Weekly Wrap 25

Well, this past week began with a huge highlight for me. Clara, Felix and I had the privilege of accompanying a coach full of Year 11 students to Leavesden (outside of London) to see the studios where they filmed the Harry Potter movies! Yeah, I have a rough job, I know. Pics are at the bottom!

This week we also did a lunch club about what the Bible says about LOVE as well as had prayer spaces, giving the kids a chance to connect with God for themselves!

This was our appeal for our lunch club where Clara preached the Gospel and students responded to the fact that the Bible says God loves them.

 Chilling in one of our prayer spaces before students came in.

In Germany St. Nicholas Day (6th December) is a big deal! We celebrated by showing the Pais documentary to some of our friends and cooking German food for them as well. Oh yeah, and we got chocolate St. Nicholases to eat!

Harry Potter World Pics!

Clara, Felix and Me outside 3 Privet Drive (the house next door to the Dursleys). And that is Butterbeer in my hand, non-alcoholic goodness! 

Me and Clara in the Gryffindor Boys dormitory #scandalous

The Mirror of Erised supposedly shows you your heart's deepest desire when you look into it. I won't tell you what I saw ;)

The bridge that leads to Hogwarts 

Felix outside the Potters' house 

The Butterbeer was really nice... :)

The cupboard under the stairs

The Great Hall decorated for Christmas 

Felix being pensive in Dumbledore's office 

 Gryffindor Common Room

Entrance to Dumbledore's Office 

 Potions classroom

 Weasleys' house

 Umbridge's office 

 Number 4 Privet Drive

Hagrid's Hut

 Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes in Diagon Alley

Hogwarts!

Weekly Wrap 24

If you're thinking there was no update last week, you are right! Last weekend I went to a worship leaders' conference in Eastbourne (in the south of England near where I used to live) where God really moved in my life and gave me the opportunity to worship with Matt Redman and Reuben Morgan! I got back from there late Sunday night and went right into a crazy week at school with Youth for Christ, which culminated in a YFC concert Friday night at school where the Gospel was shared with over 100 students! Yesterday was my first day off in two weeks and I certainly made the most of it. My host would tell you I never got out of my pajamas, and she'd be telling the truth. Now we have three weeks of school left before Christmas holidays, and I have no idea what I'm doing/where I'm going for Christmas. Hopefully that decision will be made soon! But I would appreciate your prayers for us as a team, to keep running strong to the end of this term and for me as the leader, to continue to be able to focus and lead well, no matter what distractions come. I want to be able to give 100% in my work and am disappointed with myself when I cannot. Thank you all for your prayers and support! I really value you--especially those of you who read this ;) Thank you!

Weekly Wrap 23 Part II

Because it has been such a long time since I've posted a real update, I'm just going to give you highlights here.

The first Sunday in November, we had a Family Sunday at Bath Street where we had activities geared mostly for our young people and their parents. We have quite a few young people who come to kids club and youth group on Friday nights, but whose parents don't come to church on Sundays. So we thought this would be a creative way to get them to come to church and to engage with others in the family of God. It was a ton of fun!

 Three of our young people discussing painting each others' faces

Group activities for the young and not-so-young 

 Of course we busted out the Wii

Making a family tree with hand prints :)

This past week we began doing a Bible study with our Christian union that meets after school on Tuesdays. So we thought of fun ways they could do some Biblical research and find out new and interesting things about the life of Moses, which we are currently studying! 

We created some prayer spaces one day during a lunch time for the students to use during their free time. 

This is me and Becky taking advantage of a prayer space before the students came in 

At this station, students were encouraged to give their struggles to God and then drop a fizzy tablet into the water and watch it dissolve as they let go of their worries. 

This station was to thank God for the special friends He has given us.

Here the students were encouraged to write down any big questions they have for God.

This was our prayer wall, where we wrote out our prayers to God. Some were simply, 'God, help me.' 

Young people using the Be Still space

As part of our job, sometimes we get invited to go on school trips with the students. This was a day at Outward Bound where we first spent time discussing GRACE and what it looks like. Then the kids got to do fun things like abseiling and zip lines...

And this was our most recent lunch club, where we had a 100% increase of those who normally show up. Praise God! 

When I got home from school on Friday, I had a package waiting for me! My birthday present (yes, my birthday was in February!) along with some extras from my best friend! It was such an encouragement to me, and now I have Steven Furtick's newest book! Glory :)

Weekly Wrap 23 Part I: FRESH

Finally! A Sunday night update! I know you've been anxiously anticipating this the whole week!

FRESH first
Three weeks ago, my team and I joined the 13 other Pais teams from the UK for a conference at a retreat centre very near Wales. The point was to relax, rest and make room to hear the Lord & encourage each other in what we are doing. It was a great week and here are my highlights!

 One day we went into Shrewsbury for the afternoon where my friend Annetta and I found the most charming coffee shop with this window overlooking the town centre. This girl has been such a gift to me and God has really used her in my life to help bring wisdom and clarity!

The last night of FRESH we had a bonfire (of course there were marshmallows!) where we talked about the Holy Spirit, prayed and just enjoyed being the family that we are!

The last bit of our retreat was just for the team leaders. We spent a day and a half talking about team leading, ending our time together with some powerful corporate prayer for our individual areas. This was incredible, and of course I cried...a lot. 

FRESH was a fantastic time to step back from work, do a bit of team building and really create room in our lives to allow the Lord to speak to us, which He has. For me personally, He used the time to encourage me and help me focus on what He has ahead for me.

Not a Real Update

First off, apologies for no update last week and that this week's is not a real update. The week before last my team and I went to Fresh, a Pais conference meant to allow us to rest and hear the Lord together. We were expectant for God to speak to us individually and He has. For me personally, He has not stopped talking. And regarding that, I would ask for your prayers. God is doing a major work in my heart at the moment--an overhaul if you will, which is not comfortable and actually was completely unexpected. Please pray for me to continue to trust in His excellent leadership as He directs me in the days to come. Thank you!

Hopefully next week will bring a better update of the work that's going on in Walsall! God is doing great things!

Weekly Wrap 22

It's finally half-term! For my American friends, that means a one-week break! And I must say, we're all glad of that. This past week was great, but it was busy!

This week in our team Bible study, we looked at Proverbs 3:5-8. Becca did a great job leading us, and God really challenged each of us to trust Him in different areas of our lives. It was amazing as well to see how our Bible study overflowed into our ministry this week, as we too encouraged our students to trust God!

One of my highlights this week was on Tuesday when the head of the Religious Education department at our school invited the team into his Year 7 class in order to observe something called Philosophy4Children. In this exercise, he gave them a word, in this case "Power," and then the opportunity to agree or disagree with a previous statement made (and why!) or make a new statement. It was incredible the things these kids came out with. We watched these 11 year olds discuss what real power is, where it comes from, what you're supposed to do with it, what the difference between hope and faith is, why different people have similar morals and if God actually exists. It was amazing! 

After school on Tuesday was our Christian Union, where Felix led a game about taking a certain path, and Becca talked about her experience of trusting God to lead her and how much better her life has become since she initially made the decision to do so. 

Tuesday night we had a team social! We enjoy hanging out together, and I am really blessed by these people! 

On Wednesday we had our usual lunch club where we did an activity about how we treat people and how that makes them feel. It was pretty dramatic and effective in helping the students realize that little things they do and say can really affect how people feel.

This is Becca talking about the activity, really driving home the point of the message, "How do you like it?"

Johanna gave the appeal and invited the students to consider how they usually make others feel. It was a good time of reflection as we challenged them to think about these things.

On Thursday we got to do our first local mission--Because You're Loved! We helped our students give out lollipops to their peers, with the message that they love their fellow students because God first loved them. As a team, we've all done this before, and it's amazing how simple it can be and also how easy it is to encourage others this way! 

Thursday night was Bath St. prayer, during which we created prayer spaces to pray for Pais--specifically for the students at our school, for our team and for the other nations where Pais is operating! 

Friday was Felix's birthday--we got him this! (He really wanted it!!) 

And now it is half-term and...

Tomorrow we are off to a Pais conference to rest, relax and refresh! Woohoo!