the people you meet

wow! time is so fast. it has been really hard for us to be in touch lately. Alot going on...We have been driving around New Zealand the last week, and camping in really incredible places. Today we locked our keys in the car basically in the middle of nowhere, but it just so happened that there was a cafe near by with a guy named Pete who has broken into loads of cars, so he used a screwdriver, towel and sandpaper to break into ours and we were really glad about it!

While we were in Christchurch, we got to see Joseph's friend Frank Naea, an awesome Maori dude with a disarming hug and sense of humor. He introduced us to a lady Carolyn, who we clicked with right away and she blessed us BIG TIME with most of the camping gear we needed to head out on our trip and great advice on traveling here. After sleeping in a comfy bed at her house for the first time in a while, and great food and fellowship, we headed out on this 2 week road trip. About an hour into it, we saw some hitchhikers and really felt like we should pick them up. They turned out to be in love with Jesus...
....we spent the day with them hiking around on clifftops and such, then we were really needing a free place to camp so we asked Holy Spirit to show us, and took a few turns into the countryside. Eventually we came upon a farm house and knocked on the door asking for advice on a camping spot. The kind lady that answered offered for us to camp next to her wool shed which has a kitchen, toilet and HOT shower, not to mention loads of wool all over the place! We stayed out there in the boondocks with the hitchhikers, playing music on our travel guitars and talking about how good God is.





The second night we camped at a beach by ourselves and it was a magical place.
All the other camping has been beautiful, though a couple nights sleeping in the car (because of rain and a cheap leaky tent) have been restless.

Last night we met a great Kiwi couple who have offered us to stay in their beach side home for free tonight, on the West Coast in Punakaiki. So that's where we are...this coast is wild and sparsely populated - just right. We got to see about 20 seal pups playing in a tidal pool, which was a real delight! There is so much! Beauty at every turn, streams, lakes, rivers, rocks, shells, shores, trees, flowers, dragonflies....the landscape here is ever changing and the people extraordinarily welcoming.
We're headed down the west coast , and then back up to Christchurch. One week left here, and years worth of beauty to experience.

We've been talking alot about the golden rule.

Do unto others as you would like them to do for you.
We are trying to practice......

Faith Hope Love!
the Rauwolf duo