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New Zealand

We’re Here, Finally

Hello Family & Friends:

We’re in New Zealand, alive and well. You probably heard that our flights were messed up. Our first flight from Memphis to Phoenix was delayed, causing us to miss our connecting flight to LA, and thus, potentially missing our 9:30 flight to Auckland, NZ. Fortunately, we all fit on a later flight to LA and there was virtually no one on a later 11:30 flight to NZ. That meant we had lots of room to sleep and move around. The flights were all a bit on the bumpy side, but our luggage pretty much all arrived on time and everything went well. Angie was delayed because of some problems with her visa, but is in the country now, we think. After arriving in Wellington, our final air destination, we had probably 6 more hours on the road to drive to New Plymouth.

By the way, it is 7:15 here. Compare that with whatever the post clock says central time. We began our first day of work this morning after a good night’s sleep in our host family. I’m staying with the Blackman family, along with Paavo. They have been absolutely wonderful, and the New Zealand food isn’t half bad.

We began this morning, as we will every morning, with a devotional. We are working with evangelist Rod Kyle. After devotion, he leads us in a personal work class, detailing what to expect here in NZ and how to react to situations we have been faced with. We spent most of today letterboxing (leaving flyers in mailboxes–yes, it’s legal here).

The country is beautiful–even when the weather is not. The plus side of the on and off rain during sunshine is the beautiful rainbow that we see so often. It is a gorgeous place, just a little cool, but not too bad. You should
see it. And there are lots and lots of sheep. Our host family has one…as a pet! Haven’t eaten any yet….

We’re starting to understand a little bit more of what people are saying, and most of us don’t flinch…as much…when we’re driving on the other side of the road. We’ve also picked up a renewed appreciation for mind-numbing puzzles you find in newspapers. We’re all addicted, and very bad.

Thanks for everything–our trip is going great. We’ve certainly been blessed.

Take it easy, I’ll write when I can….. see you in a month!

(By the way, go to the annoying game’s website…)