Playing Catch Up
It has been a while...life in the South of England was a busy one! A full one. A blessed one. I can't believe the 5 months have come and gone. I have been home now for two weeks and have been having a nice time catching up with family over the Christmas holiday. I hope in the next couple of weeks to catch up with some friends as well, but the big goal in life now is to find a new job and get back into the old swing of things.
I don't know where to begin telling you about my time working with the wonderful folks from Portsdown Community Church! There is so much that I took part in and so many amazing people that I had the privilege to get to know. Everyone was really great about taking me to special places on the weekends too so I could really see Hampshire. There were loads of sweet little villages around and amazing old estates to explore. It is really a beautiful country.
Life at the Acorn Centre was always non-stop and always full of surprises! I never got what I would expect to get done in a day because there were always things popping up. The good thing about that is you don't get bored! The daily hustle and bustle of the community members popping in and out was great. It was so nice spending time getting to know the people and chatting with them. The staff and volunteers were all so great as well. I spent most of my time between two areas there; doing development work on a greenspace conservation project called Billy's Lake and working with the gorgeous kids and youth in Wecock. One of my favorite things was planning and heading up cooking workshops with the kids on their school breaks. I had them make lots of "strange American" dishes! It was great to see them all getting their hands into it all, being creative and HAVING FUN!
Monday's at Beacon Furniture were always great fun. Allison and I would spend half the morning just trying to make the place look organized by rearranging all the furniture. We would usually have piles of new stuff to sort through. I loved trying to solve the puzzle of how to make each piece of furniture fit into our little space and still leave a good path for the customers. The other big project we were able to take on while I was there was redecorating the shop. We picked paint colors and had a huge sale to clear out inventory and then had a great work day.
Friday's were J Source day. I worked the mornings with Geoff who was a retired school principal and musician and the afternoons with Heather who was a retired deaconess for the Baptist church and had lived in Tasmania for years planting churches. The two of them were full of stories and both a joy to work with. I arrived right in time to help fill in for one of the regular volunteers who was injured. It was wonderful to work with the customers in the shop. It was also fun as we prepared for the holiday sales; organizing and pricing all the Christmas stock. They even let me create a fall store window!
Every other week we would have Riverjules, a special kids program at the church on a Friday evening. We did a series on prayer and planned different activities for the kids each week to teach them about the different types of prayer. We also rotated teaching children's church on the off week Sunday. I was able to teach twice and enjoyed this time with a small group of children. They are so amazing when they share and it is so much fun to hear some of the funny things they come up with!
I don't know where to begin telling you about my time working with the wonderful folks from Portsdown Community Church! There is so much that I took part in and so many amazing people that I had the privilege to get to know. Everyone was really great about taking me to special places on the weekends too so I could really see Hampshire. There were loads of sweet little villages around and amazing old estates to explore. It is really a beautiful country.
Life at the Acorn Centre was always non-stop and always full of surprises! I never got what I would expect to get done in a day because there were always things popping up. The good thing about that is you don't get bored! The daily hustle and bustle of the community members popping in and out was great. It was so nice spending time getting to know the people and chatting with them. The staff and volunteers were all so great as well. I spent most of my time between two areas there; doing development work on a greenspace conservation project called Billy's Lake and working with the gorgeous kids and youth in Wecock. One of my favorite things was planning and heading up cooking workshops with the kids on their school breaks. I had them make lots of "strange American" dishes! It was great to see them all getting their hands into it all, being creative and HAVING FUN!
Monday's at Beacon Furniture were always great fun. Allison and I would spend half the morning just trying to make the place look organized by rearranging all the furniture. We would usually have piles of new stuff to sort through. I loved trying to solve the puzzle of how to make each piece of furniture fit into our little space and still leave a good path for the customers. The other big project we were able to take on while I was there was redecorating the shop. We picked paint colors and had a huge sale to clear out inventory and then had a great work day.
Friday's were J Source day. I worked the mornings with Geoff who was a retired school principal and musician and the afternoons with Heather who was a retired deaconess for the Baptist church and had lived in Tasmania for years planting churches. The two of them were full of stories and both a joy to work with. I arrived right in time to help fill in for one of the regular volunteers who was injured. It was wonderful to work with the customers in the shop. It was also fun as we prepared for the holiday sales; organizing and pricing all the Christmas stock. They even let me create a fall store window!
Every other week we would have Riverjules, a special kids program at the church on a Friday evening. We did a series on prayer and planned different activities for the kids each week to teach them about the different types of prayer. We also rotated teaching children's church on the off week Sunday. I was able to teach twice and enjoyed this time with a small group of children. They are so amazing when they share and it is so much fun to hear some of the funny things they come up with!
Each moment I had with the children, youth and adults in the church and community were precious. I learned so much from them and was so blessed by them. They were so welcoming and really took me in as family. The people who came to our small group, Journey's, on Tuesday nights at the Centre made up one of my little family groups. We would usually be together on Wednesday's for the Coffee Afternoon as well and did lots of fun things together. One week, we received special funding for an outing and were able to take folks out to a hotel on Hayling Island for tea. It was a treat for all of us!
As I prepared to leave, there were a lot of things preparing to end for the year. Everyone was getting ready for the holidays and all the events that come along with it. It felt strange to leave with so much to do! My last few weeks were still full of various so longs...a loving send off. During it all I was able to help with a Christmas Ladies Night, BBC Children in Need fundraiser, and pilot Family Cooking Workshop at the Centre.
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