Days 70-61

70 days: The secret ingredient

Today I had one of the most embarrassing, and yet hilarious, situation with navigating the British vs American words yet.  For our monthly youth club, we decided we were going to have a bubble station with really large bubbles, and, for really large bubbles, you need a special solution.  Since I had a bubble program for camp, I had the recipe in the archives of my computer.  However everything went by a different name. Dish soap = washing up liquid. Corn starch = corn flour.  The most interesting explanation was the secret ingredient, glycerin.  My co-worker and supervisor had no idea what I was talking about, so, after explaining what it was and where to find it, I said they could buy personal lubricant, which is suggested in some recipes, if glycerin couldn't be found.  They had no idea what I meant. Was it lotion? Vaseline?  Eventually, with a bright, red, embarrassed face, I was able to say it would be found in the same area as contraceptives, and the entire office erupted in laughter.

69 days: Choir concerts on top of a hill

Tonight I had a girls night out with one of my co-workers, Debbie.  We went out to eat at the local pub, and then finished the night with a choir concert at St Lawrence Church in West Wycombe.  Everything was going well until we became lost and couldn't find the church.  Debbie and I drove around the village and through fields before we noticed a church-like structure at the top of a hill.  Soon we found out we had passed, and driven on, the road to the church multiple times.  We made it just in time for intermission to have a conversation with some St James church members who sing in the choir.  We stayed for the rest of the concert, and successfully found our way home without anymore issues.

68 days: Tim in a tree

Today we started a new preaching series about branching out.  My supervisor, Tim, was a tree surgeon before he became a youth worker, so his talk focused on his fear heights, the dangers of tree surgery, and how his faith helped him do something out of his comfort zone.  Naturally, you can't talk about tree surgery, you need to show how you climb the tree, so Tim put on his harness and climbed an 80 foot tree during the middle of his talk. To say the talk was memorable would be an understatement.

67 days: My walk into town

In order to walk into town, I walk through East Common.  It's a green space that contains a small forest, playground, and open area.  During my walks, I often run into other people.  They are often walking or biking to or from home, walking their dog, or playing in the playground.  Occasionally I see families playing games together, such as football and cricket, or small animals running around. I don't think I could have asked for a prettier or more refreshing walk to the grocery store.  It's one of the places I'll miss the most.

66 days: Filling the kettle

At the end of service retreat for the UK YAGM, the sinks were too small for filling the tea kettle.  However, a small sink will not deter the making of a cup of tea, so we grabbed the kettle and turned on the shower.  Within minutes we each had a cup of tea and a realization that we have truly joined the tea culture if we'll go to any lengths necessary to fill the kettle.  Nothing will deter a cup of tea.

65 days: Grocery labels

The food and grocery stores in England are a bit different than they are in the US.  They're generally a lot smaller, but if you look closer you'll see more differences.  The big difference with the fresh food is there's always a expiration date and the location where the food was produced.  It's an easy way to know how far your food has traveled from farm to table.  If you're really lucky, you can even learn the name of the person who grew your food, so thank you to Angus Davison from Wales for my delicious strawberries.

64 days: The UK YAGM before and after picture

Today was the last time that the entire UK YAGM 2014-2015 were together.  We've been on this journey together since the very beginning, and, despite being from across the US and being placed across the UK, we've become a close knit group of friends.  It's hard to believe that a little over a year ago I knew none of them.  These two photos are from the first time we all met, and the last time we were all together.  The physical changes are not drastic, but I can tell you that the people in the bottom photo (June 25) are not the same people in the top photo (August 2014).  I reckon we would all say the changes and the friendships were well worth any challenges during the year.

63 days: My wacky life group

In the theme of friend groups, I would like to introduce you to my life group.  We meet once a week and simply catch up with each other.  We share our triumphs and our struggles, and pray for each other.  This picture shows our personalities and group dynamic.  The guys were a bit reluctant, but eventually they joined in.  This again is a group of people who didn't know each other at the beginning of the year, and now we laugh with and support each other with no reservations.

62 days: Guildford Spectrum

Today we held a 12-hour youth extravaganza day for 36 middle school youth.  This was an event that I was in charge of planning and executing, and, with the help of Kat, the event went well.  Over twelve hours, we went swimming and ice skating, had park and football games, a pool and pizza party, and watched Big Hero 6.  My favorite part was helping a couple of the youth learn how to ice skate.  About half a dozen or more had never been ice skating before, so when they first stepped onto the ice, they didn't have any confidence on the ice.  After a half hour of skating along the wall or holding the hands of their friends and leaders, they slowly started skating on their own, and by the end of the session, they were skating on their own slowly gaining speed as they became more and more confident.  At the end, all the youth were skating on their own and saying they had a grand ole time trying something new.

61 days: Writing my last sermon

Some of you may know that part of my responsibilities this year included delivering the sermon, or talk, every once in a while.  The first time I was told this by my supervisor while sitting in the office, I'm pretty sure my face went completely white.  I don't do public speaking, especially when it involves sermons.  Sure, I can give a hoard of kids instructions on how to play a game or run an event, but ask me to speak about myself or a subject, like a Bible verse or theme, and I'll sneakily inch my way to the back door so you don't realize I left.

My supervisor, Tim, however, was standing at the back door and slowly pushed me up to the front. (My co-worker, Kat, had the side entrance covered as well.)  First he had me do the closing prayer at my first Resonate (the first time meeting the youth).  Then he had me giving the talk (a very poor one) at the Boat in October.  Despite feeling horrible about it, he simply said "There are places you can improve.  You'll have you talk again next term."  Sure enough, the spring term I was scheduled again, and then some how I was scheduled to talk once a month during the summer term, meaning I talked at services different services (only three different talks) since April.  During my last sermon today, I could feel the change from October.  I felt more confident, more at ease with the youth, and at peace, and I completely attribute it to the youth and leaders I've worked with this year.

I know a couple of you have looked on my placement's podcast to listen to my sermons after you found out I spoke at a service and couldn't find any because they weren't there (youth services are often not recorded or, at least, uploaded).  So below you will find a recording of my sermon from tonight.