it’s been an interesting week here in camden…
to illustrate, here are some photos:
this was before the class arrived, i put up a streamer partition…
the rainbow (a beautiful double- you can’t really see it n the photo) that we saw on monday night…
so these are some of my kids and one of the street leaders at our site… :) we were building towers to talk about the tower of babel… tenuous link, but it was a lot of fun…
i’ll be back again soon with more pictures and some more storiers for you all… :)
and just in case you’ve forgotten wqhat i look like…
not the greatest photo ever, but hey… :)
is a school.
hopefully, we’ll do a mural there come december…
eeeshk. i hate red tape.
my new friend/housemate Jordan has this thing for wonder.
he just marvels at the world, like a typical conversation will go
‘dude, like, think about the trees.’
‘uh huh’
‘i mean, like, it just so happens that we are these creaturesthat need oxygen to survive, and we breathe out this poisionous carbon monoxide stuff, and then it just so happens that there are these crazy things called trees that suck in carbon monoxide. and then freakin give out oxygen. huh. must be random chance. there’s no way that’s design. ha. man, i freakin’ LOVE trees….
and water!….’
and so the conversations continue… (you have to imagine a saint louis/missouri accent to get the full benefit… )
i love it, he just inspires me to think about the world in this new way.. i’m getting a new appreciation for Gods creation…
and so, week one of camp is over… :)
so, since i’ve been in camden this last week and some, i’ve learnt a lot about what ‘community’ and especially ‘christian community’ means…
i read blue like jazz by don miller for the first time this week, and i’m currently reading a.j. jacobs book, a year of living biblically. both these books talk about how important it is for christians to have community.
europeans, myself included, like space. we like to know that we have (i’m obviously generalising, but whatever) a space in our homes where we can get some alone time, wher we won’t be disturbed, where we are the master of our lives. we generally tend to live in isolation too, to have flatmates, possibly, but to have completely seperate lives. and that’s not a bad thing, but i’m learning that the opposite can be just as valuable, and necessary. that when we share space, time and common purpose, and especially if we are intentional about it, making ourselves available, then we build so much deeper relationships.
so far, so good. we’ll see how the rest of the year goes. :)
so, I’m here… it took a long time on flights, in customs and in arrivals waiting to find the people who were meant to find me… but i’m here….
so far.. its been great… explored some of camden, beginning to get used to having two roommates (at the moment, another person is on the way…) and living in community.. this week we have all of our introduction to camden/america/urban type stuff, then on tuesday we start our programs…. :)
so this is just brief cos i’ve gotta go…
this time tomorrow, i will be almost on NJ soil…
so if you’re the praying type, pray for the flights and getting through immigration, and for the first 24-48 hurs as well all settle in and begin to get the measure of each other…
and then, i’ll be back, i hope, with a post about the adventures of getting to the states… so look out for that..
thank you, friends!
with two americans in the last hour, i can safely say, POLITENESS HELPS!
the first woman was just like, ‘you are not listening to me, ma’am, we do not deal with that, i have just told you three times that we do not deal with that– beep, abrupt hangup as i was saying, ’sorry, okay, so can i then phone — to ask them for infor- oh, they hung up…’
the second lady, at another US government department, was sooo much nicer, though she did end each part of the conversation with, ‘do you need me to repeat anything for you, or can i answer any more questions?’ uh, thanks, you’re ok.
but she genuinely wanted to help me and was willing to listen to my questions… it gives me hope.
hopefully i’ll have have some real american anecdotes from meeting real american people and being on real american soil this time next week… and maybe even pictures… sponsored by debbie… :)
so that my dear friend debbie can have something new to read every sunday when she has her ‘blog time’ i’m going to commit to weekly blogs… so you can shout at me if it doesn’t happen…
for right now.. i’m still just waiting for my visa stuff to come through…
scary but exciting.. yeek!
this song with you.
it’s well worth a listen.
made cleaning the flat today much more enjoyable.
ahhh.
(the video is pretty sweet too.)
(if you’re so inclined, spotify the antlers, hospice. this is from that album. it takes some listening, but it is for sure a grower. i would pay money for this album.)
are lots of thoughts.
i was thinking about relationships recently, especially about christian vs non-christian relationships, and then also about how it’s really really important for me (as well as for every other christian out there) to know that i am primarily satisfied by my relationship with God.
i’ve also had a really big chat about that (amongst other things) with a really good friend, which was … challenging. but it was really good.
i’m still scared about next year. but its a really good, exciting kind of scared, rather than the paralysing, bite-your-nails-off scared.
i don’t really want to leave glasgow, or the people, but more than that, i don’t want to leave without saying goodbye. so hopefully i can see lots of people before i leave. and if i don’t see you… i’m sorry. there’s always skype. :)
we’ve finally finished all the filming for MYT. thats a crazy thought. and i think i get to go to about 3 more sessions of MYT on a monday before i leave.. i hope.
i still need to go get my visa. if you’re the praying type, PRAY!
i think i possibly need to sleep more than i am at the moment, but then i also have more things to do than i am currently doing.
i’ve devoted a fair chunk of my recent life to rereading the complete harry potter series. it was definitely worth it. even the really big ones. and the ones i’ve already read 100 times.
i’m really trying to get my head around the fact that one of the four of us (my flatmates) has left us… not the country yet, but glasgow, yes. Britain, soon. boo.
i have quite a lot of films that need processed.
i have a stupid amount of un/re-packing to do.
currently watching ‘you have been watching’, so i’ll get back to that.
hope you enjoyed the small look into my slightly demented head..
