The Heart of our Mission

Hello my faithful readers! I promised that it wouldn’t be so long in between each of my posts, and I am just barely making the deadline at two weeks. The past few weeks have been jam packed with activities and I will try and give you an update of what is going on.

I left off my post last week telling you of the exciting opportunity we have to do a photography club. We spent that week prayer walking the greater South Acton area and the South Acton Estate (SAE). Since the area that we were covering was large, we decided to split it into three days, two days spent in South Acton, and one day on the Estate (SAE).

What is prayer walking you ask? It is something that I was not unfamiliar with, but had little practice till coming to London. Prayer walking is just that, walking and praying at the same time. Specifically, we are praying for the area that we are walking in, and the people that we come into contact with. Prayer is a vital part of our ministry and without it we can do nothing. It can be a bit odd at first walking and praying without closing your eyes and formally sitting, but it brings to mind that we are to be in a constant state of prayer. We are talking to our Heavenly Father, and it’s just like talking to a very dear friend. While prayer walking, we also made it a point to go out and try and meet teens and pass out flyers for photography club.

Our focus while we are here is to be SAE. The Estate is comparable to public housing in the States. London is divided into different boroughs (kind of like different parts of the city; in Jacksonville it’s like you live in Jacksonville, but you are in the Mandarin area; in the 727 area, you live in St. Pete, but you are in the Old Northeast area). Acton is in the borough of Ealing and the SAE is on the edge of South Acton. The council (like city governments) owns these huge apartment complexes, which are all in the same area. The estate is a bustling place. There are people from all walks of life; recent immigrants, lower income residents one-step away from being homeless, single parent families, families that have been there for a few generations and families that are in transition. Our field supervisor, Chris, truest desire is to be able to get forms of church that are relevant to that area, reproducible, and are mission minded and can be multiplied throughout the city. Our focus specifically is the teens on the Estate. From our conversations from some teens on the Estate there seems to be a prevailing sense of hopelessness and a feel that they can never rise above their circumstances.

One way that we are trying to connect with teens is through the Photography Club. We meet on Saturdays and then go into central London to take pictures. Our first week we had one girl come, Daniella. She is 17 and has lived in London for 10 years. We were able to go to St. James’ Park (right by Buckingham Palace) and take pictures and have good conversations with her. While out taking pictures we were able to converse with her and start to build a relationship. We were able to initiate a faith conversation with her, but she like other Londoners doesn’t see a need for God in her life.

This is where culture shock has hit me the hardest, the post-Christendom society in which I now live. Coming from the States, and from the south at that, there are churches on every corner, and often multiple ones to choose from. There is a host of options to choose from, and if you can’t leave your house, you can turn on your TV a given Sunday morning and have a plethora to choose from. It is quite hard to go thru daily life without hearing or having been exposed to something ‘Christian’. In London, the opposite is quite true. There is a HUGE population of Muslims. Not only your traditional Muslims, but there are Somali and more strict Muslims. There are also Sikhs, Hindu, and others of the like. Those beliefs are very connected with the culture from which they come from. Londoners are quite content with having never thought about God, and His place in their lives. It is a hard reality to face, and something that we, as Americans have to face in our sharing of the Gospel. It brings to light the need to share of Jesus and the power of His love and how that Jesus is more about ‘religion’, it’s a relationship. The way that people are going to want to change is to see how Jesus changes lives. That is our goal, to share life with people and in sharing life, sharing Jesus.

How do we go about sharing life with people? That is something that can be a bit hard to grasp, but with perseverance it can be done. It means going out of our comfort zone and meeting people to build relationships. It can be a bit hard because people can be skeptical of what you are doing. Being upfront and honest with who you are and what you are doing is the key. We are sure to tell people that we are followers of Jesus and that we have come to share that with others. I ask that you pray that we can continue to be bold and have no fear in sharing Jesus.

This post has turned into something entirely different that what I started out for it to be, but that is ok, because I feel it is important to share with you the heart of our purpose here. I ask that you continue to pray for the work we have here.

Praise and Prayer requests:

1. Hillary arrived yesterday! She received her visa on Thursday and was on a plane Sunday! We were able to pick her up from the train station yesterday (she flew into Paris and then took the Euro star into London). Pray that she can quickly become acclimated to London. Pray that Team London can bond well and that we can become focused on the task at hand. Pray for unity and that Satan is kept away.

2. Pray for September 26^th. We are participating in a huge street Party on the South Acton Estate. There is a team from Canton, GA coming on Sunday and will be here for a week. We are in charge of helping out that week and leading them while in London. I’m a bit nervous about leading a group into central London, but I know God will see me thru!

3. Pray for me to further acclimate to the weather. Today we had our first rainy day and it was cold and rainy. It was a bit depressing because it rained ALL day. Not only that, but it was cold, and there was no sun whatsoever. I know that I have been blessed with good weather these past few weeks and for that I am grateful. Now I must prepare myself for the cold, blistery weather, but I know that God has called me here for a purpose and the cold will not be a hindrance.

4. Pray for our relationships that have started. Dave, Daniella, and Anthony specifically. We hope to be able to start a Bible Discussion group with them; they have all showed a positive response to studying the Word.

I thank you for taking the time to read this. I thank you for your prayers and ask that you continue to lift up my team and myself.

Hiya from the London Land!!!

Hiya! (That is British slang for Hello!)

I apologize for the lack of updates since I have been abroad. I fully intend to rectify that situation right now!

My last weekend at home was spent with family and friends. I want to thank everyone who was able to come to my going away party and I cherish the memories that were made. I also thank those that I was able to spend my weekend; it meant more to me than I can fully express. My family was wonderful, and my last meal at home consisted of my favorite food, shrimp salad, mashed potatoes and pineapple upside down cake!

My flight here was quite uneventful. I flew from Tampa to Chicago and had a nice layover where I was able to meet up with 2 girls from my team, and others with the Hands on Program. From there, we flew to London Heathrow. Thankfully, I was able to sleep for about 6 hours of the flight. I credit that to getting about an hour of sleep the night before, and my on-flight TV did not work so I could not get distracted by watching it instead of sleeping.

Once we had landed it was on to face the monster known as the Customs agent/Boarder Control. While standing in line I was going over in my head what to say, and making sure I had all my papers in order. The line went fairly quickly and before I knew it, it was my turn to face the Customs agent. My teammate Lakan and I were the last ones from the Hands on Group to get to the agents. Our other teammate, Hillary, was ahead of us facing her agent. Lakan and I each step forward, and a tense 20 minutes later, stamped passports in hand, were allowed to enter the UK! Unfortunately, our third teammate, Hillary, was unable to enter the country and was sent back to the States. Right now, she is working on getting her visa and then will join Lakan and I in London. Pray that her visa process goes smoothly and that she can join us as soon as possible.

Once we had all gathered our luggage we were off to the church where our orientation would take place. We were able to change clothes, wash our faces and then were off to sightsee! No sleep for us, so we could start the fight against jet lag. It was here that I was grateful for those 6 hours of sleep on the flight over. We were able to go and see Big Ben and Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, The London Eye, The Tower of London Bridge, Camden Market, and Buckingham Palace. To be at the places that have been on my screen saver these last few months was a bit overwhelming, but completely rewarding.

Orientation Week was packed full of information. We learned how we are going to succeed these next few months. The entire Hands on Western Europe team bonded well and we look forward to seeing each other again in December. There are teams going to Cardiff Wales (a team of 9, 2 boys, 7 girls); a Paris team made up of 3 girls; a Spain team made up of 1 girl and 1 boy; a Malta team made up of 2 girls; and then there was Team London, made up of myself and another girl, Lakan Britt. She hails from the mighty land of Missouri and over these past few weeks, I am learning how different Florida and Missouri really are. For instance, did you know that you can catfish with LIVE goldfish? I didn’t either, but it’s just one of these new facts I am learning from Lakan. She and I get along quite well and I she loves to cook! We make a great team, she cooks, and I clean the dishes. But besides her domesticity, she and I compliment each other well and I look forward to the months ahead of working with her. I know that when Hillary gets here, she will fit in quite nicely to Team London.

On Sunday after orientation we were able to move into our flat (apartment in the states). We hopped on the tube (the underground) and 2 stops later we were here! We live in South Acton, right across from the Acton Town Tube entrance. We live on the 2^nd floor (the UK calls it the 1^st floor, the American first floor being the ground floor) and we have a BLUE door!!! Our flat is VERY nice. We have 4 bedrooms (our team originally was going to be larger) so my snoring will keep no one else awake! My bedroom is on the 2^nd floor of our flat, facing the street. I have a double bed with a blue bedspread, a desk, drawers, and a wardrobe! (Have no fear, I already tried to go to Narnia, but Aslan hasn’t called me there yet ;-). ) My bedroom is larger than I was expecting and I have managed to decorate quite nicely with all my pictures of family and friends. The other rooms are comparable in size and we have a living room and an adorable kitchen with a washing machine so we can do our laundry here and not have to go elsewhere. I feel like I am living in the lap of luxury because I was not expecting lodging this wonderful.

Lakan and I have become quite adept at taking the public transport. We have our oyster cards and we have managed to not get too lost around London. I have ridden on a double decker bus, and the tube quite a few times and each time it is very exciting!!! We were able to go and see the New Harry Potter movie here and were quite excited because we had been in the very part of London that is in the beginning of the film!

Last week we hit the ground running with exploring our surrounding areas. We have been able to go out and meet quite a few people, get acclimated to the area and get everything a bit sorted as to what our time in London will be spent doing. We were able to meet a nice young man named Dave. I am very encouraged about him. He is interested with meeting with Lakan and I in our time here about once a week and we will be open and honest with him in sharing the gospel and building a relationship with him that will have lasting impact. I ask that you pray for him, that with our time with him will be full of vulnerability, and that we can in our time here be able to show him Christ. I am encouraged because he does not like to drink, and is very interested in why we are doing detached youth work here.

This week we are prayer walking Acton and gearing up for our first event, Photography club! I am excited about that and hopefully we can begin to build lasting relationships with the teens here.

Random side note, the reason pictures have not been forthcoming (I know many of you have been asking) is that I forgot my camera cable in the States. I now have the task of finding one here and once that is accomplished, you shall see what I am seeing in the London Land!

I end this post with a few prayer requests:

1. For Lakan and I to be bold in approaching teens. Pray that we can connect well with them and that they can see that we are genuine.

2. For Hillary, that the visa process will go smoothly and that she can be joining us soon.

3. For Lakan and I to continue to get along. Pray that we will have good team communication and that we can be focused on the task at hand.

4. For me to get acclimated to the weather. Being from Florida has ill prepared me for the chilly weather ahead and I’m already wearing long sleeve shirts and my fleece jacket at night! Pray that I can stay warm and that I do not get sick from the weather.

I thank you for reading this VERY long post and I promise that it won’t be another 3 weeks till my next one.

I love you all and miss you, but I know that God has me here for a purpose. I see the work that needs to be done, and I am thankful and honored to be apart of the team here in London.