i've got crabs

Our first Sunday in Auckland went off without a hitch. In the morning there was a Children’s church service and adult Bible study at the ministry house we are staying in. The Bible study is a more informal discussion of various topics. This Sunday Andrew finished up a series of studies on the doctrine of Scripture based on the Westminster Confession. I didn’t see what happened in the Children’s church but Brooke went and she said it was quite well done. We’ve noticed that what the folks of Redeemer are trying to accomplish with the neighborhood kids is quite similar to some of the ministries of New City Fellowship in St. Louis.

After the morning activities we headed out to Maretai (say My-right-eye fast and that’s the pronunciation) Beach with our friends Lou and Rebecca. We met some of their friends and sang “Happy Birthday” to Rebecca. The weather wasn’t the best but the sun did sneak out of the clouds for a bit.

Lou and I took a walk on the beach and caught up since we hadn’t seen each other since last summer. When we got to a particularly rocky part of the beach Lou introduced me to some coastal wildlife. He turned over a large rock and a couple dozen crabs of various sizes exploded in a flurry of activity as they scurried about looking for a new rock to hide under. This prompted the Midwesterner in me to turn over a bunch of rocks and laugh in amazement as I discovered crabs everywhere. In retrospect I probably looked like a little kid. Oh well. We also discovered some sea snails, barnacles, and starfish on the rocks. So cool!

Sunday night we attended our first worship service at Redeemer church. It was good after months of preparation to finally be worshipping with these folks who have been praying for us and whom we’ve been praying for. After the service we all headed back to the ministry house and had a meal together during which they wanted us to both share a bit about our past and how it is we have been brought to New Zealand. All in all it was a pretty full day.