A great & busy Weekend! Now off to the States!

We have had a great but busy weekend.... 

This weekend we were able to hang out with some friends, and catch up for a nice South African dinner; then we all went possum shooting. (little pests are bad for NZ). It was fun, not to many furry creatures out due to all the rain days before.

We enjoyed some time at the beach for some good surfing, and continued packing all weekend. We needed these little fun events to break up our packing because packing is no fun. We also went out for a date on Friday night, which was marvelous. Preston took me to the circus. It was a small deal, but it was really cool. Much different from the Warner Bros and Ringling Brothers. This circus was the "Weber Borthers." It was an event mainly on acrobatics, illusions, and magic; no performing animals. It was situated in little "Cirque du soleil"  kind of tent at a park. It was a lot of fun, they did some dangerous stuff that was amazing - and it made for a great evening out.

Late last night we finally finished packing - we are bringing home a lot of our stuff with is to put in storage; so it wasn't just our "trip bag" and clothes for the wedding. We did Closet clean-outs! We have 4 very heavy bags, and 2 carry-on bags. Hopefully we won't get charged for the weight thing... but time will tell. We are flying out this afternoon and should arrive in Atlanta at Midnight on Monday. I love time Travel. (it's already Monday here).

We are excited to see the family, and very excited for the Celebration of Haley & Joel's wedding! I am sure we will have a blessed time!

We will try and blog some while we are over there, Until then... it's off for the airplanes. ( 1 of 5)

We've been slack

Wow! We have been really slack in updating our blog lately; but a lot has been going on. All our clubs and small groups are back into full swing; we’ve got students in new schools, new students at club, and are in the process of organizing SURGE – which is a work camp for 180 youth. The camp is actually in Whangarei this year, so we are running it, hosting it, interviewing people to find work projects, finding tools/materials, funding, accommodation etc…. Needless to say, the blog got put on the back burner for a while there; sorry!

Currently we are very excited and awaiting Monday to come. We are flying back to the states for a family wedding. (Preston's sister, Haley). We are thrilled we will get to see some family, our nieces and nephews,  and spend time back in America. It will be a short trip as we are only over there a week, but I am sure it will be a blessing - we have a lot to look forward to in the upcoming week! Please keep our flights in your prayers - we have 5 connections to make and will be traveling for about 27 hours. (Whangarei - Auckland - Tahiti - Los Angeles - Denver - Atlanta). We'll update again real soon! Blessings to you all!!

* Girls Night * - Slumber Party

Well I had a very successful Slumber Party last night with 4 girls; and we had a blast. As much as I was hoping we would all "just go to bed" at a certain hour, I quickly saw that was not going to happen. Chick flick movies, Pizza, cookies (Biscuits), brownies, balloons, and Projector to show movies meant there was too much fun to have. Karaoke, and dancing kept us up until 2:45am hot and sweaty. Nearing 3am I finally had to cut off the YouTube dance videos (to: CandyMan, Mr. Wiggles, High School Musical etc...) and get sleeping bags set up. I didn't realize how much "older" I felt until I no longer wanted to stay up all hours of the night and clown around. We had some great night time discussions / Girl Talk, and I really connected with the girls here. Of course they want to come back and do it all over again, but for now - I need some Sleep!!! I have heaps of great photos to share with you; and will look to post them a little later today or tomorrow. For now, I am off to take a nap on the beach because it's such a beautiful Saturday!!

Summer is Sensational!

Today was a Beautiful day. We spent time muddling through Youth Lessons and literature, listening to the birds, and being in awe of God's Beautiful creation. Late this afternoon we went for a quick swim at the beach and enjoyed basking in the sunshine for an hour. It's as if we could feel the warmth of God radiating all over us. If it were up to me, I would sit out there all day. I love Summer! 

Tomorrow we begin meeting with High School students to find out what kind of ministry programs they want to be involved with. Students these days are so busy, so It's our intention to find them when they have the least amount of stuff going on and fit to their needs. We are not sure where we will be going with the High School ministry- whether that be small groups, a large group program etc... there are so many options. We have been praying about this ministry with High school students for a long time and are anxious to see what God will have us do. But for now, we're having a Meeting at PIZZA HUT tomorrow afternoon with all the High School students, and I can't wait to get my hand on some of that Pepperoni Pizza!!!

The Beauty of New Zealand

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Just some random photos from our trip to the South Island...

God did something special when he created the landscape of this country. It is just amazing!!

A New Year

It is of course the second month in 2009, and it is also the beginning of the school year in New Zealand. The young people have gone back to school and our programs are getting ready to kick off full swing. We plan to continue strong in our intermediate (middle) school ministry and we are going to make strong steps towards growing our high school ministry. We are hoping to develop some good ways to continue ministering to the kids that become to old for middle school ministry by plugging them into a high school ministry. LeeAnn is dreaming and trying to develop the best way to connect with the high schoolers in the Whangarei area. Please continue to pray for us and our new high school ministry.

We're Back

We are back from our Holiday on the South Island and had such a blessed time together. There is some amazing scenery down south, and very wonderful people. We have actually been home for 4 days now, but have been so caught up in cleaning, laundry, unpacking etc... that we didn't have any time for blogging. But Hopefully by next week we will be back on a regular schedule and write a few submissions a week.
I know we just got back to the North Island, however, in two days (This Thursday) we are going back to the South Island to Christchurch for a 'New School leaders conference'. It will be a quick weekend trip but it is sure to be a blessing. We are flying this time, as there is no way we could drive all the way back down there. So please pray for our safe travels.

BACK TO SCHOOL
Yes, it's that time where the summer holiday has gone by very fast and students are back to school. Since schools here are year round they have shorter holidays - due to Christmas and New Years, this holiday was about 6-7 weeks. Kids will get all new teachers, be in new grades, and switch schools. As schools go back in session so does Rock Solid Club - our weekly meeting on Tuesday nights, in addition to our newest program for High schoolers "Breakfast club." We will have our work cut out for us very soon as everything will be "gung-ho" into a new year. The time we are living in would be compared to Middle of August/Sept. for the states.

We hope you are all doing well. Thank you for keeping up with us, for praying for us, and being a blessing to our lives!!