A term in Pirongia

We have now spent a whole term in one place. This has given us the opportunity to do everything needed to get our 3 year work permits approved for Fiji! We are still waiting on some final paperwork to be able to “activate” and use our permits. But at the time of writing this, Fiji has 35 cases of local transmission of COVID-19 in the last two weeks after a year with none. Majority of these cases were already in isolation before becoming infectious and they are all linked to the same cluster, but it is also still unfolding. There are a lot of different stages of lockdown and rules in place, and we are watching the Fijian news very closely to see what happens next. They are at least doing their best to contain the virus. So everything is on hold at the moment, but it is encouraging that like NZ, Fiji is making its best effort to “Go Hard and Go Early.” Please keep Fiji and all countries being impacted by COVID in your prayers!

Showing them how to use a slinky appropriately on a building site

This term Roy has been leading a team at the Hamilton Samoan AOG, where they have continued the extension that began in early February. The project has been ticking along well; in the last week the exterior has been completed and in the week ahead they will begin the interior wall linings. One particular aspect of the job that Roy has enjoyed is the chance to teach the other volunteers around him good building skills and techniques over a longer period of time. Two of these volunteers have been a young Samoan guy called Ben from the church and 15 year old Taylor who is homeschooled and able to help out 4 days a week for work experience. You can check out an article by Taylor here in the last MMM magazine. With the extension being a significant size (compared to MMM’s ‘normal’ range) and encompassing all parts of building from the foundations up, it has definitely been a great opportunity to teach others (even if he has to explain to the plumber more often than he would like that someone has put a screw through the drainpipe). The extension will be a huge improvement to the way the church can use the building and they will put it to good use!

Working on the roof framing with Taylor and Ronnie

The kids and I have made regular trips to check out what is happening at the building site and have been learning about it as we go. This week it was learning about the different colour pipes for hot or cold water and gas, checking out the brick work and insulation. Roy and the team of volunteers have been well looked after by the Pastor and his wife and always make sure to keep the children well fed when they visit or with treats sent home with Roy.

Maccas on the building site for lunch

This term Josh has been involved with athletics and enjoyed going to a few competitions, getting a ribbon for high jump and a spot prize. He has also been enjoying Te Awamutu’s amazing library where I told him he had to get more than 2 chapter books out a week as he goes through them too fast.

Gabrielle is a social butterfly with something on nearly every day of the week. On Tuesday’s she has been doing vocal lessons, and she performed a duet with her friend Madelyn at the end of term concert. I may be a little biased, but they stole the show as they held hands and sang, “You are the music in me” to each other. There were a lot of comments about the cuteness of their hand-holding… but for these organised girls it was just a way to subtly squeeze one another if they didn’t sing on time!

She had sung on the microphone at our church in Waikanae a few times before, but never managed it without having her blanky, Roy or I right beside her. So for her to sing confidently with Madelyn was awesome to see her confidence grow.

Gabrielle working towards her 'Chef Badge' for Rally

Gabrielle has also been loving ‘Every Girls Rally’ at Te Awamutu Bible Chapel and is very motivated to work on badges and earned 5 last term. She gets picked up by friends each week and comes home full of excitement each time… except maybe the night they did anatomy - dissecting animal parts didn’t impress her so much! Recently I heard her at the park as she started playing with a child she didn’t know, “What’s your name? I’m Gabrielle.” This girl has grown a lot in confidence with people she doesn’t know in the last year.

On Thursday’s all three kids have been doing swimming lessons with the homeschoolers in Te Awamutu, which is a great way to get to know some of the homeschooling families better. We have also attended a few homeschooling events. When we can, we still head over to Matamata on Friday’s to go to ‘Soul Kids’ and church. As Caleb turned 5 in March, he is able to be fully involved with Soul Kids and loves having his own small group. On Sunday’s we have also been going to Te Awamutu Baptist (when we can make it). It is great to reconnect with a couple of people there who we have known for years through El Rancho and Totara Springs circles.

For Caleb’s 5th birthday we surprised him with a day trip to Rotorua. He had been talking about Rotorua for a long time and how much he wanted to go one day. The day before his birthday when we woke him and he first learned of the plan, his response was, “no we’re not, we are staying home to make my cake.” With a bit of persuasion he decided that he actually quite liked Rotorua, especially the mud pools and the luge.

Checking out a geothermal field in Rotorua

Caleb continues to have a huge passion for learning, pretty much everything and anything, very keen to keep up with the others. At bedtime one night, the conversation quickly went from, “What's 16 x 10?” to, “I just want to learn to read all the words in the whole world and I am worried I will forget some.” He pretty much talks all day and thrives on attention.

We have enjoyed being closer to different friends and family in the Waikato again. We have appreciated those of you that have stopped by or came and stayed, it is always nice to see you all. We have tried to live some sort of normal, routined lives, while also trying to get ready to leave the country. We have sorted which insurance company we will go with, are slowly working through the process of shipping things to Fiji and working out what we will take and what to put in storage. With our work permits approved, we are waiting to get the final go ahead before being able to book flights and the two weeks of managed isolation in Fiji, although the timing of all of this is still up in the air.

Doing our bit to support the New Zealand tourism industry

Until then, MMM still has plenty of work for Roy to do in New Zealand beyond finishing the project in Hamilton. So we are in a bit of an unknown place, coming into a new term and unsure whether to sign up for a new activities for the kids as we don’t know how long we will be around. Gabby has recently decided she doesn’t want to go to Fiji anymore as she has made so many new friends around here she doesn’t want to leave. She is at least enrolled in vocal lessons and can attend Rally until we leave.

We are trying to be patient and live in the ‘now’ as best we can, but there is a bit of uncertainty as to what is next for us and when. An early dose of Fiji-Time for us. This makes it tricky for us to really put our roots down where we are. But we figure we are still in a pretty safe and special part of the world that we can even make plans for activities and doing our best to make the most of it. We plan to make it down to Waikanae and Wellington at some point, as we really miss seeing friends and family there, however we are also over all the travel!

Kelepi seems happy with his birthday celebration (even without the cake yet!)

Over Easter I was reading a devotion about the different characters in the story of Easter, one of them being Peter. He was a fisherman and knew all there was to know about fishing. One morning after an unsuccessful night on the lake, Jesus urged him to put the nets out again and give it another chance. Being an expert fisherman this didn’t necessarily make a lot of sense - putting out nets knowing there was nothing around. Yet, in his obedience, he did what didn’t make a lot of sense by human standards and followed Jesus’ leading on his life. As they put their faith in their master, He blessed him in a way only He could. “They caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.” Luke 5:6.

Sometimes Jesus’ plans for our lives can’t be fully comprehended by man, it doesn’t make complete sense to do what he is asking us to do. Yet, when we follow His call, He is with us, He has the bigger picture in mind and He knows how to take care of us and bless us. It doesn’t mean there won't be hard times, but it will be worth it.

So for now, we will continue to follow His call on our life. We hope to get to Fiji one day soon, but until then we will keep on serving Him here in NZ with MMM. If you haven’t already checked out the rest of our blog, make sure to do it here.

Roy, Rachael, Josh, Gabrielle and Caleb/Kelepi*.

*He really does call himself ‘Kelepi’ every time he’s asked (ever since our last trip to Fiji) and it is definitely how he writes his name. It gets slightly awkward at times. However, when talking about him we often say Caleb.

Some bonus photos