Changing Times August 31, 2009

Things have been exciting in my world recently… A whirlwind of change and preparation and goodbyes and hellos and anticipation.

Yesterday I preached what will be my last sermon at Wandsworth Boiler Room… so that’s weird. Most of my stuff is packed up and has gone, and I am currently ensconced on a comfy mattress on my friends floor for a couple of weeks.

I am really looking forward to the phase ahead. Uni will be great and doing and arts and design based course will be a new challenge. Being in a new city and making new friends will be great too, although I’ve already made some great pals there.

There will be some sad days in the next few weeks – cakes at work to say goodbye, my leaving-do, driving out of Wandsworth that last time. Today we spent some time building party bags, which I really enjoyed, even in the poigancy of it all.

I’ve also been running around desperately meeting everybody for ‘last coffees’ and last catch ups before I head off, so that has been lovely too. I have some fantastic friends here who inspire and encourage me lots.

I know that God will be travelling with me in this new season, and I am excited to find out all the things he has in store. So it’s a watch this space sort of thing!

Crafty times August 26, 2009

While I’ve been away I’ve been trying my hand at ring making. These are the bigger ones (check out the starring role from Ophelia the cat in the top right of the photo):

And the smaller ones:

Some photos from my travels August 26, 2009

The castle/sun/leaves one is from Milton Abbas, all the rest are from my time in Penhurst, Sussex at the end of July.

A short break August 25, 2009

I’ve been away for a few days now just taking stock and recovering some energy after the mayhem of the past few weeks. It has been lovely to have a change of scenery and to really be able to relax.

I really haven’t done very much – lots of knitting (my scarf is growing exponentially), jewellery making and reading Famous Five novels… it has been fab.

I’m staying in the countryside, and have loved how many stars I can see at night, and the novelty of being woken by cocks crowing – lovely!

Today I went to this beach:

It was very pretty. I had fish and chips in a little cafe, ate ice cream and walked along the shingle. Bliss!!

Two thousand miles later… August 25, 2009

Or 2540, if you believe Google maps, Road Trip is finally over.

It feels weird, when your life revolves around something, for it to finish. As I said before, I loved certain aspects of being out on the road. I loved the late night conversations and learning new geography and stuff like that.

Scarborough was fun, far away, but fun. We were a bit late getting there as I think everyone was travelling to Scarborough that day and there is only a tiny single track road to get there. The venue was nice and the food was yummy!

Next it was Wokingham and Belfast, which again were both fun trips.The best venue was saved for last though. This is Castlewellen Castle in Belfast – the most amazing castle. The food and hospitality of the Music Camp there was fantastic, we all felt very at home and very comfortable. The young people at the camp were lively and engaged and it was a really enjoyable time.

The next day we had some time to spare in Belfast before our flight home in the afternoon. So, we were introduced to Clements – a fab coffee shop, where we wiled away some time eating scones as big as our heads. Then we split up andshopped/mooched around/chilled out until it was time to fly home.

I felt a bit Road Trip bereft after it had all finished, kinda exhausted and glad to get a rest as well, but how often does one get the opprtunity to visit so many different places and meet so many young people in such a short period of time. I’m excited that we got to do it, and more excited about what God will have been up to in those young people, not because of what we did, but through the times they spent at summer schools, and everything that happened as part of them.

Now… for a well earned break!!

Road Trippin’ August 13, 2009

Over the past two weeks, I’ve had the real privilege to travel to a number of places around the country as part of the ALOVE UK Summer Schools Road Trip Tour.

ALOVE is the SA’s youthwork department, and this summer they, and us at 24-7/SA Prayer – along with representatives from the International Development department –  have been visiting every single one of the 16 Summer Schools taking place the length and breadth of the UK & Ireland.

We have been doing an afternoon of seminars (two each, one with the juniors and one with the seniors), and then an evening ‘gig’, with sung worship, games, testimonies and a speak.

So far I have been to Stourbridge in the West Midlands, Chingford in Essex, Milton Abbas in Dorset:

As well as the Wirral and Uppingham in the West Midlands.

I had mixed feelings at the beginning of the tour. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about being away from home all that time, and I was nervous about all the speaking, but as we got started I soon found my flow, and even when it’s felt exhausting, I’ve still loved being out on the road.

It’s such a privilege to be able to spend time with young people, to hear their stories and to be able to get across that their prayer lives can be something they don’t need to feel guilty about – that their individual personalities will shape the kind of prayer they find most enjoyable and engaging. I have loved them coming up to me at tea and saying, ‘I’ve found out that I am a snorkeller’, much to the bemusement of other staff members. It has been fab to be at the evening gigs night after night too, to see young people responding to God – some of them for the first time.

It’s also been great to visit schools we’ve had some engagement with before, to see how some of the kids have grown and to hear some of their journeys.

Apart from all the spiritual stuff, some of my other favourite Road Trip moments have to be:

• Trying to lead a seminar whilst being attacked by wasps, managing to pause and time what I was saying around loud thumps as people attempted to squish them.
• Being given free-reign to plan a prayer room at one of the schools.
• Getting stuck in the most humungous traffic jam on the way home from Chingford and singing Westlife songs to pass the time.
• The luxury of staying in a Premier Inn for one of the evenings… sounds like a little thing but after lots of travelling and very little sleep it really did feel palatial. (It was also very amusing that they’d managed to book me in as Mr Ricky Adams…)
• My taxi journey to Milton Abbas with the most cheeriest and friendly taxi driver in the world.
• Getting to know the other team members better, chatting about our lives and experiences and dreaming about the future of the church.
• Realising the value of community even more as I communicated with my friends and Wandsworth-family by text whilst away. It can feel like a bit of a parralel universe being away for so long, but I think the friendly texts and emails kept me connected and sane.

I’ll probably think of some more and have some other tales to tell after the other tour dates:  Hastings tomorrow, Scarborough on Monday, Wokingham on Wednesday & then Belfast on Thursday.

For Sale August 4, 2009

As part of my mammoth fundraising efforts of present, I’ve put together a booklet of 30 meditations & poems, with some design work and photos too, and am selling them for £5.

If you would like a copy, or to see some examples, just drop me a comment and we can sort it out.

Thanks,

xx Vicki

Places & Projects August 4, 2009

It’s been a busy few weeks. In fact I’m not really sure how it got to be August… strange that. And the weather has turned distinctly autumnal, so I’m beginning to think that summer has entirely passed me by this year…

I’ve been to some lovely places recently. I went on a three-day retreat down to Penhurst, which is near Battle, in Sussex. I so needed some time out to think and process, and the retreat was perfect for this. There was a little bit of led teaching, and then lots of space for reflection. To begin with, I was like ‘How on earth do I fill all this space?’ but by the last day I had chilled out and was feeling like I could have stayed for another three days at least!

The other women on the retreat were all from missionary contexts, so I loved hearing their stories (I now know more about Ameobic Dysentry than I ever thought possible). It was so good to share meals and to share life together, and we built up a real sense of cameraderie and community. The days started and ended with prayers in the little chapel, following celtic daily readings, which I found a real blessing.

Getting back to London was a real culture shock. It was all so noisy and crowded after the tranquility of the countryside. I really wanted to try and hold on to that peaceful space inside of me, even though everything seemed to crowd back around.

A few days later I was heading south again to visit a friend. I got to see the sea again, to feel the breeze on my face (and to eat the yummiest raspberry meringue pavlova in the world). I had a lovely day.

And then there was Stourbridge (which is in the West Midlands). I was there to do some summer school teaching, for the first stop of what will turn into a bit of a scenic UK tour. The next few weeks see me taking in Dorset, Chingford, Scarborough, Hastings, Belfast, Uppingham and Wokingham… it’s gonna be fun!

Apart from the travel, there is much else to keep me occupied. I have a couple of cleaning jobs now, so I can regularly be found decked out in attractive tracksuit bottoms and rubber gloves regularly… so much for glamour!

Church has shut down for the summer, so there’s just prayer meetings and Sunday services going on… it’s all very weird, tougher than I could have imagined. We’re all still reeling. I’m wondering when I’m going to stop being in denial. So much is changing.

Work is a bit mad, we’re having a big move-around on our floor, with people from another office coming to join us, so it’s meant lots of cupboard sorting, and lots of shredding! I’ve learned I am bad at filing, bored by mandane tasks, but excellent at throwing stuff away (especially if it’s stuff that needs keeping but I don’t know where to put it… whoops).

I’ve been reading a lot too – I enjoyed ‘A thousand Spendid Suns’, which is about two women and their lives growing up in Afghanistan. I’ve also been wading through ‘The Time Travellers Wife’, which I found a little confusing. Oh, and someone brought me back a copy of Rob Bell’s latest book ‘Drops Like Stars’, from the New Wine conference… it really is amazing, in fact I think I should post seperately about it. It’s a big, hardback book, with beautiful design work and engaging content, all about the link between creativity and suffering – a pertinent theme.

Apart from all the mad travelling, the next few weeks involve some more cleaning, some inspiring meetings and some visits from friends I haven’t seen in a while. At least life isn’t boring!