The Last Post
Auckland, New Zealand
We’ve finally done all the firsts….first time visiting the supermarket and vege shop, first checking the mailbox, first play with neighbours, first chat over the fence, first BBQ, first time to the organic shop, first summer swim, first walk, first day back at work, first contact with medical personnel (thankfully this does not tend to be a regular occurrence for us, but we are going to have booster shots done so we can take off again any time in the next ten years without having to go through the rigmarole of weekly jabs for Far Too Long At Far Too Great An Expense), first rain, first vege planting, first bread baking (we’ve even got a sourdough bug on the go now)…we had completed all the firsts except going back to church.
Now that’s done too.
One lovely (obviously-blog-reading) lady spoke to us afterwards, saying she had looked over and seen us and thought that if she’d been us she’d have been sitting there missing the close-knit Romanian church group we were a part of for a month; she’d have been feeling today was impersonal and non-interactive and very big. Strangely enough, these were not the things that stood out to me. I noticed the niceness. As a matter of fact, in a number of different settings, this keeps happening over and over. Everything seems so pristine, so well-cared-for, so unbroken, so matching, so nice. We don’t attend a church that meets in a big fancy cathedral or even in a modern church building – we set up shop each Sunday in a local school hall. But, even still, it looked nice. And when the lights were dimmed, it seemed like a performance!
Secondly, everything felt slow. Instead of needing to race to try and keep up with the words of the songs, we were able to sing along comfortably. Even the song that had been learnt while we were away. It was not completely unfamiliar to us though – we encountered it first in Romania, and now we know what it meant;-)
Thirdly, there was real English. The sermon included turns of phrase that you just don’t hear coming from language learners. This added a depth and made me aware again of the importance for people to have the Scriptures in their own tongue. Having not given it a moment’s thought for many years, I remembered that once upon a time I had thought I would be a Bible translator some day….clearly that never happened.
Fourthly, we were able to connect with people we know. What a comfortable blessing, and one we shall try to not take for granted.
The last thing we noticed was how our trip continues to affect this new life.
Cloths draped over a big wooden cross made us think of similar ones draped over statues in Cambodia.
A sermon reference to the multiplicity of gods in ancient days brought forth images of statues lined up outside temples, both in Asia and Europe.
A prayer for those suffering as a result of the Haiti earthquake led my thoughts to the suffering elsewhere as well.
Our experience of the past fifteen months will no doubt continue to mould us into the future. But the time has come for us to stop the recording.
Our adventure of life for the next year will involve Rob continuing to serve the local community at his place of employment….giving to the wider world community by raising money for Big Brother Mouse…becoming a biking family….possibly becoming a farming family….we’ve already started new learning experiences through books and activities….we’ll hopefully take road trips round our own country….we’ll dream dreams.
And one day, we hope to reopen Pilgrims’ Progress, for another chapter.
insert picture of the ten of us lined up like our front page picture….but we need to take the picture first 😉 (and we’d quite like to take it on the new land we are going to call home signifying our new adventure into a different lifestyle….we have been to look at properties, but haven’t found The One yet….so maybe any picture will do)
PS In a few days – or perhaps when we’ve taken that last photo – we’re planning on rearranging the blog. We are not going to close it completely as some travelling families have done when they finish their travels (maybe because we do not feel we have finished), but we are going to reverse the order of the posts so that we can read from beginning to end!
PPS When we had a look at an old post the other day we discovered it had somehow got truncated…..Grandpa Gene, we’ll be sending you the full version of the story you were in the middle of reading!
Tags: 2008/09, children, fundraising, God, homecoming, language, postcard: New Zealand
rayres
Thank you so much for allowing us glimpses of your journey, it was an incredible experience even just as a reader. When you do manage to take off again, I hope you will continue in this space, or at least post a notice of where to find you, so that those of us with your url on feedreaders will know that it’s time to follow another adventure. When you think about it, learning to become farmers is a bit of an adventure, and certainly something that a great many of us would be interested in knowing about. Maybe you could just drop in a few posts about how that goes? I’m sure that there will be some fascinating experiences involved. In any case, here’s wishing you all the very best of luck wherever the future takes you.
Thank you! I feel you are now my family – even though I had 6 of my grandchildren with their Mom and Dad over here yesterday. I love you with the love of Jesus.
PS
PS I’m remembering, in 1948, out in the corn field my uncle walking behind a single tree plow and a mule and asking, “Can I do it?” Having to reach up to the plow handles I couldn’t keep it in the furrow and didn’t get the mule stopped before plowing up a dozen stalks of growing corn. If I had two more lives to live, one would be as a farmer.
Thanks for letting us share your adventures! There were many times when I thought ‘I know what you are talking about…’ and many times when I read enviously about adventures we didn’t get to do. Sorry we didn’t get to meet up in England, France or Italy…we look forward to seeing you in New Zealand!
Thank you for sharing your story. you have prompted many a happy what if… in our household. We will continue to read ‘have pinny will cook’, and I look forward to sending folks here to read the travel blog chronologically.
If you ever wander by the midwest… (I do believe we are directly opposite the globe from you)
Thanks for the blog have enjoyed traveling with you while I have been unable to travel (baby number three is taking its time in joining our family). Feel free to visit us if you ever make it south to Ashburton. I have 3 brothers and 3 sisters so I’m sure we can find space for everyone and we would be glad to host you all.
Sad to see it end! God bless you all! Is there an email address that we can contact you at if we have travel questions?
Have just discovered your blogspot – will continue reading over the next few days and enjoying the lovely photos. What an amazing family! I can see the makings of a book…. Thanks for sharing your pilgrimage, and best wishes for realising all your future dreams. ;}
It has been a great adventure and we have missed you all haps. It has been great to see you all and hear some of your stories. I think it will take many visits to catch them all. Thanks for the sharing.