Everyone is on some sort of pilgrimage. However, there's a specific group of people - backpackers - who long for adventure, exploration, and self-discovery. In fact, every summer in New Zealand, there are over 350,000 international backpackers doing just that. Many of the backpackers are young adults from different countries, backgrounds and worldviews, seeking and asking the hard questions about life, about God, and about their futures. The Pilgrimage DTS gives students the opportunity to not only develop relationships with these travelers, but also allows them to combine two passions – backpacking and sharing the love of Jesus.
It is a blessing to be staffing this Pilgrimage school. On October 10th-12, students from all around the country arrived to Tauranga, NZ to set their hearts on a pilgrimage. Our school consists of 6 leaders and 22 students (13 guys and 9 gals). The school is broken into two phases, lecture phase and outreach phase. Lecture phase is 12 weeks long. During lecture phase, we will be completing three week long backpacking/camping trips. Each week the students learn about a variety of different topics, hearing Gods voice, the nature and character of God, identity, relationships, the Holy Spirit and much more.
As a leader I get to walk along side the students and help them grow in there personal relationship with Christ, encouraging them, praying for them and helping them press into the father. It is amazing to see what God does to them between week one and twelve. They become transformed and equipped to then go out and share the gospel to all nations.
After lecture phase comes outreach. I am excited to say that I will be co-leading a team of 7 students with another leader Dan. We will be taking the students to the South Island of New Zealand. We have two other teams as well. One will be going to Nepal and another will be heading to Tasmania. I will keep everyone updated as to what the outreach will look like later.
Time flys during DTS. Three weeks have already gone by. This past week we went to the Tongariro Alpine Crossing... Which is also known as Mordor from Lord of the Rings where Mt Doom resides. We left on Sunday night and set up camp. We had dinner and a short introduction with our speaker on what to expect for the weeks lectures. That night as we crawled into our tents it started raining and didn't reside. Luckley my tent stayed dry the entire night but I can't say the same for all the other tents. Some of the boys woke up in wet sleeping bags and puddles in their tents. We made breakfast and had lectures under a makeshift tarp shelter. Unfortunately the rain didn't reside. Our plan was to have lectures in the morning all week, take a few short hikes and at the end of the week do the crossing. We ended up packing the students into the vans and headed to a visitors shelter to warm up and dry off. We had a leaders meeting as to what plan B looked like due to the weather forecast not looking so hot. We ended up finding a backers hotel/hostel to stay in for the night and decided to do the crossing the following day, Tuesday. The students were quite excited to hear that they were going to be staying in a dry place that night. So, we headed back to camp and packed up all of our belongings in the rain and headed to the Skotel. Praise God for warm shelters. After dinner we had another session with our speaker Cheyne on Hearing Gods Voice and prepared for the following day.
Tuesday we woke up at 630am to a chilly but clear day. We had breakfast and prepared lunches for the long trek ahead of us. We left around 8 to conquer the Tongariro Crossing which spans 19.4 kilometers.
We split up into 4 groups... I was the leader for the last group. I'm not the fastest hiker. Slow and steady wins the race right?
The views at the national park are breath taking. The climbs were steep and the weather was always changing but God withheld the rain! We had a few pit stops along the way and had a lunch break at the emerald lakes.
We trekked through sun, wind, fog, and snow.
Our group finished around 530pm (aprox. 9hrs). We ended up heading back to base right after due to our tents being completely drenched and the weather forecasted that it was going to rain all night and was going to drop to below freezing at night. No worries though, God works all things out for his good.
I just wanted to take the time to thank everyone who has helped me along this journey! It wouldn't be possible to do the work I do without your continued support in prayer and financially. I am so blessed to serve a God that loves me unconditionally, is there for me through the valleys and the mountain tops, and always provides for me. I am still in need of your support though. I need to raise around $5,500. Prayer is also important. Here are a few of my prayer requests...
* Finances come in
* God will give me the physical strength to complete this pilgrimage... I've been struggling with some joint pain the past few weeks
* Students would continue to grow closer to God each and every day
* God guides us as to what we should be doing and where we will go on the South Island
I'm so eager to see the transformations in the students lives and in mine over the next 5 months. Your support truly helps build the kingdom of Christ here on earth. Lives are transformed, hearts of stone turn into hearts of flesh, and people come to know Christ. If you would prayerfully consider making a one time donation or support me monthly you can make donations either to
Www.mrmdts.org/online-payments
Click on the drop down menue and select make payment to staff and fill out the details with my name.
Or
My gofund me account.
Thank you again for your continual support and love. I will do my best to keep everyone updated as the weeks so on. I would love to FaceTime, Skype, or just message with you! Love you all and may God bless all that you are doing!
With love,
Mallory
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