Still scraping paint

With Christmas only days away, Kristen and I are pondering what the new year shall bring for us. Will it bring spiritual growth, more rain, boyfriends perhaps? (right Darrell?) 

Last week Darrell, Lyz and Arloa came to visit and it was such a delight to entertain them. On Saturday we took a trip up to Leeds to do some holiday shopping with the three of them ... despite the rain. We also took them to see our school's holiday program and to the cafe where we work. I had so much fun just laughing and engaging with them for the three short days they were here. I'm an eager beaver for Lyz's next visit in the spring!

We leave for London on the 23rd and will return on Saturday. We plan to spend New Year's Day with the Bilton's and some other friends eating goose. 

This evening we attended a carol service at Great Horton Methodist. We listened to the Christmas story and sang carols and it reminded me a lot of back home and all the Christmasy things my family would be doing around this time. Because this is my first Christmas away from home I am so anxious to see what awaits us in London at the Mennonite Center. 

Christmas countdown

Today is already the second week of December and our Christmas countdown is flying by. This afternoon Kristen and I ventured to Cineworld to see 'It's a Wonderful Life.' Kristen had never seen it before and I was so glad to watch it once again. However, since its an old movie, the theatre crowd mostly consisted of gray hair which would comment and snicker endlessly. It also brought back memories of home and made it hard to return to our flat. 

This evening we had the Biltons over for dinner and we cooked a lovely Mexican meal complete with apple empanadas. We love having company over to entertain and to show off our kitchen skills. So of course we are thoroughly looking forward to Darrell and Lyz's visit to our abode this coming Saturday! I can't believe we're going to be in the presence of other Americans once again, but sadly only for a short while. 

Last Friday we set up and decorated our little Christmas tree. Memories of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree are starting to form, but ours is fake so it'll last till Christmas... and probably longer, as those fakers tend to do. Kristen and I are also doing daily Advent devotions together. It's a wonderful way to start our days and prepare us for Christmas.  

Christmastime Is Here

Today is the first day of December and it snowed this morning! It was a perfect start to this month. Kristen and I have been working on making Christmas cards while listening to holiday music and watching the snow fall outside our window. We've also been keeping up our baking and have lots more to come since we are going to bake plates full of Christmas goodies to give to our neighbors and people from church. 

We are still scraping away at our living room walls trying to get them ready for paint. Our goal is to have them ready in time for when Darrell and Lyz arrive in two weeks! Things aren't looking too good, though...

Just a few more weeks and Kristen and I are headed to the London Mennonite Center for Christmas! It will be so nice to spend the holiday with some of our kind. :) 

the Veggie Cafe

On Tuesday Kristen and I started volunteering at Treehouse Cafe. I spent all of my time in the kitchen helping prepare the food and Kristen did both preparing and running the register. It was a really good start to that environment. We worked with college kids and also some graduates living in the area. However, the food is all vegetarian and 90% vegan which means we made veggie sausages for that day. Yes, yikes. But some good connections were formed and hopefully this is just the start of becoming more involved with this culture. 

Prince Charles turns 60 today

Well, today was the day that circumstances became too much to bear and resulted in Lee leaving our England team and leaving Bradford. His leaving is all so sudden, but not completely unforeseen. Thankfully though, Lee seems really at peace with his decision and feels called to move ahead. 

What is next for Kristen and I, we don't know. We continue to pray about what will happen and what God will throw our way next. Please keep us in your prayers. 

Trouble in Rivercity

This past Wednesday we returned home from London. All I have to say about it is that it was freezing! It was also great to be in a bigger community and have more people to talk to. The youth are an awesome bunch and really remind me of my days in youth group. I'm eager to grow more through that group and grow closer to them. 

Last week we met with Jeff who is the administrator at Touchstone which is a Methodist Church urban outlet. We're going to begin exploring different ways in which we can volunteer there and hopefully find a unique way in which we can plug in.  

Because tonight is Halloween, we are going to be meeting with a group from the university called Just Faith and participate in their festivities, whatever they may be. Afterwards we are having them over for refreshments and I'm really anxious to meet new people! Hopefully some good bonds will form in this group. 

The team is still working on unity. It isn't coming easily because there are two girls and only one guy. Plus, we continue to have troubles with our Sideshow Bob neighbor which creates tension. We are also surrounded by 'the Beast' who is a 10 foot tall dog and who hops up on the fence to bark and growl at us. (He also startled the police who came to visit) And finally, our neighbor who lives above us has breathing problems... we can definitely hear him snore at night. 

Another Week

This past weekend we were invited over to Reverend Paul Flowers' home for dinner with Gary Mason and his wife Joyce. Gary and Joyce are from Belfast where Gary is a minister and it was good to get to know them. Gary seems to have a clear understanding of what this year means to us and he had some really encouraging words as well. And of course after the meal we sat around chatting while listening to the Beatles. brilliant.

Yesterday we were invited to eat lunch with a couple named Derek and Lesley Marshall from Great Horton Methodist Church. They're such a sweet couple! The best part so far for me has been the community with the church members. They've made us feel really welcomed and wanted here. Derek and Lesley drove us out to the country to Ogden Reservoir where we walked around the lake in a woodsy area. It was overcast and pretty chilly because it was so windy, but of course we didn't mind because it was gorgeous. I think the three of us were just grateful to get out of stuffy town for a little while.

On Thursday we're planning on taking a day trip to Skipton to walk around and visit a castle! And of course this weekend we're headed to London with the youth group!! We'll be there for five days and there is a lot being packed into those days. We'll be going to a West End Show, a theme park and a boat trip along the Thames. Kristen and I are also looking forward to the shopping!

The conflict in the team has simmered down and things haven't been so rough now that we aren't spending every waking moment together. There is still a lot of free time though, so we're trying to find other places to volunteer.

And finally the weather. It rains when the sun is shining and it will rain pretty much every day, even if it's just a mist... so cloudy and gloomy. It's taunting me.

1st Week in England

We arrived last Sunday so we've been here a week now, and quite honestly its been a boring week. Thursday was our only day of work at the school and that went well, but pretty much all the rest of our time was free. This wouldn't be such a problem, except that we don't know our way around the city yet, so we don't know of anywhere to go.

However, despite the boredom, the people we've met are wonderful and they have helped make this feel more like home. They're quite hospitable and easy going. Last night we met the youth group that we will be partcipating in and it was so refreshing to meet people closer to our age... so far the people we've met have mostly been over fifty or under ten. :) Apparently we'll be taking a retreat with this youth group to London at the end of October! We're pretty excited of course (but also dreading how we have to pack and travel after we just got here.)

The other reason why I've been bored is because of conflict within our team. There has been a lot of disagreement and we've only been here a week, so there's a reluctance to be around each other very much. This is going to be a challenging year! The conflict also makes the homesickness worse.

Kristen and I have plans to spruce up the apartments a bit, so on Saturday we bought some paint and supplies and started working on our bathroom. We plan to paint the living room as well to keep ourselves busy for a while. We also ate our first official meal of fish 'n chips Saturday night! We weren't disappointed. :)

Solitude

Throughout this month of training we have been observing different spiritual disciplines. These consisted of prayer, journaling, solitude, sabbath, and body image. The main goal of practicing these was to challenge us in our faith and to find new ways to discover God in a different light. For myself, the most difficult one was obviously solitude. More than once I simply forgot that we were supposed to be silent and slipped a comment, or knocked on someone's door expecting to hear an answer. Also, it was almost impossible to be in complete solitude in the city. Everywhere you go there is still the rumble of traffic and the train in the background. It is hard to feel completely alone with God with all these distractions around, which is why solitude is the discipline I am going to keep working on throughout this year. We've been challenged and encouraged to incorporate a discipline into our lifestyles and this is the one I feel will stretch me the most. 

10 more days

My team only has one and a half more weeks in Chicago before we ship out. Yikes! We've been trying to brain storm ideas about things like what we'll cook, where we'll visit, or what we'll do for fun, but obviously it is almost impossible since none of us have a clue what it will be like. Right now the unknown seems very intimidating.

This past week the group has had discussions on conflict within our teams and also conflict with the culture. We're learning how to work problems out when they arise and also ways in which we can avoid them. Inevitably there will be problems, but hopefully we're learning more about what kind of cultural clashes will occur so we can understand them better.

Tomorrow, Thursday, we are going to practice solitude. I am not looking forward to this! I am such an interactive person and I know this exercise will be a challenge. But I'm sure it will be a meaningful one as well. 

Week 2

So far orientation has been going really well! I've been enjoying getting to know everyone in the program and learning to work with my team. I'm confident that Lee, Kristen and I will have a magnificent year together. 

This past week we've been reflecting on service and prayer, and have had opportunities to practice both. Last Friday we had a service day and I was in the group that went to Gads Hill to work with children, which I guess was good preparation for Bradford. Lee and I got to work in the same class together and ended up performing a little skit about fire safety, which was surprisingly fun! 

Yesterday, we were encouraged to visit the conservatory and walk a prayer labyrinth. The day was gorgeous and the labyrinth was really refreshing. We've also been challenged in the way we pray and experimenting with that.

I am so eager to see what else God throws my way during this month and how he will continue to work this year.

Gallavanting around Chicago

Today we were set loose with our teams on a scavenger hunt where we spotted the seductive Sears Tower according to Lee. We got lost just once, but made a full recovery around lunch time and joined up with the rest of the group for a break. After swapping stories we proceeded to the YMCA and set up our blogs.