Te Haerenga:Update five Date:18th June 2007
update one two three four Hawaii
the final gathering comes to a close
The final gathering of 'part one' of te haerenga has come to an end. Hosted at Maungatapu Marae in Tauranga. It was to be a busy weekend with fine tuning songs, haka, learning new stuff as well a processing all the noho marae we had the past few months re-capping the things that were taught and revelation received from it. A maori saying is that 'we walk into the future backwards'
The weekend unfolds
Friday night
It sure was a cold night in Tauranga on Friday, those who were from Maungatapu were cooking up some fried bread and pipi soup as we waited for everyone to arrive.
A local youth group from Welcome Bay Baptist joined us in the welcome ceremony that evening.
Without long the wharenui was filled with people, korero, waiata and a gladness to see everyone again.
The fried bread, soup and a cuppa surely warmed us up as we gathered in the kitchen.
As the evening progressed with korero and catching up we ending the evening with kapahaka and listening to Monte Ohia via DVD about the story behind the famous haka written by Te Rauparaha, performed by many and throughout the world 'ka mate, ka mate ...' as well as another haka based on the armor of God.
"Monte's explanation about 'ka mate' was awesome, it brought a new and fresh revelation to it"
"The haka about the armor of God was awesome"
Saturday
Maungatapu marae is located right next to the water. We were spoilt to wake up in the morning with a beautiful day, calm water and for those who got up really early, a clear view of the stars above as today marked the beginning of 'Matariki' the beginning of the Maori calendar.
8:30am came around quickly and as always we honor our guest speaker with a pohiri (welcome ceremony), followed by a cup of tea and then get ready for the mornings programme.
That morning the youth had time with Ray, Shaneane, Marina & Nathaniel who shared about Hawaii, their culture, expectations and other orientation that would help them to prepare for Hawaii such as the language, food etc
Guest speaker: This weekend we were blessed to have Pane Kawhia as our speaker.
Although I was not able to sit in to hear the teaching this day, it was very obvious that God had everyone's attention.
"This morning was so good. As the word was being unwrapped there was a richness that resided"
Over the past 2 weeks we had been familiarizing ourselves with John chapter 4 about the woman at the well as it was part of what Pane had in mind for us to look at this weekend. The cross cultural encounter with Jesus and the Samaritan woman, the water of life etc.
What unfolded throughout our time was a sense of wonder if that makes any sense :) There was a sense of serenity as different ones shared, cried, sang, prayed and made statements of their commitment to the Lord, spouses, one another. God touched our lives in a real and gentle way as we drew from the well of life. We had a couple of vase's of water in the center of the wharenui and matrices around the outskirts where we sat and pondered about the living water while songs were sung in the background.
Water represents a lot of things such as blessing, cleansing, purity and what followed really cemented things as different ones felt to get baptized right there on the shore of Maungatapu marae. As they got baptized and braved the cold water, announcing a new beginning, haka's exploded on the shore in support of their commitment and giving courage to their heart and soul. It was awesome!
We were so blessed to have Pane with us, she was real, true, authentic, humorous and made God so attainable.
Kids programme:
The kids celebrated and had their little party together, with piņata they mad at the last gethering. House of Prayer returned to take care of the kids on Sunday morning.
Saturday night:
The children & rangatahi (youth) were entertained by a local group 'influence' formally known as 'impact'. It was a great night of maori cultural dance, hip hop, drama, sharing and sign language. Not to mention a game of rugby that followed! It was great for our youth to be with other youth who are making change in their lives.
Sunday Morning:
After the baptisms we had brunch and thanked the house of prayer for their help in taking care of our children and then closing our final gathering of part one in the wharenui. Great changes had taken place within us from our first gathering till now as we reflected on the journey the past 3 months and as mentioned on months update with Frank Naea 'it only takes 1 degree of change to completely change an entire course'
Closing:
As we stood together in the wharenui of Maungatapu marae, we prayed and bought closure to part one of Te haerenga and physically took one step forward into part two, symbolizing a transition into a new season. God has been faithful and good to us from the beginning of part one right to the end and am sure would look down on us with favor as we complete Te haerenga with part two.
This weekend as mentioned, also marked the beginning of the Maori calendar, a new year, a new season called 'Matariki' (te Mata o te Ariki - the face of the Lord) and is determined by the stars. I refer back to the time when our ancestors navigated their way across great Pacific ocean to the Islands they now call home. In order to know exactly where they were in the ocean, they had to know exactly their point of beginning and so we thank God for the journey of part one and as that in this next season that you would continue to shine down upon us.
Thank you to Ngati He for allowing us to use Maungatapu marae, Pane Kawhia Ngaa mihi nui ki a koutou katoa! The Tauranga house of prayer and to everyone who have been following the updates and praying for us.
We will do our best to keep you updated during part two:
Ray, Shaneane and Marina are currently in Hawaii helping with the set up and also attending the Island Breeze International leaders conference.
Yep, we still need some help
please contact us should you wish to make a financial contribution info@islandbreeze.org.nz
Until next time.
Ma te Runga rawa koutou hei manaaki!
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