First Sunday and volcanoes

Jun 27, 2010 by Daniel Ross-Jones

I celebrated my first Sunday with the people of St Lukes yesterday.  In my honor, the organists had chosen music by American composers — one of whom, Paul Manz, was the cantor of my parents’ church for many years.  Later on, during morning tea following service, I made more US-Kiwi connections.  It’s always great to have those experiences that remind oneself how small the world really is.

After service, I enjoyed lunch with a group of people from the congregation, which was followed by an 80th birthday party back at the church for another one of the members.  By the time I got back home, I felt I earned my first midday nap since my arrival!

Then, last night, I worshiped with the Auckland Community Church folks, one of the GLBT mission congregations here in Auckland, to celebrate matariki, the Maori new year.  It’s been good to meet so many new people, even if I don’t have a clue what everyone’s name is.

I’ll be taking Mondays off, more or less, and so I decided to take today and do some exploring on foot in the area immediately around where I’m staying.  I climbed the Mt Albert/Owairaka volcano, and what a sight from the top!  I could see much of the Auckland region, even on a cloudy day like today.  I want to go back to the top on a nice, clear day (if one exists during my time, as they are rare in the winter) to see how much more one can see of the area.

I started on my academic reading — currently a resource provided to me by my supervisor, “Christianity in Aotearoa” by Allan Davidson.  I’ve also started on Lamin Sanneh’s “Disciples of All Nations” and Michael King’s “The Penguin History of New Zealand.”  Tomorrow I really get started on the internship, making the initial contacts and moving forward with the connections to be made here.  I can’t wait!

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