Our first experiences in Wellington

Finally in Wellington and we have now been here for a few days. Our team is doing a great job adapting to the city. We have done a few scavenger hunts (one for the city and one for the campuses we will be ministering to) and most folks know their way around fairly well. Everyone has had a lot of fun, but it has been easy for them to get worn out. The city scavenger hunt on Saturday took 4 hours and had them walking to city landmarks, singing to a local barista, sharing the Gospel with a stranger and finding out facts about the city. Lindsay and I got to walk around the city the day before to take pictures and put it all together and it was fun for me to get reacquainted with the city from last year. If you wanted to compare Wellington to a city in the States, I would say it’s kind of like a mini-New York [and I mean very mini]. It is a very cosmopolitan city and for the most part pretty expensive, especially due to the poor exchange rate on the US dollar in New Zealand right now – but, as they say here, no worries. Our team is learning to budget as well as some great tools to share the Gospel.

Today we had some cultural training where we all learned a little bit more about the Kiwi culture. Something very important for us to learn is something known as the tall poppy syndrome. The tallest poppy gets cut down. Contrary to the way things are in the States, if someone excels at something or is better than others that is seen as a negative thing. So we have to tone down our American attitude of wanting to be the best so as not to hurt our opportunity to share the Gospel. Just as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, “I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.” We also did some training on two of the five follow up materials we will be using with new or newer believers to make sure they are grounded in their faith and to set them up as best as we can to be leaders in the movement here and to multiply those truths to other people, like their friends, who need to hear the Gospel.

A fun story happened Saturday as the students and staff team were out at the scavenger hunt. Lindsay and I were taking some time to get a late breakfast and spend some time in the Word at a local café. As we finished a young Cambodian girl named Kesar who is going to be studying at the Uni (short for University – it’s the term everyone uses here) and works at the café came over to clear our plates and saw that we were reading the Bible and asked if we went to church in the area. We told here about the church we are going to [called “The Street”] and about Student Life at Victoria Uni. She told us she couldn’t make the morning service but would like to come to the night one so our whole team got to meet here at the night service and then she hung out with us afterward. She offered to make dinner for our whole team while we were here! She loved the church and said she wants to keep going and will hopefully be involved in the International dinner that Student Life is putting on in two weeks. Two of our girls from our team are going to go through some follow-up with her later this week. It was just fun to be a part of something God wanted to do in Kesar’s life and all we did was spend time with Him.

A few things you could pray for are:
1) Our team as we get ready to due the “Tune-in” outreach this Wednesday.
2) People are getting a little worn out from walking quite a bit around campus and the city. Pray for energy and excitement to get up and spend time with the Lord and go out to share the Gospel.

Thanks so much for all your prayers and support. Its great to read your comments and hear bits of feedback. I have been passing those bits on to folks on the team.

Dave

P.S. I forgot to mention a while ago that Amy Barton is doing great. Thanks for all your prayers!