Vertical Horizons
This is the first full month that we have lived in one spot since hitting the road back in January- a nice change from the constant packing and moving. Vertical Horizons has been a great place to be- out in the country-side complete with cows, birdsong and limited cellphone reception! The camp has had plenty of space for the kids to run around, plenty of indoor space for homeschooling and wonderful welcoming staff. In the 5 weeks we have been here we have plenty of volunteers coming and going, making for a great sociable atmosphere on the building site and at meal times and in the evening.
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| The amount of sun showers in Taranaki results in frequent rainbows |
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| Team photo from the first few weeks of the job |
For our family, the month kicked off with school holidays, including Hudson getting to join in with the ROLO (rock of life outreach) camp held at Vertical Horizons during each school holidays. Over a hundred children and ~30 leaders descended on the camp for 5 days where both the kids and leaders had a blast making new friends, learning new skills and confidence on the various activities around the camp, dancing and singing and having just a great time. It was cool to see kids from all sorts of backgrounds come to camp where they could have fun, hear about Jesus and get a Bible to take home at the end of it. Hudson had a great time!
The rest of the school holidays were filled with swimming lessons for the kids, library visits and playdates with new friends from church. It all went very fast and before we knew it we were getting back into the school routine again.
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| Dance your socks off at camp ROLO |
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| The camp ROLO cabins helped to decorate some of the paper pockets that are going to be used inside the external walls of the renovated building |
Moving into the cooler months there has been less outdoor adventures with more time spent indoors at the library, museum or playing board games, but we have enjoyed a few outings including a social mini golf round with the volunteers at the local mini golf. Another highlight was seeing the lights of the Matariki festival held in New Plymouth.
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| Enjoying the Matariki festival lights |
As far as the building project goes there has been steady progress made with the help of the many volunteers who have joined us. Windows have been ripped out, cladding removed and replaced, floors ripped up and new foundations for the firewalls installed, posts bearers and joists installed ready for decking among other things.
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| The team all getting stuck in on the job |
One week that was particularly encouraging was the week of getting the foundations down. Monday morning the inspector was due to arrive to ensure everything was on track to start pouring the footings. We really felt God’s hand as the inspector was so happy with the work done so far that he decided that photos for the next 2 normal inspections points would be sufficient. Straight after the inspection passed, we booked concrete and they had space that afternoon! Then, midweek, we were fortunate to have one of the block layers from the previous job volunteer to come lay the blocks- his expertise was invaluable. By Friday the concrete blocks had been filled and the foundation was done- overall a job that could have taken twice as long with inspections, delays from contractors and without the skills of the Blocklayer, we saw the Lord’s provision even in our building work and success.
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| All go when the concrete arrived |
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| Teamwork in action |
This job has provided a bit of a change up in job description for me also. Most often at jobs our lunch is provided already put together/cooked, but this job the food would be paid for but required us to plan, buy and cook it. So I have gone from mainly teacher + some help on the job to cook+ teacher + a little help on site. Despite some hesitancy of how it would be, cooking for 10-20 people, we have had a great team of women stepping up to get it all together!
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| One of the opportunities for me to help on the site was doing the underfloor insulation with Chris |
Along with weeks of great progress have been a couple of harder weeks toward the end of the month- mainly due to the winter bugs. It was hard for Chris to be laid up in bed for a week with a flu like illness, unable to help of site or easily field questions from the volunteers. Despite not being able to be there supervising the volunteers continued on with good enthusiasm making progress in his absence.
Reaching the start of August we still have 6 weeks to go and we look forward to seeing what and who the coming month with bring to join with us on this adventure.
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| The girls finding a 'hut' near the local river |
- That we have had good success and favour with the building work and inspections to date
- That the kids had a great break over the school holidays and are enjoying this place and its space
Prayer points:
- Chris is speaking again at St Andrews Church on the 3rd September (Fathers Day) - as he tries to bring forward the words in Mark 14 about why Jesus had to die for us, pray for clarity and power in preaching.
- Jen is also speaking at a woman's breakfast event on the 26th of August at St Andrews about serving God, through MMM and in everyday life. Pray that she may be able to encourage the women who attend that they can serve God through everyday things.
- That we will continue to have more skilled workers to keep the job moving forward at a pace that matches our timeframe (we are really needing hammerhands or carpenters for this project)
If you're interested in hearing more about MMM NZ, or supporting Chris and I financially please get in touch with us, we'd love you to share in the blessing of what is going on this year!
For more information about MMMNZ (Mobile Mission Maintenance) - see their website at mmm.org.nz
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