Back to the Island again

Last week (apart from the essay writing!) was lovely. I love being at home and just being free to do whatever I feel like doing, I love spending time with my parents and curling up on the sofa with them in the evening to watch a terrible film, I love going back to my home church and catching up with everyone. I love seeing the ridiculous things that get my Dad excited - like finding a new charging point for his electric car! In all honesty, I found it really hard to come back to the island!

Messing around with Dad

I had a long drive on my own to the ferry from Moorlands on Tuesday and then another long drive from the ferry to my Host Home afterwards, so I turned the music up loud so that I didn't feel silly talking into silence and I had a long chat with God all the way back. and by the time I arrived I was feeling a lot more optimistic about the next term here.

At Rock Solid - my Thursday youth club, we had such a brilliant evening. We have a great group of girls and they're all really starting to open up now that they're getting used to each other and to the set up of Rock Solid. Every week we have a short time of discussion in the middle of the evening. This week the girls got so into the discussion that it overran past the next activity and right to the end of the evening! Its so exciting to see them engaging so well in thinking about real life issues and being open with each other and encouraging each other.

It's times like that that remind me why I'm here and I'm really so excited to how see each one of those girls grows and develops over the coming weeks and months.

Thanks for praying!
Take a look at my youth work blog at www.gunvillemethodistyouthwork.blogspot.com

Easter Holiday!

Last week I organised a car wash for some of the young people I work with. They spent a couple of hours working hard to wash lots of cars to raise money for Smile Uganda and they made me very proud! After that, I jumped on a ferry and came home for Easter :)

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve had the absolute blessing of being able to spend time with my closest friends and family – something that doesn’t happen very often any more!

Last week, Clare came down to Basingstoke, and when we weren’t baking, singing and catching up with people, we took a trip up to London with Mum and Dad to see the Lion King in the West End. It was something that I had wanted to see for ages, so with tickets from my birthday, we finally got to see it and it was absolutely phenomenal!

Lion King!

After a couple of days of essay writing and procrastination, I got to go to my home church which is always lovely. I feel like Christ Church has changed a lot in the time that I’ve been away since I moved to Uganda and then to the island, but what’s great is that it still feels like home every time I go back.

That afternoon I drove up to Eynsham (The Centre of the Universe!) to stay with Clare. Eynsham is a place that feels more and more like a home from home every time I go. Clare’s family are brilliant and I love spending time there.

Andrew joined us in the evening and we went into Oxford on Monday to meet Esther and Joe – so 5 of the 6 ‘Uganda gappers’ were reunited! We very rarely all get to be together, and we missed Finch a lot, but we had such a lovely day. We enjoyed a picnic in the sun and miraculously no-one fell in when we went punting! It was exciting to be able to say ‘see you in Uganda!’ when Joe left, as the next time I see him will probably be in Entebbe airport in July!

Esther, Joe, Andrew, Me & Clare

Well after another few hours stolen with Clare I made my way back to Basingstoke this morning (I was very proud of myself for remembering the way home without my sat-nav!). I’m back to essay writing for a couple of days, but looking forward to spending time with Mum & Dad and catching up with other old friends from around here.

Time with people you love is such a precious thing and I’m learning not to take it for granted and to really appreciate it when it happens. I’m so lucky to have some truly incredible people in my life and just so grateful for the time that we get to spend together every now and then!

Hope

What did I learn this week? ...That God's hope holds out a lot longer than mine does!

On Wednesday I was feeling really tired and I had an 'I really cant be bothered today' attitude, which just makes me so angry with myself, but hey, sometimes I have those days. In the afternoon I headed down to the church as usual to set up for The Space youth cafe. I arrived late and started to set up for the cafe; moving loads of foam sofas down the stairs. I thought to myself 'We've been running this for over a month now and only one person has ever come in... I can haul all of these cushions up and down the stairs, but no one is going to sit on them.' so I brought a few down and decided that it wasn't worth the effort of getting the rest. I'd given up hope and I couldn't be bothered.
We got everything set up and I stood outside to offer free cake to students as they walked home from school - I was feeling very sorry for myself getting cold in the wind with a plate of cakes that no young people seemed to want, so I went back inside to warm up a bit.
And then God just went and showed me that whilst I might have given up, he definitely hadn't... all of 8 people came into the cafe that day! We served them hot chocolate and cake and a few even beat me at a game of Dobble and Uno!
Just when I was ready to give up, God stepped in and showed my why I shouldn't. The next day he just rubbed in the message with 2 more new girls at Rock Solid - my Thursday youth club. We ran Rock Solid for 3 months with only 3 girls coming, and in the last month alone our numbers have increased literally fourfold! We're now able to welcome all of these girls (yes, for some reason we only have girls!?) every week into a safe environment where they can have fun, build relationships and also have the opportunity to talk about real life issues in a place where their views are respected and they are encouraged to grow. What a privilege that is!

If you want to read about all the rest of my youth work, have a look at my youth work blog at www.gunvillemethodistyouthwork.blogspot.com (Published on Sunday Mornings).

Thanks, as always, to everyone who prays for me so faithfully.
This week I'd love some prayer for...

• Thanksgiving for the growth in numbers at The Space and Rock Solid - pray that this will continue.
• The car wash that I'm running with a group of young people on Tuesday to raise money for Smile Uganda.
• A safe journey as I travel home for Easter.
• Motivation and time to get my next essay done!