Week One
Week One
Kia Ora, G’Day, Guten Tag, Hoi zäme, Hallo!
Here we are at our 40-day “Off-The-Grid” Challenge. Four of us travelled halfway around the world and one of us just flew across the ditch. It was exciting to meet our teammates and find out where they were from and what language they spoke: German, Swiss-German, Austrian-German and Australian-Learning German.
On Monday (official day 1) we had our first team meeting to prepare us for our adventures. We said goodbye to our devices so that we wouldn’t be distracted during our time here (not too many tears were shed). We prayed over them and for our fears and concerns. We also had our first Bible study which focussed on who God is. After this we checked that we had all the correct tramping gear, as Norm says, “every gram counts”, I think we all truly learned that lesson.
On Tuesday we set out on our first 3-day tramp. We all really enjoyed the beautiful scenery from tiny flowers to big mountains that God placed so wonderfully in his creation. Some places really looked like the Swiss Alps without villages. We also made some new friends, including the Bush Robin and … the biting sandflies. The girls slept inside Coldwater Hut and the boys slept in the great outdoors under a tarp.
Altogether we had a lot of walking, about 18 hours and 48 km. This gave us time to reflect on who God made us to be and the importance of staying strong in our faith. The last day was especially hard because we walked 9 hours in heavy rain. But this also gave us a good example of sin that covers the world, and even us, and what Jesus did to “dry” us.
We were all excited to go back to Base Camp, where Christy already waited with a delicious dinner.
On Friday night, back at Base Camp, we shared more about each other, and spoke about the reasons why God put us here on this journey and what He wants to teach us.
Prayer Requests
Please be praying for our:
TEAM: Thank the Lord for blessing us all with an amazing first week as a new team.
Pray for strength to help us through our upcoming tramps (we’ll need it!).
Pray that we grow more together as a team and get to know each other better.
FOCUS: We are thankful to have this opportunity to get to know God under these conditions.
Pray that we will continue to learn new things about God, who He is and what He has done for us.
Pray that we think about this every day that we are here and that we do not get distracted by something
else.
Thank you all!
Lucas: Hi ihr lieben in Deutschland! Ich hoffe bei euch regnet es nicht allzu viel und ihr kommt gut durch die Winterzeit. Lässt sich gut sagen, wenn man am anderen Ende der Welt in der Sonne sitzt. Aber dafür sind wir ja auch recht viel draußen! Die erste Woche war sehr ereignisreich, mit vielen neuen Eindrücken. Mir geht es hier sehr gut, abgesehen von den Blasen an meinen Füßen! J Ich freue mich auf die Zeit, die als Team vor uns liegt und auf eine Zeit in der ich Gott neu erleben darf und mir seine Größe neu bewusst wird! Vielen Dank für eure Gebete! Ich freue ich sehr euch bald wieder zu sehen. Liebe Grüße, Lucas J
English translation:
Hi you all in Germany! I hope it is not raining that much and you are able to pass the wintertime well. It’s easy to say, when you just sitting on the sunny side. But therefore we are outside quite a lot. In the first week we have been learning and doing a lot of different things. I’m doing very well, except for the blisters on my feet! J I’m really looking forward to spending more time with our team and get to know God better than before and see how almighty he is. Thanks a lot for your prayers! I’m happy to see you soon! Greeting, Lucas J
Abby: G’day my Aussie family (plus my American friends who I know will be reading this soon)! Just wanted to let you know that I’m having an AWESOME time with all my new German friends and speaking like a professional, Ja! I’m already learning new things and realising how strong I actually am (Hallum you may have forgot to mention how difficult the tramping can be at times…). I hope you are all doing well (especially you lil Hamish!) and thank you so much for the support that you continually give me. Love you all!
Please leave a comment/short note for our team!
Written by Abby (Australia) & Lucas (Germany) on behalf of the entire OTG Team
