This is amazing

With all of the press that Ghandi and Marting Luther King get, this story seems to have been almost completely ignored: http://www.parihaka.com/About.aspx. This is probably a bit biased, but you get the idea. Here's the wikipedia article too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parihaka

The first of many... (I hope)

A few people asked, so here's a few pics. I'll try to have more, but it's hard to remember to take pictures when you're trying to keep activities organized.

Some of a Redwood forest in Rotorua. I was down there to meet up with the OC Pac Rim group

A view of over the city and lake Rotorua. We were up on the side of a mountain, lugeing (pretty awesome)

This is looking out over parts of Tauranga from the top of Mt. Maunganui. Alexander took me for a hike up there last Sunday.

And speaking of Alexander, here he is. He's one of the preachers kids, so I'll be doing alot with him and his mates (one of is Peter Jackson's son!).

Part way down the Mount, looking out over the inner harbor

P.S. In case you haven't noticed, it's BEAUTIFUL here.

Opportunities

So much to do. The opportunities here are limitless. I went down to a volunteer centre this morning. They had a big list of things that were possibilites. Anything from visiting senior citizens to working with at-risk youth during their lunch periods. It's going to take a while to clear all of the red-tape (please pray that my visa doesn't cause any trouble), but I should be pretty busy next school term. Right now, I'm already on for helping in an after school soccer program, working as a teachers aide twice a week, and started teaching the youth class on Sunday this past week.

Strip away the layers and reveal your soul

got to give yourself up and then you become whole

-Matisyahu

I'm leaving on a jet plane....

Well, that should be left on a jetplane, but that isn't the words to the song. Any-hoo, I'm safely in Tauranga. I arrived Tuesday morning (after 30+ hours of travel). It's been great here so far. All of the church members are wonderful people. I just hope that I don't disappoint them. We're still trying to figure out a regular schedule, but I know that it will involve teaching English (using the bible) to some immigrants, working with the youth in the congregation, and visiting members that live in somewhat outlying areas.

Pictures should be coming soon.

*editors note: I found out that the word pakeha has some derogatory connotations, so I've changed the title. My apologies to any Kiwi readers.