Father's Day in New Zealand

Did you know today was Father’s Day? Well, it was in New Zealand, anyway! Scott had already planned a message on the subject of believer’s adoption before remembering the significance of this particular Sunday. We always enjoy seeing God organize our program like that!

We are continually encouraged to see God at work in lives here in Hamilton. Our Filipino friend, Marge, is eagerly soaking up Bible study and preaching. She is pleased to have her own Bible now, for the first time ever. Continue to pray for her in her search for truth and peace. She hasn’t missed a Sunday service and has promised to come for the mid-week service if we call and remind her about it.

This past week a lady contact experienced a crisis in her marriage. She is devasted and said she probably needs to go hear Tony Robbins (secular life motivational speaker who regularly shows infomercials here). We loaned her our copy of Jim Berg’s “When Trouble Comes” and she eagerly agreed to read it, beginning almost right away. When Scott told her we would be praying for her she was very pleased and said, “A friend told me I should have asked you to pray for me!” Please pray for this lady as we follow-up with her this week.

One of the church men is struggling with cancer and spent most of this week in the hospital. He is in a lot of pain and is scheduled for radiation treatment this next week. To see someone suffer in this manner is never easy, but to hear him say he is ready for heaven is delightful. This week he resigned his position as church treasurer due to his physical challenges. Lori will step in to help with the bookkeeping for a while.

We are pleased to report that God has provided a beautiful digital piano to use in our services. The school agreed to allow us to store it there in the room where we meet and one of the church men is building a wooden storage crate for protection. We look forward to enhancing the music for our church family and everyone is glad to retire the limited collection of pre-recorded accompaniment!

We have always been amazed at the multi-cultural makeup of New Zealand and recently learned that one in five people living in New Zealand were not born here! That is quite a high statistic which helps to explain the government’s very high standard for immigration and the very multi-cultural group of believers we are serving. Our city of Hamilton is estimated to grow by 26% in the next 16 years. There is work to be done, and you are welcome to come down and help. We did very quickly get used to the feeling of being upside down! J

We can sense the power of prayer on our behalf during this very challenging time of ministry. Keep it up!

Scott, Lori, Heidi and Daniel