6 Month Catch Up
Wow, so I obviously forgot all about blogging once I got back to England. It wasn’t for lack of things happening, that’s for sure – maybe too much was happening!! Well, lets see if we can get up to speed…
My time in Cape Town came to an end much quicker than I expected – it was funny, I felt like 4 months was going to go on forever and ever amen when I was first there. But by the end it was actually really hard to leave. I think that had everything to do with the amazing people in such a wonderful church. Newsong welcomed me in as a stranger far from home, and poured so much time and love and prayer into my life for the short period that I was with them that even now when I think about it I am quite staggered. I’ll never forget the last few days… Marlies and Ange took me on a magical mystery tour of the Cape Peninsular, and it was so much fun going to all the touristy places (especially the penguins at Boulders beach!!) after working pretty darn hard for the previous 4 months. We had goodbye drinks at a trendy cocktail bar in Kloof St, and SO many people turned up, even people who I hadn’t told about it. Guys – I was so touched by that. It was so special that you bothered to come into town just to say goodbye. Then my last night in Cape Town was a Sunday, so church was my final memory! For a while I thought it would go fairly unnoticed, which suited me fine as I was getting a bit emotional thinking about leaving. But then at the end Brad made me get up to be prayed for, and I was expecting maybe a couple of people to bother coming forward… when I looked up at the end, I was totally surrounded. Words can’t really do justice to how amazing that felt – it was like I had been there 4 years, not 4 months!! The beautiful thing about a community like Newsong is that being loved like that leaves a mark on you, and you carry it with you wherever you go from then on. I hope that I never forget what it felt like to be such a complete stranger with no idea what was going on around me, and to be taken in and treated as an equal and valued member as anyone else.
So I arrived back in the UK July 18th 2007. I was planning a quiet summer, no job, chill out with the parents at home before moving up to London in September. No such luck… as soon as I got home I went on a complete mission of a trip - first up to Doncaster for a reunion weekend with Ian and Simea Meldrum, the pastors from Agua Viva church in Brazil where I had led a student mission trip from St John’s a year previously. It was a lovely weekend to catch up with Lucy, Jodie and Andy who had all also been out there, and to hear about what was going on and plans for the future. And Jefferson was there too!! I also had to do a talk about leading a short term mission, which was funny – I felt kinda weird standing up there like some kind of speaker when that was the only mission trip I had ever been on!! But I guess it was all about God’s power in my weakness, always better that way around ;) On the Sunday afternoon I got a train from Doncaster to Shepton Mallet, to join some friends for the rest of Soul Survivor Momentum. Plans went all crazy at the last minute but I got there and (more importantly) had a tent to keep me dry! It was an awesome few days, and although kinda weird to miss the first couple of days completely I was loving it!! After that marathon, it was good to be home at last, and I spent about 2 days in bed with the new Harry Potter book!
The rest of my summer consisted of working a couple of days a week for my Godmother doing wedding cakes from her house in Lee on Solent (she closed the shop down when I went to SA) and a couple of days a week doing some work experience with the media dept at the RNLI. There were also 2 solo wedding cakes (and accompanying weddings) a couple of trips to Egham, a few driving lessons and a 24th birthday. I think I had about 5 days to myself in 6 weeks!! Still, no-one can accuse me of being unproductive!
September arrived much too soon for my liking, and that meant one thing… find a job and move up to London. This had long been the plan – to join the church plant in Harlesden, living in community houses in NW London. In reality, I had to move to London to find a job, so I bunked on Rach’s floor for a week or so while waiting for a room in one of the houses to free up. Eventually I got steady work until Christmas at Marks and Spencers Head Office, and settled into the rhythm of life in London. Maybe I’m getting used to fitting into places quickly because I’m never around for long, maybe it helped that I knew most of the people before I actually moved, but despite a bumpy start I felt a part of Harlesden Community so easily. As well as the privilege of being able to live with some of my most loved brothers and sisters, I found the friendships that have blessed me the most in this short time - particularly in my house - have been the new ones that have been made or deepened. I don’t know if certain people realise how much they have affected me. I can’t believe my luck to have experienced a second place of total acceptance and complete love, when some people have never had that at all.
My time in Cape Town came to an end much quicker than I expected – it was funny, I felt like 4 months was going to go on forever and ever amen when I was first there. But by the end it was actually really hard to leave. I think that had everything to do with the amazing people in such a wonderful church. Newsong welcomed me in as a stranger far from home, and poured so much time and love and prayer into my life for the short period that I was with them that even now when I think about it I am quite staggered. I’ll never forget the last few days… Marlies and Ange took me on a magical mystery tour of the Cape Peninsular, and it was so much fun going to all the touristy places (especially the penguins at Boulders beach!!) after working pretty darn hard for the previous 4 months. We had goodbye drinks at a trendy cocktail bar in Kloof St, and SO many people turned up, even people who I hadn’t told about it. Guys – I was so touched by that. It was so special that you bothered to come into town just to say goodbye. Then my last night in Cape Town was a Sunday, so church was my final memory! For a while I thought it would go fairly unnoticed, which suited me fine as I was getting a bit emotional thinking about leaving. But then at the end Brad made me get up to be prayed for, and I was expecting maybe a couple of people to bother coming forward… when I looked up at the end, I was totally surrounded. Words can’t really do justice to how amazing that felt – it was like I had been there 4 years, not 4 months!! The beautiful thing about a community like Newsong is that being loved like that leaves a mark on you, and you carry it with you wherever you go from then on. I hope that I never forget what it felt like to be such a complete stranger with no idea what was going on around me, and to be taken in and treated as an equal and valued member as anyone else.
So I arrived back in the UK July 18th 2007. I was planning a quiet summer, no job, chill out with the parents at home before moving up to London in September. No such luck… as soon as I got home I went on a complete mission of a trip - first up to Doncaster for a reunion weekend with Ian and Simea Meldrum, the pastors from Agua Viva church in Brazil where I had led a student mission trip from St John’s a year previously. It was a lovely weekend to catch up with Lucy, Jodie and Andy who had all also been out there, and to hear about what was going on and plans for the future. And Jefferson was there too!! I also had to do a talk about leading a short term mission, which was funny – I felt kinda weird standing up there like some kind of speaker when that was the only mission trip I had ever been on!! But I guess it was all about God’s power in my weakness, always better that way around ;) On the Sunday afternoon I got a train from Doncaster to Shepton Mallet, to join some friends for the rest of Soul Survivor Momentum. Plans went all crazy at the last minute but I got there and (more importantly) had a tent to keep me dry! It was an awesome few days, and although kinda weird to miss the first couple of days completely I was loving it!! After that marathon, it was good to be home at last, and I spent about 2 days in bed with the new Harry Potter book!
The rest of my summer consisted of working a couple of days a week for my Godmother doing wedding cakes from her house in Lee on Solent (she closed the shop down when I went to SA) and a couple of days a week doing some work experience with the media dept at the RNLI. There were also 2 solo wedding cakes (and accompanying weddings) a couple of trips to Egham, a few driving lessons and a 24th birthday. I think I had about 5 days to myself in 6 weeks!! Still, no-one can accuse me of being unproductive!
September arrived much too soon for my liking, and that meant one thing… find a job and move up to London. This had long been the plan – to join the church plant in Harlesden, living in community houses in NW London. In reality, I had to move to London to find a job, so I bunked on Rach’s floor for a week or so while waiting for a room in one of the houses to free up. Eventually I got steady work until Christmas at Marks and Spencers Head Office, and settled into the rhythm of life in London. Maybe I’m getting used to fitting into places quickly because I’m never around for long, maybe it helped that I knew most of the people before I actually moved, but despite a bumpy start I felt a part of Harlesden Community so easily. As well as the privilege of being able to live with some of my most loved brothers and sisters, I found the friendships that have blessed me the most in this short time - particularly in my house - have been the new ones that have been made or deepened. I don’t know if certain people realise how much they have affected me. I can’t believe my luck to have experienced a second place of total acceptance and complete love, when some people have never had that at all.
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