Random Happenings

October comes to an end. Autumn is in full swing. The temperature has dropped and I've started preparing myself mentally and physically for the coming of the cold weather, even though the temperature has started to drop noticeably. Having grown up in Uganda I really struggle with the cold, even after being here four years now. My body's thermostat is a little bit off because of I grew up in a country with an unchanging base temperature. I have gotten used to the weather over the last few years, since I moved to Europe but I'm still adjusting to the weather.

This month has an interesting month for me. I've been able to see a few of my good friends from my Discipleship Training School DTS. I really enjoyed catching up with people who I haven't seen in months or even years. Seeing these people was one of the high points of this month. I've also had to make sure that I got time alone... so I've taken to slating it into my planner, Thursday for example was slated for Rachel Time, as I like to call itm but I had to make an exception (which I'll get to in the next paragraph). So that I don't go and fill all my time up, and forget to look after myself by getting enough time alone to recharge... normally this means spending time at home with my pot of coffee and my journal, or going to find somewhere to sit and write. However going out is harder now because of the dropping temperature. Its harder sitting on a bench writing in a thick coat, with cold hands (which is something I really don't like).

The internship is still going well. The various aspects of church life that I've involved in have been going well. The youth group has had two meetings (not including the time we went GO Carting), with a pretty large turn out. I also joined the Trailblazers staff for the first time last Sunday. I really enjoyed being able to help out and assist with other leaders with the lesson. I've also been able to sort out a lot of various tasks given to me by the other office staff. I also joined a life group last week, Wednesday, for the first time though I will be missing the next two weeks' meetings due to being in the UK for two different conferences.

I also went to Delft on Thursday to do some shopping and meet a friend. The shopping part didn't really work out because I had a few really specific items I needed to get for my trip to England next week and I knew where I needed to go but didn't know where these shops were because Delft is pretty much like a maze. Though I did have fun with the friend I met up with. Delft is a beautiful place. There's a lot of houses built into the canals, like in the picture (on the left) with doors on or just above the water line, the houses were build like this because back in the day, the cargo boats could unload easily... I've got loads of memories of when I visited Delft with my parents or with friends. Its a beautiful place and thankfully it's only about twenty minute bike ride away from my home. Rijswijk is situated between The Hague and Delft so its a good twenty minute to either city. Thankfully the weather has been cold and dry so biking has been really pleasant to do. If its really cold, raining or snowing then biking gets uncomfortable... I still don't like biking in the snow because of the risks.

October ends and November begins. 2016 comes closer to an end. 2017 is just around the corner. The days are going past and are getting sorter as the clocks have been moved back thus bringing the end to the Summer Time... the temperature are also dropping, slowly. Until next time.

Blipfoto

My Blip for 27 October 2016; Delft

One of the things that have come under a lot of persecution over the last 1,011 days is my habit of taking and posting a photo a day on a platform called Blipfoto. Every day since the 22nd of January 2014 I've posted a photo against the day I took it... and I've never missed a day. There have been days when I've not been able to post, due to travel reasons, or not having access to my phone or internet, but I've still taken a photo and written a description down somewhere, so I don't have to write a whole load. I love photography, and I find that Instagram doesn't offer the same pleasure that Blipfoto does as Instagram wasn't designed as a once-a-day photography platform. I still love using Instagram but I also love Blipfoto.

The persecution I've received over the years mainly took place back in the days when I lived and worked in Youth With A Mission YWAM. I'm not go to mention which base it was at or whether or not these people were YWAMers or not. All I'm going to say is that there have been some people who haven't always understood why I "had" to take a photo every day and post it on Blipfoto. They think I've gone and tied myself to something that I shouldn't have, thus allowing myself to become a "slave" to it. According to them I should stop posting a photo daily, for the same reasons why I should stop drinking coffee, because its not right for Christians to be "addicted" to anything. They've also said that if I don't have access to a camera I should just skip a day. It just shows how little they know me. For me to skip a day would be going the very core of who I am. I can't quite explain it, but I will give it a try. You could say that if I tried to stop with a project like this it would be like trying to make a waterfall start flowing backwards, up over the cliffs the water is fall over. I'm an artist and a traveler. Photography is one of my favourite mediums because I dont have to carry around loads of canvases, paints, brushes, an isle and turpentine with me when I go traveling around the place (maybe one day when I have my own place, I'll start painting again, but for now, I don't have the space for my artwork). Having my iPhone with me makes life a lot easier. All I need is my iPhone and some good editing software on my iPhone (I usually end up using Google Snapseed).

One of the biggest advantages of having Blipfoto is that it provides a perfect platform for the traveler to document their travels and keep the home front up to speed with daily life without having to write a whole host of emails to people on a daily basis. Not everyone has Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, so that makes it harder for those who don't use social media to follow the lives of those they're following. This is one of the biggest reasons behind my having Blipfoto. People, like my mum, who don't use the 'mainstream' forms of social media can see what's happening in my day to day life. On the other hand, its a huge commitment to posting daily. There's been days when I've spent the entire day in bed because I was unwell, and really didn't want to post a darkened photo of my room. There have also been days when I've snapped a photo mere moments before midnight struck because I'd been to busy to remember to take a photo (these days are few and are between).

I'll keep posting for as long as I am able to post so if you want to follow my life adventures, beyond my blog here, I'd recommend you check my page out. It would be awesome if you'd get an account too but only if you're willing to take up the challenge of posting a daily photograph yourself. It won't be worth it otherwise. Click here for the link to my blipfoto profile.

Where Home Is For Me

Over the last few weeks I can't help but think about what home means to me. A lot of people, when hearing I'm Ugandan by birth (though I'm not Ugandan by nationality), have asked if I miss 'home'. Home is a word that has kinda lost its meaning to me. I left Uganda four years ago, knowing that the chances were slim that I'd go back to Uganda, to live there long term. The reasons are simple. My parents left Uganda soon after I did. My mum and my siblings moved to South Africa within two weeks of me leaving and my dad moved at the beginning of 2013. When my dad joined the rest of my family, the house I'd spent almost 13 years of my life living in was rented out, and my parents moved all the furniture out. The dogs were given to a friend of a friend. The home I grew up in is no longer my home. Most of my friends have also left... yes, I do dream of going back to Uganda. I miss the life I had there. The drama and the excitement of daily life that I had there. In four years, I've only been back to Uganda once, almost two years ago, for just under a month. I don't know if I'll ever go back. Not only because I don't know what I'd do there, but also I don't have anyone to return to... now that my family live in South Africa. Maybe when my parents move back to Uganda I'll be able to visit more, but I don't know if I'd stay longer than just a visit. It depends on where God takes me next... after this internship is finished, as I'm still not sure what that step is. I've still got a few months before I need to know the next step.

Since I left Uganda I've been traveling for the last few years. Since I left Uganda, I've never stayed in one place longer than a year and three months. Its hard when people ask where my home is because my home is wherever I'm currently living at. The town where my parents live isn't my home. My time there was an extremely difficult time for me because I was waiting for the next step to become clear to me. I really want to settle down somewhere and put my roots down, but I want to put my roots down where God wants me to be... where I know that there's something for me to do without having a time limit hanging over my head. Everywhere I've lived (save for London) I've had a time stamp hanging above my head. Everywhere I've lived over the last few years I always knew it was temporary... hard as its become. I'm becoming tired of traveling around. I've become tired of knowing that I'm going to have to pack up all my staff after a few months, to travel again. I really want to settle down and have somewhere I can call home. Because of all this moving around, home is wherever I currently live, even though its not always got the feel of being home. I call that place home because I sleep there. I'll try to make the place feel like home by hanging different items about and unpacking as quickly as possible, because otherwise I'll struggle settling in properly.

Its also caused me to realize that my home isn't a house, a city or a country but four very special people, my parents and siblings. God has given them to me and I'm so grateful for the blessing they are in my life, despite them being so far away

Monday

The Nieuwe Kerk

Over the last weeks I've not been going to the gym as regularly as I would like to have, which is effecting the numbers on my scales. Its partially due to my gym time having gone down, as well not having eaten the right food. I've got my gym bag next to my left foot and am planning to go later today... and everyday this week.

Things are going well otherwise. The cold I had a few weeks ago has almost completely cleared up. The weather has beautifully dry over the last week or so. Thankfully I haven't had to bike in the rain since that awful Thursday when I had to bike the entire home journey in the rain. However, over the last week the temperature has dropped into the single digits in the mornings, which has made biking to and from the office (and the church; pictured on the left) rather challenging, especially first thing in the morning. I'm planning to keep biking every morning unless its raining or I know that I have to return home after around 21:00 (9:00pm). There's two areas on my route home that I'd don't feel safe biking through after a certain point. This is the city and every city has areas that aren't safe for female bikers to go through at night, and its not only because of the traffic. I'd rather stay safe than end up sorry for not being careful.

I thought I'd also take a moment to write about two books I've been reading over the last week. One is called Radical by David Platt. It's one of the best books I've read that looks at being Radical for Christ. I'm reading it for my internship... I've tried to read other Christian books but have found them extremely challenging because of the way these books are written; they're usually full of stuff I don't understand and can't follow the "logic" of the theoretical path that the writers follow. I'm really enjoying reading this book and will be ordering the second book soon.

The other book I've been reading, that you may already know about is Dragonfly In Amber by Diana Gabaldon. If you haven't been reading my blog posts over the last few months, you'll probably not know that I've become a huge fan of Outlander (TV series, Season One's been on Netflix recently)... well, two months ago I got the book after discovering that Season One is based on the book of the same name... which I thoroughly enjoyed. Dragonfly In Amber is book two. Season Two is based on this book and I'm really enjoying seeing the parallels between Season Two and the book; as well as the differences. There are a lot of differences between the book and the series. Its funny how many changes were made to the series to make sure each episode fits in the time limit and the episode limit. Its quite an intense series of books to read, just like the series can be intense.

Graffiti

The Practice Piece

Things have been going great. We had staff day on Tuesday. I don't think I wrote anything about it in my last post. So I'll do that now.

The staff day in the Redeemer Office is a lot different to the staff days in Youth With A Mission YWAM. Because we aren't such a big group as at the two YWAM bases I've worked at. This meant that we were able to spend the morning looking our personal results from a strength finder test that we've all done over the last few weeks. We then had lunch together at a lovely little restaurant that's situation on a back street, before heading off to meet an graffiti artist. This man does large scale murals in different places where he's been asked to by the government. As a staff team we had an awful lot of fun learning how to use the pray cans. The canvas on the right is the practice canvas we used on. We spent a good hour and half or so learning how to use the cans to get the effects we wanted. We then went on to making our own pieces. It was great fun. I wasn't sure what I was going to do as I felt quite out of my depth as I'm used to using oil paints, which are extremely easy to work with if you know what you're doing. I've found oil a medium that mixes easy to get the effect you want. Whilst using spray cans you can't mix the paint so have to use the spray can that contains the exact colour you want to use. The paint itself does dry very quickly, the water based stuff doesn't take as the other stuff but it is a lot of fun to use.

My Piece of Graffiti

This is why I ended up doing something that I knew I could finish with the outcome I wanted. Thus, the Scottish flag. I've got strong Scottish roots and a deep love for the nation. Since I've been reading the Outlander series I thought that it would be nice to add a Scottish flag to my bedroom. I don't know what I'm going to do with it when my internship's over. However, I've still got quite a while before my internship's over. It's a nice addition to my lovely little bedroom at Rebecca and Martijn's. I've been really enjoying living at Rebecca and Martijn's place. I must say that its great having a place to stay with people who don't work at the office. So my work life and my home life are very separate now, which is something I'm really glad about. I can switch my brain from one to other with ease now. God has been so good!

I'm really enjoying my time here in The Hague Den Haag. Life in the city is rather busier than life in Epe ever was. I'm going to start to helping out with one of the Sunday School groups this Sunday, the oldest group; Trailblazers (the 9-11 year olds). I'm looking forwards to it. I've also been helping out with the youth group, which I've also been enjoying being a part of.

The next impact training block in England is coming up quickly and I'm looking forwards to it. There's a few people in the office who are going over to England beforehand for two prayer days in Sidcup, and I'll be going with them for that and then say on for the training block.

Life Happens

My Five Year Memory Book

Life has gotten really busy with a whole host of things happening since I last posted about what's happening with me and the internship.

Internship

The internship is going really well. I'm really enjoying it and enjoying living in The Hague Den Haag. I'm usually in the office during the week (except for one week day that I have off) working on various errands and tasks given to me by the staff. I've also been working on some stuff for the internship. One of these things is reading through the New Testament. I've found it quite a challenge sometimes, actually reading the New Testament because I've read it before a few times so I've started playing each daily reading from my phone when I'm working.

I've also been seeing quite a few of my good friends from my Discipleship Training School DTS. I've also been spending time with some of the people I've gotten to know from church. I think I'll probably end up getting to the point when I'll have to start scheduling time for myself into my schedule to make sure the introvert side of me gets a chance to rest. Over the last weekend I also was able to Skype a good friend of mine, McKenzie. I've written about McKenzie before. We met when I was volunteering at Youth With A Mission YWAM Heidebeek. McKenzie was doing the Bible For Life B4L. We usually message each other most days, but because of the time difference we don't Skype often. Its great having someone to talk to about my love for Scotland and Outlander. McKenzie's the same. We're both waiting for Outlander Season 3 to be aired. I'm going to miss watching Outlander with her (some of you might remember me writing about watching quite a few episodes of Season 2 with her). For those of you who aren't aware of what Outlander is, Outlander is a series about a young English woman, Claire, who lived in 1946, who goes up to a circle of standing stones near Inverness, Scotland, to get some flowers and ends up getting thrown back in time to 1743. The series (and the books) follow Claire's story as she adjusts to life in Scotland in the years running up to the Battle of Culloden (which was the last pitched battle on British soil when Charles Stuart tried to overthrown the House of Hanover, with the English victory the Scottish way of life was brought to an end). 

The Corridor Going To the Cells

Gevangenpoort

On Saturday I had made plans to meet a friend to see a movie. I ended up arriving early and as I walking past the Prison Museum I decided to go. I walked in. It was cheaper than I thought it would be. There are a few rooms you can have a look around in without the tour, however the rest of the museum needs to be looked at when on the tour. There's also an art gallery but I didn't end up having a look there because my mind wasn't in the right place to look at pieces of art. The museum is incredible. It was really well worth it. Its quite shocking to realize how justice was given out back through the middle ages. There was three goal rooms, where roughly fifteen men were locked in, sometimes more. They were normally locked up for anything ranging from being caught lying to murder. Because it was so dark in the goal rooms you wouldn't know what your fellow prisoners had done to get locked up. The windows didn't have glass in them, nor was there light, so the prison was very cold. Because there was a mini ice age happening at the time, there was a freezing cold wind passing through the rooms, carrying the smell of cooking food (the kitchen was right outside; on the outside the wall on left in the photo on the right). The tour was took us through the torture chambers, which was one of the main ways of getting a confession out of someone back in the middle ages. The Tower of London did this extensively as well, though using different devises and tactics and is more famous for being a prison and a place of torture. A confession would stand if the person would confess in the torture chamber and then again in their prison chamber within the next twenty four hours. I'm one of those people who believe in the importance of having these museums as otherwise my generation and the generations after will forget what happened in the days old. Not everyone is a historical buff like I am and if people don't take the time to go to these places they'll never know what happened in the past. This is why I'm so glad that there are so many museums in London that are free, and that France give free entry to people under the age of twenty five if the person has a valid ID with them.

One of the Cells

Youth Group

We had youth group on Sunday evening. I'm really enjoying being a part of the leaders of this group, There's about twenty five thirteen to eighteen year olds, from different countries and backgrounds. Since we've got such a large group we've split them in two (I don't know if I mentioned this before). I've been helping with the younger group. We usually meet every first and third Sunday of each month. We have a meal together and a game before having the teaching.

For me, the youth group should be a very important part of any church. Having a good youth group is important as a place for the teens to ask questions and have a safe place to listen to teachings that are relevant. I remember when I was in my early teens, going to youth group was a huge highlight of my bi-weekly schedule. It wasn't only because I'd be able to see my friends who I wouldn't see during the rest of the week but also because we discussed subjects that was relevant to us (I'm not saying that the Sunday sermon wouldn't be relevant to us, but teens have questions about things that aren't always addressed during the Sunday service).

The Houses of Parliament

Family News

Some of you might know that my sister, Hannah, flew down to South Africa last week. She's going to be spending a few moths with the family and working. Caleb's almost finished with grade 11. He's going to turn 18 at the end of the month. Its hard to believe where the time has gone. I still remember when mum and papa brought him home as a baby. Its been years since I celebrated his birthday with him and I can't help but wonder if he'll have a big celebration for his birthday. 

Before my sister flew down to South Africa, my parents and Caleb went down to Cape Town for a conference (I think this was about two weeks ago). They were at the conference for a few days with some friends of theirs and from what I heard, they all really enjoyed it. They even ran into people they knew from when my parents were part of Kampala International Church KIC. Seems we're all running into people we knew from when we first moved to Kampala.

My host family were also away for a few days, but they're back now. Its weird being at home (I see their house as my home now) when there's no children there to bring noise to the house. The children are quite noisy and when they're away, I've really missed having them about.

I Do Still Write

A few month ago, I wrote about one of my longer term habits. The habit of keeping a journal. Its something that won't change because I can't live without. When I first started writing, aged eleven, I wrote a lot about what was happening in my life at that time. During my school years, I wrote down my perspective of the bullying I lived through almost daily. As I got older I started writing about my dreams for the future. I still write down my dreams for the future, though its taken a turn towards dreams I feel God has given me that I'm praying through. I find it so interesting to see how these dreams develop and change over time. There have been quite a few times when I've been forced to release these dreams back to God because I'm not the right person to be a part of seeing them come to fulfillment. I'll give an example. Years and years ago, I really wanted to go to London. I don't remember when it was (my memories aren't clear on where I was or the date)... when I did move to London in April 2014 I was thrilled. In the fourteen months that followed I knew I was in the right place. I didn't know why, but I knew London was my city. I wanted to live in London forever. This all changed in May 2015. I was on outreach with a Discipleship Training School DTS team in the Middle East when God led me to apply to do the School of Intercessory Prayer SOIP at Youth With A Mission YWAM Heidebeek. God directed me to work with the GOTeams department at YWAM Heidebeek for nine months after the SOIP ended. I still prayed about going back to London, I still wrote entries in my journal that oozed with my desire to return to London, which was why I struggled, initially, with the idea of doing this internship. The dream of living and working in London is a dream I've handed back to God. I'm here in Den Haag The Hague for as long as God wants me here for. If He tells me to stay after the internship is over, then I will. I've written about this a lot in my journal. I'm not going to go into detail about how I feel about staying longer. That's between God and me. My highest desire is to honour God in all I do and to obey Him by putting roots down where He's placed me, which is here in The Hague for the time being. I'm grateful that I have friends in the church and the area. I'm also glad I've my journal (I think I'll be finishing this one over the next few months).

I have said that I would write about my life story, based on what I've written over the years. I don't know if I'll ever actually do this because my journals are extremely personal and I think I'll probably over-sensor what I've written since I started writing. Its a decision that I'm still thinking and will keep thinking about, until I have the time to do something about it. So please don't expect an autobiography of my life soon.

Coffee & Me

There's a supposed vise I have that some people tend to like commenting about, other than my weight (this was in the days before I started shedding the kilos). It's my coffee intake. In this post, I want to give you a closer look why I'm still drinking coffee, no matter what people have said. If you're one of these people who have made accusations about my coffee intake, I do apologize for confronting this topic and what you've said. I haven't named you in this post and I won't hold it against you.

The History

I've been drinking coffee on an almost daily basis since I was about fifteen or sixteen. Before I went to boarding school I only really had one or two cups a day... but when I went to boarding school my intake skyrocketed. I was extremely tired all the time, because of the high workload and the lack of downtime or support. Caffeine was the only thing that would pick me up each day. Yes, I'll admit, seven or eight cups a day is too much for a teenager to be drinking. The only excuse I have is that I was going through a very dark period in my life, probably one of the darkest periods of my life thus far. God and my caffeine intake kept me alive. After I left boarding school the amount of coffee I was drinking dropped drastically to about one or two cups a day. It stayed this way right up to when I did my Discipleship Training School DTS, as I started drinking more because there was always coffee about. I did my DTS in Holland; coffee is a big part of Dutch culture. When I was in Brazil it was the same... though when I was in South Africa I went off coffee for about a month and then slowly started introducing it back. I haven't really stopped drinking it since. Yes, there were times when I had to fast my caffeine intake, which always left me with bad headaches and hanging on just long enough to go for the coffee.

The Problem People Have

Over the last two years or so, I've had quiet a few people tell me that I need to go a day or two without coffee every month for various reasons. I've also had people tell me to stop all together. I think its mainly because I supposedly drinking too much coffee a day (and normally I'll drink one or two cups a day). I put the comments down to the fact that people think they've got the right to call me out on the amount of caffeine I'm drinking compared to the amount of caffeine they think I should be drinking (which is normally no coffee at all). I think its because they care about me... they have my best in mind. I don't appreciate this because of their lack of knowledge as to why I do drink coffee.

The Reason I Still Drink Coffee

Over the last few years I've repeatedly cut out some of my favourite foods out of my life -mainly bread, pasta and pizza- for health reasons. I'm not adding coffee to this list because I don't see a reason to add coffee to this list, because I know I probably won't be eating these things for quite some time. Its usually been my housemates, roommates or people who have worked with me who have tried to convince me to go off drinking coffee, why I`m not totally sure. Coffee is something that's become a big part of my life and I find it really difficult when people start telling me I drink too much coffee, even if its just one or two cups a day.

The Future

I'm not planning to stop drinking coffee. Even though I'm loosing weight and not eating cake, chocolate, bread and pizza, all of which I really love but because I want to live a healthier life, I'm no longer eating these things. I'm not adding coffee to this list because I don't see why I should. There aren't any health reasons to prove I shouldn't drink coffee, except for the fact that it's addictive. I'd appreciate if you don't write to me and tell me what you think of this post and my coffee intake because the only people I'd like to hear from are those I'm closest to (like my family).

Gym Addict

Yes, this another one of those posts about exercising and workouts. I think that many of you who knew me before this journey began probably think this is a phase. I've talked about loosing weight before and hadn't done anything about it. I also know that I've written about being lazy in my weight loss on this blog before as well.

The reason why I'm writing this post today is because I really want to encourage you to become more healthy as well. Its not just exercising, though that's also important... its also sticking to a healthy eating plan. I've almost completely cut carbohydrates (bread, rice, potatoes, etc) out of my diet. Before you start accusing me of being hypocritical in this area since you've seen me eating carbs in the months since I've said I've stopped. I do eat carbs from time to time, depending on where I am and who I'm with. By this I mean, if I'm at a function I'll eat what's served because otherwise I'll either go hungry or take too much of the protein (so other people won't end up getting any food). Sometimes people serve food with the carbs mixed into the rest of the food. I don't want to cause any problems for the cooks because I'm not technically allergic to carbs, I just don't eat them for health reasons... sometimes its really hard because I just crave food that I'm not eating. I'm very careful about.

The reason why I'm writing about food in this post is because if you're thinking about loosing weight, or are in the process of loosing weight, my biggest recommendation is look at what you're eating before you look at your exercise plan. The reason why I suggest this is because what your food consumption makes up 70% of your weight loss plan. So if you eat poorly then its pointless working out because you're eating more than you're burning. So if you cut out carbs out of your diet and increase the amount of protein and vegetables you're eating. If you're truly desperate to loose weight I'd recommend looking the Ducan Diet. I've done this diet twice and strongly recommend it. Look it up, and stick to it, no matter how hard it is. Be strong, be honest, be willing not to eat out for a while. Loosing weight is a challenge, its harder to get off than it is to put on. You have to stick to your healthy lifestyle because "what you eat in private, you wear in public."

The times I've put on weight were because of my stupid, reckless eating habits that I wasn't willing to give up and laziness. I was too lazy to workout and watch what I was eating. There's three people I'd like to give credit for kick starting my current weight loss plan. These three people are my parents and my younger brother, who encouraged me regularly to eat carefully and work out more regularly. They've as thrilled as I am about my weight loss.

My Thoughts on Christmas

Glade Jul by Viggo Johansen (1891).

Christmas Day, 25 December... the day when we celebrate Jesus' birth. Christmas Day is one of the biggest events on the calendar for most people, especially in Europe and North America. For many, its a day to spend with family, exchanging presents and eat a lot of food. Depending on their background or upbringing, people may or may not go to church. Most Christians will also go to church.

For me, I find Christmas a really hard celebration to get through, and I dread it every year. I feel like Christmas has lost its meaning... Christmas has become all about presents, food and decorating a tree, and not so much about celebrating Jesus' birthday. To be honest there's no proof that Jesus was born on 25 December as no one knows what day and month Jesus was born on (The New Testament gives no reference to when Jesus was born). In the early to mid-forth century, 25 December was chosen by the date of Jesus birth by the Christian Church. There are a number of reasons why this date was chosen, one of the biggest ones is to Christianize Rome's pagan celebration of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti ("the birthday of the Unconquered Sun"), an event to celebrate the sun and the winter solstice.

Another thing that always bothers me is the whole Christmas Tree thing. No one knows when the use of fir trees where first use, and by whom. Some claim that it was the pagans who decorated their homes with fir trees, some say it was the Romans who placed fir trees in their temples at the festival of the Saturnalia. Others say it was the Christians who used it as a sign of everlasting life with God. I don't intend to insult anyone here or the culture they grew up in. I'm just writing what I think. I find it hard to to see how big a part of Christmas the tree has become. I can't help but think I grew up hearing about the Christmas tree. The pagans of Europe would dance around a fir tree, covered in lights, in a ritual that would bring the spring back.

As the weeks pass and Christmas gets closer. I think of my family. My parents and siblings. They're in South Africa this year, over 8,800 kilometres away. I'm not going to be with them but I will be thinking about the four people I love so much.

Autumn News

St. Jacobstraat, Where The Office Is

Autumn has hit in force with the temperatures dropping considerably. There's also a slight edge to the wind. Its jacket weather now. Despite the fact that I'm glad that it's not as hot as it was a few weeks ago, I'm not a big fan of colder weather, having grown up in Uganda. I know I've survived through three winters (I was here for the full winter I was here in part) in the last four years and I'm still not used to the cold. Though that's slowly changing.

Things have gotten busier over the last few days, since my post. I've been really busy with helping arrange different trips to the UK, especially for the Connect Conference in Sidcup in November and for Academy in January. I'm also involved with working on the newsletters for the church and getting interviews etc. Its getting busier. I'm enjoying it. I've had learn to find ways to make sure I do get my rest.

One of the things that has changed since I moved to The Hague Den Haag, is that I've got a social life again. I should quickly point out that by social life it means that I'm seeing people I don't work or live with. When I lived in Heerde, I didn't have much of a social life out side of Youth With A Mission YWAM, I didn't really see anyone who didn't work with YWAM... given that I didn't really see anyone after work (because I needed time alone, away from the people I'd spent the entire day with). However this has changed. A number of people who I met during my Discipleship Training School DTS who also living in this area so I've made plans to see different friends over the next few weeks so I've got more a social life now than I have done in a while.

As time moves, I've realized how close my birthday and Christmas are. These two events together aren't on my list of favorite events (I should probably write about how I feel about Christmas and my birthday at a later date) and this year I still don't have plans. I'm going to be working in the office on my birthday and there's a Sunday service on Christmas Day. Though the week after I do have some free time... what makes it quite hard is the fact that my sister's going to be in South Africa with my parents and brother. So I'm attempting not to think about spending my first Christmas away from four people I love the most. I have spent one Christmas on outreach in Brazil when I was doing my DTS but at the time I hadn't realized how important family is. Anyway, more about that in an upcoming post.

Whilst I'm here, I want to take a moment to direct you to my poetry blog. I've been writing poetry for a few years and only really started writing regularly in October 2012. Then two years ago I created a website where I can post a few of my favorites that aren't too personal (a lot of my poems are too personal to post; I rarely even let my close friends read them). Anyway, the website is just-stay-home-poems.blogspot.nl/.

Until next time.

A Game Of Shadows And Sunsets

The Sky on Sunday Morning

Life moves on. Summer turns into autumn and the weather gets colder. You'll notice it when you have to get out of bed before six o'clock in the morning so you can hit the gym by seven o'clock when it opens. Yes, I went to the gym this morning, despite having to stay home on Monday, as well as on into Tuesday morning, due to having contracted a cold last week (thanks to having to bike home in the rain on Thursday). I'm feeling a lot better, partially thanks to a work out this morning and having Monday and Tuesday morning off.

Since I was sick for a day and half I've not really been in the office this week, well before yesterday afternoon. When I came in yesterday, I wanted to help with the preparation for the "This is Redeemer" Evening as well as taking part in the evening itself. "This is Redeemer" is an evening meeting for those interested in becoming members of Redeemer. Three of the leadership team ran us through the church's DNA and what Redeemer International Church is all about. I really enjoyed it.

A Week Ago I Took This Photo

We also had the first youth group of this academic year on Sunday evening. I stayed in the city until it began because I didn't want to go home only to return the office in time for the leaders meeting before.

The youth group is large enough to be divided nicely into two groups (by age: 13-15 and 16-18 years old). I'm helping out with the younger group. They're a great bunch of young international teenagers who have been coming to Redeemer with their parents. Many of their parents work here in The Hague Den Haag with various organisations or government divisions and have been coming to Redeemer as it's one of the only English speaking churches in this city. Its a great privilege being able to be able to work with the youth group. It does bring back a lot of memories of when I was growing up and for many years my dad was also my youth leader (I did go to other youth groups, where other people were my youth leader).

Until next time.