I didn’t realise it had been so long since I last wrote on my blog. It seems like so much has happened that surely I would have written some of it down, which clearly I hadn’t, not on my blog anyway. But that’s life. The last weeks of December just went and suddenly it was New Year, and suddenly we’re already into the first proper week of 2009. Crazy, but it’s been a full few weeks, in a good sense. Good days; good weeks.
Christmas was lovely! Lovely food, good times with families, and I got everything I had wished for for Christmas. The days went so quickly and on the 26th we were sat in the living room with some of my cousins visiting in the evening and it started dawning on me that I was leaving the next day. It was fine to leave. I wish I’d had more time, but I was also excited to come back to KC for the onething conference and to see how that would work.
My journey went very well in spite of very short connections. At one point I was wondering if I would make my flight to Kansas City, but I am glad I didn’t worry because it would have been a waste of time. I got to the gate as they were starting boarding. Perfect timing. For the first time ever I think I didn’t have time to have a coffee at any of the airports I passed through. My good friends picked me up at the airport and we navigated swiftly home using a newly acquired GPS guiding us to the right roads. It was fun.
On the Sunday I had a bit of a lie in and then it just got busy. I ended up making breakfast for my Dutch friend who is visiting and also my other Dutch friend who was moving in later on that week. And while I was kind of getting my head around things (before breakfast) a girl knocks on the door ready to move in from Alaska. I was a bit puzzled as we weren’t expecting anyone and I had no clue where she was staying, but in good YWAM fashion I invited her to come in so we could figure it out. So instead of 3 people at breakfast, we ended up being 5 (because the guy who manages the house came over to show her where she was staying in the basement and give her keys). It was nice though. I managed to make super-strong coffee in my new French press because I simply didn’t really know how many cups of coffee it took, and quite clearly it can hold less cups then I thought (now I know for next time). But the solution to really strong coffee is just to boil some hot water and add to it and it’s fine.
After breakfast it was just about time to stroll down to the main missions base to catch the shuttle downtown to Bartle Hall where the onething conference would take place. Even as we stood in line for the shuttle I could feel the excitement of all the people there. Excitement and expectation for what was to come.
At the conference I quickly registered and got my blue wristband (for those who were working) and went to find my friends who were in line to register to get their red ones (for participants). Only to discover that my Dutch friend had managed to loose our new Alaskan friend somewhere. We tried to find her, but couldn’t so we went to the service without her. I didn’t have much faith that we would find her again, I mean finding one person in the mist of 15 000 + is a big task (kind of like a needle in a haystack I would venture to suggest). But then, suddenly midway through the service we found her again.
From then on it was pretty much busy for the next 3 days. On the Monday and Tuesday I was doing prophecy teams most of the day and helped out at the booth for Exodus Cry which was all great. Prophesying was amazing as I got to hear God’s heart for people, and being at the booth was amazing as I got to chat to people who have caught God’s heart for Human Trafficking.
On New Years Eve things were a bit quieter, but I was really tired. However, I really appreciated getting to some of the sessions too. The evening of was great and very powerful! When it was over and 2009 was reality, some friends and I headed off to IHOP (the pancake place not the prayer place this time) for some food. Little did we know that everyone else had the same idea (or maybe it was just the fact that it was the only place open that did it). I have no idea what time we got there, but we waited for almost an hour to get seated and I was so tired and hungry. Coming in we’d joked about staying up till it was the New Year in Alaska, which would be 4 am, but as we were waiting it didn’t seem as unrealistic. I had eggs, bacon, yummy pancakes and raspberry ice tea and left the talking to the others. Once I was done eating I was ready to go to bed, and I think the other girls were to so we headed off home for some sleep.
The first proper day of the New Year was very relaxed. I had a good long lie-in which was so nice, and not being around 16 000 people all day was also good for the introvert I am.
I had a nice weekend also. Just getting back into the normal day-to-day routine of things; going to the prayer room and church, cleaning the house, speaking to my family on Skype, and getting some exercise. The most out of the ordinary thing that happened was that we had a really warm day on Saturday with 20 degrees Celsius!!! What is that about? I know they say here “if you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute and it’ll change”, but 20 degrees is summer temperature. And not enough with that, on Sunday it was down to –7 degrees Celsius. It dropped so quickly. No wonder people wear layers here; it’s the only way to do it (that added to the fact that the prayer room is always quite chilly, except when it’s not, it is good to be able to regulate the amounts of layers there also).
Christmas was lovely! Lovely food, good times with families, and I got everything I had wished for for Christmas. The days went so quickly and on the 26th we were sat in the living room with some of my cousins visiting in the evening and it started dawning on me that I was leaving the next day. It was fine to leave. I wish I’d had more time, but I was also excited to come back to KC for the onething conference and to see how that would work.
My journey went very well in spite of very short connections. At one point I was wondering if I would make my flight to Kansas City, but I am glad I didn’t worry because it would have been a waste of time. I got to the gate as they were starting boarding. Perfect timing. For the first time ever I think I didn’t have time to have a coffee at any of the airports I passed through. My good friends picked me up at the airport and we navigated swiftly home using a newly acquired GPS guiding us to the right roads. It was fun.
On the Sunday I had a bit of a lie in and then it just got busy. I ended up making breakfast for my Dutch friend who is visiting and also my other Dutch friend who was moving in later on that week. And while I was kind of getting my head around things (before breakfast) a girl knocks on the door ready to move in from Alaska. I was a bit puzzled as we weren’t expecting anyone and I had no clue where she was staying, but in good YWAM fashion I invited her to come in so we could figure it out. So instead of 3 people at breakfast, we ended up being 5 (because the guy who manages the house came over to show her where she was staying in the basement and give her keys). It was nice though. I managed to make super-strong coffee in my new French press because I simply didn’t really know how many cups of coffee it took, and quite clearly it can hold less cups then I thought (now I know for next time). But the solution to really strong coffee is just to boil some hot water and add to it and it’s fine.
After breakfast it was just about time to stroll down to the main missions base to catch the shuttle downtown to Bartle Hall where the onething conference would take place. Even as we stood in line for the shuttle I could feel the excitement of all the people there. Excitement and expectation for what was to come.
At the conference I quickly registered and got my blue wristband (for those who were working) and went to find my friends who were in line to register to get their red ones (for participants). Only to discover that my Dutch friend had managed to loose our new Alaskan friend somewhere. We tried to find her, but couldn’t so we went to the service without her. I didn’t have much faith that we would find her again, I mean finding one person in the mist of 15 000 + is a big task (kind of like a needle in a haystack I would venture to suggest). But then, suddenly midway through the service we found her again.
From then on it was pretty much busy for the next 3 days. On the Monday and Tuesday I was doing prophecy teams most of the day and helped out at the booth for Exodus Cry which was all great. Prophesying was amazing as I got to hear God’s heart for people, and being at the booth was amazing as I got to chat to people who have caught God’s heart for Human Trafficking.
On New Years Eve things were a bit quieter, but I was really tired. However, I really appreciated getting to some of the sessions too. The evening of was great and very powerful! When it was over and 2009 was reality, some friends and I headed off to IHOP (the pancake place not the prayer place this time) for some food. Little did we know that everyone else had the same idea (or maybe it was just the fact that it was the only place open that did it). I have no idea what time we got there, but we waited for almost an hour to get seated and I was so tired and hungry. Coming in we’d joked about staying up till it was the New Year in Alaska, which would be 4 am, but as we were waiting it didn’t seem as unrealistic. I had eggs, bacon, yummy pancakes and raspberry ice tea and left the talking to the others. Once I was done eating I was ready to go to bed, and I think the other girls were to so we headed off home for some sleep.
The first proper day of the New Year was very relaxed. I had a good long lie-in which was so nice, and not being around 16 000 people all day was also good for the introvert I am.
I had a nice weekend also. Just getting back into the normal day-to-day routine of things; going to the prayer room and church, cleaning the house, speaking to my family on Skype, and getting some exercise. The most out of the ordinary thing that happened was that we had a really warm day on Saturday with 20 degrees Celsius!!! What is that about? I know they say here “if you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute and it’ll change”, but 20 degrees is summer temperature. And not enough with that, on Sunday it was down to –7 degrees Celsius. It dropped so quickly. No wonder people wear layers here; it’s the only way to do it (that added to the fact that the prayer room is always quite chilly, except when it’s not, it is good to be able to regulate the amounts of layers there also).
Today is Monday and the start of a new week. It’s good. Being the start of the month it’s GBF time so the prayer room is full and it is so good to seek God in a focused way together as a community here at IHOP-KC. I am excited for the months and year ahead. Excited to see what it will bring and excited to continue on my journey into the fullness of everything God has for me.