Christmas Eve

Today was Christmas Eve, and it was a beautiful day, but it just didn't feel like Christmas Eve! We decided that it felt more like the Fourth of July. We met our team on the beach for lunch and presents (and swimming, tanning, and frisbee). We spent about three hours at the beach and it was awesome. In the evening we went to some friends house, had a baseball game, a cookout, and ate dinner outside. We felt like we should be getting ready to watch fireworks, not open Christmas presents!



Hope you are all enjoying your Christmas Eve with your family, with your friends, or with whoever you happen to be with today, in whatever part of the world you are in. We feel very blessed by the friendships on our team that help to make the Holidays feel less lonely. We are also thankful for the many families at the church we are at who have invited us to be a part of their family celebrations.

Earthquake

We have heard that there was an earthquake last night in Gisborne NZ. It was a 6.8 on the Ricther Scale. We live about 2 1/2 hours north of Gisborne and did not feel anything. We actually heard about the Earthquake from Americans who were asking us if we were okay or if we had felt anything. We did not hear about it from New Zealand news, though we are not great at getting the news here! It happened at 8:55 Thursday evening, Joe was with some guys and I was hanging out with a friend, it was a beautiful night and neither one of us remember even feeling tremors! We looked it up to check it out and it looks like the town was hit pretty bad. Thanks for your concern!

O Christmas Tree!

Being that Christmas comes in the summer and that we did not have Thanksgiving, we are having a little trouble getting into the Christmas spirit this year. We didn't really think we should get a Christmas tree because our crate hasn't arrived with all of our decorations. We didn't want to buy all new decorations but we also didn't want to have a bare Christmas tree! We finally broke down last week and determined that our lack of Christmas Spirit must definately be from the lack of Christmas feeling in our home. We went out and bought a real Christmas tree! We brought it home and spent all of two and a half minutes decorating it with a strand of tinsle and a string of lights. I guess I have some Christmas spirit, I went to buy the lights and there was only one box left so I raced to grab them before anyone else did-that sounds like Christmas! Our tree didn't seem complete without an angel up top, luckily, Biggie did not get packed on the crate, but in our suitcases! He now graces the top of our Christmas tree.
We hope that you are all having a Happy Christmas Season! If you are having a stressful season, we hope this picture gives you a laugh, like it did for us!

Summer is Here!

As all of the schools are officially out for the summer the youth group had a pizza and pool party to celebrate! The kids mentioned to the youth minister that they were in the mood for some 'American Pizza' so I was called to make some 'good American tasting pizza'. I didn't think this would be a good time to tell the youth minister that ,thanks to the just add water pizza crust in the states, I have never made pizza from scratch! I also am learning that just-add-water-foods are not something that have made it to New Zealand...yet! The kids each brought their favorite toppings, which ranged from pinnapple to M&M's to smoked chicken and beef jerkey! The pizza turned out fine and the weather, after almost a week straight of rain, was beautiful.

Christmas Party!

Shore has a program for young mothers on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings called Mainly Music. This is a time for moms in the community to bring in their toddlers, meet with other moms, and have their children entertained by songs and activities. This week was the last week of Mainly Music until after summer so they had a big farewell Christmas Party. All of the moms and their children were encouraged to dress up and they had a parade to show off their Christmas attire. During the parade Santa came! Truthfully, it was Joe, but I think only one really smart girl caught on to it! The kids were able to sit on Santa's lap and get a present. I was dressed up (by one of the Mainly Music leaders) as a Christmas tree! I stood behind Santa and added great background for the pictures! The kids really enjoyed the morning and it was a great way for us to meet alot of new moms. Over half of the moms are not a part of the church but love coming to Mainly Music. It is a great outreach program.

Home Sweet Home

Here is a picture of our new flat in New Zealand! We are beginning to feel very settled and right at home. There are four or five units similar to ours just behind our flat. The garage that is seen on the edge of the picture is not ours, but our neighbors. We have the car-park just in front of our door. We feel almost completely at home here. We are excited for the arrival of our crate so that we can complete the kitchen and have the rest of our belongings to add to the flat. We hope for the crate to arrive before Christmas, until then, we will continue to be creative in using what we have!



Our Address:
202b Greenhithe Road
Greenhithe
Auckland 1311
New Zealand

House Phone: (64) 9 413 6506

Christmas Ball

This week we have been busy setting up for the youth Christmas Ball. The Christmas Ball is put on by the SCCC youth program, but attracts many students who aren't involved at Shore. The teenagers love the Ball and even hire out (rent) tuxes and wear formal gowns. I was able to help some of the girls 'get ready' beforehand. It reminded me of helping youth group girls from the States with hair and makeup at Homecoming and Prom. The Ball consists of dinner, gift exchange, and dancing. There were prizes given out for the best dressed couple, the best dancer, the most creative dancer and other fun categories. Below are some pictures of the evening.

Happy Birthday, Andy!

This week we went to a leadership conference, at one point the leader asked us to think of someone that we know that is wise. Someone who says the right thing, can help you get through what you are going through, and just understands. One of the names that I wrote down was my brother Andy's name (and his wife Abby's). I wrote his name down because in addition to the description of wise the speaker was giving, I had a professor in college who said that wisdom is the perfection of character. I am not saying that Andy is perfect, and I know he wouldn't want me to say that. I do know that Andy works each day to be a better follower of Christ. I know that Andy is looked up to by so many students at churches and schools in the midwest, by so many adults, by all of his friends, and by every member of our family.
During our last few months in the States, Andy and Abby were awesome! We hung out all of the time, we talked about everything, and they prayed with us often. In addition to his wisdome and dedicated walk with Christ, Andy enjoys having a good time. Andy, we wish we could be there to help you celebrate your birthday today! We could have had a competition of some sort. We could have played Fact or Crap. We could be fully decked out in Nu-Way attire! We love you and wish you a Happy Birthday!

A Quick Update!

We have been so busy this last week! We have so much that we have wanted to write on the blog, but in moving to our new apartment, we have not had internet access (or much time!) until today. I will try to give you a brief run-down of what our lives have looked like lately!

On Sunday we went with Shore Community Chrisitan Church (SCCC) into Auckland for the Santa Parade. In addition to Shore, there were some other churches that joined us for the parade. There was probably a group of about fifty of us from the churches and we sang Christmas carols in the parade. Sunday, being that it was one month from Christmas, was the kick-off for the Christmas season here.

On Monday, we moved into our new apartment! We spent most of the day getting our things situated, switching the accounts from this house to our name, and running to the Warehouse-which is the New Zealand version of Wal-Mart.

We spent all day Tuesday at a leadership conference with some of the other leaders from SCCC. It was a great chance to connect with people in ministries from all over the North Isalnd of New Zealand. We came home and finished trying to put the house together!

Wednesday was an exciting day for our team...Nate and Whitney arrived to New Zealand from the States! Our whole team is here! The Taylors and us left for the airport before 7:00am to be there to greet them. After greeting them, most of our team had to get back to offices of the church. Joe and I have both been learning from the Children's Ministry and Youth Ministry leaders here. With the kids about to get out of school for the summer, there are many activities being put together. We have been going to different programs and helping to do some of the behind-the-scenes work. We spent alot of Wednesday getting ready for the youth Ball on Friday night.

This morning, Thursday, we were awoken at 6:15 by a pounding on our door. Needless to say we were a little frantic! Joe jumped up to answer it and it was a delivery man! He was dropping off the connections we needed for our phone/internet! In addition to it being 6:15am the delivery was about two weeks earlier than we had expected it! We are headed into the church offices today and tonight we are babysitting.

Pictures and moe frequent updates to come!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy Birthday to an amazing woman! We wish we could be there to celebrate today with all of you. Thank you for being such a great mom, always taking care of us and teaching us so much about life. Thank you for holding family in such high regards. You have always looked out for your kids and for dad. You have created such an atmoshpere of love in our family, we love each other and love spending time together. I know that being together as a family is something that we all hold very dear to our hearts, but thank you for accepting the challenge that God put in front of you with us moving away. You have been supportive, even though it wouldn't be your first choice of places for us to live!
Today, we wish you a very Happy Birthday and know that we wish we could be there to celebrate!

Home Sweet Home

After viewing 11 different flats/units/apartments...we found our own place to live!! We will be moving into our new place on Monday the 26th of November! Apartments are very different here. Extra space is not something that you will find much of. The average cost of the places we were looking at was around $400 a week. This was for two bedrooms with a living area and a kitchenette. Most places do not have room for a dinner table and most rooms have space for a bed, but not much else. We also had an expectation that we would be living in an apartment complex, but most practical places to rent are either part of a house or a small unit just off of a house. Ours is a small unit just off of a house.

We had quite a cultural experience while looking for a place to live, we looked at every kind of unit in all areas of the city. Please join us in praying that our new 'home' will be a place that we can use for ministry, and that God will use our location to help us meet people.

More to come about our house next week once we are in it!

Hot Springs

Friday night we accompanied the youth group from Shore to the hot springs water park in Wairera, just north of Auckland. We had a great time and got to know a lot of the kids. Lucky for us, they think we are cool becuase of our 'accents'. The kids in our van were very entertaining as they were trying out the American accent. Here are a couple of pictures of the evening.




The temperatures outside were quite cold, but everything at the water park was warm water from hot springs so that kept everyone in the water!

Car Shopping

We have spent most of our week car-shopping and looking for a place to live. We have finally moved forward and made some progress with the purchase of our new (to us) car...or should I say mini-van! Below is the 1999 Honda Odessey that we purchased!



The used car market is great here becuase cars are imported to New Zealand from Japan. The regulations for a car in Japan are more strict, so cars are not usually owned as long before they are shipped away. Our car is a new import and has never had an owner in New Zealand before us. We are very excited about the good deal we got on our car.

Back in the states we often wished for a van so that we could haul around youth group kids. We were blessed to have many people with vans in our church that we would swap cars with when we needed more room to transport kids. One of the reasons we got our van was to use it for youth group activities. We already have our first trip booked with the youth group for this Friday night. The youth group from Shore is going to a hot-springs water park and we were invited to go along...and drive!

We're Here!

We had our first Sunday at Shore Community Christian Church and it was great to be back. We saw some familiar faces from our first visit to Auckland and we met many new people. Shore is coming up on it's ten year anniversary-this is so exciting to our team! Shore was a church plant by South Pacific Christian Fellowship and has now grown to almost 400 people. We will be working with Shore for the first year leaning about the culture of New Zealand, the way ministry is done here, and learning from their leaders. It excites us to think that in ten years, there might be another healthy and growing church in the Auckland area because of God using our team to start another church.



After church, there was a young adult lunch back at the house we are staying at. It was great to meet so many people our age and begin to learn about their lives here. We had alot of laughs about how different some things are here in New Zealand compared to the States for people our age. Joe and I felt like we were learning alot by listening to them. The 'lunch' lasted until about six, but we couldn't stay the entire time.

At six o'clock, there was a ministry team meeting at Shore that we were invited to be at. This was a great chance for us to see some of the vision-casting of the church and also to meet some of the ministry team leaders. The meeting helped give us an overview of what the church is doing right now, where it is headed for next year, and how our team can be a part of that.

We took the first week to get acclimated to New Zealand and to do different cultural activities before jumping in to all of the events at the church. We are very thankful for the time that we had to get to know the country and the people a little bit better during that time. As soon as we got to Auckland, our calendars began filling up with different youth events and committments at Shore.


We have a very busy week ahead of us that includes car shopping, looking for a more permanent place to live, and meeting with many people, and beginning to participate in the events at Shore. Thank you for all of your prayers! We are so excited to begin this chapter of our lives!

Family

There is so much that we could say about our last evening in the States. My family decided to make it into an early Christmas and we enjoyed the evening together. We went out to dinner as a family, during dinner some of my mom's friends came over to set up and decorate the house while we were gone. We pulled into the driveway after dinner and there were luminaries in the drive wishing Joe and I well on our new journey. They had also set up the table for dessert and put pictures of our family out for each of us to take. Their efforts were amazing and it was a great way to walk in from dinner.



Back at the house we began our 'gift exchange'. We had each drawn names and had a creative way to exchange gifts. After all gifts had been given, Joe and I presented the family with the "Joe and Amy Flammer Memorial" traveling trophy. This Trophy will take our place in the many competitions that the Huette family has while we are gone.




After gifts, we ate of dessert and then had a time of prayer. This was a very meaningful part of the evening. We sat as a family and thanked God for each other, but also asked for help during this time of transition that we are all facing. There were many tears during the prayer from all of us, but it was such a blessing. The tears that we shed during prayer seemed like ones that we had all been holding in.

My dad had a special toast for us after the prayer. In honor of Joe, my dad filled each of our glasses with chocoalte milk for the toast! My dad put alot of thought into the night!



We ended the evening with games (complete with prizes for the winners) and watching movies.




We are leaving today from St. Louis at 5:15. Our professor, mentor, and friend, Mike Nichols will be taking us to the aiport.
We will be sure to let you know when we get there! We are taking the first week to do some cutural activites on the North Island and will be moving into our temporary room next Saturday. Untill then, it's flammertime!

Called

In the summer of 1993 I decided that the “God thing” really made sense to me, and I wanted to live a life devoted to Him. The following school year, 6th grade, as the New York Rangers were playing their Stanley Cup season, I was making singing Pharaoh, Pharaoh and reading a Gideon Bible the cool things at school.

In 8th grade I prepared to go on my first international mission trip. Before the New York School Year ended, I boarded a plane (for the first time) and flew from Long Island’s McArthur Airport to Indiana in order to prepare for my first mission trip. That summer I spent 2 weeks in Jamaica, but I had my first significant cross-cultural experience in the Mid West. During the next 4 summers I would go on more mission projects with New Adventures In Missions to Poland & Belarus, Northern Ireland, The Philippines, and Honduras.

The year 2000 brought with it my departure for Lincoln Christian College, and in 2002 I switched my major to Intercultural Studies: I had decided to become a missionary. For my official school internship, me and my bride of 7 days flew to Mozambique, Africa, for 2 ½ months.

For the past two and a half years, Amy and I have been preparing to go to New Zealand and plant new churches, but as I look back on my life, it seems apparent to me that God has been calling me to be a missionary for much longer than that. Now, after 14 years of intentional preparation, I am getting ready to board a plane for the South Pacific. My bags are packed, my visa is stamped, and my ticket is in hand.

To those of you who have been with me (and Amy) along this journey… thank you. And to the God who not only calls us, but fulfills our dreams… thank You, thank You, thank You. Thank you for calling me and preparing me for the last 14 years of Flammer Time.

And the Winner is...

If there is one word that people use often when describing my family, I think it would be competitive. We hadn't been back at my parents house from our trip for five minutes when my brother called. Andy told us to get ready becuase they would be there soon for a "Pumpk-off". I knew this was serious...they were coming over with two pumkins, one for each couple, and we were having a pumpkin carving contest.

We have written in previous blogs about Andy and Abby, my borhter and his wife, and how much they mean to us. They are so intentional about spending time with us before we leave. We often pray together and they are so ecouraging to us. We will miss them, but we are thankful for how much time we have had to spend with them recently.

Though we love them, we didn't think we should let them win! Both couples got to work right away and below are the results, you can be the judge!



Bonus Points: Does anyone (who isn't on our NZ team) know what Joe and I carved on our pumpkin?

See You in New Zealand!

This week we were able to spend time with our team one last time before we all leave for New Zealand. The week began with all of us traveling from our respective homes with anything and everything that we hope to see again in New Zealand to pack it into a crate in Indiana. We have been very blessed through our teammates, Nate and Whitney, in getting a crate. They are supported by a company that ships crates internationally, including to New Zealand. This company, Wood-Mizer, was able to double the size of the crate we had planned on getting, and cut the cost in half. Our team was able to share this crate with plenty of extra room!



After a rainy day of packing, we were blessed to go to dinner with John and Katy Pierce. John is a member of our sending organization, South Pacific Christian Fellowship. They treated us to dinner at The Spaghetti Factory in Indianapolis. After dinner they took us back into a private room to give us a send off. John and Katy had prepared a devotion to share with us about being sent out. Included with this devotion was prayer, a song that they sang, and a time of commissioning. As a reminder of why we are going to New Zealand, John and Katy had brought International Harvester hats to give each of us. It was very meaningful and very encouraging to know that they have so much faith in our team and the journey we are embarking on.

We spent Tuesday through Thursday meeting family! We were able to spend two nights on the Vance farm in Ohio. The Vance's are Molly's family and we were looking forward to learn about life on the farm, but unfortunately, the rain from Monday came even harder on Tuesday and Wednesday! We enjoyed our time inside with playing games and enjoying a great home-cooked meal with Molly's family.

After spending two days with Molly's family, we went to Columbus to meet Whitney's family. Unfortunately, her mom was ill and her dad needed to stay home to take care of her so we did not get to meet Mr. and Mrs. Maige. We did, however, enjoy getting to know the rest of Whitney's family over dinner and games that evening.

We ended the week Thursday morning making plans for being picked up from the airport in New Zealand! We had a long time of prayer and hugs. During prayer, Nate used an analogy that I feel like resembles how we all feel right now. His prayer was, "God, I feel like we are standing on the edge of a cliff, about to jump off, we are waiting for you to catch us!" We take such encouragement in knowing that God will not only catch us, but guide us until we land!

The goodbye to our team was not sad, but exciting! This is what we have been working for. We have been able to meet most of the team's family members throughout the last six months. Though we all love our families, and will miss them dearly, we feel as though our team is like a family. We love them and know that we have a long, exciting, and unknown road in front of us. We will work through things like a family, hold each other up like a family, and be there for each other like a family. We continually thank God for the blessing of our team in our lives.

It's Not That Anything is Going Wrong...

So Joe and I typically like to have order in our lives. We are the type of people that plan. I am the type of person that plans not only for the given event, but for all possible events that could occur while said event is going on. I am also the type of person that is completely thrown off when something happens that doesn't fit into the plan, or any of the possible plans that have been made. In the past week, I have been thrown off a lot…things haven't been going according to any plan, it's not that anything is going wrong, it just isn't in the plan!

When we were in Colorado at Missions Training International for three weeks at the beginning of the summer, we were given a stress test. We were sitting in a room with over 40 other missionaries who were taking the same test. This stress test had events listed in one column and point values listed in the other. The point of the test was to check the events that were happening in your life, and then add up the points. There were different values, 200-300 moderate stress, you should take a break; 300-400 high stress, you are on the verge of a breakdown; over 400 meant you should be hospitalized. The events listed were things like "made a move in the last year", "switched jobs in the last year", "graduated college", "traveled away for home", "had to say goodbye to loved ones", and the list went on with about fifty events. Needless to say, Joe and I scored over 1000 points, and we were some of the lowest out of all of the missionaries. The point of this test was to show us that things were not normal for us and that even if we said we were fine, we had all these stressers in our lives. This meant that often times it would be the small things that cause us to get upset.

All of this to say, as our time in the states winds down, our stressers are at an all time high, and it’s the small things, like when something doesn't go according to plan, that have been hardest for us to take in. I have learned so much during this phase of my life, that sometimes my plans don't happen because God has another one, one which is always better. I find myself realizing that I don't stop to thank God enough for having such a perfect plan for my life. Have you noticed in the Bible that when someone is petitioning God for something, we often read one or two verses about their request. When that prayer is answered, we can find whole chapters of thanksgiving to God for what he has done for them and how he has answered their prayers. I have seen God answer more prayers and take care of us more than ever in this phase of our lives, yet my prayer life isn't as full of thanksgiving as the people I read about in the Bible. I find that when God answers a prayer the way that we think it should be answered, there can be an attitude of expectation or like it's something we deserve-it's like we think God answers prayers based on who we are, not on who He is. I have been learning that when things don't go according to plan, I need to stop and pray for patience, and then thank God, knowing that He is taking care of me according to His plan.

Joe and I have tried to make more of an effort lately to stop and thank God for all of the things that He has done for us and really pouring our hearts out to Him with the joy that we have for the many, many ways that He has taken care of us. Please know that we have been thanking God for you and your prayers and encouragement. Maybe we should stop trying to plan and just roll with what comes our way in flammertime.

Leaving New York

We just got done with a 4 week trip to the East Coast. As you can read in our last blog, we did quite a bit of traveling in that time. Our trusty Volvo (a.k.a. The Panther) has made it to the 140,000 mile mark and is just as strong as ever. We are going to miss our wonderful Panther as we begin driving on the opposite side of the road.

Since our last blog, Amy and I have said goodbye to our New York family. It was a difficult time, but we were able to say healthy goodbyes to everyone. Everyone, that is, except for our 4-year-old nephew Brett, who ran away and refused to acknowledge that we were leaving. We would appreciate it if you all could throw up a prayer for us and our families and we deal with this separation. Below is a picture of me and my nephews, Cody and Brett. The other picture is a picture of me and my mom.






While in New York I was also able to preach at 2 churches. We spoke at a church in Queens, NY, and Riverhead, NY. The church in Queens is pastored by a man who I have known since I was a kid, in fact, his daughter was my first official girl-friend (Don't worry, Amy, we only dated for 20 hours back in 1995, and I think I am finally over her). We loved being in worship with people from so many different ethnic backgrounds and even cultural backgrounds.

Riverhead was a whole different experience. This church (North Shore Christian Church) is only 2 years old and my mom, 2 sisters and my brother are all members there and active in the ministry. In addition to that, many people who I grew up going to church with are in leadership at this church plant and were part of the original church plant team. Amy and I got together with Jerry (the pastor) and Kristin (his wife who is also on staff) on Thursday for lunch and to discuss the plan for service on the following Sunday. They have been in alot of the same situations that we find ourselves in with church planting and were able to speak wisdom and encouragement into our lives. They also asked how they could help us besides monthly support, partnership in prayer, and sending over teams. They had already began a drive for office supplies which they started a month ago and provided us with 4 boxes of various supplies. They realized that we would be moving into a house and had no furniture - so they took us out and bought us an awesome bedroom furniture set. We were completely overwhelmed by this kind of generosity. While we were in the store it took us about 25 minutes to realize what they were doing for us. When we get to New Zealand it will be an awesome visual reminder, not only of that church, but of all the people who are sacrificially partnering with us. This also reminded us of God's perfect timing. Had we been offered this furniture earlier this summer, we would not have had room to take it. Our team has been blessed by a company who is helping to ship our stuff, they offered us a crate that was twice the size that we had planned on for half the price we had planned on. On Monday morning Jerry and a man from the church named John helped us load up our new furniture to be shipped.

Right after we packed up the furniture on Monday morning (and getting extremely lost in the process) we headed out of NY to drive back to Illinois. I fell asleep and Amy took the wrong road for about a half hour, we got stuck on the George Washington Bridge and were about 3 hours behind schedule, but we eventually made it back to the good ole' Mid-West.

The reality is hitting us that our time here is winding down. We can't believe that we only have 3 1/2 weeks left here in the USA. There is still alot to do, but we have felt for several months that we have been in a kind of no mans land. We don't really belong here, but we aren't in New Zealand yet. When we run into acquaintances, they often say, "I thought you moved to Australia or something." We can't wait to get to New Zealand and begin to start life there. Thank you for all being friends and encouragements to us in this time of so much change. We have needed your friendship and your prayers. Without you this would have been a very difficult time. But you have all helped it to become an awesome FlammerTime.

On the Road Again

We recently spent four days in North Carolina with our team at the Acts 29 church planting conference. This time was not only beneficial for the wonderful speakers that we were able to hear (Ed Stetzer, JD Grear, Mark Driscoll, and other church planting experts), but for the time that we were able to spend brainstorming, planning, and encouraging each other with our team.

Joe and I left North Carolina to go to New York, but it's not quiet that simple! We had some extra time before we needed to be in New York, so we decided to say some good-byes on the way. We were able to spend the night with Carrie-Lynn, Joe's younger sister at Universtiy of Virginia. It was great to see Carrie-Lynn, meet some of her friends, and experience life at her college. She is doing well and is very involved with a campus ministry and with Portico Christian Church. We were able to visit Portico, which just so happens to be an Acts29 church.




After saying goodbye to Carrie-Lynn, we went to visit some friends near Washington D.C. We were able to stay with John and Kevin, friends that Joe grew up with and who were also in our wedding. We had a great time catching up and hanging out with John and Kevin. Joe and I were also able to spend about five hours in D.C. which was great for us. We realized once we were there how much we needed a day to ourselves! We ran around the city trying to see as much of it as we could in five hours.



The next day we continued to drive up north and stopped in Pennsylvania to visit Danny and Megan and their boys. Danny sang in our wedding and he and Joe grew up going to church camp together. Our stay with Danny and Megan was very encouraging and as you can see, their boys are adorable.


We had one last stop before we got 'home' to Joe's mom's house. We were able to stop in New York City to see our good friend Nick and his girlfriend Alaina. Nick was also in our wedding and Joe gives a lot of credit to Nick for helping to foster his spiritual life as he was growing up. We were able to get some of the best pizza in the world with Nick and Alaina at Grimaldi's, just under the Brooklyn Bridge. The pizza is so well known, we had to wait in line to get in!





We finally reached our destination, Joe's mom's house, about 1:30 Thursday morning. After traveling so much we couldn't wait to get a good night's sleep…in a bed. Though the traveling can be tiring, we are thankful for the many good friends that we have in our lives. We learned about good 'goodbyes' while in Colorado at Mission Training International and we are beginning to understand the importance of them! It was hard saying goodbye to each of these people knowing that it will be a couple of years before we see them again. We are thankful for their love and encouragement as we embark on this new journey. It meant so much to us that they have chosen to take part in this crazy time in our lives that we call flammertime.

Giants

I think every once in a while, God raises up giants. If you read one of my favorite books, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya, you will read about 2,000 years of these heros in missions. Today, I think I saw another one. There is this guy named Mark. He likes to share that he comes "from a long line of alcoholics and wife beaters." He likes to drink beer and curse, or as my Midwestern friends would say, "cuss", although I think he has really toned that down lately. I heard him speak in January of 2005, and I had a hard time with him. The guy is just brash and outspoken, and I used to think he was also arrogant and rude, which he would probably say are true. In the past couple of months I have had some discussions about him and read one of his books, Confessions of a Reformission Rev. and I started to get some more respect for him. Lately I have been wondering if he is arrogant and rude, or just bold and correct.
This week I heard Mark speak a few times. He seems whimsical, wise, and humble. He formed an organization called the Acts 29 Network, which empowers church planting churches and plants new churches. I think that Mark has a strength of being a straight shooter and addressing issues in a way that they probably need to be addressed. In all honesty, I have to admit that I have a hard time taking a super hard stance on anything, and when someone else does, it rubs me the wrong way, so I am glad Mark Driscoll can do that.
Today Driscoll spoke about what he sees as some trends and some dangers among evangelicals. It scared me. I believe very strongly that God created the world, since then it has become messed up by sin, or our failure to live up to God's standards. I believe that God has a plan to restore His creation to what He created it to be like, and central to that is Jesus. Now, I think that the people who follow Christ are the best shot this world has of restoration. We need people like Mark Driscoll to lead us and make sure that we stay the coarse of God's work.
I don't think that I am one of these giants, and honestly, there is nothing too special about me, I am a pretty mediocre person. A weak person. But one of the reoccurring themes of the Bible is that God, who is infinitely strong and wise and good, uses people who are mediocre and weak to do His work. For reference on this, read the story of Gideon, (one of my favorites, found in Judges 7) or 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, or 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. This is one of my favorite themes in scripture and it encourages me every time I see it and I thank God for including me and Amy in His plan.
And thank you. Thank you for encouraging us, believing in us, and praying for us in spite of our weaknesses. Keep it FlammerTime.

Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?

We were given a great opportunity today to be guests in the fifth grade classrooms at Cornerstone Christian Academy in Bloomington, IL. My brother and his wife are both teachers at Cornerstone. My sister-in-law, Abby Huette, is a fifth grade teacher. Every Wednesday morning they have a "Missions Moment" where Abby usually chooses a country from Operation World (a prayer guide for each country of the world). She will inform the students about the country and also about the spiritual needs of the country, then they will take time as a class to pray for that country. This week, she asked if Joe and I could come into the class and give the students a live "Missions Moment." We were able to spend 45 minutes with both fifth grade classrooms and teach them about New Zealand and share with them why we are going. We had so much fun with these students! They were very attentive and were great with participating in the activities that we did with them. We have a quiz that we like to give to students to help them learn things about New Zealand like what language they speak, what the people of New Zealand look like, and other interesting facts about New Zealand. We also told the students how less than 10% of the population is in church on Sunday and showed them what that would look like. We had the 26 students stand in one part of the classroom, all of the students represented the four million people of New Zealand. Then we took less than 10% of those students, 2 students, and had them stand by themselves in another part of the classroom. We talked to the kids about how this represented the amount if people that were not going to church and asked them for ideas to get more people in church. It was a lot of fun for us, and hopefully for the kids too! When we were done, some of the students volunteered to pray for us. Four fifth grade students lifted us up in prayer and it was awesome! They prayer for our health, our ministry, the people of New Zealand, the people that would someday join our church, financial 'precision' (we think he meant provision), and for our friends and family. We were so blessed by the fifth graders today!

Visa Miracle?

We are in the middle of our Visa process. We must have our Visas back before we are able to leave the country. The process, once it is mailed in, can take weeks and even months. We have been working on getting our application ready since May. It took all summer to get everything done that we needed to get done and it was a very intense process. There were over 50 pages of letters and documents that we had to include. There were a few times when we did not get tests back in time or needed a document that we were unable to get our hands on immidiately due to our traveling. Last Tuesday, we were finally able to send in our entire packet. We were so nervous that we had done something wrong or that we had not included everything, we went over the completed ap so many times! Today, I opened the front door to go outside and there at the doorstep was a package from the New Zealand Embassy in Washington DC. Our Visas had been returned. Before I opened the package I was convinced that something had gone wrong so they had sent them back without even looking at them. We opened them up to find that we were granted work visas!! We started screaming! God continues to provide for us and take care of us. We feel like this was a miracle, it took only 6 days to send them to DC, have the applications reviewed, have the Visas granted, and then sent back to Bloomington to us! I guess we need to continue to learn the lesson that it's not always in flammertime, thankfully, it's in God's time.

An International Lunch…In Central Illinois?

In the words of Ice Cube, “Today I had a good day.” This morning started out early for us as we rolled out of bed at 5:30am . We were able to share with the people of Mt. Pulaski Christian Church about what God is doing in New Zealand. It was great to meet some of the leaders from the church and see some old friends. Mt. Pulaski is the church that blessed me tremendously in my senior year at LCC by awarding me with the Intercultural Studies Scholarship and it was great to let them know that it made a difference.
The hours following church were also a great experience. Mt. Pulaski Christian Church is where Mike Nichols, our professor, colleague from South Fork, mentor, and friend, serves as an elder, so he and his family were at church today. His daughter and future son-in-law are good friends of ours and were on the praise team. After church, Mike & Julie invited me, Amy, Shannon Robinson (who is preparing to do ministry in Africa), and one other couple to eat lunch with his family. The other couple, Rodney & Linda, are currently missionaries in residence at Lincoln Christian College and are on furlough from Mexico. They are a godly and wise couple that inspired us as young missionaries. Rodney & Linda have served in Mexico for 27 years. That kind of longevity on the mission field is a rare accomplishment and gives us something to emulate. Spending the afternoon with old friends and new friends who share the same passion as we do was so refreshing. We felt like we were with family.
Some advice that Rodney and Linda gave us was to make sure that our own spiritual life was in check. They reminded us that in order to have a successful ministry, we need to constantly be spending time with God. Amy has felt like this is a theme that we have been reminded of often. In fact just last night she was thinking about how much we need to rely on God and decided to read John 15. Between reading John 15 and hearing Rodney and Linda, we keep hearing God remind us… “apart from me you can do nothing…” (John 15:5) We are reminded to remain in Christ and to remain in His love in John 15. Why do we try to do things on our own when we know we just need to be in God’s care and wait for his timing? Thanks for reminding us of our priorities Rodney and Linda!

Feels Like Home to Me….

Last week got better as time went on, and so did Amy. As you may have read, Amy was pretty sick for most of last week, alternating her time between the bed and the bathroom. She fought a fever, cold, and stomach flu from about Saturday to Wednesday evening. Eventually, she was able to get, and keep, some vittles (that means food) in her system and made a speedy recovery after that.
The remainder of the week was just what the doctor ordered. After Amy spent the week sick, and I spent the week trying to figure out some basic accounting software called QuickBooks, we left on Thursday evening to meet some of our friends in Springfield. On Thursday night, while Amy and our friend Abby went to a movie, me and BIGGIE were busy playing cards with some of the guys. Let’s just say Big Slick was good to me that night. Sorry Dewey.
The next morning we were able to visit the school where I used to work and see several of my old students and teachers that I worked with. We were a good team, and I miss the lot of them. We also had lunch with Bob & Phyllis, a couple that we love dearly and have become like adopted grandparents to us. After lunch we saw our friends Josh (the preacher at South Fork), Mindy (his wife), and their new baby, Phillip. We also visited Family Christian Bookstore, where one of the elder’s from South Fork is the manager. We were also able to meet some friends, who are also moving away from the Springfield area, for dinner to say goodbye.
In addition to getting to see all of these friends, we have been so blessed to be able to spend time this summer with family. Spending time with Amy’s brother and sister-in-law, Andy & Abby Huette, has been splendid. We have a lot in common, namely: all four of us are teachers, Andy & I are both youth ministers, and we all like ice-cream. These two are not only family, but they are great friends. They have made a point to spend as much time as they can with us before we leave. With Andy and Abby we have done dinners, had sleepovers, walked to the ice cream store, and just been encouraged by their zeal to do God’s will in their life. They have been a constant encouragement and support to us. On Saturday night they took some time to just pray for us and our ministry. That means a lot.
We are so thankful for great family and great friends who are such a huge part of our lives. It is going to be one of the most difficult things to leave these people, but we cannot even imagine what God has in store. Although none of these people can be replaced, we take hope in the words of Jesus in Mark 10:29-30. We just have to remember that it will all happen in God’s time, not necessarily Flammer time.

SICK or TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING

So the title of today's blog is in honor of the wonderfully talented musician, Sufjan Stevens, who often has several titles to one song. I am starting to understand how sometimes one simple title is too simple to summarize our feelings.
After I got back from church on Sunday (notice the use of the singular rather than the plural pronoun - more about that later) Amy's parents, me, and Amy, all piled into the car and drove to the town where Amy's parents grew up - Forest. Family of Amy's came in from as near as a mile away and as far as North Carolina and Florida for a short family reunion. It was a sort of going away party for us and we ate some good fried chicken and played a lot of bean-bags, a.k.a. corn-hole, a.k.a. corn-hole-bean-bag. In an 8 team, double elimination tournament, Joe & Amy Flammer won the Velda Huette Corn-hole Tourney. Amy played several amazing games and reminded me of The Great One, Michael Jordan, when he dropped 54 points on my beloved New York Knicks while running a fever in game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals in 1993. Amy was quite sick.
For much of last week I (Joe) had a cough and was more congested than the Long Island Expressway at rush hour. I am still feeling it, but most of my sickness has been passed on to Amy. As I write this, she is lying in bed with a stomach flu, running a fever, and within arms reach of "the bucket." She has been sick since Saturday morning and could hardly enjoy her own going away party yesterday (even though she still pulled out the "W" in bean-bags) or the Labor Day get together today (BTW, she didn't bring the A game today).
We are worn out. We have loved traveling around to see friends, family, and prepare for New Zealand, but we are worn out. I think in this case that too much of a good thing can be bad. While traveling, even vacationing, is awesome, we are worn out. Since May 25th, we have been nomads living out of suitcases. It takes its toll on you. Amy pointed out that this is the first week since May that we are not supposed to visit a church or give a presentation and her body is sub-consciously breaking down. My sister, who was a psychology major in college and is now a social worker, said that change brings on stress, and we have basically been living in constant change for over 3 months. We are ready to get to New Zealand and try to settle in.
At this time several things come to mind. I realize that this is just the life we live. As missionaries we ride on the wave of transition. I spent alot of time swimming in the Atlantic Ocean as a kid, and one thing I learned is that you can't fight the waves, you need to embrace them and ride them or they will tumble you and pull you out to sea. We are still learning to live on the wave of transition. We still have a long way to go before we can settle in. Please pray that as we go through these changes, that we will get wiser and grow, rather than be tumbled and pushed out to sea. Also, please pray for Amy's physical healing.
Also, I can't help but think about all of those missionaries that I read about at LCC in Biblical and Historical Foundations of Missions with Mike Nichols. These giants of faith set out on ships for lands that they had never visited and where they couldn't just call or email friends and family. If I remember correctly, at one point nearly 1 out of 3 missionaries to go to India died before they got off of the boat. I don't even understand the implications of why I am thinking about that fact, but I am amazed by their resolve.
So, right now, thanks. Thanks for being the kind of people who read the blog and keep us in your thoughts, and more importantly, prayers, in the good times and the not so good times. We appreciate you more than you know, for being here for good times and bad times, and always... flammertime.

McBlessings!
Today we arrived back in Bloomington after our six week tour in the east. We spent the last week with our team at a cabin in Indiana. It was very refreshing to be together as a team as we begin to count down the days until we leave…and it is now official that we are leaving! We bought plane tickets for Saturday November 3rd. This was a huge but exciting step for us. With each passing month we are amazed with the ways that God is brining us closer to our goals that we need to get to New Zealand.

As you can imagine, after being gone for six weeks we came home to a lot of mail. We had a package from Robert O’Brien, a high school student from the South Fork youth group, the church that we used to serve at. He had sent us a letter on behalf of the youth group explaining the gift that was in the package. The South Fork youth group recently went to CIY (Christ in Youth conference) in southern Illinois. At this conference there is a student center where the kids eat for the week. They have an allotted amount of money on a meal card and it does not carry over. Something we started doing a few years ago was buying McDonalds gift cards with our left-over money each day. Robert wrote us a note telling us that they were thinking of us while they were at CIY:
“On Monday night of CIY, I thought about it, and I remembered what we did last year. So after every night, I took all of our cards and went to McDonalds. We definitely had a lot of fun and everyone agrees that you will really like it. Enclosed with this letter is $83 worth of McDonald’s gift cards!”
Wow! $83 of McDonalds gift cards. This was such a blessing to us for a couple of reasons. First of all, as you know, we have been traveling around the country this summer and we are not done yet. These gift cards will be awesome to have while we are on the road and stop for food. That’s worth, like, 83 McChickens! Also, we were so blessed that the kids were thinking about us every day! Their understanding of partnership amazes us! We were so encouraged by the thoughtfulness of the kids. We are continually reminded of the blessing that South Fork was to us and thankful for the blessing that it still is!

Long Island/Orlando Connection

For four of the last five weeks we have been in the great state of New York. It has been a time for ministry, friends, family, and new relationships. From August 12-20, we were in Florida with my family on vacation. It was great to be with my mom, stepfather, all of my siblings, my brother-in-law, 2 nephews and of course, my wonderful wife. We went to Universal Studios, Disney's Blizzard Beach, and even spent one day at Cocoa Beach.
During the week that followed we have had a great time with churches on Long Island. On Friday night we were able to go to an all-night event at The Christian Church at Holbrook with many of the students we were with at church camp. On Saturday morning, while we were very tired, we were able to go to South Nassau Christian Church and share with their missions team about the ministry we will be doing in New Zealand. Later on that same day we received a great email. North Shore Christian Church, a 2-year-old church plant that my family is a part of, committed to partner with our ministry financially! We are excited about this partnership and are so thankful that God continues to provide for us. This morning we were able to go to True North Community Church, which was our first partnering church. Although they meet in the same building that my church used to meet in, it is a completely different congregation planted there and Amy and I have never worshiped with them before. Being with them this morning got us even more pumped about planting a new church. We were able to meet several of the leaders from the church who were a huge encouragement. It was also awesome to see such a vibrant, thriving church here on Long Island. Amy and I are so excited about the partnerships and relationships with churches here in my native New York. We are blessed by their support and encouragement.
Tonight, after checking out True North's Elevate service, we will drive through the night from Long Island to Indianapolis, IN, for a weeklong team retreat. Please pray that we have safety in our travels and that God uses the team retreat this week for us to effectively plan and strategize for when we arrive in New Zealand.

Where has August gone?

The last few weeks have been full of activity. Since our last update, we spent another week at church camp, with the week starting when I baptized my 13-year-old nephew, Cody. The first week we spent at the camp was with jr. high students, but the second week was with sr. highers. I had been a camp counselor and Sunday School teacher for many of these students when they were in elementary school 8 years ago -before I left for college. Amy loved getting to know so many people with Long Island accents and a New York State of mind.
Along with speaking everyday at missions, we led a pod of students (the best pod, I must say), Amy stayed in the dorms with the girls and I was asked to speak at camp fire. On Thursday night we went to campfire and, after the music, no one stood up to speak and there was silence. Amy and I quickly discussed what we thought the plan was. Was this a plan that the dean or the speaker had come up with? Should I get up and save us all from an awkward situation? We concluded that Pete had a plan and that we should stay seated. But something amazing happened. Students spontaneously started to lead in singing. Many of the songs were disjointed, missing words and sometimes-whole verses, but it was sincere. After a few minutes, many of the students were crying and then one walked out from the benches toward the huge cross that stands behind the fire pit. She got on her knees there at the foot of the cross and others began to follow. In short order, almost all of the students were sitting beside the cross, many crying, and we went into a time or prayer. Several students and counselors counted this as the most powerful spiritual experience they had ever had. Later on I found out that I was supposed to speak that night, but had simply forgotten to get up. We later decided that God had erased my memory in order to do something amazing. I believe that many of these students had never experienced silence in God's presence, and it was more powerful than any words that could be offered. God spoke through a whisper and a still, small voice… just as He did to Elijah thousands of years ago.
Since leaving camp on August 4, we have been busy. Amy and I were able to speak at my home church, Nesconset Christian Church on Long Island, on Sunday, August 5. We were also able to share about the ministry in NZ at the Christian Church at Holbrook on Sunday, August 12. Pete, the preacher there, also let me preach the sermon that morning. Along with these visits we have seen a lot of our friends and family. We had my 26th birthday celebration with 4 of my closest friends from high school, 2 of their girlfriends, 2 of their wives, and 3 of their babies.
And in these last few weeks it has become apparent that things change. The places and people I knew so well seven years ago, when I first left for Illinois, have all changed. Some of the elementary kids I used to teach are going into their freshman year of college, some of my best high school friends are now proud husbands and fathers. What is especially difficult for us right now is to know that when we set out for New Zealand this fall, life will continue to change. We have accepted the possibility that the next people to get married might be our siblings and we will be 10,000 miles away as they get to know our families. We realize that South Fork Church of Christ will change, that Bloomington, IL, will change, that our friends and our families will change.
It is in this time that I take special comfort in the Biblical promise that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And although time continues to fly by, for now… it's Flammer Time.

I want to be a part of it! New York, New York!

Last Saturday, for the second time this summer, Amy and I went to a wedding in Illinois and then drove 1,000 miles. Last time it was to Colorado, this time we are in New York. Right now we are in upstate New York at Catskill Christian Assembly (CCA), the church camp that had a huge impact on my life. CCA has been supporting us all summer as the missionaries, but we will only be here for two weeks.
In the last two months we have missed the youth group from South Fork, and it really helps to be with jr. and sr. high students. I have gotten to preach twice, lead camp fire devotion once, and Amy and I have been teaching daily missions lessons. The kids have learned a lot about ministry and New Zealand.
We have loved the mountain air, playing in the creek with the students, hiking to the top of the mountain, and even Faculty-Man-Hunt (as usual, no one could find me). Getting to know some new students and the youth minister, Paul, and new discipleship minister, Jon, from my home church (Nesconset Christian Church) has also been great. When I was in high school, I taught children’s church at Nesconset and several of the students here were the 6-year-olds who were in my class back then. We have also spent time with the camp manager and cooks who remember me from when I was a 6-year-old. But for me and Amy, the best part has been spending time with our 13-year-old nephew, Cody, who is a camper this week.
For more information on what we have been up to lately, check out our newsletter at joeandamyflammer.com. Until then, it’s Flammer Time.

"Different, not wrong"

After living in the midwest for seven years, I thought I was safe. I lost much of my Long Island accent, started to like Krispee Kreme, sometimes even more than DunkinDoughnuts and I even think that the corn fields in June is a beautiful sight. But I never dreamed that I would one day become a stock car racing fan - it happened. Last week, while on vacation with Amy's family, Biggie and I went to the I-44 Speedway in Lebannon Missouri with Amy's dad and brothers and loved every second of it. I liked it so much that I went back to Lincoln Speedway in Lincoln, Illinois, this Sunday night where "The Real Deal Don O'Neal" won $10,000 in prize money.

All of this reinforced a valuable missions lesson. As people who are going to serve cross culturally, we always need to remember that just because something is different (take stock car racing, for example) from what I would consider normal and good, it does not mean that said thing (take stock car racing, for example) is wrong. How eye opening it is, indeed, to find that I have been so prejudiced against such a terrific cultural experience in my own nation!

Altitude

We have been feeling it. Altitude. Me, Amy, Nate, Whitney, and Notorious were at 14,110 Feet Above Sea Level this week at Pike's Peak National Forest in Colorado. As we drove in my very classy 1997 Volvo 850 T-5, we could see several changes. It was about 80 degrees when we started up the mountain and below freezing on the top. The vegetation changed and the snow piled up. But one cannot help noticing hypoxia (altitude sickness) when one is at 14,110 feet above sea level. The major difference for me is the dizziness that accomponies these great heights.

Our world has been changing so much over the last few weeks. Sometimes it feels as if we are experiencing hypoxia.We have left a home, dog and ministry that we loved. At the same time we are learning so much about ourselves, ministry, New Zealand, and others. In the last few weeks we have had hard times and great times.

Some great things recently; We were able to see our dear friends, Matt & Bethany Harris, who we went to college with. They are now the campus ministers at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. We also heard from North Side Christian Church in New Albany, Indianna, where several of our friends serve on staff. They have decided to partner with us in the ministry in New Zealand and we are excited about forming a lasting relationship with them. Thank God for this church and what they are doing in thier community and in the world and please pray that God will continue to form partnerships with the ministry in New Zealand and churches in the US.

We have gotten alot of altitude in the last couple of weeks and we are reminded of Psalm 121, where the song writer asks, "I lift my eyes up to the mountains, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth." As we look at the mountains that surround this place, we are reminded that God is taking care of us every step of the way.

Colorado

This is our friend, Christopher Wallace, AKA Frank White, AKA Notorious B.I.G. Biggie is pictured here at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado, when the Rockies beat the Reds on June 2. Look for Biggie in the future as he travels around the world.

At MTI we have weekends off, so we took the opportunity to visit Denver, Boulder (home of the Celestial Seasonings Tea company, of which we had a tour), and Pueblo. In Pueblo we had a chance to visit a new church plant, called The Oasis Christian Church. The Kirkhams are some new friends who are involved in ministry at this church and we were able to eat lunch with them after service. Allen (LCC alum) and Jill Kirkham serve in the worship ministry and their daughters will both be enrolled at Lincoln next semester.

The experience out here has been great so far. WE have been learning alot about cross-cultural missions, hung out with E. Richard Crabtree, met several missionaries in training and have loved the mountains.

We look forward to sharing more Biggie pics with you soon, and more about MTI. See you soon.

Paradox

We are in paradox. We are excited to be starting something new, but we miss the life that we just said goodbye to. We are learning to trust in God more and more, but it is still difficult to know that we don't have regular jobs. We know that this world is not our home, but right now our '97 Volvo 850 T5 is the closest thing we have to a home.

We are living in paradox. Right now we are at Mission Training International (MTI) near Colorado Springs, Colorado. At MTI, our teachers (Robin Allen, Dr. Steve Sweatman), are giving us a framework in which to live in a life of paradox. As cross-cultural ministers, we are going to be stuck in a life of continual paradox, push and pull, joy and hardship. We are finding that missionary life is a life of transition, and we haven't even gotten on a plane yet.

In this paradox, we are so thankful that the God we serve is in control. He knows all of the pressures that we are living in, he is the author of all the joy that we experience, and he sees what the future holds for us. But above that we know that he has good planned for us, so no matter what happens, we believe that His plan is better than our best ideas, after all, "the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of man." And we are thankful for those of you who have been praying for us. Thanks.