next stop...thailand!

well. we've been in watford since last sunday. and it's been really great. we are at a church called soul survivor, and its a lot bigger than the other churches we've been at so far and its kind of nice to be in a bigger church and not really be in the spotlight all the time. the woman who is coordinating our whole stay used to live in pichilemu, chile for a couple years and she also did her dts there too. so it's been nice to have someone else who knows what it was like on the base and to know how it is to be on outreach for this long and she just has a little better idea of what we might want or need. plus, she's just great, so sweet, and we all love her. 

some of the things we've done this week are: 

-monday was our free day, but we had dinner at a fellow YWAMer's house and got to meet a few people from the church

-tuesday we met various people in the church and had coffee and just got to talk with them. met the pastor for evangelism and talked with her. a few of us (including me) went to an after school art club which is run by a teacher who goes to soul survivor. and the rest of the team went to a prayer and intercession meeting downtown. then at night we went to different youth cell groups.

-wednesday some of the team helped with the moms and todlers group. and me and the rest of the team went to a help out in a religious education class (for the same teacher as the day before) and we helped the kids make up dramas about moses, it was really fun. then in the afternoon we did practical work around the church. at night we went to different cell groups again. the group i went to does a kind of pub ministry where they live, it was really cool and interesting. 

-thursday we had a free morning. then we helped clean up at a local community center and it was freezing outside. then we all went together to another cell group that night. and it was such a welcoming atmosphere, i almost felt like i was at a family member's house. and we did a drama for them. and they prayed over us and that was awesome.

-friday we had lunch with the four focus students, who are like student interns. it was nice to meet some other young people who are doing something a little similar to what we are doing, in that they are giving up a year of their time to work at this church. then we did 'energize cafe' which is for families with young children to come and just hang out together and play and do crafts and just socialize. at night we went to an event called 'youth across watford' where different churches youth come together for a night and do worship etc. we did a drama there and that was really good. 

-saturday the girls, so susanne, tina, and i, went to 'coffee and croissants' which is just for women and just a time to have fellowship and there was a teaching on women in leadership which was interesting and good. then the whole team went to whots (watford healing on the streets). this is something they do every saturday. basically they go to the town center and just set up a banner that says healing and they hand out leaflets and basically just pray for healing to anyone who wants it. i thought it was really cool, but it was SO COLD and we were outside for about 2 1/2 hours. then we had free time and got to hang out and watch a movie together and eat fish and chips. then had a little get together with some of the people we'd met throughout the week and played guitar hero world tour of course. 

-sunday we helped with all the kids at the morning service. then went to lunch at someones house and hung out for the afternoon. then went to the 5 pm service, and they prayed over us. then we all just hung out with different people we met throughout the week and ate. then it snowed and so we played in the snow for a bit. and we got invited to a little superbowl party, which i never would've thought would happen in england. but there are 3 or 4 young interns from california and arizona, so they were super into it. and we went for al little while but then we had to go because the game didn't start here til 11:30 pm.  

overall this has been a great week. we have met so many cool people here and have gotten to develop some relationships. especially with the interns, who are the same age as us. i think one of the things thats been so great for us about this church is that there are people that are the same age as us here, and there wasn't really at the other churches. it would nice if we could stay here a few more days, oh well. tomorrow is our last day here then its off to thailand. which is exciting, but i really have no idea what to expect. and i don't know how much internet access i will have where we will be so i don't know how often i will be able to give updates. and i could probably write a lot more but its late here and i need to get to sleep. but please keep us in your prayers. i think that spiritual warfare will be intense in thailand so prayer for that would be appreciated and also i think that we need prayer for our transition to a new place, and for team unity, for energy and rest also. it's been a long but great 6ish weeks so far, and we are about to leave for our last leg of the trip. its exciting and weird that its already here. well i love you and thank you.

love.