Week 6: West Coast Road Trippin

For the last week of Off The Grid, we hit the road! Unfortunately, Shadowfax (OTG team van) is still in the shop, but we were able to rent a van for the exact amount of time we needed – cool to see God move even in the little things. The west coast was beautiful, and we enjoyed having a different means of seeing the country. The time on the trip was spent playing games together, reading, and enjoying the landscape or an occasional nap. Along the way to our destination, we stopped to have some Bible study time overlooking the sea as well as some exquisite geological formations – the Pancake Rocks.

The next day, we went to a glacial river where the members of our team who think they are the bravest and most daring went for an icy dip. We finished the day with a creative dinner on the beach. It was special to be able to relax and spend time with our teammates as we were beginning to think about the transition out of Off The Grid.

We had a few days at Basecamp to settle down and focus on enjoying the last little moments with our team. In this time, we also continued working on our plans to finish Off The Grid well. It is important to us to take what we have learned and implement it in each of our environments. We reflected on significant times throughout our 40 days and how the Lord has spoken to each of us. We all have action steps that we want to take back home. We also had a dinner with the entire Off The Grid leadership team. The leaders blessed us by praying for us and sending us out. It was a meaningful time to recap some of our leadership development concepts with the whole team, and it was a good excuse to have a small fiesta to conclude Off The Grid.

We spent the last morning doing a group debrief, worshipping, and praying for each individual. Our lunch on day 40 signified the official end of the program. Our phones were given back, and we all looked at the foreign objects in our hands with blank stares because we all had cherished the distraction-free time here in New Zealand. As we pack up, one by one people depart to go their separate ways.

Some of us are on our way home and straight back to work, others are traveling around the country for a few weeks, and a couple are staying longer for internships with OM.

Prayer:

- Pray that we would continue with our momentum – focusing on what we have learned and how God has spoken to us

- Pray for safe travels heading home as well as around New Zealand

Thank you for reading along with us and being part of our time here at OTG 01/2023!

Please enjoy our “conglomeration of all these sophisticated and infrequently used English words we have accumulated on the program.”

“Our time in New Zealand has been a plethora of profusely enlightening moments. The anachronistic lifestyle without a phone helped us to notice a copious number of things on our periphery that we otherwise may have missed. We learned about Christ’s atonement needed to free us from our implicated human state. We are not to approach this notion surreptitiously, but with boldness proclaim the stellar news. Jesus loves us heaps! Inconceivable!”

Please leave a comment/short note for our team!

Written by Jan (Switzerland) & Ricky (USA) on behalf of the entire OTG Team