It's Been a While

It's pretty sad how long it's been since my last post.

Life has been great, yet it seems like the busyness of my schedule has put a damper on things. I had such a great and relaxing time in New Zealand and I miss that pace of life... I know everybody around me gets tired of hearing about how much I miss that beautiful country, but God did wonderful things in my life there and I NEVER want to forget those lessons and the beautiful people I met there.

Never in my life have I had such an amazing encounter with God. Everyday I would find Him in the most unexpected places. I know that this has happened to me here at home, but nothing like I experienced in New Zealand.

I hate it that most days, I do so much that I really don't remember which day is which... life has become a blur and that is very difficult for me to handle. This was made known to me after having such a relaxing and extraordinary Fall Break in the CO Mountains. I left my planner at home, I didn't have cellphone reception, and I didn't have the Internet... IT WAS GREAT!!!

I really want to change my outlook on the days to come. I want to cherish the MOMENTS of each days and not the TASKS of each day.

I know I sound like a broken record, but I sure do miss New Zealand.

Auckland: 2 weeks to go!!!

Well hello everyone! I just wanted to update you on what all has been going here in the biggest city in New Zealand. The team and I arrived last Monday, and Denise and Tau Maiava (the pastor and his wife) fed us an American meal: Sloppy Joes and potato salad. It was great to have something made with us specifically in mind. Last week, was our "off week" so to say, where we simply stripped off 3 layers of wallpaper and patched/ textured the walls, then painted it with a fresh coat of paint. It was a lot of hard work, actually, and it took us about 4 days to complete the task. Never in my life have I thought that those 6 years of remodeling our house would actually come in handy later on in life. So, thanks Mom and Dad! :)
Seth, Liz, and I lead worship for the service on Sunday along with others that normally play in the service, and Allison and I shared our testimony. It was great to share my story with them all, and as typical as I think my testimony is (I have the "I grew up in a Christian home..." testimony) the people felt more open to talk to me, and they actually could relate to what I had to say. It was very neat because never in my life did I think that I had the "pastor gene," but I didn't clam up when speaking in front of a congregation... Even though it was a smaller congregation than most back home, I was still shocked with what I did. Afterwards, I sat down and then realized that I just gave a mini-sermon... kinda neat.
This week, we have been doing a holiday program with the kids since they are out of school for 2 weeks. It has been pretty hard on us all. After doing this sort of ministry directly being with kids for the 3rd week, it takes a lot of energy out of you, but it is worth all the effort and time. We have been learning a lot about ourselves and about working so closely with kids. We are kind of becoming pros at it! haha... Since we've been here, we have also done a lot of other things. Our team has had evening tea (dinner) at several other's house, and it has been great to get to know them all. We have gone to a black sand beach, and also to downtown Auckland to see the base of the SkyTower to watch people bungee jump from the top... made me want to go jump SO BAD! I did, however, refrain from jumping (you're welcome mother).
Crazy to think that 2 weeks from today, we will be on a plane back to the States... Only 2 weeks! Wow, time has sure flown by, but looking back on all we have done, I can't say that we just sat around and did nothing. We have definitely made the most of our time, and I still can't believe all that we've done!

Thanks for all of your prayers and support in getting me to where I am. I can't express just how much everything has meant to me, and I definitely have felt your prayers as I've been here. I can't wait to tell everyone IN PERSON about all my experiences and show all of my pictures. Have a blessed week... LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Melinda Leanne

New Zealand: Dargaville and the First Few Days of Auckland

Hello everyone! Long time no talk! I apologize for not updating as much as I had previously planned. Internet, and free time are hard to come by, especially at the same time, so I guess this will have to do!
It's hard to even start- I don't know where to begin! On Monday, the 17th, the team and I arrived at Dargaville, New Zealand. This was our second site for our trip. We traveled about 45 minutes from the East coast of New Zealand where Whangarei lies, and ended up at the West coast! They say that in NZ, you're at the most, only about 1 hour away from a beach no matter where you are in the whole country! That's a crazy thought because back at school, it's about 10 hours to the nearest ocean for me.
When we arrived, the team was immediately thrown into what we were going to be doing there for the next two weeks. We had lunch, and then prepped for our after school program. We provided a healthy snack: fruit salad, yummy yummy (thank you Wiggles). We also had a short devotion for the kids that was based on a chosen memory verse for each day that each of us took turns facilitating. It was a great ministry outreach to the community. We were able to touch the lives of young ones who might not hear the gospel because of the sometimes scary atmosphere a church service can have on non-believers. There were 4 girls who started coming to Sunday School as a result of the program after the first 2 days! In the end, there were about 30 kids total who came through the whole event, which is great for a community of 5,000. 15 of them were there every day they could.
The team had a set of favorites. They were two brothers who were the sweetest and most thoughtful 10 year olds anyone could meet. They would walk over from their home that was about 1 mile away, everyday, just to come to our kid's club. One of them even came over when there was only 15 minutes left, just because he wanted to be there so badly. They come from a rough home, and we heard some talk about a social worker being involved in their household, so a lot of prayer for them is still going on. We also had a new family come to both Sunday services while we were there as a result of the program. A mother and her 2 daughters seemed to have been impacted by it all, and for that, our whole team praises God!
It has been amazing to see what God has done through these past two weeks! Our team also taught Bible in schools to a total of about 450kids after going to 3 different primary schools. Once again, talking about God in public schools was an amazing opportunity, but is slowly becoming done less and less around the country as non Christians are trying to push it out of the campuses. Please pray for this, because it is a wonderful mission field that the US would be so grateful to have!
Our team also went to 2 retirement homes and sang songs to them and talked to the residents. The first home we went to was for severely handicapped persons, and that was emotionally difficult to handle, but it was a wonderful opportunity to share the love of God to them, through song and a simple smile/ conversation. I had a wonderful talk with a man who just recently sold his dairy farm. At the other retirement home, they were more abled, and that was a great time! We sang 4 hymns and then talked to the residents for about an hour. I sat down with a Gloria Warne, and by the end of the conversation, we had exchanged addresses and she told me to expect a letter when I return back home! It was a lovely time to talk about her and her faith that she is still clinging to even after all the experiences she's shared with me.
On both Sundays, Seth, Liz, and I lead worship alongside the pastor's wife who played the bass. Seth played the acoustic AND electric (on a few songs, we rocked out), Liz played the piano and sang harmony, while I sang lead. That was neat to be leading others in worship... something I've never done before!
The team mostly spent time working on the after school program, but on Sunday the 29th, Seth and Liz were able to DJ the local Christian radio station and share a lot of music they have with the surrounding area of about 45 miles. It was neat for Allison and I to listen to them back at pastor Nigel's house. We were unable to go because we have caught a head cold, so we simply laid down to rest our bodies. Please remember us in your prayers as we are still suffering from the symptoms.
We were able to do a lot of fun things too while at Dargaville, it was not all work there. We made several trips to Bayly's Beach, which was an awesome experience each time. We also went 4 wheel driving along sand dunes one Sunday afternoon with a convoy of off road vehicles driven by friends and members of the church, which we ended with a sausage BBQ on the beach. On the 23rd, we went to the tip of the North Island to the Waipua Forests to see Tane Mahuta, the largest Kauri tree in NZ. It was amazing to be there, and we walked around other Kauri tree forest up in that area. VERY NEAT.

There has been a lot that has happened over the past 2 weeks, and I haven't covered it all, but I hope that you feel as though you know more about what I am doing, but more importantly about what GOD is doing here. We have safely arrived in Auckland where we are spending the rest of our time in New Zealand. I will update as things start to unfold here! I will leave you all with some things to remember/ pray for:

The families impacted by the kid's club in Dargaville.
The congregations of Dargaville CON, Whangarei Christian Fellowship, and New Lynn CON.
Our team's safety while in Auckland as well as our ministry efforts.
Allison and my sickness.
The team's hearts, may they be stretched and molded each and every day.
The country of New Zealand and the ministry to the schools that is under attack and at risk of being pulled from some schools.
Our families back home.

Please feel free to e-mail or comment me whenever you like and I will try and respond/ tell you more about my time here!

Much love... Miss you all!
Melinda Leanne

To all of you back home...

I mean it :)

Love,

Mendy

Week #2: Whangarei

Well, today, we left Whangarei. After a full week of doing more of God's work, it is safe to say that the 4 of us are pretty tired. This past week, we finished our work over at Donna's house and it was a lovely time! There was a lot of bonding as a team, and we also had the privilege to work with locals from the church there. Dwayne, Amy, Anna, and Ty were four others who lent a helping hand on the project and made a huge difference on how much we were able to accomplish!

Besides that, we continued to work in Sunday School with the children. This week, we also had another bonfire on the beach, which was an awesome experience to have again. The next day, the team and I spent the morning and early afternoon with Sonya, one of the workers at Te Ora Hou, and we went to several shops around downtown and had a lovely time.
Later that evening, I got to witness something that I have never seen before. Three of the young adults in the church were baptized in the ocean in front of the pastor's house. It was so neat to see them all being lead out into the (cold) water and be baptized. I have always grown up watching people being submerged in a bathtub-like tank inside, so it was an awesome sight to see them in such a HUGE body of water. Kinda made me want to be re baptized, just so I could say that I was baptized in the Pacific Ocean, but oh well...

After saying our goodbyes to the families that we all have grown to know and love, we were picked up today by Jae, the pastor's wife here at Dargaville, and she brought us to her home where we met Nigel. They are a really neat couple and I am excited about what all they have planned for us to do with our time while we are here. After going through the schedule, we had lunch and then ran a kids' club after school program for local students around the ages of 6-10. From the looks of things, I feel like more and more will come as the days go on and word is spread. The children really seemed to respond well, which is always encouraging as you are spending time with them.

I have a feeling that I will be singing Oklahoma! again to someone here, which is a funny thought. Who thought that a song like that would be so popular here. Maybe they just want to laugh at me. Either way, I don't care, as long as people are entertained and it allows others to feel more comfortable in talking with me. I am so eager to find out what God has in store for the team and I this week- who knows! Please keep the team, the local church, the community of Dargaville, and the seeds planted in Whangarei in your prayers this week as we continue into our 3rd week of ministry here in New Zealand. We have come a long way, but there is still more.
I will hopefully be able to post pictures sometime if I can ever get a good enough Internet connection for my lap top, but I am not able to make any promises.

Blessings to all and I am praying for everyone back home!

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

I MADE IT!!!!

It is beautiful here...

I can't write a lot because today, my whole group is going to the beach with the pastor and his family to spend a day with God and to enjoy all that Whangarei has to offer.

I am excited. I've already cried at the beauty of it all... God is here and I am super excited about all that is going to happen this summer! :)

Tomorrow we go clean the church and paint a widow's house, and then our ministry projects here are REALLY going to start to kick into high gear. Its such a blessing to give to others and I am just anxious for it to all happen.

Thanks for the prayers... More to come! :)

Mendy