Time for Tea

So we received good news today that one of our students that is stuck in Madrid right now will be able to catch a train and get here by Wednesday, hopefully, and the student that is stuck in Switzerland is going to arrive in London late tomorrow night, praise the Lord. We are just waiting for a girl in Bermuda and a girl in Boston to be able to fly out here, so keep praying!
Every Monday and Thursday we have worship time in the morning for about 45 minutes and man, let me tell you, it was amazing. All we had was a pianist and a guitar/singer but it sounded like a choir in there because everyone was not shy about singing out! It’s great because they just have a big open room for us to spread out and have our own space, and between songs a lot of times it’s just instrumental transitions and time for us to wait upon the Lord and share anything that he has put on our hearts.
While we were in worship, I was reminded of the story in Luke 5 about Jesus taking the disciples out in their boats to catch fish even though they had been out all night without any luck. They obeyed his command to push out into the deep and when they did, their boats were filled. There were a few things that struck me about this, which I wrote about today in my journal:

“First, they did not question Jesus. After spending so much time without a catch, the disciples still pushed out to try again without arguing. I need to remind myself that even when things don’t make sense, I need to trust in the Lord without hesitation knowing that he sees the bigger picture and knows every outcome.
Second, Jesus told the disciples to cast out into the deep. If we remain in the ‘safety’ of the shallows, we aren’t taking a step of faith that He will provide and protect. We could miss out on a blessing by hiding in the shallows of our ‘comforts’.
Lastly, when they DID obey, their blessings were so great that they needed help form other boats to hold all the fish. The bible says (vs. 7) that both boats were so full that they began to sink. I know I want that kind of blessing poured out in MY life.
I heard a message at church a while back that really stuck with me: ‘If you let God use your boat He’ll fill it with fish’. How true is that? I want God to use my boat, that’s for sure!”

It’s cool how the last two days of my devotions have been so similar with their message. Both stories required obedience from people who were rewarded with immense blessings when they followed what God had directed them. Both stories also required a whole lot of faith that God knew what he was doing.
Food for thought. =)
After worship we had a local tour around a few of the smaller towns near the manor. We drove around to different sights while Momma Kristy gave a running commentary. I love her. She makes me smile. She’s the sweetest lady, and is ALWAYS chatting! I think I might have mentioned this in a previous blog, but Kristy is the cook here at the manor, and resident ‘mother’. When she introduced herself to us on the first day, I asked her if one of her jobs as resident mother was to give hugs and right away she pulled me into a big embrace. I would guess she’s close to 60yrs old and has two grown girls back home in Seattle. It’s kind of like a ‘Welcome’ to her too because she left the manor after 12 years of working here so that she could raise her kids, but has come back this year to start serving again. She’s hilarious. She’s never afraid to say what’s on her mind or tell you what she thinks. She doesn’t take crap from anyone but is the most genuine person you would meet. I am fortunate enough to get to know her really well, as Karissa and I were assigned ‘Kitchen Duty’ together with her for the next 3 months – but I’ll get to that in a minute.
After a bit of a tour around some of the towns, we stopped at the “Jack & Jill Windmills” to enjoy the picnic lunch we had packed this morning. We were blessed with another beautiful day and it was GORGEOUS out there in the country. We were in the middle of a bunch of sheep fields and way up in the hills looking down on the distant towns. In case any of you were wondering, yes, the Jack and Jill Windmills are in reference to the nursery rhyme. They are located at the top of the hill where ‘Jack fell down and broke his crown’ and where ‘Jill went tumbling after’. In honour of their unfortunate mishap, Bexi and I decided to roll part way down the hill ourselves. (It’s a huge hill so we opted not to roll down the whole thing.)
Have I introduced Jarod and Bexi yet? They are our leaders, or ‘directors’ as I’ve referred to them, for our DTS. They aren’t the base directors, however – that would be Darrin and Amy. But they are super keen. (That means cool, aha.) They are both mid/late twenties and are wonderful people. They actually just got married last May (they met through YWAM, funny enough) and had their wedding here at the manor.
So yeah, daily duties. Karissa and I were given kitchen duty for the next 3 months. Every day for at least 2 hours we will be in the kitchen making tea (which means dinner here in England) for the students and staff/families. Today we made fried rice with an interesting chicken stir fry and it was intense. So busy in there trying to prepare everything on time! We ended up being 15mins late in putting it out, but we did it nonetheless. It will be interesting to see what other sort of things they will have us make. It’s tiring cooking for over 25 people! Especially if it’s your night to do clean up duties as well. Just you wait – I will come home a pro chef!
Side note – can you believe they don’t know what perogies are out here?! Karissa and I decided that somehow we will have to make some one of these nights...

Cheerio!