Back in the US of A

I'm back at home everyone. It was a long trip home. The way the international date line stuff goes I had two full days packed into one. WHEW

I am about to go watch my sisters basketball game, but I wanted to let everyone know that I am home safe.

Check back within the week, as I hope to add some more from the end of my time in NZ.

Grace

Almost Home

Hey everyone

Again I haven't been a mad poster, but as the trip started on the down hill slope, time, like a roller coaster, went faster.

These last few weeks have been one blessing after another.
I was awed by Mt. Cook
We have fellowshiped with YWAM at their graduation.
Sailed in beautiful Akaroa.
Mountain Biked and then rested in Hanmer Springs.
Met some great people hitching.

And now it's coming to an end, at least in NZ.

Mike and I parted on Friday. Somewhat of a downer but more weird, leaving the person you have been with 24/7 for the last two months is different. I know that I will see him again in two weeks so I am looking forward to that, and not worried about missing my traveling buddy.

I started reading the Heavenly Man. WHOA What a story. I'm not finished yet but it is stuck in my mind. It is about the Chinese house churches and a glimpse at the last 40 years of History there. Amazing stuff, check it out.

Also this world is a lot more real to me right now. I read stories in the paper, and they strike closer to home than they ever have. Today the world is not near as big as it once seemed.

I have been working on another idea. What does it mean to be blessed?
Health, a little money, family...
Why then does Christ say, blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers? And to top it all, those who are persecuted for righteousness. Are we really blessed in our lives or did we miss the picture somewhere along the way?

Continue to pray for me guys about the future, God's good!!

Something to Write About

So I have been struggling the last two days. The Lord has given me time to sit and think while I have been in Christchurch. I didn't want to. My mind has been all over the place. Some thoughts are about the joy from all that has happened this trip, the blessings and the teaching ground that it has proved to be. Others though were spinning around but didn't really have a place to stop. I wanted to get away from them, but nothing was working. So after some time here they are.

I am human, and as such I am base, I get pulled down by things that weren't a problem even one day earlier. I forget truths that I have learned so many times. Why? Why? I'm not sure, but I am glad that the Lord is slow to anger, forgiving and that His steadfast love endure forever.

I finally started talking to Mike about some of the vague thoughts that have been plaguing my mind. Actually, talking to him about them was of utmost importance, because I realized part of my problem was sinning against him.


Jealousy, I hate to even write it. Writing further admits it, but in this I find freedom from it. I have been jealous of the joy that Mike has recently been growing exponentially in. Dumb, I know but it has crept up inside of me so stealthily, so ingrained. I barely realized it until now. It has been stealing my joy, from sharing in Mikes joy, distracting me from the Lord, clogging my heart.

The Lord has done so much with Mike this trip, has taught him so much about eternity, about life, about his grace, his sufficiency, his greatness. Mike has soaked it up and has grown in passion for the Lord. His passion has exploded, and the repercussion has been touched lives, raw honest blogs and great joy. AWESOME. When I stop and think about it I am in humbled wonder, I got to see Jesus really change someones heart, how amazing is that!

Yet the Liar found a place within my own desires that could be easily exploited and I was led astray. Thank God for discomfort of the soul. I knew something was wrong today, and I didn't like it. So I prayed about it and Mike noticed something was up, so he prayed for me as well. Finally this evening I told Mike that I have been jealous of God using him recently. I wanted to have the spot light as I told people about the Lord changing my heart and the joy I had in the midst of tough times. I am quite silly it seems.

He then reminded me about the influence I have been on him while he has been over here. How God has used me as a Brother to help him and that in turn has helped him passion. That helped, it really did, to be reminded of God using me was great. As he went on, the deeper Truth won out and I remembered that God is what I am here for, not people, not blogs not anything else, just the Lord. I need to keep that first, to keep my eye on the prize.


1 Cor. 16:13-14 says it this way:

Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong.
Your every act should be done with love.


All over the NT this is said various ways; continue, persevere, press on, these are all over the place. We need to make sure that we heed these warnings and not give up, not become complacent because we have such a great reward in the Lord, his GRACE is everything!

All we need is the Lord! This is why I love one of Shawn McDonald's songs. He does a good job of focusing only on the Lord. If you have not heard the song you should check it out, if you have, you probably understand why I like it so much.

As I sit here and think
About all that You've done
About how You gave me Your one and only Son
And I'm trying to fathom
All that You are, but so far, Lord
You're so beyond me
I fall down in reverence
And I fall down in fear
And I'm asking You, Lord, won't You please draw near
Won't You open my eyes
So that I can see
The way that You are working in me

All I need is Your love
To come and fill this heart of mine
My heart is a desert that has gone dry

And I lay down my life
And I put it before You
All that I am is in Your hands
And I'm not going to question, why You're so faithful
Why that You give me the blessing that You have
Let the glory be known, let the glory be shown
Lift You up unto the throne
You are my God, You are my King
To You I give, I give You everything
All that I need is Your love, my God

ALL I NEED IS YOUR LOVE!

Grace to you all!

6 Weeks in NZ!!

Yesterday marked the 6th week of travel for us. WOW! Each day goes faster than the one before.



To commemorate the times the following are a few of the interesting facts we have compiled.



Clothing washed:

Twice, once was in a sink, awesome eh?



Showers:

Mike- Avg. every 4 days or more

Me- Avg. every 3 days



Number of countries I have met people from:

16



Percentage of nights spent in a tent:

70



Number of peanut butter sandwhiches eaten:

TOO MANY



Number of times we have shaved:

0, getting a pretty sweet beard going.



Largest blister size:

NZ two dollar coin (it's pretty big)



Glaciers seen:

6, all beautiful

Days growing and learning about life:

Everyone!

Much Love yall

Dunedin Blessings

I found free internet!! It's at the public library here in Dunedin.

We decided that the camp ground we stayed at the first night here was way too far outside of the city for us to enjoy Dunedin at all, so we decided to head back into town and see if a friend of Mikes had gotten back to us about a place to stay yet, nope. I did however run into the two Dutch girls who had given us a ride last weekend from Wanaka to Queenstown and they told us that the place where they were staying still had rooms available, so we headed that way.

Then it got really sweet because when we walked in, we saw the YWAM group checking in at the same time. We met this group last week in Queenstown and even spent the day hiking with two of them. They did there DTS, or training session, outside of Christchurch and are now toward the end of their traveling time spreading the love of Christ to backpackers along the way. The DTS was focused on backpacker ministry, how cool is that!

So we quickly made friends with the ones we didn't know very well and had a wonderful evening of fellowship. Mike got a chance to play a real guitar and I could tell it was really good for his soul. Mike has been learning hard lessons about the sufficiency of Christ this trip and even more so after finding out that the girlfriend he had before the trip has already started dating someone else, that's hard. The great thing is that the Lord has been using it. He has Mike talking about the Lord's strength and all encompassing love, even in times of hardship.

I got to talk to one of the DTS guys from Norway about the Lord and some of what He is doing around the world, and it was good for my soul. It was great to talk on the same level about the things that the Lord is doing in our hearts as well as the rest of the world, with someone that is on a separate continent! It was a blessed evening for sure.

The WYAM folks cooked pizza for us and a girl from Colorado and a guy from Israeli. The Dutch girls, B and Charlotte cooked too much pasta later that evening so dinner number two was tasty as well, is was wonderful times. The fellowship at dinner was the best we have had since we have been in NZ. Hanging out with other believers from Switzerland, Norway, Canada, even California : ) was an awesome experience. Eating dinner with Dutch and Israelis was also a wonderful thing. I have enjoyed immensely getting to interact and learn from these cultures and countries outside of mine. Wow there has been so much!

I also got to see some evangelising going on in the backpacker, they answered questions from seeking souls. It was so right. It's also very evident that unless God moves nothing happens within the human soul. Pray for the people that we come into contact with, that God would already be working in there hearts, softening it, tearing away at the lies that they hold onto! I also pray that God continues to teach me boldness and gives me the words that people need to hear. He is so GOOD!

This morning I got to overhear one of the YWAM guys talking to a pastor from Malaysia who is studying here in Dunedin, this guy already has a PhD in theology, Greek and Hebrew. Whoa! He is brushing up on his studies before accepting a new pastoral job.

What a place huh, just a simple out of the way backpackers that God has God totally orchestrated all of these people coming together, believers and non believers, in a perfect, God glorifying way and it is great to be a part of it!

Reading 1 Cor. where Paul talks about becoming whatever he needs to be in order to reach non believers has never been more real than is is here. What a great way for the Lord to drive these verses home than surrounding me with, literally, Jews and Gentiles all believing different things and from different countries. AWESOME

Pray for us, pray for Mike's heart, pray that I would continue to grow and be used. Pray that we continue to get to where we need to be, many times this is not even where we want to be but it's great the way the Lord works!!! Thank all of you so much, many of you are in my prayers, send me a message about anything new I can be praying for and let me share in the blessings that the Lord has for you.

HITCHIKING

This morning we woke up in Te Anau and it seemed like a good day to do some tried and true hitchiking, thumbs and all. It was awesome! We grabbed a bit of lunch for the road, I've leanrned that a hungry traveler is not a happy one, and then after some solid praying and a short thumb stetch we were off! We walked about ten min. outside of town before our first ride came and picked us up, Margeret from the west coast was our driver. A very pleasant lady who knew the area well. She dropped us off 50k's down the read in the deer capital of NZ. From there an old sheep raiser and his wife let us jump in the back of there sweet little pickup, and then after a long walk past a paddock full of ticked off bulls we had lunch. We walked a ways and were pretty tired at this point. It was a long way to the next town. I was starting to wonder if our beginner blessing was starting to dwindle. We didn't stick our thumbs out during our lunch break, they needed a rest too \: ) Aftrer a quick after lunch prayer a car came by and picked us up first thing. SWEET! God was so good to us. He drove us all the way to Dunedin were we are tonight. It was great. Well I am out of time. Much love

Apology

Hey everyone I am terribly sorry for not updating this more frequently. I really feel this is not fair on my part, to start a blog and then not update it. I find two things to be the issue, internet is expensive and time to write is hard to come by. Thank you for being patient and continue to pray that I find time to write you of the happenings in NZ!! (because they are pretty darn cool!)

Wait for it...

No Worries!

No worries: the NZ national motto, and it's biblical, at least in regards to tomorrow, and it's a nice idea to wrap your mind.

Well I find it hard to comprehend that it has already been a week since I have updated this Blog. Time flies in New Zealand : )

Let me jump right into it, eh.

It was a Three Hour Cruise (to the tune of Giligan's Island)

From Wellington we took a 3 hour cruise down to the South Island on the 26th. We camped near Picton that night in a Holiday park 5ks down the road. That night we were welcomed to the South island by a wonderful fireworks display held in town for a Maritime Celebration.

The Queen Charlette

The next morning we caught the Endevor Express for an hour and a half boat trip up to the northern most part of the Queen Charlotte Track. It was wonderful, the sea-spray and views were wonderful even under a cloudy sky. The best part was a fantastic rainbow over one of the coves. "Brilliant"

They quickly pushed us off and we waved goodbye and turned around to see what looked like a sceene right out of Jurassic Park. If a terradactyl had flown over head I would have been expecting it. Huge fern like plants and lush green hills invited us on; it was spectacular, and a little daunting.

And then we hiked and just to pass the time we hiked some more, and the more we did the heavier our pack got. Curious... Well about 5 kilometeres into the hike I get bored and do a little math and figure out that 71k's (the length of the trail) in 4 days averages out to be more than 10 miles a day of backpacking! This would be fine normally but we were carrying all of our gear for 3 months with us, they were 50+ pounds. Worst of all for me was my huge guide book, every night I thought about starting a fire with it!

It was an experience. The type where you push yourself to the extent of your physical and mental capabilities. At that place though is where you learn so much, about yourself and about those you are traveling with, and it's good.

One thing I thought about alot was that it is hard to focus on the beauty around us and to find joy in it when we a burdend and brought down, when we are in pain. It became hard to enjoy the pristine clear water, the lush, awe inspiring plantlife and the molodic songs of birds I have never heard before. All because I was burdened, tired and usually hungry. It was not impossible to enjoy them because I did, just more difficult. I also realized that this is the way with our hearts as well. We carry around a lot of baggage a lot of pain from our past and it distorts the way we look at the world, God's creation. It can make it hard to see the wonderful plan that God is unveiling right in front of us. More truth came to mind at this point. Christ promised that his burden was light and his yoke easy. He is enough! The word says over and over that God is good and I have experienced that this is true and if he revealed it once, that is enough, he is ALWAYS good!

God blessed us with strength to perevere through the heat, the ridicolously steep hills (kiwis don't like switchbacks) and the food stealing wekas (a chicken sized flighless bird) so we made it through. It was quite the challenge however.

Abundant Bessings

As soon as we stepped of the track we have been blessed non- stop. We came to the Backpacker (hostel) at the end of the trail and they didn't have any rooms. But eh, no worries, the lady called around for us and found Smith's Family Farm. The owner was amazing, she came and picked us up, yes! Rubber tires were much easier going than rubber soles : ) Wonderful, warm banana nut muffins greeted us which we quickly devoured as we were dropped off, valet style at a very basic but nice cabin (for the 2 of us it was cheaper than a Backpacker) The hospitality didn't stop there as she offered to drive us down the road to a little bar/diner/grandmas house type place that had some real "locals". A large plate of fried seafood helped us forget the canned chicken we had had ~enjoyed~ the night before. She was really helpful and wouldn't take anything extra in return.

Brief Note on The Kiwi (someone from NZ, not the Kiwi Fruit(there is a difference))

Kiwi's as a whole are turning out to be extremely hospitable! It seems that the folks on this small island love to travel and having done so have experienced hospitality themselves and want to return the favor. It's splendid!

The Offered Ride, and a Little Wisdom

Ok so here is a great example of God's faithfulness. After the first night at Smith's we started looking at options to move closer toward the Able Tasman. Every option that I looked at stressed me out and so I continued to pray about it. A nice couple, 5 years my parents senior, that I had visited with at lunch came to mind, and I felt I should talk to them that evening. Not ask them for a ride, just talk to them. Talk we did, for a long time. He was filled with traveling knowledge, and equated traveling to the University of Life, and I agreed. It has been a wonderful place for the Lord to teach and stretch me and Micheal. He also said that we should start thinking outside the box, not blindly going into the tourist traps but looking around, talking to locals, becoming an insider, all while saving money :) He was a great. As we talked I prayed that if it was the will of the Lord, he would offer us a ride. Our conversation ended as they started to eat dinner and he hadn't mentioned a ride. I figure one, that talking to him has been a great experience, and two, that he still has all night and the next morning to offer us a ride. I had just gotten finished with these thoughts when he knocks on our door and asks if we want a ride to Nelson, I can barely say yes, as I am just overwhelmed with the Lord's provision for us. How great is our God! I immediatley got on my knees and thanked the Lord for the answered prayer. As I look back at my short life I see that growing in my faith is not due to me becoming more faithful but instead it is growing in my trust and reliance on the Lord's faithfulness. I was stuck with a child-like grin as we headed into our next blessing for the night.


Glow Worms and Southern Crosses

We went on a spectacular "farm walk" into the "bush" past the "paddock" where the cows stay, and then on to a waterfall. The waterfall itself was small but provided the background rythm to a wonderous glipse of glory. The walk was fantastic! All along the trail were glow worms, tiny little guys that emit a "wee" sized glowing green light. The stars also got in on the action with the Southern Cross leading the way above the waterfall. It was pure beauty! Here Mike got out his little backpacker guitar and we worshiped our creator, and it was good!!

Iron

God has been challenging both of us these past few weeks, but so far it has been rougher on Mike. Being here to talk about the Lord and seek him together has been revealed a great purpose of the Lord for having me here. Please pray that we would continue to sharpen one another.

World Wide NZ

We have met people from all over the world here and it has been wonderful. Canada, Finland, Germany, Poland, Japan, and many others) They have been friendly and the converstations enlightening. Please pray that we would do the Lord's will as we come into contact with them.

Free Car

Still praying for a free car, or at least transport. I don't know how this is possible it just seems like it would be a for sure deal that we were supposed to have wheels again if it happened this way. It's what Brother Andrew would call the "Royal Way", the way that requires faith in order for things to happen. Read his book God's smuggler to learn more, it a great book.

More Prayers

Pray that Mike would grow in his understanding of God's grace in his life. Pray that I would learn what it looks like to share the real gospel with people. Also that I would not be ashamed of the Gospel, which I thought I had no problem until confronted with the thought of actually sharing it. Pray that we are used here and God glorified!

A Hat

An answered prayer: I got a hat one wide enought to keep this cancer giving UV away from my nose : )

To You

Thanks everyone, maybe the next installment will be shorter, then again maybe not. Much love, thank you so much for your prayers.

Blessings!!!!

Welly

Ello Mates,

It's a beautiful sunny day in Welly this afternoon.

This trip has started out not quite as relaxed as I would have hoped. We picked up Mike's friend who I had actually met a few times at A&M from the airport. She is currently a student down in Christchurch for the year. She has been a big help in Mike and I getting to know New Zealand.

We rented a Nissan Bluebird, a sweet little car with some character. It was really exciting, driving on the wrong side of the road, half way across the world, whoohooo.

We stayed with her boyfriend's college buddy for the night, a "first class mate". That's how he described Mike and I, and we felt the same about him.

From Auckland we drove up to Bay of Islands a beautiful place full of small jutting land masses surrounded by wonderful expanses of blue. The only problem was that a cyclone was off the island of Fiji or something, and so the skys were gray and the weather was wet. Went on a sweet hike to a waterfall and some mangroves.

From there on to Coromandel peninsula and Hot water beach. This was supposed to be just a really sweet spot where you dig in the sand and make your own hot tub from heated water from hot spots left from volcanic activity. But to our chagrin we were met with a sign that said we couldn't because of the weather.

Then on to Lake Taupo. The biggest lake in all of NZ.

We were almost there, 10k to go, when as we pulled out in front of and got nicked by a log truck. Yikes! Getting nicked by a log truck still did a fair amount of damage to our poor Bluebird. But we barely noticed it. Hitting a pothole earlier in trip shook up the car more than than this did.

So we were all super fine, I thought the truck was going to miss us entirely, it was close. Anyways, the bumper got totally knocked off and the right rear was smashed. We got our first NZ cop experience also, he was very pleasant.

The short version: the car is "unfit to drive", so we left it in Taupo.

Taupo was a neat little place. Had a nice time hanging out there.

Now we are in Wellington staying with some other friends of friends. The car is all taken care of. Mike's shoulder is feeling better. And things are good. Mike and I had a good chat about what God was doing with our pride and lives on the bus ride, and that was great.

Tomorrow we leave for the South Island!

Thanks so much everyone

Lollies and Lefties

Kia Ora from New Zealand,

So after a very long and cramped flight, middle row, 12 hours, not pretty; I am in NZ! After the flight we were offered "lollies", aka candy of any sort. We took a bus from the airport to Auckland and our bus driver drove a little on the fast side, and whats more is that he drove on the wrong side of the road the entire time!! Ok, well he was supposed to, but it took a moment to realize what was going on. They have really lush suburbs, quite nice.

The park we went to to nap off our jet lag was beautiful. Auckland however is just another million people port town so far.

Thats all the time I have...

Prayer requests:

• Lord's guidance on every part of this trip!
• Mike's shoulder is acting up and he needs a lot of prayer
• If it's the Lord will we could really use a car, and it will take the Lord to provide on we can afford

Thanks everyone!!

Remember Joseph and that Coat?

God's extremely large and awesome plan is Amazing! As I read Gen. this morning about how Joseph's brothers sell him into slavery, I am in awe how God knew about that moment forever. It is Ishmael's descendants that buy him from his brothers, and if you go back in Gen. you see God's grace upon Ishmael, also a son of Abraham, even though he is not chosen by God to fulfill His promises and display His power. If he had allowed Ishmael to die as a little boy out in the desert, he would not have descendants that end up buying Joseph from his brothers. I think it's sweet, that God used them to fulfil his purpose of getting Joseph to Egypt.



Today is the last full day I have in Texas before I take off; fortunately I am going freely : ) The same God that had a plan for Joseph's life, has worked out this intricate plan to get me to NZ, and has a plan for everyone's life!

First

Howdy everyone,

Welcome to my very new blog. Hopefully this will be used to communicate the things that I would like to share with you from my trip to New Zealand. I don't know what to expect or what is going to happen. What I do know is that the Lord has worked it out for me to be able to go on this fantastic trip to the youngest country in the world and I am so glad he has.

This will also be a sound board for me to ask you for prayers, I'm going to need them. Right now what I need is focus, that I maintain keeping the Lord number one as I finish getting ready to go and as my life changes daily for the next couple of months.

I thank you so much for reading this. Since you are, you probably mean a lot to me, so much love!

Send an e-mail to me keeping me up to date on what is going on in your life, I'll do my darndest to get back quickly.

Praise to the Father!