We spent the morning in Kent at Ryan’s Church doing a worship thing called ‘Breathe’ which was quite interesting. 12 different activities to get you thinking about different things, instructions all given on an ipod. We then travelled back to the office where we left at 3pm for Watton. All squashed and hot in the back of the van, the smells of the boys don’t help either! Stopped off in Sudbury to collect Andy’s Aniiversary present from Joy, a shiny Rickenbacker Guitar (off Ebay!). We’re not allowed anywhere near it! Stopped again at a pub for a drink (lemonade!) before getting to Melissa’s house about half 6. This was where the boys were staying. The rest of us were collected by our hosts. I was staying with a lady called Martina who was German. We went to Claire’s hosts for dinner, a gorgeous lasagne! Stayed there chatting until about 10pm, then to Martina’s. She has a dog, 2 cats and 10chickens and lives in a cute little house. My room was off the staircase so had to remember that when I opened the door!
Thursday we were in the school for 7.15, setting up ready for 9am. A lot of the students were off at the Norfolk Show so we ended up having a lot of the same people in our lessons. Ended up doing 4 different lessons out of the 5. I introduced the lessons, brought back my Unique Link (hurrah!!), performed What’s It Worth with La Roche, co-hosted one of the games and generally did bits and pieces and it was so much fun! Loved being part of the team. Then had to pack down as the hall was being used for an awards ceremony. Thursday evening was a BBQ with loads of people at a couple’s house. Great chance to just chill and chat and let off some steam! Lot of laughing and eating.
Friday we got to the school at 9am to set up, but found the hall was in use…so we set up outside under a fixed canopy. A ripple of excitement when an Air Ambulance landed on the school field – there had been an accident in the road involving one of the students and he was airlifted. We prayed for him, hoping it was just a precaution. We did a gig at breaktime and then another at lunchtime, where the band members were playing/singing whilst walking through the audience and jumping on picnic tables! Lots of fun. Then time to packdown, head over to the church and set up for the evening gig whilst listening to the Murray match! Pizza for dinner, and then the gig. Dan has joined us to set up lots of lights, although it wasn’t possible to blackout the church so it only reached it’s full amazingness during the last song! I had my first performances going solo of Colander and Lady Starburst (formerly Harrybow). I was quite nervous but all went well! Had about 35/40 young people and 5 signed up for more information which was brilliant! Then back home to try and wind down before bed!
Lay in on Saturday, hurrah! Picked up at half 11, headed over to the church to rehearse. Taste were rehearsing songs and I was working on my Psalm 139 presentation and writing a monologue. We did an afternoon gig, where we performed What’s It Worth (interesting beginning…a song was cut so I wasn’t ready and La Roche had to fill, then when I got on stage I couldn’t remember if I’d zipped up my dress or not so spent the whole sketch with my arm glued to my side!) and shared a bit of my story. Then we had a BBQ (Watton Pentecostal Church are good at food!) and back to Melissa’s for half an hour before heading into Dereham to go bowling! It was an open invitation and we filled 4 lanes with the team and people from the church. I was on a lane with Keel…he only beat me by one point! Then there was the entertainment of watching La Roche try and win something in the claw machines…Sammy J taking over and winning Leo first go! And the excitement of the ice cream vending machine.
Sunday morning we took the whole service. I co-hosted the generation game and then did a presentation of Psalm 139 v 1-18, performing The Message version. It went really well and got lots of positive comments after! We had lunch with the church (more food!) and then sadly it was time to packdown and go home. I was dropped off at my front door in Braintree which was great! The whole team got out to hug me goodbye.
Had such a brilliant time in Watton meeting wonderful people. Melissa, Richard, Taylor, Jesca, Martina, Roger, Tina, Josh, James to name a few! I pray that God will really use Watton Pentecostal Church to impact the community and do awesome things! See you soon guys xx
www.wattonchurch.org.uk