New Zealand - Outreach Prep Week

Weekly Update:

This week at DTS we are completing Outreach Prep week. What that means is, essentially, we're packing for a 7-week camping trip, during which we might be preaching sermons, performing skits or musical presentations, teaching health education classes, entertaining children, giving testimonies, leading worship, and doing basic medical clinics, along with (of course!) doing lots of relationship building and praying for people.

We're excited!!!

If you've ever gone on a bit of an extended trip, you'll have an idea of what this week looks like – multiply that by 60 people and put them all in one large base, and you might picture about what's happening here!

I (Dani) am working with another girl on our team to FEED our crew of 9 people (plus an extra, honorary team member who will be joining us in Port Vila). We've developed a 7-day meal plan, found/developed recipes for all 21 meals, compiled a master list of all the ingredients we'll need, and calculated the quantities of what we'll need for the 5 weeks we'll be feeding ourselves (on the first 2 islands – once we head back to Port Vila, food is provided). We shopped for spices and more difficult-to-get items here in NZ, and packed them into a box, which will be part of our checked luggage. The rest of the non-perishable shopping we'll do in Port Vila once we arrive (perishables are all kind of up-in-the-air regarding what we'll be able to actually get on the specific islands – we'll be playing it by ear!)

Gabe is in charge of worship music for our team, so he's restrung an old guitar that one of our teammates' family loaned to us, and he's also printed out chord charts for a good selection of worship songs, and transposed them into manageable keys.

On top of our responsibilities for our team, we're also packing, of course. We'll be sleeping in our hammocks, so we both have a hammock, a mosquito net, a sheet, and a fleece blanket. Bedding plus a couple changes of clothes, a couple warmer layers to put on at night, toiletries, insect repellant, and a good supply of granola bars also round out our packs.

Everything that we're leaving here will go into garbage bags, have our names attached to it, and it will be put into storage early tomorrow morning. For the first half of tomorrow, all 60 students and staff will participate in a base-wide deep clean, leaving all the dorms and smaller rooms spic and span, ready for the new batch of students for the October school to arrive in about a week and a half.

So, it's a little busy around here! But currently the weather is cooperating with clouds and sunshine and a nice brisk wind, so everyone's laundry that they're trying to finish before the final pack is drying rapidly!

We'll be sending out our October newsletter before we leave, so keep an eye in your inboxes/spam inboxes for that.

We'll be disconnected from the internet until we arrive back in NZ the first week of December, so although we won't be posting updates, we'd love to continue to have your prayers for us and our team!