Stourbridge -> Glasgow -> Stourbridge -> Goodbye's Are Hard

     We've spent a lot of time with the youth, the kids and the adults of Stourbridge and we've grown rather attached to all of the people here. Tomorrow we're throwing a going-away BBQ with free food and games and have invited as many people as we could on Facebook about it. Friday, August 1st, will be our last full day here. We have to catch a train leaving for South London at 9:30 a.m. on August 2nd. It's a hard reality that's only just settling in. This past Sunday we've had to say goodbye to some people for the last time. Today we had to say goodbye to our mentor - and very probably one of the interns we've been working so closely with for the past month and a half - for the last time. We were so rushed to catch the train due to leave Glasgow for Preston that we didn't really have time to register any emotions. Everything has been so rushed here at the most inconvenient times and I was hoping the goodbye's wouldn't be one of the things that got rushed. We said goodbye for the last time to a few people at church on Sunday, too. If some of them aren't able to show up at the BBQ tomorrow we're not going to see them, again. In a way it's helpful to say goodbye to a few of them at a time, instead of all at once. I've learned, though, that no matter how I feel after a relationship ends I need to be fully invested in the relationship while I'm there. God can work in the smallest of moments with each person and I can't let my fear of being hurt keep me from being used in those moments. I'm glad - and proud of myself - that I may very well cry when I leave some of these people and that they will cry in return. I love them all and I'm not afraid to show it.

     After the Mississippi team left a lot of the youth were rather intrigued and wanted to go on a mission trip to Mississippi. I believe they're letting Andrew (one of the other interns in charge of Youth) decide on the missional aspects of the mission but they have the hotel down and where they'll be eating. It's been really cool to see how they interact around people with southern accents. So many silly questions were asked by the southerners and so many words repeated by all just because everyone liked each others accent.

     During mission week we had a great turn-out for the BBQ/family fun day! It was really exciting. I got a mustache and Union flag painted on my face. Found out that it's only called the "Union Jack" flag when the flag is on a ship. In either case it was painted, expertly, right on my face by one of the Mississippi team. Jonathan, one of the other interns working with youth and worship, was a tiger. One of the homeless people we've been working with came, too, which was exciting! He's been coming every Sunday, as well. From not talking to anybody the first couple of weeks to being chatty and willing to come to church and open up his heart with us. It's been a huge change in the amount of time that I've been here, praise God! We had a bunch of kids we've never seen before show up and have fun. It was a long day ending in worship and some preaching from Andy Hodson, my boss while I've been over here. We went to Nando's (a really good restaurant if you love chicken possibly mixed with lots of spice) with them, too. It was great spending time with the team and learning more about the culture that they come from. Going to a castle, eating a terrible lamb sandwich that, despite the sweet chili sauce it had on it, tasted like absolutely nothing, riding with an American driver who wasn't that terrible at driving and hiking up a "hill" to see a gorgeous view all in a day. It was fun but I think we slept about 11 hours after they left.

     We were excited to go to Glasgow for the missions opportunities. We were sad because we also knew that it would mean having to say goodbye to some people earlier than we would have liked. Going to Glasgow, inevitably, meant that we'd be able to spend more time with Andy and Andrew, the intern as well as get insight into exactly what it is we'll be doing when we go to South London in a couple of days. It's called "holiday club" it's basically VBS (Vacation Bible School) - what we have in churches across America for our kids. It's big in Scotland and it happens a lot in England, as well. I didn't realize how similar the two were until I was in a room full of kids and they were doing dancing, story time and games all split up into teams (seemingly based on age).

     I learned more about the situation with kids in Scotland after talking with one of the workers at the church there. I never learned the name of the church we were at. We were only there for about an hour but it seems like I should've asked seeing as it's only polite. This particular worker wasn't working directly with the church but was working with Youth For Christ and she said that a lot of the kids in Scotland have parents that don't really now how to be present with them. These parents come from backgrounds of/deal with, personally, alcoholism as well as unemployment for 2 or 3 generations at times because the social system is so good over in Europe. If they went to get a job they'd be poorer than if they stayed on benefits (or welfare, basically) so a lot of them just don't get a job. They have issues in Scotland where, if they have more than one child, they'll leave the older to look after the younger. In some cases the "older" child will be older primary school age - not even a teenager, yet. It's become such an issue that they've started teaching basics so that the kids know how to care for their younger brothers and sisters and for themselves. Teenage pregnancy is also a huge problem in Scotland. After hearing about some of these things I went into the room where they were having holiday club (we went to two, this was the first holiday club we went to on Tuesday) and I almost cried. I was overwhelmed by how much not only these children need hope, but their parents and grandparents need hope. Please pray for workers to be sent there with a desire and passion to help families and those struggling as there is a great need there.

     The second holiday club we went to we experienced more of just because we were there for a few activities that they were involved in. The game they played was interesting. They had to form a line and do all of this in three minutes: run to a table, put a spoonful of sugar in their mouth, take a bite of a lemon, take a swig of water and run back to where their team and a jug was waiting for them to do 5 jumping jacks and spit it out into. Whichever team had the most "lemonade" in their jug was the winner of the most points and you get a prize at the end of the week if you're on the winning team with the most points, I'm assuming. It was a joy to work with the kids these last couple of days. I'm just happy that, since I missed VBS at our church, I don't have to miss VBS altogether!

     On Monday we hiked a mountain called Ben A'an. Or rather, they did. I made it most of the way up and couldn't finish it because my foot was hurting me (along with everything else) and I was having a hard time catching my breath. I got some beautiful shots of the surrounding mountains, though, since I was really very close to the top of the mountain. I talked to a girl named Stephanie, too. She was the last one in her group as well. She's Scottish and has been to Harry Potter world. I told her I was jealous. God was really showing me, in that moment, that even though I'm slower than others, that I'm detail-oriented and I think things through (sometimes much more than I should), God still works through me. God can still use me as a missionary - as a Christian. I don't have to be super outgoing, graceful, funny, intelligent or whatever I think of when I think of "successful" Christians who are able to open up their homes and hearts to people. God has made me who I am and He can use me the way that I am. After we hiked the mountain we went for lunch and went to Loch Lomond. We saw swans, people that got rescued from their boat because it just stopped working (apparently), skipped stones (I tried but failed) and took pictures. The lake was beautiful and it was nearing sunset so it was even more beautiful. Sadly pictures can't do that scenery justice but they can give you an idea, at least.

     Last night we started playing Nertz with some of the people. Tiffany, one of the other interns with GEM (for 9 months in Scotland), Rachel, my flatmate, and I knew how to play but no one else did. Soon we got Andy and Andrew involved. I will just say that Andrew (the intern - I call him "Drew") is hilarious when he's angry and when he's flustered. Andy, however, got very good very quickly. We knew he would. He's the kind of guy who learns quickly and he has to stay moving - very active - so in a fast-paced game like Nertz we figured he'd be good. We even played partners for a while but Tiffany and Andy were so good it was like they were cheating, really. So this morning when we played it he played separately.

     We got back at 8:30 tonight. Which might seem strange to some of you as you might be reading this before 8:30 tonight. We took about 5 different trains (almost missed 2 or 3 of them), got re-routed once, skipped a step because we just happen to be able to (otherwise it would have been 6 trains), and got picked up by Andy's lovely wife, Isobel. Sweetheart of sweethearts, she is. Amazing cook and great person.

     Please pray for the situation that caused our train to be so delayed, though. A man was threatening to throw himself on the tracks and it took police about half an hour to talk him down. Please pray for him and for his family. Pray that someone who loves and follows Christ would enter his life and show him peace.

     We'll be having our BBQ tomorrow as well as the homeless ministry and the youth come on Friday. Please pray that our last days here would be fruitful and that we would show love to the people here, even though we might not see them again. Please pray that we wouldn't let our sadness overtake us but that we would allow our love for them to show all the more - that they might see in that how much Jesus loves them.

    As a P.S. I would like to note that I would have put photos up here to show you some of what I mean when I say they painted a mustache on my face and we took pictures of Loch Lomond. The problem with this is that I cannot find my iPhone cord at this moment so I'll have to update this blog later with pictures. Thank you for all the prayer! I love you guys a lot and I'm coming back to the States soon! August 8th (late at night) I'll be back. I'll start to see everybody August 9th. I'm gaining 5 hours so I'm hoping the jet lag won't hit me as hard as it did when I came over here.

Differences in Culture

            So it’s been three or so weeks since my last update and a lot has happened. I’ve been keeping a list of things that are different from America and England since I’ve been here for about a month. The list is long but as much as I’ve seen different I’ve also been reminded of how much is the same.

            They say, spiritually, when you go to England from America you’re going about 10 years into the future. I’m not sure if America is following in everything else and it seems, at least in fashion, we’re not trailing so far behind in everything but the spiritual aspect is the biggest thing, I think. It’s why I’m here in England, at least.

            I was thinking about one thing a lot, actually, on one of my Saturdays when I was supposed to be “off”. We went back in to London in order to see “Once”, a musical on the West End, and we “crashed” the Gay Pride Parade. It was very interesting seeing the community of people and one of my flat mates made a very interesting point of how we don’t have the same community in the Church as they do. Denominations really separate us more than they should. What really broke my heart was when we passed a man with a sign with some Scripture on it. He had a huge crowd around him, giving him lots of space to speak, and two policemen that were speaking to him, as well. He wasn’t speaking grace and peace from the Gospel, though; he was saying that God hated gay people and how it was his responsibility to tell the people. It was very difficult to watch the policemen take him away. I don’t agree with him – let me say that outright. I do, however, feel like in America he would have had the opportunity to be able to say what he wanted to say with all of the people yelling at him and no policemen taking him away. I’ve heard similar stories that happened here where people were preaching the Truth of God and, because it was offensive to people, they were arrested. We’re only 10 years behind England, spiritually speaking. What happens when we start arresting people because we think they’re being offensive to us?

            On Saturday I was out by the lake (the one the church is named after but that it’s not actually super close to). It was a beautiful day outside and I wanted to just take the time and pray and worship God so I did that for a couple of hours. I started out with listening to a sermon my pastor had preached 2 weeks previous about The Church. The biggest thing I think I focused on was how big God is, how good He is and, despite these things, how willing He is to love people like us and how that shows how merciful He is. I got wrapped up in worship and remembered, again, why I like to be alone so much so I can pray. I realized I hadn’t been alone a lot on this internship – rooming with two other girls and all – but I’m going to try and find some time every so often so I can pray by myself.

            The VBS (a.k.a. Vacation Bible School or Venture Quest) seems to slowly be growing. This is a good sign! I don’t think anyone really expected us to have 50 kids the first night. Ministries and new ideas take time to grow. I hope that it continues to grow. Even if we only minister to the one family that came tonight, though, it means we’ve ministered to a family and that’s a huge thing. We have shown the love of Christ to the kids and to the parents so it doesn’t matter how many come. God will bring whom He will and we will love whomever He brings!

            I felt a bit discouraged, earlier, because there doesn’t seem to be a heart for children’s ministry here. It’s understandable because it’s a hard job but I felt like I needed to make that happen for them because they didn’t have it. There are so many people here who haven’t heard of Jesus and/or don’t know any of the “basic” Bible stories like Adam & Eve, Noah, Moses, Saul/Paul, etc. If they could learn it at a young age then maybe they could even teach it to their parents! But, really, those things take a lot of time and there has to be a heart for that kind of ministry or else people will get burnt out quickly doing something they do because they feel like they have to. Ministries are to be joined out of joy and worship to the Lord, not out of obligation. I don’t want anyone here to feel like they “have” to do anything. That’s not the point of a relationship with Christ. I talked with a great friend of mine, though, and she encouraged me in this. That it isn’t my job to start a children’s ministry or to start a Sunday School. It’s my job to love people like Christ would. Not only is it my job it is my privilege, honor and joy! Ok, maybe she didn’t say that last bit, but it’s true. My purpose in coming here was not first and foremost for that purpose and perhaps it will still happen but I can’t let that be my primary goal. I am glad that I’m not so worried about it, anymore and I’m really grateful for friends who can say just the right thing at just the right time.

            There’s a team from Mississippi here, too. 34 new Americans I have to remember the names of. To be fair I can’t do that so I’m just going to end up calling most of them “you”, “lady” or “guy” if I need to talk to them. They’ve been a huge help since this week has been unofficially deemed “missions week”. I think since the team is here we’re able to do more stuff so this is the week we’ve decided to cram as many ideas in as we can. Basically, what can we do to love our community and our people? Ok. We have 6 days. Let’s do it all! It’s been really fun but kind of tiring so far. I think for them, mostly, but it’s only Monday (or, I guess, Tuesday now over here) we still have 3 days left. The rollercoaster is only half over.

            Please praise the Lord that He has been faithful through this long process in dealing with me and my heart. I am learning and I am grateful to a God that not only saves us from where we were but teaches us how to be better. Also, please pray for me as I try to create relationships here. It can be difficult since I’m leaving in a month but I’m hoping that I can show them Christ for the short period of time I’m over here. Please pray that I wouldn’t hold back my personality or my heart from these people because I’m afraid to be genuine friends with them because it will hurt when I leave. Lastly, please pray for Church in the Community: Lakeside (CitC). Pray for the Christians in it and their spiritual growth as well as for the non-Christians that they would come to faith in Jesus. Pray for the children that come to the church as well as those in the community – those who are younger to those who are older kids. Please pray that everyone would be discipled effectively. In this context (being in Europe) it can be difficult to find someone more spiritually mature than you if you don’t really know where to look or you’re not great at making friends, etc. even if you are looking and praying for it. Few in England have grown up in the church and many are new Christians so spiritual maturity can be few and far between.