HOLA

has it really been a month? this has to be some sort of record. how is it almost april already? let's take it back a little...

wow. so outreach was fantastic. i cannot even tell you. but i shall try. as i said, we went to morley near leeds. i will admit i had the ugliest attitude going into it. i didn’t really know my team & we were going to be doing some stuff i had never really done before. it’s so close to the end of school, so i just wanted to be with my friends. i totally would have deserved it if God had made outreach really difficult & awful. but being who he is, he didn’t. he used it to show his grace & love.

so, here’s a summary of our ten days in the centre of the universe…
our team of nine was split in two groups, so each group did separate things every day. we all did a lot. & it was great.

we arrived in morley on the friday & on saturday morning we were distributing christian calendars on the streets, courtesy of morley community church. it was freezing, but i survived & built some character. that night, we met with the church leaders & planned & prayed. sunday was church & practice for the bible exhibitions. what are bible exhibitions? let me tell you. a bible exhibition is where we went into schools, dressed as bible characters, & told the children our stories. we did the book of acts, so there was mary magdeline, peter, dorcas, phillip, saul/paul, lydia, & the philippian jailer {that began to sound like ‘the flippin’ jailer’ after while}. i was really nervous going into it because i’m not big on talking in front of people, but they were just kids & they thought it was great. i played mary magdeline & basically was dressed like a nun. it was terrific. if i remember correctly, i did at least ten bible exhibitions. at least. the man who led the bible exhibitions, john, is from oxford & works with an organization called open air mission. with him was his sidekick, allan, who is training with him & doing street preaching & the like. all the guys were obviously wearing robes for their costumes & we sort of had to train them to keep their knees together, if you know what i mean… it all ended up being so much fun & the kids loved it. we all had our lines that we said over & over. ‘dorcas’ was telling the story of how she got sick & asked the children if they had ever been sick. they responded ‘yes’. then she said, ‘well, i got very sick & then i died.’ it was so blunt. they probably all thought they were going to die. but her story ended with being raised back to life by peter. our ‘saul’ had what he called ‘the clever-o-meter’ which he used to show the children how clever he was in comparison to everyone else. there was so much banter & joking between the characters that went right over the students’ head, but it kept us thoroughly entertained. so, other than exhibitions, we did school assemblies & an after school club every day. it was the best thing being able to go into schools & say the name of Jesus. we did a few coffee mornings where went & talked to pensioners {elderly people} over coffee & tea. i was less good at that though. socializing with people i don’t know from adam isn’t really my forte. but i managed. the key is just to ask about their grandchildren. that’ll keep them talking for days. we did one youth night which ended up being nothing like we were expecting. we thought older, high school age kids. no. it was like ten 11-13 year old boys. & a few girls. they were bouncing off the walls. we had a small message but we mostly hung out & played games. it was so much fun though. we had to say goodbye to john & allan on friday morning. then that afternoon, we had to say goodbye to our kids from club. it’s the most heartbreaking thing having to tell a kid that you won’t be coming back. we all cried & prayed & cried after they all left. it was just a hard day. my line was, ‘if the club works, we’ll see them again in heaven’.  well, it’s true. i told allan i’d see him again in heaven if nowhere else. but he may come visit during spring school & he found us all on facebook, so i think the friendship will live on. on saturday, we had a formal tour of the town hall & lunch with the mayor. never have i seen such a welcome for a missions team. we got our picture in the paper! it’s a really small community… so, that was basically outreach. our host family was so nice & welcoming. we ate tea {dinner} at different  houses almost every night. there was always so much food being shoved in my face. fortunately, i didn’t have much of an appetite all week so i actually lost weight instead of packing it on. what a win. haha. we were really well taken care of. {i cannot believe i just ended a sentence with a preposition… embarrassing.} everyone at the church was so amazing & morley is honestly my new favourite place. i had to apologize to God for having such a bad attitude. it was life-changing & i’m so grateful. another fun fact, i literally packed for all the ten days in my carry-on & a book bag. holla.

speaking of being grateful, our lecturer a few weeks ago was talking about being grateful & it was one of my favourite lectures. all of his lectures were so applicable to daily life. he also talked about living daily with God & other amazing things that are not coming to mind right now… anyway, i’m pumped. i’ve been getting up early mornings. i’ve done bible reading, facebooking , walk-taking, journaling. i’m really impressed with myself. i legitimately got up at six one morning. friday before school ended was work day & everyone in the whole school was working. i think they made up jobs just to keep us all busy. i cleaned the outside window frames of the entire dining hall. there was music blasting & {since i’m trying to be a more grateful person} it was delightful to spend time in the great outdoors, getting fresh air.

we had our very last family night the other week. we had chocolate fondue & we painted easter eggs. not boiled eggs though. no. these were raw, so we punched holes in the top & bottom & we blew the egg out of the shell. it was difficult & a little gross but it was fun. we also listened to & sang disney songs. i love my family group so much & i’m sad that we are no longer together.

we had our final banquet before school ended. we had dinner & received our certificates. rob whittaker was standing up front holding a fake certificate so that we could pose like he was presenting it to us. i’m sure pictures will be posted at some point.

goodbyes were the hardest thing of my life. leaving home was hard but i knew i would be coming back to everybody. people left on a coach on the night of the fifteenth & there were insane amounts of tears. it was the worst. the next morning, people were all leaving at different times so there were hourly goodbyes. stab me in the heart.

eight of us left by train to liverpool.  we got there midday & walked around & shopped. our flight wasn’t ‘til early the next morning so we spent the night in the john lennon airport. we flew out at 6:30.  we got to dublin & we didn’t actually have anywhere to go. our hostel couldn’t take us until the next day. jamie had booked herself a hotel, so we stored our stuff there & went walking around for a while. there was a st. paddy’s day parade but we couldn’t really see it because the streets were crazy crowded. we went back to her hotel room & took a group nap for a few hours then we got ready & went out. dublin on st. paddy’s day isn’t really as crazy as it sounds. yes, there were a lot of people. yes, most everyone was drinking. but there were eight of us, two being boys. we were quite safe. we went to a really nice pub for dinner  then we all crashed in jamie’s hotel room that night. the next day, we went to our hostel & stored our luggage & got food from the market. we had a picnic outside & were joined by a stray dog that tried to steal our food. david named him jobin. {you will get this reference if you’ve seen i love you man. if not, don’t worry about it} then we went into town & saw nothing in particular. but it was fun. we met up with some friends from school that evening & finally checked into our hostel. it was seriously so nice. & only nine euro a night. i don’t know how that is possible. we just hung out there for the night. five other capernwrayers were staying there too. it’s an unbreakable bond, my friends. the next day, four of us girls went on a day tour of ireland. we literally drove to the other side of the country on a bus, making stops at different sites along the way. we ended up at the cliffs of moher, which is where something from harry potter was filmed. it was unreal. legitimately one of the most beautiful things i’ve ever seen.  it was a long day & our tour guide had a vulgar sense of humour but it was a great experience. we hung out at our hostel that night & talked to some guys who had been attending bible school in italy.

we flew out to barcelona the next day after wandering around dublin some more. we got here at night & we had to take a train to the town in which we’re staying. i honestly never thought we would get here. mainly i was unsure that the house existed. we’re renting it from a man called vladimir who required a 100% down payment. call me paranoid but it seemed a little fishy to me. we had to walk to it from the train station & i don’t know how we found it. everyone else was already there, so there was screaming & excitement when we arrived. i was thrilled to see everyone but even more thrilled that the house wasn’t a scam. there are eighteen of us & two more will be coming later on. we spent first day here relaxing & doing absolutely nothing. we all bought groceries for ourselves. we do our own breakfast & lunch then we all takes turns making dinner. it works quite well. it’s literally a five minute walk to the beach. there was a lot of rain for a while so that was a bit of a downer. the weather has since gotten better though. we’re all running around in dresses & the locals are still bundled up like it’s mid-winter. we checked out the beach & the town. it’s so beautiful here. it can’t believe it’s all real. we went into barcelona yesterday. it’s a relatively short train ride there. we saw the spanish version of the arc de triomf. who knew there was another? i love being in spain & being able to understand some of what’s going on with my high school spanish. we saw the something sagrada familia basilica. just our luck, it’s under mass amounts of construction but it was still awe-inspiring. we had some troubles finding our way home. we finally managed to get on the right train. it was an adventure.

but let me tell you more about our house. it is huge. two people to each bedroom. that equals ten bedrooms. you with me? main floor is the living room area, the kitchen, dining area & a few bedrooms.  the two floors above are just bedrooms & bathrooms. downstairs is a sitting area with a pool table, a squash court, a wine cellar, & a sauna. & out front is a pool. like, WHAT? it’s like a dream.

so, that’s it so far. i’ll try to keep you better updated from now on. we’re here spain until the 27^th then it’s off to italy. keep us in your prayers as we encounter new adventures.

okay, so i am seriously so pumped for spring school. it’ll be grand. i love you all more than air, but i’m not ready to go home quite yet. God has been teaching me more in the last month than ever before. there’s something to be said for actually trying to listen when God speaks to you. he’s the very best.

the end.