On a journey...

Tuesday 25 September 2011 I love the city. I was born in a city (well, technically a town, but still a place with lots of people and easy access everywhere). I have lived most of my life in cities (Manchester, Sandnes (my town), Leeds, Plymouth, Fortaleza, Kansas City (didn’t feel like a city but is a city), Amsterdam (for a short stint). My heart comes alive when I’m in cities. I love the smells and the sounds. I love the different people on their way to or from somewhere. I love the life I see in the city. And so it was really fun to spend some time with my friends Andrew and Claudia who live in the city. I stayed in their lovely flat (with dark wooden floors) and we had such a good time together. As I went for a stroll I was reminded once again of the city that I lived in for so many years, and still carry in my heart. My mind and heart was impacted by the contrasts between the poor and the right, yet for both, they are living the life they have mostly always known. I didn’t

Monday 12 September 2011 Sharing and living. The sun has set as it always does, right at 6 pm, and it coincides with the awakening of the mosquitoes. Oh, the joys of living in the Brazilian countryside. I’m sat at my little glass kitchen table eating requeijāo (Brazilian runny cream cheese) on cream crackers (read: cremi craker) with a cup of PG tips tea (brought from Norway in my slightly overloaded luggage). I can’t believe I’ve already been here a month. Time is going quickly! It’s been a really good week, but hard in places, but then that’s life in general- good and hard days. I shared at the staff meeting last week and it went really well. I was faithful to share what was on my heart and I trust it encouraged the staff here. It was also an exciting meeting as they laid out the plans for the main YWAM base property (which currently is empty in need of some restoration). As part of the plans is to build a prayer room where the chapel building is now. It’s so exciting to see how pray

Tuesday 6 September 2011 It’s amazing how addicted I’ve become to internet. Or maybe “addicted” isn’t really the right word, I guess “dependent” is a better way to express my connection to the internet. We’ve been without internet access for a week now. Well, we might have had access Wednesday and Thursday, but those days I was out from early morning till late at night. It’s quite frustrating. Makes me feel cut off from the world, and I think what is most frustrating is how I feel cut off from communicating with friends and family. I’d marked several chats on skype this week, and obviously I didn’t have them... I wasn’t even able to let the people know. My only access this past week was on Friday when I had a quick check of my emails at an internet cafe. It was a surreal experience to be sat at a computer with the clock counting down how much time I had left and trying to type as quickly as possible on an unfamiliar keyboard. It brought back memories from when internet cafe was

Tuesday 30 August 2011 I remember listening to a teaching about living a focused life, the idea being that if you plan your days well then you won’t waste time. It’s a great idea, but if you’re in Brazil, it doesn’t really work. It’s not really because people have a more relaxed relationship to time, which they do, but more the fact that things just take longer and relationships are so important. So I am slowly trying to get into the flow of life here. Last week I found myself feeling rushed at times. I felt like suddenly the week was gone and I had been doing so many different things and hadn’t even had time to reflect on what had happened. I wonder if it’s just me, or if I am getting too much into the flow of ministry. I want to learn to live a balanced life. A life where the priorities are right and where the needs and ministry don’t take over, but where I use time in prayer which is where the real work is done. It is a challenge though. A challenge to see how a change of