Australia Speaking Tour 2007 - I'm back! A brief word about New Zealand

04:29 pm - I'm back! A brief word about New Zealand

It was a long ride home but that's okay. I've recovered from jet lag and feeling great. It is exciting to hear how many people from my home church, Chicago Temple, have followed along from this blog. I'll be making a presentating sometime in the coming weeks. What I said to the senior minister in our brief passing one another by today is that I have so many stories to share. That is the part that is so important to me - how everyone welcomed me and shared who they are with me. And I hope that I've left some of my own stories with each place I spoke. I will be following up with the host churches and sites to see how they are finding ways to adapt the Hospitable Pedagogy and the storyboard art into their ministries.

I did take a bit of holiday time! I spent 8 days in Auckland, New Zealand. I went to the northern islands and did alot of recouperating as well. Of course I took alot of pictures of the amazing natural landscapes.


This is the view from the top of the dormant volcano called "Rangitoto." It has been dormant for 600 years. There are no roadways, only trails and one small train that goes up to just about the top.

I took a ferrry to the island and it took one and a half hours to make the trail climb to the summit. There were 20 something in my group that took the ferry over together. Myself and four other people were the only ones to make the trail climb to the summit! Everyone else took the train, so I felt pretty good about making it to the top!