Letter 4

Hello Everyone,
It’s Sunday night here and I have had a very productive week. I hope everyone is doing well at home. Please keep me updated.
This week we learned about relationships from a man named David Ridell. Some of you might recognize that name, he has written a book “Living Wisdom” and is a very well known therapist. We learned a lot about the human mind and it’s connection to the soul (spirit) from a secular standpoint. I was wary of Mr. Ridell’s teaching at first, it seemed like he was teaching from a religious standpoint, but with incorrect doctrine. He proved me wrong. Over the course of the week he ended up giving great support from Scripture. Some of the practical advice he gave included: how to think in a healthy way, correct relationship, the importance of attitude, and ways to self-examine our minds and relationships. Mr. Ridell gave us all a lot to think about and gave most of us a free counseling session. I feel like the wisdom that he shared with us was given to him from God and will continue to learn from the notes given.
Monday was spent doing service work. I spent the afternoon helping an elderly couple clean their garage and helped to cut down some bushes. The man kept telling me how thankful he was, I told him that I was happy to do the work because my dad was probably doing our yard work and this way he couldn’t mess with me about not being there . We spent Monday night in lecture with Mr. Ridell. On Tuesday we prayed in the morning and then learned who would be on our outreach teams. My team is made up of seven people: Clayton N., Jonathon, Lauren, Eline, Clayton R., and Jesse. I am very excited about the team, I feel like we will all work well together. We spent the afternoon praying and talking about our plans for the trip.
Tuesday night was spent learning a skit that all of the different teams will use to share the Gospel. Rather than go skiing on Wednesday, due to the weather, we spent the day in lecture and the night praying and worshiping as a school. Thursday was spent in lectures and we prayed for the current teams on outreach.
Friday morning was a time of worship and prayer and then the rest of the day we spent in Christchurch doing street evangelism. I spent the time talking with some people in a local bar called Fat Eddies and listening to live music, I hope to meet them again in the coming weeks and continue to witness. One of my team members talked with some M-uslim people and learned about their beliefs and shared his. Some others spent time talking with the homeless and skateboarding with the locals. I have heard some stories about people praying with others and coming to faith, but I feel like many of us are still forming relationships. We also all spent some time inviting others to a big event that we are putting on next week in Methven (A ski town at the foot of Mt. Hutt), we will be showing a Christian snowboarding movie and their will also be a rail jam, or in other words a snowboarding competition.
Saturday we went at Mount Hutt. I gave a ski lesson in the morning and then spent the rest of the day skiing and looking for a Japanese man who I had meant a week earlier at Ricecube, never found him, I will see him next week though. This man is not a believer, but he seems very excited about Christianity (I have been talking with him via email). Please pray that I’d have the opportunity to pray with him.
On Saturday night it was my turn to serve at a church in Methven. We have been sending teams there every week for a free dinner and fellowship with anyone who can come (we hand out invitations everywhere we go). We usually average 17 people between the ages of 13-25, but last night over 30 showed up ! I talked with an 18 year old guy. I played him in pool and beat him! We made it a big deal because he didn’t want to lose to an American. I will meet him at Mount Hutt this coming week and ski with him; hopefully, I will get a chance to continue our conversation on religion, I don’t know if he is a believer or not.
On a side note: He thought it was funny that I always lose to my dad in pool, I told him that my dad thinks he can beat me in everything, but after this trip he doesn’t stand a chance. 
We slept at the church on Saturday night and we helped with the church service. I gave communion. After reading Jesus’ words from the last supper I gave a quick talk on the importance of communion. For remembrance of our forgiveness, but also the importance of recognizing that in taking communion together we recognize a unique bond as one in the body of Christ. I was very honored to be given that opportunity.
After church on Sunday we left and upon our arrival in Oxford I found out that everyone was playing a soccer game against the local team. I was put in at right mid. It was interesting to say the least. We ended up losing 2-0 and I didn’t help much, but we all had fun.
I appreciate all of your support and prayer. I will continue to do my best to witness to those I meet and spend my time with.
In Christ’s Love,
Travis