28 And we know that in all things God works
for the good of those who love him,
who have been called according to his purpose.
31 What, then, shall we say in response to this?
If God is for us, who can be against us?
--Romans 8: 28, 31
Happy Father's Day! That may sound weird to most of you this time of year, but today is Father's Day in New Zealand. This past week has been a restful week for myself as I have been off work. I finished teaching in Kaeo on August 28 and was supposed to start teaching at Dargaville High School on August 31. However, I had to apply for a new work VISA in order to change jobs and it had not been approved yet. So I waited and waited and finally, on Friday afternoon, they emailed me to tell me that my new VISA had been approved! So tomorrow morning I will start my new teaching job at Dargaville. I am nervous but also excited about starting over at a new school. Dargaville is closer to us than Kaeo by about thirty minutes, but is still a longer drive than I would prefer.
This morning at church we had one of our largest number of people since I have been here. Our Kids Club tonight went really well with a wonderful group of kids coming and taking part in games, lessons, and food. This coming Friday we will have our second Revive night which is our time for youth (Years 7 - 13 in school) to gather and have some fun and learn about Christ. Church is going well and really feel like we are close to things taking off for church growth. Here are a couple of pictures from today's Kids Club.
One thing I am beginning to learn about the people of Northland, New Zealand, is that they are very friendly but independent people. Most people here would never think or admit that they need help from God for anything. In fact, many of the people of New Zealand either don't believe in God or never think about Him at all. Atheism is often promoted and encouraged by current atheists often mocking or ridiculing Christianity. Yet, Northland has a lot of people in desperate situations where they are often filled with anger that they don't know how to deal with. They want to be strong people but seem to have little hope in what they are living for. The teen suicide rate here is one of the highest in the industrialized world. The connection between the lack of Christ and the high suicide rate and little hope is no coincidence. If only the people could see that admitting their need for Christ in their life is not a sign of weakness, but, rather, a show of unparalleled strength. Several times since arriving in the country I have heard references to II Corinthians 4:4 which says "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." In this verse the "god of this age" is referring to the evil in our world, or, more specifically, the devil himself. He has blinded the people here to the truth of hope and redemption through Jesus Christ. However, I believe God has some pretty big plans for some type of revival in New Zealand! I don't know how or when it will happen but I hope that we can play some small part in His plan for making it happen.
In the meantime, here are some more pictures from our life in New Zealand, starting with a flower of the bird of paradise plant.
I was very excited to find "American Style" peanut butter that is actually made in the USA. Tastes like home!
I find these Norfolk pine trees very interesting as they are always much taller than the trees around them and the leaves grow up instead of down!
Heidi trying out our new reel push mower...it works pretty well! Hadley tried it out for a while too.
A view of Whangarei from our suburb, Tikipunga, which sits at a higher elevation than most of the rest of town.
Lori and I went for a hike around the Whangarei Falls while I had my week off of work.
Until next time...may God bless you and yours!
