love. peace. simplicity.

late night reflection.

2009-11-06T06:07:00.004Z

Tonight I randomly got on my blog and realized that I haven't written anything since Wales. I hoped that after a summer of blogging, once I got back to the states I would write more regularly but then school happened. Either way, I haven't written since August and I decided tonight before I went to bed I would write a little bit. The fall semester of Senior year has been eventful to say the least. I have been blessed with a wonderful group of roommates in my apartment this year. 8 girls in total and it is so peaceful. I never thought the two could go together but my apartment is a living proof. Anyway, classes are harder than ever but I am being challenged each and every day and that is truly a blessing. Also, after long and tedious planning, over fall break I finally made it to Chicago even though at some points I started to doubt if it would even happen. For 3 years now I have been able to go visit Morgan over fall break and thankfully Senior year was no different. The other girls were not with me this time, but I really enjoyed having time with Morgan by myself. I haven't even realized that I haven't spent time alone with Morgan since Freshman year. Needless to say it was long overdue and I enjoyed every moment of it. Hopefully I will see Morgan again in January when she comes to Nashville. Even though she transferred to Colombia, different schools and different cities cannot keep up apart and for that I am so thankful.

Tonight I am in my room where I am usually accompanied by my roommate Kyla, but unfortunately her Grandfather passed away a few days ago and she left today to go home for the funeral. Please keep her and her family in your prayers. I was talking to Ashley tonight, my other roommate, and told her that I don't know how I am going to sleep tonight because sadly I have found that I have a hard time falling asleep if Kyla isn't in the room. I know some of you may be laughing to yourself and might even be thinking, how old are you Courtney... you can't even sleep in a room by yourself?!? However, that's not it at all. Last year I had a room to myself as a RA and this year I have gone back to having a roommate and I have realized how much I love the company. I can't sleep well without Kyla here because it doesn't seem complete. The room feels empty when she is gone and in result of this I start to feel a little more empty inside without her here. I love my community in which I live and despite the extremely hard assignments and lack of sleep, I want to stay exactly where I am at this moment.

a summer to remember

2009-08-13T12:23:00.003+01:00

As I sit here the day before my flight back to the states I am in awe at how fast the summer has flown by. As I reflect on all the activities that took place and the relationships that have deepened over this period of time I realize it truly has been a summer to remember. Through all my experiences here I have been able to grow not only as an individual but I have been able to experience things that will prepare me for my own ministry one day soon.

This afternoon I had my last kids' event and throughout this week each day I had to tell a group of kids goodbye. I hate saying goodbyes. It seems so definite. Instead, I'd rather just say "see you soon." Now for some of you reading this the difference may not be significant but for me right now it is everything. I am not sure when I will be able to come to Newport again, especially for this amount of stay, so the uncertainty of how long it will be before I can come again makes leaving tomorrow even harder. To make this leave easier I'd rather think of seeing everyone soon rather than a definite goodbye.

This summer has been incredible and I have learned so much throughout my time here. None of this could have been possible without any of you and I thank you for that. Your loving support has been such a blessing and I am thankful to have such loving friends and family who will stand beside me through whatever I do. Thank you for everything you do.

eventful week

2009-08-05T22:35:00.003+01:00

A week and a half has passed since I have been able to post. Since there have been so many things going on, unfortunately I haven't been able to post as frequently as I would like. Last week Casey became ill and was hospitalized for a few days. She is out of the hospital now and is doing very well. Her condition was not serious, however, she was very miserable and very sick so it has been great having her well again. Also, my flat flooded last week and I was forced to move rooms. Thankfully nothing was ruined so God definitely had a hand in keeping everyone's belongings secure in my flat.

Since Paul was tending Casey in the hospital, I took over the events last week and ran them when he was absent. We have been having three extra events for the kids to participate in as well as the usual events each week. Last week The Waves participated in a Craft Day where they came to the church building and made crafts that we had organized for them to make. We had four different crafts. One was a jewel box that they could make, another was decorating a paper mask, making a bracelet, and forming objects with clay. This event was very enjoyable. The Tornadoes event for the week was canceled until the following week due to Casey being hospitalized and The Fire had a foosball tournament. This week The Tornadoes had a water balloon fight on Monday. Tuesday The Tornadoes made up their swimming day from last week. Today The Fire went swimming and tomorrow The Waves have a day at the park. These events have been very successful. It has been so wonderful to see the kids several times throughout the week. This has strengthen the relationships that have been created and has reinforced what the church is trying to do for this community.

My time here is getting shorter while the events keep on coming. I am trying to fit in as much as I can for the kids while I am here and so far I have been successful in doing that!

summer elements

2009-07-27T18:26:00.006+01:00

Summer Elements was incredible! Monday and Tuesday we had 33 kids come. Wednesday and Thursday we had 35 kids come and Friday we had 34 kids come. 14 kids came who we had never come into contact with before. The theme for this year's Summer Elements was Rock Band. Each morning we had a different band open up for the main band. The opener bands would lead VBS songs for the kids to participate in and then the main band would perform a skit having to do with the lesson for the day. On Monday our lesson came from Matthew 19:13-15, Jesus inviting the children to come to Him. Tuesday our lesson came from 1 Samuel 3:1-10, God calling Samuel. Wednesday our lesson came from John 6:5-11, Jesus turning the 5 loaves and 2 fish into enough food to feed multitudes. Thursday our lesson came from Exodus 2:4-9, Miram looking after her baby brother. Finally, Friday our lesson came from 2 King 22:1-1, Josiah as a young king. Each of these lessons focused on how children can do great things for God. In each of these stories young children were used by God to carry out His purpose. Our lesson for the kids was that they can do anything with God on their side; it does not matter what their age is.

The kids registered when they came in each morning then had several crafts they could work on until registration was over and then everyone would participate with the opener band and sing songs then sit and watch the skit from the main band. Afterwards, the kids would split up into their groups. Each group would start in a specific station then rotate when the time was up. The 4 stations were crafts, workbooks, documentary, and games. They received snacks during their game station.

This year since the theme was Rock Band, one of the stations was documentary where the kids would actually create and film their own documentary of their band God's Rockers. On Friday night we had a Wammy’s Award where we awarded the kids who behaved the best in each station, brought the most friends, had the most unique talent, and had the best band. During the week the kids we able to get on stage and perform their talents to compete for those awards. During the Wammy’s Award we showed the documentary that the kids had been working on during the week. After the awards were over we had a barbecue where everyone was invited to stay. We had anywhere from 110-120 people come to the Wammy’s Award and stay for the barbecue. This was a fantastic opportunity for us to reach the community and be able to sit and talk to them about their kids and everything we did this week.

With the help of 9 people from Campus View, 3 people from Lipscomb, and 9 people from Newport we were able to have a successful Holiday Bible Club. These next few weeks we have a wonderful opportunity to keep the momentum up after our Summer Elements and keep activities planned where we can continue to build those relationships with the kids and their parents. We have three extra activities planned each week until I leave to go back to the states. I am looking forward to what these next few weeks will bring and I am so thankful for God and His amazing power. None of this would have been possible without Him.

the groups have arrived

2009-07-19T22:46:00.003+01:00

The groups from America are here! The Campus View group arrived on Friday and the Lipscomb group arrived on Saturday. We spent the weekend sight seeing, binding workbooks, and running The Fire. Sunday after worship we spent the entire day getting the building ready for HBC which starts tomorrow! After a long and tiring day, everything is set up and ready to go tomorrow. I am really looking forward to our week long event. We've already had nine people contact us who we haven't reached before to register their kids for HBC. This is extremely exciting because we are reaching out and extending God's love to all those in the community. This won't be a long post tonight but I will keep everyone updated on how HBC goes throughout the week. Hope all is going well. Please keep the kids we come into contact with and their families in your prayers as well as all the volunteers.

getting ready for the groups to arrive

2009-07-16T17:26:00.001+01:00

Tuesday and Wednesday I continued to get everything ready for Summer Elements which starts next Monday. The workbooks are printed and ready for binding which the Campus View group is going to help assemble when they get here on Friday. I also continued to plan my lesson and get my crafts ready for Parents’ Day Off on Thursday.

The Waves and The Tornadoes went very well this week. The numbers have been smaller the past two weeks due to school events but this week we had the lowest number that we have had all summer for The Tornadoes. Nine came to The Waves while six came to The Tornadoes. Honestly, I really enjoyed the smaller number this week because it gave me an opportunity to get to know the six girls that came a lot better. One of the girls, Chloe, even taught me how to speak a little Welsh! :) Friday, the kids get out of school and I am very excited about it because I will then be able to have the opportunity to see them even more and continue to build those relationships.

Wednesday, Paul, David, and I finished delivering the Summer Elements flyers which was the last thing we needed to accomplish before the Campus View and Lipscomb group arrive on Friday. Everything is organized, planned, and running on schedule. We are excited and ready for the groups to arrive to kick off our Summer Elements!

Thursday was the first day for my Parents’ Day Off event. Five kids came ranging from 11 months-3 years old. Since there is such a wide age span between the kids it makes it a little more challenging to come up with crafts and activities that is age appropriate for each child. The lesson today was on how God made everything in the world. I had flowers, leaves, and rocks to demonstrate to the kids what God created. The younger kids were assisted by either their parents or volunteers from the church. I allowed the older kids to handle the different pieces that God created. Then the kids glued the sun, the moon, and the stars onto black construction paper creating their own sky. The rest of the time the kids colored creation coloring sheets and played with the toys. The oldest girl who comes is Krystina and a few weeks ago her mom was talking to me about how the Parents’ Day Off event would be much better for someone her age than just the normal Bubbles event because she will be able to work on activities that are planned and suited for her age. Krystina loves coming to The Bubbles, she comes every week, but because Krystina is older than the other kids she doesn’t have the opportunity to do activities that are challenging enough for her. The Parents’ Day Off event was definitely a great match for Krystina as well as the other kids. I am thoroughly pleased with the result for the first week and I am looking forward to the other two times when Parents’ Day Off can keep improving.

starting the week off right

2009-07-13T16:45:00.002+01:00

This weekend Paul’s mum and step dad came down to come visit. I haven’t seen them since Casey and Paul’s wedding so it was very kind of them to take a trip down while I was here to see me and visit Paul and Casey. Even though it was a rainy Saturday we made the most of it in Bristol, England looking around the new shopping area there called Cabot Circus. This was not my first visit there but it was Debbie's and Stephen’s.

Sunday morning was rainy but it turned out to be a beautiful day overall. Church went really well. I had 9 girls come to Sunday morning class. This is the most I have had all summer! We discussed God’s love for us and how because God loves us, we need to show others our love and God’s love for them. Each week I spend a few minutes reviewing what we previously learned the week before. This week I was very impressed by how much the kids remembered about our lesson the previous week. It was encouraging to see how well they listened as well as applied it to their week. Each class I give them a goal for the week. This week their goal is to show others God’s love by reaching out and helping others. This next Sunday they will be asked to share ways they helped others throughout the week.

After worship, Casey, Paul, Debbie, Stephen, David (a man from the congregation), and I were invited over to the Winstanley’s (a family from the congregation) house for lunch. Benji, Casey and Paul’s dog, joined us. I really enjoyed the relaxing afternoon spending time with everyone and watching everyone play with Benji. Later that evening, I came back to Paul and Casey’s house to talk to my family on the phone and webcam. Even though, a lot of my family members were busy other places, it was really great to talk to my mom. This past week they went on vacation so it has been over two weeks since I last talked to them. Since I haven’t had the opportunity to be home much since last December, it really makes me appreciate the telephone.

Today has been another rainy day. Normally, rainy days aren’t too bad once I’ve walked to the office because I stay inside most of the day but today Paul and I needed to deliver more flyers for our Holiday Bible Club called Summer Elements. The weather put an end to that idea pretty quickly so Paul and I will make up the lost day probably tomorrow. Despite the change of tasks, I had a productive day by completing the workbooks to use during Summer Elements, prepared my lesson for next Sunday, organized the kids work packets for during church, cleaned the building, and set up for The Waves and The Tornadoes. Most of the time, Mondays are slower days for me but this week I have to get everything done early so we will be prepared for the groups to come. So far everything is right on schedule which I am very thankful for!

upcoming events

2009-07-09T17:35:00.001+01:00

In one week, the Campus View group from Athens, Georgia will be arriving to help with our Holiday Bible Club, what we call VBS in the states. For the past two weeks Paul and I have been making sure everything is in order before they arrive. This will be the first year that Newport has taken on the responsibility of planning all the material used for HBC. Normally, the Lipscomb group, who comes, supplies the material but members from the church have stepped up and taken this responsibility on their own. This is a huge step forward for the Newport congregation. The Lipscomb group is still coming, a few days after the Campus View group gets here. Both groups will be a tremendous help running our HBC. Since Newport does not have the man power to run HBC by themselves, they are very thankful for the support and help that the other two groups bring.

Sam, a member of Newport, has created the booklets that will be used for HBC. He has done a fantastic job with it so there wasn’t much for me to do with them but to add in any last minute details. Paul and I will bind the booklets and get them ready to be used. We also are building the stage set that will be used for HBC.

Not only do we have the two groups arrival and HBC to look forward to, but next Thursday will be my first Parents’ Day Off event. I have been putting together ideas and getting my lesson and materials ready. It will be great! So needless to say there is a lot going on here. The usual events at night have been going well and my days are being spent planning the upcoming events and anxiously waiting for all the planning to pay off!

community

2009-07-08T17:12:00.003+01:00

I have been in Newport for 5 ½ weeks. Since I have been here, I have organized and run kid events, planned for upcoming events, and spread information to our neighbors on what we are doing at the church. Sunday, a first happened to me here. As you already know, I am staying in a flat that is about a 25 minute walk away from the church building. What I didn’t explain fully is that I have my own room and bathroom but I share the kitchen and living area with a few flatmates. Two of my flatmates are from China, one from Nigeria, and the other is from Saudi Arabia. They are all studying in Newport.

Mutaz is from Saudi Arabia, studying English as a second language. Although, I am not in my flat very often I have had the opportunity to have several conversations with him. These conversations consist of sharing information about our families, lives back home, and even our religious and cultural views. Since he is studying English I have had opportunities to help him better understand English simply by our communication. Saturday, Mutaz and I began to discuss his religious views as a Muslim and mine as a Christian. At the time, I was looking over my lesson for Sunday morning class and he asked what I was doing. I told him about my class and he asked what I was reading. I told him it was the Bible. He informed me that he had never seen a Bible before so I offered him mine if he wanted to take a look. He already knew I was working with the kids so we continued to talk about that and by the end of our conversation I invited him to church the next morning.

He is searching for community since he is away from home, and because I am from a large family, I can definitely relate to him and the importance of community when you are away from loved ones. Once a month after worship the church has a fellowship meal that everyone is invited to attend. I originally asked Mutaz if he wanted to attend the fellowship meal so he could get to know more people in the Newport community and he said he would want to go. I gave him directions to the building and printed out a map for him to use but by the end of our conversation I could still tell he was confused on how to get there so I asked him if he just wanted to go to the building with me in the morning. He said yes! I was ecstatic to have him as my guest. It was the first time Mutaz had attended a church service, since he attends mosque. Mutaz was able to meet everyone from the church and experience communion as we sat together eating the meal that was provided.

I can’t remember a time that I have been so happy and thankful for the opportunities God presents. I am learning so much from Mutaz and I am looking forward to the future conversations that we will have. My worldview is being broadened each and every day and I am very thankful for that. I have always been told that knowledge is a gift and it is one that you should always strive to receive. For me, I want to take advantage of opportunities that are presented where I can learn from someone in another culture. The world is a giant place and we are all God’s wonderful creatures. God created us for community and when we all come together to commune I believe we are fully embracing the image of God.

productive

2009-07-03T20:03:00.003+01:00

Work in the office has been very productive. Wednesday Paul and I got ahead of schedule on what we need to have gotten done by this point which is always a great feeling so spent the end of the afternoon planning for the upcoming events.

Thursday we set up for The Bubbles and had three kids attend. I really enjoy this time when I get to play with the toddlers. Now that I have been around them for a few weeks they are starting to get comfortable with me. Gracie especially has warmed up to me. As soon as she came through the door she reached out her arms for me to pick her up. Obviously I was ecstatic. I also got to have another great conversation with Gracie's mom. Each week is another opportunity to open our communication and build a relationship. It is truly a blessing.

After The Bubbles, I had a very productive afternoon. I made cards for the kids who haven't attended The Waves or The Tornadoes in a while then Paul and I delivered the cards to their houses. Afterwards, we watered the flowers in the planters that the kids planted last weekend. The weather has been sunny and warm so the flowers needed the water. I came back to the office and organized the kids packets for church on Sunday. The packets are used during worship for them to have activities to work on during worship. Each week I organize the packets to cover the same material our Sunday class covers. This is good because it is consistant for the kids and it reiterates what I just taught them in class ten minutes before worship starts.

Friday I spent the morning planning my lesson for Sunday class and then Paul and I delivered The Bubbles flyers to a new area. Each time Paul and I deliver flyers we target about 400 houses per area. This is our third area to cover since I have been here so needless to say we are spreading the word about the parent and toddler group. Last week after we delivered the flyers we had great feedback from the interested adults who brought their children so we will have to see what next week will look like.

Once we got back to the building Colin (a man from the church) and I set up for The Fire while Paul and David (another man from the church) put the gutters up on the building. The past three weeks at The Fire we have consistantly had three teens come. Each time Kayleigh consistantly attends while the other two change from week to week. I am hoping that once the kids get out of school The Fire numbers will come up again. We are going to have specific activites planned for just The Fire outside the usual Friday night event so it will be great to get the others who haven't been here in a while involved.

My weekend will be a relaxing one which I am thoroughly looking forward to. Saturday night I have been invited to have dinner with a family from the church. Everyone here has been very welcoming and I am greatful for everyone's hospitality, espcially Paul and Casey's. I have really enjoyed being here with them. Pizza just arrived so I will stop writing for now and eat! :) I hope everyone has a relaxing weekend and a safe one if the 4th invites you to travel. Thanks for reading as always and your continuous support.

work experience

2009-06-30T21:12:00.004+01:00

As most of you already know my major at Lipscomb is Bible: Emphasis in Children's and Youth Ministry. I plan to get my masters in Special Education and my teaching license through my masters program. Since Casey is teaching at a school in England, we decided it would be a great experience for me to go to work with her and sit in on some of her classes so Monday we headed off to school together. I started off the day observing Casey's 6th grade English class. They were discussing Lady of Shalott and preparing for their essay that they are going to have to write at the end of the week. After that class I sat in on another teacher's class. She also is an English teacher who teaches SEN kids. SEN stands for Special Education Needs. The students in the class were mostly students with learning disabilities rather than students with mental disabilities so it is different than what I want to do but it was a great experience to sit in on the class and work with some of the students as they worked on their classwork. The next class I observed was a Religious Education class. In the states only private schools are allowed to teach religion in schools but for the UK schools are allowed to teach relgion. The students learn about all different kinds of religions throughout their course, but during the class that I observed they were discussing communities and their effects. The rest of the day I sat in on Casey's classes. Her 5th period class was also 6th graders who were preparing for their assembly on Wednesday. The assembly is for all the 6th graders and Casey's class will be performing a skit they wrote and directed. Their skit is on the American Revolution. I was able to watch their final pratice and give them pointers on how to improve their performances. The last class was Casey's 11th grade class. The students spent their period preparing for their class debate that will take place on Wednesday. It was very beneficial to observe the classes and it was great to see Casey do what she loves. I am very proud of her and her accomplishments. I am thankful that she had the idea for me to go to school with her and observe classes because I was given the opportunity to see another aspect of her life here. Being able to come and work with Newport is such a blessing because it is difficult not to see Paul and Casey very often, but being able to know and experience the life that they live here with them makes the difficulty of not seeing them much lessen.

Today, I got back to working at the office. Paul and I passed out more flyers today. This time the flyer was advertizing Parents' Day Off. Since we have The Bubbles program every Thursday, I decided it would be very beneficial to allow the parents a break while we took care of their kids for the morning. There are several programs like this in the states but it is not common here. I have already had great feedback from some of the moms at The Bubbles and how they are looking forward to this event. We will have 3 Parents' Day Off, they will be on July 16th, July 30th, and August 13th. The other Thursdays will be the original Bubbles program. For the Parents' Day Off we will have a bible lesson, crafts, and games for the kids to participate in. The parents are more than welcome to stay of course but these three dates they will have the opportunity to take care of errands if they wish to. I also set up the auditorium for The Waves and The Tornadoes and spent time reading.

Tonight we had ten attend The Waves. Since I have been able to see the kids over the past weeks, I am starting to get to know them better every time they come. I am looking forward to when they get out of school so we can do more activities together and the bond can strengthen. At The Tornadoes 21 kids came. I provided the devotional for both groups tonight. The devotional was based on Psalm 15:1-2 and how God wants us to speak everything in truth. We discussed cheating and how God is not pleased when we cheat. The devotional went well in both groups and I received a good amount of feedback from The Tornadoes about this topic. Afterwards we played games with both The Waves and The Tornadoes. Each group went very well tonight. By Tuesday night I am always very tired but each Tuesday I look forward to seeing the kids again.

flowers

2009-06-28T14:44:00.009+01:00

Planting the planters on Saturday afternoon was a great success. We had 17 kids and 9 adults come to help. Earlier in the week, the weather was predicted to rain but thankfully God allowed our weather to be beautiful so that we could get the job done. There were 4 planters that needed to get planted so we split up in teams. My group worked on Bond St. while others worked close by at their planters in the neighborhood. It was great watching the kids get involved. They were very proud of their work and even learned a little about how to plant flowers. Lauren, one of the kids in my group, said to me after we were finished, "Hey this was a lot more fun than I thought it would be!" I replied, "Of course it was!" I was so pleased to hear that from her and thrilled about how many kids were interested in helping their community. It truly was a beautiful sight to see. The neighborhood is now brighter with the flowers planted and adults who live nearby inquired what we were doing. We informed them that the kids desire to make the neighborhood a better place to live. The adults were surprised and pleased to see such good work being done.

Sunday morning I had 7 kids come to class. We talked about how we do not have to earn God's love, instead God gives us His love freely because He loves us. I am constantly learning from these kids and how best to reach them in ways they will understand. I am used to teaching children who have been raised in the church but teaching these kids is completely different. Their Bible knowledge is very limited and they do not understand the so called "church language". It has been a challenge to reach them but each week I see an improvement. The improvement is more so in my knowledge of how best to reach these kids, than with their improvement of attendance. These kids choose to come all by themselves. Most of them wake up on their own to come to class and worship. They want to be there and choose to come accordingly. It is wonderful to see this. I am constantly praying that God will open my eyes and show me ways to communicate to them where what I say makes sense. Please keep this in your prayers as well. I am learning constantly from these kids and want to continue to look for ways on how to present God's message to them where they can fully understand. Thank you for keeping Newport in your prayers. Everyone deserves the opportunity to hear God's word and these kids truly are seeking Him out.

responses

2009-06-26T19:39:00.003+01:00

This week we have seen progress with the responses to The Bubbles. Paul and I recently sent out flyers to another section of the neighborhood and three new parents and their kids attended The Bubbles on Thursday. They received the flyer and chose to come. Our total numbers of toddlers for The Bubbles was seven. The largest number of responses so far. Also, tonight during The Fire another parent came by asking about The Bubbles. It is really encouraging seeing how many families are interested in our groups that are available. These groups serve to help parents and kids, while making connections where relationships can grow and develop over the years.

Today, after taking care of different tasks in the office, I prepared for my Sunday morning class lesson and then started reading Permission Evangelism by Michael Simpson. For my children's ministry internship course at Lipscomb I am required to read books and write papers responding to them. I have already finished the two books required from Lipscomb and now I have began the book that Lipscomb asks my supervisor to assign. Paul is my supervisor so he assigned Permission Evangelism for me to read. The book is focused on evangelizing by building relationships and the understanding that by developing those relationships the person then begins to trust and open up to what you have to say. This is the permission part of evangelism. Paul thought it was best for me to read this book since Newport uses a relational model of ministry.

Tonight we had three teens come to The Fire. Even though the past two weeks the numbers have been lower, it isn't discouraging because some of the best things can happen with smaller numbers. For instance, tonight we had a really great discussion with the teens about God's abundant love for them. Instead of the teens, getting off track and acting as though they aren't interested or listening. They showed that they really were listening by participating in the discussion. God is always at work, even with small numbers, so never get discouraged if you don't have as many as you hoped to show up to an event or even to a church service because God will always be at work, there is no question about that, rather the question is will we be God's tool and allow Him to work through us in these moments of opportunity.

adjustments

2009-06-24T16:49:00.010+01:00

Tuesday night was a successful night at The Waves and The Tornadoes. Paul and I work together to organize the events and run them but since I have been here for a few weeks I am starting to have a more defined role for The Waves and The Tornadoes. This week I led the devotional talk for The Waves. I talked to the kids about fears and how despite of fears, God is powerful and in control and He will keep us safe. The text I used was from Psalm 91. We had 8 kids come for The Waves and 21 for The Tornadoes. Our numbers have been pretty consistent since I have been here so that has been very encouraging.

Tuesday night Paul's brother and his brother's wife came into town to visit for a few days. I haven't seen Lee or Donna since Casey and Paul's wedding and now they have a daughter, Jorja, who I got to meet for the first time. It has been great having them around for these few days. I know Paul has really enjoyed seeing some of his family.

Today Paul and I went around and delivered flyers to the kids houses informing them about the upcoming event on Saturday afternoon. We are going to plant flowers in their neighborhood. The planters haven't had plants in them for a while now so hopefully if the kids get involved and help plant them they will feel some ownership to the flowers and take care of them. There are four different planters in the neighborhood, so we are going to break up into groups and get the job done.

Below are pictures from my flat. I am now settled into my home for the summer. Even though I am only there at nights, I enjoy coming home to my room for a nice relaxing rest. It is different living on my own. I am not sure what I expected, but at first I felt a little out of my comfort zone since I was living in a place where I knew no one and I didn't have a way to contact anyone from home. Now that I have been there almost a week, I am adjusting well. It is actually a blessing to come home to a quiet place to reflect and get some reading done. I also go to Paul and Casey's house pretty regularly so I am not alone by any means. I am learning a lot from the new experiences presented to me and I am constantly adjusting and soaking up everything so that I can learn from it all. I hope this post finds you all doing well. God bless and take care.

the bubbles and father's day breakfast

2009-06-21T14:07:00.012+01:00

Thursday morning four kids attended The Bubbles. This week I was able to talk to the mothers more than I did last week and particularly I spoke to Gracie's mom. We mostly talked about how she decided to stop smoking and the influence she has on Gracie. It was a pleasure getting to talk to her. I am very much so looking forward to next Thursday. The Bubbles is a great opportunity to connect to the parents and provide the church the opportunity to be apart of their lives so that a true community can be created. On Friday, I ran The Fire because Paul needed to drop a friend off at the airport. Three teens came this week and we spent the night playing games and enjoying each others company. One of the teens volunteers at The Waves and The Tornadoes and hangs out at the church building often after she gets out of school. I have been able to spend more time with her than any other teen and since I have seen the best from her I, as well as other adults, hold her to a higher standard. However, she switches off and on sometimes. Sometimes she is well behaved, mostly when she is with someone one on one or when she is with adults, but as soon as she is with her peers, she acts up. Since Paul was not there on Friday she started doing things just to see if she could get away with them since I was in charge. She has a hard time controlling her attitude sometimes and if something does not go her way she acts up. These problems are not only seen in her but in a lot of the children because most of them have been raised that they can get away with anything so when they come to us they still believe they have the right to do or say anything. Most likely that is the way their home is being run so that is what they know. Paul and Casey have done so much work over the years and they have informed me that a lot of the kids, such as the one I described above, have progressed a lot since they first started coming. Information like that makes me hopeful since on moments like Friday discourages me so much. I am working diligently to be very intentional in everything that I do with the kids and through everything to hold them all to a standard of respecting others.

Saturday I moved into my flat. I haven't spent much time in my flat since I moved in but it feels great to be settled into my own space. Photos of my flat will come soon.

Sunday, we had a Father's Day Breakfast for the community. Four adults came and eight children. We cooked a hot breakfast for the adults, while the children had cereal. It was a great opportunity to sit around the table and commune together while presenting the opportunity for them to stay for worship afterwards. Although some of the adults could not stay for worship, we did have two parents stay for class. I was upstairs teaching my class but Paul and Casey said it went really well. My class for the kids went pretty well this morning. I had fewer in number which made it easier to keep them on task. We discussed the importance of Jesus' ascension and how Jesus is the way, the truth, and the light. (John 14:6) Since there were four girls this morning it allowed us to talk more personally. Two of the girls opened up about how they have been getting bullied at school so we discussed how they should handle those situations and I listened to them as they explained their concerns. I am learning a lot from this internship already. The ministry here is very unique and I am adapting to the needs of the children while learning how to help them as well as being firm in my disipline and hopefully reaching them through it all. Although, there are frustrating moments and sometimes I feel as though I am useless, I am pressing on because I know God is a powerful God and He can work through all of these moments. Keep praying for the work here. You are all in my thoughts and prayers and I hope all is well. The pictures below are those from The Bubbles and the Father's Day Breakfast.

tuesday night: a great success

2009-06-17T22:03:00.004+01:00

No luck on Tuesday with finding my camera at the pawn shop. I'm going to stop by several times in the next few weeks though to see if it anything turns up. It's highly doubtful I will be able to find it but it is worth a shot.

The rest of Tuesday turned out great though. Tuesday night is our weekly event with The Waves and The Tornadoes. We had the largest number of kids attend for both groups. There were 12 at The Waves, grades K-2, and 25 at The Tornadoes, grades 3-5. Our hands were quite full for such large numbers but it turned out great. I am still trying to get to know most of the kids. Since I am working with community kids, some are very consistent in their attendance while others aren't. There are about four kids who regularly attend The Waves, The Tornadoes, or The Fire and also attend class and worship on Sunday. Since I see those kids more frequently I am able to begin to make a good start on building a relationship with them. For the others that I haven't met before I was able to introduce myself and explain to them that I am here for 10 weeks to work with them. It's really great to see the kids' reactions to this because to them it is incredible that an American would come all the way over to work with them. They are right, I am incredibly blessed to be given the opportunity to do so. The kids might not think that they are worth an American traveling over to work with them but already in a week and a half I know differently.

I have been dealing with hay fever since I arrived last week but recently it has gotten worse. Today, Paul and I worked from home instead of going to the church building, hoping that if we took today a little slower then I might start to feeling better soon. So far, it seems to have worked. I have a much harder time in the mornings though so we'll have to wait and see if the rest today has helped.

At church tonight Paul is teaching a series on Mediation. We will be going through Gary Holloway and Earl Lavender's book and studying from that. The first two lessons these past weeks has been understanding what scriptural mediation is. I have found the class to be very beneficial to my time here in Newport. We all need to mediate on God and how is working but too often we find ourselves to busy to do so. Throughout this summer, this meditation class will help as a service to me so that I can stay focused and energized on God's purpose and by doing so ask Him to work in me through everything that goes on in Newport's children ministry. I hope this post finds you all doing well. Posted are pictures from The Waves. We are playing duck duck goose.
Hope you enjoy!

a bumpy start to the week

2009-06-15T22:09:00.005+01:00

Sunday I taught class for grades K-5. I thought class went pretty well for my first class with the kids. The lesson was on Thomas and how Jesus helps us believe in Him. I am working out of some curriculum that Paul was using before I came. The curriculum is hands on which is good for the kids because they have not been raised in the church and are not familiar with everything that goes on so as most kids, they learn better when they can actively learn. I had several activities planned that relate to the lesson and so we started class by introducing myself and allowing the kids to ask several questions to get to know me better then we went on to our first activity. Afterwards, we sat in a circle on the floor while I taught them the story of Thomas and then we had the second activity. After class was over, I passed out workbooks that the children could work on during the worship service. Their workbooks were relevant to the lesson that morning. After worship everyone went to a local park to have a congregational picnic. The weather was absolutely beautiful. There were barely any clouds in the sky. After lunch, the kids got to play on the playground while the adults sat at the picnic tables and talked. After the picnic, Casey, Paul, and I came to their home and shortly after a family from the congregation came over to see Paul and Casey's new puppy.

That's right, Casey and Paul got a puppy! His name is Benji. He is 7 1/2 weeks old and he is a Border Collie. He is precious! We got him on Friday night and in 2 days he is already potty trained. He is a brilliant dog ready to please his owners.

I wanted to post photos of Benji so that you could see pictures of him as well as photos from the picnic, however, today at the church building someone broke in and stole my camera and my wallet. I was upstairs working; the doors were locked but they got through the door bolts to come in. The person found my purse in the kitchen and ran off with my belongings. This is the first time anything like this has happened before at the building. We called the police and filed a report. After dinner Paul, Casey, David (a man from the congregation), and myself walked about a mile from the church alongside the river trying to see if anything from my wallet had been throw out. Thankfully, we found my license and insurance cards and one of my pictures of Megan (the girl I watch with autism). My photos in my wallet are very special to me and I did not think I'd be able to have any of them back. Although, I lost more than I found I was so happy when I looked down and saw Megan's face smiling back at me from her photo lying in the grass. That was a great moment! I canceled my debit card and checks but since we found items that have a glossy covering we are hoping we can maybe find fingerprints on them. Tomorrow the police are coming by the church building to run fingerprints. Also, tomorrow Paul and I are going to go by a pawn shop in Newport to see if the person dropped the camera off to make money. We'll see how everything turns out but keep everything going on in your prayers.

Thankfully nothing serious happened and materials can always be replaced. Sorry I can't post any pictures right now but I might borrow Casey's camera for the summer so I can still document everything going on. Thanks for all your prayers and support. I miss you all, and although today has been a rough day, I am still in high spirits and grateful to be given the opportunity to come over and work with the Newport congregation.

an accomplished week

2009-06-14T20:52:00.004+01:00

Friday I finished my first project, the coloring workbooks. It felt great to get it finally finished and I was able to utilize it for my class on Sunday. Having the worksheets organized will be a great benefit for teachers. After that, I took time to review my lesson for Sunday morning class and then cleaned and set up the auditorium for The Fire. The kids arrived at 5:30pm. They had their snacks as soon as they arrive then they played board games until everyone arrived. Afterwards, they go upstairs to the youth room to have a devotional. After devotional they play one to two games as a group and then they leave at 7pm. I won't be teaching The Fire during the summer. My focus will be on The Tornadoes, The Waves, and The Bubbles, however, I will be attending The Fire activities so I enjoyed the opportunity to get to know the kids better Friday night.

This weekend has been very peaceful and restful which I have been very grateful for. I have thoroughly enjoyed my week here in Newport but it has definitely been a full week filled with jet lag and lots of work. Paul and I are very pleased looking back over our week though. We accomplished quite a bit.

first week in the uk

2009-06-11T17:25:00.011+01:00

Monday morning I arrived in Newport, Wales. My older sister, Ashley, got married on Saturday, June 7th so Casey and I flew to Wales together on Sunday. The flights went well, no major problems, and Casey and I both agreed that it was nice having the company while we traveled. Monday both Casey and I experienced jet lag so Paul was pulling teeth just trying to keep us awake. Finally, around 3pm or so we all gave in and took naps. We woke up and had dinner together, sat around and talked, then went to bed for the night.

Tuesday I woke up and Paul and I took care of a few errands before we headed to the church building. We then discussed the summer schedule and the basic weekly schedule. The kids are on a different school schedule than what we are in the states so they do not actually go on break or holiday as they call it until mid-July. Once the kids are on holiday, the weekly schedule will change quite a bit. Right now the weekly schedule is Sunday and Wednesday church, Tuesday night kids' event, Thursday morning event with the toddlers, and Friday night event with the teenagers.

The Tuesday night event is separated into two groups, The Waves and The Tornadoes. The Waves range from kindergarten-2nd grade and the tornadoes range from 3rd-5th grade. The Waves arrive at the church at 5:30pm and sing songs, have a devotional, play a game, then they get to buy candy from tuck shop. Tuck shop is designed as an award system where the kids can receive tuck when they are well behaved. The Waves then leave at 6:30pm. The volunteers have 30 minutes to get a cup of tea and rest before The Tornadoes arrive at 7 pm. The Tornadoes is basically the same set up as The Waves just altered to fit the higher age group. Thursday morning for the toddlers is called The Bubbles. This is an event where we set out toys for the kids to play with while the mums (moms) have a cup of tea if they want and we all play with the children together. This event is specifically designed to build relationships and trust with the parents of the kids so that way they will want to bring their children to The Waves once they are old enough. On Friday night we have an event with The Fire which is the teenagers from 6th grade and up.

Tuesday night event used to be called Kids Jam when I was here in 2007, but since there has been so much growth with the interest of community kids Paul decided to split them into groups. This way each event can be age appropriate as well as manageable for the limited number of volunteers. Each group is titled a different element and this year the title for holiday Bible club, or as we call it vacation Bible school, is stemmed from that. HBC is called Summer Elements.

Wednesday morning, Paul and I arrived at the church building and I started working on my first project. I am taking all the children's coloring sheets and worksheets out of their books, placing them individually in pollypockets sheets, and organizing them in binders. It is quite tedious but once I finish it will be very beneficial as a resource for teachers to use. This way they can make copies of the sheets to use for their students and the binders are organized by the books of the Bible so it will be easy for teachers to find relevant sheets for their lessons. I also worked on my internship packet for Lipscomb that I will complete during the summer and we cleaned up the auditorium from the kids' event the night before.

Thursday morning, Paul and I arrived at the church building and set up for The Bubbles. Parents and toddlers arrived at 10 am and left at 11:30am. 4 toddlers came with their mums. It was great getting to talk with the mums as well as play with the little ones. I love babies!! :) After The Bubbles, I kept working on the coloring sheet project while Paul prepared for his sermon on Sunday.

My position this summer as the children's intern will be to partner with Paul Halliday in running the children's ministry. Newport's program is an outreach program that desires to bridge the gap between people in the community and church. Through the children's involvement, Newport's goal is to reach out to the parents as well. Newport uses a relational model of ministry to build trust and develop a larger sense of community.

I know I have written a lot for today but I needed to catch you up on what has been going on these past 4 days. I'll be posting more frequently in the future... Hope everything is going well for you all. Thanks for your continuous support.