Hello from Charlotte, North Carolina!
This is Jack, relaxing at the airport with about three and a half hours to go before we take off, due to an hours delay. I think this is God wanting us to stay in America just that little bit longer! I have had such an amazing ten days and have grown and made some great friendships and will definitely keep them going, praise God for Facebook! These ten days have been tiring, hard but so worth it, and i'm so glad God called me to go to Knoxville. Yesterday at the 'Pudding Party' i realised how much of a community we had become, but also how much people are involved within our trip. Im so thankful for all of these people!!
Hope all is well back home in Wallington, and cant wait to see everybody back there! Not that long to go!
Jack x
heloooo its amber here :)
we are sitting playing cards and hanging out at the airport after finding out our flight is delayed!
these ten days have been the most moving inspiring and best 10 days of my life. just every part of everyday was an adventure.
i cried a lot when we left but i have no doubt i will see them all again, facebook is an amazing thing! i have a strong bond with everyone of the team american and english. this time has helped me grow in my faith.
cant wait to see you all
lots of love
amber x
Hey its James!!!!
As you have probably heard from many other people that this trip has been AMAZING!!!
Opening up our experience with swimming and mine and many other english folks first baseball game! Monday and Tuesday we spent serving at Salvation Army and The Volunteer Ministry which was a very fun experience but was a wake up call that anyone could be in that situation. Wednesday we were supposed to go to Wesley Woods Camp to paint but ended up in two nursing homes which for me was a great experience to see how even at the ages of 80 - 90 they are still able to play bean bag baseball with us! The rest of the week was very tiring but fantastic especially shovelling zoo poo which you will hear plenty about very soon. Finally saturday! our relax day at the lake house which was so much fun especially hanging on for dear life on a inflatable tube and being dragged along the water by a boat at about 30 mph!!!! I fell off about a ...... million times but oh well!!!! And after a very emotional final team meeting and goodbye at the airport we are sitting now in Charlotte waiting for our plane to take us back home. People around me sayuing i have written too much soo signing off and letting steph talk for a bit !!!
See You All Soon
James xxx
Hey =)
These 10 days have been AMAZING!! and I'm sure everyone on the team will agree! I have learnt so much,had so much fun and I am so thankful that I have had the opportunity to go to Knoxville. I have loved EVERY minuite of it!!!
I have built great relationships and learnt so much more about following Christ.
Love Stephanie x
Hey everybody! Right now, I'm in the middle of a game of rummy with James, Harry and David so this will have to be a quick post. I just want to say that although this has been an incredibly challenging trip in places, especially our visits to the residential homes, it's been amazing. Really, truly, once-in-a-lifetime amazing, and I'm so grateful for everyone who's made this trip possible for us. I'm just hoping that all we've learnt during these past ten days will be able to be put to good use once we return! I'm just praying for a safe flight that isn't delayed any further! See you all on our return, where I'm sure we'll all have lots of stories to tell.
Jess
x
Howdy, how y'all doing It's Hayden here. i just wanted to share one of my most interesting moments of the week. On Wednesday, instead of painting a fence at Camp Wesley Woods we went to a residential home and to be honest when we were on the way i was terrified. i am dreading the day of getting old and not having my body let me do what i want to do. so when we went to the residential i didn't want to talk to anyone because they reminded me of what i dreaded but i met (with Kim and Dan) a lovely lady who used to live in Seymour who just chatted with us and told us about her family and and said how us being with her and sitting with her inspired her. this really touched my heart and as we left we prayed together and Lucy prayed for us. when we shared our experiences that afternoon as a team i was reminded that we have lovely older people at church and that they are not scary and i shouldn't be scared of growing old as God will use me in that situation as well. Yesterday as we shared as a team for the last time i thought about how we had been looking at Philippians 2 which says "shine like stars in the world of darkness" and noted how i have seen all team members shine like stars this week and to challenge them that as we go out into the world of darkness and sin that we continue to shine like stars and spread what we have learnt.
Hayden
Just letting people know that we have all had a great time and have been deeply touched by God and each other throughout the whole trip. Probably one of the most exciting thing was the time on thursday in which we worked really hard shoveling elephant poo which resulted in me never been able to look at a fruit salad in the same way again, due to whole melons lying in the poo, In total i believe that everyone had an amazing time and thank you all at home so much for praying for all of us i have felt the strength from God and your praying has definitely help boost the presence of Jesus on this trip.
Harry
Hello all,
Well clearly you can read what a great time we've had, following a really packed schedule and doing some very emotionally as well as physically challenging things has stretched us and given us plenty of opportunities to rely on God. The team worked really well together and had so much fun alongside all the hard work. Really impressed with the way the whole team has worked together and there were some really teary goodbyes at the airport this morning. Can't wait for you all to get the full download - will be worth waiting for!
Love Chloe x
We're thankful for you all. We're grateful for your partnership in the Gospel. We're excited about what God is up to in the midst of all this. We're looking forward to sharing with you.
More to follow.
Monday, 3 August 2009
Last hurrah!
Greetings!
All alive and well! What a week. So much to say. What a good God.
Wonderful time of remembering and wondering with thankful hearts yesterday evening. Can't wait to show you all a glimpse...
Leaving for breakfast and the airport in 30 mins.
So thankful for so much.
Looking forward to seeing you all.
xx
All alive and well! What a week. So much to say. What a good God.
Wonderful time of remembering and wondering with thankful hearts yesterday evening. Can't wait to show you all a glimpse...
Leaving for breakfast and the airport in 30 mins.
So thankful for so much.
Looking forward to seeing you all.
xx
Thursday, 30 July 2009
Hey everyone! And once again, it's Jess here, although luckily this time it isn't due to Lorna oversleeping.
Yesterday, after the fence painting at Wesley Woods was called off during the rain, we met at the church for our lunch, before splitting into two groups and visiting two residential homes for the elderly. The group I was in visited a home called Echo Ridge, where we were given the chance to sing, talk to the residents, and join in with their game of 'beanbag baseball!' The other group visited Shannondale Nursing Home, where they were divided into smaller teams, and went and spoke to several of the residents.
Later that afternoon, were all met up again in order to have a team meeting, to discuss the events of the afternoon. Many of us were extremely affected by meeting the residents. We were encouraged by the good spirits and fun nature of many, particularly Charlie at Echo Ridge, yet many who visited Shannondale found it difficult and sad to spend time with these more elderly and infirm residents who perhaps were very lonely, and nearing the end of their lives with all the associated health and mental health issues.
For dinner that night, went to a place called Petro's which served chilli. I think I can speak for everyone in saying that it was really quite delicious. After our meal there, we headed down to the Worlds Fair Park, for TNT. This is the mid-week session for High School students of CSPC, and so we were given the opportunity to meet with new people, who weren't members of the LINK team. We also played an England vs. America football (soccer!) game, and I'm delighted to report that the score was 6-2 to us! Nearer the end of our evening there, most of us participated in running through the fountains at the park, which soaked us all through, but it was definitely worth it. Also, for the first time since leaving the plane at Knoxville, we were given the opportunity for some separate FourForty time, as were the team from CSPC. It was good to be able to realise how much of a 'family spirit' FourForty has now, and we realised how lucky we are to have such a close and unique connection.
Today was spent downtown in Knoxville, at a place called Lonsdale. This one of the poorer parts of the inner city, and we were able to help with starting a community garden there, where food crops will hopefully be able to be grown in the future. In order to start this garden however, we given the rather unenviable task of shovelling 'Zoo Poo,' from Knoxville City Zoo, to act as a natural fertiliser for the garden. This has definitely been the most physically exhausting day yet, but to look at all of our work at the end was extremely satisfying, and we hope that the new scheme of the community gardens will be successful.
After this, everybody headed home to take a much-needed shower, and small group of people have gone out to buy the breakfast food for our work at the Volunteer Ministry Centre tomorrow morning. The rest of us are enjoying spending time with our host families once more. Hopefully there will be some more to report tomorrow about how we all spent our time!
Tomorrow morning is going to be a very early start, because we will be serving breakfast at the Volunteer Ministry Centre, which means that we'll have to meet at the church at 5:15 am! Hopefully everyone will be there on time, and that no-one will be too exhausted!
Thanks for praying!
Yesterday, after the fence painting at Wesley Woods was called off during the rain, we met at the church for our lunch, before splitting into two groups and visiting two residential homes for the elderly. The group I was in visited a home called Echo Ridge, where we were given the chance to sing, talk to the residents, and join in with their game of 'beanbag baseball!' The other group visited Shannondale Nursing Home, where they were divided into smaller teams, and went and spoke to several of the residents.
Later that afternoon, were all met up again in order to have a team meeting, to discuss the events of the afternoon. Many of us were extremely affected by meeting the residents. We were encouraged by the good spirits and fun nature of many, particularly Charlie at Echo Ridge, yet many who visited Shannondale found it difficult and sad to spend time with these more elderly and infirm residents who perhaps were very lonely, and nearing the end of their lives with all the associated health and mental health issues.
For dinner that night, went to a place called Petro's which served chilli. I think I can speak for everyone in saying that it was really quite delicious. After our meal there, we headed down to the Worlds Fair Park, for TNT. This is the mid-week session for High School students of CSPC, and so we were given the opportunity to meet with new people, who weren't members of the LINK team. We also played an England vs. America football (soccer!) game, and I'm delighted to report that the score was 6-2 to us! Nearer the end of our evening there, most of us participated in running through the fountains at the park, which soaked us all through, but it was definitely worth it. Also, for the first time since leaving the plane at Knoxville, we were given the opportunity for some separate FourForty time, as were the team from CSPC. It was good to be able to realise how much of a 'family spirit' FourForty has now, and we realised how lucky we are to have such a close and unique connection.
Today was spent downtown in Knoxville, at a place called Lonsdale. This one of the poorer parts of the inner city, and we were able to help with starting a community garden there, where food crops will hopefully be able to be grown in the future. In order to start this garden however, we given the rather unenviable task of shovelling 'Zoo Poo,' from Knoxville City Zoo, to act as a natural fertiliser for the garden. This has definitely been the most physically exhausting day yet, but to look at all of our work at the end was extremely satisfying, and we hope that the new scheme of the community gardens will be successful.
After this, everybody headed home to take a much-needed shower, and small group of people have gone out to buy the breakfast food for our work at the Volunteer Ministry Centre tomorrow morning. The rest of us are enjoying spending time with our host families once more. Hopefully there will be some more to report tomorrow about how we all spent our time!
Tomorrow morning is going to be a very early start, because we will be serving breakfast at the Volunteer Ministry Centre, which means that we'll have to meet at the church at 5:15 am! Hopefully everyone will be there on time, and that no-one will be too exhausted!
Thanks for praying!
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Serving, playing and wondering
So Jess was being super kind yesterday when she wrote that I was "getting ready to go out". The truth of the matter is that I managed to completely ignore my alarm and was woken up by Jess and Nicole saying "eerrr...Lorna...it's 7:30" which was met with a giant leap out of bed and sprint to the shower.... I hate those kinds of mornings!!
Yesterday was a good day! We spent the morning on "Knoxville Secret Service" and had the opportunity to split into two teams and travel round to 3 high schools each and pray on their grounds. It was a great opportunity to learn more about serving in unseen ways, with the likelihood of never seeing tangible outcomes to our prayers this side of eternity. What a challenge to think about what it means to serve secretly......
We then went downtown to the Volunteer Ministry Centre where three separate sub teams shopped for, prepared, and served lunch. In our team time yesterday evening, Jack shared how he had been particularly impacted by a guy who just invited him into conversation. It mattered little to him about the circumstances each found themselves in, or indeed what side of the planet they came from, it was just two guys enjoying conversation.
As we finished up serving the meal, one of the homeless guys cranked out some Tennessee songs, and some Beatles on his guitar before playing one of his own songs for us. The line that stood out to most was simply "being homeless isn't fun". It sounds like such a simple line yet to stand and listen to this guy pour out his heart as he sang, but also sing too of Jesus' love for him was really significant. Andreas commented yesterday on the gratefulness of those that we served and how they had so little yet were grateful for what we were offering. I guess we have a lot to learn about our expectations and supposed entitlements!
In the afternoon we headed into the mountains, and enjoyed playing in the river as well as clambering up a trail towards a waterfall. Many of the team; Harry, Nicole and Amber noticed how people's care for each other was very real and very valuable as we clambered about. God is definitely using this time to bind together 29 different people's hearts! It's beautiful.
The evening was spent at Camp Wesley Woods, with their camp evening meeting. It was fun to be in the forest, singing praise to the creator of the mountains, as we enjoyed being in them.
This morning we were supposed to be painting the fence at Camp Wesley Woods but it's pouring with rain. Rain and fence painting don't mix! Welcome to England in Knoxville! It's discouraging, but Damon and his team are making some phonecalls and we're praying that God would use our time this afternoon as an unexpected blessing somewhere to someone....we'll let you know!
Yesterday was a good day! We spent the morning on "Knoxville Secret Service" and had the opportunity to split into two teams and travel round to 3 high schools each and pray on their grounds. It was a great opportunity to learn more about serving in unseen ways, with the likelihood of never seeing tangible outcomes to our prayers this side of eternity. What a challenge to think about what it means to serve secretly......
We then went downtown to the Volunteer Ministry Centre where three separate sub teams shopped for, prepared, and served lunch. In our team time yesterday evening, Jack shared how he had been particularly impacted by a guy who just invited him into conversation. It mattered little to him about the circumstances each found themselves in, or indeed what side of the planet they came from, it was just two guys enjoying conversation.
As we finished up serving the meal, one of the homeless guys cranked out some Tennessee songs, and some Beatles on his guitar before playing one of his own songs for us. The line that stood out to most was simply "being homeless isn't fun". It sounds like such a simple line yet to stand and listen to this guy pour out his heart as he sang, but also sing too of Jesus' love for him was really significant. Andreas commented yesterday on the gratefulness of those that we served and how they had so little yet were grateful for what we were offering. I guess we have a lot to learn about our expectations and supposed entitlements!
In the afternoon we headed into the mountains, and enjoyed playing in the river as well as clambering up a trail towards a waterfall. Many of the team; Harry, Nicole and Amber noticed how people's care for each other was very real and very valuable as we clambered about. God is definitely using this time to bind together 29 different people's hearts! It's beautiful.
The evening was spent at Camp Wesley Woods, with their camp evening meeting. It was fun to be in the forest, singing praise to the creator of the mountains, as we enjoyed being in them.
This morning we were supposed to be painting the fence at Camp Wesley Woods but it's pouring with rain. Rain and fence painting don't mix! Welcome to England in Knoxville! It's discouraging, but Damon and his team are making some phonecalls and we're praying that God would use our time this afternoon as an unexpected blessing somewhere to someone....we'll let you know!
Tuesday, 28 July 2009
Just a small seed...
Hi everyone! It's Jess here, due to Lorna being getting ready to go out.
So, yesterday was a fairly busy day; we started off serving at the Salvation Army centre in Knoxville. We were all involved in a variety of tasks, including serving food, shovelling pebbles and pairing up donated shoes. Everyone found the time spent there really worthwhile; it was a time to serve God while being able to unite together as a team. One of the things I noticed was that back when William Booth started the Salvation Army, his initial idea was just to preach to destitute people on the streets of London. Over a hundred years later, and a worldwide charity has been formed, helping and feeding thousands of people each day. I think this is just one example of how a seed can be planted by God and grow into something miraculous and amazing.
Right now, we're off to do 'Secret Service,' which is something of a suprise, followed by shopping, serving, and preparing food for a soup kitchen. This evening we're off to spend the night at the Barton's cabin in the montains, which means if we don't update tomorrow, no need to worry!
That's it for now...thanks for praying!
So, yesterday was a fairly busy day; we started off serving at the Salvation Army centre in Knoxville. We were all involved in a variety of tasks, including serving food, shovelling pebbles and pairing up donated shoes. Everyone found the time spent there really worthwhile; it was a time to serve God while being able to unite together as a team. One of the things I noticed was that back when William Booth started the Salvation Army, his initial idea was just to preach to destitute people on the streets of London. Over a hundred years later, and a worldwide charity has been formed, helping and feeding thousands of people each day. I think this is just one example of how a seed can be planted by God and grow into something miraculous and amazing.
Right now, we're off to do 'Secret Service,' which is something of a suprise, followed by shopping, serving, and preparing food for a soup kitchen. This evening we're off to spend the night at the Barton's cabin in the montains, which means if we don't update tomorrow, no need to worry!
That's it for now...thanks for praying!
Sunday, 26 July 2009
Every tribe and tongue and nation...
The book of Revelation in the Bible talks about heaven, and refers to a scene in which people from every tribe, tongue and nation will join together in worshipping God. Clearly, we can't say today has been that exactly, but most definitely a glimpse! A chance to see what it looks like to be God's people together irrespective of nationality. What joy to sing new songs with new friends, and familiar songs with people that serve the same God but live thousands of miles away, to hear God's word and pray together.
We had a great morning at church, kicking off with the high school (FourForty age) Sunday school group and then into "big church". Damon had a moment to introduce the history of the LINK, which involved photos..on LARGE screens, multiple large screens in fact! It was cool for us to hear the story again and see how God has been at work in the last 5 years. The afternoon was spent with our hosts; involving, for different folk, meals in various restaurants and homes, adventures to the mountains, and downtown as well as looking around the famous Neyland Stadium. Our evening involved some opportunities to play together at the church before continuing to dig around in Luke 13 and Philippians 2 as well as taking a chunk of time to pray together.
Tomorrow will be a day serving with the Salvation Army; manual labour shovelling shingle, sorting clothes, serving in a charity shop and some other quiet, mainly unseen opportunities to be others focussed.
Everyone is in high spirits, we're looking forward to serving together. We see God at work. We're thankful for you all.
We had a great morning at church, kicking off with the high school (FourForty age) Sunday school group and then into "big church". Damon had a moment to introduce the history of the LINK, which involved photos..on LARGE screens, multiple large screens in fact! It was cool for us to hear the story again and see how God has been at work in the last 5 years. The afternoon was spent with our hosts; involving, for different folk, meals in various restaurants and homes, adventures to the mountains, and downtown as well as looking around the famous Neyland Stadium. Our evening involved some opportunities to play together at the church before continuing to dig around in Luke 13 and Philippians 2 as well as taking a chunk of time to pray together.
Tomorrow will be a day serving with the Salvation Army; manual labour shovelling shingle, sorting clothes, serving in a charity shop and some other quiet, mainly unseen opportunities to be others focussed.
Everyone is in high spirits, we're looking forward to serving together. We see God at work. We're thankful for you all.
Saturday, 25 July 2009
Getting stuck in...
Evening all!
We're back from a full day. The earliest recorded wakeup was Chloe at 3am though some of us weren't far behind at 5.30am ish. A few unamed boys however made it through to 8ish... Impressive!
We spent the morning at church; playing a game together, learning about our week and committing to pray together and for each other. We learnt together about the power of unhidden, small things from Jesus teaching about the mustard seed in Luke 13:18-19 and have been challenged to be "noticers" of those things.
You'll be pleased to hear that Jess, Nicole and our new friend Haley are here with me and they're going to take over now...but I might come back later. Watch out!
Hi everyone! Jess here now. So, as Lorna said, the morning was spent at church, followed by lunch. Some of us, myself included, were very excited by the fact it was in brown paper bags! We then went down to a local outdoor swimming pool, where we spent the afternoon, swimming and just hanging out. The weather was really sunny, so lots of sun cream was applied over this time!
After a bit of time spent at our various hosts' homes, we went to see a baseball game! The two teams were the Tennessee Smokies and the Mississippi Braves. Unfortunately, the Smokies lost 4-1, but it was still really great, and a good time was had by all!
Me again! Tomorrow promises to be a full day, worshipping with the Cedar Springs Family al lmorning and spending time with our hosts, in the afternoon before more time as a team reflecting on God's word and looking towards Monday's activities...more on that tomorrow!
What a gift it was to us as leaders to sit towards the back of our group at the baseball game and see US and UK student talking, laughing, and enjoying being together. We are so looking forward to what God is going to do in and amongst us as a larger team. Please continue to pray for the relationships that are growing and for the picture that is of God's kingdom.
ps lots of your children have new hats.
pps I am using a borrowed computer. If you are missing your child's beautiful face check out Lea's blog (www.kellylondonmission.blogspot.com). If you aren't...you can look anyway!
Love from us all. x
We're back from a full day. The earliest recorded wakeup was Chloe at 3am though some of us weren't far behind at 5.30am ish. A few unamed boys however made it through to 8ish... Impressive!
We spent the morning at church; playing a game together, learning about our week and committing to pray together and for each other. We learnt together about the power of unhidden, small things from Jesus teaching about the mustard seed in Luke 13:18-19 and have been challenged to be "noticers" of those things.
You'll be pleased to hear that Jess, Nicole and our new friend Haley are here with me and they're going to take over now...but I might come back later. Watch out!
Hi everyone! Jess here now. So, as Lorna said, the morning was spent at church, followed by lunch. Some of us, myself included, were very excited by the fact it was in brown paper bags! We then went down to a local outdoor swimming pool, where we spent the afternoon, swimming and just hanging out. The weather was really sunny, so lots of sun cream was applied over this time!
After a bit of time spent at our various hosts' homes, we went to see a baseball game! The two teams were the Tennessee Smokies and the Mississippi Braves. Unfortunately, the Smokies lost 4-1, but it was still really great, and a good time was had by all!
Me again! Tomorrow promises to be a full day, worshipping with the Cedar Springs Family al lmorning and spending time with our hosts, in the afternoon before more time as a team reflecting on God's word and looking towards Monday's activities...more on that tomorrow!
What a gift it was to us as leaders to sit towards the back of our group at the baseball game and see US and UK student talking, laughing, and enjoying being together. We are so looking forward to what God is going to do in and amongst us as a larger team. Please continue to pray for the relationships that are growing and for the picture that is of God's kingdom.
ps lots of your children have new hats.
pps I am using a borrowed computer. If you are missing your child's beautiful face check out Lea's blog (www.kellylondonmission.blogspot.com). If you aren't...you can look anyway!
Love from us all. x
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