DAY 2 OF LAKESRANCH HORSECAMP SEPT 09

 Saturday monring, 8 am breakfast.

Everyone has a good breakfast at the dining room. There are always plenty of hands up when I ask for volunteers for dishes.
After the dishes were done we have a time of bible reading and evotions and prayer.
I asked Liz to read the bible and then there is a bit from " daily bread" which I read out for us to ponder on.
After that there is open prayer time to pray for the day.
After this we go to get our horses and brush them. Then a ride in the arena for a lesson from Ross.
Freedom by our truck ( left)

The trek hereafter is eventful to say the least. It was very exciting and the scenery breathtaking. The smell of sulphur is strong.

We had lunch by the lake and the whole group of 30 riders enjoyed the whole experience.
Towards coming home , the horses saw the camp and became restless. Freedom had one of my friends riding him and he also became restless. The horses in front wanted to gallop home so I told Hannah to get off him quickly as Freedom wanted to follow the others.
She couldn't get off quick enough and he did a fast swing turn and " bang" she fell off flat on her back.
She couldn't move and I had the walky talky, so I called for help and Kim and I did first aid.
She was taken to her motel unit by me after Ross had brough us to camp.
There I prayed for her and layed hands on her back.
I felt the heat came through and she felt it too.

Then I told her to have a rest and take a few anti inflammatories. Hannah ( right) with Shirley( left)
At dinner time I saw here there to my surprise. She had gone with Sarah to the dining room, still a bit sore.
Now she is better and asked me when she could come again to camp.
For safety we advised her not to ride the next day which was sensible. But God had healed her. Or an angel caught her or prevented a worse case scenario.
That night we watched the DVD of Nicky Cruz' testimony of the gangs in New York.
The next day the pasor of the other group was talking to one  of our members and at the end of their talk she gave her life over to Jesus!!!! Jesus is the answer for the world today and he is not only relevant to us in today's society, He is the only answer for our lives and for the world.
Micha and I became friends, even before this weekend, basically over the phone. We couldn't wait to meet each other, and when we did it was great, like meeting a sister.!!! And now she is!!!!

LAKESRANCH WEEKEND, SEPTEMBER 09

After my initial Lakesranch stay with Prince, when I had lessons there, it was then that I could see a group coming here.
Now this has become a reality. Now that I have the truck, 4 horses came with us.

After the invitation mail out to join me at Lakesranch, I got 30 riders.
Initially it had been 35 riders, but there were a few last minute cancellations. So it still ended up with a good size group.
Some of us came early and had dinner there on the Friday night.
This whole experience of being the organizer is new to me, so I still had a few " teething" problems, like forgetting to make out a program, and saying thanks to the great Lakesranch staff, in particular to Adam, who is a great host, and really went out of his way to make the DVD player work, thanks heaps Adam. He was kind and patient with all of us.
A huge thanks to Ross, for being our trek master, and his wife Sarah, for coming with us on Sunday.

The trek on Saturday was very beautiful and challenging, but not impossible. We all made it up that hill, even though Sarah jumped off because Lady horse was so slow.
Many thanks to the great cook, and the hospitality staff. Very yummy food, and also many thanks for bringing out that yummy food to lake Rotoiti. I didn't expect that! I would have been expecting a filled roll, not roast pork and buns and salads. But it was great!!! Thanks for that!!!God has been so good to us this whole camp.

he got me there safely. I was quite nervous at first, driving with 4 horses onboard in our new truck.
A few teething problems were soon sorted out as I got used to the gears. Not to panic when I am in the 4th gear instead of the 3rd gear going around the roundabout.
Just try again. Double clutch if you have to. That works.
We got to the camp at 4 pm, good timing. Horses soon settled in their new paddock and surroundings.
Friday night's tea was great and we found our rooms in the lodge.

There was also an other camp at the same time, from a church in Auckland, they had taken the other wing of the lodge.
Brian had arrived 10 minutes after me in his car, as he had to leave the next day after dinner.
At least he could ride all Saturday.
The big ride on Saturday was very exciting, much more exciting than we had expected. Not a boring trail but a challenging one . We rode along the edge of the lake. Through the water. Then up through a just harvested pineforest, so very messy, up a very steep hill. We had to stand up on the stirrups and hold our hands forwards not pulling on the reins, or the horse could flip backwards.

All succesfully done, the decend was more sloping.
We rode along thermal area and boiling mudpools.
We had done riding for 5 hours with a 1 hour for lunch at the lake.

Ready for a soak in the hotpool after dinner.

WHERE HE GUIDES HE PROVIDES

Today was a big day.
I got my full truck driver''s licence.

On Monday I had all day theory and in the afternoon I sat the Road code for for trucks at the AA.
I got 100% for that!!!
The next day we all had to learn about how to use a logbook correctly and then we had to practise in the afternoon.
I got so tired in the afternoon I got a migraine headache and muddled up the logbook practise.
So I had to do the whole thing again.
I decided to do it again after the practical exam on Thursday.
I had Wednesday off. Oh that was great. No getting up at 6.30 am.

Thursday me and an other candidate did our practical assesment and it took 2 hours, we had an hour each.
I passed well and the boy just passed, but we both have to practise more.

In the afternoon I did the logbook accessment again and this time I got it all done ok. I passed that too.
So now I have my full truck drivers licence.

Why did I go for my truck drivers licence? Because God has provided a horse truck for us. The lady we bought it off is doing a trade/swap with our double/triple float and nissan safari .

We still have to go and get it, and swap sometime next week  but it is right on time for the first camp in Rotorua.  God has provided in this. Praise his Name!!!