Prayer for Western Europe
All of the Crusade STINTers in Western Europe are joining together and praying for Western Europe on the 1st of each month. That is tomorrow! If you would please join me in praying for all of the ministries going on in W. Europe, we have teams in:
Edinburgh, Liverpool, Cilarno, Freiburg, Pisa, Rome, Sweden and a few other locations. Some of us are also fasting, and if that is something you would be interested in that would also be very appreciated.
CU House Party
I spent this last weekend at the Christian Union's (CU) House Party. A House Party is really just a retreat. Agape was asked to cook for the weekend. We did a lot of cooking. There were about 130ish students at the weekend. They were broken into 3 kitchens and there were three cooks per kitchen.
This was a great opportunity for us to get to know people better. I had hoped I would get to know students better, but I didn't have very many opportunities to do that. I did get to know some of the workers from the CU better.
Part of Agape's role is to support the other Christian Organizations in Edinburgh. When we are asked to do something like this we really like to help as much as we can. Even though I didn't get to know very many students, I did see a lot of them and had some good conversations. They will probably remember us since we supplied their bellies with yummy food and it will give us opportunities for future conversations.
Like most other weekends when you are cooking one meal ends and it is time to prepare for the next. I had hoped I would be able to catch a session or two during the weekend, but I wasn't able to catch any. I was however able to go to the
Ceilidh.
Like I had written about before a Ceilidh is a traditional Scottish dance. The ones where students are involved are very fun and fast paced. It is something that is really hard to explain. The best words I can come up with are a "Barn Dance of Crack". I say that because there are certain moves and many times you and your partner will join with other partners and dance.
The Strip the Willow is a favorite and here is how it is performed:
Strip the Willow
So basically you and your partner link arms and dance around the center and then you dance with the person on your side of the line and then your partner and then the next person. For this dance just about everybody participates, so there are generally 2-3 lines with like 20 couples. It is exhausting, and by the time you are at the end you are out of breath.
So you get to dance the entire way down and while you are waiting for your turn down you dance with each couple when they get to you. It really is a blast. You can't call it a good Ceilidh unless you leave with a bruise :) There was one dance at this one where 2 couple form a basket and the 2 guys lift up the 2 girls and spin them around. I sat that one out, but it looked fun!
I am now oh so tired and it is only 8:00 ish, I could sleep aleady.
Chocolate
Question
There's a bar of chocolate in front of you. Your mouth starts watering.
How do you cope?
Answer
Follow these 5 steps
Leave the chocolate, go to the kitchen and get a banana. Eat the banana.
Still want the chocolate?
If so, go and get a fat-free yogurt. Eat the yogurt.
Still want the chocolate?
If so, go and get a bowl of cereal with low-fat milk. Eat the cereal.
Still want the chocolate?
If so, make yourself a sandwich with whole wheat bread. Eat the sandwich.
Still want the chocolate?
Then eat it!!
However, 9 times out of 10, by the time you?ve eaten all this food, you won?t have the slightest interest in eating the chocolate! And don?t worry about eating this food. It's very good for you.
cold
Function: adjective
Text: 1 marked by a deficiency of warmth (a cold day)
Synonyms arctic, chill, chillsome, chilly, cool, freezing, frigid, frore, frosty, gelid, glacial, icy, nippy, shivery
Related Word biting, bleak, chilling, cutting, nipping, polar, raw, sharp; frozen, iced, wintry; bracing, brisk, crisp, snappy
Much Humility
When God made girls He was so proud.
When God made boys He was so upset.
When God made me He was just showing off!
It is amazing how a weekend can wear you out. I thought you were suppose to be all ready for you week after resting during the weekend. That is not how I feel.
I do feel VERY full. We had a proper Sunday lunch after church today. It was so yummy. You have to try bread sauce sometime. We had roasted chicken, fresh rolls, veggies. We then had yummy brownies with custard for dessert and coffee.
We then all played video games (ok, so I didn't cause I don't like them) , played with the baby and enjoyed each others company.
All in all I did have a very fun weekend and day-- even if it was exhausting. I am now chilling on the couch and doing as little as possible.
Fun Day o'Shopping
Today was a fun day of shopping. I bought myself a hat and matching gloves/mittens. They are really cool! The gloves don't have the finger tips (except the fhumb) and there is a part that flaps over to become mittens, so cute!!! I also found a few other small Christmas gifts.
We spent all day on the Royal Mile. It is a cool place and there are so many shops.
Mice update
There was a mouse spotted in my bedroom-- this this is going down!!
Ok, I am knackered from all the shopping. In bed by midnight!!
Question
would you rather have the mouse run around with out a trap or set a trap and hear it go off while you are sleeping?
Full House
Wow, I think there are 12 people staying at our flat tonight. The five girls from Liverpool, the 12 of us who live here and then another friend who tends to stay over from time to time. Even with all of those people we could easily have more people stay over we have another couch in the living room and a fold out couch that isn't being used.
The Moon
As I look out my window I can see an awesome view of the moon with clouds all around it. It is such an awesome sight. Just thinking about the moon and that it is seen all around the world and everything. Thinking about the great things God has created and blessed us with.
My Day
Today was a great day. We have been having cultural training with the Liverpool team. One would think that two days of training wouldn't be that much fun, but it really was. The team from Liverpool is awesome. They're such a fun team and really know how to be a team together, we could learn from them. After training was over for the day we took them to the Royal Mile and the Castle. All the touristy things. It was fin. They all then came over here for pizza. There are nine of them plus some of our team. We watched movies together, ate and many other fun things. It was a good day.
I somehow managed to make brownies for them with like half the amount of sugar needed. Surprisingly they aren't as bad as you would have thought, but they could be better. They did get eaten. I found an awesome recipe for cream cheese brownies and they are so good (when made correctly).
Tomorrow we are going to take them out to the Royal Mile and shopping on Princess Street. Looking forward to that.
We have Monday off and it is suggested to be used as a day of refreshment, I am looking for a place to go for the day. There are a lot of places around that I could make a day trip out of.
Wet
All night it was so windy and rained and my windows shook all night long. When it is like that is is basically raining sideways and walking in it is not fun. It is cold and wet. I will be heading out in that very soon.
What do you need to leave behind?
Have you ever thought about what you need to leave behind to follow Jesus? It wasn't about what the disciples had to offer Jesus. It was about what they left behind to follow Him. They were normal everyday people, like you and me. It isn't like we are going to some day be ready to serve Christ. It is in our weaknesses that Christ uses us. We are just vessels here on earth.
I have been thinking about what I need to leave behind, and it is painful. It is funny how hard we cling to things. I want to be used by God-- am I ready for that? I know He is using me, but am I being used to the most of my potential?
Father, use me. Show me what it is you want me to leave behind and help me to leave it at your feet. I am ready to be a fisher of men, here are my nets.
Do you ever feel as if your life is like running a marathon? I feel like I am just running and running. Right now I know that God sent me here, but I have never known why. That is something I want to be able to answer.
Lately I have been really busy and really tired. The thing is that my schedule is going to become even more crazy and busy. I have had a pretty bad attitude about things. I haven't wanted to do things, but I have, and God has blessed me through those things. I want to have a good attitude. I want to have an attitude like that of Christ Jesus. I want to consider others more than I consider myself.
I really think maybe I am going through some weird stage of the adjustment cycle. I feel happy here, but I miss people. I don't know how healthy it is to stay in constant contact with everybody back home. I need to set limits in order to stay healthy. I need to live here. This is really hard for me to say. I do love you all. Please keep me in your prayers. I hope this doesn't come off real confusing and you don't think I care about you-- that isn't the case.
~Confused in Scotland
Murder Mystery
Tonight we had a murder Mystery party. It was for Jo's 21st birthday. There were about 20 of us here. I was a German Romance novelist. I also was a drug dealer. It really was a good evening. Four people died. Wish I could say more, but I am tired (its after 2 am).
Critters in the night
Ok, last night when I was in bed doing a few things on my computer in the wee hours of the morning I thought I saw something in dash across in front of me. Nah, I thought it is a figment of my imagination, but then out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw something again. Mind you it was like 2:30 am. So I was planning on going to sleep so I shut my computer and turned off the light. I kept haring noises, but it was raining outside and my computer was humming. But it was freaky, so I put earplugs in and went to sleep. I really hope it wasn't a rat or a mouse.
If it was I think they are moving on. They were upstairs and now they are down here, next they will be moving down to the next flat. Good for us, not for them.
I hate when I stay up so late that I get hungry again. It is now 2:30 and I am up. no real reason why I am still up. I think part of me thinks why not since tomorrow is a day off. Woo Hoo!! Oh how I am going to enjoy that. We are supposed to have every Saturday off, but things always seem to come up. Since it is really a day off I am going to enjoy it as much as I can. Night night.
Oh yeah, today it rained so hard that you came home soaked. Last night I walked home from the bus station in the rain and today back from a meeting in the rain. I sense a patter here. I have to walk a lot and it rains a lot, which means I get wet a lot!! Lucky me. I guess I need to use my nice pink umbrella I brought over with me, but when it is windy and rainy it doesn't help much. Ok, sweet dreams to me.
This morning I just laid in bed until 9:30. My bed was so nice and warm and I didn't want to get out of it. I don't have anything until 11, so it is ok.
So last night we booked a flight to PARIS!!!! We are going to go for a long weekend and the tickets were only 20 pounds!! I can't wait. We are probably going to stay in a Hostel for about 14 Euros a night. Wow, you can travel for really cheap in Europe. Go Ryanair.
This is the hallway of our flat at the Grub Crawl where about 120 people crammed into our spacious flat. You can't see much, but that is me and the picture was taken from the stairs where there are 3 bedrooms upstairs. Downstairs you can see the door to the living room and the door off to the right is my bedroom. We have 2 bathrooms and a total of 6 bedrooms, a very spacious kitchen and the living room also has a dining room table in it that seats 10. It is a great place to live in. We welcome guests :)
Spiritual Breathing
How long can you go with out breathing? Breathing is a life sustaining tool that we need in order to breath.
Just like breathing and filling our lungs with air we need to breath spiritually to fill ourselves with the Spirit.
We are to confess our sins and exhale out (1 John 1:9) and inhale in the Spirit and be filled with it (Ephesians 5:18) and ask things in His name (1 John 5:14,15).
We are commanded to do this and it has made such a difference in my life. To take the time with Him to be ready for meeting up with students, and when sharing and just in general being filled with Him.
Try to spiritually breathe this week.
Seeing my Breath
Today when I was walking at 9:15 am I could see my breath. Yikes, that shows hold cold it is already, can't wait until December :). It has turned into a very lovely day though.
We had a time of prayer and praise as a team. It was good to take the time to share with each other how things are and praise together.
Action Group Time
Ever Thursday we go out as a team and do an action group. Today the training part was about transitioning from the survey into the Gospel. With the first girl I didn't even bother trying, as she was so distracted and just wanted to hang out with her friends.
We then surveyed a second group of girls. There girls were very friendly and we got into a really good conversation with them. We had asked them a few questions and then asked them "who or what is God to you?" and they both had answered showing that they knew who God is. They both also thought it was possible to have a relationship with God and wanted to know God better. There was my change to transition, but instead of just transitioning I talked with them a bit more and asked if they wanted to know more about knowing God personally and they both answered "yes". So I told them about a series we run called connect. This is a series with non-believers that goes over Who God is, and prayer and things like that. They are both interested and we should be meeting up with them soon to do that!!
How awesome is that!! People here really want to know God more and are interested in talking about Him if the subject is brought up. The problem is that the subject is rarely brought up. I am so glad He provided for it to be brought up with these girls today!!
We have another mouse..........................
Alas-- Pictures of Edinburgh
People have been asking for pictures, so here you are. These are most of the touristy things, I want to later add a "Edinburgh through the eyes of Carrie" but you will have to wait for that one. As you can see it is such a beautiful city. Enjoy.
Just so you know-- almost all of these photos are on nice clear days, that is not the usual case. :)
Old Town Skyline
I couldn't forget a bagpiper!!!
This is a good view of Old Town and you can see the castle off in the distance on top if the volcanic hill it sits on.
It may just look like a big mound of dirt, but this is what it really is-- The remains of a volcano that erupted under water during the Carboniferous period, Arthur's Seat is located within Holyrood Park in the centre of Edinburgh. Although only 250m (823 feet) in height, Arthur's Seat is a notable landmark, dominating the city. Known also as the Lion's Head, Arthur's Seat is the highest of a series of peaks which take the form of a crouched lion.
Here is the famous Greyfriars Bobby.
Here is the catle again, ok I think that is the last one.
A good view of the castle
The gardens at dusk
Princess Street Gardens
Looking across Princess Street Gardens to old town
This is a view of part of the City from the castle. You can see part of Princess Gardens, but not the pretty part.
This is where the Scottis Crown Jewels are kept. Edinburgh castle is rated to number one castle in all of Scotland (and there are lots)
Another view of the Castle
This is a picture of Edinburgh Castle from Princess Gardens. The castle is up on a hill. Some times I will be walking and just look up and there the castle is, it is really weird to think about. There is also a great view of the castle from the livingroom window of our flat. Come visit me and you can see what a beautiful place Edinburgh is :)
How cold is it here ??
That is what I was wondering to myself today, so I looked it up online. According to weather.com today it was 48 degrees Fahrenheit. That was the high in October. It did however feel like 46 degrees. So it is pretty cold and will get cold. Sometime I will post a picture of me all bundled up ready to go out in the weather.
Thanks TB for the card it brightened up a gloomy day outside.
Today I helped our staff couple move from a third floor flat to a second floor flat. That was a lot of steps. Then I watched a one year old for a few hours. That made it a very tiring day. As I accended that stairs to go up to our fourth floor flat I dreaded it, but I made it :)
Hope y'all enjoy your Saturday. xoxo carrie
Question of the Day:
Are you an optimist or a pessimist and what are the strengths and weaknesses of that for you? I know the question may seem odd, but I have found that I am a bit of an extreme optimist and therefore it never seems like anything is wrong. I always see the cloud with the silver lining, that things went great. That means that I don't seem to see the other side and possibly learn from things.
I don't know, those are just my thoughts, take time to answer the question, I would like to hear what people think.
Such good friends
I was thinking today about what good friends I have. You know who you are. I appreciate everything you do and have done for me. Your prayers, the good times we have had. I do miss you all. I wish this could be more personal to each of you but I love you and am praying for you. xoxo carrie
Blessed Be Your Name
by Matt Redman
Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be your name
Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name
Every blessing you pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
Every blessing you pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord Blessed be your name
Whipped Cream
This may not be as exciting to some as it is to me, but I just turned double cream into whipped cream by whipping it. It was exciting. I am finding that there are so many things here that are still done the old fashioned way. No going to the shop and buying a tub of whipped cream, make it yourself. Very fun!!
Phone Call
I took a phone call tonight that came with a list of responsibilities. Up until now I haven't really been doing a whole lot of the leading on the team, our campus director has. I think he has decided that it is time to see what I can do. I get to run the meeting on Monday. This meeting is the planning of our STINT team project. Our project is to decode Glasgow. That means going to Glasgow and finding out about the universities there, what the people are like. Meeting people. The team next year will probably be in Glasgow instead of Edinburgh and we are going to get the foundation set for them. This is a project we could use prayers for.
Wow, I went from not really having enough to do to probably having too much to do. We do a lot of discipleship and I seemed to go from discipling about three girls to having a case load of eight. That is a lot. We are suppose to have three or four regulars and then a few more. It seemed like over night I somehow filled up my entire schedule. Since each discipleship appointment takes about 2 hours I spend a lot of time on appointments.
I learned how to knit today!! So cool. I think I like crocheting better, but it was fun. I have also been working on about 3 scarves at a time.
October Already
I cannot believe that today is October 1st. It seems like this year just started and it is so close to being over. When looking back on the year a whole lot has happened. I applied and was accepted to STINT. They asked me to lead the team. I graduated from college!!! He provided all the funding for me to go to Scotland. I left for Scotland and am here now. That is just a few of the things. It really makes me think of all the things He has done for me this year and how much I have grown. Four years ago there would have been no way I would have seen myself in another country doing full time ministry. WOW, God is good!!!!
Back to life in Edinburgh
One of our mice was caught last night. It is somewhat sad. I was happy to hear it was captured, but when I saw it in the trap I was sad, and somewhat petrified. We are on the way to being rid of the creatures. I think I am ok with that, I just don't prefer to see them caught in the trap. I even got to carry the lifeless creature down to the bin for a burial in the trash heap.
Leg Warmers
I saw people wearing leg warmers today! How cool. I loved those things. Since there were two people wearing them maybe is is becoming a fad again. They certainly are warranted here.
Fashion
I cannot believe what some people wear here. I thought that the short little skirts with Uggs was a CAli thing, not so much. You see people wearing that here. There just is normally a pair of tights with them. I looked at shoes today, my weakness. I was proud of myself and didn't buy anything.
Monopoly
We have played monoploy a couple times in the last couple weeks. I really haven't played that much before. The first night we played I really didn't like the game. I lost horribly. I had a bad attitude about it, and the guy that won was a bit braggy, so it wasn't too much fun. He did win majorly and I don't blame him for being like that.
We played again last night. It was actually Ednburghopoly. Again, I was loosing and wasn't really enjoying the game. I was dreading going around the corner where all the hotels were. I was in jail and that didn't seem like too bad of a thing. I used a get out of jail free card and then rolled a 10!! Woo hoo!!! I got free parking and there was so much in there. Another player had to leave and all that he owned was in there and it completed a couple of the colors I had and I was able to buy hotels on them!! Now the game was getting interesting :) In the end I didn't win, but it was a very close game. Fun times.
I bought some yarn today so I can start crocheting again (is that spelled correctly?) I have been wanting to make scarves again. There has to be a couple more shops that have good yarn. It will be an adventure finding those. My mom is also sending me some of the yarn I had at home (I have tons).
