| Welcome : News : Team : Groups : History : Contact : Links |
|
Carol & Rich Drury |
|
| 9th March 2006 | |
 |
Dear folks,
I am conscious that I have not communicated with
you since we arrived in New Zealand. This is because I have only just
bought a new PC as this pressing need seemed to keep getting
prioritised. Communications are now fully resumed and we'd love to
hear how things are going your end too!
Our first week here was rushing about getting
bits for the house in summer sales, collecting the dogs who arrived a
week later (and were sick and in season for the whole 7 hour car
journey home). After our induction at which we sensed a really high
expectation of us alongside a real excitement that we had finally
arrived we got stuck in to church life here.
We have 3 churches. The main one of which we live behind has the largest congregations totalling approx 100-120 adults and 20ish children - St.Thomas. |
The second is 17kms nestled in the mountains
up the Motueka valley - St. James. It is a picturesque setting and was
under threat of closure a few years ago, but in response to this
announcement the local folk pulled together to get things going again and
when Rich preached his first sermon there the other week there was a good 50
people there. The other is even smaller though not as picturesque based in
a village about 5-10 minutes away and has a congregation of about 10-12 and
is barely viable but the folk are hanging on there for sentimental reasons -
St. Barnabas.
Folk here have been extremely welcoming and in the
first week we must have received a new visitor every couple of hours
throughout the day. We thought that bringing a welcome gift was the norm
here, but the bags of fruit and veg that have been left on our doorstep have
gone beyond welcome gifts and the other day we discovered that that is what
people do in a rural community in NZ. We are very grateful as food prices
are high by comparison so the cost of living is not perhaps as cheap as
people lead you to believe. We have already made some 'friends' in the
parish. For example I now go to an art group with the parish secretary (who
has a 15 year old severely disabled wheelchair bound son) on a wednesday
morning. For my birthday a group of 7adults plus as many children descended
on our house at 7am to cook me breakfast (after a warning call at 6.30 which
was Rich's - very welcome - suggestion)! We have been invited to evening
beach BBQ's, Sunday afternoon picnics, lunches in seaside cafes and we are
enjoying every minute. The 'wow factor' with the scenery at sunrise, sunset
and any time in between has still not worn off, though the tell us that it
does eventually.
We are gradually finding our feet with parish work
again and although there were high expectations it seems that we are hitting
all the right buttons so far. Apparently the last vicar ran the church
along business lines with fairly rigid 'management' structures in place. We
met him when we were here in September and he was a really 'full on' guy as
they say here, talking at 90 miles an hour. He is Singaporean and had
definite views that to grow we should serve the community as a blessing to
the community. Some appreciated this and threw themselves into this project
with gusto, others felt worn out by it all and were desperate for some
'Christian' input and encouragement. Anyway we are visiting everyone in the
church directory and getting to know them all slowly without introducing any
new initiatives. We are talking about past philosophies and future dreams
whilst seeking to care for them along the way and this seems to be going
down very well so far. We know that the first year in any parish can be a
bit 'the new vicar is wonderful' so we are not letting it go to our heads
and trying to keep ourselves seeing the wood for the trees.
We have had a couple of noteable events here so far.
The first one was from the Prime Minister who wanted to hire our halls for a
private visit to the area - we didn't get involved as we weren't invited
anyway. It was all very low key - unlike a UK/US event involving the
country's leader I'm sure! The other was a concert for Tearfund which
involved two of the most famous NZ Christian Singers - Steve Aspirona (a
Maori) and Derek Lend. We had them over for a meal beforehand and I'm sure
they found our ignorance of their fame quite refreshing. They both played
acoustic guitars with such skill and musicianship that it made up for their
slightly aging/gravelly voices. Their material was very straight and yet
profound and we thoroughly enjoyed the evening, especially as hundreds came
to the event from churches around the area and a few of the local likely
lads from the streets.
The only thing we'd ask you to pray for at this time
is the local cafe. It is a cafe/bar called Hot Mamas - if you want to know
about it check out the NZ guide books as they say it is a really cool
pumping place to go. They're right. 3 nights a week in the summer we lose
sleep for much of the night as the live (and not always very good) music is
VERY LOUD. The business is up for sale and we are praying that someone who
wants to run a cafe until 6pm at night will buy it! As the cold sets in
they close the front up (which can be completely removed opening up the cafe
onto the street) and we close our windows so the noise is much less. My mum
says that we often seem to live in areas that have noise problems - it was
the same in Africa!
Anyway best go now, keep in touch, we do appreciate
hearing from you.
Love Carol & Rich X