The rain is finally here , hopefully is goes away soon. Last Wednesday night at church went really well. We showed the kids two shorts video clips, one was from Louie Giglio where he describes the size of some of the other stars in the universe. And then we showed them a video clip describing the Gospel. All of the kids sat through them both very quietly and listened. We are taking small steps to show them the truth about God. One of the older boys texted Jon the next day and asked “did you show that video clip about the Gospel for me?” Jon said “no, we showed it for everyone.” Obviously the clip spoke directly to at least one person in the room.
I spent last weekend away in a place called Exford, we took the Sunday school class, called Covies, down there for a weekend camp. It was a lot of fun; I uploaded some pictures to Facebook already. The first night we got there we had a bonfire and just hung out. The next day we went to a place called Minehead and played rugby on the beach after going for a long walk in the woods. When we got back to the house we played a game on this muddy hill where half the boys had to climb up the hill and the other half had to push them back down. Needless to say, by the end of the day everyone was very tired and ready to sleep.
I had a lot of fun getting to know the Covies, most of their parents go to church, and that is the only time I get to see them is on Sunday morning. Each of the counselors gave a short talk at some point during the camp, and then on the last day before leaving each of the kids shared what they had learned at camp. It was encouraging to see that they remembered a lot of what was said during the camp. We met last night to plan another Covie trip before Christmas because this one went so well and not everyone got to go. Loretta will be here for the next one, so she is going to be an honorary Covie haha. Before I came to England I imagined spending a lot more time with the church kids but I have spent most of my time here with the non-church kids who just use the church parking lot to skateboard and scooter.
I had an interesting day today, I met up with 3 of the skaters today at the church and we walked to McDonalds for lunch. After we went in this store called Sainsbury’s, it is very similar to a place like Target. I just wanted to see how much it cost to get a pair of pants but it was a very interesting trip into this store. The boys had taken straws from McDonalds, and they started shooting spit balls at each other. At first it seemed under control, but then while walking down one of the aisles I noticed one of them had pinned the other one to the floor and then started dragging him by his feet. There were moms with their kids walking by and just staring with their mouths open. I was trying to pretend like I did not know them in case one of the workers came over and yelled at them.
Then we started making our way across the store and I ran into a lady from the church, she asked how I was doing, I told her I was just hanging out with some of the boys and before I finished the sentence I noticed she was looking past me with a smirk on her face. I turned around to see that things had gotten out of control again. One of them was in the middle of a flying drop kick to the other one’s back. I saw a mom with one hand on her shopping cart use her other hand to pull her daughter out of the way. Story gets better though…
They wanted to go to the deodorant and cologne aisle. I had no idea what was about to happen next. The three of them started spraying themselves with stuff very similar to Axe. But instead of just a small spray, they were holding the top down until it had nothing left. Then they started spraying each other, I saw one of them spray another one directly in the face. Eyes and mouth both open because he was not expecting it. This time I really thought a worker was going to come over and yell at us but it never happened. We just left the store smelling very strange.
This isn’t funny, but one of these boys wrote an apology letter to Jon while we were sitting in McDonalds today because Sunday night while I was away at camp, he pulled his pants down and mooned some of the people in the church.
On our walk back to the church from Sainsbury’s we met a girl named Georgia who goes to school with them. She asked why I was here, I told her, and then she said “I hate God”. I asked why, she said “he made me sick when I was little and then he made my dad have an affair.” Later on in the conversation she told me she would rather go to hell because you can get a tan there and heaven is cold and boring. Sad because the truth is God did not make her dad have an affair, and hell is a terrible place. I left the conversation with the simple truth, I told her she can believe whatever she wants while she is alive on earth, but the second she dies she will no longer have the choice and she will stand before Him.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Wednesday
Please pray for this Wednesday night, Oct. 17th. Seems like we are going to have a lot of kids for our youth program from 8pm-9pm and we are presenting the Gospel as clearly as we possibly can.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Week Seven
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
I have been here exactly 7 weeks, crazy to think I spent 8 weeks in Bosnia last summer because I would be really sad if I had to leave next week. I feel like there is a lot more that needs to happen here before I go home.
The past few days have been very exciting and also strange. We will start with the exciting, Sunday morning I woke up very tired, I was so tired I had actually forgotten what time church started. So I fed the cat (Giles) for the people I am house sitting for this week and then rode my bike to church. There was no cars in the parking lot, and I thought it was because I was ten minutes early, but I was actually 1 hour and ten minutes early.
The night before I was hanging around the church with some kids and they usually stay till about 11 or 12 (the latest ever being about 1:30am). This boy came up to me with the biggest smile on his face and said “we are sleeping over his house (points to his friend) and his mom says we don’t have to be in until 3!” I smiled too, matching his excitement, but in my head I was thinking there was no way they were going to stay here that late. (Needles to say they did) We played in the gym for a while, then we all skyped with Loretta, she showed them her house and shoe collection. Then at about 1am we skyped with Nathan and Ashley, they thought it was really cool to meet my brother. But they kept referring to Ashley as his girlfriend. We then went back in the gym until about 2:50am. Lucky for them, they did not have to be up for church in the morning.
I usually text some of the boys about an hour before church to wake them up and see if they are interested in coming, but this Sunday I was so tired I forgot. To my surprise though about 15 minutes before the service started a boy texted me and said he was on his way but might be a few minutes late. He showed up, and after the service we went to Dominoes and shared a pizza. It was good to talk to him one on one, he told me a lot about his family life and plans for the future. I shared with him how God changed my life, and how when I was his age I would have never imagined moving to England to skateboard with kids at a church.
We talked a lot about Heaven, and also what Jesus taught. On our way back to the church, he thanked me for the conversation; he also thanked me for coming to England. We skated with our friends the rest of the afternoon and that night he came to the evening service. The guy who spoke prayed a prayer at the end, and asked that if anyone was interested in becoming a Christian to pray along with him. My friend prayed it and said he believed it, I met with him after and we prayed, he was choked up as he thanked God for all the He has done. If nothing good happens for the rest of this trip, it will still be 6 months well spent because of that night.
Now for the strange;
Monday Jon and I loaded the mini bus with 15 people who have struggled with addiction to drugs and alcohol and took them to a soccer tournament in Oxford. The tournament was comprised of teams from local areas who use soccer as a way to help people rehabilitate themselves. The original plan was to drop them off at their tournament and then go sight seeing, maybe take some pictures at Oxford University and get some lunch. But that morning when we arrived at the church, they told us they were a player short and needed either Jon or myself to play with them. Obviously Jon volunteered me.
I could not have felt more out of place. The shorts were way too short, I know barely anything about playing soccer, and I was somewhat apprehensive about who we were going to be playing against. Seemed to be a lot of prison tattoos out on the field, I gave it my all though. My team ended up winning 2 games and losing 2 games so we did not qualify for the next round. The other team we brought also did not qualify for the next round so we got to leave early. When I say “early” I mean 5pm, cannot imagine staying much longer. I was so hungry by the end of the day. Our team did receive a medal and little backpack filled with surprises though. Haha I got a drug and alcohol handbook along with shower gel, socks, and a water bottle. You can imagine the conversations that took place on the way their and back in the mini bus, I wont go into detail.
In a strange way the soccer tournament felt like a church camp, they gave each player a piece of paper with about 12 squares on it and you had to have each square signed by someone that you did not know. I know I have played something like that at youth group or camp before. The guy on the microphone kept saying stuff like “remember, today is all about meeting new friends and helping each other through this…” By “this” I guess he meant the addictions they were facing, it was funny though because the other players were really friendly. Had a lot of people tell me “bye” as I was leaving. I felt strange when the staff would smile at me, I wanted to tell them that I was not an addict looking to meet friends to help me through “this”, but I just kept silent. It seems like something out of a movie, but it’s my life.
Today I went into two schools with Jon, our first talk was to a younger crowd about the Prodigal Son, and then we went to a local high school and gave a presentation on marriage. After we came back to the church for the Moms and Toddlers program, Haha I got up from the chair I was sitting in today at the church and noticed my shorts felt wet, I looked at the seat and noticed there was a circle of something on it. I tried to convince myself it was water, but I think the baby that was sitting there before me needed a diaper change.
Mom and Dad, if you’re still reading this I love you guys, be home before you know it. : )
I have been here exactly 7 weeks, crazy to think I spent 8 weeks in Bosnia last summer because I would be really sad if I had to leave next week. I feel like there is a lot more that needs to happen here before I go home.
The past few days have been very exciting and also strange. We will start with the exciting, Sunday morning I woke up very tired, I was so tired I had actually forgotten what time church started. So I fed the cat (Giles) for the people I am house sitting for this week and then rode my bike to church. There was no cars in the parking lot, and I thought it was because I was ten minutes early, but I was actually 1 hour and ten minutes early.
The night before I was hanging around the church with some kids and they usually stay till about 11 or 12 (the latest ever being about 1:30am). This boy came up to me with the biggest smile on his face and said “we are sleeping over his house (points to his friend) and his mom says we don’t have to be in until 3!” I smiled too, matching his excitement, but in my head I was thinking there was no way they were going to stay here that late. (Needles to say they did) We played in the gym for a while, then we all skyped with Loretta, she showed them her house and shoe collection. Then at about 1am we skyped with Nathan and Ashley, they thought it was really cool to meet my brother. But they kept referring to Ashley as his girlfriend. We then went back in the gym until about 2:50am. Lucky for them, they did not have to be up for church in the morning.
I usually text some of the boys about an hour before church to wake them up and see if they are interested in coming, but this Sunday I was so tired I forgot. To my surprise though about 15 minutes before the service started a boy texted me and said he was on his way but might be a few minutes late. He showed up, and after the service we went to Dominoes and shared a pizza. It was good to talk to him one on one, he told me a lot about his family life and plans for the future. I shared with him how God changed my life, and how when I was his age I would have never imagined moving to England to skateboard with kids at a church.
We talked a lot about Heaven, and also what Jesus taught. On our way back to the church, he thanked me for the conversation; he also thanked me for coming to England. We skated with our friends the rest of the afternoon and that night he came to the evening service. The guy who spoke prayed a prayer at the end, and asked that if anyone was interested in becoming a Christian to pray along with him. My friend prayed it and said he believed it, I met with him after and we prayed, he was choked up as he thanked God for all the He has done. If nothing good happens for the rest of this trip, it will still be 6 months well spent because of that night.
Now for the strange;
Monday Jon and I loaded the mini bus with 15 people who have struggled with addiction to drugs and alcohol and took them to a soccer tournament in Oxford. The tournament was comprised of teams from local areas who use soccer as a way to help people rehabilitate themselves. The original plan was to drop them off at their tournament and then go sight seeing, maybe take some pictures at Oxford University and get some lunch. But that morning when we arrived at the church, they told us they were a player short and needed either Jon or myself to play with them. Obviously Jon volunteered me.
I could not have felt more out of place. The shorts were way too short, I know barely anything about playing soccer, and I was somewhat apprehensive about who we were going to be playing against. Seemed to be a lot of prison tattoos out on the field, I gave it my all though. My team ended up winning 2 games and losing 2 games so we did not qualify for the next round. The other team we brought also did not qualify for the next round so we got to leave early. When I say “early” I mean 5pm, cannot imagine staying much longer. I was so hungry by the end of the day. Our team did receive a medal and little backpack filled with surprises though. Haha I got a drug and alcohol handbook along with shower gel, socks, and a water bottle. You can imagine the conversations that took place on the way their and back in the mini bus, I wont go into detail.
In a strange way the soccer tournament felt like a church camp, they gave each player a piece of paper with about 12 squares on it and you had to have each square signed by someone that you did not know. I know I have played something like that at youth group or camp before. The guy on the microphone kept saying stuff like “remember, today is all about meeting new friends and helping each other through this…” By “this” I guess he meant the addictions they were facing, it was funny though because the other players were really friendly. Had a lot of people tell me “bye” as I was leaving. I felt strange when the staff would smile at me, I wanted to tell them that I was not an addict looking to meet friends to help me through “this”, but I just kept silent. It seems like something out of a movie, but it’s my life.
Today I went into two schools with Jon, our first talk was to a younger crowd about the Prodigal Son, and then we went to a local high school and gave a presentation on marriage. After we came back to the church for the Moms and Toddlers program, Haha I got up from the chair I was sitting in today at the church and noticed my shorts felt wet, I looked at the seat and noticed there was a circle of something on it. I tried to convince myself it was water, but I think the baby that was sitting there before me needed a diaper change.
Mom and Dad, if you’re still reading this I love you guys, be home before you know it. : )
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