Not an Englishmen in New York but an English family in New Zealand!

Apologies for the lack of posts for the last month! I have been pretty busy! My big sister Jenny, her husband Simon and my two nieces Gracie and Jessica arrived in Wellington on the 1st September. I have been anticipating their arrival for most of the year and it's been great having them here. Unsurprisingly they were very tired when they arrived but they all coped amazingly well!

They spent their first week in Wellington enjoying its sights and attractions. I then took a week off work and we travelled around the central north island. We did a lot of driving and covered a lot of miles but we also had loads of fun! A few of the highlights were a rope swing over the river in Wanganui - free and lots of fun! The Gloworm caves in Waitomo - definitley worth seeing even with Jessica screaming for the first few minutes after the instruction for silence, Staying with the wonderful Goolds in Petaruru. A day trip to Rotorua and seeing the boiling mud, hot waterfall and hot spring spa pools! Also sledging on Mt Ruhapehu and watching Jenny and Simon doing a bungee jump.

I am currently sat having gotten the girls bathed and in bed. I am looking after them while Jenny and Simon are away for the weekend skiing. Man, I'm tired. I'm having loads of fun with them and really enjoy having the time with them but it's exhausting!

I can't believe they will be leaving this Friday! It has gone so quickly! I'm dreading the airport but just one week later I will be there meeting Mum and Dad. Yay!

26 or 1?

I got lots of wishes of "Happy first Birthday" on Sunday, meaning my first NZ birthday but much more water has gone under the bridge and I turned 26 on Sunday! I had a lovely birthday weekend with a facial and dinner on the Saturday. On the Sunday I had church where some very good friends of mine were being commissioned before moving to Nepal. I then went back to the flat for a pot luck lunch with lots of people from my church. The girls next door had baked me a birthday cake and I had a lovely afternoon with them. Then in the evening Nyree, Viv, Olivia and myself went out to the ballet to see Romeo and Juliet. It was my first time seeing a ballet and I thoroughly enjoyed it despite not feeling well! I am very glad that i knew the story though, I'm not sure I would have known what was going on if I hadn't! It was another excuse to get dressed up and we had a really great time!
Everyone here made it so special! I couldn't believe how many lovely presents and cards I got from people, it was amazing!

A Black Tie Affair

Nyree invited me out for a fundraising meal on Saturday night. She would pay most of the cost as a birthday present to me. It was a black tie, 4 course dinner! After being so good with food and going to the gym for 3 months now, it was nice to have a bit of a splurge and not worry! It was really fun getting all dressed up. It was lots of fun getting to know people that I don't know that well and the food was really good!

Shane from church was playing guitar and even took requests and then i was very embarrassed when everyone sang happy birthday to me!

Olympics - Scripture Union vs TSCF

Not wanting to miss out on the fun of the Olympics, our office were challenged by SU (who we share a building with) to an epic battle! The events included:

straw javelin - where Liz was our absolute star player thrashing the rest of the field.

sock hockey - the key was knowing the rugby ball behaviour of the rolled up socks.

egg and spoon relay race down and up the stairs - where despite dropping the (hard boiled) egg twice we still managed to finish 1st.

rubber band archery - Ouch! Some of us weren't very well practised at this.

balloon volleyball - It was quite difficult smashing a balloon to the ground as it definitely wanted to float!

Frisbee discus - SU were victorious at this highly skilled event.

table top soccer - which involved blowing a ping pong ball off the other side of the board room table. Fortunately no-one fainted from lack of oxygen.

It was such fun! We even had an independent referee. After a hard slog, TSCF were victorious by just 2 points and we were very pleased to receive our medals and trophy!

Part 1 of a social and cultured week.

On Tuesday night, I had the privelage of being invited to watch Craig Pollock (our national directors son) sing with 700 other school children and an orchestra 80 strong. Craig was brilliant as were all of the children. It was a really fun evening and I spent half the night wanting to learn to play the cello and join an orchestra! I think i'm a bit old for that though! I went with Ailsa (Craig's Mum), Luke and Jamie (Craig's brothers) and Jeni. Unfortunately Nigel couldn't make it as he is in Beijing at the Olympic games.

A Sunday afternoon stroll!

(me with Island Bay behind me)

Saturday was an awful day weather wise but on Sunday it was beautiful. I was sat in the lounge with the front door wide open, sun streaming through, reading the Sunday paper and Raewyn called me and asked if I fancied taking a walk! I had enough time before night church and thought it would be great! Raewyn and I walked through the suburb where I live and walked to the top of a nearby hill which overlooks the coast and the suburb. We walked down a different way and then round the coast back home. It was a really lovely walk and i'm glad raewyn suggested it.

A new member of the TSCF family as another leaves!

Emily used to work in the TSCF office as an administrator. She just recently gave birth to Hamish Ryan Johnston. Huge Congratulations to Mark and Emily! We now have one member of our TSCF office creche although i'm not sure who will supply the next....

On a much sadder note. Liz Watson has now left TSCF as her and her husband Matt move to Nepal in early September! Liz has become a very dear friend over the last 8 months and I will be very sad to see her go! Matt and Liz are an amazing couple and I look forward to hearing their news as they head off on their big adventure!
On Monday, we had a farewell lunch for Liz and little Hamish even made an appearence. We will really miss her at TSCF and I will really miss her as a friend and as a car pooling buddy!

MV Doulos

Constructed in 1914, MV Doulos is the world's oldest active ocean-going passenger ship (same age as The Titanic). During her lengthy career, she has sailed under four distinct names: Medina, Roma, Franca C and Doulos. The ship has been utilised for four very different purposes: freighting goods, transporting emigrants, for cruises, and most recently in her present role as a vessel to bring knowledge, help and hope to the people of the world.

Doulos visits port cities throughout the world, supplying vital literature resources, encouraging inter-cultural understanding, training young people for more effective life and service, promoting greater global awareness, providing practical aid and sharing a message of hope in God wherever there is opportunity.
It is due to be decommissioned and so is undertaking a farewell world tour and was in Wellington for a week earlier in the month! After talking to Dad and finding out that he had been on board the Doulos back in the day (when he was a young(er) person), I was keen to go and have a look. It also has a very cheap book store so decided it was definitely worth a look!

The office decided to go together on a beautiful sunny Wellington winter day!

Lives That Count

The TSCF conference entitled 'Lives that Count: Mission from McDonald's to Mongolia' took place in Auckland from 27th June - 2nd July. It went really well and it was fantastic for me to meet so many students.

The students seemed to really enjoy the mixed program of meetings, seminars, destination world, resource centre, Sunday morning at different churches, a day trip to a temple, islamic centre and mall, lots of recreation and the final night concert!

I was kept busy all week working long days but loved watching the students enjoy themselves and get excited about mission.

One of the highlights of the week was the trip to the three place of worship - A Buddhist Temple, An Islamic centre and A Mall. It was a great chance to see how other people worship, understand them better and therefore sharing the Gospel with them more effectively. It was very obvious at all three places the lack of hope or certainty in there futures wheras I can be certain of my salvation in Jesus Christ! The students seemed to find it beneficial and asked some excellent questions to the staff in each of the centres.

I was ready for home though by the time I got back and enjoyed a couple of days off!

A small Tiki tour to Auckland!

The TSCF mid year conference started in Auckland on 27th June. As there was A LOT of stuff that needed to be transported up there, I decided that it would be a good idea to drive. It also gave me a chance to see some more of the country. So last Thursday, Val and I set off with a heavey laden car for our long drive north. The previous day the desert road (main road north) had been closed for a short while due to snow so we were pleased to find it was open when we needed to drive along it. Normally from the desert road you get fantastic views of Mt Ruapehu but there was too much cloud! I did get to see some snow though!

The remnants of a snowman - most of the snow had melted!

Val and what we could see of the mountain through my car window!

The base of Mt Ruapehu! It is very high - I promise!

We kept driving and made a stop at the Huka falls! Very beautiful rapids which are illegal to Kayak down. They are an amazing colour! Can't wait to take Jenny, Simon and the girls to go and see them.

We then carried on our journey - stopped off at Vals parents for the night and then carried onto to Auckland on Friday morning. Next installment will be about conference!

Completed at Last!

So, at the beginning of March, I decided to start a jigsaw. I fancied a bit of brain activity and thought it would be good to do as the weather got colder and had lazy afternoons in the house. It was much more difficult then I expected, but just before leaving for conference (post to follow) I completed it after nearly 4 months! I had lots of little short bursts and then long breaks as I got frustrated and bored with it but perseverance came through in the end and here it is:

Breakfast in Parliament!

On Thursday Morning, I attended a prayer breakfast in the banquet hall in Parliament. It was organised by the council of Wellington city churches and the chair of the TSCF board, Judge Andrew Becroft was speaking about Jesus affecting how we are in our workplace. He spoke excellently and even mentioned TSCF. About 8 of us from work attended to support Andrew. It was an early start but certainly not anything I ever would have had the chance to do in the UK!

Apparently it's winter!?!

After church this morning, Trudy, Katie and myself went out for lunch at Maranui Cafe in Lyall bay. It has a bay window overlooking the beach and we managed to get a table by the window! It's 16 degrees today, the sun is out and the wind is light - what a stunning Wellington day! I will be very happy if winter stays like this! After a very delicious lunch of avacado, tomato and bacon on 5 grain toast we decided to go for a walk along the beach! Whoever comes to visit me will definitely be taking a trip to Maranui!

Time flying by!

OK, so I apologise for the lack of posts for a couple of weeks. I can't believe I'm already in my sixth month of being here, time is just flying by! I'm trying to think what I've been up to since my last post and I can't say that's it's anything very exciting! Work is very busy at the moment as conference starts in 2 weeks! I'm driving up to Auckland (8 hours) on 26th June and I'm looking forward to the chance of seeing some more of the North Island. We already have 90 odd registrants for conference which is great and it looks like it's going to be a fantastic week!

Winter is slowly going by, I still have the urge to go Christmas shopping. Today has been a stunning day though. My friend Trudy came round and we went out for a lovely walk along the coast. I didn't even need my coat it has been a beautiful day!!! If winter stays like this then I will be very happy!

I have joined the gym!!! I have put on so much weight that I decided enough was enough and I've joined the local council gym! I go 5 times a week and am absolutely loving it. I go straight from work so that I don't get comfy on the sofa. I'm feeling a real difference in myself and I'm looking forward to seeing the results in my clothes!

On Tuesday I went to a public lecture with Dr William Lane Craig - The title of the lecture was 'She'll be right: Do we need God in a self sufficient age?' It was partly organised by TSCF and there was a great turn out. Dr Craig is one of today's leading philosophers and it was a great opportunity to be able to listen to him. It took me back to my sociology days at 6th form which I used to love. It was great to see the turn out and hear the questions at the end. Dr Craig shared some of his testimony of how he came to Christ at the end which just framed the whole lecture. I also felt semi-intelligent attending a public lecture!!!

So I think that is pretty much all my news for the last couple of weeks!

Day Trip to Auckland

Sounds a bit strange doesn't it? Day trip to Auckland!!! but it is actually quite common here! This year's TSCF Student conference is happening at Willow Park Conference Centre on Eastern Beach in Auckland so I headed up there this morning to do a site visit. I am coming down with a cold and very annoying cough so the prospect of getting up at 6.30 this morning was not an attractive one! It is about 1 hours flight up to Auckland from Wellington. It was a stunning day in Auckland and I was picked up by a collegue and taken via another collegues house to Willow Park. The visit was really helpful in my preperations for conference. We then stopped for lunch at a lovely cafe overlooking Eastern Beach:

I was then whizzed back to the airport ready for my 2.45 flight back to Wellington. Whew what an exhausting day!

Autumn in May!!!!!

So it's coming to the end of May and Autumn is definitely here. It feels very strange to see trees looking like this in May! With the dark cold evenings setting in I keep getting the urge to go Christmas shopping! I find it quite confusing to realise that it would be very early! It got me thinking about how much our brains rely on visual signs to determine where we are and what time of year it is. If there is a bank holiday for instance, it confuses me about what day of the week it is! My friend Lizzy, for the first three years of living here started thinking about her birthday as soon as the weather turned colder beacuse it is in September! I don't think I will ever get used to May meaning cold autumn weather and September meaning Spring! I am really glad I live in a place with clear seasons though even if they are the opposite way round.

Which way is North?

I had an interesting conversation the other day. We were talking about what could be causing the headaches I have been having. Somebody suggested that it was because I was upside down. It was then suggested that maybe I was the right way up. We then had a discussion on the fact that space has no top or bottom. Who says North is up and South is down? Maps were initially drawn by Europeans! I found this very confusing! I still do I think! If there is a scientific reason that suggests that the Northern hemisphere is at the top and the southern is at the bottom then please let me know, I would be very interested to hear. Otherwise it is a good reminder to consider a different perspective! Especially of those in the southern hemisphere constantly being told they are upside down! :o) The conversation did put my brain into a bit of a spin though and that definitely didn't help my headache!