May 20 - 28

Well, there's no pictures this week. But just because we didn't carry out camera around with us, doesn't mean we didn't do anything!

Monday, our day off, we decided to have a relaxing day walking around the square. I felt like dropping off some CVs at various places to see about some extra work - I ended up getting asked to do a "working interview" at a cafe and scheduled it for Wednesday. We then met up with our friends from Feilding for some ice cream in the afternoon sunshine.

Tuesday's evening Ken began the Adult Education Bible Study on Habakkuk - with some 23 people in attendance! It was a great turnout with some even greater discussion and questions: the main one being did God create evil? We didn't really learn the answer yet. Hopefully in five weeks we'll be able to tell you one though. Not everyone in attendance was from St. Luke's. We actually had about five people from the BCNZ came. What was really awesome was that a few months ago I saw this girl at the BCNZ and wanted to introduce myself to her (she looked about my age and seemed really nice) but I didn't. I forgot all about it, but then on Tuesday night, she showed up to Bible study! Isn't that crazy?! We hit it off right away - it's always exciting to meet other people closer to my age!

Wednesday I spent the whole day at Cafe Cuba being a waitress. It was actually a lot of fun, although tiring! I'm not sure I would want to do that all day long all the time, so I'm glad they haven't called me back.

Later that afternoon, there was a National Youth Camp debrief meeting. It was good to review the camp, discuss things that worked and things that need to be worked on, etc. At the end of the meeting everyone told me that this was the best youth camp the LCNZ has ever had! Wow - what a wonderful compliment. It made me feel good about all the work I put into the program. Although, I don't think I'll be signing up to lead another anytime soon!

Thursday Ken found out definitive answers on Indonesia - the grant came through! So everything is set and ready to go. There was another team meeting that evening and Pastor Rob came to share his experiences with Indonesia as well as a documentary his team made when they went over a few years ago. It was awesome to see the landscape, the people, and the culture that Roy, Lois and Ken are going to in a few weeks! Please continue to keep this mission in prayer as they are still waiting for complete details as to where they will be, what churches they will be meeting with etc. The trip is mainly to sus-out various congregations to see which would be the best suited to be in partnership with the Manawatu Lutheran parish - one that we would be able to offer assistance to, but one that will also be able to offer assistance to us as well. That's the cool thing about mission partnership - it's about both churches learning to work together, sharing with each other to complete the body of Christ, being a blessing to each other.

Friday night youth was a game night based on the 40-Hour-Famine. The youth didn't have any snacks and learned more about various cultures and lifestyles through a set of tribal games. It seemed to go over fairly well, although Ken was slightly disappointed that some of the youth didn't seem to take some of the issues (aids and poverty) very seriously. But kids will be kids, eh?

Youth band is coming along - we lead worship in three weeks. Half of our songs will be played/sung by the band and the other half will be cd. The whole service (powerpoint creation, confession/absolution, readings etc) will be created and led by the youth. Please keep this in your prayers as we work on preparing our talents to lead the congregation in worship June 15.

Saturday night we had Pastor Peter from Marton over for some pizza and beer. It was good to catch up with him and to give him some company. He's been through some major life traumas since he arrived five months ago, but he seems to be doing pretty good. A very strong man, with quite the story.

Pastor Max arrived this weekend as well - he's the new interim pastor for the next three months. He seems really relaxed and fun. Just the opposite of the last interim pastor. I look forward to working with him in service planning and leading. Ken did the children's message at Feilding as well as led the youth program that is offered during the sermon. He hasn't been able to do that very often and really enjoyed being with the youth over there. Back at St. Luke's, we had a baptism of a new baby in the Satherley family (one of the larger families in the church). However, as we were welcoming Millie into the family of God, her great grandmother Joy was taken home to God. It was a bittersweet service, but it was amazing how God works through the gifts and talents we bring to Him in worship. The songs were absolutely perfect for both the celebration of new life, and the remembrance of a great woman in the church. The sermon was also appropriate and there was no technical or sound issues/glitches. It was the perfect service, and everyone walked away quite touched with how special it had been. Aunti Joy I'm sure was pleased that she passed away in the morning before the service, because last week she had asked us to pray she'd be able to see Millie baptized. Well, she was bedridden by Thursday and would have been unable to come to church. However, being taken in the morning before the service, she was able to be there in Spirit to see her great-grandchild become a member of God's family! How special is that? Gives me chills!

Monday we relaxed and took Pepper to Himitangi beach. It was a beautiful day and we were the only people there (which meant we had optimum pickings for shells!) We also have moved on from Desperate Housewives - our latest tv series is Lost. What an adrenaline packed show! If you haven't seen it, go rent it - you'll love it!

We've made it over the hump - as of 25th we've been here ten months. Only eight more to go! It's amazing how fast time goes...we told our parents that next year memorial day, we'll be celebrating with them! :) We love you!