Goodbye OTG, Hello New Chapter!

Hi all, this is our last blog!

As we write this blog, the last 24 hours of OTG have started…

On Saturday, we started our road trip. Kaikoura was our first stop, during the drive we stopped several times to soak in the beautiful scenery and the wildlife around us. We enjoyed watching dolphins, seals, and many birds. On our daywalk the next day we went all in to take a few creative team photos. Let’s just say we needed a lot of practice (What do you think how many times did we have to jump for the picture and who needed the most practice for doing a handstand? Write it down in the comments).

After spending two nights in Kaikoura, we drove to our next destination: Hanmer Springs. There we welcomed a new team member: We want to present to you GRANNY (Can you spot her in one of the pictures?).

Overall we enjoyed this last week together by spending as much quality time as possible with one another. This included deep conversations as well as many laughs about Granny (She’s just the best! Thanks to Helen for introducing her to us even though you’re 26!).

We had a few solitude moments this week. While we were heading for another walk to Conical Hill (Hanmer Springs), we stopped there for a while and thought about our strategies for our next chapters. We discussed about who we wanted to be and how to become the person we wanted to be. This included sharing our thoughts about facing the challenges outside this OTG bubble we have been living in the last 40 days and how to step up and be Christian leaders in our home countries.

In our Bible studies this week, we have learned several things from each other. The things that stood out the most for us were:

1.        Jakob: God has planned good things for us, but we can only experience them if we make ourselves available to Him.

2.        Helen: We are the jars of clay that hold the Treasure - Holy Spirit.

3.        Philipp: You should always trust God and he will never resent you like he did with Joseph.

4.        Lydia: Be the salt and the light in this world and don’t be ashamed to share the gospel.

5.        Dayna: We are whole and complete in Christ and we are image bearers, so be controlled and contagious.

6.        Bianca: Take time for Jesus, he wants to give you rest.

7.        Simone: We were reminded of our identities in God, by seeing how great HE is and how small we are. Even though we are weak and small, we are strong in Christ.

8.        Sean: Love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind, so that we can love others like Jesus.

Thank you, Norm and Christy and all the other leaders, for investing your time and energy on us! We appreciate it so much! And now it is time for us to say goodbye.  Goodbye Norm and Christy, goodbye Daryl, Andrea, Penny Sue, Franko, Peter and Paul, goodbye Granny, goodbye Boris (Basecamp skylark), goodbye Winston (Basecamp pheasant), goodbye wekas (flightless NZ bird), goodbye shark socks... we will miss you a LOT!

Prayer Requests:

·      Safe flights back home or for further travels

·      Stick to our plans and goals for transitioning back to life in our home countries

Written by Helen (Hong Kong) & Simone (Switzerland) on behalf of the entire OTG Team