Father's Day and Ninja Warriors

Hello! It is Friday, May 29 at 12:54pm New Zealand time! I think mostly everyone in the States is still enjoying Thursday night! Just an update on what we have been up to since we last wrote...

Monday night we went to the Korean Bible Study again at Auckland University. It's been an awesome experience as we have gotten to know some of the students and build relationships with them. We are making plans to meet up with one of the girls this weekend and she is going to show us around the city that she lives in. That is one thing that we have enjoyed a lot; we are meeting a lot of people and it's awesome to see the relationships build and the doors that are opening through that.

Tuesday night while Keith was gone teaching English to some of the asylum seekers, the girls stayed back (because it is all men there) and we baked him a cake and planned a surprise for him! When Keith came back that night, we had all the lights in the apartment turned off and we kidnapped him as soon as he entered the door. We put a blanket over his head and led him to the back of the apartment where we had a cake and cards that we made waiting for him! The cake said "Happy Father's Day" as we implemented this holiday just for him so that we could show him how much we appreciate him and everything that he does! It must be a really hard job to be the only guy with 4 other girls.. so we do our best to show him how much we appreciate him, despite the pranks that we may pull on him... ;-)

Wednesday night we went to a youth group and collaborated with Brian (the Youth Pastor) and we did skits and shared testimonies with them and we had a blast! It was so much fun and the youth were sooo welcoming and loving towards us! It wasn't a big crowd that night because of lot of them were sick, so it was very personal and intimate. The kids that we did meet were so mature for their age. A lot of them were refugees themselves and had come from the Middle East or South Africa. We are planning on helping with their Youth Group a few times next week as well and we are really excited for that!

Last night, Thursday, we met again with the refugees for the Bible study and it was a very unique night. The discussion was awesome because they were truly seeking answers to challenging questions and it was a great opportunity for some of the people on our team to share our hearts and answers that we have to them. It is amazing to see them every week and watch the relationships build and see how their trust in us is growing.

Today we woke up and went down the street at 9am to a Women's Rehabilitation Center to help clean and do anything they need help with. They drove four giant vans around and we cleaned all of them inside and out. Also, we cleaned the walls in one of the apartments that a family is staying in because they are painting the walls soon. We felt a lot of heavy spirits in that room and we were very sensitive to know that some things have happened in there before. Please pray for that facility and anything that might have happened that it will be washed with the blood of Jesus.

That brings us to where we are right now! Tomorrow is our free day and we are going to go relax at a beach with Brian, the Youth Pastor that we have been working with! It has been a lot of fun building relationships with the locals and other missionaries around Mangere (the city we are living in).

We have also been torn between the decision to either adopt or kidnap one of the little Korean children who are staying here on the base. He has played Ninja Warrior games with some of us this week and when he came by our apartment this morning, he looked at Dana and clung onto her for dear life and would not let her go. Even when we tried to leave, Amy tried to undo his grip of death and he ended up just being suspended in the air and wrapping his legs around Dana. This is the one moment we seriously regretted not having our cameras! It broke all of our hearts as the love that he was showing us was incredible. It's amazing how much you affect the children that you are around and don't even realize it!

Thank you for your continued prayers and support! We love and miss you all! Also, a special thanks goes out to Mr. Wigner who provided our team with a GPS and a map package for New Zealand! That has been our lifeline and has saved us from so many unneeded adventures of touring around New Zealand lost! Thanks so much! Until next time.....

God Bless,
Stacie