My designated "drop box" of ideas, thoughts, rants, queries, opinions, and the like. A collection of well-phrased essays, tentative poems, miscellaneous photographs, and all the things that make up my life and give insight to the weird and wonderful web of things that go on inside my head.
This is it; the moment we've all been waiting for. The Olympic Games have finally arrived here in London! Today's opening ceremony is rumored to be a most spectacular event, one which I am thrilled to be present for. I leave with a team of 15 this afternoon to begin our outreach within the city of London for a period of ten days. We will be working with a church, which is relatively closely located to the Olympic Village. We will be running a cafe dedicated to serving the public in the area, many of whom live in poverty in this particular burough. We will also be helping out in a local senior citizen's home and prayer walking as well. This is a particularly rough area of London, an area where the excitement and joy of the Games has seemingly past over or been forgotten here. The story of the church we'll be working in is one of redemption in of itself.
As I pack my bags, once again, and type up my last blog before I head on out, I cannot contain my excitement. I am so thrilled to see and be apart of what God is doing in this city, in this country, in this nation. How cool is it that the world is quite literally flocking to my doorstep as I type, huh? I can't get over it! GAHHH!!!
As you may well know, God has a way of changing plans swiftly and suddenly. Take for example my plans as of recently. For those of you who don't know yet (which would be most of you), I have agreed to staff the upcoming September DTS here in England. This sudden change in plans initially came as a shock to myself, but, after days of consideration, realized that it really is for the best. I am one of three single staff members (Caleb, Jenny, and myself) and then there are four married couples, three of whom have children. Very different from the 13 single staff on this school! Also, this school is going to be even bigger than the current school I'm staffing.
I don't have many details about what this school is going to entail, but I'm very excited to be challenged in ways that I wasn't during this school. What that all includes, I'm not too sure (but I'm stoked!)
With the impending Olympic Games here in England, insanity on the base here has hit an all time high. Not that this is a negative; in fact, it's a welcome change from the normal lull of daily life. Since returning to the base, we have been given rooms in the dormitory, which is a relief considering that all other visitors are currently in tents. We may still be on outreach, but at least we no longer need to "rough it".
For the past weeks, there has been a program running here called Circuit Riders. Their vision statement is "Save the Lost, Revive the Saved, and Train them All!". They preach a very heavy message of revival across Europe and America. It was amazing, being able to attend all the lectures and take part in local evangelism.
To be honest, I was incredibly humbled and, yet, ashamed that it took a group of over 150 American's to show me how wonderful the town I live in is. I've been living here for over 8 months now, and have ZERO friends outside the base. How shocked I was to walk around town and realize that I haven't seen everything and there are so many lovely people here that I've never bothered to get to know. After one particular afternoon of complaining to Kellie, a dear friend and fellow staff, about not being active in the community, we stumbled upon a church cafe, run by volunteers and open to the public. After only moments, I was informed that they were looking for volunteers. Though I hadn't even prayed about getting involved (merely complained and moaned to Kellie), God had answered in a most practical way! I have a vision to work in a cafe, so how perfect would it be to get involved here in town?
Needless to say, my opinion about community and getting involved is shifting and changing, making me more aware of the importance of it and, also, exciting! Can't wait to see what else is in store!
