Happy Birthday, Andy!

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

A Quick Update!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pictures and moe frequent updates to come!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

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

Home Sweet Home

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

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

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

Hot Springs

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




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

Car Shopping

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



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

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

We're Here!

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



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

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

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


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

Family

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



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




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

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



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




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

Called

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

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

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

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

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