Just another day...

Those of you who know me (Chris) well know that I believe strongly that anything can be fixed. And usually I get one of those looks from Angie that says, "Why can't you be normal?" Yesterday was no exception. While taking a shower, I noticed that Angie's "loofa" was beginning to grow things deep in the middle of that mish-mash of mesh. Ladies, do you ever look in there? I don't know if it is normal for things to grow there or if it's a product of the damp environment that we live in here, but, nevertheless, I couldn't take it.

So you might have guessed by now. I briefly tried using cleaner on it, but it just seemed to move the stuff around rather than get rid of it. So, I took it apart. If you have never taken a "loofa" apart before, you might want to think twice before you do. Here is what you get.


I have learned a few things in my many years of taking things apart to fix them. One, always pay careful attention to the appearance of all parts as you slowly disassemble the item so that you can put it back together. I did that. But I ignored one of my fundamental rules. Always wear your contacts or glasses when taking something apart. Well, I wasn't. And as the "loofa" unraveled further and further away from me, it became a blur in the distance.

So, after a fruitless 45 minute search online for "how to refold a 'loofa'" - and all the derivatives of this phrase - I dove in head first. What do you think?


I think it turned out alright, thus proving my former beliefs - "Anything can be fixed."

Some things I learned during this process...A loofah is actually a plant. There is a bloke in North Carolina growing real loofahs in his back garden (roughly 150 a year in a 10' x 20' space). The thing in the picture is more commonly known as a "pouf mesh sponge". It is likely that these things are assembled by a machine. If you happen to take yours apart and need advice on putting it back together, I can now give you step by step instructions:)

New Life

If you've followed our prayer updates over the past year (or even less), you might have noticed that once a month we meet with a church plant in Deptford (East London) to invest in their teenagers. The faith community consists of Chinese from North Vietnam who have immigrated to London. Their teenagers (mostly pre-teens) are second and even third generation in the UK. So, in reality, they are as much Londoners as they are of their parents cultural background, if not more. When we met them, they had little to no knowledge of Jesus or the God of the Bible. The understanding that they did have came primarily from film and TV. It has been an interesting road.

Each time we have met with them, we have shared a different aspect of God's nature and the human condition. Over the past few months, we have moved closer and closer to the resolution of a holy God with self-centered men - Jesus, the Christ. Today, Angie shared her experience with Jesus and I told of God's sacrificial love for us, His enemies, through the story of the peace child (http://www.newhope.bc.ca/97-12-21.htm). In the end, we had each of them close their eyes. Then we asked them to raise their hand if they wanted to make a decision to follow Jesus today. I had a sense that that one or two of them had been wrestling with God over the past few months. I expected that we might get one, maybe two reluctant hands.

With their eyes closed, without seeing what the person next to them was doing, ALL FIVE enthusiastically raised a hand. There was nothing subtle about any of their decisions. They were confident! And now, these five Chinese-British teenagers have made a confident decision to follow Jesus. It's still a bit surreal, but SO exciting. Thank you for every one of you who has prayed for us and for the teenagers of London. The hope of Christ is being made known to the nations.

Bonfires and Mustaches

So Wednesday November 5th was Guy Fawkes Night (also called Bonfire Night) in England. Guy Fawkes was a member of a group of English Roman Catholic revolutionaries who planned to carry out the Gunpowder Plot. The Gunpowder Plot was the failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland. The plot intended to kill the king, his family, and most of the Protestant aristocracy in a single attack by blowing up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening on 5 November 1605. The plot was foiled shortly before its intended completion, as Fawkes was captured while guarding the gunpowder on that dark night in November. (taken from Wikipedia). So originally the idea was to make an effigy of Guy Fawkes and burn it, but now most people just make a bonfire. Since Guy Fawkes was on a weekday this year many people celebrated this weekend. Last night we went to our first Bonfire Night. We were here last year at this time, but were still settling in and didn't really know any British people yet. So we had a really good time watching the bonfire and the fireworks and eating good food (including my fun autumn cookies) and spending time with friends. At the end of the night we decided that it's basically like our 4th of July celebration, but with a bonfire. Here is a picture of my fun cookies:


On a totally separate note, we were talking to the teenagers of the family who we have gotten to know and they told us about a very interesting phenomenon. I'll preface by saying that sponsorship is a very big deal in this country. I've never seen so many adverts for sponsorship of all kinds of things. So our friends were telling us about a very interesting thing being sponsored at their high school: mustaches. That's right, mustaches. They call this month "Movember" (mo being short for mustache). The kids said it was kind of creepy seeing all their male teachers growing mustaches. Apparently the men get sponsored with the purpose of raising awareness for men's health. Find out more at www.movember.com

Discrimination!

I was listening to BBC Radio yesterday and an interesting conversation emerged. There is a push right now to alter the Acts of Succession and Settlement which, at least in part, currently set out that any male born to the King or Queen will have priority as heir to the throne. A woman will only take the throne if there is no living male fit for the throne. The acts also require that the monarch to take the throne must take communion in and support the Church of England AND Church of Scotland. (here's a link to an article on it: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/25/anglicanism.catholicism1)



Parliament has proposed a revision that eliminates these requirements. The funny thing? The conversation taking place on the radio show was centered around the discrimination of the current acts. It was said and agreed on by several Members of Parliament and other government officials on the program (as well as the hosts) that the current policy discriminates against women and non-Anglicans. However, they somehow seem to completely ignore the fact that a monarchy is, by nature, discriminatory. If you're not bothered by the fact that only one family in the whole empire can rule, how can you base your argument for these changes on discrimination?

Photograph: Prince William with Kate Middleton: his first-born would be heir regardless of gender. Photograph: Michael Dunlea/Reuters

East London Teens

Some of you may know that we've been working with a new faith community of Chinese from North Vietnam. To say it's been a challenge would definitely be an understatement. The community only gathers twice a month - once on a Saturday and once on a Sunday. Most of the teenagers have Chinese school during the Saturday meeting so we don't meet with them on those days. That only leaves one day a month that we spend 2 hours with them (if our trains are running on time). So it's not exactly a recipe for fast results. Still, in the 7 or 8 times we've been with these teens (and pre-teens) we've quickly become accepted.

So, on Saturday, I (Chris) was asked to meet with them because the Chinese school has not started back yet. And the whole week leading up to this time I couldn't shake the feeling that it was time to give them a clear picture of Christ's love for them. So, this past Saturday we had an amazing conversation about the love of God through Jesus. Now the seed is germinating. Let's watch it grow!

5 Years

So yesterday we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. I can't believe it's been 5 years! So much has happened and God has taken us on an amazing journey so far. It's mind-boggling how we can look back and see how God's hand has guided us thus far. And how He's provided time and time again. I can't wait to see what the next 5 years will hold!

before going out to dinner


Bella Italia, where we went to dinner-so yummy! This lady who I assumed was some sort of manager was curious why I was taking a picture because she said lots of people had been taking pictures that day. So I just told her it was our anniversary and she seemed OK with it-awkward!

Breathe, Breathe, Breathe

Alright...so, we may seem to have disappeared for a while. Honestly, I feel a bit like we've been running a marathon. At the end of June we flew to Texas for just under 2 weeks in the Texas sun with family for my youngest brother's wedding. It was brilliant and we really enjoyed the sun. But it was so good to get back to London. We jumped straight in, head first it seems, with 3 interns in West London arriving from Texas to spend two weeks with us, 9 interns in East London who have been here most of the summer, and 50 teenagers from Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri with us for a week. Now we will say goodbye to the final lot tomorrow morning as we leave them at the airport for their journey across the pond. For the first time in 3 intense weeks, at least, I feel like I can breathe deeply. I can't imagine anyone living life so intensely without the hope, joy, and guidance of Jesus in their life, yet people in London do every day.

In any case, I just wanted to say hello since it's been so long. I hope to update our prayer section more regularly again. I'll write more soon about how God's revealing himself and his ways to us. Thank you for your prayers. We would love to hear from you. Cheers!

Hanging with Teens

So, if you keep up with our prayer updates, you know that a few weeks ago we led a group of teenagers on a World Religions Tour. We visited a Sikh gurdwara, Hindu temple, Islamic mosque, and Christian church. I was amazed by the interest and enthusiasm of the teenagers that I have been getting to know. They were genuinely excited to visit places of worship for these different faiths. Thirteen teenagers and one mum joined us for the tour. I won't bore you with a detailed description of the day, but just say that we had multiple opportunities to talk about faith, truth in religion, and the role of each in our daily life. We had some great conversation and I took the opportunity to share the story of my walk with Jesus. Five of the fourteen openly confess NOT to follow Jesus. Several of the others definitely live a life committed to Christ. And, as is the case with many people in this country, the remaining lot say that they are Christians but that doesn't necessarily mean that they have made a choice to abandon their life for the sake of God's glory through the grace given in Jesus.

"What's next?" you might ask. We are striving to intentionally continue a relationship with these teenagers, especially those who are not believers, that points them towards Jesus. I see several of them at least once a week at a local school. I am hoping to cross paths with the others as we intentionally position ourselves in key spaces in the community as well as invite them to hang out with several interns that we have coming soon.

God is opening doors for us to walk alongside of teenagers who have yet to follow Him. Pray that he will continue to open these doors.

Donuts and Passion

Today was National Donut Day in the States. So in honor of this, I went and bought a ridiculously expensive Krispy Kreme donut. It was so good!


On a different note, we went to Passion World Tour London last night. For those not familiar with the Passion movement, it was started in '95 by a guy called Louie Giglio out of Dallas, TX. He had a passion to see college students seeking God and spreading His name to everyone in the world. Since then the Passion movement has spread worldwide calling students to make his name known wherever they are. So for the first time in their history, Passion is taking their tour around the world. We were so blessed to be able to take part as 3000 people gathered praise the only One who is worthy of our praise. Music was led by Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and the David Crowder Band. The "theme" song for this tour is God of this City. If you have not heard it-you should! It's awesome! Sometimes I just stopped singing and listened as 3000 people sang to Jesus about how He isn't done with London and we can be a part of that. I prayed and asked God to show me what small part I might play in sharing the hope of Christ with the people of London. Later in the night we heard an incredibly powerful story about a college student who gave her life to Christ as a result of her Christian roommate (story is too long to share here). Tragically, she died 3 months later. Even though her life in Christ was short, it counted for something and her story lives on inspiring all who hear it. I was personally inspired by her roommate who was not afraid to live out her identity in Christ. She genuinely cared for her roommate and listened to her and simply answered her questions without going into a pre-programed gospel presentation. Because that wasn't what it was about. It was about building a relationship and letting Christ shine so that others could see the hope they could have. I'm probably rambling and this may not all make sense, but it was powerful. I came away last night changed although I can't even say exactly how. But I do know the words from the song: "Greater things are yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city".

London Elections

Yesterday the people of London set out amidst sun, winds, rain, and hail (yes...I experienced all of these multiple times in a 3 hour period yesterday) to cast their vote for the new Mayor of London. I have to say that the politics and government of this country completely alludes me. So much is arbitrary. In any case - I won't go into all of that here - the mayor of London for 2008 - 2012 was just announced. Boris Johnson will take over at the helm for Mayor Ken Livingstone. And now my question is...


How did this guy, with THAT hair, win ANY political office? BTW...if you don't know anything about Boris Johnson, he LOVES to talk loudly (just on the verge of yelling) and, well, he scares me a bit. And those in the first row at one of his speeches undoubtedly go home soaking wet. That's not an attack on him as a person or any of his political views. He's just kind of a scary man at first observation. We will see soon how he handles "the world in one city." Please pray for Boris Johnson and the political leaders of London and the UK so that "we may live in peace and safety in Godliness and holiness."

A Beautiful Day

So I just realized that my last several blogs have been about the weather...oh well. Today was by far the most beautiful day since we've been here. So we decided to go to an area of London we haven't been to yet. We went to the city of Westminster in the borough of Kensington & Chelsea to Portobello Road (which apparently was in the movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks - good times!) There were blocks and blocks of market vendors selling all manner of things. Then we went and saw the marble arch at the Marble Arch tube stop. It was actually the original entrance to Buckingham Palace until a new wing was added to the Palace and the arch was moved to it's current location.


Across the street from the arch is Hyde Park. There were loads of people out in the park on such a great day. I did not realize how much the weather here changes so there's no telling when a day like this will come again. Our friends have said that last summer was terrible, but hopefully this summer will be just as beautiful as today!

6 Months In...

When Angie and I began our preparations to move to London, we expected that the first year would be almost nothing but learning and building relationships. As much as I love to learn, that's not always an easy thing to do. As we've spent the last 6 months observing and sometimes feeling oblivious (yes, even in England), I find it hard not to just dive in head first. IT HAS BEEN SIX MONTHS! But this week I've been reminded of how important it is to crawl before we walk, and walk before we run. There's so much that we still have to learn. It seems that so much of what we've learned about the culture here is changing as the weather changes and the sun is up longer.

At the same time, I am SO encouraged by the doors that God continues to open for us. Today I had the privilege of having coffee with two Christ-following teenagers that I am getting to know. We had some AMAZINGLY encouraging conversation. Please pray that God will teach these teenagers how to embrace their identity in Christ and bring the Hope of Christ to the community around them. I am meeting up with them again next Thursday (+ several more teenagers).

On a different note, what's up with the American Idol contestants singing "Shout to the Lord"?!? We just watched it and were utterly shocked! They did take out the name "Jesus" on the first night, but on the next night they SO sang, "MY JESUS, MY SAVIOR, LORD THERE IS NONE LIKE YOU...". I am....well....speechless. How my heart beats for the people who will have watched this to know the freedom that is in Christ! So much that I could say right now. So many questions. But ultimately, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:3).

More Crazy London Weather

OK so two days ago we had the most beautiful day since we've been here. The high was 64, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, there was a gentle breeze...gorgeous. then chris wakes me up this morning and tells me to hurry and come see out the window. so i go and look and what do i see?
yes! for the second time since we've been here - snow! and a much heartier snow than last time. and so i had a first today - for the first time in my almost 28 years, i walked to church in the snow. it was actually quite beautiful. a lady in church this morning asked if i had snow like this where i was from in the states. i answered with a resounding no! so it was definitely a treat. of course as i sit and write this most of the snow has melted, but we had fun while it lasted. here are pictures of our snow fun!

holding a small snowball with the pretty flowers behind

chris holding a large snow ball, saying hurry and take the picture, this is cold!
me holding a big, cold snowball


we made a mini snowman!

I'm dreaming of a white....Easter???

That's right, it was snowing this morning on Easter! And in London of all places - a rare phenomenon. However even as I write this the snow has melted and it is another wet cold day in southern England. We had a good Easter service this morning as our pastor spoke about the hope we have in Jesus. So many people in the world are living without hope but because Jesus has risen we have hope in Him! So as I sit here and drink my hot tea while my wonderful husband cooks lunch I wish you a happy Easter! Here are some pictures of our snowy morning.

A changing me...

WOW! I just logged in to write a quick blog and saw the date of our last entry. It's been a month? That can't be right. It seems like last week that Angie wrote that. But, I guess the time stamp doesn't lie (unless I go in and change it to make it look better:). Sorry for such a long delay between posts. We will try to be better, promise.

Can you believe that we've been in London for 5 months now! It is AMAZING how much our perspective on life has changed in the last few months. I've found myself in this odd state of limbo at times where it doesn't quite feel right to drive on the left hand side of the road, but it's becoming more and more odd to see people driving on the right hand side of the road on the telly. The other day I heard a man with a distinct American accent in the crowd and it stirred something in me, but it wasn't thoughts of home. I was more perplexed by this foreign accent that was familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time. Angie and I are both becoming more comfortable with our new vocabulary. We find ourselves using terms like bin (trashcan), pushchair (stroller), flat (apartment), biscuits (cookies), and crisps (chips). But it's still difficult to use other words like trousers, cheers, mate, and hob without feeling a bit awkward. Sometimes one of us will use one of these new words in conversation and the other will just chuckle a bit. We can see it in each other's eyes - "Who is this person that's speaking mad (crazy)? Is this the same person that I am married to?" We are in the throws of our culture shock and pressing into God every day to make sense of it all.

A partnership team from Texas will join us on Saturday. We are really excited to see how God will use them to show his love to the teenagers in London. Check out the prayer requests on our home page for more info (www.chrisandangie.co.uk). We try to update these every Monday morning (sorry for not updating last week). Stay tuned for a site upgrade in the near future including an rss feed for our prayer requests.

Cheerio!

Double Good News!

As many of you know we have been trying to sell my car for a while now and as of last night it finally sold! Praise the Lord! The other piece of good news came in a phone call today. As many of you also know Chris had to have emergency surgery last summer when we didn't yet have insurance. This resulted in massive medical bills. Some of these were written off including the big one from the hospital. So we were left with two smaller bills, one of which we were able to pay just today due to the selling of our cars. So with one bill left Chris called to verify the amount and got a most unexpected surprise. The lady on the phone said that since she hadn't heard from us in a while she wrote off the remaining amount of the bill! Then she actually said, you can pay it if you want to. Ha! Needless to say we did not chose that option. So now we are free from the burden of the medical bills! Even though I do not doubt it, I am always in awe of God's provision. He is Jehovah Jirah, my Provider!
This is the look of happy relief!

Dedicated to Trent...

So we all know the song, yeah? "hot cross buns, hot cross buns..." there are actually more words, but no one really knows them. So personally, I didn't know much about this song except that it sounds a lot like Three Blind Mice and it's one of the first songs kids learn on the piano. A few months ago I was reading a book about England and it said that on Easter Friday it is a tradition to eat hot cross buns! So when we were grocery shopping a couple of days ago we actually found them! It doesn't take much to amuse us...

Camden Market Fire

Some of you may have seen that a fire is spreading rapidly through the famous Camden Market. Yes, it is true and the report here is that the blaze is pretty extensive. I just thought I'd let you all know that we are fine. Our flat is quite a ways from Camden and we are safe at home tonight.

Read Story

Prayer!

I just got a call from my dad and my mom is going in for surgery this morning (11:30 CST - 07 Feb). She fell yesterday in her classroom. She broke her knee cap and tore the ligaments in her knee. The surgeon will either screw or wire the knee cap back together and repair the ligaments. Pray for a successful surgery, quick and pain free recovery, and rest . Pray that she won't be worried about her students as they will be under a different teacher for a while.

We're parents...

...for the week, that is. You may have noticed on our homepage that we are staying with our supervisors' kids this week while they are away. It wouldn't even be much to write about except that Angie and I have both been sick all week. We haven't gotten ANY work done this week because all of the energy that we can muster has gone into taking care of the kids, the dog, and the house. I have a new found respect for parenthood. To all of the parents who read our blog, my hat is off to you. To all those who home school their kids, I don't think I could do it. I would go utterly insane before my kid learned anything.



But I have learned that much more the importance of living in community. If our team were not in community, then the kids would have no one to watch after them. Because we are in community and our communities overlap, I already knew a few of the parents at the youngest boy's school. I also met a bloke at the youngest boy's football practice that grew up in Southall (one of our target areas). I plan to see him again on Friday and ask him if he would give me a tour of the area. Please pray that God opens doors for His name to be known.

We love you all and sense your prayers every day.

Travel

As they say here in London, Hi-yeah.

This will not be a long post but I just wanted to let you know that we will be in backwoods of Germany next week for training. We are told that we will have internet access so I will try to update our prayer section on Monday as usual and blog a bit. But if nothing shows up, check back the following week.

I am also working on an overhaul for our website with a new look and new info. Keep checking back. It should be up sometime in February.

So, have a blessed weekend.

What's exciting me these days?

It seems as though our posts have mostly fallen into descriptions of daily life. But I suppose that is primarily what we have been doing these first three months - figuring out life. Now that the Christmas holidays have come and gone and our feet have been on the ground for 3 months (yes, TODAY was our 3 month mark in London) we are starting to move our focus on to things other than life.

Most close to my heart right now is an opportunity to support parents of teenagers in London. I have had a heart for the parents of teenagers for quite some time now. Without going into too much detail, I am burdened by the lack of informed parenting that happens around the world when children become teenagers. Since we have been here, God has brought this back to the forefront of my mind. As I've prayed over it, God has continued to lead me down this path. Then, in November we met a woman called Sheila that has a 16 y.o. daughter. I began to talk about how God was moving me and her face lit up. She told me that she has had a burden for other parents of teenagers as well and had even talked to six other couples who have teenagers that are interested in some sort of support group. We will meet with her next week to discuss the possibilities. In addition, we met with a teacher from a local high school this past Saturday. She was very helpful in beginning to understand the teenagers in London and also suggested that there may be a significant opportunity to support the parents of teenagers through the school.

The current vision for all of this is to offer a seminar on parenting teenagers. Out of this we hope to spawn support groups that meet weekly for six or eight weeks. These support groups would be hosted and led by followers of Christ who currently or have previously parented teenagers. During these six weeks the host will rub shoulders with these people and share the hope that they have in Christ. At the end of the six weeks the participants will be invited to continue the weekly group for a period of time and discuss the implications of the Biblical story on their parenting. Even though I am not yet a parent, I can't imagine parenting without the assurance of Christ.

That is the current vision. Please pray that we follow God in what He is already doing and that I don't try to create my own thing. Pray for wisdom as we step into uncharted waters. Pray for doors to be opened into schools. Pray that Sheila will catch the vision and that God will equip and empower her to lead her peers. Pray for the soil to be plowed and ready for planting.

Pictures

Just wanted to inform that there are new Christmas pictures on our photo site...go to our website and click photos and they're under the holidays folder. Enjoy!

A New Year

We hadn't blogged in a while and Chris thought I should. So here I go. Well, first of all we had a great Christmas holiday. We went to a Christmas day service at a local church that we have been to a few times. That afternoon we picked up my parents and brother from the airport. I was so excited that they were able to be here for our first Christmas in London. We had a great two weeks together. We hit all the tourist sites and made a couple of trips to the countryside. In a strange way that I can't fully describe, I literally felt like part of me was home while they were here. I realize that probably doesn't make much sense, but I'm not sure how else to say it. One highlight while they were here was that we went to central London on New Year's Eve. We were standing right beside Westminster Abbey and watched the fireworks as Big Ben rang in the new year in front of us. It was a really neat experience. So amid the sightseeing, shopping, and several trips to Starbucks, I really cherished the time I was able to spend with my family. So I was somewhat sad this morning as we took them to the airport and said goodbye. But life must go on. We are finally in a place now where we feel that ministry can really begin happening. Several contacts are already in place and hopefully things will begin happening soon. Being an ISFJ (Meyers-Briggs Personality Profile) I am still having some trouble adjusting to life without a schedule and not really being sure what I'm supposed to be doing every day. Hopefully soon I will develop more of a routine. So the year is full of hope and potential and hopefully we will have good things to report. Until later....