Things to Think Upon

Another year has passed. This one has been unique for us. A lot of firsts. The beginning of our marriage spent in unpedictable, stressful, breathtaking, scary, thought-provoking, awe-inspiring, life-changing, absolutely beautiful, unfamiliar circumstances. We've been pressing on, watching the turning of the tides, the faces of many people, listening to a thousands sounds that the world and it's people create.

The two of us have spent a crazy amount of time together this year ....Something close to 8,760 hours. wow. We have learned a lot as you can imagine about ourselves and each other and are amazed that we've been given such a journey, knowing that the next page we turn will be a whole new and different page. We are both looking forward to it, though it will be an adjustment.

The extraordinary people we have met in incredible locations bring us joy as we recall the stories and conversations, the lessons learned and the love that communicates where words cannot. So much has happened in our lives and our families since we left Alaska...now as we are soon to return, we are so thankful for the (undeserved) goodness of God to us, and that He has provided for us miraculously and kept us in His heart. We have a lot to process and it can be a bit overwhelming, though it is all worth it.

sigh. time just goes faster. We hope to be living testimonies of what the King of Kings can accomplish in the lives of ordinary people. He is surely working in our hearts.

Lots of love,

The Rauwolfs

Big Island Birthday

Hey! After a well worth it visit to Oahu, we flew to the Big Island and have been here for 1 day.

Joseph's Birthday was great! Very enjoyable was a visit to a coffee plantation with fruit trees everywhere. We got to pick fruits and macadamian nuts and avacados to our hearts content at no cost! Joseph got to go surfing and we went snorkeling. We are staying with our friends the Hamby's and they are awesome. They really made up some delish Birthday dinner and dark choc. cake.

There are also a couple photos here of Oahu, and the hike to Kaena point where we got to see a colony of albatross birds (the ones with the largest wing span of any bird), and also we saw 2 whales and got to swim with some gigantic sea turtles!

We are doing well and thanks you guys so much for the Birthday thoughtfullness!
love,
J and C

Aloha! Hallelujah! Yeah!

Back in the U.S.A. dah dah, dahdahdah....
Arrived just fine in sunny Hawaii. Honolulu on Oahu to be exact.
Not a bad place.
Quite fine actually.
We went on a muddy hike to a waterfall, and are seeing birds and plants we've never imagined.


Joseph went to University here five years ago, so it's neat to see where he was and catch up with a couple people.

The wierdest thing has just been the u.s. flags, the dollar, and especially driving on the right side of the road. The familiar has become foreign, but we know we are on the right path. It helps coming here before to the mainland because it is such a diverse place. So many new foods like one of the Hawaiian staple foods - Poi, a purple paste made out of tarrow that tasted to me like vinegary pancake batter or something.

Thinking lots about the travels we've been on, and what a powerful and merciful God we serve, who knows each of us and what we need and where we are at.

love from your friends,
the radical rauwolfs.

Driving around being silly...

A lovely time of a road trip. Through scenery that changes by the minute, and lighting that brings out the best in nature.
A great boat trip to Milford Sound on the SW of the Island.
seals, dolphins, waterfalls. People thought it looked like Alaska.

A super fun hike through 8 river crossings, where we camped under a huge rock overhang called the Ballroom. There were glow-worms there...and a possum that tried to steal food, but only got a nibble out of an apple.

One night we picked a crazy place to camp and because of the bugs, decided to sleep in the car...in the morning we woke up and there were over 100 misquitoes inside the car. They got in through the vents and somehow we managed to come out with our skin still in tact.

In the morning we leave for Hawaii, back to the states after almost a year...this will be an adjustment.
Tried to put sweet photos of these experience on here, but the computer decided otherwise. There are some new photos just below though...have a little look!

Hot sun hiking

What a awesome place.... We drove a bit in the dark and the moonlight was so perfect on the glaciers...we opened our tent to this view of Mt. Sefton, and after some hearty oats, set off on a sweet hike with views of Mt. Cook, NZ's highest mountain. We saw the coolest cloud formations, like this one which we think looks just like a whale. Then, sillily, we decided to try to get closer to some waterfalls by the glacial lake, and ended up off the track and tramping through crazy stabbing plants and ditches for about an hour. ugh. all part of the fun!

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

Cheery!
This is a quick note to let you know we are doing great and are so blessed. WE will write more and let you know what's been going on really soon. We are camping around the S. Island of New Zealand for about 2 weeks and it is LOVELY!

Grace and Favor!
Joseph, Christy

Aotearoa - The Land of the Long White Cloud

Why hello!

After a day in Sydney, we stayed the night with a couchsurfer which was great. We explored a bit of the harbor where Nemo was, and went to a Hillsong service for Mel. Was really good!

Fine flight to New Zealand, and here we are in Christchurch, staying with more kind couchsurfers who have lively children and a gorgeous garden. We will be camping in their back yard.

What a place this is. Another land with a crazy history of struggle between First Nations peoples, and exploring settlers. It brings you to tears. We have seen some incredible paintings and artwork of the Maori...and are learning more history. They named this land 'Aotearoa' when they discovered it about 1000 years ago.

The Creator's creativity is so vast and awe-inspiring!
How we all need to know the heart of Jesus and be healed by His love.

What we've been up to?
wondering about all sorts of things, photography, lots of walking, seeing loads of art, bird-watching, baby-sitting kiddos, trying to find jobs in Alaska, doing dishes, packing and re-packing luggage, getting free food from the hostel 'free food shelf', reading, dreaming, and tonight to an outdoor Shakespeare play -'The Merry Wives of Windsor'

Tah!
J and C

All of Creation Praises the Maker!

One more day in Australia... We finally made it to the Great Barrier Reef. A dream come true... More colourful than Joseph's technicolor dream coat and much more entertaining. We had to pay for it though, with a week indoors, stuck in a tropical cyclone, wearing our bathing suits to the store as walking felt much like swimming, and no umbrella could stand a chance... but the weather started to turn around and the sky did clear so the next day we hopped a boat to the reef and went snorkelling for hours. We saw endangered giant clams that I (Joseph) could not get my arms around if I tried. We saw squid that the largest flippers could not propel me to keep up with in a chase, we saw a few Nemo's(clownfish) hanging out in their anenome, safe from predators, as they coat themselves with a mucus and are immune to the stings that would kill other fish, and we saw literally thousands of colourful fish of so many shapes and sizes, with the largest being a giant Queensland grouper - 12 feet long - that a few months back had put a diver half way down it's throat before deciding it didn't like the taste of rubber and oxygen tank, so spit him out. Seeing the Great Barrier Reef up close (you can also see it from space) is an experience hard to explain, but overwhelming in the best of ways, as I'm sure heaven is(to a much greater degree). Just when you think it can't get any better, it does.. and you just can't believe it.

The next day we caught another ride to a 6 km long pure white sand beach, which you'll see by the attached photos that we had way too much fun at. We had to wear stinger suits, as the jellyfish are bad at this time of year and there are some that can kill people within 3 minutes.

So that pretty much wraps up our time in the north east tropical region of Australia. Tomorrow we head down the east coast to Sydney, the land of the Opera House and the mega-church, as well as a cherished reunion between father clownfish and son clownfish, as seen in "Finding Nemo." And almost as soon as we arrive, we will catch our connecting flight to Christchurch, New Zealand. The next leg of the journey and the last of new countries to be seen this time around.

There's a feeling floating around us of this journey's impending end, with the knowledge that this grand adventure will soon be over. By that time, we'll almost certainly be ready for it, as all voyages in this life must start somewhere and end somewhere....the 2nd law of thermodynamics and all that jazz, I guess... But we've had a lot of fun and should go out with a bang, as New Zealand and Hawaii are not bad places to be and God is never finished with us. So keep us in prayer as we make our way, and begin wrap up this part of the journey. We look forward to seeing you all again, with hi-fives, hugs and celebrations to be had.

Great Love,

Joseph and Christy

P.S. A quick description of the photos and video:

Most of them, you can tell: fish, birds, snorkels, the Great Barrier Reef, the Coral Sea, and us splashing around on Whitehaven beach in our superhero costumes "aka" Stinger Suits. The video is self explanatory. Then theres a couple goodn's that Christy took of the journal I got her on the Isle of Skye (off the Scottish coast) and me reading a great book called "Under the Mercy" which is a sequal of sorts to a superb true story with 18 letters from C.S. Lewis, called "A Severe Mercy." I highly recommend them.. Now there are two more photos, before and after. One of Christy holding a fish over the mouth of a Barramundi, that sucks 2 litres of water into it's gut, along with the fish, making a sound like a shotgun blast. Thankfully, on the next photo, Christy still has all her fingers and a bunch of water on her face. Oh here's this sweet video.

Who goes there?!...