A Week In Palmerston North

I love this photo. It is a grandfather chasing his grandson on a beach in Wellington. It was a beautiful day, and it just reminded me of God chasing us. You see, the boy would run about 15 feet or so and then face plant. Full out..plunk. And then his grandfather would wait a second, the child would pick himself up, and begin to run again.

It has been a week full of running. Every now and then we get to *plunk* and just rest, but it has been amazing here in Palmy.

For starters, the church welcomed us with a Chinese potluck dinner. We are helping lead their Chinese Fellowship group on fridays and wee able to teach them the bridge, as well as, put on a mini-leadership course.

Last Monday, I shared my testimony at a J2 (Jesus and Japan) worship night the students held. It was intimate and at the end I truly didn:t even realize we had been there two hours!

We went to an International Student Orientation expecting to run into Chinese and other Asian students. Instead, God put Europeans and Americans in our paths! From North Carolina is sheep farming Austin and girlfriend Emily. Also from there is Buddhist Bryce, Plain-ole Paul, and Frisbee pros Peggy and Liz. We met an interesting young man from New York named Russ and a German from Muenster named Dorty. ( I am naming them all so you can pray! Austin and Emily are Baptist..the rest are pre-Christians!) We held an All Blacks (the NZ rugby team) party (in image) where you can see people from all over the world joined as the Christian groups on campus joined us. This Monday, we prayed for all of them by name and ended up seeing all but Emily and Dorty the next day!!! How amazing is that!

I've also been able to meet with Michelle from the conference and at least see Jess to set up a time to meet. There were hearts shared in our tie that was a blessing to see.

I've also seen a lot of universals...bring a food or frisbee, and students come! We started playing ultimate frisbee at a place called "The Oval" on campus lunch time on Wed. and Fri. A lot of the Americans came and went and more are supposed to be coming this Friday. Russ, from NY, is seen wearing what he calls shackles in this photo. Pray he can find the truth that will remove his earthly shackles and for opportunity to hold conversation with him about Jesus. He was great at teaching new players the game of Ultimate! (in photo, Dorty, Russ, Meredith, and Masa)

We even set up a game of NavAttack for this Sat. It is a game like capture the flag, but instead of tagging people by hand, you hit them with a baking flour filled stocking. You would not believe how excited the Japanese and Americans were to hear about this game! We are afterwards going searching for glowworms so this is a future prayer request that it goes well!

There have been a few situations back at home in AZ, so pray they are resolved quickly as my friends and I are covering the situation in prayer. Pray I can stay focused as much more is happening this next week. And Happy Belated Birthday Grandma!