I tried to take a photo of it but as you can see, it just looks like a little dot - it actually looked more spectacular that this photo...

As I was taking a photo, my rowdy girlfriends drove past my unit and all yelled out "Cheese" so I took a photo of them as you can see below... I'm sure they'll be very pleased I have published them on my blog...

AND A BIG THANK YOU TO THE FAITH FACTORY FOR MY BEAUTIFUL AND MOST PERFECT GIFT THAT WAS DELIVERED ON MY FIRST DAY OF CLASSES - I WAS VERY IMPRESSED THAT MY GIFT BASKET WAS FILLED WITH DIET COKE CANS - SO THANK YOU SO MUCH FAITH FACTORY FAMILY - I MISS YOU HEAPS!!!

A week of sight seeing

2008-02-21T18:43:00.013+13:00

I've had an exciting week...

I've been up to Pukaha wildlife reserve up at Mt Bruce and have seen some very big eels get fed as well as the native Kaka (kind of like the Kea)...

Anyone, who knows me well, knows I have a love for birds and especially native NZ birds so it has been such a thrill for me to get up close to these beautiful native birds...

Then I had the awesome opportunity to go to Karori wildlife reserve in the middle of Wellington. This park is amazing, it is in the middle of the city and it is like walking into NZ bush 200 years ago - all the bush is like it once was and there is a great number of native birds thriving in this bush that you would not see in the wild any longer. I walked for a good 3 hours in that bush and heard the beautiful birdsongs of the bellbird, hihi, saddleback, kaka, North Island Robin, Grey warbler, Whitehead, Weka, tomtit, tui, fantail, etc... it was amazing as I have never heard this in my lifetime before because our forests just don't have these birds anymore... I even got to see some of these birds sitting in the trees - in the wild - truly amazing. I don't know if you can see him, but below is a photo of the North Island Robin - he is very little and was very close but he blends well into the bush. I was so impressed with this place, I brought a membership...
I've been to Castle point, a quaint wee place in the Wairarapa with a lighthouse and an awesome beach...

I went to Masterton and spent a day with the Tong Family, who are doing very well... It was great catching up with them and spending some time with them...

I'm still not done sightseeing yet - I plan to go up to Kaitoke national park for a tramp and view the place where they filmed the scene of "Rivendell" in Lord of the Rings.

School starts next week for me so I'm going to try and get as much as I can in before I get really busy...

Amanda's little herb & vege garden

2008-02-13T15:16:00.000+13:00

I'm all settled into my little unit in Upper Hutt.

I noticed that there is a little garden out the back that has been - say about 4 years - let go so there are a lot of weeds and dried up dirt.

I decided, with the permission of BCM, to weed the garden and dig it up.

After turning the dirt over, I planted a lot of herbs because I love cooking with herbs and a few vegetables (the ones I use a lot, like red capsicums, spring onions, bok choy, spinach, carrots, cherry tomatoes, etc...)

So my herb & vege garden is complete, now I am just waiting on the sun and my watering can to do it's work. Hopefully my little garden will save me money.

Amanda has finally reached BCM

2008-02-07T16:36:00.000+13:00

I arrived at BCM on Monday, 4th Feb with my parents, who drove a van full of all my stuff.

I am in Unit 4 at the college - a cosy 2 bedroom unit.

We unpacked and set up late Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday.

My parents left early Wednesday morning and I finally completed my set up.

It's been a little strange sitting in my unit thinking about where I was last week and where I am now.

I have had a few moments of feeling a little homesick, especially when it was real cold on Tuesday, but I am still very excited about this year.

Kylie came over for a cuppa on Wednesday morning so it was good to catch up with her and I briefly saw Karen on Wednesday morning as well.

I went & had a cuppa with Philippa (a fellow cadet) this morning and we also went for a walk down to Trentham primary school together.

Dale (a fellow single cadet) came over this afternoon to catch up and I got to meet my neighbour, Rochelle (another fellow single cadet) as well.

BCM staff and fellow cadets have been very welcoming so it's been great so far.

I will keep you all posted...

Amanda's Big News

2007-11-05T15:27:00.001+13:00

Well it's been a long time since I have updated my blog and a lot has happened since September.

I went to Assessment weekend down at booth college from October, 5-7th and had a great time.

I spent the following week in anticipation, wanting to know if it was a yes, no or wait another year to get into Officership training.

I finally got the phonecall on Thursday night, 11th October and YES I'VE BEEN ACCEPTED AS A CANDIDATE.

I will be making the big move to Wellington on 4th February.

I'm so excited but nervous at the same time but I know this is where God wants me to go and I will be obedient to Him.

I have a lot to do, packing, planning, training someone to take my job - it's going to be a short couple of months from now.

I will probably update my blog a lot more next year being away from home so my family and friends can check out what I'm up to.

Amanda's adopted ducks

2007-09-17T11:54:00.000+12:00

I thought I would introduce you to my ducks who have adopted me as their mother and caretaker for the past few months - in fact, one of my darlings is going to give me babies soon as she is nesting in the bushes in my backyard and this is her below (Angelina):

And these two lovely ducks below are Heather (who is feeding out of my hand) and Ritchie (he's a young male) - you may think they all look the same, how can I tell the difference - well, when you get to know ducks who visit you regularly, they do have very different personalities so you can tell them apart.

and I have left my favourite duck to last. This is Brad, who is my staunch male body guard. You will often hear Brad before you see him because he always has something to say and you will always find him guarding my front property every night. He is the boss and Angelina's partner.

OH NO! I'VE BECOME THE DUCK LADY!

AMANDA'S HEALING

2007-09-12T14:36:00.000+12:00

I have had an amazing month!

I had the awesome opportunity to attend Manifest Presence a couple of weeks ago - Bill Johnson and Ian Green spoke and it was an awesome week of teaching and healing.

Well, where do I start! Monday night - the first night of Manifest Presence - I had just been talking to someone that day about the car accident I had back in 1999 and how I have a scar and slight skull fracture up by the bottom of my left eye. I have also had a numb forehead over the left eye ever since the car accident.

Well, Bill Johnson and his two helpers had some words of wisdom from God and asked all those who had suffered from accidents to stand up so I thought I would stand up. Neil prayed over my skull fracture and forehead but nothing happened the first time and that was because I felt unworthy and wanted those who had stood with cancer to be healed before me. Neil reminded me that I am worthy of healing and God will heal the most smallest things.

Neil prayed over me again and I felt something happening under my skin, a tingling and then what felt like a reforming and knitting of bone - it is hard to describe as it felt amazing and after the prayer I felt my face and the fracture was completely gone and I have feeling back in my forehead. (now I'm gonna feel it when I pluck my eyebrows)

Well to top the week off even more, on the last night (Thursday), 2 people prayed over me to heal me from depression. (To cut a long story short - I suffer from depression and I have been taking medication for over a year, which has helped so much)

I heard God tell me while I was prayed over, "it's time to come off your medication and to put your full trust in me".

So I came off my medication on Friday and have been fully healed from depression.

Now to top off the great healings God has done in my life, I couldn't wait to get up on Sunday and testify what God had done for me, so I testified and through the power of testimony, 3 other women at church were healed from depression. PRAISE GOD!

And to top off even that, the following week, one of those ladies healed shared her testimony and yet another young lady was fully healed of depression that Sunday.

How exciting is that!!

I have really been having a lot of fun these past few weeks going to people and praying for their healing and God healing people through me. It's been amazing! I have loved experiencing the annointing of the Holy Spirit and really listening to God and being used by God.

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO MAKE ANY COMMENTS ABOUT THIS TESTIMONY ON MY BLOG AS I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR WHAT YOU THINK AND EVEN TO PRAY FOR YOU IF YOU NEED HEALING FOR SOMETHING!

AMANDA UPDATE

2007-07-26T16:00:00.000+12:00

Oh my goodness!

I have been so busy, I have forgotten my blog and I am so grateful to my friends, Stu & Kylie, for reminding me to update my blog and also the fact, that somebody is looking at my blog.

Anyway, an update on my application for officership - Janine came for a visit a couple of weeks ago and it was all positive. I have been invited back to an assessment weekend in October and then a decision will be made. I am feeling very confident that I will be in next year's session. I am so glad I had this year to develop more as I have grown a lot this year.

This Saturday night is our big connect event called "Family Fusion Fiesta" - big multi cultural meal, which I am involved in ticket sales and table allocation. Ticket sales have gone out of control - originally catering for 160, then upped to 220 and now a confirmed number of 236!

I have got people allocated to tables but am allowing for last minute changes so it's all good!

I will tell you more about this event next week after it is finished.

2007-07-09T15:44:00.000+12:00

I ventured to Rialto theatre last night and watched the premiere of Amazing Grace. I really enjoyed this movie of historical significance.
It is the story of William Wilberforce and how he fought through parliament to abolish slavery.
How cruel we human beings can be!
Slavery is still happening today except it is now called human trafficking. How sad we are! After seeing that movie and hearing a speaker talk about what is happening in Malawi, I feel compelled not to ignore it any longer but do something, even if I boycott Nike or goods that are made by slave labour agencies.
Anyway, I recommend you see this movie, think about taking a stand for people's rights and stop ignoring what is happening in our world!

Amanda's Tupperware Party

2007-06-13T15:59:00.000+12:00

I had a brilliant tupperware party last Friday, 8th June. However, it nearly didn't happen - what happened was my friend Danielle was going to host my party so that she could get more clientelle for Tupperware but a week before my party, Tupperware had to let Danielle go because she didn't have enough clientelle. So I had already sent out the invitations and had no Tupperware host, and then, on top of that people were pulling out because they were going to Benny Hinn instead. So Danielle put me on to Lynda who then organised Marcia to host my party and then I began to ring around all my friends to encourage them to attend. Well it all began to fall into place on Thursday, 7th June and Friday, 8th June and 12 people attended my party.
It was great, we had a cooking demonstration with the Tupperware and cooked a lovely Hazlenut chocolate cake and then we all had dessert, YUM YUM!
I brought up large so I am fully stocked for Booth College.
Next Tupperware party is at Jaci Skelton's house on Tuesday, 26th June - I will be there with my check book in tow.

My Pictures

2007-05-31T16:08:00.001+12:00

Another Normal day in the office

2007-05-30T13:54:00.000+12:00

Today is another normal day in the office - Neil & Gill (my bosses) are away on Waiheke Island at Officer's fellowship.

My friend and work collegue, Zandea, is always late for work so I wanted to be later than her this week and I finally achieved that today - YES! I beat her at being late!

I am staying up at my friends, Capt Nigel & Christine DeMaine's house at the moment as they are also over on Waiheke Island - I'm looking after their dog, Max, which used to be Cadets Simon & Sue Steven's dog. They are in Wellington at Booth College training to be officers.

I had a great night last night of blobbing out in front of the TV, with the fire blazing and chips and Thai dip in hand - it was heaven.