i can't believe it's all happening so fast!

wow. i know its been a really long time since i've actually written any details here. and i'm very sorry about that. but well, i really don't have that much time to do things here, unless i want to do things instead of sleep at night. and i find that that is not a very good option because i am always tired. but that is what i am doing right now. 

well we've been in england for 29 days now. after lichfield we went to bearwood, just outside birmingham (the second largest city in england, if i have my facts correct) for two weeks. from monday, january 12 to sunday, the 25th.  it was really good to be there. and it was really nice to be there for more than a week. we got to develop the relationships with them a little better. it was another smaller church, but they did a lot of activities to reach out to the local community, especially the kids. we helped out with pretty much every activity that they had going on for those two weeks. but it was really busy. and now we are all pretty tired, considering that we've been going almost non stop for 44 days now. its definitely a long time to be so busy. 

some of the things we did at bearwood chapel were:

 -tuesday night club for 12-15 year olds

-helping with ESOL classes which i really liked doing, it was really fun

- we went to different house groups and talked

- went to the birmingham city mission and served food and shared testimonies and just talked to people

-went to different schools, primary and secondary and shared testimonies, did dramas, taught drama

-did a drama and dance workshop for the youth in the area

- friday club, there were 2 different ones, (5-8 and 9-11) and did dramas and played 

- lead sunday school

-ran the youth group doing dramas testimonies and etc

- did a night for the Iraqi and Afghan boys around the area and just played sports, many of them are refugees or don't have any family

-did a sports day for all the kids

-lead a worship event for all the youth, we became a band for this event, steven played guitar and sang, scott played drums, david played bass, susanne and i sang, and we had help on the keyboard, and sam was like our manager almost it was fun.

-on the second sunday we were there we lead the church service and david did the sermon

overall a very busy two weeks, but very cool. we got to hang out with the youth a lot and that was really cool because we hadn't gotten to do that at the other churches. and some of them were very cool. on our day off we got to go to warwick castle, that was really interesting. and the country side was beautiful and it was actually sunny that day (well kind of).  

our team is doing pretty well overall. besides the fact that we are all getting pretty tired emotionally, physically, and spiritually. so your prayers would be appreciated. i got a lot closer to susanne while we were in bearwood, and that has been great. God is still showing me things and revealing things to me, sometimes i probably don't pay enough attention, but when i do i am in awe of Him and just the way He does everything and how He has everything planned out and just how perfect it all is. 

Now we are in Watford at Soul Survivor church. it's been really great so far. but i'm not gonna write about it just yet. we leave on tuesday for thailand for 25 days. i can't believe that it's almost here, this time is just flying by. and i'm trying to make the most of it and learn the most i can and just get the most out of my time here. well i really do need to go to bed, but i will do my best to update on monday probably. okay. thanks for all your prayers. i send out my love to all of you. and i pray God's peace upon your hearts.

...

i really want to give you all an update. i know that it's been a really long time. and i really do wish i could write, but i haven't had time. but as soon as i get a chance i will. but please still keep us in your prayers. we appreciate it. thanks.

everything here is brilliant and fancy! and i love it.

I'm finally in England! We arrived here on the 1st, and have had a great start to the new year. Well, the actual 'new year' was spent on a plane, and it wasn't very exciting, despite what some of you may think. We've been in Lichfield and working at Wade Street Church for the last week and a half. Susanne and I are in a house together, a real house, and we have our own room and our own bathroom! It has been so nice to be back in an actual bed, and have delicous food again. Yes, it is definitely nice to be back in a westernized country. But, it's the coldest winter that they have had here for a long time, not that I really know the difference. The cold has been a nice change from the 90+ degree weather of Santiago, Chile though and I kind of like getting all bundled up to go outside. It was icy quite a few days while we were here and of course I fell, more than once.

Okay so here's a quick rundown of the different things that we've been doing here. We got here on Thursday, January 1 and stayed in the church for one night, then the next morning some of the families made us a nice brunch, and then went to our host family's house and got to relax the rest of the day.
Saturday we went around and 'discovered' Lichfield. It's a very small town, so there was not a whole lot to see, but they do have a beautiful cathedral and some interesting history. I don't remember his name, but the first man to write an english dictionary was from here. Then my host mom cooked us all a delicous Indian meal that night and we all played wii and that was very fun.
Sunday we went to the church service and were introduced to everybody and said what we'd be doing here, etc. Then we had team time in the afternoon and went to a Covenant service at the Catholic church that night. I really liked the service.
Monday. This is where we actually start to do some real work. We did the Monday Fellowship, it's for the older foks and we sang worship songs and gave testimonies and that type of thing. Then spent the rest of the day preparing for the next day.
Tuesday. We painted the church in the morning. Then that afternoon we working with the children's club. And that night we did a 'Meet the YWAM Team' event, and we did drama and dance and worship and testimonies and talked about what ywam is etc.
Wednesday. More painting in the morning. Then we did the youth group that night.
Thursday. We helped out with the toddler group in the morning. Then went to a high school for lunch and met with the Christian Union there. Then that afternoon we did a 'questionnaire' in the shopping center, that was a flop. No one wanted to stop and talk to us. Then we got the evening to relax.
Friday. Some of us went to another high school and did the same type of thing for lunch, and some of us stayed and help with the Friday lunch club. Then we had all evening off, so all of us decided to watch a movie at someones house, that was really fun.
Saturday. We finished painting. Then the team went out to lunch for the traditional fish 'n chips, yum. And a family had a social event for us that night, they made us dinner and we had a wii tournament that they set up, so that was fun too.
Sunday. We did the entire morning church service, with a drama and testimony, and Wallace, our leader, gave the sermon. It went very well. Then at night we did this thing called Resonate, where all the youth from the different churches get together once every other month and have a service. So we shared a little testimony and did a drama for them, and that was really fun.

Now today, we are leaving to go to a new church in Birmingham, and we will be there for 2 weeks. I've really enjoyed our time here and I'm still learning a lot and I know that God still wants to teach me, and mold me, and continue to shape me while I am here. I've been building good relationships with the people on my team as well. Please keep us in your prayers, we really appreciate it. I wish that I could write more, but I am out of time.

Love.