Well, it's a beautiful Sunday Morning - much like every morning for the majority of the past two weeks! It's unbelievable that It's mid-October and I can go outside without any form of coat or jumper most of the time! It still feels like early summer!
It's been a couple of weeks since I blogged last, so brace yourself for a long, but good, one :)
I had a very busy week the first week in October. The SPEC team had 3 retreats - all of which were a bit different. The week began, though, with a day of preparation. This was an amazing treat for me to be able to spend a little time really digging into the sessions I was going to be leading and to get a chance to really wrap my head around the themes of the retreat. I really enjoy the flexibility we have when leading a session. We are given the general outline, but beyond that we are given the freedom to put a lot of our own personality and gifts into the session, as well as adjust for whatever the group seems to need. At the end of the day I felt so much better prepared for the retreats - it really made me appreciate all of those planning days and prep period that my parents and all of my teachers value so highly!
Our first retreat was a day retreat. The class of year 12s arrived in the morning, we did a quick intro and then they rotated through a few sessions. Annika and I led 2 sessions: Meditation and PUSH (pray until something happens). This session used clips from Bruce Almighty to explore a little bit about prayer. We got a chance to lead each session twice, so we changed things as we went along. And though I don't feel as if the session went perfectly, we did make improvements, which was good for me!
The next 2 days were spent with a residential retreat - the other half of the year group from week one. We were all geared up for another tough retreat full of chatty Cathys, but we were pleasantly surprised. This group of young people was really bright, and I had multiple conversations with individuals about their future plans. Their passion and determination was truly inspiring.
When I introduced myself at the beginning of the retreat, I shared that I was American (like I always do). This time, though, there was a chorus of "Who are you voting for?" to which I responded with nothing but a smile and attempted to continue my introduction, but couldn't due to the excited debate that ensued. I'm finding that American politics is VERY important over here :)
My favorite one was probably our mission though - we went into a girl’s school for a day and did a day retreat themed 'Born To...' It was really cool to be able to share such a cool message with such an amazing group of girls! After year 11, kids are free to leave school, but some choose to stay for 6th form - year 12 and 13, where they specialize in a few subjects, so the group we had was really focused and wanted to be there - and they were a very bright group. I got to lead a session with Carrie, another volunteer, called Johari's Window, which is basically a 'who are you' session. It was really cool to be able to share our stories, hear theirs, and to impart our wisdom upon them :) heehee - kind of like having a bunch of Megans to talk to (Megan is my wonderful sister). It felt odd to be speaking about God in a school setting, though - but I liked it, because in my mind they have always been intertwined.
God works in amazing ways - I think doing that session and leading a similar one about 'the road less traveled' is helping me to find my place within the structure of these retreats. I'm discovering that a lot of what the ministry is about is sharing my own story with these guys - who are really only a couple years behind me in age, and right at my heels in decision making. Just being honest about myself - it gives them permission to be honest about themselves as well.
The other way I'm finding to connect with the young people is through playing cards. A lot of the team has begun to play cards quite a bit, so I have pulled them out on retreat (thank you Jeremy for getting me a deck right before I left :) ). I am in awe of how unversal cards are. How many games you can actually play, and how many variations there are for each of those games! It's funny, we played a game at orientation with cards. Each table had a set of rules, so we read them, and then began our game, which we were to play in silence. The winners moved tables, and it became apparent quite quickly that each table had slightly different rules. It was to represent that different cultures have different customs and rules, even though the overall look might be the same. And now I'm experiencing that analogy - not only in its intended message - but in quite a literal way!
Another quick note about our day on mission - I pulled out my silly putty at one point in our break room, and they all gave me weird looks - they don't have silly putty in England! It was great fun introducing them to it! :) Here's Carrie seeing it for the first time.
This week also brought a very special opportunity to worship at the Westminster Cathedral. This Cathedral is only 100 years old, and is still not finished being built. It was amazing to think that we were there during the process. The other neat thing about it is that it is used regularly for worship and prayer, and there is no entrance fee at all. They really value the space for its intended purpose. When we had a quick walk through the main sanctuary, we heard the men's choir singing... :) Anyway, we got to celebrate our commisioning mass in the crypt after which we got to eat a nice pizza dinner with the bishop - a great time was had by all.
The last time I went to a Child's Birthday Partywith college students was in March of 2007 - I was definitely due for another one, which is exactly what happened that Friday. We played pass the parcel, did the electic slide and the Macarena, and ate way too many sweets. It was a blast!
To continue the childish theme, I think I have mentioned that I taught the team the Hippo song - well, I have caught a few of them on tape! Click here to view The International Hippo Song. These are some of my fellow team members from around the world. Countries Represented: England (2), Sweden (3), Scotland, and Zimbabwe. Can you hear all the accents?
During each of our residential retreats, we take the groups on a night walk. They are great fun, and often the highlight of the retreat for many young people. I also love these walks because I always seem to have great converstation along the way. It was during one of these conversations that I discovered my deep appreciation for organization. I have always enjoyed planning things and putting things in order, but it finally dawned on me that it's actually a great part of my personality and skills kit. And I had a chance to put that into practice this past week!
We were supposed to have a 3 day residential group, but they ended up needing to cancel, so we gained 3 days to basically organize this place. We did some massive clean outs of useless furniture and old rubbish. I also got the chance to organize SPEC's music collection. I have been working on and off on this project for some time, but I got to spend an entire day just cleaning out the multiple copies, unreadable copies, and random other items. We recycled a stack of paper probably 4 feet high. Then came organizing it - I really enjoyed myself. We are down to 3 binders now! I find that making things functional really satisfies me :).
I think that this organizational side of me has also taken root in my future planning. In order to be as efficient and functional as possible, my future outlook has always been: "I want to get to point 'B', so therefore I will do steps '1,2,3'." This makes sense, right? Well, to an extent, yes. But I'm finding that, unfortunately, it's somewhat unrealistic to expect. Here's an excerpt from my journal... forgive me if it doesn't make sense, it's definitely train of thought!
"I wish I could think less about 'A to B' and more just about 'A'... 'B' will be created by my chosen 'A's... But then will I ever know ifI'm at B? Do we ever actually get to B?"
Somewhat 'out there', but just my thoughts of the moment.
This thought is mostly spured by the need to make some decisions pretty soon. College applications will be due very soon, and that thought is kind of looming over me. Should I go to musical theatre school? Should I go to a school to major in something else and do theatre on the side? Should I just postpone school longer and go hiking in the Andes? Who knows?! Any thoughts or suggestions out there?
After long days of being inside organizing, Sara K., Elin, and I decided to go for a walk. A long walk. With a great suggestion, we took a footpath into St. Albans - a predicted 3 hour walk. The day was beautiful (the picture at the top was the beginning of our day) and we were up for an adventure, so we took the map and headed out. Well, the walk took a little longer than we expected due to our leisurly pace and a few wrong turns, but after 4 hours we reached St. Albans, spent an hour at the market, and then another hour walking down past the Cathedral in search of the famed Waffle House (unfortunately we had run out of time when we got there, so we walked back to St. Albans to catch our bus).
On the way we had a few adventures! We saw a tree resembling the fallen tree in Dirty Dancing and another tree that looked like it belonged in the Little Mermaid (the 'kiss the girl' tree). We encountered some Swans that Sara was quite afraid of. 'They will peck me! They are dangerous!" The footpath we were on lead us through a cow pasture. No fences, just straight through the pasture. Sara was a bit worried about the cows as well :) We made few wrong turns that took us through some cute towns, and at one point we found ourselves on the motorway (freeway) needing to be on the other side. We tried to find a trail, but there was none, so we hopped the fence to go down the steep hill to the path running under the motorway - on the left you will see me climbing over the barbed wire at the bottom of the hill.Our day in total was about 7 hours. We were on our feet for 6 of them. We had a great time, and had some really good discussions about our home countries and holidays. Did you know that in Sweden on December 24 (Christmas), people stop everything to watch Mickey Mouse for an hour? It's tradition!
My other highlight from the last week was leading prayer for the team. I used a reading from Matthew 6 about not worrying. I'll leave you with the other text I used - author unknown.
Memo from God
To: YOU
Date: TODAY
From: THE BOSS
Reference: LIFE
I am God. Today I will be handling all of your problems. Please remember that I do not need your help. If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do not attempt to resolve it. Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box. All situations will be resolved, but in My time, not yours.
Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by worrying about it. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now.
If you find yourself stuck in traffic; Don’t despair. There are people in this world for whom driving is an unheard of privilege.
Should you have a bad day at work; Think of the man who has been out of work for years.
Should you despair over a relationship gone bad; Think of the person who has never known what it’s like to love and be loved in return.
Should you grieve the passing of another weekend; Think of the woman in dire straits, working twelve hours a day, seven days a week to feed her children.
Should your car break down, leaving you miles away from assistance; Think of the paraplegic who would love the opportunity to take that walk.
Should you notice a new grey hair in the mirror; Think of the cancer patient in chemo who wishes she had hair to examine.
Should you find yourself at a loss and pondering what is life all about, asking what is my purpose? Be thankful. There are those who didn’t live long enough to get the opportunity.
Should you find yourself the victim of other people’s bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecurities; Remember, things could be worse. You could be one of them!
Matthew 6:34
So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
I love you all and would love updates about your lives! I pray that you are doing well and that God is blessing you with great things in life!
For more pictures of the Children's Birthday Party, Click Here.
For more pictures of our Walk, Click Here.
