Teenstreet and TiM

Hey everyone! The past weeks have been pretty crazy.. Starting with Teenstreet in Oldenburg, Germany! There was a 6 week long youth conference put on by OM for over 4,000 teenagers. It was pretty overwhelming! I had the privilege of being the coach of a few girls from Cyprus and Germany. What sweet girls! I enjoyed getting to know them. Teenstreet's theme this year was "ps. X111", or Psalm 23. Each day was based on a different verse. There were Bible studies, morning worship and devotionals, afternoon free time and optional missions seminars, evening worship, and more free time. I really enjoyed the worship and getting to see some old friends whom I had met at OM USA last September. I was really fortunate to have 3 friends from the Lifehope teams with me- Magda (Germany), Venla (Finland), and Yannick (France, from my team in Monmouth) so it wasn't quite so overwhelming! :) God really spoke to the teens that week and my girls were challenged to find ways to be more bold about their faith back home.

After Teenstreet, I traveled with Yannick and 55 teens from The Netherlands, Korea, and France to a local church in South Hampton, England for our Teens in Mission (TiM) outreach. The church put on a 'holiday' for the community as it is a run down estate. Most families here cannot afford a getaway and some go hungry. This outreach lasted two weeks in a nearby park. We lived in the church, helped run a kids program in the mornings, and in the afternoon we all went and helped run a fair at Daisy Dip Park. In the evening, the pastor would tell his testimony to anyone who could hear him on the loudspeaker. We organized bouncy castles and gave sweets to the kids. Now, this might sounds like all fun and games, but there were definitely some challenges along the way.. The sweet Korean kids were met with a lot of hostility. Not only were they called names and given 'the finger' several times, they were taunted at and even had hard objects thrown at them. Also, teenagers (including myself) had to deal with VERY troubled kids as they tried their best to ruin the fun of others and make our jobs a difficult as possible.. Even endangering a few lives. They would disrupt our stations and push kids around. There was once incident where the kids unplugged a bouncy castle with many children -including a baby who was not a year old yet- still inside. Thankfully, no one was hurt. It was a real struggle for me personally not to be able to help the situation. The laws in the UK make it illegal to physically remove or touch any kid under 18. You are only allowed to talk to them.. and that obviously didn't work. :S The kids know that they can push any limit they want without fear of consequences. They children were so disrespectful. I had several kids make crude sexual jokes at me and some even called me a "fat pig." We had to keep bringing this to God and we asked Him to help us serve the community with happy hearts. Despite all the frustration, God blessed us and used our work to bring 15 people to Him. Praise God!

The TiM outreach was by far my favorite because it was a smaller group, I got to know everyone, my room mate Sunhye came (!!!!!!!!!!!!!), and also I had a visit from KRISTEN SEELY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! It was SO GREAT. We got to explore downtown South Hampton and have some great times. I am so thankful that she came. I just love her so much!!!

After TiM we said our goodbyes and drove back to Halesowen to commence my holiday! A whole week!! I was really blessed to spend a few days with the Schenkel family. The Schenkels (Stefan, Lisa, and baby Lotje) are a Dutch family from Lifehope. It was so nice to be in a 'house' and babysit Lotje! What a little cutie!!!! :D

I also was able to spend a day of leisure with Sunhye!!! Our last hurrah before she left for home. It was soooo fun to explore Birmingham, have some Italian, and see a few movies. It was great fun to hang out but so hard to say goodbye! (If you're reading this, Sunhye, don't let it go to your head. ;) HEHE YOU NUTMEG!!!)

Read on for my next adventure.... Muahahahaha!