visited in my life. They have tons of open fields, mountains, and the most
amazing landscape I have seen. The
beaches are pretty amazing as well. We climbed this small mountain on our day
off when we first arrived that is right on the beach called mount
maunganui. It over looks the entire city of Taranga and all the beautiful
beaches.
of Faith Bible College in New Zealand. My tent is on the left, and my teammate
Carl’s tent is on the right. We have dubbed it man land since all the girls had
to stay on the other side of campus. Living in a tent has grown on me a bit,
it’s your own place to get away, rest, pray, and think. It’s sort of a refuge
these days, ha.
tradition of helping build and prepare a Hangi feast. Which includes building
these 3-4 foot pits in the ground, where they take smoldering hot rocks from
the fire and pour them into the square hole we dug. Then they proceed to stack
layers of meat, potato’s, breading, and sliced fruit. Cover all of that with a
sheet, wet sack cloths, and then pile dirt on top of it all then let it steam
for 8 hours or so then serve it. It was an honor to be able to participate in
such a unique Maori cultural event such as this.
I got a chance to talk to some of the Maori “Warrior”
people for a while where they explained to me about the history of their
culture and what God is doing in their lives today. This is Brent talking with
my teammate Carl and I.
Below is my Maori friend Matt. He used to be in a gang for a
long time and just came into a relationship with God 5 years ago. Now he’s part
of a Maroi ministry where they get back to their roots and they do mission
trips to other tribal cultures of other nations to bring the good news of God
to them.
Point where we did some construction, demo, and painting.
local waterfall for a few hours to relax and just have fun, enjoy the beauty of
New Zealand.
for the week for this Call to All conference. They are so funny. They thought
it was great when I played some Enrique “Hero” for them. They also call me Kimbo Slice because
of my beard.
The few weeks I’ve been here I have learned so much about
God, and how he works in different cultures. My eyes are being opened more and
more as each day passes by. It’s easy to look at these pictures and think; wow
I supported this guy to go have fun in New Zealand??? Fun and Missions don’t go
together right, I’m here to say that they do. Keep in mind the 1st two
countries I’m at are 1st world countries and will not be getting to
3rd world countries until March.
I thank all of you who have supported me in prayer and
finances to be able to take this journey. It’s only been a few weeks and I’m
learning and growing so much. Please write me when you can, as it is a huge
encouragement out here on the field. We will be leaving to Australia at the end
of January, and should find out our ministry there very soon.
