I'd love to say I've fully mastered the Tube, the Bus, and the British currency all within the past two and a half weeks. The Tube and I may have become friends but I've found the buses still don't appear exactly where and when I want them to and the patient Barista in the Covent Garden Starbucks can tell you exactly how well British coin and I are getting along. However, as I've adjusted to the new modes of transportation, which includes loads of walking around the city and a forty minute walk in the morning to Notting Hill, the past two weeks have been incredible if also not lacking in a bit of sleep.
We've began preparing for outreach and as we split up into tracks, I found myself not focusing just on theatre but rather in music track. I'll admit I was initially filled with a great amount of apprehension. I feel I have some skill in the area of music but not loads. However, as I've spent time in prayer and talking with one of the leaders of the music track, I began to realize that maybe God had a bigger plan for me than I realized upon arriving. I've often said within theatre that I can dance and I can act but I wish I was stronger vocally and I've been given three months to become stronger in that area. *mind blown* The leaders of the music track have incredible gifts and I'm really excited to be able to learn and work alongside of them. Our theme for our outreach performance is Joy. It is our task to write and compose three pieces that tell a story of Joy.
But amongst our track time and learning French, one of the most challenging but incredible moments of every week occurs on Friday nights in Soho. We partner with a church there to do evangelism. They set up a tent with free coffee and tea, have worship, and just talk with people. When I first heard about it, I was super excited as it sounded exactly like what I had done in Australia. But the moment I stepped onto the busy street corner, the atmosphere was vastly different than what I had experienced. People are rushing about, there are loads of adult shops, clubs, and pubs in the area, and the heaviness is real and tangible. For some reason, both times we've been out, fear has overwhelmed me. But God is good, gracious, and always present. The first week, I worshiped, watched, and prayed with our team and for our team. But towards the end of the evening, my roommate, Elin, began to talk with a gentleman and invited me to join. The man, we'll call him Willie, is not a Christian. He is a man who is very intelligent but due to life circumstances, he is currently homeless, sleeps in a church, and is working odd jobs. Money controls and motivates him. We were able to share with him how we've experienced God's love and provision in real and tangible ways and we were able to share how much God loves him and pray with him as well. The next week, Willie was there again. I don't think he's ready to let God take over and lead him but the seeds have been planted and we have to believe that God is working.
The second week we were in Soho, we teamed up with people from the church to talk with people. We had such a wide array of conversations. We talked with a man who was a Sikh and he was not afraid to ask us the hard questions about why we believed in our faith and why we wanted him to believe in Jesus. We talked to a group of guys who would rather go drink, party, and believe in science than believe in an awesome God. Lastly, we talked with two girls from Venezuela who were Catholic but not assured of their salvation. We were able to talk with them about truth and also pray with them which was an awesome experience. One of them had also been to Seattle so we had something in common. At the end of the evening, I was encouraged and I saw how God just changes the environment when we begin to worship, pray, and take courageous steps to talk to people.
The longer I am here, the more I see God moving and working not only in the city but also in my life. He's revealing and teaching me about myself and all the things in my life that I've hid behind for many years. There is true freedom in him when we rest in his love. I'm so grateful for the staff here, their hearts for the city, for the arts, and also for us. It's amazing what happens when you stick eighteen people from different nations with different languages into one house. There's been loads of laughter, fun, and deep conversations. They've become my family in a very short time. God consistently uses them to encourage and refine me. Plus, I've remembering Spanish, I know how to say "thank you" in Portuguese and have learned some words in Dutch. We have three more weeks in our house before we head out on outreach. I'm excited to see how our performance piece comes together and how God continues to move and grows us closer as a group. Oh, and continues to give me energy when I go to bed late and get up early. :)
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Monday, June 9, 2014
Dusky imaginatorium goes to London
Over the past few years, books have reigned in my adventures. I've traveled to exotic places, seen lots of incredible things, and met some wonderful people. This year I returned once more to Narnia and Hogwarts. I climbed mountains with Wild, I've solved crimes with The Fellowship of Fear, and was trapped in a maze with The Maze Runner but despite all of these adventures, experiencing life outside the pages for myself can be more dramatic and wonderful.
So thus begins my own adventure. For the next three months, I'm off to Jolly Old London Town to work with YWAM (Youth With a Mission) to do an Arts Internship with them. We will be working through different Art Tracks such as music, drama, visual arts, dance, and fashion. Then with all the different tracks, we will put together a performance piece to take on Outreach. Outreach will begin in the middle of July and continue through to the end of August. We will spend a couple weeks in Paris, some time in Edinburgh at the Fringe Arts festival and then in Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games. Lastly, we will be back in London to do an Arts Camp called Bones which culminates in an event called Carnival in London's Notting Hill. Needless to say, I've been excited and nervous about the trip since I was accepted in February.
Upon arriving in London, making my way successfully through the tube system in the rain, I went to the coffee shop were I would be met by someone on the YWAM staff. Soon, Elin, who is from Finland, arrived with a big smile and a hug and instantly, all the nervous energy dissipated. We found Juliette, who is from Holland, and drove to the house. In the house, all of the interns and staff for the Arts Internship reside which means grace, patience, and a bit of organization is needed in a house with 17 people.
When I arrived, most of the other interns had already come. We have people from Brazil, Holland, Mexico, Argentina, France, and Spain in the house. There are two other girls from the US on the team. One of them, Amanda, is one of my roommates, along with Elin, and the other lives at one of the other houses. YWAM Urban Key has three different houses in three different neighbourhoods in the city. However, they are all within walking distance of each other. We are welcomed to any of the houses at any time. Amongst the three houses, there are around 70 people involved in the YWAM base. We will come together as a whole base two times a week for worship.
Immediately, the staff encouraged us to make the house our home and has provided such a family atmosphere. There is a sense of acceptance in the house and that people really take care of each other. The leaders of the house, Christian and Johanna, are intensely passionate about God, about reaching the city for Christ, and about the arts.
We had our introduction to the internship and our very busy schedule. Along with training and working in our art areas, we will also be doing ministry in Camden Market, a place where there is a lot of really heavy and secular things. We took a tour of the area and you can just feel the oppression when you walk through. We will be there once a week for evangelism to pray over the area and talk with people. They have seen the impact of prayer as some of the darker shops have closed their doors since they began praying and walking the market. We will also do outreach in Soho, joining with a church who owns a coffee shop. In many ways, it sounds like it'll be similar to Coffee Van that I did in Australia; talking to people, serving coffee, and showing the love of Christ through our actions. There will also be work duties, teaching time, one-on-ones and small groups, all of which, I'm quite excited about . . well, maybe not the work duties all the time. :) We will also have French classes before we head into Paris. Chris and Johanna feel it's important we have a sense of the language as it makes it difficult to share and talk with people if you do not know the language.
The second day of our internship, we took a tour of some of the major sites in London; the London Eye, the Tower of London, Trafalgar Square, and the London Bridge. It was good to begin to understand the public transportation and get a sense of the crazy busy-ness of the city as well. Yesterday, we went into the city centre to the Hillsong London church. After spending time in Australia, Hillsong is close to my heart. It was a great time of worship, refreshment, and even though it is a mega church, their heart for the city, for people, and passion for Christ is very evident. There's still a sense of family when you go which is unique for that big of church. Hopefully, we'll be able to frequent that church whilst we're here.
Tomorrow we start our official schedule for the internship. Wake up at 8 and off we go to the church in Notting Hill where we spend time working on our tracks and have some teaching time. I'm excited to see what God does through our team and through the hearts of the people we come in contact with. It's been a great experience already getting to know the other people here, finding out where they come from, but also seeing their heart for missions, for people, for arts, and for the city. With Dusky Imaginatorium, we go to adventure in London . . . more to come.
So thus begins my own adventure. For the next three months, I'm off to Jolly Old London Town to work with YWAM (Youth With a Mission) to do an Arts Internship with them. We will be working through different Art Tracks such as music, drama, visual arts, dance, and fashion. Then with all the different tracks, we will put together a performance piece to take on Outreach. Outreach will begin in the middle of July and continue through to the end of August. We will spend a couple weeks in Paris, some time in Edinburgh at the Fringe Arts festival and then in Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games. Lastly, we will be back in London to do an Arts Camp called Bones which culminates in an event called Carnival in London's Notting Hill. Needless to say, I've been excited and nervous about the trip since I was accepted in February.
Upon arriving in London, making my way successfully through the tube system in the rain, I went to the coffee shop were I would be met by someone on the YWAM staff. Soon, Elin, who is from Finland, arrived with a big smile and a hug and instantly, all the nervous energy dissipated. We found Juliette, who is from Holland, and drove to the house. In the house, all of the interns and staff for the Arts Internship reside which means grace, patience, and a bit of organization is needed in a house with 17 people.
When I arrived, most of the other interns had already come. We have people from Brazil, Holland, Mexico, Argentina, France, and Spain in the house. There are two other girls from the US on the team. One of them, Amanda, is one of my roommates, along with Elin, and the other lives at one of the other houses. YWAM Urban Key has three different houses in three different neighbourhoods in the city. However, they are all within walking distance of each other. We are welcomed to any of the houses at any time. Amongst the three houses, there are around 70 people involved in the YWAM base. We will come together as a whole base two times a week for worship.
Immediately, the staff encouraged us to make the house our home and has provided such a family atmosphere. There is a sense of acceptance in the house and that people really take care of each other. The leaders of the house, Christian and Johanna, are intensely passionate about God, about reaching the city for Christ, and about the arts.
We had our introduction to the internship and our very busy schedule. Along with training and working in our art areas, we will also be doing ministry in Camden Market, a place where there is a lot of really heavy and secular things. We took a tour of the area and you can just feel the oppression when you walk through. We will be there once a week for evangelism to pray over the area and talk with people. They have seen the impact of prayer as some of the darker shops have closed their doors since they began praying and walking the market. We will also do outreach in Soho, joining with a church who owns a coffee shop. In many ways, it sounds like it'll be similar to Coffee Van that I did in Australia; talking to people, serving coffee, and showing the love of Christ through our actions. There will also be work duties, teaching time, one-on-ones and small groups, all of which, I'm quite excited about . . well, maybe not the work duties all the time. :) We will also have French classes before we head into Paris. Chris and Johanna feel it's important we have a sense of the language as it makes it difficult to share and talk with people if you do not know the language.
The second day of our internship, we took a tour of some of the major sites in London; the London Eye, the Tower of London, Trafalgar Square, and the London Bridge. It was good to begin to understand the public transportation and get a sense of the crazy busy-ness of the city as well. Yesterday, we went into the city centre to the Hillsong London church. After spending time in Australia, Hillsong is close to my heart. It was a great time of worship, refreshment, and even though it is a mega church, their heart for the city, for people, and passion for Christ is very evident. There's still a sense of family when you go which is unique for that big of church. Hopefully, we'll be able to frequent that church whilst we're here.
Tomorrow we start our official schedule for the internship. Wake up at 8 and off we go to the church in Notting Hill where we spend time working on our tracks and have some teaching time. I'm excited to see what God does through our team and through the hearts of the people we come in contact with. It's been a great experience already getting to know the other people here, finding out where they come from, but also seeing their heart for missions, for people, for arts, and for the city. With Dusky Imaginatorium, we go to adventure in London . . . more to come.
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