Te Haerenga:Update three Date: 12th May 2006 >> Click for update one two four five
Well, Te Haerenga is well on it’s way in developing into an awesome family gathering for many. We are now at the half way mark finishing our 3rd gathering. With just 2 more gatherings before outreach time there is an awesome sense of closeness and friendship and an excitement about outreach.
The weekend unfolds
We had our 3rd gathering back at Waikari Marae in Matapihi. People arrived from 6:30 onwards to set up their beds in the wharenui. It was pretty cold that night!
Friday night, we were blessed to have Vania and her sister Kareen take the first evening with all the adults and children. “OK, who here is from Mataatua waka? Tainui waka? …” “I want you to get together in your waka groups, talk about things that relate to your waka and present it to us in a skit. You have 10 minutes”
Well… what wonderful learning time it was as each waka creatively presented information about history, geneology, the boundaries in which they settled etc. All the children and adults had a great time learning together.
There were 22 adults and 27 kids from 5 months to 13 yrs old. The guys from Te Aroha were not able to make it as well the Kawerau crew. They were certainly missed this weekend.
Guest speaker: Frank Naea was our guest speaker this weekend and we were so honored to have him spend time with us. Frank is the former YWAM international president, is an international speaker and is highly sort after!
I tell you, from time moment he shared his story we were in fits of laughter. Big grins from ear to ear, grown men were giggling, our cheeks so needed a rest!
“How he shared and the presentation of it made it easy to understand” said Maria
Although our eyes had tears of laughter, they later on had tears of love and affection as we listened and prayed for different ones who felt to share their story too.
This weekend was about identity and we get that from different sources such as nations-national identity, people group-ethnic identity, from family etc. ‘Life and death are in the power of the tongue’ and yet we say ‘sticks and stones may break our bones but names can never hurt me’ and the reality is that we also form our identity from the words spoken to us whether it is good or bad.
An exercise Frank had us do was to identify things been said to you and share that by cutting pictures out of magazines that were there and pasting it to a big piece of paper. It was fun as we scrummaged through a pile of magazines looking for pictures and words that connect us to the things spoken over our lives.
God said to Adam in the garden “who told you that you were naked”? “who told you” and from that conversation we learnt that there are things spoken over us that was based on lies and therefore lived out our identity on that basis. Who told you? And what did they say? was the question we had to answer.
As different ones shared, it gave us understanding and keys to pray into and speak life and truth into those areas. It certainly was a healing time for many this weekend as different ones responded in an environment that was them.
“It was a healing time for those being prayed for and those who were listening and praying”
“What an awesome wananga this weekend. I can’t remember a time when I have had such a deep spiritual experience and gained so much understanding of the father heart of God. Thank you for the wonderful speaker, Frank Naea. He gave us so much to think about, pray about and work on in our walk with the Lord. It was a tremendous blessing to be there and be part of the healing experience for our whanau.” Said Whaea Maraea
Mau rakau workshop
Saturday afternoon just like the last gathering we had a 3 hour workshop on mau rakau run by Chris Wiremu and his team who traveled down from Auckland.
We went through all the things that were taught at the last gathering to recap on things such as eye hand coordination, foot work and mau rakau drills. After that they added onto what was already taught which increased our knowledge base on mau rakau.
Chris and the guys did an awesome job again and related everything to our walk with Jesus with an emphasis on being ready, prepared, remaining focused, being committed, having the right attitude, not giving up, discipline, being alert etc.
It truly was hands on discipleship!
Again, the workshops were delivered with quality, humour, and respect. We want to thank Chris and the boys for an excellent lecture on life principles.
Kids programme
We were very blessed to have quality people spend time with our children. They too had a great time of learning from all the volunteers.
Vania & Kareen took the kids Saturday morning and afternoon with Sonny & Christine taking the little ones that Saturday morning shift. Richard Betts from IWT and his daughter took the Saturday evening and Katie from Tauranga House of prayer along with her team took the Sunday morning.
The kids learnt soooo much this weekend and did a whole lot of activities like, making cards for mothers day, learning how to weave, singing songs, playing games etc. There was even a DVD made which we watched during Mothers day breakfast. It was specially made for the mums.
Many thanks to Waikari, Ngati Tapu for the use of the Marae. To all the volunteers for an awesome job with the children and our guest speaker Frank Naea and also Chris Wiremu, Jackson, and Mani for the workshop on mau rakau.
Next gathering is 26-28 May at Hairini Marae. Pane Kawhia is our guest speaker.
Prayer needs
Until next time.
Ma te Runga rawa koutou hei manaaki!
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