Monday the 1st was the first official day of spring and the sunshine followed us throughout the entire week until Saturday with a bit of rain and again on Monday.
This week Pastor Rob Strelan arrived (our new interim pastor for the next few months) - we met him on Tuesday morning. He seems like a perfect mixture between our first interim and our second interim (the first was a bit strict and inflexible, the second very very easy going). I think we will enjoy working with Pastor Rob. :)
Tuesday was a pretty busy day - I got most of my work done in the morning and then took Pepper to the beach in the afternoon to get some rays! Ken was busy preparing for his lecture on Wednesday and made his way to Starbucks in the square to also enjoy the sun while working on his computer. Tuesday evening was completely free - a first in quite a few weeks! We enjoyed the night with a good book: I read more in The Shack and Ken continued his Penguin History of New Zealand - only about another 200 pages for him to go!
Wednesday Vicki (office admin assistant) brought me some flowers to thank me for all the hard work I have done to get her settled into her job! That was super sweet and made my day! Wednesday afternoon Ken and I both enjoyed getting to know Pastor Rob and his wife Irene better as they came to the office to celebrate Lilian's (the LCNZ office administrator) birthday. It was a great lunch and a enjoyable time of fellowship. Wednesday night was our music team's last practice - we lead on Sunday.
Thursday we went to a counseling session - we've been dealing with the stress of culture shock and work for a while now, and thought it a good idea to seek some guidance. We also ended up talking to President Rob Erickson about our issues with that certain family in the church...Ken's director in the States feels that the church needs to take some disciplinary action on the family because it's not just an issue of them vs us, but is an issue that the entire church deals with! So, Ken decided to be honest and bring up our feelings to the PLT meeting on Thursday night. It was God's timing as Pastor Rob Strelan began the meeting on Matthew 18 (where Jesus talks about how to deal with conflict in the church) without knowing what Ken was going to bring up! Wow! Then when Ken opened up about this family, other leaders in the church also unloaded about how this family has been hurtful and destructive as well. We hope that something will be done, but unfortunately, this church is family owned and operated and often it seems that they value a false sense of unity rather than true Christian relationship and fellowship.
Friday we headed over to the Brewer's Apprentice for their new IPA - yum! Before heading back to the church for youth worship practice...which was a disaster! It was then that I realized it is pointless for me to be in leadership when I have no respect from those I am leading and no support from the church leadership. That evening at youth Ken also talked to the group about unity as this certain family has been dividing the group into two over the past few months. One of the PLT members came as well for support, but unfortunately, I'm not sure that talking will do anything about the problem so long as the problem itself is never fully addressed.
Saturday we enjoyed practice at Feilding with the team for the 14th evening service - it was such a refreshing experience! We thank God for the hearts and smiles of those people! We ended the evening with dinner at the Nelsons - which was really fun! We played a card game called Rummy and I lost horribly! But I won on the practice round - that should count for something, eh? Before leaving, they talked and prayed with us about the issues going on at St. Luke's. It is definitely a huge problem, something spiritual, that must be dealt with. Please pray that this church will have the strength to pull out the sliver before it infects the whole body.
Sunday our team led and we played one of my songs (always a neat experience). But Ken and I still felt very heavy about the whole situation at the church and decided to take the afternoon out at the beach to get some sunshine! It was a wonderful afternoon - I finished The Shack! Two words: read it! And Ken is now only 150 pages away from being done with his NZ history book. Phew! Pepper enjoyed running around and digging - she dug a whole that was as deep as she is tall!
Pepper and Ken playing
My turn
The master digger at work
Playing in the water with her stick
Love, love, love!
Today, Monday, the rains have arrived again. It is still spring, so although those sunshine days feel like summer, they are broken up every now and again with these gray days. Ken is busy preparing for his lecture on Wednesday as well as his Bible study event for tomorrow night called, Everything Is Spiritual (a video by Rob Bell). Looks to be good, although we're not sure how many people will attend.
Please please please keep us in your prayers as we try to discern God's will in the mess of the church. As hurtful and painful as it is for us, it is even more so for the church especially as they continue to do nothing about the problem but just sweep it under the rug. May the church have the strength and love to walk this family through discipline and healing, for the family's good and the community of the church as well! Amen.
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