Auckland

Heading back to Auckland we stopped for ice cream and I tried the NZ hokey pokey kind. That night Mrs McLain made us a great corned beef with mustard sauce and then we played a game of Mexican train. A few times Mike went with Mr McLain around the neighborhood and one day we were able to go to a 2 yr old's birthday party in a Maori home. His mother is a faithful attender of the church there, she was very welcoming and she had a large feast. Tradition is the birthday person gets first dibs of the cake and can eat however much they want before the rest take cake. For being 2 he really didn't do much damage to it. I picked up a cough that gave me a headache so I ended up sleeping that afternoon while Mike went with the teens to clean up the neighborhood. Mike was able to preach both services on Sunday, it was a good turnout of 25 for this new work. The church is made up primarily of teens. After the evening service the teens came back to the McLains for "sloppy joes" they were very curious what this American food would be. We played Guesstures and spoons. Monday we drove around downtown Auckland had steak and cheese meat pies and met another pastor. Tuesday we packed up our things as we had to leave for the airport by 4. We also were able to go to a Maori Marae that morning. The Marae is the Maori's meeting place for ceremonies, meetings, funerals...Inside there were pictures of the chiefs as well as a wood carving depicting each one. The walls were covered with weaved mats and gorgeous paintings. On our way back to the house we drove following signs to a waterfall. It was so cool. Gorgeous. Then we had a short time before we went on to the airport. Mike was searched before we finished getting through security, our plane took off a little late but we still made it to LA by the right time and through customs. I got a little air sick/maybe over tired. We got to the hotel by 1 and slept well. When we did wake we hurried home to see the boys. I hope to still do a few more posts including prices of some of their things as well as different words they use for things. We really had a great time and feel it was a great survey trip as we got to meet 5 pastors and see the land for ourselves.