The Beginning: Holy Spirit, Stef Liston and Lego.

The week began in Croydon. We arrived with our back packs in tow, full of excited energy and anticipation. I wasn't really sure what to expect when I applied for Newday Global, it was bizarre to think that I would be one of those people who goes out to other countries and talk to people about Jesus. For most of my Christian life, that was something only "radical" people did: speakers like Stef Liston scared me rather than inspired me. But over the last couple of years something changed. Every time France was mentioned in Church something tugged on my heartstrings. I couldn't just sit back and let others go there, I wanted to be out there myself. Even if I did have no idea about how to talk to strangers about Jesus (let alone in French!)! And on the 14th July, the adventure began...

The weekend was spent with all of the Global teams, supporting, encouraging and preparing each other for the week that lay ahead in our various destinations. We attended our leader, Jaz's church on the Sunday for the prayer meeting before the service and then had the immense privilege of praying for her before she preached. The presence of the holy spirit has never been more tangible for me, than it has been throughout this week and it has made me realise that I need to begin every day filled with it. After the service we ate lunch at the houses of church members. I ate lunch with a lovely family, and got to spend the whole afternoon having lego races with the vehicles we made...I was 5 all over again! The hilight of that, was being able to pray for the family and encourage them before we went on our journey.

On our last evening in Croydon, Stef Liston spoke about explaining the gospel in conversations with people, and when and how to use it. As usual I was slightly scared by his talk, but this time I wanted to rise to the challenge and run with it. This talk was followed by a time of prayer and getting right with God. I drew closer to him, and made sure that I handed every part of me over to him, so that nothing negative had power over me, however small or seemingly insignificant. It was an incredible night and it was a great way to end the weekend before we split into our teams and headed for France the next day.