Heading for Home

A few photographs from our time away illustrate this last post in this blog.

Our flight did not leave until 9-30pm so we had all day to spend in LA. We had a slow start, we were still a bit tired after the busy day at Disneyland. We had a good breakfast at the hotel and then packed all our bags. We had one empty bag for any purchases.

Just after 10am we set off for a shopping area where there were several stores we we interested in. This meant travelling back along the freeway we had been on yesterday. Hardly needed the map this time.

View from Hotel Window

CP30 at Disneyland

 Our first stop was Target. A Farmers type store, only larger. Many of the prices were very good. David got a bike helmet for a very good price compared to NZ and then to Ross Dress for Less where we all got some bargains. David's dress trousers for $20 -$25NZ.

For lunch we went to a taco place, which was cheap and yummy. The $1 Churros were excellent. Churros had been almost $5 at Disneyland. Before we left David bought an Amazon Fire at an excellent price at Staples.

Rocket Engine at NASA

Looking right across Galveston Island

 Then we headed off to the Beach.  I have been to Santa Monica a number of times because the bus takes you there, but never to Venice Beach. This was the traditional area for hippies and alternative lifestyles. Nothing has changed, there was plenty of the weird and the wonderful. We walked along the beach for quite a long way then back along past the shops and markets. An experience but I don't know that I will rush back.

On the way back to the airport Google wanted to send us on the freeway, but it was nearing rush hour so we went on the local road instead and made really good time back to the hotel. David filled the car with Petrol, Lynda and Aimee filled the bag with the days purchases and then walked to the hotel while David took the car back. It had been good to have a car to explore more easily than by bus.

Sculpture Lake Tahoe

Golden Gate Bridge

 The hotel shuttle took us to the airport where our check in was simple and the security screening didn't take too long, but then there was hardly anyone there to be screened. It would be horrible when there was long line.

We spent the time at the Air New Zealand Lounge, which had fantastic food and was very comfortable. We were also able to have shower which really freshens you after a day of exploring. Just before we boarded our flight we learnt that we had an upgrade. So spoilt!

San Francisco and City Hall from Painted Ladies

Sun rise in Houston

 It was a good flight. A couple of movies. Good meal and then some sleep. Aimee slept for almost 6 hours. Lynda and were jealous. We arrived back in Auckland just after 5am. What a simple process to get through immigration with electronic passport control. Our bags were almost first off the plane and we were first in a line at customs. So before 6am we were in Koru at Domestic. Our flight was not till 8am so it a bit of a wait and chance to read the paper.

Goofy at Disneyland

We arrived back in CHCH by 9-30am where Natalie picked us up.

It had been a fantastic trip. A great holiday where we had seen and enjoyed California. A refreshing and challenging Conference and Council and a great time together.

And next year in late October the Steering Committee meets in Rome!!

A day in Disneyland

If Aimee had not been with us we almost certainly would not have gone to Disneyland. To make it easier and cheaper to get there we hired a car. I booked this on line at a place directly over the road from the hotel. In spite of the open sign there was no one there. We had to wait almost half an hour before anyone turned up and then they had all sorts of forms to fill in. My assessment the more forms to fill in the less competent the company.

The car was OK, a bit old, but not too bad. Once again Google maps helped us on the way along freeways at 60 to 70 miles per hour. It was about 40 minutes at quite high speed. It was much busier than expected with about 30 cars lined up to enter the car park when we arrived 20 minutes before opening time.

Hold on tight

It didn't take too long to get into the park and then to begin to explore. We did pretty well most of the day with around 10 minutes waiting for each ride. We didn't go on absolutely everything, but there were not many we missed.

Tigger

The second ride, Raiders of the Lost Ark broke down just before we got to the front of the que. It broke down again when we were in line at the end of the day, but fortunately started again. It was a great ride.

Lynda enjoyed the tea cups and "Its a small world", David the more action packed, Aimee just enjoyed it. The parade in the late afternoon was good and the food very expensive. The park closed at 8pm, earlier during the week. I don't know if we could have survived till a late close.

In front of statue of Mickey Mouse

In front of the Disney Statue

Castle by Night

Almost Halloween

A hic cup on the way home. My phone ran out of battery. We left the freeway so I could recharge it from a battery pack. It meant we could get for dinner. Good food for a fraction of the cost at Disneyland. The phone ran out of puff again but we had got far enough so I knew how to get back to the hotel. A great day, but we were tired.

LA here we come

Our flight left Houston at 1pm which meant we didn't have to rush to leave the hotel. So after a leisurely start we checked out an caught a taxi to the airport. There was a free bus but they were concerned we would not get there in time. We are not sure why because the taxi only took 25 minutes.

They had a premium check in which was almost deserted so there was no issue in getting through security. We were also able to go into the United Club Lounge., which provided comfy seats, but is not a patch on Air New Zealand Lounges. Still better than having to fight for an uncomfortable seat.

We were in the second to back row this time. A bonus was they had free movies. A rarity in the USA these days. It was a fairly uneventful flight, a couple of patches of turbulence and 3 and 3/4 hours later we were there.

It was a relatively simple process to get our bags and then catch the shuttle to the hotel. It has been rebranded but it was the same place we stayed in as a family 20 years ago coming back from North Carolina.

After checking in we caught the shuttle to Manhattan Beach. It was a hot afternoon and we had not had much to eat all day so we stopped for an ice cream. The speciality is ice cream between two biscuits. Aimee had M & M biscuits Lynda and I more plain. They were very yummy, so much so I didn't get a photograph.

These Life Guard stations are all along the beach

Looking North from Manhattan Beach Pier

After a walk in the sun, out to the end of the pier and then to the Supermarket for a few essentials. We could have stopped at a shopping mall on the way back,  but tiredness, and a two hour time change, saw us go back to the hotel and then to Taco Bell for dinner. Two $5 special packs were plenty for the 3 of us.

Final day in Houston

The Council met again all day on Monday which meant that Lynda and Aimee had the day to relax and do a bit of shopping. It was Labour Day in the USA so some of the very few shops were closed. They visited Forever 21 and the $1.29 store and frequented the swimming pool and had a sleep.

Pool at the Hilton, Houston

David's meeting went well. The notes are in yesterdays blog. He presented the second part of his report and that was also received well by the Council. So all in all a positive meeting. We finished about 4pm. I think we were all ready to conclude it had been a busy and at times tiring week.

2011-2016 Steering Committee

We spent the late afternoon and early evening sorting and packing our cases. The object to put everything we needed in one bag and make sure that the rest were well packed. Clearly we had done a bit of shopping as our bags were much heavier and were getting a little tight.

Church and Council

On the Sunday after the Conference concluded the Council promoted the 100 Preachers project. I was invited to be one of the 100, and was allocated Klein United Methodist. This was about 35 minutes north in what had been paddocks 39 years ago when the church was started. Today it is a very large church complex with a congregation of over 600 at 4 services. I preached at the 11am service. We were very well received and had a good time.

The minister took us to a fish restaurant for lunch where Lynda and I shared a dozen fried and battered prawns. Aimee had a much healthier option. Our visit to Klein was memorable in all the right ways.

The new 2016 - 2021 Council met in the afternoon. I had a major paper to present, which I had written at the steering committee meeting last year. It was well received and passed without difficulty

Worship and Liturgy Programme Committee

.

I will put the listening report at the end which covers the Council for Sunday and Monday.

We had decided as a group of New Zealanders who were still in Houston that we would go out for a meal together and went back to the BBQ restaurant we had been to twice before. The ribs were still just as big, but the servings were not uniform. Some were more modest and some where enormous.

Back at the hotel we went for a swim in the pool before retiring for the night.

Listening Report

The newly elected Council for the 2016 -2021 quinquennium met on 4^th and 5^th September to commence the work of the quinquennium.

Council President Rev Dr J. C. Park urged the Council to remember that for the next five years the Council is engaged in mission. He called us to be part of God’s revitalisation project.

The Council took time to receive nominations for the Nominations Committee before considering a report from the Steering Committee inviting a new way of working. This proposal for the Council Programme Committees to plan their work around agreed focus areas was accepted by the Council.

The nine Programme Committees then met to consider their focus areas for the quinnquennium, how they might work together remotely and to commence their work. These meetings continued in the first part of the second day of the Council.

Programme Committees reported their work with clarity and enthusiasm. The focus areas identified will be listed at the end of this summary.

Ecumenical Relations spoke of continuing the dialogues with Roman Catholic, Baptist and Anglican Communions and the need to refresh the dialogue teams, especially with Lay members under 35. They also plan to address issues of intra-Methodist ecumenism. They plan to do their work together through a closed Facebook group.

Education will work with Council members, with friends and partners and with member institutions. They also will be holding regional discussions. This is the 25^th anniversary of IAMSCU and the Education Committee.

Evangelism spoke of foundational principals. First that in all the Council does there is the goal that all may know Christ and that there is a need to pay attention to inter-cultural competencies. The committee will communicate with a web based system.

Family Life is proposing that December 2017 be designated as Family Life Month and will produce resources for the World Methodist Church as one family to be “In prayer for the World”. Submissions will be sought to build the resource.

Inter-religious Relationships reminded that Jesus set the example with his conversation with the woman at the well and his praise of the ‘good Samaritan’

Theological Education saw the focus areas from a theological and educational perspective, as resources which can enrich theological education.

Social Issues shared the intent of making Matthew 25 real. They also shared they intend to engage in a collaborative way of working.

Worship and Liturgy will work together through a blog site. They will begin by thinking about Worship and how it is defined, and how do we know we have worshipped? They also reported the hope that the way of working might be ‘inter-cultural’ where all languages and cultures are taken into account.

Youth and Young Adults spoke of strengthening partnerships, of helping young people gain a knowledge of the Council and taking an active role in promoting justice and peace. Recommendations were adopted by the Council which included the objective that 10% of delegates be young people and programme of leadership development be developed to prepare young people for the Council.

Affiliates World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women thanked the Council for their hospitality in helping host the woman’s conference. More than 800 women participated, enjoying vibrant worship, inspirational bible studies and informative workshops.

World Methodist Historical Society introduced their newly elected President Rev Dr Richard Waugh from the Wesleyan Methodist Church of New Zealand.

Focus areas identified by Programme Committees for 2016 -2021

• Ecumenical Relationships:
• Migration
• Religious Freedom
• Justice & Peace
• Education
• Poverty
• Racism
• Sustainable Development
• Evangelism
• Migration
• Human Trafficking
• Poverty and Inequality
• Family Life
• Health and Well-Being
• Inequality
• Evangelism/Mission
• Inter-Religious Relationships
• Globalisation
• Migration
• Race-Human Relations
• Theological Education
• Being community in digital/tech age
• Poverty and Inequality
• Living reconciliation
• Worship & Liturgy
• Climate Change/Environmental Justice
• Migration
• (Inter-cultural ways of working)
• Social & International Affairs
• Inequality and discrimination
• Migration (human trafficking, modern slavery)
• Climate Justice
• Youth & Young Adults
• Will support Council priorities

The Council agreed to endorse the focus areas identified and to encourage the Programme Committees in their work. The area of sexual abuse was added from the floor and Family Life will include this in its work.

The Council closed with an acknowledgement of Bishop Sarah Davis who was appointed Vice President in 2011 and died in office.

The President closed our rich time together with prayer and exhortation to continue the work of the Council.

The Conference concludes

The opening speaker from Korea gave an interesting, but less accessible address examining the ambiguities in the text of Solomon judging between the two women with one baby. She concluded by saying that instead of judging who is right and who is wrong we need to ask how can we live together. A wise leader would have helped the two women work through the situation, not dividing them against each other.

Rev Dr Yani Yoo

Ivan Abrahams, Jo Anne Lyon, ( recipient of Peace Award) Gillian Kingston, Paulo Lockmann, Kirby Hicky

The new officers for the next five years were presented to the Conference. The new President is from Korea. I was reappointed onto the Steering Committee for the next five years.

Some of the Steering Committee

In the afternoon Jo Anne Lyon the General Superintendent of the Wesleyan Church spoke. She had been awarded the Methodist Peace Prize in the morning and addressed the Conference in the afternoon. I had attended a seminar with her and met an older man who had worked with Martin Luther King. He was a very interesting man. He said 'white folks need black folks to get over their guilt. Black folks need white folks to get over their fear." "In the USA we need racial healing rather than reconciliation ... because have never been one."

Sign Language interpreter

In the evening there was a closing service where the President and Vice President and General Secretary addressed the Conference. Then after Holy Communion we all had some ice cream. Aimee went on to a Youth event while Lynda and I went to bed.

It had been a fabulous Conference with many thought provoking and stimulating presentations. The overall focus, that God's love extends to all, without limit. We had met and talked with many interesting people..

Another really positive day

The Friday programme followed the same pattern as Thursday. The first speaker was Juan Carlos Lopez from Brazil. God called different people and he did it on purpose. God's ultimate purpose to unite the whole of creation under the headship of Christ.  We do not create unity, we are to maintain and preserve it.

A drama about onesss

Dr Harold Good from Northern Ireland asked what does it mean to be one people? How far does it extend? Peace and walls are contradictions. Every conflict begins with the sin of exclusion.

Dr Good

The early church battled with who was in and who was out. Oneness is not sameness. Diversity enriches us. Oneness is not exclusivity. Wesley would not have tolerated the individualism of today. Central to Methodist theology is the word ALL. Cherish this gift and share it with others.

A perceptive quote

In the afternoon Jennifer Cox from England reflected on Isaiah 61. Comfort to inspire the Hebrew people to risk rebuilding. Isaiah is writing to homeless and marginalised people. Exile can be a place of creativity and surprise. We need to stop seeing our exhaustion and productivity as a status symbol. Most effective mission comes from within the place of brokenness.

In the evening their was a Texas evening. There was a local band with 'country' style music. Some dancers, a very large church choir and finally a very popular Christian Group 'Gungor'. We hadn't heard of them, but apparently they are quite famous. There were not entirely our thing, but they were good.

Marachi Band

An enriching Day

You know its going to be interesting when the speaker has platted his beard with silver bits on the ends. Rudy Rasmus and his wife co-pastor a Methodist Church in Houston of 9000 members, almost a third being former homeless people. He based what he had to say on the parable of the good Samaritan and invited us to consider what happens when love crosses the road in our communities.

He also told how when he was young his most favourite place was the Houston Zoo, because only there could he drink from the same tap as white folks. He asked how it was that the Zoo could get it right and Church was not able to voice or challenge what was going on.

A challenging quote used by Rudy 

An even more challenging quote

After morning tea Grace Imathiu spoke. Her father from Kenya is a former President of the World Methodist Council. She began by saying that privilege in any kind harms both parties and reminded that Jesus could have prayed for anything --- but prayed that we would be one. She focused on the Parable of the prodigal son and reminded us that by giving the parable a title we can obscure the meaning.
It is about God. Prodigal -- means extravagant, reckless, lavish ---the way God loves. Being prodigious is only sinful when it directed to oneself. It is about God treating us like a 'son', until he remembers he is a son again. A toast to resurrection.

Grace Imathiu

In the afternoon Ted Campbell a theologian gave an excellent and courageous address. Once again emphasising the breadth of God's love. A really positive and stimulating day.

Ted Campbell

The Conference begins

Wednesday the Council continued in the morning and Aimee's International Young Leaders Seminar commenced. Lynda spent the morning relaxing. David's meeting concluded around 1pm and he had the afternoon off.

Conference Logo

We walked back to the $1.29 shop so David could get a writing pad, and on the way stopped for a smoothy at a food outlet. It was several scoops of frozen yoghurt, fortunately fat free, beaten together with the appropriate flavour. Large, but yummy.

Being able to travel via the tunnels certainly makes it more pleasant. It was exceptionally hot outside.

Jennifer Wiseman and David Wilkinson

The Conference opened on the Wednesday night with two great speakers with expertise in Astronomy and Physics. They illustrated their address with some amazing photographs. It was a great beginning. The worship band was also really really good. There were people from 107 nations and 88 churches present.

Conference Worship Band

Aimee had enjoyed her IMYL Seminar and we went to bed and she 'partied' at a young people's coffee bar.

It had been an excellent start to the Conference and a good day. The questions we were left with were.
If God loves us so much, how does he view our neighbour?
If God has invested so much in creation - then what can we make of new creation?
How are we changed by the majesty of God?

World Methodist Council Meeting

The World Methodist Council and Conference were the reason for us being in the USA and Houston. The 2011 -2016 Council meet from 9am on Tuesday morning which meant an early start. I had been asked to convene a small group prepare a 'listening report' for the Council's meetings. I will include that in this blog as the best way to record what happened.

Council Meeting

While I spent the day at the meeting Lynda and Aimee very bravely caught a local bus to the shopping mall. They didn't spend much as the shops were all quite high end. They still had a good time and were back in time for a swim.

In the evening we went to the supermarket/deli and had a very healthy meal.

Listening Report World Methodist Council 30^th – 31^st August 2016

The members of the World Methodist Council gathered in Houston Texas on 30^th and 31^st August 2016 in conjunction with the World Methodist Conference.

The meeting hears reports from the President, General Secretary and Treasurer and the Programme Committees. Member churches were also invited to share news from their regions.

Some themes were heard across the areas of the Council’s business.

Creation, Care for the earth and Climate Change
There was a call from President Bishop Paulo Lockmann, “that we be urgent in deepening discussion in both Council and member churches to serve God through care of creation.”

Past President John Barrett, President Paulo Lockmann, General Secretary Ivan Abrahams

Migration and Refugees
The consequences include child entrapment and trafficking and cheap migrant labour or modern slavery. The General Secretary Bishop Ivan Abrahams challenged Methodists to be modern day abolitionists.

Ecumenical Challenge
Invitations have been received to join in prayer and action to focus on care for the earth ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ from the Anglican Communion and to participate in the ‘Call to Holiness’ from the Roman Catholic Church. The Council recommended Pope francis encyclical ‘ ..’ for study and reflection.

A highlight of the quinquennium was the establishment of the ecumenical centre in Rome.

Evangelism
Evangelism was reaffirmed as a priority for the Council and the Methodist family.

There were other reports which challenged us.

·         Youth and Young Adults called the Council to be open to the input and enthusiasm of young people. Their challenge is included as an appendix to this report.

·         Nuclear threat and trade in arms. Incoming President Bishop J C Park spoke of the threat on the Korean Peninsula and his intention to address this during his term as President of the Council.

·         Rejecting religious extremism. The Council received and endorsed the statement printed as appendix 2.

Programme Committees Reported.
Each programme Committee lead the Council in the work they were planning for the Conference. In some cases we viewed the 5 minute video prepared for the Conference.

Ecumenical Relationships and Dialogue introduced the ecumenical guests to the Conference and encouraged the Council to participate in the Catholic Churches call to care for creation. [1^st September to 4^th October]

Youth and Young Adults have created a devotional blog and worked on their communication. Thanks was given to John Thomas III who concludes his role as Youth and Young Adults Coordinator.

Family Life Resource packs are available on the World Methodist Council website addressing issues such as Child domestic workers, campaign for Children in Poverty and Child Health.

Theological Education has shared in many symposiums in the last five years. Peace Education and the nuclear threat will be a future emphasis.

Inter-religious relationships. This new committee was established at the 2013 Council meeting in London. The website has been developed.

Education provided copies of two publications; a directory of more than 1000 Methodist and United institutions and the 150 years History of Methodist Education.

Social and International Affairs reiterated Council resolutions and on-going work on social issues such as HIV/Aids, Environment and climate justice, Peace-making and Poverty and inequality.

Evangelism / World Methodist Evangelism Institute a new logo and website have been developed. 45 years of work is being celebrated and an invitation was given to the Global Evangelism Summit to be held from 20 -27 June 2018.

Affiliate Reports

World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women were meeting at the same time as the Council and Conference with the theme: “Chosen People: Called to proclaim”

World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Men will now be known as Wesley Men. They continue to work through ‘Stop Hunger Now’.

Israel – Palestine Liaison Office The call was for all member churches to work with and own this initiative.

World Methodist Historical Society reminded the Council that ‘Heritage is claiming the past for the sake of the future; Nostalgia is claiming the future for the sake of the past’.

Oxford Institute the 14^th Institute will meet August 12 -19 2018 at Pembroke University at Oxford. The theme “Thy Grace Restore, Thy work revive: Revival, Reform and Revolution in Global Methodism”

Epworth Old Rectory reminded the Council that this belongs to us all.

World Methodist Museum is celebrating 60 years

Invitation to the 22^nd Conference
The Swedish Covenant Church along with the Nordic and Baltic Central Conference of the UMC invited the Methodists of the World to hold their Council meeting and Conference in Gothenburg, Sweden in August 2021.

Appointment of Officers
The Council appointed the following Officers:

Rev. Dr. JC Park – President – Korean Methodist Church
Ms. Gillian Kingston – Vice President - The Methodist Church in Ireland
Mr Kirby Hickey –Chief Financial Officer/Treasurer – United Methodist Church, USA

Officers.
Ms. Christine Elliott -– The Methodist Church in Britain
Mr. Joshua Rathnam - –Church of North India
Rev David Bush –– The Methodist Church in New Zealand
Bishop Darryl B. Starnes Sr. -– The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
Rev Dr George Mulrain –-Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas
Archbishop Michael Stephen – The Methodist Church Nigeria
Rev. Dr. Jean Hawxhurst – United Methodist Church, USA

Council members were encouraged to give serious consideration in the ensuing quinquennium to those who might be called to serve the Council in the future.

Appendix 1
Statement from Youth and Young Adults

The biggest obstacle is ourselves.

Challenge- for every member church to move away from tokenistic youth work and towards real participation where young people have a say in the processes that directly affect them.

Young people deal with racism every day of their lives. Young people deal with gender inequality every day of their lives. Young people deal with the challenges of climate change every day of their lives. These same young people are instrumental in bringing about change in their local situation: It is the young students of Mexico who spearheaded the protests of injustices of their government, risking their own lives.  It is the young people of Egypt that initiated the Arab spring, the #occupywallstreet movement and in South Africa, it is the young people who are spearheading the decolonisation process with #feesmustfall. Churches struggle to contribute constructively in these conversations. It is tragic that the young people who can affect change in broader civil society are unable to effectively affect the ecclesial space. Young people very rarely are included in the systems that inform the policies, theologies and spiritualities of the very churches who are struggling to speak meaningfully and prophetically to the larger socio-economic realities of the world.

This has to change.

Not just for the future of the church but for the present reality of the church. Young people have a faith, young people have a God and young people are changing the tide of injustice in the world. But we have to change the manner in which we include young people in the matters of faith. We must move away from tokenistic engagement that places the voices of young people and young adults into conferences and arenas that meet outside the ‘main’ event. Young people need to be involved in the processes of that make up the very heart of our denominations.  

There is a particular challenge also to the global south. The global south boast that it has the fastest and largest presence of Christianity in the world. The Global South also has the largest concentration of 18-35 year olds in the world and yet these young people have no say in the decisions which impact the daily expression of their faith. Young people in the global South are almost never part of the policy making within their churches. So here is the challenge to the global South and to the rest of us gathered here. We have to change the way we include young people. In the next quinqennium, young persons must be included within delegations to council. 

Appendix 2
Statement Rejecting Religious Extremism

Our world appears more polarised, divided and divisive than ever and we are confronted with extremism and violence in new and terrifying ways. In the face of this extremism and violence, we believe there is a heightened urgency to reach the world for Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, and we urge Christians of all Traditions to commit themselves to grace filled action in relation to our sisters and brothers in other faith traditions. Further we reject all forms of violent extremism, recognising that human life is sacred and no one should be victimised, nor lives taken, by anyone in the name of religion.

Galveston

Houston is about an hour from the Gulf and Galveston Island, so we decided to spend the day at the beach. The first half of the journey was the same as going to NASA. The freeway was still reasonably quiet which was great.

The historic city of Galveston was made up of beautiful old buildings. Even better there was free parking on the street. The one issue in the USA is finding public toilets. They had some but it did mean walking the length of the town. After exploring the shops, but not spending anything we had a very pleasant lunch at a restaurant on the water front. Across the harbour there were three oil rigs parked up.

The next stop was the ocean side of the island. There was a lot more accommodation here, and parking meters along the whole length of the road. We drove to the very end to the mouth of the harbour. It was busy with a number of ships in view. A few miles back along the beach there was a pier. We thought we would explore it and paid for a car park only to discover that you had to pay a small fortune just to get on the pier. So we walked along the beach front instead. It was a very hot day so we did not walk too far.

Back in the car we drove along the beach for several miles before turning for home. We decide we would go to Dairy Queen for an ice cream. They make great ice creams by mixing in interesting flavours and bits such as peanut butter cups and oreos. We bought a small size and it was massive. If we had bought a large one we would probably still be there trying to finish it.

We had passed some factory shops on the freeway so returned to have a look. By the time we got there the heavens had opened with a thunder storm. We got quite wet getting from the car to the shops. Once again we assisted the US economy.

Oil rigs Galveston 

Run Forest Run - Outside Bubba Gumps Galvston Pier

One of the colourful seats at Galveston

We called in to a neighbouring food mart to get something for dinner as by now it was getting too late to go out for a meal when we got back to the hotel.

A messy day

Monday morning we had a relaxed start to the day and because we still had a car we hunted out a laundry to replenish our stock of clean clothes. As we came back into the hotel on the information screen it said the Steering Committee was going to meet at 1pm. This was a bit of a nuisance as we had hoped to go to the Mall and to take a couple of other New Zealanders with us.

We did drive to the mall to show everyone how to get their on the bus, and then back to the hotel. The frustration was that only three of us turned up. It was a room booking 'just in case' rather than a definite booking. So I went back to the room and collected Lynda and Aimee and we went to the underground tunnels to get some lunch. It is possible to get around under Houston by using the tunnels all in air conditioned comfort. It was over 100 F outside.

After lunch we went to one of the only stores in town, a $1.29 and under store. A place for some interesting and cheap purchases. On the way back we stopped at a donut store and bought one each. They were yummy.

Papas Texas BBQ

In the evening we returned to get some more Texas BBQ. David's ribs were so big he could not eat them all. Then a swim in the hotel pool to finish the day. The pool is on the top floor [24] and gives great views across the city. The pool is really good too.

Diane Laughton, Lynda and Aimee at the Hilton Pool

NASA - The Johnson Space Centre

Part of the reason we hired a car in Houston was to get ourselves to the NASA Johnson Space Centre. The freeway was not too crowded early on on a Saturday morning for the 35 minute journey. I had booked tickets for the tram tour on-line, but I need not have worried as there was plenty of room. The first tour to Mission Control took us to that very familiar room from the 60's and 70's space programme. The most impressive part of the tour was the Saturn 5 rocket lying on its side . What an awesome piece of engineering. What amazing power to lift it all off the ground. It is incredible how much rocket was required to lift a relatively small capsule into space.

Mission Control at Johnson Space Centre, Houston

Saturn 5 rocket at NASA

Back at the main museum we walked through the Space Shuttle which is mounted on its 747 transport plane. A huge difference in the amount of usable room compared to the Apollo programmes.

Space Shuttle on its 747 Transport

Back in the museum we looked at the interesting displays, which included a piece of moon rock, which you could touch. It it well touched.

Lynda touching a piece of rock from the moon.

After lunch we caught the second tram tour to the engineering workshop where they have the mock-ups of space craft fore Astronauts to train in. These include the international space station which is part of the current programme and the mock up for the next space mission which will see manned trips to the moon and to Mars.

It was very very hot outside. On the way home we called in to a pharmacy and bought two large packs of 24 bottles of water. This was a good move as it met our needs for the whole time we were in Houston. The tap water tasted a bit like a chemical factory.

Matthew had told Aimee that she needed to eat barbecue in Texas. A Google search revealed that there was a place not too far away. We got a bit lost on the way and walked a lot further than we needed to or wanted to in the heat, but the ribs were worth it. They were massive and very very tasty. Three ribs was more than enough. The walk back was much easier because we now knew the shortest route.

It had been a very good day. NASA was especially interesting.