Our instructors Peter, Joe and Oli took five students from Rutherford High School on a ten-day Journey.

Here is a short slideshow of their photos, including hiking, camping and bush skills, river crossings, mountain biking, team building activities, cooking together, as well as goal setting, group discussions and “chur bro” conversations.

A “chur bro” is an acknowledgement to another person in the group about something good that they have said or done, or something positive about that person. Most of the students mentioned afterwards how much they enjoyed the “chur bro” conversations!

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INTRODUCING JOE: One of our outdoor instructors who has recently jumped ship from Christchurch to Auckland. Here are five facts about Joe:

“1. From my first game of canoe polo, back in 2012, I have been playing non-stop (except for one season due to injury and one due to COVID). I Represented New Zealand in the Oceania Champs twice, one as a U21 rep, the other in the Mens B team. A great way to travel the country and spend all your hard earned savings is by playing in the NZ National league. I represented Christchurch for 5ish years, only recently switching the red sports polo [Christchurch colours] with a blue one [Auckland].

“2. An important value of mine is Respect. For people and for place. One way I show this respect for place is by trying to minimise my impact on the environment. I choose a plant-based diet, mostly vegan, except for the occasional venison from a brother’s hunt or kahawai caught during this year’s staff retreat. (Aside from the fish we caught, the staff retreat was completely vegan, because I planned the menu).

“3. For many years, I survived in Christchurch without a vehicle, eventually deciding last year to go electric as sometimes you just need roof racks! However, I couldn’t sleep in a Nissan Leaf, so moving to Auckland consisted of compromising and switching to a hybrid van that ever so slowly is been transformed into a camper. But currently, if you move all my stuff out of the way, it is sleepable!

“4. Community living has been my jam. Prior to moving to Auckland, I spent four years living with 10+ folk on similar faith journeys, exploring what it looks like to follow in Jesus’ footsteps in the local neighbourhood!

“5. Currently, as I am writing this, I am eyeing up my new favourite book, Dune, waiting for the moment I’m done so I can pick it back up. Pretty exciting, isolation living, eh! My favourite book is always the one I’m currently reading. But, besides Dune, Victoria Loorz’s “Church of the Wild” is hands-down a must-read. “Church of the Wild” uncovers the wild roots of faith and helps us deepen our commitments to a suffering earth by falling in love with it, and calling it church.”

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