One Month in Review

One Month in Review

I have now been in New Zealand for one month and what a month it has been. It was quite the rushed last minute decision to come away and one that I would prefer not to do again. Not being able to settle myself and saying all the goodbyes that I needed to was tough.

But I am here now and this month has definitely had its ups and down. Settling into the camp and meeting new people was tough. With being at Muskoka Woods for the last 7 years I knew the way things were run inside out. But coming here and not fully knowing what I was about to undertake was defiantly hard.

The job that I am doing here is working in a 4 man Ministry Team. There is Jamie, who oversees all of the aspects of the ministry, Rachel, who is in charge of all the follow-up of the guests that come and stay here. She runs bible studies with them where she posts them out, the kids fill them in and send them back to be marked. Quite incredible how many kids sign up for this? Then there is Jeremy who is a kind of AV geek. He is sorts out all the promotional stuff whether it is leaflets, flyers, posters, promo videos and website stuff. Then there is little old me and my job is to do the programming side of the camp. Working to organize, plan and prepare future camps that are coming in. Planning themes, brainstorming ideas, research, and whatever random things that needed done.

I am finding it hard not to compare Totara Springs to Muskoka Woods but I think it is a natural thing to do. There are areas of the Woods that I prefer and there are areas of the Springs that I prefer. One big difference that I see is that in New Zealand people don’t sue. The camp itself can’t be sued for any injury or stupidity. Regulations and the ways things are done are completely different. For the woods you have to have a certificate to climb a ladder higher than say 8 rungs. The other day I was on the top of the roof of the auditorium taking off the plastic roofing to allow some air flow. The auditorium is an arch shaped building that is easily 100 ft up. The other day they needed someone to go down to the high ropes course and belay (not sure of the correct spelling) for someone. They sent me down even though I have no training. All I had to do was take 2 mins to learn how to do it. You learn pretty quickly when someone is climbing up.

Being here has definitely taken some getting used to. Every day I am thinking about the woods and how much it is a part of my life. I can get down very quickly if I think about it too long. The fact that I won’t be able to be there this summer and this will be the first summer in seven years. I miss the community that I had around me and the friends that supported me. The families that loved me and those that were committed to seeing me become my best potential. I don’t feel that I have that here. The age group of folks at the Springs are quite varied. I hang out with Jeremy Bennit the most and he has been incredible. I don’t think I would still be here if it wasn’t for him. I am writing this update in a place called Coromandel. We are at his caravan where we are spending the next couple of days fishing. (I will do another update with pics and stories about my trips). I have never met a more generous, humble and self sacrificing guy. It is incredible.

I will update in the next day or so with Pics for you to have a look at.

Have a great day