Week #1

Whangarei, New Zealand

Well, for the past week, my team and I have been in the lovely city of Whangarei (pronounced: Fong-gair-ray). We have been living with an American family mostly, the Abascals, who have lived here for about 2 years.
So far, my team and I have taught about 3 lessons to the children at church, helped paint Donna’s (a local woman at the church) house and we will finish tomorrow and on Thursday, Seth has hung out with the boys at Te Ora Hou (a boys and girls club for at-risk children in the community), exchanged testimonies with several people within the church and community (there have been amazing stories and there are several more to come I’m sure). One in particular was from a man named Dave. This man is one of our team’s favorite people that we’ve met in the church so far. He is an on-fire Christian who has a giving heart, but what makes him and his story so incredible is that he is 1 ½ years new to the faith and he was saved from alcoholism by an incredible encounter with the Holy Spirit.
We spent the night at his house two nights ago (Saturday) after spending the whole day with his daughter and her friend. We climbed Mt. Manaia and the view was breathtaking. We had almost a 360 degree view from the summit and in that view we saw farms, beaches, mountains, and the Pacific Ocean all in one view… Later that night, we played games with the family and had heaps of Chinese food (they say heaps instead of tons). ☺
Today, the team and I had the privilege to teach the story of David and Goliath in the public primary school today. It was very neat to experience a culture in which the teaching of the Bible was allowed and even encouraged. My partner, Liz, was the storyteller each time, and it felt out of place for her to talk so openly about God, but it was a very rewarding experience, I think, for everyone- including the kids.
Tonight, the girls and I went to Te Ora Hou for the girls’ night. We shared the game of gotcha/ knockout with them and they shared net ball with us. It was a lovely time to experience young teen girls of the Maori culture. At the end of our time with the girls, I shared a song… none other than our great state song, “Oklahoma!,” while all the girls shared a Maori thank you song and dance with us. It was beautiful to watch and experience everything.
Tomorrow, we are painting Donna’s house again, and will return to Miguel’s house for sleep, and then it’s off to the schools again on Wednesday to teach about forgiveness by the telling of the story of Joseph and his brothers. It is all so exciting to see what God is doing here- as little as they may seem- but the relationships and the knowledge I am gaining is something that I treasure… God is great and his beautiful creation is a wonderful peak at God’s glorious creativity in our lives.
Here are a few words/ sayings that I’ve learned while here in New Zealand so far:

Sweet as: awesome/ sweet as it gets
Choice: right/ great/ fine
Gum boots: rain boots
Woolies: long johns
Boot: trunk of the car
Heaps: tons/ loads/ a lot
Smoke O: break (our team has taken several)
Hire a movie: rent a movie