The Challenges

We had our Christmas party at GYC this week. We had a quiz involving music and famous people. It was a lot of fun, but it made me feel rather old. And I'm not old! But these kids were all born since 2000, so they were having trouble guessing or giving clues about people who were famous before then(or even after). The girls on my team didn't even know who Brad Pitt was! And for one clue they said, "Umm, He's an astronaut!".... It was George Clooney. It just reminds me how 12 year olds get younger every year.

We had some trouble with the TYC this week with this one little boy who has become quite infamous in the neighborhood. He goes places just to cause trouble it seems. He never seems to be in school, and is often seen running rampant through the neighborhood with friends with reputations not much better than his own. But he almost always shows up to our youth club. If he finds out that it's Thursday, he will be out in front of the building up to an hour early just waiting to be let into club. He's often told to leave in the first 20 minutes  due to his bad behavior, but the fact that he shows up so early so that he doesn't miss it makes me think that he almost wants to be better. You wouldn't be able to tell that from his actions once he's in the club, but he if he knows it's a Thursday, he is outside, just waiting.

I don't know much about his home life, but I do know that he's rarely there. I don't think he's had any positive male role model in his life.  So there he is, making it up as he goes or following whatever examples of men he is shown via TV or music. I know I've gone on a bit of a rant here about this boy, and I might sound a bit annoyed at this troublesome child (and I might be), but my heart hurts for him. He is so lost with no one better than himself to follow or to set up rules for him. I know it seems as if kids hate rules because they like to break them so much, but in reality, without rules there is no structure, no guidelines to follow. Then they are left with no boundaries and feeling insecure. With rules, they know what they can and cannot do, and they learn how to be successful in life.

Please pray for these little boys of 11 and younger who are lacking that structure and Godly influence in their lives. We all love them and want to welcome them with open arms, but with their behavior and language as it currently is, it's not possible to keep the club in good order while having them in there. Please pray that their spirits will settle so some groundwork can be laid for good relationships with these boys. We want to help them, but you need a mutual trust  and friendship first.

Thank you for all of your prayers and support. I am truly blessed by everyone who's given and is praying. God will make a way to build these relationships, so please join us in the prayer that this will happen soon.

Two (or Three) Different Worlds

We took the kiddos from GYC ice skating last Tuesday. And as the motherly person I am, I brought extra gloves, a hat, tissues, even an extra sweater, just in case someone didn't think to dress very warm for the cold. And as it turned out, one boy had left his winter coat back at the church building, so he was running around in a T-shirt! I kept offering him the sweatshirt, but he absolutely refused. Kids. What do you do with them?

But it was fun going out to the place called "Winter Wonderland" that was covered with lights, had little booths made out of wood that sold food, snacks, beer (of course none of our group helped ourselves to that), and cotton candy. There were different rides, from bumper-cars to the swings in the sky. Of course the kids wanted to go on all of the rides, but we only really had time for ice skating, so we had an earful of complaints from that.

 I had fun teaching some of the kids how to skate. This one boy had such a hard time keeping his feet under him. But even after falling down up to 10 times and I'd seen him wiping tears from his face (I'm not sure if he was hurt or embarrassed) he still got up and kept trying. He was still disheartened when he got off the ice, but all the leaders were cheering on his courage to try again.  

Wednesday evening was practically a different world from the night before. It was filled with rich gentlemen escorting ladies in evening gowns to a night of fine dining and entertainment. It was the annual fundraiser for the Cardiff Street Pastors. We sold raffle tickets, had a men's choir, and some big shot sports person I can't remember the name of. At the end there was a live band that did excellent covers of popular songs so that people could dance.

We also had an auction to sell some of the goodies that had been donated towards the cause. Things like a lunch for 8 at a fancy restaurant or a free night at a nice hotel in London. This auction was nothing like the ones I had grown up going to. The ones that usually had some homemade quilts and Amish made furniture and an Amish man standing up front prattling on so fast he could talk circles around any rapper. This was a much slower paced and a bit more refined kind of auction. Not as much fun, though.

We had our faithful church attendee come on Sunday. She brought a friend as usual, and neither of them have quite gotten the hang of being quiet and respectful at church, but we are still glad they came. I don't know that these girls have ever had to respect something or someone like we do in church. I don't know how they are in school, but I doubt they're completely quiet there either. So we have hope.

Please pray for the wellness of our youth workers. We're dealing with illnesses again. And on a more personal note, please pray that I can be a bit more positive in thought. I know you might not believe it if you've only seen me in public, but I do tend to be a pessimist and I think it's really bringing me down.

Thank you for all of your support and prayer. Please keep them up. Merry Christmas!

btw, in case anyone reads to the bottom of this, I'm coming home for Christmas. 

Caring Through the Chaos

Well, we survived play practice last week. I'm not sure how or if we'll end up doing the play, but we survived the last practice at least. We had a guest come to give a talk and some samples of the beauty products she sells, and with a crowd of mostly girls in the youth club, they thoroughly enjoyed rubbing in the lotions and perfume samples. Some of the boys enjoyed it as well. One boy had so much lotion on his hands that he started smearing it all over his face and neck. His reasoning was "if it's free, it's fine". Needless to say, we all smelled very good at the end of the night. After the "Body Shop Party" we had tea and cookies and some children helped themselves to enough cookies for the next 2 weeks!

We had a crazy night at the Tremorfa youth club as well. We had some boys playing xbox in one room and some of the girls were doing some crafts and some karaoke. We ended up with a very noisy room. We had some younger boys who were bored watching the older boys playing xbox, so they started running around and causing a bit of a ruckus. 

Like I said: a crazy night. I felt like a lot of the time was just spent in crowd control, so it was difficult to try and make conversation and build relationships with these kids. Even if they don't know me very well, I love these kids more than they will ever know. I've asked God to give me His heart for His people and I believe He's given it. I'm glad we have so many kids who want to come in, but things can get a bit overwhelming when they start misbehaving. Please be praying that we would find more opportunities to talk and share God's love with these kids.

This Saturday I'm inviting people to join me in praying for the Father's Love to be shown to these children. Not all of them have fathers, and a lot who do don't have a good relationship with them. I will be having a prayer day once a month and I am inviting all of my family in Christ to join. 

Please pray that once His Love is discovered, it will shine from His children, lighting up all of Tremorfa and Grangetown and God's light and love would spread to the rest of Cardiff and Wales. We are praying for revival to take over this country again.

Thank you again for your continued support. I am funded through March!!! Praise the Lord!

The Herdmans' Play Practice

Christmas is coming. You see the decorations and you may have already heard your first Christmas song, despite it not even being December. And here in Cardiff is no different. And with not having Thanksgiving here, people don't have a day to officially start the Christmas season, so it can start in mid-November or earlier if you want.

We've been working with the kids in preparation as well. In the Grangetown youth club we've started practicing for our Christmas skit. This takes about half an hour of our club time, but it is one of the craziest half hours of the week! These preteens and teens are constantly switching roles, arguing over who got what part this week, and losing their place in the script so they miss their lines and we have to start over at least 6 times before we can make it to the end of the 2 minute sketch. If you've ever heard of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever with the out of control Herdman kids, this is about the same as if we had a room full of Herdmans and maybe one or two Beths (well behaved children) in the crowd.

I know it sounds like absolute chaos and a lot of the times it is, but it's in the small moments with the kids before, after, and during the skit practice that we can start to see that the message might be coming through. 

We have a short time near the end where we sit them all down with some hot chocolate and toast and we talk a little bit about Jesus. Some of these kids have gone to Sunday School or something so they know a little about Jesus, but others have made up their minds to be Atheist. Most of these decided Atheists don't pay any attention during the lesson, but occasionally we'll see them watching us and answering our questions. There is one girl who refuses to believe what we're saying when we talk about the love of God. I don't know if she's been hurt by the church or something, but I'm praying that her eyes and heart will soon be opened. Please join me in this prayer.

One week we met on Remembrance Day and for the lesson we shared about John 15:13 "Greater love has no man than this: That he would lay down his life for his friend." We asked them who they love enough that they'd be willing to die for them. The volunteer giving the talk asked example questions like, "would you die for your mum?" or "would you die for your best friend?" This was to bring up how Christ died for all people, even if they don't like him. We had some interesting answers to the example questions though.

A lot of them said they would die for their grandmothers. One girl said, "I'd die for my one Nan, but not the other one." And another girl said, "Don't ask me if I'd die for my dad, because I wouldn't. I hate my dad."

This breaks my heart. This girl showed us a little of her heart, and what we saw was pain. She had been badly hurt by her earthly father. I'm praying that she will still accept our Heavenly Father's Love despite the pain she's been through. Please pray for this little one as well.

I do have a praise report to give: I am funded for the next 4 months!!! Yay! So I am paid through March! Thank you so much for your generosity and your contributions toward this ministry in Wales. You are such a blessing. Thank you for your continued prayers and support. I will let you know how tonight's practice went next week.

Life's an adventure

God Can Heal the Scars!

As some of you already know, I wasn't feeling well last week, so I had to sit out of 3 days of work. It wasn't the most optimal time to sit out either because my first day back on the job was the day of our big youth event Speak. So I was sadly under-prepared for this event.

I helped where I could but I must say all the prep and details of this day was done by these wonderful ladies I work with, Ruth and Caitlin. So well done ladies.

The event was fast paced where we had a large amount of speakers who speak for only 15 minutes each. It's great because you hear a variety of subjects on descipleship and the best of what people have to say in 15 minutes. So we had a great day with that.

We had one girl from Tremorfa share her amazing testimony. She used to be bullied in high school and  she would self harm. Then one day her friend invited her to youth club (the same one I'm working at, but this was before I came) and she came and was eventually led to Christ. She started going to church on Sundays and a few months after getting saved she decided to get baptized! She was nervous about it on the day of because she knew she would have to show the scars on her arms when she got baptized, but she decided (by her own words) "Bugger, I'll do it for Jesus."

When she went under the water she started feeling a tingling like pins and needles in her arms, and she didn't think anything of it until she came up and saw that her scars were gone! God had completely healed her scars and she was free from that bondage! She can now wear short sleeved tops again and not feel ashamed! Her ending remarks were "Jesus loves you, and He can do miracles, so yeah..."

Although she was nervous about speaking in front of people, the power of her words and her testimony brought out her courage as well. She was very inspiring. And just hearing what God had done for her and how He had shown His love towards her was amazing and moving. She had brought hope to others in the crowd who had had a past of self-harming.

God is so good, and He is moving. Please keep praying for these young people we're working with over here, and for the continued health of the team. I'm still dealing with a bit of cold-like stuff and I'm really praying I can get out of that this week. Thank you for all of your support, once again. Thank you for your prayers. I'll let you know how next week goes.

What an Adventure God's Got Me On!

What a week!
Things have been going great.The Tuesday night youth club went well. Nobody caught fire from the sparklers, thank goodness. We did have one boy say it'd be fun to try popping a car tire with them, but I was quick to inform him that the only car nearby belonged to the woman who runs the youth club. That didn't seem to discourage him very much, so I made sure to stand between him and the car while he held the sparklers.

We spoke about November 5th and why we celebrate it. It was the day when an assassination attempt to kill King James was thwarted. The same King James who ordered the Bible be translated to English, and where we get the King James Bible. If the plan had succeeded we would probably not have the Bible as freely as we do today. Aren't we glad for that.I would love to tell you more about my first experience celebrating November 5th, but that will have to be in a different post

Thursday was the first time I lead a meeting in the youth club in Tremorfa. Spoke on the basics of our beliefs: John 3:16-17, emphasizing how Jesus didn't come to condemn but to save us. I think using everyday language to explain these verses really clicked with some of the kids. At the end they were actually asking questions about what it takes to go to Heaven, as well as other rather deep questions.

Now maybe not all, but a lot of these kids would rather laugh and distract than have to face a serious subject in front of their friends, so it was a huge deal that some of these kids were asking these questions. We're praying that they continue to ask these questions and that they will find the ultimate answer: Jesus Christ. Please join us in this prayer.

I felt like I became better friends with the boys that night as well. As some of you may have heard, we played some British football (soccer) and the boys, who have played a lot of football, even said I wasn't half bad! I was super proud of myself. But on another level, I feel like the boys became more comfortable with me. I wasn't just a stranger who was tagging along anymore. I'm getting closer to the friend status. Yay!

Ignite is having its big youth event on Saturday, so we've been in the office preparing for that as well this week. This event is to encourage young Christians in their faith and to challenge them to make a difference in their world for Christ. We're really praying for a big turnout.

Praise God, hallelujah! He is my provider. My next 2 months over here are covered. Please pray about giving towards this ministry that God is developing in me and through me to the youth of Cardiff. I don't know what He's got in store, but I believe it's gonna be good. If you would like to contribute please send checks to:
Heartland Church
1025 Vance Ave.
Fort Wayne, IN 46805

And remember to attach my name to the check, don't write it on the check and make it out to Heartland Church. Thank you so much to those who have already given and to those who are planning to give. You are all such a blessing to me, and you are being a true example of the Body of Christ.

I love you all, and please continue to keep me and this ministry in your prayers. Thank you

Just a Quick Update

This week was "Half Term" which means that the kids all had school off for the week. (They don't have Thanksgiving so I guess they need a week off for something.)

We've had our girl come to church in Tremorfa again. I'm so glad it's becoming a regular thing now. And almost every week she brings a different friend with her. I sat near them in the service this week, and while a lot of times it seems like they're not paying attention they can really be soaking up what's being said, so I'm praying that's the case.

Also, things have been settling in with the youth club in Grangetown. Kids are kids so it's always exciting. In celebration of the autumn season we had a night of quizzing, tested all five of our senses,  and at the end, had a good old fashioned apple bobbing. Of course, that eventually turned into a water fight and we ended up mopping the floors, but the kids loved it.

This week we are planning on making chocolate covered apples (like caramel apples but less mess), and sparklers! I know, kinda risky with kids. I'll let you know if we see anything in flames.

What most Americans don't know is that on November 5th the British have what's called a Bonfire Night. They'll have bonfires, bbqs, and fireworks! I guess it's the British equivalent of July 4th, just without the independence part of it. And I get to be here for it! I'm very excited. Or as the Welsh would say "chuffed". (I think I'm saying that right.) Sadly, they don't have s'mores over here, but if that's the only thing that's missing it should still be a good night.

As I said, the kids had school off last week and the youth club in Tremorfa took the week off as well, so I didn't spend much time with the kiddos. We've been working in the office nearly full time preparing for the youth event Speak, which is happening a week from Saturday.

Please keep the team in your prayers as we've been dealing with sicknesses. Also, please pray that this event we are preparing for would touch the hearts of the people attending, and please pray that many attend.

As always, thank you for your continued support of my ministry in south Wales through prayer and finances. Please keep it up! I love you all. Thanks