To those of you who were thinking and praying for our team last week, thank you. Those prayers were heard, felt, and completely answered and surpassed.
The mission trip last week was one of the best experiences in my entire life.
Oxford, England was one of the most beautiful places... every day it was like we were in a movie set, or a fairy tale, or as one of our teammates dubbed it.."Narnia".
Lauren and I at Keble College, also known as home for the week
Our daily routine was to wake up and have breakfast in one of the longest halls in Oxford. Everyone morning we would come down the stone staircases to the ground level where our brothers would be waiting for us. Breakfast was always delicious with a variety of toasts, cereals, fruit, yogurt, oj, milk, coffee, tea, croissants, etc. Hot breakfast would always include a fried egg and baked beans! Our favorite jam was: blackcurrant. *You can buy it at your local Martin's*
After breakfast, we would always go to one of our rooms to do a devotional. We all took turns in doing one every day of the week. It was an awesome encouraging way to start off the day excited to see what our god would have in store.
We would break up into pairs to go and share with people. Then come together for lunch to talk about how the day was going, then go back out until dinner time.
We probably covered all of the ground in Oxford city, as well as hitting every coffee and tea shop multiple times. We went into every bookstore, walked through the trails of every park, and strolled the grounds of some of the most well known authors (Tolkein & Lewis).
Throughout all of this we talked to over 100 people during the week. We had one person commit their life to our savior, and many who were extremely challenged in their worldview. The worldviews were all very different. Some christian, others atheist, we even talked to people involved with druidism, and mingling in the occult. The majority of people we talked to were not afraid to converse with us, some did think it was quite weird that we were, but for the most part people are people and love to talk about themselves or their opinion, etc. It was really neat to learn about all of these individuals and their culture. Not only did we meet British people, there were people from Ireland, Scotland, North America, Saudi Arabia, one girl was 1/2 Jordinian, one was from Poland and her grandfather had escaped from a concentration camp... the diversity was amazing.
When we decided to go to England many of us had expectations of what it would be like and how our father would work. We didnt know the half of it. He suprised and blew us all out of the water. Last week we were all stretched, challenged, inspired, humbled, grew in unity as a team, and individually towards our god.
Our god, the one who created the heavens and the earth, the one who is the father of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, the one who parted the reed sea, the one who told Noah to build an ark, the one who preserved HIStory over 1000s of years... that is our god. Yahuah. He sent his son so that we may have life and have it to the fullest. To give us hope of better things to come instead of trying to fill up on empty things in this world, things that will all pass away.
Well... our god showed us just a glimpse of how big, how mighty, how powerful he is last week. I already believe in this god, the god of Israel. I already believed he sent his son to pay for my shortcomings. I already believed I am to spend my life doing his work and will. I already believed he saved me. I already believed he loved me. I believed I was getting to know him. I believed I was trying to love him with all my heart, all my soul, and all my mind. I believed I was trying my best to love my neighbors as myself. I believed I was doing my best to keep his commandments. I believed I knew a little and a lot at the same time. Now, I believe I have no idea just how big and wonderful the god I serve is. I believe I will spend my whole life trying to know him and love him more.
He is so much more than our human minds can comprehend...and I think a lot of people have a problem with that, but He is real. He is powerful. He is. He said it himself, "I AM". We arent supposed to figure all of the rest out. There is a faith aspect.
Out of all the reasonings I heard last week, as intelligent as people were, as proper, not a single reason I heard could make me doubt, in fact the arguements people would try to present made me believe in my god and his power even stronger than ever. Not to mention the holy spirit led us and allowed us to see evidence that only comes through faith. Read Ryan's blog for an example. Every conversation held was respectable, and I believe we made a small dent in a country with a huge need for evangelists. People have stopped talking about this stuff over there. It is worse in other places. There is a huge need to keep the passion of our god alive. What are we living here for it we dont talk about it, about him? How are we even living in the first place?
Many seeds were planted, whether they were in good soil or not we dont know. It isnt for us to know. We went, we told people of the good news, we did our job, and we came home. I miss it. I miss Oxford. I miss the people there, even the ones that looked shocked but suprisingly happy when you said good morning, passing them on the streets. I miss the people that didnt agree at all with what we were saying but the look in their eye promising they would look deeper into what we were saying, I miss the people that couldnt believe we were telling them they were special. I miss the Veeves. I miss the coffee (espresso and water), drip just isnt cutting it anymore, I miss living in a walled and guarded "castle", I miss the charm and beauty of Oxford, I miss my team (even though they are in the same town as me lol), I miss having a teacup and saucer by my bed. Really, what I miss most of all though. Is my do to list. Every day all that was really planned was to be led by the holy spirit. The day was not in our hands, all we had to do was go out. At home, I have 20 things on my to do list and I am blessed if I can get my mind quiet enough to hear the holy spirit. Sure, I think about my god all the time. I think about him in every decision I make, and every move throughout the day. It is different though. I miss the way I heard him over there. We have a mission field wherever we are. Am I letting him use me in the same way I allowed him to over there, no matter where I am...?
I hope so.
