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!