Thursday, February 02, 2006

The end of the beginning


The first month has flown by.

At the recent staff and families conference in Rotorua Ailsa asked everyone to draw a graph of the ups and downs of the last few weeks. (The Summer holidays for most people!) Our families were quite interesting.

Leaving Scotland was a low for all of us, the flight rated higher than it might because of the new in flight entertiainment system. Arriving in New Zealand was good to finally be here but strange because most people were on holiday. Hogmany was a non event here and it was funny thinking of people celebrating New Year in Edinburgh while we finished our lunch.

We got into our house on the 10th of January which was a high. We all like it and are enjoying the view. It feels a bit like we are camping. We now have a fridge and some beds and a washing machine but we are mostly sitting on deck chairs. Shopping has taken an absurd amount of emotional energy. Even supermarket shopping takes three times as long.

It will definately feel more like home when the container arrives. We believe it is somewhere between Napier and Wellington on a train at the moment. There is a big customs backlog which may delay us getting our stuff and may incur us in storage charges. (this seems as unfair to us as it sounds to you but there is no way around it unless the container gets cleared quickly).

TSCF Staff Conference in Rotorua went well. I spoke on Judges - which I think I am starting to understand a bit better. We went on to Parachute music festival in Mystery Creek which was fascinating and a good opportunity to meet people. Everywhere I go people are talking to me about the need for biblical ministry on campus, the big question is will they help develop it. There are certainly opportunities but the workers are few.

The boys started at school on Wednesday. They seem to be enjoying it so far and the staff have been very friendly. Monday is Waitangi day which is a holiday so it is a reasonably gentle introduction.

We have all been homesick at times but we feel more in a routine. Ailsa's folks arrive next Saturday for a month and we are looking forward to seeing them.

Our support levels are at around 65 percent. We are very thankful for all who are praying and standing with us in this work. I know others have said they plan to support us.

We are enjoying the sunshine and although sometimes we feel we are at the beginning of the end mostly we feel that we are at - the end of the beginning.

1 comment:

KiwiChronicles said...

1 month later - blog!