Christmas Eve

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

It's Christmas Eve here today!! We went to a great Christmas Service/play at church and then we made Cheese Fondue, (Apples, Grapes, Bread, and Broccoli) and then an Oil Fondue for meat and Potato's and boy was it delicious!!
We had planned a Chocolate fondue for dessert with (Pineapples, Peaches, Strawberries, Bananas) but we were just too stuffed to make dessert - can you believe that?? No worries though, we have postponed it for Christmas Day when we are enjoying our own little Ham, with Corn on the cob, and Mac & Cheese!!
It's our first Christmas together, and without family... so we're keeping some of our family traditions alive, and the McBrayer Christmas Eve Fondue tradition was one of them - Even though we are far from home, we can still experience much of our Holiday happenings! But a new Christmas Day event will take place tomorrow - we're going to open gifts in the morning and spend the day relaxing at the beach in the Hot Sunshine!!! Then the next day (after Christmas) we are off to Camp...

We will be out of town pretty much from when it's Christmas day for you - our Dec. 26th until Jan 31st. When it's Christmas day for you we will be off running our Summer Harvest Camp, and will still be at camp through the New Year - so if you don't hear from us, that's where we will be New Years Eve. Then After we get back from camp we are going on Holiday for 25 days to the South Island. So we will be back at the end of January. But we will have some internet connection through out our South Island trek, and some after camp... so we will periodically try and blog and let you know what's happening! However, if we don't catch up with you before then - MERRY CHRISTMAS, and Have a Very Safe and Happy New Year!!!

Grocery Store Warning - Dec. 22nd

Grocery Shopping the day before Christmas Eve:
The basic definition for the grocery store on the week of Christmas is – Mad House. When looking in the dictionary for the meaning of getting a few groceries a few days for Christmas it should say “Don’t Go!!”
We could not believe the lines and amount of people making a quick trip for a few items so stressful. Preston mentioned several times “lets just go” unfortunately, we had to trudge through because all the grocery stores would be that way – worse then Disney land!
FYI – Avoid the stores right before Christmas if at all possible. Chances are what you are going to the store to get will be gone any way!! Lucky for us we get to experience is a day before you – so consider this your holiday warning ☺ BE BRAVE!!!!

The New Zealand Christmas Tree

The Pohutukawa (Pa-hoot-a-ka-wa)
The Mainland pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa) displays spectacular red flowers from the end of November through January. That is why it is nicknamed 'The New Zealand Christmas Tree.' It is one of the enduring symbols not only of New Zealand but also of Kiwi midsummer Christmas vacations and the beauty of N.Z.'s North Island. Pohutukawa, or 'splashed by the sea,' is sacred to native Maoris who believe that the pohutukawa which sits on the very tip of Cape Reinga is the last stepping-off place of spirits from this world.

Small Group Beach Day

This past Friday we took 20 rowdy teenagers from our Rock Solid Club small groups to Ocean Beach for a day of Sun & Surf. We had a great time paling around and soaking up the sunshine. The guys enjoyed digging holes in the sand, making drip castles, and more importantly “sand bombs” which they repeatedly threw at the girls. Other fun came from jumping down hills of sand, and rolling down sand dunes until one was a sandy mess! It was sure a fun time had by all.

Beach with Students Today!

Well it is Friday and after a long week of gearing up for Summer Harvest camp, making tons of phone calls, and working the Bebo system we are spending some quality time with our small groups. We will be spending 6 hours with 13 precious teenagers at Oceans Beach to hang out, lay in the sunshine, and have "girl chats" Today will be a great time for us to talk with kids about their holidays and share the wonderful story about the real meaning of Christmas. I am so excited!! Pray for our time with the youth at the beach, and for everyone's safety in the water!

Fiji Photos

Our Fiji Adventures & Youth Safari Camp

A few things to know about Fiji:
1. It’s extremely Hot – They have summer year round
2. They have their own time (Fiji Time)
3. If something starts at 1pm = that means it could start at Noon, or at 3pm
4. 12 things can get planned, and only 3 are actually gotten to.
5. The people here are so laid back6. Everyone just seems so happy. Fijians are always smiling.7. Students are very appreciative. Just by taking their picture, they will replay with a “thank you”
8. Did I mention it’s extremely hot here?

Fiji Safari Camp
The past few weeks, we have been in Fiji helping to run a safari camp. Now when we say safari camp; we don’t mean a camp in the jungle amongst heaps of “zoo” animals. As in a safari – you are on a quest to find something; to hunt something down - the safari camp is simply a quest for youth to find out who Christ is.The camp was full of 118 (14-21 year old) Indian and Fijian students from Nadi, Ba, and Suva. We spent the week ‘on the road’ moving the camp from place to place while leading a different theme for camp each day. The camp started out in a city/town called Ba. In Ba we stayed at the Ba YFC office and a Methodist School and led a program about serving others. The following day we split up all 118 students into the city of Ba to clean up! We participated in a “clean up Ba campaign” where we took potato sacs and filled them up with rubbish continually for 3 hours. The city provided dump trunksfor the students, so when the bags were full of trash they would find a truck driving around to dump their bag in so they had an empty bag again! It was so great to see students participate in helping to clean up their city. We talked to the students about their country – how it’s God’s land instilled to them to take care of. Some towns people were very humbled by the students actions in picking up trash. (the grounds were literally black and covered in trash). One elderly lady on the street donated a whole bag of bananas that she was selling as a “blessing” to the studentscleaning up the Ba town. We had other students at the Ba hospital cleaning up the rubbish on the grounds there, and another group atthe “Heart of Ba.”On Wednesday we moved the camp from Ba to Latouka where we stayed at a salvation army building and talked about team building – and reaching for a goal/prize. We had students competing in several games and team building exercises throughout the day; and ended our day in an evening of worship & scripture. In their evening service, we challenged the students to reach for the goal of Christ; as he is the prize to Eternal Life. We had student testimonies about Christ's faithfulness in their lives, a Biblical message, and a drama about Christ's crucifixion. At the end of this service, there was an altar call for anyone who wanted to give their life to Christ; and through our amazement - 45 students went to the altar to pray at the foot of the cross. What a BLESSING!!! Thursday we loaded up on the buses and moved from Latouka to Nadi town and settled in at another Salvation army building. This was a day of picnicking and swimming at the local beach. It was a great time of fellowship, beach volleyball, and playing rugby in the ocean. The water at the Nadi beach was incredibly warm. It was simply bath water, and a joy to swim in! This was a great ending to the camp after many late night programs, interviews, testimonies, worship songs, and bus traveling. After Camp our New Zealand YFC team went about 3 hours to the east coast of Fiji to the capital city; Suva. In Suva we hung out with our host Sereki (Zur-ee-key) and his family. We had a great few days exploring the town, markets, and beaches on the East side. Saturday, we were invited to attend a Fijian wedding. From one of the camp leaders – his brother was getting married. The Fijian wedding was so great to experience. It was outside and was to start at 11am. The heat was strong as we sat there for the service to begin. 45 minutes after the wedding was to start; we were informed that it would be a little longer because the bridal party was not there yet. 30 minutes after that, we were told to fan our neighbors with the programs and that “the bride should be here within 20 minutes.” At 12:30pm, the wedding finally began. Much to my surprise, the service was very much the same as ours. It has the same typical layout and service order. There were a few things that were culturally different in the service, such as some people’s dress, and how part of the service was signing the marriage license, how the pastor stood away from the bride & groom behind a pulpit, and how people would randomly walk to the front, or behind the pastor in the middle of the ceremony to get good photos of the Bride & Groom. Overall, it was such a unique experience and we are so blessed to have been invited and a part of the festivities.
Before camp began:Upon our arrival in Fiji and leading a camp, we flew in 3 days before the start of camp to get use to the Fiji heat, learn about the Fijian culture, and do a little touring by visiting an island. Everyone says that you can’t come to Fiji and not stay on an island, so that we did. We spent 3 days and 2 nights at a place called “Bounty Island.” We took a 30 minute speed boat ride out to an island in the middle of the ocean. It was absolutely gorgeous. The water was crystal clear and you could see 20 feet straight down. Our team had their own Bula hut on the island which was very nice - the best part was that it was air conditioned!! We had our own private front area with a hammock in the tree and pretty much our own beach front & lawn chairs. So we began our Fiji stay living in paradise, which was nice since we knew the following week we would be with 100 other people on a gym floor.
Our stay at bounty island included all of our cooked meals, and unlimited use of kayaks, snorkeling gear, and some island entertainment. We could walk around the entire island in about 40 minutes so it wasn’t too huge; but it was a big island. It was such a blessing to lay out on the sand, spend hours baking in hot sunshine, and snorkeling to see all the beautiful fish and water creations God has blessed us with. Preston enjoyed feeding the fish watermelon – however when he did that, LeeAnn would swim away as the fish were getting “took close.” Our last evening on the island, we were sitting outside having dinner and watching the sunset, when all of a sudden LeeAnn spotted this white thing moving around near shore. We got up with heaps of other people eating dinner to see that it was a young shark, about 3 feet long. We all tried to take pictures of it, but it got scared and swam off. After that, LeeAnn didn’t want to go snorkeling as she was afraid the big fish would bring on the sharks. 

Gone Again

So we have put up 3-4 posts in the past day or two so be sure to scroll down and read them all to catch up on things... and this is just a short note to let you know that we will be gone again. We are flying out to Nadi, Fiji early tomorrow morning; so unfortunately we wont be able to video chat or IM with any of you for thanksgiving. We will be helping to run a youth camp for Indian kids in Fiji, so please pray for our experience/impact there, and for safe travels. We will be returning on Dec. 9th (not the 8th as previously noted).  We will not have internet access, so we will be sure to answer emails and blog again when we return. Love!!

Our Thanksgiving

Well today we went to our Thanksgiving feast in Whangarei and boy was it wonderful. It was certainly more then we expected….
We had a wonderful thanksgiving with about 50 people (30 Americans and some Kiwis). There was heaps of food there: turkey, ham, stuffing, pumpkin pie, mac & cheese, sweet potato dishes, salads, green bean casserole, rolls, cauliflower, and so much more. Desserts were amazing…. We stuffed ourselves silly!
Some young girls came and played blue grass a little bit during dinner and then after dessert; and some children put on a small skit before dinner about thanksgiving and sang “Jehovah Jireh” it was so nice! – all of this was at a small local church. (The pastor is an American guy who found out about us through a Friend’s friend and invited us).
It was so much fun to meet other Americans, other American missionaries, and hear stories about why people/families came to Whangarei. Some are here for a short time, like us, and others are here for a bit longer. We made some great connections and are looking forward to the future friendships and relationships that will come out of those we met today. Our thanksgiving represented Tennessee (Auburn college), California, Miami, Seattle, & North Carolina. All in all it was a very pleasant evening; we were very thankful to spend our thanksgiving amongst heaps of people as we do back home. Although we didn’t spend thanksgiving with our own family; it helped us remember just how thankful we are. We certainly miss all of you back at home – We hope you all have a Yummy Thanksgiving and safe traveling. You are all in our thoughts and prayers; and are Very thankful to have you in our lives! Much Love!

A New Zealand Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving always brings memories full of family traditions, friends, smiles, lots of food and laughter. It will be the first year ever that we have been away from our families during the holiday and it is going to be quite different. Even though we might miss out on the family aspect, we are fortunate that we are not going to miss many of the other parts of Turkey Day. We were contacted the other day by a friend of a friend who live in Whangarei but are originally from California. They found out we were from America and contacted us to celebrate the holiday with them. We were extremely excited and thankful they contacted us and we can hardly wait until Thursday.... but it gets better. They have been in contact with two or three other American families and we are ALL going to get together to celebrate. It is going to be a pot luck type meal where every family is responsible to bring a different dish. We are going to have everything there from mashed potatoes and gravy, green been casserole, turkey, sweet potato casserole, off course pumpkin pie, and everything in between. We could never have prepared or afforded to prepare such an extravagant dinner and we are so thankful!! We are so excited and can hardly wait to celebrate Turkey Day!!! After all, not only do we get to celebrate a proper Thanksgiving but we actually get to celebrate before you guys!!!

Visiting with the Parents/Fockers

Visit with Mom & Dad
Well time has come and gone this month. We have had an incredible few weeks, and are getting ready to leave town again. My parents were here from Nov. 9-21st for two weeks of hanging out and touring. We celebrated an early Christmas with them - (got great presents, heaps of Kraft Mac & Cheese, and some delectable grape Jelly - which was all great fun; we also took my parents to a club night and Did some Rock Solid club stuff with them; then took them all over the Northland of NZ!!
We started out tent camping for 3 days and headed up North to the farthest point of NZ (Cape Reinga). There we saw the Cape Reinga Lighthouse, drove on 90-mile beach, and visited/sledded down some infamous sand dunes…
We saw heaps of sheep/cows and gorgeous rolling green hills all along the countryside. Stopping at various touring places along the way we also visited the Ancient Kauri Kingdom to adventure up the trunk of a Huge NZ Kauri tree. (There is this tree with a staircase carved out of the middle). We ate at some breath taking café’s that overlook the forest and ocean; talk about spectacular views!!! And did so much more…The second week they were in town we re-grouped at our home and packed everything for the road. We drove 2 hours to Auckland to drop our little car off and pick up our rental van (Spaceship). We then took off for some of the three top tourist towns: Coromandel Peninsula, Rotorura & Taupo. We saw mud bubbling up from the earth at Hells gate geothermal reserve, mud volcanoes, sulfur pools, and smelt an awful smell of sulfur smoke in Rotorura and at the park. 

We visited a Maori Cultural performance where Preston and I both were taken up on stage in front of 200 people to do their “Native” Maori dance, experienced luge rides down a mountain on little plastic carts that go incredibly fast, and heaps of other stuff. My favorite was racing in a sweeb car, and watching my parents get wind- blown on a “free fall” which is like skydiving but without jumping out of an airplane. Basically a huge fan blows them up in the air. Haha (what you can do to your parents! – this has made my top 10 list!) I could go on and on about all the things we saw an experienced, but what's most important is the quality time we all got to spend with one another. We certainly kept the schedule chock full and hopefully allowed my parents an experience of their lifetime. It was a busy vacation, but it was all well worth it.  Check out the slide show of pictures for some snapshots of our holiday.

  

(As flight has taken place) First photo (dad) second photo (mom)

Conference

After our 2 weeks with my parents, Preston and I attended a conference in Auckland about Red Letter Christians. It was basically a conference on Justice; standing up for certain issues and acting. We think it was more of an activist conference; like telling people to go picket for what they believe in and value... they were basically trying to get people to quit sitting around watching things happen, and to actually Act to help out or prevent things. It was interesting to sit back and listen to all the speakers and watch the reactions of attendees.

YFC Visit

After the conference, we stayed an extra night in Auckland to pick up Art & Lois Deyo, who work as YFC support staff for Pastoral/Missionary Care; from the main office in Denver, CO. It was very nice to visit with them, and to be reminded about all the YFC support we have back in the states. Their visit was routine as all long term missionaries are visited at least once by a support staff person - with them we went over what we do here in Whangarei, our goals, personal assessment, and spent some time in prayer. It was a short visit as they were really only here for 2 days, but it was a great time. We shared some delicious meals together and participated in some "kiwi favorites" tim-tams, and Cadbury crunchy ice cream! Yummm

Back in town for a few days...

After nearly 2 1/2 weeks of being away due to having a holiday with my parents, and then a YFC conference, we are back in town for a few days. We will be flying out in four days for our Fiji Safari Camp (leaving Friday) so we will try to blog and update you all soon on what has been going on and what we will be doing in Fiji. However, for this evening we are spent from a long day of traveling and weeks of being away. But we are back!!! (somewhat)

We love and miss you all, and look forward to blogging you some more and posting pictures in the next day or two.

Cheers!

Marriage

I know we’ve been ministry focused on here with talking about upcoming events, what we are working towards, what has happened in the lives of student etc… And many of you have recently asked how we are personally and how married life is? So, thank you for asking… I certainly don’t want to leave that out of our blogging!!!
Married life is absolutely wonderful. Next Monday will mark 6 amazing months of marriage for us; and we couldn’t be happier together. I certainly can’t believe 6 months have already come and gone, but it sure has. We look back and still laugh at the many memories from our wedding, wedding planning, first dance, our times packing stuff in storage, and now what we’ve done in NZ and it’s simply amazing. God has certainly blessed us.
We continue to fall more and more in love with each other everyday; and have fun just being ourselves. This week we’ve rolled around on the floor playing ‘monster truck’ and Yesterday we were able to spend time doing laundry and cleaning the house…. Boring? Not at all… Laundry is tons of fun when it’s all folded and the socks are matched. We found ourselves getting into sock wars – throwing balls of socks at each other like they were water balloons… Ducking behind couches and hiding behind walls to stay clear of the sock balls, ready to fire them back at the other person. It’s fun to sometimes act like kids again…. Try It!!
We enjoy watching movies together cuddling on the couch in front of our little lap top screen, and laugh about each other’s “tops picks”. LeeAnn – cheesy movies, and chick flicks. Preston – dumb movies, and violent/manly movies. Either way, we watch them together and love every minute of it. Needless to say, we are the happy giddy couple that continues to fall for each other over and over again.

MMMMMM Grape Jelly

MMMMMMMM.... Grape Jelly!! As we swiftly dashed through the grocery store last weekend, LeeAnn happened to stumble upon a packet of "Make your own Jam." Since we have greatly missed our Grape Jelly with Peanut Butter,  we decided to go for a little Betty Crocker cooking. We got some grapes and all the other necessary contents to make Jam, and were off back home to our kitchen. LeeAnn could not wait until we made the Jelly; so we started promptly as soon as we were home. Some smashing (Pounding) of grapes, tearing of skin, boiling water, Tons of sugar, and a few more ingredients.. we we're on our way to being little Jam makers. When we were all finished, we had a huge pot of stickey Grape Goo that we poured and filled 3 salsa jars with. (We even made labels for them). And Within a few hours of cooling... we had some GREAT and Very YUMMY Grape Jelly. The days follwoing we have been able to enjoy some Good Peanut Butter & Grape Jelly sandwiches. CHEERS to some red grapes and some good cooking! 

Youth Zone Ball

(LeeAnn - The White Witch)

Last Saturday, Nov 1st we held our Annual Youth Zone Ball here in Whangarei for all the Northland teens. We had about 250 people packed in the ASB lounge for a fun night of dancing, unlimited food, and fizzes! (drinks). Some people dressed up in costume, and many dressed in formal attire. We decked the hall out with Narnia scenes: A Castle, the White Witches throne, wardrobe, stone table etc... People drove from all over for this ball, and overall had a grand time. At the end of the evening LeeAnn crowned the King and Queen of the ball; making their night even more magical.

Putting the ball together was a lot of work for the team as we turned the entire facility into a "Winter Wonderalnd" equipped with white walls (tons of sheets) stuffing to resemble snow, trees, a band, DJ, a snow machine, and so much more!!!

The Saturday of the ball we were down setting up at 10am up until the event started then got home at 4:30am after cleaning up. It was a fun and tiring evening for the team; but it was all well worth it.  

We've been busy!

We had a wonderful Labour day holiday last weekend. We got to do some sight-seeing, figure eights/driving down the beach, and spending quality time together - all of which we loved dearly! Many apologies for no blog entries this week however, you will soon understand!

Tomorrow (Nov. 1st) we will be holding a Narnia Ball for the youth in the Northland area. We'll have about 25o teenagers along for a fun & romantic evening of dancing. Just think of it as we're throwing a Prom. 

So this week we have been busy with ticket sales, making Narnia props, painting cardboard castles, cutting hundreds of snowflakes, stringing all the snowflakes, getting prizes, food, trees, fairy lights etc... A fantastic evening it will be! We will start our set-up at the venue bright and early on the morning right up until the Ball begins at 8pm. It will certainly be a long day of being on our feet and running around; so please pray for the team, that extra help will arrive, and for the fun and safety of all the teens coming out and driving in from afar. (Pictures will be posted over the weekend).

After a very short weekend: this is what we have upcoming - 

- work next week & Summer harvest camp preparations/building next weekend

- Next Sunday (Nov 9th) LeeAnn's Parents arrive for 2 weeks.  We're excited about seeing them, and spending some time showing them this Beautiful Country side.

- The day we drop LeeAnn's parents at the airport, we head off to a 3 day conference.

- When the conference ends we go back to the Airport to pick up Art & Lois Deyo, our YFC Pastoral Care team. We'll get to spend 3 great days with them...

- Then 2 days after they leave we're off to Fiji for the Safari Youth Camp. When we return from there we'll have 2 weeks before Christmas starts; then the day after Christmas we've got the Biggest camp all Year - Summer Harvest!

- After Summer Harvest (literally 2 days) we go on Holiday and will tour to the South Island and visit YFC's all down NZ on our trip to tour south.

** Shew.... now, that's a busy schedule!!  

HALLOWEEN: So Aside of our lifestyles, what have you been up too? Did you dress up for Halloween? Please send us pictures of you or your family during the holidays so we can share in your memories!!

Halloween came & went here. New Zealand doesn't really celebrate halloween like the States do. Trick-or-treating seems rare, and the stores hardly advertise or have costumes/candy out. We didn't even know it was halloween until we looked at the calendar - that's how "little" halloween is over here. 

As a matter of fact - Today when we were at the store there was a little 4 yr old asking her mum "What is Halloween" - her mum replied "It's an American holiday where people dress up in funny costumes."

CHRISTMAS: Christmas decorations are out and beginning to fill the air; but believing Christmas is around the corner is very hard for us. It's hard to "Get in the Christmas spirit" and feel like it's almost Christmas when the isles of stores are flooded with beach toys, pool towels, sun block, and jandles. (Sandals) It's just not the same. We're so use to the cold to indicate the holidays are coming, along with the thought of snow, hot chocolate, and being around your fire with your warm fluffy socks. With the Bathing suits and sunblock out, the only holiday I can seem to think of is 4th of July. Weird. It will certainly be fun to have a summer christmas, but then also weird because it won't feel the same. We're hoping that Christmas doesn't just come and go without us having a little bit of that "Christmas feeling". It has been very hard to get in that mind-set, but we still have 2 months to do it!!

Learning to Surf

In our free time we are learning a New Hobby... Surfing! It's so great to live so close to the beaches. We can drive to the West coast for bigger & better waves, or hit up the east coast just 20 minutes from our house. Learning to surf has been so much fun! We are trying to learn some basics by just messing around on our own, but soon, we'll be joined by some Whangarei teenagers! So far, the toughest and most annoying part is trying not to get tangled in the leg strap. 

Although we have been in the water, please don't get me wrong because the waters here are freezing! I absolutely LOVE my wetsuit, it certainly keeps be warm. However, when I get out of the water my legs and arms are generally beat red and numb from the cold water. But it's so worth it; because learning to surf is so much fun! The challenge is great and the sense of accomplishment from climbing from your stomach, to knees, and eventually to your feet is even better. If you ever have an opportunity to learn to surf, take it! 

Holiday Weekend!

It's Labour Day weekend here in NZ. We're excited to spend a weekend off exploring more of God's wonderful creation - hopefully minus all the forecasted rain. We've got Monday off, so we're pretty keen to hit the beach, go for a fish, ride our bikes, and explore more of this beautiful land!!

Milking a cow

This was my first experience getting to milk a cow. Friends of ours: Nate & Deb, live on a farm as Nate farms cows for a living. They recently invited us to come out one day and experience some milking first hand. I must say it was a smelly job. There was poo EVERYWHERE! Notice that we wore coveralls. It was a fun experience. Preston and I got to suction the cow utters (per the pictures). It was like a vacuum that just swooped up on the cow's utters. haha. Farming is big in New Zealand, and so we couldn't go home without the first hand experience. When it comes time to sheep shearing, we will get to partake in that as well. :) What fun!

Pictures from Camp

Spring Breakaway Camp - Lake Taupo

Camp was amazing. We were down in Lake Taupo about 7 hours away for 5 days of learning, listening, fun, and entertainment. The camp centered around the theme of Narnia as we presented kids with the Gospel in a way they could relate to and understand. There were many kids asking questions about Christ, and some made decisions to change their lifestyles, and to live for God; they accepted Christ in their lives for the first time and looked for guidance on how have a good walk of faith. Isn't God Amazing!??

Amongst the program and "Solid Rock" time we had learning about Christ and what it means to be a Christian - we also embarked on some adventure activities: high ropes, mini bikes, archery, slug guns, swimming pool, team building exercises, and a day at the snow for some tubing!!

(pictured above: Taylor, MaryAnn, Becks, and Emily experience "Snow from the sky" for the 1st time! - At the visitors center on the way up to the Mountain to tube!!)

The snow was very cold. With the wind chill is was just under -2 degrees Celsius. I don't know what that is in Fahrenheit, sorry! It was very fun to see the kids in the snow, many experience it for the first time in their lives. One girl in my cabin thought I was nuts when I mentioned about having a waterproof layer on top of their clothes. She thought the snow was dry - a cold dry powder. She had no clue it was basically a bunch of ice. :) What fun it was to share in that experience with them.

Below: The tube chain...

Preston and I are the last two on the tubes. (3 tubes, 6 people)

We will come back!

As some may think we have been sucked into some unknown part of the earth; they are halfway right. We are been busy beyond imagination preparing for our charity auction, pulling all nighters at the office, and wearing the soles in our shoes - but it's finally here! The auction is this evening... and after that we can begin to get back to a normal life for a few days before more craziness begins (round #2). We will certainly update the blog this weekend with all that has been going on - camp, auction etc... Bur for now we're running on fumes of sleep so we can't think to type anyway. Check back soon... and Have a great weekend!!

Back from Camp!

We just got back from a week running a holiday camp for 60 middle schoolers and taking them snow tubing one day. It was fun to see students experience snow for the first time in their lives, but please know that taking 60 middle schoolers tubing on the snow can be very dangerous!!! The students had a blast, but then upon leaving one tube ran into another causing one of our German YFC leaders to come close to breaking her neck. When I got news that she had to get air-lifted from one hospital to another I decided snow tubing wasn't such a good thing to do with middle schoolers. God was very faithful in her healing and it turns out she is recovering well; her injury wasn't as bad as it could have been!
Anyway, camp was great, we were simply blessed with the relationships that were built up and the decisions that students made to follow Christ. Reaching out to student here takes a while, and is a very slow process.
Seeing the impact we have had on the students here has been incredible - it has taken a while to really become accepted by them, but through camp we've finally reached a breaking point with some of the toughest kids. Praise God!!!

- more to come, and pictures to follow!!

Last Club For The Term

Our dear sweet Pastoral Care friends from YFC (Ron & Ruth) recently sent us a little taste from Home - everything needed for a good ole American S'more! After a long week of work, we settled down in from of the fire and had ourselves a very special treat! 

Preston has enjoyed the scenery and wildlife. We very often see new plants, flowers, birds, animals etc... when we are out and about. This is a recent picture from a nearby Park and one of the trees in the park. (I think he looks like Oscar the Grouch) 

What do you think?

On our last club night for this term we took the students to visit a HUGE camper/truck of friends of ours. This camper is actually the home of Ernie, Michelle, and their four wonderful children. They travel around with a team (MMM) as missionaries and do renovation and painting projects around NZ. Ernie leads the team that has been at our offices the past 2 weeks renovating/painting our building. We will surely miss them when they leave!  Anyway, back to club night: This camper has a garage which holds their mini-van, 4 bunk beds for the kids, and a queen bed for Ernie & Michelle, and all the other

 fixings of a house etc.. The kids were introduced to a new lifestyle - one of being home-schooled, always on the road, living in a camper, and not having the same friends every week. The learned of how God calls people do different missions and opportunities in life and what it means to have faith and discernment. All the kids said they would never be able to "survive" with the lifestyle of living in a camper, not having their friends, and being home-schooled, but they seemed very open to wanting to know more about God and what it means to have faith. (Doors are opening!!!!) and we topped off the evening with some Hot Chips (french fries) in the park. 

Club is on a break while the student are on School Holiday, so in the meantime we are running a holiday camp. We'll resume Rock Solid nights in 3 weeks. Pictured below are all the students in the "Garage" of Ernie's truck/camper.

Below: Students chowing down on Hot Chips & tomato Sauce in the Park. (A Kiwi Favorite)

I Love Weekends

I Love the weekends because we get to go out and explore New Zealand, immerse ourselves in a new culture and try new things. I am very excited about this weekend because new things are certainly in store for us.

We are going to experience a Jazz festival in town one day, then Sunday some friends from our small group (Nathan & Deb) are going to teach us to Surf and then give us a tour of farming. Nathan is into farming and one thing I have always wanted to do is to Milk a Cow! So guess what we get to do on Sunday? Yep! Milk cows! Nathan is going to give us a tour of the farm he works out, explain all the machinery and what he does, and let us have some first hand experiences of being a farmer.   Everything from herding & feeding the babies, to Cow Poo  :)

Monday we head out to our first camp - it's Spring Breakaway time! Please pray for our long travels with the students as we head south, and for the deeper relationships that are bound to form. Watch for more of our camp experiences write-ups soon!

Time Change - Spring Ahead!!

So it appears that there has been a time change here in New Zealand. We have Sprung Ahead!! (one hour) For those of you who have wondered about the time difference to contact us, here it is: Time is 17 hours ahead from East Coast Time to NZ time. 

Example:

3:00pm  EST Wednesday in (USA) - it's 8:00am Thursday (NZ)

7:00am  EST Monday in (USA) - it's Midnight Tuesday (NZ)

Another way to think about it: 

add (5 hours - for EST etc...) to your time and then if it's PM for you, it's AM for us, the next day.

- or-

Between 3pm EST until you go to bed is your best window of reaching us online at AIM/skype.

I hope this was more helpful and wasn't too confusing!!

Crazy Days

Whew! What a crazy week it has been. We started out last week with a building/renovations mission team called MMM International arriving at the YFC office building. They came to renovate the offices painting the inside/outside and fixing some rotten wood. They are doing such an amazing job and have certainly turned our work and ministry environment into a cleaner and more inviting atmosphere. Since their arrival we have had offices upside down and in corners etc... as we move stuff to paint. As we help them, we are also gearing up for summer harvest camp, the charity auction, the youth zone ball, and tending to our normal Rock Solid students and small group ministries. Needless to say, we've had very long to-do lists of necessary tasks needing pronto attention to get everything together and pulled off properly. We are incredibly busy!! School holidays have also started this week - As the students are in year round school, they get 2 weeks off every 8-10 weeks. So this has been the beginning of week #1 of holiday for the students, and then week #2 of holiday will be at Spring Breakaway camp starting next week in Lake Taupo. (about 7 hours away).

It is such a blessing to be a part of so many students lives and to be involved in a continually changing and growing ministry. The ministry we are doing in the Northland is different then that of the church. We are primarily doing ministry to un-churched and non-christian students. as we have slowly been able to get into the lives of the students we are just now beginning to see how we're impacting their lives and being able to share in personal stories with them. Students have opened up to us about their hurts and fears, and how they have faced some tough and trying issues, and we have been here to help and pray for them! We cannot wait to see how God is going to use the camp experience we have with many of these students to open new doors of conversation. I am proud to say that there are students beginning to ask questions about our faith and who God is, and this is all very exciting for us!! Little by little we are making a difference and seeing God reach some of the northland students. Please continue to pray for the students we work with and the ones we will encounter at camp next week!

We certainly miss you all back home. Thank you for all your love and support to us while we are overseas. Many Blessings!!!

Uganda Children's Choir

Last Friday we went to help promote YFC and hear the Uganda Children's Choir perform at a local church. The children told amazing stories about being orphaned at Birth or an early age because their parents died due to Aids. They expressed how they feel free, and know that no matter what happened to their families they have found strength and purpose through God. We celebrated with the kids as they also expressed how they have tested negative for the Aids disease; they were all so joyful!!!  Below is a video clip of them singing at the church.

This was a free concert, and was absolutely packed out with people, wall to wall, and even on the floor. 10 minutes before the concert started the church had to close it's doors and turn about 100 other people away because they were over-full and exceeding the fire code regulations for the building.

Recap of last 3 weeks

So here has been the last 2-3 weeks... 

Things have been really busy so we're going to do a re-cap of the recent events. 

Sept. 9th we took our small groups out for Rock Solid Club: LeeAnn took all the girls 

swimming at the Aquatic Center, and the guys went with Preston

to the indoor vertical playground (rock Climbing). We had a great time with the groups and were able to get in some good quality conversations about everyday life, and the plan that God has for them. After climbing, 

Preston sat down with all the guys 

and they talked about team work in climbing, life lines, and trust. Some of the youth were able to get over their fears of heights and hanging on ropes, and felt good after being cheered on by their mates in their climbing experience. Sept. 12th we went to experience our first professional Rugby game. We met handful of Rock Solid kids and their friends, and were able to spend some time with friends /Co-workers at the game. (who basically explained what was happening). 

Sept. 14th we went off and found the best fishing spot ever. We caught heaps of fish, and one of the biggest ones too! We had a great evening spending time in God's creation and watching the boats go by with skiers. Unfortunately this was the day that our car got broken into when we

returned. So our favorite spot has kind of been ruined for us, and we're not sure if we want to go back. (in the picture: LeeAnn caught the big fish on the left, and Preston caught the bigger fish on the right.) Sept. 16th we had a family night at Rock Solid Club so we could meet some parents, and so they could get to know a little more about the YFC

 organization. We had a heap of games and team building exercises planned with Parents  vs. Kids. We did not have too many parents turn out due to other commitments, but we did have a great time with who was there. One of the games we played which is pictured to the left was a frozen t-shirt race. Look at the pain on the kids face! We had long sleeved T-shirts frozen into big blocks of ice. The teams had to get their t-shirt onto one person in their team. This was a very fun and exciting game. Kids tried to slide their shirts across the floor as they were extremely frozen and needed to be melted. Others had everyone place their hands on the shirts (freezing their hands) until they were able to break some of the shirt loose. One shirt actually got the arm ripped off of it as the ice froze the material so much it would just break. It was hilarious to watch the teams go through this exercise and to watch team members try to get into a frozen long sleeved t-shirt shoving their arms down the sleeves.

No TV? Sunday Afternoon Entertainment

So we have had flies mating in our house, as we have had to get rid of over 10-15 of them this weekend... Preston decided to have a little fun with them before we let them go.  So here is a video of our Sunday Afternoon entertainment.

This is what you do when you don't have TV...

Your feet are beautiful

Thought for the day:

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" - Romans 10:14-15

* Have Beautiful feet today, and bring the good news to someone!! Be the hands and feet of Christ. Remember, we are all called by God to be missionaries. A missionary does not have to be someone far away or over seas, it's simply someone like you. Someone who follows God and has accepted his call on all our lives to spread the word, the love of Christ, and help out when you see a need.

Trouble

Quick Snip-it:

As many of you heard either at church or via email, we did have our car broken into this past Sunday night when we were coming back from a gorgeous sunday afternoon fishing trip just over a hill from the car park. (literally it was a 2-3 minute walk). 

My wallet (ID, insurance, credit cards etc...) purse, watch, USB drives, ipod nano, and car docking station were all stolen. It was a very unfortunate evening which has caused a lot of work in cutting off accounts, replacing ID's and getting new credit cards sent overseas. However, within a few weeks everything should be worked out and we will be back on our feet as normal. Whoever stole our cards did manage to run them up to a zero balance, or charge around $4,000 of purchases amongst liquor, and convenience stores.  Thankfully with the companies we bank with or have credit cards with it appears as if we will not be liable for any of the charges. We did loose out on some cash and our personal belongings, but all is fine as we are both well and safe. It's sad and unfortunate some people choose this style of life to live; so please be in prayer for the people who broke into our car that they can find a bigger and better meaning to life then stealing. We hope to get our car fixed of its damages as soon as we can, so we're also hoping that we don't find that too costly!! Thanks for all your support and prayers for us during this time. 

Blessings!

What's going on with the blog?

So as many of you realized the blog is online, then offline, then you need to be invited to it etc... Then there are posts from last week, re-posted ... yadda yadda yadda...

Sorry!! We have been in the transition of trying to get the blog off search links like google, and only visible to those of you who know the web address. So sorry for all the confusion... 

LeeAnn driving 5 speed??

Many of you have wanted an update on my driving abilities so here it is....
It has been just over a month of (on and off) learning, but my driving is going very well! Tomorrow (Tuesday) will be my first time driving a stick shift van loaded down with kids, but I am confident that we will get to our destination and back safely!! Just stay on flat land, and avoid hills at all costs, right? ... I wish, that's kind of hard to do in New Zealand!!
I have found that the Red van that I will be mainly driving is easier to drive then our little car, so I am very happy. Since I was doing good with the car, I should so great with the van. I appreciate my darling husband being patient with me, putting up with my frustration, and overcoming some parking lot whip lash while I learn how to drive 5 speed. But it has been fun.
Driving a stick has always been something I wanted to do – but always having automatic cars I never had a means or a need too…. I am thankful that here, I did not have a choice – I HAD to learn to drive stick, and boy am I glad. I am still a little afraid of steep hills and rolling backwards onto other cars. Preston says I am good enough at driving now that me rolling back on people wouldn’t happen…. But we took out an insurance policy to cover damage on other vehicles just in case. ☺ So all is well!
Thank you so much for praying for us and our safety as I have had to learn how to drive all over again!!
- LeeAnn (& Preston)

Time flies

(Tomorrow) Wednesday, we celebrate four months of marriage! And an AMAZING 4 months has it been. Can you believe it? The time has flown by so incredibly fast. We look back at wedding photos, watch our wedding dance on YouTube and still laugh and talk about all the memories we made that day; and the amazing people we shared it with. Wednesday also marks the completion of two successful months in Whangarei Ministry, and the start of month #3.
We cannot express how grateful we are as newlyweds to be faithfully serving our Heavenly Father as missionaries; it is such a blessing! God continues to grow as the center of our marriage more and more as we seek to serve him; and live out his calling of having us love on youth and spread his name. Thank you for supporting us, keeping in contact with us, and for lifting us up in prayer!

Some exciting things are happening 'down under.' We had 9 new faces at Rock Solid club last week, which was Outstanding!! A few of the girls who were 'new' have been in contact with us over the last week and I can certainly see that relationships are beginning to form!! LeeAnn has adopted them into her small group ministry of girls that she connects with on a regular basis and is uber excited!! We certainly look forward to the way God might use us in their lives, and many of the other students. 

More exciting news: LeeAnn's parents are coming to visit for 2 weeks, Nov. 7-21st. We are extremely excited to soon see a familiar face and are looking forward to spending time with them, and take a holiday (vacation) with them around the NZ Northland. What a blessed time this will be!!

God is Alive

As we look out over the ridge to the farthest mountain we can't help but hear the lyrics of the Song "God is Alive" by Solomon's wish. 

"The trees give a testimony

Listen to the mountains sing

That only one God could make all of this

And keep it all in place

Even the sky is a celebration

And I am a declaration

That God is alive, God is alive, and working"

It is so Beautiful here....

The Amazing Race

The AMAZING RACE

 (around Whangarei)

Clue #3 - Construct a pyramid in front of the courthouse and have all members in it! :-)

The Amazing Race was a night of adventure around Whangarei. We sent teams of kids around in vans on a hunt to seek out their ‘final destination.’ We had youth familiarize themselves with where our Youth Zone office his, calling a stranger and asking for help, visiting the pharmacy, making human pyramids at the courthouse, singing children’s songs to a stranger, trekking through the town basin clock tower etc… The night was exhilarating. We had several new faces from the local intermediate school we target on a weekly basis, and some student’s return to club that haven’t been seen in several months. Students have found the club programs to be a safe and positive environment for them to go during the week – keeping them out of trouble and off the streets in the evening hours.
LeeAnn is presently working on starting up a girls group with the local girls high school, and helping students lead their own Christian club in the school during lunch and before school hours. The program is called “The Rock” and the point of this club is that Christian Students are able to run fun and crazy events at lunchtime with the purpose to share the life-changing message of Jesus with their friends and peers. The group is in the works and the ball has started to roll with it, so we will let you know how it all goes.

Prayer Needs: Please pray that our monthly support comes in, and that our supporters can fulfill their pledge. We seem to have been running short of our funding since we got here, but hope that we can catch back up through additional support, one time gifts, and monthly donors catching up on their pledge commitments.

Blessings you you all!

Summer Time Club Night

SURF'S UP! We are tired of the winter and trying to get a glimpse of summer! This past week we ran a Club Tropicana, with the intentions of bringing in the beach. We had blow heaters, beach scenes, ice cream, and bananas. (if bananas mean summer). As a staff, we ran around town to different surf shops and vacation booking places and borrowed heaps of posters, surf banners, sails, and decor to dress up the youth hall we 

'borrow' on tuesday night from St. Andrews church. 

With a great thanks to all those companies we had a fantastic summer scene

 for our club night. (It was LeeAnn's favorite club night - probably because the blow heaters made the room 85 degrees!) Please don't be fooled by these photos because it is still winter here. Spring is around the corner though and will hopefully kick in really soon. We awarded prizes for the best dressed, and looked for the best Beach Babe and Beach Dude. Ice Cream relay's did us in for massive cold headaches and brain freezes, but it was awesome. 

We introduced Coke floats to some of the kids 

and enjoyed 'surfing' on skateboards. It was a lot of work to pull off this night as it took a lot of setup and creativity, but we did it, and we all had a blast. 

The students are enjoying meeting new faces as we try and bring in more kids from the local schools nearby the church. 

This upcoming week we are trying a new thing; and that is picking kids up from their intermediate school (middle school). If the kids can walk to the school, then we can transport them from there. We are looking at this as another way of out reaching to those who don't have rides, parents home in the evening etc... In fact, just yesterday we went and visited a single mom fighting cancer who helps and attends Rock Solid with her daughter for a little surprise. Our team pulled some finances together to donate to this mom so that she could go and get her drivers license. We told the mom how we believed in her, and the effort she has with her daughter, and that we wanted to help them become mobile for themselves so they don't have to call people for a ride. 

The only thing stopping this mom from getting her license was the $40.00 fee. But with a simple reaching out and a heart full of love and support, we certainly blessed them. We gave the mom hope that she could pass her drivers test, and they were forever grateful. 

 

Here is a recent shot from our home life:

Pictured Above is Preston tenderizing our meat for dinner with a 2x4 from our firewood pile. This is what happens when you can afford cheap meat and don't have a meat tenderizer.