London is fantastic but very rainy….I’ve never seen so much rain in my life. So I’ve learned to buckle down and run to the bus stop instead of my nice, slow Kentucky stroll. Oh guess what, I saw a fox yesterday on the way to way to one of our schools. Yeah a fox in the city… how crazy is that? London never ceases to amaze me.
Christina has continued to come every Tuesday to the XLP bus and has really opened up and begun to be quite chatty with the other young people. Please continue to pray that more young girls will venture onto our bus. Last Tuesday, outside the bus, Lydia who is also a youth worker on my team and, I taught 2 of our young guys to throw a frisbee. Frisbee is such an American sport (Lydia is American as well) and they had never thrown before. These young people tend to not try new things but Troy and Francis played with us for the whole two hours that the bus was on the estate. As Lydia and I were walking to our bus stop and we ran into Francis shopping in the market with his mother Caroline. I have never met a more appreciate mother in my life. She thanked us many many times for spending time with her son. It was one of the best moments of this year so far and was affirmation that this is where I belong.
In the schools last week we talked about the story of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10. The team acted this story out but changed the Priest and the Levite into fellow gang members. The Samaritan that passed by was therefore a gang member of another gang. It was pretty effective to put this story into words that they can relate too. I am so happy that the Scriptures are relevant to our lives today no matter how safe or unsafe our lives may be. The young people got really into the beating up part but we got them thinking of who the “Samaritans” are in their lives and how they should be treated. Over all it was very successful.
As well as the schools and church work every week, we the XLP students have a youth work training session on Monday and a theology training session on Friday. This morning we heard a quest speaker who had been a missionary in Egypt for 10 years and has really been given a heart for the Muslim world. Since London is very diverse, it is home to numerous Muslims, in fact more Muslims go to the Mosque on Sunday than Christians to Church in England. But we had a seminar on what Muslims believe, what they practice, and how to engage with them as a Christian. It was very interesting to say the least and very helpful. A few weeks ago, in our schools we played a game involving candy which of course included gelatin which Muslims cannot eat. Sadly these boys were unable to participate. We all are learning how to engage this different religion and culture and to make the Gospel of Jesus understandable to them. So prayers for healthy interaction with Muslims in Southwark would be awesome.
As for my own personal growth, I finally feel like this is home….home is where God wants us to be. Don’t worry Momma, this home is only for now. I feel like I belong. Sunday after having lunch with a few families in my church, the youth in those families, Amy, Hannah, and Jonathan decided that they were going to go see the new James Bond movie in the theater. This is a silly thing, but they invited me along, which of course I went cause I love Britain’s favorite agent…and it was a great feeling to know that they wanted me, “the old youth worker” as Jonathan calls me, to hang out with them. Of course now I also get the bonus of rubbing it in to my brothers that I saw “Quantum of Solace” before they did….before any of you Americans did! I’m really getting to know all the other 17 XLP students as well. This weekend we all went to a fire work show to celebrate Guy Fawkes day which was on the 5th. We all had a great time goofing off together. Please pray for the other XLP students as well. A few of them are Lucy, Emily, Hannah, Oli, Sean and Sam.
Please pray for me as the holiday season is just around the corner and for my family and especially my mother. This is my first Thanksgiving and Christmas away from home. While it will be exciting to have Christmas in England, it will be sad to be so far away from my family. As the plan goes, I’m going home with my friend Lucy who lives outside Manchester for Christmas. It will be fun to see a new part of England. Please continue to pray for these schools, Highshore, Kingsdale, Harris Girls Academy, The Peckham Academy, and The Globe as well. Thanks for your continued prayers and support!
Christina has continued to come every Tuesday to the XLP bus and has really opened up and begun to be quite chatty with the other young people. Please continue to pray that more young girls will venture onto our bus. Last Tuesday, outside the bus, Lydia who is also a youth worker on my team and, I taught 2 of our young guys to throw a frisbee. Frisbee is such an American sport (Lydia is American as well) and they had never thrown before. These young people tend to not try new things but Troy and Francis played with us for the whole two hours that the bus was on the estate. As Lydia and I were walking to our bus stop and we ran into Francis shopping in the market with his mother Caroline. I have never met a more appreciate mother in my life. She thanked us many many times for spending time with her son. It was one of the best moments of this year so far and was affirmation that this is where I belong.
In the schools last week we talked about the story of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10. The team acted this story out but changed the Priest and the Levite into fellow gang members. The Samaritan that passed by was therefore a gang member of another gang. It was pretty effective to put this story into words that they can relate too. I am so happy that the Scriptures are relevant to our lives today no matter how safe or unsafe our lives may be. The young people got really into the beating up part but we got them thinking of who the “Samaritans” are in their lives and how they should be treated. Over all it was very successful.
As well as the schools and church work every week, we the XLP students have a youth work training session on Monday and a theology training session on Friday. This morning we heard a quest speaker who had been a missionary in Egypt for 10 years and has really been given a heart for the Muslim world. Since London is very diverse, it is home to numerous Muslims, in fact more Muslims go to the Mosque on Sunday than Christians to Church in England. But we had a seminar on what Muslims believe, what they practice, and how to engage with them as a Christian. It was very interesting to say the least and very helpful. A few weeks ago, in our schools we played a game involving candy which of course included gelatin which Muslims cannot eat. Sadly these boys were unable to participate. We all are learning how to engage this different religion and culture and to make the Gospel of Jesus understandable to them. So prayers for healthy interaction with Muslims in Southwark would be awesome.
As for my own personal growth, I finally feel like this is home….home is where God wants us to be. Don’t worry Momma, this home is only for now. I feel like I belong. Sunday after having lunch with a few families in my church, the youth in those families, Amy, Hannah, and Jonathan decided that they were going to go see the new James Bond movie in the theater. This is a silly thing, but they invited me along, which of course I went cause I love Britain’s favorite agent…and it was a great feeling to know that they wanted me, “the old youth worker” as Jonathan calls me, to hang out with them. Of course now I also get the bonus of rubbing it in to my brothers that I saw “Quantum of Solace” before they did….before any of you Americans did! I’m really getting to know all the other 17 XLP students as well. This weekend we all went to a fire work show to celebrate Guy Fawkes day which was on the 5th. We all had a great time goofing off together. Please pray for the other XLP students as well. A few of them are Lucy, Emily, Hannah, Oli, Sean and Sam.
Please pray for me as the holiday season is just around the corner and for my family and especially my mother. This is my first Thanksgiving and Christmas away from home. While it will be exciting to have Christmas in England, it will be sad to be so far away from my family. As the plan goes, I’m going home with my friend Lucy who lives outside Manchester for Christmas. It will be fun to see a new part of England. Please continue to pray for these schools, Highshore, Kingsdale, Harris Girls Academy, The Peckham Academy, and The Globe as well. Thanks for your continued prayers and support!
The Source, the bible study group of my youth from church was this friday and we had a great time chatting, eating snackies and talking about Weakness. The amazing thing is that every Bible Hero had a weakness...yet God still used them. He can use us....Somehow bible study turned into a photo opt....
Much Love from London,
Julie
