A Sudden Departure

And so ends the story...

Well, not so fast. My team and I leave the country soon. Something like 11 hours from now, but who's counting?

It's not clear what this blog will look like over the coming months. We'll be travelling through four different nations in Africa over the next two months.

The next season of our journey is what we call Outreach. Simply a time of travelling to different nations with different cultures and different people that we might serve and bless them in whatever way they may need. It's about sharing life with them, loving them, knowing them. I could spiritualize the language I use to describe what we do if that would make more sense to you - honestly though people aren't really going to care much about knowing who God is if our actions don't demonstrate who we know God is. Hopefully that makes sense.

We're you aware that according to the U.N. projections the median age of Sub-Saharan Africa is 18 years old (http://esa.un.org/unpp/p2k0data.asp) - that means that half the population is below 18 years old (the total population of Sub-Saharan Africa is ~ 769 million). Do you wonder why this is?

Our coming journey isn't one of comfort. It's meant to stretch and push against the grain of our Western upbringing. We will experience much in the way of the local way of living through simply living alongside people of the ministries where we will serve. Sometimes it's quite clear that we in the Western societies deem our culture and way of life as the 'right' way. Certainly there are a great many positives of our Western ways - however, it's quite a paradigm altering shift to go out into other cultures and nations and experience their way of living first hand. We depart here on a budget of $19 USD per person per day (which includes accomodation, food, ground transportation, entry visa's, etc.). I say that only to put a bit of perspective on the journey ahead as I desire to communicate just the reality of what we do.

We're you aware that according to the U.N. projections the median age of Sub-Saharan Africa is 18 years old (http://esa.un.org/unpp/p2k0data.asp) - that means that half the population is below 18 years old (the total population of Sub-Saharan Africa is ~ 769 million). Do you wonder why this is?

Check out our team website at...
www.truthbeautyjustice.wordpress.com

Prayer Requests!

For Those Who Pray! - Prayer Requests for the Africa Journey!
* God's Hand in the Midst of Our Steps : hey, if He isn't involved then we're just out for a bit of a feel-good journey - we NEED Him to be a part of this
* People of Africa : for those whom we interact that we may have a positive and lasting impact, and really just everyone in Africa - throwing money at Africa isn't the answer
* Travel Safety : we complete many different legs of travel, hours on planes, many hours on buses, many trips within taxi's and local transport
* Team Love : we can't operate well outwardly if we are having problems internally - it's called 'out'-reach not 'in'-reach
* Health : with all the travel, different bacteria, different food, and simply long days of hard work our immune system will be stretched

Back on the Horse

Some would say that returning to a place of challenge is something akin to 'getting back on the horse'. This is my attempt in the written update form - becoming once again 'current' with this online journal.

And, so, to that end I'll submit the following journal entry from 7 June - I've given up trying to record or reflect in realtime on my days. Writing only becomes a release if I'm able to express something more than simply what the facts are.

*******
We sit, watching, waiting, looking
The warm blanket of the dawn has brought a drizzle of rain on the tail of the morn
The story behind the glass speaks of a day ordered by the clouds
The pages turn as the hours fade
Trees dance, shaking the water from their leaves
A constant fall of the heavens replenishes the earth, thirsty from the weeks past
We sit allowing the peace and warmth to wipe clean our souls
Rest fades into rest as the weeks sluff into the valley of the days ahead
The soul knows the depths of the rest
The body knows the depths of the warmth
And the spirit seeks the depths of Peace

******

On a very much related note, this weekend allowed the school staff of this current training school to escape to a seaside town for a bit of R&R. Well needed and too short. The day of departure we awoke to find snow - a less than common thing for this part and elevation of NZ!!!

Only 2.5 weeks remain until we depart New Zealand for the endz of the earth.


Sunset over Akaroa Bay


A few minutes later...


Sharing a meal


SNOW!


Not quite like home, though...


Southern Alps and the Canterbury Plains - covered!