Well it's still Christmas Eve in the States, but Merry Christmas to all you Kiwis and Aussies who are reading this!! We hope you are all having a fantastic day today, we're thinking of you all. We just got back from a Christmas eve service at church and had a great meal here with the Harms'. Good times.....
For those of you who are Americans....Merry Christmas for tomorrow!
Love,
Misty and Josh
Monday, December 24, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
Austin, Texas.
Sorry for the delay in posting...but as you can immagine we don't have much time for our computers at the moment. We made it safe and sound to Austin, and are having a great time so far. It's taking us an age to get over jetlag this time, but I guess thats part of the package. We had a great flight out here with no issues whatsoever, in fact it only took us the best part of 10 mins to step of the plane, clear customs and get our bags in LA! That has to be record time! The only slight hiccup was a small delay in Dallas, but it was actually a welcomed break as the time between flights without the delay would have had us running for the gate.
The weather in Texas at this time of year is amazing.....not too cold, but enough that you know it's winter with lovely sunshine!
Well, 10:30pm....time to go for a hot swim....adios!
The weather in Texas at this time of year is amazing.....not too cold, but enough that you know it's winter with lovely sunshine!
Well, 10:30pm....time to go for a hot swim....adios!
Sunday, December 09, 2007
BMB Christmas Party
Today was an awesome Sunday. It started with omelets and church, and ended with the BMB Christmas Party out at Josh's parents house. Believe it or not 55 people managed to squeeze into the home and a good time was had buy all. The traditional Kiwi Christmas BBQ was devoured and the First Annual Christmas Gift Exchange of the Bethlehem Missions Base was established. Taylor (Kristi and Aaron's little girl) even helped keep all the wrapping paper tidied during the game. The party was complete with the baptism of 5 of our interns.
Time is getting short before we leave this side of the world. Only two more sleeps. Tomorrow night Josh and I will have an early Christmas with the Josh's family. Then Tuesday morning we will head to Auckland, visit with the Edmeades (more of Josh's family) and then climb aboard a plane bound for the United States of America. Almost 24 hours later we will land in Austin. Yay! I am so excited.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Christmas Cherries
Being from America, my understanding of cherries is the sugary cherries that come with your Coco-cola. To be honest, I don't like those at all. I tried one of those when I was little, and since then I have avoided all cherries. I thought they made your teeth feel like they were rotting. However, after yesterday my ideas of cherries has been forever changed.
Yesterday, while at my part time job, a package arrived from a place called Jackson's Orchard. I got to open it; and to my surprise it was full of fresh picked cherries and a Christmas card. It was a company Christmas gift. So, at morning tea time (yes this is a normal New Zealand company policy) I decided I had to try a cherry. Everyone else was digging in and saying how good they were. So, timidly I bit onto one. The flavor was amazing, so fresh, juicy, and sweet. Yum! For all those of you who come visit New Zealand, you must try the cherries!
Yesterday, while at my part time job, a package arrived from a place called Jackson's Orchard. I got to open it; and to my surprise it was full of fresh picked cherries and a Christmas card. It was a company Christmas gift. So, at morning tea time (yes this is a normal New Zealand company policy) I decided I had to try a cherry. Everyone else was digging in and saying how good they were. So, timidly I bit onto one. The flavor was amazing, so fresh, juicy, and sweet. Yum! For all those of you who come visit New Zealand, you must try the cherries!
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Family
Today we were shopping @ Bayfair Mall over at the Mount and we crossed paths with a group from Lifeway who were on a bit of a faith mission, which by the way is a brilliant idea if you ask me. What they do is send out the students with a vehicle and a little cash for fuel, and that's it. They have a whole list of things they have to accomplish and trust God for during their time away, including, food, accommodation etc. We were amazed and greatly encouraged by these young guys who were out serving the community and sharing Jesus in ways not many people do these days. They truly shone, were full of joy, zeal and faith and really uplifted our spirits with their attitudes and the way they carried themselves. Awesome!
One of the guys was especially encouraging to us, sharing that whenever he thinks of "family" he thinks of us, and the wider Cole clan. He went on to share that he looked up to us as role models of what "family" means....we were greatly encouraged because to the two of us, family is very important, and we are both blessed with incredible families.
So it was like the Lord was really highlighting the concept of family to us today.
And then back at home as were were listening to the live streaming from IHOP, one of the singers sang an profound line that really highlighted that word to us again, "God doesn't doesn't just want people to serve Him, He wants a family.....He no longer calls me servant, He calls me friend."
Then they went on to sing, "you love me so well, you love me so well, Abba Father..." over and over again for a while. As they did it really infused into my heart, as I thought about the power of God's love, and the fact that He wants us to feel included into His family.
OK....sure, it sounds like something you and I might have heard a few times before, but thinking through the massive implications of this on our lives and the way that we should live and approach God is life changing, from a position of sonship rather than servant.
Jesus said it himself in John 15:15, "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."
Yeah...I'm amazed at the wisdom of God and the way He's orchestrated this whole deal. it's just incredible that we are free to be son's and daughters who are friends of Almighty! Who is like Him?
One of the guys was especially encouraging to us, sharing that whenever he thinks of "family" he thinks of us, and the wider Cole clan. He went on to share that he looked up to us as role models of what "family" means....we were greatly encouraged because to the two of us, family is very important, and we are both blessed with incredible families.
So it was like the Lord was really highlighting the concept of family to us today.
And then back at home as were were listening to the live streaming from IHOP, one of the singers sang an profound line that really highlighted that word to us again, "God doesn't doesn't just want people to serve Him, He wants a family.....He no longer calls me servant, He calls me friend."
Then they went on to sing, "you love me so well, you love me so well, Abba Father..." over and over again for a while. As they did it really infused into my heart, as I thought about the power of God's love, and the fact that He wants us to feel included into His family.
OK....sure, it sounds like something you and I might have heard a few times before, but thinking through the massive implications of this on our lives and the way that we should live and approach God is life changing, from a position of sonship rather than servant.
Jesus said it himself in John 15:15, "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."
Yeah...I'm amazed at the wisdom of God and the way He's orchestrated this whole deal. it's just incredible that we are free to be son's and daughters who are friends of Almighty! Who is like Him?
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