Wow!  What an awesome God we serve!  We are a family together again!  Lori and the kids arrived about eight or nine days ago and we have been together since.  We had a crazy first couple of days after they arrived with trying to get all of their luggage and us from Auckland to Totara North where we are staying.  With the help of some wonderful people at our church in Whangarei and the District Superintendent here in New Zealand, we got Lori and the kids settled here in Aotearoa (the Maori word for New Zealand).

     It has been great for me having all of us here together again.  It has lifted my spirits and given me a renewed vigor for being here to serve the Lord.  The school I have been at has been quite a challenge.  However, I feel that I have been able to make a positive difference for at least a few students.  The frustrating part of the job though, is that so many students just don't seem to care about anything and several of the people in charge that could make a great difference also don't seem to care.  I'm just glad I have been able to be a positive role model for at least some of these kids.  That having been said, I have been desperately praying about this job and God's will for where he wants me.  It's not been all bad at the school as I have met some wonderful people there.  I have received an enormous amount of help from Ant Rodger, the chemistry teacher there.  He has been a source of inspiration and information for me that has helped to keep me going.  I pray that he and his wife (who also works at the school) will be able to stay strong as they continue to try to make a difference in a difficult school.  They are also expecting their first child in October and I pray that God will bless them in this in ways they could never imagine.
     I have had a prayer about jobs for many years now that goes something like this whenever I apply for a job, "God, if this is where you want me then make this happen...and if is not what you want for me then close the door to it and don't let me mess it up."  I have been applying for other jobs while here and, until last week, nothing had happened with any of them.  Then Dargaville High School called me about a teaching position.  In fact, I hadn't even applied for a job there when the principal called me.  It's a bit of a crazy story.  The weekend that Lori and the kids came in I caught a ride to Auckland on a Friday morning, the day before they were coming in.  The Nazarene pastors of New Zealand were attending a seminar about story telling in Auckland and, since I had nothing else to do, I was invited along to attend.  I thoroughly enjoyed the day with the pastors and their prayers over me concerning our mission here.
     While there I met the Dargaville church pastor, Nigel Carey.  He told me that his wife, Jae, was teaching at Dargaville High School and that they needed a couple of science teachers there.  A few days later his wife sent me a message on Facebook asking if she could give my name and contact info to the principal there and I said sure.  The next day the principal called me, we set up an interview time, and I was offered the job twenty minutes after my lessons and interview were done!  Only God could work out something like this!  I probably won't start there until the end of August as you have to give two months notice when leaving a teaching position here, but I know that God is in this.  After accepting the position the principal even talked to me about the fact that he is a Christian and has been praying for God to send a Christian man to fill this position in the school!
     This is probably already longer than most people will want to ready so I will end here and write more again soon.  Let me leave you with a few more pictures from New Zealand.  May God bless you and yours!