3 Weeks

Hello Everybody!

I hope all of you are doing well! I just thought I would give you guys a quick update on how things are going here. We just had the Amazing Race (a photo scavenger hunt around Auckland) that was lot of fun and was a big success at bringing together the church and we had 4 or 5 visitors and even more at the cook out afterwards. All in all it was a big success. My team placed 4th out of 9 teams which considering that we were made up completely of Americans (who have been in New Zealand for no more than 4 months) is pretty good if I do say so myself. Right now we are preparng for our youth lock in that is coming up one week from today. The next two weeks we have are going to be really fun and really busy because the youth will be out of school for their winter holiday and so we can hang out with them more. We have bible in schools tommorow and then we stay after to volunteer with some teacher, this is a very tiring day for us interns (see my past post thanking teachers who teach those kids each and every day) so tommorow will be quite full. My laptop should be coming in tommorow or Friday which is good because I have homework due on the 30th that I should probably start...Other than that things are going great and I am very excited about the next 5 weeks being here!

Ryan

To Robert: Movie Reviews since I have been here

Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer - This movie is light, corny, and entertaining. Really cool special effects and pretty fun fights scenes. This might be one you should wait til video to see. I do not think it was as good as the first one.

Oceans Thirteen: This is one that I really did not know what to expect. After a stellar first movie Oceans Twelve was a huge disappointment. After seeing this movie I would recommend seeing it. I enjoyed it, much like the first one, and it is good enough to almost redeem the horrible 2nd film in this series.

Bridge to Terebithia: This was a surprise for me because I had never really planned on seeing it BUT saying that it might just be the best movie that I have seen this summer. I highly recommend seeing it and its one you can (and should) watch with Madison and Mallory, I think they would enjoy it as well.

*I will continue to review movies as I see them with the big one that is coming up being Transformers (a guys night here that we have already planned)

Ryan

Pace

Hey guys!

Well its 445 pm here and we just got done helping out at a local school. I have only done it twice so far but I am thankful for teachers after each time. I just don't have the patience/energy/stamina/take your pick that it needs to do that. So big shout out to all the teachers out there. Thank you. Things are going great here. Catacombs was a big success and my lesson went over well (at least I hope so, no rocks were thrown at least). We had a young adults game night on Wednesday that was a lot of fun though we did not have the best attendance. The young adult group here is struggling to keep up attendance but I think it will pick up over time. Our next big event is the AMAZING RACE that is going on Saturday. It will be an interesting photo scavenger hunt all around Auckland. I am excited and I will try to post some photos of it on here afterwards. I also am meeting up one on one with some of the youth tommorow and so I am looking forward to that. I hope everything is going well with you guys and I love you all!

Ryan

ps. I am getting my laptop next week thanks to Hugh Cooper (a huge thanks!) and so I am pretty excited about that.

Getting Started

Hello friends!

Things are going well here in Auckland, right now I am taking a break from painting the youth room in order to update you guys on what has been going on. These past 4 days have been pretty crazy. Wednesday we prepared for Catacombs that happened last night (more on that in a second) and then had a young adults night. Thursday we did something called Bible in Schools, which means we go into a local primary school (k-5th) and teach a state approved lesson on the bible. Then we stayed and helped out around the school which gave me a new found respect for teachers. I was pretty wiped out after a day dealing with those kids. On Friday we set up for Catacombs which was a bible study that we held underneath someones house. This was to get the youth thinking about the church that has been and continues to be persecuted. It was pretty cool and we had a really good turn out. Today we are painting the youth room and then tonight we have a guys night where we are going to see Oceans Thirteen. Tommorow morning I am teaching the lesson to the youth and so please pray that it goes well. Hope all of you are enjoying your summer (its in the 40's here) and I will try to update sometime early next week. God Bless!

Ryan

ps. I hate driving here. It's is not easy at all switching to the other side of the road, pray for safety...

Got my luggage

Greetings from down under,

I have my luggage! 4 days after I arrived I have my luggage. I cannot tell you what a relief it is to have my own stuff. Right now I am up at the church and we are about to discuss everything that is going on this week. Mainly we are getting ready to do a special youth event this Friday that should be really cool. It is a secret so I will let you know how it goes afterwards just in case a youth member happens to stumble across this site between now and Friday. I hope everything is going well with you guys! Love you guys and have an awesome week!

Auckland

HELLO ALL!

I am in finally in New Zealand and at a computer. It has been a crazy couple of days. Since I have been here I have gone to a bible study, visited all around Northshore, had chicken and chips, went to the hot pools, and had a meat pie for lunch. I am about to go to a youth bible study tonight at the Robertsons which will be fun and this will be the first time we get to meet up with the youth. We are all pretty tired trying to make the time transition but it has only been two days so it won't be long before we are adjusted. I hope everything is going well with all of you, I will try to make a more detailed post after this weekend.

Ryan

A long journey

Greetings from Sydney...thats right I am currently in Sydney, Australia. Some of you might be thinking...hmmm I thought he was going to Auckland....well those of you who are thinking that, you are correct. After a very long day of canceled flights, delayed take offs, and many calls to American Airlines I was able to get a flight to LAX and then to Sydney. I have a 3 hour layover and then I finally fly to Auckland. Funny thing about cancelled flights and things of that nature is that your luggage tends to disappear so it looks like I will be roughing it for a few days until they find my luggage, who knows? Maybe I can get it in a day. I am using a free terminal at Sydney and so I thought I would update you guys on my status. More from me when I get to New Zealand! Much Love All!

Ryan

Answered Prayers

Hey guys! I hope everyone is doing well. Right now I am taking a break from the take home test that I have that is do tommorow night for Senor Green class to update you guys on whats going on. I received my passport yesterday (Friday)thanks to my good friend Cara Williams (I owe her BIG) who Fed-Ex'ed it to me when it was sent to Abilene. Thanks again Cara! So that took a lot off my mind, but now the daunting journey ahead of me is all the more real. I have about 30-35 hours of travel ahead of me, including a 5 1/2 hour layover in L.A. I ask you to pray that we have safe and easy travel this Monday through your Tues our Wed. Thank you all again and I will update when I get to Auckland! God bless!

Ryan