Thanksgiving

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!

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

(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!

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"

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...

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

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.