I just have this amazing feeling of joy inside of me.
I prayed and found my MP3 player which has been missing for over a month. Just because I couldnt sleep and wanted to listen to Brooke Fraser. and there it was..And I know he didnt answer it because it was the biggest deal or need in the world..but because it was important to me..and he cares about every little or big thing that we do.
My 5 day weekend has sorted out after me praying about it. I'm heading off to Nuneaton on an incredibly cheap train ticket to surprise a friend for her birthday.
I tell you prayer works. even in small cases.
Ive been praying about getting closer to these two girls that have just started coming into drop in and chatting to them..because they are difficult to talk to and dont make it easy for me..but i know i wanna get to know them a bit more.
But tonight we talked and laughed. and it was so natural. it was amazing.
I tell you prayer works.
There are so many kids that I work with that are close to my heart and I can feel amazing things are going to happen in the next few months.
Im so excited. I really am.
And I can't believe I havent even blogged about easter and going away.
I will soon I promise s you're all in the know.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
read.
If you haven't already.
Read Run Baby Run.
Autobiography of Nicky Cruz.
Oh my word. I finished reading it in a day..which is unheard of.
And seriously has inspired me for life.
You won't regret it.
Read Run Baby Run.
Autobiography of Nicky Cruz.
Oh my word. I finished reading it in a day..which is unheard of.
And seriously has inspired me for life.
You won't regret it.
Monday, April 20, 2009
tonight was crazy.
Tonight has been rather interesting...We had our girls group...and now I feel like Ive been run over by train..or 7 trains..each with a girls name on that came tonight!! Oh my word..and we had a guy from a supermarket (some bigwig I think) who had given our drop ins quite a large sum of money to fund them and our work..and he was bringing a photographer to come and take pictures of our kids and us and where we work for the newspaper they bring out to show what a good investment it was..I feel we should have warned them both..and maybe paid our kids to be on their best behaviour.
Let me just paint a scene for you, theres this guy (who you can tell has no affiliation with teenagers as he expects them to sit down when he tells them to and be very quiet) and then theres about 15 crazy teenagers running around outside of drop in, one standing on the windowsill and a few refusing to be photographed..whilst the photographer is trying to get a decent photo out of it all...In the midst of this I'm trying to figure out why a girl is crying whilst she has a shouting and swearing match across the street with another girl who is threatening to smack her head in whilst another of the girls tries to mediate..The photographer is desperately trying to pull this shambles into a picture of the kids..The leaders then have to have a photo whilst the kids are running riot behind them..all of us hoping the photo is quick so that we can go and sort out whatever could be happening..This should have been an indication of the rest of the night for us.
This was pretty much the tone of the rest of the night. The girls made a few phone calls to a girl who none of the other girls like at the moment to tell her to come down to youth club where there was going to be a fight apparently, hints of going outside to take drugs, girls trying to meet the boys by going outside every 2 seconds for a cigarette break and just running upstairs to hassle the boys group, then throwing glitter everywhere..and although we tried to discourage all this it didnt seem to work..sheesh it was quite a night...
and for the past hour Ive been thinking that this was such a task and how bad for me to have to put up with this..But Ive been mulling over it..and even though they were being a pain..I really should have acted differently..and loved them..not huffed around and felt sorry for myself having to put up with it..But seriously asking God to be in the situation and shared the journey with them of talking through what was the matter...These are the kids, these are their lives..and just because they werent amazing tonight and I didnt have a fantastic time with them, doesnt mean that I can feel okay about complaining..I cant choose to love them when theyre cool and then totally have enough of them when theyre harder to deal with..It should be a 24 hour 7 days a week love and tolerance for them..
I dont think There's any pointONLY loving people and being nice to people that just do the same for you coz it doesnt put you out at all ..There's a huge point and amount of character in loving the kids that dont always treat you amazingly and can stretch you to your limits..forgeting what theyve done and get on with it..even though this is harder..because this is what Jesus did..Jesus loves these kids..He thinks theyre amazing..and I should too...and if Im going to work with them..I need to understand this and make it part of who I am...not just on the good nights.
but boy can it be hard sometimes..a journey I am on that is forever up and down.
x
Let me just paint a scene for you, theres this guy (who you can tell has no affiliation with teenagers as he expects them to sit down when he tells them to and be very quiet) and then theres about 15 crazy teenagers running around outside of drop in, one standing on the windowsill and a few refusing to be photographed..whilst the photographer is trying to get a decent photo out of it all...In the midst of this I'm trying to figure out why a girl is crying whilst she has a shouting and swearing match across the street with another girl who is threatening to smack her head in whilst another of the girls tries to mediate..The photographer is desperately trying to pull this shambles into a picture of the kids..The leaders then have to have a photo whilst the kids are running riot behind them..all of us hoping the photo is quick so that we can go and sort out whatever could be happening..This should have been an indication of the rest of the night for us.
This was pretty much the tone of the rest of the night. The girls made a few phone calls to a girl who none of the other girls like at the moment to tell her to come down to youth club where there was going to be a fight apparently, hints of going outside to take drugs, girls trying to meet the boys by going outside every 2 seconds for a cigarette break and just running upstairs to hassle the boys group, then throwing glitter everywhere..and although we tried to discourage all this it didnt seem to work..sheesh it was quite a night...
and for the past hour Ive been thinking that this was such a task and how bad for me to have to put up with this..But Ive been mulling over it..and even though they were being a pain..I really should have acted differently..and loved them..not huffed around and felt sorry for myself having to put up with it..But seriously asking God to be in the situation and shared the journey with them of talking through what was the matter...These are the kids, these are their lives..and just because they werent amazing tonight and I didnt have a fantastic time with them, doesnt mean that I can feel okay about complaining..I cant choose to love them when theyre cool and then totally have enough of them when theyre harder to deal with..It should be a 24 hour 7 days a week love and tolerance for them..
I dont think There's any pointONLY loving people and being nice to people that just do the same for you coz it doesnt put you out at all ..There's a huge point and amount of character in loving the kids that dont always treat you amazingly and can stretch you to your limits..forgeting what theyve done and get on with it..even though this is harder..because this is what Jesus did..Jesus loves these kids..He thinks theyre amazing..and I should too...and if Im going to work with them..I need to understand this and make it part of who I am...not just on the good nights.
but boy can it be hard sometimes..a journey I am on that is forever up and down.
x
Sunday, April 12, 2009
this took awhile in the making.
Flippin heck. Here is the happenings in my life over easter which are pretty much now out of date.
But Jason Mraz was amazing. just as I imagined the show to be. PERFECT.
Over my easter break I went to Swindon to visit my friend Bee. We went to Bath, a town where the Roman influence in England was, which means they still have Roman Baths (hence the name..lol) We went to the fashion museum and the Roman Baths..both of which had these amazingly hilarious walkie talkie tour guide things (credit crunch staff cuts?) that you were meant to hang round your neck and listen to what it was saying about each thing..However interesting the information was, it was just too funny looking around the tourist attractions and seeing all these people walking round with these walkie talkies strung round their necks and listening really hard...And the bonus was we got in half price to all the attractions..and got a half price lunch..which was so God..coz I really didnt have much money to take me through the trip and I was thinking this is going to get me nowhere..
Bee just so happened to be looking on the internet..and found half price tickets to these Bath attractions..which was so amazing..coz otherwise I would never have been able to see what I saw..which really made me realise that God cares about the little things..like my trip to Bath..Bath is beautiful.
While I was in Swindon with Bee we also went to the park and played rounders with some of her friends..was so child like but so amazing..and im going to try and bring this sport to new zealand..lol Theres me just trying to swing and hit the ball with the bat..and failing miserably..HILARIOUS..
And in the mix of these things was also a lot of just relaxing. re generating. and appreciating the time away. And going to Bee's nieces birthday party in London. was so cute..all these little kids running around stealing presents off the present pile, eating way too much food, playing party games. It was amazing. I think parties should still be like that. haha
The week after I got home from Swindon I was back to work..well I say work but this week was literally the least work-like week Ive ever had..even since Wunderland, where i just sat at the desk on facebook and occasionally served someone who came into the shop.
The kids we work with were all on school holidays, so apart from not being able to go into town without bumping into one of these little ones, we had some outings they could sign up for to keep them from boredom. I think I was more excited about this than anyone else. We got to go to the london zoo!! I pretty much leapt for joy. This trip consisted of us keeping the kids occupied on the train by playing a game that they love, much to the dismay of some of the passengers. It is called the 'to save the world' game and is very childish yet highly amusing.
It goes a little like this
kid: 'To save the world would you rather eat a smelly sock or a toenail?'
Then as the trip goes on it usually needs taming down. I have to say i think the kids enjoyed it more than the other passengers. All in good fun.
Apart from the fact it was raining and most of the animals were in hiding in their houses, and we missed the penguin feeding because we failed to read the signs, it was amazing! Apparently the biggest zoo in Europe..so i hear. And any zoo trip wouldnt be complete with the 'original' quips of pointing at monkeys and saying 'hey look theres you' classic kids. just classic.
And on the trip back on the train me and one of the kids, Daisy (who is a real sweetheart), sat next to this overly talkative man who had just been interviewed to be on deal or no deal. So we played cards with him in hopes that when he did go on deal or no deal and won big he would remember how nice we were and maybe split the money or donate it to a good cause. haha.
Work but definitely not work at the same time.
We also did a sleepover for some of the kids. which involved very little sleep. and us making them pancakes in the morning. classic.
And that was how my life over easter went.
But Jason Mraz was amazing. just as I imagined the show to be. PERFECT.
Over my easter break I went to Swindon to visit my friend Bee. We went to Bath, a town where the Roman influence in England was, which means they still have Roman Baths (hence the name..lol) We went to the fashion museum and the Roman Baths..both of which had these amazingly hilarious walkie talkie tour guide things (credit crunch staff cuts?) that you were meant to hang round your neck and listen to what it was saying about each thing..However interesting the information was, it was just too funny looking around the tourist attractions and seeing all these people walking round with these walkie talkies strung round their necks and listening really hard...And the bonus was we got in half price to all the attractions..and got a half price lunch..which was so God..coz I really didnt have much money to take me through the trip and I was thinking this is going to get me nowhere..
Bee just so happened to be looking on the internet..and found half price tickets to these Bath attractions..which was so amazing..coz otherwise I would never have been able to see what I saw..which really made me realise that God cares about the little things..like my trip to Bath..Bath is beautiful.
While I was in Swindon with Bee we also went to the park and played rounders with some of her friends..was so child like but so amazing..and im going to try and bring this sport to new zealand..lol Theres me just trying to swing and hit the ball with the bat..and failing miserably..HILARIOUS..
And in the mix of these things was also a lot of just relaxing. re generating. and appreciating the time away. And going to Bee's nieces birthday party in London. was so cute..all these little kids running around stealing presents off the present pile, eating way too much food, playing party games. It was amazing. I think parties should still be like that. haha
The week after I got home from Swindon I was back to work..well I say work but this week was literally the least work-like week Ive ever had..even since Wunderland, where i just sat at the desk on facebook and occasionally served someone who came into the shop.
The kids we work with were all on school holidays, so apart from not being able to go into town without bumping into one of these little ones, we had some outings they could sign up for to keep them from boredom. I think I was more excited about this than anyone else. We got to go to the london zoo!! I pretty much leapt for joy. This trip consisted of us keeping the kids occupied on the train by playing a game that they love, much to the dismay of some of the passengers. It is called the 'to save the world' game and is very childish yet highly amusing.
It goes a little like this
kid: 'To save the world would you rather eat a smelly sock or a toenail?'
Then as the trip goes on it usually needs taming down. I have to say i think the kids enjoyed it more than the other passengers. All in good fun.
Apart from the fact it was raining and most of the animals were in hiding in their houses, and we missed the penguin feeding because we failed to read the signs, it was amazing! Apparently the biggest zoo in Europe..so i hear. And any zoo trip wouldnt be complete with the 'original' quips of pointing at monkeys and saying 'hey look theres you' classic kids. just classic.
And on the trip back on the train me and one of the kids, Daisy (who is a real sweetheart), sat next to this overly talkative man who had just been interviewed to be on deal or no deal. So we played cards with him in hopes that when he did go on deal or no deal and won big he would remember how nice we were and maybe split the money or donate it to a good cause. haha.
Work but definitely not work at the same time.
We also did a sleepover for some of the kids. which involved very little sleep. and us making them pancakes in the morning. classic.
And that was how my life over easter went.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
stretched before me.
Tonight I am going to London Town (yes the 3rd time in 2 weeks) to go and see Jason Mraz live at the Hammersmith apollo...and I'm so excited...It should be amazing..In approximately 2 hours I will be walking down to the train station to meet Simon, Sarah and Rosie and off we will go..to an evening of bliss..music to my ears...I CAN'T WAIT..! Hopefully it will be everything that I ever dreamed. Although I'm not entirely confident about the company..as I don't know many of the people I am going with..Hopefully the common ground of our love for Jason Mraz will spur along the friendship..and if not we will just sing the songs loudly together and everything will be okay..so looking forward to it.
Also stretched before me is an entire 10 days holiday..which is EXACTLY what I need..some time to sleep, think and do whatever the heck I want. What I want to do however I don't know yet. I have so many options that I just dont know what to do with myself..and I dont want to plan loads and then be worn out by the end. So I have simply planned a few things with a few lovely people and will be relaxed and satisfied with that. Until Tuesday I am free to do as I wish..walk the high street of Gillingham, perhaps start a much needed exercise regime, maybe do some baking, or walk the streets looking for kids to hangout with (this is only if I miss not working haha).
TUESDAY will be the day that I'm thinking of going to visit my friend Kirsty in Reading. Kirsty has just finished up her 8 months of YFC work in Swindon so I wanna hangout with her coz she wont be at any other YFC things. She has probably my favourite English accent and is very creative. I am looking forward to seeing her.
TUESDAY NIGHT I will make my way on the train to Swindon..where I will meet the lovely Bee..and we will go on day trips to places near Swindon (as the only attraction in Swindon is a 5 part roundabout) such as Bath and the seaside which will be amazing!! Everyone is telling me how beautiful Bath is..and I cant wait to see it. Then Saturday we will hit up London (AGAIN) and will go to Camden Markets..This will be brilliant!! Apparently its just markets with loads of different knik nak stalls and budding clothing designers and vintage things..I am going to be in my element..
This is my easter break sorted. And I'm looking forward to all of it...! Right, now Im going to figure out what to wear tonight (which may take a while) haha
x
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