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