Car

Thank you to everyone who has prayed that The Lord would provide me with a car! I now have a car it was a little more than I planned on spending on one but it seems to be a really good car in great condition. It is also quite large so it will be no problem fitting my guitar and other stuff in it!

Please continue to pray that there are no problems with it and it will run faithfully for at least the next 10 months :)

Learning to be Thankful in everything

Wow this last week was amazing to see the Lord work and to just enjoy His presence. I am learning to just enjoy him every day and to rest continually on His unfailing love.

Last week was a difficult one for me for many reasons. I found myself getting incredible restless as we had terrible weather with rain all day every day. All I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and stay in bed. Another reason it was difficult was because my family was all camping back home for thanksgiving. This was the first thanksgiving I was away from my family and it was difficult not to be with them. However a few families got together here to celebrate thanksgiving complete with all the food and pies. I even made the apple pies and pumpkin pies J

Thankfully I was able to “hangout” with my family and friends for thanksgiving. My dad set the computer with me on it on the table while they ate. It was great to be able to talk with and see my grandparents who I haven’t talked with since August. Also my friend John just got back from the army after being stationed in Germany! It was great to see his face and for him to be home.

Friday I had the amazing opportunity to lead worship for a thanksgiving worship night. One of the men at our church had it on his heart to just have a night of worship and thanksgiving to the Lord and he asked me to lead worship for it. It was mostly older people that only know hymns but it was really cool to get to worship with them and see their hearts for the Lord.

Friday we also made slings for a teen mum's ministry we do. They turned out so cute!

 Saturday the weather finally cleared up and we were able to go outside so we walked down to the town basin where they had the first art market of the season! It was great to see all the local art.  It was beautiful and so nice to be outside for a change.

Sunday was church and this week I was super blessed. I feel like the last few weeks the Lord has really been speaking to me about the church and His purposes for me being here. I was so blessed to worship with them and really see the Lord moving! After church my friend Ellen and I went to her brother’s place to shoot some guns. Let’s just leave it at we had a really good time J

 

Last Thursday I met this girl Amy at our thanksgiving service. She used to go to Calvary Whangarei and has recently been coming back. Today I went on a walk with her to get to know her better. It was great to talk and hangout and I am excited to see what the Lord does in her. She definitely has a great heart and I know the Lord has amazing plans. 

 

 
 

 

Still no car but I know the Lord it under control!

 

Next week I will be going to the Calvary Chapel Church Workers Conference in Raglan. I am super excited as I will get to see afew people from back home including a team of high school students from CCCM. Please pray for safe travels for the team!

 

Fun week

 This week has been an interesting one to say the least. I am now finally adjusting to this family and the house. I love the time I get to spend with this family and getting to know them better. I really feel like I fit a lot better with this family.


  found a baby bird in the back yard :(
 Tried my hand at archery! So fun!

  giant Kauri Snail!

It is hard to be away from my family this week as they are camping and having a fun family time for thanksgiving. I know that this is where I am supposed to be but it’s always hard to be away for holidays!

I did do some fun stuff last week. I went spelunking in abbey caves. That was really fun although I did not realize we would be getting as wet as we did. I was in water up to my waste for a few parts of it and we saw eels in the water on the way out of the cave so that freaked me out a bit. We also saw glow worms in the cave which was really cool!

 

Tuesday we woke up to a beautiful day and decided we needed to take advantage of the sun and head for the beach. We went to Ruakaka beach. This beach is beautiful!!! We even watched skydivers land right on the beach!

On Wednesday we watched the solar eclipse that I didn’t even know was planned to happen. I also took the family geocaching for the first time. Zander the little boy loved it and keeps asking if we can go find more treasures. I plan to take them more since there are so many around here and it’s an excuse to get to go.

 

On Saturday a few friends and I got up at 4am to hike Mount Mania for sunrise. From the top you have almost a 360 degree view. It was beautiful although it was cloudy so we didn’t see the sunrise like we could have if it was clear. Then we went out to Dwayne’s house and shot some guns which is always fun!

  all bundled up to watch the Sunrise!!

 

  

Monday night for girls club we had a Hawaiian night. Ka’u a student for Azusa Pacific is over here for  a few months and she taught us all the a hula. It was really fun to watch the girls get involved and see Ka’u share about worshiping the Lord through dance. On the way home we saw a house all lit up for Christmas! We had to stop and take pictures!

 

 

 

 

Drove to the top of Parihaka to see the city lights

  

Taught the girls how to make daisy chains!

Changes

Wow the Lord is really doing something amazing here and in my life. So much has changed and happened in the last few days!

I moved in with a new family. Well back to the house that I first was living in house sitting but now I am with the family here. They are from South Africa and are lovely! So far I feel very comfortable here and feel a lot more at home. They made a room for me and it is beautiful. I am much closer to town (walking distance) so that is going to make things here a lot easier. I am still praying for a car but for the time being it will be much better to be close to town. Now if I could just learn AfrikaansI would be able to understand them better J

Also on Friday I had a talk with Miguel and his wife Claudia. They feel the Lord is moving them back to America in January. They bought tickets and will be leaving New Zealand January 18^th. This is huge for the church and for me. The Lord has risen up one of the men in the church to take over as pastor which is amazing. They have asked me to stay and continue with worship. I feel like the Lord is telling me to stay right here in Whangarei, which is going to be difficult. Thankfully the lord has allowed me to make relationships with quite a few families here and I know that He will continue to provide for me.

Before I left home I had an interesting conversation with Dylan (my pastor at roots) about coming to NZ and what the Lord was going to do. He said one thing before I left that has been on my mind since I arrived here and is know something the Lord keeps speaking to me. He said, “What if the Lord is bringing you to New Zealand to help the church transition if Miguel leaves?” A few years ago we went through a major transition for our church and had to learn how to deal and work in a church. Since I have already been through a transition and seen the Lord work I believe he has called me for this. 

I really do see His purpose in me coming to New Zealand and I am excited to see what He is going to do through this church body! It was amazing to see the people stand beside him and support his decision to leave and also commit to standing beside the new pastor and support him as pastor of the church.

Please pray for Miguel and his family as they make this move. Especially pray for each of the children as they leave their friends and home.

Please pray for Paul and Sharon the pastor that will be taking over.

Please pray for guidance and direction for me here without the Miguel and his family

Please continue to pray that the Lord provides a car for me. 

Pictures, pictures, and more pictures!

Here are a ton of pictures trying to catch up on them :)

 dressing up for CHEW

 Sunrise

 Market

 Climbing on the side of the rocks at the beach

True Kiwi Style

 Ellen in a tree

 Clare at her baby shower

 Sunset while fishing

 Fireworks!!!

 Weta

 Country/ folk music night at the Foote's house

 Church

My new room!!!