Henry is Cool...

Good News

I just had a conversation with Christine Harding - the Director of OMF here in New Zealand.

She is very happy with our application thus far and has been talking with the Director of OMF in Taiwan, he is also happy and encouraged by our desire to serve.

Praise God! It looks as if things are working out for us. I pray that the will of God will continue to unfold in our lives.

As a taste of things to come watch this...

Nelson on Ice

Well, we took the plunge and decided to go camping in Nelson during early Spring... it was cold. Still it was very nice to get away. We stayed at Tahunanui motor camp for four nights - the final night we decided to go and stay with Helen's cousin as there was snow on the Hills!

During our time away we went walking along the beach, went to a couple of nice cafes, had dinner out with Simon's Uncle and Helen's cousin, patted the furry animals with Henry at Natureland and played on many of the plethora of childrens playgrounds around Tahunanui.

Simon always stayed at this camping ground when he was a child over the summer time, so in a sense we were going back to re-live some childhood dreams.

Unfortunately on the way home Simon got food poisoning and was curled up for the next few days with vomitting ... and the other end! He is on the mend now an we are all back into the swing of the final term.

Both of us have resigned from our jobs and have nine weeks to go until we have both finished. We have a much clearer date now for moving up to Bible college and full time study next year in Auckland, around the 25th of January.

Simon still has a few more weeks of his study to go this term with last minute assignments and essays to prepare and Helen is working hard to finish her school year off well. Henry is pretty much eating and sleepping and playing with the vigour of a nearly two year old.

We will be outlining our plans for next year and beyond at Holy Trinity Church Greymouth on the weekend of 7 and 8 Novemebr, so if any of you can make it to the services you would be most welcome.

You can see all of our holiday photos and videos on the our photos or our videos link on the right had side of this page. Enjoy the photos there are some nice ones.

Bye for now.

Spring is Here...

And I suppose with the change of the seasons, there is room for change in our lives. I'm particularly looking forward to the Whitebait season here on the West Coast - it began just this week, the weather has been a bit inclement, so no chance to get out yet, but perhaps this weekend.

Well things have been keeping on here, progressing as our little family looks toward next year.

We recentltly had the OMF South Island representative come and stay with us for the weekend. She was getting to know us a little better, meeting with our Vicar here and discussing support options into next year. The good news is that our church, Holy Trinity Anglican Greymouth has agreed to support us. They are going to give us a fixed lump sum at the end of the year and then look at ongoing support next year - so this is great. We didn't ask for financial assistance but when memebers of the congregation and vestry heard that we were looking toward going out with OMF in the near future things moved ahead pretty quick - Praise God!

So where are we at? Well we're still working through the official application process with OMF. It is quite a long process, involving paper work, interviews, referees, medicals, psychological assessments and the like. I imagine most of the paper work will be done by the end of this month but the medicals and psych tests may not be done until we are up in Auckalnd next year. Suffice to say we are planning a 'Where are we going and What are we doing' talk at church here in Greymouth on November the 8th. So all is progressing well. OMF is really postive and encouraging and as mentioned with the support from our church they are obviously onboard too. We can't say 100% for now that we have been accpeted by OMF until all of the processes are complete. This includes financing and prayer support. Thankfully we have plenty of time to do this.

Why do I say plenty of time? Well we are planning to go up to Auckland next year so that Simon can complete his Bacehlor of Ministries and so that Helen can look at doing some study also. We have applied to live on campus and I have just found out today that my application as a full time student for 2010 has been accpeted.

So yeah there we have it - We've been offically pronounced as 'Missionaries' by our local church - feels kind of strange and a bit hard to live up to, like everyone is now watching us with eagle eyes! We are working through the application process with OMF and I've been accpeted to Laidlaw College next year. Our longer term plans at this stage are to return to Taiwan in a couple of years to begin a 5-10 year stay there.

All of this is really exciting and as we look toward next year, it's kind of hard keeping our feet on the ground here. The good thing is that we will have an onoing relationship with Greymouth and the West Coast, so everything we do now is building to the future.

We'll keep you all posted.

God Bless,

Simon.

Here's something to cheer you up for spring...

Our Time in Hanmer

Well, what a Great Holiday we had in Hanmer Springs. It was cold, but what else do you expect on a Winter Holiday? We had Loads of Fun, incluing swimming in the Hot Pools, going on bush walks, riding our bikes through the forrest and we even managed to fit in a day in Christchurch which we mostly spent buying stuff for Henry and Eating! Following are some of the highlights...

So yeah we stayed in the camping ground, infact the place Simon used to stay when we was a child, every Easter - in a tent. The Hot Pools were also there when he was a kid as they still are now...

One of the highlights of our time away was driving up the Jacks Pass Road and finding snow... Henry loved it as you can see...

We didn't get snow at the camping ground, but it was certainly cold...

The Mountain Biking was fun...

And on our Final Day we had a lovely breakfast out...

So the new term is upon us. Helen is back teaching at school and Simon has begun his internship at church. We will let you know how everything is progressing soon.

If you'd like to check out any more photos or videos of our time away amongst other things, just click on the 'our photos' or 'our videos' links at the top right of this blog page.

Bye for now.

Happy Holidays...

Well it's been a long term.

Simon's exams are finally over and he thinks he did OK. He was studying Theology - Christology and New Testament - Acts and Espistles. The new term ahead involves an internship at Holy Trinity Church in Greymouth. This will take him through until the end of the year and means he will complete the first year of his degree.

What then? We are thinking of moving up to Auckland to be nearer to family and so that Simon can finish his degree on campus. The degree must be finished within 8 years of starting and he is already 4 years in.

So some changes may be in the wind.

As alluded to as few blogs ago, Helen and I are getting a fairly clear picture of the road ahead. In April we attended an OMF, Overseas Missionary Fellowship, conference in Christchurch. Here we met the Director of OMF NZ. She was very encouraging about our desire to serve in Mission overseas and so in the last week we have completed our applications to be missionaries in training with OMF as we look to move to Auckland and complete study next year.

We will probbly live on campus at Laidlaw in Henderson, living off a student allowance and being suplemented by our rental property income - if the accountant allows it!

In the term just passed, one of the highlights for Helen and myself has been the leading of 'The Marriage Course' at church. We had 10 couples attending and many saw much growth in their marriages over the duration of the programme and hopefully into the future as well. Next half as a part of his internship - Simon will help to run an Alpha course at Church along a similar format to the marriage course.

Henry continues to grow and talk and be full of energy. He has also had couple of coughs and colds as can be expected in Winter and is actually a bit bunged up at present. He is still a delightful child even when sick though. A highlight for us this week being our visit to the new Greymouth Aquatic Centre, indoor pool, spa, sauna, hydroslides etc. Standing at the door looking in at the children and the flowing water Henry pronounced; 'AMAZING' He really is a good talker for his age. Is he a genius - do all parents think this?

We are really looking forward to a visit from Helen's Mum and partner and Simon's parents over the coming school holidays. We miss having family here. We may even get a night away by ourselves without Henry if one set of Grandparents wish to oblige. We are also planning four nights away to Hanmer Springs next week too, for some hot pool relaxation, walks in the woods, cycling though pine forest and a compulsory trip to Christchurch for the Baby Factory and probably some yummy food that isn't available in Greymouth.

Well that's about all for now - no picures this time - I figure I've posted enough in recent blogs. Check out the links to our photos and videos on this page if you want to see more. I promise we'll send picutres and video of our Hanmer Winter Holiday.

God Bless All,

Simon.

Tribute to the King

Eclectic Method - Long Live The King (Michael Jackson Mix) from Eclectic Method on Vimeo.