Preparing Hearts and Minds

This is our last week before 'outreach' as a Discipleship Training School (DTS) and we are looking forward to reaching out, serving and loving the people of Spain and Brighton.

But before that, we are preparing for 'Carols at the Manor', our annual local outreach to the nearby community, for a time of worship through Christmas carols, food and conversation, and remembering the reason for the season: Our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

May you know the blessing and love of God in this Christmas Season.

Last week of class, our topic for the week "Outreach Prep"

One of our Swedish Students, Jenny, helping to decorate the tree in preparation for Carols at the Manor

Definition

Here at YWAM Holmsted Manor there are 17 acres of grounds, full of flower beds, shrubs, trees, bushes, hedges, grass, stonework and weeds. Since we've been back from Poland we've been getting to know the grounds and working hard in them to create definition and bring beauty back. We've pruned, weeded, trimmed, prayed, mowed and learned a lot about gardening.

Me helping to edge our island

A wonderful lady from the States has been helping us for the past couple of months. She is a Horticulturalist and a wealth of knowledge, stamina, and faith. She has been such a blessing and breath of life into our grounds, teaching us how to steward well what God has given us.

Carol our Horticulturalist and Phil the Head Gardner at Nyman's, he brought us a gift!

The other day a man from Nyman's (a local National Trust, kind of like a National Park, but with manicured gardens and a large house) came and walked around our grounds with us and identified all of the shrub and tree names and gave us advice on a lot of things like pruning. It was such a blessing for him to come, we learned A LOT and he enjoyed it too because he used to play here as a child when his mother worked here. God has been so faithful, giving us a lot of connections with people who have been quite helpful in the grounds as we've been working in them.

We are also having an "Open Gardens" day tomorrow, which we've invited the local churches and public to come and enjoy our grounds. I've been inspired being able to work in God's creation, getting it prepared and ready so that others can enjoy it too, taking time to stop and reflect on our Creator!

JustGo - Summer Outreach

Wow, what a great time we had! 30 delegates (16-25 year-olds) from across the UK showed up Friday a bit nervous about meeting people, but when we worshipped, oh how their hearts were in it and they were ready to go. We had a few days of prep- time, teaching and prayer and then split off to Poland, Serbia and Romania

Phil and I helped to lead the Poland team with our friend Laura. There were 8 of us total, 5 delegates (3 guys and 2 girls) and the 3 of us leaders.

5am drop off at the airport

Where we stayed in Krakow

Laura's parents kindly let us use their flat for the 10 days were were in Krakow.

Inside the flat

Some highlights from our time-

* Starting off each day with worship and prayer, listening for what God would lead us to for the day.

* Singing and praying God's truth and life over the city of Krakow from the city centre up to the Wawel Castle.

Where we sang from Wawel Castle over the city

Prayer walking around the city

* Seeing 5 young artists grow in their gifts and confidence.

Our five wonderful delegates :)

* Working with people from a local church to help in the community, cleaning a blind man's house and painting over graffitti and weeding at Szkola Podstawowa (a local school) getting them started with their charity.

Finished product, no more graffitti :)

Weeding at the school

Finishing at the blind man's house

Outside the blind man's house that we cleaned

* Bringing joy to Greg our waiter, just by being us. When we told him we were in the city to pray and bless the city and people, he was encouraged and asked us to pray for him as we left. So we prayed and were able to write down/draw in a card encouraging words we heard from God for him and give them to him the next day. 

The restaurant where we met Greg

One of Josh's drawing's for Greg

* Learning more about human trafficking and praying in strategic entry and exit points in the City for God's protection, safety, freedom, salvation and restoration.

Where cars, trains, buses, cyclists, and people on foot meet

* The 3 of us leaders planning in one room and hearing spontaneous worship coming from our delegates in the next room.

* Singing worship songs through the streets of Krakow.

Prayer walking and singing through the city centre

* Doing dramas by the Castle as a declaration of Jesus' love and freedom for the people of the city and hearing people in the crowd say, "It's Jesus!" and cheer when  Jesus breaks down the walls and brings freedom at the end.

The "Everything" drama

* Seeing the surprise and delight on the local grocery store staff's faces when we gave them roses as a thank you and to honour them on our last day, after we had botched through their language to get food for the previous 9 days.

Buying flowers for the supermarket ladies

Thank you to everyone who blessed us with prayers and funds while we were in Poland. God bless you!

Our New Holm

Hey, so we've moved and I thought I would post some pictures of where we're living now. We have a single bedroom flat with an en-suite bathroom, so we've down sized a bit, but we're making good use of the space we have :)

 We moved to Youth With A Mission Holmsted Manor in March. This is where I lived when I first came to England in 2008, so for me it's like coming back home. We all live in one building, so it feels like a family here.

Holmsted is much smaller, capacity-wise, than our previous location, but I think we will really enjoy the size.

There was a change in leadership here last September. A couple, Steve and Jo, and their 3 girls (whom we had worked with previously at YWAM Harpenden) took over as base leaders and it has been great working with them.

We are finally getting settled in now, learning new systems, which can be frustrating at times, but enjoying some familiar faces and getting to know new ones.


Please pray for Phil and I as we get settled in, look to find a new church, make new friends and listen to what God is saying to us about how He wants to use us here.

I am Now Plugged In

Back in March we were given a generous donation and were able to buy an acoustic/electric guitar. It was so well timed, because I have been asked to lead worship more often now and the people I would normally borrow guitars from have either left the country or were away for an extended period. It is such a blessing! I've been playing for 11 years and wanting a guitar that plugs in for about 5 now, but didn't have the means, so this was an exciting moment.

I really like the red color too because it's a good reminder of Jesus' blood and why I'm leading worship.

We've been given a car!

We have been praying for a few months now that God would provide a car for us before we move to YWAM Holmsted Manor in March. The closest thing to Holmsted is 2 pubs which are a 20 min walk away and the nearest grocery store and train station is an hour-and-a-half walk, one-way, on dangerous roads. So we were so excited when one of Phil's family offered us a car just before Christmas! God is so good and so faithful! What an answer to prayer, it felt like a load was lifted and the world was opened! We also are excited because that means we will be able to get to Brighton and visit family more often and easily for less cost and we'll also be able to bring people for local outreach and to church on Sunday's too. Train fares seem to be rising and when you go from paying for 1 ticket to 2 it takes a lot larger chunk out of your monthly costs. How exciting and what a blessing!! Thank you to those who have been praying with us!!

Mr. and Mrs. Summerton!

It's official...
I am now, in the eyes of God and the State, officially Mrs. Summerton!
Phil and I were married on the 6th of October in Hudson, Wisconsin at Trinity Lutheran Family Center (my home church). It was a very blessed, wonderful and a bit chilly day on the outside but nothing but warmth and love coming from the inside. We were blessed to hear comments afterward of how it was a "real" wedding, and they could "feel God's presence", how cool is that?!? We really enjoyed the day and were very thankful to have so many friends and family around. If you were there, thanks for coming and I hope you enjoyed yourselves too!
Here are a few photos from the day:

After the Wedding we were able to go to Ireland for our Honeymoon, have an English celebration for all of those who weren't able to make it to the States and then headed back to YWAM Harpenden with a good visit from my Mom, Dad, Bro and Sis-in-law!
Now we are back to work! We're enjoying getting settled in here, both involved in different things than before. I've stepped out of communications and will mainly be working in the Oval Café (our cafe ministry here). I am learning the ropes in the hopes that one day we will open our own café in Brighton (South coast of England). Phil has stepped out of the Discipleship training school to also work part time in the café and part time helping to take care of the maintenance of the 42 acres here at YWAM Harpenden before March 2013, when we head to my previous YWAM location here in England called Holmsted Manor. At Holmsted we will be preparing to plant a new YWAM team in Brighton and will be staffing a DTS together along with a few other bits and pieces. We both feel called to continue to serve God through YWAM for the foreseeable future, but there are many details for future blog posts, so more on this later :) Thanks for having a look, I pray you will discover more of Christ in this upcoming Christmas season! Until next time...

Blessings!
Christy and Phil