Put Yourself Out There

You know, blogging is a funny thing. And a whole other diddy to get used to. For instance, I have the urge to tell whoever is reading that I've come to really come to appreciate a great non-stick frying pan. But why should you care? And I catch myself thinking these things throughout the day - wondering what would be interesting to put on a blog. Not everybody would like to see what I want to see on a blog. Namely motorcycles, hypothetical pictures of Jesus, scientific answers as to why the sky is blue, etc...

Regardless, I do enjoy a great non stick pan because I'm coming to realize I really enjoy cooking. I really like eating too - what are the odds? I've found it immensely satisfying to buy groceries on a budget and make some sweet meals. The staple of my culinary masterpieces... meat. Lots and lots of meat. The other night I made a soup dish and had more cheese sausage left than the soup. And I already had at least one piece in every bite. So satisfying.

On to things you may (or still may not) care about. I had a sweet day today. Went on my first proper hike, ended up being around 18kms (whatever that is...). My flatmate took his car so I got up, made a meaty-egg skillet in that nice pan and took off to the races. My aim was to start at Bethell Beach and follow the West Coast by the Tasman sea North. Bethell beach was fantastic - the West Coast is notoriously wild in terms of landscape. The wind was blowing in 10 foot swells too.

I was looking at a makeshift map I made from what I saw online and a couple walked up and struck up a conversation. Probably because I looked so foreign... :) They knew the area well, and owned a bach (pronounced Batch) which is a small weekend house that happened to be just up the way. So we journeyed off with their dog in tow to their favorite spot. We had to cross the tide in one spot and I had no choice but to soak my denim britches to the knees. Couldn't have cared less, we were exploring.

They led me to a spot where I could pick up the trail I told them about and offered to have me over for tea later if I was back over that way - quite a kind couple. I followed the trail and climbed to the ridge of the coastline and followed the Te Henga trail for 10km or so. It was beautiful, and nary a visitor were to be seen for a few long stretches of it. You do need to be careful of the sun though, the bugger. Apparently there's a huge percentage of Kiwi's that battle melanoma. There's also a huge hole in the ozone layer above Australia and New Zealand. You can be burned in minutes if you aren't careful. Sheep owners in Australia are actually taxed because the flatulations of their flock don't help the process either. So nows my chance to burn a silhouette of Michigan into my chest with carefully applied sunblock....

 My plan was to connect the Te Henga (or Hillary Trail - For Sir Edmund Hillary, the first gentleman to climb Everest - who happens to be a Kiwi and also the face of their 5 dollar bill) with the Mokoroa Stream Track which was inland and ended at some pretty sweet falls. The trek up the stream was great, more natural than the other trails and much less traveled. Probably because it crossed the stream about 7 times. But my jeans were already soaked so who cares? On and off came the shoes...

I talked to another lovely older couple exploring the falls, which is also just a short walk from the carpark. And through sharing what we did for work I found out they were Christians too, pretty cool. Everyone is an opportunity to share. She's the one who took this picture. And through sharing what we did for work I found out they were Christians too, pretty cool. Either her or I can cover some sweet ground in the time it takes the 10 second self timer to go off... Timers are funny things. They make you put your camera in stupid places, propped up on one end by a pebble because the post you've selected for your "singlepod" isn't quite level... don't act like you haven't done it... There was also a younger couple who carried their 7-or-so month old daughter down to the water to splash her bare feet in the water while they held both her hands. Made me miss my niece Addie not a little bit :) Turned out to be a great day. Thanks for your prayers.

** No non-stick anythings were hurt in the writing of this post. Fence-posts were promoted to master-photographers though. Not ashamed.

Trust Jesus
JPS

Livin the Dream

Livin the Dream because of Psalm 37:4 - Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. I believe that's because my desires become his desires. His dreams are my dreams - namely seeing the world come to faith. It is an adventure for sure, especially in NZ.

So we'll start this one out with a few special shout outs... please, don't anybody feel excluded. The first goes to Third West Wengatz for the title of this post because I really have dreamed of doing something like this for years, and the second goes to Scotty Scott Scott Mason and his posse for being the first to "follow" this blog even when there wasn't jack squat to see or read. Until now.

A few things before we get rollin'. As Kyle Lantz can verify, when I write like this it's often in a "stream of consciousness format" meaning when something comes to mind, I'll jot it down. Which means I could be writing about why I still tell people I'm from Northeast Michigan when they might not even know where Michigan is, and how I think the never-before-seen-by-me Red Beaked Gull has such a lovely pure white feather tone - in the same paragraph. Enough fribbery.

So yes, the flight over went well and was fairly uneventful. Except for Customs in New Zealand having to wash my tent and my hiking boots because there was dirt on them... And jet lag really wasn't an issue either believe it or not, though it was about 22 hours total of flying. The 14 hour flight from LA to Sydney was during the night so I slept when I could and hit the sack as I usually would the day after I got here. The first few nights were in a hostel downtown, and now in a flat with a mate named Ryan, who just happens to like the Dukes of Hazzard (the old show) and Night Rider. Go figure. Needless to say we get along famously.  I met Ryan at Equippers Church the Sunday after I got here and to be honest I couldn't say enough good things about this church. It truly was an answer to prayer. Yours and mine. Just so many people that love Jesus and are genuinely interested in why I'm here and what I'm doing. An incredibly diverse congregation as well which is fantastic. There really aren't many people here from the states at all. My initial friends I met in the hostel were from Germany, Belgium, Italy, Canada, the UK, etc. I love it.

So just know that I've seen your prayers at work. I wasn't on the ground for 50 minutes and got to talking with a few girls from Canada inline waiting to go through customs. One of them just kept asking questions and on the busride into town I got to tell her about why I was involved in church and what Jesus meant to me! It's just cool because you never know who you'll meet. God continues to take care of me as He always has - no surprises there.

A few days ago I went for my first hike - except it was all paved... bugger. It was the coast to coast walk in Auckland. It stretches from the harbor downtown, 16km to the other coast. It was great fun, and took us around six hours. We wound our way through parks, stopped to watch a bit of a cricket match, and marveled at some really big trees near One Tree Hill - which U2 sang a song about... Ok fine, I marveled at the big trees, but the mates I was with were surely starting to catch on :) They think I'm funny anyways because of my accent and how I say things, which is hilarious when we start joking about it.

The new news for today is this. For the last few days I've been looking for and praying about jobs. One of the greatest things about being here is the simplicity of it. All I brought was my hiking pack and a day pack - it all fits on my back. And I'm flexible enough that I can really do whatever I have to - whether that's jobs or moving or whatever. So over the last few days I've been in contact with an organization based on the South Island and found out yesterday that I have an interview with Franz Josef Glacier Guides. I'm REALLY pumped about it. And even if it doesn't work out it'll still be sweet to go down there and see how they do stuff. So you prayers would be appreciated on that. The interview is Nov. 6th and 7th. A day to see how I do on the ice and a day for a formal interview. I'll do some travelling between now and then, and see how it goes. It'd be a unique and fantastic experience I think though. It is a very remote location, which is fine, but I'm going to need fellowship somehow, so that's on my mind.

Thanks for caring enough to read all this, and for praying for me. God is so good. I wish you all the best. I'll try to post when I can. I'll try to get some pictures up when I have access. Trust Jesus.