Serving New Zealand

October Update

October 4th, 2011 | Author: franz

Our Family Update:

Thank you all for your prayers.

We truly do have a sense of the Lord holding us up as we continue transitioning into our new life.

We can hardly believe that we have been away from Modesto for 3 1/2 months. We feel as if we have been gone for a year.

Things have been going pretty well here. The children are in a local school and Monica helps out at the school 3 days a week. Stephen is having a difficult time going to public school. He is regularly asking to come home for school. We feel that it is important for him to finish out this year which ends in December. Alli is thriving in school. She is very active and loves going to school every day. One of the places Monica helps out is in Alli’s class. Monica gets to see first hand all the wonderful things that are going on in the classroom and how well Alli is doing.

One of the challenges of putting Stephen and Alli in public school is keeping them healthy. They have been sick off and on for several weeks. We have been visiting the Dr. several times and the kids seem to be on antibiotics constantly. This is a struggle for the entire family when they are home sick so much.

The Lord has blessed us with a home in a nice neighborhood. We have wonderful neighbors. Monica has made fast friends of our next door neighbor and they spend time together over tea while the kids are in school. It’s also a blessing that our neighbor has a son and a daughter that are Alli & Stephen’s age. All our children go to the same school which helps strengthen our relationship. Another blessing is that our neighbor has a dog that makes herself very much part of our family. Alli sure loves that!

The Lord continues to show us that EVERY detail of our being here is completely His work. We are continually in contact with folks that do not know the Lord yet and have had many opportunities to share the love of the Lord with our community.

Church is going well. We are attending Calvary Chapel Rotorua and we get to serve as a family there. Stephen and Alli help with vacuuming and filling communion cups. Monica is currently learning the sound board. We are getting the know the brothers and sisters of our fellowship and that helps us feel more at home.

The people of New Zealand are wonderful and we are privileged to be serving the Lord here.

Calvary Chapel Bible Institute Update:

We are just ending week 6 of a 15 week semester. How quickly time has flown by. The “honeymoon period” is over and all of the students and teachers are feeling the effects of long hours and much hard work. Praise the Lord for His grace in providing the needed strength and encouragement. Everyone is persevering in the work of the Lord.

There are 11 students and 4 interns this semester. Everything is going very well and there is great unity on campus. Our 4 interns are awesome and extremely servant hearted. They all will be serving here for one year. Ansii is from Finland, Noah is from Napa, Schylo is from Philadelphia and Lindsey is from Redlands, CA. Noah is on his second term serving here. Lindsey attended one semester here as a student and has now returned as an intern. It’s a great testimony to see that the Lord is bringing folks back here.

The student body is quite diversified. We have a student from York, England, one “Kiwi” and one from the South Pacific island of Tuvalu. Other students have come from all around the United States.

During the week of October 10th the students will be on outreaches to Hamilton NZ and Wellington NZ. There is also a team serving in Melbourne Australia.

I am enjoying teaching Genesis twice a week. I am beginning to settle into the administration work of CCBI.

We are already praying and planning for the next semester which will begin in February.

Praise The Lord:

For the prayer and financial support we are receiving from USA.
For His faithfulness as we settle into our new home.
For friendships being made here in New Zealand.
For warm weather.
For the wonderful care packages we have received from USA. What a blessing they have been to our entire family.
For all of the encouraging emails and Facebook posts we have received. It really helps us stay close to our USA brothers and sisters.
For a new van for the CCBI.
For the Mexican restaurant that recently opened in Rotorua.

Please Pray:

For continued health for our family.
For continued financial support.
For continued peace in our home.
For the protection and peace of Stephen and Alli in public school.
For wisdom regarding their schooling.

Thank you for your love & support.

Franz, Monica, Stephen and Allison.

Posted in General | 12 Comments »

Finally . . . An Update

August 1st, 2011 | Author: franz

Thank you all so much for waiting so patiently for us to send out this update to you. We have not had reliable internet service for quite some time.

The Lord truly blessed us with a place that we can now call home. We moved into our new home two weeks ago. It is a real blessing to us. We are still getting used to having to heat the house with a real fire.

This past weekend all our “stuff” arrived from the States. What a blessing it only took about 6 weeks to get here. We had expected it to take 10 to 12 weeks.

Stephen and Alli have been real troopers through all the moves we’ve made since selling our home in Modesto. What a joy it was to see their faces as we unpacked boxes and they saw their own “snugglies.” They were so excited to see their own blankets, pillows, bedspreads, stuffed animals and toys.

Monica is doing a great job making our house a home. We are doing well.

We praise the Lord for Pastor Mark and Gwyn Walsh and Pastor Scott and Jebraun Clifford. They have truly helped us and made the transition very smooth for us.

At the end of August the students and interns arrive. There is much to do in preparation for the September semester. I am trying to get up to speed on the administrative, registrar and teaching areas of the ministry.

We love all of you and we miss you all very much. We will stay in touch more often … promise.

Praise:

The Lord for the safety, health and the “soft landing” He provided for our family in NZ.
For the wonderful home that the Lord has provided for us.
For all our “stuff” arriving so quickly and safely. Nothing appears to be missing or broken.
For the encouragement that we have received from our church family.

Our Family’s Prayer Needs:

That the Lord would continue to bless our transition.
That we would always have a heart of contentment no matter the circumstances.
Continued prayer and financial support.
That Monica, Stephen, and Alli would establish strong personal relationships in New Zealand.
That Franz would be effective at the Bible Institute.
- Specifically the preparations for teaching at CC Hamilton on Sunday, August 7 at CC Hamilton and for teaching the Genesis class at CCBI.

“Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftyly and be glorified, just as it is with you”. 2 Thessalonians 3:1

Thank you for your love & support.

Franz, Monica, Stephen and Allison.

Posted in General | 23 Comments »