All the best, Kine

I first met Kine at church more than 7 years ago. Gabby and I were attending Sarah's connect group at that time and Marketa being Sarah's close friend, wold join us from time to time and slowly, us 5 girls became my little group of close friends. It's so nice when kingdom friendships develop from a connect group!

Kine ("kee-nay") is from Norway and is one of the sweetest girls you could ever meet. However beneath the sweet exterior is this strong lady who loves her friends and church with a passion. Funnily, when I got together with K, the first family we introduced ourselves as a couple was to her parents. We were chatting one fine day and she talked about inviting both K and I to her parents for a couple of days (K insisted I was the one who invited ourselves) but in any case, those 5 days in southern Norway was one of our most memorable trips.

London is such a transient place and after 8 years, she received a job offer back in Norway. After debating long and hard, she decided to say goodbye to London, her second home. Us girls were sad of course, after losing Marketa to (ironically) Singapore, here is another girlfriend moving away.

She hosted farewell drinks two weeks ago and the turnout was so big, it's testament to how much she has touched so many hearts at Hillsong. For me it was a blast from the past, to be able to see so many friends that night, many of whom I've lost touch with, as people moved out of London including us.

For Kine's farewell gift, I made a little photo album book "Memories" with photos showing her journey in London, and made spaces for friends to sign in it. I've picked a few pics I've used in the book here. It was very reminiscing for me too, when I had to look through all the photos we have taken all through the years. Ah, sweet memories indeed.

At one of Hillsong's social nights about 7 years ago

When I became flatmates with Marketa, Frigate House was a usual hangout place for us girls. We would host dinners and Saturday brunches with more girls from Hillsong Sisterhood.
Here it was 6 years ago that we had our Halloween dinner and carved two pumpkins.

5 years ago - I was leading a connect group in Canada Water and roped Kine onboard to co-lead. We actually did a 5 day road trip to Wales, pretty amazing for a connect group! Here we were at the outskirts of Brecon Beacons.

That's when we visited her home in Norway and went on a hike

Despite rocky terrain she was so sure footed, "like a mountain goat" said her dad

Not funny but I didn't think we would make it without any water

We finally did it!

Dirty palms from climbing! Looking back it was very memorable.

At one of our Christmas dinners which became our annual tradition. We would exchange presents with one another and Marketa would always be able to pick a really nice restaurant each time. This was near Victoria and we were seated next to the fireplace.