Moving house and being attacked

Before you jump on the phone or emal me, I'm ok, I'm being spiritually attacked, I think. I feel awful this morning despite a good start to the day. I don't know whats wrong with me. So pray...
I moved house yesterday, so I can settle in for a few months in the run up to Christmas, and have some space. I'm in a nice house with a double bed! It's going to be good fun!
My laptop is playing up, so pray that I can work effectively in 20 min slots, cos thats all its gving me at the moment.
I'm off to Southampton to see Helen tomorrow, so that should be fun, we're going to Paultons! Pray for her knees!
I'm going to Globe Cafe now and then on to Davids lunch, and RE:fresh this evening, busy!

Tuesday

Nothing special happened today. I've done a lot, but it was mainly reading and getting to know stoke Gifford a little better. Currently I am rendered inefficient for about an hour each day as I have a cream to put in my eye as I have a localised infection. So now I have blurry vision for 20 mins three times a day, which makes working a little frustrating, but if it means I'm getting better, then why not!? I'm also shocked at having to pay £6.65 for a prescription, it gets more expensive every time I got to the doctor, and frankly I don't have the money to pay for it, but if I'm ill then what can I do? Obviously volunteer workers aren't meant to get ill!

I've managed to cook my first ever lasagne, its for student age pastorate tomorrow, I am also in charge of dessert - so we shall see how that works out - again getting money from nowhere!

As my Dad has already mentioned, Karen was welcomed offically in to the church family (very similar to a baptism!) and I have some photos to share!!



Mum, Karen and Nan in St Hugh's after the 11am service



Karen with a young person and is now offically in charge of most (if not all) of the groups she is attending!



The Church Karen has the keys to, St Hugh's.

So there you have it, a couple of photos from my sister who is a full fledged youth worker, and likely to be for some while yet!

I'm going to try on a new tshirt for Rock Solid and going to apply some cream to my eye!

Fly past

I saw the red arrows up close today, it was really cool, they were flying in their classic v formation and I watched them land. It's the first time in a long time that I've been amazed by something. Totally besotted almost! Its a very strange feeling. I don't know why they were in Bristol, but if I see them again, I'll let you know.

I managed to spend most of my day in the office on my own today, working for a good few hours on getting things ship shape for wednesday and reviewing various aspects of my job, including how I'm going to change things and what I expect from the year. I have to find the person who has the install cd for the office printer, otherwise I'm going to have to email everything to my boss!!

Fresher's Fayre

At UWE. It was really good fun and I got to see two people that I haven't seen since the back end of August. Two very familiar faces, so a little bit of home is in Bristol and inviting me for a drink too!! I've spent the whole day talking to international students, some who I vaguely remember, others who I'd never seen before and didn't know who BISC were. I met a few english students who were willing to help out and some who didn't quite know why they were drawn to the stand.

We were positioned opposite a group called 'Gender is fake' and being the sociology student that I am I had to go and talk to them. They have a very good point of view - why should we conform to the stereotypes around us? and that gender is a changing thing, it is also a created notion and we have a different idea of what gender is today than what it was in history. Though a few of the things they did say were a little off. For instance 'its the church's fault we are a patriarchal society', well male dominated society goes back farther than Christ and they also need to look at religion with a different view point, because that is changing constantly too. Think of denominations and sects that spring up all over the place and alter the view of religion once again. Also a very good point was made when I was discussing the subject with a fellow BISCit, God made us male and female for a reason, we are equal but we are different, not as an excuse, but as a good thing - we're not meant to be androgenous (lack of gender identification). Can you imagine a world full of people who didn't know their own identity? We need the differences to keep the world going. So if you're called to lead, then lead, we need teachers and we need listeners, but we are all equal under the love of God. Am I making sense?

Something else that I spotted today was another religious matter, to do with the JW's this time. They are a lovely bunch of people, but they do have a habit of adding sentences to scripture! 1 John 2:17 reads like this "The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." Not like this "The world (including its demon rulers) is passing away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." Spot the difference. It comes from (surprise, surprise) the JW's version of scripture. Umm...

I have to go to bed, I'm off to Lu'on to see my sister tomorrow morning.

Richard Hammond

My favourite Top Gear presenter has been involved in a serious car crash. Richard Hammond was driving a car similar to a Vampire - you can read more about it here. I'm glad there's been so much support for him and his family. I'm going to be praying for him and is family over the next couple of days, as he receives treatment.

PBF

Yar 7 lunch time club that was a lot of fun, 11 children turned up for the assebly that we did yesterday, so a good number. There's not a lot else going on at the moment, this evenin is a bit busy for me, as I have two place to be at. Mettle happens tonight and so does student social. So we shall see how tired I am tomorrow for a 7am start so that I can do an assembly with Trev at St Michael's Primary school!

Geeks and laptops

Karen how on earth do you know Henry and I are geeks? Unless you know an awful lot about Lost, you can't possibly understand why we've got those bars and how good the chocolate was inside them!! Having said that, I have kept the wrapper and I did post the photo on the whereisalvar.com site! And also, dearest, I only look over my glasses if I'm being cheeky, which I think I was at that point. I did have 40 teenagers in front of my and they were being just as cheeky!
I seem to have fixed my laptop issue for now. I've got it perched on my diary so that the fans can work properly and it can charge without making crazy noises!
I have been into Fliton High School today, to do a year 7 assembly. It was alright, spaghetti hair and weetabix words. We've already got more booked in and I am looking forward to it. I have the evening off so I'm looking forward to that too!

Knees and reality!

Helen, thank you for the hug, much appreciated! I'm not complaining (or starting), just merely stating a fact!
Dad, I know, I'm learning that slowly. I think I'm trying to acknowledge the fact that I am actually good at this, thus following a pattern very similar to my last year out. (Yes this is the second one, and no I don't intend on doing any more!) I don't think there is anything sinister going on, but we can discuss more when I see you next week. :D

2 days later

And I don't ache, very much. I have a slight knee problem, but its a muscle issue rather than anything else. I hope. I can imagine that every part of my should be ok after such a long walk, so I'm glad that there aren't any major problems.
Yesterday evening went very well apparently, but my own opinion is slightly different from my boss'. I have a habit of finding a few problems with everything I do, like I didn't say everything that needed to be said, and it didn't flow properly. My boss thought differently, and wondered why I'm not bouncing along really happy with everything. To be honest I am feeling lonely at the moment. I'll be alright soon, but at the moment, reality is kicking in and I'm feeling it!

Walking snowdon

It was lots of fun. Exhausting, but I got a lot out of it and a keyring! We spent 17 hours together in the end. 5 hours there - we went cross country, multi map told us too, so we didn't start walking til 12 noon. It took us two hours to go 2256ft, which is impressive when I though I wouldn't be able to make it to the first stop. The first 20 mins is the hardest part, it's incredibly steep and if you're not used to it, you feel like dying after the first ten steps. Anyway, we gt to the final push and I looked up to see this:



Not fun! So we stayed at the train station and didn't go much higher. I am really proud of myself, Trev and Ant. We were all really excited to be doing it and happy to complete it. Ant reckons his volunteers are going to do it every year with him, though I think he changed his mind when he woke up in pain this morning.

I'm off now, I have a reading to do and a youth group to run!

Walking up Snowdon

Tomorrow, which will very shortly be today, I, along with Trev and Ant will be walking mount snowdon. If you don't know where that is (as some of the young people don't) look here. As for those who do know, now you can know the welsh name too - Yr Wyddfa, which translates to 'The Tomb'. I dread to think why, but can't read welsh for the life of me to find out. I will blog on sunday to let you know if I survived!

New Phone

I'm sending it back. It's too wide to be comfotable in my hand and the texting is different. Too be honest I don't have the energy to swap all my numbers and I think I'm actually fightened of finding that it might not work and having another arguement wih Orange about getting a different phone from them. Maybe I'm just not confidant with the service provider any more. Oh well, I'll just have to hope that my Nokia sticks it out of a bit longer and that I can get a magic number so I can go up a band or something.
It's bowling tonight fr the mettle social so I'm going to have fun and get to know a few more people.

More problems with Orange

I have spent a good twenty minutes on the phone to orange sorting out a new phone from them. So now I'm hopefully getting a phone that works tomorrow. We'll see though. After being sent all over the place because I'd made my order online, I finally got trough to them that I wanted a motorola and not a sony ericsson. It seems that Sony Ericsson are changing their range and not stocking any of their old range, so I can't have the phone I want, but Orange didn't tell me that. I had to ring them up and find out that piece of information!
I phoned their 0500 number, which has changed (they didn't tell me that either) only to be told that I was in the wrong place and needed to phone 150 again. Angry letter coming your way Orange!

Orange and lecturers

I've managed to sort out my call plan. Note to all Orange customers who aren't in the last three months of their plans, change your service bundle - the easiest and cheapest way to get more minutes on a plan.
I also received an email from my lecturer about my exam paper today, saying that there shouldn't be a mistake. I rather bluntly told him that I wasn't looking for a mistake I was looking for a reason as to why my marks are so drastically different. Look at the 11 August for the full details. I'm going to be on top of him for the next couple of weeks because generally he can be useless some times.

Established

I'm now a part of the community - I've been to register at the doctors surgery! I haven't done anything else today as it is my day off. There's not a lot to report other than that really. I've been watching Sky all day and trying to figure out the best way to get a good deal on my phone. I'm going to be phoning a lot more rather than texting now so i need a better deal other wise I'm going to end up living on nothing. I know God will provide but I need to do something too.

Testimony

I shared the story of my faith with the Christian Union at Filton High School today. It was a good chance for some of the girls in the youth group to get to know me. They didn't have any questions for me but I'm sure that in time they will. Its been hard for me to get to know everyone because I haven't had to make any new friends for a while. Now I realise that its a difficult skill, one that goes away after awhile, and takes time to start up again. Still I am learning to get alongside people this year and hopefully move on to something more permanent.
I'm also learning to cope with living with a dog. It's only for a month, but at least I know I'm not allergic to them in anyway. I'm going to learn how o walk him so I can be a little more helpful.

Being introduced in church

I was actually in church this morning. I could've been in the OSR, but I was interviewed by Wiz and introduced to the half of the congregation that I hadn't met yet. Never before have I felt so many people looking at me, just after I'd sat down. I was prayed for again and left for RS2 shortly after. So all is not that bad.
Henry arrived safely in Canterbury and has found Burger King already. He's living with six other people in a student house and sound like he is looking forwad to starting every thing. I miss him loads.
Just been on the phone to my Dad too, still playing bubble shooter and talking about going racing, aren't we Dad? Don't forget to read his blog too, apparently his sermon went down well this morning.

From Great Malvern to Canterbury

Henry leaves tomorrow so he can start training to be an English teacher for primary aged children. It's always difficult to say goodbye to him, but I now that he's in the right place for it and will be challenged by the lecturers and kids. I know I'm probably never going to see him teach, but I am really proud of how well he has done this year and what he is going to be up to this year. So I spent the day with him in Malvern, helping to pack and playing games. Spoke to his mum and dad briefly as well. I'm not going to see him for a while, there are a few times I could see him, but this term is busy. Pray for us.
I was told about a website called yournotme.com. It tells you about how many people share your name. I'm not sure how it works but I guess its on electoral roll. Lots of fun and I've found a few unique names, although I'm not. There are 371 people with the name Elizabeth Fisher.
On other things, I found out that HP don't do phone support, so I wasted money trying to get information out of them about buying a new battery or battery charger. I was wanting to talk to someone online but couldn't find the site for it, so gave up by emailing the MD. I also want to email the webmaster and tell them that some of the pages don't work on Firefox.
I also discovered that the new phone I've ordered is out of stock, despite the orange website saying it was free, so I'm having to take timeout of my day to check whether its back in stock. There's not an option on the automated service that says 'If our service has disappointed you again and you would like to complain, please press...' so I just have to deal with being a grumpy old women by ranting online.
Finally, I'm being introduced to the other half of church tomorrow, so I have to be alert, to take in the faces of everyone around me. Woo hoo!

Lots to do

I've been so bust over the last week, I'm finding it hard to stay awake at the moment.
I've been helping out at BISC for a week, helping International Students settle in to life in a new country. Today was the busiest day so far, I've been helping to arrange lifts and viewings for renting this morning and didn;t get away until well after 1pm. It was brilliant though. It's great to phone people, ask if they can do something and find that they can. Also the students love the contact and enjoy chatting to us.
This afternoon I've been shopping at Cribbs Causeway, which is just like Lakeside, except bent in the middle. I didn't get any help from the lady in the Orange shop, so I removed myself from that and met Cathrine, who showed me around.
Now I'm back, sorting out various things before my first offical Re:fresh. I've got a present to wrap and a card to write for someone who's going to Canterbury on Sunday. Guess who? I'm seeing him tomorrow so I should really do it now, but I've got time later on!
Dinner's ready!

St Michael's, Stoke Gifford

All is peachy in the world of Stoke Gifford. Its a wonderful job and I'm already saying no to people. I'm working with everyone from the age of 11 and focusing on the student pastorate that already exists.
I've been into UWE and introduced to one half of St Michael's. I've also been to The Mix, which is in Woodlands, Bristol.
I don't have much else to say as I know my boss may read it now!! Hello Ant!