As this was my first conference, I went to Auckland not knowing what to expect. I was excited about exploring the biggest city in New Zealand, having heard so much about its liveliness, the variety it provides for die-hard shoppers and the ever increasing amount of asian food. As for the conference itself, I didn't know I was getting myself into, but I hoped and prayed that it'll b a life changing experience for me. And it was. When conference came to an end, I wished that I could stay longer.
In the conference, I've learnt so much about my faith and have been touched again and again by the message of the cross. While listening to testimonials and sermons about the impact and love of Jesus, I cannot help but be in awe by the love of God and His perfect sacrifice. In the workshops, I was challeged to spread message to those who haven't yet experience the true meaning of Christianity. This is perhaps the biggest block for me yet as a Christian. Although there are times when I found it hard to absorb what the speaker was trying to say (due to sleepiness), I felt encouraged by their love and the depth of understanding that they have about God.
I did visit city. Queens Street was filled with stores and places to shop, but Wellington has most of the shops as well. Except for Dunkin Donuts. Ah.. Food. It's kinda like a much longer and busier version of Lambton Quay. I also went to Mount Eden, and from the top, marveled at the size of the city. The place is HUGE.
However, the best part of conference is all the wonderful people that I've met, but don't have much opportunities to get to know them more. Members of OCF, ICF, CU and EU from all over New Zealand were gathered there, and I've managed to form some really good friendships over the past few days. I've also met really talented people throughout conference. Some are talented in music, some are talented in making humour, some are talented in mahjong, some are talented in playing the tambourine, etc. Some of the white guys managed to learn how to play mahjong during conference, and some of them beat the asians in the game. People like Dave and Tim can put yellow people to shame. And Dave can now pronounce 1 to 10 in mandarin, and also the four winds, and recognize the characters. North - "Bei" looks like a hand grenade. West - "Xi" looks like a toaster. I forgot how they describe East and South, but I remember Lauren saying that the chinese character for seven looks like a sword. The OCF from Palmerston North had a road trip before coming to conference, and they put together a slideshow for everyone to watch. The places in the South Island are really beautiful, and they had such a wonderful time together. I'm really keen on a road trip during the holz. Anyone wanna join me? Haha.. Maybe starting from Auckland, and going all the way down south, and then back up north again. And then I can go back home from there.
The last night of conference was the best night of my life. We didn't sleep. The Aucklanders wanted to take us out for bubble tea, but the restaurant was close. So we ended up having coffee instead, and I started picking on other people's cakes. "Tasting" was what Fiona called it. Haha.. After that we had a tour of the university. The university was concentrated on one location, not like Vic Uni which has four campuses in different areas, and thus, the campus was really big. Later, we went to Mission Bay and sat around and played games and took some silly snapshots. We wanted to watch the sunrise from Mount Eden, but it was closed and it was too cloudy anyway. But we had so much fun. It's sad that Wellington is so far away from Auckland. If the places were near enough, all of us could become really good friends. All the same, I thank God that I had the chance to meet them and pray for future activities together. The current suggestion is to have a combined Auckland OCF and Wellington ICF ski trip. I hope both parties will work out and try to make it happen. Yaay!! A big thank you to Amos, Charles and Ben for taking us out. :D I'll always cherish that night for days to come.
I thank God for a wonderful time of conference. Sad that it has to end.
Uni started again.
Sigh.. :(
