By Jayna Richardson “My marriage was on the verge of ending. We have hope now.” This is what one couple shared recently following a Weekend to Remember® in Taupo, New Zealand. The couple had been considering divorce and had very little hope for their marriage, but the event changed everything. This is just one of […]

By Jayna Richardson As coronavirus began to spread throughout the world in spring 2020, FamilyLife live events everywhere were being postponed or cancelled. One question loomed in everyone’s minds: when will we be able to meet in person again? For New Zealand, that time came sooner than it did in most other places. In late […]

By Steve Hooper I received a call recently from a lady who had found our number in a Google search. She told me she wanted a divorce and was looking for help on how to go about it. I told her she had rung the right place. As we talked, I promised to send her […]

After ten years of marriage, I was in a place of discontent. We tried to fix or do things better and attended many marriage courses, but my discontentment and frustration only got worse as I learned more about how our marriage should be or how my husband should be. I became angry and bitter towards […]

The phone rings: It’s a husband booking himself and his wife for a Weekend to Remember. They’ve been before and are keen to join us again. “I have to tell you this,” he says. “We thought we had a good marriage, but when we returned home after our first FamilyLife weekend our lives were changed. […]

Pete and Sally had been married for over 30 years. They’d raised their children together and worked extremely hard all their lives, but even so, they’d drifted apart and were living separate lives. Seriously considering divorce, relatives suggested that they try the Weekend to Remember® before doing so and even paid their way so they […]

We have been married for 20 years, and there has been some tough stuff to deal with of late. Last September we had reached a point of knowing that if we didn’t do something radical, we would implode. We were relating to each other in pretty negative spirals at times. We made the hardest decision […]

We recently held a conference in Invercargill, a small city in the South Island. We had a good-sized audience for such a small place (74 people). As usual we wanted to give each couple a rose when they arrived—one of the extra small touches we offer—but when the roses were delivered, they didn’t come with water […]

Andy and Nikki Bray, FamilyLife directors in New Zealand, were recently honored with a special award from the New Zealand Christian Network. The Unsung Heroes Award “is to honor the good work of individuals and groups which has gone largely unrecognized, to encourage others, and to give glory to God who inspired and empowered them.” […]

  If you’ve ever visited the bustling Bay of Plenty town of Te Puke in New Zealand, you know there’s no mistaking their main industry: kiwifruit. They’re everywhere—on road safety signs, on the “Welcome to Te Puke” greeting, and marking the entrance to the attraction Kiwi 360. The small furry brown fruit is a mascot […]

We’ve just returned from another absolutely awe inspiringly special Weekend to Remember®, and these words were from a delightful 77-year-old lady we met and had several conversations with over the weekend. As we said goodbye at the end of the conference, she could hardly contain herself as she blurted out, “I feel like I did […]

We recently returned home from speaking in a movie theater in Christchurch. Popcorn not included. Last year we were approached by a local pastor in Canterbury who asked if we’d be able to come down and run “A Day Together” marriage seminar. He had secured some funding and wanted to encourage local families who had […]

A couple attended the Weekend to Remember in Rotorua, New Zealand, in July who attracted a lot of interest because of the beautiful, friendly Labrador they brought with them. They stationed themselves at the very back of the auditorium—my guess, to “be out of the way.” Everyone, including our team, wanted to pat the luxurious […]

Although the first couple of years of marriage were at times a little turbulent, Steve and Leanne Hooper settled into a comfortable relationship that they felt was pretty good. They had been married for two years when they attended a Weekend to Remember® in Auckland, New Zealand. Although they had a good marriage, the conference […]