Fundraising Trip

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

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

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

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!