Well, my team and I went to SWAP 2014, which is a conference held by Pais in Burnley (about an hour away) in order to encourage and give opportunity for Pais apprentices to share ideas regarding youth work. All of Pais GB and Pais Ireland were there and some from Pais Germany were there as well. I must admit, getting to meet the other Pais apprentices was the highlight for me.
There are 11 teams spread throughout Great Britain and one team in Ireland, each team having between 3 and 5 members, so that's a good number of people, especially considering we spent allllll day and alllll night together. It's one thing to sit/work through a week-long conference with people; it's an entirely different thing to then sleep on a church floor together every night as well. You get to know people better that way, I think. And although there wasn't enough time to talk to everyone, deep conversations rarely taking place, still, it was great to meet everyone and spend time together.
One of the best things for me was to be with my Januaries again! We are so blessed and encouraged by each other. On Thursday night our January hosts invited us over for tea (aka supper) and prayed for us. This truly is a special group of people and I am so thankful for them all!
This is Paul Gibbs, the founder of the Pais Project, talking about the Kingdom of Heaven in one of his keynote sessions. Every morning began with a time of worship followed by a session with Paul, specifically discussing the three distinctives of Pais: mission, discipleship and study.
The keynote session was then followed by three one-hour sessions, each with a 20-minute presentation and a 40-minute round-table "swap" session for us to share ideas. That's the back of my curly head next to the blonde girl in the green hat (who is also from America).
This is the SWAP 2014 Welcome Team. I was on "Resources" and got to man the "bookshop," which consisted of three books all written by Paul Gibbs. To be fair, they are awesome books!
Relaxing during lunch, sitting with Trey, David and Adam. Adam is from Southport but is currently working with Pais Germany.
Well, that was most of my week. I came home yesterday and took a much-needed 2 1/2 hour nap. I then chose to do absolutely nothing last night. Today I slept in till 11am and finally went to my Saturday hiding place, where I bumped into the youth worker from Christ Church. Tonight, instead of meeting with friends, I am staying home to chill and do ministry prep for tomorrow. I must say, I really enjoyed this week and this conference, but this introverted girl is plain tuckered out!
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