The nice work week

Things have been staying really busy around here. Have had some really good conversations with a couple guys from the Christian Surfers Organization so am really looking forward to sitting down, having a nice cup of hot tea or coffee and discussing different ways to get this thing started. I have been asked by the director in Raglan to start praying and trying to put together a leadership team to start focusing on getting the chapter up here again. I have also been asked to team up and be the head of it, which is ia big step and something that I am not sure I am ready for....bring it on Eli said.

I have also been working, working, and working some more spraying for this guy named Cameron. He has tons of land and needs someone to spray this horrible yellow plant called Gores. It is a sharp, prickly weed that sucks the life out of the ground and am spraying that. THe chemical has this strong redish pinkish dye that tends to cover me everyday as you can see in the first picture. But all in all it has been so beautfiul outside working so it has been worth it. Crawling up the hills to spray is a challenge though and to be honest i find myself sucking wind after about 10 minutes of spraying. "Welcome to New Zealand hills" Cameron told me the first day on the job and oh was he right.

I have also been working on his house. The picture on the right, framing, laying concrete, and screwing a tin roof on. Really crazy to be up that high puting a roof on while the wind is blowing but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

God has really been showing me some amazing things and one of the greatest sounds i have ever heard is being out there in the mix of the gores and hearing all the bees humming and buzzing around. Pretty cool to hear thousands of bees buzzing. Have been studying and reading through Titus, Jims challenge to some of the men to focus on that, spend time reading, and praying. Has definately been a great challenge and have really gotten a lot out of it.
Things here are great, the weather has been off and on but thats the way it is before spring and summer get here, so im really looking forward to that.

Check out all my other pics on facebook.

What a day in the life of a kiwi fruit farmer

Today was a very interesting day to say the least. I woke up this morning knowing that I was going to work on the kiwi fruit farm but little did I know how much work I would be doing, how enjoying it would be, and how beautiful and amazing the day would become. From the start I realized and found out that kiwi fruit grows from these huge vines that are help up by wire, fence post, and worrd frames. Since kiwi fruit picking season starts in the next few month ahead the process of builiding new frames and getting the branches ready for pruning is what we did today. The guy that I worked for, and will be working for from now on since he told me today he really enjoyed my hard work, quick learning, and interest asked me if I wanted to help him over the next several weeks buling fence, spraying his fields, and helping him herd and kill his lambs for harvest and selling. I am not the big country type of guy, i mean i do enjoy it but to be honest it is not my favorite thing, but I am very interested in learning about it as well.
We spent hours on the side of the green mountain tearing about logs and de-nailing the railing in order to put new ones up. The land that this guy has is amazing and come to find out his wife went to Texas Tech and they met here while her parents were missionaries here, small world; i think so.
We spent hours working and talking about Texas BBQ, california beaches and surf, In n out burger, football, and movies. Really great guy and family to work for and after work they invited me to dinner where we had Tui (there type of beer), kiwi lamb sausage, mashed potatoes, and leash (which is a type of onion apparently).
The most amazing thing though about today and this guy is that he is a competitive sheep calling guy. Every year they have the sheep dog competitions where they do different types of calls that make the dogs go right, left, sit down, back up, herd up or down, and a couple other things. It was pretty amazing to watch as we sat down, had a cup of hot tea and scones for a snack break and to see him stand in his driveway and get the dogs to herd the sheep from about 300 yards away in the direction he wanted the sheep to end up. With every whistle, yell, and occasional yell (back back Tex) the sheep dog did exactly what was asked of them and it was so amazing to listen to and watch. I look forward to the hard work ahead, of course the pay because to be honest it is pretty good, and just getting to know the culture of farming and working with kiwi fruit and animals, going to be a good experience i think.
All in all it was a great day and I look forward to church tomorrow. I just wish that, since it is sunday here tomorrow and sat there, that I could watch some college football but the All blacks Rugby team is playing tonight, which the entire country will be watching im sure, so I guess that will have to do for now.

BUSY BUSY BUSY

Well,

Things have been going going going. So many things have happened and the reason I have nt written in about a week is because the net has been down. In the past few days I have visited an amazing volcano called the white island. We took a drive to whakatani which is pronounced fakatani (wh = f sound). It was amazing and just getting the experience of riding a a boat across the ocean, seeing the sun set across it, smelling the sulfur, and learning about the history of the island was pretty amazing. It has been rainy off and on but it is clearing up for a beautiful week. I have been helping a moving company just to make a little bit of cash and to help meet some people from the community and stuff. I am learning (today actually) how to work with the kiwi fruit, picking, cleaning, rooting, and spraying which I think will be a pretty cool experience.
Enjoyed some nice cooked salmon (that i made) with some potatoes and some salad last ngiht and had some friends from the church come share in the feast. Things have been good and I will be more detailed later on but for now good bye and keep me in your prayers.

A great couple of Day

I have not written much in the last few days and I am sorry for that but I have been so crazy busy with so many different things. About 3 days ago I had the privelage of going to a funeral and the guy that past away was a guy from England who had moved here ages ago by the name of Owen. It was so great to here people talk about a man like this who was so strong in the Lord, loving to everyone around him, and a guy that I feel like I totally missed out on meeting. I have met some pretty cool people here on the Island so far and as some of you know have been hanging out with a few Kiwi' locals who are very interested in planting a surf ministry of some sort. I have also been in contact with the Christian Surfer's Organization as well and after a few really good conversations am really looking forward to seeing what will come of that, so please pray for that conversation and what God might do with all that.

It has been really great so far staying with Jim and Marylin and to be honest I am so so grateful for thier patience and allowing someone like me to stay with them, you guys are truly great. I will say this though...I am already in desperate need to some fast food from In n Out and a nice huge Dr. Pepper....didnt think it would hit me this soon but if anyone would like to mail me a case please feel free (I will email you the address whenever you would like).

Tea, hot tea that is, is something that everyone here drinks and although I do enjoy it from time to time, having it everyday is something that I am going to have to get used to. Last night was a pretty interesting night, for the first time in a long time I got to experience what it is like to see and hear "real rain and storms." It literally rained all day, like from early in the morning until we went to sleep...it poured and poured and poured. Not a bad thing, it smelled amazing and I guess it has to rain that much in order to keep it as green and as beautiful as it is here.

I met a guy named Josh at "The Backdoor" which is a surf shop here at the the Mount and we got to talking about a few things and apparently he writes for the newspaper and when I told him that I actually moved here and planned on staying for as long as God would let me, "If you are reading this God you know I mean forever, :) !! We had a good conversation and he was really stoked about meeting me and what I told him i wanted to do here. So hopefully we will either see each other in the line up.....for you people who do not know what that is that is what you do when you are waiting in the water.

I got a surf board and a wet suit....super cheap so if you are reading this dad do not freak out, it was super cheap and a nice used board ok. Today, in about 30 minutes I am going to be taking lessons on how to drive on the "wrong" side of the road today. I have already driven but Jim and Marylin really want to make sure I have it down since they are going to be leaving on Wednesday and I am going to be here by myself....they want to make sure they can leave me with the other car....see how great they are.

Well, other than that....nothing has really happened, we watched the Cardinals get beat, but it was only pre-season and then I learned how to chop wood, start a fire, and keep it burning....sounds funny but it is harder work that you think.

See you guys tomorrow and I hope you all have a great day,

KIA ORA!!!!

Taylor

On the country Road

Monday was a very interesting day which i thought was going to be disapointing but ended up being amazing. Robyn and I, a girl I met from Canada, decided to got o the white island which is aobut a 3 hour ship ride and a beautfiul volcano that we really wanted to go see but because of the weather it got cancelled and so Robyn then asked, "Lets go the the sheep show" and after much laughter we decided to hit the road and do something neither one of us had ever done.

The beautiful ride through amazing winding roads, beautiful scenery, and good converstaion we ended up in Rotorua to the sheep show. We learned alot about the 18 different types of sheep that new zealand raises and farms here and then we got a chance to see this huge cow and how it was miled. We then got picked and selected out of a crowed of about 200 asians to go up on stage and milk a cow. Pretty funny i guess but to be honest it was an expereince that might haunt me for a long time, hehe. It was a pretty amazing time and on the way back we stopped at the giant KIWI360 statue, which is a huge statue of a kiwi fruit. I found out that you have to say kiwi fruit if you are talking about the fruit, kiwi bird if you are talking about the bird, and just kiwi if you are talking about a guy or a girl. So you wouldnt say you want to eat a kiwi becasue that would mean you ate a person, if you catch my drift.

I have learned so many different words, comments, and slang things to say, here are some:

A speed bump is called a jitter bug,
you do not root for a team you cheer for a team because root means "sleeping with"
if you compare something to 6 to a half dozen you mean that it is equal or not worth it; example.
Why would you work for that price you might as well work for 6 or a half dozen.
A bathroom is a TOILET, and yes they are pretty particular to that.
And of course there are tons more but this is all I can think of right now.

It was a great day, great weather, and really excited about the next few days. Tonight we celebrated an "AIM" student from Lubbock Texas' birthday, her name is kristi and we hung out and played bungalo, which is an interesting card game, ate some great food and chocolate cake and finished the day with me winning 4 games in a row..."GO ME!!!!"

Had some coffee with two guys this morning from Otemoptai Church here and we talked about some evangelistic opportunites and I conveyed my vision and let them know about the Surf ministry that we are starting and what all we are doing with that as well. Planning on using the back packer, which is a hostel, to start it up since everyone is there and close by. I have found that if you live on the Mount then everyone knows you and so on so I am really stoked to continue to meet people on the Island and get this things started. Please be praying about that and if you have any question please ask.. God is doing some gnarly things here on the Island and I am just so excited to be a tool and a part of it.......surfing and doing ministry is something that I have wanted to do my whole life.....please pray about this and if you have any ideas please hit me back with them.....starting something like this is new and we need all the help we can get.

GOOD NIGHT

Lazy Lazy Lazy

I woke up this morning with the smell of a great breakfast the was prepared by two awesome ladies (Kayla and Jana.)

Striped Bacon
Pankcakes
Eggs (Jim Mauldins Specialty)
Bananas
O.J.
Coffee
Hot Tea

It was a great way to start the saturday and then we just hung out on the balcony, chatted, and watch "Adrift" which is a surf video that I have not seen since i was a young tike (haha...I said tike i like that word.) Then right after that I had the wonderful experience of trying to get a cell phone that consisted of 3 hours of my time, trying to get it unlocked, calling America 4 times with their phone in order to get the right code, unlocking the phone getting all the paper work filled out just in time to figure out that they were about to close so I have to come back on Monday to get it...hahaha but oh well.....following that was an amazing lunch (Sushi....and sorry Ah So....you have nothing on the takeaway or sitdown place that we had sushi at today. It was the best sushi that I have ever put in my mouth and I savored the flavor with every bite...it was glorious. Starbucks....yes they have starbucks....was next as we hung out and spent some time getting to know each other. All in all it was a great day and ended with a rally cry last night as we watch Rugby and cheered because apparently the team from somewhere here won.

See you guys tomorrow

Work Day

Today I did somehing that I have not done yet....worked!! I woke up this morning and had the best eggs I have ever had in my entire life and had toast, jam, and sprite mixed with O.J. and to be honest it was truly amazing. After breakfast Jim asked if I would help him wash the car that they are trying to sell so I headed towards the church to wash, detail, and hook up this car to make it look, like Emeril would say, BAM!!!!
It was about 13 degrees celsius, yes i know but I am trying to get used to the way they measure and say things so I am not going back to standard so just get used to it but for you guys it was about 56 degree is or, sunny and completely heavenly to say the least. The sky was nice and blue and a breeze from the ocean really made it a perfect day to be outside so why not wash a car and help a brotha out.
I then headed to my meeting with Joshua Cole, who is the leader of me DTS that I begin at the end of August and after and amazing conversation of some flate white coffee (which is like a latte back in the states I really started to understand why I am here and what God is using me for. We talked alot about the training and what all i would be doing and it turns out that we are going to be touring the south island on Mercy Ships going all around the south island passing out clothes, shoes, and medical supplies to the doctors and orphanages in the area. Then we will be coming back here to Tauranga for some more studying and then off to either FIJI, SINGAPORE, or PHILLIPINES and the reason for me doing all this (which is totally a God thing) is that they have asked me if I would make a committment to staying here atleast 3 years to teach the next several DTS's and work here with YWAM and it took me a secong to process this so I asked him how I would be able to do that when the time came and he said since so many people leave from here they would hook me up, fill out paper work, to (depending on what God wanted) to either get a 3 year extended visa or apply for permanent residence (citizenship) and become a YWAM KIWI in charge of the Tauranga Region so please be in prayer about this. I did tell him that I would love to make the 3 year committment since I did not move here just to hang out so I truly think that this is an amazing opportunity yet very challenging as well. God is doing some pretty amazing things and I thank you so much for all your support and prayers (Tish....thanks so much and I love you guys so so so much.)
After the meeting I took a 5 mile run through the back roads in the trees and caught some rabbit trails and ended up running way farther than intended and spent the run looking at the Mount and the sunset behind it and to be honest it was breath taking. To see the bay, ocean, the mount, and the pink sunset was truly God painting a picture that I hope everyone here did not miss.
Spent the rest of the night with the youth group at the church doing 70's night and just hanging out. Well about to crash so good night and see you tomorrow.

Kia Ora !!!!