Prices October 2009 _2

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October 2009 c/o 1 Spriggs CresGreenmeadowsNumber 23 Napier Hawkes BayNew ZealandEmaildavid-chrisP@hotmail.co.uk

“above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.”

Ephesians 6:16Kia Ora once again from New Zealand,How time has flown since we have been in New Zealand andnow it is time to update you on what we have been doing during this deputation time. After spending a few days in Aucklandwhen we arrived in Auckland we headed down to Tauranga for a week. A Christian couple there have an apartment which theyallow missionaries to use for free. This was a really good time for us to have a short breakand recover from all theplanning and packing which we were doing before we left the UK.We had really good weather while we were there which was anunexpected bonus. One of the attractions locally is an extinctvolcano called Mount Maunganui which we walked up one day andwere rewarded with a magnificent view once we reached the top.Another day we went a little way up the Coromadel Peninsulawhich has some spectacular scenery. One thing we bothparticularly enjoy is seeing and hearing the indigenous bush and wildlife, the birds in particular arefascinating.We then headed down to Hawke’s Bay where most of David’s family live. Ithas been really great to catch up with them; we have mostly been staying withDavid’s brother and his wife which has been great to be able to spend timehaving fun together. We’ve also been busy taking some meetings in the localarea. We have been so totally aware of God going before us even in theseemingly random decisions we have made at times. As you know none of David’s family are Christians and so it was almost overwhelming for him whenwe took a meeting in the area where he had grown up and a lot of the peopleof attended knew various members of his family (some had been to schoolwith his Dad!!). He marvelled as he heard how some of his childhoodneighbours were in fact Christians, some had died but no doubt they would

have prayed for his family that they would know Christ, it was a good lesson in never underestimating thepower of prayer even if you don’t see the results yourself. We have been really strengthened by thewarmness of the Christians here in NZ who have opened their homes to us and taken care of us in so manydifferent ways, it is so good to belong to such a family and an example to us of Christ’s love for each of us.We have also been able to stay in a farm cottage owned by a family in Woodville which has been such ablessing to be able to get away from everything and have some time out together from time to time.Although we have really enjoyed our time with family and friends we are so aware of the need to have timetogether as well.David’s sister Bronwyn asked us if we would go on holiday with her and her husband to Northland. We went along as it was a really good opportunity tospend some quality time with them and also see some more of New Zealand.David enjoyed not driving as they took their car and did all the driving. For those who aren’t from New Zealand Northland was once covered in Kauri treeswhich are very magnificent, but take many years to grow. We visited a museumwhich showed the history of the early western pioneers when they arrived andlogged much of the kauri using it to build houses etc. Today Kauri is no longer logged in the same way and there is a huge programme to re-establish it again.We visited the Kauri tree with the widest girth it certainly was an awesome sight.Having done the training with NTM we quickly realised this visit how animistic the Maori (indigenous NZpeople) beliefs are and how many places or objects have legends or meanings attached to them. It has beena good Culture and Language practice to try and find out a little more about these beliefs so that we are alittle bit more tuned into asking questions and making observations when we arrive in Indonesia. This tree is greatly important to the Maori people and is known as Tane Mahuta - Lord of the forest and is thoughtby them to give life to all creatures.We of course made a trip to CapeReinga which is the most northerlypoint which can be accessed by the general public. It also has greatsignificance to the Maori people asthey believe it to be the point wheredead spirits leave NZ to travel backto the land of their ancestors. On theway up we stopped at the sand dunesand hired a board between us. We had a great time sand boarding, though ithas to be said David was the only one who went up to the Psycho slope!!

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