week in review.

A scene from the panto the youth group put on, "Rob Hood and That Fellow With the Ring"

It's been a while, so I thought I would give a little update. The past week has been full(er) and comparatively busier.

Monday: R and I started helping at an after school club. It's for the kids that live in schulmore (the neighborhood we live in) and for an hour and a half Mondays and Wednesdays they can come and play in a safe enviornment. I really enjoyed it and it's a great way to integrate more into the community. We know that they want us to be a presence in Schulmore, but it was hard to figure out how to do that, and I really think that this is a great way to meet more kids that aren't in the classes we help with at school.

Tuesday: Leeds, dress rehersal for the pantomine (panto), got burgled again...

Wedne...oh, maybe I should go back and elaborate a little more.

Tuesday: Leeds-we went there to do some shopping and finally to ASDA (part of the Wal-Mart family) and to a massive craft store. The youth group put on a panto this weekend, so we had dress rehersal on Tuesday; Rachel and I were helping out with make up and other miscellaneous things. During the rehersal, I get a call from the police and they are at the flat where we had just been burgled. This time they (the burglars, not police) got the whole lock off, and were able to get in. But, due to our great booby traps, they tripped the alarms, and so the police were able to respond in about 5 minutes, but not before they turned the furniture upside down, taken Rachel's jewlery and my laptop.

Being burgled is draining. And sad when a lot of my pictures were on the laptop, and most from this year weren't on my external harddrive. I'm really learning how to live without "things". I'm also continuing to learn about perseverence and endurance.

"Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing." James 1.2-4

The good news is though (I suppose that it's good news), that they were able to get the images from our little camera they installed in the peephole and took one person into custody (there were three fellows). And also regarding safety/living area: they are working on moving us to a different location. As much as we all think that the project's presence in Schulmore is positive and we should be there, it's time to literally pack up and move to a different spot.

Thursday-Friday-Saturday
The panto ran Thursday, Friday and twice today (saturday) and it was ace. They worked so hard on it, and there were just some lines that always made me laugh. It was a great way to get to know more members of the youth group more. The panto was a cross between Robin Hood and Lord of the Rings, with some knights from Monty Python in there just for fun. Pantos are huge over here, generally based on fables and fairy tales with the leading woman's role played by a man. It was actually pretty funny, although I think Rachel and I laughed the most tho...and we probably saw it the most times too.

Friday:

This is a picture with me and some of the girls in the class that I work with. Friday was World Book Day, so they all dressed up. I love my class (most of the time) they are so fun, even though they are a bunch of trouble makers (my class behaves so much worse than Rachel's).

Saturday

Today I also went with Paul Flowers to a real 'proper' football game. Mostly, I was just excited about the food we were served (anything with P. Flowers is posh, and since he works with the Co-op, we had box seats and lunch before...) Evidently it was I alone that was the good luck charm, Bradford City won 5-0. They also thought that I knew nothing of soccer/football. Even me in my limited knowledge of soccer and sports in general, know the basic concept of the game!

But keep us in your prayers! We are half way through!