A rainforest hike to Haruru Falls

Monday, April 04, 2011

Monday morning, I woke up bright and early to hike a 5k to Haruru Falls. It was the perfect day for a hike in the rainforest and was so much fun. We hiked through a natural kiwi habitat, but sadly did not see any wild kiwis since they are nocturnal. I am really going to miss hiking through the rainforests of New Zealand. Katie made up a story along the way about a knight and a jester. The knight was in love with the Princess of Pennsylvania, but the king and queen wanted the princess to marry the Slovakian man. The knight and the jester met the Slovakian man in the mangroves and plotted to have the crocodile eat his shins. The story was never finished, but was so funny. Part of the hike was through the mangroves of crocodile land. We are lucky there are no wild crocodiles in New Zealand. If I had been hiking through the mangrove swamps in Savannah, I would have most definitely seen some crocodiles. We also saw some birds that looked like penguins, but weren’t because they could fly.

I was surprised when we got to the falls at how big they were. I was definitely not expecting them to be as wide as they were. I took my shoes off and waded through the water and crossed the top of the waterfall to the other side. It was so much fun. I would have been the one to jump off the waterfall if that would have been allowed.  All of the other girls thought I was crazy for crossing the top of the waterfall. They were worried about me, but it was so much fun. We hiked back down through the rainforest (probably my last time to do so in New Zealand) and then went to the beach and soaked up the sun for a couple of hours. I am going to miss my almost weekly trips to the beach as well. Am I really leaving New Zealand this week? 

After spending some quality time on the beach, Katie and I headed into town to get supplies for something to give James. Katie told me we can't go shopping together anymore because she always spends more when she is with me. Imagine that. 

I came back and watched my last sunset in New Zealand. It was beautiful, but also sad I never actually thought that day would come. I have watched so many amazing sunsets in New Zealand though, and I am so grateful for each one of them. 

For our last Monday together, we had a phenomenal family home evening all together. Anna shared her favorite scripture found in Helaman 5:12, and then Katie gave a phenomenal lesson on Faith. Faith has been a guiding principal for each of us throughout our journey in New Zealand. It started when Dr. Jacobs had us read an article on fear vs. faith and then continued throughout our trip. During my time in New Zealand, my faith has grown more than it ever has before. I have grown to trust the Lord more and put more faith in Him. The decision I made about student teaching vs. an internship is one I started weighing in October. Before then, I was set on student teaching, but in October I started to really struggle because others were talking to me about an internship and an internship became a possibility. All of my professors thought I should do one and knew I would make a great intern and it would be a great opportunity to have my own classroom and receive half of a teacher's salary. I really had a hard decision to make and for a while I thought I would be cutting myself short if I didn't do an internship. In December, I started looking into what I would need to do to become a certified teacher in GA. For some reason I felt and continue to feel a strong pull towards GA and away from UT that I really cannot explain. It is a feeling I keep having though. I went to my bishop and talked about the internship and also to the advisement center in the McKay building to get input. I ended up deciding to apply for the internship before I left for New Zealand because it couldn't and it was better to apply and then decide later then to not apply and end up not having a choice. My first month or so in New Zealand. I prayed and fasted about whether to do an internship or student teaching almost every Sunday. Then when we traveled to the South Island, and while there, I was almost sure I was going to do student teaching, but I did not fully make the decision to do so until fasting some more a few weeks later. I know without a doubt that student teaching in the Nebo school district is what I need to be doing in the fall and that I need to graduate in December. As much as I would love to go back to GA after that and teach, I do not know what is going to happen, but I have faith in the Lord that He does and He will help guide me to the best path for me after graduation.

 Uncertainty and the future can be very hard things, but they do not have to be if I just press forward with faith. For the longest time, New Zealand was my goal and my future. Having the opportunity of going to New Zealand is one of the main reasons I went to BYU. It was what I looked forward to and planned on during my entire time at BYU and when I finally applied and got in I was so excited. I remember the interview like it was yesterday and remember getting accepted like it was yesterday. I found out right after a run and then called my parents, grandparents, and Alison to share the good news. I then went over and told the Jamestown 18 boys. I was so excited that I was going to get to go to New Zealand. After that is was a reality and planning for the journey. The day to come to New Zealand finally came and now after 4 amazing months that have changed my life, my semester in New Zealand is coming to a close. I never thought that day would come. As excited as I am to go home and see family and friends. I have very mixed emotions about leaving because New Zealand is now a home to me and I am going to miss it. But also because my goal for so long has been New Zealand, that has been my future, but now that time is coming to a close and I do not really know what is next. I know I am going home to loving family and friends, but also that life at home has gone on while I was away and things have changed. My sister Taylor started dating someone, got her first kiss, and got engaged all while I was in New Zealand, so even though my reality has been drastically different than everyone else's back home it has been my reality while life continued at home. I am so excited for my sister and Rudy. It will be great to have him as part of our family. So I have that to look forward to when I get home. I also have the Atlanta temple open house and dedication, which  I am so excited for that. I cannot wait. I am so glad that is the first thing I am doing when I get home. I am also looking forward to spending time with family and with Alison and her family as well as some other friends in GA. I am so so excited about doing EFY in GA and FL this summer. It is going to be great, very different than last year, but just as amazing.It may even be better. Then I have student teaching in the fall. The rest of my summer and everything after fall is kinda up in the air, which is exciting and nerve racking at the same time, because I have no idea what the future holds, but I do know that it will be better than good if I just trust in the Lord and allow Him to guide me. I am so grateful that I have realized all of this and that my faith has grown so much while I have been in New Zealand. 

After the lesson on Faith, we worked on our gift to James. We decided to give James a canvas with 16 reasons while we will miss James Ahmu. Some of those were his giggle, that he calls us girls, that he knows everything about New Zealand, that he knows everyone, his love of fruit, his driving skills, his stories, his roll call, girls take a picture, his music, his spirituality, his remedies knowledge of church history. I just loved it. We also decided to sing Te Aroha for him and then to sing Lean on me for him Jim, and Linda. I loved working on it. I am going to miss James so much. The New Zealand experience really would not be the same without him. He has always been there and was not only our driver but a friend and I would even consider him family now. I am so glad we decided to do something for him. I am going to miss him and have loved having him as part of my New Zealand family. I most definitely will never forget him.