15 people came along for a walk through the reserves and walkways of New Lynn, led by Mark Paynter with Tina Chen taking up the rear. After repositioning cars at the endpoint of the New Lynn shops, we had our intros and prayer and set out from Riversdale Reserve at 2:40pm. We circumnavigated the reserve with its playground and sports fields before walking to the end of Riversdale Rd and on to the Tony Segedin Esplanade walkway. This followed the bank of the Whau River then became a boardwalk over the mudflats covered with ladygroves, unfortunately the tide was out.   We continued on under the Rata Street bridge and along the north edge of Ken Maunder Park and across the Numbers Bridge, with its mathematical pavement. After turning back over the bridge we continued along the edge of Ken Maunder Park for our break outside the sports pavilion. Mark told of a dream where a friend in Africa called him to say he had the key to the house, and the passcode was TOGETHER. He told of a church that changed its name to a Community Church, and this made him associate the words Gospel and Together. The Gospel is about Jesus dying on the cross to save us from our fallen nature, and the purpose is to bring us Together in a family with God as our Father and Jesus being prominent. Mark made up an acronym from Together for the tramping club: Team effort, when we work as a team we can achieve far more than we can do individually Outwards, everyone has been called to be a disciple of Christ, to become like Jesus and help others to achieve the same Gather resources such as first aid kit and camping gear Encouragement, we all need to encourage one another as we walk, some may be fitter than others Train, we need to train for our walking to get fitter Healing and holistic, all of us need to become healthy and holistic Entreat, prayer and worship Recognise one another’s gifts and encourage us to use those gifts Together can be cut up into three words To Get Her. Christ is coming back for His bride which we are all called to be part of. We completed the circumnavigation of Ken Maunder Park and carried on along Rata St and another walkway to cross a fancy red footbridge and finish at the New Lynn shops at 4:15pm with a welcome coffee at Jamies Café.

Distance 5km, maximum speed 7km/h, average speed including breaks 3.2km/h.