Busiest week on tour is finally complete! And this week, you'll (hopefully) be happy to hear, I have more than two photos! Yay! So here goes, week 7 in all its glory:
Thursday 14th we got picked up and taken to Burlington baptist church (no crazy train journeys this week as this church is also in Ipswich!). Here we met with Claire who's the youth leader at the church, and had a chat about everything and anything until lunch where we met other church members and trustees. The afternoon was spent planning and shopping for the church weekend away, then at about 4 we helped lead the 8-11yr old group (pretty much just played games). When that finished we got taken to where we will be living for the week. The Gosden's residence is absolutely beautiful. And so is Elizabeth Gosden's cooking. And so are the Gosden's! Best house so far by a long shot!
Friday 15th we had a lie in but in the afternoon we got taken to Vauxhall farm for the church weekend away. Luckily we had cabins to stay in and weren't camping! The weather forecast for the weekend was the worst gales we have seen in 50 years but God heard our prayers and kept it dry and actually sunny at points! After dinner we had our first session with the kids. 12x 10-13yr old boys and 3 girls. This was pretty much just spent playing games and getting to know each other. Despite my negative attitude towards the weekend and dreading leading kids at the most annoying age for the entire weekend, they were actually lovely kids and we had a lot of fun.
And after a lot of hard work:
After this we had another session with the youth which we did on the salt and the light in Matthew 5. It went pretty well and they listened for the entire time (could have been cause we kept them interested with the fake poo in the jar, which we almost convinced them was real until they decided to touch it! Disgusting boys- what if it was real?!!!!) Anyway, throughout all this serious stuff we also played plenty of games, including the much loved ninja!
Thursday 14th we got picked up and taken to Burlington baptist church (no crazy train journeys this week as this church is also in Ipswich!). Here we met with Claire who's the youth leader at the church, and had a chat about everything and anything until lunch where we met other church members and trustees. The afternoon was spent planning and shopping for the church weekend away, then at about 4 we helped lead the 8-11yr old group (pretty much just played games). When that finished we got taken to where we will be living for the week. The Gosden's residence is absolutely beautiful. And so is Elizabeth Gosden's cooking. And so are the Gosden's! Best house so far by a long shot!
Friday 15th we had a lie in but in the afternoon we got taken to Vauxhall farm for the church weekend away. Luckily we had cabins to stay in and weren't camping! The weather forecast for the weekend was the worst gales we have seen in 50 years but God heard our prayers and kept it dry and actually sunny at points! After dinner we had our first session with the kids. 12x 10-13yr old boys and 3 girls. This was pretty much just spent playing games and getting to know each other. Despite my negative attitude towards the weekend and dreading leading kids at the most annoying age for the entire weekend, they were actually lovely kids and we had a lot of fun.
A few of the boys playing the doughnut game.
Saturday 13th we had 3 more sessions with the youth. The first one was spent telling them about how most people lived in India, and challenged them to build a slum of their own.
They started as this:
And this:
We created this:
In the slum
And this:
Didn't they do well?!
They really enjoyed making them and afterwards we had a discussion about how it would feel to actually have to live in these outside every day and every night.
After a short break we all wrote cards to the girls at Entally Girls Hostel where we worked in India. All the youth make and wrote their own cards. They told the girls who they are, what they do, where they live, and some really lovely encouraging messages and bible verses. Some of these youth are actually really touched by the issues we came across when talking about India, and they have a real heart for the world. Its inspiring to see.
The youth with their cards
The cards
Beautifully decorated.
We're gonna send these cards along with the picture of us all to the girls.
Saturday afternoon we had off and Elizabeth Gosden was running a bag making workshop so us girls went along to that and look what I made ALL BY MYSELF! (don't look too closely though!)
Sunday 17th we had our last session with the youth. This one was a study on the Great Commission in Matthew 28. We ended it with a challenge to go out and tell one person (or lots!) about God. We said this when we did the study on light the day before, spreading your light with someone else. Has the potential to do wonders!
It was good to finish the weekend. We have been dreading it for so long but it actually went a lot better than expected. And it was so nice to get back to the Gosden's lovely house and proper beds!
Monday was our day off so me and Ellen went into town and just relaxed which was lovely. And so good to not wake up until 10am!
Tuesday 19th we had an early start as we did an assembly at St.Matthews primary school. The rest of the day after this was pretty free until the evening when we had a curry night/chat with the young people from the church which was nice.
And today, Wednesday, we spent from 10am-3.45pm talking to people who are about age about mission etc. It was a laugh and we had some good discussions but I was SO tired! It has been a lovely sunny day as well and we were inside for most of it! But we did have a nice BBQ this evening before heading home to pack to move on to our final church, Fishponds baptist, Bristol (Ellen's church).
Slight issues with packing? Not sure its all gonna fit.....
So that's the end of week 7. I'm shattered and drained and literally counting down the days until I get my own bed! (10). Its been a long 7 weeks, but I've learnt a lot, not just about myself but about God. One more week to go and then I will be back at IMC with the other Action Teamers for our final days together! Gonna be some sad good byes but can't wait to get home and see Chris and my family and friends. Miss them so much.
Anyway, I am TIRED and need some sleep. Got the midnight munchies so I better get into bed before I go and raid an almost strangers fridge...
Night :) x
Harripet- you're lovely. HumptyX
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