Today marks the sixth month anniversary of my arrival in the United Kingdom through the YAGM program. I am officially halfway through my year of service. It feels very bizarre to think I have lived in another country for six months. I feel like I have learned a lot about the UK, myself, my faith, and what is important to me. Also the fact that I have six months more to go is also bizarre because I know if it is anything like the first half, I have a lot more growing, changing, and learning to do. It is weird to think I am neither closer to my arrival date in the UK or to my return date back home. I am really missing my family and familiar life at home but am also soaking up each and every day spent in a foreign environment.

There are days when I wake up and my everyday life here feels completely normal and ordinary. I feel used to the scenery around me, the old brick buildings, the double decker buses, the overcast grey skies, and the accents I constantly hear around me. Then there are days where I look out the window and go holy cow I am in London, England!! The accents are different, the side of the road we drive on is different, the lifestyles, currency, cooking, outlets, words, manners, worship styles, opinions, education system, history, and background are different.  Every day is either a day that I feel so incredibly blessed to have this opportunity and can never thank God enough for it or I wake up feeling alone,  inadequate, and very different from the people around me in my behaviors, ideas, and upbringing. This year hasn't quite been what I expected and it is taking me places I never quite expected to go but it has all been an incredible ride that is just hitting its stride point. I can’t wait to see what the rest of this year brings because I know for sure it won’t be like anything I've experienced before.

Well the Lenten season is upon us. As we delve into another season of Lent preparing ourselves for the resurrection of Christ, I wanted to share with you my upcoming Lenten journey. This past Sunday at Sunday school, we talked about Lent and what the Lenten season is really about. In England, Lent kicks off the day before Ash Wednesday with Shrove Tuesday. Some of you may be familiar with this holiday but for those who are not, it is traditionally the day people empty out their pantries and feast in preparation for the 40 day fast. In England, Shrove Tuesday is celebrated with making pancakes. In the States this day is also known as Fat Tuesday. In my Sunday school class, we continued talking about Lent by discussing what we can give up for Lent, how hard different items would be to give up, and what young people had given up in the past. To my surprise, when I asked the question why do we give things up for Lent, no one knew. So I explained to the youth that when we give things up for Lent whether we fast, give up sweets or other items, we do so not to make ourselves miserable or to challenge ourselves. We do it because when we remove something from our daily lives, we replace it with time spent with God. We use that time to pray, to read the Bible, and reflect of the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross.

This is something I have really taken to heart this year. For me, this Lenten season will be different from years past. Besides the obvious reasons that I am in a different country working in a church of a different denomination, Lent is different for me now because of how my faith has grown and how I realize now just how important my faith is to my life. Lent will also be different for me this year because for two weeks in March, I will be traveling with my host church to Israel. This year has been an incredible journey in my faith development and I feel immensely transformed by it. Being able to go to Israel after everything I have learned so far and am still learning is an incredible blessing. When I came to England in August I was aware that my host church would be going to Israel during my year of service, but I didn't give it much thought other than that. After spending time in my year of service however, and growing in my knowledge and understanding of my faith, the chance to visit the Holy Land with my host church became an impossible opportunity to miss. I am so thankful and so appreciative of this opportunity. I am also so appreciative of those back home who are supporting me throughout this journey. It has been an amazing experience so far in the UK discovering where God is taking me this year. I hope this Lenten season will also be a growing time for you and a reflection time for your relationship with God. I look forward to sharing my pilgrimage to Israel with you all when I return home and through upcoming blog posts and a feature in an upcoming newsletter. God Bless you all and Happy Lent.

Hello everyone! Now that I've managed to get the holiday pics up I wanted give an update on my 2015 so far. Well, before the new year began I went and visited two fellow YAGMs at their placements. Pics below, and then brought in the new year with beautiful sights, some mud, and many more new experiences. Already I feel like the new year has given me a fresh outlook on my time in England. Now that I have reached the curve in my year where I'm not just adjusting to life here, I finally feel that I am really embracing and absorbing what this year is teaching me. I feel so blessed to be on this journey and every day I feel that my relationship with God is growing stronger and stronger. (A quick note that some pictures were provided by Time for God and other volunteers and not just me).

Before new year during the holiday break I went and visited fellow YAGM volunteer Elise. We dog-sat a beautiful golden retriever and spent some much needed downtime catching up on movies.

Waiting for the train

A few days before new year I hopped over to see YAGM volunteer Ashlyn. 

Where Ashlyn lives in the beautiful country

We spent new years with Ashlyn's supervisor and his wife where we watched A Christmas Story and rang in the new year with Big Ben in London. It was a really bizarre and wonderful experience watching Big Ben chime in the new year with fireworks around the London Eye instead of the ball dropping in New York City. Also five hours ahead of everyone else at home. Definitely a new years I will always remember. 

Happy 2015!

Hiking up to Bunker hill the next day with Ashlyn

It was a little muddy. Luckily we ran into some members of Ashlyn's church who helped us down the hill.

Later in the month my host family took me to Kingston

where I knocked over a bunch of red telephone booths ;)

Another Saturday was spent with other TFG volunteers walking in the park where we met some curious new friends.

Who were very curious indeed.

Fellow TFG volunteers Nora, Aliescha, and Hanna and I at the Natural History Museum 

This month all the Time for God volunteers got together for our midyear conference in Wales

YAY TfG

All 88 volunteers together at last!

Our week included hiking up a snowy hill complete with fog

also snow angels

These are the moments I treasure. A game of spoons played with friends from at least eight different countries. What could be better than that!

there was more fun and fellowship

also worship

and workshops

At the end of the week we held a talent show where different countries and groups gave some wonderful performances

German group leading us in the German program theme song

also there was dancing..

our YAGM group performed church appropriate dance moves inspired by a YouTube video found by our fellow YAGM Justin. Here is the link if you want to check out the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6VjTwaWJEU 

#resurrection 

YAGM UK love #favorite dance move

This year Time for God also celebrated its 50th anniversary! 

Congrats TfG