So last night I went for a walk with a friend, and we were in the park a little later than I usually am.. and we saw groups of young people sat together, people who were probably about 12-13, and they were just sat drinking vodka together.. barely talking.. And we found this BMX park that I didn't know existed.. the guys in the park were really skilled.. and I can see how they had passion for what they do, but they were still missing the point really.. i.e. Jesus Christ. I saw how much these young people need something to live for.. they need a purpose, and they need hope. They need someone to say that they are worth it. And I know God is so desperate to reach them. In these places is where we should be as a church..

I don't know how much I can do in the last 3 weeks of my time here, but I also know that kids like them are all over the country, there is no shortage of a need..

Pray for these young people, pray that maybe I can help them in some way, or encourage others to do it.. I think I might go some others churches in the evenings to try and find some young people or youth workers, who ARE passionate for God, who could help to reach out to these people..

Pray that God will give me wisdom and show me the right people to contact.

Pray for the skate ministry in Chile, that Yerko will be able to continue to reach many people through his work :) That God will keep him motivated and give him energy and everything he needs when it is difficult.

Here is a video of Yerko and the work he does in Chile with the skaters..

http://www.omnitube.org/chile-skateboarders.html

Ohhh England, England, England, the land of tea and cake, the land of brick houses, the land of beautiful green hills, the land of the comfortable church.. The land of the lonely people with nobody to share with, the land of the elderly people dying in their houses completly un-noticed by society, the land that is crazy to save a tree yet does not have a problem with killing an unborn baby..

This country is in such a messsss, yet the church is sitting so comfortably! Too concerned with politics to notice the people crying out for something real! The church in England needs to learn to not be afraid to confront people.. I know it is so important to show love and grace, but also it is important to help each other when we see that people are struggling, that after all, is love. The church is slowly dying, and is full of Christians who just like to go on a Sunday, but don't like it when Christ tries to be a part of their everyday life.. Why are we so desperate not to offend, and to keep the few remaining people in our old churches? What are we afraid of? I know for a fact that people are searching in this country, but people are searching for something that is truth. They are not finding it. Why do they not find Christianity? Because we do not act as if this is the truth! Maybe if we really spoke out about the things we wanted to, then people would see that Gods love is something that is powerful and compels us to action! Why are we so afraid to offend?

Smells.. Paul talks about us being the "fragrance of Christ" and this means so much, it means to be love.. It means to be abundantly loving. To love to the extreme. To love even when it hurts. To love even when it is spat back in your face. When buying a perfume, people do not search for an odourless brand.. there is no point in it! Why would you put on perfume if it did not smell of anything? Why would people turn to Christ, if the Christians are no different? We may defend ourselves saying that we are not "bad smells", but we may as well be..

I hope that you are sitting there nodding your head. But I hope that you do not forget this in 5 minutes.. I hope I can shock you a little.. Christians in England.. please.. rock the boat.. wake up.. at risk of sounding super cheesy YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU!!!

Ohhh, church, I pray for you!

Hey, so here is my catch up on what I've been doing in warwick, what will be happening next, and what you lovely people can pray for :)

I mentioned that I am working for a church here in Warwick, a very small anglican church. It was very difficult at first to get into the work because it was just so difficult. I was feeling very much in culture shock when I first got back in the country, and was feeling the culture shock moving back to the UK. But I was getting used to seeing friends and family, and then I was moved again to Warwick. At first it was a difficult time because the team did not click as well as I had hoped at first, they are much older than my last team, and there were no young people in my church that I could make friends with. It was just very different to get used to, but I got there eventually!

Our main ministry here is something called Coffee Stop, which is twice a week, and the church is open and the front is set out like a coffee shop, and people are welcome to come in and have free tea, coffee and cake. It is really good, and there are many new people who have come through this to the church. It is a time where they can get to know many women in the church (and a few men as well!) and they can see that the church is also full of normal people, just like them!

Another thing that we spend a lot of time doing is a community survery, where we walk around the local area and ask people questions about the community and what we as a church can do to help. To be honest, the answers have not been so new, most people either say something for the young people, or something for elderly people. But what has been the amazing thing, is some of the conversations we have had with people, some of the friendships that have started because of this. It is amazing. Many people have such a bad image of church, and actually for them to see that the church is interested in them, and in their area, and wants to be part of the community.

We have a couple of friends at the moment from our church who are very good friends of ours, and we are trying to share as much of the gospel and of Gods love with them as we can, but they need your prayers, they have some health struggles, and sometimes it is difficult to really explain to them the hope that God brings.. they have suffered a lot in their lives. Please pray for them. For respect of their privacy I cannot give any more information than this, but please do pray, God knows exactly who I am talking about! :)

The team is growing closer each day, and we are working through some differences and some issues that have come up, so please pray for us. It is great that God is working in us, and is helping us deal with these things, but just pray that everything gets said that needs to be said, so we can sort out all the miscommunications.

Tomorrow we are doing a school asembally, which I am looking forward to. This school is a bit funny really.. we are doing "religious education" asemballys, but have been given topics such as "how to deal with unexpected change"... so it is difficult to get a Christian message in there, especially as we are not really allowed to talk directly about Jesus, we must just refer to "God" so that it is accessable for all the children. Last time we went the head master finished with a prayer, which felt very new-age, there was no mention of God, there was no 'amen' at the end, it was just along the lines of "help us to work hard and to preserve this earth for future generations..." it was very strange... so please pray for us tomorrow, pray for the school, pray for God to show HIMSELF and not anything else through their religious teachings.

On friday we will have a womens evening at the church, which will be really really nice, one of the ladies on our team is doing a cooking demenstration. I am really hoping and praying that many new faces will come along, and they will have a really fun evening! :)

Please continue to pray for all that we are involved in, and all the connections we have here.
I am also looking to start up some kind of aerobix club here in the church, so pray for that! i would love to do it, but I just need God to bless my plans so that they might come to a reality.

Thanks for everything
Lots of love Emma xxx