Hello! We’ve had another great week learning, growing and hearing from God.

Saluttii zāmee die Wuche hämmer es Stückli Schwiiz in Neuseeland entdeckt. (We found a piece of Switzerland in New Zealand) The only thing that was missing were the Swiss cows with their bells.

This week the mountains were no longer quiet as you could hear the echo of our team chant. We also had a week full of celebration. We celebrated early Christmas, Thanksgiving and God’s wonderful creation.

This weeks tramp was a big team highlight. The elevation and boulder fields didn’t stop us from getting to the ridge were we could see the majestic mountain scenery God created. After many hours we arrived at Angelas Hut. We were all stunned and Ye Jin even asked “ is this really our hut ?“ From the hut we could see two lakes and were surrounded by beautiful mountains. Obviously being us we had to take a dip in the lake. This was great entertainment for the other people in the hut as they were watching us climb into a lake that was so cold and next to snow. Norm used the same cold water to surprise us with a backcountry chocolate pudding, another highlight!

This week we were looking in Acts, at the early church and we were amazed at how they lived with so much fire for Jesus and commitment to the church family. We are encouraged to use this as an example to rise up a church environment that is fired up for Jesus, spreading His love and being fishers of men. We were lucky enough to have a special guest this week. Miles, a Pastor from the North Island, joined us and we used the opportunity to bombard him with questions. Many of us found this useful as we don’t often get the opportunity to talk to a Pastor in this sort of environment.

Everytime we stay in a hut, we clean it before we leave. On this tramp we really experienced how grateful people were for us to clean and how it touched them as its not a normal thing to do. On our hike to the next hut, we took time to be quiet and pray for our loved ones back home that don’t know the Lord.

Another highlight was the last day of the tramp where we woke up in the hut and there was a storm outside. We were all exited to walk back to the van in the wind and the rain.

Last week we celebrated Christmas and this week we had another holiday…Thanksgiving! We had a big dinner with a homemade pumpkin pie from Christy. (Soo gooood) We took this time to reflect on everything God has given us and what we are grateful for. Here are only some of the examples from the long list we are thankful for:

Katy: Different paths to adventure on

Rinatya: For the great views.

Salome: For funny memories, beautiful mountains and that nothing can seperate us from God’s love.

Leonie: For relationships, mountains, freedom, Off The GRID and sun.

Emelie: For chocolate pudding and a lot of whipped cream at Angelus Hut.

Ye Jin: For my family and friends.

Andy: For my first Thanksgiving and being on Off The GRID.

Miles: That I got to meet you and be part of this week (and that you’ll never guess my middle name)

Norm: For the work God has done in the team this week.

Christy: For Y’all, for Norm and for the Lord’s presence with us every moment

As we went to Hope Community Church on Sunday, we were sad it was the last church service because we were thinking about things coming to an end here. However we really enjoyed the worship and the sermon. It wasn’t only the last time at church but also the last tramp coming up. We spent some time planning how we can keep the momentum we have for Christ going. We thought about our priorities in life and how we want to structure it when we are back in our daily lives. But we are so exited to still have one full week to go and we know that so much can happen in this time!