Day 1: Feijoas, Friends & Fatherhood

Some wonderful friends picked me up from the airport after the all-day, all-night three-flight 8000 mile trek. Trevor was an elder when I pastored here (and is one currently). Val was our Women's Ministry Director.

They brought me home to a room filled with jaffas and crunchy bars. Breakfast consisted of feijoas (almost the end of the season), crumpets and golden syrup. Wow, what a great start. Could it get any better?

It did when my first-born walked through the door. Derek has been in NZ almost all of the last eight years we've been in Wisconsin, so it was so good to see him and give him a big hug and punch his shoulder repeatedly. After an hour he left for Auckland University, where he is half-way through his third year in engineering.

The weather was atrocious all day so I didn't resent spending it trying to resolve data access problems with AT&T. Couldn't talk with them directly so skyped Doreen on wi-fi and she triangulated with them on her phone. After two hours, I finally had data access, so I can blog on my phone now though Doreen's still receiving the same text from me a hundred times in an endless loop.

That night we headed to Titirangi in west Auckland for a gathering of friends at a birthday party. Fun evening till jetlag finally hit and we headed home.