Natasha Bray

This is what Tash had written on her MySpace

I'm Tash.
I love Jesus Christ with all my heart. He will always come first, no matter what. He is, to put it simply, my entire life. He has been with me through the thick and thin, and has remained constant. No matter how far I wander away from Him, He will always draw me back to Him. He never ceases to amaze me.

I love my family. We have been through so many trials together, and have pulled through because we have God and each other. We will be together forever, no matter what awaits us in the future.

I love my friends. I think love is the only word to describe it. They have shown me what it means to be true friends, and I will be eternally grateful to them for that. They have stuck my side through so much, and I know these friendships are everlasting. I know I can tell them anything, big or small. We don’t even have to be doing anything, just being with them makes me feel like the luckiest person alive. Girls, I will love you forever and for always, you’re amazing.

And then there’s me. I'm sixteen years old and I'm a committed Christian. I love the little things, like butterflies and flowers. I love the smallest gestures, and I wish I could hold onto hugs forever. I love surprises, colour, and smiles. I adore children. I love memories. I love music, and meaningful lyrics and poetry. I love spending time with the people I love. I love vanilla scented things, and pretty ornaments. I love having fun. I love life.

Dreams/aspirations....she was looking forward to visiting Hillsong with her special girlfriends after finishing school and then travelling the world for a while. Maybe help out at an orphanage. Then she wanted to study Speech Language Therapy at University, specialising in working with pre-school children. And of course her greatest dream was to one day get married and raise her own family. She wanted 4 or more children!

She loved her life at Elim school.  She loved to sing and worship God. She was in the school and her church worship band which she absolutely loved. She adored little kids and was a leader at Elim Powerzone Kids Programme. She was a very talented netball shooter..and this year just started coaching (with Portia) the year 5/6 netball team plus she was a keen volleyball player for school.

She enjoyed challenges...and pushed herself. She achieved her Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award and was just preparing to start silver. She had represented Elim school at the "get to go" OPC final competition on Great Barrier ...(along with Anthony and Floyd).

She had just represented Elim at the OPC Hillary Challenge - together with Anthony and Tony McLean was the teacher in charge. She had also represented Elim at the RYPEN leadership camp early this year where she met Len Brown, the Mayor.

She was a peer support leader at Elim school and loved encouraging other kids. She enjoyed horse riding and in her early teens was a leader at Sonshine Ranch. In her spare time she loved to read with a passion, enjoyed boogie boarding, scrap booking, card making, and shopping!! (not that she had much spare time).

Her all time favourite verse was "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3 v 5-6).

As a friend she was a kind, caring, encouraging person who was always looking out for others. Tash taught us all how to have fun and enjoy life. When we were with her we were able to just be ourselves and not care about what others thought about us. We were able to all live life to the full and make the most of the opportunities we had been given to have fun spending  time with each other, whether this was at powerzone, youth or even camps away. She was an amazing friends that we will never forget.

As a daughter she was a parents 'ideal' child. She was enthusiastic about life and learning - she loved Jesus with such depth and passion, and was eager to honour Him with her choices in life. She honoured us as parents and wrote us many thank you cards and tributes so that we knew how much she loved and appreciated us. She was an awesome sister, a little "mother" who wrote encouraging cards to Ben and Olivia and took them out on "dates".