Skydive Queenstown

So one last thing todo before I get my work boots back on and the hammer in my hand. And thats get my christmas present and Jump out of a plane 15,500 feet above Queenstown. I hitched down to stay with JP. JP is the fiance of one of the girls on my outreach team Clare. He came out to indonesia for one week and I co.-lead operation silent Goose with him as he surprised Clare over in Jakarta. So we both agreed that an operation Flying Goose needed to take place and as they're getting married in May I reckoned I better get going on it before wedding stress takes off.

I arrived down on a monday evening and JP marched me down to initiate me into Queenstown by bringing me to a 10+ meter Cliff jump. Now this was serious preparation and dodgy stuff but clare has done it 3 times so I had no choice to jump.
So the next morning 17th March I woke up to my NZ Paddy's day in style by jumping. Its was just unreal. Such a savage rush and the best present ive ever got so cheers Sus & Debs. Then I met up with A couple for the backpacker staff. We chilled out for paddys night and then onto wanaka the next day. In wanaka I stayed with Jeannie & Naomi Reese from Sojourn which was great catching up with them again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29p0Gl8_biISo that trip was another top notch trip and Queenstown & Wanaka & the Haast pass are possible the finest of Gods creations on this earth fact. But now its time to go get back into long days, early mornings and sore muscles. And to be honest im stoked ive been looking forward to working for a while now. So ive got 9 weeks of work until Clare & JP's wedding & then onto Indonesia.

Wild Foods 2009

Happy birthday to me. Myself, Matt, Julia, Ben & james spent my birthday on the sunny West Coast at the Wild foods festival 2009. So basically lots of people dressed up and eating prity much anything and everything.
We got round to eating

• Live HUHU Grubs
• Mountain Oysters ( Lambs Testicles)
• Cow Feet, Cow Tripe. Cow Intestines, Cow Tongue, Cows Udder aka Nipple
• Haggis
• Black Puddings
• Eel
• Crocodile
• Kangaroo
• Lambs Tail
• moonshine
• Kava
• Crickets

Then after the festival we went back to the campsite and went caving in this old Gold mine. Then after realizing James feet had not puffed up when being in freezing water we then ran down to the river to celebrate this progression of his Healing with a long awaited Skinny dip. James had got a life threatening disease called cold educed anaphylaxis. This means if James gets cold he goes into anaphylactic shock and can die. The whole way though our DTS we were all praying for him waiting for his healing. So praise God that James got further towards his healing and he went wake-boarding for the first time in new zealand in over a year the next day. So this obviously made my birthday being the best news ever. Praise God that James got to go wakeboarding again and got a skinny dip in aswell. He is still on the road to being healed but this encouragement has increased some more faith and encouraged us all.
Then i went down south towards Fox Glazier. This is where ill be working for the next 3 months building a Cow Shed with a family who picked me up hitch hiking 3 months ago back in December. Jonny is working here aswell. I got to sleep in my bedroom which will be my first bedroom in 11 months. Now this is like the best thing ever. You really do miss your bedroom or a bed. or a cupboard all those kinda things man i cant wait to stay in one bed for more than 4 days. But that was only a quick stop in to see what the plan was. Now off to Queenstown. Clare & JP here i come.

The Stevensons & James in Christchurch

I met up with Murray & Joy Stevenson in Auckland. They are the New Zealand couple who i stayed with for 2 months in the Congo. It was great catching up with them before they head back to the Congo via Ireland. Then after rethinking my plans ive decided to go down to Fox Glacier to work instead of stay up in the Sunny north Coast. This will help me get the bills needed to get home in August & also to Indonesia to see Ross in June. So that means i had to hitch down & collect my bags and surf board from the hostel which i had stored everything. Then i got back to Auckland for 24 hours before i had a flight booked to christchurch. So i stayed with Cam & Jenny once more before i headed south. They had bought me a nice bottle of the Jameson as an early birthday gift. Then Steven & Rhoda Mulhall were doing a visa run through Auckland so i met up with them for a drink. It was great seeing them again and hearing all the plans for getting a Ywam Discipleship Training School in Dublin April 2004 which is super exciting.
So then on the 4th March i arrived into Christchurch where i was gonna be staying with James and his Family. James was one of my best mates on DTS and was in the same outreach team as me in Indonesia. We were staying in a suburb outside christchurch over the Port Hills and on the other side of the lake. We had the most extraordinary view and James had hooked us up with our own batch up the hill. So with our record player playing we would chill out looking over the bay. Perfect sunny days and clear nights. We got up to all sorts of stuff this week and i had the best fun ever. It was great meeting his family and seeing who brought up this odd chap called James who id come to know and love. We some great sessions aswell. Nestor who was our south american worship leader during dts came and lead us into worship at james house with his family and james family. It was a beautiful time for all of us there, with God showing up and even speaking through Nestor children in powerful ways.

Jake happened to be in town aswell, having a week off before work starts to save for his ireland trip. So we got to catch up with him loads aswell. PHIL’s in town too. The Phil has started his AW80 DTS in oxford and i finally got to see him. Having missed him by 6 hours in july i now get to see him cause he came back to me. I saw him in christchurch and then at Base aswell. Great stuff seeing one of the lads over here its about time.
Then Ian, Jonny, Jake, Mike, Matt, Mackenzie & mise met up in christchurch and then went to the airport. Ian was flying home so we thought we’d send him off with a good long night at the airport with the lads. And he’s was happy to see me with a big lumpy in my throat crying him off the next day.

RIP
Ian Maravalli 4th July 2008 - 12th March 2009