Kiwi wedding #7 Godincidences

One of the joys of visiting New Zealand is the connections we always seem to find.

It's not difficult, in some ways. Christians connect, Guerns travel...there is always someone who knows someone who knows someone else...

Today, two delightful meetings.

We tore ourselves away from lovely Ohope and made good time to Auckland - so much so, that we were early for our meeting with Cat. So we rocked up to her friend Gael's house, prepared to wait outside, but realised that Gael's sister and brother-in-law were at home.  So were Gael's parents, Ian and Linda.

Originally from Zimbabwe, they moved to New Zealand and now live in Australia.  Before I knew it, I discovered that Ian Spence had been one of Aldwyth and Renee Cowan's young men who would gather at their house on a Sunday for lunch and Bible study. Not only that, but he was the same age as Renee's daughter, Wendy.  Renee has been one of my closest friends since I arrived on Guernsey over eleven years ago: she is my mentor, my guide, my inspiration and my encouragement and I love her. And I loved connecting with friends from Renee's past.

And then I discovered that Linda's father had worked on the same nuclear power stations as my father had done - we threw the names around with familiarity...

Later, I met a friend of one of Cat's flatmates. 'You're from Guernsey?' she asked.  'Do you know the Parkes family...?' And of course I do. She had been at Hillsong college in Sydney and had worked with Chris and Tash Parkes, son and daughter-in-law of my dear friend Ros...

...and just today I had an email from a friend who knows Andy's parents, Sue and Allan, from when they all lived in Arusha, Tanzania....after I had read a book which profiles and praises my friend Lisa's father, Denny Repko, who, in his eighties, is still serving in the Navigators' ministry.

I love these God-connections. His family is worldwide and He loves to connect his children together...

"Whakatane" (Fha ka taa nee) - childishly amusing in English

From Tauranga, off to Whakatane Baptist Church - superb. Such a warm welcome - we lost count of how many people came to talk to us (including a guy whose sister-in-law is a Guernsey girl, living in Rotorua) *see note below* and by the time we met the pastor, he already knew our names and where we were from!  Such a vibrant church with a lot going on.

Then into Whakatane itself along the cycle lanes by the river - a huge amount of Maori heritage. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed here; there was a 'well-travelled' Marae which had even spent time in museum in London, as well as other places round the world; and two ceremonial canoes.  Almost unbelievable to think that the first ancestors travelled here in these dugout logs so many hundred years ago, all the way from the Cook Islands...

Tucked at the back of the town, Whakatane also has a waterfall, Te Wairere, reputedly the only one to be found in a town (in New Zealand? the world?!).  It used to supply the town's drinking water and power the flax and flour mills. Bizarrely, the only other 'visitors' were a couple of people in traditional Japenese costume having a photo shoot...

And, finally, another freedom camp by the beach. Supposed to be NZ's best....yes, lovely, but the Karikari peninsula still has our hearts...

Kiwi boy... Whakatane is New Zealand's kiwi capital...

*The day after I get back to Guernsey I meet my friend Rose, who has read this blog. She says: "That Guernsey girl living in Rotorua - is her surname Jackson? I was at school with Cathy Falla, who married Ian Jackson and lives in Rotorua..."

Yes, it was the same woman. We had met her brother-in-law Murray Jackson... 

#smallworld   #yetanothercoincidence   #Guernseyfolkgeteverywhere