Happy Birthday, Ryan!

Happy 22nd Birthday Little Brother! If I had to describe you with memories from the last 22 years I think there are three memories that would sum up our relationship: 

1) The time you pushed me in Grandpa's hot tub and tried to drown me.

2) The time you ran over me (and Joe) with a jet-ski the day after we got engaged. 

3) The way we stood and hugged and cried the night before we moved to New Zealand. 

Ryan, you are such an example to me of determination, loyalty, compassion, and comedy! You always surprise in some way or another. You surprise me because you are so funny and so tough, but have such a deep love for other people and such a desire for justice. Part of the surprise with having you for a brother is that I never know what I will hear next about you. You have the craziest ideas and dreams, but you chase them! 

Even though you have had a tough year with all of your knee surgeries, to be honest and selfish, I wouldn't have had it any other way.  Though you were unable to walk for most of the month before we moved, it was awesome to be able to spend so much time with you. We loved taxi-ing you to your classes and brining things to you at your apartment. It was so great to be able to spend so much time with you. 

Thank you for you love for God, our family, and others. I love you and am so proud of you. We wish we could be there to celebrate your birthday with you! 

Easter Camp Culture

(Watch the Easter Camp '08 Video Above)

The longer that we live in New Zealand, the more we realize the differences between life in the States and life here. We had a great time at camp, but there are some things that were just new or different to us. The first difference about going to camp in New Zealand is that you actually camp! Everyone brings tents and sets up for the weekend. It is such a normal thing to kiwis and not for us that we didn't even think to ask about where we would be staying. About a week before camp someone asked if they could stay in a tent with me and I started to understand.

There is something in New Zealand called ACC, this is in health care and it basically means if you get hurt but it wasn't on purpose, then you are covered and your medical bills will be taken care of. Now think about how this might affect some daily activities at camp. If you can't think of any examples of how this coverage might change things, let me help you! 

At camps in America you might play soccer for a fun sport or game to get kids involved. In New Zealand we play a similar game, but instead of a soccer ball being used in afternoon recreation time, a brick was wrapped in cloth and chicken wire and soaked in petroleum and lit on fire. The kids refer to this lovely game as "Fireball." Same idea as soccer, except it is at night and the ball is on fire. The game was completed with no major burns but many singed pants and shoes, and only one stop-drop-and roll! 

Another common activity is the horizontal bungee. This is where you run straight out but are harnessed to a bungee rope so after you go so far you get pulled back. The Kiwis have put a new twist on this as well. Instead of just running on the nice safe dry ground, they lay down a tarp and cover it with water and laundry detergent! We had some good laughs at watching this. 

As far as the food goes, Kiwis eat all of the time! We have noticed the six-meal-a-day idea is a big idea here. Breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and supper. Supper is the name for the tea and dessert later in the evening after dinner. We don't notice a lot of the food differences because we still eat similar to how we did in the states.

 

One food difference that was huge to us was breakfast or 'brekkie.' The first day I went into the dining hall for breakfast and there was a huge pottle of spaghettios and kids were piling it onto their toast. When I asked what they were eating everyone was so calm like "oh, spaghetti and toast" -like this was normal! I smiled and felt like I was going to be sick. The second morning was even better-baked beans on toast! Mmmmm! I must admit I didn't try either of these new things. When we expressed how different this was for us, the kids said "Yea, but in America you eat Peanut Butter with Jelly-thats gross!" Another friend of ours said "How else would you eat baked beans if it wasn't on toast for breakfast?!" We tried to explain to him the different ways and he couldn't even imagine it! 

We are having fun learning about the ways of Kiwi life! 

Easter Camp

When I think of Easter,  there are a lot of thoughts that come to mind...easter eggs, chocolates, new dresses, old hymns, snow, and family. This year gave us a whole new picture of Easter that included baked beans on toast for breakfast (more on this later), sleeping in tents, 200 plus high school students, hydro-slides, 80 degree weather, and no candy or eggs! 

Easter is a time in New Zealand that I would say is similar to Labour Day weekend in the States. It is the last long weekend of Summer to get away. Everything shuts down for Friday, Sunday, and Monday, and some places are even closed Tuesday. So of course, people take advantage of the beautiful weather and time off work by going away to bach's (summer houses) and to the beach. 

The Easter holidays are known among the high school age crowd for Easter Camps. There are Easter Camps in a couple locations across New Zealand. The camp we went to was about two hours outside of Auckland in Matamata, or a place that some of you Lord of the Rings fans may better know as "Hobbiton." 

Easter Camp was an amazing weekend for the students. We were the largest group there with just over thirty teens. The power of God was definitely at work in the lives of the students. There were some powerful speakers and workshops that really spoke truth into the lives of the students. Our group became such a community over the weekend. We had some students accept Christ for the very first time. We had other students who are dealing with deep pain and depression admit that they were ready to be done and hand over their problems to God. 

This weekend was great, but it reminded us about how spiritually dark New Zealand is. On Monday, many of the students were crying and upset because of the many struggles they will face when they get back home. Students shared with us the pain of rejection and misunderstanding from family and friends who are atheist or who make fun of them for being Christian. There is such deep pain in some of the students because of the ridicule they face, but the depth and intensity of their faith is incredible. They have given their lives to Christ and realize that no matter what they face, they have made the right decision. What an encouragement to see. Would you pray with us for the many students at ShoreCCC who are pressing on to live a life that shines for Christ, no matter what the cost?

Check in for another post about camp differences in New Zealand and the States in a few days. 

Everyday Life

After living in New Zealand for over four months, there are many things that we have adjusted to and that just feel normal, like driving on the opposite side of the car, the opposite seasons, the time differences between NZ and US, and the metric system…okay, still working on learning that one! Though we are used to a lot of things, there are still things that surprise us or shock us. One of those things is the cost of groceries!

Today I made a quick run to the store to pick up 'a few things.' Now you know how that goes, a few things turns into a small basket and all of the sudden you are spending twice as much as you planned. Today, I had my list, and for the most part I stuck to my list, adding only a couple of things that were on sale (like the shampoo that is normally 8.99 on sale for 4.99, or the cookies that were a dollar cheaper than normal.)

Here is a picture of the groceries that I picked up. Very simple and basic in my opinion, some name brand, some budget brand. Ingredients for pasta bake for dinner, yogurt and fruit for breakfast and snacks, cookies for evening tea when people come over, a block of cheese, milk, butter, paper towels, toilet paper, pine-sol type cleaner, toilet cleaner, and bread. It still came as a shock to me when I got to the checkout line and my bill was $72! The prices of some things still amaze me.

When I got in the car after grocery shopping, my gas light came on. I stopped at the gas station to pay $1.79 a liter for gas. Four liters make a gallon which makes it $7.16 a gallon. If you factor in the conversion rate (at an all time high of .83), in US Dollars, gas was $5.94 a gallon. Luckily, my expensive tirp to the grocery store earned me a voucher of .06 off each liter!

Gnomes, Cricket, and BBQ

Our weekend began with theft and will end with baptism-things are improving quite quickly! The youth activity for Friday night this week entailed kidnapping a gnome from a church member's garden and completing different tasks around the city. There were heaps of students at youth on Friday night who split up into different groups. Each adult drove a different group of students around to complete the tasks. Pictures were to be taken of the gnome doing various activities such as drinking coffee at a cafe, going for a swim at the beach, getting caught by a security guard, shopping for veggies, and the list goes on with much more crazy and embarrassing tasks! 

Saturday morning we went to our first Cricket match. A student from the youth group plays cricket for his school. We had played some pick-up backyard cricket while we were on the south island, but other than that, have very little experience with it. This was a very good cultural experience for us! As we got closer to the match, we realized that we had no clue what was culturally appropriate as far as where to sit, how to cheer, how to react if the ball comes near you, and how close or far to sit from the match. This match taught us some about cricket, but much more about the culture in NZ. Competitive high school sports practice on average of two days a week for less than two hours. When someone made a mistake in the game, everyone laughed and joked about it. We couldn't tell who the coaches were, in the states they are usually the ones standing nearby yelling plays at the team, but no one was doing that. At one point, a ball went over the fence and some players sat down, some went to get drinks, it turned into a perfect time for a break! 

This evening we had a BBQ with some other church planters in the area. These church planters are Kiwi and their church has been running for almost five years. They were very encouraging to us and our plans for church planting. It was a great way to do some informal survey work as they told us about some of the challenges of reaching people who are content without God. 

Tomorrow Joe and I will both be teaching separate kids groups at church and helping with the youth fundraiser in between services: a car wash. After church we will be joining some of the youth for a baptism at a nearby beach. 

Queenstown- South Island Trip Part III

The last leg of our trip was spent in Queenstown. Queenstown may sound familiar to you because it is known as the adventure capital of the world! Though there was much adventure to be had, we had other plans. We were in Queenstown to help out at a weekend of camp at Lakeland Park Christian Camp. The weekend was a family camp and it was sponsored by the Christian Church at Mataura, the church we had been with the previous weekend. The camp is a connecting point for many of the Christian church leaders on the south island of New Zealand. 

There were a little more than 50 people at the camp and it was a great weekend for it. 

Joe and I were busy at camp helping with the kids. Joe lead the high school age group. It was a great experience for him as two of the students in the group of four were not involved with a church. He taught a basic overview of how to read and study the Bible and the students really got into it. Their time in 'class' would be over and students would sit with him at lunch to ask more questions and to learn as much as they could. That was very encouraging! 

I helped out with the kids ages two to ten. It was such a great experience for me, I helped with lessons, crafts, songs, and hung out with the kids during free time. 

 

The rest of our team helped with activities at the camp as well. 

It was a great weekend for us to lead and work together in addition to spending time with different christian leaders and families. We learned how to play cricket, got to experience the chill of the south island (single digit temperatures...Celsius that is...so in the 40's-50's Fahrenheit, but no central heating!), and were able to enjoy camp-New Zealand style. 

Camp ended on Sunday night but our team stayed at the facilities for our last two nights. We spent all day Monday working on team things (planning for more survey, debriefing about Christchurch, discussing how our team works together, etc...) We were able to spend Tuesday morning in Queenstown before our flight left for Auckland. We decided that being as we were in the adventure capital, we should probably have some adventure so we decided to do the Queenstown Luge. We were also told that we couldn't visit Queenstown without trying Patagonia- we were glad we tried it! It was a fun way to end our busy trip south! 

Southland - South Island Trip Part II

The second leg of our trip was a little bit slower paced, though very much out of our comfort zones. It was interesting to see pieces of Kiwi culture that we hadn't seen much of in the city-life in Auckland. After Christchurch, we drove down to Southland, the Southern region of New Zealand to Gore/Mataura, (we even drove on the Clinton-Gore Highway that goes in between a small town call Clinton to Gore!) 

Gore can easily be compared to small town America with a Kiwi twist! The small town America is that everyone knows everyone. The Kiwi twist is how laid back the Kiwis in Southland are. At first this laid back lifestyle was hard for our team to get used to. We had jus

t come off of a couple of survey days that were planned and packed full. In Gore, you go with the flow and plans are typically made as they are about to happen. Each of us couples on the team stayed with a different family from the church we were working with in Gore 

which helped to give us a realistic picture of life in Southland. 

Our main objective in going to Southland was to help out at the Mataura Christian Church. Mataura CC is considered a healthy church that pulls members from both Gore and Mataura, two small towns near one another. Our team lead the Sunday services, helping with youth and children, leading worship, and preaching. We also planned a Sunday tea (dinner) for the church with games and information about our team and why we are in New Zealand. Other churches came to the tea from over an hour away, giving us almost 50 people to entertain that evening!

Over the next few days we spent time with families from the church as well as with church leaders. Joe had an opportunity to meet with, train, and encourage the youth leaders. 

We felt so blessed to be able to stay with the family that we did. We learned so much about kiwi life as the Taylor's welcomed us into their family for a large part of the week. We felt right at home as we played with their kids, ate meals together, and had some insightful conversations about the condition of the church in New Zealand. 

God continually provided for us on this trip though places to stay, unplanned conversa

tions, and deep relationships that were made. Though we were meant to encourage the church in Mataura, we were encouraged by them. And even though we weren't intentionally doing 

nally doing survey work, God lead us to people who shared their hearts with us about church planting in New Zealand that has g

iven us great insight. 

The last day in Southland we traveled a little further south to Bluff, the southern most city, to go to the southern most point in New Zealand! We even ate at the southern most McDonalds in the world! 

Keep checking in for the third and final part of our trip! 

Christchurch-South Island Part I

We returned home tonight from our trip to the South Island completely exhausted. Our trip was a success on many levels. In visiting so many different places over the two weeks that we were away, there is a lot to share. 

The first part of our trip was spent in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. We were able to be in Christchurch for two and a half days. We spent those two days meeting with different church leaders in Christchurch, conducting street interviews, and observing people in the city. Since we had already done the demographic studies (learned about the makeup of the city through statistics about the people who live there) it was very helpful to be in the city to see these demographics come to life with the people with whom we spoke. 

Our time in Christchurch confirmed what we had predicted, and taught us even more than we expected. We found that very few people went to church (less than 5% of the people we spoke with), very few people were interested in ever setting foot inside a church building, many people could not even give us the name of a church in the city (of 400,000 people.) We spoke with people who laughed at the idea of anyone wanting to start a new church, letting us know that no one is interested in what a church has to offer. Others we spoke with said that there is nothing wrong with church, they even had their name on membership lists, but they couldn

't remember the last time they had gone. We met people with a wide variety of spiritual interests. 

On Sunday, Hamish was preaching and talked for a moment about persecution in the church in other parts of the world. He said something that summarizes Christianity in New Zealand. Hamish said "The church in New Zealand isn't being persecuted for it's beliefs, something far worse is happening to the church; in New Zealand, no one cares."  With the attitude that people have of not caring, we are continually reminded of the hard road ahead of us. 

With Christchurch being the first of our survey trips, it would be premature for us to make a decision about this city yet. We will continue to pray about Christchurch as we conduct more survey work in other areas. We definitely saw a need for God's love in this city, though we imagine that we will find this in many of the areas that we visit. Please continue to pray with us as we continue to conduct survey work. 

Check back in as Part II of our trip will be coming soon.