Tea Cups and Testament

Hello All! Another wonderful few weeks have passed since my last blog. So much is happening each and everyday and time is passing so quickly that before I realized it, another few weeks have passed since my last blog post! Ahh!

So, I have been working at my placement for three weeks now, with one week in the middle for my TFG conference. So in total, I have been here in the UK for a little over a month now. Actually a month and a half. So, to recap some highlights of my first six weeks in London, England....Since landing in London 6 weeks ago, I have seen amazing famous monuments, museums, and churches of London such as Big Ben, Tower Bridge, The London Eye, The British Museum, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace. I have moved to South London to prepare for my placement, met many wonderful people, and started working at St. James Anglican Church. In my placement, I started working with children and young adults teaching stories from the Bible and settling into my role in each group. I left for a week to attend my Time for God conference in North London where I met other wonderful TFG volunteers and learned some great lessons about what to expect for the road ahead. Upon my return, I moved into my permanent residence for the year and have started getting to know my fabulous host family who have been some of friendliest, kindhearted people I have ever met. I have also started learning about the British culture and some of the different words Brits use. Some of the words I've learned include creche for nursery, serviette for napkin, flapjacks here are an oat bar not a pancake, full stop for period, and the word cheeky, used like we would use ornery to describe an amusing mischievous child. And I have also started regularly using some more well known British words like rubbish, well done, jumper, lift, loo/toilet, lovely and so on. I have tried some new British foods as well,such as Ribena (juice drink), Gooseberry yogurt, the fruit flavor Blackcurrant , Chocolate Digestives (popular cookie), Lancashire cheese, and using a French Press to make coffee. (Food images below).

In the following weeks since my last post, I have continued work at my placement at St. James and am getting to know the adorable kids I work with each week. I unfortunately will not be able to share with you any pictures of the kids I work with since British law forbids photos of children to be posted on the internet without written consent from their parents, but I will still be allowed to take photos throughout the year so I can keep memories of my time with the kids for when I get home.

So, during each week I work with a variety of age groups helping to lead an activity and Bible story. The kids that come to the groups are from the surrounding community and don't regularly go to church. Some of the children attend one of our four churches in the area that work together, but the rest come strictly to the weekly groups. These groups allow both parents and kids to come to an environment where they are accepted for who they are, without the pressure of having to attend church, and can receive the message of God and the Bible. This helps people in the community to build a relationship with the church without having to decide to regularly attend church on Sundays or adopt the beliefs of a specific denomination in order to receive the word of God. This type of evangelism is one I have come to like very much since it allows for individuals to decide to attend church in their own time, without pressure, and decreases the amount of intimidation some might feel when thinking about going or returning to a church setting.

In the last two weeks we have been teaching the kids the story Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat and David and Goliath. It has been a really nice experience for me to teach these Bible stories to the kids because they were the same stories I grew up with and haven't heard for a long time. It has been a very refreshing experience to go back and look at these Bible stories that were my first exposure to God and the Bible and see them through the eyes of an adult and how these stories still bring great understanding of God's love that can be applied to any person at any age.

I have also had the chance to get out and explore London with my new friend Nora from Hungary. This past Saturday, we went to a place in northern London called Camden Town. For all the shopaholics out there this is the place for you! If you like unique, options, bargains, trying new things, and seeing beautiful places look no further than Camden Town and its endless shops and beautiful scenery. I explored this town one Saturday from ten in the morning until ten at night and still couldn't see everything there was to see. A great experience and great place to have lunch, if I do say so myself :). Pictures below and more blog posts to come.

Ribena juice drink. Comes in concentrate so you just pour out a little then dilute with water. A nice way to get more for your money I think.

Blackcurrant. Very popular fruit flavor here

Gooseberry is also very good. Haven't had an actual Gooseberry yet but the yogurt is good.

Lancashire cheese is my new favorite. It's like a more mild mozzarella that is dryer and crumblier. Hmm good.

Chocolate Digestives. Not a specific dietary assistant, just the name of this delicious cookie that apparently American's tend to love.

This is how I've been making my coffee. This is a rather large French Press. You can get smaller ones for just one cup of coffee but it's a fun and new experience for me and my coffee drinking.

This is the must have appliance in every house hold in the UK. Like a coffee maker but it only boils water. Fast and easy way to get hot water for anything....thinking I may need one when I get home for all the tea I will be drinking. ;)

Welcome to Camden Lock

Don't worry, these aren't all the shops

just a few on the way

Camden Lock (also Starbucks to the left :))

This made me chuckle

Bobbies

Camden Lock. My other favorite thing that ends with Lock. (First being Sherlock Holmes the TV show that my host family has so deviously gotten me addicted to)

What a lovely place for some lunch

and coffee

Lion Ladayni

Grrr

So much artwork everywhere!!

This little place lets you get your feet pedicured by little dead skin eating fishees for only 10 pounds. That's one we skipped today but we may be back ;)

So many cool things to look at everywhere

Want

This is just the food area

Market people

Pretty

All the shops are in here

Sadly no real horses though

Not sure of the face I'm making in this pic but we finally got a picture with a palace guard! Yay!

Lovely spot for dinner

Yay dinner at Camden Lock!

Hello everyone! My apologies for taking so long to write a post. I have been very busy learning about my new community and church in London. I hope all of you are well. It has been a great few weeks since I last wrote. Since my last post, I have moved to my new host community, started working at my volunteer placement at St. James Anglican Church, and am now at my first Time for God conference of the year. After about a week and a half filled with arriving in the country, sightseeing, and getting acclimated to the country, I moved to South London where I have been staying with a lovely couple from the church who have been gracious enough to let me eat, sleep, and carry on in their house for the last two weeks. So far, these two have put up with my increasing appetite at mealtimes (and throughout the day), my continuous questions about life in the UK, my ceaseless stories about life in America, my childlike enthusiasm for everything British, and my periodic melancholy when missing my family.

In my first week with my temporary host family, my second week in the UK, I was shown around the community and church where I would be living, I was introduced to many people, and got my affairs in order for the coming year. I was introduced to typical British foods and public transportation, as well as BBC news and British slang words. I got the chance to receive a locals tour of Central London and day trip to the southern coast of England.

In my second week at my placement, third week in the UK, I started working at my placement and getting acquainted with the volunteers and age groups I would be working with this year. I met even more wonderful people, and began to become apart of the great youth work and community outreach this church is doing in it's community. St. James is certainly a great church with it's head in the right direction when it comes to friendship/servant style evangelism and inclusion of all people in the love of Christ.

In my fourth week in the UK, I left my placement to attend the Time for God (my volunteer program in the UK) conference in Northern London where I met other volunteers from around the world including Hungary, Germany, Sweden, and Russia. Here, I learned about the challenges and blessings that come with living in a foreign culture, types of churches and spirituality in the UK, how to be a youth worker in the UK, and much more. Within four days, I have begun to develop friendships that I know will last a lifetime. The people in the Time for God program, regardless of where they come from in the world, are a unique group of people who share an indescribable bond that becomes recognizable upon introduction to one another. A phenomenal experience if I do say so myself.

This Sunday, I will have been in the UK for one month. It has only been 31 day but my goodness how my life has changed already. I have met so many wonderful people that have only begun to touch my life the way they undoubtedly will this year. I have seen and experienced so much of London and England but haven't even begun to tap into the vastness of this gorgeous, ancient country. I have also discovered so much of myself in this short period of time and have renewed a lost connection with God that is already beginning to change my life. I can't imagine where this year is going to take me, only that it is going to take me to unexpected and wonderful places. This is really just proof that when you put your life in God's hands and really let him take the lead and trust where he tells you to go, amazing things will happen. Truly!

I hope that as I get a little more settled and can find a set time each week to share my experiences with you, I won't go as long a time between posts. I have so much to share and I hope that time and typing will allow me to do that. Until then though, just know friends and family that God has put me on an amazing path that is changing the entire foundation of who I am for the better. Below are some pictures from the above mentioned events.

My new temporary accommodations

My new kitty friend

A locals tour of London

Avocado Toast..mmhmmm.

Bubbly :)

Delicious Belgium spread. Tastes like honey and cinnamon graham crackers.

How Italians do a Mocha!

Oh that building..that's just where Charles Dickens lived...

Market in Covent Garden in London

Covent Garden

Chinatown

I took this picture for my friend Nick Taylor who performed in this play in the States...who knew it was that popular!

The famous Carnaby Street

A morning overlooking the South Coast of England/English Channel. It's there I promise.

Representing the neon.

Gorgeous scenery

These hills are called the Seven Sisters. They are a continuation of the White Cliffs of Dover. Dover is the closest point in the English Channel to France. The hills are white because they are made out of a chalky substance.

Beautiful.

A better view later on in the day.

Decided to go for a nice, soft, grassy walk.

Fanciest Starbucks I've ever seen...

Watching the Promenades on TV

On a bus into London for evening worship

A little treat after evening service...I could get used to this!

In a shop called Cool Britannia

London...

...at night

TFG conference time!

Oh you see that building over there that looks like Lara Crofts house...that's just our conference center...

You really can't get anymore British than this!

Time for God (TFG) love

Sitting down for afternoon tea (a very fancy and beloved event in England). Countries represented in this picture...England, Russia, Sweden, Hungary, and America (me).