Rock and roll in the snow

Hello World!


From Queenstown we made our way to Omarama. And the guys experienced the first cold night with George. On Saturday morning we went to New Zealand’s highest mountain, stunning Mt. Cook (3754 feet). On the glacier lake our ice-skating was entertaining us.

Ballet Dance Class

Back on the road we were impressed by the amazing view of the alpine scenery. That night we spent in lake Tekapo backpackers. After the Sunday morning church service in a nice and welcoming little church we found the worlds biggest jersey as well as a mosaic which the shop owner has passionately worked on for 25 years.

On Monday we started our 3-day tramp at Mt. Sommers. We had the most beautiful weather and a lot of fun walking, sliding and rolling through the snow in the winter-wonderland. The team unanimously declared it as The Best Tramp.

Wednesday and Thursday night we spent in Christchurch where we had an exciting and interesting city rally where Bea and Karo became best mates with the police department. To prepare ourselves for the cold of the next tramp we relaxed the whole afternoon in the natural hot pools of Hanmar Springs.

On our tramp in Lewis Pass Reserve the "Snowmen Inc." was founded which produced a whole population of American snowmen. (Audra, not used to snow, made a trail of snowmen every where we went.)

Due to a bad weather forecast (which didn’t come true) the team had a whole day to build a tremendous igloo. Special honour to Nathan and Sara for the amazing artwork, the essential rain pipe and fancy chimney.




After a really nice and interesting evening in Murchison Kiwi Park we now sadly say Goodbye to George. Thank you George for personal encouragement, challenging discussions, wonderful tramps and the yogurt! We thank everyone for your prayers as the Mt. Sommers tramp turned out to be awesome.

Norm & Christy are back with us now and we will be heading back to the North Island soon. Please keep on praying as we still have 3 weeks left to grow and intensely focus on God. Please pray continuously that we will have many more opportunities to meet people to talk about our faith with.

Prayer Requests:

- Continued good weather on our journey.

- Excitement to talk to people wherever we go.

- Health & safety for our last tramp & travelling.

- To continue to bond together as a TEAm and support, encourage & share with each other these last three weeks.

Thank you for your prayers!

Bea, Phil, Nathan & the TEAm

"Others" Focused & Milford Sound

Hello Everyone,

This past week the focus for the TEAm has been on "serving others" and looking for ways to bless people around us instead of always focusing on ourselves and what we want/need. We all have opportunities every day to serve others, even in secret! This exercise helps us look outside of "us" and bless someone else.

In our travels this past week we left Queenstown, drove to Te Anau for a night, and then headed on to Milford Sound.

Tuesday dawned bright, cold and sunny and we explored Milford Sound by boat. We praised our Lord for the beauty of His creation as we marveled at cascading waterfalls, mountains that fell straight down into the sea, seals on rocks, and a beautiful blue sky above.

A curious Kea near Milford Sound

We also took several day walks on our journey to Milford, taking the time to hike up to Key Summit one fine afternoon.

Exploring Key Summit

On our way back to Queenstown, we stopped to appreciate the scenery and the TEAm mastered a "rock balancing challenge" for this photo.

Once back at Lakeland Park in Queenstown, we spent the afternoon doing a service project and chopped and stacked some trees that had been cut down earlier that day. It was great fun and a joy to help Lindsey & Marian out in such a practical way. Marian made a delicious pavlova topped with cream and fruit - an ending to a perfect day.

The week has been full of "secret serving" and it has been fun to see what creative ways everyone has thought of to serve each other. We have also focused on seeing the bigger picture that life is not all about meeting our own needs and desires, but following Christ's example of being a servant and putting others first. In addition to this, we've been talking about 'why' we do what we do, not just what we do. When we serve, is it to bring attention to us, or to meet a need in Christ's Name? A good thing to evaluate ourselves on often.

The TEAm is now on a tramp at Mt. Somers, so watch for updates in the next week or so!

Please pray for physical strength for the TEAm to complete all hikes, for good weather as they are out in the backcountry, and for opportunities to meet new friends and share God's love with them.

Until next time...

Mountains, Icicles & Beaches

Hello Everyone!

Last week was another exciting adventure on the roads of NZ. We left Riwaka on Saturday, said our goodbyes to Chris, Liz, and Ruth, and drove down the West Coast.

Norm & Christy took a week break in Auckland, so we had the privilege to have Daniel as our TEAm leader (former TEA participant).

We picked up a hitchhiker from Spain who we saw later in Queenstown J. He made the journey with us to Westport where we stayed overnight. Along the road we went to view a seal colony, a cave (without seals and glow worms ;) ), and the pancake rocks (a funny looking rock formation). The local Anglican church welcomed us warmly on Sunday morning.

The pattern of the next few days was pretty much similar. We stayed every night in a different holiday park, drove 3-4 hours/day and stopped to view or walk in beautiful places. During our study times each one of us were asked to talk about a difficult topic relating to Christianity. For instance: Are there mistakes in the Bible? How could an all-powerful, loving God allow suffering on earth, etc? Those moments were challenging and took us deeper into the Bible.

An hour away from the coast, we arrived at Franz Joseph Glacier where we witnessed a beautiful rainbow. Walking in the ”bed” of the Glacier over stones and rocks to the edge of Franz Joseph was great fun. The majesty of it impressed all of us.

Before taking our quarters in the holiday park, we had a look at Lake Matheson, a jungle like walk to a tranquil lake reflecting the forest and mountains surrounding it.

Haast was our next day´s destination. We made a random stop and happened upon a salmon farm. This inspired our chief cook, Thomas, to prepare a feast for that evening : salmon pasta. That´s where we met a cool friendly guy from France with perfect Australian English!

We took off early the next morning towards Wanaka. We stopped at Fantails Falls and Thunder Creek Falls, a high waterfall in the forest overwhelmed by tourists. For lunch we stopped on a beach of Lake Wanaka which turned out to become one of our best and warmest lunches. The guys built a fire and we baked bread on sticks and topped them with maple syrup – yummo . Daniel played on his fancy guitar and we took some time to praise our Creator and talk about one of the topics. Memorable experience...

We were glad that our shelter for the night had a hot spa pool and a fire stove. As you probably all know, it can get quite cold this time of year on the South Island. We stayed there two nights and met a nice, newlywed Aussie couple who explained to us a lot about the Aborigines of Australia.

The next evening, after a day hiking near Wanaka at the Diamond Lake, we settled into a nice chalet in Queenstown and had a private show by our favourite actor, Phil. He acted out a scene from one of Shakespeare’s plays. Phil temporarily became Launce as he acted out his goodbyes to his parents, represented by shoes...mmh...great theatre!

Saturday morning lying in...breakfast at 8:30, yes! And guess what? We had pancakes, special American recipe by Audra : with strawberries and maple syrup, bacon and eggs. It was also our awaited laundry day! Sara bumped into a friend that she hadn’t seen in 16 years and had gone to primary school with. She was very excited to have a “catch up” coffee with her! In the meantime, the rest of us went up to check out the ski slopes at Coronet Peak. One thing leading to another, the snowballs flew as we made our way back to the van.

Norm and Christy finally joined us after their flight was cancelled due to excessive clouds and having to drive 7 hours from Christchurch...Prayer requests : for safe technology in NZ airports and cloudless skies (this is a joke, mums don´t worry)...

Prayer Requests:

- That we meet more people or find creative ways to go where people are for sharing our faith and having conversations with them about God.

- That we learn more creative ways to serve each other and people we meet.

- Safety during our skiing day this week.

- That we continue to push ourselves and go deeper in God´s Word & ask ourselves the tough questions.

Thanks for your prayers! God bless!

TEA-03/2009

What a Week!

Hello Everyone!

The past week has been an action packed time as we have been in the backcountry, to the coast, and in places in between. We have been learning more about sharing our faith in Christ and being "real" with people we meet.

One lovely day we went to Wharariki Beach and brought with us Chris & Liz Salt, Ruth (TEA-02/2009), Daniel (TEA-01/2009), Kathleen and her son Matt. Kathleen has been working on the new OMNZ website.


The beach was beautiful with some impressing arches and caves. Our unsuccessful search for fossils led us to a small cave. Daniel and Phil entered a cave to explore and were suddenly startled by a loud growl. At the same time, in a separate cave, Nathan & Audra were also exploring and came across an unexpected occupant of the cave... we heard a loud and scary scream: "Seal!" the guys ran out of the cave chased by a big, angry - ready to attack - seal! Alarmed by the scream the whole group started running, too funny! We were impressed by how fast a seal can run, and even more impressed by how fast we could run from it.

Yeah! We outran the seal!!!

On Sunday we attended church in Motueka and went to the outdoor Sunday Market.

From Monday to Thursday we tramped through icy, rainy and snowy Nelson Lakes National Park. Phil was excited because he saw his first live NZ possum in the bush. In our wood-fired cosy huts we prepared mediterranian food in the evenings, that reminded us of the sun we didn't see for four days. We made some new friends in Lakehead Hut and that evening lost track of time and ended up talking late into the night. We hope to run into them again during our travels around the country.

Hiking through snow & freezing rain! Brrr!

Morning devotions in Lakehead Hut

Everyone warm & cozy in John Tait Hut

At the end of our hike through freezing & beautiful landscapes we were glad to meet Audra and Nathan again when we returned to Riwaka. They had stayed behind to recover and had the benefit of a hot shower and dry clothes. With the whole team back together we spent the evening telling stories of our adventures. By the way... if you want to have fun and do some team building at the same time - drawing rocking grandmas works best (a game we played as a TEAm). ;-)

Next week we are heading down the west coast towards Queenstown with Daniel (Heavy D - former TEA participant on TEA-01/2009), who will be leading us for the week.

Please pray for:

~ Good conversations and discussions about God with people we meet.
~ Protection on the road as we travel South.
~ Good health for the TEAm - a few of us are not feeling well.
~ For us to grow in our relationship with the Lord as we travel & study together.

Thank you for your prayers!

TEA-03/2009 (Thomas, Karolin, Nathan, Audra, Sara, Phil, Beate)

Burnt Food, Lots of Chilli, Seals and Sun

Hello to the world,

Guten Tag tout le monde,

Well we left the base in Papakura and said our goodbye to George and Carolyn.

Finally our grand voyage awaited us and we were all excited what the journey would hold for us. Our first stop was the lovely village of Taupo. Getting to our first holiday park we jumped right into the thermal hot pool, before cuddling up to watch a chick flick.

Thomas, Karolin and Phil felt it would wake them up to go bungy jumping before church. Phil's yelling woke up the neighbours and was fun for everyone. At the Baptist Church in Taupo we helped double the congregation and the preacher assumed we where all Norm and Christy's children ;o)

After church we quickly headed to the Desert Road and saw our first sight of snow, then reached cold Levin.


On Monday morning we left Levin quickly and hit the road to Wellington. We spend a few hours in the Te Papa National Museum which enlarged our knowledge of lovely New Zealand.

It was an early morning on Tuesday to catch the ferry to the South Island, and some of our stomachs were struggling so we sat outside to admire the beauty of the mountains floating by. We finally arrived in a lovely spot, Chris and Liz's Backpackers located in Riwaka. This is a gorgeous place!!!

Getting some fresh air on the ferry

Kiwi-Burger-Experts

Here we met Ruth and Daniel (ex-TEA-teamers) who where staying and helping out at the backpackers. Thank you for the great dessert Ruth!


On Wednesday we left for our second tramp in Able Tasman National Park which is situated in the northwest corner of the South Island. We arrived at Anchorage hut at dusk and were incredibly impressed by the amazing view from the beach. What a stunningly peaceful place!

The special of the day: (created by the guys) pasta and "smoked" cheese and mushroom sauce. We could safely say that our taste buds were as abused, while eating, as our shoulders were while tramping. Not to mention the overuse of chilli-powder...???

The lovely sunshine gave us an oppurtunity to take a walk before lunch where we bumped into a few New Zealand fur seals. We then used the brains of our engineers and artists in the group to create the photo below:



In the evening we sat down and played a few games in a full and hot hut, where we had our first interesting discussions.

Today we had an early morning and enjoyed the gorgeous sunny trip back to the van. After the walk, we appreciated the showers back in Riwaka and sat on the veranda to enjoy lunch.



Thank you for your prayers!

Please be praying for the coming weekend, that we will have a good time to recover from the past trip and also will have the chance to meet new people to spread the word. Also pray for our 5 day tramp next week (mon-fri). Pray that the Lord may send us many people on our way to share the Good News with and that God will talk and move through us.



Amen!



Phil & Bea & the TEAm

First Tramp Into the Wild!

Hello Everyone,

We have just returned from the TEAm's first tramping trip - three days in the Coromandel! This was a trip to stretch those legs, get used to walking with a pack on our backs, and test out all that new gear. We stayed in Pinnacles Hut, the largest hut in New Zealand, which sleeps 80 people comfortably. There was more than enough room for us as well as many new friends we made while there. While there we covered some training materials and had great discussions as we looked into God's Word.

Morning Devotions in Pinnacles Hut

TEAmbuilding...Can we untie ourselves?

Several of the TEAm learned how to cook porridge for the whole group, and a fine job too! Others helped prepare dinners which everyone was grateful for. We also found that some on this TEAm like to tell stories in their sleep, which makes for an interesting night!

Mmmm...Dinner Prep!

Hangin' Out at the Local Tree Stump

Today we hit the road to begin our travels South! The TEAm will not return here until two days before their program ends. Please be praying for them as they embark on this journey with God. Each have come for specific reasons, and all are here to grow in their relationship with the Lord. We look forward to seeing what God will do. Please also pray for travel safety and good health for everyone.

Be sure and watch for regular updates on the TEAm's journey over the next nine weeks!

Thank you for your prayers!

Until next time...

Welcome TEA-03/2009!

Hello everyone!

Today was Day01 of the ten week journey that the TEA-03/2009 participants have begun here in New Zealand.

Let us introduce you to the TEAm:

Karolin (Germany)
Sara (Switzerland), Beate (Germany)
Audra (USA), Nathan (Wales), Philip (UK), Thomas (Germany)

Please be praying for these guys as they embark on this adventure with God together.

Thank you very much!

The last blog entry...

So here we are, day 7 of week 10... This week we have had some really good wind down time in preparation for our next chapter in our journey's. The first of the tears have already been shed as we've become like family. We have to remind ourselves that it's not life that's over, its just the end of one thing and the beginning of another.

We've had a great week! We spent three days at Popamoa Beach - one of the most beautiful beaches we have seen. The holiday park we stayed at was practically at the water's edge. We've had a lot of time for ourselves this week and have enjoyed taking the time to walk along the beach, absorbing all we have learned over the past 10 weeks.

Just as the outdoor adventures had come to an end, we embarked on a new indoor adventure - rock climbing. It was challenging but a really good work out. It was definitely harder than it looked and we totally felt the burn! But Jordo, you deserve a prize for the best TEA climber ever!

We went for a walk up Mount Monganui the other day and saw the most spectacular view. 10 weeks ago it would have been a hike but this end of the trip, it was a walk in the park!

Our last evening on the road was a perfect end to a perfect trip, it included our favourite meal: Thai Green Curry, worshipping on the beach with "the moon shining all around" and totally in God's presence with a gratitude of being here, a few tears of sadness but more of joy and and laughter when we played Balderdash! We had excellent fellowship that evening and made the decision to stop sleeping for the rest of TEA, as its a waste of time! (which didn't quite work).

So we are in Papakura now and some how our bags have just exploded in our bedrooms!? Today we plan to organise our thoughts and feelings as well as organise our packs in some sort of logical way. We should probably say goodbye to each other as well as some point which is no doubt going to be the hardest part of our day.

We will definitely miss Brittney's contagious laugh, Ally's enthusiasm and excitement (which is quite often two minutes later than everyone else's), Ruth's carrying of the T.V., Tyler's headphones, Jordan's "My deliverer" rendition. Christy's Uppy Uppy Song and 'yumo', Norm's "Normano Phillipe you make me so . . . " rendition, George's joke's, Kati's three sneezes in a row and Sarah's funny facial expressions.

Thank you so much once again for your support and prayers. Please continue to pray for us as we travel home this weekend. For our safety, our end here and our beginning back into reality. Can't wait to see everyone and we are so thankful to the Lord for bringing us here, working in our lives and giving us friend's for life.

For the last time...

All our love,

Britt, Ruth, Ally, Ty, Sarah, Jordo and Kati.

From One Amazing Day to the Next!

Hello Everyone! TEA 02/2009 here!

....Another 2 weeks have flown by. It's unbelievable - days seem like hours, and hours almost like minutes. But we still have one week left, and that's a lot of time...

It was nice to go back to Chris and Liz's, to see the progress in their backpackers. It's going to be a beautiful place when it's finished. We feel privileged to have played a small part in it. After a walk round the market where we sampled the pancakes from the guy we met in a hut in Nelson Lakes, we went to church in Motueka.

Then we headed further north to the Capell's (a lovely couple who live in the mountains out in the wop wops). We had an amazing time there! They really made us feel at home even though we are far away from home. Sharon is an amazing cook, she made the most delicious Cinnamon rolls, among other delicacies... Yummo! We were also able to help Dennis on the ranch. We broke off loose stones from the cliff side that were falling off and helped him widen the road so his landrover would fit. We also helped him lay a water pipe for the house, he even let us drive his landrover!!!!

Their dog "Honey" was adorable. We were very proud of her when she hunted a possum from up a tree.

During a rainy day, we had a lot of time to reflect and talk with God. He showed us many things and spoke to us about the decisions ahead of us.

While we were at the Capell's, Norm taught all of us car maintenance 101, and told us girls that when picking a husband, he must know how to fix a car and chop firewood! =)

Saying goodbye was very hard, and it was even harder to say goodbye to the South Island as it meant our trip was coming to an end. The ferry crossing was like a rollercoaster and some of us did not find it very funny! But we survived.

As we made our way farther north back to Papakura, we anticipated yet another "changing of the guards" as we saw off Norm and Christy, only to be joined by George in front of Te Papa Museum in Wellington to begin a special week which has us filled with thankfulness and is sure to never be forgotten. The week started with an absolutly incredible celebration of our risen Lord, Jesus Christ at Elim Bible Church just a short walk away from our campsite. We were greeted at the door by a crowd of Samoan men and women, both dawning traditional tribal skirts. We spent the morning singing in celebration in remembrance of Christ's ressurection, and were invited to a Easter dinner roast prepared by our gracious hosts, Kevin and Charmain of Camp Elsdon. Great food and fellowship was shared and we even got to celebrate our new friend Cemil's 20th birthday.

We packed up our rucksacks and embarked on three days in the Tararuas Mountain Ranges. Our first day was a great challenge as we made our way through the steep sub-alpine forest of Mt. Holdsworth. After several hours of climbing through the moss blanketed forest that seemed straight out of the "Lord of the Rings" movies, we emerged at the main ridge to see the roof of Powell hut. As the day gave way to night and our stomachs full of Tim Tam slams, we hunkered down for a very warm and windy night. Tuesday morning started early with Brittney squealing "If you want to see the sunrise you better get up!" At last check that was 5:57 AM, but with groggy eyes we sat in awe of the creativity of our Creator God as the day was ushered in by a sea of flourescent oranges, ambers and reds.

In the warmth of the of the hot New Zealand sun we began our traverse of Mt.Holdsworth. We took full advantage of our beautiful surroundings pausing for classic jumping pictures - and we even managed to squeeze in a snowball fight.

After several more hours walking we yet again we settled into our mountaintop home for the night, Jumbo Hut. The night was filled with laugh's shared and lessons learned. In the glow of the brilliant night sky we ended this day to the sound of Katy pleading with our coldblooded hut mate's "please, no more coal, it's so hot!"

Wednesday morning offered another spectacular sunrise as George explained the plans for the coming days. First, we had to make our way down from our cozy hut above the clouds and make camp in the brisk autumn air of Taihapi. We crawled half frozed from our tents Thursday morning to the promise of much warmer muscles as we set off to climb Mt. Ngauruhoe, better known as Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings.

Walking from the cark park we braced ourselves for the challenge that lay ahead, after walking 10 k's through the Tongariro crossing we stood peering up at the 2,291 meter Volcano. Step by step we pressed upwards through the steep volcanic crag's and after the occasional dust shower, all eight of us arrived at the summit with sore legs and even sorer cheeks from the enormous smile's now on all of our faces. With the insisting of George we made our way back down, which proved to be quite adventerous, as nearly every step unearthed large rocks that rushed end over end towards the climbers below. After a brief wait in the clouds, we formed a line and with hand in hand proceeded to "scree slide" down the loose gravel face of the volcano.

Friday morning the whole gang walked down to Taupo bungy to support Katy, Brittney, and Tyler as they hurled themselves from the 47meter ledge that stood above the waters of Lake Taupo. After some great camera work from Sarah, and cheering from Ruth, Ally and Jordan, Tyler lept twice; once fowards, once backwards, Katy nearly woke up the neighborhood with her screams as she fell and with a "supportive" push from the bungy master, Brit lept very frog-like only to procliam, "I don't like this!" as she dangled above the waters below. After a very entertaining morning, we enjoyed lunch on the shores of Taupo as buzzed about the week's blessings we all agreed it couldn't get any better. Little did we know what that night had in store. We set off to follow George to the natural thermal pools that was at the basin of the Waikato river. We found ourselves chin deep in the thermal water, beneath the canopy of countless stars.

As we prepared to be joined once again by Norm and Christy in Rotorua, we made the most of the remaining time with George asking him to retell some of his classic jokes as we gawked at the amusing boiling mud pools, only too all to soon part ways on the shores of Lake Rotorua and put an end to a week that will become some very fond memories.

After meeting up with Norm and Christy we drove to "Cozy Cottage" holiday park to set up camp for the next couple of nights. We enjoyed our team favourite "Kiwi burgers" before snuggling into our sleeping bags for the night. The next morning we awoke well rested "finally" since the ground we were sleeping on was heated from an underground volcano! The team piled into the van and headed to church located at Calvery Chapel in Rotorua. We enjoyed a beautiful service and throughly enjoyed the message which talked about evangelism and the cost of discipleship. This message was appropriate as it was exactly what we are studying this week.

Following the service our team prepared a Hungi supper which is a traditional Maori meal cooked over a thermal vent in the ground!

With just one week left of TEA, the team is determined to make the most of every second. Please pray that:

- We would make the most of every moment

- Take action in every opportunity

- We will be prepared for re-entry into the "real" world

- Continued safety as we travel in New Zealand

- An attitude of gratitude

- A focus on others

From all on TEAm 2: Ally, Ruth, Katy, Brittney, Sarah, Tyler and Jordan

Tales from the West Coast with TEA-02/2009

Its been another busy and eventful week and a half. We made our way back up the West Coast. We've stopped in many towns along the way including Wanaka where we walked up a mountain in which there were spectacular 360 degree views from the peak (It was good training for the leg muscles).

After that we had a fun afternoon at Puzzling World working out illusions and had our teamwork and patience tested at the garden maze... Brittney was tempted to use the emergency exit of the maze and Ruth and Sarah were desperately trying to resist the temptation to crawl under the fence. On the way to Fox Glacier we stopped at the side of the road to view some amazing waterfalls. We were amazed to see some (what we assume were) local college students create hundreds of small stone statues which only added to the already incredible view. Our team then walked through a dense rain forest which led to a stunning beach, the kind you only see on postcards. During this time we were able to sit in awe of God's work as the waves crashed into the beach. We all enjoyed the hour of prayer at the beach although we were eaten alive by sandflies. Some of us went to extreme lengths to keep the pesty critters at bay. We were just amazed at the diversity of the scenery all around us. We saw rain forests, beautiful beaches and glaciers all within a hours of each other.

We stayed at Fox Glacier for a night before packing up and travelling to Greymouth. As there were no churches in the area we had our own church by a stream, surrounded by God's glorious creation. We enjoyed a fire on the beach that night which involved dampers and chocolate bananas and to top it all off a spectacular sunset!

The following day we made our way to Westport stopping off on the way at Punakiki to see the pancake rocks and blow holes at high tide. We had a laugh watching the waves roll in and build up through the blow holes drenching us from head to toe. Each time a rainbow appeared above the blast of water reminding us of God's promise and his presence with us on this trip.

When we eventually arrived at Westport we attempted to pitch our tents (Ruth and Ally had a few problems as the tent had a mind of it's own). We packed our bags and food and headed to bed early, in preparation for our longest tramp yet at Nelson Lakes National Park.

On the first day of our five day tramp we walked for three hours to Lakehead Hut which was packed with many other trampers which gave us many opportunities for conversations about Christ.

On the second day we walked for five hours uphill to John Tait hut where we met two locals who own stands at the market in Motueka (we plan to meet up with them before church on Sunday).

The third took three hours of tough terrain to Upper Traver's Hut. Some of the gang stayed behind to journal while the rest of the team made it's way up the most challenging part of the tramp yet . . . the SADDLE!!! Jordan and Tyler even made it up a further ridge to top off the views. The struggle to reach the summit was well worth it as the view from the top blew us away.

On day four we walked from Upper Travers Hut to Lakehead hut. The walk took SEVEN LONG HOURS and we were all relieved to reach the hut. Our night at the hut involved the most surreal events in the history of T.E.A. There was a snoring competition to where there was more than one winner, giggling girls, other interesting noises and an alarm clock that went off at 4:30 AM that no one seemed to own up to or turn off. The alarm went off 4 times every 15 minutes before Ally eventually removed the pack (which contained the alarm) from the building.

On day five we made it out of the park in record time as kiwi fruit and showers were waiting for us.

In the past 7 weeks we have continued to meet and talk with a lot people from around the world. We have been challenged with tough questions and as a result have grown from the experience. We have had many God centered conversations, some going on for hours and others for a few minutes. Despite the length of time, the seed has been planted and we are leaving the rest in the hands of the Gardner (God).

Prayer requests:

- Continue to have discipline as a team and as individual for achieving our goals

- Continue to step outside our comfort zone to bring glory to God

- Make the most of every moment and opportunity

- Choosing our attitudes wisely

- Safety

- The people that we have met along the way

- Praise God for blessing us with the most beautiful weather on our tramp

Thank you for your love and prayers. Will continue to keep you posted.

Crunchie, Touque, DJ, Sunshine, Allyburger, Twinkletoes and Frostie.