New Zealand Persimmons

I had my first persimmon this week. It reminded me of several things–of kumara (sweet potatoes), lichies, and papayas. But if I were blind folded, and asked to guess what I was eating, I would have sworn that it was the Nongu, the fruit of the Palmyra tree. (In fact, as I dug into my persimmon for my second mouthful, I was transported back to childhood and summer nights in Bangalore when hawkers came selling the Nongu fruit calling out “kaatinongu.”)

The fruit is very filling and rich in vitamin C.

I am told that persimmons are astringent and become edible only when they are really soft and ripe. The one I had was mushy ripe.

Gala Concert at Macleans

Last night we enjoyed a pleasant evening listening to music performances by the students of Macleans College in Auckland. Our children Tim and Lydia sang in the school choir. It was nice that the Snowballs and the Aikens could come too. Our friend Moses annan also came.

We had different groups come and perform like the orchestra, stage band, school choir, barbershop chorus, barbershop quartet, and so on. We listened to Tschaikovsky, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Chopin, and other composers so ably performed by the children.

The choir sang three pieces:

Can you name this pigeon?

This morning, my camera’s zoom lens caught this bird that we’ve agreed is a pigeon. A more accurate name anyone?

more photos of this bird

Auckland autumn

Some pictures taken on our way back from church

For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Isa 55:12

More tree photos

Ha ha, strawberry guavas can be yellow

So strawberry guavas can be yellow as well.

Julia, my team leader, brought me these guavas from her garden. Both the yellow and red fruit tasted like regular guavas, only slightly lemony.

So you do not grieve as the rest who have no hope

Not far from where we live is a Christian college (’College’ in New Zealand is actually ‘high school’). On Monday, six students and a teacher from that school died in a flash flood during what was a week-long outdoor education course. The kids who died were 16 years old, the same age as our son Tim.

The students were at the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre in central North Island. As part of the course, 10 students with their teacher and instructor went canyoning on the Mangatepopo River. Now canyoning is an activity where you scramble, climb, jump, abseil and swim to travel through a canyon or gorge. When this little party entered the gorge, the water was at a very low level, and they were unaware that heavy rain was predicted.

The water level rose suddenly because of a flash flood. The group waited on a rocky ledge for the water level to go down, but it just kept increasing.

Outside my kitchen window

My younger daughter Lydia is camera crazy. Here are four pictures she took on different occasions.

Strawberry Guava

Last week our cousins in Henderson gave us some little red fruit that tasted like guavas but had no resemblance to them. Julia, my team leader at work, identified them as strawberry guavas.

They are pictured next to some apples to give you an idea of how tiny they are.

Easter Conference 2008 in Hamilton

We were in Hamilton on Good Friday and Easter Saturday for the Easter conference organised by three Reformed/Reformed Baptist churches in Hamilton. The speaker was Dr. Don Carson who serves as Research Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield Illinois.

Philip and I left home at about 9:15 a.m. on Friday morning with Pastor Alfie Orr and Dave and Glenda Aiken.

Our drive down to Hamilton included a stop at Pokeno for an icecream. At Hamilton, we checked into a motel, had a quick pizza lunch, and reached the conference venue by 1:00 p.m.

Dr. Carson’s addresses on Friday were:

• 1.00 pm A Passion for the Promises and the People of God (Nehemiah 1-2)
• 3.30 pm Never, Never, Never Give Up (Nehemiah 3:1-6:14)
• 7.00 pm A Protected and Spiritually Nourished Pilgrim People (Nehemiah 7-8 )

For our founders

For our founders we would thank Thee,
Their loving gracious plan,
Their many deeds of kindness,
Since first our school began. . .

We thank Thee O Father, for these and all Thy care
Bestowed upon Thy children both here and everywhere.

This is from the school hymn of Clarence High School, Bangalore. I remember Mr. Flack urging our Std 8 class in 1978 to memorize the school hymn and telling us that a good way to do this was to think about the meaning, and then he spoke to us about the founders of the school, the Redwood brothers.

I had not realised the role the Brethren Assemblies in New Zealand had played in the founding of the school until I went through the following book:
In His Name
A record of Assembly Missionary Outreach from New Zealand
By L.A.Marsh

Here are some excerpts from this book that have to do with Clarence and Bethesda Church.