Bacon on a camping stove and Catalyst Weekend Away

After a much needed day off last Saturday, I helped to lead the service on Sunday. This included giving an illustration about following Jesus in which I climbed (twice!) through a toddlers play tunnel, and almost got stuck in front of the whole church! We had a covenant service, so the children's and youth work was a bit different, but the service went well. In the afternoon I had lunch with a couple from church and met their son for the first time. He had lived in Uganda at exactly the same place that I was, but a year before me, so it was great to meet him and to chat about our experiences.

At our prayer breakfast on Monday we were talking and praying about trials that we face. We then had a meeting about the weekend away. Afterwards, I went to a local school with a couple of other youth workers to hand out free juice at lunch time and to chat with some of the students which was good fun.

I just about had a bit of time to get some planning and bits done before another meeting in the evening about another service that I'll be involved in leading.

I went to Moorlands on Tuesday as usual, but college was very quiet this week because all the second and third year students are away on their block placements in various places around the world! We started two new modules on Old Testament and Hermeneutics which were both interesting.

I met up with a friend from church on Wednesday morning for a drink and a chat which was lovely, and then I got on with planning and preparations for youth groups. In the evening I went to DofE where we were teaching the young people how to cook on trangia camping stoves. Something tells me that they might have a different choice of food to cook during their expedition, but they enjoyed their bacon and pancakes!

I had a whole load of planning and paperwork to catch up on on Thursday morning, but I also somehow found some time to spend in at church tidying, sorting and organizing the storage in the room that I use for youth work. I found lots of boxes full of lots of interesting things and I found more suitable places to store them. This meant that I could make some more room for my youth work and for storing all kinds of things that I use for games.
I had Rock Solid in the evening, and I had a challenge finding leaders because of illness but eventually we managed to go ahead. We had a new young person at Rock Solid which was great.

Games at Rock Solid

On Friday we (The YFC team) had listening training again, and then we all headed off to Westbrook for the Catalyst Weekend Away. We had around 60 young people from all over the island, and we spent the weekend learning about what it means to be a follower of Jesus, eating good food, playing lots of crazy games (including muggle quidditch!) and worshiping God. We ran lots of seminars, and I ran one on thinking about God's plan for our lives.

So now I'm back after the weekend away, and definitely ready for a good night's sleep! It's been a difficult and very busy week, but followed by a brilliant weekend. It was a great chance to get to know some more young people, to have fun with the team and to spend lots of time with God, and although I'm exhausted, I definitely feel refreshed!

Please pray this week...
- For everyone that was on the Weekend Away to not lose their passion but to grow even more in relationship with God.
- For my Rock Solid leaders - for good health.
- I have a couple of important meetings this week, so pray that they go really well.