Tai Tokerau to Tauranga / Aug + Sept

Well, we've moved again! But just for a little bit :)

In early August Barry emailed a bunch of YWAM NZ leaders to see how we might band together. We knew that people would be thinking about what's good and right for them in the remainder of this year and into 2021. We gathered in Matamata for NZ staff training and met in person as DTS and base leaders to hash it all out and make some solid plans.

One campus in Tauranga gave us the green light to collaborate! And another said they'd host us all with their school for two weeks on their property. Other bases in the North have awesome projects for the remainder of 2020 and are planning toward DTS in the new year too. So there we had it, DTS was back on the radar!

We felt that as a team we really wanted to learn from others and put a stake in the ground for our commitment to God's call in the mission. We had a time of acknowledging what each of our team were laying down in order to take up the move to Tauranga, and with two weeks notice we packed up our spaces, had a big old potluck with our Kaipara community, and drove 5hrs south.

The school is predominantly hosted in Welcome Bay, then we have two weeks further inland at another Tauranga school, then one week in Waitangi!! Naturally our Zion crew are stoked to head back to Northland for that week.

This current crew is 18 students (11 kiwis, 7 international) and 13 staff including ourselves. We're daily reminded of how interwoven each of our campuses are. Three of our students were initially signed up for a school down South, but the leadership there referred them on for this season. It really stirred in us just how much one campus' movements impact another, and how very little of what we do in running DTS's is truly independent of the other schools around the nation. It's particularly highlighted in this time of closed borders, so we're taking the opportunity to notice, listen, learn, and make adjustments in our thinking and ways of operating.

We're learning a lot about how we roll as a Northland team, about how much we LOVE Northland, and our sense of vision for the future of Zion is becoming clearer with this time away. It's an amazing opportunity to get some outside input on how Barry and I lead, and particularly some mentorship from the older YWAM generation who live in Tauranga. We also get to hang out with some of my cousins and a handful of friends from Christchurch that now live up here. How great!

It's not easy by any means to be away from where we long to be, and it also means Brent and Heidi and their daughters have been alone on the campus in the valley. Thankfully our Kaipara community are incredible and have helped care for the property and hang out with the Scantlebury family in doing so.

So that's keeping it brief :)

We just finished a week in Nelson for the national gathering which we will write about next!

As always - thank you for your support in prayer, finances, and friendship!

Love to you all xx