London Calling

London St Pancras International, walking down the concourse towards the Underground station of King's Cross St Pancras, I was home, back in my city. It's a strange feeling. Knowing a city is home now. It getting into your skin and stays there. I don't honestly remember that moment when I knew I would one day live and work in this vibrant city, all I know is that I was called to come here. It was a disire that was placed in my heart by the Almighty One and its burns like a fire in my soul, one that I can't contain, control or ever put out, not that I'd want to do that. Uganda's my homeland, it's where I was born and grew up, but London's my home now. It's my city and it welcomes me with open arms whenever I leave, even for thirty six hours to visit family in different parts of the counties that surround London city.

I don't know if I mentioned, few weeks ago, that the last of the seven LMD students arrived. Philip, from Indian (pictured on the far left in the above photo). He arrived about a month ago and fitted right into how things runs on the base.

It's been a rediculious last couple of days and weeks. The LMD are fast approaching their mini-outreach to Luton but before they go, I'll be boarding a plane to Amsterdam and then Uganda. Yes! Believe it or not, I'm going to my beautiful homeland of Uganda for a whole month (though some of that time will be spent on the Kenyan coast). Hannah came back last week for another short visit. During this visit we went to the hairdresser and had our hair done. I wouldn't have mentioned this is if wasn't such a drastic change. I had my shoulder length blond hair cut to around my ears (as seen in the picture on the right). We also coloured our hair, ourselves, so I'm no longer a blonde, but a brunette (I don't know if that's spelt right). There were mixed reactions on the base when I returned from having it cut and when I came down stairs after coloring it.

Sorry about the fact that this post is a bit all over the place. Hopefully the next post won't be like this, but I don't know when I'll next post. Hopefully before I leave but I can't promise.

The Best Of Me

There's moments when things don't make sense to me. There's so many times I've stopped to think about my life. The good things can be so hard to see even when they're staring me in the face. Over the last ten days or so, God showed me, very clearly, that things aren't over. The journey isn't over just because my LMD finished months ago. He asked me to let things go and come out of my shell. To open up and learn to trust again.

There's a part of me that won't trust, can't trust, the others around me. I love them dearly and they've come to mean everything to me. I just liked hiding behind my walls because I thought I was safe there, even though it was lonely. I tried to see the good things from behind the walls I'd build, but the view wasn't there to see. The dam began to give way last week when we had a simple, yet extremely difficult challenge. Opposite spirit week. We all have to go in the opposite spirit to what we normally did. We didn't choose what our challenge was, God did. He told the staff what each person's challenge was going to be. It was tough hearing what God wanted but in a way, it didn't come as that big of a surprise.

In one go, my defense was gone, taken away. I'm an introvert (please don't tell me that I'm not one, just read this article when you're done. I love people but I also need time to recharge, on my own). I've taken to hiding behind my technology (my phone in particular) because I didn't want to talk to anyone as I didn't want to be forced to let them in to my heart and truth them. I thought it was safer that way. When God took break through my defenses, He showed me what one of the cornerstones of friendship is. It's trust. Trust also means not letting the people I share my life and this beautiful house with see only the best of me. It means letting them into the moments of pain, the moments of fear and the moments of inner struggles. It's a journey I'm on and I'm still learning, but that's the beauty of friendship. True friends love you even when you mess up, big time. They love me despite it all. They've become a family away from my own family in South Africa. It's a privilege serving alongside such a vibrant, international group of people.

Photos: the first one is the view from my window, at night, and the second one is of my vibrant and beautiful friend, Laura, from the distant land of Argentina.

Autumn

There's something beautiful that happens when the seasons change. London goes from being cloaked in green to being dressed in a multitude of different red, orange and yellow shades. It's lovely watching this happen. It's been years since I've last encountered a British autumn. Two years ago I saw the seasons change when I was doing my DTS in the Netherlands. It's not been so cold as when I was over there, as I clearly remember being freezing cold when I would bike to the base. On the last day of October, I was walking without a jacket or sweater on, as the temperature had gone up into the 20's (Celsius). It was said to be the hottest Halloween in years. I've seen the seasons change in the Southern Hemisphere too, on South Africa's lowvelt, which is different from here. Down there, is cold and very dry with no rain (there, the winter occurres during the summer months in the northern hemisphere) whilst the summer, over there, is full of thunderstorms and heat waves, one after another. In many western countries, having a swimming pool is a luxury, where my family live in South Africa, having a swimming pool is a nessecity to keep cool.

In regards to seasonal shifts, there's been one here on the base. This last week, as a house, we've been spending time praying and fasting. This was a choice we made because we wanted to go to a new level spiritually as both the School of Leadership and Ministry Development (LMD) and the Discipleship Training School (DTS) had lectures on Freedom in Christ. It was a very intense week for the entire base, but I'm thrilled to say that when we sought God's face, with everything, He turned to us and gave us our request.

I don't know if I posted about the two newest members of the house. Philip, one of the LMD students arrived last week, from India. He arrived late because of the process it took getting his visa. The other new arrival is Aby, who was born at the end of September. Everyone was very much looking forwards to her arrival. Aby's the first YWAM Urban Key baby to be born (there have been a few couples tie the knot over the last few years since the base started nine years ago).

The next few weeks are going to be very busy, not only with the LMD and WildFire (the new name for King's Kids, London) but also personally. Weekend duties, visiting family, and having my sister coming to visit. In a matter of weeks, I'm going to be traveling back to Uganda for the first time in over two years. It's the first time I've been back since I left to do my DTS in September 2012. I'm really looking forwards to going back, though I honestly don't know what to expect.