Winding Down

It is crazy to think that I only have only 1 full day left in London! We leave Sunday for Paris for a few days of debrief and being able to briefly experience another culture. This week of ministry was wonderful and I'd love to share some highlights.

On Wednesday I went around UCL/SOAS (the campuses are right next to eachother) with my teammate Libba. We had such an encouraging conversation! We approached this girl sitting by herself and smoking, so we thought it would be a good time to see if she wanted to take our worldview survey. Right as I began to introduce ourselves and explain what we were doing, she looked up and it was obvious she had been crying. I stopped and Libba and I asked if she was okay. She was sweet and began wiping tears from her eyes and just said that she felt like she had failed the exam she had just taken. She said her name was Nadia as we sat down next to her and we were just going to comfort her--but she really wanted to take our worldview survey (I think she just really needed something to distract her). As we began talking, it was so cool to see her open up. She said she considered herself agnostic, yet was very familiar with the Christian faith because she grew up Catholic. After the survey, she began to ask us questions. She asked if we had adhered to all of the rules of Christianity. We chuckled and assured her we had not. We used her question as an opportunity to talk about what sin actually is and its effect in our lives (the brokenness we see and experience). Libba and I were both able to share our testimonies and the Gospel with Nadia and she listened very attentively and asked a lot of questions. She admitted at one point that she wanted to "experience" God...to be "moved" by Him and  that would encourage her to believe. She said she was an "all or nothing" person and would only say she believed if she truly did. I loved her honesty. I've been praying for her the last few days--especially that she would be sensitive to the tug of the Holy Spirit and respond to the free gift of grace God offers through the cross. Please join me in praying for Nadia. One side-note/thing I learned from the interaction: Libba and I talked after our conversation that it seems like Nadia is very lonely. She is older (close to 30) and took time off of school to dance as a professional ballerina. As she talked about giving ballet up, I felt like I could really relate to her. This coming fall is my last season as a collegiate/competitive/legit athlete. I have had mixed feelings about it so far but I realized throughout the conversation with Nadia that I am so thankful for the hope that Christ brings. That even though it is inevitably going to be sad, I'm also struck with the fact that my identity is not built on volleyball. This project has stretched me because its taken me way out of my comfort zone. I haven't been able to rely on my family, my reputation, my sport, Young Life, or my friends from the states. Jesus has been gently reminding me that even though volleyball is and has been a wonderful blessing in my life--its not me. 

Thursday night was our last student social over at our flat. We had a bunch of students come that we had met on campus over the past couple of weeks. I had a wonderful conversation with Phoebe, a Chinese student at Birkbeck. We talked for a long time and it was so cool to hear all about her life. She emphasized the loneliness she feels here in London and how "warm-hearted" we (the summer project team) all were. How encouraging to hear that she experienced love from our community! She is going to get connected to Student Life (CRU) as she continues to explore Christianity and what it would mean to follow Christ.

Our last Thursday night dinner 

Phoebe and I at our Thursday night social

Today I had a follow-up appointment with a girl named Laura that I had met on LSE's campus last week. She is from China and is studying for her Masters degree. It was a great conversation. We laughed and chatted about movies (her favorite is Wall-e), her course (British way of saying her "major"), and swapped random funny stories. We also spent a good bit of time talking about faith. She said she doesn't know if there is a God. However, she said she loves hearing about people's experience who do believe in God so I shared with her how my life before Jesus was different from my life now. I left her the Knowing God Personally booklet that lays out the Gospel very clearly. We exchanged e-mail addresses so I pray that she'll read through the booklet in the coming days and email me with questions or whatnot. I loved sitting there with Laura and thinking that out of everyone we see at LSE on that given day, the Holy Spirit led China and I to approach Laura last week...and now there I was, getting to share a meal with her, telling her about the freedom I have experienced in Jesus. I am so thankful that the Lord placed Laura in my life and I'm excited to be praying for her throughout the year and to give her contact information to the full-time staff to follow up on how she is doing.

Tonight was a farewell banquet for our project team that was hosted by the London staff team. It was a great night of memories and laughter. We also spent time in prayer for the city of London, the students we met (and the ones we didn't get to meet), and for the full-time staff. My heart for this city has really grown over the weeks I've been here. It truly is one of the greatest cities in the world. I've also learned about the strategy behind doing mission work in London. Countries from all over the world send their brightest men and women to study at these London universities and then these students most often return back to their countries to become the political and economic leaders of their country. Reaching out to these students means you are literally reaching out to the nations. They announced at the banquet that over our time here in London, we talked to students from a total of 46 different countries and we had over 200 spiritual conversations. Praise the Lord!

All of the girls of Buckinghot Palace

Paige, my running partner!

Andi, my roommate

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him.' 

--Lamentations 3:22-24

P.S.--Just a little comic relief: they gave out funny "awards" for each of us tonight [think of SB2W cabin awards] and I received the "Most likely to learn someone's life story in 3 minutes" award. Apparently Covenant's superlative of "Friendliest" has set a trend...