Favorite Holiday Songs
Christmas tree
I love our tree-it's slightly chaotic, but ended up looking beautiful anyways!
I'm beginning to feel a little concerned about getting everything done for Christmas. There are things that need to happen in January, books that I need to read and planning that I need to do that I know I'm not going to want to do over the holidays. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. Perhaps I'll get enough done to feel ready!
Family
And even though I'm missing my family back in Washington, I've got a fantastic family here. There's cuddles and laughter, dancing and debates, disagreements and reconciliation. It's a beautiful way to live, and I love sharing life with these wonderful people!
(Not everyone is in the photos.)
A beautiful sight
In the morning, we had a bit of a Welsh lesson, and learned how to greet each other and talk about the weather. (An essential for living in Wales, or Britian for that matter!) Unsurprisingly, the weather vocabulary had words for cold, raining, snowy, wet, foggy and cloudy; hot and warm weren't to be seen on the list!
This evening is my church homegroup. I greatly enjoy meeting with the people there every week, as they've become friends over time. I especially appreciated tonight, which was our last night before the holidays. It was encouraging to hear Polish, German, Chinese and English being spoken as we prayed for each other!
Green
I picked the best green things I could find-cozy flannel sheets (I was so happy when I remembered that I had these!) and my green blanket, which I got as a 21 birthday present, I think. Oh, and the patterned stuff is Shelby's trousers.
I made matzoh bread for communion this morning. It was great to reflect on peace, Jesus and all the peace his coming is supposed to bring.
Also, we decorated our tree today, hence the antlers!!
Wrapping paper and advent
This year, I went the "I'm too lazy to go to the store and buy wrapping paper" route and made my own. I found some newspaper laying around, pulled out my acrylic paints and got started. I happened to find some silver acrylic paint laying around the house, so I used that too. Voila! Fun, silver, purple and goldenrod wrapping paper!
Earlier today, I went with some friends (who are all about the same age as my uncles) to Colwyn Bay to visit an art space/gallery thing centered around advent. It was fascinating to see how people interacted with the biblical narrative from a variety of backgrounds, ranging from non-spiritual to "I follow Jesus". One of my favorites was an archeolgical re-creation of tablets that Zechariah might have written during his time of silence. There were actually several artists who were inspired Zechariah's silence. I wonder what that means.
The reason the four of us went to see the exhibition was that we are all interested in seeing the church interact more with the arts here in Wrexham. I look forward to seeing what will come of this adventure in the coming months and years!
Something I'm reading
That said, I haven't read the book in awhile, in want to finish it before Christmas! I've been occupying my time with other things however; like wrapping presents and writing support letters and spending time with people. How can I fit everything I want to do in 24 hours?! Who knows!
Ornaments and a tree
We practiced carols this morning for the coming weeks. Everyone seemed to be feeling happy and energetic (in other words, hyper) after singing and dancing around for an hour or so.
Today also contained a bit of shopping for presents, as well as watching Brave and Evan Almighty. It's a good thing just to spend time with people!
Bright
We went to a ministry tonight that I personally find very challenging. It's a youth club/drop in center sort of thing for teenagers to come hangout of Friday night. I just started volunteering there in October, and each week I struggle to want to go. I find it difficult to connect to teenagers in general, and I don't thrive in unstructured environments.
I'd love to say that God magically transforms my heart each time I go, and that I have amazing, life-changing conversations with the teens there. But I'm afraid it's an agonizingly slow process of building relationships and earning trust over long periods of time, perhaps years.
Oh Lord, would you turn me into a bright light without having to hollow me out first? That'd be less painful! I don't really mean that though. I know what you're asking me to do is worth it...
Shopping
I also think there's a huge difference between American and British fashion. From what I remember of American clothes, they were somewhat boring and straightforward in the style/sewing, and had a decent range of color. What I'm seeing here is boring colors and creative (sometimes too frouffy) style/sewing.
I wish I could combine the two somehow, and have creative, colorful, but not too frouffy clothing. If it would be inexpensive with interesting, quality materials, that would be perfect. I think I may need to just buy myself a sewing machine instead!
Joyful
Thankfully, today is Shelby's *real* 21st birthday. So we celebrated her twice today. Once quietly with ourselves (we have a habit of asking for highlights of the past year, hopes for the coming year and then everyone saying nice things about the birthday person) and again tonight at our community potluck.
Every Tuesday of a lecture week, we open our home up for a bring and share, as they call it here. There's great food, and talking to friends and strangers from the local churches, a couple songs and a short talk. It's a great way to meet new people and make friends that I wouldn't normally come across!
Another joyful thing is that our speaker for the rest of the week arrived today. Her name is Taryn, and she'll be talking about destiny. I'm particularly happy that she's here, because I've known her for nearly four years now (we met in Albania, or was it Greece?) and she's become a good friend. The greatest thing about having friends all over the place is meeting them again and again!
Red
We were supposed to have lecture about God's father-heart, but our speaker's son was vomiting, so we pushed back lectures to late afternoon/evening. Instead, we went to help at the Salvation Army. They had 1500 kg of food donated over the weekend, so we helped sort everything, and also helped prepare Christmas parcels for families.
So, my day has been full! Christmas parcels, talking about God as father, and lastly, putting lasagna together for dinner! Yum.
It's a wonderful life
So, I'm relaxing this Sunday afternoon and cutting snowflakes. We celebrated Shelby's 21st birthday after church already (Happy Birthday Shelby!), and perhaps we'll watch a movie tonight. Too bad we don't have It's A Wonderful Life- it's my favorite Christmas movie.
My view of the day
Today's photo: sneaking stealthy snaps of Skyping. (With April, Chloe and Adeline!)
Also, I prayed for people in Wrexham with healing on the streets this morning, skyped with Saulo, then April, and watched a movie (Get Smart) with the crew tonight.
And it was good.
Kilbroney Park and Cloughmore
Did I tell anyone that we were going to Ireland? Because we did, and now we're in Ireland! Mark, the director of Ywam Wales was invited to speak at the discipleship training school being run in Northern Ireland, and we came along to hear him speak and to join with the DTS for a week.
It's beautiful here! The Ywam actually won the building (it's worth 5 million pounds) by writing an essay talking about how they would use it if they had the facilities to use. The building is located close to the border of Ireland and Northern Ireland and was previously used as a justice and reconciliation center. The center overlooks Carlingford Lough, and is backed by the Mourne Mountains. It's a very evocative area, and according to Wikipedia, C.S. Lewis said that "I have seen landscapes, notably in the Mourne Mountains and southwards which under a particular light made me feel that at any moment a giant might raise his head over the next ridge". In a letter to his brother, Lewis would later confide "that part of Rostrevor which overlooks Carlingford Lough is my idea of Narnia".
Apart from being surrounded by beautiful scenery, it's been quite an adjustment being here. In Wales, we're a small group of 10 working together, while here there are 18 trainees on the DTS. I believe there's about 60 people working here in total. It's so difficult to remember people's names and once you've gotten to know one person, there's 59 more stories still to hear!
But it's well worth it. Both the people and the surrounding countryside. (Including the rain and storms. I hadn't realized that I kinda missed storms and rain until I came here!)
Glasgow
I wish I could tell every story fully. But even the simplest story is never complete, and I don't know all of it, because I saw only one side. And Glasgow is wrapped up in stories- of a long and deep conversation with a stranger on the 6 hour bus ride there; of happy reunions; of hot chocolate on Haloween night; of being kissed on the cheek and blessed by an old Scottish man; of looking for treasure and finding a homeless man and his dog; of waiting for hours in the rain; of sleeping on floors. This list goes on. And I'm just one person. There were 174 other people in the east end of Glasgow this past week, striving to be the body of Christ there. Imagine the stories they could tell. I'm going to try and tell a few of the stories in my next newsletter. (Which should be ready by tomorrow at the latest.) So if you want to here a few of those stories, stay tuned! But the best story for me was simply time being with Saulo. (And just to fill space...some photos that Lacey took while in Glasgow, and that I took while traveling back to Wrexham!)
Blessings
One day, when my parents were here, we decided to go to Shrewsbury (about 45 min from Wrexham) for the day. On our way to the train station, I happened to notice a dirty envelope on the sidewalk. For some reason, it caught my eye, and I stopped and picked it up. When I looked inside, I saw a lot of money, and my heart started to beat a little faster. I decided not to count it all until we got to the police station, which was probably a good idea.
When we arrived at the station, the woman started counting, and as she counted, both of our eyes kept on getting larger and larger. It turned out that there was £750 in the envelope, which is over $1000, nearly two months income for me! Yikes! And I was told that if no one claimed it in a month, I would get to keep it. Of course, I immediately started praying that no one would claim it!
You can imagine that I was a little disappointed when I got a phone call from a woman saying that she wanted to call and say thank you for turning in the money. But she also said that I had restored her and her husband's faith in humanity, which kinda makes up for a lot of things! Also, she managed a restaurant called The Lemon Tree and wanted to meet with me. When we met, she gave me £75 and a gift certificate for a meal for two.
Anyways, the point of this all was that last Sunday, I finally got to use the certificate! Lacey and I got all dressed up and went out for an amazing meal. It was so much fun to spend time with her, and such a blessing to have a free dinner out! Thank you Collette and Carmody!
Bits of life
I don't really have much to say at the moment, but I do have some photos to share. It's a bit of an odd mixture of moments: making signs for our Portugese restaurant for our "missionary training day" with Luciene and Shelby, welcome cards that I made for our visitors as part of my new role doing hospitality stuff (which includes booking trains and making beds as well as helping to welcome people to our home), and lastly, a leather jacket that I need to stop trying on because it costs £80, even when it's vastly discounted.
Directions
Sometimes, finding direction for life feels a little bit like this. I'm in the middle of making a decision, and sometimes I think I've figured out what to do, and then I realize I have no clue. So at this point, I just have to trust that God knows what he's doing. It all comes down to that really. Doesn't it?
But other than the confusing traffic lights, things are going well. DTS is well on its way, and the trainees are amazing. In fact, my room is full of people right now, talking, playing with the football, looking at photographs. It's a beautiful thing!
Wrexham Foodbank
Sarah, Shelby and I just got back from collecting food at a grocery store for the new food bank here in Wrexham. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the few hours that we spent there! The three of us suited up in green aprons when we arrived (which made me feel like I was wearing a shell-all I needed to complete the outfit was a purple mask and a staff!) and stationed ourselves by the doors. We then handed out shopping lists to the people coming in and asked them to help out!
My spiel went a little like this: "Hiya, we're collecting food for the food bank at Salvation Army today, and these are some of the items we're looking for if you'd be willing to help out." Repeat with small variations x100, with a smile.
I was amazed at how friendly people were. I know I'm not that warm to people who are handing out leaflets at the supermarket. But they were actually willing to help out. I only got a handful of "no thank you"s. (And some "I'm alright, thanks." Of course you're alright! It's the people who we're trying to help out who aren't alright!) But all in all, it seems that the people of Wrexham are a fairly generous bunch, and what they gave today will make such a difference for those who are in crisis!
Dreaming
Back in 2008, I saw an installation of this artist in the Liverpool Cathedral, and ever since then, I've been dreaming about owning one of his paintings. I'll probably never be able to afford an original, but his prints are about 150 euros, which seems reasonable for a work of art. But it just seems like an unecessary extravagance when there's so many more practical things to spend money on. And in all likelyhood, I'll be moving around a lot. All of these are reasons not get a print, besides the fact that I don't have any extra money to spend on art.
But then I look at the prints available and think, "perhaps I'll start saving..."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
