flammertime

Rechurch has Launched!

2010-03-07T15:53:00.005+13:00

Needless to say, it has been a busy month leading up to the launch of Rechurch! It feels great to have launched and to be meeting weekly. Routine is slowly setting in...just in time for our baby to get here! I've officially neglected the blog and hope to keep you a little more updated in the next few months.

Launch Sunday was amazing! Thanks for all of your well wishes, prayers, emails, and support! It was a bit like a dream to have made it to that point and to see our hard work over the last few years pay off! We had a great turnout, around 80 people, and we felt like people really started to connect with the church and each other.

Some exciting points:

- The cinemas are turning out to be a fantastic venue! People enjoy coming in to such a comfortable atmosphere!

- We are seeing lots of people who are unchurched and de-churched give church a chance! This is our goal.

- Our attendance has been steadily above what we had during preview services.

Some Challenges:

- It's hard to get people to fill the seats each week. Though attendeance isn't bad, many people who are committed to coming, just aren't committed to coming weekly yet.

- We need more volunteers! We start setting up before 6am each Sunday and have a very rushed pack down in order to be out of the cinemas on time. We need more people to jump in and help.

In addition to meeting weekly, Joe preached on community this week and we will begin two different Bible Studies. One more of an introduction and exploration for faith and one is a more in depth Bible Study.

We are also trying out "Meet and Eat" to introduce and connect people in the church with each other to help facilitate community outside the church.

Below are a couple of pictures from Launch! Check back in soon to hear about our new and finished offices and to hear about when this little baby is born!

Offices

2010-01-26T16:22:00.004+13:00

There are so many new developments happening weekly with Rechurch that it is hard to keep everyone updated with it! We have had a lot of exciting things happening, but one of the things we are most excited about right now are our new (to us) offices.

For almost three years now, we haven’t really had an office. We have worked out of the spare bedroom, our kitchen, coffee shops, and our colleagues’ houses. Working from home has been a challenge at times because of the distractions and the constant shuffling of space when it needed to be used for something else. Perhaps the biggest issue, however, was that it is so difficult to shut off from “work mode.” Since we worked from home, there was always another email to respond to or task that we could work on – our minds never shifted gears from “work” to “home”. Needless to say, Amy and I, along with the rest of the staff from rechurch, have been looking forward in eager anticipation for the day when we would have an office. Now that day has come, and we finally have an office! (Well, we almost have an office).

On Friday we got approved to move into an old house as the official rechurch office. We had been praying about finding one in a great location and for it to be a good price. It seems that God answered those two prayer requests, because it is in the prime location, directly across the street from the mall where our church meets and on a main road. The cost was also better than we could expect. There is just one small caveat – the building is run down and looks pretty terrible on the inside (so maybe it isn’t that small of a caveat, actually).

For the last few days we have been in the office, trying to renovate it and get it up to a workable quality. We have been cleaning, sanding, jib-stopping (spackling) and painting. Several people from the church have joined in and tonight we hope to finish painting. The next step will be to fix some broken floor boards, and then sand and refinish some of the hardwood floors that have been covered by carpet for many years. We will still have to rip out an old, unusable fireplace and completely renovate a defunct bathroom as time and funds allow.

Even with all the work still to be done, we are so thankful that our prayers for an office have been answered. We look forward to rechurch using this building for effective ministry for years to come.

NYE 09

2010-01-06T21:17:00.005+13:00

Happy New Year! New Zealand is the first place in the world to celebrate the new year and we had a great time doing so this year.

As you may know, rechurch decided to throw a huge community New Year's Eve party this year. We could not have done so without the help of the wonderful mission team that was here from Wadsworth, Ohio. We had a fantastic night and consider the evening a HUGE success. We were able to hire out a sports hall and a park right next to each other to have both indoor and outdoor activities.

We were prepared to make a fun evening with all kinds of entertaining activities ranging from bouncy castles, face painting, a giant Twister board, live music, candy floss (cotton candy) and poporn machines, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 2, movies, sausages, an ice cream truck, family games, sports games, relay races and more.

We had no clue what to expect but had advertised a good amount in order to prepare for the event. We didn't want to push rechurch, but we did want people to see rechurch as a church that cares for the community and as a church who is able to have a good time. Every family who came received a rechurch bag with information about the event and also about rechurch. We prayed that the people who came would ask questions or be interested in rechurch, but that it would be on their terms.

We are excited to report that we had over 300 people show up to our Family Friendly New Year's Eve party! We had a beautiful evening and a great time! We received heaps of great feedback from families who attended, and even an email from a family the next day saying how great the party was. We had many conversations with families about what rechurch is and are hopeful to see some of them at our next preview service. We feel that God totally blessed the event and are so excited about how great it went. We have already started planning for NYE10 as many people were asking for the party to happen again next year!

Enjoy some pictures from the evening:

A young boy grabbing a sausage after having his face painted

Hamish and Amy in front of the bouncy castles

Playstation 2 was a hit and was busy all night long

Playing Giant Twister

The mission team, rechurch staff, and a few other rechurch people after ringing in the New Year and cleaning up from a great party

Hope your 2010 is off to a great start as well!!

The Past Few Weeks...

2009-12-28T10:29:00.005+13:00

The past couple of weeks have been full on but very awesome! We have been picking up a lot of momentum at church and in the community. I apologise for not keeping up better with the blog, but as a baby is on the way, I will not make any promises to do better! Below are a few quick updates about what’s been happening with us and Rechurch:

Christmas Service:

We had a wonderful Christmas service with many new faces and many ‘regulars’ in attendance. This was an encouragement to us as we had expected a lower turnout this time of year as summer break had just begun and many people are traveling for the summer holidays. We had a fun service and a great time with the people who came.

Venue Update:

After months of asking for prayer and praying about where to go for a long term venue, God has opened up and given us our number one choice! We are so excited and think that this is nothing less than a miracle! Rechurch will be meeting in Reading Cinemas once we go to weekly services. This venue is just upstairs in the same complex where we are currently meeting. We already have advertising in the cinemas as well as relationships with many people in that shopping complex. We found out two days before our Christmas service about getting this venue, it was the best Christmas present that we could have asked for! We call it a miracle because we had been talking with the management in the cinemas since July and were getting consistent lack of interest and ‘no’ for an answer. We decided to give it one last shot pitching them a ridiculously low price (one third of what they were asking!!) in a written proposal. After over a month and a half of waiting to hear back, they emailed us last week and told us they would be happy to meet our requests and have us start meeting there when we are ready…for the low price we offered! Thank you for praying with us to get this venue

Holiday:

Joe and I took off for a few days around Christmas for a bit of a holiday break. Most of our friends were going to visit family or had family coming in, so we decided to take that chance to get away. We drove north of Christchurch to stay just outside of the Abel Tasman National Park. It was a great getaway for us and a good time to relax and reflect on the last (crazy) year. We hiked, kayacked, swam, and relaxed. It was good to have that time away to get ready for this week…

Mission Team:

This week we have a group of fourteen adults visiting Rechurch from Ohio. The church that they are with supports Rechurch and has come out to help us and to see whats happening. We have heaps of activities planned, one of the main ones being on New Year’s Eve. Rechurch is hosting a family friendly New Years Eve party for the community. We have lots of fun things planned (bouncy houses, cotton candy machines, giant twister, live music, free sausages etc…) and are hoping that this is a huge outreach for the church. The team will be helping to get that ready and promote the event as well as helping with many other community events to help get Rechurch’s name even better known in Christchurch.

I will post another blog once the team is gone about the trip and about how our NYE09 event goes. Please pray for this event.

If you made if this far, you are a legend, that was a lot to update you on, but there is a lot happening here which is great! Thanks for keeping up with all that’s going on!

I'm lovin' it!

2009-12-01T17:17:00.005+13:00

I realise that it has been a while since I have posted something fun about life in New Zealand. Most of our updates lately have been about Rechurch, but I thought today's events would make for a perfect glimpse into other parts of New Zealand life and culture.

Being such a small country out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, New Zealand wants to be known. Sure we have the best rugby team (the All Blacks) and beauty that is hard to find anywhere else in the world, but other than that and the recent Lord of the Rings and Narnia, how else is New Zealand going to get recognised in the world?

We have found that many Kiwis and organisations in New Zealand have taken it upon themselves to beat world records and make it in the Guinness Book of World Records. Now, you might think this sounds typical, but we find the records that kiwis are trying to beat are so funny.

Last month there was a "Largest Mattress Domino Competition" where people were to bring out their mattresses and stand them in a line like a domino chain. Also last month was an attempt to have the "Longest Line Dance"- we had intentions to go to this but it was rainy and cold that day! Everyone in Christchurch was invited to a local park where we would learn dance moves and then perform them in a line to create the record.

This morning however, even though cold and rainy, the four of us on staff decided to be a part of a new world record. Today, in Christchurch, New Zealand the world record was set for the largest scrambled egg ever! McDonalds set up a tent in Cathedral square and scrambled up thousands of eggs and then gave away free breakfast to anyone who showed up. We have staff meetings on Tuesday mornings so we met early to go down to the city to be a part of this momentous occasion...and to get free breakfast.

Enjoy the pictures below of our experience:

Disgustingly large amount of scrambled eggs, I am glad I am not still in my first trimester or I would have had to leave.

Yes, this is a normal sized garden rake, they also had huge snow shovels to scoop the eggs.

As you can imagine, Joe was definitely lovin' it. The rest of us were quite disgusted by the eggs, Joe may have had seconds...and finished mine...and didn't find anything gross about the massive amounts of eggs! Also, notice the winter coats in the picture. Today is officially the first day of summer in New Zealand, based on today's weather, it's not looking promising!

What's a McDonald's party without Ronald?

Preview Service # 3

2009-11-26T08:45:00.004+13:00

We have officially completed three of our five preview services for Rechurch. Our third service was held last Sunday and we are all very excited about how it went.

As a church staff, we were all a bit apprehensive about Sunday. Between our first service and this one, we have come up against many obstacles and road blocks, nothing huge, just many things that have been discouraging to us. We spent many hours preparing, extended many invitations, to both new people and people that we have been talking to for months, spent a lot of time in prayer, and knew we just needed to trust that God would do what only he can do, work in the hearts of people.

Sunday morning came around and set up went very smoothly. About ten minutes before the service was to start, people started pouring in- both people that we knew and people that were just responding to our advertisements. Our attendance was up 50% from the last two services and the 'buzz' that accompanied the morning was incredible.

Rechurch felt like a community on Sunday morning. It was exciting to see people connecting with one another. The service was a great one and people stuck around to hang out afterwards.

We made an appeal for people who are interested to join our launch team. Please pray that people respond to this appeal and join us at the launch team meeting this Sunday night. Our launch team is the group of people who are joining in our vision to officially launch Rechurch in February.

Thank you for your prayers for Rechurch. We are so excited to see how God is working in our lives, in our friends lives, and in Christchurch, New Zealand!

Faith Exploration Event

2009-11-14T22:42:00.000+13:00

Tomorrow night Rechurch is hosting a Faith Exploration Event. Actually we aren’t quite sure what to call it, but we feel like this best describes what we are doing.

Each of us has come across people who are interested in what Rechurch is doing but doesn’t think that church is for them. Others have said they would like to check out what’s happening but have to work on Sunday mornings and therefore can’t make it to church.

We have decided to try something different in order to try to possibly reach out to this group of people. Tomorrow night (Sunday 15 Nov) we are able to use one of the rooms at our venue to host this event. We will be watching a Rob Bell Nooma Video and having an open time of discussion afterwards.

We’ll have some appetizers that the Fox and Ferret offers and hope to have a relaxed atmosphere where people feel comfortable talking and sharing questions and thoughts about faith. We also hope that this opens more doors with the people we have invited. Maybe they will come to our next preview service (22 Nov) or maybe this will open up our personal conversations more.

Will you please join us in praying for the people we have invited to this event? Please pray for openness on their part and for us to be able to clearly communicate God’s love to these people, our friends.

Sausage Sizzle

2009-10-24T15:55:00.006+13:00

A popular fundraiser in New Zealand is to do a sausage sizzle. Basically you set yourself up in a high traffic area with a grill, some drinks and a few condiments and sell sausages (like American bratwurst) on white bread with onions. It is a cheap snack/meal and a fun fundraiser.

With the recent devastation in the Asian Pacific countries that have affected many families in New Zealand, ReChurch decided to partner with World Vision to do a fundraiser to help the tsunami and earthquake victims in our neighbouring countries.

We set up at the QEII park complex and had a great day. It was a beautiful day out and the start of Labour Day weekend so many people were out and about. We were able to chat with heaps of people as we sold almost three hundred sausages. It was not only a good way to help victims of natural disaster, but a good way to show the community that ReChurch is involved with what is going on in the community and around the world.

2009-10-14T10:10:00.007+13:00

Last week, Rechurch sent this postcard to 5,000 homes in the community. We have already received several responses from people who got the mailer.

ReChurch has Begun

2009-09-22T20:41:00.004+12:00

ReChurch is officially a church! We had our first preview service on Sunday morning at the Fox & Ferret in the Palms Mall. It was a true success. We had plenty of help with setup and pack down and were so excited with the people that turned up to be a part of our first day. Hamish's sermon was a bulls-eye, the worship that Nate lead us in was brilliant, and Joe's communion thoughts and notices went over very well. 31 people turned up altogether - not bad considering we're just beginning monthly preview services as we build up to our full church launch on 21 Feb. Our launch team is beginning to grow as another family has come on board. They were a huge help to us this morning filling several guest services and techy roles. God is moving in Christchurch.

Prayer time with volunteers before the service started.

A view from the back while Nate was leading worship

Joe sitting with some friends

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement as we we begin our church! We feel truly amazed at how well everything went on Sunday.

Catch Phrase

2009-09-16T11:15:00.003+12:00

It's been a couple of weeks since I have updated, but know that life is good and crazy here in Christchurch! Spring is slowly starting to show up and you can feel the excitement in the air for summer!

We have had so much going on but it's all been great! We have felt so blessed to see the way that God has been working through us and in our relationships before we even knew it. Joe and I have a new catch phrase and we are commonly saying it about two things in particular. Our new phrase is 'this is actually happening!' We have had two dreams for a long time, and both are beginning to take place, with feelings and emotions ranging from excitement to overwhelmed to anxious to exhaustion we are excited to see both things happening.

The first is that our church has it's first service this Sunday, 20 September. The more details we plan and the closer it gets, we are amazed that we are at this point and that 'this is actually happening!' We are both nervous and excited to see how Sunday goes. We are thankful that we have some people outside of our team who are looking for a church home and have committed to helping us out for our first service.

The second thing that is actually happening (if you haven't heard) is that we are having a baby! We feel so blessed by this pregnancy and trust that God has it timed all perfectly. In the past two weeks we have been able to hear a strong heartbeat and see the baby. We are absolutely amazed that 'this is actually happening!' I am in my thirteenth week and am finally starting to feel like myself again after a long first trimester.

We have so much to be thankful for! Will you please keep ReChurch in your prayers this week as we gear up for our first service? Will you also pray for us and add this new addition to our family? We will do our best to keep you up to date with both! Thanks for being a part of our journey!

Advertisments

2009-09-01T12:42:00.006+12:00

ReChurch is making an appearance this week in The Palms Mall. Our venue is located at The Palms Mall so we are doing most of our advertising there on signs in the mall, ads in the public toilets, and even in the movie theatre. Below is a sample of some of the signs that will begin appearing around The Palms. (Double click on images to make them bigger)

2009-08-21T09:23:00.002+12:00

So here we are, one month away from our first preview service. Our website will be up soon, we have a logo, we have a venue secured, we have a service planned, we have begun marketing and we have people that we hope to invite.

This is the face of rechurch in Christchurch, New Zealand. Soon this logo will be all around the north east side of the city and hopefully it will direct people to our church or at least to start exploring what this ‘rechurch’ is all about.

Even though you are on the other side of the world there are a couple of things you can do to help us.

Keep praying- Our service next month officially kicks off he beginning of rechurch. We are looking to build a launch team using our monthly services as a way to do that. Please pray that God will send people to our church who want to join us in our vision to help start a healthy and relevant new church.

Visit our website- rethinkchurch.co.nz We are trying to get a lot of hits on our website so that it is one of the first things that comes up when people are searching for a church in Christchurch. We have purchased the domain, but the website is still being designed. Please keep in mind that when you visit our website, a page has been displayed by FreeParking as a place holder until our page is designed. The content on this page has nothing to do with our church at the moment, but any visits to this page will increase our hits. You might even want to think about setting it as your homepage.

Set up at The Fox

2009-08-12T10:05:00.006+12:00

Last Sunday we had the opportunity to do a mock-set up and The Fox & Ferret, the venue that is looking the most certain for our preview services. We were able to go in to the restaurant before it opened and move everything around to what we thought looked okay for a church service. We were surprised by how much space we were able to make by clearing out all of the tables and setting up rows of chairs.

Nate and Joe up front discussing plans

A veiw from the front/stage area

A view from the balcony with Hamish and Laney up front

We are very excited about the potential of using this venue for our preview services that start next month. Please pray with us as we begin to negotiate the price and begin advertising for our first service!

Lately

2009-08-03T08:42:00.004+12:00

A Couple of weeks ago, we asked you to pray about our venue selection. As we have continued to research venue options, some doors have been closed, and we are now focusing on our final two possibilities. One is a popular restaurant, and the other is a movie theatre. Both are located at e Palms Shopping Centre, which is a hub for shopping and entertainment in northeast Christchurch. Both options present challenges as well as opportunities. Please continue to pray that God will lead us to the right venue through which we will introduce ourselves to the community.

It has also been cool to watch our staff members begin to work in their area of 'expertise' as we prepare to start meeting. As Outreach Minister at Rechurch, Joe has been helping the Rechurch staff develop their personal evangelism strategies, as well as helping to provide encouragement and accountability. e staff is also going to be working together to get some practice in having spiritual conversations. e goal of this is to create a safe environment where each staff member will be able to build some confidence in this area, so that when opportunities arise, each person will already have an idea of how they want to share their personal perspective on

faith.

Building bridges isn’t easy. It takes planning, research, and extensive knowledge of the laws of physics. Fortunately, building relationships with non-christians doesn’t require physics, but it does require a lot of prayer and a bit of confidence. Practice helps. Talk with your Christian friends about ways to take everyday conversations with your non-christian coworkers, friends, and family to the next “level.” Practice with each other. Afraid you’ll feel silly? Of course you will! But what you’ll gain is an important dose of confidence that will encourage you to capitalize on opportunities as they present themselves.

“Always be prepared to given an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have...”

1 Peter 3:15

Just in Time for Term Three

2009-07-20T19:00:00.003+12:00

Some of you may remember that it was about this time last year that my qualifications for teaching in New Zealand were approved and I was able to begin teaching. I had a great time relieving (or subbing) in a couple of primary schools in Auckland. When we got to Christchurch I went into a couple of schools to try to relieve, but I was unable to due to my registration.

Apparently, after your qualifications are assessed, you are still unable to teach until you get registered with the Teacher's Council of New Zealand. For some reason, my information slipped through the cracks! I begin teaching in Auckland without being registered. Upon realising this, (after not being able to teach in Christchurch) I called the Teacher's Council to find out what I needed to do. They also were surprised that I was not registered as they had all of my information on file. So in May, I began the process of getting registered with the Teacher's Council so that I could teach - legally!

The students just finished their two weeks of winter break and started back to school today for term three. My registration came just in time as I received it in the mail on Friday. I was able to go into schools today and put my name on the list to relieve.

I am looking forward to teaching in Christchurch and I am praying that God will use this opportunity to help me meet people in the community.

Earthquake!

2009-07-16T09:06:00.002+12:00

Thank you for your concern for us! Apparently the earthquake last night in New Zealand made world wide news. To read more about it (from New Zealand news) click here.

Though it was a large quake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, we did not feel any movement. We live in the Canterbury region and the earthquake hit in Southland (which is further south) and in Fiordland (which is west).

We did her of the possible tsunami but it was more of potential threat than a real one. There was a larger wave that was recoded hitting the southern most city, measuring at all of eight inches!

I think we are safe for now. I read the article the CBS.com had and that story seemed a lot bigger than the news stories from New Zealand!

The Search is On!

2009-07-07T13:36:00.005+12:00

Currently one of our most important tasks is searching for a church venue. We've viewed office spaces, schools, theaters, community centers, warehouses, and more. The pressure to find the "perfect location" can be overwhelming, as can the long list of needs we want the space to meet. One of our top priorities is to find a location that already has "pull" on the community - in other words, an area that people already go to regularly for shopping, family time, or just hanging out. A venue that is well-known by community members is much more likely to provoke feelings of curiosity and familiarity.

Please pray hard for our staff as we seek the perfect venue for RECHURCH. Monthly preview services begin this September!

Community Classes

2009-06-29T23:04:00.003+12:00

One of the things I love about New Zealand is how easy it is to get involved in community activities. There are sport activities for all ages, book clubs, new mum's groups, coffee groups, and one of my favourites, adult community education. The government subsidizes community education that takes place in the evenings at community halls and schools. Classes are offered for anything that you can think of and we thought it would be a great way to meet people.

Joe and I decided before we moved here that we would sign up for one as soon as we arrived, since we arrived at the beginning of a term. We decided to join a "Photoshop for Beginners".

Last week was our last night of class. We really enjoyed the class and learned a lot. It was harder to get to know people than we had expected, but we did connect with a few people. We really got to know and enjoy one of the gentlemen in our class and we look forward to connecting with him more- he has run multiple marathons, his wife is a teacher, and he is an awesome photographer so we had lots to chat about during class!

We learned how to do many different things with photos, though most are just tweaking the picture to make it look better! I will eventually post some pictures up here, but the blog site is being slow!

Thanks for your prayers, and please continue to pray for us as we meet people in the different activities we are involved with.

A City Favourite

2009-06-15T15:09:00.004+12:00

Last week we were out and we met another couple. They invited us to lunch at one of their favourite spots to eat during the weekend- an international market downtown. This little market is just across from the art museum and is filled with entertainment, food, culture, shops and heaps of people, even on these cold winter weekends! It is a great glimpse of Christchurch culture and a great place to see lots of people.

After going last week and enjoying the few hours that we spent there, we decided to go back Sunday afternoon. This Sunday it was a bit nicer out and the markets were packed with people. We enjoyed watching some jugglers, listening to some music from some buskers (people who play on the street) and watching a Maori performance group while we ate Thai and Solvakian foods. We also just enjoyed walking around and being with so may people. Below are a few pictures from our time at the markets.

One of the many food stalls.

Here is me enjoying a Solvakian kebab while listening to music from a busker.

Some of the many specialty booths set up.

Lots of people come out to enjoy the markets each weekend.

Maori performance group singing.

Community Hot-spot: The QEII

2009-06-03T21:46:00.004+12:00

One of our biggest jobs right now is getting involved in the community of Christchurch, specifically in the north-east side. In finding ways to get involved, we have located some of the popular places on our side of town, and started to become regulars there. Throughout the next couple of weeks, I will introduce you to some of these places.

A big draw to our side of town is the Queen Elizabeth II Centre-most people call it the QEII. The QEII is a huge attraction in our area as it has outdoor stadiums, indoor courts, indoor pools and water slides, a cafe, workout classes, hosts sporting events, and has a full gym with work-out equipment. As you can imagine, in a community filled with young families, the QEII is busy all hours of the day.

We live about 2 kilometers (a little over a mile) from the QEII. The QEII is now a regular part of our lives. We have included it in our daily schedules, going around the same time each evening and are even starting to feel like regulars. It's been a great way for us to begin to get to know some people.

Churches

2009-05-27T16:33:00.007+12:00

One thing that is important to us as a church, is that we have positive relationships with other churches in the city. There aren't a lot of churches in the north-east part of Christchurch (which is why we chose this area) and some of them seem to be closing up , but we are hopeful that our church can be on the same team, or work for the same cause as the ones that are here. We also aren't interested in shifting the small percentage of people (less than 10) that do go to church so we really want other church leaders to know what our goal is.

Today Joe and I set out to find some of the churches that we had looked up in our area. Though not completely surprised by what we found, we thought we would share some of the results with you.

As you may be able to tell from the pictures, we found everything from closed down old buildings, to a church for sale, and even a church that is now a craft store. One thing that I noticed at some churches is that the handles were missing from doors. This continually reminded me of why we are here. If there are no handles and the doors are not used, that must mean that no one is going into the buildings.

Please continue to pray with us for the people in the north-east side of Christchurch.

Who We Are Now

2009-05-19T17:11:00.003+12:00

As of May first, when all of the families had arrived in Christchurch, the New Zealand Church Plant Team no longer existed. We have now changed into two new groups, the launch team and the church plant staff. At this point, there is no difference in who the people are, just in what we do. We are excited to continue to update you as our launch team begins to grow in preparation for our September preview service.

Meet the Launch Team (formerly known as the New Zealand Church Plant Team):

Joe and Amy Flammer, Hamish, Molly and Liam Taylor, & Nate, Whitney, and Lane Hutchison

Meet the Staff:

Amy: Children & Family Joe: Pastor of Outreach Hamish: Lead Pastor/Preacher Nate: Worship and Creative Arts

New Contact Info

2009-05-12T08:22:00.003+12:00

Our New Zealand Address is:

Joe and Amy Flammer

7 Fleur Lane

Burwood, Christchurch 8083

New Zealand

Also, please remember that we have a new forwarding agent as of the first of May. Our forwarding agent is responsible for most of our Stateside matters, including finances. The address for our new forwarding agent is:

South Pacific Christian Fellowship

c/o Mindy Bennett

6 Natick Circle

Rochester, IL 62563

Love

2009-05-06T16:29:00.002+12:00

The other day while reading 1 Peter in the Bible I ran across a verse that stuck out to me in a new way. The verse is 1 Peter 1:22:

You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.

Love each other deeply with all of your heart. Other translations say "love each other deeply and earnestly" and "love as if your life depends on it." These words are powerful and they kept coming back to me throughout the day. I really started to think about this idea of loving others if my life depends on it and loving others so deeply and earnestly.

Yes, we are in Christchurch to start a new church, but how do we do this. For me, this verse sums it up. How do you start a church from nothing? How do you get people interested in a God that can change their lives? The answer to me can be found in 1 Peter 1:22- loving the people of Christchurch as if my life depends on it! Sounds easy enough, but what does that mean?

What does that mean when I am frustrated that our house isn't in great condition when we moved in?

What does that mean about how I act towards our landlord or the people that have been in our home getting it together?

What does it mean to the lady behind the desk I see at the library?

What does it mean to the person I am running next to at the gym?

What does that mean when I interact with our team?

How does it look when I interact with Joe?

What does it mean to our new neighbors?

I must ask, how can we show everyone we come in contact with the love of Christ? Maybe it is performing every action and even going out of our way to love people as if my life depends on it. Hopefully with this pure love, the people we interact with begin to see the hope that we have in Christ.

After all, we love each other because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).

Fresh and Fabulous in Fleur Lane

2009-04-27T11:09:00.003+12:00

Okay, so it's a little cheesey, but that's the line that caught our attention. We spent what felt like a long time looking for a house. Really it was only two days, but after going through house after house that we weren't excited about it was wonderful to walk through a house that we loved!

We were hopeful about the pictures that we had seen but didn't want to get our hopes up too much until we could walk through the house. Sure enough, the house on Fleur Lane is exactly what we were looking for. We are excited to move in next week and for our belongings to arrive from Auckland shortly after that.

Our teammates begin arriving this week. We have joined the library and the gym. We found a grocery store near our house. Life in Christchurch has begun!

We are Here!!

2009-04-21T22:00:00.003+12:00

We have arrived in Christchurch! It was great to be in Auckland and catch up with some friends when we got back. It also feels great to have that LONG journey from Auckland to Christchurch behind us.

Now we are in Christchurch and looking for a place to live. We are excited for our team to join us in the next couple of weeks. We will spend the next few weeks looking for a place to live and becoming more familiar with this new city that we now call home!

We will keep you posted as we make progress, though posts may not be frequent until we are settled as we do not have regular internet access. We'd love your prayers as we begin life in Christchurch!

See you in Christchurch

2009-03-11T03:27:00.002+13:00

Last week we had a chance to meet up with our team in Indianapolis. We have all been so busy while on furlough that we haven't connected much, but had planned these few days for that reason. It was great to have a couple of days to catch up and plan. Nate's parents came along to spend a couple of days with us as well. Nate's parents have a lot of experience in ministry and even in church planting so it was a great opportunity to learn from them and get their advice on different theological and practical issues.

Aside from the planning and discussion times, it was just great to be together as a team! We are all going separate ways again until we see each other in Christchurch, New Zealand! Joe and I will be the first family back to Christchurch, but Each family will be in Christchurch by the first of May.

Please continue to pray for our team as our time in the States is coming to an end. We will soon be going back to the other side of the world and starting from scratch again! Please pray for safe travel and for each of us to find housing soon after arriving.

Blast from the Past

2009-02-27T15:00:00.009+13:00

We have had a blast spending the last few days in Rochester, IL where we used to live. We were able to spend time at South Fork, the church where Joe served as the youth minister, and share with them about our time in New Zealand. We were also able to spend time with many people who have a very important place in our lives.

Here are Bob and Phyllis. These are two very special people who have taken us into their home before we had our own, and always have an open room for us when we come to visit, and always have ice tea and chocolate chips cookies and time for a chat! We were able to stay with them while in Rochester and enjoyed every moment.

Spending time with Josh (the minister from South Fork) and his wife and sweet little boy.

Joe speaking at South Fork.

Our old house!

Most of our old small group, it was great to catch up.

Now we are back in Bloomington for a few days to catch up. Joe has been fighting a bad cold and hoping to recover before we hit the road again. We will be going to a few different locations in Indiana to meet with churches, friends, and finally our team. We will try to update you when we get back!

International Focus Event

2009-02-13T07:11:00.002+13:00

We have been so blessed by the last couple of days. We were able to be a part of the International Focus Event at Lincoln Christian College this year. the International Focus Event is a two day event that helps raise awareness of missions around the world for the students at Lincoln. For those two days classes are canceled and there are classes, workshops, chapel services, and events for different missionaries/mission organizations to get in touch with the students.

We were able to teach a class and hang out with some of the students. We had a booth set up to explain more about our ministry in New Zealand and even had some interest for some interns and future teams to come to New Zealand.

The main speaker for the event was from Australia. Though New Zealand and Australia have many differences, there are quite a few similarities and we enjoyed hearing him tell stories of Australia and chatting with him a bit.

Catch up

2009-02-01T05:34:00.008+13:00

My apologies for taking so long in between blog updates, this might be the case while we are traveling! We have been traveling every few days and meeting with many people. Often times the last thing I want to do is pull out our computer when we are with someone that we don't see enough as it is.

(one of our partnering churches mission wall...New Zealand was on the map twice!)

We expected our time in America to go by fast, but we truly can't believe how fast it is going. We are thankful for all that we have been able to do and are trying to cherish many of the new memories that we are making with family and friends.

(Seeing Joe's little sister at UVA )

The past few weeks have been filled with church meetings as we have five partnering churches in New York. Joe has been preaching on Sundays and then we usually meet up with different members of the church or church leaders during the week for a more in depth talk about New Zealand. When we aren't meeting with churches, we spend time preparing for our next meeting or trying to get new meetings in the area. Part of our objective while we are here is to try to raise funds for the church plant start up costs. So if we aren't meeting with a current partnering church, chances are, we are meeting with a potential partner specifically for the church plant.

We have also made time to catch up with our family and east coast friends. It has been refreshing and encouraging to reconnect with the people who have played such important parts in our lives.

The last thing we have spend a lot of time doing is praying. Will you pray with us for the following things:

for potential partners to help with the start up costs of the church

for the city and people of Christchurch, that God will soften their hearts

for our team-that God will prepare us for moving into Christchurch & diving into this new community where we know no-one

for each couple to come away from furlough refreshed, not worn down

for each couple to be fully funded at the end of furlough

for health, energy, and good times of catching up as we travel while we are back in the States

America

2009-01-16T11:09:00.005+13:00

We have been in the States for almost a week now and there have been so many little things to adjust to. For one thing, it is 80, sunny and humid in Auckland! We are enjoying the winter somewhat as it is different than what we have in New Zealand, but it colder than we are used to.

It has been great to see family and visit places that used to be so familiar to us. This is us with Joe's Grandma.

There are so many things that we had forgotten about and other things that we can't believe we ever took for granted! We get excited over the littlest things (like the price of gas- we filled our tank for $21.00 last night! Gas prices just dropped in NZ and we were excited to fill our tank for $70.00!) We must have looked hilarious at the grocery store yesterday as well...we were wandering up and down the aisles amazed at the prices, the variety (an aisle and a half just for chips) and how big things really are here (like a gallon of milk)! Though we have know these things our entire life, we haven't been around them for so long that we had forgotten what it is really like.

We have had an interesting time with driving- often finding ourselves on the wrong side of the road or driving by the New Zealand traffic laws (which have different right aways and different signals).

Joe did a great job preaching Sunday at one of our partnering churches. We have also spent time this week meeting with staff from some partnering churches and leading youth group at one. It has been great to reconnect with so many people.

The Last Week

2009-01-08T17:21:00.004+13:00

We are less than 24 hours from being at the airport to fly back to the States, that just seems unreal to us! We have spent this week packing up our house and moving it into storage. We have also had time for some goodbyes with our good friends. Here is this week in pictures:

With some friends in the city for a goodbye dinner

A BBQ with friends

Wrapping up and moving furniture.

Our nice neighbor let us use his work truck to move, we also received some good help from the neighbor boy!

The next update will be coming to you from your side of the world! We look forward to seeing you soon!

A Very Happy New Year

2009-01-02T11:57:00.006+13:00

We had an amazing 2008! As we reflect on all that we have done, think about all of the people we have met, and remember all the places we have been and things we have learned, and think about all of the conclusions and plans that have been made, we are amazed at all that has taken place in one year!

The last few weeks of 2008 were amazing. We were able to spend time with the entire Huette family here in New Zealand. We were able to spend time at our house in Auckland, we went to the "adventure capital of the world"- Queenstown, and we were able to show them where we will be moving to in Christchurch. Our time was packed full of sightseeing, and enjoying being together as a family. There are many stories to share about their time here, but I will sum it up with a few pictures.

Catching up with Mom at Muriwai Beach

Ryan made it! He traveled for over 3 days on 5 flights, but he got here on Christmas Eve!

Here are Ryan and my dad riding the lift up to the Luge (like go-karts w/o engines)

Getting ready for Christmas Eve dinner and games!

Girls Day! Shopping in Queenstown.

Boy's Day! Hiking in Queenstown.

On our way to the Milford Sound.

The last of the family left on New Year's Eve. The airport drop-off always makes the distance seem so real. We were able to enjoy New Year's Eve with some great friends here in Auckland and now we have jumped into packing up our house!

Wishing you all a wonderful New Year!

Family Reunion...Almost

2008-12-23T17:17:00.005+13:00

The Huette Family is almost all together! As you may notice, there is still one person missing in this picture, but we HOPE we will see him tomorrow.

Andy and Abby (and their little growing baby) have arrived safely in New Zealand. While in Los Angeles getting ready to fly out with Ryan, they encountered some issues and Ryan was not allowed go. Ryan had recently went scuba diving with his passport and it was unreadable and they would not let him leave the country as the passport would not be read and he would be sent back.

Ryan spent the night in the LA Airport and woke up to go to the consulate in order to get a new passport. We had a nerve-wracking night waiting to hear if he was going to be able to make it. Ryan got a new passport and was able to get on the flight 24 hours later to New Zealand.

The rest of us are leaving for Queenstown first thing in the morning so Ryan will also miss that flight. There was ONE seat left on all of the flights to Queenstown and we were able to get it for Ryan. Now we just need to pray that his flights are on time and he makes his connections as he has very little time in between his connecting flights.

We hope that we will finally all be together tomorrow evening, which is Christmas Eve here. We will probably not post until we get back from Queenstown, but we hope that we are all together by then, we have waited long enough!

They're Here!!

2008-12-15T17:03:00.004+13:00

My parents are safely on the ground in Auckland! It was a long flight from Chicago to LA to Fiji to Auckland, but they made it to Auckland just around lunch time on Monday (which is Sunday evening in the States). We definitely turned heads at the airport with our tearful reunion and many hugs.

For now we are just hanging out trying to keep them awake to help them get on New Zealand time. It is so great to be together again!!

Flashback

2008-12-10T21:42:00.003+13:00

I am having flashbacks this week! This week feels so similar to the final week we had in our house in Rochester back in May of 07. Though we don't leave for another month, Joe and I have set an early deadline for ourselves to have a lot of our belongings packed and stored, our schedule and presentations ready for furlough (starting in January), and all of those details that need to be in line to move, finished.

The reason? Next week the first of the Huette family arrives!!! We are so excited for my parents to arrive next week and my brothers and sister-in- law the next! We will all be together for the week around and including Christmas. In hopes to maximize our time with them, we are preparing for furlough before they get here.

In preparation to leave, this week has felt so very similar to the last few weeks we spent at our own house in Rochester.

This week has been filled with packing and sorting, "lasts", and meeting up with friends for farewells as we may not see them again as the holidays near, the family visits and us leaving for the States approach. We will be coming back to Christchurch, not Auckland. Today was the last day that I will be teaching as school is letting out for the summer. This Friday is the last day of youth. We were invited away for the weekend with some friends in order to spend time together before my family gets here and we leave. We have had farewell dinners with youth and their families and a farewell lunch with the staff of Shore.

Our to-do lists are getting checked (or ticked as Kiwis would say), our closets are getting packed, goodbyes are beginning, plans for the US are made, and our house is ready for visitors!

Youth Leaders

2008-12-01T19:31:00.005+13:00

In working with the youth this year at Shore Community Christian Church, we have gotten to know not only the youth, but the awesome youth leaders. We have been so blessed this year in learning form and getting to know the other leaders each Friday night at the youth events. This past Saturday Belinda, the youth minister (to the right of me in the picture) had a brunch for us to say 'thanks' for the past year.

Even though we don't look forward to saying goodbye in the new year, we know that these friendships will always mean so much to us. We are thankful to know that we have a team of people whom we can call on whenever we need ideas for youth events, if we need help in understanding the culture/youth culture more, and when we just need a friend to chat with. We met these friends through leading at Friday night youth events but our relationships were quickly more than just Friday nights! We are thankful for all that we have learned, we only have ONE youth event left until summer break!

Thanksgiving

2008-11-25T23:16:00.003+13:00

Even with so much to be thankful for, we don't get Thursday off as a holiday or Friday off as a shopping day. Though Thanksgiving is not a holiday in New Zealand, we will be taking some time on Thursday to feast with our team and reflect on the many ways that God has blessed us.

It is strange to think of the buzz of excitement that most of our friends and family in America have right now. Thinking of family get-togethers, days off work and school, traveling in the winter weather with hopes of snow flurries to help get that holiday feel, decorating for Christmas, and standing in line for those early-morning bargains seem so foreign to us right now.

Instead of having thoughts of turkey this time of year, Kiwi's have much else going on. November in New Zealand reminds me a lot of May in the States. The end of November means exams at school, award ceremonies for end of the year accomplishments, excitement about summer plans, getting ready for summer break (starts in three weeks!) and gearing up for a wonderful and relaxing Christmas, which many Kiwis will spend on the beach.

This thanksgiving we will feast on chicken or ham, as enough turkey to feed six people costs well over $100. We will eat kumra with raspberry and vanilla flavored marshmallows, as that is the closest we can find to sweet potatoes and white marshmallows. And if we eat pumpkin, it will most likely be as a vegetable, as the idea of sweet pumpkin (or canned pumpkin pie filling) isn't common in New Zealand. Though our feast will look different than yours in many ways, and though we may be worlds apart, we all still have so much to be thankful for. Enjoy your turkey-day, your families, and this upcoming holiday season!

Congrats, CHAMPS!

2008-11-16T16:19:00.005+13:00

CHAMPS is after school program that I help with on Tuesdays. This has been a very unique experience for me as it has given me opportunity to see how after school programming is run in New Zealand and in a Pacific Island culture as well as given me a chance to interact with many different people in the community.

CHAMPS began about two years ago when the Housing Corporation of New Zealand saw a need in the community. The community that CHAMPS is in is a government housing area that was falling apart. Students as young as seven and eight years old were getting involved with gangs and causing trouble in the community. Students began dressing in colors and 'pretending' to be in gangs.

In an effort to change this mentality and to offer the students a positive activity alternative, one of the Housing New Zealand staff members decided to try her hand at giving the students a place to hang out after school. This program started in a neighborhood garage with a handful of students who wanted somewhere safe to go after school.

Now, over two years later, the CHAMPS program has changed it's community! Parents, teens, and students alike have come together for the common cause of giving young students in the neighborhood a positive place to hang out. This program went from a handful of students to over sixty kids who meet at a school hall. We have games, food, and encourage good morals through teaching a word of the day such as "courage" or "honesty".

The attitude of these students who were once "playing gangs" has changed to an attitude that cares about their community and wants to see positive change. The students and volunteers refer to this program as one big whanau or family.

The CHAMPS program was recently nominated for a community excellence award for the work that is taking place. On Friday evening I joined the other volunteers who help with CHAMPS at an awards evening. The CHAMPS program won! We were all very excited and proud of the program. For winning we received an amazing prize of different sports equipment and games for the program--we had none before!

We are excited to share the good news with the students on Tuesday. Congrats, CHAMPS, you are doing great things for the youth in the community!

Year One

2008-11-08T10:01:00.006+13:00

(November 3rd 2007, St. Louis Airport)

This week marked an entire year that we have been in New Zealand! Looking back over the past year, we are amazed at all of our experiences. At times we can't believe that we have been away from friends, family and familiar USA for one year. More often we are amazed at how we feel at home, have made wonderful friends, find that most things in NZ are now familiar, and have accomplished so much in just one year.

This week with our team we had a time of reflecting on how God has carried us through every bit of our journey. We are confident that as we begin the next leg of our journey, he will do the same.

Thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers, support, and encouragement! This has been, without a doubt, one of the hardest and most exciting years of our lives, we couldn't have kept on without knowing that you were right behind us, encouraging us along the way.

We Did It!

2008-11-03T21:19:00.007+13:00

On Sunday we completed our first half-marathon (21 kilometers/13miles). We had been training for months for this race with a group of our friends.

Sunday was a beautiful day and the race was so much fun as we ran across the Harbour Bridge and into the city center. We started the day at 4:00 am with a good breakfast and then met our running pals at 5:00 to catch a bus to the starting line for a 6:30 start. After the race we had a BBQ with our running mates to celebrate.

Both Joe and I are pleased with our times, Joe at 1:54:15 and me at 1:57:15.

Many people said that we would never want to run again after the race but we both feel great. It was a great experience for us and such a great way to grow closer with some friends through running together every weekend. Thanks to Nate for doing such a great job organizing and coaching all of us in the last couple of months.

The official pictures will be posted soon.

Cultural Cue #4 - The "OE"

2008-10-29T20:25:00.002+13:00

The "OE" is something that many Kiwis between the ages of 17-30 do for at least a few months. An "OE" can be done alone, with friends, or in multiple places, but is almost always exciting. An "OE" is encouraged and even expected among many people ages 17-30.

So what is an "OE"?

An "OE" is an Overseas Experience. Most of our friends (in NZ) have had an OE for at least a year. This is a very different concept for us, being from a culture where you finish high school, go to college, get a job, without much of a break in between. There are people that have done their OE's as soon as they leave high school and others have waited until they got married.

Recently a student from the youth group was asking my advice about what she should do with her life. She is in her last year of high school and was thinking about leaving early. (It is acceptable to leave high school after you turn 16 and receive your leavers certificate as a form of a diploma. In fact only about 25% of students complete every year of high school.) She wanted to leave early to go travel in Europe, maybe America, and then end back in London where she could work for a while. It was either this or finish school and go to university.

The first thought that popped into my head was "I think you should finish school, go to university, get your degree, and then travel." That idea and life schedule is very out of the norm for most teenagers and young adults in New Zealand- I was struck at that point with another way that the New Zealand and American cultures are different.

Many of the students in the youth group are looking forward to leaving high school and traveling around the world. It's not that they don't want to go to university or get a job or settle someday, but they want to get other life experience through traveling. Many students will leave high school and work for one or two years and use that money to fund their OE.

Part of the idea of the OE might also be from living in such a small country. New Zealand, being roughly the same size and population of the state of Colorado, is located quite far from any major travel destinations. Kiwis are interested in seeing the rest of the world, but it often takes a couple days of travel to get anywhere other than Australia. Many Kiwis we know have only seen the part of the country that they live in as they use vacation time to explore the rest of the world.

The people of New Zealand and very global people. We have learned so much about other cultures and countries since living here. We really enjoy how our minds have been opened to the world in such a unique way.

He's Back...

2008-10-19T19:43:00.002+13:00

Our fearless team leader is back! Hamish arrived home early Friday morning and we were able to catch up with him as a team on Saturday. It was great to debrief about his time in the States and to be back together as an entire team.

As you may remember, Hamish left for this fundraising trip with fourteen meetings. It was our goal and our prayer to get twenty meetings during his two weeks in the States. God is so faithful. As soon as Hamish was on his way, we began to hear back from more churches and before we knew it, his fourteen meetings had grown to twenty!

We saw God's hand all over this trip and it served as such a reminder to us of God's faithfulness. We prayed for twenty meetings and God provided. We prayed for gas prices to go down during Hamish's time of travel and they did. We prayed for safety and energy as Hamish was waking up as early as 3:30 in the morning to make it to meetings and traveling all over the mid-west for a couple of meetings a day.

Now, we are praying as these churches and mission commitees are deciding if a partnership with our new church is possible for them right now. We know that God will provide, even if it is different than we ever imagined. Will you join us in praying for the partnerships that will help our new church get started?

Cultural Cue # 3- Grab a Cuppa

2008-10-14T08:12:00.007+13:00

Being a coffee drinker in New Zealand is not an option, there is coffee and tea everywhere! Wellington, the capital city, actually boasts of having the most coffee shops per capital of anywhere else in the world. If you are ever in need of a caffeine fix, you don't need to look far.

As much as coffee is a part of the culture, I think that it goes deeper than just the drink. Kiwis are very relational and hold hospitality and community as high values. Often times, the act of 'grabbing a cuppa', or getting a coffee, is a way to catch up on life, a way to meet with people, or a way to be hospitable.

We have noticed that turning someone down for a cup of coffee can come across as rude or even inconsiderate. Oftentimes when you stop by someone's house, they will ask you in for a cuppa. Not accepting that invite can convey to the would be host that the task you are doing is more important than your relationship with them. As American's we have said no to coffee invites in the past because we were on our way to an event, in the middle of running errands, or didn't want to be late. We have now learned that the value of relationship is held much higher than the value of being on time or completing your errands, now we always accept the offer to sit down and 'have a cuppa.' The opposite holds true as well, if someone stops by your house, you should always be ready to offer them a hot drink and expect a visit for a while.

Coffee is something that Kiwis love and it seems to be something that brings them together. Morning tea, coffee breaks, and coffee groups are all very important parts of life in New Zealand. At school, when the students have their morning tea, all of the teachers meet in the lounge for coffee to talk each morning. For new parents, there are different coffee groups that are created to help give you a support network. And even after we run with our running group, we have started drinking coffee- this one is still hard for me to get used to!

The coffee craze seems like more than just a recent trend in New Zealand, but an important part of culture and life.

Christchurch

2008-10-08T07:55:00.003+13:00

Here are some pictures of Christchurch, the city that we are moving to to start the church. Enjoy looking through them, hopefully you will feel like you know Christchurch a bit better! Thank you Nate and Whitney for sharing your photos from your recent trip to Christchurch.

Fundraising Trip

2008-09-30T22:23:00.004+13:00

Our courageous team leader, Hamish Taylor, left New Zealand yesterday to fly to the States for a two week fundraising trip. Hamish is such a sacrificial and willing leader. He is leaving behind his wife and baby for two weeks to represent our team and our vision to at least fourteen different churches who might be interested in partnering financially with our new church.

Hamish and Molly made lunch for our team on Monday before we had a time of prayer for Hamish and his trip.

The churches that are interested in meeting with us are in Ohio and Indiana. At this time, we have fourteen churches, it is our goal to have Hamish meet and share our vision for Christchurch with twenty churches or people. We have had a few last minute cancelations this week, but pray that we will not have any more.

Will you join us in prayer for this trip?

Please pray for safety for Hamish as he will be driving around Ohio and Indiana for the next two weeks.

Please pray for the entire Taylor family as they are separated for the next two weeks.

Please pray that God will open doors at these meetings and that these meetings will be a catalyst in raising the funds we need to start the new church.

Please pray for six more meetings, we are hoping for a total of twenty meetings.

Praise God for the way he has provided for this trip through meetings with churches, plane tickets, and accommodation for Hamish while he is in the States.

Thanks for your prayers! Our team wants to make sure that Hamish knows we are behind him, thinking of him, and encouraging him. We sent Hamish on his way with letters to open each day for encouragement. We also made him a scavenger hunt to complete along his travels that includes taking pictures of things in the States that our team misses. If you want to send Hamish a bit of encouragement or a prayer, feel free to email him at kiwiwithacause@yahoo.com to let him know he is in your prayers. We look forward to updating you with the success of his trip!

Cultural Cue # 2 - School

2008-09-25T07:48:00.002+12:00

It has been interesting learning about school in New Zealand. Now that I am able to be at a school from time to time, I have learned even more. Similar to the States, the school year dictates a lot that happens in the community.

The School Year

The school year starts in February, the end of summer, and ends in December, the beginning of summer. There are four nine week terms, and in between each term there is a two week holiday. A lot of families take advantage of the two week holiday to go on a trip. There are also activities called Holiday Programs that help keep kids active and occupied during the school holidays.

The school year doesn't start in February for everyone though. Most students in the States look forward to their first day of Kindergarten. In New Zealand, Kindergarten or Kindy, is more like pre school or day care. The first year of school in New Zealand is called year zero or new entrant level. Students start school on their fifth birthday unless it is over the holidays and then they would start at the beginning of the next term. This means that year zero has students starting all year long. At the end of the year the teacher decides if they are ready to move on to year one or if they should stay in new entrant another year.

The School Day

Teaching and instruction is quite different in New Zealand than in the states. There is very little whole group instruction but there is a lot of small group interaction between the teachers and the students.

Most all schools in New Zealand require students to wear uniforms. Occasionally there will be a "mufty" day where students can wear clothing of their choice.

It is also very important the students are able to have time to replenish and use up their energy. For primary school, after a fifteen minute fitness break in the morning, the students have fruit break where they get to eat fresh fruit brought form home to help fuel their brains. Around 11:00, they students get a break for morning tea, again, brought from home. After morning tea there is a thirty minute recess. The students come back to learn for a little over an hour and then go to lunch and recess for fifty minutes. After lunch, there is only one hour left in the school day. Schools in New Zealand do not have cafeterias, the students all bring lunch from home and sit outside to eat. If it is rainy, they sit under an awning.

Can you imagine a students from America and New Zealand switching places? I am amazed at the differences in schools, I find more each time I relieve, or substitute.

Quick Catch Up

2008-09-17T21:45:00.002+12:00

I know it's been longer than usual since our last blog post...sorry! We are in the middle of a few projects and were hoping to be able to post them, but you will have to wait in suspense!

Life has been very busy but very normal lately which usually doesn't make for any interesting news on the blog, but here is a glance at what we have been working on.

I had my last day of Mainly Music this week. Next week is the end of the third term with a two week break in school so most activities are wrapping up for the term. As part of our exit strategy, I will not be returning to Mainly Music for the last term. Mainly Music has been a great opportunity for me to learn about outreach and ministry for mums and children.

I have also continued to relieve, or substitute, at schools about once a week. This has been such a learning experience! I have loved getting to know the students and teachers. It is fun seeing kids around the neighborhood and being recognized as 'Mrs. Flammer.'

In addition to his regular youth events and planning, Joe has been preparing for a sermon he is giving next Friday night at a youth event for another church in town. Joe has also been working on making contacts in the States as we begin to work on raising ministry funds. This is always an interesting task since the middle of the day for our contacts, is the middle of the night for us!

Joe is also helping out at church for our family service this week. He is leading the youth in a drama that they will be doing. This is a first for Joe but is seems like he is doing a great job!

As a team, we are in an entire new stage. Our meetings have shifted from research about cities and discussion on survey work to planning the church. This is such an exciting time for us! We have been reading as many books as we can get our hands on, talking to experienced people, and trying to piece together our dreams, thoughts and visions into something coherent to work with. It is so great to be able to plan knowing that we are going to Christchurch.

Hamish will be making a quick, two week trip to the States in October. He will be visiting quite a few churches in that time and sharing with them our vision for Christchurch with hopes for them to partner with us. We have been busy as a team preparing for his trip and presentations.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we work on plans for the new church and finish up our responsibilities here. We are at Shore in an official capacity until the first of December but are beginning our exit strategies now to lessen the gap. Thanks for keeping up with us!

Culture Cues

2008-09-03T21:59:00.003+12:00

One of the main things that we were supposed to do this first year in New Zealand was learn the culture. The best way that we have found to do that is to completely immerse ourselves in culture. Over the next couple of weeks, or maybe months, I will attempt to share with you what we have learned about New Zealand. Many of these things are normal to us now and we don't think much of them. If you disagree and think New Zealand culture is not so normal, we'd love to hear what you think!

Cultural Cue #1: Hours of Operation

Almost all businesses, stores, cafes and even many restaurants are closed by six in the evening, some even earlier! This took a lot of getting used to. What about people who work until 6? Don't worry, Thursday night is late night and the shops stay open until 8pm! Supermarkets have recently begun staying open later and there is even one 24 hour supermarket in all of Auckland.

In addition to early closing times, sometimes you will go to a shop/restaurant/business during their regular hours of operation and there will be a sign up that says the shop is closed but will reopen soon. I have actually learned to appreciate those signs compared to the alternative- the shop just isn't open though the posted hours show that it should be.

As you can imagine, both of these cultural aspects have led to frustrations on certain days. However, we have learned to enjoy evenings without the distractions of shopping and running errands. Now we just plan ahead even better than before to avoid grocery emergencies.

You might be thinking "What should my response to this be?" Well let me submit one to you:

The next time you are at a store after 6pm, make the most of it. You never know when you might move to New Zealand!

Survey Says...We've made a decision!!

2008-08-29T18:48:00.006+12:00

After 8 months of survey work, many hours of discussion and heaps of prayer, our team has finally come to a decision!! We are going to be starting the new church plant in the northeast part of Christchurch. This is so exciting for us! We even have to location narrowed down to the exact area of the city.

We are committed at Shore Community Christian Church in an official capacity until December first of this year. Our team also has visitors coming in December (for us, the entire Huette family!!!). Those factors, combined with the way that life slows down and almost stops in the summer here (summer starts in December), mean that we will wait to leave Auckland until January.

We praise God for his provision, guidance, and the way that he unified six minds. Though this year has looked different than we had planned, we can not deny God's hand in our work. Originally, we did not plan to start survey work until January of '09, but due to less responsibilities than we anticipated on our internship, we were able to get a head start on that timeline!

Will you join us now in praying for the people of Christchurch?

Back to School

2008-08-27T22:52:00.002+12:00

On Wednesday I had my first day of school as a teacher! A few blogs ago I mentioned that my qualifications had been approved and that I was able to begin teaching. The process from there is very simple. Last week I walked into a school and told them I was interested in relieving, or substitute teaching. I was directed to the deputy principal who said that they always needed relievers. I was called later that afternoon and asked to relieve!

Teachers in New Zealand generally get a reliever one day a week so that they can plan and not have to teach. This means that there is high demand for relievers. There is also a huge teacher shortage in Auckland, and in New Zealand in general right now so this also contributes to the high need for relievers.

Though it is the beginning of the school year for the States, it is the third quarter here. The students were in their routine and I had a very laid back day with year one, which is six year olds, in the morning and year 4, which is 9 year olds, in the afternoon. I had so much fun learning yet another part of New Zealand as I spent the day at school. I was again reminded about how laid back this country is!

There were a lot of differences between the classrooms I was at in the States and this school, but it might be too soon to make any conclusions to those differences! I will keep you posted as I (hopefully) continue to relieve one or two days a week now that we are done with our survey work.

Pray for New Zealand

2008-08-20T14:56:00.003+12:00

Today there is a parade going on in Auckland, but we will not be going. This parade was started a few years back to help boost enthusiasm about the porn industry in New Zealand. The name of the parade is "Boobs on Bikes." If that leaves you guessing, here is a little more info:

This parade is a topless parade approved by the city council that goes through the streets of Auckland and Christchurch. This parade is for prostitutes, homosexuals, and people in the porn industry to gather interest and promote their lifestyles. As you may have guessed, most of the women in the parade are wearing close to nothing as they promote what they stand for.

It has been interesting to hear the news this week talking about the pros and cons of this parade. In some ways, weather the parade happened or not, the purpose has already been achieved. There have been scenes on the news of the parade from last year which gave us a pretty clear shot of what was going on as nothing was blurred out.

Will you continue to pray with us on how we can best reach a nation that has fallen so far from God? Pray for the men, women and children who are affected not just by this parade, but by the lifestyles that are being celebrated.

yum yum yum

2008-08-16T16:25:00.003+12:00

I recently found two foods that are brand new in New Zealand that have Joe and I very excited!

The first one was a staple for us when we lived in the States, we were always stocked with these as they are a great on -the-go snack. While we were on the South Island I was at a supermarket and spotted these:

I was so excited, but I thought it must be something that only the South Island had, which didn't make a lot of sense to me. When we got home I saw that the supermarkets in Auckland were carrying the Nature Valley bars now too!

The other thing we found was very exciting. New Zealand has very good ice cream but a more limited selection of flavours. I found this ice cream last week that has cookie dough (or it is supposed to but I have yet to spot a good cookie dough chunk!) in it! It also has other cookie bits. It tastes a little like Ben and Jerry's! We have been enjoying this new ice cream a lot!

Our interest in foods and our ability to get some foods hasn't been too hard for us to adjust to. We have been content with whatever we can find, but these two new things are a nice addition to what New Zealand has to offer. I am still waiting on a Taco Bell and I think Joe is looking for some good pizza, but we have found other foods that we didn't eat much of in the States that we now love here!

I've Been Assessed!

2008-08-09T15:36:00.004+12:00

At the end of January I began gathering together a lot of different official documents from the States to send in to the New Zealand Qualifications Assessment team. The purpose in this was to get my degrees assessed to see what I needed to do in order to teach in New Zealand. This process that typically takes about one month is finally completed...seven months later! It was a very long process of waiting but I have been assessed and I am now qualified to teach in New Zealand without needing any further training! This means I can begin teaching as soon as a school needs a reliever, or a substitute. I plan on visiting schools this week to see where I can begin!

Home Sweet Home!

2008-08-05T12:45:00.004+12:00

Sometimes, it just feels so good to be home. After being away for 11 days, it definitely felt good to be home! I think we all felt as tired as Laney and Liam.

This survey trip was different than our first round of trips. We spent a lot more time looking at specific areas and trends in Christchurch and Wellington to help us know which area of each city would be a potential spot for the church plant. We spent considerably less time in the city centers and much more time in the suburbs, looking at each church and talking to as many people as we could to get a feel for the atmosphere of each suburb. I think the team left seeing a lot of the same things and encouraged by what we found and heartbroken for the people in each city who seem so lost.

(View of Wellington from the water front)

Along with all of our work, we had many other happenings this time! This was our first survey trip in which we had intentional times of prayer happening and we needed it! We had hundreds of people praying for our team from all around the world, we couldn't have made it through the trip without the prayers. Thank you!

(Cathedral Square in Christchurch)

Joe and I left Auckland a few days early to get some time away before the rest of the team arrived. We intended to go snow-skiing for a day, but the night we arrived the Christchurch area received a meter (3 feet) of snow so the mountain was closed! We got to ski for half of the next day instead. While we were in Christchurch, Auckland was preparing for some of the worst weather that is has seen in ten years! Loads of rainfall, 130kmph winds, and some pretty bad storms. Although many flights were cancelled, both of the other couples were able to make it to Christchurch on schedule, but the weather continued to work its way through the country.

After just arriving in Christchurch, Hamish, our team leader, received word that his grandfather passed away. Being from New Zealand, he was able to leave for part of the trip to be at the funeral with his family. The rest of the team stayed and finished up work in Christchurch. On our last day there, Whitney came down with a high fever and became ill. Joe, Nate, and I worked to keep Whitney healthy, Laney happy, and get all of us to the airport on time as not to miss our flights to Wellington. I flew with Nate and Whitney and Laney while Joe was on a flight that left 20 minutes later, originally with Hamish and Molly and Liam, who had already left. Joe's flight got delayed but he did make it to Wellington only a little later!

We had other events that made our trip exciting like power-outages, car trouble, and misplaced keys! We were all ready to be home!

All in all, it was an exciting trip and we learned a lot. We are excited to see how God uses our experiences from the last week, both good and not so good, to teach us! We will be doing our final survey work in West Auckland and will know where we are going by September 1st!

Travel Time

2008-07-23T22:18:00.004+12:00

We leave tomorrow, (Thursday for us) to head down to Christchurch. Next week we will be hitting Christchurch and Wellington for a second round of survey trips. We have some more strategic events planned to help us better understand not only the culture of the cities, but of suburbs and areas of interests in each city. The purpose of this trip is to narrow our efforts into one spot in one of these cities that we think would be best suited for a new church. We will look at one more city when we get back.

Joe and I are going down to Christchurch two days earlier than the team. We are taking Friday and Saturday as a mini-holiday and a time to relax. We will be spending Friday skiing on the Southern Alps and Saturday will most likely be spent recovering and enjoying some of the more fun parts of Christchurch. We are looking forward to a couple of days away before our big week of survey work.

Between the three couples on our team, there will be over 72 hours of prayer done by our partners during our time on this survey trip. Our partners will be praying for specific things with us as we are on these important survey trips. Are you interested in being a part of this prayer vigil? If so, just contact us at joeandamy654@yahoo.com to let us know when you would like to prayer. We are asking for prayers on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. If you would like a prayer guide just let us know and we will send you one. It may take a couple of days since we will be traveling.

Thanks for keeping up with us! We will update you when we get back!

Darkenss

2008-07-17T19:54:00.007+12:00

"If God is dead, then all things are permissible."

- Fyodor Dostoevsky

Too many people in New Zealand are acting under this assumption. We recently heard a Kiwi speak on such a topic and it reminded us again about why we are here.

The spiritual darkness in New Zealand can be overwhelming at times. Since we have lived here, it has hit us in waves. We continually pray that God will break our hearts for this country and for the people here, and we see it happening.

There are so many statistics that caught our attention before we moved here, but now we are seeing those statistics come to life in the people that we interact with, and it is breaking our hearts. We are seeing children and adults who are scarred by divorce and abuse, churches that are closing their doors, and an alarming increase in the random acts of crime, and people looking for answers.

It seems like every week there is a heinous and senseless criminal act reported on. This week a young girl in our town was taken from her home by a mysterious masked man. These random acts of crime are beginning to hit home more and more, with many people in our community very worried. Our hearts continue to break for this country as we pray for it's redemption.

A few weeks ago the movie Prince Caspian had its debut in New Zealand (I know, old news for the States, but it was filmed in New Zealand!) Our church booked a theater to view it and then heard a lecture (by Dr. Adam Claasen) on the biblical meanings behind the movie. This lecture, or sermon, was one of my favorite ones, I have listened to it a few times now. In this sermon, Dr. Claasen compared New Zealand and the people here to Narnia. He gave some alarming statistics about the correlation between the declining amount of Christians and the increasing amount of crime and violence.

I would like to encourage you to listen to the Prince Caspian Sermon. (You can do so by clicking on the underlined words.) If you haven't seen the movie, you may want to watch it first, but if not, you will still understand the sermon. It is about 35 minutes long, so it will take some time. Listen to it as you are getting ready in the morning or making dinner or cleaning the house (that's what I have been doing!) As you are doing so, listen for what is being said about the state of New Zealand.

When you finish, would you take a minute to pray for New Zealand? Please pray for the people here and for us as we long to show them the Love of God in a practical way that will change their lives. Please pray for our safety and our faith as we endure this darkness each day.

Reunion

2008-07-14T14:18:00.004+12:00

Since out team retreat we have been working on a lot, but have not had the chance to be together as a whole team. We have had many meetings with various leaders and experts about our church planting strategy and also about our plant locations. We are working diligently to make this process come together in a timely and effective manner.

Last night we were finally together as a whole team! We had dinner together and just hung out for a while enjoying each other's company and the precious little ones.

Please continue praying with us as we prepare to visit Christchurch and Wellington at the end of the month. Pray for unity in what we see and for God to lead us to a specific spot in one of these cities that will be perfect for our team to start the church.

Fourth of July Weekend

2008-07-07T15:34:00.005+12:00

So the Fourth of July doesn't mean much to the average Kiwi, but we still had a busy weekend, so why not call it "Fourth of July Weekend?" We missed being a part of the many activities that my family does on the fourth, but enjoyed our weekend just the same.

As July marks some of the warmest days of the summer in the States, the opposite is true here. The weekend brought with it some of the coldest days we have seen yet. We do our best to stay warm and bundled up.

Friday night we helped with a lock-in or an all nighter with the youth. There were over 50 students there and many activities

Joe was in charge of planning many of the activities for the evening and the students really seemed to enjoy them. Joe introduced the students to the "Gallon Challenge" - which is where you try to drink a gallon of milk in an hour without any of it coming back up. He renamed it the "Two Liter Lactose Eater" since there are not gallons in NZ. Two liters is about half a gallon so he challenged four students to drink the two liters in half an hour. Not only did they have to chug milk, but he got them flavored milk-lime, banana, strawberry, and chocolate. There was one girl who did not vomit, the others did but seemed to enjoy it.

The night was full of students doing crazy things, but all seemed to have fun! There was a bounce house, disco-dance room, Sing Star karaoke, movies, pizza, and many other fun things that accompany an all nighter. Needless to say we spent the first part of Saturday catching up on sleep!

Sunday marked the last official day for Joe and I working in the children's ministry on Sunday mornings. We have enjoyed our time there but are excited to see the new leaders take over. Sunday was also a special day at church becuase Liam was dedicated. It is so amazing to watch our team mates and their new families!

Next Steps

2008-07-02T21:52:00.005+12:00

Since arriving in New Zealand there have been certain milestones that we have been looking forward to. It seems as though we have hit many of these milestones and are now moving forward into our next steps.

Last week our team spent two days in a team planning retreat. We are excited about how much we were able to accomplish and feel blessed by the way God continues to lead us forward. The first accomplishment of our retreat was narrowing down the ten cities centers that we have been surveying to three cities that we feel like have the most need for a new church plant. We had people all around the world praying for this decision and we could tell by the ease in which this decision was made. The three cities that we ended up with after the retreat were Christchurch, Wellington, and West Auckland.

Some other things we worked on during the retreat were making a timeline for the beginning of the church up to the next church that will start as a result as this first church. We also came up with a strategy to reach non christians and de-churched people. We made a general strategy and then narrowed it down to specifics for each of the cities on the list. Though we will end up in only one city, we are looking at different strategies to help us understand each place better.

We were able to begin a budget for our church and cover some other smaller topics. We ended Saturday morning with a meeting with our management team over the internet to fill them in of the accomplishments of the retreat. We were encouraged by their responses to the decisions that we made.

One of the less intense parts of the retreat was the pleasant distraction offered to us by sweet Liam and Laney! It is such a joy to have these new team members!

Team Retreat

2008-06-25T22:37:00.002+12:00

Our team has set aside the next two days to do some specific planning. We have finished visiting each of the ten potential city centers and will be narrowing down these ten cities to three or less that would be a good fit for our team to plant a church. We will be spending a lot of time in prayer and a lot of time reviewing each of the reports we have written on the cities we have visited. At the end of the two days we hope to have a more specific plan of what our church will look like, how we will go about launching it, and many of the logistics of starting a church. In addition to this, we will begin planning the next trips to the few cities that we feel are the cities of biggest need. We will end on Saturday morning with a meeting via internet with our management team.

Would you pray for us over the next couple of days? Please pray for...

...wisdom in our decisions about the new church.

...unity in our discussions and decisions.

...energy for the other couples on our team as they are still adjusting to new babies.

...perseverance as there is much to plan and six different minds coming together to work!

...the cities that we will be choosing.

Thank you for your prayers! We will be sure to give you an update after the weekend!

Visitors!

2008-06-18T21:04:00.006+12:00

This week we had our first visitors from the States! My best friend, Abby (Harris) Clark, and her husband Andy, who works at Northside Christian Church are here! Northside partners with us in our ministry here and wanted to come check out New Zealand and what we are up to. We have had a busy week so far and still have a lot planned. They have gotten a chance to see a lot of our normal life acrivities in addition to spending some time in the city and seeing some sites. Today they helped us finish our last day of survey work!

In addition to an exciting week with our visitors, Nate and Whitney, our team mates, had their baby girl! Meet Lane Marie Hutchison!

More about our week later!

See What We Have Done...

2008-06-12T21:27:00.003+12:00

Here is a short video that I made as an update of what we are doing in New Zealand. I hope you like it.

4 Years in 6 Minutes or Less...

2008-06-06T08:48:00.005+12:00

Yesterday, June 5, marked 4 years of marriage for Amy and I. As a gift, on a limited budget, I tinkered with on of my new hobbies. Nate, our team mate, is an wizard of video editing and has been teaching me a few new tricks. I decided to make Amy a video, nothing fancy, just some pictures, to commemorate this occasion. She wanted me to share it with all of you guys. Here ya go.

Champs

2008-06-03T22:13:00.006+12:00

A couple of weeks ago I began volunteering at an after school program called "Champs." This has been a great opportunity for me since it is similar to what I did in the States. This program is part of the Housing New Zealand Corporation (HNZC.) HNZC is a community renewal program that finds neighborhoods in need and then sends representatives to set up office in one of the houses in the area.

The renewal is a five year process where they begin to clean up the community through training, teaching, and restoring the people of the community. The area that I am working in is in Northcote, which is about a ten minute drive from our house.

This is an area of about three blocks of government housing that has become a very rough area. Before Christmas, some primary school children were 'pretending' that they were in gangs. They were dressing in certain colors and doing certain things that were very realistic, even though these young children were just pretending.

One of the employees of HNZC decided that these kids needed a positive outlet for their energy with role models who could possibly help steer them clear of the gang scene. She began hosting a program for primary school children two days a week called Champs. Champs has been a success thus far as there are many kids involved in the program. These kids are amazing!

I am learning so much by being a part of Champs. Most of the children are Pacific Islanders, which means that they have a very different culture than what I am used to!

It has been so much fun getting to know the kids and learning about their lives. I am also starting to get to know some of the other volunteers. Many of the volunteers live in the community of the program; it is really cool to see community members getting on board with HNZC to help make their community a better place for themselves and the children. Here are some pictures from the program:

Here is a picture with me and some of the girls learning Mau Rakau (ma-u-rah-koo). Mau Rakau it is like Maori martial arts. Mau Rakau means 'skilled use of weapons'- not sure how skilled I am yet!

This is how you are supposed to swing the stick to strike you opponent. We are getting trained how to defend as well. The defense in this move is to jump over the weapon or stick.

Two of the boys taking a break from playing!

Some of the older boys playing Touch-touch rugby that is, but 'touch' and 'rugby' are seen as two completely different games- I am still learning! The kids in the background are playing cricket.

Mid-Winter Christmas Party

2008-05-31T11:15:00.008+12:00

Though the days are getting longer and the sun is out more frequent for most of you in the States, our days are very short and with each day the weather gets cooler and cooler. In honor of winter, the youth group had a mid- winter RED Christmas Party last night! The party was complete with Christmas trees, Christmas dinner, Christmas crackers, which are a popular party toy at Christmas time, Christmas music, dancing and prizes! The theme other than Christmas was that everyone had to wear red! Here are some pictures from the evening:

This is Devon, he won the prize for wearing the most red!

This is a picture of a game we played. It is similar to a pinata, but instead of something hanging with candy in it and kids hitting it with a plastic bat, this game is different. For this game the kids get a 2x4 and have to hit the clay pot to bust it open and there is a bag of lollies (candy) inside! It was interesting to us!

On The Rise

2008-05-27T15:33:00.003+12:00

The United States are not alone in their soaring oil prices. In the six months we have been here, we have seen gas prices go up at least forty-five cents. This may not sound like alot, but that would be per liter, not per gallon. The picture of the Caltex Gas Station sign probably catches your eye with how inexpensive gas seems here. Just to help clarify, that would be $2.00 a liter that this sign advertises for. There are four liters to a gallon which makes gas $8.00 NZD a gallon! This would be $6.32 USD!

What do people here do? We have noticed that most people live, work, and shop all in their same community. Very few people drive very far to do daily activities. We have also noticed that if something costs too much here, people just won't do it.

We have tried to be conscious about combining trips as well as cutting out our visits into the city for now. We filled our gas tank last week and the $101.00 ( for about 17 gallons) we paid will help keep us in one spot for a bit!

Encouragement

2008-05-22T22:14:00.005+12:00

Today was a long day. Our team meetings and survey meetings have been filled with some bigger decisions and some very deep and important discussion about strategy, timing, and future steps. These are all good discussions but when they are over, we are usually quite (mentally) exhausted.

Tonight after a long day of discussion we had some friends over for dinner. They had also had a long day and we really enjoyed just relaxing together. Before they left they asked if they could pray for us and our team.

Their prayer was so encouraging! They prayed for exactly what we are in needof right now, peace about where God wants us to be, clarity about deciding on the right place, and unity for our team in making such big decisions. Their prayer was filled with the spirit as they prayed in such detail about our lives, our ministry, our relationships, and our calling.

When they left we felt such a sense of peace and were so energized by their zeal for God's work.

We know that many of you are also praying for us as we continue on to the next steps of our work in New Zealand. Please know that your prayers mean so much to us! Thank you for keeping up with us and with what God is doing in New Zealand.

Hamilton

2008-05-18T22:54:00.003+12:00

We spent two days in Hamilton at the end of last week conducting survey work. Hamilton was the eighth city on our list. Hamilton is a city of almost 180,000 about a two hour drive south of Auckland.

We did our typical survey work in meeting with school leaders, church leaders, and making connections with people that we met in our street interviews throughout the community. Hamilton is home to University of Waikato which is home to about 10,000 students.

Hamilton is a very multi-cultural city, the most diverse of all of the city centers that we have visited. Were able to see this diversity played out in the malls we conducted street interviews at, the school we visited, and the net-ball game we went to.

We came away from Hamilton without any strong feelings one way or the other, but the same overall sense that like so many other places in New Zealand, there is a lack of strong and healthy churches in this city.

Here is a picture of the four of us that went to Hamilton next to the Waikato River, the longest river in New Zealand! This is our Rock-Star pose, we know, we are cool!

Cooking Class

2008-05-14T21:46:00.005+12:00

One of the interesting things in moving to New Zealand has been adjusting to some of the food. Most of the food is similar, but the combinations that people use are very different! It has been fun to learn about the different ways that Kiwis cook.

I have a friend that had vouchers for a cooking class and invited me to join her. We had a lovely time! Though the cuisine was Mediterranean, I still think it was very Kiwi-lots of lamb, seafood, and cream! Here are a few of the dishes:

Lamb and Fig Tagine served with Spiced Couscous

This was good and something that I would make at home. I might not use such big figs! But a rather practical recipe for Lamb.

Spanish Paella with Chicken, Seafood, and Chorizo

Let's be honest. It was a big step for me to do fish and chips when we moved here. This is taking it a bit far. I stuck with the rice and choizos and tried to avoid the part that looked like the bottom of a fishing boat. Probably won't be making this one!

We did two other mains, a Suquet with Clams, which I (surprisingly) really liked. We also did Paupiettes of Beef with Pate and Mushrooms. This was also good and another practical dish, though I would substitute the pate for something a bit more appetizing, such as Garlic and Feta Hummus!

The desserts were delicious!

Vanilla and Chocolate Bavarois

Fantastic!

The other dessert was a lemon tart

Here is a picture of Rochelle and I enjoying our food!

In addition to learning more about Kiwi food, it was such a fun way to meet so many other women from around the Auckland area!

We are off to Hamilton tomorrow (for 2 days) for survey trip number 8! More on Hamilton when we get back.

Learn the Lingo: Full-on

2008-05-12T11:04:00.012+12:00

You may notice that it has been a slow week for us on blogger-that would be because we have had a very busy week and a full-on weekend. Full-on is a term commonly used by Kiwis.

full-on (adj.)

1. possessing a particular quality to the fullest extent

2. all-out, taken to the limits

She was full-on while training for her race.

In order to better describe to you full-on, here is a glimpse at our weekend:

Friday was our regular all day team survey day. We didn't go anywhere but we had a meeting with an expert in the Auckland area as well as some in depth discussion about the next phases of our work here.

For youth Friday night we had a Guys Night/Girls Night...

The girls did Karaoke, had a make-over, ambushed the boys, and laughed...a lot!

The boys played video games, cards, ate a lot of food, and got ambushed by the girls!

I went to a "Kichen Tea" on Friday night for my friend Maxine. Maxine is getting married and a Kitchen Tea is similar to a Bridal Shower.

We had some friends, Chris, Abby, Charis, and Ethan, in from Tauranga, about two hours south of Auckland. They stayed with us Friday night and Saturday. We had a team lunch with them really enjoyed having them around for the weekend.

On Saturday, we went to a pajama party themed birthday party for our friends in West Auckland. Their daughter turned 3!

Joe was not able to go because he was with the guys on our team meeting with a developer to learn more about one of the areas in which we are looking at to start a church.

Saturday night was another party! We went to a going away party for our friend, Rochelle, who will be traveling through the US and Europe for the next six months.

Sunday was a very exciting day for us. In addition to our regular Sunday

morning responsibilities, Joe was able to help with a baptism.

Yutak, the one getting baptized, is a boy that Joe mentors. Josh, the boy helping with the baptism is another boy that Joe mentors, they are in Joe's life group.

After church, we went to lunch with Bree and Antonia.

These girls have been coming along to church for just under a year and are amazing girls! They had some great questions about Christianity. We were able to talk with them for a few hours and hopefully help answer their questions. It was so cool to be able to share God's word with these girls in a way that spoke truth to their lives.

We finished Sunday afternoon with a nap! Our full-on weekend was exhausting!

Wellington

2008-05-05T12:56:00.006+12:00

We just returned home from our trip to Wellington, Lower Hutt, and Palmerston North. We had been able to spend more time preparing for this trip than others, yet were able to make very few connections. We had done much research for these areas and done everything that we could to help make this trip be successful, but before we left we were just not feeling good about the trip agenda. This of course, caused us to pray even more for God to guide us and introduce us to people and to fill in the days with the interviews, meetings, and places to go that we could not make happen.

It's funny that we act surprised when God does what he promises he will do! This seemed to be one of our most successful survey trips! Each day was full on and packed! We had such a sense of unity among our team about the information that we were finding. Through the one interview that we had set up, we were able to get information about so many people and places. We ended up meeting with more people, visiting a couple of churches, and had great success in the people that we connected with in street interviews.

We came away from the trip feeling great. We saw that Wellington is a place of great need, much like what we have been hearing. We learned that, like most places in New Zealand, Lower Hutt and Palmerston North are also places of need, but much less so than Wellington. We found that Palmerston North is considered the "Bible Belt" of New Zealand, with 16% of the people involved in church-that's about double the national average.

We now have only three places left to visit for our first round of survey work! We will begin the narrowing down process in June and begin round two of survey work. This will be a process of narrowing the ten cities down to two or three. We will then do some more intense research on those three cities to get an even better picture of them to help us make the final decision!

More Travels...

2008-04-29T16:24:00.004+12:00

This week we are flying down to the southern part of the north island of New Zealand to survey three cities. We will be looking at Wellington, (the capital of NZ), Lower Hutt, and Palmerston North. During our time there, we have meetings with the pastor of a church, a member of a church that is no longer existing, and a youth minister who is also a professor at a Bible College in New Zealand, and hopefully a school administrator. We will also be conducting street interviews and going to some of the popular cultural centers in these cities.

Would you pray for us while we are away? Please pray for Molly and baby Liam and Whitney as they stay home in Auckland. Whitney will be within a month of her due date so please pray for the days that she is home alone to be problem-free. Pray for the contacts that we will be making as it has been more difficult to set up meetings for this trip than most. Please pray that we follow the leadings of the Spirit and not just our own plans! Last, please pray that we will be able to keep up the pace we need as this will be a very fast trip for looking at three different cities. Thanks for your prayers - we will update you with the trip when we get home!

More Easter Camp....

2008-04-26T18:21:00.003+12:00

Though Easter Camp was over a month ago now, we just had our Easter Camp Reunion with the students who went. The Reunion day focused on prayer and talking about the decisions that were made at Easter Camp this year. For the reunion, Joe made a video with some footage from Easter Camp. If you have a few minutes, check out the video, you will even get to hear some people with the New Zealand accent!

Happy Birthday, Abby!

2008-04-22T20:51:00.004+12:00

Happy Birthday, Abby! A couple of years ago my older brother finally got some sense knocked into him and decided to ask his high school sweetheart to marry him! Our family was so excited because we already loved Abby and knew she would be such a great addition to our family.

Abby, you fit into the Huette family perfectly! The past few years have been so much fun for me. You know that you and Andy mean the world to me. You are one of the most faithful women that I know. I am inspired by your love for God, for Andy, and your heart for ministry. You are a woman of integrity and a strong pillar in our family. You have such wisdom and are such a great listener, I admire you for that!

I have so many memories that I could share about you! Last summer was great being able to be near to you. I loved the walks, the shopping trips, and preparing for the much awaited family photos, matching outfits and all! I think some of my favorite times were the sleepovers we had at mom and dad's house before we left, especially the pumpkin carving contest! Of course the thing that I think of the most when I think of you is your laugh! It is my favorite- Joe and I miss hearing your laugh all the time, it is contagious!

I wish we could have been there to celebrate your special day and your birthday dinner. Know that we love you and think the world of you. In honor of your birthday, I have laid out what I am going to wear tomorrow! Let's face it, that's an honor I do every day, but tonight, I will think of you laughing at me as I do so!

River Tragedy

2008-04-20T23:51:00.002+12:00

This week has been a very emotional week for many people throughout Auckland, and even New Zealand. On Wednesday of this week, seven lives were claimed in a flash flood that swept through the middle of the North Island of New Zealand.

Students from a Christian school in Auckland were away at a weeklong camp. The students were visiting a national park and doing different excursions. During one of the canyoning excursions, the Mangatepopo River began to flash flood. The river was at half a cubic meter at the time the excursion began and in an instant swelled to 18 cubic meters claiming the lives of six students (age 16) and one teacher (age29.)

With these seven people all going to different churches and being involved in different social circles in Auckland, you can imagine the quick impact of this tragedy. None of the students were involved at our church, but the students in our youth group were familiar with the students whose lives were claimed. Today at church our minister preached about where God might be in such a tragedy. Being as all seven of the victims were Christians, this has been a real time of doubt and growing faith. The administration, students, and parents are all turning to God throughout this tragedy. The media has been all over this incident, but the people involved have been shining bright. This incident has been shedding a new light on Christians in New Zealand. These students were all said to be remarkable students, ones who would be leaders and world changers; it may be that they are changing New Zealand, even in their deaths.

Please continue to pray with us for the restoration and healing of the many people involved with this incident. You can read more about it at the following links:

River Tragedy

Students

School Tragedy

New Experiences

2008-04-18T08:50:00.002+12:00

There is a first time for everything, right? This week was our first experience with the medical systems in New Zealand. While Joe was away, I had part of a tooth fall out. I went to the dentist last Saturday and he immediately put me on antibiotics and scheduled me for surgery. I had to go to a specialist on Wednesday morning and have spent the last few days swollen and recovering. I am on pain meds and soft foods until Tuesday when I go back to get my stitches out.

I am thankful for the precautions that the dentist took in sending me to a specialist; because of the location of my tooth there were some dangers in doing a routine extraction. One of the differences is that the dental assistant has called me multiple time since surgery to make sure that I am recovering at a normal process. We realized that these calls were in place of all of the warning pamphlets and care packets that we would get in the states! Instead of reading through any of those for questions, I guess that I would ask questions to the assistant when they call!

The same process goes for medications. When Joe went in to pick up my meds, the chemist (pharmacist) handed him two bottles of pills and nothing else! There is a label on the bottle of what the med is and who it is for, but that is about all. We used the internet to look up any warnings or precautions that I should take with those pills!

There have been many differences and it has been quite the learning experience, but there is a first time for everything!

Party Bus!

2008-04-14T10:52:00.004+12:00

Friday night's youth activity for this week was renting a "Party Bus." If you are American, like us, you might think "woo-hoo, a party bus" and picture sitting on a school bus listening to music trying not to get sick while driving around for three hours. Let me introduce you to Party Bus-New Zealand Style:

We drove around the city for three hours making three stops at two beaches and the Auckland Museum. When we stopped the students were allowed to get off the bus and run around for the alloted time, and then had to meet back at the bus. The bus was loud and crazy with music blaring, windows open, no one was seated, everyone was dancing. There was soda and candy and heaps of junk food being passed around. We couldn't believe this was legal, neither could the cop who is also a youth leader! The pedestrians on the streets of Auckland seemed to enjoy us as we passed, some even joined in the party with dancing from the streets.

The kids had a great night and the party bus was a hit. We are learning so much in helping with this youth group!

Two Arrivals!

2008-04-10T21:37:00.004+12:00

It has been an exciting week for our team! Today, Joe arrived back home from his trip to the States. He spent four days traveling, but really enjoyed the six days he had in the States. They were packed full. He got to see his family for a day before he flew to Florida, where he was the best man in the wedding, then he flew back to New York and got to spend one last day with his family before he flew back here. He arrived home with a lot of goodies for me from Wal-Mart and the GAP!

The second arrival this week was the day before Joe got back: Liam Michael Taylor was born to our team leader and his wife, Hamish and Molly! Our team is so excited to have this beautiful new little member! Both Molly and Liam are both doing well and adjusting to life after birth. Please join us in praying for the Taylor's as they begin this new chapter of life.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

2008-04-07T19:41:00.004+12:00

Happy Birthday, Dad! I just had to use these pictures...one of you with your "At the Lake" hat in hand, and the other is my favorite of you having the time of your life...planting trees! I know it's not the most flattering, but it is so you!

There are so many wonderful things that I could say about you and about how you are such an awesome dad. I have always known that I am so blessed to have a mom and dad who love each other SO much. I also know that I am so blessed to have a dad that loves me SO much.

In moving to New Zealand, the importance of our relationship means even more to me. One of the most heart-breaking things for me in New Zealand is the way that so many girls never see their dad, do not know their dad, or are scared of their dad. I can't even imagine that. So many of my best memories are of times that you and I have spent together. I am so thankful for a dad that was not only present, but who was actively involved in my life, and has taught me so much.

It hasn't been easy living so far away from you, but it means so much to me the way that you are still so actively involved with our lives in New Zealand through email, skype, and prayer. You are one of the most faithful men of prayer that I know and that has been such an example to me.

There are so many things that I just love about you, so I have decided to make a top ten list for you...Enjoy!

10. You think I am a great singer

9. You laugh at all of my jokes (and it sounds genuine)

8. You wear a hat that says "At the Lake" only when we (you) are at the lake

7. You love stock-car racing

6. You sneak ice-cream when you think no-one is looking

5. You love to take a day off work to do other work (see picture above!)

4. Your wardrobe is made up of mainly anything that has the NU-WAY logo on it (see picture above!)

3. You have a knack for telling the truth in the most exaggerated way

2. You make spending time with your family a top priority

1. You are a great example to our family of a solid man of God

We wish we could have been there to eat pizza, strawberry pie, and play Rack-O with you for you special day! I love you!

Survey Says- Part II

2008-04-04T16:25:00.004+13:00

Today we completed our fourth survey trip, this means we are about halfway through the first stage of survey work. We have learned so much during our time surveying different parts of New Zealand.

In traveling to different areas of New Zealand we have really seen some of the statistics that we have studied come to life. We are finding that less than 10% of the people that we interview are regularly involved with a church. We are also seeing and hearing about the desperate family situation in New Zealand.

One of the survey methods that has been most helpful is interviews. We do interviews with a variety of people such as school administrators, church leaders, christian leaders, and random people who are out and about. Below are some of the responses that we have recieved.

"One of the main issues I deal with is relational conflict in students. The conflict is usually based upon issues happening in their family, and the family is usually a solo family (single parent) or a blended family."

-High School Guidance Counselor

"I don't attend church but I think about sending my kids for educational purposes"

- Young Mom from Street Interviews

"I've tried going to church, but the people are evil and they judge me so I have started my own religion"

-Young Mom from Street Interviews

"New Zealand is beginning to experience the total breakdown of the family."

- Bible College President

"I don't think there is anything wrong with church, but I just don't go."

-Young Adult Street Interviews

"I went to youth group once-it was fun!"

-Teen from Street Interview

"I don't go to church because it doesn't make me feel good about myself. I have left the church and am looking for the light, once I find it I might go back to church."

-Middle Age Woman from Street Interviews

"Sometimes I think about going to church, it might be good for my family, but we just don't. There is actually a church down the road from our house, but we just don't go"

- Mom from Street Interviews

"The best way to reach people is through relationships. We need a Christian on every street showing other people the love of Christ. People might see a need for the community of the church then."

- Christian Curriculum Representative

These are just a small sampling of some of the many responses we are getting. We are continually reminded of the challenging road that we have ahead of us. Some of the main issues that have continuously been revealed to us is the state of the family and the way the people just don't care about church or see a need for God. We have much more information from the cities that we have visited as well as interviews we have done, if you are interested to know more, please let us know!

Travel Time

2008-04-01T22:48:00.002+13:00

It seems like we can barely unpack from one trip before we need to pack for another! We have been very busy traveling over the past few weeks. Three weeks ago, we went to the Rodney District about thirty minutes north of Auckland for survey work. This was just a day trip which was nice. Last weekend we had Easter Camp for which we packed alot for since we were camping! We had two days of 'normal' work and life before we packed up again to go to Tauranga which is about 3 hours south west of Auckland to do more survey work. We spent two full days there interviewing school and church administrators about the community as well as conducting street interviews and doing some observations at cultural centers. We were home for about 12 hours before we left Sunday afternoon to go up further north of Auckland to a friend's bach to get away for a night.

This morning I dropped Joe off at the airport because he is taking a quick trip back to the States. Just after we moved here Joe was asked to be the best man in his best friend's wedding. His friend's family wanted us to be a apart of the wedding so helped to fly Joe back. Joe will be gone for ten days but will be traveling for three and a half of those days. The wedding is in Florida so he will get to see his family in between his flights from New York to Florida. He also gets to go to Wal-Mart with a list I have crafted very carefully!

While Joe is gone I have many things to keep me busy. I will be helping with the regular activities at church (Mainly Music, MOPS, Friday youth group, Sunday teaching and women's ministry meetings), I will continue working with our team (we have survey research and demographic days on Thursdays and we have another survey trip this Friday to west Auckland), and other regular activities. We also have a special youth follow up day this Saturday for all students who have made decisions this year so far that I will be helping with.

I also have a list of things that I hope to get done while I will have some extra time! I started on my list and cleaned out and organized the spare room closet. Another goal of mine is to study the New Zealand Rode Code and have a New Zealand license in hand when Joe gets back. On Sunday I will be taking part in a women's tri-athlon in Auckland. I also have some new things at church that will be taking up some of my time. I imagine that the time will go fast as my evenings are filling up with social activities as well.

Please pray for Joe as he will be doing heaps of traveling and be going through a lot of transition and emotions as he makes this quick trip to the States. We have recently felt some of the 'twangs' of culture shock which could really affect his transition back into the lifestyle of the US for such a short time.

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

2008-03-30T13:44:00.003+13:00

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

2008-03-27T09:07:00.007+13:00

(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

2008-03-25T21:26:00.002+13:00

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

2008-03-19T20:47:00.003+13:00

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

2008-03-15T22:20:00.006+13:00

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

2008-03-11T14:54:00.003+13:00

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

2008-03-07T23:17:00.008+13:00

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

2008-03-04T23:40:00.003+13:00

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.

Celebrate!

2008-02-19T13:40:00.003+13:00

We had many reasons to celebrate on Sunday! As a church, we celebrated the ten years that Shore Community Christian Church has been a vibrant presence on the North Shore of Auckland. As a team, we celebrated a job well done in addition to a job being done! We have been working on helping Shore with this celebration since shortly after we arrived. It was a great first project for our team.

One of our board members and his wife, Bill and Verna Weber, flew over from the states to help celebrate God's faithfulness at Shore, which was the first church plant done by South Pacific Christian Fellowship.

Shore Community Christian Church was started by a team of young Americans not too different from our team. The church has met in over five different facilities, ministers to people from many different nations, has created a movement through the television program Connection Resources, formerly knows as Shore On Air, and is growing in many ways. Currently, there are five staff members, all of whom are Kiwi. It is so encouraging to us to think that in ten years, there could be a church here in New Zealand celebrating just like we did Sunday.

The memorabilia wall was one of the main things that Joe and I devoted our time too. We were in charge of collecting and organizing memorabilia in a way that people could get a glimpse of the last ten years.

Tonight, we are off to the South Island of New Zealand to begin the first of our survey work. On the last blog I updated you with the work we will be doing in Christchurch, Gore/Mataura, and Queenstown. We appreciate your prayers for this trip as we will be looking at potential sites to plant a church as well as ministering with other churches. We will update you when we return!

Busy, Busy

2008-02-12T13:31:00.000+13:00

Clever title, I know! It has been a while since I have had a chance to sit down and update you with our lives. The reason it had been a while is becuase life is busy right now! Since summer break is officially over, all of the regular programs have resumed. In additional to regular programs, our team is busy with many other responsibilites.

Joe has begun leading a "Life Group" or small group for 14-16 year old boys. He is excited about this as are the boys in his group.

Children's programs have started back up on Sundays. Joe helps with the "SuperKids" program on Sunday mornings, which is year one through year six (kindegarten-fifth grade.)He does large group teaching as well as helps with a smaller group of kids. I help with the "Dynamites" on Sundays which is two to five year olds. I will be doing some large group teaching with them but I also just help set up and play with the kids. Being as Shore does not have their own facility, it is important for us to get to the school where we meet quite early to begin the set-up process.

This weekend we will celebrate Shore's ten year anniversary. When our team first arrived in New Zealand we were told about this event and also given a lot of responsibility for helping to make it happen. We have been working on the the collectiona and presentation of memorabilia, videos, interviews, and getting things together for Sunday morning service at a different venue. In addition to a celebration service on Sunday morning, there is a talent show on Friday night and a cookout at the beach Saturday afternoon.

Next Tuesday, our team is taking a trip to the South Island of New Zealand. This trip has many different purposes. We will fly into Christchurch where we will spend three days doing survey work. We have spent the last few weeks doing all of the studies that we can from Auckland, and now we are ready to go and see what these demographics look like in real life, we will conduct some street interveiws, and learn from church leaders with whom we are meeting. From Christchurch we will drive down to Gore where we weill spend 4-5 days working with the Christian Church at Matuara. Our team is lined up to be in charge of the church service on Sunday, hold youth events, train youth leaders, and get to know people in the church. From Gore, we will drive back up to Queenstown where we will be assisting at a weekend of family camp. Camp will not only be a great time to work together as a team with more planning of services and events, but a great way to conntect with leaders from around New Zealand. I have been the point person for this trip, so it has kept me busy with travel arrangements, making those connections happen, and putting an agenda together for our team.

The week we get back from the south is the "Week of Prayer" at the church. We are helping a little bit with the set up of events for that week. Though we will be gone for the start of the "Week of Prayer" there are many preparations that need to take place!

In addition to the extra activities, we have been doing our regualr weekly survey survery work, our regualr work at the Hub, meeting with a Life group (our age) and continue to meet new people and have people over as often as we can!

I know this update was long and pictureless, but I hope it catches you up to speed with what our lives look like!

City Lights

2008-02-03T15:43:00.000+13:00

I just got back from seeing the movie I Am Legend with some guys and it put me in an emotional slump. The movie was good, but it wasn’t that good. When I walked in the door at home I found Amy, exhausted, half-asleep on the couch at 8:30 PM.
The reason behind it is that today we participated in an event called City Lights. It emotionally drained us. The main responsibility that Amy and I had was to watch over the Bounce Castle as kids jumped inside of it. We were in a pretty rough neighborhood of South Auckland. Many of the kids that we met were orphans or come from difficult families. There were several 4 and 5 year-old children with the mental and social aptitude of someone half their age. There were kids covered from head to foot in parts of the body where worms and parasites were attacking them. There were foster children with dirtier mouths and harder hearts than any kids of the same age that I have ever met, and my career is in working with youth. When these kids were contrasted against the children who come from healthy homes, it was gut wrenching.
Our hearts were breaking for these beautiful little people and it was an unspoken relief when we were asked to go and pick up trash at an open air market. But we were inspired by the people who work with these tough little kids, day in and day out. We realize that even in these seemingly desperate situations, God has not forgotten His precious little children. The fact that they were picked up and brought to this function by committed volunteer youth workers from local churches testifies to God's concern and His goodness.
A God who cares about the most marginalized people is a God who I want to serve. A God who loves hurting children is a God who I am pleased to love. This is why Amy and I came to New Zealand. We came because the God who cares about the marginalized and loves the hurting is on a mission to heal this broken world. We came because He has graciously invited us to participate in His mission. And at the end of a day in which God has broken and drained us, we are so thankful that He has used it to heal and enliven those children who are broken and hurting.
At the end of the day the God that we serve and love is the God who serves and loves us. Praise be to God.

You can see pictures and learn more about City Lights at citylights.co.nz.

"God and Music is a Powerful Thing"

2008-01-28T20:47:00.000+13:00

Not only was this statement the tag-line for Parachute 08, but a truth that we saw throughout our weekend. The Parachute Music Festival is the biggest Christian music festival in the Southern Hemisphere. This weekend featured speakers and musicians such as Tony Campolo, Switchfoot, Hillsong United, Leigh Nash, and many other names that you may recognize. This festival reaches over 25,000 Kiwis, both Christian and non-Christian. This gathering is the only one of it's kind that gives believers from all of the country a chance to unite. There is teaching time, hang out time, carnival rides, and of course, concerts going on throughout the grounds on all of the nine stages with some of the 500 plus musicians and artists who were there.

This weekend was a powerful one for the group that we went with. There were seven kids who don't come from church backgrounds who made first time decisions to follow God completely. There were other kids in the group who rededicated their lives to God, and still others who decided to do some type of ministry with their life. It was really cool to see people realizing the need for God in their life on so many different levels.

The weather reached it's peak at 31 Celsius (about 85 Fahrenheit), which is unusually hot for New Zealand. When we arrived and started setting up tents, I felt like I was at the Quidditch World Cup (for you Harry Potter fans!) There were tents in every direction as far as you could see. We learned a lot about Kiwi culture in watching an interacting with so many Kiwis all weekend. There were people of all ages from newborn to over 70 years old camping out and taking part in this festival.

Parachute

2008-01-24T18:30:00.000+13:00

Tomorrow morning Joe and I will join many youth from Shore for a weekend away. We are going to Hamilton, which is about an hour and a half south of Auckland for Parachute. Parachute is a Christian music festival, similar to Cornerstone from the states, or a Christian version of Woodstock. There will be bands from all over the world and people from all over New Zealand camping out for the weekend at this music festival. To get a glimpse of what our weekend may look like, you can go to parachute.co.nz. This is the first event to kick off youth group for the school year. We will post pictures of our weekend once we are home.

Foot Loose

2008-01-21T02:23:00.000+13:00

Sunday mornings are usually the mornings that we tend to run late. We get up with more than enough time, but we always get busy working on other things and end up rushing out the door in order to get to church on time. This morning was like most Sundays and we were rushing out the door. We live about six or seven minutes from where the church services are held. We were about half way to church, on the motorway and I heard Joe say "Uhhh....I forgot to wear shoes." It was 9:57, church started at 10:00. We didn't have time to go back because we had to be at church by 10:00 because our team was being 'officially' introduced in front of the whole church.

In the States, we probably would have chosen being late over not wearing shoes. Here, we chose the latter. The culture in New Zealand is one that is VERY laid back. While driving on the motorway, we notice that we rarely see anyone speeding. Being late is acceptable, so why hurry and speed? At the grocery store and the mall, people can be seen in swimwear with no shoes. When something starts at 3:00, its okay to show up anytime after three. If you are invited to dinner at someone's house, often they will not start dinner until a while after you have arrived, it's more important to catch up on life first.

We had quite the cultural experience today! Joe got a few funny looks but mostly people were impressed that he felt comfortable enough here to try to be like the Kiwis.

Survey Says...

2008-01-16T11:05:00.000+13:00

Last Friday began the first day of our survery work. Survey work is what we will be doing to 'survey' different areas and communities. We will be looking for areas with very few healthy Christian churches and with a large population base. We spent the day Friday praying and startegizing with a map of New Zealand. We will be looking specifically at six cities. We chose these cities to begin with based on the amount of growth they have experienced in the last five years. We are beginning to do demographic studies on the areas we have chosen to help us learn about the people and the area. After learning all that we can from the internet and phone calls, we will make trips to visit these areas. We will meet with any churches that are in the area, community leaders, and do random interviews to people on the streets about what they see as the biggest need in the community. Each of these six cities that we are looking at is divided up into different regions in which we will need to survey, interview, and learn about. Please pray with our team that we will be intentinoal, hardworking, and observant, but that we will also follow where God is leading us to start a church.

The Crate has Arrived!

2008-01-10T23:06:00.000+13:00

We have heard that "Home is where the heart is" is something that missionaries really have to live by becuase they move so often. We do believe that statment holds a lot of truth, but I think our team mate, Nate, put it in a clever way today when he said "Home is where the stuff is!"

Our apartment finally has all of our own things in it! Our team kept saying how today felt more like Christmas than December 25th did for us! It has been eight months since we packed up our home in Rochester and put whatever possesions that we had into storage (winter clothes, dishes, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, books.) We packed the rest of our stuff, like clothes and other items that we had accumulated over the summer in October. Today, we were able to get our stuff again!

We left for New Zealand on November 3rd with two suitcases each, one with clothes, and one with sheets/toiletries/gifts. After living on one suitcase for over two months, we can't believe how much we have now that the crate has arrived! It has been interesting moving our stuff from a house with a garage and a lot of storage along with things from Joe's office, to a small apartment, with no garage, and a tiny yard. Our spare room is used for our computers, our bikes, our tools, our towels, games and books, which can be transformed into a guest suite if you decide to visit! It is quite interesting really.

We had some friends help us unload the crate and we were done quite early. We were able to spend the majority of the day unpacking and turning our apartment into 'home'. We finsished most of the unpacking today. We had a great day but we are exhausted. It was so fun to open a box and find things in it that we thought we had sold or even forgotten that we had.

(Our apartment around noon)

(Our Apartment at 7:30 this evening)

After eight months of living out of a suitcase, we are excited to be here and stay put for a while. With all of that said, tomorrow begins our survey work. This means we will be searching for the community with the most need for a new church. Over the next few months we hope to decipher where it is that our team is needed most....and move there!

New Zealand has Shut Down!

2008-01-01T20:47:00.000+13:00

Kiwis say that as Americans, we can't truly understand what happens after Christmas until we live through it. Well, we are in the middle of living through what we have heard about...after Christmas, New Zealand shuts down, everyone either goes on holiday, or just takes time off work. With most jobs in NZ, four weeks of vacation is an expected minimum. With most people in NZ, alot of that time is taken right after Christmas. We are still trying to figure things out, but here is a little glimpse into what NZ is like right now:

Shops and businesses can close down, shorten their hours, or just choose not to open on any given day, especially if it is a nice day.

The traffic that is usually so awful that we face going (south) into the city is not an issue right now, it's the motorway going north that has traffic jams. Everyone is headed north to the really nice beaches, to their baches (aka summer homes), and just to get away.

The church that we are at has gone from two services, four children's programs, youth events throughout the week, and around 400 people to one service and about 150 people.

Beaches have added extra carparks and the southern motorway is down to one lane due to works (construction) over the month of January. It is very common to see any kind of car pulling a boat and loaded down with outdoor equipment.

Commitments are optional, attendance doesn't matter, sunscreen is selling out, and shoes aren't a requirement, it's summer break and New Zealand has shut down!

Here is a picture that we took of the sign that hangs on the window of the Bakery in Greenhithe, where we live.