We saved the busiest for last....Whew....
This last couple weeks have been definitely the most busy, but in the end, they were also some of the most fun.
We did a lot of RE lessons here. RE stands for religious education. Here kids learn about the 4 major religions right in school. Since they have exams soon on Christianity they said we could come in and just let kids ask us questions. The questions they ask here vary to the extreme. Some will ask questions about humanity or theology, questions about suffering and why God allows it, etc. And some are legitimate, but very cute questions. One of the cutest ones I heard while I was here was, ‘Were Adam and Eve born with the leaves on them?’ Hehehe.
Kids.
The other thing that we have done a lot of here is music. This entire trip overseas we haven’t needed much for our sound system. In Rwanda mostly because we didn’t have power in a lot of the places we went, and here in England because usually they wanted us to kind of team up with what they had. In any case, everything we did we still had a lot of fun doing. But then we got here and we realized that we would be doing concerts... no not the 2000 people jumping all over each other screaming on a giant stage concert, but a concert just the same. So, suddenly all these songs that we had learned from way back to kind of ‘break the ice’ with people became the songs we used most often. Therefore, this last couple weeks has been Music 101 for our team. Going back to where we’ve been and then rapidly trying to learn new stuff and not just play a song to get through it but to have fun playing and play it skilfully. I must say it has been a joy. Some of the songs we’ve recently been doing are: Stars – by Switchfoot, Dead Man – Jars of Clay, Almighty Silence – Tree63, Up and Up – Relient K, I’m Yours – Yfriday (YFriday’s singer dude is the guy who wrote the song ‘Everlasting God’)
Anyways, it’s been a good time though it’s been busy.
The first major concert we did was 1 hour and we had nobody show up when it was time to start. So, we waited and ... we waited... and then a few people came. 2 guys who were biking outside came in, and they stayed for the whole thing. That and two cars of girls showed up. It was a good night, though it had a fair amount of glitches.
Along with the concerts, we went down to one of the pubs that was having an Open Mike time. We did some acoustic songs there! No one threw anything at us. It was nice to be able to present Christianity and music that was nice and fresh...not typical church music that they're used to...like really old words in hymns! Joanna started with one of her songs...there was a stunned silence at the bar. All the men were sitting there sighing. I'm sure I saw one man wipe a tear from his eye. Joanna always sings so beautifully. Then, for the next song, Charis joined Joanna, and Karina and I did two songs. Some of the people there invited Karina and I to come back for a folk festival. We'll see. That would be fun.
The second major concert we did was at the local youth centre and it was 30 mins long. Most of the 50 kids there were not from associated with the church. We had a blast with them. They loved music and we hung around for a bit to play some sports and dance a bit.
The first minor concert was in the school that we had been doing RE lessons all week. We did some music classes there too. (I got to lead the class in playing Eye of the Tiger when I was there... heh heh... go Rocky!) Anyways, we had only 10 minutes and so we did a couple songs and a chalk art. Really one of the big reasons of being there was to publicly say that we were doing one last concert in the church up the road on Friday night. Last night. We started with around 15 people there and by the end there was about 30. We had little groups of kids come in every so often and we really had a blast with them. Some of them were church going kids but others I believe had no connection with the church. Never the less we all had a really good time and we were able to present the gospel clearly. Tabitha did a Christmas/Easter chalk art and did a great job. We also did some dramas and an illusion, and we all had a blast. It was our best program we’ve done this VTI team year. We had a lot of fun with the kids and got to visit afterwards, we did some more songs and at the very end, for the few who were still around, Blair, Dillon, Nathan (with Leo the cat) and myself) publicly for the first time, SANG.
That was fun. :D
My major fear was that with a lot of us tired and sickish and worn down and tired... well you get the idea... that we’d all kind of sputter out instead of finish strong. Indeed, that was where we were heading. But we’ve been talking a lot with the team lately and we told them about our wanting to finish this time overseas with some vigor. To not just drag across the finish line, but to do some kind of triple sow cow across the lovely line at the end (that’s for you fans of figure skating). Anyways, I’m really proud of the team. They really have pulled together extra in this last little while. We appreciate the prayers you’ve been so regularly praying. They have not been in vain.
My hope to for a lot of us to be able to tell you these amazing things we’ve seen in person, though I know I won’t be able to see all of you. Know that we would love to if we had the opportunity.
God has been with us and we’ve seen Him even answering the very simple prayers. And recently, it’s been really fast answers too.
The other day, Nathan misplaced a very important cord for the video camera. He had looked everywhere and couldn't find it. He went home and couldn’t find it and he went to the church where we were and couldn’t find it. Well he left again to go look and then we prayed about it. Well, 10 seconds after we prayed, *ring* Nathan called and he had found it. The same happened Karina and the VTI wallet just a bit a ago. She had looked all the usual places, so I said, (just like my mom always says) ‘Well, let’s pray about it.’ So we prayed, and again, 10 seconds later, Karina had found it.
I know God doesn’t always answer with that kind of ferocious speed, but I know that he is real, he hears and he responds.
Thank you all again for all you’ve been doing there, even when it doesn’t seem like much. It’s a huge thing and we couldn’t have survived without all the prayers you’ve been giving.
Grace and Peace
James & Karina in Sidmouth in their final bout before the home trip. :)
