Auckland is Amazing

I am being spoiled by Grace (see pic ) and Amy. These two ladies didn't even know me before I arrived. We were connected by a mutual friend. Yet they have taken me into their home, fed me wonderful meals, driven me around, helped me go shopping, connected me with their church and many leaders, helped me understand how to market to Kiwis, and hooked me up with a tax expert so that I could understand how non-profits work in NZ. Grace even gave me a cell phone to use the entire time I've been here.

In this next picture, you can see me taking a morning walk at a beach about a mile from Grace's house. Absolutely beautiful! No surfing on those little

bity waves. But it was a change for me to see the sun rise instead of set on the water.

I'm actually at a new place now ... the original place I was going to stay at before Grace and Amy swept me away. The Hebron House is a home with 21 residents, most of whom are university students from around the world. We counted 7 nationalities last night and they were excited that I made the 8th. We had Chinese, Ethiopian, Korean, Japanese, Indian and of course, Kiwis! Last night was family night. We had a wonderful meal together and then we met in the great room to sing songs. Everyone grabbed a percussion instrument of some sort. We definitely made a joyful noise! Then I got to speak to them about all the ways God has blessed me. Of course, I could have spoken about that for hours, but I kept it down to a good 20 minutes. We went around the room and with each country they were from, I spoke about how I could see characteristics of God in their country. From the immensity of God shown in the numbers of China, to the preciseness of God shown in the Japanese culture. It was a great evening.