Who’s Gonna Carry Da Boats?
(A)Hoi mitenand (hello everyone)
Crazy to think we’ve already hit the halfway mark!! We are trying to soak up each moment we have with our teammates and are working hard at our goals to become limitless through Christ.
This week we have been kayaking from Marahau to Anchorage Bay for over 3 days, which included many water fights because of the perfect weather. Thank you all for praying for the sunshine - try and spot the sunburnt noses ;) Safe to say, everyone’s highlight was the baby seals jumping right next to our boats! Being submerged in God’s beautiful, vast, and mighty creation reminded us of his character and who he is, which was another focus for this week. Some that stood out are Holy, King of Kings, Living water…. We could be here for hours!
We also got to experience Gods natural creation visiting Cleopatra Pools with a natural water slide (it’s faster and more slippery than you would think!!). This was such a fun experience after a long day of kayaking and the water was freezing! Ice baths for everyone. Question: What was the total number of times that everyone went down the water slide ? (Leave your guess in the comments).
If you thought we’d done enough swimming - you’re wrong! It was some of the teams first time swimming in New Zealand ocean or even the ocean at all!…. Another special moment was exploring and crawling into caves along the beach where we landed upon glowworms ! How cool is it that God takes his time caring and designing each little detail that we don’t even think about, this is one of the joys we’ve been experiencing lately on Off The GRID.
A key focus of our study this week is thinking about what’s stopping us from sharing our faith? We reflected upon the idea of unlearning fear that is holding us back from our potential to be at work in the world as an image bearer of Christ. We’re sure you can agree that we as humans get stuck on the troubles and circumstances we are in instead of the blessings we have around us which causes us to loose sight of Gods holiness - does this story sound familiar?
After washing the salt off from every item you could imagine we set out for a day walk to revisit Abel Tasman’s National Park for the 3rd time! (Question: Can you guess how far we walked? Hint: We were walking for 8 hours.) The forecast wasn’t looking the best but with God's provision we were blessed with sunshine and blue skies. This was an opportunity to push the team to go further and to practice the qualities of what makes a good leader. Can you guess what phrase keeps us motivated as a team? (Hint: You’ve already read it!)
We are finishing the week off by praying for unreached countries in need and some members of the team speaking at Hope Community Church on Sunday - keep them in your prayers!
Prayer requests:
1 - That all of us would have the energy, strength, and focus for the next busy and challenging week ahead
2 - We would enjoy every moment that we’ve got left
DAYNA: Hey everyone! I’m so blessed to experience what I’m experiencing here. Each day is filled with Gods word, laughter, stunning scenery and silly Dayna humour (thanks to my teammates for putting up with my would you rather questions and spontaneous dances when you read this ;) To everyone at home, my mind is at peace and God is showing me more joy each day in the littlest things. Something that might surprise you is that I’m so happy without my phone!! Another thing is I’m almost fluent in German ‘Ich bin müde weil ich so weit gelaufen bin’ (Can you guess what this means?) God is growing me so much! I’m enjoying each day and have so many stories to tell you all when I get home :)
SIMONE: Heii zeme! I gnüsse jede Moment vo minre Offline-Ziit do in Neuseeland und chent sogar no länger ohne Handy sii als die 40 Täg (da hetti so überhaupt ned denkt). I cha chum glaube das mir bereits Halbziit hend, d Ziit do verflügt nur so, was sicher au am volle Programm liit. Täglich derfi Neus über Gott und sis Wort i de Bible lerne, Gottes Schöpfig bestuune und viel mit mim Team lache, was richtig guet tuet. I chas chum erwarte zum eu vo all mine Erlebnis z verzelle und i cha eu sege do gits so einigi!
Translation:
Hey everyone! I enjoy every moment of my offline time here in New Zealand and I now think I could do a media fast for even longer than 40 days (I didn’t expect this at all!). I can’t believe we already passed the halfway mark, the time here is really flying. I mean the schedule is always packed with lots and lots of activities. I feel so blessed to learn something new about God and his Word every day and I’m always stunned about seeing God’s beautiful creation when we’re out in nature. Another thing I really enjoy is the time with my teammates and all the laughs we can share every day and all day long. I’m already so exited to tell you about all the experiences here.
Written by Dayna (England) & Simone (Switzerland) on behalf of the entire OTG Team