Long Time No Blog Part 1: Where is Spring?!

Sorry for not blogging in a long time, life has been pretty busy here… we’ve had snow (twice), done LOTS of painting, had groups and washed all our pillows and duvets! Read on to find out more; if you feel able, you can financially support me here.

Read part 2 here!

Verse for February

Psalm 23v4: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

During February, this verse was a great comfort to me, being reminded that even in hard times, God is still with me.

Verse for March

1 Thessalonians 1v9: “How you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.”

Having spent quite a lot of time in 1 Thessalonians in March, and preparing talks on it, this verse really stood out to me. God is true and He’s alive; what amazing truth to hold on to! The idols of money, fame, career, family, success, love, possessions and more promise us so much… yet always let us down because they are not the truth and they cannot live us everlasting life. But God IS truth and Jesus defeated death so that we also could have life through Him.

Day 380

It was a real blessing to help out at Worcester CU’s Mission week, and seeing several non-Christians at the lunchbars, evening events and even at Church was a great encouragement.

We also said a huge thank you to these amazing girls: Beth, Phoebe, Lauren & Alice, who have served so faithfully for the last year on the committee. And have passed on the leadership to the new committee.

Day 387

Over half term, we had several of the youth from Woodgreen Church help us on girl’s floor; they did LOTS of painting, which was a massive help! I managed to get so into painting, I not only got paint in my hair, but also on my face!

Day 395

Who knew we had so much bedding?! We got all the pillows and duvets washed before the new bedding arrived… read on for photos!

Day 397

We were supposed to have a youth group coming to us from Nottingham, but unfortunately ‘The Beast from the East’ hit us, and they couldn’t get to us. So instead we enjoyed a morning tabogganing down the back hill!

Day 404

More work up on the girls floor: lots more painting, the boys built a wall to split the largest room in half; carpet got laid in four of the bedrooms and part of the corridor; and we’ve now got bedding!

Day 411

It was great to have a group in at last! Reminding us that the reason we’ve been working so hard to renovate is so that we can share the gospel with the youth that come to us. We had a regular group from a church in Tewkesbury, with teaching from Colossians 1: seeing that Jesus is the greatest ever King. And yet more snow! Highlights from the weekend included: a competitive game of combat archery, a (quite muddy) walk in the countryside, a murder mystery evening and of course pancakes for breakfast on Saturday morning! It was really encouraging to see the young people’s faith, particularly in small groups, where they were so keen to talk.

Day 415

Yet more painting… to finish off the corridor and two more of the rooms.

Day 418

We were thrilled to be able to host our first ‘Supersize’ weekend, specifically designed for small youth groups who wouldn’t be able to run a weekend themselves. The teaching was on holiness from 1 Peter, and I was really encouraged by the young people in my small group when we were looking more into 1 Peter. Other highlights included: air rifle shooting, some very competitive ultimate Frisbee, and some equally competitive combat archery, craft round the fire, and a quiz and karaoke evening (see our facebook, twitter or instagram for video evidence!)

Coming up…

Part 2… including what we got up to over Easter and the start of our really busy season!

Please Pray!

• That whether we’re in the middle of maintenance or a really busy run of groups we wouldn’t forget that the Gospel is what motivates us and keeps us going
• Praise God for non-Christians coming to the events put on by Worcester CU during their Mission Week – pray that they would come to know and trust Jesus for themselves
• Thanks for completing so much maintenance: God keeping us safe, having the skills, as well as resources to do the work