Another post

So sorry that I haven't posted in over a week. I meant to over the weekend but i never got around to it. Oh well. A quick one for now I guess...

Last thursday we had troop. It was kind of hard going cause I didn't plan a real lesson I just wanted to know what the group expected of me and what they would like to see happen in the future. So we made a list of ideas/ expectations. I DID have to mention that I have authority to nix anything from the list so things like having me around one time a week to do the kids laundry was a no go for example. It was a good night overall (I had to use a bit of a stern voice at one point when some of the youth got a bit out of hand with conversations that were not on the subject...they're easily distracted over here!)

Friday night was very fun. It was Jan's last day at his job (he's now a full time pastor and it's a bit of a leap of faith for him...which has been nice to know that i'm not the only one here who's taking a huge risk in life and work). Jan got some of the guys together and we met up at a local pub for a drink and a chat. It was good fun.

Saturday i went and got my hair cut. Now all the blond is gone and it's pretty short. People say I look more like a brit now. I guess I can't get away from that forever, can I?

Saturday night Verity and her cousin invited me to dinner by camp stove on the beach which was quite nice of them. Most of the night was spent taking the mick out of me for this or that, but it wasn't all totally undeserved:-)

Sunday was church and afterwards Jan's family and I went over to his parents place for tea and a bit of snacks. It was a nice time. jan's parents are dutch survivors of the war, so I'm looking forward to chatting with them about it next time I see them.

Monday I got to see my flat for the first time. Jan and I took out the old carpet from my room and today jan and nathan (one of the kids Jan worked with in his last job as a social worker) painted my room while I was here at the Morris' helping them get the place ready in time for the students arrival on Friday. The flat is really nice and I'll be moving in sometime after the new carpet gets put in this week. I'm excited!!

That's most of the major news here. I know I've missed some details cause it's been over a week. Oh, I'm playing drums this week in church! The housegroup i attend on Tuesday's leads worship one time a month, so they've asked me to play this weekend....it's nice, but we need a bass player! I've seen a need for drummers, but never a bass player. I guess I always thought the bass was a bit more of a glorified position than the drums...guess I was wrong.

Tonight is FOAM tomorrow is Troop...and I don't know what exactly will fill in the rest of the week. Oh Jan and I are also doing a bit of demolition work in the Vineyard shop here in town getting the back rooms ready to use as a meeting place. That's been fun and I'll post pics of that along with the 5 million others I'll have to post by the time I actually get around to it...

Tomorrow is our first "staff" meet where the core leaders get together and stratigize and plan how we'll take over Bognor!! just kidding....

I am also looking at starting up a younger (university) age house group for 18 to mid 20s. We'll see how that goes (I'm excited about it!!)

Right, I need to go clean up from painting and then get some thoughts out on paper for tonight. I'm getting more and more settled here, but the moments of feeling like a foreigner haven't really died off and I'm still trying to find my feet and not worry too much about this that and the other. Today has been kinda hard though cause I haven't been sleeping as well as I'd like and it's been hard to concentrate on even simple tasks like painting a door (it usually doesn't take me much to get a coat of paint on but today was different...) anyway. Please keep praying that I get settled and that God continues to lead me through this process. And let me know how I can pray for you!

Oh yes, and if you could please pray for Sara. She went and had tests done yesterday to see why she get's these nasty headaches. We're waiting on the results. We've prayed for her and it's kinda hard to see the problem still present. Guess that's the hard part of watching students through the good and bad of life.

Till next time,Paul