Northland - The Top of the World

Ok so I’m still not up to date, but I’m getting there.

Let’s rewind to March 30. This was not a super exciting day in my life, but we did have some fun. During the day, we pretty much just relaxed all day. But in the evening, Derrick picked up Whitney, Nicole and Me and we went to institute. It was great! We even met a guy there that is related to a guy I know from BYU. Small freakin’ world. It was a ton of fun though hanging out with Shayna and Derrick. After institute, we all went to Denny’s for Shayna’s birthday. It was so much fun! I’m really going to miss hanging out with them. On the way home, we joked with Derrick about wanting to drive and so he took us to the Pak n Save car park and actually let Whitney and me try driving! (I’m only disclosing this information because my Study Abroad trip is officially over now, so as far as I know, I can’t get in trouble for breaking the rules. Haha). Anyway, I drove us from Pak n Save to the Talamaivao’s house to drop off Nicole (probably like 3 or 4 miles). It was exhilarating. Haha. It really isn’t that hard driving on the left side of the road. Especially now that I’m pretty used to the feeling of being on that side.

March 31 was a pretty rough day. On our way to Bay of Islands, I got an email from Alpine School District letting me know that I was not selected to be an intern in their district this year. That wouldn’t have been so bad, if even one other girl in my group had gotten a similar email. Yep, every other girl that applied for an internship from my group was picked up by their first choice of district. Not gonna lie—that was pretty upsetting. I really wanted to be at my first cohort school, but after crying a lot and talking to Nicole for a while, I felt a lot better and I realized that there was a reason I didn’t get selected to intern in Alpine. That little experience definitely helped me put things in perspective and realize that I don’t know everything. I thought I knew what was best for me, but apparently Heavenly Father had something else in mind.

We stopped at this 800 year old Kauri tree on our drive
Aren't we cute in our matching lava lavas?

Also on that day, I found out how easy it is to play the ukulele. James Ah Mu brought 2 ukuleles on the trip and I was playing one the whole way there. I figured out a few chords, and after a few minutes, I could play 3 different songs! It was pretty exciting.  Definitely one of my new favorite pastimes.

On April 1 we drove up to Cape Reinga (the northernmost tip of the country). Wow. What a beautiful place that was. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a more peaceful or beautiful place in my life. I could have just sat and watched the Tasman Sea crash into the Pacific Ocean all day. It was seriously amazing.

The Tasman Sea off to the West

The Pacific Ocean off to the East

I thought it was so cool how the tides created all the white water

Lighthouse at the very tip of Cape Reinga

In deep thought

Me and Nicole

only 10479 km to LA!

From the left: me, Katie, Allison, Anna. Christine, Nancy, and Neeley

I just like how my hair looks in this pic. haha

Planting a tree at Cape Reinga!

Nicole, me and Nancy with our tree

Afterward, we drove 90-mile beach for about an hour and a half. It was pretty cool just driving down a deserted beach. The best part though, was when James’ van got stuck in the sand and all us girls had to hop out and push. We looked pretty cool. Haha.

April 2 was a Saturday and we got go to Russell to have lunch and spend time at our science teacher Ian Milne’s house. He and his wife own a beach house right across the street from the ocean in Russell. It is the cutest little town! Before stopping at his house, we stopped off at a lookout spot where you can see way far around the Bay of Islands. It was gorgeous! Then we headed to his house which is in the most perfect location you could ever ask for. We had sandwiches and cookies at his house and then all us girls went for a swim in the ocean. It was such a lovely day.

James tried to push us off this little wall! haha

Jess, Nicole, and Me!

Nancy, Heidi, Jess, Christine, Me and Nicole

We're cute! (even if Christine didn't make it all the way off the ground)

L O V E

That evening, the girls in my apartment (Me, Nicole, Neeley, Nancy, and Hannah) made stir-fry for dinner and James came over and ate it with us while we watched Gulliver’s Travels with him. He is so much fun. I just love hanging out with him and listening to his laugh. It’s one of those laughs that just makes you smile. I love it.

April 3 was our last Sunday in New Zealand. That was a crazy thought and it was a little hard to think about. I wasn’t really ready for the trip to end. But we went up to a ward in Northland where 2 of James’ kids live and had church there. It was very nice. After church, I went over to Dr. Jacobs’ apartment and he gave me a blessing since he knew I’d been having a hard time with the whole internship thing. I’m so grateful to have him and Linda here. It was a really nice blessing and I got a lot of comfort from it. It really reassured me that no matter what happens, everything is going to be ok. After talking with him and Linda for a while, I was really not worried about what was going to happen. I was totally ready to just go with the flow.

That evening, Nancy and I went on a really long walk and just had a great talk about whatever was on our minds. It was so much fun talking to her and just hanging out—not to mention, it was a beautiful place to take a walk.

Monday morning, we all woke up and went for a 9 mile hike to Haruru Falls. It was so nice to actually get some exercise. I’ve been pretty awful about that here (and it shows…). The rest of the day, we laid out at the beach and then went into town for a bit to check email and shop for a little while. (I bought a much-needed duffel to help me get all my stuff home.)

Christine, Nicole, Jess, Me, Heidi, and Becca at the Haruru Falls

Monday evening, we had our last FHE together and Katie gave a really great lesson on faith. I love how faith has been the theme of this whole trip. My faith and trust in the Lord and knowing that He has a plan for me has increased so much since I’ve been here and I’m really looking forward to seeing where my life goes once I get home and start life back up again.

Tuesday morning, Nancy and I woke up early to watch the sunrise over the Bay of Islands. It was gorgeous! Living on the West Coast, I don’t really get to see the sun come up over the ocean all too often, but it is pretty dang gorgeous.

When we got home from our lovely sunrise, we decided to make pancakes for breakfast. Unfortunately, when we had bought pancake mix, we failed to think about the fact that we would need butter or non-stick spray in order to get the pancakes off the pan… So, after a couple failed attempts (including trying to make our own butter by shaking milk and using leftover cheesecake as butter) we decided to try making them in the microwave. Who knew it would not only work really well, but also produce delicious pancakes?? We thought it was so funny. We decided to create a new holiday in honor of our discovery—so from now on, April 5 will be known as “Makeshift Pancake Day.” I even wrote a song about it. Haha.

After our delicious makeshift breakfast, we presented James with a song and a gift we had made for him (a little canvas with 16 reasons we love James on it). He cried, and of course, so did we. Then he gave a beautiful prayer and after the prayer, we sang (with help from my newfound ukulele accompaniment skills) “Lean On Me.” Actually, sang might not be the best word to use… we basically all cried the entire time. It was during that song that it really hit me that my incredible trip to New Zealand was really ending. It was really sad, but looking back at everything I’ve learned, the experiences I’ve had, and the wisdom and knowledge I’ve gained—how could I ask for anything more? It has really been an amazing 3 months.

After our song, James told me he had something for me. He went over to his van, and came back holding the ukulele I’d been playing all week. He gave me my very own ukulele. He said he wanted me to use it in my classroom, and I will tell you right now, my future students are going to be so blessed because of that. It’s going to be pretty exciting to be in Miss Bergen’s ukulele-filled classroom.

I’ll end this post with a quote from Katie’s FHE lesson:

“Choose faith over doubt, choose faith over fear, choose faith over the unknown and the unseen, and choose faith over pessimism.”