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We made it here safely and have been in full swing for two full days now! I must admit that the opportunities that have been had and are yet to come are much greater than I had imagined. I'll try to give a quick run down of what our last few days have looked like and then wrap it up with some thoughts about what God is doing here in London.
We arrived on Sunday after a 10 1/2 hour flight and hit the ground running...literally. We jammed through the airport and piled into a few mini buses. Our arrival was expected and within minutes of showing up to Chalfont St. Peter we jumped into some trainings, a devotion, dinner and a lengthy (but awesome) church service. After a busy Sunday we made our way to our home for the week which I won't say much about except...it's incredibly beautiful and really big.
The last few days have been full of adventure, laughter, exhaustion and really tired legs. We've been assigned to differnet ministry points and all of us love each place we are. Some of us are working with kids of all ages and some of us are working security and registration for the events. There is also a sports cafe and prayer tent. To give a glimpse of the amount of people we are here to serve, there were over 6500 people at the opening ceremonies of 'Run The Race'. Our days are nothing short of tiring but full of amazing ministry opportunties and great conversations.
For a little personal touch, I had the opportunity to provide my services as a behavioral therapist. I told our coordinator for the children's activities that I would love to offer any help for children that have any behavioral or developmental disabilities. He proceeded to thank me and not five minutes later a leader brought me Owen. He walked in saying, "I heard you're the right person for Owen" . He has a high functioning form of Autism and is full of questions about the Lord and anything else that comes with Christianity. I started out as a team leader for my group but was quickly asked to be with him one on one throughout any activities for the week. The first day was a little rough but as he left a leader from the local church heard him say, "mommy, I made a new friend today!" He arrived again today with a bright smiling face waving at me from across the field and today went brilliantly! (a little british flare for you there)
Now that we'eve made it through a few days, we are so excited for what God is doing here in London. He really is preparing these people's hearts for the opportunites to hear about Jesus and learn more about HIs love for them. I'm thankful for the opportunity to have meaningful and intentional conversations with children and parents and even fellow believers. God is so very good and it is showing here in the work that these churches are doing in their villages and towns. Please continue to pray for opportunities to continue to have these conversations about God and how much He loves the City of London and surrounding areas. Also pray for strength and endurance for our team as we go on throughout this week.