September 2025
Dear Friends,
Spring is on its way! As we see our friends in America kicking off the school year and pulling out Autumn sweaters, we are grateful for winter coming to an end.
Here are some highlights and updates from us:
Bible Study. We are experiencing rich community through eating food and feasting on God’s Word together. Michael, Pauline, and I share leadership which is exciting and energizing. We sing big, act out Bible stories, and pray together. Please pray as several members of our Bible study are experiencing very difficult health and life situations. Also, please pray as we consider moving from meeting in our home to a community house a few blocks away. There are pros and cons to continuing to meet in our home vs. moving to a more public, bigger space. Please pray for wisdom and God’s timing if and when we choose to change locations.
Jubilee, Pauline, and Ria Faith learn about the wise and foolish builders (later acted out for the whole group by Pooh and Pig)
Everyone gives. Everyone receives. Our weekly meals are potlucks. And our friendships are potlucks as well. Te Rangi (middle) made sure to visit Pauline (right) who was having some hard family issues while we were away in the USA. Ames (left) is just happy to be here. :)
Reading Groups. It has been such a joy as the school year continues, how these students open up! Reading Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia (as well as other things) invites amazing conversations about friendship, truth, courage, and forgiveness. Not to mention, these kids are growing as readers! Most of the students in my groups are Year 8, which means they head off to “college” (equivalent of high school) in just a few months! So growing in confidence and joy as a reader is so important right now. I am grateful to be part of their journey.
Sanjay, Cooper, and Moses compare and contrast meteorites, meteors, and meteoroids.
Rewa Pac. This group has really taken off! We have eight girls attending now, and a lot has happened since I last wrote. We have started the Alpha course (love this!), but I am pausing that as I sense the girls want a slower pace when it comes to spiritual conversations. Please pray for me as I discern how to lead this group well. These girls are at a tender age of making high-stakes decisions that could really impact their lives. This overwhelms me! Venturing into teenager land is not for the faint of heart! But it is such a joy and privilege to be walking with these girls (and their mums, nans and families) in this season of their lives.
S’mores by our backyard fire invited lots of laughter and stickiness.
Neighboring. Our family has worked to say no to a lot of activities and commitments outside of our neighbourhood in order to make even more intentional time for our Randwick Park place and people. This has brought both joys and challenges. Recently for instance I had a difficult interaction with a neighbor who was experiencing a “domestic.” (There is a lot of domestic violence in our neighbourhood). Please pray for her, and for wisdom for me on how to love her and her kids well.
There is also so much good and beauty in the mundane moments and spaces of neighborhood life. Ordinary moments are often the most “magical” in the sense of… they give us real glimpses of God’s reign and Jesus’ promise to “reconcile all things to himself.” Neighboring is transformational. I encourage everyone to give it a go, or keep at it if you are already doing it. 🙂
Pickleball 360 has been a great way for us to spend time on our street! At the end of our cul-de-sac we bike, play, and interact with neighbors. One of my goals for 2025 is to help host a street Christmas party. Please pray for us! I would love for this to be a “group effort,” but sometimes I get self-conscious about trying to lead things like this. Pray for boldness as I try to rally our street to do something together.
We are trying to get more neighborhood-focused with our church feast rhythms. This is our Easter Feast in our backyard from a few months ago.
Pauline is Jubilee’s garden coach. We are so grateful for Pauline’s generosity, kindness, and expertise in showing us non-green-thumbers how to grow some yummy veggies!
During one of our twice-weekly prayer meetings, this verse “showed up.” We were encouraged to meditate on this verse as we worked, lived, and played. This verse keeps showing up in my heart. The Lord is close to the broken-hearted. He saves those who are crushed in spirit. Pray that God does whatever He sees fit through this verse to teach, encourage, admonish me toward love for Him and love for neighbor.
Many of you know that one of my biggest prayer requests has been for FRIENDS. We have lived here for three years, and friendships are… “slow going,” (thank you, Princess Bride). But we have experienced SO MUCH growth in our friendships just in the last two months!! This is a HUGE praise! In this picture is Nova (and Ames and Jubilee) at Sifet’s birthday party. Sifet’s mum and I also are becoming friends, and I am grateful for closer friendship with several school mums in recent months! Many of these growing friendships are with those of other faiths or no faith. This is a gift. And also comes with its own set of challenges. Pray that we all nurture and steward these friendships well.
Several of us from Randwick Park recently went to a (relatively nearby) South Auckland area for a free football (soccer) clinic. We want more opportunities like this for our own neighborhood, especially as transportation is an issue for many families. Please for me as I explore a few ideas and dreams around soccer for our neighborhood. I am not a starter. I don’t like to start things. I don’t feel like I have much time (or the right kind of time) to start a big soccer “thing” in our neighborhood. What would it look like to “start small”? Or invite people to “dream big” with me about a soccer club right here where we live? I have ideas and dreams, but certainly no answers. And I have some fears and limitations. Pray for courage and wisdom in what steps to take!
Time in the USA. Our trip to the USA was amazing!! I asked for prayer for peace and joy for our family, and God answered that prayer BIG TIME. We enjoyed so much the time we got with family and friends. HUGE THANK YOU to the many people who hosted us, made time to travel to see us, changed their schedules around to make time for us, fed our tummies and our souls and hearts. We are incredibly blessed to have such rich community back in our homeland. Thank you.
Rhodes cousin snuggles. This moment is just one in a treasure chest full of good times together.
There are wild tigers in Memphis. Warning: they are all very cute.
Sasscer Family Reunion… what a wonderful time we had!
“CHARGE!” Ames determined to break the cousin Red Rover chain.
Doing anything with Gayzie and Grandy is special. But watching a huge tree get professionally removed? Life hardly gets more exciting.
There are hardly words to describe summer Memphis soccer. Hot. Nostalgic. Hot. Old Friends. So hot.
Family Life. We are in a rich season of family life. Michael and I play badminton together regularly, we use weekends for beach day trips, drum lessons, firewood chopping and chores, and we continue to prioritize spending time together. We had a health scare with Ames recently. We still do not have a diagnosis, but we are making progress toward figuring out what is going on. Please pray that we figure it out! We are grateful for getting into the public healthcare system here and for the care we have received. It has been a journey to remember that we can cast all of our fears and cares onto the Lord. He is gentle and kind. He is balm. He comforts our fearful hearts; He is Healer and Comforter. Please pray that we grow in our trust in Him and our love for one another. This also applies to a big transition coming up for us… sending Isaiah to high school! We have worked hard this year to discern where best for him to go. We are narrowing it down and coming in close. Please pray for discernment for us and peace during this significant transition for Isaiah and for all of us.
My sister, Christen, and her family came to visit us! This is us on a backpacking trip around Lake Waikaremoana. We had such a great time with them!
Jubilee and her friends are shooting at Isaiah and Ames, who are weaponless. We called it “Duck Hunt: Brother Edition.”
Nova practicing for her speech. She and Ames both made it to the Auckland Finals in the Rehu Tai Speech competition! And all three of them (Isaiah, Ames, and Nova) placed in their school finals. These kids are quite the orators!
Ent Ames
Going to church is such a joy! Going to church and being led in worship by Michael and Jubilee… wow!!
Nova and I had such fun with this team! She was the high scorer for the team, with 5 goals in the day-long tournament! I got to help coach and these girls were such a joy.
Nova is in double digits!! She celebrated with a sleepover with dad pancake and bacon breakfast in the morning! Many of these girls attend our weekly Bible study and are also Nova’s classmates. It is such a blessing to work, live, play, and celebrate in the same place with the same people.
Isaiah is off to the AIMS Games where he and his team will compete in a week-long futsal tournament. We got to watch some of his games over the weekend (it is a three hour drive away), and it is so fun to watch them! Ames also livestreamed and commentated four different games for the team, and he did a great job.
Thank you for reading this. Thank you for your love and support of us in so many ways.
We always love to hear from you! How can we be praying for you? We have a God who is close to the broken-hearted. And Whose power is made perfect in our weakness. May the joy of the Lord be your strength today.
Love,
Rebecca, for all of us 💚💚💚💚💚💚
Comments
Post a Comment