Serious apologies for the lack of blogging lately! Amy is right, it is November, and high time we tell you what we’ve been up to! So, here goes . . .

Where to begin? It has been an adventurous couple of weeks. First, we’ll start with Dave’s highlight – the sheep farm!!! Mark Heslip is the Chairman of Camp Columba’s Board, and he invited us to spend last weekend at his family’s sheep farm. Anyone who talked to Dave before we left and heard about his shepherding dreams can imagine how exciting this was for him! I must admit, I had a wonderful time as well!
We arrived early Saturday morning in time for “tailing”. Now, I thought that our involvement would be limited to observing, but Mark soon put those notions to rest by instructing us to hop in the sheep pen. Our first job involved herding the sheep from one end of the pen to the other where Mark and his brother Paul separated the lambs from the ewes. Considering my recent love of lambs, it was fun to be so close to them and feel their furry bodies against your legs.

The fun really started though when we picked the lambs up! We wrapped our arms around their middles, and grabbed onto their hind legs. We then held them (they’re squirmy) as still as possible, and placed them in the chute, where Mark’s mom, daughter, brother and sister-in-law marked their ears, injected them with medicine, and finally put a rubber band around their tails so the tails will eventually fall off. All sheep are born with long tails, but they can become infected if they are not removed.

While some of the lambs were tiny and cute, others weighed almost 30 pounds and smelled! Our other job was to stand at the end of the pen, grab the lambs’ hind legs, and pull them out of the chute. After the first lot of sheep, we moved on to 5 other paddocks or fields, where we rounded up the sheep into the pen. We both rode 4-wheelers and chased sheep around the fields, with dogs in tow! It was tons of fun! Even though we only worked for 6 hours or so, it was exhausting. I could barely stand up the next day because my back was so sore!

Other adventures on the farm:

1. Babysitting the Heslip’s four kids, Amy, David, Luke and Tim – We had a blast! We played cricket, jumped on the trampoline, made movies, fed their pet lambs…

2. Learning how to drive dirt bikes - After seeing 6-year old Tim ride, I figured I should at least give it a shot. The bigger bike quickly hooked Dave, and he now thinks we should buy one! As well as a four-wheeler, standard truck, etc…

3. Watching the ewes be sheared - Now this, was truly amazing. 4 shearers (one who holds a world record for fastest shearing) came to the farm on Monday and sheared about 1400 sheep, in just over 3 hours!! Crazy! They are unbelievably fast and it was heaps of fun to watch.

So you don’t think we’re just gallivanting around, Dave worked hard this week on a set of stairs. Not just a regular set, but ones running up the side of a hill beside the concrete slide. Probably the steepest and longest set he will ever build! He continues to put his carpentry skills to work, and adjust from using imperial to metric measurements! I spent some of this week painting, putting my Heidt Home Service skills to work. I also worked on my games manual, trying to finish it up before we leave next week.

After work tomorrow, we leave for Milford Sound with Blake. It is supposed to be one of the most beautiful areas of New Zealand, part of the Fiordland National Park. We plan to camp on Friday night, and then hike for the day on Saturday (called “tramping” here). On Saturday night we head to Te Anau, to stay at Madeleine’s parents’ place for the night and head off to church on Sunday. We plan to be back at Camp sometime Sunday night, to start our last week of work here on Monday.

We feel truly blessed by the number of friends here, and the constant Southern hospitality bestowed. The thought of leaving in a week has become difficult to take, as we feel so part of the action here. But, we trust that God has more in store for us, that this journey has just begun, that He will continue to direct our path. Please pray for us as we prepare to move on and leave the community here. We realize each day how quickly this year will pass and how we want to make the most of every opportunity.