The Attik

I went by again for a few hours today. I really liked it! The staff was very friendly. :) Today was our last assembly at the comprehensive school. The team ate lunch at Jonathan's! His little girls are SO cute. Later we had a few team meetings.. :( Tomorrow is my day off! Whoopee!!! I think I'll go to the coffee stand and read my book... Sleep in... Clean my room? Maybe not. You may be impressed to hear that I have made my bed every day for the last 56 days! That's right. I thought you would be!

Here is a link for The Attik if you're interested! http://www.theattik.org.uk/

I think I'm getting sick! That wouldn't be good.

Sunday our team is presenting a drama in church, going to Links, and heading out to Halesowen for a week of seminars at Lifehope. I'll be celebrating my birthday there with the friends I made in ToolKit- They have invited me to spend next weekend with them and throw me a party! I can't wait!

Do you enjoy coffee?

Well I do! And unfortunately there is no good coffee around here. So... If maybe you are feeling sorry for me that there is no delicious coffee here to brighten my day and wake me up in the morning, then it may be in your best interest (and mine!) to send some my way!!! ;) Wink wink! Of course there is absolutely no pressure.. But if you were feeling pressured or guilted into this then by all means let your conscience guide you.. to send some decaf deliciousness to:



The Coach House
Monk Street
Monmouth
NP25 3LR
United Kingdom

Give in to your thoughts! Embrace them lest this note causes your mind to keep you awake into all hours of the night (for which I would decline all responsibility!!! ;)

:D

Trellich Assembly

Two more assemblies today! First was at the comprehensive school, the second at Trellich Primary school! Such cute kiddos! PLUS there were 3 Americans there!! Wohoo!!! :D

I also went to the Attik today to have a look around. For those of you who don't know, as a part of the Youth Track program and getting my Christian Youth worker's certificate I must volunteer hours at a local youth club. I will be doing that at the Attik! It is a lot like the Boys and Girls Club back home, so I am pretty stoked. I go back tomorrow to get to know the staff and see how it runs!

Later homies!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/GDKqCfkfHwGCeaCQ?cmpid=jj_fb_self

Check it out for a laugh. :)

Love you guys.

Cross-Ash School Assembly

Today we drove to a small school in Cross-Ash to do an Assembly. Most schools in Wales are taught Welsh in class.



The kids all clapped along to the music and even sang. It made our time very fun! Afterwards a young boy came up to me and asked, "Are you rich?" He knew I was American, and most people stereotype Americans as being rich... It was kind of funny.

The drive there was very nice! It smelled like Lynden, so it was oddly comforting. ;) The blue car belongs to Jonathan, our pastor.

Osbastern Primary, Monmouth Comp..

3 more school assemblies today! The kids loved them!

Something I thought about today was Psalm 23. I don't know why but I always imaging green pasture and still waters to be the English countryside.. Especially since one of our schools today was in the country. We passed beautiful hills and drove along the river Wye. I just wanted to take a blanket and sleep on them! :P

I didn't take this, but it was taken on the river very close to where I was today. :)

Kymin View School Assembly

Today we went to Kymin View school and presented the Easter story to about 100 students. We preformed a puppet show that they loved! My puppets are Hans and Frans.....

Links

I just wanted to share that I HAD A BLAST TONIGHT at Links! Unfortunately, three members of our team are sick with the flu or something (lots of throw up etc...) and I was able to lead youth group tonight! Usually in the past there is only 4 kids who show up and it has been kind of difficult to break into their circle.. But tonight about 15 girls from an all girls boarding school came. It was so fun! They all warmed up and got involved. We played a few rounds of pingpong and then played a saweeeeeet game called Celebrities. The game is similar to Telephone Telephone where an original sentence gets changed as it travels except Celebrities is played with writing a sentence and trying to draw it and you pass it around in a circle. The idea is that you end up with something completely different than you started.. The kids loved it!! Then I gave a short talk about sometimes we hear and believe things about God that are distorted from what He tells us in the Bible. All we have to do is look at what He says about himself from the ultimate source = the Bible. I hope that makes sense. It's pretty complicated to explain.. ;) The kids had a lot of fun. I hope that this will be a good start to form relationships outside of youth group with the kids! :) Tomorrow we present a drama in the comprehensive school (high school). Two out of us four presenting are very sick, so please pray for their recoveries as well as the rest of us trying to sort out last minute changes! Gracias!



This is the priory where we meet. It is a part of St. Mary's..

Easter Experience

This last week my team was involved in a local production called the Easter Experience. 4 local churches present a drama in stages of the Last Supper, Jesus' trial, his crucifixion, and resurrection for several schools. Monmouth Baptist Church (my church) did Jesus' crucifixion. MBC presents this part through a song called "Watch the Lamb" by Ray Boltz. It describes Simon's experience as he watches Jesus die and realizes that Jesus was our sacrificial lamb. It is quite clever! We dressed up as the crowd in Jerusalem and shouted and stomped around. Almost 150 kids were presented with the Gospel! W00t! It was really fun.

This is Monmouth Baptist Church where I attend..


And here are some pictures from our practice!

Prayer Walk in Birmingham

I'd like to share a little about one of our outings during ToolKit. We were taken on a prayer walk (or drive!) around Birmingham.. Our second stop was at a Mosque- the biggest in the city. The area shelters many radical muslims and terrorists that are on America's watch list. This was especially difficult for my friend whose mother was killed in a terrorist plane hijacking. I can't imagine just how hard it is for her. We had several more stops, but the one that really stood out to me and was the most difficult to process was the Red Light district. I didn't realize that prostitution wasn't illegal in Britian.. I'm not quite sure how to explain how I felt when I saw girls standing on the sidewalk soliciting themselves.. but it hurt my heart. You can't see that and not want to cry. Just imagining how much pain they must have and abuse they go through. We prayed that God would give these girls a way out and that He would show his love. Please keep these girls in your prayers!


Bunnys is one of the main prostitution houses in Birmingham. It is illegal to advertise so it goes under the pretense of being a sauna. Bunnys was closed down in a police raid a while ago due to some european women being kidnapped and forced into sex labor. It has been recently reopened.


This is the mosque.

Introduction!

Hey Everyone! I thought that this might be an easier way of keeping in touch with y'all. :) Lemme know what you think!

Well these past few weeks have been crazy! I left for Halesowen in January and have been in the UK for 52 days. I'll be here another 21 months working with youth. I am a part of a Global Action (GA) program through Lifehope- a branch of OM. Most students in the GA program stay for 4 months, and a few stay for 8, 12, or 24 months- Like me! We go through a 3 week training course called ToolKit which prepares us for ministry in smaller teams around the UK. While in our teams we have required study times and homework. My time here has not been just studies and I have had some crazy and fun experiences as well! I have been hiking in a national park in Wales, exploring Halesowen, learning how important it is to drink a cup of tea (it truly solves all of life's problems ;), tasting British coffee (EWW!!), and tons of other things!

Recently I have moved to a wealthy town called Monmouth in Wales (google it!) and live in a house with a team of OMers. They are from Germany, France, and Hungary! We help out Monmouth Baptist Church by attending all church functions, Bible study, help in a Moms and Toddlers group called Footprints, distribute a Christian newspaper door to door, help with Kids Zone- a youth group for kids ages 4-8, team prayer meetings, tracting in the town center, Jesus and Hot Chocolate- open youth work with teens who have difficult home lives, Links- Christian youth group, and also present the Gospel through dramas and puppet shows at local schools. Jonathan Greaves, our pastor, has told me that the OM team enables the church to reach more people and do more things in 4 months (which is the duration most GAers- short term missionaries on my team stay) than they could in 4 years! Pretty rad, eh?

My experience here is going to take a turn from those ministries however because as most of you know I am here to work with youth! I am the FIRST PERSON EVER to be a part of the Youth Track. This involves volunteering at a local secular youth club (The Attik) and getting a Christian Youth Workers Certificate which allows me to work anywhere in the UK with youth. I have to take classes in Birmingham, Nottingham (wohoo!), and Stoke each month. My goal is to really get to know the kids in the area and hopefully disciple some young girls. I want to encourage them and help them come to know Christ.

That is the start of my time here! I'll post a few more things so you can be up to date. I'd love to hear from you!