Te Puke

That's right, we're no longer in KeriKeri. After being there a week and looking around for jobs, we couldn't find anything. We thought that the hostel would help us look for jobs, but they were actually not that great about it. So Sam and I left. We had gotten in touch with a couple hostels down south that would help us out, and Sam and I were a bit tired of the one in KeriKeri anyway (it was too easy to just kill time, because they had cable tv that showed like 5 movies a day).

So we're in a small town called Te Puke (pronounced te POO kee), which is a short ways north of the bigger town called Rotorua. The hostel we're staying at is really nice. Because it is a small hostel, the staff are really friendly and always looking to help you out and things like that. It's also great because a lot of the people who are here stay for months at a time, so it has a bit of a homey-ness to it. I'll tell you about the people once I get to know them a bit more. As for jobs, they should be starting up next week, so we can't wait.

We were able to hitch a ride to get down here. The ride from Auckland to Rotorua takes a little more than three hours. We figured it'd be a good idea to catch a ride with someone than ride a coach bus (because it's pretty expensive). Found an ad on a website for backpackers, and we met up with him on Friday. Really nice guy, his name was David, also happened to be a Christian (which he mentioned when he saw the bible verse attached to my emails). I was half hoping that he and I would get to share about our lives a bit, that doing what he does (which is interact with a lot of backpackers) he'd have a different, hopefully more passionate, spiritual life than mine, and that I'd be challenged and encouraged by his testimony. But it wasn't anything like that. He did bring it up by asking if I'd grown up in church, but when I asked what his life was like, if he was willing to share his testimony, he kinda gave a glib summary that barely mentioned how God worked in his life. In the end, the only thing we had talked about was church. I was disappointed, but when I thought about it later, I realized that it could have been the other way. I could have been an encouragement to him too, but when he failed to be excited and to excite me, I lost my willingness to share.

Sam and I haven't been doing a lot here while waiting for jobs to become more readily available, but I'm thankful to God for the time he's allowing for me to think and reflect about my life, and who I am. I had several talks this previous summer with my mom and a couple of friends. These conversations keep coming up in the times that I'm silent and in thought, and it has made me more aware about the kind of person I am and why I do the things that I do. There are so many reasons for having come here. But one thing I really want is for this year to be one where God's will for me comes clear. Not so much about what I will do with my life, but more like who I will be for Him. There are so many hindrances, but that's what I'd like to see happen. Please pray that it does.

P.S. Sorry about having no pictures. I didn't bring the usb cord for my camera, and this computer doesn't have SD card readers. I'll see what I can do.