Today officially marks three weeks since I arrived in Auckland. Several friends here have made the observation that I didn't really land in Auckland, but rather just hit the ground running.
In this last week, I finally took the time to kind of jump out of my own skin metaphorically and look at the last few weeks from an "outsider's" perspective. Am I surprised that I hit the ground running? No. I probably would have been more surprised (and wonder what on earth is wrong with me??) if that didn't happen.
I'm not a "sit still and wait upon the Lord" person. I don't do that well. My host/roommate, Kathrin, and I had a conversation about that this week. She said something along the lines of, "I feel like I've been given a yellow light for a long time. I'd rather just have a red or green, but instead I'm simply getting yellow. That's ok... I have a lot of patience----NOT."
And I think that's kind of where I am. I've been at the yellow for so long that now that I'm finally here, I'm excited. I'm eager to go, to do, to be... But at the same time, there has to be the balance on the other side. I have to stop. I have to slow down. I have to take the time to grieve all the change that has happened in the last few months.
Do I absolutely love being here? Yes.
Do I absolutely love the people here? Yes.
Do I feel like I fit in here? Yes.
But still. There needs to be time to stop. To breathe. To rest. To cry.
And a big part of me wants to say, "We'll get to that later. Right now we're gaining momentum, so it's not quite time to crash yet."
But yet if I don't stop for a quick break now, I will crash and burn. And it will be ugly.
Sigh.
One of these days, self-care is going to get so much easier. One of these days, self-care could even come in the form of simply popping a "soul-soother" pill or something like that.
But until that day, we keep plogging along and do the best we can to take care of ourselves.
Alright, moving on.
So here are a few things I've been involved with since I got here:
Church at Westside Christian Fellowship (WCF)
Church service usually starts at 4:30, but because we're renting space from the Anglican church, we usually get to church around 3 to set up for our service. "Church" usually ends with a pitch-in dinner, and everyone brings a dish according to the theme that's been decided. That has been a great time for me to get to know people at the church, hear their stories, hang out, and wrestle with the kids and the youths. By the end of the day, I'm usually exhausted--usually because I spend WAY too much time running around trying to avoid getting tackled by one of the youths or kids. And even though it's exhausting, I love every minute of it. For a global nomad, the feeling of acceptance and settling into some kind of family structure is comforting. And so for church to always feel like it's a rowdy family reunion feeds my soul.
The church family here has also been great with taking care of me. People have constantly been feeding me and taken me out for coffee (it might even be possible that I've consumed more coffee in the last 3 weeks than during my seminary years. Except it's happy coffee--coffee you drink for fun, not stay-awake coffee!). A small group of like-minded crazies at church have taken it upon themselves to check up on me that I'm doing well spiritually and emotionally and processing life healthily.
Holiday Program
In a little over a week, we will be having our holiday program. The theme for this year is "Passport to the Holy Land". It's pretty much Vacation Bible School style, and it will be on October 10-14. Danette has been working very hard on getting this together, and I've been given the opportunity to watch and learn as well. Pray with us that this will be an event that allows relationships to develop amongst the kids, the group of helpers and our community. Pray also that it will bring life change that lasts longer than just the event itself.
Hiking at Piha
Last weekend, my hosts and housemates Kathrin and Stefan, and our youth pastor Steve led a group of university students on a hike to Piha and I got to tag along. To everyone who has been telling me New Zealand is beautiful, you are absolutely right. Stefan is amazing at photography and took a bunch of pictures. I haven't had the time or technology to upload the photos I took yet, so here's the link to the photos Stefan took.
So much more to write since life has been so full for the last couple of months. Once I get around to a regular routine of writing again, I'll do my best to not simply do the verbal diarrhea thing. But for now, time to get things ready for dinner tonight!
In this last week, I finally took the time to kind of jump out of my own skin metaphorically and look at the last few weeks from an "outsider's" perspective. Am I surprised that I hit the ground running? No. I probably would have been more surprised (and wonder what on earth is wrong with me??) if that didn't happen.
I'm not a "sit still and wait upon the Lord" person. I don't do that well. My host/roommate, Kathrin, and I had a conversation about that this week. She said something along the lines of, "I feel like I've been given a yellow light for a long time. I'd rather just have a red or green, but instead I'm simply getting yellow. That's ok... I have a lot of patience----NOT."
And I think that's kind of where I am. I've been at the yellow for so long that now that I'm finally here, I'm excited. I'm eager to go, to do, to be... But at the same time, there has to be the balance on the other side. I have to stop. I have to slow down. I have to take the time to grieve all the change that has happened in the last few months.
Do I absolutely love being here? Yes.
Do I absolutely love the people here? Yes.
Do I feel like I fit in here? Yes.
But still. There needs to be time to stop. To breathe. To rest. To cry.
And a big part of me wants to say, "We'll get to that later. Right now we're gaining momentum, so it's not quite time to crash yet."
But yet if I don't stop for a quick break now, I will crash and burn. And it will be ugly.
Sigh.
One of these days, self-care is going to get so much easier. One of these days, self-care could even come in the form of simply popping a "soul-soother" pill or something like that.
But until that day, we keep plogging along and do the best we can to take care of ourselves.
Alright, moving on.
So here are a few things I've been involved with since I got here:
Church at Westside Christian Fellowship (WCF)
Church service usually starts at 4:30, but because we're renting space from the Anglican church, we usually get to church around 3 to set up for our service. "Church" usually ends with a pitch-in dinner, and everyone brings a dish according to the theme that's been decided. That has been a great time for me to get to know people at the church, hear their stories, hang out, and wrestle with the kids and the youths. By the end of the day, I'm usually exhausted--usually because I spend WAY too much time running around trying to avoid getting tackled by one of the youths or kids. And even though it's exhausting, I love every minute of it. For a global nomad, the feeling of acceptance and settling into some kind of family structure is comforting. And so for church to always feel like it's a rowdy family reunion feeds my soul.
The church family here has also been great with taking care of me. People have constantly been feeding me and taken me out for coffee (it might even be possible that I've consumed more coffee in the last 3 weeks than during my seminary years. Except it's happy coffee--coffee you drink for fun, not stay-awake coffee!). A small group of like-minded crazies at church have taken it upon themselves to check up on me that I'm doing well spiritually and emotionally and processing life healthily.
Holiday Program
In a little over a week, we will be having our holiday program. The theme for this year is "Passport to the Holy Land". It's pretty much Vacation Bible School style, and it will be on October 10-14. Danette has been working very hard on getting this together, and I've been given the opportunity to watch and learn as well. Pray with us that this will be an event that allows relationships to develop amongst the kids, the group of helpers and our community. Pray also that it will bring life change that lasts longer than just the event itself.
Hiking at Piha
Last weekend, my hosts and housemates Kathrin and Stefan, and our youth pastor Steve led a group of university students on a hike to Piha and I got to tag along. To everyone who has been telling me New Zealand is beautiful, you are absolutely right. Stefan is amazing at photography and took a bunch of pictures. I haven't had the time or technology to upload the photos I took yet, so here's the link to the photos Stefan took. |
| Piha |
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