Blogs from Paraparaumu, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania

We arrived in Picton mid afternoon & decided to make the most of the sunshine by heading out along Queen Charlotte Drive & walking the first section of the Queen Charotte Track. As expected lovely views of Queen Charlotte Sound were admired. Tuesday we climbed up the Tirohanga Walkway to the lookout - this was meant to take 45min according to the signs but actually took just over 20 minutes - & that was with my foot playing up still! After getting our breath back & enjoying the view down on Picton harbour we headed back down to the ferry terminal & bid farewell to South Island. I must find a way to return, I would love to find a way to live & work there. We drove from the ferry up to Paraparaumu on the ... read more

Everything is just blurring together! This past week, everything has just become the norm, which is actually pretty cool! the team is a family, and we are becoming closer everyday! My passion for life, God, and others, is growing stronger everyday. I cannot wait to see what God is going to do with it outside of this. Our lectures this week was from Jono Turner about repentance. Dumm dummm DUMMMM! ha no it ended up being unbelievable. He emphasized turning TO God and From sin. Through all of this, I found freedom and able to fully give myself to God and hear His will for me. When we turn to the Lord, He gives us freedom - 2 Corinthians 14-18 I am motivated to be more than just a Christian, but live as a daughter of ... read more

First week is done and I feel like I have lived here forever!!!! Everyone has become family and it is incredible to be apart of!!! My abs are continually sore from laughing and screaming. We are beginning to dive more into things and begin more of a schedule, which is so exciting, and so busy! We went on one mini adventure this week to a lake and went on a long hike, which was absolutely breathtaking! I played my first game of soccer ever in my life I think!!!! It was the most hilarious best game I have ever been apart of… people were screaming in other languages, everyone was falling over the ball no one knew what was going on, it was just great. As a team we are involved with something called ‘Epic Kids’ ... read more

After some very long flights and lay overs I have made it to New Zealand!!! it is absolutely unreal!!! I dont think it has hit me yet that I am here and this is my new home and family! It is absolutely stunning! We were all brought here from different lives, different pasts, different places, and all have the common foundation that Jesus is Lord, and it is an unbelievable thing to witness! We live in the middle of no where in the bush, which of course, is great for adventure and exploring! And there are great climbing trees!!! I have two roommates, one from London and one from Germany! We all live in a bunk house, and are a team of 17. I cannot wait to see what God has planned for me here and ... read more

Well, at pretty much the last minute, we decided to go to New Zealand. Its been a hard time over the last 6 months and thought that a really nice break would be good for us! My Dad had been planning to come to Australia to visit my sister and I for his 80 birthday but he never got the chance. He was also plannning on going to New Zealand to visit a friend, Ernie, that he hadn't seen for 40-odd years who emigrated to New Zealand. So Cam and I decided that we wanted to visit Ernie as part of our trip.. So off we went to Wellington and headed up to Ernie's early the next morning... to the seaside town of Paraparaumu (para-param to pronounce) - everything on the North Island is next to ... read more