Out and About

Over the last several days, we've had quite a lot going on. Friday was our first "off" day and we went into downtown Auckland. It was such a cool city!! While most of our team got tattooed or pierced, I spent the day exploring. I found this really awesome park, Albert Park, up by Auckland University, that had fountains and sculptures and flowers, and it was so pretty! When a sudden downpour hit, I was able to hide in a gazebo there too! After the park, I went through a couple of art galleries of local and international artists. I found a really cute used bookstore and spent awhile browsing through there as well. I got some internet time at an internet café, and I enjoyed some coffee at a café on the harbor. I window shopped and just walked the streets, checking out the interesting city life and taking tons of pictures!! Auckland is currently preparing for the New Zealand International Film Festival that is in July. I picked up a booklet, and was so excited to find out that someone in the UK made a documentary about the font, Helvetica. OK, maybe that's only exciting to me, but I really want to try and get into the city and see it. We met back together for dinner at MexiCali and enjoyed some yummy burritos that reminded us of home.

Saturday morning we did our DRIMES that we learned at training camp in the town center of Mangere. It was our first time performing them live and it went really well. I even got to speak and explain one afterwards! Some people showed interest, but nothing really groundbreaking happened. It just provided another chance to get out in the community, and show our faces, and engage people in conversation. After driming, we ate our first New Zealand fish and chips meal. Because of its English influence here, NZ has quite a lot of fish and chips places. Wasn't too bad! Saturday night we had a movie night at the Papatoetoe Youth For Christ building with Michelle's American friend. We watched "Sneakers" and ate popcorn and it felt like home.

Sunday morning we visited FaithCity Church, where Michelle had visited last year. It was a church alive in the Spirit, and even more so as they were coming off a weekend retreat of healing and restoration. It was exciting to see God work in ways I'm not used to or haven't seen before. Sunday afternoon, Michelle took me to the Auckland Botanical Gardens (because its like 5 minutes from our house) while everyone else was out getting coffee. The gardens are so pretty, and I wish I had more time to see them all, but it was beautiful. I have just been overwhelmed with the plant life here in general. All of it is so colorful and so magical looking. Weird description, I know, but it's true.

This island has definitely captured my heart. I am looking forward to our new ministries this week and our upcoming travels. God Bless!