October Newsletter - Christina in the UK

My Year in the World
October 2007
Volume 1, Issue 2
Christina
Young Adults in Global Mission

What does it mean to be a missionary in Buxton?

I am still in the process of finding my niche in Charis House. But what I have learned about working there and doing God's mission is that nothing is possible without love. In order to work with the residents, to care for them, to provide for them, one must have love. In order to work with staff at Charis House one must have love. God has love for all his creation and all of us. It is very important that in all our actions we are showing God's love to those around us. St. Francis Assisi wrote, "We must preach the gospel daily and use words if necessary." Throughout your life you may encounter people that you don't approve of or agree with, but the only action that should be taken towards them is shwoing them love. I beleve that is the best way to fulfull God's mission for us.

New Projects
Over the past few weeks I have begun a few new projects both related to my volunteering as well as fun things to keep me occupied in my spare time. Friday mornings I am doing a Bible study with a woman with severe learning disabilities. It is both very challenging and rewarding.
Also, one of my sorority sisters doing her student teaching this year has introduced the art of letter writing to her students by setting up pen-pals with some girls I'm in touch with in England. We are all very excited to see where this project leads all of us! I am also now in charge of finding crafts related to the weekly Bible story for the Little Fishes group (the mom/tots group).
For fun I have started going to aerobics on Tuesdays and a knitting group every other Thursday. Theses are both new activities for me!

Spotlight of the Month
Rosie (23) and her daughter Holly (3) are two residents from Charis House. The two have lived here for just over a year. She came to Charis House from another women's refuge in Newark. Her care-worker there was a huge influence in Rosie's life and vice-versa. This woman recommended Charis House to Rosie and after Rosie moved to Buxton, her former care-worker was forced to leave her job because of her Christian beliefs.
Rosie just returned to college this fall taking ACCESS courses, which will give her enough credits to start at a university when she is ready. She is currently taking psychology, biology, math, English, IT and study skills. She is really enjoying her classes, meeting new people and being around other Christians. After moving on from Charis House, Rosie is hoping to settle down with a husband and start a similar woman's refuge, but on a smaller scale, hopefully with her former care-worker from Newark.
She believes that part of her recovery process while at Charis House is helping others. She met one resident last year who is now thankful to have Rosie as a Christian influence in her life, and although her friend has moved on to a Christian rehab center they still keep in touch often.
Holly is a bright and exuberant 3 year old. She is working on spelling simply words and perfecting her counting and is always asking questions.
Through all these experiences she is excited that her life is coming back together piece by piece and is beginning to see the bigger picture of God's plans for her. (no confidentiality has been broken for this piece)


TFG Orientation Conference
The last week in September about 20 other TFG volunteers all gathered at Cliff's College about 30 minutes from Buxton for our Orientation conference. It was great to see a few of the other YAGMs that came over with as well as meeting other volunteers from around the world. There were young volunteers from Hungary, Germany, South Korea, Sweden, Uganda, and Belgium. We discussed many helpful things such as budgeting, culture shock, TFG's expectations for us as volunteers, our supervisors, and our placements, as well as what we should expect from our supervisors, placements, and TFG. But it was a little difficult that we were getting this information almost a month after our arrival in England and I had already figured a lot of the information out on my own. I have another conference coming up I'm looking forward to!

Want to Know More?
Blog:
www.cnalexengland.blogspot.com

Good News Family Care:
http://gnfc.org.uk

Time For God (TFG)
http://www.timeforgod.org

Learning a New Language
*knackered - exhausted
*ice lolly - popsicle
*tea - dinner/hot beverage
*pants - underwear
*bin - trash can

Prayer Requests
Lindsey and her family moved out of the house last week. Please pray for protection for them.
Tracey is having a difficult time adjusting to life in Charis House. Please pray for this difficult time for her and her son.

Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. Colossians 3:14