Oh where to start?! We have been hit with the sudden reality that today is our offical final day of TEA! Where did the last 10 weeks disappear to?? Actually...they didn't disappear, they have been well spent, learning and growing spiritually and also in sharing our faith with many people we have met along the way!
The last 2 weeks have been busy, busy, busy. Continuing from our last blog entry those of us who wanted to test gravity did so. Hanne, Gunnva and Timon hit the skies and then hit the ground when they sky dived from 13,000ft in Motueka.
The following day we went to church in Motueka, where Gunnva spoke about what prayer means in her life. After church we shared lunch with TEA 02/09. And then said some emotional goodbyes to them. We might have only been with them for 5 days but here on TEA we bond quickly!
TEA-01 & 02/2009 together in Riwaka!
We then headed up to Picton with Norm where we caught the ferry back up to the North Island. We were meant to be doing a 3 day tramp with George, but unfortunatly Hanne's knee didn't hold out like we had hoped for, so we changed plans and headed to Whakapapa. It was a great opportunity to talk with people, nearly everyone in the camp kitchen! Judging by the weather that followed, God had it all in hand!! It poured with rain and turned freeeeeeeeezing!!! That still didn't stop us from walking though, and we did a day walk, minus Hanne (again =[ ), in the Tama Lakes! We would all agree that the views were ones never to forget. Mount Ruapehu, Mount Nguaruhoe and the Tama Lakes were all in full sight! We would also say it was the coldest place we have been on all of TEA! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
We then worked our way to Roturua- THE smelliest place on all the planet! We stayed for 2 nights at Cozy Cottage, a lovely little campsite thats built on thermal ground. We pitched our tents and were expecting a nice cozy night...what we actually got...was toasted! Four of us left there with sleeping mats and sleeping bags smelling like burnt popcorn due to sudden thermal activity over night! A traditional Maori Hangi (food cooked by steam from natural thermal vents in the ground) made up for this!
We made the most of the natural hot pools, some of us spending many hours straight in them talking with people. The talks were great, the shriveled prune feet were not! We also saw the bubbling mud pools- something extremely unique!
Next stop- Lakes Ranch. We spent the afternoon moving heavy materials in the guys case, and spring cleaning many a dorm in the girls case. We had lots of fun whilst doing this.
.."Everybody was kung-fu-cleaning"..
The rest of the day was spent horse riding =)
We each had a horse..all with very different characters. Timon was assigned Spotty, aka 'The Bean Machine,' Hanne rode Sharky- the name says it all really! Gunnva was paired with Bric, he liked to eat. Rahel was with Cracker..who cracked up whilst being ridden! Rahel handeled him like a pro! Naomi was on Lucky, who was a little to excited to get home! Finally Eva rode Chacha, she put us all to shame with her skills! Daniel stayed behind from riding due to allergies, so he spent some time talking with guys on the ranch and chilling out.
We are now back in Papakura where we are slowly packing our bags to leave. Please be praying for our journeys back home and to other destinations, and also that we may all be able to apply everything we have learned here to our lives outside of New Zealand. It has been a fun filled adventure and as we look back we can see definate changes and God prints in our lives. We are all so thankful for our time here and for all of the prayer support from our blog readers. You are all part of our journey!
TEA 01/2009 Signing Off
0 comments:
Post a Comment