This week we are in Oban High School. We arrived in Oban about 8pm last night for food and then off to our hosts. Myself and Becca are staying with Rob, Marion, Ruthie and Monty (the dog). Ruthie is 11 and has given up her room for us which is very kind of her!

Not an early start this morning, woop!! Breakfast to the most gorgeous view out over towards the Isle of Mull and then into Oban High School for 8am to unload and set up. It’s a nice stage and hall although the acoustics are a it tricky! Had assembly and 3 lessons today. The pupils are really friendly and enthusiastic which is great, a couple of good Q&A sessions where we got to share testimony.

After school we went on a bit of a sightseeing trip round Oban…it’s so beautiful!!! It was nice to get out in the air and have a bit of a walk and enjoy a bit of God’s creation! Had some team photos taken too. Then we were off to The Well which is our base this week – a unit owned by H2O (Hope To Oban – very active youth ministry team). It has very comfy bean bags!! We had a debrief and dinner and then back to our hosts for the evening.

Its going to be a busy week, doing things most evenings and our gig is on Thursday night, 7pm-9pm. Your prayers are much appreciated!

Today is a day off before we head off on tour. So basically getting as much sleep as possible, doing lots of washing and packing and making sure I’m ready for 3 weeks on the road!

We are setting off tomorrow and driving up to Selby to Keel’s house where we will be eating and having fireworks (yay!!) and staying the night to shorten the journey. Then Sunday we’re off up to Oban in Scotland. Our van can only go 56miles an hour so we’re expecting it to take the best part of 8hours.

This tour is a week in Oban, a week in Hawick and a week in Bradford. Its gonna be really good but we really need your prayers!! Its going to be intense and tiring so please pray for energy and that we don’t get grumpy with each other! The week in Oban looks a bit different to how we usually do things but lots of opportunities to share testimony and Christian views on topics. Pray for us as we speak to the kids, for the right words to say that are helpful, and that we don’t get tempted to try and argue our point!

Went to see Michael McIntyre at the O2 last night….was brilliant!!!! Very funny, I hurt quite a lot from laughing!! Also, watched Monsters vs Aliens yesterday…really disappointed! Looked good from the trailer, but the film really wasn’t that good. The bits from the trailer were the only good bits!

This week we’re in the office preparing for Christmas! Feels far too early…but when we come back from tour it will be a week til our first show!

We did an alternative Halloween event at Gorleston Baptist Church working with Unite Norfolk. The wonderful Matt Williamson of last year’s Taste fame was part of the organisation of it…really good to see him, although still doesn’t look right without the hair! We set up one end of the hall and Unite set up the other end, hanging black material around the entire room – looked quite good!!
The evening consisted of extreme games run by Unite, 2 sets from Taste and Diversion running a game and performing ‘What’s It Worth’.
The games that Unite did were horrendous!! One involved a paddling pool filled with porridge, pieces of carrot and sweets and the kids had to get the carrot and sweets out with their mouths – that one was called Vomit Spit. Another was a large sheet of plastic on the floor covered in ketchup, mustard, mushy peas and relish and the kids had to push a fish across it using only their nose. They had protective suits on, but the zip didn’t work and the ketchup etc soaked through onto their clothes. The smell of the fish was disgusting and that and a combination of eating far too many sweets meant I felt very sick!! I was almost speechless as I was trying to present!
It was a good night, lots of fun although didn’t get home til 2.30am!

We spent a week in Hawkwell Baptist Church running an activities week for age 11-18yr olds. Most of them were young people from the church and their friends. We had about 25 for the week. We spent the mornings split into Songwriting and Drama streams and then the afternoons chilling out playing pool, air hockey, guitar hero and chatting. Taste had 16 people in their Songwriting stream and spent the week writing and recording a track called ‘Face to Face’. Diversion had 7 girls: Becky, Becca, Jessie, Bailie, Grace, Dani and Chloe. I was initially a bit worried about a group of girls (having been at an all girls school, i know the arguments that occur!!) but they were amazing! The brief I gave them was to come up with a piece of Theatre In Education to perform to their friends on the Friday night. So we spent the first 3 days establishing the theme, message, plot, characters and technical stuff. We workshopped ideas and techniques and played games on creating stories and impovisation. The girls worked so well together and were really focussed and enthusiastic. The final piece was brilliant!!! The Drama Team names was ‘Herd Wot?’ (Anagram of ‘The Word’, the name of their youh group), with the tagline ‘The Word In Disguise’. The piece was called ‘Do you know who you are talking to?’ and was on the dangers of social networking – meeting people online. It included a news report with CCTV footage – filmed and edited during the week, and an MSN conversation on the big screen. I was SO impressed with the quality of the piece and the performance gave me goosebumps! On the Friday night we put on an event which including Taste songs, Street Tuff from Diversion and the two performances from the young people. It was a really great night, with lots of people and lots of positive comments!

We have since heard that 2 of the young people, previously not part of the church have expressed interest as a direct result of the activities week which is fantastic. I really hope and pray that the relationships built up and conversations had have a lasting impact on the young people and really enthuse them to get stuck in with God.