So you haven't heard from me in ages, and I'm sorry. The honest reason was because I didn't make time to communicate with yous all, because I was finding it harder to want to put down some of my feelings on paper (well, blog) because sometimes it made it too real, or sometimes I didn't want to let people know that at times I was having some issues. Truth is I'm fine, just at times was homesick, or worried about going home, totally two ends of a spectrum, but still. I decided to try and post one story ever couple of days about my stay here until I leave, good luck to me!
Today my story is prompted by just stopping at one of St. Luke's mission partners to worship after being on retreat. This was Branches, in Florida City. Now I have travelled here twice this year before today. Once was over MLK weekend, to help with Florida City love yourself, in which I did a lot of gardening with the youth, and moved a stupidly heavy cast iron bell with Andrew. The second was ove Memorial Day weekend, on an inter generational mission experience, in which St. Luke's missions department took a group of people to Branches to work along side the community building a playground. I had the privilege to play with the worship band that weekend. It was amazing. Anyhow I digress.
Today (Sunday 26th July) the roommates and I left our retreat in the keys to make our way back to YAMM-lando, for a youth lake day, we stopped at Branches, to worship, and honestly to just say hey to some friends that some of us won't get to see again for a long time. Today was their celebration of "Summer Shade" which is their Vacation Bible School, and it was great to be able to see the kids and youth singing, dancing and giving praise to God, and they do it with this feeling of such honesty, as in they didn't seem to hold anything back to try act all "cool" or what not, they just praised, and that's something that I really love about Branches. During the service the kids recalled some of their summer chant followed by "hashtag (#) agapé" and I found this really awesome, coming from a church back home (Belfast south Methodist) who worship in the Agapé centre. It got me really thinking on the word. Of course we all know agapé is the Greek for "love: the highest form of love, especially brotherly love, charity; the love of God for man and of man for God" (from Wikipedia: the fountain of all semi-accurate knowledge). To see this term both sides of the Atlantic makes me mindful that Love is global! God loves all, and we are called to love all as well. My whole year I have tried to focus personally on the passage from John 13:34 "a new command I give you; love one another. As I have loved you love one another!" Don't underestimate how hard that it is to do so, especially when someone finishes the last of the sunny delight and all you want is sunny delight.... But for real, it is difficult. So seeing agapé today helped me remember that love is global, and we are all linked. We sometimes find it easier either to focus within our local community, or only focus on "world issues", but we need to look at both, because they are linked, and this is something I want to look at in my next blog post. We need to love locally and globally we need to love family and non family, we need to love in all things we do. God's love is agapé. We are called to show agapé love to all.
Okay so yet again I have left this a while since my last
blog, due to the sheer amount of work that that I have been helping (not
hindering…. Usually) with, at St. Luke’s UMC. So I am going to do this in my
normal style, for an “Owain-you-have-too-many-days-to-remember” catch up blog.
Children’s Ministry
So as you now I spent time over Christmas, researching
and trying to find some curriculum, for the hour long period I have total
control over the children on a Wednesday, I was happy with what I brought
together for them, however you would be surprised how many Tuesday nights I
spent looking at what I had planned, and thinking, “what the heck was I
thinking?!”, and changing my plan.
Looking back at some of the things I did with them, there
are definitely something’s I would change about how I would present it all. So
here is:
Owain’s three point guide to not screwing up
children’s ministry.
Do no, I repeat do not, put out the paint, brushes,
and paper in front of them before you explain what to do…. Or you will end up
with something beautiful, but also useless for the lesson… this is pretty much
the same for any craft activity.
Explain, in detail, to your volunteers what
the activities are, and even if think you have, tell them once more just to
make sure. This stops you having to answer their questions while explaining the
task or activity to the children, which can be very distracting to kids, or
seen as a chance to escape to the toys. Also, once you start explaining, don’t
stop for questions till the end, because when a child raises there hand, this
most certainly doesn’t indicate a question, it may actually be a five minute
ramble on how they went to school without their hair being the way they wanted…
When you make a plan, most certainly be free
to deviate, as with children, who knows what the heck is going to happen.
(Number of times I stuck to the plan the whole way…. Somewhere between one and
negative one) When you can't stick to the plan make sure you have small backups
to slot in, to keep the children occupied as you try to find a way back to your
plan. (Example: put on some kid friendly worship, as anyone under ten seems to
have the ability, and loves to dance to anything…)
So there you have it. I will put in here, an example of
one of the days we did that I felt went the best…
The Creed: God the
Father
First I sat with
and talked to them about the first two lines of the Apostles Creed, “I believe
in God the father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” Trying to get them to
just appreciate how we believe in a being that created everything, and how mind
blowing that is, from the oak leaf veins to the massive burning ball of gas,
that we call the sun. I then showed a time lapse video that we had used in
Sunday school for youth that previous week.
We then created a
huge poster of the world, made up of blue bulletin board paper, and green craft
card, cut by the children into different land mass shapes
Youth Ministry
I love every one of my youth, no matter how hyperactive
some can be at times; they are all fantastic! It is a pleasure to be able to
work with them. Over the past month we started new Monday night programming,
called Plugged In, which I have been given as my programme to try grow, and run.
It is good experience starting a programme from scratch, first week we had a
grand total of….Five, which to some may be disheartening, and make you feel
like giving up, but you always have to remember that a programme is not going
to be an overnight success. Also being a new start and blank page, it does give
Andrew and me the chance to be creative with what we do in it over the next
months.
Wednesday nights I am still taking sport, and yes, I am
still awful at basketball…
Sunday School has been really interesting over the past
few weeks. With Andrew leading confirmation, I have been left to take what
remains of the 7th and 8th Grade class. It is a great
growth experience, I believe, for me. It lets me actually teach on the topics;
yea that is scary, me teaching young impressionable minds, on our religion and
faith. So far, however, I feel it has gone relatively well! Sunday evenings
have been going well, we still play games that are all…. Carefully thought
through, I think is the best way to describe them… Maybe…
We also have continue to volunteer with Wyldlife, an
external middle school youth fellowship programme. They are amazing! The leads
are so passionate, and caring towards their youth, it is something that a lot
of youth fellowships could do with!
Forty-four
games that I thought would end up with a child in hospital, but somehow
didn’t….
Dang! We actually have a lot of weeks and games to get
through…. Please note, not all these games are from St. Luke’s Youth, some are
from Wyldlife.
#13 Scavenger hunt… round a major theme park and night
club area, using Instagram! (Wyldlife)
Take
youth to a destination full of people, and different sights, have a list of
objects, people wearing specific clothes, etc. and have them go round in groups
(with leaders) to find them. When found the group must take a photo, be it a
selfie or a regular photo, then post it to Instagram, with a specific hashtag!
It did sound like so many things could go wrong, being out in the crowds, but
it was brilliant, and was a great way to integrate technology into the game!
#14 Reindeer Vs Elves
Marshmallow gun plus capture the flag, at Christmas! You
have a pitch with three thirds marked out,
a reindeer safe zone, a no man’s land, and an elf safe zone. Basically
if you are shot, you must return to your safe zone. The goal being to… well its
obvious… capture the other flag…
#15 Ant Raid!
Four points marked round a specific playing area. One person
is the exterminator, pretending to have a can of Ant Raid, the rest are ants. The
exterminator, runs around spraying ants with the raid! (okay so its tag) When
an ant is caught, it lies on its back with legs and arms up in the air. Four
ants can then drag the dead ant to one of the four previously marked points,
for the dead ant to be revived, while doing so they are safe from the
exterminator.
#16 Ninjas and Shaman
This is a weird, but awesome one. You need loads of foam
pool noodles (you know, the floats) these are swords for the ninjas. You also
need hula hoops, for the shaman. You have two teams, made up of many ninjas,
and a few shamans each. After the whistle goes, ninjas from opposing teams run
at each other, and sword fight. If hit in the arm, you put your arm behind your
back, if hit in the leg, you hop. This goes on till you have no limbs, and are
then dead. The shaman’s job is to hula hoop around, and heals injured ninjas,
but they can’t revive dead ones. Winner is the team with remaining ninjas.
#18 Trade Up. (Wyldlife)
So get multiple teams of youth, and give them all a paper
clip. They then get given a specific and unique route around a neighbourhood,
each. The task is to trade the paper clip for something bigger or better, and
then repeat till your set time limit is up. The winner is to the team with the
biggest item, and the most useful item. The biggest for Wyldlife was a sheet of
Plywood, which our team got at the first house in exchange for the paper clip…
we couldn’t really go anywhere further with trading that…. The most useful was
split between a Surf board, and a 52 inch telly. Yea….
To be honest I didn’t really expect a kid to get injured,
mind you with Florida’s stand your ground law, lord knows what could have happened…
#19 Wizards, elves, Giants
Wizards
beat elves, elves beat giants, giants beat wizards. Two teams. Each choice has
an action, which you can get creative with. Teams line up opposite each other
in the middle of a hall. Shout 1,2,3 go. At which both teams reveal their
action (which must be the same for each team member, if not those doing the
wrong one, loose) the looser is chased by the winner, back to their wall.
Whoever the winner catches joins their team. Rinse and repeat!
#20 Human Knot
Everyone(max
12 people) gets into a tight circle, and then put their hands in the middle.
Take your left hand, and grab someone’s right hand, whom is not beside you! Now
they have to untangle themselves without letting go… I am surprised nobody
ended up with a spiral facture or dislocated arm, with the way they tried
untying themselves… And this was done with elementary school children!
Missions
Missions work has been great fun recently. Not that it
never was, but it has been more so recently... Saved myself there….
I have been working closely with Miriam, in mission
development and Global Missions, as you will remember. The main project I am
working on at the moment is the Florida City Intergenerational Mission Experience. Kelly Brinker, Miriam, and
I have just recently got the applications complete, and sent out. We soon will
be selecting the team, setting up training times, and going down to Florida
City, to coordinate with our partners down there. The goal is to build a playground
over Memorial Weekend.
I have also started work on researching a possible
Intergenerational Mission Training Retreat, to prepare those who want to serve.
One of the places we are looking at is the ECHO far, I talked about recently.
This week I hosted Family Promise, overnight at St. Luke's. As their website states: Family Promise of Greater Orlando (FPGO) is a nonprofit, interfaith hospitality network providing temporary assistance, hospitality, and case management for families with children experiencing homelessness. Family Promise provides these services through the participation of local congregations, dedicated staff, and hundreds of volunteers. It was great to get talking with the families, and hear all their plans, and what they did in their everyday lives.
Super Bowl
I watched the super bowl at Andrews… he is a mad patriots
fan, so Pedro decided to support the Seahawks, because he doesn’t mind stirring
things up at all…. So we watched the game at his, and I got to experience
proper super bowl adverts! There were some very impressive ones!
Also with those last four game plays, meaning the game
was in the balance till the end, made it a game I won’t soon forget. That and
Andrew flipping out when Patriots intercepted in the line….
School System
So I have recently started helping some students, at our Monday
programming and some others, with homework, and some tutoring.
Oh. My Goodness! I just cannot get my head around their
system. These youth are under constant testing, and the AP students have large
exams at the end of the year. Some start school before 7am, if they have a test
they need to do, and end around 2pm. In the last year of school they could be
doing up to eight subjects, sometimes more. Admittedly I haven’t come across a
subject (even AP) which goes into as much depth as we do in our A-levels, but
we are doing only four subjects, and other than coursework and practical’s, the
only real thing that counts for our result is our end of year exams, which yes
is horrendously stress full. Here though homework, and in the year tests, all
count, and then you get told where you’re grade is at the end of each term….
The stress is constant. I honestly don’t understand how that can be seen as
healthy, mind you I wouldn’t say that our home system is better. I have thought
one thing… Thank dear goodness I managed to get through it all eventually!
Six Nations
I can confirm I have watched all the games! Wooo! However I will also confirm the games kind of sucked, except the Scotland Wales game, that was a good one. Come on Ireland for Sunday the first of march!
Their first rugby game... it sucked....
CQ
On Friday just past I took part in CQ, a seminar,
workshop, whatever you want to call it on Cultural intelligence! I was interested
to see where I ranked on the scale for CQ, and it suggested that my cultural background
was, well all over the place. I have the collectivism mentality (focus on We
rather than I) similar to those cultures in in Arab, Confucian and southern
Asian, Latin American and sub-Saharan African. I am High Power Distance orientated,
meaning I see boundaries and somewhat accept inequality levels, as in Arab, Latin
American and southern Asian cultures.
I have a high uncertainty avoidance level, like Latin European
and American cultures, meaning I avoid failure, and need rules. I am
competitive like Anglo and Germanic European cultures, so need to excel and
live to work. I am long term based; I need a long term plan, look at past successes
to determine the likely hood of future success.
I am fairly high context based like Eastern European
Latin American and European cultures, so I am indirect in communication at
times, and don’t like upsetting harmony.
I am doing orientated, like Anglo and Germanic European cultures,
so am goal orientated. I am time focused, and need a time frame, and a plan!
My home culture would come under the Anglo cluster
culture, which includes the US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand. However I do
hate the term Anglo…
For the Actual CQ Profile, I was in the top 25% of the
worldwide norm for each of CQ Drive, Knowledge, Strategy, and Action. This
means I do have a good idea of Cultural differences, and know how to interact,
though it did show me areas in which I could improve, like in my
Socio-linguistic skills, or Extrinsic Interest in CQ, which is to see something
in it for yourself, apparently I don’t look at things for my own gain a lot,
which to be honest I am not too sure if this is true or not…
Despite this it was an excellent workshop, and if you are
ever offered to do it, please take it!
Spare time
What free time…
I am joking. kind of... Recently in my spare time I have been
hanging with the college students, frequently with my friend Francesca, who I can
honestly say I am lucky to have around, to keep me sane here at times!
I also have been to the cinema with Pedro on numerous
occasions, once to American Sniper, then with youth to Selma, and with him to
see Kingsmen.
They were all good films, though American Sniper made me
feel very uneasy, especially when the audience cheered and clapped when the “bad
guy” was shot dead from two miles away….
Selma was mighty powerful, and for someone who knows
little about the American civil rights movement, has created an interest.
Kingsmen was hilarious for a twenty year old male….
Prayers, Praises and Concerns
The Stiles-Williams as they continue their journey, Grace
as she continues through her Senior year.
Shakeria, just that whatever is going on in her life
right now is positive; and the same for Francesca.
Pedro, just for his heart.
Sarah, my other roommate.
My family back home, that they stay safe, healthy, and
mad as ever. That my father has a positive lent and Easter.
That St. Luke’s has a positive transition as Pastor Bill
retires in the following months, and Pastor Jenn moves from co-lead, to lead
pastor. That people, who may have fears in this change (as many do not like
change at all), may be put to rest.
Pray for me to keep motivated, and energised!
Pray for Andrew, as for the reason below!
Andrew
So this month Andrew, Director of youth ministry,
announced to the youth, that he was going for ordination into the United
Methodist Church. This was a hard time for them. I have known for a while now, but before I was told, I could honestly say
that he was made to be a pastor, his passion for youth, is only ought weighed,
in my eyes, by one thing, his passion for teaching scripture and theology. I
have learnt so much from him, it has been a pleasure working with him, and I know
he will make an awesome minister! The church council voted to send him forward
as a candidate for ordination, on Tuesday past.
Reflection
So this week I went to my first full Ash Wednesday,
complete with the Imposition of Ashes, something which rarely done at home, as
it is a Catholic tradition. Though it is a powerful service where I felt we
look upon our own mortality. We are very fragile, and as is said “the only certainties
in life are death and taxes.” Though as a certain nameless person (for their
own protection….) said “yea but you can avoid taxes….” We come into this world,
and from our first breath we have started our journey to death. There is a
saying, that I do use totally ironically when people ask me questions I can’t
really be bothered answering, and that saying is Y.O.L.O. You Only Live Once. An
example “Owain why is my coat on the ground.” “Because, YOLO.” Or “Owain, why
is my car totalled?!” “hashtag Y.O.L.O!” The thing is though, through Christ we
don’t. We will die, but because of Christ we can be born again, so Y.O.L.O does not apply. Many young people use the phrase, to pass of behaviour that isn't really positive, off as banter, joking, a one off, but we should strive to live with Christ. Viktor Frankl once said "live as if you were living a second time, and as though you had acted wrongly the first time." We should really think about all our actions, be it what we say or do, be it towards someone, behind someone's back, our to our self, because we must love ourselves, others and God, we must aim to live for the next life.
This video is
worth a watch, I found it as I was thinking on the Ashes service.
Oh my goodness… I am twenty… What the heck! Gone is the
excuse “I am a teenager”. Two decades down, unknown to go… This week, as you
may have gathered is my first as a twenty year old, and I think I am settling
into it well, and by that I mean absolutely nothing has changed. I still am
working the same as I did, still am as (ill-)disciplined as I was two weeks
ago, still interact with people in the exact same manor. I mean I knew I
wouldn’t have any major epiphany, as I kept reminding my roommate Samantha, as
she practically counted down the days till the house was teenager free. Though
this birthday week has been very different, to start I haven’t had my dad
calmly doing his tax return over it, of course I am joking. The lack of actual
family was really weird at first though, but then I realised, I have a massive
family here. I touched on my Wednesday birthday celebrations last week, and how
Pedro and Andrew threw a Princess Birthday for me, but I didn’t mention the
little things like my boss in children’s ministries, buying me a mountain dew
(and even tied a bow around it) or Minister of Connection congratulating me,
and giving me a hug. Really in life it is the small things that make things
easier. Then my friend Francesca (one of those previously mentioned college
students!) got me a card and candy, despite being broke at the moment, though
how many students aren’t? Then I did
have that princess surprise party with my youth! I arrived home to find the
house decorated by my roommates, with balloons and messages galore. We are all
very busy, but the fact they took the time, and effort, to do all of that was
just so warming, and loving. Honestly have struck it lucky with these guys. I
came in knowing nothing about them, knowing I could be put in a house of freaks,
and to be honest I have, but they are awesome freaks!
On Thursday I had the joys to come in for a meeting in
mission development and I am serious when I say joy, I had been asking for this
meeting since around New Year…. We got together, Lynette (executive director of
missions), Miriam (Director of mission development), Kellie (Associate director
of missions), and myself (director of squat all/intern); we talked on three
points, Global missions, a Florida City intergenerational mission experience, and
another intergenerational mission retreat. From Global missions we looked over
the links I had made with a Floridian College, in regards to Public Health and
our Jamaica mission, as well as the links I had made with this UMC Guatemalan
mission, you know, the one I asked the stupidly difficult questions… Yea that
one. We discussed how we were going on from there. Then for Florida City we
talked over everything that needs to be done before the trip in May, including producing an application form,
going down to work out logistics, what exactly it was we were going to do. I
will talk more on this next week, after we release all the information. Then I
was given three different family mission based retreat facilities to look into,
including ECHO, the global farm project I was at only two days before! The hope
is to sort a family retreat, which will prepare families those who want to
participate on St. Luke’s missions trips, be it local or global! I love being
involved in the development process, as many know I have a rather… strong
personality… which likes to have control, and leadership… and honestly
(although I am not at all qualified to lead or have full control… at all!),
this gives me some control over the content of these retreats, and over the
development of our partnerships!
Friday was a day where I just chilled. I awoke to be invited
by Francesca, to come round and watch Maze Runner with Pedro and the other
students, though Pedro could not attend as he had DMV things to attend to, and
the students ended up busy, so we watched Maze Runner, in glorious surround
sound… which lead me to jump just a wee bit when weird sounds came from right
behind me… totally kept my cool…
Then that night I had a brilliant experience, as I
celebrated my birthday, with whom I can only describe as my American family,
the Stiles-Williams. I mean they do mirror my home family in many, many ways. I
did have a moment yesterday (Monday) where Jenn, did completely mother me, I
will not give details, but it did make me laugh. They took me in, and cooked
beautiful food, gave me some gifts, then took me out to the cinema to see The
Hobbit (don’t get me started on that film…)(…I just question Peter Jacksons
belief that his direction is more creative than Tolkien’s writing is…) (…That
is all I am saying…)(…but can I also just say, Legolas is pointless and
unneeded in this film series…)(…sigh…)Anyway, we saw the film, I got closure
with the trilogy, then we returned to theirs for home baked (from a box) cake,
complete with candles and ice-cream. There is no doubt that they are a blessing
on my year here. They do everything to make me feel at home in this weird
country!
So I got home around about midnight, and came in to be asked
by my roommates “and where have you been to this hour young sir”. Now, I had
told them, so knew they were joking, but I know that they do actually care on
my where abouts and safety. They then proceeded to tell me we had to leave at
7am for the colour run 5k, which I had taken the place of Pedro on the team,
this early morning wake did not fill me with joy… So 6:45 came, I woke, put on
my white t-shirt and sports shorts and gym shoes, and forced myself into a
vaguely conscious state, and we left for the Orlando Citrus Bowl, where the
race would start and end. The race started at 8:30, but I didn’t pass the start
line till 9:04, as they let people go in large groups. I started jogging at an
even pace, only to find out my roommates decided (after 20m) that they were
going to walk it, but not I. I decided before I was going to use this a fitness
indicator, and was going to run it all, even if it killed me. I passed the
first colour zone, which was Pink. I should say for those unfamiliar with
colour runs, at these zones they spray powdered nontoxic paint on you. I should
advise you, when going through these zones, close your eyes, and mouth, and
just don’t breathe…. I couldn’t see for 10s, nearly taking out a small kid, and
was coughing pink powder up for a solid minute… but I continued round, and went
past each zone (learning from my original mistake) and finished in a time of
34minutes, which I was so happy with given: 1 I haven’t done any running in
over two years now. 2 Intern life does not have the most healthy of diets…
I arrived home, and stood in the shower a solid 30 minutes
scrubbing…. The paint didn’t want to come off, and in fact I kind of gave up on
some of it, didn’t care if I looked like I had some sort of skin disease down
the insides of my arms…. Then I took a nap…. I needed it. That afternoon we saw
Selma, that is Andrew, Laura (the one I dropped two pumpkins on her foot, and
fired one at her face accidently in October…) Pedro, and myself went with the
youth (and by that I mean two youth, one of whom was Laura’s daughter).
Honestly Selma was massively educational and emotional for me, having known
very little on the civil rights movement here in America!
That night I came home to my roommates, having to decide how
to celebrate my 20th… this took a solid hour and a half, as I didn’t
fancy going to an 18 and up night club, where I couldn’t have anything to
drink, mini golf was way out of an intern budget, so we settled on using house
money to go to a nice dinner. Then we went through every option from American
grill, BBQ, seafood (nope not for me….), buffet, Italian, Chinese, and finally
came to the decision of Mexican! We went to this lovely place, Colibri, which
was only a mile away. Lovely music, lovely staff, and food that was
mouth-watering (you should know by now, I like my food…)We took an after dinner
stroll down the gang walks out to the bridge, and around the local shops, it
was very peaceful. We then returned home to play cards.
So not going to lie.... The next three days were very normal. Sunday was filled with Sunday school and Sunday evening programming, with the typical shenanigans after. Monday was a day of editing Sunday school videos, starting out out new programming plugged in, an after school programme, where youth come play games, do homework and just generally chill out!
Tuesday I wrote this blog, started work on a mission experience which I will be talking about very soon, and went to the Stiles-Williams.
Prayers
Of course continue to pray for the Stiles-Williams, with
another Chemo week coming up, and Grace having two scholarship interviews this
week, I am sure you can appreciate the stress that they are facing, but I am
sure you can appreciate also, how despite all this, they have such kindness in
them to still look out for me!
Prayers for Pedro, and his heart.
Prayers for my friend Fran, as she works out some stuff.
Prayers for Andrew, as he continues his path in ministry.
Prayers for my family back home.
Reflection
So here is the thing, last blog, I talked on Branches, and
how it was amazing to see the service dedication, within their community. I
commented how a huge percentage of congregant help in the service days, whereas
at most larger churches, it is a tiny percent that actually is active in the
community that the church works in. It got me thinking on what we as Christians
are called to be.
You know, the bible says Declare His glory among the nations, His
wonders among all peoples, and make disciples of all nations, and above all
love each other as you have been loved. Now it is very possible I have some
very dodgy theology here, but how can we
live into these commands if we only go
to church on a Sunday, or are only active within the walls of the church while
at worship. Surely this means we should be out there, serving? I mean what
better way to teach the gospel than to actually act through it! I am by no
means saying I am good at this…. I suck at this… if it weren’t for the fact I
am interning, I would not be well involved in the community my church connects
to, but I am trying to use this internship, to put in place some foundations
that will stick with me for the rest of my days, and I only put this out there
to share my thoughts from processing all I saw at Branches. I did find this
video helpful when exploring these thoughts.
So that was
Christmas, and what did I do…. Okay I am not going to continue my blog in the
writing pattern of John Lennon Christmas tune lyrics…
This Christmas
was an interesting one. As you know I was away from my home for this Christmas
period, and I will first off say, that it was difficult, however that didn’t
stop me having a wonderful time. Since my last blog was general over view of the month, this one starts on a Saturday.
The Saturday
before Christmas started with all the roommates leaving, bar Pedro, to their
families. Then we went to a co-workers house to dog sit for them, for the week
they were away (over Christmas). The house was beautiful, to say the least, and
it was nice to spend Christmas break with the comforts of a Television, soft
bed, a pool, and a ping pong table. Of course I had to look after three amazing
dogs for this deal, a husky, retriever, and a terrier. All were very hyper, but
very friendly.
Andrew And I Photo Bombing the four Abbies
The Sunday, of
course was the candle for Love, and in the contemporary service Pastor Jenn
Stiles-Williams preached a mighty powerful sermon on the matter. If you go on
the St. Luke’s UMC website, you may be able to find it, and I do recommend you
see it (Google St. Luke’s UMC Orlando). On Love Sunday in the Youth Sunday
school we of course preached on Joy…. This was because we wanted the kids to
experience joy in fellowship on the last day before break, and we did that
through a short bible study, and then some group games, and of course (in my
mind the key to joy) food! That evening we went to the Stiles-Williams for some
lovely food, and the chance to watch some superb Christmas films. It was so
nice to be able to spend time with them at this Christmas
period.
Oh yea I kind of lost the dogs for an hour, but eventually got them back…
Monday was spent
working with Andrew, on what the next Sunday School series was going to be, and
the videos we needed to record. It was a fairly relaxed work day where we went
to lunch at an excellent BBQ joint, called Four Rivers. I then went back to the
house I was looking over, to chill, before leaving for Amy Winslow’s house, for
an open house Christmas party. This involved lovely food, a speed boat ride,
and just generally was great craic all round (good fun, for my American
friends). This also include Amy sitting Pedro down with a doctor, whom
she had instruct to scare him into getting the right treatment for his heart
condition, and not just waiting till the internship finished.
Not a Christmas service, but the redefined contemporary.
Tuesday was
known in the St. Luke’s Calendar as Pre-eve… yea I know a bit weird (to those
back home), but the idea behind it, was to free up seats for the Christmas Eve
services, for the people who tend to just appear at Christmas services, by
having services on Pre-eve. When you have as many people come through your
doors as St Luke’s does over Christmas, it sort of makes sense. Never the less
I attended the contemporary Pre-eve service, and I have to say it was a very
peaceful experience, the message was great, of course it was Pastor Bill who is
always on his A-game; mind you so are all the Pastors at St. Luke’s from what I
have seen so far. So much attention is put into every sermon, every prayer,
every call to worship, it is inspiring….Not that my father doesn’t…. it is just
great to see it isn’t just him who puts so much work into preaching…. I think I
saved myself there….Any way, the service was brilliant, the music especially
sent shivers down my back at times, it was so in tune, not just musically, but
in tune to the feeling around the St Luke’s sanctuary, this feeling of anticipation.
Wednesday I had
the joys of the Child participation nativity, which involved around 100-200
children singing and dancing, and dressed up as characters from the nativity. I
would read the story of the nativity, and then Pastor Bill would invite the
children dressed in the correct outfits to come up to the alter space, once
they came up in the story. It was (vaguely) organized chaos, but fun none the
less. I then went to Amy Winslow’s with Pedro for dinner, where we met her
extended family, and of course had more excellent food. Then Pedro and myself
went to the 11:45pm Christmas Eve communion service to see in the special day,
in a way that I could convince myself I actually went to church on Christmas
Day, as they rarely do that in Methodism here.
Christmas Day! I
slept in….. First time I have ever done so. Then I got up and walked the dogs,
and opened my presents, including a box of tuncocks tea cakes, and a dvd of the
dead poet society. We then went to my friend Wendy’s house for Christmas day, which
included food throughout the day, including Ham, green bean casserole, a potato
dish, and pineapple pudding…which you eat with your main meal (shock horror), but
was delicious. Then we had a tremendous banoffee pie for afters. It was very
chilled and relaxing, just perfect for Christmas away from home.
On the Friday
(American’s don’t do Boxing Day) Pedro and I made sure the house we were in was
spotless, especially after all the mad parties we had been throwing (that is
most definitely sarcasm, no parties were thrown…)We left and went with the
College students to TGI Friday’s for dinner, followed by City Walk at
Universal, then back to the intern house to chill. After the college students
had left, Ruth came home with three of her siblings, all as equally mad as
her…but also as equally friendly. I spent time talking with them, and
catching up with Ruth, till the small hours of the morning….
Go sports team!
On the 29th I
went to my first American Football game with Mike Jones, which was a College
bowl game at the Orlando Citrus bowl. It was a true spectacle! Full of action,
running, game food, and... television time outs. Yes the game is totally run by
the television networks!
My New Years Eve
was spent with my roommate Sarah and her friends till just before midnight and
then I left to go to the infamous iHop, international house of pancakes, with
the St. Luke’s College students. It was great… till the next morning where I
woke bright and early to discover I had either food poisoning or some stomach
bug. So was sick all day. Just the way I wanted to start my new year.
The first week
of the New Year was spent mostly preparing curriculum for Sunday school for
youth, and Wednesday Children’s ministry, this involved a lot of looking for
videos, planning lessons and then making power points. It may sound boring, but
with the number of videos I have listened and watched, I have so many more
ideas for the bible studies I will be writing in the following months. The
preparation also involved recording a lot of videos, with messages from Andrew,
and small videos from Pedro and I.
The week after
was spent writing the power points for the confirmation, which is the process
that the United Methodist Church uses for youth to enter into full membership.
It is involves attending at least ten services and Sunday morning classes,
which cover everything from church history, the bible, trinity, theology,
grace, sacraments, and more! This week Shakeria also had to leave back home, so
as to have medical insurance that would cover for certain procedures not
covered by the YAMM insurance. It is hard to understand for people back home,
how health benefits from a job are make or break at times. It was a hard time
for the whole house.
I also spent
these two weeks with global missions development, starting a dialogue with a
Guatemalan mission, as well as trying to get information from a prominent
Floridian University on their public health programme. The questions I asked to the Guatemalan mission were brilliant according to the missions development director, but
horrifically difficult according to the executive director of missions. They
did however reply promptly, and in full, so we are kind of now five steps ahead
of where we would have been had I asked the easy questions…. I guess.
This month of
January, I went with my Youth to Florida City, home of Pedro, to his home
church, and St. Luke’s missions partner, Branches. This is a non-profit
whose mission is “To serve, educate and inspire people through student, family
and financial stability services in partnership with our communities”. I must
say from what I saw there I was massively impressed, it is a mission which
could benefit many communities in Northern Ireland.
A accident sees Andrew impaled... this was a joke.
We went down to
join them over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, and help with their service week
end, and continue with keeping our friendship between St. Luke’s and Branches a
strong and loving one. The youth socialized with the branches youth, and attended services. On the Saturday we helped do garden work on a locals garden, which
needed a lot of TLC. It was great fun in the glorious sun! Sunday they helped
with a family day at the church centre, including helping with face painting,
sports, cooking, serving food, and leading arts and crafts. They did this while
Andrew and myself built bookcases from scratch. You should never under play the ability to work with your hands in ministry, it is a massively useful skill; the bookcase turned out beautifully. Then Monday the youth went to
paint a house, while Andrew and I put 1.85 TON bell, into its yoke, using “physics
and redneckery” it all went well till I dropped an engine lift on my finger… it
doesn’t feel right still… but hey!
We came home
that day for us to have a day off on Tuesday, to then have Wednesday
programming, followed by me house sitting again, for three days, lounging by a pool…it
was very tasking…
This weekend the interns and I, went on retreat to Fort Myers on
the Gulf of Mexico. It was beautiful. We had a lot of classes on Monday,
looking at the growth within our houses, possible issues, and our own personal
growth.
Then on
the Tuesday we went to ECHO Global Farming project HQ, which is involved in
researching and implementing the use of suitable technology, to help with
farming in tropical areas. They had numerous farms there, including an arid farm, a
mountainous farm, and an urban farm. All were used to test out suitable technology,
by which means using materials of easy access like tyres, and rope and
sticks.
The rest of the
time was used to relax. I swam and sat on the beach the rest of the day.
I came back
Wednesday to jump straight into programing with the children’s ministry, and I
should mention, it was my birthday. Then that evening we had youth, with small
groups, which actually turned into a Disney princess party for myself,
organised by Andrew and Pedro, because I am just a princess at heart.
That brings us
up to now!
Prayers
Prayer I
continue to find more, and more powerful each week, as I continue this walk of mission, ministry, and faith.
Please keep my
family in your prayers as my father changes medication, my brother has selected
his GCSEs, and my mother has to put up with the two of them.
Keep my roommate
Pedro in prayer.
Keep all the
Stiles-Williams in prayer, they continue through dealing with stupid
and ridiculous (aka cancer and chemotherapy) and with Grace being in her final year of High school, all the stress is getting larger and more real.
Pray for Andrew.
Pray for my
youth.
And pray for
Keria.
Continued
prayers for my strength, and passion in my current field of work
would be appreciated. "Forty Four games" will return next week...
Reflection
I saw something
this month at branches that made me think. At the service on the Sunday there
were a solid 50 people, whom were actually from Branches, but at the times they
were serving in the community on MLK Monday, every one of them was there and
helping. But at other churches I have been to, including churches home and
here, only a fraction of the congregants serve, and that is the norm. But one
of our key callings as Christians is to go out and make disciples of all
nations, and love each other as we have been loved, and one way we should fulfilling these two commands is by going out and serving! We can love on each other
by working with each other, helping each other. This then will show others our faith ,showing ourselves as Christ-centric, which will help them with their own decisions, on their own fauth. What if we had all members of the congregation out
serving either with church missions, or with other non-profits, imagine all
that could be done!
I am truly sorry for not keeping you up to date with my goings on over here state side. This past month has been madly busy with retreats and visits to mission partners, and then everything else that is usually in my week!
I am in the middle of creating a blog for the total of January, which should be along soon.
Once again sorry.
I
pray this letter finds you in a good place. The whole point in these devotions,
and what you all have done in each of your carefully crafted pieces, was to
motivate, support, and show love to each of us.
Let me say I love each one of
you, whole heartedly, and you may say “but Owain you only know me from our
winter retreat of three days” or “who is this Owain?!” as you have just started
on this programme. I love each of you because I know what you are doing! You have
intentionally started to serve in a mission setting, and either this makes you
absolutely mad, or means you have a heart to serve, and care for others, in
missions or ministry! I am of course presuming you are mostly the second, of
these, and I love you for that! (Though
to be fair I am almost definitely a bit of both)
I hope you all can see the
effect of the powerful work, which should be enough to motivate you all to
continue; If you cannot though, I want you to know that no matter what you do,
no matter how small the ripple, as long as it is fully through the name of God,
you will be making tidal waves somewhere, and you may not ever see it, but if
you are working for the Glory of God, he will definitely have a plan, and you
are most certainly a part of it!
Some of you are starting up,
and may be worried; some of you have, and are leaving us early, and both groups
will be feeling a set of emotions at this time. Be this the feeling you couldn’t
see your work to completion, or be it not fully sure exactly how your work is
going to unfold. Take it from me, it doesn’t matter what trials you may go
through, but it is all going to be okay. I have in my mind been to hell and
back, and I know no matter how hard it may get, God I always behind you, even
if you do not think you can always see him, have faith, he is there for you.
Family in faith, Pray! Pray,
for every single one of your concerns. From help in friendships, in work, or to
finding those lost keys, God is here for absolutely everything. Prayer is our
strongest link between us and God, because it is literally talking with our
Heavenly Father! He may not answer in as direct a way as speaking to you with
words, but he does always answer our prayers in the end.
Before ending this letter, and
moving on to my reflection (as I do in all my recent blogs), I want to paraphrase
something a Pastor, and friend said to the church, when questioned on why women
are ordained. She (kinda) said, “I act in knowledge that when I finally meet
our maker, it is only going to be me and him. None of the people who told me I couldn’t
be a pastor because I was a women will be there, for me to say – they say I shouldn’t
be a pastor- it is only going to be me accountable”. In your calling listen to
God, don’t listen to those that put you down, who say you aren’t good enough,
or can't because you are a certain label.
Listen to God, and if he says He wants to do something…. Do it, because he
knows the plan he has for you. Think of it as we move through this year, in
work, and all we do, and as we all start wondering, what next? God will lead,
if you will follow.
Peace,
love, and joy, and blessings to you all my friends,
Owain Campton.
Reflection
This week I was working on programming for Youth and Children's Ministries, and coming up to lent we are both looking at The Apostle's Creed, and I got all the videos for it, and after spending around ten hours on the children's ministry work, I looked at it last night, to check if it all was solid (aka Good)... At least I would have, if I hadn't lost the document... Ten hours of work gone... so after slightly panicking, I started trying to pull together some stuff together for it, and I stumbled across this video, which I now will be using for Youth ministry when the time comes. To think if I hadn't lost my work, I wouldn't have seen this, and wouldn't get to share it with my youth. Shows God works, amidst technical disaster.
It really got me thinking about what we really mean when we run off the Creed. Just like the Lord's prayer, we have a tendency to not even think about what we are saying. I hope this video gets you thinking as it did I.
Peace,
Owain.
So I have been real busy over the past month since my last
blog, guess it comes with the territory of being a Churches Intern. So instead
of doing my usual run through of my weeks day by day, I’m going to do a summary
of what I’ve been doing in my separate departments, and my personal time.
Let’s start off with my work in Children’s Ministry.
Since the start of November we have been focusing on the
advent series. Each week we would read scripture relating to a particular
candle from the Advent wreath (Hope, Peace, Joy, Love, and the Christ candle). Then
we would do some home baking with the children, from biscuits (American biscuits
are like a scone with no sugar), to peppermint bark. I would then lead a story
time, and a craft activity.
Recently the team has started onto planning the curriculum for
children’s ministry Wednesday evening programing, between the start of January,
and Lent. For this I’m helping via
finding videos relating to the elements of worship, to the Apostle’s Creed.
Also On Christmas eve, we had the Child participation Nativity
pageant. This is where family bring their young children, dressed as Mary’s and
Joseph’s (A roommate and I think the plural of Joseph should be Josephie), as
well as other nativity roles, and some non-nativity characters (like dinosaurs).
The children then participate by coming up to the Manger scene, as directed by
pastor Bill, when their part of the Christmas story was read from the Gospel of
Mathew and Luke. I had the honour of reading said story.
Let’s move on now, to my time with Youth Ministry
Over the past month I have started to introduce my sports
small group to tag rugby, they seem to vaguely enjoy it…. I have been starting
to get a bit more involved in writing bible studies and curriculum for the
Sunday school. Just before December we wrote our curriculum on the Advent
series (what can I say we are adventurous), and currently are writing the
curriculum for up till lent.
The adult Youth praise band have also had a number of
performances including one where we did a cover of amazing grace, to the tune
sweet home Alabama.
Of course from my time with the Youth, comes Forty-four games that I
thought would end up with a child in hospital, but somehow didn’t….
#8 Escape
the Fire
We got
every youth in a group and surrounded them by a rope, which was raised up,
representing fire, the group then had to get everyone out of the fire without
them touching the rope, this is particularly tricky for the last couple of
people. If someone touches the fire, then they and three others return into the
fire!
#9 Blind
dot race…
Get teams
of three together and blindfold one of each team, and then place ten numbered
dots (1-10) on the ground, at random. The
teammates must guide the blindfolded member, without entering the course, to
hit every dot, in order. They do this by yelling left, right, forward, back etc…
if they hit a number out of order, they have to start from the beginning.
#10
Elves Vs Reindeer
We also had our large Christmas game, Elves Vs Reindeer,
which was a capture the flag game, where my team, the mighty mighty elves,
destroyed those devilish reindeer. Of course we used marshmallow guns, to
defend ourselves. We set out a field the size of a football (soccer) pitch,
along with plywood Christmas trees to hide behind.
Along with our Elves Vs Reindeer we also had a bonfire (not
like the ones on the twelfth… by a long shot) with smores, and hotdogs, along
with a campfire sing-along which didn’t work out at all, because everyone was
too involved in their own wee conversations.
Now we will move on to my time in Missions.
Through the month we spent time doing housing survey in the
East Winter Garden area. This is what we will use to measure development over
the years. We also had a massive Christmas shop, where we took donations of
gifts we asked for, and sold them to families for $1-$5 depending on the RRP of
the gift. At the actual shop I spent all afternoon in the kitchen cooking, and
then the evening I did craft with the children as their parents went to the Christmas
shop!
I have also been doing a number of research projects for the
global missions department, in regards our Jamaican and Guatemalan missions. As
always I have been doing a lot of database entry for them to help keep a
register of all our volunteers, and to help keep people connected.
Now for something completely different, my time spent with WorshipTeam.
I did to worship related tasks this month; one was to take
part in the lighting of the advent candle of Joy, along with the other four St.
Luke’s interns. In this I had to write a small passage on how we bring joys to
others, and I was told I could do it with a sense of humour, so I took this to
the next level and rewrote the lyrics to “We Three Kings…”, this is what I wrote:
We four interns of
pure joy are,
Bearing little we
traverse a far,
One from Ireland,
three from Florida,
Spreading Joy near
and far…
OHHHHHH…….
We make people
smile each day,
Smile from pranks that
we do play,
Be it in missions or
in ministry
We bring God Joy
hear this day.
I also took part in the live nativity tour, where I was the tour
guide, narrator, and the Angle Gabriel. The tour went through the whole St.
Luke’s campus, talking on our different departments, arriving at different
scenes from the nativity. What can I say, play the Arc Angle Gabriel, was the
role of a lifetime.
Now, onto some of how I’ve spent my Free Time.
I spent thanksgiving with Andrew my boss, and had one meal
at his family, and family friends, as well as one at his wife, Sarah’s, Family.
The food was brilliant at both, and in all honesty the only two dishes I recognised,
were turkey, and roast beef. My favourite new dish, was the sweet potato mash,
served and cooked in a half orange, topped with marshmallow, (marshmallow I hear
you cry, all I can say is welcome to ‘Merica).
The evening ended with Andrew and
I, meeting up with Pedro, and then going shopping, from 8PM, till 10AM, this
was the infamous Black Friday shopping trip. I must say the deals were impressive,
for instance there were $600 suits for $100-$200, or xbox 360’s for $99.
Recently we had the Yamm-lando (the name we have given the Orlando,
YAMM house) Christmas dinner, where we exchanged Secret Santa Gifts, and had a
meal, and watched elf.
No matter how much we may get on each other’s nerves at
times, just like a family, we always do end up having a good time.
We also produced a wee reflection on what we are joyful for, to go to our leading lady Heidi (the Yamm-commander)
Reflection
After a powerful experience praising God with middle
schoolers at a program we were helping run (Wildlife) where we also played
Elves Vs Reindeer, I really took a hard look at how I worship and praise, which
ended with me writing a bible study for Wednesday night youth on my personal
and scripture findings. I ended on with this video, which I actually saw at my
first St. Luke’s staff meeting, way back in October, and to be honest it says
much more than I could possibly write down here…
Prayer Requests
Please continue prayers for my pastor, and in my eyes a
friend, Jenn Stiles-Williams, who is still battling with what she now calls
Stupid (Cancer), and is currently going through Ridiculous (her term for chemotherapy)
Please pray for the health of Jayne Andrews, my Children’s
ministry boss, as she recovers from surgery, and continues her battle with
Cancer.
Please keep my roommate, co-worker, and best mate Pedro in
mind, as he now needs more medical treatment on his heart, as it is continuing
to enlarge. He will be at the doctors again on Monday.
Please pray for my other roommate and best friend Shakeria,
as she deals with certain issues in her life.
Please pray for my father, that his health may be restored,
and possessions stolen from him returned.
Please keep my in your prayers as well, that I may continue
to see the guiding hand of God, through my work, and that I stay motivated.
Today my story is prompted by just stopping at one of St. Luke's mission partners to worship after being on retreat. This was Branches, in Florida City. Now I have travelled here twice this year before today. Once was over MLK weekend, to help with Florida City love yourself, in which I did a lot of gardening with the youth, and moved a stupidly heavy cast iron bell with Andrew. The second was ove Memorial Day weekend, on an inter generational mission experience, in which St. Luke's missions department took a group of people to Branches to work along side the community building a playground. I had the privilege to play with the worship band that
Today (Sunday 26th July) the roommates and I left our retreat in the keys to make our way back to YAMM-lando, for a youth lake day, we stopped at Branches, to worship, and honestly to just say hey to some friends that some of us won't get to see again for a long time. Today was their celebration of "Summer Shade"
