Home assignment - part 4 (continued)

Rimutaka Incline

An old favourite!

It was sunny in Lower Hutt but cloudy in Upper Hutt and quite cold, so I didn't really hang around. At the summit, I debated how far to go down the other side, and decided to go down to the big new bridge at Siberia Gully, and from there decide if I wanted to continue on to Cross Creek. However, arriving at Siberia there was danger tape and signs informing that the bridge and track were closed. So I didn't have to make a decision after all! (But it would have been courteous if there had been a sign at the top of the hill...)

Incline summit

The end of the line

Summit tunnel - 584 m long

Mount Holdsworth

This was a bit of a compromise - heading into the Tararuas, but not staying overnight (since I didn't have all the necessary gear or a tramping buddy to go with). Again I kept an eye on the weather forecast for a fine day with not much wind, and it came on cue.

I left Lower Hutt at 6:50 am and arrived at Holdsworth Lodge at 8:15. A quick change of footwear and toilet stop and I was on my way by 8:30. First sandwich at Powell Hut around 11, second sandwich at the top around 12. I spent about half an hour at the top, soaking in the serenity and waiting for the clouds to lift a little bit more. They didn't seem to want to, so I made my way back down, arriving at the car park around 3:15. I was quite pleased with a sub-8 hr return walk!

Not much to see here! Reaching the cloud base, well before Powell Hut

Popping out on top of the cloud

Top of Mt Holdsworth (1470 m) in the clear

Cloud blanket covering the Wairarapa

View from the summit towards the northwest

Given that Raewyn and I visited this part of the Tararuas on my 2021 home assignment, and having found that it's quite doable in a day, I have a feeling that a walk up Mt Holdsworth could well become one of my home assignment traditions in the future!

Home assignment - part 4

The final two weeks of my trip back home were annual leave. The goal: be refreshed (and maybe even a little bit bored) by the time I went back to PNG.

I had various ideas about what I could do... book a holiday house somewhere for a week and make a start writing my novel... do a section of the Te Araroa trail... do some day walks, maybe some of the 'Mount X's around Wellington (Kaukau, Climie, etc.)

In the end, I decided to stay local and use the time to do things that I can't do in PNG, primarily bush walks and bike rides on my own.

Mount Lowry

An easy one to start with! My entry point was the top of the Wainuiomata hill road.

The sign says it's a 'Mount'...

Not much of a view, but I found the survey marker

Mount Ken

I don't know if this is the official name, but I've read it somewhere before. (In other places I've seen it referred to as Mt Fitzherbert.) Anyway, it's the highest point at the back of Naenae with a transmitter tower at the top.

The weather was sunny but quite windy, so I opted to do this one as a bike ride rather than walking up Mt Climie, which is a little more exposed. I went up the Te Whiti riser, along the firebreak to the top, then back down the Summit Rd firebreak. It was a good afternoon out!

View of Mt Ken from the top of the Summit Rd firebreak

Tower and trig at the top of Mt Ken

View of the Hutt Valley from Mt Ken

Paekakariki Escarpment Track

This one didn't include a 'Mount' anything, but when the forecast for Saturday was for light winds, I couldn't pass it up. I've done this track twice before, once when it was windy and once when it was very windy, and I can say it's not much fun in the wind. But the views are stunning!

I parked the car at Pukerua Bay and took the train to Paekakariki, walking from north to south. There are a bazillion steps up and down, but going from north to south the stairs going up are a little more spread out.

Looking north

Some of the bazillion steps

A tui enjoying the flax flowers

Home assignment - part 3

Back in Wellington

We arrived back on Wednesday and I took the next day off, since I hadn't really had a full weekend while I'd been away on the road trip. We pilots are very aware of our duty time limitations!

The next event I had was a Friday night youth group at Capital Vineyard. The kids were really interested and asked lots of questions. I visited again on the Sunday night to speak to the young adults group.

My next event was on Tuesday, in Christchurch - a visit arranged by the MAF prayer group co-ordinator there. I also had the opportunity to visit Aidanfield Christian School, where again the kids had all sorts of questions. The one that made me smile was 'My dad flew in a plane once.' Good for him, moving along!

That evening I spoke at the MAF prayer group. A family from Amberley whom I met on my last home assignment had driven down to see me again, which was most humbling.

Returning to Wellington the following day, my next speaking engagements weren't until Thursday. In the afternoon I visited Miramar Christian School, where, it turns out, the wife of a former MAF PNG pilot is working. An afternoon tea invitation unfolded and it was great to chat about mission life then and now. Leaving there, I headed to Capital Vineyard (again) for another 'open event'. My home support team person and I were a bit perplexed when nobody turned up! Ah well - a night off.

The final week looked like it was going to be a bit cruisy, but two events were arranged at short(ish) notice, so it ended up being relatively full. On Tuesday I visited my former workplace, where some of the staff get together about once a month for prayer and fellowship. In the evening I spoke at another 'open event', this time hosted by Maungaraki Baptist.

On Wednesday I had an 'open event' in Masterton, hosted by Lighthouse Church. I was aware that the Rimutaka hill road was going to be closed for night works, so applied to be part of an escorted convoy to get back that night. Mum came along with me, and it was just as well - when we got back to Featherston after the event, the road worker informed us that there wasn't going to be a crossing that night! We chose to drive back up to Pahiatua and cross over to Palmerston North from there, getting home a little after 1 am. (We resorted to making up silly stories to keep ourselves awake...) Despite the drama, it was worth the visit - many of those who attended had been involved in mission work previously and were eager to support me in my journey.

On Friday I shared some insights into the spiritual environment of PNG with the Calvary Wellington youth group, since they were studying Galatians 4 (Paul's warning not to mix Christianity with other forms of religion - Judaism in his day, but equally applicable to animism in the case of PNG).

In my original plan, Friday would have concluded the 'ministry partnership' side of my home assignment, but there was still one more event to go. While we were visiting the Hawkes Bay, Raewyn was asked if she - and I - would be available to speak at their upcoming Women in Mission conference. I had spoken at their 2018 meeting, at a time when I didn't know which programme I would be going to, so I figured it would be a great opportunity to give an update. Raewyn herself was beginning her own support raising for a short-term mission with Mercy Ships. It was a good day, for both of us.

In the final count:

32 presentations (including 4 schools), reaching about 1000 people!

Home assignment - part 2

North Island road trip

Thursday was the beginning of my North Island road trip, together with my friend, supporter, hiking buddy - and on this occasion, driver - Raewyn. We kicked off by heading to the Manawatu to catch up with a mutual friend for lunch, and then I spoke at an open event hosted by Feilding Baptist. They optimistically put out 30 chairs, but then had to find more!

The following day I spoke at Cornerstone Christian School's assembly, and then we drove up to Hamilton. Saturday was an off day, so we planned to hike up Mt Pirongia. We made it as far as Ruapane trig, and decided not to go further as the track looked difficult and the weather looked like it was deteriorating.

On Sunday we managed to watch the first half of the Rugby World Cup quarter-final between the All Blacks and Ireland, then drove south, and I spoke at Te Awamutu Bible Chapel - 5 minutes in service as a 'taster' and then my longer presentation over a shared lunch. It was a great turnout, and I had lots of conversations with people afterwards.

From there we drove to Auckland. On Monday I popped in to see Mandy at the MAF office, and in the evening I spoke at another 'open event' hosted by St Chad's Huapai.

The next day, Tuesday, we drove to Tauranga and mentally prepared ourselves for a frenetic few days! That afternoon I spoke at a monthly missions group, and we settled into the MAF hangar apartment.

My first event on Wednesday was a presentation to the MAF Tauranga prayer group. I then had a few meetings with Mark Fox and other MAF staff in the afternoon before heading out to Greerton Bible Church in the evening, for another 'open event'. Phew!

On Thursday morning I was invited to the house of a local supporter who had arranged for a few friends to come around for morning tea and to hear my story. I think we were all encouraged!

I had originally planned to spend 5 whole days in Tauranga, but at the insistence of the MAF Hamilton prayer group organiser (who said that they wouldn't be able to have a meeting on the Saturday I was in Hamilton) we found ourselves driving back to Hamilton for one more night. I was coming down with a cold as well, so was not in a particularly good mood about all the extra travel. However the meeting on Thursday evening went pretty well, and our host had also arranged for me to fill the guest speaker slot at his retirement village the following day. He informed me that Sarah Ulmer had been the previous speaker, so I hope people weren't too disappointed with a no-name like me!

After the talk we drove back to Tauranga to catch up with some friends in the afternoon and at least make it half a day off!

Saturday morning dawned and we headed over to Mark's house for the rugby semi-finals (All Blacks vs Argentina). He'd invited some others over as well, which made for a great atmosphere. It was then that we found out we needed to vacate the apartment by lunchtime for an AirBnB guest coming in, so we packed and cleaned up and had a leisurely drive to our next destination in the Coromandel. We stopped in the Karangahake gorge to do some bush walking on the way.

On the Sunday I spoke at Te Puru church. Never heard of Te Puru? Neither had I! They had asked me to visit during my last home assignment, but I didn't have any free Sundays in that part of the country, so I made it a priority to visit this time. After church we drove to the Hawkes Bay, stopping for lunch in Matamata on the way.

Monday was Labour Day and the sun was out, so Raewyn and I took the opportunity - along with thousands of other people - to explore some of the walking tracks at Te Mata Peak.

On Tuesday we visited Hastings Christian School and I spoke to three different classes. That evening, Riverbend Bible Church hosted another 'open event'.

The following day, Wednesday, we drove back to Wellington - road trip complete!

Photos

Speaking at Cornerstone Christian School assembly

Speaking at Te Awamutu Bible Chapel

Bird's-eye view at Greerton Bible Church

Retirement village presentation

Te Mata Peak

Home assignment - part 1

My home assignment for 2023 ended up being divided nicely into four almost-equal parts: Wellington region, North Island road trip, more Wellington, annual leave.

Based on my previous such trip in 2021, I had a few aspects in mind:

a) Spend as many Sundays as possible at my sending church, Calvary Chapel Wellington. There were a couple of reasons for this: 1) The church has almost doubled in size since I left in 2019, so I wanted to get to know the people who had joined in that time; 2) I haven't been attending church in PNG, so I wanted to be involved while I had the opportunity.

b) Focus on mid-week dedicated 'open events', where someone would organise a venue and I would speak for about an hour. We found these worked pretty well last time.

c) Look for opportunities to speak to schools and youth groups. Inspire the next generation!

d) Don't try to fill in the whole 'ministry partnership day' with activities i.e. meeting supporters one-on-one. I did this last time, and although people appreciated it, I found it exhausting. Instead, I decided to let people know what my itinerary was, and if someone invited me to catch up, I would do my best to fit them in.

Week 1 - Wellington region

I arrived back in time for my brother's birthday, which we celebrated at the weekend by going to an escape room. It was my first time doing one of these and it was neat to see everyone in our team contributing something towards solving each of the clues - nobody was left out. And we escaped with 2:55 to spare!

On Monday I had my first presentation, to a young adults' church home group. I talked a little bit about MAF, but mostly about calling and how God leads us.

Tuesday was my first 'proper' presentation, at the Kapiti Aero Club. I drove up a little earlier, a) to beat the traffic and b) to treat myself to Burger Fuel. I was the first to arrive at the club and chatted to a few other club members when they came shortly afterwards. Eventually someone turned up with a key and we were all able to go inside!

On Wednesday night I gave the first of many 'full length church presentations', to a meeting of two midweek home groups. I quite like speaking to smaller groups like this, because people often ask more questions than in a larger group setting.

Each morning during the week I helped out with our church school holiday programme. It was a great way to get to know some of the kids and parents, and also to contribute to church life.

The final event for the week was the first-Saturday-of-the-month Mana men's breakfast meeting, hosted by St Mary's Anglican Church in Whitby. It was well-received and the men didn't seem to have a problem with a woman being the guest speaker!

Week 2

On Sunday I was 'interviewed' at church, which was mainly to promote the event on the following day.

The Monday event went pretty well. At the end of the question time someone asked if I could demonstrate the pre-flight safety briefing in Tok Pisin! I was happy to oblige...

On the Tuesday night I spoke at our monthly church ladies' night. Drawing on what I had shared at the young adults' group, I mainly talked about how God leads us, and also shared some of the challenges of being an overseas missionary. I was really encouraged by people's responses.

Wednesday saw me venturing a little further afield, to Queen St Gospel Chapel in Levin for an afternoon meeting. This is a church that has been supportive right from the start and regularly prays for me in their Sunday service and midweek prayer groups.