News from New Zealand

November-February is summer here—peak season for tourism businesses. But since our small community moved to Mohaka River Farm, we haven’t had a “normal” summer. In 2021, COVID restrictions limited our ability to host guests. We used the enforced down time to develop the land and upgrade much of the property’s infrastructure. The summer of 2022 was cold and wet. Then Cyclone Gabrielle hit in early 2023. We were without power for a month, and for several months our main highway was under repair.

(Fun fact: the Maori name for New Zealand is “Aotearoa,” which means “land of the long white cloud.” However, many people joke that it should instead be called “the land of the long line of orange traffic cones.” Road work on our highway often doubles our travel time into town, normally an hour’s drive one way.)

We held our first New Zealand conference in 2023, just one month after the cyclone, powered by generators and made possible by the help of our brothers and sisters from other communities who braved the elements, donned their gumboots and got to work! They helped us to renovate our conference center, removing the old carpet and mustard yellow walls; we built two new cabins and did some landscaping  to bring order to flood-torn paddocks and roads.

After the conference, our campground overflowed with guests—so many that we were unable to give everyone quality experiences. Tents and caravans were parked side by side the whole length of the campground, and there were people everywhere! Cultures clashed as large family groups mingled, vying for space in the camp kitchen and keeping us busy with shower-flooded bathroom blocks, dirty accommodations to flip, and a few complaints from each group about the others.

After that summer, we sought the Lord for new direction: we wanted to provide our guests with a place of peace.

We asked brothers in other communities for help, and they came across the world. Brother Matthew traveled from Montana and Brother John from Idaho, along with their families. They helped us grapple with questions about our community’s identity, purpose and unity, such as, “How can we meet the specific needs of people in New Zealand?” and “How would God have us display His life to those who visit us?”

Later last year, as we posted earlier, we had visits from Brothers Carl Ballerino, Ben Neikerk and Andrew Taylor. They inspired us with faith and wisdom and showed us practical steps to take in our business. Brother Warren came just before Christmas and shared his insight and experience. These brothers helped us to strengthen our relationships with each other and sharpened our focus for God’s purpose for the community here.

So, this year we’ve made major shifts! We’ve halved the number of available campsites and raised our prices, along with launching many new initiatives to elevate guests’ experience. Although our peak season was again dampened by poor weather, we have greatly improved our community’s engagement with our guests.

The Conference Centre served as the hub for this shift. We were open most days for coffee, real fruit ice cream (a NZ classic—frozen fruit blended by the serving into vanilla ice cream and served atop a waffle cone), table tennis, and craft activities.

With the craft skills we have learned from other communities over the past 10 years, we developed short classes for our guests—they could stitch a leather wallet, weave a basket, pour a candle, sew a tissue holder, throw a pot on the wheel, or roll out a pottery serving tray.

We’ve brought the horses from the upper paddocks down to the paddocks between the Conference Centre and river, and they’ll soon be joined by miniature highland cattle, angora goats, and more. We plan to add lantern-lit pathways, fencing, a pavilion and horse barn, in order to bring our farm closer to our guests.

Just beyond these paddocks, the Mohaka River borders 2km of our property. One perk of the cyclone is that it took care of wiping out long stretches of bramble and blackberry which blocked river access with tangled thorns. This facilitated our recent landscaping efforts—clearing the way for picnic areas, swimming holes and walking tracks.

Brother Peter and his son Nathan have been hosting early morning fishing classes on the river, with several guests successfully catching trout weighing up to 4 pounds!

This summer we also hosted a total of four very successful “Country Fairs.” Gleaning from what we learned at the Idaho and Texas Fairs, these events were lively and well-attended, with at least 200 guests at the last one.

We offered games, a maze, coffee and ice cream, horse rides, live music, Jamaican chicken wraps, a wide variety of hands-on activities and demonstrations, and even a couple of guest vendors, including local nut butters and handmade knives. The feedback from our guests, many of whom had never heard of us, was very positive.

This past weekend was Waitangi weekend, a national holiday in New Zealand. Since most Kiwis would have a long weekend, we fully anticipated a busy campground.

But less than two weeks ago, we felt the Lord directing us to change our plans slightly. We already had bookings for guests coming to park up their tents and caravans, but we blocked bookings for the rest of our accommodation and invited believing couples and families to an open house for the weekend.

We had about 25 adults join us, along with perhaps a dozen children. We worked together on landscaping projects, shared picnic lunches, conversations, and community dinners, followed by evening worship under the tent at the fairgrounds.

Sunday morning we gathered in the Lattimore’s half-finished barn home. Brother Jared shared about how just as the house where we met was unfinished, we as individuals and a community are still “under construction,” yet we are striving to provide a context where the Lord can extend hope, love, and direction to others.

By the end of the weekend, we felt united with those who made the effort to come out—relationships with our friends and neighbors deepening, and each of us anticipating how the Lord will use us as a small part of His outpost of hope down here at the ends of the earth.

Many of our friends who attended have reached out, expressing gratitude for the weekend and excitement for how the relationships will unfold in God as time goes on. We believe that seeds have been sown, and we’re anticipating the harvest that’s going to burst forth. “This garden’s gonna grow!”

We have more to report- exciting opportunities in some of our new and growing businesses—but we’ll save that for next time.

Sending much love to all of our brothers and sisters across the globe!