Well, it's come and gone, this incredible mission weekend with Pais apprentices from around the world and young people from the UK. Someone asked me this morning how it was. My response: 'Parts of it were great. Parts of it were really hard.' And that's the truth. This weekend is probably the most difficult weekend of my academic year because it requires so much planning and organisation on my part and the part of my colleagues and it demands ALLLLLL of my energy for three and a half days. It's a lot of work and it's going to take me a while to recover. But in it all, despite my frustrations and fatigue, it was worth it.
And this is why:
Over 150 people were involved in this local mission weekend!
61 of those 150 were young people, ages 11-18, who were sharing the love of God with the community here in East Lancashire; some of them have come before, some were brand new this year. (One of them was a lovely young person from my church in Walsall and I was SO glad she was able to come and have this opportunity!)
61 of those 150 were young people, ages 11-18, who were sharing the love of God with the community here in East Lancashire; some of them have come before, some were brand new this year. (One of them was a lovely young person from my church in Walsall and I was SO glad she was able to come and have this opportunity!)
One of our local 12 year old boys was teaching adults how to pray for strangers on the street. He's such a rockstar.
42 people said 'Yes' to Jesus this weekend!
And my favorite story: On the last day of the mission weekend, I took a small group of Pais apprentices and young people to a community center for refugee families in the area with some food, games, music and activities for the children. One of our apprentices started talking with a Muslim woman there who is about the same age. As they started talking, they realized they had a lot in common as far as experiences they've been through in the past. Our apprentice got out her Bible and began to share with her some of the Scriptures that have helped her through those hard times. As she was reading them, the Muslim woman was really touched by how beautiful the Scriptures were. In the course of the conversation, she told our apprentice that she actually has a Bible at home, and being so impacted by the beauty of the Scriptures, she said she wanted to spend time during Ramadan (the upcoming time of prayer and fasting for Muslims), reading her Bible!
I love my job and I love the heart of Pais and why we do what we do. If you would like to contribute to the work we do, we are currently in the midst of fundraising and will be doing a 10K Walk/Run/Cycle in just a few weeks. I'd love for you to be able to invest in this great work with me. Please click here in order to join with us as we work to advance the Kingdom in the UK!
I love my job and I love the heart of Pais and why we do what we do. If you would like to contribute to the work we do, we are currently in the midst of fundraising and will be doing a 10K Walk/Run/Cycle in just a few weeks. I'd love for you to be able to invest in this great work with me. Please click here in order to join with us as we work to advance the Kingdom in the UK!
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