Final Days in NZ

Saying goodbye is always hard. Especially when you've developed some really good friendships. My final days in New Zealand were tough ones. As the reality of leaving hit me I began to mourn the end of the fun times together with friends. This is not to say we will never experience fun times together again, but rather that we won't be doing it any time soon. And that was devastating to me. How do you create a bond with someone and then leave it all behind? The difference between leaving my friends in NZ and leaving my friends in America was that there was a set time of when I would return to the US, but with New Zealand I just don't know. I don't know when I'll have the money and time to return. I don't know where life will take me and if it'll be months or years until I see my friends again. (Sob!) It's times like these when I ask "Why" questions to the Lord and then cling to Him as the one friend I have that I can always hang out with, no matter where I am in the world.



With that said, I'd like to share my last 3 days in New Zealand and why they were so special to me. On Thursday, my life group/church had a goodbye barbeque for Cara and I. It was fun to spend time one last time with our church family. People who have really poured into us this year by teaching, encouraging, and praying for us. Life in New Zealand would have been so much harder if it wasn't for our church family. At the goodbye party we were able to share with everyone what the Lord has taught us this year and what our plans were for the future. Afterwards people shared with us the impact we had on their lives and how much they would miss us. Then they prayed for us. It was a very touching and emotional moment for me.



On Friday, Cara and I had lunch with our pastor, Campbell, and his wife Lorraine. It reminded me of when we first came to NZ and how the second week at City Bible Church we were invited to have lunch with them. Campbell shared how much he appreciated our involvement at CBC and how good it's been to see us grow in the Lord. My thoughts are that part of that growth is due to him. Once again we had an emotional time of saying goodbye to him and his family. Later that evening Our friends surprised us by inviting us to their house to play Cranium. This game is so much fun and we've played it about six times while in NZ. Lots of fun. During the evening they pulled out some A&W rootbeer and made rootbeer floats. The thing that is so special about this is that NZ doesn't have rootbeer. Our friends had to search in some tiny Dairy store to find this drink (shipped all the way from the US). It was the first time they tried rootbeer. It got mixed reviews. The funniest being that it tasted like athletic muscle medicine. Ha ha! I never thought about it but, rootbeer does have an odd flavour. Oh well, I appreciated the effort they made to get the drink.



Saturday was leaving day. Cara and I ran some quick errands, including dropping garbage bags off at the city dump and shipping a box of items home. Then, four of our friends went with us to the airport. I loved the hour and a half drive out to the airport since it was a chance to just talk and relax one last time. Also, it was my final glimpse of the beautiful New Zealand countryside. At the airport we met up with four more friends. So a total of eight friends saw us off at the airport. That was the most special moment of my time in New Zealand. I don't know if they realize how much their presence at the airport meant to me and Cara as we left New Zealand. The goodbyes were long and I will forever have ingrained in my memory the picture of them waving goodbye as we walked away. We shed quite a few tears on the plane and even now they're starting to come as I type this. Lord thank you for the meaningful friendships we made in New Zealand. I miss them all.