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
Wednesday 29 September 2010
Sunday 26 September 2010
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..!
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
Friday 24 September 2010
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
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!
Tuesday 21 September 2010
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
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
Sunday 19 September 2010
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
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
Thursday 9 September 2010
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
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