Christmas 2013 Update

Hi everyone,

It’s Christmas!! We are having an awesome time in Taupo with both of our families at the moment. It’s our first Christmas in New Zealand since 2009 so we are pretty excited about it all. Here is a very brief update on what has been happening in our lives over the last year.

INDONESIA

We spent the last international school year (Aug 2012 – June 2013) in Surabaya, Indonesia. It was a complete contrast to our previous two years in Nigeria. Our neighbourhood was rather wealthy, and we lived in a huge apartment complex called Waterplace Apartments, so called due to the numerous swimming pools, spas, lazy river, toddler pools, mini water-slides, fountains, etc. It was really lovely and we spent so much time outside in the playground or splashing around the place. We lived right across the road from a big mall, so we were really living a very western lifestyle. The roads were cobbled and very wide and the gardens that lined them were well-manicured with full-time gardeners. It was a short walk to Caleb’s school which shared space with the Sheraton Family Club. We spent our weekends hanging out with various friends and spent a lot of time at the Club pools.

Caleb had a good year at the school, he initiated a Citizenship Award where students had to complete physical activity, learn a new skill, outdoor education and community service. Similar to the Duke of Edinburgh Award, but for younger students. He took the students on an international trip to Malaysia for an Outward Bound Course. The students were so challenged, cooking and cleaning up after themselves, camping outside, lighting fires, etc. Keep in mind that this was a first for almost every single student and all of them, bar one, has their own nanny, maid, cook, and while one parent complained about her daughter being a ‘slave’, all the other parents were so incredibly grateful and could not express their gratitude enough for the incredible experience that their children had.

Caleb also coached and led an interschool soccer team that was a first among the schools and was a fantastic way to build relationships. He also played on a social netball team, and while Rebecca was away in New Zealand used all his spare time to take advantage of the cheap green fees and took up golf.

We built relationships with a local orphanage down the road, and Rebecca taught Caleb’s students how to run English lessons for them, so every week the privileged rich kids had loads of fun with a whole heap of orphans – laughing, playing games, teaching songs and doing craft activities. Two highlights for Rebecca: when two of Caleb’s students were celebrating their birthdays and instead of bringing in cake, snacks and drinks to school, they decided they wanted to have their birthday party at the orphanage. So awesome. Secondly, the students used ‘Movember’ as a fundraising opportunity to put together awesome Christmas presents in brand new backpacks which they then distributed to the kids at the orphanage. The joy on the kids faces was just so beautiful. My heart swelled (and broke at the same time) when I went in to see the babies, and one of the smallest babies had a brand new little stuffed toy in their otherwise barren room. Unfortunately, despite all my pleadings to Caleb, I was not able to bring home an Indonesian baby. But, that wasn’t his fault. The adoption laws are so incredibly strict in Indonesia for foreigners. I think it is a clampdown to stop trafficking.

Rebecca also spent a lot of time at another orphanage where she taught English at the community preschool. Neriah absolutely loved hanging out with the other kids, who just adored her. Rebecca also spent a lot of time attending the expat mom’s playgroup, and taking Neriah along to baby-singing. One of the other causes which she liked to support was ‘Cleft Care’, an organisation committed to helping families who have a child with a cleft palate. The families would have to commit to ensuring the child was medically fit before they would receive surgery, so they would undergo health and nutrition information, as many of the children would simply not be healthy enough to make it through recovery when Cleft Care first discovered them. Thanks to the gorgeous Auckland Calvert girls for inviting me along to one of their clothes auctions – we used that idea to raise a whole heap of money for Cleft Care, and I hope it is something they will continue to use in the future as a fundraiser.

While in Indonesia we managed to do a couple of trips, one to Jogyakarta and the other to Bali (Caleb went a few times actually), but we were rather limited due to the fact that baby no. 2 was due half way through our year, so I had to spend 4 months in NZ.

LEVI

Yay for babies! Headed home from Indonesia with Neriah just before New Years 2013, to begin the final preparations for the new baby. Caleb stayed in Indonesia until February 16^th, when I picked him up from the airport at 7pm. He only had 2 weeks leave, so we took a huge risk booking him a flight a day after Levi’s due date. Well, what do you know but we woke up on the morning of the 17^th and there were my contractions. Went to church and left just before the service ended, deciding that we had to get Neriah back to Nana’s house and get up to the hospital because contractions were starting to come thick and fast! Had a lovely water birth and Levi was born at about 2pm.

Levi. He is my gorgeous strawberry-blonde cutie pie. He has not been the easiest of babies, but he definitely hasn’t been as bad as some. We have been blessed not to have babies that suffer from horrible things like reflux or colic.  He is usually quite cheerful and he is starting to show a great sense of humour. Neriah seems to get the most laughs out of him! He is quite possessive of the items he has in his grasp and he lets you know that he is not happy with you should you be brave enough to wrestle them out of his grip.

He is 10 months old now, and after 2.5 months of commando crawling is finally starting to crawl properly on his knees. He is a master spinner, and before he began commando crawling, he discovered that he could get closer to an object by doing a full 360. He is also pulling up on anything and everything and is definitely at the age where nothing is safe.

Rebecca also thinks he has a first word ‘up’ but any attempts to get Levi say it in front of Caleb have proved futile.  He is very expressive and is using baby sign to ensure that his milk is constantly available. He loves music and dancing.

MOVING BACK TO NEW ZEALAND

We decided that now was the best time for Caleb to further his education, so despite the loveliness of Indonesia, we returned home to Whakatane, where we are currently living in Rebecca’s gorgeous beach house where we wake up to ocean views. It is heaven.

Caleb is currently completing his Masters of Educational Leadership. We hope this will give Caleb the opportunity to progress further in his career in international schools. He will be finished by June 2014, so we are looking at returning overseas then.

We LOVE Whakatane. By far it has to be the friendliest place we have ever moved to. We have found a fantastic church, which is full with all kinds of wonderful people, including a whole heap of young families like us. Rebecca is loving the mum’s coffee group and bible study and finally having some women to connect with. Caleb is loving being able to head out surfing again.

We live close to the beach and our neighbourhood is lovely and slow and quiet. There are horses everywhere, and we even have some hens who are laying well.

Neriah has begun attending the local daycare two mornings a week, and it is a lovely stroll along the coastal road and through a reserve to get there. We certainly have missed being able to do these kinds of things!

NERIAH

Neriah turned 2 in August and we had a lovely little morning tea with a lot of our new friends in Whakatane. Neriah is talking A LOT, and we are managing to understand most of it. It took her 8 months to finally refer to Levi as ‘Levi’ rather than ‘baby’. She adores her brother and gives him little kisses at the most beautiful times.

Neriah loves helping Rebecca bake in the kitchen, and we have made her her own toy kitchen, and she spends a lot of time in there making ‘hummus’ and all sorts of yummy treats. She also enjoys having tea parties, riding her rocking horse and most of all, jumping on the neighbours ‘bump bump’ (trampoline), kicking soccer balls and swimming.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

We just recently returned from Papua New Guinea to visit Caleb’s mum, Valerie, and his family over at Kapuna, a remote jungle hospital in the swampy delta region. The last time we were there was in 2009 just before we got married, so it was awesome to go back again. We headed over in November for about a month for the purpose of helping to build some new classrooms for the school there. For those who don’t know, getting to Kapuna is such a mission! Our flight plan looked something like this: Auckland to Brisbane to Port Moresby, overnight there, small single engine plane, followed by a four hour motorised canoe trip.  We were lucky to do the whole trip in 2 days. Sometimes it can take 3 or even 4 days to do it due to all the coordination of internal travel.

Neriah and Levi got to spend lots of time getting to know Grandma (Valerie) and ‘Big Nana’ (Caleb’s Grandma) and also the rest of the swamp family. It took a week or so before they began to feel comfortable with village life, and they especially loved their 6:30am walks with Grandma and Uncle Colin and Aunty Barb (and WE especially loved it).  Neriah’s favourite thing to do at Kapuna was to swim in ‘Neriah’s Swimming Pool’, which used to be Shiana’s swimming pool, and is actually a half a water tank.

We also loved to walk through the hospital walking and talking and playing and praying with the various families and children. Neriah showed a particular interest in patients with head wounds, while Levi enjoyed the attention of the students and nurses.

Caleb spent most of his days with the two builders that also accompanied us, erecting a two-storey building, sweating in the heat and drinking green coconuts. The guys did such an amazing job, and after 2.5 weeks of hard labour this was the result:

Rebecca also spent some time helping to develop lesson plans and teaching games to some people from SIL who have begun a literacy program with the neighbouring village. Education standards in PNG are terrible with an incredibly low literacy rate, and these people are committed to helping to raise the standards using a new tool called Uniskript.

All in all, we are great, healthy, happy and loving life in small town NZ.

Love lots,

Caleb, Rebecca, Neriah and Levi.

Surabaya - Indonesia

July 2012 - June 2013 was a short soujourn for us to the land of nasi goreng, colourful bechak, elaborate mosques, flower offerings and big warm smiles.  Our home for the year was to be Surabaya, a city of 3.1 million people, situated in East Java, Indonesia. 

We lived in an incredible apartment complex, opposite a large shopping centre. Our apartments were known as Waterplace Apartments, the reason why became obvious to us on exploration of our grounds. Huge swimming pools, a fake beach, a lazy river, a spa pool, waterslides and a toddler pool was to be our playground for the year - an oasis in yet another bustling metropolis.  

The difference between Surabaya and Lagos is immeasurable - the standard of building was so much higher, and everything was available at great prices! Caleb's school was about a kilometre walk from our apartments, along cobbled road, past well manicured gardens and a serene pond, complete with snow white geese and schools of fish who scrambled over one another to reach the sweet bread the hoards of visitors would throw in. 

Little Neriah was not quite a year old when we moved in, barely tottering around on her baby-chub legs.  But within a year measured by daily walks to school and the hours of running the paths around the swimming pools in the apartment, her legs became more steady, stronger, faster and longer. When we left Surabaya, Neriah was almost two - chattering, tumbling, dancing and most of all jumping around like a baby kangaroo.

Our first trip was by train to Jogyakarta and coincided with Neriah's first birthday which we celebrated at the temples. Highlights of this trip were: the toilet on the train (a hole with a view down to the track below), the gado gado which could be purchased in a little leaf at main train stations, the incredible painted wheels of the bechak, the cheap, crazy busy street markets and the temple tours.  We expected to take a lot of photos at the temples, being constantly asked if people could take OUR photo was not what we expected.

We also managed to get to Bali, where Caleb completed a Freediving course, and Neriah and I played a lot in the water. 

Our third trip was back to New Zealand to await the birth of our little baby boy, who was born in February. Caleb arrived back just in time, a whole 12 hours before my contractions started. Levi was born quickly and beautifully, a lovely water-birth marked his entry to the world.

Our return to Surabaya was made a lot easier thanks to my wonderful mother joining me for the flights and to help us settle back in. We had a lovely relaxing time, not sightseeing, but just being. Walking and shopping and feeding ducks and swimming. 

Our time in Surabaya was short and sweet, the transition made easy by the wonderful ladies I met through playgroup, baby music group and the time volunteering at local orphanages. Caleb's time was spent playing social netball, learning golf, enjoying our kids and establishing an awesome service programme at his school.  

However, short and sweet was all it was, with a decision being made for Caleb to return to full-time study to complete his Masters of Educational Leadership, so in June 2013 it was back to New Zealand for the next chapter in our life. 

Goodbye Lagos

We have just come to the end of our two year contract teaching here in Nigeria, and so it is with much sadness that we farewell our life here.  We will head off to New Zealand for about 12 days, before we embark on a new adventure to Surabaya, Indonesia.

There is so much I could say about our two years here, so much more than I could write here, but to keep it short and sweet, I will do a bit of a summary. 

Things I will not miss about Nigeria

1. The roads - the potholes. I have raved about these before. The depth of hole has not changed, neither has the amount of water which fills them up. I will miss driving through the thigh deep water and splashing cars as I drive past (or when Caleb forgets and totally sprays people walking down the street... its mean to laugh, but it is so funny)

Our street

2. The police - there doesn't seem to be as much harrassment from the police as there was two years ago when we arrived, but I still won't miss them.

3. The impatience of other drivers - everyone is SO FREAKING IMPORTANT, that it makes it okay to cut into massive queues of traffic, even REMOVE barriers just so they can push in.

4. Our apartment - in the last 2 weeks, our washing machine died, our internet died (and they wouldn't fix it), the marble benchtop broke, the kitchen floor is leaking upwards (?), the shower door fell off, Neriah's AC which was broken was 'fixed' and now it is broken again, our bathroom which has had a leak the last 2 months, has been fixed THREE times by the plumber who obviously has no idea (it's the tap, it's the seal around the bath, its the shower hose - which by the way, he replaced UPSIDE DOWN so now the shower head doesn't fit into the freaking holder) or is just trying to rip off our school, one of the fuses keeps blowing so we have no hot water in our shower (luckily we do have 2 other bathrooms). I could write more, but I am keeping it to the last two weeks remember.

Our apartment compound

5. The local food - blehhhhhhh not to my tastes at all. 

6. Trying to do three chores in town and it takes five hours because of the state of the roads and the amount of traffic.

7. The price of everything, except petrol.

Things I will miss about Nigeria

1. Our friends' epic beach house with the huge coconut plantations and huge dumping waves which tumble and toss me to the point sometimes I think I will die, but instead I just roll with it and then come up smiling.

2. Some incredible friends I have met - being in an expat community, I have friends from all over the world. Indonesia, South Africa, Taiwan, China, Sri Lanka, UK, Bolivia, USA, India, Zimbabwe, and, of course, Nigeria. I also have friends as young as 8, and as old as 55. It has been an amazing experience and one I am so grateful for. 

3. The people on our street - the small kids who wear clothes too small, or clothes far too big, who have hardly anything to their name, yet run out to give us a piece of chewing gum when we drive past. 

4. The tropical fruit, mangos, pineapples, pawpaw, yummy, yummy.

5. Our apartment - as much as it annoys me because of the poor workmanship, this has been our home for the last 2 years, and Neriah's first home, and we have had so many amazing times and experiences here with so many different people. I will miss it.

6. The friendliness of the local people.

7. My women's bible study group - I started this with a friend when I first got here, as a way of having time of spiritual refreshment, support and prayer with others while sharing the challenges and joys of Nigeria . We have had so many women come in and out of this group, as they have moved away and been replaced by others who are arriving, and this group has really sustained me during these couple of years.

 

Highlights of the last two years in Nigeria (in no particular order)

1. My first classroom of kids - who were absolutely adorable, and I loved teaching them.

2. Going to a church service with between 800,000-1,000,000 people under one roof.

3. Backpacking around Nigeria.

4. Amazing holidays to Europe, Zanzibar, Ghana and South Africa .

5. Waterskiing on a river filled with abandoned and sinking ships.

6. (and the best of all) Having a baby, of course, and all the joy that Neriah has brought to us  :)

So, with that, goodbye Lagos. We have learned so much about ourselves, about God and about the broken systems of a broken world and for that we are ever grateful. x

Dear Fusion Youth...

Dear Fusion Youth,

To those who have been here from the beginning, who were part of the first four, who were pushed into cars on a Friday night against their wishes. Who spoke to us in fake accents or who didn’t want to speak to us. When there were so few that you could have the couch to yourself, to those who have laughed with us, laughed at us, swam in their clothes, have eaten nasty things, made new friends, brought along a friend, came along with a friend, or who have only come along once before and are wondering what’s going on.

 You have been a part of Fusion Youth, and for that we are forever grateful. For the last time,

Welcome to our home!

But this letter really starts with a thank you.

Caleb: When I came to Lagos I had my issues with the church and was not particularly fond of it. I loved Christians and was a leader for Christian Surfers, delivered food to poor communities, mentored at risk teens, but none of it was through the church, I was allergic to church, happy to sit and listen and happy to leave. I wanted to learn more about God but that was all I wanted from the church, a lesson. So when the chance to take the youth came up we were super quick to say no thanks. We joke about you guys being reluctant to start coming along, we were the first to start that trend. I remember when Rebecca turned to me one evening before we went to sleep and said “I think we should do youth” my reply was very unmemorable “ok, but we do it together” then I went to sleep, I don’t know if my lovely wife had any idea of the rollercoaster she was getting on. But spending time with you has taught us about faith in action, not just doing what you want to do, but what God wants you to do, and when you put your heart into it, it becomes what you want to do. This is also the reward of faith and I have expanded this to other areas of my life and it is now more a part of us and our family than it ever was, but why did Rebecca say yes…

Rebecca: Mrs Tate asked us on our first ever trip to LCF if we would be interested in taking Youth. We laughed as we shook our heads, no way, we were both teachers and the last thing we thought we wanted was to give up our free time to spend with a bunch of teenagers. But as I watched a few of you, and saw the struggles that you were facing with school, with relationships, with peer pressure and the struggles of living in a city like Lagos, I began to hear the small quiet whisper of the Lord as he started to put a supernatural love for you in my heart, which I knew I couldn’t ignore. Oftentimes God calls us to things which at first seem ridiculous to us, and go against what we think we want. And that’s where the importance of obedience comes in. Because we said ‘yes’ to God, it meant saying ‘no’ to other things. It meant saying ‘no’ to spending Friday nights doing other things, it meant saying ‘no’ to travelling some weekends because we had Sunday church – but it meant saying ‘yes’ to something far more important. You. We said ‘yes’ to you. We said ‘yes’ to learning about self-sacrifice, we said ‘yes’ to learning far more about God than we ever could have imagined, We said ‘yes’ because God wanted you to know that He loves you more than anything else. We said ‘yes’ to the joy that comes from spending time with you. So, thank you.

We have only ever struggled to know what to do at youth twice maybe… the rest of the time the plan would just appear and we could go to work on it, we have a big bible and a big God after all. Do you know how many different thoughts, interpretations and angles there are out there about everything! Wow, it is exhaustive. If we are looking up a verse of scripture for you guys we have essays, thesis’s, commentaries, sermons, just ask Google, the world is available, and the world has a lot of strange opinions. Many made to suit their own needs. But faith in action needs no interpretation, and always looks like a humble serving heart, something this group has in abundance.

It is cooking pies, painting the walls, writing a card, giving out shoe boxes, doing action songs, teaching card games or snakes and ladders for hours, praying for your brother, bringing snacks, feeling someone’s hurt and celebrating their successes. It is making your own values, and being a community, when your group is the answer to the prayers of the group, God is working in you.

In this group you made something happen, it was too small to just turn up and do nothing, you had to invest. You sang, danced, acted, made dads laugh and mums cry, YOU are fusion youth.

So thank you, thank you for turning up, for filling the couch, the chairs, sometimes the floor, for not using your phones, for leaving your shoes at the door, for greeting us with hugs, cleaning up, and praying with us. You have blessed us and our house beyond measure.

Now your lesson, our parting advice. The final take home message.

When we looked back over the themes of our youth nights this last two years, they can pretty much be summed up with two statements.

     1)    Life is an adventure best spent with God on your side.

     2)    You were blessed to bless others, forgiven to forgive others and loved to love others, so show the world God’s, blessings, forgiveness and love -giving him the credit as it is due.

We have tried to teach you about a big God, who holds all things including us in an unconditional loving embrace, we also tried to teach that leaps of faith need to become normal and are essential, how else do we grow, how else did we end up in Lagos! We have tried to teach you that “there is nothing you can do to make him love you less” and that the God who got you this far will walk beside you and can take you the rest of the way, “you are going to make it” if you walk with him on the narrow path.

How did we do? Did we teach you these things? and more importantly did you learn from your time with us that Jesus does not go out drinking on a Friday night, that the world will not like you when you don’t give in to the MTV lifestyle, that how you live is more important than what you say (or listen to on a Sunday). That you are amazing, and well loved…

Did you also learn from us that these cravings inside of you can only be satisfied by the overwhelming love of a God who poured out his love for you? That you will never find wholeness in money, in the things you do, by getting good grades or in another person? If you have learned these things, then we are able to leave satisfied that our mission with you is completed. If not, then we pray that God would continue to do a work in you so that one day you WOULD know and remember always that you are well loved.

Now the big question, what will happen to fusion youth…?

Fusion youth is not a thing, it is a people, it is you. So what will happen to Fusion Youth? It will change. Change is inevitable and essential in growth; some of fusion youth will go to college and have more control over their own lives than ever before. They will be confronted with situations and choices which they never had before and the quality of their choices will be a reflection on the time and effort others have invested into them and they are now responsible for themselves, free to lead or follow others. Others of you will go to new schools and to a new grades, you will also choose every day to live as a Christian and shine your light, or, to not. Others will be here and will still carry the name of Fusion Youth, or maybe they will change the name, but they will still meet and they will still pray, still eat things never meant to be eaten and laugh together.

You will get to meet the new leaders (God willing) before any of you leave, test them out and get a feel for what you are in for next year. But there will be 9ish less of you and you will never sit in these seats as a group again, you may never hold hands and pray together, or you may. As long as you are here as long as you play and pray together fusion youth or whatever it is called will go on.

And as for us, we will be praying for you, each of you, all at different places of your lives, who joined us at this place in our life so we could move forward together for a season. You are well loved.

My parting advice, when in doubt stop talking and start praying, then keep praying, and when you finally speak, do it with a quiet voice, with the authority of one who has had their prayer answered and a God who is alive.

Finally we want to end the letter with a confession,

After countless games, lessons, Nooma, prayers, waves at the beach, meals, hugs and hours together…

… we are going to miss you guys. Our house never feels so full of life and love as when you are here, we will miss you. You are well loved and will be well missed.

May the Lord bless you and keep you, may he make his face to shine upon you, and may he give you peace. 

 Love Caleb and Rebecca x 

South Africa Part 2

We went back to Cape Town for Easter this year so that Caleb could take part in the Two Oceans 56km Ultra Marathon. He had done a lot of training for this event, and even though Lagos lacks the hills which made up a lot of the final event, Caleb did really well. So proud of you babe!!

The other awesome part about this trip was that Caleb's mom was able to come and meet up with us. It was her first time meeting Neriah and they bonded easily!

But wait, there was actually a few other awesome parts... like... SHARK CAGE DIVING

and eating delicious food with great company in beautiful weather...

and taking part in the International Friendship Fun Run before Caleb's ultramarathon.

Yes, it was fun. I love Cape Town. It rules.

At home with Neriah

Being at home with Neriah is so much fun. Yes, we may not have easy access to any outdoor spaces or playgrounds, but I can try and create some good learning experiences for her inside. Here are a few things we have done at home.

Yoghurt and food colouring on the floor. Whee!

Learning about colour.

Gloop - cornflour and water mix. It's hard AND soft.

Mumbo Jumbo!

Zanzibar!

In the name of science, Caleb and I took a bunch of students to Zanzibar where the students, and I, completed our Open Water Dive Certificates. This has been on my bucketlist since the movie came out, so I was really stoked to have the opportunity to go.  

Zanzibar is so different from deep dark West Africa... it is just as lush and green, but there doesn't seem to be the feel of oppression and heaviness that I sense in Nigeria. The beaches were stunning, and the food was delish!

P.S They actually say 'Hakuna Matata' here.

P.S.S They also say 'Mumbo!' and you respond 'Jumbo!' - everywhere you go it's just 'mumbo jumbo!'

Terrible photo - but this is the kids dancing with the Masais.