In the midst of exhaustion and business I found it impossible to keep a blog while I was on my missions trip. Thankfully I was able to sketch a few journal entries for each day. These are the expanded experpts of my time in England. I hope you find them interesting, and in some small way inspiring.
July 31st. The day before departure. I woke up feeling not so 100% and seeing as how I was leaving for England the next day my parents let me stay home from church and sleep in to rest. I took a nap only to wake up to a fever, headache, sore throat, aches, chills...the whole shabang! So not ideal the day before a trip overseas. This sudden onset of the flu sent into questioning whether or not God was telling me I couldn't go anymore. It soon became clear to me that it was an attack of the enemy. Satan wanted me to be discouraged. But thanks to the positive words and nursing hands of my wonderful sister, I was able to stagger through the day. I had high hopes that I would wake up feeling better the next day.
August 1st. Day of departure. No such luck. I woke up feeling pretty much the same so my mom took me to an Urgent Care Center and I saw a doctor. I had never been to this doctor before, but it's almost as if God wanted me to go to this particular one. I told him my dilemma was not only my flu symptoms but that I going to be flying to London within a few hours. He asked where I was going specifically and so I told him Cornwall and then London. He proceeded to tell me that he spent a lot of time Cornwall because he did his medical schooling in London! He told me that it was a beautiful place and that I was really going to enjoy it. That gave me hope and I probably smiled for the first time that day. He gave me a prescription and told me some over the counter meds to take too. I was out of the doctor's office by 9:00 am and by 10:00 I was heading to the church. I was still feverish and doing my best to be excited despite my discomfort. I staggered onto the bus. The wait in LAX was not so ideal because I was still battling the fever. Once Craig, one of our leaders, learned that I was sick he and a couple other team members laid hands on me and prayed for my recovery. That made me feel a little better. There really wasn't anything left to do but pray and hope the antibiotics would start working fast. I did my best to sleep on the plane, but it's always been hard for me to sleep any other place than a bed. I probably squirmed like a restless little worm. Thank God I was in between two of the sweetest team members. Thanks Ariel and Michelle for making the flight so pleasant! :)
August 2nd. About eleven hours later we landed in Heathrow Airport. The team cleared customs without a problem and we jumped on a bus that took us to the beautiful countryside of Cornwall. Our arrival was oh so sweet! The air was crisp and clean (I definitely was not! haha!) But the cottages were so quaint and heartwarming! Upon entering our cottage my roommates and I were pleased to discover a plate full of scones set alongside a bowl of jam and clotted cream. We made some tea and had a little party. It was a wonderful welcome to England, and I felt so British already! After that Liz and I went exploring with a few other girls. I was pleased to discover that we were on a working farm! There were sheep, cows, bunnies, goats, a goose, chickens, dogs, and a fiesty little cat that I decided to call Tiger. We took lots of pictures. I even got to spend a few moments watching the sunset. It was the most beautiful sunset that I had ever seen. And trust me, I have seen a lot of sunsets! I wish that I could describe it to you. Even the pictures I have posted don't do it justice. The sun's rays danced across the clouds in such a way that it spread out like a fan. There were so many layers of colors. What struck me the most was the silence around me. I had separated myself from the group and sat alone on a fence overlooking the pasture. No crickets, no breeze, just the soft footsteps of nearby sheep. After two days of hectic travel, the silence was golden indeed! I remember taking a deep breathe and whispering to the air, "I'm in England...Here we go."
Agust 3rd. First full day in England. We were able to sleep in a bit this morning. Prais God! It gave us time to explore a little more of our surroundings, and I am oh so glad that we did! I was still feeling sick, but the excitement of the new and sunny day overwhelmed me. A group of us gathered for a walk to the closest village called Chapel Amble. It was such a tiny little town! My absolute favorite part about it was a corn field that we discovered. Now, call me crazy, but it has been a desire of mine to run through a corn field for the longest time. The idea seemed so exhilirating! Every time I see the movie Signs I would get the urge to frolic in the stalks (minus the creep aliens of course.) To my delight we found an open one and oh boy did we run! Each stride I took filled my heart with joy. I was in England running through a corn field! I half expected Frodo and Sam to come running out with Merry and Pippin close behind. Oh, and did I mention that I pulled out my ipod and listened to the LOTR soundtrack as we frolicked? Die hard LOTR fan right here. ;)
And to add to my delight there was a nearby field of wildflowers. We frolicked some more and took in the beauty of nature. How lovely this morning felt. It was absolutely surreal walking down the lane. So picturesque; like a movie. This was one of those places where time seems to stand still. Nature seems to tell you to walk a little slower, breath a little deeper. I could feel God's voice saying, "Look, look what I have created. I created it for you to enjoy." I imagine that piece of satisfaction I felt is a little piece of the joy God felt at the beginning of creation where He saw what He made and said it was good. I wish I could bottle up that moment and carry it with me to relive again and again.
Alas our free time was soon spent and we gathered with our team to head to the site. Here we met the other half of our team from the UK. Listening to them talk about the festival made me so excited to be part of this endeavor. Phil, the director of the event, led us a on a prayer walk around the site. It's interesting how much collective prayer has become part of my life. I feel as if God is really trying to show me the power of prayer amongst believers. Whether that be with my family, church congregation, or in this case, my Creation Fest team, collective prayer is something that is very important. Coming together in agreement when asking for the Holy Spirit to dwell in and around us during the festival gave me confidence. We prayed that hearts would be won over, that the enenmy would not be able to enter this camp, and that all would be safe during the festival.
I must admit that my energy level had sunk at this point. I had spent all my energy that morning frolicking in the meadows of England. And to my surprise the weather had drastically changed! The mornning has just been warm and sunny, but when we arrived at the site the sun was hidden behind gray clouds and the wind picked up. So much so that I couldn't hear some of the prayers being said. So this was English weather, eh? I thought to myself. This should be interesting. Especially trying to get over the flu!
After we closed in prayer we headed straight to work. Everyone was given a different job to do. Some went to wash dishes, others to build the skate park, and then there was the group I was placed in...the group being sent out to pass out flyers for the event. Now to be honest, I was terrified! But it was the kind of terrified that made me excited about being forced out of my confort zone. At heart, I am really an incredibly shy person, so having to walk up to a perfect stranger in a foregn ountry and tell them about a Christian event was not one of my strong suits. However, I was not alone so that made the trek a little less intimidating. Two groups went into two different towns and from those groups we split off into smaller groups of 3 or 4. The goups I was in included my long time friend Liz, and my two new friends Briana and Lauren. We were given the little harbor town of Padstoe. Now Liz and Briana had spent some time there last year. While passing out flyers they met a woman who told them that she was engaged to be married to a Muslim who lived in Egypt. She really opened up to them and even went on to say that she had hever met this man! They had communicated through emails and phone calls and such. So Liz and Briana were bent on finding this woman to see if she had gone through with her plans. They knew where she worked in the town and made a b-Line for it! Lauren and I struggled to keep up for a while. The roads were tiny and steep. Not to mention I was trying not to step onto the wrong side of the street. We found her place of work, which was a tiny insurance company in the middle of a bustling harbor town filled with people on their holiday. At that moment we all were struck with the same question, "Now what?" Do we go inside and ask for her? Do we wait and see if she comes out? We only had an hour before we were supposed to meet back with the rest of our team, and we were supposed to be passing out flyers to people. The situation seemed a little hopeless. What were the odds of her still being here a year later? Then the door opened and I saw Liz and Bri stare at the woman walking out. Their perplexed faces grew into a smile as they realized it was her! She had dyed her air black apparantly, but still had the same haircut. She casually strolled down the street, cigarrette in hand, and disappeared around the corner. We all made note that she had no wedding ring on! We agreed she was probably on her break so we waited a few moments until she came back. But what a miralce this was! Literally two minutes after we arrive she walks out on her smoking break? Our first divine appointment! Liz and Bri were so excited. When she came back they reintroduced themselves and she remembered who they were! She told them to come back at 5 when she got off of work. This was perfect timing because that gave us about 45 minutes to pass out flyers and then head back to our team members. This perked me up a little bit. I could not believe that this had fallen so easily in our laps. And it didn't stop there. After a few failed attempts to get people to take flyers to the event, we gathered together on a corner and prayed for boldness and open doors. And from that moment it was like God told us who to approach with our flyers. Briana appraoched a street muscician and she turned out to a be a Christian! She wasn't going to be in town for the fetival, but she worked at a little ice cream shop so she agreed to take some flyers to spread around there and give to some family and friends in the area. Lauren and I spoke to a couple who also agreed to take some flyers and leave them in their Bed and Breakfast for others to see. Then we trekked into a random ice cream parlour in hopes that they would agree to take some flyers if we bought something first. This was yet another divine appointment. The man at the register told us that he and "the miss'" were planning on coming to the event anyway! They had heard about the event last year at a secular concert (a concert we later learned was banned from passing out Creation Fest flyers) and then gave their lives to the Lord that year! So he was more than willing to take the flyers and promote the event! It was awesome to see the joy in his eyes. That was the last stop of the day for Lauren and I. We headed back to tell our group that Liz and Bri would be a little delayed because of their appointment with the woman at the insurance office. When they caught up with us they told us that she had not married that man after all, and that she was really touched that the girls remembered her. They exchagned emails and became facebook friends. So with a little more prayer and diving intervention we hope to see her at the event next year.
When our cottage reconvened we shared stories about our day. One of our roommates led four people to Christ! We had a nice little dinner together, and I ended the night with a warm cup of tea. I was physically exhausted and my throat was burning up, but I was in complete amazement at what God had done already!
August 4th. First work day. We had worhip and a little devotion this morning. The worship was amazing! I felt like it was the first time I had had a real moment in a LONG time. I was in tears before the first song even ended. I could barely sing and I felt so sick, but there was this peace in my heart. I knew this is where I was supposed to be. All these months of saving every penny, taking on every shift possible, all the times I worried that I was never going to make enough money to go...all of that seemed to well up in me and I finally felt a release. I was here...sick and coughing up a storm, but I was here. Because I couldn't sing I was forced to really meditate on the words in the songs. I realized how bold our worship songs are. We make promises to serve forever, we surrender our hearts, abandoning everything because we recognize the huge price that was paid. For a moment I felt so unworthy to even dare worshipping the Lord. How dare I even approach His throne? Over and over again my promises are found to be empty because I live my life like I am serving myself. But then I remembered why I am able to approach His throne...Jesus Christ. He made the way. Without Jesus' willingness to say "Don't worry about it, I will make right what you have made wrong," I wouldn't even stand a chance in God's presence. It pleases God to see me at His feet. He doesn't see my empty promises and proclamations of loyalty. He says, "Come as you are. I will love you anyway." This humbling experience gave my heart strength even though my physical body didn't have any. We spent the day working odd jobs here and there in preparation for the festival. It's by the grace of God that I didn't quit half way through. There were about five of us working on decorating the Showcase Cafe, a kind of coffee shop where musicians would play their while the audience sat and chat. It took us four long hours to hang and tie the decorations. I am so thankful that I was with such joyful and hardworking team members! They made the time go so much faster.
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