Church in Willaston

16th of June

I realize that it has been some time since the last time I posted on my blog, but we have had a rather full schedule the last week or so. During the time since my previous post I have attended a couple of church services, worked a couple of youth group sessions, played a full match and a 7-a-side tournament in Leeds, and gone to Wimbledon. However, for ease of reading, I will only address the church services, youth sessions, and the matches in Leeds.

Myself and three other of my teammates are working with a Methodist church in the town of Willaston. On our first Sunday in the village, we attended a combined service between the Methodist church and the Willaston Church of England. It was largely attended by the elderly populations of both congregations (the younger people attending services held earlier at the respective churches). I was intrigued as to how they would combine two different denominations in a single service. It went off rather well, but I think the Church of England conceded more than the Methodists. What surprised me most was the reaction of the audience after my teammates and I shared what we were doing and a brief testimony (max of 90 seconds for each). They congratulated us on our bravery and courage to share our faith openly. It is hard to explain exactly how I took their compliments afterwards, but it was the least hostile environment I have been in front of before, no more than thirty people, all over the age of 60 years. It just felt a bit strange. Either they were shocked to see young men speak openly about their faith, or it has just been a while since they had seen anyone speak about their faith. As I said though, it is a bit hard to explain. Just odd.

The following two Mondays we were in charge of the youth group sessions, the first being ages 8 to 11 and the second being 12 to 14, or there about.  I will not go into much detail of each session, but I get the impression previous youth groups are nothing more than a place to hang out for the kids, and the Bible is rarely, if ever opened. We shared the gospel with the kids both times we were with them, and I have no idea how many of them had actually heard it before. The youth pastor does not seem to be too bothered to give lessons, and leaves it all up to us. Needless to say, there is significant room for improvement.

Arrival

As Friday draws to a close, it is crazy to think I have already been here for four days. The travel was long and tedious, staying awake for roughly 36 hours (could not sleep on the flight). However, I have been able to adjust quickly to the time difference and did not feel the effects of jet lag. We trained on Wednesday and had a Bible study on Thursday, but today was my first proper day of training outdoors, and my legs feel fairly good. Tomorrow we are playing in a local seven-a-side tourney, which should be fun.

As for where I am staying, the academy is actually on a peninsula just west of Liverpool called Wirral. The players are spread out among several different host families. I am staying with a lovely in Willaston . The Mitchel's have a beautiful home and have put me up in a lodge on their property. So far, English life is not much different than what I am used to, and I have enjoyed it quite a bit. Although, I did not realize where I am at is above the 58th parallel, so I could still see some remnants of sunlight when I went to bed at half past eleven. It will take some adjusting to, but seven o'clock feels a bit like three or four in the afternoon.

Well, I need to keep this short. Some of my future posts may be a bit more insightful, but this will have to do for now...

Travel to Liverpool

Ok, so many people have asked if I could keep them updated on my trip to Liverpool, UK this summer, and this seems to be the easiest way. A couple of roommates of mine had a blog while they were in South Africa last summer, and it allowed me to keep up with what they were doing while they were there. So for starters...
I will be flying out of Reagan International Airport on June 6th and arriving in Manchester, UK early on the 7th, from which I will take a train to Liverpool. I hope to be able to train that morning with the team, but with traveling so far, it may be rather taxing. Hopefully my training the last few weeks will pay off. We shall see...