Welcome to Messengerz Blog

Hey there and welcome to Messengerz Dance’s blog! If you are a lover of dance, travel, coffee, and Jesus then this is the place for you! This first post won’t be too long just a short intro of who we are and what we do! I hope that you stick around and follow us on this journey.

Messengerz dance is a group of women who have been dancers the majority of our lives and who want to continue to push ourselves to become better. In addition to the technical sides of dance we wanted to put our talents to good use and serve others. This year God has called us to go to New Zealand to put on dance camps for other aspiring dancers and to pour into these kids on how to use their talents, whatever they may be, to serving the Lord and glorifying him.

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” – Isaiah 6:8 

Isaiah 6:8 is our company verse, we want to be messengers of the good news through various mediums that we believe can touch the soul in ways that spoken word cannot. Our mission is to bring hope and restoration to a lost and broken world.

I hope that you follow along with us on this journey to NZ! It hasn’t been easy and we are still fundraising. If you feel led to donate to our company and help us with our travel expenses you can donate to our GoFundMe and in the description please write Blog Donation!

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Choose joy is a phrase that I hear our group say often. We have walked with each other through some of the hardest trials and we will remind one another to choose joy.

We aren’t perfect people. We aren’t the best dancers. We have faults, but so does everyone. We are real. We are messengerz.

Hobbiton!

So I think that this post is fairly self-explanatory… Instead of flowers at the end of camp the church blessed us with tickets to Hobbiton… and lets just say that it did not disappoint. 

The cutest little hobbits accompanied us on our adventure! 😉

Lynn… creepin in the background.

This is without any edits… everything is SO green here!

There are some really good pictures of Lynn… but this one has the funniest little photobomb.

Our little kiwi birds that we were given… Pudge, Pappy, Stanley, and Gumbo.

Our fearless leader with her tourist game on strong.

 

We all decided that we could live here in a little hole and be happy 🙂

Auckland Dance Camp!

We don’t have a ton of pictures from this week because of just parents not wanting their children on the internet but here are a couple pictures of classes that we took!

Every morning we taught 5-11 year olds from 9-noon then 12-17 year olds from 1-4! In total we had 100 kids that the four of us taught! It was a crazy week but so fun. On our last day we were able to put on a mini showcase with the dances we taught the three classes and then as a company we performed 9 pieces.

Teaching everything from ballet to improv to hip hop we kept a full schedule for the kids everyday. We were all exhausted by the end of the week but it was so rewarding. At the end of the showcase it felt like we were disney princesses because there was a line through the whole church sanctuary of students wanting to take pictures with us and bring us little goodies.

We all loved it and would come back to teach those kids in a heartbeat.

Some Catching Up

Hey everyone!! Sorry it has been so long! I think we expected to 1. have more wifi and 2. a little more downtime! So now I am about to post as much as I can to catch up before we leave locations again on Monday!

Auckland was seriously so fun! The camp was AMAZING and really blew us away! The next post will have some pictures from that and more details! We had to get permission to post about the kids so that caused a bit more delay!

Arataki Visitor Centre 

The Arataki centre was the first place that we went in our first week that really blew us all away! It was so so cool to look out over this huge jungle/rainforest like place with the moody clouds hanging low. It was POURING rain while we were there but we didn’t care!! I don’t have many pictures because of the rain though.

Piha Beach 

Piha beach was also AMAZING there were these little coves that surfers hanging out in and we got to stand and watch the waves crash over the rocks if I lived here this would be my favorite summer pastime, exploring these coves and beaches.

We can’t believe that our trip is almost over!! It went by way too fast.

 

A Walk in the Park

We went for a walk in the park at One Tree Hill park… no it is not like the tv show.

(Also the pictures are out of order and again its 4am MST so I am not worrying about switching them around.. and I’m a few days behind on posts!)

First off I am pretty sure that everyone thinks we are hippy tree huggers because of how excited we all get about the trees here… Greta is further proving the tree hugger thing to be true.

LynnCheri and Greta attempted some pull ups after our little “hike” to the top of one tree hill. Attempted is the key word in this scenario. 😛

Stay through the end to learn some of the funny words and phrases we have learned so far!

Seeing sheep and little lambs is such a normal thing for the people here (the family we are staying with has a lamb, goat, and two bunnies) that they don’t even flinch when there is a whole flock on the mountainside!

The whole hike it was POURING on us and when we got to the top it was seriously so windy you could lean into the wind and not fall over!! Our motto was that adventure waits for nothing… So rain or shine we made it out to see some sights.

There is this really huge tree on the way up the hill that I think was struck by lightning..? and so the whole inside is charred and hollow. It is super cool actually.

Update fire trucks look super weird here.

 

Funny words we have learned

Togs = Swim suit

Have a Spa = Go Hot tub

“I have to toilet” = “I need to use the restroom”

Jandals = Flip Flops

Bach = Beach house

Plunger = French Press

Lollies = Gummy Candy

Thank you all for following us on this journey and supporting us from afar!! I promise I will get us caught up so that I can tell you all about how amazing camp is going! Day 2 of camp was today and these kids are seriously blowing us away with their talent!! Keep us in your prayers!

Love you!!

Day 2 in NZ

Technically it is our first day but since we went through some crazy time changes it is our day 2 of 28.

I (Kristen) am going to do my best to update this blog often so that you can follow us on our journey! Please keep in mind that we will be doing missions and dancing so there may be some days skipped when we are too busy! Also I am writing this at 9:30 pm NZ time but that is 3:30 am according to my body clock… so bare with me.

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Flying went well for the team with only a few minor complications and we all landed safely in Auckland bright and early this morning. To keep ourselves awake we decided to go straight on an adventure. The first stop was brunch where we got some yummy juices and food! 

^ This vietnamese soup was so hot I couldn’t finish it and had the waitress switch it out for me.. I am a weakling, I know.

New Zealand wowed us with their massive trees in the middle of the city. They are seriously the biggest things I have ever seen. We spend some time climbing and exploring the trees around one of the Universities in the city.

We made a stop for some artisan ice cream, and oh my it did not disappoint. I tried the hokey pokey flavor which is apparently special to New Zealand… I didn’t know that a country could have an ice cream flavor but they do and it was great. Lynn, Robyn, and myself all got this flavor and Greta got something that was chocolate on chocolate on chocolate…  It was so rich and amazing and I think I am set on ice cream for a while now.

We continued our adventure and walked to the coast to listen to some amazing live music and watch sailboats speed by. I love our little group here. Seriously there is never a dull moment with us around.

 

We finished our first excursion by getting severely confused by their bus system and then making it home safe and sound to dinner followed by some camp prep!!

We are loving it here already and may just stay 😉

Love you all!!

 

New Zealand Itinerary!

For all of our friends and family who want to be up to date on where we will be and what we are doing here is a rough outline of our itinerary!! I will be doing my best to update things

 

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Sunday, September 25th: dance at the Greenlane Centre church service & talk about Messengerz and who we are.

Monday, September 26th: DANCE CAMP DAY #1
*morning session: 9-12 pm.
2 teachers are with 7-10 year olds
2 teachers are with 11-13 year olds
*afternoon session: 1-4 pm.
all teachers are together
ages 14-18

Tuesday, September 27th: DANCE CAMP DAY #2
REPEAT.

Wednesday, September 28th: DANCE CAMP DAY #3
REPEAT.
*PULSE event at the University with Greenlane young adults ministry – sharing our testimonies, encouraging university students to use their gifts for the Lord, what dance means to us, etc.

Thursday, September 29th: DANCE CAMP DAY #4
REPEAT.

Friday, September 30th: DANCE CAMP DAY #5
REPEAT.
*performance at 7 pm at the church

Saturday, October 1st: HOBBITON. YUSSSSS.
*Andrew drives us to Matamata and drops us off at Hobbiton all day, picks us up and takes us to stay with his extended family at their home in Taupo for the night.

Sunday, October 2nd: Andy picks us up in Taupo and we spend the day driving back to Wainuiomata. About 6 hour drive.
*prep for camp starting tomorrow!

Monday, October 3rd: DANCE CAMP DAY #1
*morning sessions change to a new church location every day! – 10-2 pm.
* morning sessions will only be teens who are 13+
*afternoon mentoring sessions – 3:30-5:30 pm.
*each of us will be paired with a girl for our mentor time in the afternoon – the four girls are dancers and are ages 8, 16, 17 and 21.
*mentorship time goes from 3:30-4:30 pm
*choreography time with our girls is from 4:30-5:30 pm.
* 6 pm dinner at Pastor’s house

Tuesday, October 4th: DANCE CAMP #2
REPEAT.

Wednesday, October 5th: DANCE CAMP DAY #3
REPEAT.

Thursday, October 6th: DANCE CAMP DAY #4
REPEAT.

Friday, October 7th: DANCE CAMP DAY #5
REPEAT.
*extended mentorship time with our girls from 3:30-8 pm.

Saturday, October 8th: WETA WORKSHOP and visiting the Te Papa Museum

Sunday, October 9th: perform dance piece with our girls we are mentoring (in group of the 8 of us) at both the Wainuiomata Baptist church and the Church of the Nazarene.

Monday, October 10th: ADVENTURE TIME BEGINS!
Tuesday, October 18th: Kristen flies out from Auckland early in the morning
*the rest of us fly out around 7 PM, so we can do a little touring in Auckland nearby the airport.

Wednesday, October 19th: HOME. DID IT!!

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If you want to keep up with us follow us on social media and on here and we will do our best to keep everyone in the loop! Please be praying for all the little details, for safety, and for us to really experience the Lord in beautiful New Zealand!

Here we go!

Kristen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, September 23rd: Arrive at Auckland airport at 6:50/6:55 am. Andrew will be picking us up.

Saturday, September 24th: SLEEP. RELAX. EAT. 🙂
*staying at Greenlane for the weekend to regroup, then possibly moving to host families after that.

Sunday, September 25th: dance at the Greenlane Centre church service & talk about Messengerz and who we are.

Monday, September 26th: DANCE CAMP DAY #1
*morning session: 9-12 pm.
2 teachers are with 7-10 year olds
2 teachers are with 11-13 year olds
*afternoon session: 1-4 pm.
all teachers are together
ages 14-18

Tuesday, September 27th: DANCE CAMP DAY #2
REPEAT.
*Dinner at Heather Ameye-Bevers house at 6 pm.

Wednesday, September 28th: DANCE CAMP DAY #3
REPEAT.
*PULSE event at the University with Greenlane young adults ministry – sharing our testimonies, encouraging university students to use their gifts for the Lord, what dance means to us, etc.

Thursday, September 29th: DANCE CAMP DAY #4
REPEAT.

Friday, September 30th: DANCE CAMP DAY #5
REPEAT.
*adding extra rehearsal from 4-5 pm to prep for the performance
*BBQ at 5:30 pm at the church
*performance at 7 pm at the church

Saturday, October 1st: HOBBITON. YUSSSSS.
*Andrew drives us to Matamata and drops us off at Hobbiton all day, picks us up and takes us to stay with his extended family at their home in Taupo for the night.
Here’s the link to check out Hobbiton, we could do the private tour because it is ~$79NZ: http://www. hobbitontours.com/OurTours/ PrivateTours/tabid/104/ Default.aspx

Sunday, October 2nd: Andy picks us up in Taupo and we spend the day driving back to Wainuiomata. About 6 hour drive.
*prep for camp starting tomorrow!

Monday, October 3rd: DANCE CAMP DAY #1
*morning sessions change to a new church location every day! – 10-2 pm.
* morning sessions will only be teens who are 13+
*Andy packing us sack lunches and providing transportation
*afternoon mentoring sessions – 3:30-5:30 pm.
*each of us will be paired with a girl for our mentor time in the afternoon – the four girls are dancers and are ages 8, 16, 17 and 21.
*mentorship time goes from 3:30-4:30 pm
*choreography time with our girls is from 4:30-5:30 pm.
* 6 pm dinner at Pastor Matt Lesniak’s house

Tuesday, October 4th: DANCE CAMP #2
REPEAT.
*6 PM movie night at the Roxy Cinema (owned by Peter Jackson!), movie tickets provided by Andy but we will need ~$40NZ for the dinner at the theatre
Here’s the link to check out the Roxy Cinema: http://www.roxycinema.co.nz

Wednesday, October 5th: DANCE CAMP DAY #3
REPEAT.
*6 pm dinner at Pastor Royce Goldsworthy’s house

Thursday, October 6th: DANCE CAMP DAY #4
REPEAT.
*6 pm dinner at Rev. Karl Dickson’s house

Friday, October 7th: DANCE CAMP DAY #5
REPEAT.
*extended mentorship time with our girls from 3:30-8 pm. Can use this time to take them downtown and hangout, go to a coffee shop, and have extra time to practice our dance with the 8 of us.
*fish and chip supper provided

Saturday, October 8th: WETA WORKSHOP and visiting the Te Papa Museum
*transportation is provided by Andy, costs $25NZ for the workshop tour
*6 pm BBQ and outdoor movie night with the youth group at Mark William’s house
Here’s the link to check out the Weta Workshop: http://wetaworkshop.com

Sunday, October 9th: perform dance piece with our girls we are mentoring (in group of the 8 of us) at both the Wainuiomata Baptist church and the Church of the Nazarene.
*6 pm dinner at Neville Bartley’s house (Youth director at the NZ scripture union)

Monday, October 10th: (Andy’s Birthday – we will need to bring him a gift!) ADVENTURE TIME BEGINS!
*Andy will drive us to the ferry in Wellington, then we will take the ferry through the Marlborough Sounds into the dock at Picton (this lands us in the Abel Tasman National Park).
*take a bus 4 hours to Christchurch and find a hostel to stay at for the night (or stay the night at a hostel in Abel Tasman area and go to Christchurch the next day)

Tuesday, October 11th: explore Christchurch and take a bus towards the Franz Josef Glacier at the end of the day (stay in hostel overnight)

Wednesday, October 12th: do the Franz Josef Glacier Tour (if we want to) – includes heli ride, hike in and through the glacier, lunch provided, and hot springs at the end of the day. About $250NZ. (Stay in hostel overnight – same one?)
Here’s the link to check it out: http://www.franzjosefglacier. com/our-tours/ice-explorer/

Thursday, October 13th: take bus to Wanaka and explore Wanaka, then continue on the bus to Queenstown.
*might be able to stay with my cousin Matthew, who lives in Queenstown

Friday, October 14th: day in Queenstown! AKA: the extreme sports capital of the world.
*bungy jumping???
*take late night bus to Te Anau and stay in hostel for the night
Here’s the link to check out bungy jumping: http://www.bungy.co.nz/the- ledge/the-ledge-bungy

Saturday, October 15th: Take the Milford Sounds boat tour in the Fiordland National Park (where Rivendell was filmed as well as about 4 other LOTR sets). About $75NZ.
*stay in same hostel in Te Anau for the night
Here’s the link for the Milford Cruise: https://www.realjourneys.co. nz/en/experiences/cruises/ milford-sound-scenic-cruises/

Sunday, October 16th: explore more of the Fiordland National Park, take bus back to Queenstown either tonight or in the morning (stay in hostel)

Monday, October 17th: take bus to Queenstown (if haven’t already)
*fly out in the evening from Queenstown to Auckland. About a 2 and a half hour flight and costs ~$50NZ.
*stay overnight in Auckland at Andrew’s church (Greenlane) or just sleep at airport hotel

Tuesday, October 18th: Kristen flies out from Auckland early in the morning
*the rest of us fly out around 7 PM, so we can do a little touring in Auckland nearby the airport.

Wednesday, October 19th: HOME. DID IT!!