OUT & ABOUT

HILARY HAGUE

Tāmaki Makaurau \ Auckland

Auckland staff have been taking advantage of the lifted travel restrictions. Andy spent a month in the UK connecting with his family. Andrew travelled home to South Africa for 3 weeks—it has been years since he has been able to see his friends and family there. He returned to a busy September schedule, with another WAY2GO event in Tauranga and several speaking opportunities, including a Children’s Church, a Family Fun Day and a Hotel Chapel. Annette also returned from her overseas trip, meeting with the rest of the SUI Ministry Team to plan for the year ahead. One key project is Bible engagement resources. She is gearing up for the first Y6-Y8 camp on Pōnui this spring holidays. Her next trip will be to Thailand in October.

Waikato has seen a North Island Leader Training weekend in Pirongia this May. Then over the school holidays, two snow camps were held at the SU Adventure Lodge in Ruapehu. Looking forward, Hamilton will see four weeks of ‘residency’ facilitating youth group at Gateway Church in August, which Natalie will be piloting a program she’s writing for a Going Deeper camp in October. She will also be speaking at Te Rautini youth group for two weeks. The North Island Leader Training weekend is taking place at the end of August, and the Wild Wāhine girls hiking program will commence at Kaimai Mamaku Forest Park at the start of September.

The Children and Families Team have had a week in Wellington planning and praying for next year. The AGM was on Zoom, but based in Wellington. It was good to see so many friendly faces and spend this time together.

Most of August was spent prepping for South Island Leader Training (SILT). This annual training weekend has grown in the past few years. We had over 10 people travel down from Ōtautahi this year. Otherwise, we were spending quality time with our awesome BE’ers. Lizzie and Nigel have both been involved facilitating a THRIVE workshop with a local Baptist Church and meeting with our BE (Beyond Experience) mentees.

We are about to run our annual South Island Camp Leaders Training Weekend. Nigel ran another WAY2GO Children’s Ministry Training Day in Cromwell (Central Otago) and is busy planning for the Southland SUPAkidz Camp in October. Lizzie has been hosting youth leaders network gatherings, supporting youth groups, and having ongoing conversations regarding opportunities to run the mental health workshop, Āpōpō.

Kirikiriroa \ Hamilton

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Te Whanganui-a-Tara \ Wellington

Ōtautahi \ Christchurch

Ōtepoti \ Dunedin