This is my time spent in England, growing in my faith and my experiences...with not a clue to the out come but with an open mind..I am starting a new chapter in my life and filling it with life changing things!

Thursday 27 October 2011

Scotland here we come!!!

The last couple of days have been absolutely amazingly gorgeous. It has been sunny and slightly warm, but it all went down hill today. It is a cloudy sorta rainy day, making everything a tad muddy. I believe all my shoes have either mud of some sort of poop on them. Anywho, we leave for Scotland tomorrow morning which is a tad exciting, actually extremely exciting. I get to leave this place finally. I love it here but at the same time i need change. I am going a bit stir crazy or cabin fever, just because we do the same thing every day, i see the same people and the same things every day. I go for walks just for a change to see something new, we have been starting to walk along different roads just to see a new country side which all look the same by the way.
My time here flys by, Sunday evening the Koreans put on our evening service. It was so cool and so much fun , it brought out emotions and some roommate love. It was truly amazing, I have a hard time trying to describe what it was like. It was fun and interactive and showed the amount of love for God and how much love God has for us. Mon-Thurs has been regular lectures, getting ready for the weekend, hanging out but mostly finishing up the essay. We had to hand our essay in today and clean our rooms before we leave. I vacuumed for almost 2 hours which is a blast and a half. We finished up our lectures on personal evangelism with Rob and we have one more lecture on Acts with Graham. I really love Rob's lectures, i could listen to him all day and his lectures seem to be so quick.
We leave for Scotland tomorrow, not a clue what we are going to do but we have our hotel and a general idea. We are planning to hang out shop, see a castle maybe, walk the streets and have an amazing time together and just chillaxin. I still have to pack and get ready, clean our room. Please pray for health, safety as we go out in the big wide world, to explore and learn.
I am learning so much here and am having a great time! I miss home and normal life but I am enjoying my time here while it lasts.
Love you all!!

Sunday 23 October 2011

Our greatest fear should not be failure but rather succeeding at the things that don't matter

This week has been a trully amazing week, it has gone by extremely fast. I have a hard time believing that tomorrow is laundry day again and that it is the beginning of week 5. This past month here has been quite possible one of the best months of my life. I have already learned so much and have meet so many different people from all walks of life. Living here in a castle on the other side of the world is both an blessing and at the same time it is also full of its own challenges. The fact that I am here learning and exploring the bible and creating some fantastic friendships has been a blessing but living in a new place with 173 people and missing my home with the familiar life, is hard. I am learning and growing which is good. I am glad I am not doing this alone.
So far this week has gone by like a car going 200km/hour, it was there one second gone the next. Kinda like when you drive though those really small communities, they are gone before you even knew you where in one. That was this week, we had our lectures with John Allan which were great. We went to Carnforth on wed and stocked up on food and then Friday we had seminar on time management. Which by the way made you feel like you were wasting your time but was none the less still good. I also had my daily duty which involved me vacuuming for 2 hours, The vacuums here stuck plus the conference hall floor is so nasty by the end of the week. Friday night was also our social night, I went with Erika to our principle, Robs house and watched movies and ate food. Saturday was our free day and I stayed behind to work on my essay for a bit which I got the first part done and today i got the third part done so I am 2/3 done. Yesterday I also went for a walk with my friend Zach, we walked up to these ruins and walked around there and though these fields. Which turned out to be very muddy and I being really smart wore flip flops which i took off quite quickly and walked around in barefeet. it was cold and wet and muddy. I managed to cut my leg and get stingynettle over my leg. Over all though i'd have to say it was a pretty epic adventure and very fun. We also had a pigeon hole party last night, in which we had to dress up as something. We go a note in our pigeon holes (mail boxes) which told us what we had to dress up as. I was a gladiator, a very pretty one at that. It was a lot of fun we danced and played games.
Then there is today, which is a pretty chill day. We had church service which was amazing. We had this guest speaker who was really good, he was from scotland and really had a passion for speaking and sharing the word. He talked about going from superficial to supernatural. He was saying that we need to get rid of our baggage that is weighing us down and to allow God to take it but also needing to focus our eyes on Him. He said that " Our greatest fear should not be failure but rather succeeding at the things that dont matter." I was really encouraged by his sermon this morning, and I am starting to realize that i need to let go on my baggage and my problems or I am going to have a hard time trying to have a relationship with God.
I am looking forward to the next week here and for our new guest lecturer. I am looking forward to what God has in store for us this week and what he wants to show us. I am excited for this weekend as we head off to Scotland . Good bye

Tuesday 18 October 2011

Enjoy Life, It's God's Gift!

This is me procastinating on the essay I have to write for next week. Big surprise, I know right, me putting things off, I would never do anything like that ever. Well I have actually finished reading the book for the essay, its just that the book did not inspire me to write anything on it. I actually almost fell asleep reading it. It did have a few good points and some repeated information as well, I dont think I would read it again. It was called "Alive in Christ" and it discussed the fact that we as Christians need to know that God has given us himself, to allow us to have Him live in us and for him to be our strength. I enjoyed the points in the book, I just felt like it had the tendency to be a bit all over the place. 
I have some helpful bits of information if you were ever to live in a castle as well. Remember to have warm clothes on hand at all time, wear sweaters and layers to bed or you will never leave your bed. Also be careful when leaving your windows open you might find your self with a bird family in your room. When it rains where a rain hat in doors at all time. You dont want drops of water landing on you inside. As well for getting up the big stair cases, go double time, take two stairs at a time. Try three if you are really talented. The steps are pretty close together and there are a lot of them, it feels like you are going to die everytime you go up them. Also when living in a castle remember you are not a princess or prince, people dont come bring you food or tea. You also will have to pinch yourself a few time to remember that it is actually reality. Crazy isn't it, I live in a castle, Its a gorgeous place and i have always dream of it. I wish I could upload pictures but the internet here sucks. Thats another thing about a castle, internet is almost a foreign concept. It is amazing how slow it goes so if you want anything done fast you might as well go to the local starbucks. Planning for holiday is been a slow and torture project. Another thing about the castle here is that you should be careful what you say and how loud you say things in your room, because the walls are almost paper thin. We do have sheep who are all preggo so dont think about going and chasing after them unless they chase after you! Then run run run!!
Any who things are going good we have a new guest lecturer name John Allan who is pretty good. He is Scottish and very interesting to listen to. And for the most part I stay awake during his lectures. He is doing two different series one on Ecclesiastes and the other on Facing the Modern World. The first on is a little depressing just because Ecclesiastes is a depressing book but its a very real book in the sense that, it shows how a lot of people actually think. It goes on about whats the point of life but though living in God there is a point because what he does lasts. I could go further but that might take all day. The other one so far has just been a history lesson about the changing of the world and how people have become more individual , in the sense that they are making their own choices and deciding what they want to do and think and often going away from what their families once were. Its explaining our Christianity is slowly declining and why it is. Our other lectures this week are given by our principle and I love listening to him he keeps you interested. His series is on personal evangelism. So far we have started with the fact that we need to start showing Gods love where we are now not some where else or at another time but now. We are looking at motivations for evangelism and how and why we should do. 
Other then that life is going pretty good, I must start writing my essay but i have more then a week. We are going to town to pick up food tomorrow and then thursday our RA is doing a fashion show/ workshop for the girls and then Saturday a bunch of us are going to Lancaster to go for dinner and see the new Footloose movie. 
Au-revoir and Goodbye

Sunday 16 October 2011

Christ in Me!!

Weather report for England, grey cloudy with rain with a chance of 5 minutes of sunshine!! Yeah, pretty much the last week has been cloudy with misty rain or down pour rain, other then yesterday which we had a glorious bright sunny day. It was even pretty warm until evening, we got the chance to go out and walk the canal loop which was nice and muddy in parts but dryer then most days. We also booked our hotel for travel weekend, one of my friends mom was able to get a good deal for us in a hotel in Scotland, as well we looked into what we are doing for Christmas. We are hitting up London, Paris, Germany, Denmark and Holland, exciting times!!
This past week has been pretty mundane and uneventful. We have had lectures with our guest speaker, Robert A. He was an older fellow whose voice was so calming it almost put me to sleep a few times. It doesn't help when he does lectures during 7-9 pm and you are already exhausted. He overall wasn't a bad speaker, he was just a little confusing at times and he was speaking on the book of Hebrews, which is a hard chapter in its self. I had my outreach monday night which was interesting to say the least. It was at this youth group , which is more like a group of kids from the computer who hang out for two hours and talk and just chill. I found it hard to communicate with some of the younger ones mostly because as soon as we tried to talk or hang out with them they pulled out their cell phones. We ended up talking with two girls and a few guys who were a little more welcoming towards us. It was completely different then I would have thought and we have to go back in a week and so I am hoping that it will go a little bit better next time. Lectures were monday-thursday with friday being a work day for me, so we cleaned the zoo boys room and then later we had the history of capernwray which was alright nothing exciting other then the movie we watched which was from 1960. It was hilarious, at least I thought it was. 
Today we had a really good church service, we had a speaker named Graham who is supposed to be coming back in a few weeks to be our guest lecturer. I quite enjoyed him and what he had to say. He was talking to us about whether we have religion or if we have life. Most christians just have religion with out the life. Life being the fact that instead of life for Christ, we are to live our life with Christ in us. It was a perfect message today because I have felt very empty latley and have been feeling my insides with food for the last couple of days. 
Its still amazing being here and I love what I am learning, its just difficult to try and take everything in when we are learning so much. As well as the fact that alone time here is pretty much impossible, I am learning that I need to start making time for myself everyday even if 30 minutes to just reflect on my day and spend time in prayer. Its overwhelming to spend all your time with people, everyday. 
This week has flown by and I am excited for what the rest of my time here has to offer and I am excited to see my relationship with Christ grow more and see what he has instore for my life.  I ask that you pray for safety when we travel and our health here as we are in a damp castle with 173 people. Thats a lot of germs.  Also prayer for my sanity here and that I can open my heart and my eyes a little bit more. And for sleep. 
Thanks lots of love Moriah

Sunday 9 October 2011

I will wit upon the Lord!

These past few days have felt like a whirlwind of activities. We finished off our lectures Thursday night and Friday was our cleaning or seminar day. I cleaned last week and so Friday morning I went to a seminar on worship and planning a church service. Later in the evening we had games going and we had a pretty big bonfire where we sang pop culture songs mixed with some good old camp worship songs. Saturday started off pretty awesome because we got to sleep in and I woke up to someone playing piano down stairs (The piano around here is awesome, because usually there is someone playing, if there isn’t it gets quiet. It is very relaxing and so easy to fall asleep to.) Our trip to Silverdale ended up getting cancelled due to the fact that it was sorta kinda not really rainy. You’d think that we are in England so that these events wouldn’t need to get cancelled due to rain. So we had to do some quick last minute planning of what we were going to do and pretty much the school population quickly called taxis waited half hour plus and drove off to Carnforth, Lancashire and some went further. I went with 7 other girls, 5 from Abby and two from the states and we head off to explore Lancashire. We shopped till we dropped, took advantage of fast starbucks internet (and amazing coffee) and ate some good food. I ended up finding boots for 6 pounds and a shirt for 2 pounds from a thrift shop plus a few other goodies. We got back to school after dinner and watched a dodgeball tournament. My good friends who played on a team called “We are BATMAN” actually won. They wore these awesome yellow shirts with this mullet head and they had bat capes as well. My tall giraffe friend Zach found himself an onezie that is actually a tiger outfit. It is the funniest thing ever especially when he has the cape on. But they ended up winning.
Today is just a typical Sunday and so we have just been hanging out but we had our Sunday service which one of the staff named Trevor spoke. It was a good service, he is just very hard to understand and so for a good 5 to 10 mins I thought he was saying wit when he was actually saying wait. He talked about waiting upon the Lord and being patient. We have an evening service tonight and we are back to lectures tomorrow.  I also have my outreach to a local youth group tomorrow night and I have no idea what I am in for. But that’s what I am here for, I here for an adventure.
As for how I am feeling, I am doing pretty well. Other than the fact that at home today/tomorrow is Thanksgiving and so I am missing out on Thanksgiving dinner. In the UK they don’t do anything at all so it’s our typical vege and meat with potatoes lunch with some berry crisp and custard.  I have started missing home a little bit. I miss the food and my bed and just being able to do whatever I want whenever I want. I want to sit at home on the couch with a cup of tea wrapped in a blanket watching TV. There is no TV in the castle and the internet is so slow. Plus we have no idea what is going on in the world. I feel as if there could be a huge riot somewhere and we would have no clue that it happened. It’s gorgeous here and I love it and the people are so sweet but it would be so very nice to hang out by myself with no one else around. I am excited to see what the week has in store and I am excited to see how the Lord will work in my life.
P.S We have also started planning our travel weekend and our Christmas break. We are either going to Scotland or Dublin for travel weekend and we are going to Spain, Italy and Greece for Christmas break.

Wednesday 5 October 2011

Accepting is different then approving

The winds are blowing and the skys have gone over cast, but no matter how cloudy or grey or cold it gets this place is still gorgeous. We made our way into town to pick up a few things and it the wind was blowing everything every where. The girls managed to have potted plants blown their way and have dirt end up every where. We got balloons and banners and birthday stuff to decorate our room for my roommates birthday tomorrow and picked up more healthy options because we don't get enough fruits and vege.
Our guest lecturer finished up yesterday evening and so we now have 77ish hand signs and words to memorize in order to try and have a clue of all the events in the old testament. Today we had our family groups where we get together with a group of people and talk and play games and get to know each other on a little bit deeper level. We also had Rob our principle speak and he is speaking on transforming friendships. The part that I think a lot of people don't know but should or if you do know it you should put into practice is the fact that it is okay to accept a person no matter where they come from but that doesn't mean you have to approve of what they do. Meaning you can be friends with some one who you don't necessary approve of their decisions or life choices but you can still love and accept them as a person. We have two more lectures tonight and some of the girls have their first netball game. So gooo Panthers!!!!

Monday 3 October 2011

Indescribable Lord

I am having a hard time believing that I have only been here a week. And when I begin to think about the fact that I still have another 6 months ahead of me, I don't know if I am happy, sad or I just really have no idea of how I feel. the idea of not seeing my family or friends for 6 months makes me sad but the fact that i have made so many amazing friends already, is making me have an amazing time here and making me really excited for the next 6 months of my life. But the most exciting thing and the reason why I am here is to learn more about my awesome creator and to better understand his word and to grow in my relationship with him. And that makes me jump for joy and scream to the hills because his word is amazing, he is amazing and he created a indescribable world.
Today we had a gorgeous sunny midday which has now turned into a bit of a chilly windy. We have a feeling that we are in for a bit of rain later on tonight, what a surprise right! I am in England who would have thought it would rain here. Its beautiful when there is no rain but with the rain it makes it seem a little bit more real. It does feel like I am living in a bit of a dream world, sometimes.
I am excited for this week, we have a amazing speaker speaking all week and he his doing a walk though the bible lectures. He is so much fun to listen to and the stuff he teaches and the way he does it makes it seem real and a lot easier to understand. We have just gone though genesis and he gave us these sweet little hand gestures to try and remember the main events that take part in it. Also later this week we are heading into town and then to Silverdale on saturday. Its an awesome place over here and I looking forward to what God has in store for me for the next 6 months on my new journey.
Love Moriah

Sunday 2 October 2011

One week complete

My first week over here in England has been an absolute blast so far, I am looking forward to another 6 months here with my fellow classmates. Everyone has been so nice and awesome so far, and I have been meeting people from all over. Majority of the students here are from Canada and the states we have 25 people from B.C. alone, and lots more from the rest of Canada. We have a few people from denmark and Germany and a few from Asia and other parts of Europe as well. We have 6 lectures a day, 4 in the morning and another 2 later in the evening after tea, which is actually dinner back home. We have quite a bit of free time which we can either read, walk the loop or just hang out with friends. Fridays are cleaning and seminar day, depending what group you are in and then sat we get the day off, this last saturday we went to the lake district. Its very much like home other then smaller mountains and brick fences and buildings everywhere. And then on sunday we have a morning service as well as an evening service and then we have free time in between.
Today is the first day that I have been here where it has actually rained. The last week has been gorgeous and sunny all day. Its been actually very warm and i wished I had brought along some more shorts. But they say that from here on in its suppose to rain a lot and even maybe snow here soon. Which means a lot more hanging out inside and less time outside. Although we did head out for a short walk around the loop today, with our umbrellas and raincoats.
As I have mentioned, I have meet some amazing people here so far. It feels like we have known each other a lot longer then just a week. I want to believe that I have the best room in the castle with some of the most amazing people here. There are 4 other girls in my room with me, which you never know what kind of situation that will bring about, but we are getting along very well. We have managed to keep our rooms extremely tidy thus far and have been managing to get along and share as well. There are two girls from B.C. in my room one from Surrey named Rachel, she is very bubbley and social and got us to go out of our comfort zones and sit with new people at meals. And then there is Laura who is from Abbortsford, she is super sweet and nice. And then there is a girl from Alaska named Kaitlyn and a girl from Germany named Franzi and they are both extremely nice but just a bit quieter. I have also meet many other people including two guys one of which is from Surrey and actually live just down the road from my dads, he also was the one who sat beside me on the plane ride here, his name is Zach. And i have also become friends with his new friend named Trevor who is from California and has never seen snow or rain( he actually has). But this two go on speed walks and we practice our british accents which sound quite horrid actually, but it is very amusing and fun.
Being here is amazing but I wouldnt be here with out God wanting me here, and as I spend more time here learning about him and building a relationship with his son, I am seeing his plans for me a little more clearly and  that i am here for a reason. I am soo glad to be here and I thank god every day for it, becuase the things i am experiencing are things i would never even know if I was at home. Good day and good bye!