I love water falls...so sue me

Everything pretty much shuts down around here for the holidays, so I'll have some time on my hands for for the next few weeks. I've got some activities planned for the youth group and I'll be starting to work with an organization to that works with at risk youth. In the mean time, it's summer here and it's beautiful, so I'll be out trying to find some more places like this:

This is a Kauri tree. There's not very many of them left that are this large, since they were logged for the valuable timber. This one is 13 metres to the first branch and probably close to 2 metres in diameter.

The view back towards Tauranga from the top of Sentinel Rock. It's around 25 kilometres to The Mount in the picture.

Long exposure of Whataroa Falls, same place as last post.

Close up of the same cascade.

On the Aongatete River.

About 200 metres upstream of this, theres a swimming hole thats at least 3 metres deep, and has ledges around it that you can jump off into that water. Pretty sweet stuff.

Kaiate Falls.
Further down the Kaiate. The water is polluted now, but we'll be back here later to swim.

Thats all for now. Next time I'll have more up about things the youth group and I have been up to. Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

And a few more...

On my day off, I went hiking out to some waterfalls to check them out for future trips with the teens. It’s definitely a go for later this summer. The falls in the first pic are 8 meters high.This is just a bit further done down stream. Probably 6 meters high.

And still further down. There’s a 15 meter cascade behind me, I just wasn’t going to climb down that far without anyone else there and no cell coverage

Helping with the after school kids club at the Otumoetai church.
At the beach during a scavenger hunt with the teens. That’s Alexander leaping off the bank. The guy in green was just doing backflips on to the sand from the grass.

Brooke and Nick later that night (or maybe the next morning, it’s all a blur now!) for a marathon Halo game with the guys. They’re both students at the Bible college here in Tauranga.

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.

In the Beginning.....

This is my first attempt at blogging, so bear with me. I'm doing this to keep family and friends updated on my life while in New Zealand. Since I've never done this before, I'll probably just have alot of pictures, but will try to put up enought text to keep you all in the loop with what's going on. A bit about the blogs title. If I understand the books I read correctly, a "pakeha" is anyone in New Zealand of european descent. Aotearoa is the Maori word for the country, and means "land of the long white cloud".

As of posting this, I'm still in Wisconsin. I've had some troubles getting a work visa. There is a list of Recognized Denominations that can bring in international workers. The Greerton church where I'll be working is not on that list, even though they have been there for 50 years. This is the first time someone from outside the country has come to work with them. The application process is somewhat lengthy, so what I am doing is going in through the Napier church (who is on the list), and they (Napier) are saying on the form they send in, that I will actually be working with the Greerton church. I had one visa application sent back a few weeks ago, but that was before we had figured out this way of applying. God willing, I will have my visa in a week or so, and then leave by the end of September.