Two Weeks in Middle Earth

I'm here!!

I made it!!

And I finally have internet...

Wow these past two weeks have been crazy.

God has continued to display His presence. We missed two flights due to weather delays (Chicago to LA and LA to New Zealand). And still managed to be re-booked and arrive an hour after our original flight. This was actually a good thing since our ride from the airport arrived late for the first flight but on time for our rescheduled flight. Sam and Jeremy were the two Kiwi's who volunteered to be our chauffeurs from Auckland to Hamilton. They're cool guys. They brought us to the home (farm) of Luke and Kristin, who housed us for about a week while we got our flat together. They live in a gorgeous area. It looks like Hobbiton in Lord of the Rings. Kristin's family owns a Kiwi farm. She gave us a tour of the packing plant and we got to have some free exotic yellow kiwi fruit (another name for expensive in America but bountiful in NZ).

Luke, Sam, and Jeremy are all part of a band called the Holy Rollers (ha ha). We saw them perform on Friday at a Battle of the Bands in Hamilton. They were really good. Plus they won. They are are all Christians and Cara and I were able to attend their church in Cambridge the first weekend we were here. It was a great church. Unfortunately Hamilton is 30 minutes away from Cambridge and without a car we can't really attend that church.

There have been so many funny...interesting...unexpected things that have happened since I've been here. I've formulated so many blogs in my head. Hmm, what to share. I'll share about my first day experience at the home of Luke and Kristin. They live on a farm out in the country. There house is attached to a Kiwi packaging warehouse. As such it's kind of unusual. Unusual being that there is a part of the house with a nonexistent ceiling. Instead the roof is the roof of the warehouse. So when the warehouse doors are open (which is always) all kinds of bugs and birds can get into the house. My first day I was sitting in the living room when suddenly I heard a high pitched squawk and a bird zoomed past my head. The poor thing was frightened and kept flying back and forth frantically. I opened the door to the porch to try to get the bird to fly out but it took a good ten minutes before the creature found its way to freedom. I told Kristin about my experience later that night and she just laughed and said that tends to happen sometimes. New Zealand farm life!! Another bird visited the kitchen on my last morning at their house. Let's just say I'm glad to be to at my Flat in the city.

Well, that's it for now. Miss you guys on the other side of the planet.