Yesterday was my movie and shopping day. Thursday afternoons is my time to get away from the house and stuff and hang out with myself at the movies and then do the weekly grocery shop. I thoroughly enjoy and need this time! When a movie costs just $2 you can't go wrong!!

Yesterday's movie was "Failure to Launch", a romantic comedy about a 35 year old guy who just won't leave home. I had a good giggle (which I could do as there was only one other person in the theatre and he was cackling away as well). Afterwards I went to the grocery shop.

Now anyone who knows me knows that I am very like my mother, and I think I am getting more like her everyday. It scares me when I say something or do something that is exactly what she would say or do! Anyway, my kitchen cupboards are just like hers. There is always a large stock of stuff just in case I may need it. If there was ever an emergency I'm sure I could feed a neighbourhood for a week!! But yesterday I decided that I really should start depleting my stock of food. So I was armed for a "light" shop.

I wandered round the supermarket for nearly an hour, popping small things into my trolley that weren't going to clutter my cupboards. I was feeling really good about my "light" shop.....until I got to the checkout!!! As I unloaded my groceries I realised that I had, yet again, stocked my cupboards AND managed to spend nearly a two week grocery budget in the process. I was quite disappointed in myself.

I decided it's like being a junky..... you just can't give some things up. My cupboards look beautiful with lots of food in them. Knowing that I can just throw something together and that I'll have all the ingredients gives me strength. I feel like I can cope with life (and change) if just this one bit of my organised life doesn't have to change.

I know, I know. I can't take all this food home with me and I'm planning on having it all eaten by our departure date. It's just for now I'm not ready to part with it all. I still have 6 weeks!!

My hubby and I are quite different. While I am trying very hard to ignore the fact that we are leaving he is busy tidying everything in sight, throwing books into suitcases, pulling posters off the walls and shredding every little piece of paper within arms reach. His desk area is looking quite blank whilst mine hasn't even been touched!

Having shifted house several times in our married lives (this current house is number 17 I think), we have come to understand each other a little more. I like my life to be as normal as possible in the midst of change. Routines need to be maintained, walls and furniture need to stay "homely" and packing is something that happens in the last couple of weeks. For Nige, he likes to have everything cleared away and empty long before the due date. He hates to be rushed and part of packing is his grieving. It used to drive me nuts. Now we just laugh at how God made us so different to each other!!

I hope we are still laughing as the days tick away.

This is our other, new, prayer card.

So what do you reckon? Which one is your favourite?

The World Wide Webbs

That's us! It's a pretty nifty name don't you think....The World Wide Webbs! So who are we?

We are a family of four New Zealanders who followed the Lord's call to serve Him in Guayaquil Ecuador. We left NZ in 1998 with our two boys Caleb (who is now 11) and Isaac (who is 9). We have had many adventures here which I'm sure I will get to tell you about over the next while.

Our first year was dedicated entirely to language learning and cultural assimilation. During this time we were keen to, not only speak Spanish well, but also to establish ongoing relationships with people in the community in which we lived. This we achieved and out of these contacts ministry began. Nigel, my hubby, ran Bible studies with non believers, linked local pastors with a prayer network in NZ and taught theology to Bible students. I worked alongside another missio teaching a health/orientation course to prostitutes in a government health centre. Once the boys turned 5 I also began home schooling them. Our first 4 years here were a time of settling into the Ecuadorian way of life, of building long lasting relationships and of watching to see where God was working and following Him in it.

In 2002 we returned to NZ for our Home Assignment and then returned to Guayaquil in 2003. This time we moved to another part of the city and began working in new areas. Nige became involved in a House church movement in partnership with the IMB missios here (Southern Baptist) and taught theology to new house church leaders. My main focus has been the boys and their schooling but alongside of this I have been the personnel coordinator for the 20 odd SIM missios in Ecuador (actually they themselves are not odd but you know what I mean :-). We have made many new friends and still have contact with our old bunch of buddies so leaving is hard. I hate goodbyes!

So why are we returning to NZ? In short the mission has called us home. Nige has been asked to be the Director for SIM NZ. It is great timing in terms of the kids schooling needs and it is time to be home with family again for a while but it is a huge leap of faith for us. Sometimes we feel quite little in the face of a huge task....to mobilise the NZ church into missions and to see new missios sent into the world. But we are convinced that this is the next step for us as a family and that the Lord has gone before us to prepare the way.

What an adventure awaits us!!!!!

This pici is our new prayer card. I haven't been able to figure out how to upload the other one (we have 2 but I can't decide which one I like the best) so will have to leave that for another day.

Corazon Latino means a Latin Heart in Spanish. Today mine is overflowing with joy and pride for the country I call home.

We have just watched Ecuador play England in the knock outs of the FIFA World Cup held in Germany. It was a fabulous game and all of Ecuador was out in force to watch it. Our guys played hard and well and lost by just 1-0. But by the shouts of joy and the hysteria you would have thought we had won!!!!

There is a massive street party at the end of our street and the sound system is sooooooooo huge that our house is rocking with the beat of the music. There are thousands of people in the street wearing the yellow, blue and red colours of the Ecuador flag and team. We joined in with them as they celebrated. What fun!!!

With just seven weeks left in this country my heart is tinged with sadness as well. Having lived here for the last eight years the time has come to return to our home land....a land of rugby and cricket! I have taken the plunge into the world of blogs and hope that this one will give you a little insight into the life of a missio in transition. Come by and visit as often as you like. I'd love to get to know you too.