Our last week in Wellington

We are right now getting ready to leave our hostel in Wellington for the last time. It is a bittersweet feeling of leaving the people we have been connecting with and getting to head home. It is obvious from walking around and talking that we are not from here. Though we have really enjoyed our time, we belong in another place. Just like we have to consistently remind ourselves that we are “aliens and strangers” in this world and meant to go home to heaven.

Again, so much has happened that I need to update you about… I’m not sure I’ll get the chance in the short time that I have. Our last few weeks have been really great. We had a Killing the Giants week, a flat (aka “apartment”) cleaning outreach to Uni students, a visit from the National Campus director of Student Life Justin O’Malley and a celebration dinner with a visit from the National Director of New Zealand Roger Osbaldiston.

The Killing the giants week is centered around the passage in 1 Samuel 17 with David and Goliath where David relies on God’s provision to defeat a giant against overwhelming odds. Our team was challenged during the week to write down a giant in their life that they needed God to intercede for them to overcome. Things ranged from sharing the Gospel with 20 people, writing a letter to a friend that they know doesn’t know the Lord, to seeing people come to Christ! It was great at the end to hear not only how God provided for the things that they asked, but also for how their hearts grew for the things they were praying and trusting God to do. It was definitely something where we were all forced to step out in faith, out of our comfort zones, and do something that we knew God could do. We all wrote our giant on a smooth stone and at the end of the week said how God had work and then threw it into the ocean as a symbol of the single stone that David used to kill Goliath. During the middle of the week we were able to go to a local rugby “test” between the Wellington Lions and the Otago… somethings… Wellington embarrassed them 65 to 7 and it seemed like our group was cheering the loudest in the stadium. It seemed strange to us that most kiwis just don’t get incredibly in to sports like we do in the states.

The cleaning outreach was a stretching time for us both physically and geographically. Students signed up on campus that lived in flats spread out over Wellington. We split our group up into 5 person groups and each team had 2 flats to clean in a day. We cleaned kitchens, bathrooms, washed dishes, etc. for 30 minutes and then shared the Gospel right after. It was a good experience for us and it was interesting to hear how people were just really surprised that we were just cleaning for free. Ultimately, it was a great way for us to serve the Wellington STINT team (since they can’t do that type of outreach with only four people) and to show the students whose flats we cleaned a tangible representation of God’s love.

We ended our time with a challenge to think about returning to New Zealand on STINT in the next few years. Almost all of the current team isn’t coming back and there is an extreme need for guys. Justin O’Malley talked with those who were interested and 7 of our students are going to apply to STINT within the next year! Right before we left, Roger Osbaldiston came to thank us for serving in New Zealand this summer. We had a meal to celebrate our time at a restaurant off the water. It was a great night!

Thanks so much for keeping up with us this summer. I am going to make a few more posts to close everything up with our debrief and some final stats of what you have been a part of this summer. Thanks again!

dave

picture 1 – we got to give the Wellington Lions mascot, Leo the Lion, a high five
picture 2 – Brian enjoying one of the many large lattes we got. I have heard that Wellington has the highest number of cafes per capita in the world. There is seriously one every 10 feet.
picture 3 – The STINT team after we treated them to a meal. From left to right; Matt, Alex, Jen and Sarah [not pictured Chris, Josh and Jill]
picture 4 – Our sign up time for the cleaning outreach with Amanda and Amy manning the table
picture 5 – The guys decided to wear all matching plaid shirts at one of our weekly meetings