Dump The Truck!

Hey Y’all and Gid’day mate!! (German/Australian accent)

Week 4 already!! The week has really flown by! Literally so so much has been happening and so many mental calories have been burned over the days! This week we have been delving into Gods Word…we’ve moved on to the New Testament and the topic of the Holy Spirit and His role on earth/through us. Going into depth about prayer BEING the work, not just a small part of it. This has been huge for us! Especially as we walk into different leadership roles.

Monday started us off with a tramp/hike in the Abel Tasman National Park! We’ve been so super blessed with sunshine, and lovely warm temperatures! This hike, like all the hikes, was a multitasking time, using both physical and mental efforts. On the drive to Totaranui we were given our first question of a series of questions. These we broke apart, exploring the way we perceive and view life circumstances.

During the tramp, we had lots of time to discuss the questions and found out some interesting facts about ourselves! Over this week we have been given times to talk about these things, but also times of silence. So much ground and progress has been made, pivotal stuff that will affect the rest of our lives! In honesty this week has been rather stretching on the mental capacity!! Hence the title…! We have been thrown a lot of deep and hard questions that have really shaped our thinking. -Jones found it fascinating how he can find the root of a motive, plus discovering the way he thinks.  10/10 but haaarrrrrrdddd work!!! Super challenging and sometimes even frustrating! But over the first initial questions we started getting a hang of the process and saw the benefits, it started to become very rewarding!

We did not only have mental struggles, we also had some physical challenges. One example was crossing the muddy sea estuary! Thigh deep in water with our summer shoes on, we were thinking back to some biblical examples of people crossing water….and pondering how they did it in a more pleasant way than we were experiencing! Haha! But since our tramp was perfectly planned, we were able to cross it at low tide, not needing to “part the sea” or “walk on water”! Plus, it was a really ‘grounding’ experience and it gave us the opportunity to take some spectacular pictures of the beautiful surroundings. (Knee deep in cold, muddy, delicious, water!!!)

One of the things we appreciated about being on a winter team was getting to hike the busiest track in NZ and only meeting a couple of other explorers.

Jones told us that he found his favourite place in the world while sitting on a rustic kiwi bench seat looking out to sea…

As we were hiking out on our last day, we witnessed some rare bird life here in New Zealand! During a wee river crossing that soaked our hiking shoes (typical Kiwi’s), we suddenly saw a rare blue duck! Surprisingly it didn’t move away but kept floating down between where Aron and Norm were standing and just chilled there eating weeds 1/2 meter away from them!!! Most of us wouldn’t have noticed the significance or difference unless our leaders hadn’t pointed it out!

Aron going back to his Dutch roots by visiting the Abel Tasman Memorial feeling honoured to witness his “Great great great greaaaaaaattt Uncle Abel!” :)

The topic of the Holy Spirit has really had an impact on me (Jemima)! Hearing a simplified and different biblical viewpoint shapes my thinking to a mindset of renewed faith and passion for Him! In some cases the Holy Spirit can be a controversial topic, but the way we’ve been discussing it has been really open and biblical.

Aron comments…the Holy Spirit really does speak and has revealed to me what to share with the group during one of our discussions we will be doing! Last week we were asked to answer the question “what is Gods mission”, and video it. Totally no pressure! Because this Sunday it was played for the Hope Church morning service! Jokes aside it was a very fun and growing time! Getting to hear how it all tied in with the speaker’s message was super-duper! Overall, we are all well, and super excited as we are preparing to be sent out, to GO, and make disciples! Woop Woop! The mission of the church is the biggest, coolest and wildest adventure ever!!

Aron:

Good day friends and family! Yesterday I came to the realisation that we have touched the 75% mark! :( The time flies by sooo quickly and sometimes I have to remind myself on how valuable the time is here!! I enjoy every moment and I still learn new things and interesting facts from and about my team. This week has been mentally really deep with a lot of talking and thinking. Even though we visited the same national park as we did in the week before, we could still enjoy God’s lovely creation. I’m thinking about and praying for you guys and I hope to see you soon! (Even though I still have a full month left here before I come home in NL :)) Greetz from Aron

Translation to Dutch: ;)

Hey hallo vrienden en familie! Gisteren realiseerde ik dat we nu al op driekwart zitten van het programma! : ( De tijd vliegt zo snel voorbij hier, soms vergeet ik hoe waardevol mijn tijd hier is!! Ik geniet van elk moment en ik leer nog steeds nieuwe dingen en interessante weetjes van en over mijn team. Afgelopen week was mentaal zwaar met veel praten en denken. Ook al hebben we hetzelfde National Park bezocht als de week ervoor, nog steeds konden we genieten van God’s prachtige schepping. Ik denk aan jullie en ik bid voor jullie, ik hoop jullie snel weer te zien! (Ook al duurt het nog een volle maand voordat ik terug in NL ben :))

Jemima:

Hey fellas! Wowzer! Time seems both long and short! But can’t believe we are now entering our last 12 days! Week 4 has definitely been a favourite so far...all the topics and principles we have been learning are being pieced together! I’m really excited for the coming days, especially having the mindset of squeezing out all I can from this unique opportunity! God is so good and is blowing me away by how He comes through! Very excited :) Got a heap to catch you up on! Thinking of and praying for you, love y’all heaps :) Jemima

Jonas:

Hey Leute! Aufregende Tage liegen hinter uns und ich habe sie wirklich sehr genossen. Mir geht es nach wie vor hervorragend und ich hoffe euch geht es auch gut. Wir haben in der vergangen Woche wieder wundervolle Orte gesehen, da kommt man aus dem staunen garnicht mehr raus. Erinnerungen an die ich mich lange Erinnern werde. Nicht nur dass, es hat sich die Woche auch einiges um uns individuell gedreht und ich konnte überraschende und interessante Dinge über mich lernen. Wirklich eine prägende Zeit von der ich viel mitnehmen kann. Ich freue mich auf alles was die verbleibenden Tage noch kommen wird. Liebe Grü.e from far far away :) – Jonas

Translation: “Hey Guys. Exiting days laying behind us and I really enjoyed them. I’m still doing very good and I hope you as well. Last week we saw again outstanding places, it’s never getting boring. Memories I will remember for a long time. But not only that, this week was a lot about our selfs as an individual and I learned heaps of surprising and interesting things about myself. Really a shaping time. I’m very looking forward to the last coming days. Greetings from far far away :)” – Jonas

Written by Aron (Netherlands), Jemima (New Zealand) and Jonas (Germany) on behalf of the entire OTG Team