Hello again and thanks for stopping by my blog!  We had a good service this morning at church as our pastor, Rob Hintz, shared with us a message of turning guilt into repentance and, finally, into healing.  Our church has made a very smooth transition from our former pastor, Alison, to our new pastor and his wife, Rob and Kolene Hintz.  We can still see the effects of the great work that Alison did in our church as well as see the effects of the work that Rob and Kolene are eagerly putting into the church now.  I wish that all churches could go through pastoral changes this smoothly!
     We have a kids club on Sunday afternoons that is going great.  The kids have a great time at Kids Club and learn valuable lessons that they can hopefully take with them into their homes and schools.  Here are a few pictures from our kids club of last week.

     We also started a youth group meeting last Friday for our older kids in school years 7-13 (that's grades 6-12 for my American friends and family).  We had nine kids show up and they seemed to have a really good time as Lori goofed around with them for a while before having a lesson time with them.  As you can see from the pictures below, it was all very serious...well, not really, but that's what made it fun!

     I also finished my job at Whangaroa College on this past Friday after three months of working there.  This school was one of my most challenging jobs ever as I made the transition to living in New Zealand.  I have mixed feelings about leaving there because I was able to make a good relationship with some of my students but the stress of working there was taking a great toll on me.  I am hoping for bigger and better days in the future while teaching at Dargaville High School in Dargaville, New Zealand.  However, I must acknowledge one person in particular who helped me at Whangaroa College.  His name is Ant Rodger (Ant is short for Anthony).  Ant helped me tremendously during a time in my life when I was feeling crushed by stress and emotions of a new job in a new country without my family!  I don't think he realizes how much he helped me but God knows how much he helped me and I have asked God to bless Ant and his wife, Kat, especially as they are expecting their first child soon.  So I leave you today with a picture of Ant and myself outside the school at Whangaroa College as well as a few scenes of Northland and, finally, a picture that Lori took of a parrot (the eastern rosella) outside our house.