This week has been busy and awesome. We spent a few days painting rooms inside of St. Luke's church in Waikanae, from a hideous Salmon color to off-white. One of the days however, I stayed back at El Rancho to work on a map for the disc golf course at the camp! When the staff found out that I am a cartographer they asked me if I would be willing to make a map for it. I was soooooo stoked! It is looking pretty good and the staff are pleased. It is so awesome to be using my academic skills to serve the Lord! We have also been helping out at youth groups. There are two main ones that...

First off, I would like to state to all my wonderful supporters: I am indeed working! You did not donate all your love, money, and prayers just so I could come here and kick back for two months. I know that all my pictures say otherwise, but that is because no one is ever taking pictures while we are working because we are actually working! Ok. Now that I've gotten that out of the way… The most important thing that I've been learning since I've been here in beautiful New Zealand is that ministry doesn't always look like what I think it looks like. For instance, earlier...

So far, the Lord has been doing so much! This week, I got to share my testimony at a church, which was so cool. It was rad to see the Lord move in that place and just feel a sense of community there. Today, the team went to this guy’s house, who is sick and his family wanted their garden cleaned up a bit. Despite the Chicago-windy winds, it was awesome to see the improvement of the yard. We even had far too many laughs that most likely has given me rock-hard abs. Overall, I am still madly in love with New Zealand and I can’t wait to see the Lord continue to explode with His...

I am really enjoying my time in New Zealand so far—it is such a beautiful country! We have done quite a bit, including exploring the area and learning cultural differences, as well as beginning our work in the different ministries here. We have been experiencing some food in new ways, including eating the ENTIRE kiwi like an apple, skin and all, it’s delicious and I never have to peel one again—you MUST go buy a kiwi now and try it. We have also had cooked pumpkin (really yummy), pancakes with vanilla ice cream on top, and of course, fish 'n chips. We went to a church...

We just spoke with the team leaders and they've all arrived safely in New Zealand.  They are in route to their ministry site via some very long bus rides and will be settling in these next few days and getting some orientation from their host.  Expect to see some blogs rolling out in the next few days as they find internet. Thanks for all the prayers for this team! The Passport field support team