10th December 2010- Nearly 3 months..

Hey one and all,
Just have a few updates...

I flew home last week and was greeted by freezing temperatures and lots of snow! yay! However this didn't look too good as I had to travel to London to get to my University interview..
However mum and I got up determined at 5:30am and got to Gillingham Station and managed to grab a train, which arrived in London at 9:30am! We were extremely lucky as my interview started at 10am =] We got on a train at 3:30pm at St Pancras which everyone on the platform climbed into, the driver said through the intercom, "Thanks for boarding the train, however we will have to wait a few minutes as I don't actually know were I'm going yet!" And we didn't arrive back in Gillingham til 7:30pm so it was an eventful day!

It paid off though, Yesterday I got an email from UCAS saying I had recieved an unconditional offer!! So I'm over the moon about it and would like to thank everyone who was praying for me! =]

Not much has really happened in Gibraltar this week (I flew back Monday) however had a terrifying flight!
The plane flew through a massive storm cloud and it was really windy so the plane was swerving all over the place and rocking side to side. We were flying just above the runway when the plane suddenly dropped and I think everyone on the plane either gasped/screamed lol When the plane finally landed we all applauded the pilot! I now understand why Gbraltar is number 6 most dangerous runways in the world lol...

As I said not much as happened... a friend and I watched a thunderstorm Tuesday night, it was beautiful, the sky lit up purpley blue whenever lightning struck..

I have done lots of babysitting this week and I love it! The children I watch have such character and are a handful at times but they're amazing kids =]

Tomorrow we are holding another Messy Church Service where we shall be making Christingles! So please pray that goes well and more families start coming.
Thanks for reading!
Over and Out x

21st November- (2 months and 3 days!)

Hellooo, This week has been busybusybusy!
I have got 3 paid jobs! woowoop! I clean windows for one job and babysit for three families! Lush times :P
Someone came up to me in church and said I looked bored, would I like to clean her windows and get paid? I thought fair enough... she has a Penthouse! 15 floors up and I have to stand on a stepladder to clean the top of the outside windows...  don't look down! But it was good arm work out ;) (dead arms the next day!!)


    The stepladder...

 The drop!

I'm glad that I finally have things to look forward to, I feel that even though these are fairly simple tasks, I'm being kept busy so boredom is slowly evaporating ...
Sunday school last week was good... I had freedom to lead it and choose what I would like to teach. So themed it on the Footprints poem. (Thankyou ctc!) I find the poem very inspirational and can relate to it most the time! =P
The children had to draw around their feet and colour them in =] They read the poem and took mini versions home and made their own "feet prayers." 
They then went up the front at the end of the service and showed the congregation what they done. (One small boy clung to my leg the whole time!cuteee) It was a good sunday school! ^^ very proud...

My foots on there somewhere... I have small feet compared to half the kids! lol
... "When you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."



All week we have been planning a Messy Church service calling it "Family Fun Church" and we themed it on the Jesus the light of the World which turned out quite well! Mirrors and candles...make a tunnel of everlasting light!
Below are the arts and crafts... Light themed

 Lanterns
Lighthouse

Children preparing food!

Cuteeee... (Notice boy on left- painted nails! He clung onto my leg at sunday school..)

The kids play with the big kid ( aka me! )

The service turned out quite well... During the sermon, the speaker asked the congregation, "What's a prophet?" and a little girl raises her hand and says, "Is that the amount of money you make from something??"

xD lol  At the end we all sat together and ate the salad and russian salad the children had ordered and the pizza delivered from pizza hut. There was a strong sense of unity and I look forward to planning the christmas themed Family Fun Service in a months time!

Today in Sunday school the theme was Christ the King... so the children had to design crowns and one would be named the winner...

...I want a crown!

Anyways I'm babysitting and window cleaning again next week followed by more sunday school!

Two of my friends are also flying over on Thursday XD (pray for their safe journey over please!)

They fly back Sunday which I will join them doing so for a University Interview! Yay! Home ^^
So please please please pray that goes okay! =]

I hope I don't freeze to death when I return hehe...

Thankyou for reading and thanks for your prayers =] keep them coming! I hope to update you all soon!

Over and Out x

10th November- New hope?

Hey Guys!
Sorry for my lack of posts lately! I have been quite low lately and didn't have much to update lol xD
There have been a lot of complications and disagreements over the last two weeks and I was considering returning home early.

However I have had a few uplifts, my friend and my parents visited and kept me chirpy for a few days xD (thankyouuuuu! =])
I also kept getting this little feeling to "Just wait a little longer...be patient..." so I did. No harm in waiting a BIT longer I spose ? 

Then today I was told I'm going into my first school tomorrow to talk to the head!! woowoop xD finally! Action is kicking in!
I also have 2 babysitting jobs waiting and I'm doing bits and bobs here and there so my time is slowly but surely filling up !
So thankyou for your prayers and encouragement and support you have given me the last few weeks, they are very much appreciated!!!  =] I hope things keep going up hill!
Thankyou God!!! ^^

...Over and Out x

P.S. Uplifting song of the day... "Son of Man"- Phil Collins...from Tarzan =P

Oh, the power to be strong
And the wisdom to be wise
All these things will
come to you in time
On this journey that you're making
There'll be answers that you'll seek
And it's you who'll climb the mountain
It's you who'll reach the peak

Son of Man, look to the sky
Lift your spirit, set it free
Some day you'll walk tall with pride
Son of Man, a man in time you'll be...

etc etc ;)

31st October- Hmm

Hey people,
last week was a bit traumatic for me in Gib lol XD  well the Pirate Party was cancelled. Because we only had 2 official children signed in and it would be mean on the volunteers to arrive on the day to find hardly a "party". I am waiting outside the Cathedral Tuesday to see if any kids turn up and tell them its not on. I think I'm more upset about how things were handled though in all honestly, but I dont think ranting about it on the internet and naming names would be very appropriate :P lol
So yeah goodbye Pirate Party...

Ely Boys Choir has visited our Cathedral and performed a concert for us last night! Twas fabulous, I miss the music we used to do at home/on singing courses. They performed stuff such as:
Blessed be the God and Father- Wesley
Locus iste- Bruckner
If ye love me- Tallis
Let all the world- Williams
Panis Angelicus- Franck
Totus tuus- Gorecki
etc etc etc :P was pretty lush.

About 36 trebles, 2 male altos, 2 tenors and 2 basses. The sound was amazing!

Then they performed Messe Solennelle by Louis Vierne in the church service today. (Suggestion-everyone and anyone to listen!)

Been a rough week because of various odd things. But next week should look up =] a good friend is flying over for a few days and then my parents are visiting for the weekend. I'm in need of some hugs!

Missing you all.
Over and Out x

SOS BLOG

PLEASE! send millions of prayers! cross your fingers, wish me luck, Whatever! POSITIVE ENERGY!

Only officially booked in 2 kids for the Pirate Party and it's next week and it will be cancelled if no children turn up!

Please pray things start picking up the pace and that I will soon be able to go into schools soon as I have been denied to do this for a while now...

Ahh!

Let's create some miracles!!!

Over and out... x

21st October- Kalamari... om nom nom

I'm not going to write much today! Just upload some pictures =]

But here are some updates...

UCAS application update- one uni unsuccessful, one uni interview! (So I am flying back for a few days in early December if anyone wants to catch up!) woowoop =P 3 more to go...

I am attacked every morning by Nelson (aka the Cat!) when I don't share my breakfast with him...(the milk from my cereal...cheeky!)

Today I rehearsed songs for the Pirate Party with another leader, the CD player was broken though, So I had to run back to my old host family (which is 2 mins away!) grab their CD player run back! Was fun stuff though =]

We also rehearsed the sketches today to be performed at the Pirate Party- theme is looking for treasure aka Jesus! Now the actors just need to learn their lines.

I'm now addicted to bike riding and drinking tea!! How did this happen..

Anyways!
There is a beach and a boat bay 5 mins away from my new host home! So I went there today and took some pictures :P and then I sat on the beachside restaurent and ordered some Kalamari...om nom nom... But ahh! It's so lovely and pretty =] (The Bay not the kalamari... though thats pretty lush too!)

Please pray that numbers for Pirate Party start picking up =] thankyou muchly!
Now to make a cup of tea, Over and Out! x

  
1. View of Bay from balcony
2. The Bay
3. Another shot from the balcony

Theres a faint red circle around which flat I'm living it at the moment! :P

Bay Views

Another angle of the Rock..

Mmmmm..

18th October- manicure miracle??!

Okay I know I only updated yesterday, but something odd happened today..
I've had a small odd miracle :P
I've been having trouble finding kids for the pirate party and I was down town just walking about.
Then I suddenly  thought "I want a manicure.. I need a manicure....MANICURE!" and this is very odd for me, because I've never wanted a manicure in my life, I've never had one, never done one!
SO anyway I thought...I better get a manicure then.. lol
I passed one beauty place a friend reccomended but it wasn't open.
The second place seemed pricey so I walked on.
The third place my friend told me was "bad" and that I shouldn't go in, but for some reason I felt I should go there.
I went inside and said, "err....can I have a manicure??"
So during the manicure, I was talking to the lady (doing my nails) and it turns out, she had two daughters who went to church with her, but they didn't like the church very much. So I told her about my gap year/sunday school/the pirate party and she took my number and booked 2 places :P She's also considering coming along to my sunday school and bringing her friends families along!AND I got a discount! ;)
So two more kids signed up and georgous nails! What more could a gal want! :P
Over and Out! xx
P.S. Happy one month in Gib! <3

17th October- Sunday School and other various events..

Updates for this week? I have 2 children signed up the Pirate Party! woowoop lol only 2, but hopefully God will answer our prayers and bring along those kids!!
I have also joined a youth/Bible/leaders group in Gib, which is pretty lush, people my age! yaaay! Might find some team leaders for the Pirate Party, or just people to hang out with =]...

Today I had to lead Sunday School alone (scary stuff!) and because it was a Baptism service I had some children who weren't church goers. None of them knew what baptism was. They knew you put water on the babies head but they didn't know why. I found that really surprising!!
Anyways I started off with the children making "dove namecards" (Holy Spirit visited in form of a dove etc). So then I did a demonstration, I "baptised" a rubber duck (ftw! :P) in a bowl of water and told the children why water was used, and what baptism means and why we do it. 
The kids then ran over to the font to watch the real baptisms. They came back and we learnt a memory verse: Luke 3 vs 22.
I thought it was a good Sunday School =] One girl said to me, "I didn't come to church because I didn't know sunday school was fun!" happy days! One girl commented that her mum said she wasn't allowed to come to this church. Again the disagreements between donominations of religion out here are riddiculous. (I got some funny looks at youth group because I'm not a Catholic..) So please pray for these issues!

I am covered in mosquito bites =[ since I moved into my new home I've been eaten alive! (yummy?) I spose that's what you get for opening your balcony door at night :P

Last week I have done bits and bobs really. Lots of relaxing. Hopefully next week I will be more busy (I have to do some washing!?) and doing some more prep work for the Pirate Party (If we get more kids!) so please keep the event in your prayers! That children come along... And pray that I have the will power to keep going XD
Lets kick up the pace!
Hope the UK weather is okay! (I sunbathed in October, oh yeaaah...) XD
God Bless!
Over and Out x

Baptised Mr Tigerduck !
Oh yeaaah... even rubber ducks with stripes can follow God! (y)

11th October- New home!

Hello/Ola followers!


Yesterday I moved into my new home for the next two weeks! (The people I was staying with are visiting the UK) Its very nice =] I have a balcony in my room! It's a wonderful view of the bay, you can see Spain and Africa!!
I also have a new cat for two weeks, 14 year old "Nelson," Bless! He drinks from the tap (literally sitting in the sink) and likes humping pillows alot...


Anyway today was my first time riding on the back of a motorbike XD (Please forgive me mum, I'm still alive!) It was awesome! I gotta admit, I was a bit terrified about getting on it at first! The motorcyclists around here are not the best of drivers, but it was so exhilarating... I think I should swap my KA at home for one?? :P Maybe not lol...
Anyways I went to town, brought my regular mango sunshine smoothie, then got on the bus (90p return!) to "Both Worlds" aka the beach!
Its just soooo pretty! Why, oh why did I not bring my camera out today?? It was really sunny, and the water was really clear so you could see lots of fish! I'm glad I've found it at last, might be spending a lot of my free time down there :P ...


Anyways, I got back, and  enveloped 10 letters addressed to 10 schools to invite lots of children to the Pirate Party! God has sent me 2 children for the Party so far which is good sign =]
However Sunday school yesterday, there was only one child! Not so good, and still no team leaders for the Pirate Party. I will hunt for some this week ...!


So please pray for the Pirate Party progression for children and team leaders to turn up and for sunday school numbers to go up again! (And for my safety on a motorbike :P)
Thanks for reading, and I hope to upload some photos next time and hopefully have more updates.
Song for the day? Switchfoot- "This is your life" =]
Over and Out x

7th October- Pirate Party Meeting

Charlottey is very happy at the moment! =D

Pirate Party meeting was on today, we have 13 volunteers swapping duties for different days and its enough! I need to find some teenagers and team leaders but still, everyoneelse is sorted, happy doing other tasks. I think like me, the others are quite excited about doing some of the games and seeing children come into church!
Next week I will have to ask the local newspaper to advertise the party and send flyers to schools and hopefully children will come along! So thankyou for your prayers but please keep doing so! Still need some team leaders and children! :P

This week has been quite stressful overall. There has been a lot of disagreements and clashing and at one point I really just wanted to go home.
But things have sorta come together... Yesterday I spent chilling out in someones penthouse! The person had 3 ensuits, jacuzzi on the balcony (of 2!) and a private pool! So I spent lunch in the sun, swimming and drinking wine! Lovely...

On Tuesday was the Bishop of Gibraltar's funeral. It was a huge event! All the Scouts, Brownies, St Johns Ambulance, Cadet's etc were lining up all down the highstreet. When the coffin came out the Cathedral, there was complete silence. The coffin was then prossessed down the middle followed by six bagpipes and 4 drummers. Followed by police, then followed by Deans representing each church in Gibraltar and many more robed figures. The service was held in the square down Irish street. It was on the telly live and then repeated in the evening! It was a very interesting event to witness.

Today I recieved an email saying my reference to my UCAS is now attached! XD I can now send off UCAS and wait again for Universities to reply to application! Woowoop! (I also recieved my first letter from my Nan! Thankyou Nanny! =P xx)

So things are looking up more =] thankyou for praying for me, but please keep doing it! Especially for the Pirate Party and Messy Church day which are upcoming events in need of lots of support.

Thanks for reading, I don't think theres anything else to say... apart from over and out! x

3rd October- 2 weeks

Soooo after a stressful week of filling in UCAS, builders running in and out of the house, tidying my room (I was made to! :-O ) and basically being fed up, I came across Sunday School today!


Today was harvest and we had 15 children! Wow! There was a awkward moment at the beginning when a 6 year old looked like they was going to cry (super distraction skills to the rescue!), but today went very well!
We made a big collage of  Harvest using bread, lentils, seeds, teabags, pasta etc... the process was very messy but it looked pretty good after. I then had to take the older children to the (tidied up- still room for improvement though..) "childrens room" to play some games and do a memory verse!
"Give thanks to God for he is good, his love endures forever- Psalm 107" and the kids went around the congregation after service repeating the memory verse and talking about what they did today! Results! :P Thankyou for your amazing prayers!


A 19 year old was also in church today with younger siblings in sunday school so I managed to drag her into volunteering at the Pirate Party ;)...
About that... Pirate Party Meeting Thursday! There have been some changes too! There is going to be no parents in the corner with the family watching, because we are hopefully going to have enough CRB checked people and First Aiders there! So more space for kids and less distractions!!


Because orginally, P2 said we weren't covered and that parents will need to stay in a creche in the corner to watch their kids whilst looking after younger siblings, taking up a lot of space, making age limits/differences very difficult to make between younger kids and older kids. They also thought it would be good if parents were there to keep their children "under control." (I have always rejected this idea, why bother bringing youth into the church if your not prepared to deal with them)so yeah, massive improvements!
We will just have to wait and see though... =] =] =]


So things are looking up =] Keep praying for me please! Something big is going to happen, I can feel it!
This song has kept me going the last few days "So help me God"-DC Talk. Have a listen =]
Thanks for reading!
Over and Out x

Thats my "YAY!" Face :P..in Gibraltar..

29th September- BUSY day

Hi-de-hi campers!
This week has been a bit rough, I was told the Pirate Party might not even occur because we havn't got any volunteers (that want to work with children...plenty to do tea and coffee though...) PLEASE keep praying for the pirate party and that volunteers sign up! I am going to enter secondary schools and find some teeangers soon so pray I have confidence to do so...
...and then Monday I tripped on a step and my toe got a nasty rip and the toenail has split in half, so I've grown a rather attractive hobble at the moment! And yet again not much has been happening...

However todays been quite busy! So thats been quite uplifting =] Yesterday I went to a concert for King's Chapel Choir with guest Norway choir singers, quite a range of music, it was really good!
Today started off at 10am with Mother and Toddler group, lots of toddlers today and 2 babies! Lots of tantrums, lots of tickling and chasing kids around but I love it! Kids are so alive! =] Three mothers have taken my number so I should be babysitting soon, woowoop :P

We then had lunch in the rock hotel (expensive much?? £11 for a sandwich! VAT free :P) when P2 says, "Oh look, we have company!"... and a monkey was sitting by our table. The waiter then runs off and returns with a HUGE stick and a face of rage and starts chasing this monkey away XD was quite funny! So must warn parents when they come to stay for a week to close their hotel windows...!

I then went to a dyslexia group where volunteers help children/teenagers with homework and reading every 2 weeks. I REALLY enjoyed this, there are some right characters in there! I helped a little boy do his science homework then listened to a girl read (an Enid Blyton book...why are they ALWAYS about boarding schools??) it was really lovely =] it makes such a big difference just spending a little time helping a child to read numbers/letters, I'm definately going back :)

This was then followed by church choir practise (8 sopranos and 1 bass!) and was only half an hour! It reminded me of home! I miss singing at home... but it was followed by a drink down by the bay which was lovely as the temperature is 27.5 degrees today! They didn't have any magners though :( why is there no magners in Gibraltar?? :P they didn't have any in the pub last night either!...(Anyone care to send me a crate? :P)

Anyways things are still quite slow here and I still havn't visited any schools but I am settled down a lot more now. So please pray things will start to kick off for me! =]
I feel more positive this week and I think God is working away so I'm just going to have to trust him.
Song of the day? O Quam Gloriosum est Regnum - Victoria (youtube it!) I sang this at Bath residential singing course this year and I adore it! =]
Those are the updates for this week so far, so thanks for reading, keep praying and I'll update again soon :)
Over and out! x

26th September- One week and one day!

Evil Monkey..

Me and the Rock!

Beautiful..

Om nom nom!

Spain + Gibraltar..and short runway!

The Rock!

It's a hard life for some..!

Sooo what have I done lately? Not much to be honest!
But I would like to thank anyone who has been praying for me because I have been given approval to do the Pirates Party in half term! Wonderful results!! =] Today in church I was collecting a list of volunteers to help out, I only have a handful at the moment, so please pray that I gain more otherwise I am limited to how many children are allowed to attend, and my aim is to get as many children as possible!


I also helped out at Sunday school this morning. We had 5 children, aged between 5-12. However I beleive Sunday school is not very stimulating for them. We sat at the back of the church during service colouring and doing work sheets. My aim this week is to clear out the childrens room and then have a Sunday school "Re-opening" where the children can decorate the room and become more lively and hopefully learn more! =] I talked to the children today and asked them what they would like to do during sunday school. Most of them replied "something fun" and I pray that I am able to bring that to them over the coming 10 months. So please pray for the development of Sunday School over the next few weeks/months!


Yesterday I went up Gibraltar Rock again on the cable carts and took some pictures for people at home to look at, lots of monkeys... I admittedly got a bit scared when I entered "Ape land" as I was surrounded by (evil looking!!) monkeys who looked at my bag with lots of interest... I left pretty quickly! :P It was 29 degrees yesterday so I resorted to using lots of factor 50+ suncream and sunglasses!


I have quite a busy week next week, heres whats coming up:
-Mother and Toddlers group (including planning meeting)
-Talking to headteachers!! (The important event!)
-Sunday School planning (and the clearing of the childrens"storage" room! Yay!)
-Pirate Party meeting (volunteers)
-Messy Church idea making
-Find a pianist! (Youth choir here we come!)


So please keep me in your prayers and pray that things run smoothly this week!
Song of the day? "It is well"- Kutless =]
Hope to write up more updates soon, Over and Out! x

24th September- Gibraltar (yes I'm still there :P)

So today was the first day I started to feel home sick! I havn't even been here a week, how silly is that??! :P I miss England and the routine I lived and the people there! So as I felt the urge to cry I went for a walk through the town. It's very sunny today (unlike yesterday...rain and Gibraltar?? Why??) and I brought myself an icecream and walked along the harbour. It truly is a beautiful sight down there but I felt quite lonely still. So when your feeling lonely...in your neighborhood...who you gonna call?? JESUS CHRIST!


So yeah you guessed it.. I prayed. As I was walking back to the house I passed a gym, and inside the window was a leaflet for a salsa class. So I noted down the email, because I enjoy salsa, so I might make some more chums at a few sessions. When I got back home there was an email telling me my singing lesson was confirmed and that I was welcome to join National Gibraltar Choir Rehearsals! God was answering my prayers once again, how awesome... I've also booked flights for returning for Christmas so that has made me feel more relieved! If I had a song of the day it would be "My Will"-DC Talk. I advise you give it a listen, I find it relevant to my everyday life at the moment.  :)


So onto the serious update :P
Mother and Toddler group Wednesday was a huge success apparently, there were 5 new mums and toddlers! Aww they are so cute, I really enjoyed it. Plus most the mums have moved over from England and were quite young so I felt I was able to communicate with them more than I thought I would.
Next week is apparently when the hard work starts, I am talking to head teachers about what they need me to do and suggesting some ideas of my own. Eeeek! Scary stuff, so please pray for me for those events!


I have also completed timetable, flyer, listing, ideas and the sketches for the holiday club in November Half term (Yay!!) and am waiting for approval and the thumbs up to go through with it. If I get approval I then need to find some volunteers to help and then more importantly CHILDREN! Its a 3 day Pirate Party with games (you may get wet!) songs, food, arts and crafts, fancy dress, drama sketch and the theme of "treasure" aka Jesus. So please pray that I have the approval and that things will run smoothly!!


I don't think there is much to inform, but I will update my blog when there is =] Thanks for reading!
P.S. The pictures are of my new church and of the childrens room!

Over and out x

21st September- In the Gib land :P

Today has been hot, hot, hot! I went for a walk around town today and came back sweating!
My mum left me yesterday to fly home (sad times!), so here I am carrying on the journey alone. I have not started work yet, its going a bit slow, however I am keeping a notepad with all my ideas in for assemblies/holiday clubs etc so please pray I can put them into action soon!


Yesterday I went to look around the childrens room in our church and see what could be done. I entered into a small room with lots of cardboard boxes, old tables and chairs, books... well the childrens room is now a storage room for the leftovers from the charity events! So thats first on the list- make the childrens room child friendly! I think it could turn into a really exciting area with a bit of decoration from the sunday school and some tidying up.


 I was then taken to the charity shop the church has attached onto the building. There are no charity shops in Gibraltar because people running them are unable to pay rent for them.
Whilst in the shop a Jewish man was looking through the baby clothes selection and said he would return later after he had thought about it. The room itself is pretty clean and ordered and the stuff there isn't your usual junk. (Unlike the childrens/storage room!) About half an hour later the man returned and paid  £1 for the item of clothing he wanted for (I'm assuming) his child. As P2 had said earlier, Gibraltar is a "third world country." I felt saddened by the thought that us Brits come to Gibraltar to buy goods because its cheap (VAT free) yet half the families here can hardly even afford that. (If your reading this blog please pray for money issues in Gibraltar!!)


There was also lots of diagreements yesterday when putting some ideas forward. As my mum kept saying before I headed off to Gibraltar, it's not me being prepared for Gibraltar I should worry about, its Gibraltar being prepared for me! It's going to be challenging tackling the old fashioned ways and bringing in the new! I'm going to have to try new tactics :P So please pray for me and my task at hand!


Today I have spent wandering the town and discovering places which would be useful for my time here. (aka Topshop and the smoothie stall!) Other then that I have spent most the day at my laptop typing up a timetable and plan for the holiday club that we are preparing for in November half term. After thats done, then I can start hunting for some volunteers :P anyone wanna help out?
Hope England is having fun without me ;) and I'll update soon!
Over and out! x

19th September- GIBRALTAR

Where to start... I woke up at 3:15am yesterday to rush off to Gatwick to get on a 3 hour flight to Gibraltar and arrived in a different world. :P There was a 45 minute delay but I fell asleep and woke up as the operator was saying, "...the flight will commence in 5 minutes" so I hardly noticed XD


The temperature was 27 degrees when I arrived, so my choice for comfy jeans and big hoody for my flight suddenly seemed not a good idea! What was weird about the Gibraltan runway was once the plane had landed, a road of traffic immediately appears down the middle of the runway connecting Spain and Gibraltar!? It's a bit like stopping for a passing train in Gillingham, except its a plane...


The people I'm staying with during my year out are lovely folk but I'm not sure whether I'm allowed to give out their names, (refer as P1 and P2??) but they collected me from the airport and took me to their home (30p busfare!! ftw :P). The house is spacious and cool and my room is bigger than your average Uni room ;). I remember saying, "What a lovely home you have!" and P1 responding, "It's your home now" which comforted me greatly! Later during the day my mum and I took the cablecart up "The Rock" and looked out over Gibraltar and Spain whilst watching out for the "evil" monkeys... the view was stunning, I'm going to spend my gap year in the beautiful place! I will take some pictures next time I'm up there and upload them.


It's then that it hit me... I'm in a foreign country for 10 months... on my own... I started to panic then realising I might have no friends and maybe I won't enjoy my experience as much. Maybe I won't succeed in my duty to bring children to Christ? Maybe I won't like living in Gibraltar?? Maybe I won't enjoy the food???
Maybe Maybe Maybe Ahhhh! DEEP BREATH...
I went back to my new home that night alone to stay with P1 and P2. My mum was staying in a hotel and my internet wasn't working well so I felt very conscious and couldn't relax. However I felt I was bonding well with these new people, we had the same interests, food tastes and our music taste was similar too! Things started looking up and surprisingly I slept quite well that night.


This morning I went to my new church which was very pleasant and the congregation were VERY welcoming, I think they've all offered to take me for dinner/lunch/coffee over the next few weeks so I won't be surprised if I return home a few jean sizes larger :P After the service there was a barbeque and a raffle where I won the last prize, (mens talcum powder, score! XD) and one lady kept saying I "looked peaky" and kept taking me to the food table!


During the barbecue I met a girl who was a year older then me who goes to uni in England, we chatted for a  a while and she offered to take me to the cinema or go bowling some time and gave me her number.
I felt this was a huge relief for me, God had yet again answered my prayers; I wasn't alone, I have support out here, I'm liking the food, (:P) and so far experiencing Gibraltar has been good. I feel very safe and looked after by the community here. I look forward to starting the hard work bringing new ideas into the church and seeing children finding God.


It's only been a day but I think I'm settling down well! Thankyou for reading and please keep me in your prayers!! and I hope I write some more updates later this week =)
Over and out x

Tickets Booked!

Sooo my journey is going to commence on 18th September when I head off on a one way ticket to Gibraltar! How exciting! After a hard two years of sixthform I have to start an even more challenging year working for the Cathedral of Holy Trinity. My duty: bring the youth to Jesus.

I have already thought of a few ideas to put forward but I will need lots of patience and preparation and organisational skills to do so! I hope to write at least one post a week to update people at home with whats being planned and whats been happening. So apart from packing and saying some goodbyes theres not much else to say, so please keep me in your prayers =] thanks for reading, over and out! x