Two Months Abroad

hey everyone, this past weekend marked our two month anniversary in New Zealand! it has been really amazing how quickly God has integrated us into our new community through our new church home, Otaki Good News Centre. it feels like we've been here much longer than two months when i think about how long it has taken in the past to really feel at home in a new city. God is doing some pretty amazing things here in Otaki! We've met several people who have amazing testimonies of God's grace and redemption and i hope to be able to share them with you in the future. a couple of weeks ago pastor mike asked me to lead the music ministry! i feel really honoured and humbled for this opportunity. we went to a Worship Clinic in Wellington this Saturday with Wayne and Libby Huirua! it was a great time of worship, encouragement and teaching!

One of the things Wayne talked about was not grieving the Holy Spirit or not living in such a way that makes you an unsafe place for the Holy Spirit to dwell. When Jesus was baptised the Bible tells us the the heavens opened (were actually torn open) and the Holy Spirit ascended (flooded into the earth) and landed on Jesus's shoulder in the form of a dove. Until Jesus, there hadn't been a safe place (person) for the Holy Spirit to dwell with. Before Jesus died he told his disciples that he was sending the Holy Spirit back to dwell with them, and after he died and rose again the Holy Spirit ascended on the disciples in the form of tongues of fire.

Are we living a life that makes us a safe place for the Holy Spirit to come and dwell? Are we living a life that invites the Holy Spirit in or pushes him away by the ungodly spirits we entertain by what we watch, think, say and do?

Good stuff!

His Promises Endure Forever!

There was a rainbow a couple of weeks ago on our way to get our new car in Upper Hutt which is near Wellington. I've seen a few lately and they totally blow my mind! They are beautiful, complex, full of color and light...God is so awesome to give us such a tender reminder that he will never destroy mankind again like he did in the flood. At one point we could see it from on end to the other and it seemed to move with us, so my suspicion is, if there is a pot of gold at the end, it's either invisible or you will never be able to catch the rainbow to find out! :)

Every Day New Zealand - "Petrol"

torre and i have noticed that we seem to be spending an awful lot on "petrol" since we got our car so we were re-configuring gas prices here and came to the following conclusion: 

gas is currently $2.09 (NZ$) per LITRE which comes out to $7.90 (NZ$) per GALLON and converts to $6.16 (US$) per GALLON.

*ouch*

All Blacks #1

In case you missed it...

NEW ZEALAND IS THE RUGBY WORLD CUP CHAMPION!!! 

Sweet Thoughts

Our pastors daughter, Amber, made me a custom Table Runner, Gift Box and Card! She's very sweet!

Any Takers?

PICS!

finally the pics we've all been waiting for! and there's TONS more to come!

click the link below to view our "Adventures in New Zealand" album on my facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2293357664263.2131176.1558697671&type=1&l=60e5648d6d

recently added to album:

Shiloh Farm, Ohau, New Zealand - A couple we met at the church in Levin invited me to come photograph their farm!

Settling In

hey all! here's a rolling update of the past couple of weeks. lots more to come and pics too! i haven't been able to upload lately due to no internet. boo.

*Torre's Testimony

Last week Torre had a patient who's been dealing with a thyroid problem for the past year or more. They haven't been able to find the source of the problem and it's been getting worse so they've been doing all different kinds of tests. Torre told her that he would submit some more blood work and then asked her if she believed in God. She said she did. He told her that he believes in God and that he believes that God could heal her and asked if he could pray with her. They prayed together and then she left. A couple of days later her lab results came back BETTER than normal!!! Torre said they were way, way below normal so there was no mistake that God had healed her! When he called to tell her he told her that God healed her and that she has a powerful testimony to share. She was amazed! He encouraged her to connect with a local church too since she doesn't have one. Our God is a God who hears us and heals us! Amen!

Rugby World Cup

So I just realized that since I am not an avid sports fan that I haven't said much about the Rugby World Cup since we got here. I'm not even sure I said that much! the Rugby World Cup is in full swing and only has a couple more weeks till it's over. The whole event spans from September 9 to October 23 with teams from every continent in the world competing. The Rugby World Cup in New Zealand is like the Super Bowl in the states...massive, crazy and it's all the Kiwis talk, think, watch and dream about! The US actually has a team here. I didn't even know we had a real professional Rugby team. *Shrug* Last I heard, since we haven't really been paying attention, was that the US played Australia a couple weeks ago and lost something ridiculous like 65-5. :/ Our pastor, Mike, and his son, Zac, went to Wellington for that match and had a blast (Zac stood by Australia since he's really from England :)! You'll be happy to hear that the Kiwis dislike Australia SO much that the entire stadium of Kiwis was rooting for the US to win the match. They like us they really like us! :D

“The Adventure Wagon”

After we moved here we realized that a car was going to be a must so we've been keeping our eyes peeled for one since we got here. The practice provided a rental car for the first four weeks we were here to give us time to find something so that was a huge blessing. At the end of our rental we still hadn't found anything so our pastors let us borrow their second car which was REALLY generous of them. Thanks Mike and Helen!!! Torre has been diligent to do regular searches online at http://www.trademe.com/ and Wednesday night we found the new addition to our family! She's a 1991 Burgundy Mitsubishi Chariot. Our goals in searching for a car was to have one with good gas milage, minimal ware and tare and camping capacity so we could go on weekend trips and be able to sleep in the car at camp sites. Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner! Our very first trip is planned for October 20-24 to Nelson on the South Island!!! We will take “The Adventure Wagon” on a three hour ferry ride across the Cook Straight from Wellington to Picton and then travel down to Nelson and surrounding areas for exploration and adventure. Can't wait!

Our "Cottage" :)

We moved into our rental, or “cottage” as the Kiwi's call it, last Friday night! Every day since we have become more and more fond of it! The property its on is long and lean with a decent size front yard that is surrounded by native trees and plants as well as a big back yard full of native trees, plants and fruit trees. We have a fig, loquat, apple and plum tree and one other that I can't remember the name of. A grape vine is growing behind the old shed too. There's also rhubarb growing in one of the planters. Rhubarb grows like a weed here and the Veterans Nursing home Torre works at twice a week in Levin seems to have it growing as landscaping. The figs are just starting to bud and take shape! Our neighbors next door are an older couple we know from church, Brian and Kathrine, and they have a garden and some fruit trees so we've already been getting some fresh lettuce, spinach, herbs, grapefruits and lemons from them! They are extremely kind and very generous. Brian is coming over this week to build me a vegetable bed!!! The house has two bedrooms that face the street, a small living room that has french style doors that open up to the back yard, a nice size kitchen that is equip with a dish washer (Praise God!), a bathroom with a stand up shower and a very old, deep tub and a small laundry room that has a washer/dryer, mud sink and the refrigerator in it. The owners build bunk beds in the guest bedroom so there are three bunk beds and one queen size bed in it. The Aguilar Bed & Breakfast is officially open for business all!!! :) There's plenty of windows so we get great sun light through out the day. None of the windows have screens on them, but that seems to be normal for New Zealand. They don't seem too concerned with keeping bugs out like we are in the States. We had a couple of white doves in the backyard last Saturday and there is a black bird couple that's building a nest in the roof of the old car park next to the fig tree. I have a feeling I'm going to have to make sure that I get to the figs before they do. :/

Saturday we had our first BBQ, even though it wasn't a very nice day weather wise, with Mike, Helen, Helen's parents who are visiting from England, the kids and Brian and Kathrine. Our BBQ didn't come without some problems though. Long story short, we bought and had to return two different BBQ's because they were both missing parts. *Sigh* We bought the second BBQ like an hour before everyone was coming over and didn't realize that there were pieces missing until people were knocking at the door! Aaahh!!! Thankfully Brian has a nice BBQ and brought it over for us to use! *Whew* The loquat tree is beginning to ripen so Brian cut some open and we tried them for the first time. When fully grown they are yellowish orange, just about 2 inches in length and 1.5 inches in width. Most of the size is taken up by the large brown seeds inside and the fruit is just about ¼ inch thick between the seeds and the skin. They have a citrus flavor and Brian said they make a good conserve when juiced. For lunch we had burger, drumsticks and salad and for dessert, homemade chocolate chip cookies. :)

Beach Walk

Last Saturday Torre spent the day surf fishing on Otaki Beach with a few guys from church. He unfortunately didn't catch anything, THIS time!, but had a blast learning. We had just moved into our cottage the night before so I spent the day finishing the cleaning, laundry and general settling in stuff. Early afternoon came and I was ready for a break so I decided to take a long walk on the beach. As I walk down our long dirt drive I turn right onto a two lane street that doesn't have any lines on it to divide the lanes. I then turn left on a similar looking street that has a “dairy” or convenient store at the end of it, another quick right up a short steep hill and I'm at the beach. It's probably about a 3 min walk!

Saturday's weather was absolutely perfect! The best yet I think. Spring has sprung here in the North Island and everything is in bloom. The beach was fairly busy for an early Spring weekend. Two girls picnicked on the grass, a group of people were actually SWIMMING in the still frigged waters of the Tasman Sea, a little girl sat next to her dad playing in the sand wearing nothing more than a long sleeve t-shirt, a couple beach hiking passed by smiled and said hello, in the distance Kapiti Island sits quietly against a clear blue backdrop and something you'd probably only see in New Zealand...a boat trailer that was driven onto the beach with a tractor! The beaches here are all accessible to the public and you can drive on them...some are even considered real roads. You don't even need permits for clamming or fishing! I walked along the beach spending time with my Father God, collecting shells he led me to, resting, thinking. It was all quite perfect.

Volunteering at the Church

I've started volunteering at the church Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Mike asked if I would help to manage the office and a couple of things I've talked to him about doing is helping to build up a maintenance and hospitality team. I am singing and playing the drums with the music team and I am overseeing a “Spring Working Bee” to get the church property cleaned/fixed up! I was reading 2 Chronicles 31 last week and it starts with Hezekiah coming to the throne at the age of 25. Hezekiah was a man of God. He was a faithful tither and servant who from the very beginning of his reign began to call the Israelites back to God by destroying all false Gods, restoring the Temple and the Passover Celebration, commanding all people to give of their first fruits back to God and to serve in the Temple. What really captured my attention was Hezekiah's example. The Bible says that he tithed from his own possessions and faithfully served in the Temple and because of this God blessed him and he prospered. I believe as Christians, if we aren't being faithful in tithing and serving in our church community, that we are missing a big piece of the puzzle. I would encouraged everyone who has a church they call “home” to find a place to serve and give back. We always say that we are “Blessed to be a Blessing”, but I was recently thinking that being blessed usually begins by BEING a blessing. :)

*MOM

Yes the toilets flush counter clock wise :) but not all of them! Some just have a massive flow of water that flushes 'everything' straight down