New Zealand 2012 Ramblings: Day 11 - NZ Father's Day; church

-2 September, Sunday-

Photo of the day is of me with Mike and Lynette Love - the wonderful couple who let me stay on their farm for 2 nights. We took this photo outside of church before we went in for Sunday morning service:

It was my 2nd Sunday in New Zealand. I took the advantage of not needing to sit right in front with the Connells and went behind to get this photo of the auditorium during the service. It looks and feels very much like some concert but I think it may help some people to not feel as conscious of the people around them:

It was Father's Day, so they had a special service. Besides having a baby dedication, they included 3 games that involved a few volunteer dads come on stage and play the games with the children. After the games, the children then go off for their kids' church while uncle Mike took the pulpit and preached on what it meant to be valiant men of God.

Because it was Father's Day, the Connell children who were in Hastings gathered at the house for Father's Day lunch. There was uncle Mike, aunty Joy, Andrew, Sarah and John Dodds, Andrew, Jo, Sam, Levi and Luke Donnelly. And then there was me:) It was a good spread for all of us, done up by aunty Joy a.k.a. super-mum!
She even made apple crumble for dessert:

This is a photo of a very happy father/grandfather with his two grandchildren, Luke (the one in his arms) and John:

I spent the afternoon reading and uploading photos and videos to blog here. Then we attended the 5:30pm church service. It was much much smaller because many families were away for the Father's Day weekend, so it felt like a much more intimate affair. After worship, we flowed into a time of ministry and deliverance and healing by uncle Mike and he called me up as the last person to be prayed for before he went into his sermon for the evening! It was a great time of prayer and I'm so thankful for it:)

Uncle Mike preached on how people are a gift from God and how we should "use" them wisely because they are gifts to us from God. Then we came home and had a late dinner of toast and soup in front of the TV. We just watched Comedy Central channel that was showing ancient (like, maybe from the 1970s) British comedies until 10ish. Then it was time to go to bed. And I went to bed happy from such a life-changing weekend.

-Signing off 7:15pm NZ time (3:15pm SG time)-

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