Pics!

Makin' friends

Sorry for not updating yesterday… we were pretty busy. We started off the day with the Kids Klub, which was awesome. It just keeps getting better and better everyday. The kids love everything about it. Especially the songs, each day they get more and more involved and it is so much fun to watch. Erica and I usually stand on the stage to lead the motions so we get to see all the kids having a blast, and it’s…beautiful. Really. It’s amazing to see all these kids coming together from so many different backgrounds and families signing the same songs and going crazy. After Kids Klub we ate lunch with the rest of the volunteers and came back to prepare for our afternoon serving the community. Some of us stayed to clean the rental house and about 12 we went to the ASHA (the church Charity store) shop. We organized bags and bags of clothes, set up bookshelves, and spent quality time with some of the people working with New Life Masih Ghar Four hours later, we came back and had burgers. The interns joined us for dinner and we ate outside (the weather is SO beautiful), singing and laughing together. After dinner Alex told us about Sikhism and explained to us what they believed and how the religion originated. It has been interesting to learn about Hinduism, Islam, and Sikhism, while comparing them with each other and Christianity. We then got to enjoy a Bollywood classic movie, “Bride and Prejudice.” It was awesome. Yesterday was a great day.

Today started with our typical morning routine, then Kids Klub. One of my favorite parts of today was when the kids first started arriving. We all wait outside the church to great them, and today was evidence that our relationships with them are growing stronger and stronger. They great us with familiar smiles on their faces and big hugs. It is so much fun just playing and being silly with them. I feel like a kid again when I am with them, and I love it. Today they were even more responsive to the skits, songs, crafts, games, and bible stories than they were yesterday. It’s amazing to see.

Today was a very chill afternoon, so not much has been going on. Tomorrow is our last day of Kids Klub and I’m really going to miss it. I can’t believe that this week has gone by so quickly! I’ve loved every moment of it, and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us tomorrow!

--SD (I don’t exactly know what’s up with the initials, but I’m just going along with it..)

Visiting a Mosque

Today we had another great day. We were all up by 8:00 this morning, and we shipped off to the church for the Kids Club about a half-hour later. Setup was a bit easier, so by the time all the kids were there (or at least most of them) we were all ready to go. The day went really well, and by the end of the second day of kids club, we were all really encouraged. The kids were definitely more enthusiastic about the songs and the skits, and it was cool that they were really paying attention. I personally think that it was amazing, and I am pretty sure I can say the same thing for everyone else.

After the kids club, we headed off to the Muslim Mosque. It was very interesting the way the Imam tried to explain Islam to us. This is the first time anyone explained Muslim faith in the same way as the Imam did today. He told us that Allah is a very forgiving god and that Muslims, Christians, and Jews are all basically very connected religiously, and we basically believed the same thing. Also, we were all going to be saved, even if we believed in Jesus, as long as we don’t believe that He is God. All in all it was basically very informative, and it lead to a lot of discussion when we got home. We had a training session about Islam, and we spent a very long time discussing the inconsistencies in the religion. It was another amazingly awesome day.

DF

Kids Club and Temples

Hey everybody this is CW from typing to you from London. Today started even earlier than yesterday and was a little bit more exhausting. We started off at 7:00 am with devotions and worship and than piled into the van for the first day of Kids Club at the church (New Life Masighar). Around 10:00 am kids started showing up and the fun and games began. Many kids who came were actually Muslim, Sikh and Hindu kids whose parents have come to trust the church over the years. We started off the morning with songs performed by Jack, although most were hesitant at first, it got better by the end of the day. After this Danny, Hana and Kelly began the skit of the summer marathon with characters such as Rodney Roadrunner and Devious Dianne. Gospel coach Sarah then came and began sharing the gospel with the young ones who seemed to be paying attention.
At the games station, controlled by Morgan, kids played “human bicycling” for which partners raced across a field with one on their hands and the other holding the first ones legs. Kids then had music time with Jack where they went absolutely crazy! Kids danced to Father Abraham and many other songs. This was followed by snack time where kids ate, crisps (chips) and squash (London’s version of kool-aid.) Following this, kids hit Bible time with Matt…or as the kids call him, “Volly the Vulture.” He came booming into the room in a vulture costume and told the story of God’s people disobeying God and being sent into the desert. To end the day kids congregated back in the main hall and sing more songs and follow the story of the summer marathon. The kids seemed responsive to us and were as interested in our culture as much as we were in theirs. Please pray for open hearts and that the Lord will really bless the ministry here.

CW


Hello everyone! This is JB continuing the London Update. After Kid’s Club, we were all pretty tired but at the same time, excited. We were able to sit down with all of the other volunteers and discuss our favorite parts of the day and what we can do to make it better for the rest of the week.
After lunch and a supermarket visit to get some liquids, we were off to visit a Hindu Temple. This was one of the most interesting parts of the day. We shuffled in after removing our shoes, as is custom, and looked at the numerous idols displayed across the room. It was an odd feeling looking at these man made statues and thinking that people actually believed they were alive. Hindu’s treat their gods as real living beings. They talk to them, feed them, bathe them, and even put them to sleep at night. I was shocked at how foolish it seemed to me.
It got me thinking though – how must atheists, agnostics, and other non-believers view Christians in our society? Maybe they look at me worshipping a God who cannot be seen and who has no physical connection with me and view me foolish, the same way I viewed the Hindus. “The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” 1 Corinthians 1:25. Food for thought.
After we got home and had some downtime, we talked about what we had seen at the temple. Bob, the man in charge with World Harvest Mission, helped explain Hinduism to us and answered any questions we had. All in all, it was a pretty amazing day. I’m definitely excited for Kid’s Club for the rest of the week. I pray that we will be able to plant seeds in the kid’s lives that God can cause to grow, even after we leave. Pray without ceasing for us here in the U.K. We love you all.

God Bless,
JB

Book Tables!

Hello Orlando! As much as I hate to say it, it's getting late and everyone is heading to bed. This will be a very brief post. We had a fantastic (and interesting) day. After our morning devotions, we went and manned "book tables." At the book tables we handed out free literature about the Lord and about entering into a relationship with the one true God. We also took surveys which allowed us to converse with some people about our faith. We did have one interesting situation where a couple of men (perhaps intoxicated) gave us a hard time, but the Lord was with us and we survived. Tomorrow we have the first day of Kid's Club (VBS). Please pray for us, that the Lord would give us energy. We're all healthy, happy, and thrilled to be in London serving the Lord. Hopefully we'll be able to put more up tomorrow. We are praying the Lord would enable us to, "Be strong and courageous, [to] not be terrified; [to] not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with [us] wherever [we] go."

MjR

We're here!

Day one, the Lord got us all the way to London! Goal number one: achieved (checks off list). After a long day/night we arrived in London town at 10 a.m. local time. Immediately we encountered a test in faith: when reaching customs they informed us that we needed a proper address of where we were staying (all we knew was “Southhall”) and a proper work permit for our volunteer work. We stood to the side trying to get everything worked out (watching Pam work things out of course) when after only a few minutes they informed us that everything was cleared and we could go on through. It was really God’s providence. We don’t know what changed, what caused them to decided to let us though, because we sure never did anything. We definitely got an immediate reminder that we aren’t the ones in control on this trip, but God is.

From there we went to the rented house that we are staying in. Again: God’s providence. This house truly is a blessing. We have it to ourselves and creates an easy way for us all to spend time together (not in our own hotel rooms) and save time for pulling meetings together. It even comes stocked with some delicious foods and beverages (and fresh pears from the tree in the backyard!). We took sometime to look at the general schedule and then take a 2 hour nap before we continued the day.

To get to know the culture we did a small scavenger hunt around Southhall. We got to go in shops and talk to individuals and learn about the traditions (like music) of the South Asians who reside here. Then from there we put on our head coverings and went into a Gurdwara (Sikh place of worship) and learn about how, when, and what they worship on a daily basis. It will be really helpful for talking to and understanding the Sikhs that we come across.

And of course we ended the night with some delicious Indian food. With one mild only and three spicy tables, we all got to experience something new and delicious!

EW

Hours away...

It's twenty minutes to noon (here in the U.S.), on Friday July 25! We'll be meeting at the airport at 4pm, and flying out at 6pm. Everything is going well so far. Everyone seems ready to go, and we have all that we need. Please pray for safe travel, unity, and excitement. We're not sure how often we'll get to update this blog, but we're hoping for a daily update. Pray that we are able to find the time (and Internet connection!), to provide regular updates. We're grateful for your prayers and trusting in the One who can "do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine."

Grace & Peace,
MjR