Hi there, friends!

    Well, I’ve not met my goal of blogging once a week, but...better late than never! It’s been just over 5 weeks now since I arrived in Edinburgh- feels like much less than that. 

    I’m writing this from the wee flat, with a riot of potted herbs and mini rosebushes next to me on the window seat. (Did I put those on the list of things I can’t pass up in a market?) Too quickly, there probably won’t be enough daylight to 

Friends, I can't stop buying them!

sustain them, so I’ll enjoy them for now. As I look around, I can’t put my finger on what makes the flat look much more “lived in” than a couple weeks ago...probably just the random clutter! Fleece and purse thrown on the chair, basket of important and not-important papers, Kleenex box, skewed dish towels on the oven handle, dishes drying, half-burned candles, computer cords here and there. Small but noticeable signs of life, in other words. 

    It probably helps that last night, I had my first guests over- nothing makes you take ownership of a place like identifying it to others as your home, I guess! It was so lovely to have other people over- two friends/co-workers in Young Life here, and a newly-arrived couple who visited the church last week. So, four Americans and one German, sitting on a blanket on the floor around the coffee table, sharing dinner, tips for living in Edinburgh, and best of all, conversation!...part of which included reminiscing about Yanni and mid-nineties kids movies (The Big Green?...Richie Rich?...The Mighty Ducks?). All in all, absolutely delightful. I’m so glad I didn’t let a little thing like not enough table space, chairs, or forks stop me from inviting four guests!

    After several weeks of shadowing various events/programs at the church, I’ve started to slip into regularly helping with and even organizing certain things. The role of “Children’s Worker” is so much more multi-faceted than simply the Sunday School program. Part of that is because there are regular visits to the elementary school (still wrapping my head around the lack of “separation of church and state”), and also supporting any other events that intersect with kids aged 3-12. One of these is “Messy Church”, which at Liberton Kirk, happens on the last Saturday of the month. Briefly, Messy Church is a time of crafts, games, worship, a Bible story, and a shared meal that is geared toward young families in a community who might not come to a traditional Sunday morning service. The “rule” is that no kid can get in without an adult, and no adult can get in without a kid- so it promotes parents and children participating together, or another adult relative or neighbor bringing them.

  

Sunday Club leaders' dinner at Pizza Express- great tradition!

    This past Saturday was my first time experiencing Messy Church, and I was absolutely amazed. There were about 60 kids (most aged 3-7) and over 40 adults with them, plus about 25 helpers. Of those kids, I did not see a single one who seemed shy or ill at ease- every kids was diving into the crafts and games, dragging their parent/adult to different stations, and having a blast! They were all engaged in the short worship time as well, which for that age group, says a lot. Even better, their parents were all singing the worship songs too, simply because their kids were so involved- just amazing. For the Bible story, I helped dramatize the Parable of the Lost Coin, and as a result, had about sixty little people looking for the “lost” coin with me! And though it’s hard to pick a “best” part, it was delightful to then all go into the main hall for some homemade pizza and sides, which the kitchen had been busy preparing. Sharing dinner with so many kids and families was just amazing. I can’t even put my finger on why- somehow, the fact that many aren’t Christian is what made it so special- without even realizing it, they were experiencing something incredibly biblical. I know that God is using it to plant and water seeds!

   In addition to the work with the church, I’ve also been attending/helping at Delta (which is essentially the Young Life club in the area) on Friday evenings, and with Connection Groups (which are basically Campaigners in the US) on Sunday evenings. I’m working up to getting into the high schools as well, and another youth worker and myself have set a date to start offering composition tutoring to students. One highlight last week was attending PowerPoint, which is a night of worship and teaching that happens about every six weeks. The students were so excited leading up to it that I knew it must be good- and it was great! I think around 1,100 students and leaders gathered together, and there was such a awesome positive spirit in the building. Lots of kids went up for prayer and commitments to living a life honoring to God- so encouraging to see!

"Transformers"- after-school Christian program for elementary kids

     For those that have asked, I’m farther along in the application process for Young Life, and will hopefully start raising support soon. I’m a bit non-traditional in that I felt led to move when I did (before raising support), but the Lord put the end of August on my heart, and it was perfect timing to start the other part-time job at the church. And, I’ve been able to meet the other Young Life staff here, and many of the kids, and get involved in lots of the group activities. Through generous friends over the summer, God has provided above and beyond my needs for right now, so I’m happy for him to guide the timeline of my work unfolding with Young Life. They have excellent mechanisms in place to prepare and develop new international staff, and I don’t want to rush that. 

    On that note of God's guidance, this may sound a bit funny, but as I prayed over the summer about when and how exactly to move, I kept a question mark around this coming week in October. A dear family friend is getting married on Saturday (woohoo, Erika and Tom!!), and six days later is CCS’s Fall Banquet/20^th anniversary celebration. I knew in my head that it probably would look ridiculous to come back so quickly after moving, and that when you move internationally, you accept that you can’t be at every event you’d like to be, but....the idea of coming back for those events just never went away. 

    I’m sharing this just because it’s been a major struggle for me, and when I was finally honest with myself (only a week or two ago), what it boiled down to was not confusion about what the Lord was saying (“You need to be home for this time.”), but 1) a fear of what others would think, 2) feeling like the money could be better spent, and 3) feeling guilty for asking for time to go home after just starting new work. So, after going back and forth a lot, I came to realize that if God is saying something (obviously scriptural and in keeping with His character), there’s no such thing as a legitimate reason not to do it. 

    

    Not even sure why I’m prompted to write all this out, but maybe there is someone dealing with something similar- meaning, having a list of really good reasons to ignore the quiet, gentle, so-ignorable voice of the Lord. Or maybe it’s just that I need to face my distaste for sharing a personal struggle with anyone other than close friends/family. Either way, I encourage you (and me): ignoring God’s leading cannot possibly benefit whoever you may be trying to help more than following His leading would. It may seem like it might on the surface, but think about it: He knows the full reason behind it all...do we?

    Well, that came a bit out of left field...back to what I was saying- I’ll be in Ohio for a week starting Friday, for known and unknown reasons! :-) Now that I'm at peace with it, I can say that I am so, so, so excited to see my family (all the siblings will overlap...that's getting rare!), friends, church, and definitely CCS...dying to teach an English class or two! And hopefully I will see lots of people at the Fall Banquet...one of my favorite CCS events. :-)

    It’s far too late and this is long enough for now, so I’ll leave you with a lovely little verse:

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace.” Romans 15:13

Amen!