WHY

Two days left in Aotearoa before this coming year of overseas missions. TWO DAYS!! I first heard about the World Race in 2016, signed up in March 2017 – finallllyyyyyyy the time has come. For those of you following & praying over the hectic last weeks (THANK YOU), my passport arrived safely back from Wellington, AND I was granted the visa for South Africa! How good. So all is in place for me to fly out come Saturday morning.

 

I’ll spend this coming month in the USA and Canada before the Race actually begins on January 8th. I’ll be slowly travelling all over seeing friends, family, and meeting some of the people on my ‘squad’ for 2019. I set aside this time to kinda process stepping out of Aotearoa for a minute before jumping straight into the intensity of the World Race (especially as I’ll be the only non-American on the squad lol). As a more introverted internal processor, I’m STOKED for all the time I’ll have sitting on that Greyhound bus. Me and my bible/journal, making our way across North America.

 

Come January 8th, I’ll meet up with all 18 members of my squad in San Francisco to fly out to our first county, Cambodia, for two weeks of training together. So excited! Wanted to write a little something here explaining my heart & WHY of this journey – bc by any means, it’s a bit of a crazy year.

 

In 2016, the kaupapa that most drew me to the Race was its complete ‘otherness’ to my then current life at university. Coming out of a low season of burnout and a tonne of questioning, I felt God leading me toward this deep journey of surrender, simplicity, and submission. To an environment in which I just could not be independent, and to a lifestyle of partnering in missions. Partnering with local faith communities throughout the globe, and overall partnering with the Holy Spirit as He fuels and sustains the mahi we will be doing.

 

Two years on, I’m heading into 2019 more to see God expressed in eleven different cultures. The main kaupapa of mission remains, to edify, assist and encourage the global Church in many differing local contexts, but at this stage I know God is exciting me to see Himself through many lenses. I’m also hyper aware of the unhelpful ‘saviour complex’ surrounding mission trips like this (YWAM etc) – more to come on this laterrrrr. Growing up in NZ, I had a thick white/pakeha lens through which to view God, peppered with an intellectual understanding of Jesus as a Jew. Over the past few years, God has burdened my heart with the story of Aotearoa, and my haerenga into te ao Maori (namely through te reo) has unexpectedly & beautifully reshaped and deepened my view of God. I initially signed up for night classes in Maori language to keep some form of study alive while working in medical administration, and achieve a goal – whereas God met me afresh through lenses of tikanga, whakapapa, the whenua, and many more structures of the Maori worldview. Yahweh and the metanarrative of Scripture made so much more sense to me in Te Ao Maori. I am so excited for how my thinking will be shaped and deepened through my time in eleven countries on the World Race. 

 

Rather than going to ‘save the world’ I am following Jesus and going to listen, learn, and encourage. I’m also aware and expecting this ‘why’ to ebb, flow, and change over the year – learning to let go, expect the unexpected in all areas really!

 

I am actually v emotional and a bit all over the show in terms of prepping to leave home for a year! Prayers/good vibes for peace, healthy goodbyes, and time to rest in the Lord over this coming month would be deeply appreciated.

 

 

 

Total goal: USD18800 (~$28,000)

Current total: USD17800 (~$26,500)

Current total, including pledged: USD18130 ($27,060)

**Money raised covers all transport, food and accommodation for the year on the field.**

 

HOW GOOD, honestly like wooooaaahh. NZ$28,000 is a LOT of money (and it kept getting higher as the dollar kept dropping this year lol). BUT thanks to YOU and God and some serious saving, we out herre. So close to being fully funded by launch in January!

 

If you’d like to donate, you can click the orange button at the top of this page. To avoid USD conversion charges, feel free to direct deposit into the account below.

 

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grace + peace,

hanfran

 

 

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ppps – what’s YOUR ‘why’?

 

pppps – if you made it this far, give yourself a high-5