Departure.2

So I am about to make my journey to New Zealand. I am currently waiting in the LA airport and my flight will not leave until 12:00 pm east coast time -- and will be there around 12:00 am east coast time tomorrow. It is a 16 hr difference from the east coast time zone.

Traveling today has been difficult, mainly due to discouraging thoughts but also due to a cold that i have, which gives little motivation for doing anything else but listen to my own thoughts. sucky. All the little details seem to be giving me a headache: how will i pay for books and food, will this be more expensive for my poor parents, will i meet people who are keen to do climbing, will i meet some christians, will i get along with my roommates?

I have already met a few international students who are traveling to new zealand. they seem nice but most are not going to otago, so there seems little point to getting to know them. I met one guy who is going to otago, but the first thing he said was he was super excited to do lots of partying. my brain said, "uh oh. Great, just what i need to hear." I guess it would be naive for me to think that i could meet people who are going to new zealand to party, not to do climbing, skiing, stuff like that. anyway, I suppose I don't really mind it because I think I will be able to avoid the partying.

My attitude has been pretty negative toward this trip because I want to be able to control my future. I want to know that I will have friends and be able to go climbing. I want to know that I will have good roommates. I have to trust God... hmmm. I don't think I have done it to this degree before.

I think it would be good to end on a good note. I received an email from a church called "the reformed church of dunedin", which basically means it subscribes the creeds, the westminister catechism, etc, saying that they would be able to pick me up because they have a member of the church who lives near me. This is very good news since I would have no way to get to the church otherwise. This gives me a lot of hope because I know that with a christian community I will be able to handle most everything that is thrown at me. I think this is probably the thing I was most worried about, so God is good to give me some hope in, quite literally, the eleventh hour.

And now I am listening to Peter Kreeft give an exposition of Christianity in the "Lord of the Rings".

Departure

Well. I can't say that I am REALLY excited to be going to New Zealand. It is strange how when I planned for this trip, I never really thought of all the implications. Now, as I get ready to go, I realize that this trip will be a difficult one for me.

There are many unknowns. Will I get to climb? Will I find a church community? Will I make friends? Will I be able to communicate back home with the ones I love? All of these questions (and more) have made the "getting stoked for the trip" difficult. Having said that, there are moments of excitement. I suppose this is normal when a person is leaving everything behind for four and a half months, 10,000 miles away.

I hope that this blog will be used as a journal of sorts. Many friends and family will be reading this (I think), so I hope to communicate the things that I am experiencing on this adventure of a lifetime.

Now, I need to somehow fit everything I think I need in two 44 lbs. max bags and one carry-on. I still haven't packed everything... motivation is a little difficult right now. I love you all, and hopefully I will come back to see everyone again!
You all know what to pray for.