Photos (and a video) from York

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Perhaps the most profound moment for me in York was standing in the same spot where Constantine was proclaimed emperor of Rome.  If it hadn't been for his vision of a broken sword ("By this sign conquer")  and his conversion to Christianity, I may not have become the same person that I am today, and may never have seen his statue in York.

Day off in York

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After a week of fantastic teaching about leadership in the mornings and hard work painting, sanding and stripping wallpaper in the afternoons, it's nice to have a day or two off. Kristin and I walked around part of the wall this morning, ate lunch under a bridge, and are now sitting in Starbucks, enjoying having the internet.

One of the things Jennifer (who was our teacher for the week) mentioned was that it is important to know why you do what you do. Also, as a leader, what direction are you leading your team in and why. So I've got a lot that I want to think about. I want to think about why I take the photographs I take, and draw what I draw, say the words that I say, do the things I do. What is the driving force behind all those things, and more importantly, what do want the driving force to be?

Beginning to explore York

We've got a day off today, so everyone is taking the time to explore. There is so much to see and do here! But it's also cold. So in between taking photographs and window shopping, I'll enjoy the warmth of the cafes and tea shops that are so prevalant.

Tomorrow we'll be helping out at a church service in the afternoon, and then on Monday, our lecture week on leadership begins!

On our way to York.

Perhaps 11 o'clock at night isn't the best time to be writing an update, but I wanted to make sure that I wrote something in case the next two weeks are hectic. We're leaving Wrexham and headed to York.  It's on the other side of the UK, in England and a bit north.  While we're there for two weeks, we'll have a week of teaching about leadership, vision and setting goals and we'll also be helping the YWAM team there rennovate their new building and partnering with them in the ministry that they do. Our time there is a bit of a trial run for our time in Moldova and Prague this summer. 

I'm feeling a bit...I don't know...excited and nervous about this time because I'll have the challenge and privilige of leading the team in a way that I haven't done before.  At all other times, there's been someone doing all the hard work that happens in the background!  Even though I've been close to people in leadership before and have been staffing this DTS for awhile, I never realized quite how much work went into planning things.  But by God's grace...

...this is going to be fun.

Practicing

Maybe goals for 2012 should have been titled "goals to be completed by the end of 2012." So far, I haven't managed to keep most of the goals this week.  I did however, talk to God each morning, take risks with people, reply to emails within two days, and now, I'm writing a blog post.  Already, things are looking up!  Plus, Shelby, Kristin and I went out and took some photos today.  It was good to practice taking photos of people.  I just need to practice a lot more, and eventually I'll start taking ones that I like more frequently.

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(Images 7-10 taken by Kristin Isaccson)

This first week back of the dts has been harder than I expected it to be.  The week has been fairly laid back and easy in terms of what we're doing, but I'm finding that my attitude needs a bit of adjusting.  I just don't want to do anything, and it's a struggle to stay motivated about the day to day things.  It's annoying not to look forward to the things we do in the same way that I did before break.  Hopefully that will change soon.

There are a couple things that I am looking forward to, however. The first is spring.  Now that Christmas is over, it just doesn't seem like there's any point to having winter any more, does it? Unless it snows here.  That'd be nice.  I'm also looking forward to the outreach I'll be leading this summer.  We're going to be going to Prague from the 23rd to the 30th of April and to Moldova from the 1st of May to the 29th of June.  No idea what we'll be doing yet, but it's going to be good!

Goals for 2012

My plans for me for 2012:

• Journal morning and evening every day:  In the morning, just talk God, in the evening, tell him about my day. That may require going to bed at a reasonable hour so I have enough energy to do it!
• I'd love to take a photograph every day, but I'm not sure that I've got the will to do it. But I know I'm not going to become a better photographer if I don't do something about it! And I want to get better at photographing people.  So I actually need to do that too.  I've thought about making one month a "person a day" sort of thing.  But when?
• I also want to draw something every day. Also lacking the will for that.
• Read the Bible morning and evening.  I'm really enjoying this Daily Light on the Daily Path thing.  It's nice to have a theme to the readings.  I know I may miss some parts of the Bible, but I needed a change from reading it straight through.
• In general, take risks when it comes to people...be vulnerable.  I think that's something God's been prompting me about.  I'm not going to be able to do it without his help. I know that's not a specific goal, but hopefully he'll give me the specifics as time goes by.
• Reply to letters, emails and facebook messages within two days.
• Walk daily and eat the appropriate amount of calories.
• Oh, and enter all my spending and income weekly (Fridays?) on GnuCash.
• Weekly (minimum) blog updates.
• Monthly news letters!

God's plans for me for 2012:

• Love God with all your heart, soul, mind. (Matthew 22:37)
• And love others as God loves me. (John 15:12)