Wow time flies!!!

Thursday I worked with jill nerheny at the birkenhead community center
and met a lot of people. It's really cool to see how people In the
community come together.

Friday I was exhausted and rested up for a birthday part that night.
Parties are a great time to bond and gain new friends. I've had
several really good conversations here! It's crazy how people will
just open up to someone willing to listen.

Today I went and helped at the camp that shot was doing. I was put in
charge of games. It was very interesting and it made me really miss my
junior high kids. I had to break up
A fight but later things got better when I was put in charge of
getting peope in harnesses. I felt so at home!!! Two years of camp,
living and breathing belaying and harnesses, only to travel across the
works to do the same thing.

I loved it!!!! Oh... How at home I felt.

Made Mexican fajitas for the group of us. They went pretty well :)
community with friends is a much treasured time!

a.

This is my forth week here. It seems like only last week I was getting
off the plane to meet jill and jane. I've learned so much and been
exposed to so many new cultures that some days I was just waiting on
my head to explode!

Getting from point a to point b is quite the challenge to newbies!
I've found about 2566753 ways how not to get somewhere and a few way
how TO get where you want.

a.

Where did the time go?

Wow! I've been crazy busy these past couple of days.

Tuesday I volunteered at the shore hub. I helped with a huge mail out
of about 600! I was very familiar with the concept thank you rainbow
Christian camp! The church broadcasts their Sundays but was bumped out
of their normal spot and onto a smaller one and wanted to make site
viewers still had access!

Wednesday I met with jill nerheny and went to a community meeting.
There were quite a few people there. Each had a program or two that
were helping community. It was very cool to sit in a room with so many
big hearts. The rest of the day I spent with jill (n) as she tried to
explain and familiarize me with pretty much everything!!!

I'm getting ready to go over there again!

Love to all,

a.

Oh how great is our God

C3 was amazing it's a church that runs out of a building on kay st.
That part of town is known to be dodgy. You'll find adult stores and
prostitutes littering the streets but then the sound of God's people
worshiping right there too!

I got to know some great girls who have declared themselves my " new
zealand best friends" they are tons of fun.

Met up Dom at the beach and almost got stuck on a cliff due to high
rising tides.great conversations though God is doing wonders!

I went to my first life group held here at the house. It's aimed at
those who just got out if school like me. They were all very nice.
I'll meet with them every Monday night.

Off in the morning to meet maxims about a camp we are doing this
weekend.

I'm starting to get busy.

Please keep my new friends in your prayers!

a.

The WEEEKEND!

Saturday I spent the day working on the journals but was having trouble getting my brain to function as I wanted to. 

So, I took a mental health day and did whatever I found was good for my soul.

Played euchre and sequence at night with Aunty Jane, Aunty Jill, and Sonia and then an early  bed time for me!

Today, I went to church at North Shore. I have started to develop friendships with some of the kids there and really enjoy seeing them. Tonight I will be going to a church program called C3 with my friend Dom!

Can't wait to see what God has planned for these next couple of months!!

Please be praying for opportunities!

Journaling...

Jill is having me keep a journal while I'm here off all the people I've met, where I've been, what I've done and what were my impressions of them all. I have been neglecting my journal unfortunately and took all yesterday and this morning to catch up.

Yesterday night it was raining really heavy when I feel asleep so when I woke up and the same thing was still going on outside my window I decided that today would be an "inside day".

I worked on my journaling refecting on the numerous activities I had done until my brain became usless and felt like runny mashed potatoes. It was an interesting feel and that's the only way I can think to explain it.

I was invited to the movies with a group by one of Jill's friend's daughter. It was quite a large group, larger than what I had in my mind's eye atleast. The movie was good and all the kids had really good senses of humor. It was good to be surrounded by people my age. 

Either my jetlag is sticking around longer than usual or the plane ride took away 40 years of my energy. I get so tired at night but yet I still wake up early in the morning. 

For those of you who were concerned for my fair sunburnt skin, it has begun to tan! I know that was even a suprise to me. No worries, next time I will wear sunscreen. I'm learning lots, sometimes big things and others small things like don't forget your SPF.

All the Best and God Bless...

Wednesday morning I woke with an awful sunburn do to the lack of
sunscreen the day before. New Zealand is beautiful but it's ozone
layer is anything but!

It took a bus to takapuna and studied on the beach there covered in
sunscreen, wearing a hat and sunglasses, and I sat under a tree. The
day was nice and I made progress on the ogre sized book Im supposed to
study.

Takapuna is a nice beach but overly busy, I'm not one for a busy beach.

Thursday I met with a lady from shore to get my work in the church
going. They have a camp coming up and want my help. How perfect! I'll
meet again with her Wednesday to hammer out more of the details!

I heard from jill nerheny and I will be going to Birkenhead tuesdays
and Thursdays to work within the community. Put in the three life
groups that I will be going to and my schedule is quickly filling up!

God is good... All the time.

a.

I conquered the bus

It's taken me two weeks to finally use a bus. I've tried to figure the
system out and then never could seem to catch the bus I needed. I felt
defeated and wanted nothing to do with them... Until today!!!

I looked at the schedule, found my bus, figured out where it would be
at what time and I did it. I got on the bus!!!!! This may seem very
small to most of you but to conquer the local transportation is huge!!

I took the bus to browns bay spent the day there and then took the bus
back home!!!!

Now my only worries will be how bad my sunburn will be from not
wearing sunscreen today... Oops!

A new day and new knowledge!

Word of the day: kebab: they are like Turkish burritos, they are
amazing!

I'm not much of a reader. That's bit much of a suprise if you know me
too well. But this is an internship that I'm doing and that means
absorbing as much knowledge as possible.

So today I spent the day reading and studying and taking notes over
various books that were assigned to me by jill.

My brain feels like moosh but maybe that's just knowledge at an early
stage

Hope to start community work soon!

a.

Jill's birthday weekend

Friday night all of jills friends went out to "hola" to eat. It's
nothing like real hacienda.. I was very sad when none of the waiters
could even speak Spanish... It was nice meeting a bunch of jill's
friends though!

Saturday we woke up early and took the ferry to waiheke island and too
jill to a sculpture walk... I found out a few things: a) I could be a
millionaire if I just kept all the ridiculous things I make and b) I'm
not crazy about art. BUT, the views were amazing!!!

We ate lunch at the "Lazy Lounge", geocached, and went to a huge huge
garden with countless stairs they so nicely put there for you to
climb... Yuck. I also found out I'm not a garden person either but it
was good being with friends outside facing the cold and rain.
We retired to the house for some Indian food and a movie!

I woke up extra early today and made jill a home-cooked birthday
breakfast and then off to church. I'm making new friends everyday!!!

Now it's nap time!!

Love to all,

a.

Longest weekend ever

I had no clue it had been so long since I'd wrote! Here I thought I
was just taking a long weekend!!!

Wednesday I met with jill nerheny who is the community coordinator in
Birkenhead. I will be working with her and an after school program!!!
She said that she hopes to put my talents and different point of view
to work on some projects!!

Thursday was a rest day for me. I need down days when I don't do
anything so that I can think through all the new experiences.

I read some books and reflected and journaled. It was nice to just
have peace. I've been cooking aoit here lately it's been banana
bread... I don't think jill and jane mind too much! I caught my best
friend online and got to talk to her. Being away from those you care
about is very hard sometimes.

That night sonia picked me up to meet jill in the city for dinner. It
was pouring rain and extremely windy chairs from cafés were blowing
all over the place. We had a lively ocean view though and we spent the
night walking around in the rain!!

a.

Past two

Yesterday I had the day to myself and since it was overcast I decided
to take a walk to Milford which is three miles south of our house. I
had lunch at kitchner cafe. Kiwis like to put egg on a lot of their
sandwiches so I had a B.L.E.T. Got some good reading done while I was
there!

Walked around Milford for about two hours and then walked the three
miles back the house. Did I mention that half of the way is up hill
and it rained the whole way home..? Well it did so my legs are killing
me today!!

Today our friend sonia took me to work with her so I could check out
the psychology aspect while I'm here. Met some cool people and had
lunch with a psychologist that gave me some great advice!

Tonight I fixed me, jill, jane, and sonia fruit salad with ice cream
and banana bread in a pineapple for dinner. I think they are liking me
being here because I'm more than happy to cook for them!!!

Tomorrow I meet with sonia's mom about working with an after school
program in Birkenhead!!

It's 11:41pm here and I'm dead tired.

Night all.

a.

North Shore Christian Church

> North shore is a lovely church that they hold out of a school's
> performing arts building. Hill introduced me to some people and the
> next thing I know I was in the front row worshipping with a bunch of
> other kids my age. They all loved my accent even though I loved
> theirs more!
>
> Ate lunch and then went back to the house for a nap before heading
> out to aucklands Chinese lantern festival. When I woke up I was
> covered in sweat and was no longer in the nice shade that my bed had
> once been in. Instead, I found myself being hit by a great big
> sunbeam! Turns out my room is the hottest room in the house in the
> afternoon! They say they haven't had a summer like this since 2000.
> I guess I'm just lucky then although I could do without the
> sweating...

That night we headed to Auckland city by ferry. We grabbed some gelato
to cool us down and made our way to the festival. The lateens were
absolutely beautiful!!! Some hung from trees others were shaped like
animals, bugs, trees, and even a few really big dragons all
illuminating the space surrounding them. There was a live band but I
didn't catch the name of the band. I bought myself a stereotypical
pointy Chinese hat and jane a fan for her birthday that I will have to
wrap up and regive to her. The food was great and plentiful. I laughed
at what my poppy would say if he saw me eating noodles with
chopsticks, wearing a Chinese hat, while sitting under a Chinese
lantern tree.

I'm fully diving into new cultures alright!!!!

The night ended with beautiful fireworks but I couldn't help but think
how Disney just does things bigger and better!

Once a dis kid always a dis kid no matter where I am!

Sorry if you've been checking this and were worried that I had some
how fallen off a cliff or had been attached by a wild kiwi bird!

Saturday I spent the day with jill, jane, sonia, and their friend
rachel. We all went geocaching which is similar to a scavenger hunt or
like hunting for hidden pirate treasure except with gps' and maps and
pirates who dare you to try and find their hidden goods. Everyone has
a cache name I'm greatly considering CornFed to be mine (I think it's
appropriate!)

We went to a geocaching BBQ and I found time to do some reading while
everyone around me was talking about high tech caching tools or their
different experiences. I met a four year old girl named Lucy there
however who told me that I looked like a lion. It seems to me that I
have quite a high powered children magnet because before I knew it I
was surrounded by two other little kids.

Cached the rest of the night away!!!
These people are hardcore about this too we stayed out pretty late
finding things in the dark!!! One place I could have stayed forever
though. It was an open field with a view of Orion's belt, moonlit
waters and the gentle breeze of ocean air...

New zealand a beaut!

a.

Waitangi Day.

First and for most Happy Waitangi Day. I would tell you all about Waitangi but.. that wouldn't make you have to work for your education. 

(or you could simply refer to Jill's Blog at http://conversationsatintersections.blogspot.com/)

However, today was Waitangi Day and Jill, Sonia, and I went first to a Reggae celebration of Waitangi Day on the West Side it was interesting. Filled with all sorts of people who some what looked like they should be in scenes from Forest Gump.

The sun here is worse than anywhere else and that is because the ozone layer is much thinner here than any other parts of the world so as I sat in the middle of a crowd listening to reggae I was baking. So far the only things to burn have been my shoulders due to a miss with the sunscreen. Athough, after today my legs might become another casualty... hopefully not hopefully they will be there usually pasty white it the morn.

Went to a larger Celebration for Waitangi Day Jill, Jane, Sonia and I were quite in the minority! Some great people performed a few were big here in New Zealand and I hope to spread the great music to the U.S. such as Tiki Taane and a guy by the name of Vince Harder look them up. Good Music Peoples!

We ended the days festivities by watching "Whale Riders" on a huge screen on the beach with a bunch of other kiwis. 

The reality of my geographical location is finally beginning to sink in and being away from people is hard on the heart...

till our next post together..

oh  I will start doing a word of the day.

today's word of the day is "kie" with is maori for "food". This is something I learned today!

Walking Day

Today I visited Massey University which is the university that Jill is a chaplain at. The campus is beautiful and I got to walk around there for a bit while Jill met with some people. When I went to the library there I found myself in an isle that had world religion books on one side and psychology on the other... wow.. how ironic!

Walked from the university to the mall and checked out the culture there. It's a nice mall and I was able to put more money on the pre-paid phone that I'm using here. It's old and has a black and white screen but it does the trick!

Walked around more of Albany (which is where the university is) and walked all the way back. Was able to catch up with some of the e-word while at Squirre's a cafe with wifi inside the mall.

I got a sunburn on my shoulders I guess I missed them when I put on sunscreen this morning. 

Came home and made dinner for Jill, Jane, and our friend Sonia. I made stuffed green peppers with a carrot salad and beet root. 

Then off to a friends house up the hill and spent a couple of hours there while Jill, Jane, Sonia and their friend worked on geocaching like teenage girls.

It was a good day tiring filled with an extra late night. Tomorrow (which is actually today) is Waitangi Day look it up!!!! I'll be heading to the festivities tomorrow!!! Be sure to tell you all about them.

Oh.. and I made a friend today by the name of JimBob. He's a bird that nearly landed on my foot while I was sitting on a bench at Massey. He talked to me for a bit and allowed me some pictures that I will put up along with others when it's not 12:26 am here.

love to you all...

Wednesday the day of... maps...

This morning I opened my eyes and saw this blurry whiteness. Every where I looked all I could see was white. I thought to myself...wow... death is boring... heaven is... just... white. Atleast this had better be heaven if I'm dead. After considering this for a while I heard traffic from my window and realized that I was facing the white wall that my bed was against. That was a big embarrassing but in the end still really funny.

I think it's becoming extremely clear this is no longer just a very realistic dream. 

I had breakfast and read up on the news here in New Zealand. And then spent some time of reflection writing in my journal and just realizing how very very amazing God is for allowing me this time. 

Next I met Jill at the house and we took a refugee from Congo to an appointment. She's a very cool person with a great sense of humor. Refugee Resettlement is just one of the many things Jill does here in New Zealand.

On the way home I was given the map and was told where we were to end up ( a little side note... New Zealand roads do not go straight... it's not a straight country...) so after turning around 3 times and feeling the absolute exhaustion of excelent map working.. we made it. I now have a large respect for anyone who can find their way around this island.

Went to a soft ball game with the lady living downstairs it was good time. Resembled American baseball games a bit.

I'm keeping a running track but if I ever need a feel of home there is a:

McDonald's

KFC

Burger King

Starbucks

Wendy's

Subway

and Pizza Hut

always able to eat unhealthy where ever I go!

still eating the pack of oreos that I packed in my carry-on.

right now I'm not working with the community. Jill is allowing me time to find my legs here and get accustomed to some of New Zealand. Also the jet lag would be nice if it left me sooner than later.

Until I have more things to share...

All the Best and God Bless.

First Day In NZ

Ow wow... so much to tell you and so little amount of words my fingers can type in a minute.

The plane rides were interesting, but I believe the terminals were even more so. I made about 11 friends throughout the 30 hours I was in transit. Some from Canada, New Zealand, California, and so on... On the NZ flight I watched Nick and Norah's infinite playlist, peter pan, and the little mermaid. I slept most of it though. It turns out a long flight goes by a lot faster when you aren't awake. I'm thankful for this! :)

Auckland is beautiful the first thing we did after she picked me up from the airport was go have breakfast at this cute little place called "Sierra" that had AMAZING TOAST. Then we went and stood on top of a volcano. there are lots of dormant ones here in New Zealand. After that, we went back to the airport because someone forgot her back pack while going through customs. they asked if I had been on a farm lately and all I did was look at the man and said "sir, I live in indiana..." and he said "oh, so one big farm!" hahah I thought it was halarious!

I've seen a lot of Auckland but not all yet but let me tell you... there is no place like new zealand. it's so beautiful all you can say is "wow............." and sound really silly like I did. went to lots of cool shops and such. went to the bank, the grocery, and the bakery. oh and the BEACH!!!!! actually... two of them. it's nice and hot here. I unpacked everything and made my room as comfortable as can be. It's a skinny room but it's mine no matter what Jaime McConnell may say...

I'm not taking pictures today, today I'm just experiencing later on I will capture! Besides I've seen way too much to day to give any one place the justice it deserves.

I've been introduced to a lot of people so far. Some knows others who live in Indiana. Everyone here is very very nice though. Others just think it's cool I'm from the US like my friend Sebastion because he's a High School Musical Fan!!! I might be going to see him play baseball tomorrow... I'm looking forward to what lies ahead though. Jill's got a good idea of what she wants to do this week so I'm excited. I'll be keeping you guys updated no worries.

and to the 10th St students I can't wait to get your letters and see how you've been doing!!!! kevin misses you all!

continue to pray for me and my family... and my friends. This seperation has been hard on us all.

a.