Christmas Time!

It was Christmas Day today at IMC, in honour of the Action Teamers. For the last month, we have been at IMC with a large number of 17-23 year olds, preparing to go in small teams for 6 months across the world! They will therefore be away from home at Christmas, and as it is their last night in Birmingham, we have been celebrating the seasonal festivities with them. We had a fantastic Christmas dinner, followed by the Mission Trainees (that's us!) putting on a very special Nativity, complete with lobsters, octopuses and a real baby acting as Jesus. Daniel was asked what animal he would like to be, and he said a grufallo. Sophia was, of course, an angel and I accompanied her. Neil was a shepherd. It was a special time where the whole community was involved and had a lot of fun! I love the family shot where our beautiful angel is picking her nose! And after a Christmas meal, there is always the washing up - Daniel can be seen wearing a beautiful hair net that we have to wear when washing up!

Culture Day

Today was 'Culture Day' at IMC. Yesterday, we were told of some new cultural rules that we were expected to adhere to during the course of today. These included dressing smartly, and the men having to be accompanied by someone else if they wanted to travel around. Also, they could only speak to a woman if she initated the conversation. It was a good learning experience to help us to think about the norms and expectations of different cultures. Daniel and Sophia got involved as well, although Sophia as a girl was meant to wear a dress that came below the knee. The dress I chose for her used to be long, but it seems as if she has grown! Daniel was also meant to wear a shirt, but the only shirt we had was part of a pirate costume, so he went off to nursery dressed as a pirate. Although I explained briefly that we were taking part in a culture day, some things got lost in translation and I picked him up later to discover that the children at nursery has also been joining in with 'Pirate Day' and following Pirate rules! Tomorrow, they are even having a treasure hunt! I love the fact that the nursery got involved - a true cross-cultural experience - and I also love the fact that the nursery leaders may have thought that we were having a pirate day here at IMC; I have images of us all chasing around the place looking for buried treasure. Maybe later in the term?...

The Next Steps...

So, here we are at IMC in Selly Oak, Birmingham. After what feels like a long time of preparation, we have begun the long road to Cusco. It has been a good first week and we have already made friends. This will come as no surprise to many, but there was always a slight fear that we would turn up for missionary training and find that everyone else was super-holy and saintlike. However - and I mean this in the best possible way - everyone is refreshingly normal, with the same doubts, questions, and in some cases, sense of humour as we have. I think that me and Neil are both going to really enjoy the training and appreciate the time when the children are in nursery. When we are all together, the time is precious, partly because we are catered for and don't have to spend time cooking!

One of our first assignments is to prepare a biography of a missionary. I have chosen to look at Dorothy Day and am already challenged by some of the things that she said:

'The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart; a revolution which has to start with each one of us.'

'We have all known the long loneliness, and we have found that the answer is community.'

In other matters, we have already had to visit the walk-in health centre, due to awful nappy rash (Sophia, of course...) and we have been in quarantine to a tummy bug. I have felt icky over the weekend, following a nasty virus the week before. I think that it is a mixture of fresher's flu, new nursery and finally having a chance to chill out after a hard August. If you like to pray, please pray that we will all soon return to full health... in time for Neil's hernia op on Friday!

He did it!

We were both hoping to run the Hackney Marshes 10k on Saturday, 11 September. Sadly, I came down with a virus and, despite working hard to train for it, I couldn't take part and spent the morning in bed watching Cemetery Junction! Neil on the other hand, completed it in 51 mins 33 secs (unofficial time), which is much better than I would have done! I am still hoping to run 10k beofre Christmas. Please contact us if you would like to retrospectively sponsor Neil, or sponsor me when I eventually get to do it! Hopefully, I can post a pic of Neil in action at some point.

Journeys

These are some photos taken last Friday night, when we held a photography and art exhibition & auction to raise money for Peru. The original idea came about because I work with so many talented and creative young people, and for ages I have wanted to display their work in some form. WHile talking to a group of young people, we came up with the idea of holding an exhibition on the theme of Journeys. Lots of people made a contribution, and these photos are the result! It was a great night, and we rasied over £500, but I also think it was a great way to rasie awareness of the brilliance if young people (and some not so young...)

Getting real...

This afternoon, the 4 of us had 9 injections between us, with Daniel taking 3 for the team. He was promised a treat and went for a juice lolly; personally I feel that he sold himself short and could have gone for a chocolate bar. We are booked in for more injections next week, and, following the medicals a couple of weeks ago, it is all starting to feel very real. I have started sorting out the house, as we will be moving out at the start of August, just over a month away. Thanks to the help and support of many people, we had a great time at the Peruvian night on Sunday and it provided a (literal) taster of what is to come. However, there is nothing like a needle in your aim to bring about a reality check, and it was this afternoon that it really started to hit home that we are actually doing this. We are leaving jobs, our house, friends and family and moving far, far away. We trust that God will continue to guide us, especially next week when the kids realise next week that they are about to be stanned with a needle again.

We'd love to invite you...

Peruvian Quizzes, Games, Food and Chat

Please come and join us on 27th June at Enfield Baptist Church for a taste of Peruvian life and further info on our forthcoming adventures.

The evening will begin at 6.30pm and end around 8pm.

Hope you can make it!