Recovering From Summer...

Yes some of them did go swimming in the North Sea

The HBC team

Well my jam packed summer has finally come to an end. Schools started back this week and next week I'll be starting to get back into the swing of term time. That being said, I'm actually finally taking my summer holiday the week after next. I've been looking forward to it all summer, so much so that my housemate commented that she was wondering why she hadn't heard about it. I'm going to be spending a week at Lake Bled with a group from Oak Hall. I'm very glad to let someone else take over the duties of leading Bible studies etc!

Anyway, after the church weekend away a couple of weeks ago, a group of us went to Beccles in Suffolk, England. We were helping out with the Baptist Church's Holiday Bible Club. It was the first time they'd held one for a few years and it was a great opportunity for our teenagers to go on a mission trip and see what it's like to be a Christian in another country. I was so pleased with all of them, the way they behaved and the way they were so willing to help out with whatever was asked of them. It was also a time of sadness as we finally said goodbye to the Box family who have now returned to Sydney, Australia.

We were so grateful for the love and welcome we had from the church in Beccles. They were great in including all of the Slovene team, myself included. I saw my main role for the week as looking after our teenagers and helping them to serve. I also was given a couple of responsibilities during the HBC, the biggest of which was to give the talk on the second day about the healing of the paralysed man. The theme of the week was Jesus makes the Impossible Possible (Jezus naredi nemogoče mogoče is the Slovene version for those of you who were wondering) and how he alone is able to forgive sins. I was also helping to lead the group for the 9 year olds. Although we would have liked more children through the week, we still had 36 on the first day, 30 on the second and 38 on the third.

As well as helping out at the HBC, the Slovene team were also given the opportunity to partake of traditional English experiences. These included fish and chips on the beach at Southwold and a cream tea. It was all very tasty!

The only downside of the week was the generous sharing of germs within the Slovene group. Many of us (myself included) have since gone down with colds. I am very grateful that out of all the weeks it could have happened, it was this week. All in all, praise God for a successful collaboration and for all that we learnt during our brief trip to England.