Hi friends, 

Merry Christmas! Hope the Christmas season is treating you well. I’m not going to successfully catch up on an entire year in one post, so suffice it to say that it was a busy, fun, new, tiring, worthwhile spring/summer/autumn! 

Stage'n'Slam 2014- many of these are Wyldlife kids now!

One MAJOR highlight from the summer, though, was Stage ‘n’ Slam, which is a day camp that we run in Edinburgh. All in all, there were about 125 teens that came throughout the week! There is an awesome program of art and sports sessions in the first half, and then “club” (music, games, skits, silliness, and a talk about Jesus) and discussion time in the evening. Fifteen teens became Christians by the end, which was incredible! Most teens who come say that this is one of the best weeks of the year for them, and now I can see why. It is an intense, unforgettable week!

The other summer highlight was Summer Buzz, which is Liberton Kirk’s holiday club (vacation Bible school). The theme was based around the Commonwealth Games, which were happening simultaneously in Glasgow. As the Children’s Worker, I was the organizer this year- daunting but exciting, as this is a big outreach event for the church. We had about 40 adults and teenagers (some who had JUST become Christians at camp!) involved as leaders, and had about 100 elementary kids throughout the week. Their enthusiasm is so infectious- it was a high-energy week! 

Back to "normal"....Onesie Club!!

In September, we all settled back into the rhythm of our weekly clubs and Connection Groups (Sunday evening discipleship group). This also meant that I had been through an entire year of ministry, so I was doing things for the second time instead of the first- what a difference! Brad and I started Wyldlife club up again, and I’ve been spending more time in the local high school as a chaplain getting to know the S1-S2 (junior high-aged) kids. Many of them went to Stage’n’Slam last summer, so it’s been nice to now have a point of connection. The more time I spend at the school, the more opportunities open up to help out with things, like morning assemblies, a singing group, and classes, to name just a few! It’s been a great way to get to know kids and show God’s love. 

Family visitors in July! :-)

Another thing that happened over the summer is that I increased my hours with Young Life International, which was a big goal for the year! Between monthly and one-time donors, I have funding through this April, and will do some ongoing fundraising to maintain part-time employment with them. If you would like to support the work over here in Edinburgh, please see below! Also, Young Life is non-profit, so you will receive a tax-deductible receipt for your donation. I’m so grateful for all of the prayer and financial support for the Young Life job, and also for my other part-time job at Liberton Kirk. It keeps me busy, but God has so clearly led me to both jobs!

So all in all, ministry is going well, though there are always moments of wondering, doubt, exhaustion, and homesickness mixed in with the highlights. It's still hard to be away from family and life in Ohio, especially with little nephews and nieces arriving and growing! Hopefully when I go home after Christmas I'll be able to meet my new nephew Cole, as well as see all my family. I have been amazingly blessed to have been able to go home a few times since moving here, and this summer, my dad, three siblings, and a friend all visited me, so there is a lot to be thankful for. 

I think that's about it for now! Oh, I know- one thing that would be great to pray for is the next two weeks, as they contain MANY Christmas events, last clubs, school performances, concerts, etc., and will require a lot of energy to do well! On Wednesday, we're having our Christmas Wyldlife, so I'm praying that many kids will come to it and have a great time. It is such a busy time of year (as you're all well aware!), but we really are trying to keep Christ at the center of all that we do. 

Thanks, friends- wishing you a very Merry Christmas from Edinburgh!

With love, 

~Rachel

P.S. "For unto you is born this day in the City of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:11  (love this verse!)


To support financially:

Online
From this YL page, click "A YL Staff Member's Ministry", search for "Willis", and I'm near the bottom of the list. The options to give are via credit card or bank account, and can be set up as a one-time gift or monthly. 

By check

A check can be made out to "Young Life", with a note in the memo line for X2162/Willis. The first one can be mailed to me at my home address in Ohio (please email me for this!), and it will be recorded and forwarded to Young Life. 
If you have donated before, you may send any further gifts (made out to "Young Life" with an X2162/Willis memo) directly to:
Young Life Service Center
Attn: Income Processing
P.O. Box 520
Colorado Springs, CO 80901

Please feel free to contact me with any questions about giving! My budget for April 2015-April 2016 is approximately $1,750 per month, of which I currently have $625 in monthly giving. I hope to bring that up to $875 monthly, and ask for one-time gifts from others to make up the difference. Any amount helps greatly- thank you!

Spring update!

Hi friends, 

Hope you’re doing well! Spring has definitely hit in Edinburgh, and there are daffodils and crocuses in abundance. It sounds like winter is still hanging on in Ohio though- I saw some posted pictures of snow and ice just a few days ago. As far as weather goes, I definitely picked the right year to move! :-)

 I’m not sure how long this update will be, but I’ve needed to get something up here for a while. Lots of good things have happened in the second half of February and March. Our new Wyldlife club is becoming more and more established, and Brad, myself, and the other leaders have gained a lot of confidence in how we run things. We’re blessed with about 6-8 other regular volunteers, because with our young age group (11-13 yrs), it takes many hands to keep things running smoothly. Sadly,

Our Wyldlife team- amazing volunteers!!

our plans for a separate Wyldlife camp in July have fallen through, as there just aren’t the numbers for it this year, but they will be able to go to the Middlepark camp in Wales with the rest of the YL clubs. We’re praying that fifteen Wyldlife kids will sign up for this camp, which would be amazing!

One really encouraging thing over the last month has been some very focused team meetings. The six of us (Andy, Alex F, Alex R, myself, Anna, and Brad) have spent some time evaluating our gifts and communication styles, studying how we work best together, and talking about the best ways to take our area ministry forward. The team dynamic is quite different than it was a year ago (it’s jumped from two to six!), so this time to talk things through has been really helpful. We’re praying that with God’s help, we can really play to our strengths and divide our work and ministry up accordingly. 

Anna and I visit the Girl Guides to prep for the Youth Service

I’ve also felt more established at the local high school, and have found it easier and easier to spend some time there at lunch talking with kids and staff. If that sounds intimidating- it is! :-) But God has already provided some strong relationships with kids that come to our weekly club, and that has helped me get to know other students. And last week, I volunteered to help with some classes in the Religion department, which helped me meet new students as well. For me, a classroom setting is a more natural way to interact with kids- plus I got the chance to teach a bit! The teachers I’ve met have been so receptive to me as a volunteer, and very open to support in the classroom. Sometimes I still can’t believe that I’m not waking up to teach at CCS, though!

The children’s work at Liberton Kirk is going well, and we’ve been doing some very fun things recently. Last week, we had the Youth Service, which is geared toward all of the uniform groups that use space in the church to meet weekly. The uniform groups are somewhat comparable to the Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts, with various tiers and sections. All in all, there are sixteen groups, which is probably over 250 kids! The youth work team visited each group and did various

activities with them on the theme of “starlight”, which then tied into a themed service this past Sunday. We planned a service with music, a game, some short talks, dramatic readings, etc. that centered around stars in the Bible. All in all, though it was quite a bit of work, it was very rewarding, and I think all the kids there had a good time!

Learning about Lazarus! :-)

As a church, we’re looking at the Beatitudes at the moment, and have a few more weeks of studying that passage in Matthew. In our Sunday clubs, we’ve been learning a Bible story that relates to a Beatitude each week. One fun twist is that each group is filming a different Bible story, and we’ll put them together at the end to have our own little DVD about the Beatitudes. So far, it seems like the kids are enjoying that, so hopefully we’re all pleased with the final result. If nothing else, we’ll have made some great memories!

On a personal note, I’m trying to be more intentional about getting into the city and beyond to do a bit of exploring. It’s such a historically rich area, and I want to take advantage of that while I’m here! I’m a new member of “Historic Scotland”, with an annual pass that lets me into lots of castles, estates, abbeys, etc. Two weeks ago, I visited North Berwick, about 30 minutes away by train, and spent the day exploring the town and nearby ruins of Tantallon Castle. It was a fantastic day! And on Sunday, I spent a couple hours in Edinburgh Castle, which I’ve not been to since I was fifteen. I’ll definitely be back there to explore that more, and other sites around Edinburgh as well. 

Tantallon Castle, North Berwick- amazing!!

It’s been seven months now since I arrived in Edinburgh...not sure if it feels more or less than that. The strange thing is having a life here so completely separate from everything back home- from CCS snow days, to a new nephew, to my little sister’s basketball games. Facebook and email make it easier to stay connected, but it also reminds that I’m not there for any of it. Definitely still working through that, but I can also say that my relationships here have deepened, as I knew they would with time. It’s a very relieving thing to feel known more- to have people start to associate me with drama, coffee, teaching, Hamlet, castles, etc. And with a flat of my own (and Anna’s!), to have more chances for cooking, hospitality, friends, movies, staff meetings- we think the space is being very well used! It’s such a confirmation that this is where God has each of us for this season, and we’re so happy to share it with others. 

Some other really positive news is that I’m now at 81% of my goal for raising support to be on staff with Young Life! At my last writing, it was 46%. I will say that the goal has been adjusted to simplify my budget as much as possible, so that’s one reason for the big jump. But either way, I’m delighted that I only have $340 more per month to raise- that seems very

achievable! A huge thank you to all who have been praying for this and/or able to support in some way- I am just amazed at what has already come in. Even $10/month makes a surprisingly big dent in that monthly need. If you would like to help in the final push towards 100%, I would love to talk with you about that! Please email me at rachelewillis@gmail.com, and we can set up a time. I know for some it may just be simpler to support directly, and that can be done in one of these ways:

Online

From this YL page, click "A YL Staff Member's Ministry", search for "Willis", and I'm near the bottom of the list. The options to give are via credit card or bank account, and can be set up as a one-time gift or monthly. 

By check

A check can be made out to Young Life, with a note in the memo line for X2162/Willis. The first one can be mailed to me at my home address in Ohio, and it will be recorded and forwarded to Young Life. You will receive back a receipt and an envelope addressed to YL if you'd like to donate again. Please email me for my home address at rachelewillis@gmail.com (thanks for understanding Internet privacy! :).

Thanks for your prayer for the work over here- though it seems like there is so much to be done, I have to remind myself to take a step back and see what God has been doing, and who He has brought here from a different country to do ministry in this area (three within the last year!). I’ll probably never really know exactly what impact I or another team member is having, but there is actually a lot of “fruit” growing in the relationships with people here. Being a friend who cares and can talk with a young person about Jesus is really what it’s about.

Thanks, friends! Hope that the Lord is blessing you where you are at. It is always great to hear from people, and to connect somehow across the ocean. 

God bless you!

~Rachel

2014 so far, Part II :-)

Hi friends, 

I'm starting this blog post after getting home from one of my favorite events here in Edinburgh- PowerPoint! The best way I can describe this event is an entertaining Christian worship night with a message, held every six weeks or so in Edinburgh and Glasgow. What can't be described is the ENERGY that hundreds and hundreds of teens bring to it- so amazing!! Each of the three times that I've been, I come away with some tangible reminder that God is clearly at work in these teens' lives...like tonight when at least forty kids went forward for prayer, including a new girl who came with us! And I'm so impressed with how "our" teens support and encourage each other, in and out of the school. God is raising them up to do great things!

"Duck, Duck, Duck, DUUUCK....."

Speaking of great things, Scotland's first Wyldlife club was so much fun! My colleague Brad and I planned an evening of games, mixers, music, a message, and pizza for a completely unknown number of kids, and wound up with fourteen kids and several leaders. We were pretty happy with that, especially since eleven of them have never come to a Young Life event before! There were a few fun games to get everyone moving around, including a Skittles relay race, but I think the games highlight was full-contact Duck, Duck, Goose. Instead of chasing the "tagger", you run the opposite direction around the circle...and you can probably imagine what happens next! Definitely a highlight for the boys as they crashed into each other and fought for the space!

"I AM William Wallace...and I see before me, a whole army of campers..."

My favorite part, though, was when some bagpipe music interrupted my announcements, and a kilted, blue-faced William Wallace came striding out to make an eloquent speech about summer camp. "...Go, and the days will be long. Stay, and you can sleep in. At least for a while...." It's amazing how versatile and hilarious that speech can be! A very convincing argument for thinking about our Wyldlife camp this summer. Not long after that, I gave a short talk from Luke 19 about Zacchaeus and Jesus, talking about how Jesus wants to spend time with those that other people reject. As you're speaking, it's always hard to gauge how much is being absorbed, but everyone was quiet and attentive! 

So no one likes Zacchaeus, AND he's short. 

We finished the program with some more Duck Duck Goose, and then shared pizza and snacks. Most of the kids stuck around for a while to play more- that's always a good sign! All in all, Brad and I were really happy with the club, and also with all of the leaders who came out to help- two older high schoolers, the local minister Cammy whose space we were using, visiting YL leader Erik Hoffman from Dayton, OH, and several others from our team of staff and volunteers. As it comes to mind, please pray for wisdom, direction, and creativity as we schedule more activities just for this age group (12-14). It's exciting to have officially started though. Today in the school (it's now five days after I started this blog...), one of the boys was asking when it was on next- he's eager to come again!

Two days later, we all switched gears to head down to Manchester, England for the UK Committee/Leader weekend, which is for staff but also any volunteer leaders or committee members. We brought almost twenty leaders from Edinburgh alone! It was great to get together with the other UK staff, and meet others who are involved in YL in a variety of ways. Our speaker Tom Hammon (director of YL in the UK and Scandinavia) started off his four talks by going through Psalm 23. It's a text that is so familiar, but going through it verse by verse helped it sink in in a new way. Our group spread out and attended seminars on mentoring, meeting teenagers, planning club talks, and a healthy walk with Christ, among other topics. It was great to share with each other what we learned, but even better than the seminars was just spending time all together, and hearing about what God is doing in other parts of the UK. 

It's hard to go wrong with free pizza at the end...

But, amidst new events and training weekends, it's nice to have "normal" things as well, like our Sunday Connection Group tonight. It was my turn to do a talk, so I shared some of my background and story of how God led me here last year. It still sounds a bit unbelievable, simply feeling called to Scotland and praying that the right pieces would fall into place over the summer, which they did. I'm not sure that it's fully sunk in even yet that I actually live here, but it gets a bit more real each month.  

My prayers right now are...

...that I can establish a regular schedule for going into the area high school, rather than random visits.
...that I feel increasingly confident in my two roles here with Liberton Kirk and Young Life
...that God continues to provide as I invite others to financially support the ministry here
...that I can stay in touch and support others back in the US while building relationships here

Thank you for praying! I'm trying to grow my prayer life, so if there is a specific way I can be praying for you, please let me know. 

If you feel led to invest in the ministry here financially, thanks! Just this week I've received some new gifts, which is so encouraging, and brings me to 46% of my goal. I'm getting closer to officially being on staff! A big thank you to those who have contributed to this. The following are ways to support:

Online

From this YL page, click "A YL Staff Member's Ministry", search for "Willis", and I'm near the bottom of the list. The options to give are via credit card or bank account, and can be

set up as a one-time gift or monthly. 

By check

A check can be made out to Young Life, with a note in the memo line forX2162/Willis. The first one can be mailed to me at my home address in Ohio, and it will be recorded and forwarded to Young Life. You will receive back a receipt and an envelope addressed to YL if you'd like to donate again. Please email me for my home address at rachelewillis@gmail.com (thanks for understanding Internet privacy! :).

I think that's all for now! God bless the rest of your week, and thanks for your friendship!

~Rachel

2014 so far, Part I!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy MLK Day, and Happy Groundhog Day! For those in the Midwest/anywhere north of Orlando, hope that you’re managing to stay warm! I’m hearing lots of snow day reports, last week and perhaps today?!...

Our Christmas Nativity "O Holy Night"- they did great!!

Just want to do a few updates on what’s been happening since before Christmas- lots of good things! One of the last things I did before heading home to Ohio was help put on the Christmas Nativity service- definitely one of the year’s highlights! It was very fun to write a script for the Christmas story (though I did have to do some re-writes because the dialogue was a bit too "American" at first! :) I was so happy with how the kids did with their shepherd, Wise Men, Mary & Joseph, etc. roles, especially with limited rehearsal time. And our wee sheep and angels (all the young ones) singing “Away in a Manger” were adorable! I’m glad that there are opportunities here to use drama- it is a story-telling medium I find so delightful.  

As you can imagine, it was wonderful to spend time with family at Christmas. All six of my siblings were able to be in Avon for Christmas, which was really special! We’ve spread out quite a bit in the last year. I would have loved to have had a bit more time to spend with lots of friends, but a week between Christmas and New Year’s filled up so quickly! I was able to meet about 20 friends at Panera to update on ministry in Scotland, which was great. 

YL president Denny Rydberg and various internationals!

Jan. 2 saw me heading down to St. Augustine, Florida for Young Life’s annual training. I’m not sure what I expected exactly, but it really surprised me! There were about 250 people there for the New Staff portion, plus another 300 for other winter training. For nine days, the new staff learned about the historical foundations of youth ministry and Young Life, had a brief introduction to Hermeneutics, and took a host of other seminars on time management, balanced ministry, and more. It actually felt a lot like college, which I loved (yes, I’m a bit of an academic nerd!)! 

But, what I found so surprising and refreshing was the continual emphasis that every speaker placed on the importance of a healthy, growing walk with Christ. Of course, we would all agree that this is central, but it really impressed me that YL didn’t assume that it was automatically happening for everyone. Nearly every presenter shared how challenging and draining ministry can be, and how easy it is to slip into simply performing the right functions and impressing others rather than God. Some shared about the friction this had brought to their marriages and families, and counseled us as new staff to do a better job of prioritizing the most important, life-giving relationships in our lives- God, family, and intimate friends. As I told one of the staff at the end, I didn’t expect a training week with such huge numbers to feel like a spiritual retreat- but it did! I can honestly say that my own walk with the Lord grew during that week, and there were amazing times of prayer, worship, fellowship, and encouragement. 

Scotland, Military, Singapore, Costa Rica, Hungary, Singapore!

After New Staff training, the “internationals” went right into Cross-Cultural Orientation for four days. The majority are still raising support and waiting to move to Costa Rica, Singapore, Armenia, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, Mexico, and military bases in either Germany, England, or Italy. We talked about culture shock and a variety of challenges working abroad. Having experienced a lot of it for the last six months, it was really helpful to know that it’s normal to experience shyness, lack of confidence, mental exhaustion, frustration at yourself, feeling inept and overwhelmed, and for everything to take about four times as long to do. Of course there have been LOTS of positives, highlights, and laughter during that time, but really, I would say it’s only in the last month that the roots have gone deep enough to experience consistent enjoyment of life over here- and the priceless word there is “consistent”, not  “enjoyment”. Anyway, I digress- New Staff and Cross Cultural were both great and intense experiences, and it was so rewarding to feel my relationship with Young Life and Young Lifers branch out and deepen.

Such a great crew- Anna, Alex, and Alex!

And speaking of consistent enjoyment, it was wonderful to be picked up by part of my YL team here- Alex squared and Anna! I learned last summer that it’s custom for airport pickups to contain wigs, props, inflatable horse costumes, beards...so I was greeted by Santa, a present, and an elf with coffee! I wasn’t sure what it would be like to come back to Edinburgh after nearly four weeks in the US, but I slipped right back in, and actually felt much more at home coming back than I expected to. Probably a big part of that is having Anna as a flatmate instead of living alone, and being just minutes away from the church, the office, and friends, and having such great co-workers who make ministry here delightful. :-)

Well, there is a lot more to catch up on- the two main things are Scotland’s FIRST EVER Wyldlife Club (just for middle schoolers) that Brad and I ran last Wednesday, and the YL Committee Leader weekend in Manchester that we’ve just returned from. But I want to go into more detail with those, so I'm just going to post this as is, and hopefully do a Part II in the next couple days! 

Thanks for your prayers and support, friends! I love hearing from each and every one of you. I even got a couple Christmas cards from the US, which amazed me!! :-) I'm trying hard to stay in touch, but thanks for your graciousness if that hasn't happened in a while. I appreciate emails, facebook messages, and if you feel like it, snail mail! :-) 

I'm still in the process of raising support to go on part-time staff rather than volunteer, so if you would like to financially partner with me for Young Life ministry in Scotland- thank you!! God is faithfully providing for my needs, but I know He's guiding me in the process of inviting others to be a part of youth ministry here. Every youth worker here makes such a difference!

Online

From this YL page, click "A YL Staff Member's Ministry", search for "Willis", and I'm near the bottom of the list. The options to give are via credit card or bank account, and can be set up as a one-time gift or monthly. 

By check

A check can be made out to Young Life, with a note in the memo line for X2162/Willis. The first one can be mailed to me at my home address in Ohio, and it will be recorded and forwarded to Young Life. You will receive back a receipt and an envelope addressed to YL if you'd like to donate again. Please email me for my home address at rachelewillis@gmail.com (thanks for understanding Internet privacy! :).

Thanks for your prayers and support, friends! God bless!

~Rachel

My first haggis, at the annual (Robert) Burns Supper!