2013

As 2013 comes to an end, I've had myself a bit of a reflection on what I’ve done in the past year. And wow is it a long list! 

2013 has been an incredible year and certainly a memorable one.

Back in January, I met my friend’s wife and daughter, who very quickly became very special to me. I’m so proud to be ‘Aunty Lorna’ to Berindah, and also now to Brian and Terry’s second daughter, Breanna, who was born in October and who I had the honour of naming.

Me with Terry and Berindah at Lake Victoria in February

I saw some amazing sights of God’s creation, particularly whilst on Safari in Murchison Falls National Park.
Being in Uganda for half the year, I learnt a lot of new skills including how to shower with a bucket and the optimum times for using pit latrines (i.e. not in the mid-day heat!). 

Our shower in Kuffu village

I learnt to cook a few traditional Ugandan dishes, and also to light and cook on a charcoal stove. I also learnt a lot of the local language – Luganda, and East African sign language. I learnt to braid African hair and to ride a motorbike (well… kind of!). One thing I didn’t do so well at learning was riding on the cross-bar of a bicycle, but oh well – you can’t do it all!

With all that learning, I did a fair bit of teaching too. I taught regularly in 2 different schools in Uganda, and did a bit of teaching in another school too. I had the absolute privilege of teaching numerous children to read and write and to witness their incredible progress.

Two of my students; Godfrey and Alex,
learning to read during three intensive reading weeks in Kuffu village in May

Teaching phonics in Kayunga village in June

Living in a rural village for a fair amount of time in Uganda, I learnt a whole new definition of the term ‘roughing it’, but I actually grew to love it and to appreciate the simplicity of a life that involves fetching water from a bore hole, sleeping on a mattress on the floor and showering in a bucket!

Andrew and I fetching water in Kuffu village in March

As well as all this I got to help with some really exciting projects including building a church, regular outreach work in the slums of Kampala, sponsored children’s projects, a project providing physiotherapy for children with cerebral palsy in rural areas, and a sponsored widow’s project.

Working with Kisaakye Rehabilitation Centre in Kayunga Village in June

I had some pretty amazing experiences at other times too, like swimming in the largest lake in the world – Lake Victoria, attending a Ugandan graduation party, turning 19 in Uganda and having an incredible birthday celebration.

On the shore of Lake Victoria near Entebbe in February

Also single-handedly cooking enough pancakes for 40 people, dispensing prescriptions in a makeshift pharmacy as part of a medical mission, taking part in a huge church picnic on the beach by Lake Victoria and having a massive water fight at 1.30am!

There are some things I did this year that I’m not quite so keen to repeat, such as eating cow’s lungs and getting tonsillitis, and there are others that I doubt I will ever get to do again, like having an interview for Bible college on Skype, and joining the locals in welcoming a short term mission team from the UK!

Lining up to welcome the visitors to Kuffu village in June

Clearly, I managed to squeeze a fair amount into the first half of 2013! As well as all of this, I fell in love with God all over again, several times, and saw him do so many things that I thought were impossible.

Of course, at the beginning of July, I got on a plane and flew back to the UK. That’s another thing that I’ve never done before – moving back to the UK having been living in a different country! 

Moving back to the UK in July

I had a difficult couple of months readjusting and suffering from re-entry culture shock, as well as missing the people I grew so close to in Uganda, but this didn’t stop me from filling up my summer with an array of things like cooking rice and beans for over 100 people, volunteering with Adventure Plus on an adventure holiday in the Peak District and taking a youth group to Soul Survivor for the first time. 

Beans for the Ugandan meal I held at Christ Church Chineham in July

Clare and I looking cool in our
onesies at Soul Survivor in August

I also worked for the Diocese of Winchester and helped to organise a Diocesan Conference. And all of this before September when I moved to the Isle of Wight and became a youth worker, and following that Skype interview earlier in the year, I started studying for my degree in Applied Theology and Youth and Community Work at Moorlands College.
I joined the Isle of Wight YFC team and set up new youth groups at my placement church on the Island. I also went on retreat to Pembrokeshire with the YFC team and I got my first car!

On Retreat with the IOW YFC team in October

So that’s it! What an incredible year. I’m so thankful for all the opportunities I’ve had this year, and everything that has made it all possible. But now I look to the future with optimism of equally amazing experiences to come.

…Bring it on!

Christmas

I drove home from Eynsham on Christmas eve, driving into the driveway just at the moment that my Dad got home, so that was good timing! With my parents, I went to the Carol service at Christ Church which was lovely and it felt good to be back at my home church and to see everyone there.
My brother, John, arrived in the evening to stay the night ready for Christmas day morning. It was so good to all be together as a family. We went to church together on Christmas day, when Father Christmas even made an appearance! (Although he had an uncanny resemblance to my Dad - I wonder why?!)

Christmas day was lovely. It was just like old times, spending the day together, sharing gifts and eating good food. The only bad bit was that Mum and I failed to beat Dad and John at 'The Logo Game' causing massively over the top victory celebration from my Dad!

Messing around with my brother and the cat.

I also got a chance on Christmas day to call some of my friends in Uganda which was lovely. This Christmas cant really have been more different than it was from my Christmas last year when I was in Uganda. It was so lovely to spend it with my family again, but I've also really missed my 'African family' this Christmas time. 

On Boxing Day, my grandparents joined us for lunch and we had a good laugh about my Mum's habit of giving weird gifts. This year they included a hay bale and a bag of compost!

We saw my Grandparents again on Friday evening when we joined them and my Uncle's family for Chinese and games - this time we avoided the crazy victory celebration by beating the men in a men vs women game of 'His and Hers'. We did however discover that my uncle know's a worrying amount about skirts!

Team 'Man' getting into a game of 'His and Hers'

This evening we're off to the other side of the family - to visit my Aunt on my Dad's side and her kids and grandkids, and then I'm off to Eynsham again on Tuesday for New Year celebrations.

Pray this week for...
- Me as I try to get an essay written
- Safety as I travel around this week

Back in the Centre of the Universe!

It’s Christmas!!! I’m writing this from Clare’s house in Eynsham (the centre of the universe!) where I’ve been for the past couple of days … I think it’s quickly becoming my second home!

A lot has happened in the past week.
Last weekend I got to skype a couple of my friends in Uganda including Brian’s daughter Berindah who I used to look after a lot. She turned 2 just before we left and it was so lovely to see her and how much she has grown, although it made me miss her a lot. (Huge thanks to Jon who is one of Smile’s current gappers, for letting us use his laptop and Skype account to talk to each oth

er!)

I went to a Carols by Candlelight service on Sunday evening with my host family which was lovely. I’ve heard a lot about that service since living with them so it was nice to get the opportunity to go along.


We had planned to have our last YFC meeting of the year on the beach on Monday morning but it was raining so we had it in Ben’s house, who lives near the sea! Still, it was good fun. I also got my car heater fixed that day so I wont freeze anymore when I’m driving – it’s quite the opposite now – it’s like a sauna in there!


My placement church did a posada this year (little figures of Mary and Joseph make their way around everyone’s house in the congregation during advent) so on Monday evening I took Mary and Joseph to their next host. It was really nice to get to spend some time with Bernie and Martin and to get to meet some of their family who were over for the evening.

I ended up back in school on Wednesday, which was a strange experience as it was obviously so different from the schools I was working at in Uganda and I haven’t really been in any since then. James and I ran an assembly about happiness with a ‘family fortunes’ theme.

I read the Christmas story at a toddler group Christmas party on Tuesday – a bit of a younger audience than I’m used to, but I think that it went well and they seemed to enjoy it.

We had a YFC Christmas social in the evening with some good food and an ‘interesting’ game of articulate!

In the evening I picked up Clare – one of the girls that I was with in Uganda, as she came to stay for a few days. It was so lovely to see her and just to be together again after so long.
On Wednesday evening we got to speak to Alex on Skype from Uganda for his birthday. Alex is Smile Uganda's project manager who we lived with.

Clare came along to the DofE group that I volunteer at on Wednesday and helped me with planning on Thursday for Rock Solid. We went to meet my friend Rachel for a coffee and then went to the beach for a while. Rock Solid in the evening was really good fun, and then on Friday, Clare and I went for a walk before we had to start getting ready for Vibe – a youth event in the evening. I introduced the century old Randall family tradition of ‘Fishing Over the Door’ to everyone at Vibe, which they all thought was really odd!

Clare and I left the island on Saturday morning and went on a road trip to Oxford. We stopped in Winchester to look around the Christmas market and to get some lunch (where Clare managed to pour almost a whole jug of water over me! We ended up stood in the bathroom – me in a cubicle whilst Clare dried my jeans under the hand drier!). We arrived at Clare’s home in Eynsham in the afternoon and picked up Andrew (another gapper) in the evening. Over the weekend we accumulated more gappers until we were all together on Monday. We had such a lovely time together. It’s just nice to be together again. We also got a Skype call from our friends in Uganda who just happened to all be together at the Smile house for a Christmas party on the same day! Wow! It was such a blessing to all be together again, and it felt like we had never been apart. We did lots of catching up, but generally just enjoyed being with one another for a while.

So it's Christmas now and I'll be driving home tomorrow morning and staying in Basingstoke for a couple of weeks.
Please pray this week for...

- Christmas - that everyone will have a lovely time.

- Pray that I'll have a good rest and enjoy spending time with friends and family.

Hot Chocolate and Bushtuker Trials

It definitely seems like more than a week ago since I was at Moorlands! This week has been very busy.
On Monday, after our usual morning meeting, a bunch of us headed off to a local school to serve free hot chocolates to the students during their lunch break as part of AOK (Acts of Kindness). We played Christmas music and wore Santa hats and had lots of fun. Making a good few hundred mugs of hot chocolate is pretty messy work, so we had lots of clearing up to do too.
In the evening a few of us met up just to spend some time together. It seems to be that everyone I socialize with here is involved in youth work - I think the only reason that a lot of people our age actually stay on the island is to do youth work, so there's not that many of us!
The next day I had a lunch meeting with some staff from Moorlands (where I study) and my placement supervisor and YFC to talk about the YTP scheme and how our placements are going. I then spent the afternoon planning a talk for Emerge - a youth event on Friday.
Wednesday was a similar day with lots of planning - for the talk and for my Rock Solid youth club, and then a meeting in the evening at church to talk about my work there.
After a meeting in the morning, I spent most of Thursday preparing for Rock Solid. The young people had asked for 'Bushtuker Trials' (i.e. eating disgusting things) ... and I don't think they'll be asking for that again after what I prepared for them to do on Thursday evening! We talked about fear and why people get scared of things and we talked about the fact that God is with us even when we're in scary situations.
I received Mary and Joseph on Friday morning as part of the Posada. They're little figurines of Mary and Joseph that travel around different homes of people in the church during Advent, and I have them for the whole weekend!

Mary and Joseph

I spent all of Friday morning and most of the afternoon preparing my talk for the evening, and then headed down to help set up in the late afternoon. Emerge went well, we had some time to worship God together, and I talked about the Holy Spirit and the things that we can do to allow it to be at work in our lives. I had some positive feedback which was nice to hear, and I really enjoyed the opportunity to speak.
I was definitely ready for my day off today, and after a much needed lie-in, I went out to meet a couple of friends for some hot chocolate in the afternoon which was nice. I got back and called a friend in Uganda, who happened to be with 2 other friends, and his daughters, so I got to speak to all of them which was lovely and very funny. I still can't quite get my head around speaking to Berindah on the phone, as when I last saw her she was too young to talk properly!
So I now have one week left on the island before I go home for Christmas. I'm so excited to see Clare in a few days who is going to stay for a few days this week, and then to meet up with the rest of the gappers that I was in Uganda with. Having lived together for so long, it feels like we've been apart for a very long time. I can't wait to all be together again, and then to go home to spend a decent amount of time with my parents, and to see everyone at Christ Church over Christmas.

Please pray for me this week:

- As I draw my youth work to a close for Christmas - pray that everything will go well this week and that we'll have lots of fun.
- Pray for me as I speak at a toddler group on Tuesday - that I'll be able to engage the children and also their parents.

- I'm planning to take a couple of my young people to a youth event on Friday, so pray that they'll enjoy it and get a lot out of it.

A week at Moorlands

Last week I bought some playdough for my youth group, and I got very excited about it, so last week we made lots of playdough models during my Sunday morning youth group whilst we thought about what worship is.

My car was fixed last weekend just in time to drive it to Moorlands early on Monday morning. I had a whole week at Moorlands this week covering our New Testament module. We had lectures on the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) and 1Corinthians.
We spent Tuesday and Wednesday looking at 1Corinthians, and lots of really interesting discussions were had, and lots of challenging points came up, for example...

"Church growth should not only be about increasing the number of people attending on a Sunday morning, but about growing the church family you have, into a people who better resemble Christ. "

"If more Christians emphasized the truth that, what is fundamental to our faith is that we believe that we have all hugely messed up, maybe people wouldn't feel so judged by the church."

"We should never manipulate the gospel message to make it attractive. Committing your life to Christ might be the best thing that many Christians believe that they've ever done, but it is a huge decision, and new believers need to know the decision they're making. " 

"Salvation comes first, obedience comes later."

We looked at and discussed lots of really interesting topics, especially whilst we were studying 1Corinthians, like sexual immorality, women in leadership, covering the head in worship, and love, among many other things. We also got to learn a bit about what life was like in 1st Century Corinth which really helps to understand the text and to bring it to life.

On Monday, Thursday and Friday we studied the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), looking at the differences and similarities between them, looking at some big questions like that arise from them, and studying a bit of what is known about the culture that Jesus lived in.

It was really good to get to spend some time with the people on my course, and to see some other students on my course who only come for block weeks. We had time every evening to catch up and socialize ... and to learn some weird new card games at the pub!

Being away from my placement for a week gave me a change to think about the position that I'm in at the moment. Sometimes I can't quite believe what I'm doing now. A year ago I never would have thought that I would be the sole youthworker at a church. Just a few months ago I was thinking of turning down my offer from Moorlands and I had no idea what I was going to do after getting back from Uganda. Although I knew that there were lot of things I could potentially do, the one thing that I had pretty much written off as something I was incapable of was youth work. But now here I am! God equips the called eh?!

So after lectures on Friday I jumped in the car and just about managed to miss the rush hour traffic on the way to Basingstoke. I stayed there for a night to visit Mum and Dad which was really nice. We just had a chilled out evening and a nice meal and it was lovely to have a cuddle :)

The next day, after a lie in and another chilled morning with Mum and Dad, I drove down to Southampton to see Esther on my way back to the Island. Just before I had to leave to catch the ferry, we decided that we still wanted to spend some more time together, and so Esther made a spontaneous trip to the Isle of Wight with me for a night. It was lovely to get to show her where I'm living and working, she got to meet some of my friends here on Saturday evening and then she came to church with me this morning and got to see my youth group and meet a few people.

I got a bit excited by my new playdough again, so for my youth group this morning, we spent time looking at the nativity story and then making playdough models and taking photos of them acting out the story. Great fun! :)

So it's been a good week! I'm now back on the island for another couple of weeks before I'm back in Basingstoke for Christmas.
Please  pray for me this week...

- As I write a talk that I'll be giving at a youth event on Friday

- At Rock Solid on Thursday

- And just generally that God will use me this week and that I'll enjoy it :)

Freed by Grace

Unfortunately my car broke last weekend, so I've been getting fit this week by walking everywhere! But praise God for his provision and for the generosity of the people around me here who have helped me out with lifts to places that are too far to walk, and as I type there is a mechanic working on the car - he's fixed the initial problem but is now trying to make the heater work so I don't get so cold!
I've really seen God's provision in so many ways since moving here, and the generosity of so many people is really humbling.

Well other than that I've had a relatively normal and busy week. After our weekly meeting on Monday, Dan, Fenton and I had the joy(?) of filming the next episode of the "Randall and Fenton" series that we're showing at our 'Catalyst' youth events. This week we walked around Newport asking people what they thought about Christmas, dressed in a trench coat and Christmas hat, and Fenton wore a boiler suit as you can see in the photo. I think I'm going to need to get used to deliberately humiliating myself!

Inspector Fenton

In the evening I had a lovely meal with a couple from church and had the pleasure of looking through my photo album from Uganda with them.

We had another interesting day at Moorlands on Tuesday, complete with a break dance performance from one of our lecturers, during a lecture on incarnational ministry. (There is a film on Facebook if you want a laugh!). I also handed in my last essay for this year which was such a good feeling! 

Essay finished and ready to hand in.

I had lots of planning to do on Wednesday for two weeks worth of Rock Solid (as I'll be away next week) and in the evening I had DofE in Cowes. THis week the young people were learning first aid. You can only laugh when teaching CPR to a group of giggly 14yr olds!

The planning and preparation continued into Thursday, but this was more fun as I was preparing activities for Rock Solid. This involved hiding a coin inside a Mars bar, and freezing a coin into a block of ice, among other things, followed by a bunch of risk assessments. I also got my Sunday youth group planned and more or less prepared, the Friday post of the YFC bible in one year blog written (iwbibleinoneyear.wordpress.com) and I made a start on writing a talk that I'll be giving at a youth event in a couple of weeks.
Rock Solid went well. The young people succeeded at getting coins out of a Mars bar, a block of ice, a bowl of soup and a mess of gaffa tape, among other activities, and we learnt about God's big plan.

On Friday we ran Catalyst - a youth event with games, worship and a talk. It takes a lot of set up, so I arrived before 3, and we opened the doors to the young people at 7. The evening was themed "Sentenced to death, freed by grace." and it went really well. After packing everything away, a few of us were going to go out, but this is the Isle of Wight where most places are shut by 11pm, so we piled into someone's house for a while instead.

On Monday, Phil and I are off to Moorlands for a week of lectures on New Testament Studies to finish off the term.

If you'd be up for praying for me, please could you pray...
- That Moorlands this week would go well. That we'll enjoy and understand the lectures and not get too exhausted.
- That Rock Solid this week will go well without me.
- That my car wont die!

The Silent Lecturer

Last Sunday we collected the Christmas shoeboxes at church to send overseas in time for Christmas. It was a really surreal feeling as I remember distributing shoeboxes into the hands of children last year with Smile in Uganda and it felt really strange to be doing it from this end again having witnessed the other side of the chain.

Children at Blessed Word of Life Church Children's Club
with their Christmas Shoeboxes in December 2012

Shoeboxes collected at Gunville Methodist Church last week.

 I lead the 'Rising Tide' youthgroup as usual and this week we talked about prayer (and played Chinese whispers!). I was very privileged to share lunch with Paul and Linda and we had a lovely afternoon and a cold but beautiful walk by the sea.

On Monday we had a good meeting at YFC and were able to plan an upcoming youth event called 'Vibe' for December and in the afternoon I finally made a start on my essay!

The next day at Moorlands we had what you might describe as a 'slightly different' style of lecture which was about Postmodernism, during which our lecturer stood at the back of the room with signs which read "I am your tutor." "I am silent." "look - explore." for 20 minutes!

On Wednesday I did some planning and worked on my essay and then in the evening I went to Cowes for my first evening as a leader at Cowes DofE. It was a great evening and I spent most of the time with a new girl who was interested in starting the DofE award scheme, explaining to her what DofE is and what she'll have to do.

Thursday took me back to YFC for safeguarding training in the morning - an unfortunate necessity, but it was lead very well. I had a pretty busy day with planning and preparation to do for Rock Solid, a meeting with my Field Work Tutor about how Moorlands is going, and an essay to write - and all that before I had to run Rock Solid in the evening. It was a good and productive day and Rock Solid was great fun. I themed all the games around 'school' and encouraged the young people to live at school in a way that brings glory to God. 

I was determined to finish my essay on Friday, and I didn't leave the house at all (apart from to move the car off the drive and out of the way). Finally, at about 10pm I completed my first draft. If I can find the motivation it will hopefully get looked at again over the next couple of days and hopefully made a little bit better before I hand it in on Tuesday.

So having (more or less) finished my essay, I went out for the day on Saturday with a friend to Southampton. It feels good sometimes to get off of the island for a while and we had a lovely day.

If you're up for praying, I'd appreciate if you could pray this week for:
- Catalyst (a youth event) that we're running next Friday.
- That God will use me in all the youth work that I'm involved in.
- That I'll have a good week.

Only in Youthwork!

I think it's safe to say that only a youthworker would be able to choose between "Communicating the Incommunicable Attributes of God" and "Jaffa Cake Face Races" for the titles of my blog!
Our YFC meeting on Monday morning was very productive as we managed to plan the themes of all the talks at our Friday evening events until the summer and even to arrange who would be giving them! I'll be speaking on the power of the Holy Spirit in December. I had a meeting in the afternoon and got a few bits done. Also got to speak to my friend in Uganda to wish her a happy birthday.

Moorlands on Tuesday was good. I took some more books out of the library which will hopefully be useful in writing my essay. We had a brilliant youthwork lecture in the morning on empowerment. Are we, as youthworkers, willing to take risks by giving young people responsibilities that will empower them and enable them to grow? Straight after a huge meal for lunch, our lecturer had the challenge of communicating to us the 'incommunicable attributes of God'! I was very grateful for my A-level in Religious Studies which meant that this wasn't all brand new information and therefore a bit easier to take in!

My Theology Library is slowly growing...

On Wednesday we had a meeting about Sunday school to talk about our aims - i.e. helping the children and young people to learn about God's love and to encourage them to grow in their faith - not just as a means to get them out of the way of the adults during the sermon! I had a meeting in the afternoon about starting to help at an open DofE (Duke of Edinburgh's award) centre soon. It was great and I'm really excited to start volunteering there. The centre is at UKSA - a youth charity. It was really interesting to look around and to see what they do and have. They have so many incredible resources and it struck me that I've never seen a Christian charity in such a privileged position. But this got me thinking, and I came to the realisation that although many Christian charities don't have so many material resources like boats and buildings, as Christians we have a resource which is far greater than others can ever dream of - the security of God's provision, the hope of his plans and the knowledge of his love.

Well I had a lovely evening having dinner and watching a film with a friend, and Thursday morning soon came around bringing with it a morning of discipline training. In the evening we ran a new youth club at church called Rock Solid that we launched last week where we had lots of fun, food and mess. We learn't about perseverance and relying on God to help you. Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." It was a really great evening. We had jaffa cake face races (moving a jaffa cake from your forehead to your mouth by wiggling your face), made paper aeroplanes to transport a chocolate 'passenger' across the room and did 'doughnut face relay races' (a relay race with a stack of doughnuts balanced on your face)... I definitely seem to be getting a reputation for games which involve food...

On Friday I got the ferry over to Southampton where Mum picked me up and we spent the day together. In the evening we went to 'The Big Church Night In' in Bournemouth - a worship event with Leeland and Martin Smith which was great! I stayed the night at my parents' house and got to see my brother in the morning before coming back to the island.

Please pray for me this week...

- To get my essay done.

- As I start helping at DofE on Wednesday.

- In all the things I already do - pray that they will go well and that I'll have a good week.

Thanks :)

Our first ever Rock Solid!

My youth finally decided a name for our Sunday morning youth group Last Sunday, so it's now called 'Rising Tide'. Lats week we all wrote letters to ourselves which I'm going to give back to them in a few months time so they can see how much God can do in a relatively short space of time. I also got them to make a mind map about themselves and then to add to each others which was a really great exercise to learn things about themselves and be encouraged by each other.
I led the YFC prayer breakfast on Monday morning (complete with crumpets, muffins and chocolate spread!) all about being thankful. We looked at Psalm 100 and we spent some time giving thanks to God for the things that we often take for granted.
I had a meeting in the afternoon about potentially starting to help out at a DofE centre soon which is exciting! Also got lots of planning done and some bits for college and managed to get into bed by 8.30(!) ready for the early start on Tuesday.
A good nights sleep definitely makes a day at Moorlands much easier and more productive. I got my first essay back this week and was very happy with the mark I got for it. I also handed in my second essay which was a reflection on practice. It always feels good to hand an essay in and to know that I don't have to do any more work on it! My lectures were all good. We had one on informal education in the morning and talked about teaching through conversation. Also had lectures on syncretism (being in the world but not of it) and on the attributes of God.
Wednesday was full of planning and preparation for all kinds of things. After writing Friday's entry for our YFC Bible in one year blog, and wondering around Sainsburys searching for m&ms, straws and polo mints (guess the games they were used for!) I soon found myself surrounded by risk assessments, permission forms, registers, game plans and a few other things as I got everything organised for our first ever Gunville Rock Solid party on Thursday. In the evening I had a meeting at church with my 'steering group' to chat about how things are going. That went really well as did the Rock Solid party on Thursday. We only had small numbers, but we had great fun and played lots of silly games.

On Friday YFC held a worship evening for the youth on the island called 'Emerge'. Chris talked about the fruit of the spirit and we had a great evening.
I met up with a friend on Saturday, and as there's not that much to do on a Saturday afternoon on the Isle of Wight in November we went to a garden center to see all the Christmas decorations! I missed all the western Christmassy things last year as I was in Uganda, so it was a bit weird, but good fun.

In the evening we went to a praise evening at my church and I decided to get my djembe drum out and play which I really enjoyed.
This morning in church I taught my youth group about grace. It was great to have the opportunity to explain to them that God loves us all so much that although there's nothing we can do to be worthy of him, he has made a way for us through Jesus. 

Please pray this week...
- For Rock Solid on Thursday - pray that we get a few more young people and that we have a good evening.
- For me as I write my next essay. Pray that I'll find lots of motivation and enjoy writing it (and that the books I need will be in the library!)

Half Term

As I mentioned at the end of last week's blog, I have been home at with Mum and Dad for a few days this week. Sunday was Dad's birthday, so after church we went to John and Catherine's house for a roast dinner which was very yummy! It was lovely to have the whole family together to celebrate Dad's birthday and I'm very impressed with John and Cat's cooking skills!
In the afternoon Mum, Dad and I watched a very weird film - it seems to be becoming a tradition that all the films we watch together are a bit odd! Dad had received some nice cheeses and crackers as a gift so we ate them for dinner.

It was lovely to go back to Christ Church in the morning and see everyone... not entirely sure why Ian was preaching from a bicycle though!

There was a big storm on Sunday night which was all over the news, but despite this I drove up to Reading on Monday to visit my grandparents. My Granddad grows chrysanthemums, and he bred a new one a few years ago which he named after me and it recently won first prize in a flower show, so he gave me the prize money of £3! It was lovely to see them both and to have a proper catch up and a good cup of tea (even if I did get told off for having sugar in it!)

I survived the journey back, avoiding all the fallen trees on the A33, and the next day I spent the morning doing some essay writing. In the afternoon I left Basingstoke again and drove down to Southampton to see Esther - one of the girls that I was with in Uganda. She's now at university in Southampton so I stayed with her on Tuesday night before heading back to the island on Wednesday evening.
It was so lovely to see her and to get to meet some of her new friends and see where she's staying. We went to the Christian Union and then out for ice cream and afterwards we both fell asleep watching a film back at her room. The next day we met up with some of her friends to sing worship songs, and just as we were singing 'Blessed be your name' which we used to sing all the time in Uganda and Esther and I were singing in Luganda (the local language that we learnt in Uganda), Clare (one of the other gappers) phoned and joined in which was lovely,although a bit emotional.

The next day, back on the Isle of Wight, we had a light party at church. About 80 people from the local community came along which was brilliant! We had lots of crafts, food, games and fun. I led some parachute games which went down well, and I gave a short talk at the end of the evening about Jesus the light of the world which went really well.
On Friday I actually got a lot of my essay written instead of just procrastinating which was very good. I also managed to get lots of planning done for other things which are coming up. So all in all a productive day! I also had a quick phone call with my friend Terry in Uganda who recently had her 2nd daughter Breanna. She told me that Berindah (who is 2 and a half) has been trying to breast feed her baby sister!

At the weekend I went to Cowes to visit the Chivertons, (a family from my home church) who were staying on the Island for half term. It was lovely to see them and catch up and share lunch with them. I then spent the afternoon with my friend Natalia. We went for a walk and had a lot of fun in very strong winds by the coast. Natalia had been asked to lead some games at a church social in the evening so I went along with her to that too.

We're starting our new youth club - rock solid, on Thursday with a party. Please pray that it will go well!
Please also pray for me as I lead the YFC prayer breakfast tomorrow morning.

Thanks :)

I Don't Like Fruit Tea

After a relaxing week on retreat last week, I've been back to work this week.
I did manage to put off work over the weekend, with a meal out on Friday evening with a friend and some new people (which may or may not have involved watching an S-club 7 movie...!) I spent Saturday pottering around the island with a friend and then we had a family service on Sunday so I had no youth group to run.

Inevitably though, Monday morning came around once again and craziness resumed. We had our weekly YFC prayer breakfast and meeting which was good, and afterwards Dan and I planned a video that we needed to film. We're planning to show it at a youth event called Catalyst that we're running on Friday.
I did some bits of planning and organizing in the afternoon, and I had a lovely evening having dinner with a couple from church.

I got up bright and early on Tuesday morning (well, it was still dark!) at 5am, and left the house at 5.45, not to return for almost 16hours. On the journey to Moorlands, we shot some of the film (about detectives trying to uncover the reasons behind someone's actions) and continued the filming when we arrived before our first lecture. This involved wondering around college dressed in silly outfits and getting some odd looks from students who had just rolled out of bed!
After a long day at college we headed back to the island, and enjoyed watching a lightening storm from the ferry. I went straight into Newport for safeguarding training, where, as well as having my safeguarding knowledge refreshed, I learnt that I don't like fruit tea!

After a good night's sleep and much procrastination, I planned a meeting and then finally got around to a bit of essay writing, accompanied by a Percy Pig feast and a cup of tea (Thanks Mum!)

In the evening Brian from Uganda was online (which is a very rare occurrence!) and was able to skype, so we chatted until 2 in the morning (4am Uganda time!) It was so special to get to chat to him for such a long time as usually we are restricted to phonecalls which can get expensive so they never last long.

Brian on skype

On Thursday I had more planning to do as I'll be talking at our Light Party next week. I also had a few meetings, one of which was about a new youth club that we're starting after half term. They all went really well and I'm looking forward to the new youth club in a couple of weeks.

Friday was Catalyst day, so after doing some prep for other things in the morning, I headed out to help set up for Catalyst which is a youth worship event that YFC run about once a month. We had a lot of stuff to set up and I had the very important task of cooking dinner (pizza) for a lot of hungry musicians and youth workers. Catalyst went really well and I think it's safe to say that I was suitably embarrassed when we played the video that we filmed on Tuesday!

I'm now in Basingstoke for a few days as it's my Dad's birthday on Sunday. Once I arrived this morning we went for a walk along the river together and a cream tea which was lovely. I'm really looking forward to going to Christ Church tomorrow and to catching up with everyone and spending some time with Mum & Dad :)

Please pray this week...

- That I'll enjoy my time off at home
- For a safe journey to Southampton on Tuesday
- For me and the rest of the team as we run our light party on Thursday. Pray for me as I give the talk.

YFC Retreat

Last Sunday the youth group at church went really well. We learnt about friendship and we made a poster about what the bible says about friendship. My Mum and her friends came along to church as they were on the island for the weekend and so afterwards we all went out for lunch together which was lovely.

On Monday I headed off with the rest of the YFC team for a 7 hour journey to Pembrokeshire in Wales for our retreat.
We had a brilliant week together, and took lots of time to just spend with God, whether that was together through singing or watching a Louie Giglio talk together, or on our own; going for a walk, reading the bible or just chilling out with God. It was so good to have a few hours each day to do this and was so refreshing spiritually.

A walk in the forest

We also ate far too much food, completed an assault course blindfolded, climbed a tree, messed around in the swimming pool (and got told off by a lifeguard!), went for a walk along the beach and found an enormous jellyfish, and ate lots and lots of cheese.
It was great opportunity to get to know the rest of the team better too, in an environment where we're not responsible for a group of young people.

Beach

Please pray this week...

- Pray for me on Tuesday as I have a very long and busy day planned, so pray for energy
- Pray for me on Thursday as I meet up with a few people to plan a new youth club that we're hoping to start soon.

Cowboys Descending on Niton

Can I firstly say a huge 'Congratualtions!' to two of my closest friends in Uganda - Brian and Terry, on the birth of their daughter Breanna Bazira on Friday 11th October. I got a phone-call on Friday morning to say that Terry had just delivered a baby girl less than an hour ago and they wanted to know what her name is! Brian and Terry want all of their children's names to begin with the letter B, so I named her Breanna which means 'honourable and strong'. She weighs 3.5kg and Brian said that she looks just like her big sister Berindah. It was so special to speak to them both on the phone and to hear little Breanna crying. As Brian is so much like a brother to me, I am 'Aunty Lorna' to their new baby girl, and I can't wait to meet her if God takes me back to Uganda soon.

Mummy and Daddy with big sister Berindah

Last weekend I went out for a meal to celebrate a friend's birthday and met lots of new (absolutely crazy) people there which was great!
In the afternoon I finally did some baking - something I've been wanting to do for ages and haven't had the right moment...

We had our weekly meeting at YFC on Monday morning, and in the evening I went to visit Niton Rock Solid youth club. It was crazy as they have so many kids that come, but it was good fun and was great to see how they do Rock Solid it over in Niton.

I got up at 5.15 on Tuesday morning and this week was my turn to drive to Moorlands. I forgot how much I enjoy driving on the mainland (on bigger roads!)Our lectures were good and I handed in my first essay which made me feel very efficient.

I was exhausted on Wednesday, but fortunately I didn't have a very busy day. I did some odd bits of planning, and I had a meeting in the evening. We decided that we're going to start a new Rock Solid youth club at church after half term which is so exciting!

I got to meet up with my field work tutor on Thursday. This is something organised by Moorlands - each placement based student gets paired up with a Moorlands graduate . The idea is that we can meet up every now and then and I can ask lots of questions and she can support me in my studies. It was lovely to meet up and was a good chance to ask lots of questions about what is required for my portfolio.

On Friday evening all of the Rock Solid youth clubs from all over the island descended on Niton, dressed as cowboys for their annual 'Night Hike'. During the evening they had to complete various challenges, one of which I was running. It was a great night and was good to meet all of the Rock Solid groups and to mess around in the dark.

My Mum and some of her friends are on holiday on the island for the weekend so I stayed with them in Niton overnight which was lovely (especially the cooked breakfast in the morning!)

All of the YFC core team are off on retreat on Monday to somewhere in Wales for the week.

Please pray...- For Brian, Terry, Berindah and their new arrival Breanna. Pray for them to adjust to a new family dynamic and to enjoy their new little one and also pray for health and provision.


- For the YFC team on retreat next week. Pray that we will all become closer as a team and spend some quality time getting closer with God too.