Crowthorne

We have just come back from a weekend in Becca’s home town of Crowthorne (near Wokingham)! We travelled across over lunchtime on Friday and arrived at St John The Baptist Churchat 2pm to be met by the Ceaser family. We cleared out some of the pews, unloaded in the rain and set up in the beautiful but rather cold church! Excited to have the space to rear project so suspended the screen, with black either side…it looked really nice when all done! Battered sausage and chips for dinner followed by a meeting where everyone was in a slightly silly mood! Gig was 7.30pm-9.30pm and 100+ people came which we and the local churches were delighted with! We changed the plan slightly to accomodate the higher numbers of non-church young people than had been expected…what a great problem to have! Packed down and loaded the van and dispersed to our hosts. I was staying with a couple called Ian and Sue who looked after me very well! In bed just after half 11!

Saturday we went to Crowthorne Baptist Church, Becca’s home church where her Dad is the minister. They had shifted the orientation of the chairs to give us maximum space to set up in. We worked out logistics and started unloading whilst Andy and I blacked out the back. We started a relaxed set up and then had to leave to go to Finchampstead for a meeting at 1pm about Spring Harvest(we are part of the Distinctive 11-14s venue at Minehead Week 2). We met at a gorgeous house and had lunch and then spent the afternoon discussing ideas! Then back to the church to finish setting up, then round to Becca’s for dinner and relax in front of the Wii! Back to hosts for a fairly early night.

Sunday we were at church for 9.30 to soundcheck and prepare for the service…we were told we could do what we liked so had to warn everyone it might be a little different to their normal Sunday service! We had some worship songs, performed ‘What’s It Worth’, Becca shared her testimony and Joy took the congregation through the story of Zaccheus…literally everyone involved acting the story out and being given Chewits by Zaccheus! Tea and coffee after the service, pack down and then dinner in the back hall: Chicken Stew and Profiteroles! Everyone helped us load and we left just after 2pm, leaving Ben, Jack and Becca behind, they are staying for the next couple of days and coming back to Essex on Tuesday. So we had lots of room in the back of the van and travelled almost comfortably!

Got 2 days off now and need to recharge the batteries a bit! Have been feeling quite tired this weekend so need to take it a bit easy. Will be going to see Billy though!!

Tags: ,

Scotland and Radcliffe

Having not had internet for 2 weeks I haven’t been able to update…sorry everyone! It was quite nice though to be away from technology for a while!

We got back at 4.35am and I’m pretty shattered so will update at another point! Just wanted to let you know that I haven’t forgotten! We had a pretty awesome 2 weeks and there’s lots to share!

Unfortunately now Andy, Keel, Jack and Ben have been struck down with a vomiting bug so please pray for their quick recovery!

Sarah (my sister) hasn’t had her baby yet (due 31st Jan)…will let you know when he/she arrives!!

Gorleston

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!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,