New Zealand Bound

Forget about the fat lady singing - it's not over until God says it is...

2012-01-27T01:20:00.000+13:00

OK – I hope I grabbed your attention earlier today with my brief post about ‘Hail Mary’ passes. No, we are not expecting another child, as one of our friends suggested. Let me walk you through the last 4 days so you can feel what we’ve felt. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy this little journey.

Most of you should know our funding situation. We’ve been on the brink of coming home early for 11 months now. God has worked in spectacular ways to keep us here month after month (each month, He’s answered our $2000 monthly shortfall!) but, as we approached the holidays, things didn’t look very hopeful. Our support balance was below the threshold set by Global Partners and, unless a miracle happened by January 15, we would be making plans to come home.

January 15 came and went with no significant change in our account. Ministry was at an apex here with the church just finishing our national youth camp where we saw God really move in the lives of our young people. We expected a call or email but kept saying, “It’s not over til we are getting on a plane” and struggled to hold on to hope. On Friday AM, the email came – Global Partners needed us to make arrangements to fly home and they needed us to get on it by Monday. Our hearts were pretty heavy that morning – we were heading away with DaNae’s parents for two days and were trying to keep our emotions in control. We still wanted to hold on to hope.

As I was walking out the door, my phone rang. I got the look from DaNae – the one that says, “leave work at home and lets go away” – but I saw it was one of our Servant Leaders (elders) so I answered it. I think Frank said something like this – “Hey, I have a part-time position I need to fill in my department to be responsible for the Discovery programme and you’re who I want. Would this help you funding shortfall and are you interested.” I’m pretty sure the conversation involved more than that but that’s what stuck because, as Frank explained the role and the pay, my mind was saying, “God, is this for real? This is a great fit for what we are doing here.” The pay he was able to offer was the amount of our shortfall (he didn’t know what that was before offering it) and the role was to promote a programme we’ve already used with our trust – a programme I hope to bring to the states when we return one day. And, it was with a Christian aid organization that our church supports. I would be able to continue my role with cession|community AND be able to promote DISCOVERY (Tearfund’s community development resource that we use) to churches all over New Zealand.

We still had a few hurdles in front of us – Frank still had to get final approval at Tearfund, we had to work out how my visa would work with the restrictions it has as a religious worker, and we had to secure Global Partners approval. All of this happened in a 48 hour period and it seemed like someone greased the gears, it was so smooth. I still sit here tonight a bit dazed as I think of how quickly God moved and changed things for us.

What does this mean for us? It means we will be able to stay for another 6 months!! And, assuming this pilot works well, it means we will be looking at extending our term possibly to December 2013. It means we will be able to continue fulfilling the call God has for us at cession|community and be able to have a national influence as well. Isn’t that SOOOO cool? Just when we thought it was over and our doors were shut, God opened a window (Aedan says this and then makes a sound like he’s throwing a rock through a window – that’s kind of how we felt ). Once again, my favorite verse has come alive. “My ears had heard of You but now my eyes have seen You” – Job 42:5. We definitely feel we’ve seen a real God through this!

What does this mean for each of you on our team? For us to be able to accept this, we will need to know that our current support will continue and still need each of you to be part of our team. If you are on our prayer support team, will you continue to pray for our ministry as well as one-time and monthly gifts to invest in what we are doing here? We are still operating at a reduced budget and still need to fund a return trip home later this year (about $5,000) if we are to extend our term. In order to be able to return to our original monthly budget, we would need to partner with 8 new faith promise partners at $50/month. If you are part of our financial team, thank you so much for your faithful giving – we wouldn’t have been able to say yes to this development without your commitments. Your partnership has enabled us to partner with ministry here, both at the local and national level. Things like Ignite Camp and the relationships we are building at the local church level wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for you. Would you also begin praying today if God would have you extend your giving to the end of our extended term?

I can’t wait to chat with you to share more of the details – the bits of the story that don’t translate to print very well! Over the next several weeks, we will try to connect with you and hear what God has been doing with you, too. In the meantime, feel free to drop us an email or note – we’d love to hear from you. And, for those who want to learn more about Tearfund, check out www.tearfund.org.nz. While you do that, we’re off to bed – your days just starting but ours finished a little while ago…

Love partnering in ministry with you,

Grateful!!

2012-01-19T23:14:00.001+13:00

Happy 19 days into the New Year everyone!!! We pray that you had a wonderful and joyous Christmas and New years. The Reynolds have enjoyed wonderful Kiwi holidays, and find ourselves peaceful and more grateful than ever for all of you that God has crossed our paths with. I hope you have stayed caught up with our blog updates as we walked through our outreach events prior to Christmas. God used this past Christmas season to connect our church with so many in and around our community. Fruit was evident of this at our Christmas Eve service as we saw some of these families come into join our family on that special night. It was really exciting! Once we got through that busy end of December, we have enjoyed a bit of down time with friends and just soaking in the joy of the season with so many precious relationships we have here.
Rob jumped right back into action in continued work and preparation for Ignite Camp, the national Wesleyan Youth camp that is took place this weekend. It has been an intense time, but we know every minute has been worth it. An amazing team of talented leaders gathered around Rob to make this happen. 147 leaders and teens from all over the island left on Friday (Thursday for the U.S.) for 4 days of camp. Rob has been home for just a few days now from camp, and it has been amazing to continue to hear the stories and testimonies that have come out of those 4 days. They felt your prayers and it was evident that God was on the move in the lives of these young people. In our church alone, we had one new commitment (celebrate!), one recommitment (celebrate again!), and one desire to lead a Bible study to study the gifts of the Spirit(celebrate some more!!). As parents, we’ve loved the conversations we’ve had with Caleb since camp. Thank you for lifting them up, continue to pray for the aftermath of camp, and continue to pray for the churches and young people involved over the following weeks as they open themselves to the work of the Holy Spirit and then most are returning to new school year in just a few weeks.
You know that our prayer and deep request to God was to be able to stay in NZ long enough to see the important community out reaches through in December and to see Ignite camp through to its completion as Rob had accepted the position of Camp Director. I am in awe at the work of God’s hand and the way He used so many of you to make that happen. Here we are on the other side of those Christmas outreaches and smack in the middle of camp. My heart is overwhelmed. Now that we have made it to this point, the Reynolds may very well be facing the beginning of the next chapter in our lives. We are grateful and blessed beyond words to make it to camp, more so to witness Gods provision month after month for over a year and what He has allowed us to be a part of over this year. As you all know, we have had a deficit in our monthly funding , and we are now at a point that unless something happens in the immediate future, we will be making arrangements to return to the States in late February. This is not a surprise to us as we have leaned on God to provide our manna each month, and this is certainly no surprise to God. God is at work (He always is) and some things could be coming into place that would keep us here longer, but we are down to just days to figure this out. We have complete peace as to what the near future holds and we know that either way, God has got this covered.
We need your love, support and prayers now more than ever as we navigate through these next few weeks and begin to lay this out. My parents have decided to make a trip to this awesome country and are here with us now which is a gift beyond words not only to have them here, to share with them but also to process things with them. So please cover us in prayer as Rob has returned from camp and we begin to figure some of this out. We will update you in the next week or so as to where some of this is landing, but in the mean time we are peaceful and rejoice in a God whose mercy in new every single morning.

Aotearoa (New Zealand) Christmas

2011-12-14T18:20:00.000+13:00

We wanted to update as soon as possible because we knew so many of you were carrying us in prayer over the past week. Thank you for covering us, We have felt your prayers and carried that into the past weekend with us. This past Saturday morning our church (which meets in a community center in the center of a large park) opened its doors to welcome families from our community to a morning of quality time with their children, in a fun environment with activities, crafts, challenges and live puppet show. One of the huge wins with this outreach was the way our church community came together to see this happen. This has been such a busy time between the Santa Parade and then the Aotearoa Christmas (pronounce A-O-TA-Row –A; which means New Zealand) this past weekend. We had so many involved from singles, to families, to youth. It was an awesome time of serving together and have had several comments of people sharing they didn’t feel craziness or stress. The other big win was that we saw several families come through that had nothing to do with cession or the other programs we offer. They came from the community because of the Santa Parade or the printed invites we had. I saw children giggling, parents smiling and most stuck around like they wanted to be there. We have names and contact info for these families and we will be doing “gentle” follow ups with them. We are grateful to God for all of his provisions both in staffing and supplies and for the families brought onto us. Continue to pray for these families, that our churches name might stick in their minds, that they may choose to come to a Christmas service or some of our other programs and that they would be open to our follow ups.
So amazing to believe that we are now only days away from Christmas Day!! I have shared this with many of you but, I have done a lot of pondering in my heart in mind over these past weeks of what does it means to be thankful….it would be easy for me to just go down the list of things I have, people in my life…..all the good things. But I think the word, thankful, means so much more then the list of provisions, people or blessings in my life (although of course I am thankful for those things). I think that true thankfulness is also an attitude of the heart. Am I thankful in the trying times as well as the good times. Am I thankful on thanksgiving and Christmas, or on all days? I feel that having an attitude of thankfulness directly effects my worship to my God, and then as a result effects how I live out my day. It helps to keep me from being in that place of “entitlement” and instead strive to be in a place of surrender. It tenderizes my heart to remember that all of this, my life, my family, serving in NZ……..all of it, is all about my Savior and that it is not about me.
As Rob and I look over this past year and serving in NZ…..words cannot express the gratefulness that overflows in our hearts. We have seen our family through transition and adjusting to a new culture, we have been given amazing relationships both within and without our church walls, we have seen hundreds of people exposed to Christ through community outreaches, we have seen the birth of youth ministry within our church and the opportunity to influence youth ministry as a whole on the North Island, we have witnessed the pain of a city literally broken by earthquake and were blessed to help be a balm to weary souls, we have seen healing of relationships and have been blessed to mentor some on their journey, we have seen the growth of the Trust which will enable cession|community to continue to reach out to their community, we have had the opportunity to work with at risk teens, God has carried us through illness, home sickness and times of fear and doubt. And God has taught us about His provision and His manna month after month as He has continued to keep us here month after month through our partnership with so many of you. As God continues to remain at work here, we would love to hear how God has remained at work in your lives over this past year as well. I would also love to hear your thoughts on an attitude of thankfulness.
In our last post we were pretty open about our current goal to remain here at least until February to see the National Youth Camp through completion. We are still waiting and fully trusting on our Lord to provide our “manna”. We desperately need your prayers in this area. If you at all felt your heart nudged in our last post about end of year gifts and would like to have further conversation, we have a way to call you for free so just drop us a note at dreynolds422@gmail.com or you can go to giving links on this web site.
Please know that during this season, and all other days that we are deeply grateful for you, for the offerings of your prayers, love, friendship, gifts and support. We are here representing you and we serve with a humble and joyful heart.

2011-12-09T00:28:00.001+13:00

There is so much I could update on this blog I would be writing (and you reading) for a week! So we will do it in chunks instead  We put out the word that this month is a huge month in outreach opportunities for our community. I know that several of you have been praying because we literally feel your prayers sustaining us, thank you! Our God delights when His people pray. Last weekend we participated in the Santa Parade. Now you may be asking “how is being in a parade an effective outreach tool”. Well for us it was just that, a “tool”. It served two functions. First It was an event that our church community came together with families from Mainly Music (which is one of the ministries we offer to families in the wider community) to create and participate in this fun event. We had a least 4 families that came and “rubbed shoulders” with us all morning, it was awesome! Secondly, the way the float was designed it advertised to hundreds of people the event we have this coming Saturday along with some of us handing out over 150 invites along the parade route. It allowed from some great conversations with families watching the parade. Thank you for praying for us, and now shift your prayers to this coming weekend. It has been a lot of working doing the two events back to back, but we have an awesome team along beside us, and we are anticipating at least 300 kids this weekend. Pray that people from the community was would come, would be blessed and fell loved on, would hear good messages, and just might choose to connect with us because they feel loved and welcomed. Pray for our energy levels, this has been an intense two weeks plus looking ahead to our Christmas services and even our health as some families have been attacked with throat and stomach bugs. I really look forward to updating you on this event.
God remains at work in our lives, the life of cession|community and the impact she can have on her community. We had another huge prayer answered last week as we found out we received money from a grant Rob worked on, that will allow cession to be able to fund this Christmas event and the events that will revolve around Easter. This is a huge blessing and a great win for the beginnings of the Trust.
Finally as most of you know, we are probably in one of the most crucial periods financially that we have been in since we arrived. We do not know how long our ministry will continue here in NZ, we do know that God remains at work in our lives and we will strive to approach each day we have to minister here with thankfulness. Because God has used so many of you, we are seeing these current December projects through. We are humbled and grateful. We now are trusting God to provide our manna to keep us into Jan/Feb as Rob leads the National Youth Camp. We have a deficit of a few thousand dollars to make up by Dec. 15 and have made it our goal to do what we can to stay at least that long (Jan/Feb), knowing that all of this belongs to God.
As we look at the last few weeks of 2011, Rob and I would like to ask you to pray about considering an end of year gift, and to have the conversation with God if He is asking you to join us now.
We are aware that many of us look to this last month of the year as an opportunity to give to nonprofit organizations as we evaluate our giving over the year and taxes for the next. If you are in that place of evaluating would you consider an end of year gift to invest in what God is doing here in NZ? We were so blessed by individuals who stood in the Gap a few weeks ago to insure our commitments could take place this month, we know that they were blessed in return to be a part of it, and ultimately God will use their gives to help touch the hearts of those who will be influenced by our outreaches this month. Would you pray and ask if God is asking you to invest in our ministry in January, by offering a onetime gift now before the end of the year?
We are very aware that this is a huge season for most of us with the extra business, family focus, travel, church……..the list goes on during the holidays. Rob and I feel the magnitude of the upcoming Dec deadline, and strive for the goal of at least seeing ministry through Jan/Feb to see the national youth camp project through to completion, knowing full well this is all in God’s hands. We appreciate your time in reading this update and would be humbled if you set aside a few minutes to pray over this area and discuss with God if He may be asking you to be a part of this journey. If He is nudging your heart there is more information on the tabs here on the website or you can go directly to our giving link - click here or go to https://secure.wesleyan.org/gp/mdirectory2/WM29-0053 .
It is with a thankful heart that I close this, knowing that God can and will do more then we could possibly imagine and that He alone is our past, present and future

A note to catch you up from Rob...........

2011-11-09T15:01:00.001+13:00

HI team, just a quick note here. We’ve just finished a busy month here in New Zealand. At the beginning of October, our family moved into Oasis Home for two weeks to act as house parents for special needs kids. New Zealand provides families with special needs children 1-4 days of respite care each month. We were asked by a local ministry that runs one of these homes to provide vacation coverage for friends who were the regular house parents. We had 1-3 kids each night and lived life full-on! It was a blessing to be there, love on kids, and support their families. It would be awesome to see something like this in the states!
A week after we finished at Oasis, a team of students from Houghton College arrived as part of a semester abroad. DaNae and I have been helping them with onsite logistics and planning as the students seek to experience what is unique about NZ culture and art. It’s been a fair amount of work but they’ve been great to work with. I find a lot of joy in seeing young adults in environments that expand their worldview.
In the middle of these, we had our national conference. For some of you, just mentioning that puts you to sleep. You think of long meetings of reports and church business. This one was pretty exciting for me. Yeah, there were the business portions but I was also part of the community of pastors growing a Wesleyan denomination here. It was a blessing to be challenged by speakers and grow together. I was even able to lead a few youth breakout sessions.
During the Pastor’s training portion of the conference, one of the speakers was sharing on caring for your Soul and one of his statements stuck with me. He said, “We think the grass is greener on the other side. But, the reality is, the grass is greener where you water and fertilize it.” It was a challenge to us pastors to focus on what we can do where we are and not wish we were somewhere else. It was a challenge to us as individuals to focus on our soul’s wellbeing today and not later (when things change). I left that day with this challenge ringing in my head and it’s continued to ring since then. I wake up asking myself how I’m making my grass greener in a faith-nourishing way. One way has been to change my running tunes to podcasts from teachers/pastors I respect. Another has been challenging Caleb to do a 21-day biblical character study with me (from my Bible iPod app). So, I pass that challenge on to you – how are you watering and fertilizing your faith? As pastors and leaders, how are you watering-fertilizing-even weeding where you are? We’d love to hear what’s working for you.
I’ve updated the prayer list on our blog. Please make sure you read the one about IGNITE Camp, OK?
As for a support update, we continue to minister as God provides. The Oasis Home and Houghton College projects have helped with support and built up a reserve here but we still keep striving for our support target each month. It is amazing to look back and see how God has continued to provide support just as we’ve needed it for the last 7 months. Even though we approach another funding deadline on the 15th, we are trusting God will amaze us once again and provide support for our continued investment here.

Happenings, Updates and Celebrations

2011-09-08T21:48:00.000+12:00

For the most part, this is a fun update to write. Just to get it out of the way, the “unmost “ part – the non-fun portion – is that I’m writing it as the muscles in my upper back and shoulder are spasming from an injury a week ago. That wasn’t going to keep me from sharing what’s been happening on this side of the globe, though. That’s just how I roll – pain, shmain…

These last two weeks have been a lot of fun from the church and trust perspective. Just to give you a taste of what’s in the following bullets, we’ve been involved in youth ministry, cooking, policies, and have heard back on one of our funding apps (Hint – it was a good response…). Caleb and Aedan have been able to reach out to friends and we’ve made creative progress towards some of our funding goals. But, enough of teasers – read on for the full-course meal.

What’s Happening with the Reynolds:

• At cession|community (the church), we’ve been working through what youth ministry looks like for us. This is a old and new role for me – old because of my youth ministry years but new because now, I’m also a parent. We have 4 students in the intermediate age and relationships with 10 high-school age students at our facility but outside of the church. We don’t want these kids to be overlooked and find ourselves in a cool spot – the kids want something more and we have a team of leaders who want to work with them. I’ve been asked to act as a consultant to this process and help the church pull together their ministry strategy and plan. It’s been awesome to be involved with teens and leaders again and be able to feed into their development.

• We launched a new programme this last Monday – Depot Masterchef. About two months ago, a leader at cession birthed this idea over coffee. She’s a professional chef and wanted to help youth and adults see how they could cook/eat better. As the idea developed, we saw a fit with the alternative school we share our facility with. On Monday, we cooked our first meal. Many of the kids were used to just cooking instant noodles or toast but, on Monday, they made homemade pasta, meatballs, homemade sauce, and pear cobbler. It was awesome to see the relationships begin to develop between the students and leaders present. Our hope is that this programme gives the students real life skills while opening relational doors with the leaders involved.

• Policies – yes, to some of you (me included), I just said a nasty P-word. Part of investing in the trust so it is sustainable is developing policies for how we run our programmes – funders and government agencies want to see practical policies that apply to our programmes. Because we’ve submitted 2 significant funding applications for trust programmes, we need these in place. Believe me, this has been work for me – I need to do it first thing in the day or I’ll keep putting it off for more people aspects of my role. But, it has been a huge leap forward organizationally for the trust.

• We heard back from one of our funding applications (a small one) – AND IT WAS SUCCESSFUL! BP gives fuel vouchers for volunteers and we applied for some this year. This was our first successful “funding” application for the trust (that was your queue to stand up from your chair and do a little happy dance). This allows us to appreciate people who give so much of themselves so the trust can connect with our community. We don’t have the blessing of having a volunteer appreciation budget – this is it – so it’s huge for us!

• Caleb and Aedan have been able to reach out to their friends. Caleb invited a few boys from his Jujitsu gym to youth group and they said yes! Last week, two were there and they’ve said they’ll return this week as well. This is pretty significant – Caleb’s instructor is also the youth pastor for this youth group. Caleb’s willingness to ask these boys opened the door for his instructor to share more as well! Both boys help me out with Mainly Music each week. A few weeks ago, another boy showed up that was Aedan’s age (Mainly Music is for toddlers – kids Aedan’s age are in school). It turns out this was another home school family who was new to the area and the two boys have really hit it off!

• Funding Update – We are still underfunded for our term but have seen God move in incredible and creative ways. God has been providing our support like manna – just in time for when we need it – for the last six months. This month, our goal was $3,000 by September 15. Right now, we are about $900 away from that goal. This will secure October for us.

In addition to this, we’ve been able to pick up some contract work for DaNae (and I). Houghton College is coming at the end of October as part of a semester-abroad programme and we are acting as the on-the-ground coordinators. In addition, we may also have the opportunity to be relief parents in a special needs respite home for two weeks (this would be an awesome opportunity to love on some really cool kids). Assuming we’re able to fund this next target, both of these opportunities significantly help fund November and maybe even December!

• DaNae just celebrated five years of being cancer-free (another queue for a little happy dance). We’ve known she’s been cured but it’s nice to know that insurers in the US now see it that way too! We had several celebrations of Gods goodness in the last month, Rob had his birthday, we celebrated 20 years of marriage and our sweet Aedan turned 7!

As you can see, a lot’s happened since we last wrote. Most of these things are things that wouldn’t have happened if we weren’t here. AND, we wouldn’t be here without your partnership. I hope you can see how that investment is rippling outward!

Rainbows and Unicorns

2011-07-17T17:20:00.000+12:00

I mentioned earlier this week that we live in “the land of rainbows and unicorns.” Just in case you didn’t realize it, I was kidding about the unicorns (we keep looking but have yet to see one). But the rainbows… we see them so often, it’s becoming commonplace. Since winter started back in May, I’d say we see about 2-3 a week with all the showers we’ve had.

I saw one driving home on Monday and, for whatever reason, was reminded of the evidence of God’s work that’s attached to rainbows. Maybe it was because missionaries always have holy thoughts but I think it may have had something to do with the brilliant rainbow over our house. I started to wonder how Noah felt every time he saw a rainbow after the flood. I would think it would have been emotional for him, like when I walked by a race finish line a year after running a 25k road race – I was all weepy because of the feelings that symbol reignited. I like to think that Noah would get all choked up as he pondered how God became real to him.

Then, I started thinking of our journey since we arrived here. It has been awesome to serve the church here in New Zealand. It’s been energizing to help them develop their outreach to their community and build relationships with people in our community. It’s been a blessing to come beside the church’s leadership and encourage and partner with them to help the church live out its vision. But, I think the part we most treasure has been seeing how God has become real to us. The area this is best seen has been our funding.

Since last fall (or spring in the US because the seasons are opposite here), our time here has been measured in adding another month. Since March, we’ve started each month not knowing if it would be our last. Yet, each month, God has provided what we’ve needed. It’s been amazing to see how God has met this need and allowed us to continue investing in what He is doing here.

As I continued thinking, I connected our team at home with rainbows. This sounds real cheesy but you are our rainbows. As we look over the last several months, we see how God has used you to speak a word of encouragement and give when able. The faithfulness of what you’ve done added with the faithfulness of others has sustained us when we wondered how God would keep us here an additional month. Now, I see a rainbow (then) think of how God used it to remind Noah (then) think of how you all remind us of God’s care for what is happening here (then) get a bit teary over how God makes Himself known. Thanks for being part of this kaleidoscope God uses to work around the world.

We’re not out of the woods yet. We’ve had a lot of people join our meal plan but continue to look month to month regarding our time here. This month, our target is $2,529 by August 15 – that’s how much is needed to stay an additional month. We’ve come to embrace Paul’s sentiment in Philippians 4 – “I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret to being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength (vs12-13).” Each day, we are blessed to be in New Zealand and serve the church here. We crave to stay our full term but are also blessed with what God enables. We ask that you’d pray for the ministry here and that God would continue to meet our month to month needs. If you feel prompted or able to help meet September’s goal, let us know how we can help. We have two goals, the 1st is obviously getting enough funds to sustain another month, but a 2nd goal we have that would change the overall future of our funding is gaining monthly support, money that is counted on every month. This is where the New Zealand Meal Plan comes into play and there is more information about that under our “links” on the left side of the page.

Thank you for your continued prayers for our family. The last month has seen the wrap up of The Love Languages Course, a successful end to term 2 for Mainly music, a strong ending to our home schooling for term two, and two completed applications for grants for cessions trust. We have had some bumps along the way as well. The cold/flu found its way into our house hold not once but twice, along with that DaNae injured her ankle and she is about ½ way through physical therapy. So a busy and at times crazy month, but God just continues to show up over and over.

We are so grateful for you taking the time to peak in on our lives and sharing the journey with us. We look forward to updating you again soon.

Happy Winter ?!?!?!

2011-06-21T16:52:00.002+12:00

For those in the states it is “welcome summer”, yes we are having a bit of seasonal confusion going on in these American bodies! The USA has moved into summer, ending school, looking ahead to holiday…..Here in NZ we are in the thick of term two for school and we have started our “winter”. I do ok, putting on the jeans and sweaters and feeling the desire to do “cozy” type activities, but when I look at the calendar my brain has a bit of a wig out!! Winter for NZ means wet, with a few raw days but then some beautiful sunny days as well. It basically feels like it is fluctuating between a wet early November and perfect October days.

It is fun to read our last entry and remember all that took place in just those two short months, and seeing how God just keeps moving ahead right into June. We talked about Mainly Music and the start of our Love Languages Course in the last update. Mainly Music only continues to grow and every week there seems to be a new mum or care giver that darkens the door of the Depot, and they are not connected with the church. The atmosphere has been energized, staff is working well together and just loving on these ladies (and in some cases fathers too) who come spend a couple of hours with us on a Tuesday. Some have been opening up personal parts of their lives to us and it has given us an opportunity to speak into/serve the need they may have rather it’s a listening ear or a few meals to help get through the week. It has been a really beautiful thing to watch grow. Our Love Languages Course kicked off 3 Wednesday nights ago, and we have 17 people involved. It has been so exciting to see people in all different stages of life and from different parts of our community come together to learn how to strengthen the relationships they have in their lives.

Since the last time we wrote, our family had the opportunity to attend The Gathering. This is a day when the Wesleyan churches in the greater Auckland area come together for a full day of fellowship. The best part of this day for me was to meet other leaders that I have heard about from earlier trips that Rob had to NZ. It was just wonderful to see these churches from different cultures - Fijian, Tongan and others - come together in the same space. I was blessed to be reminded that we are in this together and that God is so much bigger then what we are trying to accomplish in our own little neck of the woods.

The biggest thing we are in the middle of right now is something called the “Discovery” process. This is a program that was developed by TearfundUK (google it if you have a minute) to aid churches in identifying needs in their community that they can do something about. Over seven sessions, the program walks a group of people through a process of discovering the needs of their community and the compatibility of the organization to meet those needs through their resources, talents, and gifts. It’s goal is to help the church see where those two meet so they can respond. This is being sponsored through the cession trust and it has been an amazing process of surveys and meeting with community leaders and organizations to assess what the needs are and how we can best meet them. The program is so well defined and exciting to see how it works that Rob has had thoughts of “I wonder how we could use this in the United States”. It has been a lot of work, and involves a high level of commitment for those who have agreed to go through the process, but the end result will be clear answers and direction for the cession community trust and church to understand how to best meet their communities needs.

Finally, and probably our biggest prayer need right now, is our funding to be able to stay here to complete these projects God has brought to our plates. By now many of you, if not all, have seen an invite to the New Zealand Missions Meal Plan. If you have not, click under the "helpful links" in the left hand margin, labeled the same name and that will explain everything. God has been so amazing and continues to surprise us and sustain us. Right now we are seeing God provide months at a time to be able to stay here for the full term. Global Partners has been wonderful in working with us and letting us know certain dollar amounts that need to be reached by certain dates to ensure another month, and another month. Our hope and prayer is that so many of you latch onto the NZ Missions Meal Plan, that we will be fully funded for the next year and two months so that we are no longer “buying” a month at a time. Would you join us in praying this with us and would you be willing to consider being part of the Meal Plan if you have not already.

We are thankful for each and every one of you, for the way you love us, support us and encourage us. We look forward to updating again soon.

NZ Missions Meal Plan

2011-05-13T23:56:00.000+12:00

Hi friends,

We have something new for you to check out and prayerfully consider - the NZ Missions Meal Plan. It's our effort to both raise the remaining support we need AND build awareness for global missions. Check it out by following the Meal Plan link on the left or just click here. If 124 people can do this, we would be funded for our full 2 years.

All things Easter................

2011-05-13T00:24:00.000+12:00

It is so hard to believe that we are into May now!! Our first Easter season in NZ was awesome! It was busy and at times all consuming, but God was in the center of it all! We hope you had a beautiful Easter season celebrating our Risen Savior as well!

The Reynolds are doing really well. Both DaNae and Caleb just celebrated birthdays. We are now parents of a teenager – and a pretty awesome one at that! Having just come through Easter we had an awesome season connecting with our community. Each year, cession has hosted an Easter Egg Hunt and Art Gallery around the Easter services. This year, over 200 people attended our egg hunt IN THE RAIN! Yes, there were times it was down-pouring but people showed up, had fun getting wet, and heard the Easter story shared kids-style. I think the best part was that the rain did let up for only 15 minutes – the 15 minutes we went outside to find eggs!

“Killing Time”, our art gallery was set up using Mark’s account of the passion story and his focus on time. Over 65 people came through to see it. It was an awesome creative expression of worship from artists in our community, a cool way to connect with people near us, and a creative way to walk visitors through the passion story using art as a medium. Look below for pictures to each of these events.

Our efforts with the trust are moving along. Mainly Music (a Christian toddler music program designed to be a non-threatening community activity to introduce faith concepts to families and use music to foster parent/child relationships) is now averaging 45 mums and kids each Tuesday morning. We have a great team connecting with mums each week through this program. We are also in the middle of a discovery process that is helping to focus our efforts to meet needs in our greater community. It’s a great program developed by a UK ministry called TearFund.

As we rubbed shoulders with families in our community last month, we spotted an interesting trend. People who weren’t ready to consider church were craving our community. They were interested in anything we could offer but weren’t ready to check out a service. With this in mind, we are offering a Love Languages course at the end of this month and finishing in June. The interest is crazy – I was just speaking with a woman last week who can’t wait to come and is bringing a friend (as a matter of fact, her whole workplace is coming, all because they started to see the community one person working there had as a member of cession|community). This woman is an atheist/agnostic who can’t stand the idea of church but she loves our community. She’s said, “I wish I could have friends like that.” This event is tailored for folks like her so we can get to know each other.

We’ve also kicked off our NZ Missions Meal Plan. If you haven’t already, check out the meal plan link at the top of this page. We have given this plan to God and would ask that you would join us in praying over it.

We are excited to see what this next month brings as we continue to see Gods hand in everything while we are here. Thank you for your prayers and support. Hitting the 6 month mark is beginning to make us miss “home”, we would love to hear from you and if there is a way we can be praying for you please send it along, we love praying for all of you and it helps us feel a touch of home as well.

Stations of the Cross Photos

2011-05-13T00:20:00.000+12:00

easter egg hunt 2011

2011-05-13T00:16:00.000+12:00

For the Kingdom of God Belongs to Such as These...

2011-04-20T17:21:00.000+12:00

At parents at cession, one of the ways we all help staff Kid’s Encounter (our children’s ministry) is by serving as helpers once a month. Last weekend was our family’s turn and I was class helper Sunday night. One thing I learned is that the perceptions, comments and questions are radically different from adult focused ministry (and a tad more entertaining). While Brett was teaching out of Psalms 51 and talking about confession and transformation, I was exploring scripture from a different perspective.

As a pastor, one thing I look for is people’s personal expression and embodiment of what I taught because it helps to understand someone’s faith perspective and what really came out of my mouth. With that in mind, I want to introduce you to

Jedi-Jesus, the personal expression and embodiment from Aedan’s perspective. Apparently, he feels Jesus used his skills with the force to make us right with God. Although I’m not sure what Bible story he found his inspiration, I must admit that the light sabers and Jedi belt seem to fit right in with the drawing he was given…

I process comments people share. I love to hear about the thought process that a message can birth. Of all the comments shared with me in class, my favorite was, “If you eat too many chips, you’ll die.” This was said with a matter-of-fact earnestness only a five-year old could have – there was no question in his voice whether this was true or not. I'm sure it had some connection with the story being shared.

I also encourage questions and processing what I teach. I work hard at not being surprised by any question and ready to work through an answer. My favorite question this weekend came after the teacher asked, “Why did Jesus come to us here on Earth?” Someone in the class answered, “To save us” which prompted another question by another five-year old – “What about Mars?”

So, with that said, if you feel like you’re not engaged in your worship service and have fallen into a rut or, if you feel like you’ve been in church long enough to hear it all, see if you can help out in children’s ministries. There’s a whole new perspective on faith that adds meaning to Luke 18:16-17 …

Mana and Resiliency

2011-04-08T12:36:00.000+12:00

Most of you know I spent last week in Christchurch working with the Salvation Army as they respond to the earthquake aftermath. I’ve spent much of this week thinking through my time and trying to process all I experienced. It was a blessing to be there with them but also very challenging to come back to normalcy – more so than I expected. I’m in a healthy spot – I just didn’t put much credence into the need to debrief the experience until I was flying home. I’m blessed with good relationships that helped and listened as I shared.

While there, I was a member of a team of 13 people from all over New Zealand and Australia. About half were Sallies (that’s what they call Salvation Army members here) and half were people like me who just wanted to help. We’d meet every morning at 6:30 AM and head to our home base for breakfast before being disbursed to area communities. We would go door to door checking on people until 4:30, return for a debrief time and dinner, and be back to our rooms around 7:30 PM. Each day, my partner and I checked on 60 – 100+ homes. In a sense, we were doing triage – spending up to a half-hour with people listening and assessing needs and referring them to other teams if they needed more time.

During the week, we visited Ferrymead (a new development hit hard but still liveable), Bexley (one of the hardest hit areas – at least 5 out of 6 homes were unoccupied, most of which were red-stickered/damaged beyond repair), Lyttleton (close to the epicenter and just recently opened to aid workers), and New South Brighton (the 5% of homes that had to wait weeks for services to be restored). Our goal was to connect with the residents still there and offer any help we could – often it was just offering a listening ear and time for a cup of tea. I was amazed at the power in the combination of those two things. It’s worth sharing some of the connections here. We talked with:

• An elderly couple who were looking after their neighborhood and trying to hold it together. The husband was pretty chipper and said they were fine, but his wife was struggling to hold it together. We prayed for a natural opportunity for someone on our team to connect with her at a later time. Later, she met us in the driveway of one of their neighbors and shared for 20 minutes how difficult the last 5 weeks have been. They suspect their house will be red-stickered – there are so many cracks in the foundation slab that the house shakes every time a truck drives by. This was to be their retirement home. She just wants answers but knows they won’t know details for 4-6 months. Just being able to talk was a relief for her.

• Another gentleman said he was fine but invited us in for tea and shared his story. He was in the CBD (central city) when the quake hit – his wife was 5 km away. When he couldn’t reach her, he ran to her location only to be turned away due to the damage. He started working up the evacuation route and found his wife in the crowd. It then took them 2 hours to travel a 15 minute drive to collect their boys from school. Even though out of work, they were getting on with life but he just wanted to talk.

• A single mom in one of the harder hit communities. All the homes around her were red-stickered or abandoned. Her kids were relocated to schools across town. For a shower, they had to travel 3 km to portable facilities set up by the government. She shared how looters pulled into her driveway on Feb 22 – the night of the quake – and only left when they saw her son walk around from the back of the house. She wanted so much to talk that she followed us to the road when it was time for us to leave.

It’s almost impossible to really empathize with the people living in the effects of a disaster like this and know the importance of crisis support until you see it firsthand. Think of life right now as you know it. Now take away all the things you take for granted as being there – clean water coming out of your pipes, sewage going where it is supposed to when you drain or flush, power and phone service being available, roads being safe enough to drive on, the store down the street being open for business, your neighbors still living next to you, your house being weatherproof, contractors being available on a moment’s notice when you call with an emergency, , being able to easily get answers so you can act on the damage you see, being able to easily brush your teeth. This begins to give an idea of what the people are struggling through. I can still hear one young guy sharing, “Hey, we’re doing ok, I guess. We feel overlooked. You hear of how power and services are restored for 95% of Christchurch – well, this community was in the 5%. We just had services restored (5 weeks after the earthquake).” One doesn’t realize how much your daily and emotional wellbeing is built on what we take for granted. Now, add to this the daily aftershocks as reminders of how this started and you begin to sense what it could be like. In the midst of this, the Sallies play a giant role. Their mana is huge!

Mana is a Maori term for respect, prestige, and honor. It can be sourced in one’s family lines, in one’s actions, or in the actions of a group. The Sallie’s mana comes from the last two. The Sallies have mana in the community because, time and time again, they’ve been the group to help pick up the pieces. People would toot and cheer when they drove by and thank us for being in their community. In the entire week we were there, we only had one person shut his door on us (and even he did it politely). Wearing the Red Shield vest (our vests with the Sallie emblem) gave us access where we normally wouldn’t have it. I would work with them again in an instant!

When we first arrived, it was obvious that the Sallies wanted faith to be lived out in actions right now. The faith conversations can happen but, at this point in the crisis, the loudest faith voice you could have is responding to their immediate needs. They accepted people where they were and just focused on their needs at this moment. And this, they do very well. They didn’t just help with physical needs, they had the capacity and things in place to help with emotional needs as well. If someone needed food, fuel, or clothes, we could help. If someone needed help making ends meet or needed help getting out of Christchurch for a break, we could help. If they didn’t know who to call (which agency), we could help. If they just wanted a visit, we could do that too. Even government officials recognized their mana. One said, “I’m glad the Sallies are working with us. We know they are Christians but they’re not forcing the Bible down our throats.” They recognized that the Sallies work to live out their faith and let their actions be their voice. What would it be like if every church in every community had mana like this?

The other key impact the week had on me was the resiliency of the people in Christchurch. They can’t return to the old normal of life. They’re stuck in a rebuilding time where every decision is measured in months and years. Yet, the majority of people we connected with were doing their best to get on with life. Time and time again, we saw how people were looking after their neighbors. One elderly woman had a zoo of sorts – she was caring for all the abandoned pets on her road. Several others were looking out for elderly residents next door or down the road. Because Lyttleton was cut off for days after the quake, we heard of how the community organized itself to check on its residents and make sure people were safe and fed. We heard story after story of how people congregated together after the earthquake and cared for each other. Their road to getting back to a new normal is pretty long but they’re making it happen. As one there, you begin to see how bounce-back-ability is encouraged just by knowing you are not alone.

Thank you so much for your prayers while I was there. I felt them each time we entered a house and shared time with people. I felt them as we tried to discern real needs from fake ones (yes, people were trying to scam the system too. Not many, but they were there). I’ve felt them since coming home as I’ve processed the experience. They were the fuel that kept me healthy and going all last week. Please continue to pray for the residents of Christchurch, the teams that are there each week, and the role the church plays in the future:

• For the people because, as a whole, this is typically the lowest part of the process as people respond to crisis and disaster. Pray that they practically know people are there for them.

• For the Sallie teams – they are the first line of relational support right now. Pray that people wouldn’t continue to volunteer to serve and that the Sallies can continue to staff the teams they need. Pray that the right people would be drawn to this – good listeners with empathetic, caring, and discerning hearts. Pray for these individuals as they head home and adjust back to life (the Sallies even help with this if needed – they have a handle on the whole process).

• For the church down the road. The Sallies have a long term commitment to Christchurch. They told us that there will be a time to share their faith (it’s just not now). Pray for them down the road when they begin to share what drives their concern for recovery there. Pray for the Wesleyan church as well. In 2012, Christchurch is the next strategic church plant for the New Zealand Wesleyan Church (this was in place well before the Earthquakes). Pray for Clint Usher (the planting pastor) and the leadership here as they discern what that plant will look like.

Rob in Christchurch

2011-04-01T14:54:00.000+13:00

Hi Everyone, so many have asked about Rob going to christchurch and many of you are praying. Thank you so much. We wanted to get a note out to everyone because I'm sure there are some that do not know the opportunity Rob had. It has been hard to watch NZ go through the aftermath of such a disaster as the one in Christchurch nearly 6 weeks ago. Both our church and our family were left with this sense of "how can we help". Soon after that the salvation army put out a call for urgent need for pastors and councilors to help with their earthquake relief efforts. Rob put his name in and he got a call last week to be on a plane this week to go down. When it was time it happened pretty fast but we were blessed that he could help in this way. We have had good phone coverage so we have been able to talk and he is doing really well. Exhausted, but good. Their days start around 5:30am and end at 7:30pm. As he has said "there is a reason the salvation army does what they do". He feels very well taken care of, their operation is very well organized and he feels fully equipped for what ever he may come across. There are still several neighborhoods that have not been assessed yet, so it has been a lot of going from door to door, checking in on families to make sure they are ok and find out their needs. The last few days they were in Littleton, which is where the epicenter was of the quake (not the massive massive damage that you see in the central business district) because of this location they are dealing with a lot of damaged homes and some that have already been marked with red paint to signal these one are beyond repair. As Rob has said he is encouraged and blown away by the resilience of the people of CHCH and he is also broken by the level of emotional hurt. There are so many different scenarios, stories and needs he has come across, and all the while feeling Gods hand and that some how in a little way he is making a difference.
The boys and I are doing well during the separation, but there is just something about being separated in a different country, its like its more "heightened" or something. The church family has been awesome looking after us, and the big news of the week is that I actually started driving!!! Look out Auckland! I have been holding down the fort here between family, working hard on our fund raising efforts and the church ministry needs as we are approaching the Easter season and there are several community outreach events we organize. Please continue to pray for Rob, he will be home soon,his safety and that God would equip him with everything he needs and his processing time once he is home. Pray for the people of CHCH, this is going to be a long journey for sooo many of them.
Thank you for your love and prayers!!

American Friends, We are OK.

2011-03-12T12:21:00.002+13:00

Hi all - a note to say we are OK - the physical impact on New Zealand was pretty minimal (I believe the waves were about 20 inches high when they reached our coast). Our hearts are pretty heavy after watching the footage in Japan. We are praying for the country as they continue to respond to the tragedy.

The Significance of March

2011-03-11T23:28:00.000+13:00

March is a significant month for us here in New Zealand. It was back in 2004, about this same time, that I first stepped off a plane in Auckland for the first time to help plan and launch the Wesleyan Church’s youth camp. I still remember heading home after that trip was over. For most of my waking moments on that flight, I remember thinking through how I could share the experience with DaNae and Caleb. I had expected to spend a week planning and learning and instead, fell in love with a culture on the other side of the globe. You could say that our journey here started on that trip.

March 2004 is also significant for cession|community. It was then that cession|community was birthed as a church by East City Wesleyan (ECW). Brett and the early leaders had a vision for a community that reached out to young adults not necessarily connected to a traditional church. They began meeting on Sundays in the early evening in the same space ECW met in the morning. Who would have known that this dream would have developed as it has – cession has grown from a starting group of people to a community reaching out to the people and families God has placed about them. So, I guess their journey started about the same time.

The reason I was reminiscing like this about us and cession is because March 2011 is another marker for our shared journeys. DaNae and I came here to partner with cession and help lead their community ministries and we do that through a community trust the church has established. This past week has been huge for us because we’ve made two big steps forward.

In December, we were asked to staff the Depot (the community center that we meet in) with a youth worker who could act as a chaplain for students in some of the programs there. This week, Paul (cession’s Intern Pastor), along with Sara (a cession member), started a weekly class discussion/teaching time centered on life topics with a biblical perspective. They start with a video and then facilitate a class discussion afterward so begin building relationships with the students in class. Paul also has office hours at the Depot where he can be present as needed. I think what excites me most about this is the match with Paul. It allows him to focus on counseling and one-on-one ministry (a sweet spot for him).

In December, we also saw God working in another way when Sara began pursuing a dream she had for a music ministry to at-risk students in our area. God started moving the roadblocks in a serious way for her (new job that freed up her schedule, time to think and plan so her dream could happen, a grant we could apply for to purchase instruments). She already has two schools interested in the program and just needs drums for it to happen. This week, we sent in our first grant application. We know it was received on time and is being evaluated as you read this.

This may not seem like a big deal to Americans as you read this but it is here. Grants are one avenue the New Zealand government uses to address social and community needs. Cession has known they were there but never tried to access them before, largely because they didn’t have a point person to lead the process. With DaNae and I here, they now have that point person, which gave Sara the freedom to run with her vision and pursue funds. She was a superstar in this process. Please pray as we wait to hear if the application was approved.

We share this with you because many of you were key players in making this happen. We couldn’t have made it here if it weren’t for the support of a huge team. Your investment has enabled us to be involved with cession|community and has helped to give birth to these dreams of ministry. All this started with investments and action in 2004 – seven years ago. I can’t help but wonder what another seven years will bring!

It's Tough to Watch the News Right Now

2011-02-22T23:11:00.000+13:00

Hi all. I'm assuming you've heard by now of the earthquake in Christchurch. If you haven't, there was a 6.3 earthquake today only 5km underground. The footage from Christchurch leaves a hole in my chest right now. As I write this, they're sharing that the central city is shut down and rescue efforts are ongoing. Earlier today, we watched as they worked to free people trapped in collapsed buildings. To make it more difficult, it started raining this afternoon and is raining as we speak.

As you go through these next few days, would you keep Kiwis (New Zealanders) in your prayers? The whole country is hurting. Pray that the phone systems would be restored so that families can contact each other. Even though Christchurch is on the other side of this nation on the South Island, there are lots of people here in Auckland (including friends of ours) trying to reach loved ones. The phone lines are overwhelmed with people trying to get through to friends and family. Thanks for joining us in this.

The Start of a New Year!

2011-02-16T22:19:00.002+13:00

It’s hard to believe that today is our 3 month anniversary in New Zealand. On November 16 of last year, we stepped off the plane and into the community God had for us. It seems like so long ago that driving was such a mental activity (thinking through what side of the road to be on, how to navigate intersections, who has the right of way, etc). It seems like so long ago that we had no idea of where to shop or how to get somewhere. It seems like so long ago that we were trying to figure out what to do.

At the same time, it seems like just yesterday. Just yesterday, we came to a new country. Just yesterday, we started to develop cession’s trust. Just yesterday, we were overwhelmed with the newness around us.

This month has been the start of the new year here in New Zealand, much like September is the start of a new year in the states. Schools are on break from mid-December to the beginning of February. This month, we’ve been revisiting the church’s vision in our services and exploring what that means for each of us. DaNae and I have used this time to gain greater clarity of the programs that run under the trust and the needs they have as well as the future direction of the trust. In addition to putting its vision, mission, and values into words, we’ve been giving leadership to current programs and helping new ones start. We’ve been familiarizing ourselves with the grants available to fund trust activities.

What we’ve been doing with the trust:
•Mainly Music – this is a Christian program cession has been running. It reaches out to young families in the community and provides a social group centered on music. Parents and toddlers gather together for structured music time and tea. Our focus has been to build connections with the parents and the cession community. Caleb and I play a support role while DaNae has been building relationships with other moms. We’re helping this team define their needs, recruit new members, and find funding for the equipment they need.

•Drumbeats – Sara, one of cession’s members, was trained last year in a program that builds into the lives of at-risk teens. It uses drumming as a tool to talk about issues they face and work through them. Sara’s prayer was that she’d find a job that would allow her a day off to do this program through the trust. Well, in December, Sara was hired as a music teacher for a local school. Her schedule – 4 days a week! We just presented the program to an alternative school in our community and she will start a group at the end of April (term 2). Please pray for us as we apply for grants to underwrite the instruments she will need.

•Depot Chaplaincy – cession is one of several tenants in a community center called The Depot. One of the tenants approached us and asked if we would staff a youth chaplain there. This came at the same time we were sorting out Paul’s (an intern currently in Bible College) role. He has a heart for counseling teens and is really gifted for a position like this. In two weeks, he and Sara will start leading group discussions with students at the center to build relationships and credibility for their new roles. Please pray for them as they move forward.

•Trust Administration – Prior to our arrival, cession|trust existed as an idea and legal charter. Now that we are here to lead it, we have a lot of groundwork to cover in establishing it as a reality. I’ve been working to identify its vision, mission, and values as well as put together a policy manual and history for future grant applications. The first part of that I enjoy but the policy manual is like fingernails on a chalkboard for me – pray for me as I work through that task (or, even better, that God would help me identify an administratively gifted person that loves putting together things like policy manuals).

What we’ve been doing as a family:
•Building neighborhood relationships – We’ve gotten to know 2 out of our three neighbors. We almost got off to a bad start with one neighbor. When I was first talking to him, the conversation died when he found out I was a pastor but God gave us another in. He's in the food industry and I asked him for help with knowing where to shop/what to eat. That reignited the conversation and we talked for over 30 minutes. Since then, we talk almost every day and have been for dinner and trade movies to watch. He’s been pretty clear that he has his own beliefs but also accepts us for who we are.

Our other neighbors just moved into the other house over the fence. We’ve talked to them and have tentative plans to cook out together as well. This time, when I introduced myself, I said I run a trust in the community – it’s kept my role as a pastor from being a stumbling block as we get to know each other.

•Rob – Outside of the trust role above, I serve on the teaching team and tech team at cession. I’ve really enjoyed being back in a pastoral role once again.

•DaNae – Has been busy setting up home, orchestrating home education and learning a new ministry and country along side of her family. She has been enjoying building relationships with young women and moms in the congregation/community and coming along side our worship arts teams to help with the process and team building. She has even had a few moments to pick up a guitar that has been loaned to her and learn a few things.

•Caleb and Aedan – Caleb attended youth camp last month with 175 other students from the Auckland area and had a blast. He attends youth group at cession’s parent church – East City Wesleyan – and serves with us at Mainly Music. Aedan has fit in well, too. He’s made friends with many of the kids at church (many are his age) and is a sponge when it comes to learning things in other languages (Mandarin Chinese, Maori). We were able to find a Jujitsu gym for both boys that fit our budget so that they can continue their martial arts training, too.

How God has been challenging us:
•Me – God has been using the book, A Hole in Our Gospel, to challenge me in my faith. If you haven’t read it, you should pick it up (whether you’re a church person or not). It’s a book that makes you rethink how you view those less fortunate than you and challenges you to live like you care. So far, every chapter has stuck in my thoughts well after I put the book down.

•DaNae – God has been reminding me to stay in that place of surrender. Trying not to just see things through my eyes and my thoughts, but through God’s. There are many promises that God whispered to me through his word over the last few years, and I am daily striving to stay in that place of trust and surrender.

•Caleb – God has really been challenging me to figure out how to serve God in the church. I’ve been serving with children’s ministry and on the tech team.

•Aedan – The children’s program sponsors a child in India (Sanjay). One Sunday, Aedan came home with a passion to give what he could to Sanjay. The next week, he gave all the money he earned that week to help support him. I want to be able to give sacrificially like him.

Merry Christmas - Our One Month Anniversay

2010-12-25T23:46:00.001+13:00

Kia Ora Friends,

Merry Christmas! I hope each of you are well as you approach the holidays this year. I’m sitting at my desk in our home writing you from a Christmas environment different from any other I’ve experienced. Instead of cold weather, I’m in shorts and wrestling with humidity. Instead of pine trees dusted with white, we have pohutukawa trees (the New Zealand Christmas tree—look it up on Google—they’re beautiful) in blossom. Instead of a real tree, we decided on an artificial one. We can’t find a copy of A Christmas Story to watch (THIS IS TRAGIC – we watch it every year!). I can actually find parking at area shopping stores and not learn new sign language from other drivers because Christmas is much less commercial here (that’s a good thing!). Our Christmas routine is a bit different this year.

At the same time, we’ve been able to hold on to many things. I came home with a Poinsettia plant for DaNae yesterday and it shouts Christmas from the center of our lounge. As I write this, I hear Aedan practicing his lines for a Christmas play at church (he’s Joseph – his first leading role). “Don’t worry Mary, God will take care of us. Let’s try this inn.” Knock-knock-knock. “Hi sir, do you have room for my wife and I.” Each night, we work our way through our advent calendar (one we’ve had for years that both boys look forward to each Christmas). In a very different environment, we’ve been able to hold onto what’s important about Christmas.

If you would, I’d like a few moments of your time to share what has taken place, what is going on now, and what is to come in the next month. Grab a cup of coffee or tea and join us here in New Zealand through this letter.

We’ve been here for one month now. In this time, we’ve set up our home, built relationships with people at cession (our church), started relationships with our neighbors, and started the ministry God has for us here. The picture to the right is the view from our home. This is the Highland Park neighborhood – the community our church reaches out to. It is a very diverse part of Auckland – over 180 nationalities are represented in this community. It is just as common to hear a foreign language spoken as people walk by as it is to hear English. Our church is a 15 minute walk from home.

For those praying for our adjustment, thank you! I’ve been amazed at how God has worked. The boys love it here and made friends right away. Caleb looks forward to Tuesday mornings because he serves with us at a community ministry cession does called Mainly Music (a biblically-based toddler music program). He’s following in Dad’s footsteps and running the technical side of things – he’s our power point person during the program and plays with the toddlers afterwards. It’s a great fit for his desire to serve and connect with people. As a family, we are picking up bits of Maori (one of New Zealand’s three official languages) and looking for ways to learn more. I think this is the language we will learn while here. Skype and MagicJack have been lifesavers in our efforts to stay connected with friends and family in the states.

Please continue to pray for us as we serve in New Zealand and pray for others to become part of this team. When we left the states, we knew we were still in need of funds. Even though we’ve been appointed for 2 years, the reality is that we are here as long as our support enables it – we will need to come home early if our financial support runs out. As churches and individuals, would you pray for God to continue to provide the financial support to keep us here for the full term? Throughout this journey, God has surprised us many times in how He’s provided for this to happen. Sometimes it’s been through people who already support us, sometimes it’s been through people we’ve approached, and sometimes it’s seemed like it was just “out of the blue.” We know God has brought us here and really feel blessed when people have moved when God has prompted them.

In this next month, we are setting the foundation for community ministries through cession, even as we help with existing ministries. DaNae and I are here to help cession engage their community through outreach. We are working through how to mobilize members and turn their ministry ideas into realities. For those of you who are organizational in your thinking, we are here to model serving others and help leaders put a ministry plan to their vision. Pray for us as we meet with people (inside and outside of cession) to determine community needs and cession’s ability to act on them.

It’s still a bit surreal when I think that we are finally here in New Zealand, finally partnering with the church God put in our heart several years ago. Each of you receiving this (churches and individuals, prayer and financial supporters) are part of the team God pulled together to make this happen – several times each day, we thank God for you! We are here investing in the church because you resonated with the vision for the New Zealand church and invested in us. We can’t do this without you – it’s pretty cool how God knits us together! With that said, ka kite (kah-keetay – Maori for see you again) – thanks for joining us in the journey.

Love,
Rob, DaNae, Caleb, and Aedan
Please email us if you are interested in the nicer newsletter version with extra pictures. We have limited bandwidth each month and couldn’t send it as a mass distribution. If you want it for your reading or to print and share at church, please just say so in a comment on the blog and we will have her mom send it along to you!

The Last 9 Days...

2010-11-26T01:28:00.000+13:00

Kia Ora Friends and Partners,

Kia Ora is the Maori way of saying ‘Hi” and “Be well/healthy”. It is so good to be able to write and connect with you. Over the last several days, we’ve only had internet access as we jumped on someone else’s router or were able to go to the library and get in the queue for a public one. You see, web access is slightly different here in NZ. Plans don’t have unlimited access like in the US. Instead, you pay for a certain gigabyte amount of usage. You don’t find free spots in cafes like you do in the states either. SO, finally having access at home feels like an incredible gift to us. I can sit here on the couch before bed and let you know what’s been happening.

Since we haven’t had internet, DaNae and I have been keeping notes to share from our time over the last several days. SO, without further ado, enjoy our life according to Rob:

Wednesday, 17 November
We made it! We are in the middle of our first full day in New Zealand. We (the four of us and lots of luggage – nothing got lost in the travels – boys or stuff) arrived yesterday at lunchtime to an awesome welcome – members of our new community at cession|community plus 1 (Stephanie Garey, another Global Partners missionary). What an awesome way to reconnect with familiar faces and meet new ones. Without much trouble, they split up our luggage and spirited us off to our home.

Cession blew us away by what they did for us. We arrived to a house already prepared for us, even with the touches that make it personal (pictures on the wall, fishing rods for the boys and I) – we could only say, “Wow!”. The boys each had their own room decorated according to their interests. DaNae and got a bit teary as we saw how they settled in to “their space.” For the rest of the afternoon, we enjoyed visiting with people and getting to know each other as we potlucked at our house for lunch. I still can’t get over the embracing welcome we received from everyone.

Caleb didn’t waste any time getting familiar with things. He left for a walk yesterday with a new friend (Isaac) from church to explore the neighborhood and then left with him later to watch his softball practice. Both of them are doing really well.

The trip here went much better than we expected. We were able to rest on the plane together as we travelled. The boys dove into the adventure and loved each step of the way. Jet lag has been very manageable – I think the most tired we felt was on our layover in Fiji. But, then again, it was 5 AM in the morning so that shouldn’t have surprised us. We went to bed early last night and slept through the night (Yay!).

Waking up was odd this morning. I laid in bed staring at the ceiling and saying, “We are no longer in the states. Even though waking up is the same, we’re actually in New Zealand.” I know it sounds obvious, but when you go to sleep in one country and then wake up in another, your body doesn’t feel like it’s really gone anywhere. It was kind of crazy.

Tonight we head to Brett’s for a potluck with folks from church. We also just had a surprise welcome from Richard Waugh, the General Superintendent of the church here. Richard is a friend from my first visit to New Zealand. I love that we live in a community where folks just drop in to visit and say, “hi.”

Thursday, 18 November
Last night was awesome. We spent the night at Brett’s home getting to know many of the people who call cession|community their church. Nothing says community like food, right? We enjoyed a yummy BBQ with friends (new and old).

Today, we explored our neighborhood. We can walk to most everything we will need – the supermarket, banks, church, library, post office, and pharmacy. We opened our bank accounts and signed up for library cards. We only walked through the grocery store – that will be a trip on its own as we try to figure out how to food shop. We also treated ourselves to Memphis Meltdowns – for those of you who have had one, you know what a treat this was. Think of a Dove Bar but WAAAYYY better!

I forgot to mention this yesterday. We have a new friend looking out for us here – Richelle. RIchelle , her husband Nigel, and their two boy served as missionaries in Ecuador for 8 years with SIM (Serving in Missions). They’ve been tasked with helping us adjust to life in New Zealand. Richelle’s given us a list to accomplish this week – everything from sending post cards to filling our car with petrol. So far, we’ve completed 3 and a half of the 12 things on our list.

Friday, 18 November
Last night, we were with the Buckley’s and Kelso’s cell group. One of the things cession organized for us was a week of meals with each cell group in the church. As Greg said, they are “one of cession’s communes (they share a house together). It was a very cool night as we got to know them.

Unfortunately, DaNae woke up not feeling well today. A bug’s been going around and DaNae picked it up. Let’s just say she’s really sick. The boys and I are trying to let her rest so she gets better and we stay healthy. I called to set up our phone and internet today – we should be connected by Monday afternoon – Yay!!

Saturday, 19 November
DaNae’s feeling better today. She’s still low energy but at least she can keep food in her. We continued to set up our household accounts (set up power today) and get things unpacked and organized.

We continued to expand our familiarity with our neighborhood by walking to the park today. We met Brett at the depot to see the space cession meets in. It’s an open space that they transform into a welcoming environment on Sundays. During the week, the church is in a shipping container outside of the building. On Sundays, it all comes out to make cession what it is – we can’t wait to see it set up tomorrow.

We also took the boys swimming today. There’s a community pool in the park that is open to the community – it’s like God knew our boys love to swim ;).

Sunday, 20 November
Last night, we had dinner with the Johnstone’s. We sat outside around the patio as the kids played (yes, they had kids – the boys loved it) and we got to know each other. We talked like we had been together for much longer than one night.

Church today was really cool. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the song, Mighty to Save. This song has been tied to significant moments in our life – when we started to attend MCC and knew that was our home for a bit, while we were at Saddleback on our way here (the service ended up being a reminder of what God has been doing in our lives – that may be another post), and then here at our first service at cession|community. This is a rich community and it’s a blessing to be a part of what God is doing here.

Monday, 21 November
We have our phone today – still no internet, though. We’re waiting for our modem to arrive and hope it will be here tomorrow.

We are finally moved into our house – all of our things are put away and organized (DaNae is a super-woman). While the kids were asleep, we managed to assemble two desks from a bunch of miscellaneous desk parts and snuck them into their rooms. Let’s just say they woke up and didn’t leave their rooms for a bit.

Tonight, we had a teaching team meeting to begin planning what the 2011 teaching calendar would look like at cession. I felt a bit like an observer as everyone reviewed 2010’s services but it was good to be a part of it. I like this team :).

Tuesday, 22 November
Today’s our one week anniversary in New Zealand. The week has gone by so fast. Jane (Richard Waugh’s wife) brought over flowers from her garden and Richelle gave us a really cool orange sunflower. Caleb’s celebrating by having the bug that DaNae had last week. It’s tough to see him so miserable and sick – we pray he’ll be better soon.

This morning, Aedan and I were a part of Mainely Music, a tot music program offered by cession for parents and toddlers in the community. It’s a pretty cool outreach to the community - seven of the ten families there aren’t part of cession’s community. We want to help sort out how to better connect with the families here and figure out some technical challenges (they need a better portable CD player to play the program’s music – about $400 here in NZ).

We found out today that there was a glitch in the system and our modem never was ordered by our internet provider. We should have internet by Friday . DaNae went grocery shopping with Kristen today (Brett’s wife and another American). They were shopping for our Thanksgiving dinner with other missionaries this Friday (US Thursday) and Kristen was showing DaNae the different places to shop and save money. She found out turkeys aren’t cheap here - $80 for a bird that feeds 14 people. We all chip in for the bird so it’s all good for a taste of home :)!

Wednesday, 23 November
We called home for the first time today. Last night, I ran over to the corner store and bought a calling card so we could do this. In New Zealand, calling cards allow you to call overseas for less than .02/minute. We woke up and rang DaNae’s folks – it was awesome to be able to talk to family!

We also had our first “How are you doing as you adjust?” debrief. Nigel and Richelle meet with us each week to talk through how we’re doing. I know I mentioned them before but these two are godsends! They’ve done this before and understand what a cultural adjustment is like. They are our people on the ground that we can be totally open with and will understand what we may be going through. By the way, remember the list. We did nine and a half out of twelve AND we have a new list for this week!

Thursday, 24 November
Last night, we were at the Masunu’s cell group. Another great group of people and awesome night of fellowship. Nata and Juanita run a home called Oasis House. They provide family support for families of children with disabilities. Their kids will join them for anywhere from a day or two a month to a few days a week. It gives the parents a break from giving constant care. We were able to share dinner with them and a couple of kids they care for. These two have a lot of love to share with the kids and families they work with. During the group, we spent the night playing an “activity” Juanita put together and praying with each other. Awesome night!

Remember earlier when I mentioned I love being in a culture where drop-in visitors were OK? Another pastor came by today – Atu is a pastor at Streams Community and was in the neighborhood. He stopped by to say “hi” and we spent the next hour and a half sharing our stories with each other and praying together.

We were also able to start sorting out our car – it is now in our name and licensed. We just need to sort out insurance and we can begin terrorizing New Zealanders by putting another American on the road!

Well, I think this brings us to today. It’s 1 AM Friday morning right now. Stateside, y’all should be getting up soon to enjoy Thanksgiving together. We probably won’t always do a play by play like this but it’s been a way for us to stay connected while we were waiting for our internet connection. The modem came this morning and I spent about an hour getting it set up. It’s good to be connected again. We pray that you can really enjoy the day today. Love on your families and take time to see how God’s walked with you this year. We all have a lot to be thankful for!

WE HAVE A DATE!!!!!

2010-11-08T16:05:00.000+13:00

Many of you know this from our Face Book page and word of mouth. I am so sorry we have not updated here, things are moving so fast. But the word is........yes its true we have a date!!!! We leave this Saturday Nov. 13 (or the Kiwi way 13/11/10). This all went down like a whirl wind! We found out from the Embassy about two weeks ago that they received an email from the advisers in New Zealand that we were all clear for Visas. It still took some time to get the official paperwork to the embassy for them to issue the visas. We were woken up by the FedX man last Wednesday, who had our Visas in hand!! Then the chaos began! We were able to purchase tickets that same day, and the end result is the 13th......crazy!! So our good and faithful God has said "now is the time", so hard to believe. Our emotions have ran the spectrum - elation, panic, joy, tears, unbelief, excitement...........the list goes on and on. We have decided to wake up each day and just take it as it comes, work as hard as we can and not "fight" the roller coaster, just take in the ride. God in His power and strength has just carried our family each day.....and each day, its enough. So, we are packing suit cases, moving out of my parents house, scheduling time with family and loved ones, and doing all the things that need to be done to transfer life over seas. In all the craziness it has been a beautiful week, so many sweet sweet moments with those we love and today was our last Sunday with our precious church. We are so excited to begin this next phase of the journey and take all of you along with with us! There is so much more in my heart I want to say but for now I will get this information out and then we will update some more before stepping on the plane. We would not be here in this place if it was not for all of you that answered the "nudge" to pray for us and support us! Thank you. We love you! Please pray us through this week.

Fully Surrender, No Negotiations.......

2010-09-17T08:34:00.002+12:00

21"Jesus looked him hard in the eye—and loved him! He said, "There's one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me."
22The man's face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go." (taken from Mark 10, The Message)

We have a new Senior Pastor at our church and the above was some of the scripture he used this past Sunday. It was a day that God knew I would be sitting in the seats and would need to be hearing some of what was said. I was reminded of surrender, total and complete surrender. What was shared about this passage in Mark 10 struck me in a whole new way. Jesus was asking the rich man to give (surrender) everything he had, everything he was, everything he thought….in other words his full “identity”, to God. As you see the man goes away sad, “heavy hearted”. It is obvious that he made the choice to not surrender. Here is the thing though; do you notice that Jesus lets him go? He does not call him back and say “ok ok, hold on just a moment and let’s talk about this, how about 80%? How does that work for you?” No, Jesus does not negotiate! He lets him go, its 100% or nothing. Wow! It has really made me ask “what am I holding on tight too and not about to let go”? This is a huge evaluation on so many different levels; our relationships, our possessions, our children, home, work, hobbies, habits, thought processes…..identity……I’m sure you can fill in 100 more blanks. There are those things that I “think” I have surrendered entirely but then realize maybe I have only “let go” to the point of when its going the way I think it will or should go. That is when I realize that surrender is also an ongoing thing and I am so thankful for a God who is full of grace.

I say I needed to hear this message last weekend because God used it to encourage my heart after learning there is some more “waiting” for New Zealand. We heard back from the Embassy on Saturday and received the unexpected answer of; “we want some more tests done on DaNae”. Although it was a bit of a surprise to read that letter, God has really used this week to help us process and learn through HIM. In reality this is “good” news, they just want some more information to be sure on some things. God clearly spoke to me on Sunday morning reminding me to surrender, surrender EVERYTHING, even medical processes, visa processes, it is not for me to decide “the way I think it should be or should have happened”……just surrender! So with my armor of God firmly in place we have dealt with many phone calls to doctors and several trips down to Exeter Hospital. As of last night everything has been done and everything looks great! We are just waiting on one more test. My doctors have been so understanding and so helpful, that right there is a gift from God. We are not sure what this next “waiting” process will be, we should know in the next few days what the “wait” might look like. What I do know is that we are at peace, we are trying daily (sometime hourly) to surrender, to just let God hem us in behind and before. In the mean time we also see each day, state-side, as a gift, and we don’t want to miss what God is doing each day, so we attempt to live fully present in each day. These days are full of opportunity to love on the relationships around us, to work on closing the funding gap so we can give NZ our full time, and transitioning our family.
Thank you for your prayers, please continue to pray! We know that God’s got this, and He knows what it looks like, we just need to surrender, not negotiate but fully surrender. We love praying for you too, so please, while we “wait” don’t hesitate to share with us ways we can be lifting you up too.
“actively waiting”, DaNae (Rob and boys)

Actively Waiting Update

2010-08-31T09:24:00.000+12:00

HI all. We are still actively waiting on the embassy for our visa notification. When they received our documents on August 3, they informed us this step would take 30 days plus or minus. We are in the “minus” portion of that time frame right now and we’re praying we will hear from them any day now.

As we wait on this end, we are still preparing to leave. Most of our time is spent going through what we will take with us and what we will store, hunting for deals on suitcases, and connecting with friends and supporters before we leave. This past week, we enjoyed awesome evenings of good food and fellowship with the Alix’s/Watson’s and with the Lindsay’s. That’s one of the hard parts of being so close to leaving – catching up with people close to you when you know your time is limited.

We’ve also been working through a process called RAFT. It’s something another missionary from New Zealand suggested to us. RAFT stands for Reconciliation, Affirmation, Farewell, and Think Destination. She suggested we think through the process as we prepare to leave. For each of us, is there anyone we need to reconcile with so that relationships are left in a healthy state? Who do we want to affirm or thank – not just for this process but for their role in our lives? What and who do we need to say farewell to – people, places, favorite restaurants, pets, possessions, etc? What will life be like when we arrive in New Zealand (Think Destination)?

I love this process because it keeps this transition relational – we could get so focused on all the tasks in front of us that they end up overshadowing the important relationships we have. This has been a process we’ve begun to discuss and work through as a family. We were able to reconnect with my brother after not seeing each other for over seven years – what an awesome visit! We’ve savored the time we’ve had with both DaNae’s and my family. We’ve already said farewell to Chuck E. Cheese (on Aedan’s list) and have begun the process with friends as well. Unfortunately, the farewell list is huge – I don’t think we’ll complete that one.

So, thanks for waiting with us. We know God called us to this and love having each of you on our team.

August is Here - What has been happening with the Reynolds?

2010-08-24T08:59:00.000+12:00

This summer has been a whirlwind of activity so we can leave for New Zealand. DaNae and I feel so close to getting on the field, however, God has us here “just a bit” longer. We expect to hear back from the New Zealand Embassy regarding our visas any day now. Woohoo!

Our plan was to leave this month but that was stalled by the FBI. Let me explain. New Zealand requires a criminal background check for their visa. This is a fingerprint check by the FBI and takes 8-12 weeks to process. Both of us visited the police department for fingerprinting and sent in our forms back in February (This gave us two months of extra time to process our visas). In May, we both received our results from the FBI – my prints were fine, however, DaNae’s prints were too dark to read and had to be resubmitted. We had to wait another 10 weeks to get the results back before we could send our visa applications in. This meant that instead of submitting our visa applications to the New Zealand embassy in May, we had to wait until August when the FBI check for DaNae came back. We received her FBI report on July 31 and had our packet at the embassy by August 3. We’re not sure why God built this delay into our plan but we trust that He knows what He’s doing and will have us on a plane on His timetable. I find myself living in verses like Ephesians 3:20 - Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. There’s no doubt that God is able to get us to New Zealand at any time so I can trust that this delay is intentional and serves a purpose from His perspective. It makes it easier for me to live in the unknown when I remember I serve the God who knows!

So, right now, the embassy is processing our travel (visa) application. Because of DaNae’s medical history, a medical assessor in New Zealand is reviewing the records and should report back to the New Zealand embassy in early September. Will you take a minute right now and pray that this will be sooner than later and that he/she will see how her records testify to God’s healing?

Where are we at with this? Well, I’ll be honest; we’ve had our challenging moments when we want to ask God, “Why the delay when we’re so close?” At the same time, though, we are reminded that we are right at the brink of leaving. We are doing everything we can to live out Colossians 3:23-24 – “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” We’ve been able to use this time to reconnect with family (we visited my brother and his family – the last time we saw them was in 2001) to close up our life here in NH so we are ready to go when we get the clearance, and to prepare for life in a new culture. We’ve seen our boys go from leaving with reluctance (“I don’t want to leave my friends”) to being excited about the experience and wanting to see more of the world. Caleb has gone from being a child going with us to seeing a role He can play in God’s call for our family. A friend at Global Partners reminds us that we are “actively waiting on God.” That’s true – we are actively and eagerly waiting for what is so close. We’ll continue to update you as we hear more!

Tweet, tweet, tweet…

2010-08-24T08:30:00.000+12:00

Hi all. You’ll notice a new button on the side of our blog. If you’re on Twitter, add us as a feed you follow (click on the button to go to our twitter page or search for us on twitter - littlebigisland). We’ll tweet about what’s going on while we’re in New Zealand and use it to notify everyone of blog updates. Kudos to Wilma Harrington as our 1st US follower and Reuben Dunn as our 1st New Zealand follower !!

April.....May.....NOW IT'S JUNE???!!!!

2010-06-18T07:56:00.000+12:00

WOW!! Where has the last month gone!! We hope and pray that this update is finding all of you beginning to enjoy the early days of summer and the goodness of God. So much has happened since our last update, who knew that God would have done so much in the lives of us and those around us. There were several times that I went to update this blog, and the information just kept changing! So I’m jumping in now to let you know all that’s been going on, and then we will keep up with it as the countdown of our weeks till departure continues. First let me tell you that in our last update we shared with you about our matching gift donor. Well God used this information and moved in several hearts and the gift of 200.00 a month was matched! That is a total of 400.00 a month! On top of that we hit 191 prayer partners! That people is standing shoulder to shoulder for the kingdom of God! It doesn’t stop there, through this matching gift, the generosity of a new church and an overwhelming gift from a donor we are now at………………drum role please…………..75%!!!!!! Emotion wells up even as I type that! How amazing and faithful is our Lord! That last 25% breaks down to 28 people giving 50.00 a month. So much is starting to happen we feel as though we can literally see Gods hand placing all of the pieces of the puzzle together. The second cool development is the possibility of a house to rent in NZ. There are still details to be worked out, however there is a lot of promise in this house and the more we learn about the house itself, the landlords and even cost the more we feel that this just may be the place for our family. There is a laps between the current renters vacating and when we can arrive and funds are possibly needed to bridge that gap, so could you join us in praying that if this is where God would have our family live that all the details would be taken care of. We are also in the middle of a mountain of paper work for all 4 of our visas, that has been a bit daunting but we keep plugging away. The past month has also taken us to a few new churches, our family has enjoyed meeting congregations and pastors from VT and NY, it has been a joy to intersect our lives with theirs.
The end of April also brought some tough news that forced us to step out of our current day to day realities and focus our attention elsewhere for a bit. On April 21st (soon after our last update) our dear and precious friend of many years Eric Fox, stepped into the very presence of Jesus after a long hard fight with ALS. Last fall Eric asked Rob to lead his services for him, we decided to go with our boys so we took a week long trip to MI, to be with Eric’s wife and two children and celebrate his life. It was a beautiful week spent with many precious friends and al-though there is so much sorrow in the loss of Eric, he loved Jesus with his whole life and we know that he is made new and worships our Father face to face!
So, how are the Reynolds……….we are very well, we feel like our heads are spinning at times but then we stop and anchor ourselves and look to God for stability. Everything feels like an “A” priority right now, we must continue building up our team, we need to accomplish all the work for the visas, Rob has to work full time for our families needs and then we have to purge/move/pack everything for our actual move. Although there is so much work ahead of us, there is so much Joy being at this point in our journey. There are times that I add up the days and hours left against what all has to be done, and say “there is no way”! But when the mountain is that big that is when you have no choice but to look to God and know that He is bigger then all of it!
I feel like there is so much more to share, but I guess this is a start  Thank you for checking in on us and all that you do to stand shoulder to shoulder with us. Now that we are down to weeks before we go we will be combining some of our communication lists into one and doing weekly updates, so stay tuned!
Loving the journey and those God has chosen to “come along”,
Rob, DaNae, Caleb and Aedan

Happenings and a Matching Gift............

2010-04-20T08:30:00.002+12:00

So many exciting things are going on! Its almost hard to keep up. It has been fun, crazy, a bit stressful at times, but always, we feel the under currant of Gods amazing power, provision and love! This month has brought some travel for us. We just returned from Texas, where we had the privilege of speaking at Northcrest Community Church. It was a great weekend (thank you Belts!) This coming weekend our family is off to Vermont to share NZ with 2 congregations on Friday night over dinner, and then an opportunity to speak at Hague Wesleyan Church in NY on Sunday. We are looking forward to meeting new people and traveling as a family!

The main reason I am writing this "note" to you, is to share with you an amazing gift that has come our way this month that you have an opportunity to be a part of. A family has come forward and has put a matching gift on the table. They are willing to meet dollar for dollar up to 200.00 a month, in monthly Faith Promise Giving!! What a blessing this has been! They don't care if it is 20 people giving 10.00 a month or 2 people giving 100.00 a month. If at any time during your journey with us God has prompted you to be a part of what He is doing in NZ financially, taking that step now would mean what ever he lays on your heart, then would be doubled. What a cool opportunity. This information is time sensitive, the donor has left the gift open until the end of April, so we have 12 days left. We realize that this is between you and God. It is not about "supporting the Reynolds", it IS about if God is asking you to be a part of what He is doing in NZ. And if its not NZ then ask Him what he would desire you to be a part of.

If you have any questions or would like more information you can send us a message and we will respond. If you do desire to move forward with this information you can go to www.praygivego.com, click on missionaries, click on directory and then scroll down alphabetically to find us.

Thank you for checking in with us, we hope you are Loving the spring and we will update again after VT/NY.

6=24

2010-02-06T11:22:00.001+13:00

WE HAVE A DATE!! I still pinch myself that we have a date to go to New Zealand! We mentioned this chart in our last newsletter.(just click on the chart to enlarge the image) DaNae and I have six months before we leave for New Zealand - in that time, we are doing all we can to hit our support target so we can serve our full term with cession|community. We firmly believe that God will use us as a 2 year bridge to jump start their community ministry and enable them to fund it once we move on.

Even though I haven't been in banking for years, I still like to play with numbers. This chart is a result of me trying to answer what we need for support to stay an additional month. Right now, we are funded for 8 months. When we have another $250 in monthly support, we will be able to stay nine months. After that, we only need an additional $195 in monthly support to stay ten months. The beauty of compounding keeps dropping the number until we only need an additional $33 in monthly support to be in New Zealand full term.

Pretty exciting stuff, huh? We are so excited to hear that people are praying through what God is doing in New Zealand and asking if God would allow them to partner with us. It's awesome to see how God is drawing this team together to invest in the church on the other side of the globe!

So, if you aren't receiving our newsletter, please let us know and we'll add you to the email list, ok?

Until next time,

Rob and the fam

2010’s right around the corner

2009-12-29T16:30:00.000+13:00

Hi friends,

Merry Christmas to all our dear friends, loved ones and supporters! What a beautiful season this has been for our little family and we trust and pray it has been the same for you! Our teaching series at our church was “Prepare”, it was such a great few weeks of truly preparing our hearts and minds and even emotions to grasp what this time of year symbolizes. So many times we are about the “do”, and God just asks us to “be”………I pray that as we wind down 2009 that you find a few still moments to just “be”.

At this time of year, DaNae and I tend to process where we are in life. It’s become a process we look forward to, believe it or not. As we approach 2010, we hope each of you have a chance to look back, be present, and look forward, too. Take a minute to think through 2009 and what God has done in your life. How has He blessed you, surprised you, encouraged you, and challenged you. Take some time to be in the present – what is God doing with you and your family right now? How, if at all, is it tied to what He’s done in the past and brought you through already? Finally, look to the future – what is the trajectory He has you on? Where is He leading/directing you? What do you think He’s preparing you for?

As we apply this to New Zealand, we can look back and see how God has taught us to persevere. When we started this journey, we never expected to be raising funds for this long in the economic situation around us. We’re fortunate to have a clear call to NZ and encouragement along the way - they act as markers that we can hold onto when we question ourselves. We also see how God has met our needs in two of our three support goals as tactile proof that He’s moving us forward.

We can look at the present and see how God is sustaining us in this journey. With our original plan, we had the financial cushion to sustain us as we raised funds (we do not draw any support until we are in NZ). Needless to say, that cushion is long gone but God continues to provide work to sustain us. It’s been a blessing to totally rely on him for our day to day needs.

As we look to the future, we still feel strongly that God has called us to NZ. It will take circumstances beyond our control to deter us from this call. We anticipate serving cession and being a resource they utilize to launch and develop their community ministries. We wonder what else God has in store for us as we continue to raise funds. We wonder (with a bit of trepidation) how He will develop our character. We look forward to stepping off a plane a half a world away and allowing cession to see this plan become a real asset to them. We hope to see God draw enough monthly supporters to our team to make this happen.

For those of you who have been a part of our past and present, we are so thankful for how God has used your faithfulness to be part of our call. Several times, support has been more than just a financial partnership – it’s been the shot of encouragement we’ve needed to keep going. The need is great to get us to NZ – in 2 months, cession will start their new year. If you have been considering joining our team or have committed to joining but just have not had a chance to send in paperwork/give online, now would be an awesome time to consider joining us. Global Partners can only process commitments when they receive them - they can’t include our “word” on things that are coming. If God’s calling you to act, you can use the online giving option at www.praygivego.com to have your support recorded for this year. Thank you for caring enough about us to keep us on your spiritual radar. May 2009 end as a year you will remember and may 2010 bring you closeness with God that is beyond your imagination.

Happenings Here and There

2009-12-29T16:26:00.000+13:00

It has been a busy few months in the Reynolds household, our last updates told of New Zealand Desserts coming up and talking with several individuals, along with Rob traveling in Nov. to speak at a church in MI and meet with other churches there. Put the events of the Holiday on top of that and its been a hopping time around here. Thank you for your prayers on our behalf over the last two months. Our desserts were such a blessing, great conversations with many dear people and Robs trip to MI went really well. There are times that we feel the pull of giving into the feelings of “this is just not happening fast enough”, but then God gives us His gentle reminders (big and small) that He is there, that He is guiding and directing and that He never abandons us in the middle of a call!

Our dear friends in New Zealand have had a busy month as well. One thing they started a few years ago is an outreach project called “Christmas Town”. The big deal this year is that they were actually written up in a local newspaper, below is the article and will give you an idea of what the project is:

• Howick and Pakuranga Times
IT’S time to fill your stocking with Christmas cheer and a walk through A Town Called Christmas this weekend.

The festive event – now in its third year and organised by the Cession Community Church – sees The Depot at Lloyd Elsmore Park in Pakuranga transformed into a Victorian Christmas town with snow and candy-cane delights.

Lead pastor Brett Jones says it’s a day “designed with family fun in mind”. Christmas goodness waits behind every town store for people, particularly children, to partake in.

The Candy Store has delicious treats with a seasonal flavour, the Baubles of Joy shop is a place where families can make tree ornaments, and the Stationery Shop is a hive of Christmas card activity.

Then there are regular crowd pleasers, including Pimp My Sleigh and sleigh rides. Mr Jones says: “Every year we target an aid project as part of A Town Called Christmas.

“It’s about modelling something important to our children about the heart of Christmas. The first Christmas was an act of extraordinary self-giving, so we want to echo that generosity.”

This year’s project is the Sahassee Microenterprise project in India, which helps people – in partnership with Tear Fund – break the poverty cycle by encouraging sustainable small businesses.

How cool is that!!! Please continue to pray for their impact on their community and for the transitions coming in the next few weeks for the church. We have mentioned these transitions before, but just to recap they have a few staff members moving to their next call, one is pursuing seminary full time and the other is moving forward with the call on her life to plant another church! These are awesome endeavors however it leaves cession|community with a huge leadership hole to be filled. This is where the Reynolds come in and the realization of just how important it is that we get over there ASAP. We are so thankful for all of you who support us in so many different ways; truly words cannot express our gratitude for coming along on this journey with us.

Activity and Tidbits.................

2009-10-23T10:52:00.000+13:00

This week happenings..............
Hi friends,

A lot’s going on this week regarding New Zealand and team building. We have two desserts this weekend. What are desserts, you might be asking? DaNae and I team up with someone to host an evening where we share our call and ministry vision for New Zealand. We provide the presentation and dessert (normally a yummy pavlova) and the host opens their home. We love them because it provides a very personal environment to share the journey God has us on and potentially connect with interested people. We’re looking forward to the chance to share with folks this weekend – one is Saturday on the Seacoast and the other is Sunday here in the Gilford area. If this is something you would like to consider hostong, let us know!
As you pray through the week, we’d love you to keep us in mind. In addition to our drive to get to New Zealand in February (if this is new info – read our note posted last week on Facebook and our webpage – www.thelittlebigisland.com), we have several things in process:

• The dessert connections we mentioned above.

• Several churches are considering supporting us. I’ll be speaking at one in Michigan in November. Pray that our story and call would resonate with their vision for mission as they make their decision.

• November is a key month for us – it is our 2 year anniversary with Global Partners. We have an evaluation appointment that will take place sometime during the month in which we look together to see what God is doing. We’re praying that God will do cool things between now and then.

• On a personal note, we’re coming into the slow season for building and remodeling – our vocation while we build our team. Please pray that God would keep work coming in.

Thanks for your interest in our call to build into the local church in New Zealand. As you go through your week, maybe think about how you can be a resource and build into the ministry of your home church.

A Cool New Development from cession!

2009-10-09T13:59:00.002+13:00

When DaNae and I said yes to New Zealand and what God was doing in our lives, we never expected the ride we’ve had. We expected to see God at work but, as we see how that expectation becomes reality, it blows us away. God is so good – He’s continued to meet needs, offer encouragement at just the right moment, and open doors for us. Let me share a few with you:

• Work has been a bit slow on the construction side of things for me (while we’re here in the states, I swing a hammer to pay the bills). Two weeks ago, work dried up with the folks I work with and we didn’t know what we’d do. We prayed about it and waited to see what God would do. Within 24 hours, a neighbor came over who needed work done and work started to trickle in. It’s still slow but God’s meeting the needs we have.

• Life’s full of ups and downs and that’s no different when you’re building a team of support for overseas missions. We had been feeling a bit weary over the last week as we built our team. On Sunday, we were invited to English Tea by a person who had a friend and I work on their house. One of the other guests there was a friend we hadn’t seen in over 2 years. God used her to speak words of encouragement and energy into us – it was like a spiritual Red Bull and she didn’t even know it.

• In this last month, we’ve connected with a number of friends who want to be part of our team. It’s been awesome to hear what God has been doing in their lives as we reconnect and share with each other. We also have an opportunity to speak at a church in Michigan that is interested in supporting us.

These are just snippets of the ways God has been present in this journey. There’s another awesome development that’s just recently come about, too. Brett Jones, the pastor at cession|community (church) called us to share the results of their strategic planning meeting for next year. As we may have shared with you, cession has two of its key leaders moving on to new ventures in February – one is planting a church and the other is finishing his education. This leaves a significant leadership gap for the church as they look to next year and their vision for ministry. The team decided the best answer to this need was to get us to NZ. If we can be there by the start of their ministry year in February, they’ve committed to underwrite our accommodations (about 20% of our ministry budget). Unfortunately, if we can’t make that happen, they need to divert those funds elsewhere.

Needless to say, we think this is incredible and hope to see God move in a big way to make it happen. I share this with you because, now, of all times, is a time where you’re help can really make an exponential difference. I know we’ve approached some of you to be part of our team to get to NZ. Whether this is your first time hearing our appeal or you’ve been aware from day 1, we ask that you consider being part of our team. Pray that we can see God move in an amazing way over these next few months. Our greatest need is in our monthly support – this is the budget that will provide for ongoing needs once we are in NZ. I was looking at our Facebook page today – we have 284 fans (I’m feeling popular right now – weird feeling…). I know this is way out there but if each fan became part of our team and could support us with $11/month faith promise, we’d be buying tickets and making plans to head to NZ. I know it’s crazy but that’s all it would take for God to pull a team together to invest in the church in NZ. If you are interested, you can go to www.praygivego.com and sign up online or contact us (especially if you have questions).

Thanks for sharing in this journey with us.

My thoughts on "Why New Zealand?"...

2009-09-26T05:41:00.002+12:00

A while back, DaNae mentioned I post some thoughts on our vision for New Zealand. I think about this often and have these pictures bouncing around in my head all the time. Below is my attempt at pulling these bouncing thoughts in order :) I hope this helps you see what God could do through this partnership!

"The Why Behind New Zealand…

I get asked this question a lot. Why New Zealand? I think it has several implications depending on who is asking it. Why New Zealand – as in “what called you there?” Why New Zealand – as in “why chose a developed country over an underdeveloped one?” Why New Zealand – as in “why do you feel the need to go overseas?” I’m sure there are other imbedded questions; however, these are the three that jump out to me. I can answer them in several ways…

• I can point you to the ‘Our Story’ section of our website for a more detailed account of how God worked in our life to call us to New Zealand. On one level, it answers all of these questions – God told us this was next.

• I can share how it was the answer to a six year prayer that God would give me a heart for one area of the globe to invest in. After my first few days in the country in March 2004, I knew New Zealand was God’s answer.

• I can share how I love and am drawn to their culture. It’s a post-church environment in which one gets to share a vibrant real gospel as if it’s a new thing. I love ministry where people want to see something real and living.

Each is a story I could elaborate on, however, I’d rather answer looking to the future. Why New Zealand – as in “what can the church become/what is its potential?” A closely related question is “how will cession benefit from our investment with them?” DaNae and I are called to invest in and equip the Church because we believe in its potential to reach its community and nation. God’s also used my involvement in the NZ church (three trips to aid in starting a youth camp) to call us to serve their culture (an answer to a prayer that started in 1998). Cession|community is a church with enormous potential to influence its community and draw them to Christ.

Cession is a church that may only be one of about twenty Wesleyan churches on the North Island but they are strategic and intentional in all they do. For the last four years, they’ve been preparing to plant another church and to launch a significant community outreach focus (through their church trust) from their church family. They’ve built relationships with their neighbors, secured a location, launched community-wide activities, and prepared their church body for a community focus. They’ve asked us to join them for the next two years to direct their trust and partner with them in making their dream a reality. Their dream is that the community will see a church that is more than a building and platitudes; it’s one that demonstrates Christ love by serving and meeting the real needs of individuals and families in the Howick/Botany area of Auckland. I think cession’s effectiveness will pivot on their ability to let the community see a church body that has compassion and care for the needs of their community first. I believe a ministry of meeting practical needs will build relationships that will allow the power of Jesus Christ to be a welcome meaning-filled contrast to a life without Him. I believe cession’s dream will enable them to break through and connect with Kiwis living in a post-church culture where faith is overlooked.

So, why does the church need us? How will they benefit from our investment with them? These are really awkward questions to answer on your own. So, let me share some of what Brett (cession|community’s pastor) has shared with us. Cession|community is a church of visionaries and dreamers. Their leadership is very creative in how they envision ways to minister. What they lack, though, are people on their team primarily gifted with the abilities to put feet to a vision and work a plan to make it happen. This is where DaNae and I come in. Through our past experiences and gifting, God’s developed this in us. We’re creative people who lead best when we’re partnered with highly visionary leaders. We best serve God when we’re on a team and able to take a vision, refine it, and put a plan together to make it a reality. This is exactly the way cession|community functions and the skills they need to move forward.

As I was trying to think of an analogy to bring clarity to our role, our vision of parenting kept coming to mind. DaNae and I see ourselves as the one’s primarily responsible for Caleb’s and Aedan’s development into the men God wants them to be. We are the ones tasked with shepherding them and letting them discover God’s plan for them. With this in mind, though, we’re also keenly aware that we are not the only important and necessary influences in their lives. Grandparents and family, friends, teachers, leaders, and other key adults have fed into and invested in our boys. They are who they are and who they will be because of God’s orchestrated effort of many. The composition of our boys wouldn’t be the same if any of His instruments were left out. I see our call to cession|community in New Zealand in the same way. We need to be there as one of the pieces God uses to move them toward the plan he has for them. We are not the answer or significant keys to the answer. We believe God wants us to simply be one of the instruments he uses to encourage and equip them as they strive to reach their community in a way that demonstrates love and compassion."

Spring has sprung and much to do on the Reynolds plate!!

2009-05-17T07:49:00.009+12:00

Hello everyone! I am embarrassed at how over due this is, however when I finish this update I think you will understand why! It has been a VERY busy spring for our little family!! I love this time of year and the "newness" of everything along with the anticipation of summer. So much has been going on I'm not even sure where to start! Let me begin by commenting on a few things from my last post. I left you with news that we were hosting a dessert at my parents house on March 8th. That was a great night of fellowship and opportunity to share our story and ministry with some great couples. My mom, has practiced, and may I say nearly perfected the art of Pavlova!! I hope to share pictures, I think you may be impressed. It was a fun night and our team has grown because of it. It went so well we just hosted another one on May 8th, which was a blessing as well. I mentioned that we were also meeting with a mission board that month to share cession|community's vision with them. That was a good meeting and they asked us to to speak in April at their missions breakfast and service. Finally we asked you to pray about work for Rob through the rest of winter, and God answered that prayer, work has continued to stay steady for Rob!

Now onto the "new" stuff! As I just mentioned We had the opportunity to speak at a local church in April. We were able to give an update during the breakfast time they had along with doing the sermon during the worship service. It was a great weekend and time to really connect with the people of this church. The very next weekend in April we had the pleasure of traveling to Queensbury NY and speaking at a Wesleyan church for their worship service as well. That was a fantastic weekend, of travel, meeting some wonderful people who truly blessed us! God used this church to encourage us in so many ways! We also had a fun opportunity to connect with another local church by going roller skating with them and others in their community and during the night, Rob shared during a devotional time. This church is still praying through several decisions they need to make and we have enjoyed getting to understand them a little better. Through the desserts I mentioned, these church visits and other follow up opportunities, God has grown our team through both financial support and prayer support. Just Awesome!! The dessert plan seems to be a great way to connect with smaller groups and we are looking forward to hosting another one in June, and then looking for a few homes to host at least 3 more for us in other areas of our state. We have a few other churches we are following up with and we have put a game plan in place to begin connecting with other Churches in the North East. We are asking God to fill up our calendar with church connections.

Personally speaking we have had a lot going on as well. For 6 years Rob has been working towards his Masters at Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, MN. After a lot of sacrifice and A LOT of work Rob is looking at the end of the tunnel! This final semester has been quite intense, however he is almost there and he graduates on May 30th! We are so blessed to have the opportunity to be at his graduation and we head out on a much needed road trip May 21st. We will make some stops in MI to connect with good friends, supporters and church as we make our way to St. Paul. And finally (on the personal side) we wanted to share that God moved in our young son's heart, and in April Caleb said he wanted to be baptized! So on May 3rd (the day before his 11th birthday) with friends and family gathered at our church Rob baptized our precious son! It was a great day!

I have talked so much about us, I need to update you on the dear people and church that are at the heart of all this. Cession|community had had a good season as well.
The Easter season was such a great opportunity for cession to reach out and involve their community! A few years back they started doing an Easter Egg hunt for the community. God has blessed this and this year they saw the largest numbers they have seen. 340 people came and the count was higher on the adults then in years past! This is an opportunity to not only have fun and love on their community but also to be able to follow up with many families that filled out connect cards. Easter weekend not only brought them the opportunity to hold more services but also the Stations of the Cross, which is an art exhibit they open to the community using artists of the community that walk you through the passion story. All very exciting outreaches, and so cool to see how God is working through them. Brett and Kristen await the arrival of their third child due a few days ago, so please pray for them as they are very ready for the event to take place.

Well my dear friends, that is my book for the season of spring! Thank you for hanging in there with us, I will up date from the road next week. Pray for us and celebrate with us as we mark this huge accomplishment in Robs life. Thank you for all of your prayers and the so many ways you support us. Drop us a note we would love to hear from you.

******I guess I should have done this post sooner! after writing this post we found out that Brett and Kristen had a beautiful baby girl this morning!! Yay God!!

March came in like a Lion!

2009-03-04T11:10:00.002+13:00

yes we are under a lot of snow here in the North East! The night of march 1st into march 2nd brought over a foot of snow, this was on top of 2 other storms that dropped at least that much before it! One of which forced us to cancel the dessert that I mentioned in my last update!! I will say though that it is beautiful and our boys LOVE it! So thank you if you were praying for our NZ Dessert on the 22nd, just fast forward your prayers to this next sunday March 8th. The blessing of the storm is that by rescheduling we picked up a few couples who can come to the 8th. So we will be presenting to 5 couples that afternoon. God has also answered our prayers on the work front for Rob, the last few weeks has brought some work his way, we are so thankful for that. Please pray that work continues through our winter months. In the next week we will be meeting with the missions board of the local church that is taking us on. They are giving us time in that meeting to hear our vision, the vision of cession|community, and what our needs are. That has prompted some great discussion with Brett in NZ, and has been a good process for us to go through as cession (and ourselves) continue to develop during this time of team building. We will also have some opportunities to continue building relationship with another local church that Rob met with last month. So, we have our "to do" list and our marching orders for the next month as we continue to plan up coming meetings/contacts with individuals and churches. We are also trying to "think out of the box", Rob has been setting up a "join our cause" page on Facebook, and we have other creative ideas in the mix. One of my big reasons for writing tonight was to share praise for our awesome God, first He gave me strength and peace during my recent MRI, and secondly He continues to confirm my healing as we found out the MRI is CLEAR!!!! Thank you for taking the time to check our updates, it makes us feel that we are in touch with you and being a part of our journey means the world to us. Check out prayer requests on the side and we will be updating again soon. Until then Grace and Peace..............

Kiwi's Warm and Humid while Ground Hog sees shadow in the USA.....

2009-02-13T10:16:00.002+13:00

Yup, more winter to face!!! All while I read updates of some Kiwi friends complaining of humidity. It will be bizarre for our family to reverse the seasons once we are there. Actually NE seems to be in a Feb thaw while I type this, but this can't be trusted to stay! Thank you for checking in with us again and thank you for the many personal emails in response to our last posting. As always you are welcome to post any thoughts and hello's here on this site as well. It is always so encouraging to hear from you. It has been a good and busy month since my last post. Personally I am enjoying the schedule and activity, it feels as though we are thrusting forward. Not only are we busy with New Zealand work but there has been a few instances that God just really seems to be working on and preparing our hearts.
As mentioned in the last post Rob and I had a weekend in Vermont where we were able to connect with the District Superintendent. It was a treat and a blessing to meet Paul and his wife and well worth the trip. He has great vision for the North East and it was contagious. He was encouraging to us, and will be a great contact for us. The other blessing of that weekend was the little church Paul was speaking at. They welcomed us with open arms and made us feel like family. We connected with many families, some of which are already praying for us and we are in discussion of returning to them to speak. So thank you for your prayers over that meeting. In the last few weeks Rob has met with a local pastor, and we have an invitation to another church in NY in early April. We continue to have individuals show interest and we have a big night on Feb 22nd when my parents will be hosting a dessert for us, where we will be sharing our ministry with up to 9 couples. So a lot of cool stuff keeping us on our toes!
Our "warm" kiwi friends, are doing well. Rob has been able to connect with the Senior Pastor Brett over ovoo (free video/voice/chat). We have also received great reports from the Ignite weekend that was mentioned in the last update. I will try to post some personal testimonies soon to give us a glimpse of Gods hand at work. We (along with them) are anxious to get us over there with them.
Personally, our family is doing well. Rob and I have had some time this past month to recharge our batteries (very needed) and we had the opportunity to spend a weekend at my brothers and understand his new ministry at Monadnock Bible Conference, that was a great weekend. Make sure you check out our prayer list on the side. The biggie facing us right now is work for Rob. He has been a self employed contractor during our team building, and these are really tough months for finding work. Right now it has dried up and we are praying for a turn around. We have updated other links on the side bar as well so be sure to check those out too. Thank you again for checking in with us we love you all.

Back on Line in 2009!

2009-01-11T04:40:00.003+13:00

Happy New Year to all of you! May you see and experience Gods Grace and Peace in this new year.
Much has taken our attention in the last few months which accounts for such a delay on these postings. Rob and I have been trying to figure out the best way to communicate to all of you as our list of connections begins to grow. Our focus in Nov. was getting out our 1st newsletter which most of you should have received. If you did not receive that news letter and would like to be on that mailing list just drop me an email at dreynolds422@gmail.com. Then it was taking a deep breath and running into the Holidays head first. We hope and pray that your holidays were blessed and a time to reflect on all that God has done in the past year. So many of your faces and names crossed our thoughts over the last few months. Our holidays were great, very fast but great. Things were a bit zany prior to Christmas week, but Christmas week was full of family time and connecting with many great friends. Rob was able to have some time off with us and we made the most of it. Earlier in Dec a few events took our focus for a bit. First of all, we totaled our vehicle. Everyone was 100% ok, but after hitting black ice on a highway we spun around and hit the guardrail in the medium. God totally protected us and others around us and good friends and kind officers got us through the night. We had just sold our minivan so this was the only vehicle we had, but we had good insurance and since then have been able to replace it with a great vehicle that will suit our needs while still in the states and be a good match for Robs mom who it will go to when we depart. The second event was the loss of Robs uncle. It has been many years since Rob has connected with him, but he has many fond memories of him, the situation is very tragic and our concern lies with family members left behind. We are on the other side of these events and we are doing very well, but they did take our attention as we went through Dec. But again our holidays were blessed and we are ready to face a new year.

New Zealand of course is ever present on our hearts, our minds and in our daily work and efforts. There has been some exciting movement as of late. The church that I mentioned in my last post that we were invited to their missions conference has decided to take us on! We are so thrilled to connect with this local congregation and introduce them to New Zealand. We have also had meetings with the church we attend and some exciting conversations that will continue this month. Another church is in the works to speak at in the near future and we have had a few more individuals come on board and have had others express a desire to join our team. There has been so many ways even in just the last few weeks that God has totally surprised me, which reminds me HE is control of all of this, and we just need to be faithful! Another very cool connection that has come our way is contact with the District Superintendent of the Wesleyan church for NY and the northeast (that is a mouthful) He is speaking in VT this month and has invited us to come see him and then do dinner with him and his wife. This will be a good opportunity to build relationship with him and learn more about his district and other churches in the NE.

Our dear friends on the other side of the globe at cession|community are on the move as well. In our last post we listed on the prayer list for the renewing of the lease for cession|community in the community center the currently use, they were able to secure that lease for another 3 years, which allows them for planning of expanding their second service and community outreach! Praise God, this was a long haul, so truly answered prayer! Cession also did their Christmas outreach "Christmas town" where they literally turn their facility into a Christmas town with fun, activities and outreach to their local community. Currently as I type this they have a youth camp happening as well called Ignite. This is an exciting weekend were some of the churches band together, get off campus and minister to the local youth. God has used this weekend in big ways in the last few years and we have no doubt will move again this weekend. Very exciting stuff!

Well, now that you have read my book to catch up with us I will let you get on with your day :-) Thank you for taking the time to check in, we are piecing together our communication lists and routine and diving in to be more regular at that. Make sure you check out the prayer list on the side bar as well.

Over christmas week I was struck with the phrase from the hymn "O Holy Night", that says "the weary world rejoices", actually our church used that as the theme for Christmas eve. Our world, our days, even the events of our personal lives can become "weary", but let me encourage you to "rejoice" in Him who was and is and will forever be above all!!!! We are so blessed and so greatful to all of you who have decided to join us in this journey God has us on.

Busy Busy Fall! (at least in the USA its Fall)

2008-10-15T09:45:00.002+13:00

Hello Dear Friends.....I am sorry it has taken so long to post! end of the summer was a bit crazy getting things back on track after traveling all of July, plus we had a few other short trips in there. Rob did do a post at the end of august to get a slide show up on our site with pictures from NZ, but I don't think I sent out a notice to all of you? We are also in the midst of changing the format for out site, but that is taking longer then I thought it would so I have decided to get a post out there even though we are not in our final format. Next we knew we were into fall which brought some much needed routine and busy schedules. The Reynolds are doing very well! Caleb is loving our schooling this year, and Aedan is right on his heals. The "routine" of things has allowed for more structured days of schooling till early afternoon and then the afternoon hours left for fund raising efforts. It has been a beautiful Fall here in New England, which has welcomed some great family time for us as well. This is my absolute favorite time of the year in this part of the world. It has also been a time of reflecting for us as well. It was one year ago that Rob and I on our knees before the Lord made the decision to start this journey to New Zealand, although team building efforts didn't get underway until the spring, the decision was in the early Fall. It was also this time 2 years ago that I was fighting my way through Chemotheropy, and with Oct. being Breast Cancer awarness month, I am so very very thankful for my healing and health. Matter of fact my family and I have formed a team to walk in the fight against breast cancer which takes place this coming weekend.
So what are we up to with New Zealand efforts......Sept. was a great "re-grouping" time for us, evaluating ground work laid down in the summer, setting goals and participating in a local church missions weekend. That was a great weekend for us. South Baptist is the church that I grew up in and that Rob and I were married in. They have just brought in a new Pastor and they held their first missions conference in a long long time. Rob and I were 1 of 4 missionaries asked to participate. I had the awesome opportunity to share my story with 25 ladies at a luncheon on Sat. and then Rob and I gave a 20 minute presentation on Sunday morning. It was great to reconnect with this church, and good for Rob and I to have the experience. They were very generous that weekend, and are looking into the possibility of supporting us. We continue to follow up on many connections in the mid west and are really beginning to dive into connections and church possibilities here in the north east. My "to do" list always seems about a mile long, but every day I just keep laying it before God, there are days that I keep trying to control this, and that usually leads to frustration. As many of you may be aware, our original goal was to depart in the fall. We began to realize late august that 6 months was a bit ambitious to complete all of our funding. We have been encouraged by many other missionaries that usually takes a year at the very least, and to keep plugging away. So we have set new sights, setting our hopes and prayers on early 2009. It took some time but we have had great peace in this and many loved ones continue to remind us of God's timing, not ours. Lately Jeremiah 17:7-8 has really been a pillar for me. "But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. it has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." So we continue to move forward in confidence, trusting in the Lord.
We have designed a newsletter, and many of you have expressed interest in being on that mailing list, so that will be coming soon as well. We will get a recent update form our friends in NZ and I will post happenings going on there as well. Continue to pray for that congregation. We hope this finds all of you well and enjoying this amazing time of year also. When you look at this post scroll down and look at the one before, it has a slide show from cession|community.

2008-08-30T05:15:00.001+12:00

Home!!

2008-08-01T09:51:00.000+12:00

Hi All, we are home safe and sound. Sorry it has taken me a while to update you on that. It has been good to get home, always takes time to settle back in though, and we have had sickness going through the kids! thank you for praying us through the last 3 weeks, and for those we spent time with.....it was priceless, thank you! Our last week went great. The three days in MI were just what they needed to be, it was tough to leave, but our hearts are full. Our travel to NY was a bit rough, we basically followed a heavy duty storm all the way there (it ended up being the storm that cause tornado's in NH if you can believe that, but our area was ok). we stopped at Niagra Falls for the first time with the boys during the one break of rain and that was fun. we then had a few days at Never the Same camp in Houghton NY. This is a Youth Camp that Rob and I were involved in for many years as it got started and all. The Camp and the people involved from many different churches are very dear to our hearts. We had a wonderful two days there and truly felt and experienced Gods hand moving among the students there and even in our own hearts. It was a bit of a time of renewal for Rob and I. it was also a bit bittersweet because we miss the ministry so much, and we were so touched by it as well. On Friday morning KCC (our sending church) met as a group (the students there and their pastors) and during that time they prayed over our family before we got on the road.......one of those moments you hold close in your heart. From there we got back on the road for our final leg home to NH. We pulled in on Friday night. Aedan started to not feel well thursday of camp and all day friday he had a high fever, even with that he traveled well tough. He started to get over during the weekend, but then Caleb started on Monday, and he had it really bad! but thank god he is on the other side of it now, and we just keep praying protection over the rest of us in the household. So.....home.....man so hard to believe the three weeks is done. We are still processing all that took place and there is a ton of follow up now for a lot of ground work that has been laid for NZ. This trip has helped us to feel like we have the wind at our backs now. There was time for us as a family to reconnect, brainstorm, and dream a bit and now we need to continue to put feet to all that. There are many thoughts swimming around in my head, but I'll save that for another post. For now, we are home and so thankful for all of your support and prayers. I'll post again soon............

1 week to go!

2008-07-22T04:58:00.000+12:00

No, we didn't drive off a road some where in MN!! Sorry you have not heard from us for a week! Its really hard to believe that we are in our last week of this trip. Our family time in the Dells was awesome, just a delight to play with the kids. They have kept up so well. Our week at Bethel seminary was a really great week. It was so good for me to see where Rob has been going to school for the last few years. It is a great campus which screams nature, so my boys felt right at home! We had great accommodations right on campus and we loved meeting many of the people we have heard Rob talk about over the years. Rob had a good class, its always a bit intense for the on campus classes so he was worn out by the end of the week. The boys and I filled our days with a more "normal" schedule then we had carried in MI, lots of out door walks and I was able to begin some of our follow up on things that took place during week one in MI. So it was good to regroup. Many of the staff/fellow students were given our prayer cards through out the week as we went in and out of conversations and there are a few that I know we will follow up on as well. We did the truly touristy "american" thing and went to the mall of america one night. I was so proud of our boys, they had one agenda and one agenda only and that was the Lego World store. Thats all we did and they had a great time and came home with a few coveted lego sets that money had been saved up for! We have made our way back to Grand Rapids MI, we will be here until Wednesday morning. WE just took a couple of days to take the pressure off of week one to have some over flow time for those we couldn't fit in on the first stop. WE will leave early Wed morning for Houghton NY. There is a youth camp held there that Rob was involved in for many years, we have many loved ones and staff members there that it will be great to touch base with plus the worship experience is always a huge shot in the arm for us. So pray for us in these last few days here in MI, there is always that feeling of "should there have been more we should have done", "should we have stayed longer" many of those feelings. Also this is like coming home for us, and we likely will not be back prior to leaving for New Zealand, so there are many emotions mixed in with this as well. Thank you for those who prayed for my brother, he and the team returned safe and sound to their families last monday night. I'm looking forward to hearing about his experience there in Haiti. Thank you for checking in and I will update again in the next few days. Many of you have sent us encouraging notes, thank you so much, it helps "carry" us!

Priceless

2008-07-13T15:58:00.000+12:00

6 days, non-stop schedule= exhaustion
Pushing kids hard and staying up late every night= whiny children
All day conference and putting best foot forward for 8 hours= falling asleep while sitting up

A full week of being with friends and loved ones, plus many opportunities to share our heart for New Zealand=......PRICELESS.

It is so hard to believe that we left NH a week ago today! This past week has been like a whirl wind! We heard from many of you, and felt your prayers as we went through our day at the district conference yesterday! Thank you, thank you from the bottom of our hearts! It was a very full and great day for us yesterday. Rob and I did not expect to come away from the conference as encouraged and inspired as we did. First of all this day was a far bigger deal then I had in my mind. There were close to 350 people there and a lot of buzz and busy vibrancy in the building by the time we arrived. We were given a table that we set up in back of the sanctuary and during the second session we were recognized as guests at the conference and officially introduced and then Rob was given just a couple of minutes to introduce ourselves and explain a bit of what we were doing. Rob did a great job and took the opportunity to thank KCC (our "home" church while in MI) and the district for all they have invested in us over the years. It was also announced that if anyone wanted to spend some time with us they could have lunch with us in a pre assigned room. The rest of the day was filled with reconnecting with many familiar faces and catching them up to speed, getting to know a handful of pastors and other individuals we did not know prior to that day, and being encouraged and gleaning some "team building" info from some fellow missionaries who have been in the business much longer then us. We were encouraged by seeing Gods work through the Wesleyan Church and inspired by a speech delivered by the new General Superintendent. The ground work and "face" time that was laid out and has set us up so very well for much follow up over the next few weeks was .....again....priceless. So thank you for your prayers over the past week and especially yesterday....priceless.

So Rob and I packed up all our stuff and loaded up the kids this morning and headed out of Grand Rapids. We are on our way to ST. Paul MN, for Rob to do a week of seminary. We decided to spend some much needed down time and family play time. So after years of saying we wanted to go to Great Wolf Lodge, we are here for one night in the Wisconsin Dells. This is an amazing place that is all built around an indoor/outdoor water park. The whole place is totally designed for family time. So we are just focusing on us today and tomorrow, and will arrive at school Sunday evening. So...we are well, we are blessed, and we are grateful for what week one has been on our 3 week trip. I will update again once settled at school. Grace and Peace.......

Camp Caleb and Aedan

2008-07-11T04:05:00.000+12:00

hello family and loved ones!! I know Pastor Brett from NZ is saying "finally she updated the blog"! I promised I would keep everyone up to date on our trip, and honestly this is the first chance I have had since we left on Sat the 5th!! Sorry Brett :-) Well as most of you know we are on our three week tour (I keep saying that reminds me of a song "three hour tour, a three hour tour...anyone know what that is from?) We had a great 4th of July week spending time with family and friends and getting ready for our trip. We left in the pre dawn hours on Sat the 5th and drove 18 hours straight through to Grand Rapids MI. It was a great trip. Even though it was a holiday weekend, we had no traffic and weather was amazing. We have a dear family we stay with that is truly our home away from home. This family has plenty of room for us and has an open door policy when it come to us! My kids love it here as well. We walked into the basement to find a tent set up with two beds in it, flashlights, battery lantern and plants all around with a wooden sign that said "CAMP C & A" on it. It was very cool!! We laid our heads down and hit the ground running on Sunday morning, and haven't stopped since. Its been a really great week, and our hearts and spirits are so full with dear dear friends and all that God is doing through our efforts with New Zealand as well. it was Great to be back at Kentwood Community Church, which is our home church and connect with so many great people, not to mention awesome worship service. The week has been filled with catching up with close friends and dinners with others and sharing our story. The kids have been awesome and have loved the social side of all of this. So that is pretty much the nutshell of the last 5 days. We always feel like we wish there were 48 hours in 1 day, but we do what we can and enjoy the ones we are with in any given moment. We leave from here on Sat the 12th, for Rob to go to school in MN, but we will have about 3 days back here in Grand Rapids after school as well. So I have a couple of assignments for you :-) Tomorrow (friday) Rob and I have the opportunity to attend the General Conference of the Wesleyan Church for this area. It will be an all day event (thank you tammie for taking our boys) There will be over 50 churches there, all of which got our packets over a week ago. We will have a few minutes in front of them for introduction, have a table and display set up throughout the day and be able to share our story face to face with those interested during the lunch break. This is an amazing opportunity to connect with several churches at one time to share with them our heart for NZ. If you could pray for our preparation today (writing out what we will say, designing display board etc) and then cover tomorrow in prayer, that Rob and I can be ourselves, but present ourselves well and that God is already working on the hearts of the churches and individuals who need to be part of our team. My other request is to help us cover my brother in prayer. Kevin is a pastor at a church in NH and he is currently in the heart of Haiti with a team, the reports have been good so far and he returns on Monday. Would you join us in covering him and his team (and wife and kids back at home) in prayers of protection both physically and spiritually. Thank you. I will update you all after the conference tomorrow. We love you all, thanks for checking in. We would love to hear from you so feel free to post a comment or two.

Amazing Technology

2008-06-29T15:31:00.001+12:00

It is 10:00pm our time and we just hung up the phone with Brett Jones and his wife Kristen, the Pastor of the church we are preparing to serve. (the picture on the left is Brett baptizing a couple)We are sitting here in our little living room, with Robs cell phone on speaker phone, talking with Brett on the other side of the world (and a day ahead of us) and the whole thing coast maybe 5 bucks!! That is amazing to me. Several times in the last few months we have "met" with Jeff Fusner (I even met his wife Beth) by using skype on our computers with web cams and we saw each other while we talked. Jeff is the Area Director for Global Partners in New Zealand. Just amazing, God is really showing me just how small our world can be now, or at least how connected. That helps as I anticipate tearful good byes to friends and family. Our talk with Brett tonight was a good boost for us, just hearing their voices reminds us there are real people with real ministry needs behind all of this. Our conversation encourages us to keep moving forward. Our conversations help Rob and I to know how to pray for Brett and Kristen and their congregation specifically. Take a look at our prayer list on the side of the blog and for the link to the church as well.
Our little family is doing well. We are in the throws of team building and although its tons of work I love every minute of it. We have been blown away and truly blessed by how so many of you have responded to what God is doing in our lives and in New Zealand. Rob and I were also blessed beyond measure last week when team members gave us their beach house for a week. It was truly amazing! God knew exactly what we needed and when we would need it. Rob's current job was right around the corner from it, so no commuting (right now he commutes over an hour each way), I was able to accomplish a lot because my boys were constantly entertained with the sand and ocean, and my spirit was renewed and revived by His mighty creation of the ocean. Now we are preparing for a nearly 3 week trip. We Leave for the mid west July 5th for team building, connecting with precious friends, and seminary. I recently sent out over 50 letters to local churches in West MI and we will be meeting many of these pastors at a conference in MI while we are there. That is something you could pray for as their eyes and hearts receive these letters. So, thats a quick up date on us, we are enjoying the early summer in the midst of all this and the biggest news of all......most of you know that I am a breast cancer survivor, I had test done last week including a mammogram, and the news continues to be awesome, and all clear. God just keeps affirming that He has healed this body. Check out our prayer list and we also added "our story" on the links to catch you up with why and how we landed on New Zealand. Grace and Peace to you all. PS also check out the "comments" on my entry before this one. Pastor Brett updated some info for us.

Lobsters, mailings,travel and answered prayer!

2008-05-21T14:43:00.000+12:00

Oh, I have owed you all this for a long time. I apologize for being a-wall for a while on blogging! I am trying to figure out settling into a new life moving in with my parents, looking at the end of the school year with my children, and entering the world of team building. The end of this week will mark 3 months that we have been here at my parents house, which is amazing to me. I feel that just now we are finding our stride, and that is refreshing. I am blown away almost daily at my parents generosity and openness to letting us live life here. So much has happened in the last few months (and yet I struggle with feeling its not happening fast enough) So in a nut shell, we have had a few great birthday celebrations, mine was late April and I had a wonderful night with family complete with my favorite meal, Lobster! It was a feast for queens. The first weekend in May also brought celebration of our oldest Caleb who is now in the double digits, 10 years old!!!! We had a great weekend of the ultimate nerf/finger dart war and family time. A bit of travel also took place for Rob over the last several weeks. As many of you may know Rob is in Seminary at Bethel in St. Paul MN. He traveled out there for classes the end of April and had a great time connecting with fellow students. Once he returned he traveled out to Grand Rapids MI for a long weekend to connect with friends and attend a meeting for minister licensing. It was good to have him home after all his travels. During these weeks I held down the home front, continued to learn the data base we are using for all of our team building and after much ground laying got out our first mailing out for team building. We were so excited and this task oriented person was thrilled to see the first batch go out. We feel all our tools are now in place and we continue to lay it at God's feet to with it what He will. Our hearts are so full of Praise to Him as we have already received such a positive response on many fronts. We are very close to batch two going out and we are preparing mailings to several churches in West MI. We have also been making travel plans to the mid west this summer, beginning to make appointments with other folks who want to know our story, and getting this blog to a spot that it has all the info that we want on it. God also continues to show us He is so obviously at work. We are getting close to my 2 year mark of a breast cancer survivor, last month I had an exam and blood work, and my body continues to be strong and Healed! We have been trying to figure out Robs employment, both for finances and also for health insurance, the latter being a huge concern. God has yet again provided in His timing for these areas of concern and causes us yet again to say "ok, God your way, in Your time". Finally it has been so cool to see how God has been at work on the other side of the Globe in NZ. cession community has kicked off a Sunday morning service (prior to easter they had been running a Sunday evening program and now have added the morning) It has been exciting for us to hear how God has been expanding their impact in their community over just the last few months, and it makes us long to be a part a part of it. So, thats our little corner of the world at this moment in time, thank you for choosing to be a part of it. I will update this more faithfully from here on out, and we love to see your comments as well. Take a look at the prayer list on the side window. Peace and Grace..............

No, not sealed up in a box somewhere......................

2008-03-22T08:06:00.000+13:00

You may be wondering....did she go nuts during the move? Did they get lost along the way? did they change their minds?.....No, we are here, we are moved and we are very very well!! I'm sorry that it has taken me this long to write to you all again! This Sunday (Easter Sunday) marks 3 weeks since we moved in with my Parents. wow, I can't believe how fast time goes. It was a very intense final weekend at the house. Our plans were thwarted by a snow storm on that Sat, so we had to move the "move" to Sunday. Even after all the selling of stuff, giving away of stuff, throwing stuff out, we still seemed to have so much "stuff"! I realized the toughest move, is the one that you must down size for. I don't know where we would have been that weekend without two families that are so very very dear to us, they were God sends. So with much sweat and hard work and more trips back and forth to Gilford then I care to count we finally got out of the house and left it in better condition then we found it in. The adjustment has gone so smooth. Smoother then I expected, there was that little part of me that asked "OK when is the honeymoon over", but I just really think this is where we are supposed to be and God is protecting it. Some how we have managed to fit our "life" into 2 bedrooms, a bath and this sweet little closet office (which used to be my moms but she gave up for us for schooling and fundraising). It is comfortable, and we seem to be settling in. The kids have responded amazingly. There were tears when we left the house (reality is we love the seacoast) matter of a fact it was our 3 year old that threw me off, he stood on the porch crying "I don't want to leave my house, I don't want to leave my house", I had assumed he wouldn't really get it and it would be fine, shame on me. Aedan loves being here at Grammy and papa's but I still get the questions every once in a while "are we going back to my house now", hard to help their little hearts understand. In some ways we have had more quality time with things we are involved in and our friends since we left, we have to use our time well when we are down there, and its been more focused time. So we have taken a deep breath, settled in, Rob made up for all of his lost times in his studies for seminary and finished a semester, found our rhythm a bit and now are getting ready to execute the next phase in our team building. I feel God is right there, just carrying us (as always) sometimes I feel that pit of dread, but then I hear His soft whisper and he says "its ok, I got this one....." and He does, He's got it, I don't need to take it from Him. As we go into this Easter weekend, I have desired to just stop, stop and reflect on all God is, has done, will do.........its mind boggling. I almost have to stop and remind myself "He loves me that much....". This week, one year ago, marks the end of my Radiation treatments (7 weeks, everyday), one year ago we found this precious church that we are now involved in that God used for emotional healing, and one year ago we really began to ask the question...."could there be something to this whole NZ thing?". WoW, what a mighty God we serve. I hope you know that God this Easter, that you have experienced Him so closely that it takes your Breath away.

Thank you for checking in and for your prayers through this little transition. Pray for our work and preparation to get us to NZ, pray that Rob will find a job that will fit our needs yet allow freedom for team building, Pray for cession|community as they are offering a variety of Easter services to their community and stations of the cross in NZ. Have a blessed Easter as we Celebrate all that the risen savior has done for us!!

One Week In counting............................

2008-02-25T17:40:00.000+13:00

We are so thankful to our family and friends (both old and new) for all your support and prayers. Our hearts have been lifted by all the comments from our new Friends in New Zealand (thank you) and we have enjoyed reading some of your blogs as well. What a cool thing that we can begin connecting in this way. I am sitting here, the last night that I will be sitting on my living room furniture. We sold it (along with just about everything else we have) and they are coming to get it monday night. I have felt like a furniture store out of my house the last few days. It actually has been really good for me to have it go, it gives me hope that all our "stuff" really is going to get out of here, and it gives me room to "stage" the other stuff. It has been intense and we are getting a bit weary, but God gives us enough strength for each day. The boys have been so patient, I feel I am ignoring them a bit, but they have been troupers. It has been a little strange to me that we are actually leaving this house in just a few days! this has been a good home to us with good land lords, I think more so its leaving the seacoast that is getting to me, and going through yet another transition. The fact that we are going to keep some of our "life" down here and knowing we will be this way at least once a week, does help though. There is a bit of that feeling that we are closing a chapter here, the chapter of the last 3 1/2 years of our life. I am more then ready to close that chapter and I am already in awe at the outline God has laid out for the next chapter. Where we are heading to is such a blessing as well. I feel like by doing this move to my parents, is like a stepping stone, both to transition us out of NH but also to prepare our hearts to be in New Zealand. A word on my parents, last weekend at church they did an original drama in which actors shared true stories that had happened through individuals at the church. The focus was on what does a true "church" look like, how does it serve, love, help etc. One of the stories was talking about how a young couple was really trying to follow what God was telling them to do so they both went into grad school. An older couple from the church said "we have plenty of room, come and share our home and live with us", the actor went on to share how blessed this young couple was, to be in a place where they felt loved and accepted, and "home". Where they didn't have to worry about rent or how they would stay warm..........I left that service thinking "that is what my parents are doing for us". We are so blessed. (the picture above is my mom (or mum in NZ) and our 3 yr old Aedan) So pray for us in these final days of the move, that we would get the help we need, that there would be enough hours in a day, that we would make wise decisions in what we keep and not keep. Praise God for my parents, and for this next Chapter that our faithful father is orchestrating!!

welcome new friends!!!

2008-02-18T08:49:00.000+13:00

We know we have new friends visiting this site, and we wanted to say welcome, we are so thrilled you are coming along with us in our Journey. There may be "newbies" on two fronts, first, I closed out my carepage from my cancer journey and have invited all of you to come over to this blog instead. To those of you are new to the Reynolds and would like a better understanding of our last few years you are welcome to read my story at www.carepages.com and once you register your email and sign in, then search for a page called onthemat. The second group that is new here are our new friends in New Zealand. We sent a short video introducing ourselves and the pastor showed it in their service this weekend. Thank you for taking the time to visit us here, and the kind comments already sent our way. Rob and I were able to be with Pastor Brett (NZ) and his family for a day in early January, between that and starting to hear from people at cession|community (the church we will be serving) Rob and I have started to feel that this is very real. It has especially helped the boys and I (DaNae) to get a grasp on this because only Rob has been to NZ. Our excitement has continued to build and God continues to confirm the decisions we have made. So thank you "new friends" and know that we are praying for you as well.

Things have been a bit of a whirl wind, and I know will only get windier in the next two weeks. It is a bit overwhelming to close out a whole house, and doing it in light of knowing your heading over seas. But I am seeing progress, and that has been encouraging. Just this weekend, people started lining up to help, and God knew I needed that, so we have friends and family spread out over the next few weeks, to come help a day here and there. We are very touched by all the support we have, especially my parents willingness to alter a bit of their lifestyle and take in our little family. we are blessed. I am so eager to really dive in deep to team building and all that needs to be done to get us over to NZ, so I am ready to get this move done so we will be free to do that. The boys seem to be taking it all in stride, I think they are excited about moving in with grammy and papa. Aedan (3 yr old) thinks every time I make a comment like, "ok I'm going to go pack a box", that we are leaving right now and will start to grab things and get his coat and say "ok I'm ready to go to gamma and papa". His spirit is contagious! So that is whats happening in our little part of the world! We love hearing from you, and knowing your praying for us carries us. Visit us often.........until next time.........

Things to pray for:

I'll state the obvious........THE MOVE!!!!!!

Rob needs to find a job that hopefully is near my parents, is flexible and has health insurance

The list from the Feb 3 entry still stands the same as well

Off and Running

2008-02-04T06:35:00.000+13:00

Hello dear family and friends, sorry its been a bit since I updated. I mentioned we were facing a lot when we returned home, and I wasn't kidding!! Our trip back from IN/MI went great and we took some much needed down time to just play with the boys on the way back. We came back to a full work schedule for Rob, still trying to sift through next steps in our team building process plus a few other biggies. One of which was I was facing an MRI when we returned. Most of you visiting this site know that I had a fight against breast cancer over the past few years(a fight my healing Father won for me) the MRI is part of my continued care, we got the results much sooner then expected and it was all clear, Praise the Lord!!! The other biggie is that our little family is facing a move in the next few weeks (yeah I know, we just had to make it a little more interesting didn't we). We have been praying and working through these next steps for several months, and were lead to decide to move in with my (DaNae's) parents. This will allow us to be in a better financial spot, be able to focus on raising our team to get us to NZ and free rob up to find a job that would give us more balance and allow him to help focus on the team building as well. Some of you may be cringing when you think of moving back in with parents, but Rob and I are very much at peace, we know that if there was any one we had to live well with it would be them. They are being so supportive there aren't words to express! We are really starting to look forward to this transition. I'll admit I wasn't expecting that we would have to do this, this soon so it is a lot of work and transition in a short time, but we are taking it one day at a time and I just keep laying it before the Lord. So thats a nut shell for now.....ways to pray?.....

Pray for:

strength, clarity and time for the move (we are trying to be out by march 1st)

wisdom and balance in our next steps and all the work that goes with team building

cession|community - this is the church we will be serving in NZ (to learn more about them visit www.cession.org.nz)

Rob left for a week at seminary in St Paul MN today, so pray for him at school and the boys and I as we are here without him and dealing with the move.

PRAISE OUR EVER FAITHFUL LORD FOR HIS HEALING POWER IN MY LIFE!!
Blessings to all, and Rob and I will update again soon................

On The Road Again

2008-01-21T17:01:00.000+13:00

......I can't just wait to get on the road again...............Oh sorry thats a song, but these past two weeks its also my life :-) What a week! Its hard to believe it is time to go home, yet we are starting to feel like we have been gone forever. Thank you for your prayers, God of course continued to go before us and we feel our week was very balanced and God opened some really wonderful Doors for us, He is so faithful, and we are so encouraged and affirmed in the decisions we have made for our little family. I am learning patience and to let go of "my way" and let God show us a way. I'm a "results" sort of person, and we have seen results but I am also being shown that building up a team around us is laying a lot of ground work as well. And there was a ton of ground work laid this week, and its been a tremendous blessing. We were able to be with 4 churches, each with its own wisdom and encouragement for us, many families, a small group and countless individuals. Our hearts are very full from connecting with so many people that we love so very dearly. Half way through the week I got a bit of a surprise and came down with the Flu, this was a discouraging few days, but God spared me form any long term flu, and has spared my family and anyone else I came in contact with from getting it. Truly praise! I should have written so you could pray, but I didn't even have energy for that. But even with that, this week was exactly what it needed to be. So now the last of the suitcases sit by the door as we get ready to depart tomorrow morning. We know we will need to come back to our "home away from home" in the next few months so that makes parting easier. Rob and I will take two days heading back, that will keep us rested and also give us some "just our little family" time, which we are very much looking forward too. The thing with a trip like this is that you are always with other people 24/7, and although we wouldn't have it any other way, this will be a good thing for us too. So pray for our safty these next two days, pray for our transition back home as we have been gone for so long and face much work on return, and finally pray for Rob and I as we really begin to debreif all that has taken place in the last few weeks between all we learned at training, and all we have experienced this week. I will write again once we are home. Thanks for checking in.....Blessings.......

2008-01-14T16:56:00.001+13:00

So here is the "crew" that we spent last week with, that I wrote about in the last update. A very special group of missionaries and staff. Rob and I are settled into our second home on this trip. After leaving Shunem house on sat, had the great opportunity to see friends in IN that lived on the other side of the city. After a good shot in the arm from them we headed up to GR in MI. the 5 hours felt very long!! But we got in just fine last night. The family we are staying with had a little surprise for the boys, and set up a tent in their downstairs for our boys to sleep in. They LOVE it!!! Our hearts are very full from being at Kentwood Community Church this morning, it truly feels like coming home. So many wonderful people we began to reconnect with. We decided to just "stop" for our little family today. It is what we needed, no agenda, just relax and chill a bit. I think this sets us up well for the week, gets the boys a little more grounded and Rob a chance to catch up on school a bit. My heart is already so full just from the folks we have been able to be with today. We are anticipating a great week. So as we dive in would you pray for our schedule this week. That God will put in our path exactly who needs to be in our path. Its a bit daunting when we see all the work that needs to be done, and could be done, but in reality we only have a week. We could feel "ahhhhhh, where do we start", yet we want to be balanced in some time for us for planning, and balance that with time with friends that feed into our hearts. I do believe God will go before us this week, but that is how you can pray for us today and tomorrow. Thanks for checking in with us!

End of MTI

2008-01-13T05:11:00.001+13:00

Hi everyone, sorry I didn't get a chance to type last night, it was a full full day and evening. If you could see this picture up close you would see red eyes and drippy noses! (sorry I tried to attach it but it wont take, I'll try again later) This was taken right after communion and worship. What a beautiful time, as we heard from Gods word, we were lead by great leaders in communion and then a time of worship and prayer over each family and the country they were going to serve at. Then began an evening of goodbyes and exchanging information. What an amazing thing it was to be living in the same house with a group of people that were like minded.......mission minded............it has been humbling. As Pastor Jim said, we may never be in this exact group setting again, but we are etched in each others hearts and minds. We entered a full and great final day. We had sessions on resolving team conflict and then an afternoon full of cross cultural training, dealing with cultural shock, many more tools. We had much laughter and many stories shared. Rob and I feel very close to a couple that we met back at orientation and where here again this week. Tammy and Brian and their Baby Emma. We spent the full evening with them. They are heading to Swaziland in May. Tom and Karen are heading to Sierra Leone, Carrissa and Eric are heading to a place we can't speak of :-), Barry and Beth are heading to Haiti, and then Brent coming with us to NZ.
If you could pray for these people at least one time in the near future, it would mean a lot to us. We have had a relaxing moring enjoying fellowship with the family that runs this blessed house, and now are heading out. I will continue to update as we do week two of our travels. Please pray for safty in travel (about 5 hours) and that this would be an amazing week of fund raising and Rob and I laying out our plan. Thank you and blessings.

Day 4 of MTI

2008-01-11T15:48:00.000+13:00

We are coming into the home stretch, which in some ways it feels like we have been staying here so much longer and in other ways is so hard to believe its almost done. Today has probably been the highlight of the week for us. We started off the morning with Tim from GP staff, he is a great communicator. We had lively discussion of what does "Kingdom" mean, and were truly encouraged and reminded that God reigns, that means he REIGNS over every thing, every area of our life, every event, everything!!! It was a great morning. The rest of our day into the evening was spent with Dr. Jim Lo, a professor from Indiana Wesleyan University. Truly an anointed day with him. We covered everything from purity as we go into cultural situations, loneliness, to how to deal with culture shock and language barriers. He was fun, engaging, sobering and transparent. A day that we all needed for our missionary tool box. I started out the day a bit discouraged, we did some assessments this morning, I felt the test showed I was so low in all areas that I was the fool for even thinking of going over seas, again a tired moment. This of course was not the intent of the evaluation, but it was to help you understand some areas of growth, and also how you and your spouse can complement each other in a missions situation. it was a moment of vulnerability, (and tiredness) which was a good thing. Today was one of those days of just being so sensitively aware of God being at work, of the Global picture..........my heart is stirred! Thank you for your prayers and reading our updates. The boys are well, they ended up staying here all day, which was a good thing, their Nanny had twins with her she takes care of and they all played and enjoyed the day here, they were still so tired from the zoo! So tomorrow will be the Bounce House!!! It will be hard to part ways with this "family", you can pray for that around 5ish tomorrow as the first half of us heads home (Rob and I will head back up to MI on Sat. morning) I know that we will forever be connected through this experience we have had together. Art O'dell is the pastor assigned to rob and i once we are on the field. He drove here from D.C. to meet us and be a part of this week, however he has fallen very ill and needed to return home, if you could pray for him that would be wonderful. Finally again, fresh ears and heart tomorrow for our final day. We have a full day of presenters and then we will end with a special time of prayer and communion, which will be from 4-5 if you would like to pray for that time. Please feel free to pass our blog address to anyone you feel would be interested in following our journey to NZ. Blessings

Day 3 of MTI

2008-01-10T15:35:00.000+13:00

"I had heard about you before but now, I have seen you with my own eyes" Job 42:5 This was the words Job said to his Lord after he had gone through an amazing transformation. That was what Rob and I shared this morning, the "transformation" the last two years has brought into out lives, and how God raised us above our circumstances when we never thought we could our selves. Through that transformation, God laid his next call on our lives to go to NZ. This verse we have claimed as our "theme" verse. What a blessing it was to share a small part of our testimony this morning. Thank you for your prayers, everyone did a wonderful job and Rob and I felt peace and confidence in ours. it was fun, and the prayer time that followed with the staff of the Wesleyan Headquarters and Global Partners staff was such a blessing!! Rob and I connected with many staff memebers we got to know from our last training in Nov, and we had a little down time to just "be" there at the offices. We are thrilled with our prayer cards, we did the final proofing of those today and those should be in our hands within about 2 weeks. After a great lunch with the staff we headed back to Shumen House for afternoon sessions. The first part of the day was final training for crisis situations. Granted our little family is going to a very safe country, but even though it was hard to put yourself in the shoes of the situations we were discussing, I also appreciate that they are "complete" in every area of thier training, and there were many gems we picked up that most people should be practicing especially with young kids. The rest of our afternoon was diving into cultural differences and barriers. I will have to say that I felt a bit.......driven today, I dare say on the edge of grumpy and needed to watch myself in the afternoon. The schedule has been very rigourous and I was working on little sleep. I think we are just on the mid week hump, and was just feeling the effects of that. We have had nothing but down time tonight, and already I feel like a very different person. I think along with a good night sleep I will be good to go. I can tell we are all getting more comfortable with eachother, and starting to "let our hair down" a bit. I will miss these people and the staff when the end of the week comes. One very cool thing going on this week, is that there is another young man Brent, who is being sent to the same church we are. He is very fun, and has such a passion for youth and young adult. What a blessing it has been to get to know eachother, and know that we are going to be serving at the same place. My boys love him and we are looking forward serving with him. The only thing I have against him is that he is going to beat us over there. He is due to leave in May. Our boys have not stopped talking since they arrived back at 5pm. They had a blast today at the zoo, Aedan told us word for word, step by step everything he saw today, and Calebs heart is very very full! Tomorrow they are off to an Indy favorite called the "bounce house" I think the name says it all, and if you know my boys at all, it will be right up their alley!! My only beef today is that our sitter took them to the new stadium being built for the Colts, and she tried to make them a colts fan, but faithful Caleb stayed tried and true..........go Pats!!! Ok, I need rest, thank you for checking in on us, pray for fresh eyes and ears tomorrow. That we would enter well rested, that relationships will continue to grow deep. Also I think there are a few with us that may be discouraged with fund raising, if you could pray for them that would be great. Aedan also seems to have the sniffles a bit and I was sick before we came, so I pray its not that. We love you all, thank you for checking in.

day 2 of MTI

2008-01-09T18:04:00.000+13:00

Hi everyone, sorry so late, this will be short because Rob and I have to be up and gone at some ungodly hour!!!! GP is cracking the whip again!!! We have had another very full and wonderful day. It is so awesome to be living in community with GP staff and fellow missionaries who are going all over the globe. We along with the boys are just drinking this all in. It is also so fun, to get out of a class and have our boys right there!! Very cool. Their nanny is a wonderful person and they have bonded!! To the point that when we say, ok its 5:00 that was our last class, I hear a chorus of "aaaawwwweeee". They are not happy to see it end! Tomorrow they are off to the Indy zoo, Caleb could hardly go to sleep tonight! For Rob and I our day was filled with study of biblical relevance in different cultures and then an afternoon filled with Emotional Inteligence, by the time we got out of there we were all making appointments with councelers :-) It has been a great day with great presenters. We also felt a little more rested today. You can pray for us tomorrow, we are all heading to Head Quarters for a quarterly chapel held there that we are all presenting at. Rob and I are the ones closing the chapel and then they will all be praying for us. We have 3 minutes to share our story (can you see me sharing any story in just three minutes).So if you could pray for us around 8:15 or 8:30am that would be awesome. This is a very cool opportunity for us. I will update again soon. sorry so short. I hope this finds you all well. We changed our settings so you should be able to leave comments if you would like without needing to sign in. We are doing great, besides the fact that it is pouring rain and 60 degrees in the middle of Jan. But we are well. Blessings, DaNae

Our New Blog

2008-01-08T16:08:00.000+13:00

Hi all,

Welcome to our new site. For those of you wondering why we switched blog locations, we had several people that were not able to access the site and we didn't want to have a site where you as the reader had to log on just to read. We wanted to make sure that we were easy to find and read. We apologize that we have not updated since the last time we were in the middle of a training back in Nov. A lot has taken place since then, and Rob and I are committed to keeping everyone up to date. So for now we will keep this blog up and running with hopes of also adding a family web site to our cyberspace world. We hope that you will visit "the little big island" site often to see what God is doing in our lives. Ok, the name??? We apologize to our Kiwi friends, we hope its no offense, but leave it up to our 3 year old Aedan to influence our blog name. Not long ago we were explaining to Aedan our move to NZ, a few days later we were talking about it with him and I said "Aedan where do you live right now", he said "New Zealand" I said, "no honey we live in NH, we will live in NZ" to which he dramatically replied "no no mommy, we live on that little big island right now!!!!". So we thought we would run with it! Its catchy!! (and seems to be the only name available on blogger.com)
So now for our up date.........what in the world is going on with the Reynolds!!! I need to back up a few months to our last training in Nov. Many of you know that we were accepted to Global Partners to send us to NZ. We went to our orientation in Nov in Indiana for a full week. That was an amazing week, for Rob and I. God showed up in big way! We learned so much about ourselves, about Global missions, about fund raising and connected with wonderful people there at Global Partners offices. During that week we were also challenged by the staff and the churches in NZ to consider 2 years in NZ instead of a 1 year apt. This was HUGE!! I thought I had made all my tough decisions!!! But God wasn't done yet. So we came home with another process to go through. So after 3 weeks of prayer, talking, crying, more prayer God made it very clear that this indeed was his plan, 2 years!!!!! Our family has been so supportive and the love and wisdom from them and friends that God has put in our lives has been overwhelming. So with that decision made, we jumped head first into the holidays!! We hope and trust that you had wonderful holidays and that this new year will be full of Gods blessings. Our holidays were wonderful, and now.................Rob and I find ourselves back in IN for more training with Global Partners!!! What a whirl wind.
So.........that brings us up to date a bit, Rob and I with boys in tow left NH on sat and drove to Grand Rapids MI (17 hours!!). The reason we pushed to go there first was that God gave us an amazing opportunity! Brett Jones is the Pastor of the church that we are serving in NZ. He and his family were in the Grand Rapids area for the holidays! Rob and I were able to spend the day with all of them, have our families get to know each other a bit and then share in being part of a church service to share what God is doing in NZ!! Wow, what an amazing day. It was such a thrill for me to get to know them, and have our kids meet. Being a part of the church service was a blessing and I think just made this whole journey very much a reality for this little Reynolds family. From there we drove till 2am this morning to arrive in IN. We are in a beautiful house called Shunem House. It is a lovely bed and breakfast type house that is just for missionaries. There are 11 of us going through training and we all live, eat and train at this house. It is just amazing!! Our children are with us and have been accommodated for and taken care of. Caleb is just thriving in this environment, he just loves being with all these people and being a part of what is going on. We have had a very full and exhausting day. The travel caught up to us plus a hard push day. Orientation in NOV focused on policies and fund raising, this training is called Missionary Training Institute (MTI), we will be hearing from many different presenters and trainers through out the week. Today was laying some foundations of why do we believe what we believe, and also sessions on spiritual warfare, and preparing our hearts and minds. There is a full apt as part of this house and they gave that to Rob and I and the boys, it has been a blessing to have room for them to run and play and for us to have a quiet respite tonight. So with that, we are off to rest. Pray that we feel refreshed tomorrow and alert to accept all the information that will be poured in. Pray for us as we need to finalize a short presentation that we will be doing on Wed as part of the chapel time at Head Quarters. Rob and I just want to be real and authentic in our testimony as we share our NZ story. Feel free to leave comments for us, we would love to hear from you. We will update more specifics tomorrow. Blessings, Good night.