Furry Friend

My cat, Robin, and I

Readjustments

Oh Canada, my home and native land...it's nice to be home but at the same time very strange. I had a few side knocks today from things I had forgotten about in good ol'
Canada.

When Ann came to pick us up from the airport I immedietly went to the left hand side of the car to get in but over here that's the drivers side. Ann just laughed and said "you're not in England anymore Jenny"

Crossing the road is throwing me off. I've gotten so used to having to look right first because the oncomming traffic comes from that direction in England. Also I walked to the local corner store to rent a film - oh by the way, Steve and Heather you can rest assured that your debt for Hoodwinked has now been payed off! Thanks for thinking of me and leaving me a wondeful welcome home present in advance!! ;) lol - and I counted out the change I needed for the film and some water and got to the counter only to find my total wasn't correct. I'd forgotten about tax!! Grrrr.

Lastly I didn't know which mail box was ours. We have to collect the mail from a collection of post boxes at the end of the street. Each person has a key for their box and I went to collect the mail and had no idea which one was ours. I started randomly sticking the key in trying to guess at which one it would be but decided I should stop when people nearby started giving me strange looks.

It's great to be home but still very weird. I was saying to someone today that it's very surreal because everything immedietly comes back to you as the natural (aside from crossing the road and tax) but driving on the right side and the way houses look and which direction lights switch and stuff. But at the same time it feels like a bit of a jolt to the system. I've had two years of learning to undo these natural tendancies and when they just re-emerge like nothing's happened it makes me feel slightly disjointed.

I had an interesting night last night. I tried to stay awake as long as I could and made it until about 9. I decided that I couldn't stay up any longer as I wasn't fully aware of what I was doing anymore. I ended up passing out on my bed and was jolted awake about midnight by my cats crawling around on my bed. Then I heard the loudest sound I'd heard in a long time...thunder! There was so much of it and lightening too! Because I was so tired I had myself convinced there was a tornado coming! I then decided that if there was one there was nothing I could do about it so I crawled back into bed and figured that God would take care of it if there was one!

I woke up this morning about 6 and couldn't fall back asleep because I was paranoid that Stephen would sleep in and be late for his day camp. All the clocks had reset during the night because of the storm so I lied in bed trying to work out the time difference with my phone from England and then set the alarm to wake me up at what I had worked out to be 7 our time. Jet-lag does strange things to you!

After I dropped Stephen off I went for a run, I hadn't gone for almost 2 weeks so was starting to feel a bit lethargic. I then showered and got ready for the day and cleaned the kitchen. I had this all accomplished by about 11 and wasn't sure what to do with myself!! I'm never up early enough to accomplish that much in a morning and if I am I usually just lie around being lazy. I think I'll have to make sure I do more of that tomorrow.

I got roped into speaking at the day camp at Trinity Bible Church next week. The age group is 10 -14 year olds and the ladies asking me said they figured I was the expert in youth and thought they'd ask me to share about England. I'm doing that next Thursday so I'll have to prepare something for that.

Hmmm what else can I talk about...OH! How about wasabi ice cream. Just a little story for you from last week.

My last night in England Tim and Anna took me, Steve and Heather, Stephen, Lisa and Francesca to this amazing Japanese restaurant in Newcastle. It was fantastic! You ordered what you wanted to eat before you sat at the table and then when you sat down it was around this massive hot plate where the chef brought your uncooked food and prepared it for you right before your eyes. It was great! I had the fillet steak and Anna had a duck breast and we shared the two. YUMMY!

For dessert they had a selection of rather interesting ice creams. Black sesame seed ice cream, green tea ice cream and wasabi ice cream. I'd had green tea ice cream before so I thought that I'd try something new being the adventurous person that I am. I asked what wasabi was and our server said she couldn't describe it for us in English but that it was nice and not too sweet. I decided to give it a go. This massive dish of yellowish ice cream came out and I took a good size spoonful and tasted it. It was DISGUSTING! It tasted like horseradish. Not too sweet was an understatement. It burned up my nose!! Everyone else gave it a try and the combination we came up with was English mustard and horseradish. I ended up having the green tea ice cream instead.

When we got back home Heather and I looked up wasabi on google and found that it is one of the hardest plants to grow. It is a plant used to spice asian foods and has a very distinct flavour. Because it is so hard to grow, many people have started substituting horseradish and mustard because they are very similar in flavour. We hit the nail on the head with our descriptions of it! Not something I'll be ordering again!

A Tale of Technical Difficulties

So after a very long delay, about 42 hours to be exact, I have finally made it home to Canada. What an incredible crazy last two days! I had no idea that a simple flight home was going to turn into the longest delay I have ever experienced flying. I thought I had a bad job of it when I flew home in December with Air France. This one is definitely the new champion.

Stephen and I had no idea what we were in for when we once again started the trek to Glasgow with Steve and Heather. After they dropped us off we made our way through security and proceeded to our gate. We settled down and waited for our flight. Soon enough we were boarded onto the plane belted up and ready to go. The engines were running and it looked like everything was going to proceed as normal when suddenly the engines were turned off and our ears were greeted with an announcement from the Captain:

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your flight captain speaking, I’m afraid that there will be a slight delay in taking off but we hope to be with you shortly and up and running within 10 minutes or so”

Well 10 minutes turned into half an hour. Then we heard the next announcement:

“Ladies and gentlemen this is your captain once again. I’m afraid that we are experience a slight technical difficulty with the aircraft. It seems that one of the ignition systems isn’t running properly. We are bringing some technicians out to troubleshoot the problem and hopefully we’ll be in the air as soon as we can.”

Another hour later!

“Ladies and gentlemen we appreciate your patience in this matter. We are all in the same boat and want to get in the air just as much as you. It’s taking a lot longer to assess the problem than we anticipated so for the time being we are going to ask you deplane and you will be issued food vouchers and we will let you know what’s happening as soon as we can”

Our flight was supposed to leave at 3:00 but at 8:00 Stephen and I were standing in a line trying to redeem our food vouchers.




(Waiting in the restaurant for news of our flight)

It wasn’t until about 8:30 we were told that the flight would be cancelled completely and that we were to reclaim our luggage and they would sort hotels out for us at the desk in the check in area. So somewhat tired and a bit disgruntled about 272 passengers trooped downstairs as directed.

After receiving our luggage we joined a queue that ended up winding like a snake to the doors to have our accommodation for the evening sorted out. The only problem is that there were about 5 different airport staff floating around saying 5 different things. What was even more disturbing was the news that the search to provide hotel rooms for us all was proving very difficult as there didn’t seem to be any available! There was a medical convention going on that weekend in the city, as well as some sort of festival and a golf tournament. By the time 10:00 rolled around we decided that we would just camp at the airport. I’ve done it before, four times to be exact, and I knew that I would survive. We managed to group with another girl named Anna from Montreal. She was quite upset while we were claiming our bags so I said she could stick with me and my brother if she wanted. The three of us were given some more food vouchers and then took our things upstairs to camp for the night. We ended up parking in a small café area in the food court upstairs and slept in these padded bucket type chairs that we pushed together. It wasn’t very comfortable at all but finally I discovered that I could sleep if I lied on my back and let my feet hang out over the edge of the chair. I think I managed about 3-4 hours sleep. I woke up at 4ish completely starving and set out to use some of my voucher money.








(Sleeping in the chairs)

We had been told that our flight would be leaving at 1:00 and that we should check in our bags at 11. We went down at 10 since we were tired of sitting in these chairs, checked in and found our gate.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly and the plane showed up as well as the cabin crew. We were sitting there talking about how we were so relieved to finally be able to get home and sleep in a real bed and laughing about how ridiculous it would be if once again we got on and we heard the captain come on and announce the same thing!

Well…..sure enough, we hadn’t been boarded and ready to go for 10 minutes when the engines shut off again and once again we heard:

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain, unfortunately we are having another technical problem….”

Again, we had to deplane and wait in the lounge until we knew what was happening. We were told we would have an update at 4 and were handed some more food vouchers. I managed to find a phone charger so I was able to call people to let them know what was happening. At 4 we were told we would know in about half an hour. Finally at about 5 we were once again told our flight was cancelled but this time they would be bussing us to Edinburgh to stay in hotels there. We were to reclaim our luggage and head to the transit desk again.

This time we had a group plan! Stephen and I got the bags while Anna stood in line with our boarding passes to get us all a room. We managed to get near the front and had our rooms sorted out for us to stay at the Mariot hotel in Edinburgh. We then put our bags onto a bus and traveled to Edinburgh.


(Stephen and I on the bus to Edinburgh)

I was so glad to see a bed! We received a free meal in the hotel restaurant and Stephen went for a swim. I forgot to bring a bathing suit so I couldn’t swim but I was able to relax in the room. It was a very nice hotel and the beds were comparable to the one I stayed in at the Hilton in Boston.
The next set of information we received regarding our flight was that it was leaving at 9:10 the next morning and that we would be picked up from the hotel at 6. I was so excited. By this time I just wanted to get home as soon as I could! Not wanting to be late Stephen and I arranged for a wake up call at 5. We got down to the lobby by 5:45 and were ready and waiting. Just when you’re thinking it couldn’t get any worse….at about 7 one of the hotel staff came outside and said:

“Ladies and gentlemen I’m afraid there has been a delay..!!!!”

We didn’t end up leaving the hotel until about 8!! Insane isn’t it! We got to the airport for 9 and all pretty much ran off the bus to collect our luggage and run to the check in desk. There was only one staff member running it so it was moving very slowly. Apparently the airport staff had received word that we had been picked up on time, just a slight miscommunication!! In fact we even made the paper!


(Outside the hotel, waiting for the buses)



Despite the madness we did end up leaving that morning, though not at 9:10. We did get away for 10:20. Because of the way the schedule worked out and because they’d flown a new aircraft out for us to fly on we ended up flying directly to Ottawa first!! We were meant to stop in Halifax first and then Ottawa.

And the goodness from this madness you ask! Well because the delay was like 42 hours long, a rep from Zoom came on the airplane when we landed in Ottawa explaining we would be given letters of apology and a bit of compensation. When I got my letter I was so excited because everyone was given a free return trip with Zoom to be used within the next two years! This means that I don’t have to worry about how to pay for my plane ticket back to England in September and that I have a flight home for Christmas!! What a blessing out of crazy circumstances. I know a lot of people were muttering and laughing about the fact that they gave out a free trip when they’d never be flying with them again. Really though, I’m glad that I didn’t fly on an airplane that had problems and they staff really did do the best they could to accommodate us in such crazy circumstances. I really think God’s hand was very much in the entire situation.

Anyway, I’m home, safe and sound! I hopefully never have a tale to top that one. I don’t know what else could really and I’m scared to ask or think about it.

Tonight Stephen is taking me out for a meal since we haven’t had a decent one in almost three days!! He’s such a sweet brother. He brought me flowers into work one day while he was in England with me. What a cutie!

The end but only the beginning

This is it. My last day in England before returning once again to Canada for the summer. I thought I'd take a few minutes out of packing to write a few words. Only a few, though, I REALLY need to finish packing.

I can't believe this year has gone by so fast. So much has happened. A lot of which I think I need to sit down and process. This summer will be good for that because I'm hoping to have a lot of time to just be still. I really think I need it so I'm going to try really really hard NOT to get busy during my time at home.

I really have been blessed in so many ways through being in England and by so many people. It's been hard at times and I've been up and down a lot but God has been so faithful. He's been with me every step of the way and He's been stretching me and teaching me new things as I step into new experiences.

As I'm packing this morning I'm finding myself in a state of many different emotions. I'm sad to be leaving, relieved to have a break from the chaos that life can become, anxious to see how everything works out but trying to keep my anxiety in check while trusting God. I'm nervous but excited to see what's going to happen. Please keep me in prayer if you think about me at all.

I will see some of you soon and I will see some of you guys in September.

Much, much love and blessings
Jenny*

...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil 1:6

Could I

Kim McMechan

Could I just sit here a while
Knowing that there's nothing I need to say
Safe in the knowledge that You know my ways
Love me completely, no need to hide a thing

Could I just sit here a while
Letting You melt away all of my fears
I feel Your comfort when You are so near
I'll hide myself in this shelter You've made for me

Could I

Could I just kneel here a while
Doing what I was created to do
Bowing in reverence, I long to adore You
Willingly giving all that I can surrender

Could I just rest here a while
Letting You whisper my burdens away
In all of my journeys
There's no other place where I find refuge
Strength for my weary heart

Could I

Free

Free:
Not imprisoned or enslaved; being at liberty.
Not controlled by obligation or the will of another: felt free to go.
Not affected or restricted by a given condition or circumstance: free from need.
Not subject to a given condition; exempt
Not subject to external restraint
Not literal or exact: a free translation.
Costing nothing; gratuitous
Not occupied or used
Not taken up by scheduled activities
Unobstructed; clear
Unguarded in expression or manner; open; frank.
Taking undue liberties; forward or overfamiliar.
Liberal or lavish
Given, made, or done of one's own accord; voluntary or spontaneous: a free act of the will; free choices.
Not bound, fastened, or attached: the free end of a chain.

Foundation - The Basis on which a thing stands, is founded, or is supported

For who is God besides the LORD ?
And who is the Rock except our God?
Psalm 18 v 31

"Whether we admit it or not, there comes for everyone the moment when personal existence must be anchored to a truth recognized as final, a truth that confers a certidude no longer open to doubt." ~John Paul II

Countdown

So, the countdown is officially on. In two weeks I will be heading back to Canada. HAPPY CANADA DAY by the way. I did wear red and white today in order to be patriotic. It's unfortunate, though, that since there was an England match on so was everyone else. Oh well, I knew who I was dressing for..."my home and native land!" Probably even more unfortunate is the fact that England lost their game today and so now everyone here is very down and depressed about it. Perhaps I should try to spread some of my patriotic Canadian joy. Or maybe not lol.

This past week has actually been one I enjoyed very much. It's strange because Lisa was away on holiday so it was just Mike and I, but I still enjoyed everything we did. We had our youth club on Friday night and it was my turn to do the talk. I was telling the parable Jesus told about the man who hired people to work in His vineyard and the man hired different people at different times throughout the day and paid them all the same amount. I didn't tell them it was from the bible but just told the story and asked how many of them thought it was fair. They shouted out their answers and started debating in an unorderly and chaotic fashion, as usual, but at least I knew they were listening a bit. I then talked about how that was a story Jesus told and at the end of it He said "the first shall be last and the last shall be first" and I talked about how today people think that those who are "first" are those who have achieved money and status, those who are famous, those who are successful. We think at the end of life it's those people who've had it the best and will go out with an applause. But I then said that none of that was what mattered. What matters is whether or not we have a relationship with Christ, and that it doesn't matter if we're the coolest or best looking or have the most money etc. Jesus came to hang out with the scum of the earth not the important people. What matters is whether or not we've met with him in our lives, no matter our status. I'm not sure how much of that got through to them as I was interrupted about 5 gazillion times in-between what I was trying to say. But I pray that despite the brokenness of my words and probably the tone of frustration that started to rise as a pencil was thrown near my head that somehow God spoke to them through it all. It was the last club for the summer.

As well, I guess I felt I was able to have some really good conversations with Mike. Nothing deeply profound and that I can remember specifically, but just open honesty about everything. It was good.

I'm feeling very content and peaceful at the moment regarding this summer. I know there are still a million things that I need to do, a lot of things still uncertain and yet to unfold, and it will be hard to be away from certain people while I'm back in Canada. I will miss Steve and Heather who I will only really see in transit as they're coming back and I'm leaving, I will miss the Hatch's and Sophie and Francesca, I've loved living with them this year. I've really become such good friends with them. I'll miss Sophie coming into my room and plonking herself on my bed to have a chat and I will miss straightening her hair for her. I'll miss Francesca's eccentric ideas and creative conversations. I'm also going to miss Russell, for who those who don't know and since apparently my reference to him in my last blog was very ***vague*** is a very good friend I met while at Capernwray who I am now going out with. (Was that forward enough ??) lol) It will be good to be home though, to see my family, go to the lake and lie in the sun -mmmmmmm-, to eat Moxie's white chocolate brownie and catch up with everyone back in Ottawa.

Despite the people I'm going to miss and the things I have to look forward and the anxiety that seems to take me up and down emotionally, I know that God has it in control and I can trust Him. I will try my best to keep giving everything to Him and letting His peace, which transcends all understanding, fill my heart and mind. (Phil 4:6)

Nice Distraction

Two and a half more weeks until I'm back in Canada. I can almost feel the storm cell humidity of the Ottawa Valley and feel the open space of wide roads again. I wonder if I'm going to have reverse culture shock after being away for so long??

I had a wonderful distraction from work the past couple days. Emily, one of my very good friends that I made while at Capernwray, came to visit with her brother. They arrived Sunday evening and left yesterday. I had a great time. We managed to get into Newcastle and see the Haymarket and the Quayside. We had coffee at a trendy bar with huge purple chairs and we went to see the exhibitions at the Baltic. There were some really cool ones. One by Sam Taylor-Wood which was titled "Still Lives" and another one which was a space time tunnel that you walked through. There were T.V. screens all throughout it blasting live broadcasts from around the world at you. We also made it out to Druridge Bay in the evening which is always such a nice place to go.

Yesterday we walked around Morpeth. We saw the Bagpipe Museum which although it may sound boring can always be made more fun when you try on the clothes which are on display! We bought a loaf of bread and walked down to the river to feed the ducks. I've taken a bit of a liking to ducks recently and I really like sitting by the river to eat my lunch and watch them. Yesterday though, we discovered that ducks have an alternative nature other than their sweet quacking cuteness. They also have a vicious, spiteful, biting side! They were going crazy on one another in order to get the bread. At one point this one duck climbed on the back of another and started biting it's neck! Emily started scolding and ran over to scare him off but my goodness. I prefer to think of ducks as cute docile creatures who like rain...that's how Raffi portrayed them! (Give me a shout if you actually know who Raffi is!)

I felt pretty melancholy after they left yesterday. I had to walk home from the train station so I ended up calling Russell so I wouldn't get too down. He's a nice encouraging person :) It was just so much fun to have a friend around. I have friends here, don't think I'm a loner or anything, but someone who understood the past couple months with me, who was able to laugh at the stories we remembered with me, someone who had gotten to know me quite well as one does in a short confined time, and someone who above all understood my frustration when English people corrected the way I say "about." I DO NOT SAY ABOOT!!! :)
Anyway the fact that I was pretty sad when she left did bring me some joy because it meant that I'm getting better at cherishing the people around me! (See my post called "Happy to Love")

The other good thing I have to look forward to is my brother and Steve and Heather arriving! WOO HOO! I'm so excited to see them. It's been far far too long! I mean what if they've developed and matured into an elite society beyond my social status?? It's a good thing they have a few days with the Mosher clan before returning to England just in case they need to be reminded what silliness and immaturity are. Russell is going to hopefully get a chance to come up and meet the three of them as well which would be super cool and great!

Hmmmm what else. In other news I found my missing bank card. It was perfect timing as usual. I'd gone to the bank last Friday to report it missing and request a new one. They were wonderful and assured me my new one would arrive within 5-7 days. I was excited when after just 3 there was an envelope on my bed containing my new card. I went upstairs to put it in my room and Aaron was just hanging his and Emily's towels over my door when he swiped the top of my wardrobe and something whizzed off. Low and behold, my old bankcard landed at my feet! Typical! lol

Ok well, I'd best get back to work. I was writing out letters before this and I should get back to that! Bye for now!

Jenny*

23rd Birthday

Midsummer Garden Party

This past Saturday we had a charity fundraiser to raise money for the team of youth going to Canada this summer. It was a Midsummer Garden Party, with a champagne reception, traditional hog roast and fire works. It was a lovely evening and evening and everyone looked great. Here's a few pics of the night:

pics

Catching Up With Life

Back to Morpeth. Where does the time fly? It almost feels as though the last two months were some sort of time warp and perhaps they didn't really happen...They most certainly did though and I'm so glad! I had such a great time at Capernwray and I would go back there in a second if the opportunity arose.

What did I learn? Well according to our principal, we learned nothing. We heard a lot of stuff but we don't learn anything until we leave and start living our lives. That's when we learn the things we were taught. I'm thinking that learning will probably be the hard part of everything. Already I think I'm learning lots being back. I'm learning that unfortunately Bible School isn't real life. I've come back into a particularly stressful time at work and I'm finding it a bit of a struggle not to just slip back into the rut of things as if nothing happened but to hold onto the changes that took place in my heart while I was away. I guess it's the same sort of syndrome that happens when you come back from a week of youth camp or a weekend youth convention. You feel pumped up and ready to go and then you take the exit back into reality and you seem to merge right back into the regular stream of traffic you were on before you left. However, I'm trying hard to make a conscious decision not to let that happen.

But, going back to my original point of what I learned...we actually covered so much material! We looked at Kings, Song of Songs, Joshua, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, 1 John, Galatians, Ephesians, Revelation, 1 & 2 Timothy, missions, relationships, Christian dynamics, the doctrine of salvation, who needs Theology....and more I'm sure that I can't think of. Some of the lectures were better than others but it was all good sound teaching. I think I learned a lot just being in the environment I was with so many other Christians. It was so encouraging to see Jesus being lived out through other's lives around me. What a blessing as well to be able to make some amazing friends! Most of the students were from North America which was great because I was able to have some good ol' North American fun! (whatever that means, I'm not sure, I think it's just an excuse to let my hair down!) I know I learned a lot about myself as well. I went away thinking I was going to get some specific direction for the future but found that it was more of a time for God to work in my heart and for me to catch up with life and the experiences I've had so far. A bit of space outside of the norm which is probably what we all need at times.

Anyway hopefully I'll be able to update a bit more frequently now that I'm back. I have lots of stories to keep me going for a long time!

I'll post some pictures soon!
Jenny*

Capernwray Part 2

Hey all,

Sorry it's been a while, but not too sorry because I've been having a great time while being here.
Its hard to know where to start so I'll try with the most recent happenings. As I said I'm having a great time. It's been so wonderful to be surrounded by so many awesome people and make some great friends. I've missed that so much and I'm so blessed to have this time from God. I've also been learning so much. It's hard to say what exactly, we have so many lectures weekly and are constantly being poured into that it can be a bit overwhelming at times. I do know that God has been speaking to me though.

Today we've been having a prayer focus day and we had some guest speakers come and talk to us about prayer. I can't remember his name exactly but the one man was from Uganda and he had an amazing testimony of how he actually saw Jesus when he was 16. We also had a time of prayer together in one of our lectures that was very moving. We prayed for each other and our nations and worshipped God.

I've just finished reading the book "Blue Like Jazz" and it was one of the most beautiful books I've read in a long time. I felt really challenged as well as very stirred up about the way God can speak to people that breaks through religious traditions. I can't exactly go into the whole book but you should definitely read it. The author is Donald Miller.

I've been managing to keep up the exercise while being here. Yesterday me and my friend Rachel went for an 8 mile run which just about killed us. It wasn't the distance but the heat. We've been running together since I got here and 8 miles was no problem but it's been soooo incredibly hot and sunny that by the end we were ready to pass out. We ended up cutting through some fields, scaring some sheep and jumping into a very muddy pond behind the school. It was the most refreshing thing in the entire world! We ended up having to eat our tea in soaking clothes but a fun memory!

This weekend I'm going bowling Friday night with some others in a town nearby called Morcombe and then Sunday evening I'm on an outreach team with 4 others at a local church nearby. We're leading their after service youth service. It should be fun!

Well I should get going as my internet time is almost up. Just thought I'd try to get a bit of what I've been up to out to you all. I think I've lost most of any English accent I had as I'm surrounded by mostly North Americans.

I hope everyone is well, drop me an email if you get a chance, I'd love to hear from you.

Love and Blessings, Jenny*

Capernwray

Ok, well for some reason my hotmail account is "temporarily unavailable" and I can't seem to send anyone any emails so could those of you who read this blog please pass onto everyone else that I've arrived safely and I'm having a great time so far? Thanks very much.

Yeah so about that great time I'm having. I arrived on Saturday thanks to Tim and Francesca. The drive over here was absolutely beautiful! I love the North! Upon arrival I was a bit overwhelmed. For those of you who don't know Capernwray was built in the 1800's for a family and since then has been turned into a school/hall. The building is pretty much like an old castle and there are fields and farm land around. There are also sheep just outside my dorm room who aren't really that shy about letting us know they're there....especially at night.

I share a room with 4 other girls. Two are from Germany, one is American and the other is from Korea. They're all lovely and I'm getting along with them great. I've also met loads of other awesome people here. The majority of the students are from North America and predominantly American so it's almost like being back in Canada...except for the Castle.

The schedule is pretty full with 4 lectures in the morning and 2 in the evening but they're great. So far we've started looking at Kings and primarily the life of Solomon. I feel like I'm learning so much already and it's only been two days! The other lectures we had today were on forgiveness and they were awesome as well.

Breakfast is at 7:30 every morning so that's a bit of a change since I'm not used to starting work until about 10 and after breakfast there's morning duties. Mine is to clean the bathrooms for my dorm which isn't too bad. After breakfast lectures start. Then lunch and then we have the afternoon free until tea.

Everyone is also put into a family group with about 10 students and two "mentors" and we meet regularly to share and pray together and sometimes we'll have social nights on Fridays. This week I'm going bowling with my family group so that should be fun.

I've also managed to meet a running friend!! Yay! Her name is Rachel and she's from California and she's just finished a marathon in Rome about a month ago. She's really great and it's been fun getting to know her.

Yesterday for the afternoon we decided to walk into the nearest town of Carnforth which turned into an hour and 15 minute walk each way!! It was crazy but a great time of getting to know some people a bit better. My feet weren't very appreciative though as I wore some new shoes and had some nasty blisters when we got back. Also, we were late for tea which isn't very good. You're required at all meals and to be on time at them at that. Oops...it was still a fun afternoon though.

Hmmmm I'm not sure what else. I'm sorry if I'm a little all over the place I only have 20 minutes on the internet so I'm trying to get it all in at once.

Overall I would have to say I'm loving it here and I'm so glad that I came. Part of me wishes it could have been for a full year but 2 months is still good. I'm just happy to make the most of this opportunity.

Anyway I should run, I'll try an attempt my email account again.

Best wishes to everyone and perhaps I'll get a chance to write some more on Thursday!

Love Jenny*

Team Lego

I had a really fun time in Tamworth this past weekend and first part of this week. It was great to see Fiona again, she's so much fun and it was also awesome to see Angie!!

Quick story to explain the lego t-shirts. Fi, Angie and I went into Birmingham on Tuesday to shop and while we were in the Bullring Fiona wanted to take a look in the Lego store to see if she could find a birthday present for John. While she was looking Angie and I were wandering around and Angie all of a sudden said she really liked the staff work shirts and then asked if she could buy one. The manager came back and said she could have one for £10. She wasn't sure if she should buy it for that price or not so I jumped in and asked if we could have 2 for £15. Unfortunately he said 2 for £20 which wasn't a deal but we ended up buying the shirts anyway and then wore them bowling that evening for a youth thingy that Angie was involved with. It was a blast and we had so much fun!

We also went and saw the Ringer that evening. Hilarious! I would definitely recommend it!

Anyway I need to run, I'm procrastinating from packing at the moment. Tomorrow I'm off to Capernwray and I'm really excited!!! I'm not sure how often I'll get a chance to blog while I'm there but I'll do my best!

Love and blessings,
Jenny*

4:26....So Tired!

I think that if you asked me the question "if you could go anywhere in the world and do anything you wanted today, what would you do?" I would have to respond that I would probably go to a cottage in Canada on one of the lakes and I would ask that the bed I slept in at the Hilton on the way home from Christmas be placed in one of the rooms and I would sleep for a solid 24 hours! And not just dozing, I mean real, deep, no dreams, no waking up to use the bathroom sleep!

This week although it hasn't been insanely hectic has still managed to wipe me out. I think part of the wiping out has to do with the fact I've come down with a nasty cold. I sound like a deep throated frog and I'm continuously coughing and blowing my nose. Last night I was up until 2 coughing :( (boo urns!!!) At least I don't feel sick and I'm not bedridden! Just tired.

I was at my housegroup last night and I was particularly inspired. We've been doing a series on prayer that seems to be lasting forever but it's been cause for some challenging and inspiring discussion. As we were talking about intercession I was reminded of some of the ways I used to pray a couple years ago. I wasn't thinking "what's happened to me? I used to be way more active in prayer!" or "man those were good days....I wish I could go back to those days" but I was thinking "wow...I remember what a difference those times made, perhaps I should start stepping out like that again"

I think it's easy to remember a particular point in time where you felt very spiritually alive and either kick yourself for not being like that at present or to want to camp there and live in the memory. I suppose in a way Peter gives us examples of both. Imagine how he felt looking back at denying Jesus. And then there's the time Jesus took James, John and Peter up the mountain and was transfigured and then Elijah and Moses showed up. Peter was like "Lets get the tents and stay here and camp on the mountain!! This is awesome!" Neither are helpful. I do however think that it's important to let your memories be a blessing to you and be something that helps shape the journey forward.

One particular memory that I shared last night was of the days of 4:26 prayer. I'll tell the story for those of you who have no idea what that means.

I was walking home from school one day with a couple of my guy friends, Ryan and Joel, and I'd just bought a new watch. I was trying to figure out how to use the settings and set the alarm and asked what time I should set it for. The guys told me I should set it for 4:26 and then burst out laughing. Thinking that they were slightly weird, as usual, I set my alarm for 4:26 and it stayed at that time for ages. It became this inside joke and I think I was told later that the number 426 had something to do with an engine would make sense considering the guys!

Anyway one day my friends, Ladonna, Leanne and myself were at the church for prayer and we were talking about how we should start praying at the same time every week, that way even though we weren't together we could know we were still praying at the same time. We were trying to figure out what time to make it when one of them said we should pray at 4:26 in the morning! What developed from there was that we would get up every Monday morning at 4:26 and pray until 5. I remember being pretty stoked about it and Ladonna later came and told us that Genesis 4:26 said "and this is the time man began to call upon the Lord" which was very cool! Eventually we got more ladies on bored and friends who were away at university and it was really awesome. I know I didn't get up every week, sometimes I went back to sleep, but the times I did get up to pray I remember feeling a sense that this time of prayer really was making a difference. Somehow the sacrifice of something as dear to me as sleep to spend time in prayer seemed so effective.

So that's the 4:26 story.

Like I said...I don't know if I'm going to start praying at 4:26 weekly again but I really do feel stirred up inside to get off my butt and do something. I have a real sense of anticipation and excitement for what God is doing at this moment and where my future is going to head. I'm so excited to go to Capernwray. I really feel that God is going to specifically speak to me while I'm there about the coming years. I just hope I'm ready to listen!

"The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!"
Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."
And the LORD said to Samuel: "See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.

1 Samuel 3:10,11

Canada Ceilidh

(Some of the team going to Canada working hard)











As I mentioned last week we had a Ceilidh this past weekend to raise money for the team going to Canada this summer. It was a great success as well as great fun! It's was very similar to a square/barn dance but the music was different. I don't think we'd have "The Flying Scotsman" as a tune at any of our dances!

Some friends I've met that are away at university during the year were up so I was able to hang with them and was shown how to "properly" dance. Basically that meant spinning as hard as you can until you get bruises on your arms! And Mike says I'm violent!! My shoulders were so sore the next morning! Anyway here are some more pictures for you all to look at!


(Sophie and Ellie)














(dancing with Murphy)














(Murphy, Richard, Lisa and I)

Spa Pics

(This is the "before" picture where we all look alive!)
















(Kirsten and Deb drinking wine and eating chocolates)
















(Deb, Kirsten and I looking slightly rough around the edges but feeling WAY relaxed!)

















(The "after" picture, four very tired, but very relaxed women)

An Evening of Leisure

That's Lee-sure for Canadians and Leh-sure for the English.

Yesterday afternoon I was in the office on my own while Mike was off doing whatever he does and Lisa was getting herself a chocolate back massage. "ooooh! A chocolate back massage! What's that??" you ask. Well it's a back massage where they pour pure cocoa onto your back and rub it in! How awesomely amazing does it sound? So while she was getting her massage I was thinking to myself how I could really use something like that after the stressful weekend we just had and how I haven't had a back massage in almost 2 years...that's much too long! Suddenly the phone rang and it was Anne Moore - one of the ladies in my church. She was looking for someone else but when she couldn't get a hold of them she suddenly asked "Well Jenny, are you free this evening?"

"Free for what excatly?" I was thinking. Mondays are usually my evening off during the week and I didn't really want to sign up for anything that involved work.

"Free for an evening of pampering at a spa! My treat!" She said! It did not take much convincing to accept her offer!

It was so wonderful. I went with Anne and her daughter Deb and another girl Kirsten from Australia who's recently come to Morpeth to work with International China Concern. We went to a spa in Longframlington called Dene House Farm Cottages and when we arrived we were told to change into our bathing suits and were then brought to a private room with lounging chairs and given robes to wear. We were then brought glasses of whatever we wanted to drink and we chose our free treatment for the evening. We had a choice of a manicure, pedicure, facial, or back massage. Our choices were written down and we were told we'd be called throughout the evening to receive them. Until then we had free use of the pool, steam room, sauna and hot tub or we could sit and read magazines. We were also brought a tray of chocolates and served supper later on which was a selection of quiches, crisps and dip, cheeses and crackers, salad, and other tray like foods. For Dessert we were brought a toffee pavlova (mmmmmmmmmmm) and hagan daas ice cream!!!

It was such a relaxing evening! I was so blessed to have been treated to it. We didn't end up leaving until 11 and when Anne went to pay they wouldn't accept payment for Kirsten and I!
What an absolute blessing!

(pictures to be added to this post soon)