Navy pier...

Could have posted this from navy pier... but we ran out of time. Went on the ferris wheel... pretty cool. Thought I would get freaked about the height but I was sweet. Went on the Seadog speedboat for a habour tour, again thought I woud get sick but was sweet. Apparently I was the first person to ask wher eyou got wet because they wanted to get wet. We went on the 3d/4d time travel thingy which was cool but did make me a bit sick. For the grls... Dd a drve by nto Bloomingdales to pick up free gifts (free when you spend money) very cheap though. For the boys... saw more lmos, hummers and harleys. We wanted to ask wllow if we could brinh our youth groups over just to do donuts n their car park... it s huge....
I'm tired and hungry and after watching Mr 3000, kinda home sick. Don't ask me why.

Ciao for now...

Oh and PS, have fnshed my reading for paper one! Yay! I might make it yet!!

Hi de hey... baby don't you want to go...

We went up Sears Tower today and it is flipping huge. 103 floors. 2200 steps. You can see for 50 miles on a good day from the top. Wish I could post photos at the moment. We also waw our first star at the airport forgot to mention. Tash stopped Giovanni someoneor other whose starring in a movie lol which I don't know the name of... I'll look hm up later!!

Willow creek is huge but I was kinda expecting that and wasn't overly excited.

That's all for now...

Sweet home Chcago

Interesting point to note first... the 'i' key doesn't work so well so you'll have to use your imaginations!

Flew nto chcago this evening and met my hosts John and Joan Kelley. We cool people who have an awesome house and i already feel lke I'm gettng the royal treatment (and know 'm not just saying that cause they know about my website and mgh read t some day). 'ts really nce to have a room to myself and be able to do washng!! Haven't seen much of chicago yet but the arport is crazy huge! So is our next rental car. It's a GMC Lexicon or somethng... it make's the chevy look small... pity can't drive t over here :( At the moment I'm trying to repack my luggage cause although I can take 32 kgs from the states to germany, I can only take 20 kgs from germany to sngapore and haven't even been shoe shopping yet!

Leavng Los Vegas...

well Los Angeles... but couldn't think of aa song ttle.

Woke up ths morning, looked out the window and braced my self for a miserable day. It was grey and 'cloudy', very unlike the weather todate... One word for you... smog. Gross... happy to leave LA behind. San Francsco was beautful but LA s better left to the magnaton...

General Meetings...

This morning was audio adrenaline... yesterday tobyMac... tonight Steven Curtis Chapman... It's blows my mind. Another thing which is cool is th recognition that they give youth wokers. I just wouldn't happen in the states. This morning we met a woman who s 90 and still in youth ministry. Another man has been in youth ministry for 33 years and has been asked to leave hs job as they no longer feel he can reach teens. He had the two biggest gatherings in the history of the church the week earlier. It brought a lot of us to tears as he was afirmed by the 5000 youth workers at the conference. Americans encourage support and cheer on people in ways that we don't in new zealand and although it's kinda cheesey, it's sad that we can't do th same at home.

Mama Pepe.. my adopted grandma

In my late night wanderings of th hotel I bumped into this little lost lady who shared my quest for the hotel pool. She i from Madrid but has been here in the states since 1967. She has been married to her husband for 50 years, how amazing is that? I couldn't understand half of what she was saying but apparently she is suing a doctor for 4 million. He mismanaged er drus for bak pin an put her into a coma for 9 days. Another lady under the same treatment died. I can understand her wanting to sue! That's the other funny thin about the states, all the cars slow down for you big time! Let you cross, do what ever. I figure i'ts because if they hit someone, they sue. Crazy...

Santa Cruz... the beginning of the hobbit journey...

Dan Kimball... pastor of the 'emerging church' Vintage faith looks like JonnyBravo. Seriously. We were billeted out for two nights with two awesome chicks, Danielle and Jenny. Walked the broadway which is a pier abou this long [insert hand signs here] and this wide [insert hand signs here]. It's massive and there were sea lions there!! Plus one of those fairy tale beach side fairs with a little roller coaster. Very cute. We drove for 7 hours along th pacific coast highway (which although pretty does not compare with our west coast) and stopped for photos were Rob stood on a little concrete pillar on the edge of a cliff... photos will be posted later! Some of the houses that were along side the cliffs lookingout to the ocean were spectaclar, like grass lawns on the roof so you can drive golf balls off into th sea.

We arrived at the Hilton, had the car and crashed big time!

So little emailing time so much to write...

I'm a nice person so I'm not going to hog the free email at the coference. I'm in the hilton hotel in Anaheim LA... just saw Toby Mac live, Dave crowder band is leading worsip, John Ortberg preached... God is blowing my mind... Steven Curtis Capman is on Sunday night... plus TimHuges,Cris Tomlin... it's crazy... America is just like tv... they think our accent is cute... Hollywood doesn't really exist... I've made friends with a Spanish Corporate wife called Pepe who took me out for lunch the other day. We're the only kiwis hereand every time we drive up to valet we get greeted with 'it's the kiwis'... we're known for ot tiping butbeing incredibly friendly. Americans are loud, friendly and genuinely interested in other people. The ones I have met so far are doing a lot to redeem the rest of the country. Tash and I are sharing a hotel room, double bed each :) There's kinda so much to tell and as this is my first braindump I kinda don't know where to start... Hope all is well at home... It's not really real yet but talking to the flaties helped. If you see Dottie give her a hug from me. She shunned me on the phone last night. Love from LA. Tere.

PS post replies and use your names!! It's faster than checking email (but don't get too personal... I've cried enough already!)

2 more sleeps...

Only two more sleeps to go and I'm off on my USA adventure (with a slight detour to Germany). I'll send out posts to the website as often as I can letting you know how many Americans I've offended, and Germans I've weirded out...

Wish me luck and keep us in your prayers... I dont' really want to be blown up...

Apparently if you take one home, let it melt, it makes really nice drinking water... you just have to strain the fungus outof it first...

There's always one who wants a mirror...

We don't know how he managed to get this far from home but DOC are coming to take him back to the sea soon...

When in the naki...

boys in snow...

The Body of Christ

I brokemy little finger, right? Went to punch the volley ball. Did infact punch the volley ball. However, which we will put down to fatigue, I neglected to retract my little finger and it broke. It hurt too. Three hours in the A&E clinic and a doctor that was hitting on me, later, I am sent home with three of my fingers taped together.

Looking at my fingers the first thing that springs to mind is "what use has my little finger got?". Tangent to the body of Christ verses and you should be able to track where I am going on this. When one of us is hurting the rest of the body suffers (just try changing gears in a diesel with a broken finger). Someof us are just plain broken. Bruised, shattered and swollen. We hurt too much to be of much help to anyone else. Some of us are just bruised. We can help but by ourselves we're still not that stable. And some of us are fine. Stable enough to help others.

All three of my fingers had to be taped together in order for the little one to heal properly. Thus it is in the Body of Christ that we have to do this thing called life together. We are not designed to grow or heal on our own.

And so it is that the day will come when my middle finger needs help, so we will all move from brokenness to wholeness at various stages in our lives...