MATAKANA ISLAND 3 DAY TREK IN SUMMER OUTREACH

Hi there friends,

This time we have the priveledge of going to Matakana island in the summer.
We have 25 riders that are here and are enjoying this 3 day trek.
We are assembled at the end of Matahui Road and then the guides arrive from the island. It is always so good to see them again.

We ride off on time and it is great to do this crossing again.With the guides in front and behind there is nothing to worry about.

The group splits up and we arrive way before the rest and wonder why we have to wait for so long.

When the rest finally arrives we asked what happened.
Turns out that Mike's horse Major sank in the bog and got a fright, and Mike fell in facedown in the mud and water. Well, that wasn't so nice for him.
He defenitely was soaked. And he still had to ride on again... Oh the joys of mudflats crossing.
When we arrive we can put our horses in the paddock and set up camp. Quite a few of us brought tents and others slept in the Marae.
We have a good dinner, and Hone let's me translate his saying grace into English which I do and also pray my own prayer for everyone. I say things like" Thank you father God for bringing us safely here and for the food the ladies prepared, bless it to our bodies  in Jesus name". I feel that I have much boldness now, and Hone is happy with it.

There is a couple of older men who always rode for their jobs and one of them is 79 years old, he sang some songs with the guitar which was nice.
The next day we have the big ride around and going through a lot of forest.

The highlight of this weekend was the fact that there was a tsunami warning, so instead of riding on our horses, we went by truck to the highest part of the island and had a look towards the ocean. We could clearly see a stripe or a ripple, but it didn't look big. The gead of the civil defence is my friend's boss so she was in touch all the time and he told us not to cross yet.
At lunch time we were back at the camp and Hone came over to ask me to pray for the situation and for safety for us all when we cross over to the mainland. So I did and also God gave me the interpretation to the speech he gave everyone at the farewell, he did in Maori and I gave the translation even though I had never learned Maori.
That was God's answers to prayer, they had defenitely opened up and are more open to the gospel and so I pray next time will be even more open and allowing me to read from the Word of God.

The sunset of Saturday night was stunning, and I took some amazing pictures of the sunset towards the Kamai ranges.
All the other photos you can see on www.picturetrail.com/horses4fun