Random New Zealand Facts Part 1

New Zealand Facts:

• NZ's land area is about the size of the state of Colorado
• Almost 90% of the population lives in the Cities.
• The median age (average) is 37.
• NZ has two official languages: English and Maori. 91.2% speak English and 3.9% speak Maori.
• Auckland has a population of 1.36 Million and the capital city of Wellington has a population of 391,000
• Life expectancy is about 81 years.
• NZ is the First Country to see the sunrise.
• The Maori name for NZ is Aotearoa, which means "the land of the long white Cloud"
• Bungee Jumping originated in NZ.
• NZ claims the longest place name (85 letters) in the world - Taumata whakatangi hangakoauau o tamatea turi pukakapiki maunga horo nuku pokai whenua kitanatahu - which means: 'The hilltop ,where Tamatea with big knees, conqueror of mountains, eater of land, traveller over land and sea, played his koauau to his beloved'.
• NZ has won more Olympic gold medals, per capita, than any other country.
• New Zealand had no predatory animals prior to European arrival, making it a paradise for birds - many of them flightless.

Donation Website Up and Running

Our website (link below) where you can make donations towards our time in New Zealand is up and Running! The website allows you to make donation via Credit Card or direct withdraw from a bank account. We ask that you prayerfully consider donating towards our goal of $12,000. Every donation, no matter how big or small, will help! Thanks ahead of time for your support in prayer and through finances.

  Donation Website

Our Story

Growing up, we both felt a call to the mission field. We were attending a college service one evening when the calling became very evident to both of us. We shared with each other what God had laid on our hearts and it seemed to line up with one another. We each went home and began to pray about this calling. We also started doing some research on our own to find about different mission opportunities. Jesse has also had the desire to continue his education and get his Masters degree. This also played a factor in our research. As we looked we were led to Nazarene Theological Seminary's website and came across their 365M program. We did not know the fine details but were very interested. We learned that 365M is a year long program that combines intercultural studies and missions. We felt led to apply and soon learned that we had been accepted for the New Zealand location. 
The majority of our work will take place in Whangarei, NZ. We will be working with the local church and the district to use our gifts to help equip and grow the church in New Zealand. Although much of our ministry will be determined when we arrive, we have been in communication with the local church’s pastor and the District Superintendent about some exciting opportunities. Some of these include restarting the children’s camps on the district, training churches in children’s ministry, helping churches with marketing related tasks, and much more. We know that this will be an awesome opportunity for us to grow and help the Nazarene Church in New Zealand grow as well. 
We want to request your support in prayer for our time in ministry in NZ. 
If you would like to receive email updates as we continue to prepare for our time in New Zealand and while we are in New Zealand, make sure to submit your email address in the box at the top of our blog page