Newly Fledged

It's been a week already and I can't believe I haven't posted. I've really be meaning to since I last posted but things ended up taking a turn that I didn't quite expect.

Last week I arrived back at the base and was asked on Monday night, if I wanted to sit in on the lectures of the counseling school. I wasn't sure about it but after some encouragement I decided to do it. It's been an interesting week, I can tell you. The speaker's style is unusual, as he uses more stories than other speakers I've heard. For me, I've really enjoyed that aspect, as I find it easier getting something out a talk when there are stories involved. The stories will stick in my mind and I'll think about them and try to figure out what was meant behind the story. That's one thing I love about the stories Jesus told, there are so many meanings to the parables he shared with his followers. Last week, the story of the lost son was one of the stories that Gus, the speaker, talked about. I've heard sermons and talks on this parable before but I must say that the way Gus presented his thoughts about it, have given me something to process and think about.

There's already preparation for the next LMD (School of Leadership and Ministry Development) which starts in the beginning of October. It's going to be a busy month because the school is still in its foundation years, it's only the second time the school is being run here in London and the staff are still working on finishing a few things up. It's exciting. The October LMD is also about double the size mine was, and from quite a number of different countries.

October is also a busy month for me, personally. Within a week, I'll be attending two weddings. One of these weddings are between two members of the London staff, and the other wedding is between one of the people my from DTS team and his girlfriend. I'm really thrilled for them all! It's hard to believe how fast the year is progressing, and as the weather changes, I can't help but thank The Lord for the changes that have taken place in my life. It's been an extremely challenging last few months, I can tell you. I also know that the next few months, years, will be challenging in their ways as I sense that I'll be pushed out of my comfort zone.

From London Town

It's been only a few weeks since I last posted and so much has  happened since then. I've visited family and even went over to Paris to visit my incredibly talented sister, Hannah (pictured on the left). I've never been to Paris before, but I have been to France on road trips to the port cities (to catch the ferry to the UK), so Hannah took me to see some of the monuments for which Paris is famous for. We had a lot of fun together and are planning on meeting up again some time in the near future. I guess that's the lovely thing about living in capital cities that are so close together. I also spent some time with not only my mum's sister and aunt, but also with my cousins in Luton. We also had a YWAM London Retreat in Harpenden over this last weekend. It was amazing spending time with the people who have become family to me. We spent some listening to some incredible talks and had some amazing worship times.

You're probably wondering what the future holds, now that my leadership school has finished. Over the course of my outreach I couldn't help but ask God if He wanted me to move on to another base, somewhere else in the world, but I didn't get anything. A number of people mentioned that I should really be open to the possibabilty that God might want me to stay on in London. So towards the end of my outreach I asked God if I should stay. It became clear that's what I should do. The kids ministry, here at the base, needed another perminant staff member as they've been depending on the help of the students from whichever school's running. I really had peace about staying on and I don't know for how long I'll be here for. It's s bit daughting because I've not put many roots down anywhere over the last few years, because of the traveling I've been doing. Coming to think about it, I've not stayed anywhere longer than a year, in over three years now. It'll take a bit of adjusting to the idea that London is now my perminant home. I've been in London now about five and a half months and I'll be here for as long as The Lord wants me to stay in this beautiful, diverse city. Along the way I could well end up seeing the realization of a dream I've had for some years now, to learn to speak Spanish.

Now that I'm back in London, I should be posting articles on my blog more regularly, so do watch this space for the latest information. Things do change suddenly, so I'll be posting  about what I've been in... The time between posts may very a bit depending on what my schedule looks like from week to week.

Photographs: Hannah and me, on one of the many lock bridges in Paris (believe it or not, there's more than one, and some of them are bracking because of the weight of the locks); the Notre Dame Cathedral, I seem to be making a habit of visiting cathedrals when I'm traveling (in the six months I've been in the UK I've been to three, Canterbury Cathedral, Glasgow Cathedral and, now, the Notre Dame) and one of the lock bridges; you can see what I mean about the locks. There were so many that there wasn't any room for people to hang new locks up. That's why there's a number of bridges are being used, and why it's spreading, slowly, to London. I've seen some padlocks hanging on the bridge outside parliament and Big Ben. I wonder if people are trying to bring spread the idea, of hanging padlocks on bridges, around the world. Hmmm...