Written 1/10/10
So I’ve been in New Zealand for about a week now. This first week has just been launch training. It is basically the “okay we’re how now how do we do this thing” training week. We had some amazing worship nights and some great teachings on what we need when we are on this race. We did our first debrief with our squad leaders and coaches and we had some great bonding time as a team and squad.
Sixty or so of us arrived Tuesday morning and we were greeted by our team leaders, and logistics team members who had arrived a day or two ahead of us. It felt good to be a whole team again. We had the morning off to get settled and such and I took the chance to set up my tent and catch up with teammates. The YWAM camp we stayed at in Matamata was beautiful and we were defiantly spoiled. We had amazing food made for us each day and great facilities, even
got showers which was a great surprise.
got showers which was a great surprise.
Wednesday we got an adventure day and we were taken to the beach in Tauranga. Beautiful is hardly enough to describe it. We climbed on rocks and got our feet wet. We spent some time just laying in the sand talking and ended the day with a cold ice cream from a shop there. I had myself a Tim Tam drumstick. I had forgotten how good those things were.
That night began worship and teaching and our next few days were full of that. We had some good team times making a video (which I posted already) and just talking getting to know more about one another. I love my team and I can’t believe how blessed I have been to get such a fantastic team. They are already starting to feel like family.
Saturday six of us from team M:10 went for a walk to see a waterfall. We weren’t able to get super close, but it was nice to spend the afternoon with m teammates, even if the walk did kick my butt.
The
re have been some changes to the race route even this early. March we were suppose to go to Malaysia, but due to not being able to find enough good contacts in that country we have been moved to the Philippines. I’m pretty excited about tis change and I am looking forward to what is in store for us there. I know that other teams who have gone through there have had great experiences and I’m anxious to see what we’ll be doing there.
You are alprobably wondering what I will be doing the rest of this month in NZ. Well, I can tell you now. M:10 is currently (as I write this on the 12 hour bus ride) on our way to Wellington the capital city to work with a children’s pastor down there. His church runs a few camp programs through the year (which is what it is here) and we are going to be doing outreach to the parents there. The programs have happened but we are going to be reaching out the the families of the children who don’t usually come to the church. We aren’t exactly sure what this all entails at the moment, but we’re excited about our assignment. We won’t be roughing it this month so much as we will have dorms to stay in and we think they may be providing food. We are blessed this month and will greatly enjoy the luxuries we will get. I’m sure we will be roughing it soon enough though. We will take another bus or train back to Auckland on the 29th and fly out of NZ for Brisbane, Australia on the 30th.
Things here have been great and I want to thank you all for your continued prayers. They have been felt I assure you. This transition has been easier than expected and that is no doubt because of the prayers you have offered up and of course God’s hand. Even though I’m out here and on this thing I am still in need of some financial help. Every little bit helps and I don’t want to have to give up ministry time later in the race to try to raise money or even worse get sent home early so please if you can help click the support me button on the left of the screen. If you are already helping thank you for your support. If you can’t give money pray for the money to come in. Thank you all for everything. I am excited to take you on this journey with me!
