Vice President Jane Belton opened the meeting with a Valentines feel, telling us a little of what there is to Love about Rotary and believe me, there is plenty.

Have a quick google and find the 10 reasons to fall in love with Rotary. 

 

 

With  the "Feelings For Life" Tractor Trek well underway, this is a fantastic campaign to get behind. 

Feelings for Life promotes Children's Mental Health Education and director Cat Levine runs the Trust and makes videos and resources for teachers and parents to use following her visits to schools, around anti-bullying and mental health of young people. 

 

The Statistics show that by the age of 18, one in four children in New Zealand will have suffered from a mental health or bullying incident. That is a very scary number. 

 

With David Hulmes fantastic organising, we are able to help and support this initiative with their visits to schools and the domain next week, barbeque dinner on Thursday night and dinner at The Good Merchant on Saturday night - see members announcements, so please, please do what you can to help and join in at all or any of the events including at the domain on Saturday. Please contact David Hulme asap! 

 

 

Our Speaker this evening was Anna Watkins who was a recipient of a grant through us from the Alex Findlater Trust to further her studies in Christian Ministries. Anna is a fully trained nurse and became a Christian during her Nursing Training in 2015.

 

 

Anna looked for a church that she could be involved in that was very active with helping people around the world in needy nations like Africa and Uganda.

 

She came across ETHNOS360 (ETHNOS is a Greek work meaning nation or people) which was founded in 1942 as New Tribes Mission - NTM. Their founding principle is "New Tribes Mission's efforts shall be directed... where no witness of the Gospel has yet reached. This ticked all the boxes for Anna. A thriving church for every people.  

 

Missionaries must learn the language and understand the culture of the people group they are working with.  From an understanding of the language, an alphabet and literacy course are formed. The people are taught to read and write so that they can read God's Word for themselves. Translation is a step-by-step process, making sure that it is accurately translated into the heart language of the people. 

 

Anna then learnt about an opportunity to serve as a nurse and missionary in Papua New Guinea. There are currently around 350 adults serving with, or preparing to go to Papua New Guinea. Of the adults, 51% are serving in a support ministry, ie nurses, teachers, builders etc. to make sure that the churches and ministries can succeed. 

 

Anna will be leaving to go to the highlands of Papua New Guinea in June this year, serving on the Medical Team. Anna will need to learn pigeon English to help her to understand and communicate with the people and their culture. As a white woman, she will be restricted to a compound with the other missionaries, for her own safety. The Mission group employs over 200 local people and their medical supplies come from Australia. 

 

We wish Anna all the very best for her future and know that she will be a positive and enthusiastic member of the missionary team.