The Week of Lasts

The Week of Lasts has begun! All over the UK Pais GB teams are saying goodbye, especially today as it is our last day with our churches. For me the week began on Friday with my last night with my Christ Church youth. Then Saturday with my last day off in Southport. Now today with my last day at All Saints with my girls. The rest of the week holds the last lunch clubs, the last kids club and the last working days with my Pais Southport team.

I have been blessed to be here for the last five months, to meet the people I have met, to work with the team I have worked with, and to make what I hope is an impact in the lives of others. Even though it was a relatively short season, saying goodbye is not easy. I will always remember my time in Southport--as challenging, refreshing, encouraging, empowering and healing. I am thankful for this place and these people. Yet, it is time to move on. God has more for me, and more for the people in this place as well. There are new adventures to be had and new opportunities to explore. I am excited for all that lies ahead for me. Let the journey continue!

The Last Year

Fifty-two weeks ago today my heart broke. In what I now know was a merciful act of loving kindness from my heavenly Father, I was torn from a world I had embraced without reservation, and a friendship in which I had lost myself. I have hinted about this in previous posts, and several very close friends know the details, but as I hit the one-year mark today, I find myself reflecting more and more on this situation. 

June 24th-25th of 2013 was the saddest day of my life (I didn't sleep that night, so really, it all turned into one long, saaaaad day). I cried in three different airports in three different countries. I didn't want to leave, but I had to. I was devastated.

Or so I thought. It was really hard for me to leave, but the days that came after, however, were, to my surprise, even harder. The world I had embraced went on without me, and continued to change as I sat at home alone. The friendship I had lost myself in very soon withered away, and I was left a broken and hurting mess. The days passed, quite slowly, and the hurt went on. I kept expecting the pain to stop. I kept expecting the next day to be easier. But it wasn't. Not for a long time. 

And then, a few months later, I could breathe again. But the pain was still there, every day. Less intense and more manageable, but still quite present. 

Several more months went by, and I got to come back to my favorite country, the UK. I thought that was the end. I thought with the beginning of 2014 and a new country, I would be completely healed. For a while, the pain I experienced was overshadowed by the excitement and challenge of a new adventure. But settling in, I quickly realized that there were still broken pieces of me that God wanted to heal. The re-building process was not complete like I had thought it was. 

And now, now the pain hits sporadically. I still miss that place and that friendship. I still think of them every day, and sometimes find them in my dreams. I know there will come a day when the memories don't hit so hard and I won't think about the precious times I had. I believe I will wake up one day (hopefully soon) and realize I did not think about them at all the day before.

But until that day, I am pressing on. I am happy to hit the one-year mark, and to put this last year behind me. It has been the hardest year of my life, by a landslide, and I want to move on. However, saying all that, this year has been one in which I have experienced the presence of Jesus in a stronger way than I ever have before. Because I needed Him more. There was nothing and no one who could have sustained me in such a dark place, no one but Him. And He did it. In addition to His presence, He has given me work to do to advance His Kingdom. He has given me family, friends and teammates who have been so gracious with me, listening to me and encouraging me. He has given me wisdom to share. And He has given me hope for the future. There is better for me, and I believe that. 

So, even on the hard days, I will choose to believe that He is using and will continue to use what I have been through for His glory and He will continue to bring me the healing and freedom I need. He will continue to give me joy in the moment and hope for the future. And for all these things, I am so thankful to Him.

To my family and friends who have supported me over the past year, I thank you too. You have been patient and understanding, compassionate and supportive and I am so blessed to have you all in my life. 

I choose to believe this.

Pais Walsall

At long last, another update. I have been trying and trying to get this posted, but I've been a bit busy lately! So, here it is. Enjoy!

During the first week of June I had the privilege of working with the current Pais team in Walsall. I got to see where they work, how they work and who they work with. It was a great opportunity for me, as I will be the leader of the Pais Walsall team for the 2014-2015 academic year, and I now have a much better idea of how that unique team operates from day to day.

The Pais Walsall team is quite different from other Pais GB teams in that they work specifically in one school. They work so closely with this school that their office is actually located within the school. They are there from before 8am until 4pm, doing breakfast clubs, lunch clubs, assemblies, mentoring and Religious Education lessons with the students while also planning ministry, doing team Bible study and preparing church activities for the youth work they do at church as well.  

The school is quite supportive of Pais, which I find amazing. And actually, the more I think about it, the more I am convinced it is a miracle the team is in this school.

As a non-profit Christian organization, we are missionaries. Our motto is “Missionaries Making Missionaries” and here we are, a group of five, full-time missionaries invited into and supported by a secular institution in order to daily encounter and impact the student body, most of whom come from non-Christian families, many of whom come from Muslim families.

In addition, this school is located in a poor area of Walsall. These kids stink—literally. Many of them come to school smelling of smoke and…other things… and often show up in dirty uniforms. The school also has a unique approach to dealing with difficult kids; where normally they would be expelled (for disrespecting a member of staff or another student, unacceptable behavior, truancy, absences, etc.), the school works with them in a different way to help them succeed. And our team is invited in to help with these kids!

What an opportunity! Seriously, I cannot tell you how excited I am about working there next year, with a chance to build relationships with these kids who need to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ and who really need people to love, support and encourage them. It is going to be amazing and I am incredibly expectant for what God is going to do in that place!

Here are just a few pictures of my week in Walsall:

 This is Becky, my future Assistant Team Leader. And yes, she is stirring her tea with a ruler...

Four of the five members of the current Pais Walsall team having a bit of fun in the office.

So, while I was there, Pais Walsall did their annual fundraising event. This year they decided to do "Forfeits," having the members of their congregation pay money to see the team do (or have done to them) terrible things. This is me and Becky after a whole jar of hair gel was put into her hair and she was covered in beans. Yes, people actually paid money to see that. And I must admit, it was really funny! 

This is Becky taking off her sock because one of her forfeits was to drink a soda through her sock. She was not incredibly pleased, but she did it.

This is Luke, the current leader of Pais Walsall (and the guy who will be overseeing me regarding Pais next year) eating a super hot chili. He did it, but he cried. 

And this is Luke with his Assistant Team Leader Lou who both got pied in the face (and for Luke, a bit down the back of the trousers...). 

Even though they all did a great job raising money, I was sure to inform Becky that we will not be using this fundraising approach next year!

Dared to Love: Photos

Group photo before handing out the letters we wrote which we attached to balloons. 

Ok, here is the testimony I promised in the last post.

One of the girls who came last week hasn't ever done any events with us before, but she is part of a church we are friends with. She wrote a letter, attached it to a balloon and handed it out to a random stranger, just like the rest of us. And three days later Tabz received a message from a friend on Facebook:

Today a woman named Fabi came into my work, she's a volunteer there, and she told me this story: She has recently given her life to Jesus, maybe three weeks ago, and was talking the other day to the vicar who was expressing God's heart for her...telling her that God loves her, that she's beautiful, all of these things...I think things she had never thought God would think about her, even mentioning her wonderful curly hair. 

Her husband is a manager in a cafe in Southport, and he ended up with one of your balloons. He took it home and gave it to their daughters, which they took, and gave Fabi the envelope, which until this point, remained unopened. Fabi opened the envelope and read what was basically the exact same conversation she had had with the vicar the day before. 

She came into the office today telling everyone about how God has been speaking to her. In the letter, it commented on her lovely hair as well...it was just so meant to be for her, and really blessed, touched and encouraged her. 

Can you believe that??? God knew exactly what Fabi needed to hear to encourage her and to show her that He is real and that He cares for her!! And then what did she do? She went into work telling everyone what had happened! It reminds me of John 4 where it says, "And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, 'He told me all that I ever did.'" God is SO GOOD!

 Because You're Loved t-shirts

Sarah and her team praying for Southport

Trey and his team

Some of our team talking to people on the street

Two of our amazing young people and Luisa before we distributed balloons and letters

Gardening project! These guys worked so hard.

Sarah mowing...for the first time ever. Haha!

Tabz with the trimmer. Can you see the difference from the first pic?? That was after several hours of work!

One of my favs standing in the bin :)

Serving the community of High Park (probably the poorest neighborhood in Southport) at our tea/coffee afternoon

Chatting with our guests

Helping with the food bank

Praying over the food

Face painting at the Fun Day

Live music! These guys are great!

Our bouncy castle! The kids loved it :)

I hope you enjoyed the pics from our Dared to Love week. We had a great time blessing and serving our community. We worked hard, sowed seeds and showed the love of God to the people of Southport. What a privilege for us!

Dared to Love: A Glimpse

Last week was our Dared to Love week, and it was amazing! We could definitely feel the presence and provision of the Lord during our activities. And we did some awesome stuff! We prayed for our town. We bought people coffee. We gave out sweets in the street. We wrote encouraging letters, tied them to balloons and handed them out to strangers (There's an awesome testimony of this which I will share next time!). We did gardening projects for people who couldn't do it themselves. We hosted a tea & coffee afternoon in a poorer area of town. We helped at a food bank. And we threw a Fun Day--a bouncy castle, face painting, live music and biscuits--all for free! It was such a great week, which took a lot of work, but the young people who came with us did a fantastic job and, in my opinion, it could not have gone any better! Thank you everyone for your prayers. They were heard!

My amazing team made a short video of our Dared to Love week. Enjoy!