A Challenging Week

TYC went great this week. I spoke this week on the story of Jesus and the adulterer, where He said, “If you haven’t sinned you can throw the first stone.” I was anticipating a lot of talking and interruptions, so I planned a rather short talk, figuring it would spread longer. But the kids were relatively silent! I got through the talk and still had time to explain a little bit more about how Jesus loves the person, He just hates the sin; how Jesus didn’t come to condemn but to save! I was quite blown away by how attentive they were being and how involved they were in the story. I’m really praying that God will continue to bring up questions in their minds about Him. Questions that we know He can answer.

GYC was not nearly as successful, sadly. We’ve been having trouble with them constantly interrupting and talking over each other and us leaders, so I developed a game that would have only a few people able to talk, and getting them to use teamwork. Unfortunately, so many of the children had been misbehaving and loud that we couldn’t even give them all the instructions for the game. So the game flopped, and what was even more of a disappointment was the fact that nobody got the moral of the games. They  didn’t get to the place of understanding the value of their words and how difficult it can be not being able to talk. So I'm praying they will soon understand, despite this past week.

There was one boy in particular who was causing a lot of trouble.He would sneak off whenever he could, and basically reek havoc at every opportunity. But what has bothered me most about his behavior is the things that come out of his mouth. He is not especially cruel to others with his words, but he is able to turn even the most innocent action, word, or toy into some sexual innuendo. While I know the mind of a teenaged/preteenaged boy is not always clean, the way he brings stuff up makes me wonder what has he seen in his short life that he can relate nearly everything back to something sexual? I've tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention before, and he goes on to whine in a joking tone, "She touched me!" This boy is also a loudly proclaimed atheist. Please pray with me that God would do a work in his heart, and help help him through whatever he is dealing with. 

I have heard a lot of bad news this week and it was really starting to get me down. But then I have to remind myself that I don't have to constantly be carrying other people's burdens around, but that I can just give them to God to take care of. I have a hard time remembering that all the time.

Some good news though: Some of you may have heard, but the high school we were meant to go into to start mentoring some kids had shut it's doors to us a few weeks ago, but they called this week and said we can go in after all!!! Praise the Lord!!

Thank you so much for your prayers. They are much appreciated.

Prayer Spaces

What a week! On Wednesday and Friday some of us from Ignite joined a lady in running “Prayer Spaces” in one of the local schools. Basically we set up different places around this chapel where the kids can interact with different forms of prayer.

In one section we had a bunch of newspaper clippings glued to large pieces of cardboard and we let the kids read the headlines and write their thoughts and prayers on the subjects beside the clippings. It was very insightful as to the innocence of children. A lot of them wrote things such as “that’s not fair!” or “those people shouldn't
 have died”. 

We had a section where they could write down what they were thankful for, and while some of the answers were really silly, some were quite heartfelt. We had them write them on pieces of cardboard and pin them up on the hanging threads, creating a really cool effect.

We had places for them to imagine what they would do if they were to make a new world; what they would keep of our world and what they would do away with. Most said they would keep "Love" and "Kindness" and "Family". And when they wrote what they would do away with a lot of the kids said "Terrorism" or "hatred". 

You'll notice one child wrote that what they would want to keep from our world is "beds". Yes, I would like to keep those, too!

We had a space to write their cares and worries down, then they’d drop them in a box to symbolize giving them to God. Then we had a place with this tall bubble machine that lit up with different colors and sent bubbles continually upwards. With this we had the children write down their prayers and stick them to the tube as a symbol of their prayers going up to Heaven.








 
And one of the most popular spaces had a shredder in it. Here they could write down something they were sorry for and then stick it in the shredder to let God get rid of it. A lot of them said they felt relieved with it, while others said it was just plain fun to shred things. I found one little boy about to put the picture he drew of his sister down the shredder! Not quite what we were going for.

In both youth clubs we had our first week back, and both went really well! I tried introducing a “Question Ball” game where we had loads of questions written on a beach ball which (supposedly) would be tossed and whichever question your thumb lands on, you answer. Well, in GYC we only got one or two people to answer questions before they got bored and started kicking the ball around and we had fun just playing with the ball in the end. In TYC we had a spontaneous dance party and we acted out a few scenes of the Lion King!

All in all it was a great week. Thank you so much for your prayers and support for this mission. I am blown away by your generosity! We are seeing God work with these kids in the prayer spaces as well as in the youth clubs. God is good!

Miracle of Miracles!

When I started this adventure of moving to Wales to do an internship with a youth ministry I had no idea where the money was coming from to pay for it. I just knew that if God was calling me to do this He would have to finance it. I kept telling myself and others that God's pocketbook is bigger than mine, just to keep the faith. 

And now, He's proven it! I found out last week that the rest of my time here in Cardiff, Wales is paid for! I am FULLY FUNDED!! I still don't know where all of the money came from, but I do know that a lot of you have been praying and supporting me through this faith tester. I want to thank all of you again for everything you've done and given. It is so encouraging to be a part of such a large family of faith; my family in Christ that has been acting out their faith. You are all such a blessing to me and others. Thank you.

Things are still getting warmed up here after the new year. School started last week, but none of the clubs start until this week. We start in this week going full speed ahead with youth clubs, mentoring in the local school, and planning an upcoming retreat for some of our kids. And this Wednesday we were invited to run a prayer day in one of the schools! There is a ministry that goes into public schools and opens up interactive and creative ways to pray. It introduces children to prayer in a way that takes some of the mysticism out of praying and helps them realize that they too can pray to God.There will be different stations that the kids can go to to experiment with prayer without being told "you're doing it wrong".This is an exciting opportunity and I can't wait to get started! Please pray for these kids who might not go to church, but they can learn a bit about God in their own school. And pray for the leaders that we would be listening to what God's saying to us and to these kids. If you'd like to find out more about that ministry here's the link: http://www.prayerspacesinschools.com.

In church last Sunday, we had already started the service and a couple of boys of about 9 or 10 came waltzing in off the street! These boys are some of those known trouble makers, and while they might have come to disrupt the service, I believe that they were brought into the church for a reason. They ended up making some rude noises during prayer and they ran in and out of the church quite loudly until they eventually left. But for a short time, they were sitting almost quietly during worship. Most people had their eyes closed in prayer or were ignoring the boys, hoping they wouldn't make trouble, but I figured, if these boys were going to come into church on a Sunday morning, they were going to get prayed for whether they like it or not! So I sat there with my arm stretched towards them in prayer, speaking life over them. When they noticed my outstretched arm, they just look confused and they tried to mock me. So I went up behind them and leaned in to tell them quietly, "Do you know what me and all these people are doing? We are praying for you boys. We are praying for you because we know that you have a future and God wants to give you a hope. That's what we're doing." They didn't really know how to take that, and they started their running in and out soon after that, but I wanted them to hear that someone cares for them and prays for them. 

Tremorfa is a place where hope is scarce. We know many young people who before they've reached their teen years have already given up hope of graduating. They don't hope for a positive future or a good job. They best you can hope for is maybe a boyfriend or girlfriend who will stick around for a good while and maybe stay out of jail. So me and the Ignite team are praying for God's hope to be brought into this community. And I hope you will pray with me for these boys who unwittingly walked into our prayers for hope. That they will soon discover that they are loved by the Father and that they will find their hope in Him. I pray they will be the next generation of church leaders. That God would do a great work in each of them.

Again, thank you for all of your prayers and support. I am beyond blessed.