Kia kaha, kia māia, kia manawanui

So much has been happening with our family over the last couple of months, and as usual we have been able to fit in lots of places, people and things.

Celebrations

Just before Christmas we were able to spend a weekend at Waihi Beach (fortunately before sharks started attacking people there) with Roy’s family to celebrate his brother turning 40. It was a fun weekend filled with fishing, bodyboarding, swimming and spending time with the family. There were some special moments for a family that don’t often get the chance to spend a lot of time together.

Since we had just had a weekend away with Roy’s side of the family and were heading down to Wellington in January, we decided to have a quiet Christmas at home alone in Pirongia. It is also a bit of a novelty to be at our house (with all our stuff) as opposed to travelling around so it made for a quiet and enjoyable day for us all being on our own schedule.

“I love Christmas, especially when we don’t have to go anywhere.” Gabrielle.

“This Christmas is the best Christmas I have ever had.” Josh.

(I think this also reflects what the second half of 2020 looked like for our family.)

We had a quiet week between Christmas and New Years with a spontaneous New Years Eve party with a couple of others who live onsite with us. Then January 2nd we headed back to the Wellington region to catch up with friends and family… but also ticked off an important thing on the ‘to do list’.

All set for a happy day at home

Medicals

We are all required to get a medical as part of our Fiji work permit application and as we are still enrolled with Waikanae Health as our medical providers, it is a little more tricky to get this done in the Waikato. The medicals are a bit of a procedure and to do it times-five is a bit of a feat. We did start this process in December in Te Awamutu but realised pretty quickly it would be much easier in Waikanae.

So while staying in Waikanae we were able to sort blood tests, chest x-rays, medicals and vaccination boosters ready for our application for a Fijian work permit and going to Fiji. I am very grateful to Waikanae Health for helping us make the process so easy there, the blood tests in particular were quite a mission (apparently it is way more complicated when you are paying for x-rays and blood tests instead of having public funding!).

Take a deep breath for the doctor Kelepi

But eventually, after spending a fair bit of money and having quite a few appointments, we all passed - we are all deemed healthy to live and/or work in Fiji 😁. Vaccinations with kids can be kind of dramatic though. As Gabrielle got one she did scream, “I don’t even want to go to Fiji anyway!!!” (She is not a fan of the heat and humidity.)

Vaccinations were enthralling

Work Permits

Originally when we looked into getting work permits for Fiji, they were not letting people in on new permits. However as time has passed that has changed and Fiji are now letting people in with new permits… hence we started the application process by getting medicals. We now have 3 months to submit our applications from when our medicals were done.

The work permit has meant a whole lot of paperwork and check lists of things to do, not just for us but others in MMM too. We are now in the final stages of this and hope to send it to Fiji in the next few days. We know people in Fiji who can take the application to the right person, rather than mailing it there and hoping for the best. This is super helpful and we are grateful for this and the team it has taken to help us in through this big process.

Then it is all up to Fiji Time (which I can assure you is real) as to how long this might take to process. Once we have been approved, we have to get approval from the Prime Minister’s office to enter Fiji. At the moment, the next step would be to get a COVID test before flying and then have to do 2 weeks managed isolation in Fiji before we are allowed into the community, unless a Fiji travel bubble actually happens. At a guess, it would be mid year when we actually get there.

The last things needed were a 'FRCA Tax Compliance Certificate' and some paperclips, then it's done!

But I'm sure you all know, things change all the time and it could change again before we leave. We are applying for a 3 year permit, as that is the longest permit you can get and it will give us more freedom than having to re-apply sooner. It definitely feels like we are going to Fiji in a different world to what we first signed up for and it seems a little insane to be applying to leave NZ right now. I am sure many people around the world would love to be here, yet here we are trying to leave.

When Tropical Cyclone Yasa and even the smaller Cyclone Ana recently hit Fiji, we saw destruction to families and areas we know and care about. We were reassured that Fiji is the place we have been called to and need to be. We feel we have skills and gifts that we can give Fiji and people we can help and train to go forward. So we continue to slowly push ahead to get there.

Kapiti Coast

We very much enjoyed being back on the Kapiti Coast for those few weeks in January and were lucky enough to house sit a place with a pool and some animals for 10 days. It was so good to have a home base in Waikanae to have people pop in and visit us. We were kept super busy with the medicals alone, but also fitted in catching up with many friends, family, church family and supporters.

An emerging family tradition - a jumping photo on our wedding anniversary. The wedding photographer can't make it anymore, so Rachael took over the duties.

Near the end of our stay one of my Uncle’s, on hearing about Josh’s interest in fishing and basically any form of sealife, took him, Roy and my sister Katie on an overnight adventure crayfishing and Paua-ing (is that a word?) at Tora on the South Wairarapa Coast. They all loved it and learnt lots.

Pine cone beach cricket in Tora

New Wine Festival

At the end of our time on the Kapiti Coast we went to the ‘New Wine Festival’, it is such a good way to start the year. Camping with church family and hundreds of others with a full programme for us. All our kids went to (and enjoyed!) the kids programme, which was so nice. That is definitely the first time we have managed that one. It even meant one day we went for a walk on the beach while our kids were in programmes. Something that is so much harder to do now they are all homeschooled. Gabrielle made so many friends at New Wine and would often wander the place with friends everywhere. Kelepi loved his kids programme, to the point that he would get stressed out if we didn’t get there early enough and Josh at least attended all the day programmes and enjoyed the adult sessions at night.

A conversation I had with Caleb at New Wine:

Caleb “I have a new friend that is opposite to me.”

Me: “How are they opposite?”

Caleb: “Well, she’s a girl”

Me: “Is there any other way she is opposite?”

Caleb: “She doesn’t like talking.”

A pretty fair self-assessment from a boy who never stops talking!

Apparently a large poster of Roy was a good idea, but he isn't so sure about it all

New Wine is full of awesome speakers, discussion and worship through music. It is a great encouragement and confirmation that we are in the right place doing the right thing at this time. I found it quite sad to leave New Wine as we headed straight back to Pirongia. It was so nice to be in a place with so many people that know us and care about us and we feel that same way. We were super grateful to people that lent us things for New Wine and helped us pack up and get on the road. It felt a little like getting out of the boat again to come back to the Waikato.

Once you see him, you can't un-see him

But one of the songs we sang at New Wine says, “Kia kaha, kia māia, kia manawanui. Be strong, be steadfast, be willing.” The lyrics of the song go on to say, “Not my will but yours be done.” This song has been pretty real to us lately. We do want to go to Fiji and work with MMM, but that doesn’t mean it is always the easy option.

Festival One

Straight after New Wine, we only had a few days to catch up on washing, sleep and buy a few more groceries and we headed to ‘Festival One’. This is a big Christian music festival which has up to 5000 people (although they didn’t quite sell out this year). We were lucky enough to camp with some friends from our church in Waikanae and their family, which meant there were more kids for Gabrielle to become friends with. That girl now gravitates to any girl slightly near her age and within about 20 minutes is great friends.

Festival Three at Festival One

At this festival we were working on the MMM stand in the missions area and we got to talk to lots of people about MMM, however we still had plenty of time to enjoy the festival vibe and see some of the great acts and a workshop. There are a lot of 18-25 year olds at Festival One, I really enjoyed telling them about MMM as I would love to see more people becoming involved with MMM at a younger age, especially apprentices. But for now MMM needs a few more qualified full time builders, so if you know of one or are one yourself, maybe this is something you could seriously consider praying about!

The 'mist tunnel' was a hit, let's pack one in our bags for Fiji

What next?

So for now we are back in Pirongia, what has been our ‘pit stop’. It has been nice to chill out and enjoy some down time here. We are about to enter new territory as we have never been in Pirongia as a family for longer than 2 weeks at a time. We are settling down for the school term. Josh is doing athletics, Gabrielle has started vocal lessons with a homeschooling friend which she is loving and there are a few more things on the radar that the kids are keen to try out.

Gabby teaching Caleb about finger-spacing in the classroom

Roy has started a big extension at the Hamilton Samoan AOG. It is only 25 minutes from home, close enough to commute to and easily visit from Pirongia. The project is to put a 14m x 4m extension off the back to create new bathroom facilities, a storage room and doubling the size of the kitchen. The current bathrooms are undersized and awkwardly placed behind the stage, so this will make the functionality of the church much more practical.

Some soft ground calls for deep footings

We will always find a spare bed for anyone who wants to visit, I don’t think our kids are that keen to get in a car to go anywhere further than half an hour these days to visit people, Caleb actually asks how many minutes it will be every time we get in the car now.

As always, we are humbled and very appreciative of all the people that support us to do the things we do. We don’t do it alone and are thankful to the team behind us who give to us financially, practically, prayerfully or are just a great listening ear. We love you guys heaps.

Rachael, Roy, Josh, Gabrielle and Caleb/Kelepi

Your can click here for our blog if you want to see our previous blogs.

If you are interested in knowing more about the organisation we work for, click here to learn about MMM

Click here to hear the song: 'Kia Kaha, Kia Maia, Kia Manawanui'

“Hi it’s Gabrielle, and this term I am doing vocal lessons with someone called Madelyn, she is 4 months older than me. I knew Madelyn before I started vocals, we went to a kids camp together at Totara Springs Christian Camp in Matamata.

The vocal lessons are on Tuesday at 3pm. In case you didn't know vocal lessons are singing lessons. Last week we were asked to come back to vocals with our two favourite songs. The songs I'm bringing back are ‘Tomorrow’ from ‘Annie’ & ‘Hallelujah’ from ‘Sing’.”

Some bonus photos