Yup thats right we're waking up at 5:30 in the morning to get on a bus to the hotel we're going to for the church retreat! It should be loads of fun, and we're praying it will be a great time of worship together! Today and yesterday was interesting doing the kids work as because the beginning of the retreat was in the normal building, the turn out was low and many of the kids stayed at home, so our highest number was 5! The rest of the time was 3, or even 2, so that was an interesting experience!
It was all good though, we led some kids worship with them, did some games, a talk or two, looking at Bible heroes, was all great fun! As a team tonight we spent time feeding each other with prayer, which was great! We've all had bits of revelation and in some cases its had nothing to do with Turkey, but the Father has just shown us things we have had to deal with, whether it be through dreams or our own behaviour and attitude!
Playing electric guitar in the worship has been a great experience too, I've been learning to be sensitive and people have commented positively on my use of the odd little notes here and there and carrying the moment with the drums well, so that has been a lot of encouragement to me!
Anyway, I will leave it there, as I need some sleep, and its 11:50 here! Argh, why can't I ever get an early night, why! Hehehe....oh and Steve if your reading this, finally got round to reading the great divorce By CS Lewis, fantastic book, really loving it, only bout 20 pages left!
Oh and Mum and Dad, me chris and Matt want to say thank you for the dinner your cooking us on Saturday night now! And if anyone reading this wants to invite myself to lunch Sunday, that be nice! Not sure what the others are doing, but I have no food! Anyway, enough of me blagging stuff, blessings,
And see you all very soon! xx
It was all good though, we led some kids worship with them, did some games, a talk or two, looking at Bible heroes, was all great fun! As a team tonight we spent time feeding each other with prayer, which was great! We've all had bits of revelation and in some cases its had nothing to do with Turkey, but the Father has just shown us things we have had to deal with, whether it be through dreams or our own behaviour and attitude!
Playing electric guitar in the worship has been a great experience too, I've been learning to be sensitive and people have commented positively on my use of the odd little notes here and there and carrying the moment with the drums well, so that has been a lot of encouragement to me!
Anyway, I will leave it there, as I need some sleep, and its 11:50 here! Argh, why can't I ever get an early night, why! Hehehe....oh and Steve if your reading this, finally got round to reading the great divorce By CS Lewis, fantastic book, really loving it, only bout 20 pages left!
Oh and Mum and Dad, me chris and Matt want to say thank you for the dinner your cooking us on Saturday night now! And if anyone reading this wants to invite myself to lunch Sunday, that be nice! Not sure what the others are doing, but I have no food! Anyway, enough of me blagging stuff, blessings,
And see you all very soon! xx
Now Ironically after the madness of the Saturday night prayer and worship meeting, me and Chris, both feeling like we had both played shoddily got invited back the next day to play in the worship band again! And in fact have now been asked to play for the whole week of the camp! Such craziness, but we both know this is really stretching us. I also had the pleasure today of leading "mighty to save" to the church with Bex singing and chris drumming, and also we got to do a kids song to the whole church to which everyone did the actions. This is the first time I've ever lead in a church environment so was a little nervous, and again, we'd spent so much time practicing the other songs this day, that we'd never got to go through our two English songs for the church, but they came out fine and were loved apparently, which is always nice to hear!
This same day we led the kids work for the first time, teaching them the story of Jesus and the storm, doing craft with them, and playing lots and lots of games. The kids seemed to love it and although we had a translation, the majority were English speaking anyway in this environment so it was easy to work with, although we are aware it will probably get harder as the week goes on.
Now with less then a week to go, we're aware that this week is going to go incredibly fast. We're going to be helping with the Church camp this week. In particular with the children's work, and we really want to do them justice. We don't want them to just have a fun time, we want them to meet with the Father. There's around 20 kids, and we're looking to do worship with them, prayer, and spend time seeing God do new things.
We've got loads of exciting topics, looking at heroes of the Bible, and are looking forward to seeing what the Father does.
Please pray that:
Our energy would keep up!
The team would stay close together!
The kids would love it!
The Father would move!
Blessings,
Rich
This same day we led the kids work for the first time, teaching them the story of Jesus and the storm, doing craft with them, and playing lots and lots of games. The kids seemed to love it and although we had a translation, the majority were English speaking anyway in this environment so it was easy to work with, although we are aware it will probably get harder as the week goes on.
Now with less then a week to go, we're aware that this week is going to go incredibly fast. We're going to be helping with the Church camp this week. In particular with the children's work, and we really want to do them justice. We don't want them to just have a fun time, we want them to meet with the Father. There's around 20 kids, and we're looking to do worship with them, prayer, and spend time seeing God do new things.
We've got loads of exciting topics, looking at heroes of the Bible, and are looking forward to seeing what the Father does.
Please pray that:
Our energy would keep up!
The team would stay close together!
The kids would love it!
The Father would move!
Blessings,
Rich
Question: what do Paul of the Bible and us six have in common:
Answer: We've both been to Epheseus.
Question: What do we not have in common?
Answer: We didn't cause a riot!
Yup today we visited the ruins of Epheseus and got to see the biblical history of it.
It was a fascinating experience, and linked in with a lecture we had the pleasure of listening to on Tuesday's afternoon on the journey's of Paul.
We got to see the theatres where Paul and others would have likely preached. There were many ruins obviously, and we saw the remains of the Library which had obviously been an impressive site many many centuries ago.
It puts a whole new perspective on the Bible when you actually visit an historic site like this and is a journey I recommend to all Christians. Like the Catacombs in Italy, it helps us look at our true routes and is a fascinating experience.
This evening though, that was an interesting experience. Both me and Chris got asked to play in worship, him on Drums, me on Electric. This would have been fine if :
a) We'd known the songs
b) They'd been in English and
c) They'd had chords sheets and been able to play and we'd been able to practice!
So this really was being thrown in the deep end. And it somehow, seemed to work, even though Chris ended up stopping midsong, I managed to play completely the wrong key, God still moved, and there were some epic moments of God opening up and a sense of the wonder of God appearing in the worship. It was fantastic time yet this has probably been the most challenging thing I've had to do and again reminds me of the importance of practice!
It was an adventure though! Tomorrow we're going to be playin again and as a whole group are going to be leading the kids work, and will be doing this for the Church camp they are running this week. We have less then a week now, so we ask that you continue to pray, particularly that we would continue to have good experiences and continually bond as a team.
I ask particularly about team because its at this stage where we can start to feel tired and so become snappy at each other and irritated and this hasn't happened yet, so we're praying that God would keep us refreshed, excited and honest with each other so it defo doesn't happen!
Speak to you all soon,
Blessings,
Rich
Answer: We've both been to Epheseus.
Question: What do we not have in common?
Answer: We didn't cause a riot!
Yup today we visited the ruins of Epheseus and got to see the biblical history of it.
It was a fascinating experience, and linked in with a lecture we had the pleasure of listening to on Tuesday's afternoon on the journey's of Paul.
We got to see the theatres where Paul and others would have likely preached. There were many ruins obviously, and we saw the remains of the Library which had obviously been an impressive site many many centuries ago.
It puts a whole new perspective on the Bible when you actually visit an historic site like this and is a journey I recommend to all Christians. Like the Catacombs in Italy, it helps us look at our true routes and is a fascinating experience.
This evening though, that was an interesting experience. Both me and Chris got asked to play in worship, him on Drums, me on Electric. This would have been fine if :
a) We'd known the songs
b) They'd been in English and
c) They'd had chords sheets and been able to play and we'd been able to practice!
So this really was being thrown in the deep end. And it somehow, seemed to work, even though Chris ended up stopping midsong, I managed to play completely the wrong key, God still moved, and there were some epic moments of God opening up and a sense of the wonder of God appearing in the worship. It was fantastic time yet this has probably been the most challenging thing I've had to do and again reminds me of the importance of practice!
It was an adventure though! Tomorrow we're going to be playin again and as a whole group are going to be leading the kids work, and will be doing this for the Church camp they are running this week. We have less then a week now, so we ask that you continue to pray, particularly that we would continue to have good experiences and continually bond as a team.
I ask particularly about team because its at this stage where we can start to feel tired and so become snappy at each other and irritated and this hasn't happened yet, so we're praying that God would keep us refreshed, excited and honest with each other so it defo doesn't happen!
Speak to you all soon,
Blessings,
Rich
bonjour my friends! No doubt some of you would have received a strange e-mail by now of our time here, but I'm sure you'll find it comical :)
The last few days have been cultural visits, visiting local families. Monday we went to the Kurdish population of Turkey and walked down the hill through the streets. There was a sense of porverty yet a joy. The kids were jumping all around us and shouting hello, asking for money, it was very entertaining! One man invited us to his home. He was an old man, grey tash and white hair, about 80 apparently, and he had two wives. It was a very interesting experience, particularly as Chris joked with him about selling Joelle and Becky off to his son to marry. It was a fascinating experience of culture, although a very long day all round, and by the end we were shattered!
Tuesday we visited a some Turkish believers, and spent time playing games with the children, having fun and enjoying fellowship. It's fascinating watching the way they interact with us and each other. Even little things like taking shoes off before entering houses, or the kissing of cheeks that goes on between friends, and even holding hands can seem all so foreign to us as westerners!
In the evening we went up a cable car to this amazing place which had an incredibly natural view of the local hills and valleys. We got to bbq our own food there and spent time with some more turkish believers!
However, it did take forever to get home that night, the buses just never seemed to come and I've decided I hate buses more then ever now!!!
Today, the boys (including me before anyone makes a joke!) got sent to a storage house to sort it out. This was possibly one of the most physically tiring things I have had to do for along time, because it was soo hot and humid, that everytime we lifted one box, I wanted to sit down for ten mins! Thankfully there was some rest today, but as you can see its been non stop!
As a team some are finding there heart is developing for the nations, whilst others are feeling the call more at home, which I guess is one of the reasons this is called life change, because it helps you identify yourself, and know where your heart is.
The next few days continue to be hectic, however we are now halfway through our total time away from home (as two days prior were spent in Bedford!) so please pray that the team stays strong, focused, and that where the enemy can easily start to crack in, God would be our cement and polyfiller. Blessings,
Rich Lush
The last few days have been cultural visits, visiting local families. Monday we went to the Kurdish population of Turkey and walked down the hill through the streets. There was a sense of porverty yet a joy. The kids were jumping all around us and shouting hello, asking for money, it was very entertaining! One man invited us to his home. He was an old man, grey tash and white hair, about 80 apparently, and he had two wives. It was a very interesting experience, particularly as Chris joked with him about selling Joelle and Becky off to his son to marry. It was a fascinating experience of culture, although a very long day all round, and by the end we were shattered!
Tuesday we visited a some Turkish believers, and spent time playing games with the children, having fun and enjoying fellowship. It's fascinating watching the way they interact with us and each other. Even little things like taking shoes off before entering houses, or the kissing of cheeks that goes on between friends, and even holding hands can seem all so foreign to us as westerners!
In the evening we went up a cable car to this amazing place which had an incredibly natural view of the local hills and valleys. We got to bbq our own food there and spent time with some more turkish believers!
However, it did take forever to get home that night, the buses just never seemed to come and I've decided I hate buses more then ever now!!!
Today, the boys (including me before anyone makes a joke!) got sent to a storage house to sort it out. This was possibly one of the most physically tiring things I have had to do for along time, because it was soo hot and humid, that everytime we lifted one box, I wanted to sit down for ten mins! Thankfully there was some rest today, but as you can see its been non stop!
As a team some are finding there heart is developing for the nations, whilst others are feeling the call more at home, which I guess is one of the reasons this is called life change, because it helps you identify yourself, and know where your heart is.
The next few days continue to be hectic, however we are now halfway through our total time away from home (as two days prior were spent in Bedford!) so please pray that the team stays strong, focused, and that where the enemy can easily start to crack in, God would be our cement and polyfiller. Blessings,
Rich Lush
So I've now discovered when writing a on a turkish keyboard that they have two I's! This would explain why I kept failing to write my e-mail address in when logging onto things!
Anyway, that is one in a host of many things that I've been learning! The language is actually not that hard to read once you learn the basic sounds, my biggest struggle is in worship when the songs are in Turkish, because I have this internal battle.
As worship leaders we constantly talk about the importance of the lyrics in worship, how we use them, why we sing them, so to then be put in a situation where I don't have a clue what I'm singing about has been an interesting struggle and makes me realise the importance of leading worship from the heart more and more! By doing this we can sing the songs naturally on our heart, as Matt Redman says:
"It's the overflow of this forgiven soul, our hearts cannot stay silent"
And as Psalm 96 says,
"Sing to the Lord a new Song"
So I will sing the song of my heart.
Moving past this, Olive Grove was a fantastic experience, that we absolutely loved, and already we all feel challenged and changed, and thats after 4 days. We heard the testimony of a Turk who has met Jesus and the struggle he had (and is still having) as a result against family and community. It was an amazing testimony, and suddenly the apparent "cost" that we have in England didn't seem anything anymore. Also the passion for his people was incredible and rose the question: do we just not care enough in the uk? I'll let you ponder.
The prayer walking as well was incredibly inspiring and already we're planning one for around chi uni, before term starts. We have to work the land to see the harvest.
This place has also given me an even bigger heart for England and my people, particularly the youth. You know here a young person will get off his chair, to offer it to an elderly man. He'll go as far as to stop the bus to do it safely. In England that would be rare. I believe God wants to restore that nobility in our young people.
On a more fun note, Chris has managed to learn the language quite successfully, constantly picking up words writing them down and making a massive effort. Most of the others are doing well too, although myself it seems to go in one ear and straight out the other! I've learnt "Visne" which is a cherry juice drink and is gorgeous but that is about it!!
Everything is going really well, know one seems to have got burnt, surprisingly Matt managed to avoid becoming a lobster on the beech the other day, and Becky got a nice red nose! Catherine has had some random people attempt to speak German to her, and Joelle has been mistaken for a turk occasionally, so all good fun!
Please keep praying that God would bless this town. Tomorrow we go to look at an area that is filled with poverty and ask if God would give us any chance to speak to people. We value all your prayers, and look forward to being back in a few weeks to tell even more stories! Blessings,
Rich Lush
Anyway, that is one in a host of many things that I've been learning! The language is actually not that hard to read once you learn the basic sounds, my biggest struggle is in worship when the songs are in Turkish, because I have this internal battle.
As worship leaders we constantly talk about the importance of the lyrics in worship, how we use them, why we sing them, so to then be put in a situation where I don't have a clue what I'm singing about has been an interesting struggle and makes me realise the importance of leading worship from the heart more and more! By doing this we can sing the songs naturally on our heart, as Matt Redman says:
"It's the overflow of this forgiven soul, our hearts cannot stay silent"
And as Psalm 96 says,
"Sing to the Lord a new Song"
So I will sing the song of my heart.
Moving past this, Olive Grove was a fantastic experience, that we absolutely loved, and already we all feel challenged and changed, and thats after 4 days. We heard the testimony of a Turk who has met Jesus and the struggle he had (and is still having) as a result against family and community. It was an amazing testimony, and suddenly the apparent "cost" that we have in England didn't seem anything anymore. Also the passion for his people was incredible and rose the question: do we just not care enough in the uk? I'll let you ponder.
The prayer walking as well was incredibly inspiring and already we're planning one for around chi uni, before term starts. We have to work the land to see the harvest.
This place has also given me an even bigger heart for England and my people, particularly the youth. You know here a young person will get off his chair, to offer it to an elderly man. He'll go as far as to stop the bus to do it safely. In England that would be rare. I believe God wants to restore that nobility in our young people.
On a more fun note, Chris has managed to learn the language quite successfully, constantly picking up words writing them down and making a massive effort. Most of the others are doing well too, although myself it seems to go in one ear and straight out the other! I've learnt "Visne" which is a cherry juice drink and is gorgeous but that is about it!!
Everything is going really well, know one seems to have got burnt, surprisingly Matt managed to avoid becoming a lobster on the beech the other day, and Becky got a nice red nose! Catherine has had some random people attempt to speak German to her, and Joelle has been mistaken for a turk occasionally, so all good fun!
Please keep praying that God would bless this town. Tomorrow we go to look at an area that is filled with poverty and ask if God would give us any chance to speak to people. We value all your prayers, and look forward to being back in a few weeks to tell even more stories! Blessings,
Rich Lush
Well Ive managed to get to an ınternet cafe although the keyboard is incredıbly foreign so please forgive any typos!
Well we arrived at 2am at our host homes on Thursday morning only to be thrown into a prayer meeting at 830am. So we hit the ground runnıng! We were then whisked off wıth an Englısh speakıng couple from the church to visit a town we`ve named Olıve Grove.
The purpose of the visit has been to spend tıme wıth thıs couple prayıng and learn the art of prayer walkıng to bless the cıty. I can`t write to many detaıls but needless to say we were up agaın at 730 thıs mornıng to go a walkıng!
As a team we are all gettıng on well, and seem to be naturally gellıng probably due to the fact we had relatıonshıp already.
There have already been some eye openıng things. One example has been watchıng the attitude of the young to the elderly, with one young man giving up hıs seat for an elderly fellow. Another thıng has been watchıng the passıon of one partıcular turkısh belıever who is ıncredibly passionate about hıs people. It inspires me and makes me long to have the same passıon for my own people. We also realısed as a group how shoddy our knowledge of the Bible`s context ın thıs place as we were taken through a quız that really showed our lack of knowledge.
Already we can start to see a change in the way we approach thıngs and that ıs after one day. Imagıne what we wıll be lıke after two weeks. look forward to seeıng you all soon.
Blessıngs.
Rıch
Well we arrived at 2am at our host homes on Thursday morning only to be thrown into a prayer meeting at 830am. So we hit the ground runnıng! We were then whisked off wıth an Englısh speakıng couple from the church to visit a town we`ve named Olıve Grove.
The purpose of the visit has been to spend tıme wıth thıs couple prayıng and learn the art of prayer walkıng to bless the cıty. I can`t write to many detaıls but needless to say we were up agaın at 730 thıs mornıng to go a walkıng!
As a team we are all gettıng on well, and seem to be naturally gellıng probably due to the fact we had relatıonshıp already.
There have already been some eye openıng things. One example has been watchıng the attitude of the young to the elderly, with one young man giving up hıs seat for an elderly fellow. Another thıng has been watchıng the passıon of one partıcular turkısh belıever who is ıncredibly passionate about hıs people. It inspires me and makes me long to have the same passıon for my own people. We also realısed as a group how shoddy our knowledge of the Bible`s context ın thıs place as we were taken through a quız that really showed our lack of knowledge.
Already we can start to see a change in the way we approach thıngs and that ıs after one day. Imagıne what we wıll be lıke after two weeks. look forward to seeıng you all soon.
Blessıngs.
Rıch
Well Ladies and gents, we have arrived in Turkey, but are now in Istanbul
waiting for our transfer! The flight was late leaving Stanstead but got here
pretty quick! The time here is currently 11:10, we're all feeling a bit tired
already although everyone is currently playing Rummy and smiling and laughing!
We're all incredibly excited about what is going to be happening, and look forward to updating you more on what is going on, although that probably won't be until Saturday as we are being led on a trip to a town code named "Oval City" to pray into it with a couple from Izmir.
We don't know many other details yet, but hey, it's an adventure, and we will
speak to you soon!
Blessings,
Rich
waiting for our transfer! The flight was late leaving Stanstead but got here
pretty quick! The time here is currently 11:10, we're all feeling a bit tired
already although everyone is currently playing Rummy and smiling and laughing!
We're all incredibly excited about what is going to be happening, and look forward to updating you more on what is going on, although that probably won't be until Saturday as we are being led on a trip to a town code named "Oval City" to pray into it with a couple from Izmir.
We don't know many other details yet, but hey, it's an adventure, and we will
speak to you soon!
Blessings,
Rich
Right ladies and Gents! Well tomorrow I am off on 2 training days, with 5 other students from Grace Church Chichester to train for going to Turkey on Wednesday! Out there we will be spending some time with a local church working with youth and all sorts of different things! As you can tell this is incredibly exciting and I'm going to attempt to blog when I can but no garuntee! I doubt very much I will make it onto facebook so please if your looking for details look here and I'll see what I can post, even if its only once or twice!
Prayer requests for when we're out there:
-Positive Attitude
-Health
-Team Spirit
-That we would be a blessing
There are probably other things, but they are the basics!
Blessings!
Rich
Prayer requests for when we're out there:
-Positive Attitude
-Health
-Team Spirit
-That we would be a blessing
There are probably other things, but they are the basics!
Blessings!
Rich
