and so it begins...

Since my last update, a lot has changed since just walking around and "preparing mentally." ha! The rest of the team arrived, so there are 13-14 of us: graphic designers, photographers, writers and our spiritual leader. Our team is really great. Every day we meet at 10:30 and do a half hour devotion and at 11:00 we have a brainstorming meeting. 

It's been really fun getting to know the team and hanging out by playing frisbee, sharing our favorite music, and going to the cafe in the city square. A friend of mine from school is here on my team. We only found out a few weeks before TeenStreet that we were both coming here. It's been really great having a fellow Taylor person here to connect with. 

Today the teens are all arriving. Since I'm backstage (with an official backstage pass!), I didn't realize how many kids were actually here. It was a big shock at lunch when the line was a mile long! So far, I've written three stories for the website, and it's about to be four. When you go to the website's blog page mine are titled "TeenStreet is off to a running start" "More than just an Event" and "TeenStreet Bookstore" my next one will be titled "Art Zone" 

Also, check out the webcams! (click here) especially check out the backstage cam and see me sitting at my desk! 

Here's some pictures for you:

Here's the ibus we traveled on. Equipped with computers at each seat.

This is the OMNIvision team and a few others we traveled with on the Ferry. 

This is the box in which I take showers...

backstage! This is where my team spends all their time. 

This is where I sleep! In one of these boxes with Janet. There's about 50 of us in Box Town. 

Guten Tag!

After a 4-hour bus ride, an overnight ferry ride, followed by another 8-hour bus ride, I am happy to say I am in Offenburg, Germany. 

We arrived last night around 7pm and Janet (my fellow writer) and I walked around, set up our air-mattresses, and took showers while the rest of the team (OMNIvision - the technical team) unloaded the bus and trucks. Some say writer's have it easy. It's true. Sometimes. 

Today Janet and I have been walking around getting a feel for the campus. It's like a state fair campus. There are a few arenas where different events will take place. There's the main hall, dining hall, and another hall for smaller group events, and halls where everyone sleeps. The staff that I'm a part of has our own special tents. They're very large and white, not like camping tents. 

The actual camp starts Saturday. I came so early because we traveled with OMNIvision who is in charge of everything technical, meaning they need the full week to set up. Janet and I are mentally preparing by getting a feel for the place, meeting people who will be useful contacts throughout the week, and thinking of story ideas. We can't really start writing until the actual event starts taking place. 

Here's a link to the website again! (click here)

Also, update from my team in London. One of the places we would set up has been shut down. It has something to do with the rules of being able to set up things in a public area, so no danger issues or anything like that, just technical problems. But this place was really important to the London ministry, so although it is sad and frustrating, we have to trust that God has a reason! 

A few things you can pray for: 

The kids at TeenStreet

The staff at TeenStreet

The whole TeenStreet event in general 

Keep praying for OM's London Ministry

OM's Italy team, they're having trouble with transportation to TeenStreet 

Hello! This week I have been back in the office finishing up stories and being tempted by the constant supply of Digestives on my desk.

I was really blessed on Tuesday to go out to coffee with a woman here, Karen. You know those people who will listen to you forever and stay constantly interested, and then say things that are exactly what you need to hear? Yeah, that’s Karen for you. So I left the conversation feeling much better and really thankful for that time together.

Wednesday was my day off, so that was a nice time to do much needed laundry (I had to hang my….”unmentionables”…up on the clothesline outside! Eep!) and take some R&R to read and watch movies purely for fun.

Yesterday after work, Becky (my supervisor boss lady) and I went to The Near Boot Inn for some good ol’ pub food and Sticky Toffee Pudding. Let me tell you, STP is the best. I can’t believe American’s haven’t discovered this one in a kind dessert yet. After the pub, we went to Becky’s place to watch Blades of Glory. She’s such a bad influence on me. Haha! (She reads this blog.)

 A glimpse into the future… Sunday afternoon, I leave for two weeks again, this time to Offenburg, Germany for TeenStreet, a youth conference. We’re (by we I mean me, Janet-the girl I’m living with, and OMNIvision-the media team) driving to the coast and taking an overnight ferry to Germany, then driving 8+ hours to our destination. I’m flying back at the end because everyone is going their separate ways. 

Oh, while I'm at TeenStreet, you can check out their website. (for those not-so-savvy computer people, you can click on the word "website") You can actually look for me on the webcam that's updated every few minutes, so if I walk by the camera, you'll most likely see me. It's not up yet, but keep checking the website for updates! 

Back in the Saddle Again

I made a rule only to talk seriousness on the first Tuesday of every month between noon and three (taken from Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband), and my last few blogs have gone against that. So I will take this opportunity for a more lighthearted tone, and show you the fun and crazy things that are going on in my life. Accompanied by pictures, of course!

Okay, here's my team. We were the Stonebridge team, because that's the church we lived at for two weeks. Back row from left to right: Peter, Marc, Timo (peter and marc are from the Netherlands and they are brothers. Timo was our team leader and he's from Germany)

Girls from left to right: Christina and Mary (not related, but both from Pakistan) Irina (from Germany, our Women's leader), Katie (from texas), Sa Rang (from Korea), Kim (from Minnesota), and me. 

This is the sanctuary where the girls slept. This is my bed made out of chairs and a sleeping bag. Hey, it's better than the floor! 

This is my team leading worship at prayer night. The guys led worship all week, but for one night, our whole team was in charge. 

Sarah, Kim, me, and Katie. Sarah wasn't on our team, but another one. She's from Belfast, Ireland. 

What you can't see is that we were riding a double decker bus. It was the first time for everyone except me and Kim, so we were taking tons of pictures. 

This is speaker's corner. 

Marc (left) wasn't satisfied until he beat everyone on the team in arm wrestling. This room is our dining room in the church where our team ate meals together. 

This was a day that I observed the Children's Ministry in the park. 

The park we were at was right near the Central London Mosque. Those are some clowns from our team.

I got my face painted. Thought I'd take advantage of a face painter on site. I forgot I had it, and wondered why I was getting all these funny looks when I was riding the Tube home! 

It was the last night, and we had chocolate sauce...

Back in Carlisle: Debrief

After reading over my last two blogs, I must start off with an apology for my horrible grammar. I was updating on my phone, which allowed me to see only one line at a time, so sometimes I would forget what I had written. You were probably thinking, "Why is she doing an internship for writing?" 

With that being said, I'm back in Carlisle now. I arrived here last night and just crashed and went to bed. I dreamt about my team in London all night long, and got a Charlie Horse in my leg while I was sleeping. So I woke up this morning with a sore leg and a sore heart. 

During church this morning, the pastor spoke on Ephesians 5:15-17 which talks about making the best use of our time and knowing what the will of the Lord is, and being filled with His Spirit. Applicable, especially when you're going through one of those emotional times.

After church, my housemate and I went to her fiance's house for a cookout with a group of people. 4 americans to 6 Germans. I tried learning everyone's names, we made fun of each other about different racial issues, and played Mario Kart. Sitting there with this new group of people, I got to thinking about how I felt like I had just been picked up and placed back down somewhere else, and in a few weeks, I'll get picked up again and placed back home. 

To refrain from writing a 10 page note, I will just list the conclusions (or just reiterations) I have come to over the last two weeks.

1. Living for Jesus Christ is the single most important thing in life. When all else fails, He is the only thing to fall back on. (Read Ecclesiastes for a more thorough explanation.) 

2. Knowing the Bible is vital. Being saturated in the Word daily is so important for yourself personally, but you also never know the people you're going to encounter and the questions you're going to need to answer.

3. The body of Christ will always be the body of Christ. We may come and go to places, meet new people, and leave each other. But no matter where life goes, you will always meet again someday. In one place, for eternity, in Paradise where there are no goodbyes. 

4. With Jesus, we have hope, peace, a purpose. Our God is love and mercy, and it is our purpose to share that with the lost. 

Hi all! this is my second time getting on a computer here in London, so I'm sorry for the lack of updates. they'll start again after saturday because i'll be back in carlisle. I can't describe everything we've done here, it's been absolutely amazing to see and hear what God is doing in this place. I've met so many incredible people and God has really revealed that he's the God of this world. the whole world. not just evansville, or even indiana, or the united states. but He's the God of England, and Europe, and the rest of the world and of all people no matter where you come from or what you've done.

Please pray for my team, that we will continue to have boldness to share our faith, and that we will see the world with the same love that saved us. Also, a specific request, I'm already having worries and feeling sad about leaving my team on saturday. God has blessed us with such joy and close fellowship so much, that I know I will miss it.

a quick story: one night i woke up from a terrible nightmare and continued to have them all night long. i woke up exhausted and talked to the other girls on my team and they had all had bad dreams as well. one girl who had been to the place we were going to that day said that she had always felt an evil over the place we were going. i felt as though the girls on the team had been attacked so that we would be tired. so when we were out, a man came up to me and asked if our group offered prayer. i said that we did, and asked him what i could pray for him. he said that he was having terrible nightmares. i told him about our group and he was interested and asked me what i thought it meant. i got to explain to him about spiritual warfare, but that we can have confidence in Jesus Christ. I was really excited to share the Gospel, but then he told me that he was already a believer and was even the piano player at his church. he just believed in the power of prayer, and the more people praying the better. Even though i didn't get to share the Gospel to an unbeliever, it was just a way of God reminding me that He overcame death, and will defeat evil in the end, and that if we pray and trust in Him, we can have that confidence.

well, have a great week! i'll probably update again saturday.

there's no place like london

Hey everyone! Sorry that it has been awhile. I don't have internet access so I have to use my phone. London is great. It's funny how much God blesses you when you do his will even though you don't want to. I have used many more gifts than I would ever have thought, and have learned more than I would have in a whole summer at home. First of all my group consists of 10 people: 2 from germany, 2 from Netherlands, 2 from pakistan, 1 from korea, and 3 from the u.s. Very diverse! It has been great just getting to know all of them and their cultures. While i've been here I helped lead worship by playing drums, and I got to help design the organization's next newsletter because I knew how to work their programs on the computer, and I've finally written my first article. Ill post it when I can. Tomorrow is my day off. Going to the national british museum and to westminster cathedral. Okay well, I can't really write much more because it takes forever on my phone. But if you could pray for me for boldness and wisdom to share the Gospel, and other things for my time here, that would be great. Signing out!

Happy (almost!) 4th of July!

Well, today was my last day in office for two weeks. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, I head to London for 14 days. I'll be back on Saturday the 18th. 

Since it was Friday, and tomorrow is July 4th, the Americans in the office celebrated by having "American Splits!" (get it? splits...from Great Britian...) and they served banana splits. But these were no normal banana splits. They made 4 of them. Four GIANT banana splits and we all ate out of them. Like pigs in a trough, I tell you. (Sorry mom, I shared food with people today...) No one seems to care that we're celebrating our independence from THIS country. Of course "good riddance" and "you couldn't stay away" jokes were made, all in good fun. 

Today besides the party we had another training session about cross cultural adaptions and spent some time with Becky going over details for the trip to London.  OH, also, I spilled my drink in my lap and it definitely looked like I wet myself. That broke the ice for some people in the office and we all had a good laugh. Especially since it seemed like it took hours for my pants to dry. 

Tonight we're having girls night, where all the women in the office get together for dinner and a movie. Should be fun! 

Since I'll be sleeping in a church, I don't know how much internet access I am going to have, so updates will definitely not be as frequent as they are when I'm here in Carlisle.  

pictures:

1. American's in the office!

2. Most of everybody

3. mmmm banana split trough

4. everyone partaking in American Split. 

10:30 quiz Thursday!

Back at the office again today.

We started straight away with training, but it was a fun session. We talked about our writing styles and works that inspire us, and went over some examples.

A man in the office holds a quiz on Thursday's when he's here. So at 10:30 a few of us gathered in the common room and broke up into two teams. The man had a quiz book and he would ask one team a question, then if they didn't get it, he let the other team have a chance. Some of the questions were British-geared, and my team was the only team with a British man on it, so I think that's why we won. But they were trivial pursuit-type questions, therefore hard. I am proud to say that I got three of them right for my team. One was about the Indian guitar, which was the Sitar, and one I knew that the Diagnosis Murder guy was Dick Van Dyke (I gave out thanks to my mom). and the other one was a quote from a Shakespeare play and you had to name the play it was from. It was from Othello. and if I may brag on myself, the man giving the quiz said he was "quite impressed" that I knew that. yessssss. cool points!  

We did another training session about the website, then went to the OMNIvision site (which is the media/video/audio place for OM) to get a tour of it. So I got to come home early today which gives me a chance to pack (heading to London Saturday!) and do things so I can go to bed early. No falling asleep during devotions tomorrow for me! Oops, I didn't do that already once this week...

Day 2 on the Job

This was my second day in the office, seeing as after only one day in the office, the whole communications department took a day off to go to the Lake District. I see my work ethic has already rubbed off on them!  Haha

 When I arrived this morning, the whole OM office had devotions and prayer time. Everyone introduced himself or herself again because there was another new intern that arrived yesterday, and there were some people who weren’t in the office on Monday.  After devotions and prayer, the interns went through a small training hour on security in letters, blogs, updates, and e-mails. Lunch was with everyone in the main building where one of our coworkers taught us how to make the perfect cup of tea!  It’s funny, because here, it’s pretty much a must to have cream and sugar in your tea as well as coffee. So when I said “no thanks” to both cream and sugar, the person fixing my cup of tea said “you drink it black?!” Which is the response one would expect if they were drinking coffee. 

 My favourite (I have to get used to the British way of spelling things) part of the day was after lunch. We met with Jim, a communications guy, who let us judge a photo contest. We reviewed about 100+ photos and picked our favorites that fell into the categories people, modern cities, and ministry. It was great looking through pictures from all over the world and getting a look into OM’s ministry through the eyes of a person who was there.  What we didn’t know was the contest had already been judged and the pictures that won (some of them being the ones we picked!) had been put into a magazine. He then showed us the steps they used through Photoshop to edit the pictures and place them in the magazine. I got to see the work that people did using programs that I myself know how to use.  After that lesson, Jim showed us some Bibles he has put together in many different languages and they had even designed the cover. He showed us different designs that they presented to clients. He showed us which ones were rejected and which ones were approved. It was really awesome and beneficial to see how these skills can be used for ministry and done in such a professional way. Jim and other people on the team have great skill and talent in these areas, and I admire their work. Seeing their work makes me excited and nervous at the same time. I love using Indesign and Illustrator, but I am not as skilled at it as they are. I think I would have to have a lot more training in the programs to be at a similar level as them. 

 After that, Emily and I took a break and went to Asda. Becky sent money with me because she owed me a coke :) I said that the daughter in Mamma Mia was also in the movie Mean Girls and Emily and Becky didn’t believe me. I’m not allowed to say that we bet on it, but she did buy me a coke after we discovered I was right, and I think Emily is going to be “generous” and buy me ice cream tomorrow.

 After work, Dawn in the communications department had all of us girls who went to Keswick yesterday over for dinner. She was a very good cook, and she has a beautiful home. We hung out there and talked for a long time.

Learning British-English:

just one for today: "Made redundant" that's what they use here instead of saying someone got laid off.  In a sentence: Last year my dad was made redundant at Fifth Third. 

And just one picture for you, my very own sign-in name tag! I look awkward...