My Passion for Purity

Tonight I got to release some of the fire out of my bones! If anyone knows me well, they know I am passionate about abstinence and educating our youth about it. It's my soapbox. Well, it's one of my many soapboxes. Megen had planned for a 3 week series on sex for Ignite...but she was on vacation last week so Dustin talked...then she was planning on talking tonight, and I would wrap up next week. However, we bumped up next week to this week because we needed to have a coffee house night next week before our seniors go on their senior trips. So, I had been planning on talking next week and had hardly started preparing when I found out this very morning that I would be talking tonight. Megen is so gracious and she totally let me decide if I still wanted to...because she was more than willing to talk tonight as originally planned. But if you're sitting on fire like I am, you gotta get up and speak about it! So my week was crammed into about 4 hours and I did the best I could. I used Josh McDowell's "Why True Love Waits" and some statistics I found online. He breaks it up into 4 main reasons for waiting...physical consequences, emotional consequences, relational consequences, and spiritual consequences. He also states at the beginning that sex is a great thing that God has for us, but because he loves us and wants to protect us and provide good for us, it is to be done only in the right context-marriage. So all of the 4 main reasons are then broken down into God's provision and God's protection. That book is fab and so incredibly informative. Great resource. So I got up there and gave it my best shot....and I think it was okay. Not great, but okay. I did say "um..." a whole heck of a lot, and my face was burning and I'm sure I had some nice red cheeks, but I feel like I got the majority of what I wanted to say across. I just get so fired up about it!!

I haven't posted in a week so I will give a little update. Friday was the stinkin best day ever! I had to drive about 1 1/2 hrs. to a place in Kent (county) to look at a couple of retreat centres for our fall middle school retreat. It happened to be 30 deg C that day which is about 90 F!! I think I saw more sun that day than in my last 6 months here. It was sooooo beautiful! I don't have a/c in my car so I opened up the sunroof and rolled down all the windows and jammed to some Randy Travis, oddly enough, and cruised. I was driving and just thinking about how much God has blessed me and how incredibly beautiful this country is...and I came up sort of over this hill on the motorway...and there before me were massive emerald hills covered with trees and fields of thick grass, and the sun was shining and it was just breathtaking. I wanted to pull over on the side of the motorway about 15 times to take pictures, but I didn't. Man, it's just incredible how beautiful this place is. I wish I could capture it somehow, but there's no way. I hope I never forget. I got to drive down some sweet country roads too...it was just so nice being by myself on this mini road trip, because I never do things like that. It's interesting how much I enjoy my time now...I used to always want to be with people for everything, but I do really enjoy doing things alone more now. I still love being with people most of the time, but it's like I don't rely on it as much as I used to. Something like that. After I looked at the centers I had to drive through this town called Tonbridge, so I stopped and walked around on the high street for a little while and had lunch there. I bought a few old records at a charity shop and took a few pictures of a cute bridge over the river...and was on my way. I felt so happy and so energized! Sunshine sure does amazing things for me-as does Sonshine. God is so great.
Yesterday Erin and Darren came down and we went to Hampton Court Palace, which is called the greatest palace in Britain. That's one incredible place. It was Henry VIII's last I think and he really made it into something amazing. I learned a lot of history that I did not retain-the usual. The gardens are really fantastic and the sun was actually shining while we were outside (it rained in the morning) so that was nice. There is also a maze there which we conquered. When you get to the middle you're supposed to get a sticker that says you found the middle of the maze, but yesterday there were no stickers!! Erin and I were really bummed about that.

Last night was the "goodbye" barbeque for Trav, Meg, and Dustin. It was at the Millisor's of course and was extremely well attended. Well over 100 people came for the bbq/potluck festivities. Several people spoke thank you's for each of the interns...it's so awesome how much God has used each one. It's sad to think it's coming to an end for them and I will miss them sooooo much!! But they're my forever friends. I enjoyed sitting there looking at the massive circle of people that makes up my community, in every sense of the word, and felt such a strong sense of belonging and love. And as I listened to people sharing their thank you's I realized what an amazing ministry we have here and I realized again that God has given us-a few ill-equipped twentysomething's-the opportunity to bask in his love and share it with all of these wonderful kids and families. I felt so inadequate when I came on staff in February, and still do much of the time, but I decided that I would bloom where I was planted. I felt that this was and is exactly where God wanted me and so I would just do my best to let him use me...and the longer I am here, the deeper the relationships get-more honest and comfortable and all-and the more God is using me and the more I love it.

Parliamentary Procedure

When I was a senior in high school, I was class secretary, and I remember one of our teachers always talking about following "Parliamentary Procedure" when we were in meetings. And I would just think "What in the world does that really mean anyway? Why is it called Parliamentary procedure? " And now I know. Yesterday I went on a tour of the Houses of Parliament. It was great! We got to go all through the place, into the normally restricted areas and everything. Went into the Queen's Robing Chamber where she goes in to change before entering the House of Lords...apparently that room is only used once a year. Crazy. Saw the House of Lords and the House of Commons and Westminster Hall and various other places. Learned a lot of history that my poor mind cannot retain. It's so interesting to learn about the various traditions that are still performed. Some are so random and funny. Upon entering the House of Commons there is a large Churchill statue made of bronze. The whole statue is black now, save Churchill's left foot-toe rather-which is shiny and gold. Apparently it is good luck to rub the toe upon entry-supposedly some of Churchill's great oratory skills would rub off on those entering to speak. Anyway, after that tour we were outside of parliament talking, and I guess Dustin asked another man that gave tours of Big Ben and the clock tower, if he could take us on that tour. So he took us. There are something like 350ish stairs in the tower to the top, where Big Ben (the bell) is. I'm not so comfortable with heights, and I was thinking that it would be sort of a closed staircase-spiraling but stone in the middle or something closed. However, the middle was open, so as you would climb the stairs you would be able to look down and just see straight down to the bottom. No thanks. I went up just a couple of flights and was done with that. Too creepy. Pretty soon after I decided not to partake, Megen's parents made the same decision and sat with me at the bottom. They weren't okay with the height either. Again it was the problem with the middle of the staircase being open. So that was a bummer because it would've been a really interesting tour. They got to see the mechanics room and the inside of the clockface and Big Ben and everything! Who knew there were 4 other smaller quarter hour bells that rang, and that Big Ben only rang on the hour? And that Big Ben weighs 13.5 tons. And that there are 28 light bulbs behind each of the 4 clock faces which are made with opal glass. There's even a prison room a third of the way up the tower for any member of the House of Commons or the House of Lords that had to be detained for misbehavior during a debate...it was last used in 1880. Great tour.
So that was my Monday. But before Monday was Friday-when Darren got to England to embark on his 3 month adventure. We hung out Friday, didn't really do much, and went to a high school play Friday night. Saturday I took Darren into London and tried to show him around a bit. It rained pretty hard part of the day and was sunny another part. That's England. Saturday night we came back down to Surrey and had a really great barbeque with the fantastic family I live with...and then headed to Heywoodstock at the school. Houses and some buildings here have names, like I live in Breton Hill...and Heywood is the name of the school building I guess, so that's where the name Heywoodstock came from. Obviously Heywoodstock was a huge concert. Basically it was middle school and high school bands from the 3 ACS schools in Surrey. It was interesting. We didn't stay all that long. Sunday Darren felt sick-nerves-and didn't get to go to church with me. But it was a great Sunday. During both morning services we had senior recognition and in between during the Sunday school hour, had a brunch for seniors and their families. Parents were invited to share a story or memory about their senior. It was a very emotional hour for all of us!! Sunday night was the End of Year banquet-which was my baby. Much planning and prep went into it, but I was a little nervous about. My youth bands had cancelled the week before and I was worried about the food situation-pot luck. I didn't know how many people were attending or anything. Just kinda nervous and stressful. But it was fantastic! We had well over 100 people, which was crazy-way more than expected! We played Name That Tune during the time that the bands would've played. Travis planned for and facilitated that, and did a spectacular job. Had like 4 categories of music, clues for every song, a whole weird host costume to carry out the gameshow in. Good times. We had a fantastic slideshow made by one of our seniors, and several kid and parent testimonies. It was such a great night. We had a 50's theme and had coke and d.p. floats. All in all it was a huge success!

David Hasselhoff stole my wallet?!

Well, maybe HE wasn't the one, but all in a day I did see David Hasselhoff at a market in London and my wallet did get stolen. It was an eventful day. Got up early Saturday a.m. and went to the gym at 8 o'clock, but I guess I forgot that this is England and the open hours of businesses are not necessarily for YOUR convenience. So sadly, the gym was not open. Now, I could have gone home and jogged or something, but I was so close to Starbucks...I thought, "I could go to Starbucks and sit and read for an hour." So I did. What a lovely morning. Then at 11 I headed into London with my new friend Erica. We were making our first ever trip to Borough market. This is an all food market that I have been hearing about for some time now, and I was quite excited to go. You see, I had heard about these incredible grilled cheese sandwiches at Borough market, made with this specific Montgomery cheese and sourdough bread-only available at Neal's Yard Dairy store. There are a few other special ingredients. Anyway, Erin and I were desperately searching for the grilled cheese stand, but had no luck. Then we saw the Neal's Yard Dairy store like a beacon in the night, and headed directly over. Upon arrival we were told that the grilled cheese sandwiches were no longer being made-as of 2 weeks ago-and wouldn't be back until September! Serious bummer. We settled for a chorizo sandwich instead. Chorizo sandwich-doesn't sound yummy does it? But this chorizo was very different, actually nothing like the chorizo I know (thankfully) and the sandwich was fantastic. It's a small roll with the meat and some rocket (a type of lettuce stuff) and roasted red pepper. Surprisingly great. Anyway...I forgot to say that right after we exited the tube and were on the street next to the market, just about to start in, was when we saw David and some other guy. I looked up and there he was. Much taller than I would have imagined. Handsome, but aged. He said to the other guy, "I wish I would've brought my hat." That's all. Then over the next hour as we scanned the market we heard random people making comments about David Hasselhoff. He was the talk of the market. Apparently he and Brooke Shields are in the Chicago musical in London. After the market we headed to Oxford Circus because Erica wanted to do some shopping. Unfortunately, I ended up doing most of the shopping. So what's new? I only made a purchase at H&M, but seriously, everything there is well worth the price. Well, about 3 hours later we were at Dorothy Perkins (my other fave store) and I was getting a new purse (an amazing bright pink huge awesome wonderful perfect in every way purse) for only £18!!!! So I reached in my little purse for my wallet-but it didn't seem to be there. I searched my bag and my purse, but the wallet was gone. So I immediately called and cancelled the cards. One credit card, my bankcard, and about £40. It could've been so much worse, it could've been my driver's license and all sorts of stuff, but I carry that stuff separately. Don't worry, I still got the pink purse-Erica's great and she loaned me the cash.

Jamaican me crazy

I have a friend in London called Nicola-I met her on a trip to Wales back in September. We've hung out a lot since and been pretty good friends. Went to Brighton and Amsterdam together, and have done lots of stuff in London as well. Anyway, her time here has come to an end. She's been here about a year and is heading back in a couple of weeks. So, last night we met for dinner for the last time we were gonna see each other :-(. And we made it a girls night out, as usual, and Erin, Megen, and Angela came along as well. Well, I LOVE to try new foods, different foods, multicultural foods. A few months back I found a fantastic Moroccan restaurant that we have been to a couple of times. This time I decided we should try Caribbean food-and more specifically-Jamaican. I found a place called Bamboula in an area of London called Brixton. The place was tiny-only seating about 24 people in its entirety, but was decorated so cute! It was like a little beach hut. The workers-and I assume owners-were Jamaican. This was not like your average chain restaurant in the states, such as Bahama Breeze, but true Jamaican. The four of us each ordered something different and shared. We tried the jerk chicken and fried sweet potatoes, a vegetarian lasagne bake and plantains, saltfish with pumpkin, sweet potatoes, yams, and an aubergine (eggplant) bake with caribbean salad. EVERYTHING was fantastic. I actually liked mine the best-the veg lasagne and plantains. So good! Not like your ordinary veg lasagne, somehow very different. Good portion sizes as well-and fantastic prices. You may wonder how I found this random place. I did my research. I like to look at a london website, choose a genre of food, and then look at the various restaurants' reviews and websites if possible. Then I narrow it down to the one. So far we have had success. We decided to try a new place every week, but it'll probably be more like every month, which is fine. So that's the new goal. I'll keep you posted on my diverse culinary experiences.

FYI

Just in case you didn't know, anytime you see a word that is highlighted in any of my blog entries, that means it's a link, so you can click on the word and it'll be a link of whatever I was talking about in the blog. Someone I talked to didn't know that, so I thought maybe other people didn't know it either. It's cool because I try and put links on places I go...like when I went to Paris I put in a lot of links to pics and info about the various places I talked about in my blog. So click away!

Another great weekend

I was talking to my dad last night and telling him about my great weekend, and how I had realized that practically every weekend I say "this was the greatest weekend!" Things must be pretty good if I feel that way practically every weekend. I thought, "I had so much fun this weekend, it was the best weekend, but Paris was the best weekend, and Wales was the best weekend, and when I'm home and I just hang out with friends and work out and catch up on laundry, that's a great weekend too!" How great to find enjoyment in so many different things. But this really was such a great weekend! Thursday night my friend Erin came down from London and stayed over night. We got up Friday morning and went on a walk with this women's walking group. Lisa, the mother of the family I live with, is a hike leader. She goes on great, long walks every Friday. They're usually about 2-2 1/2 hours long, out in the English countryside. This particular walk led us by blankets of bluebells in full bloom. They were amazing. The walk also took us to a little tea room in the country. You can get to the tea room only by walking! It's only open by reservation now though. We had a nice lunch there with sandwiches and tea and cakes! It was such a lovely day, so we were able to sit outside. Then it was straight to the grocery store and home for cooking! We had to prepare for our big Cinco de Mayo party that night. Erin and I had planned on making chicken enchiladas, layered dip, and dessert empanadas. She did much of the cooking because I was busy driving a couple of kids back and forth from their house to the school. Anyway, the party idea originated between Erin and myself because we so love Mexican food and can't find great Mexi food here...so sometimes when we get together we cook Mexican. So we had decided to invite over a couple of friends for dinner-chicken enchiladas. I asked Lisa if that would be okay, since it is her house, and she said it was fine but could she invite a few people. Heck yeah, the more the merrier! So we actually ended up with about 25 people! It was so great because those women can cook, and they all brought different things! Sort of a Mexican pot-luck. So awesome! Then Saturday I went with the Mellgard's and a few other couples/families to point to point horse racing. This was some serious fun. It only happens once a year-at least this particular one. Everyone drives out to this area sort of in the country where the race is, and have huge picnics. There were tons of people. So we got together and everyone put out their yummy picnic foods (breads, cheeses, wines, salads, pastas, etc.) and we indulged. About every 45 minutes or so there would be a race. Point to point racing means that the horses aren't racing on a track like normal, but out in the country on a 3 mile course. This one was 3 miles anyway. So you could go bet on the horse you thought would win, then go watch the race and see. Most of the race was not visible though because it went way off behind trees and came back around to where we were. Many of the horses didn't finish for various reasons...3 miles makes for a long race and apparently there was a sort of ditch thing where several of the jockeys fell off of their horses. So then after a race, we would eat some more, dessert....and then cheese and crackers. Good times. There were also lots of stalls selling things-lots of jackets, sweaters, horse riding gear, etc. It was an all day affair. So that was really great. Wrapped up the weekend Sunday at ACS family fun day! We have a youth booth there that sells burgers and dogs...so I worked all day at that, which was so much fun. I love doing stuff like that! We sold a heck of a lot of food. So, you see, it was a great weekend!

Relevant

I just read a really great article on relevantmagazine.com, my fave online mag. My fave print mag too really! Anyway, the article is about how we as Christians do not have to live a traditional, ordinary life. An ordinary life is great; finish school, get a good job, settle down and get married, have kids, etc. This is perfect for so many people and that's commendable! But for some, it isn't their right path. It isn't what God necessarily has in store for all of us. Or maybe it is, but for a little later on in life. So the article is about stepping out on faith to follow what God has for us...which could be anything, anywhere! Sometimes the future is so unclear and many of us experience this "fear of the unknown;" the unsettling thoughts about the future and what it holds. I especially felt this way when I was graduating from university. But so many times we just have to make ourselves completely open to what God has for us, even if it is way different than what we had planned for or thought it would be...Lord knows I absolutely did not see myself in the position I am in now. Yes, I definitely wanted to live overseas and experience life elsewhere, but I sure never thought I would be working full time for a church as a youth intern. That took a step of faith for many reasons, but especially because I wasn't sure that I was really equipped for the job. Could I really prepare and give talks to groups of teenagers? All on my own? But that's just it...I am not all on my own. God gives me the strength and the words and everything I need to do this ministry. He leads me. I decided to take that step of faith, out of the ordinary, and to bloom where I am planted. And because of it I have been extremely blessed.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Just in case you think that Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of Mexican Independence Day, let me save you the humiliation of embarassing yourself by stating that misinformation...Mexican Independence Day is actually diez y seis de Septiembre (aka September 16th). Cinco de Mayo is the day that Mexico defeated France at the battle of Puebla!! In celebration of this great holiday, Erin and I are throwing a fiesta Friday night! We love Mexican food, but it is hard to find in this beautiful country. So we are teaming up with Lisa Mellgard (the family that I live with) and making some yummy Mexican food and margaritas. Erin an I invited a few of our friends and Lisa invited several of her married couple friends. It's gonna be an awesome party. The couples are each bringing something, so we will truly have a fiesta.

I am the little engine that could

I meant to post this yesterday, but absolutely did not have time because I was preparing my first ever talk for Ignite and also had book club in the afternoon. Anyway, yesterday morning I got up early to go for a jog in my neighborhood. I have been doing this 3 mile route for a couple of months, I jog usually about 20ish minutes total, and walk some as well. Unfortunately, I only usually get to jog once every week or two because I go to the gym a lot and do other kinds of exercise, so my endurance doesn't get built up quite as fast. So my end of summer goal was to be able to jog the whole 3 miles, hills and all. It's a tough job for the last half of it because much of it is uphill, and these are not tiny hills. Yesterday I was feeling really good and I told myself at about the one mile point that I could jog the whole thing. I wasn't really sure, but the night before I had been talking with a lady and she said that jogging was about mind games-your mind keeps saying you can't do it or you're just gonna die, but you have to win the mind game and press on! So I decided that I was the little engine that could, and I would fully believe that I could do it. So I did it! I reached my end of summer goal on May 3rd! I jogged the entire thing, even the end part which is the biggest, steepest hill of all. It was an extremely slow jog up the last bit, but I did press on with everything I had. I finished in 32 minutes. I would like to thank Nikah and Megen for their inspiration.
Yesterday was also a big day for me because I spoke at Ignite for the first time. We are doing this series called Film Fest 2005: How Movies Saved My Soul!! Another of Megen's great creations. So each of the 4 of us have had to pick a film to screen and find the sacred in the secular film. Megen did a film called Endless Summer about life's great adventures, Dustin chose Chocolate and had great things to say about our relationships toward people and how we choose to live our lives. I chose the Goonies and talked about our search for treasure and what that treasure is, as well as what our eternal treasure is or should be. I gave the kids each a drawing of a treasure chest (Megen drew it for me because she is a much better artist than me) and told them that they were the chest and they had to write down what they fill their treasure chest or their lives with...what they valued, etc. And I shared the parables of hidden treasure from Matthew 13:44. I was fairly nervous about speaking, but it went okay. Not great, but okay. It's hard because all of the kids aren't listening and some are talking and stuff. And I felt like it was a little fragmented. But there is much time and room for improvement. While gathering info/researching the topic of searching for treasure, I found some interesting stuff. One thing I included was an article Megen had read on cnn.com about these 4 roofers in Mass. that had supposedly found "buried treasure" last week. The treasure was 1,800 bank notes dating something like 1899-1928 with a face value of $7,000, but were appraised at about $125,000. It turned out that the men hadn't actually found this hidden treasure in the backyard like they said, but had taken it from a barn that they were working on. They were arrested.
Another interesting thing I found was the legend of the Beale treasure. There's supposedly some buried treasure in Virginia. Many men have spent time and money searching, but no one has ever located it. Have I found my next adventure...?
I can't believe it's already May!! I'm going home to visit in like 5 weeks! I am so excited! This month will breeze by because it's the end of the year and so super busy!
Oh, Monday night I went to my first bbq of the year. It was at the Millisor's of course. It was good fun. The reason for the bbq was that we have a new girl in the community...Erika. She is 27 and is here for 6 months, interning with a guy from our church. She just finished her masters degree at Wheaton in Chicago. She's living practically next door to me for the next 6 weeks, and then she'll still be close but at another house. I'm so excited to have her here! That's about it for me now. Thanks for reading!