Taranaki

Winter has arrived and we have definitely felt it here with the cold wind that comes off the snow capped Mount Taranaki. Despite the dramatic drop in temperature we are thoroughly enjoying our time in Taranaki and the warm fellowship we have found down here. 

Mount Taranaki

Our first stop was in New Plymouth at St Andrews Presbyterian Church, a grand stone church in the centre of the city. As soon as we arrived we felt the amazing warmth of hospitality that this church continued to provide throughout the whole project- we weren’t given just a tour and instructions on how to navigate the church and building site, but were also provided with welcome packs (including delicious goodies) and then a big welcome dinner where church attenders and the MMM team could come together and meet each other. We were welcomed like long lost friends and have built so many great friendships during the 3 weeks we were there.

St Andrews church on a clear evening

The project at St Andrews was on their youth hall at the back of the building. Built in the 1950s, with decades of use by children, youth and other groups it was time to not only refresh the area, but to also make the space more user friendly- useable for children’s groups, youth and as a budget friendly option for wedding receptions. 

A before and after of the main hall

Chris thoroughly enjoyed the work and challenges the job brought- being a renovation- having to problem solve and use all of his building skills to get the desired result. We also enjoyed having all of the volunteers from the church who came to help, many of them in their 70s, still showing up regularly to help cut, hold, fix, sand and paint. The most encouraging part of the job, however, was our morning tea devotions. Several members of the church said at the end of the job how encouraging those times were, not only was the building refreshed but so were it’s members with their spiritual fervour. 

There was a great variety of jobs to do- here some volunteers are installing panelling and painting

Progress being made on the hall with the new paneling being painted

One of our morning tea devotions with the MMM crew and church volunteers

Chris was asked to speak at church late notice as the preacher was sick. Here he is sharing from Isaiah chapter 6 and his own testimony of how God has worked in his heart.

 
There was some initial apprehension from myself about living in our caravan in the middle of a city (right across from the fire station!) with no room for the awning, but it ended up being a real blessing. On the first day after doing some homeschooling I thought I’d take the kids down to the stunning seaside walkway, only a couple of blocks away. On our way home we also found Puke Ariki (comprising a great museum and library), only a stones throw away. The next day we walked a couple of blocks in the other direction to the renowned Pukekura Park.

  

                                  We have enjoyed several afternoons exploring Puki Ariki museum

     

               The kids and I exploring Pukekura Park                                            

There has been no shortage of activities to do while in New Plymouth. Taranaki put on a show for us the first week of our stay with a week of sunshine and bluebird skies, giving us the perfect chance to visit Mount Taranaki visitors centre in the weekend, with views stretching from the sea to Ruapehu and Ngaruahoe in the Central Plateau. Chris also quickly found the local disc golf course (complete with light up baskets for night disc golf!) And we enjoying biking along the sea walkway while the sun set over the ocean to the west. Pukekura park has been a favourite also with the free Brooklands zoo complete with otters, monkeys and meerkats among other things. We even made it up Paritutu rock (would not recommend with small kids!)

Chris (with girls in tow) and Hudson biking along the New Plymouth costal walkway

Exploring Mount Taranaki visitors centre

Climbing Paritutu requires scrambling up steep rock faces only holding onto a chain

The view to sea from the top of Paritutu

After a full and wonderful 3 weeks we were packing up the caravans and getting ready to move the 25min ‘down the road’ to Vertical Horizons camp in Inglewood. Vertical Horizons is a camp nestled between native bush and farmland. It accommodates lots of groups throughout the year- the warmer months filled with school groups during the week, and various work/church/training groups using the premises on the weekends. In the school holidays ROLO (rock of life outreach) camps are held for 7-11 year olds, giving kids from all sorts of backgrounds a chance to come and have a week of fun and adventure as well as getting to hear about Jesus. 

The gutted building getting ready for new foundations where the firewalls will be

The Vertical Horizons project is a big one- converting an old house into 5 separate units with ensuites- each unit requiring their own fire rating making the job a lot more complicated than frames and gib. The staff at Vertical Horizons had already done a lot of the demolition work, so after some days getting the rest of demo completed they’ve moved onto the planning for the new foundation work required to fire proof each unit. We have been incredibly grateful for the volunteers who have shown up, given the scale of the project and are looking forward to seeing the transformation over the next 2 months.

The kids helping out on the project- Hudson measuring for paper pockets that are needed to insulate and Abbey using her magnet to pick up nails before the site was vacuumed.

A rainbow over Vertical Horizons while we explore one of the walks

Thank you so much to everyone who is journeying with us, supporting us with words of encouragement, prayer and financially.

Praise points:

• For the great work, relationships and encouragement had at St Andrews church in New Plymouth

• New friendships for the kids

• For the many volunteers, from Christchurch to Whangarei, who have come to help on the projects 

Prayer points:

• For good health over winter- there are lots of bugs and sicknesses going around which we would like to avoid!

• That the consents, inspections and materials needed would come through promptly for the Vertical Horizon job so we can bless them with this large scale project.

• That we will continue to have enough workers to keep the job moving forward at a pace that matches our timeframe

If you're interested in hearing more about MMM NZ, or supporting Chris and I financially please get in touch with us, we'd love you to share in the blessing of what is going on this year!

For more information about MMMNZ (Mobile Mission Maintenance) - see their website at mmm.org.nz