She Moved House 13 Times... In 4 Different Countries... And Survived An Earthquake...

Aloha, my lovelies!

Meet my friend Sonja.

Lover of many colours, especially purple.
Epic scrapbooker.
Always smiling and laughing.
Daughter of the King.


We spent 6 six living together with 18 other people, as we embarked on a journey to Cambodia. 

{us as brick laying buddies at boot camp}

{Sonja, me, Deb and Talea having fun, silly times at boot camp}

{This is Sonja (in the pinky-purpley top) so dangerously perched up there on that 'scaffolding' at the bible school in Cambodia that we plastered and painted. So brave!!}

She blogs over at Butterfly Kisses and recently shared her testimony. I thought it was great and asked her if I could post it on here. (Thankyou very much Sunny!)

This is Sonja's story...

I was born into a christian home in 1993 in a small, farmer town in Germany. I grew up attending a small brethren church that took us an hour to get to every Sunday morning! My sister was born when i was 4. When i was about 6, I first really understood about what Jesus did for me and I gave my heart to the Lord.
When I was 8, my parents felt called to the mission field so we moved further north of Germany so my parents could do the mission training with Wycliffe Bible translators that they needed.
This meant a new school for me... then in 2002, I think it was, we went to New Zealand and lived in Chirstchurch for 9 months to learn English. In NZ I was homeshooled for the first time. We had to leave NZ after 9 months even though we had planned to stay for 12, because my grandfather died. We went back to Germany and lived in my grandfathers house to dissolve his affairs... during which time i went to yet a new school.
Finally we were ready to fly out to the mission field and left for Papua New Guinea! There we had to do a Pacific Orientation Course for 3 months which included 5 weeks of living in a native village without any other white people, just our family.
After our training we moved to Ukarumpa which is one of the biggest enclosed missionary centers in the world. There I went to the school with all the other missionary kids. I had about 30 other students my school grade in my class, so yes it was quite a big school! It was definitely a time of growing for me and it was awesome to go to school with all the christian kids, go to church with them on sunday and hang out everyday! The two years that we lived there was like one giant adventure for me and I was extremely upset and sad to leave.
From PNG, we went to Germany for a visit and then flew straight to New Zealand. There we lived in Christchurch for a few months but ended up buying a shop called the Bin Inn in a small town called Ashburton, an hour out of Christchurch. In Ashburton I was again homeschooled, so it took me about 2 years to make good friends there. Those two years where definitely a big struggle for me. But it was also during that time when I was 13, that I went to a christian girls conference. I don't remember very much of this, but i recommited my life to the Lord there. And my mum says that was when she saw the biggest change in my life. I became a more tolerable person to live with and she could see that i was striving for change in my life.
In Ashburton, I learnt many life lessons and made many great and amazing friends, that have all taught me SO much! 
I also met my best friend Natalie, who went to Cambodia with me in 2009 with Teen Missions! This was a huge adventure for us and I learnt so much more about God, about missions and about dedicating my life to Him alone.
Last year, end of 2010, after living in Ashburton five years to the day, we moved back to Christchurch.
Its only half way through 2011 now, but this year has so far been the hardest year of my life.
We moved to Christchurch and I didn't have many friends there at all as I had only lived there a short time last time. I was just starting to look for a youth group to join, friends to make and activities to get into. I had even found a job, when the February 22 earthquake happened. This destroyed much of Christchurch and also caused much trauma. I went to stay with Natalie in Ashburton the week after the earthquake to get away from the chaos, when 5 days later I ended up in hospital with a ruptured apendix. I was released from hospital a week later, but was hardly able to sit up or do much at all. I needed about 6 weeks of couch rest to recover, during which time I couldn't go to work, so I lost my new job. I also couldn't attend any activities or visit people and so was very lonely most of the time.
When I finally recovered enough to go out again, my parents had decided it was best to leave the country and move to Adelaide in Australia. So I didn't have a chance to make friends in Christchurch and the rest of my time there was very lonely and sad.
In June, I left for Adelaide in South Australia, to join my dad, who had already left to scout out the land and look for work. My mum and sister are visiting family in germany. I am now alone most of the day every day, trying to find work and cooking for my dad.
In the last 10 years of my life I have moved house 13 times... town/city 6 times... and country 3 times.

I hated every single move, hated having to make new friends, hated being the new person, hated not belonging. I also hated being homeschooled and pretty much excluded from society. Now I hate being in a strange place again... but the one thing that keeps me going is God. Our family is living entirely on trust at the moment, as my dad doesn't have a job, I dont have a job, we need a house in two weeks at least a day before our container gets here, which is also extremely hard to find in this area. Once again our family has been seperated and we have no idea what to do next. But throughout my whole life He has always proved His love to me. He has always been there when I called for Him. I struggled a lot with my faith after the earthquake, but through the appendix operation (I know it sounds weird but its true) He proved His love to me by being there for me, and blessing me with so many little blessings!
The one thing that I have always found to be the biggest blessing in my life is when I spend time in His Word every day and spend the day in constant conversation with Him. I know my life is going to get a lot harder yet, but the only thing I can do to prepare myself is to keep moving forward in my walk with my Saviour who loves me and will never forsake me. He said to me:

"Though the mountains be shaken
   and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
   nor my covenant of peace be removed,” ( Isaiah 54:10)

In the end, I always end up with a deep joy and gratefulness in my heart that I just can't describe and I am so grateful for all the life lessons that I've had the priviledge to learn throughout my adventurous life.
~~~~~


Wow. I was so amazed when I read this for the first time. Inspired as well.
And praise God, Sonja found a job a couple of weeks ago!!


I had decided to go and visit her when I get my P's (which means I'll be able to drive a car all by myself, pretty much), but when I read that she was alone every day, I thought I could just catch a train there!! 
So...
in a couple of days I'll be at the train station in Melbourne city at 7:00am and I will travel on The Overlander for ages and arrive in Adelaide at approximately 6:00pm!! 

Long day. But I love trains and it will just be wonderful.
I'm so excited about seeing Sonja (haven't seen her since our trip, that ended in January 2010!!), going on The Overlander, and just going on a HOLIDAY!!!!

It should be great.