Napier

It was Tuesday, the sixth of December.  We didn’t say much on the road back to Napier, just kept thinking about our latest experience.  I actually had an interview that afternoon, at a hotel that I had e-mailed the week before, when we knew we were coming to Napier.  I had dropped my resume off the day before, and they called asking for me to stop by.  That did not go so well.  Maybe we were not meant to be in Napier either.  I felt horribly depressed and extremely emotional; I didn’t know what we were to do.  We drove around again going to different hotels asking if they needed any reception or housekeeping positions available.  Still no luck.  This hadn’t been a good past couple of days, and Josh knew how upset I was, and knew I needed to rest because I also didn’t feel good.  We checked into the motel we had stayed in our first night in Napier, and I had never been so happy to lie on a huge, soft, clean, comfortable bed and have a nice, relaxing, hot shower.  I already felt so much better.

We had earlier contacted an elder from the church of Christ in Napier, John Shepherd, to let him know of our situation and that we were thinking of living in this city.  He wanted to meet with us during the week sometime, and he called again that day and said he could drive us around and that he also maybe found a place we could rent.  We didn’t have a job yet, which is probably what you need first before looking for a home, haha, but we couldn’t keep spending our money on a motel, and we were somehow hopeful we would find a job here.  There were orchards and vineyards out the wazoo, so there had to be something; we just had to look hard.  It was almost like our situation in Hanmer Springs again; once we are in a place, we hit the ground running to make it work out, sometimes without really thinking too hard about if we really like the place or not.  If we weren’t desperate before, we definitely were now, we felt we needed to make this work.  Mr. Shepherd picked us up, and I was so happy to meet him, he was so nice and easy to talk to and had quite a sense of humor.  I enjoyed listening to him and Josh talk; he was like a grandpa-type figure in our story.  He showed us a place for rent he had seen in the paper that was pretty cheap, which we drove by but found the location not in a good area.  He then took us to meet his wife, Anne, at their home.  We stayed there for a few minutes just chatting, getting to know each other, and talking about ideas of finding jobs for us.  I really liked both of them so much, and felt comfortable with them.  They said we would be in touch and then he dropped us back off at our motel.  That night, Josh made dinner in our room and we sat on the balcony, feeling a little better about our situation.  We had been surprised though to learn, when we were talking to the Shepherds, about the congregation in Napier, that it was an older generation church, with no one near our age.  Our friends in Wellington had given us contact info for a couple around our age who went to that church, which we were glad to know but I guess they had stopped going there in the past few months and were now attending elsewhere.  We hadn’t met up with them yet, but I was hoping we would still be able to be friends and hang out with this couple.  This was a bit discouraging in a way, to be the youngest couple by a long shot at the church there.  Well, maybe that can be a good thing, and we can help this church out by helping with community outreach and help bring in younger families.  Josh and I walked to the beach after dinner, and talked about this and talking about the pros and cons of Napier.  We decided to still give it a go, and continue job-hunting again in the morning.

The next day, Mr. Shepherd called us and offered for us to stay in their spare bedroom while we were looking for a job and place to rent.  How nice!  We graciously accepted their offer, and moved all our stuff to their home.  We had become quite the vagabonders! Then we went looking for jobs.  Now it was like being in Nelson again, stopping at every orchard and vineyard we passed by.  We found one vineyard with a café that sounded promising of possible upcoming positions in the café.  After looking all day, we drove by a flat (that is what they are called here when there are two or three houses in one building, like a duplex, but most of them here are stacked up on each other as they are built in stair-step design on top of the mountains) that was a very reasonable price.  It had a great view with an ocean in the far distance, and we peeked in the windows.  I love looking at houses!  I think I should be a real estate agent one day.  Growing up, my mom and I would love going to open houses together, I remember whenever we were looking to move across town.  I had been looking on the Trade Me website (like Craigslists, but with houses for sale/rent also) for months leading up to our move over here, always looking at the houses and excited to see the pictures and dreaming what we would live in when we got here.  I always hoped to have a view, but didn’t think that would be too likely because of the extreme higher cost of living in this country.

We went back to the Shepherd’s house that evening and ate pizza and ice cream with them.  We really enjoyed their company and hospitality.  They left for a while, and Josh and I sat in our room, which was the office filled with bookshelves of spiritual books.  It was time to have a talk, again.  We had a heart to heart honest talk about what we should do, and what we felt like we both needed.  Didn’t have a job here yet, maybe a couple of possibilities, especially with all the work Josh had also been doing in calling and e-mailing different possible employers in an attempt to get us a job as soon as possible.  We hadn’t attended the congregation here yet, but I said how I was feeling about the lack of people our age.  I said how I need to have friends and Josh said he really wanted that for me (he is always looking out for my well-being, I love him); girl buddies I can talk to. It would be a plus to both have Christian friends our age to relate to and help our Christian walk.  Felt like that was something I was really needing at the time, we both knew that is what we needed and to help us grow.  We could stay and help the church here as we had said and we considered that, but after talking for an hour about it, we knew the final decision, and in our hearts what was the overall best thing to do.  Go back to Wellington!  And stay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

It felt so good after talking about it and coming to that decision; I felt overwhelmed with relief and happiness.  We had already made friends with people in the church in Wellington, and I had a feeling that I would become closer friends with Adeline and Elsa.  Josh had guys his age too, and that made me feel good to think about for him.  Also, I didn’t mention this earlier, but when we had stayed with Keith that night, he had told us that if it doesn’t work out in Napier and we want to come back to Wellington, that Josh and I could stay at their house for a month, for free!  I don’t think I have ever met as such hospitable people as we have in New Zealand.  Keith would be at his house a couple more weeks he had said, working until he headed to Mexico for the Christmas holidays to meet up with his wife Elsa, and then they were to stay the rest of the holidays in the States, until they came back the second week of January.  I couldn’t believe he had offered that and thought that was so kind, and also didn’t think we would need to take him up on it at the time.  However, we knew this might be a lifesaver to us now, as we were wanting to finally find a place to settle down, and we knew where that was.  It would also save us so much money while we tried to find a job and place to live in Wellington.  We called Keith to see if the invitation was still open, and offered to pay.  We were very welcome as the invite was still extended and to not worry about paying. 

The next morning, Thursday, Josh got up early and told Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd what we had decided to do.  He said they thought that was a good decision for us, so that was really great.  I am so glad that we met them and am grateful for their welcoming spirits and the help they gave us. 

Me driving for the second time since we'd arrived...on the busy road this time though, aghhh!

We said goodbye, and this time as we hit the road, we felt better than we ever had.  We finally knew what we were doing now.  I couldn’t wait to get back to Wellington.  Relief, peace, and happiness filled our hearts.  The four-hour drive back was a piece of cake and seemed much shorter than our journey a few days earlier.  When we arrived in Wellington and saw the harbor sprawled out and the open sea, and the tall buildings, we felt like we were home.  At last, we had found it; our new home away from home.  
  

On our drive back to Welly, Josh spotted this little baby sheep had escaped the fence and was on the wrong side, right by the busy motorway! He called the number on a sign by the farm entrance, and told the farmer about his runaway sheep. The farmer hurried down in his yute (truck-like vehicle) and honked his horn until the sheep came back into his pasture, and safely home to his mommy who was calling for him.

"Come baaaack here son!"

The Little Lost Joshua Lamb