In the words of my New Zealand friends, which I have discovered speak quite a bit different from us over the pond in Aus. They seem more British? Not sure if they would agree, but it seems that way to me!
Immediately we had complications as soon as we left for NZ, with our car rental place informing me at the very last second that they could no longer hire out cars to us as our travel card was not valid for them to use in their system. Well, after back and forth international calls on the way to Sydney on the train we arranged a meeting the following morning, but that left us with the dilemma of getting to our flat from the airport at 11pm on a Tuesday night...
Luckily there is a shuttle bus run by some incredibly friendly people who work into the wee hours of the morning (another NZ slang I have found awesome). We arrived at our place to settle in for the night, with ministry starting the very next morning at 8.45am.
Well, with a time difference getting up at 6am here is like getting up at 4am, which we found to be a bit difficult. But rejoicing in our suffering we were ready to go!
We eventually worked it out with the car rentals, praise God, who really performed a miracle, as well as dropping the fact that we are here to help with the earthquake relief. We headed out to ministry day 1.
The groups split, and half went to help out at a holiday program run by a local church and the other half to door to door evangelism/mercy ministry. The kids program was incredible, with around 15 kids running around, singing songs, snack times and sharing with them why a bunch of strange guys from around the world why we're hanging out with them!
The other group would go door-to-door in the morning telling them about the program a Church was running that weekend for the residents of one of the hardest hit areas, and also asking them if they could help them out in any way or pray for them.
In the afternoons we would all meet up to go do gardening and housework with some of the older people in need at the church. We got to do a lot of basic handyman stuff for them, that with everything going on, they didn't have the time money or ability to do themselves.
It seemed like simple tasks, that weren't all that special, but the looks on these peoples faces when we were done was something priceless, they were so moved and touched, that people would come from another country, simply to help, to show them a small kindness and love, that God hadn't forgotten them after all. It meant the world to them, and the whole time we were apologising that we didn't do much.
It opened some huge doors for these guys to share just what they had been through, and to seek some relief in just getting it all out. Everyone we come across all has their own story, from the shuttle bus driver, to the taxi man, to the people in churches, everyone has their story of where they were when it happened, what they were doing, how the escaped, of their friends who are so much worse off. We drive around and see the devastation, the whole downtown inner city is blocked off, declared red zone and due to be torn down. As well as another 25% of the city that must be torn down and not rebuilt. But most everyone is facing pressures of having to replace houses, rebuild, renovate and everything else in between. We see houses that have started to sink into the ground, that are off their foundation, or that have huge cracks running through the middle of their home.
This is bad enough without the fact that nothing is able to be insured in Christchurch for the next two years, so many people have to decide whether it is worth the risk to stay here or to simply move to a new life.
Slowly we are bringing light into this place, we have been able to share a little, but we would appreciate your prayers for more open doors, that people would be open to our message, that we could be able to minister even greater in the healing and peace of God that surpasses all understanding.
Please pray that the Spirit would lead us into every conversation and every word we speak. Thanks you so much for your support, for your prayers, these are the things that are going to change this landscape – the prayers of the saints.
We are heading into a new week, and lots of new ministry has opened up already, I can't wait to share with you!
Peace,
Daniel
PS. Where we are staying has no internet, so please excuse if I am late to replying to emails or facebook/whatever as we don't often get to a place that has some internet.