What a crazy busy last 2 weeks it has been and apparently a WEEK since my last blog. What a SLACKER!!! School is just consuming every second and every minute of my day and even though I get home by 3:15 - 3:30PM, I am so tired -- teaching is so exhausting. I now know why some teachers go to be really early because the kids just suck the energy right out of you!
On Friday, we were both at school and to our surprise it started snowing outside. The kids were SO distracted all day peering out the window to see the snow fall so it was difficult to teach any lesson but we got through it. Eventually, you won't believe this....they cancelled all the schools and sent everyone home for a SNOW DAY with 1 inch of snow on the ground. What a joke!!!!!!! As Canadians, you can see why this would be so ridiculous because we don't cancel school for snow....EVER! It turned into some big snow/wind storm and by the time I got home, I was soaked, freezing and sitting in a house rocking back and forth because the water was so choppy!
This week has been interesting and the students have been pretty testy to say the least. Anthony and I have come across a few situations that we've had to deal with but it's all about the experience and if we can handle kids here in England, they'll be angels back in Canada. WOW is all I have to say! The kids here have no idea what it's like to seriously respect anyone including their classmates. However, I've whipped a few into shape already so slowly it's starting to turn around and depending on where we are both put next (if a different school), it may change and we may not have this much difficulty. Hormones are flying high and if I hear the phrase "I Love You" coming from anyone else but Anthony, I'm going to lose my mind!! I'm gonna start having to give kids detention because it's just getting bad now. All in a days work...you DEFINITELY have to have a tough skin to work here!
There was a piece of good news this weekend so that was really nice to experience compared to our crazy, whirlwind days - weeks of teaching. We went church hunting this weekend and decided that we would check out St. Peter's Church in Brighton. We had a take a couple of different buses to get there but we managed in the snowstorm....hahaha.....yes the snowstorm! It was so nice to hear the bells ringing as we walked up to the church - that is a sound that you don't hear of much anymore and it's so beautiful! Once we walked inside, I had an immediate overwhelming feeling of 'home'. It's hard to explain but I just felt as though this was the place we were supposed to be. I almost got emotional thinking about home and church and friends and it just caught me off guard a bit but I think in that moment, I realized that I actually missed home for the first time. Pushing back the tears, we were welcomed with open arms and there just in time for the service to begin. We sat down thinking that the church looked really empty, but to our surprise, the church instead had a nice time of refreshment and fellowship. It was such a nice change from what we normally do and the service then started 30 minutes later. We had SO many people people coming up and introducing themselves and they were so loving and kind to invite us to many things and welcome us to the service. It was so nice to meet people of all ages and groups and really start to get a feel for the church.
The worship began the service and immediately I was blown away by the talent and professionalism of the team. They were absolutely incredible and the girl who was singing had such a pure voice it was so amazing! I again immediately had the thought of singing at church and how much I missed it so to say the least, this was a hard first service to attend. The best way to describe the worship was "it sounded like a CD" - it was so good it wasn't distracting believe it or not. They were so good at what they were doing and they honestly sounded like "Hillsong" - it was such an unbelievable time of worship that both Anthony and I enjoyed. It was without distraction and the entire church was so FREE to worship - what a difference than what we're used to but it was SO refreshing. You could definitely feel the presence of God coming into the church. We were told before/after the service that the congregation feels as though there is something happening in this church and I'm starting to believe that's true. It's almost as if there is a mini revival of some sort just waiting to come to light. It's so exciting and it just draws you in...what an amazing feeling!
As the service went on, the preaching was fantastic and then there were altar calls and prayer flooding through the church. There were so many people ready to commit their lives to Christ or renew their faith in Him and it was so neat to see. As we were not used to the service structure, we assumed that it was a quiet lead off so that people could continue praying and focusing on God, but then the worship started coming back in and it got louder and louder and louder and just exploded with sound!! Everyone was on their feet and praising God and they were SO into the worship, I have never seen a whole church like that before and it was so invigorating and somewhat infectious! LOL...it just made you want to stand up and jump or lift your hands....so so so cool!!
After the service finally ended, we again had all these people coming up to us and introducing themselves and when we got talking to this couple, it was interesting to see the conversation bloom. We ended up finding out that the husband was a landlord that rented out to Christian singles/couples that were Canadian teachers!! We thought that was a riot and further into the conversation, we started telling them a little bit about our life and why we ended up in Europe. We came to the conclusion that we were called by God to come here and teach - whatever else he has planned for us we're still figuring out but the wife went on to share this verse with us:
Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
I got goosebumps as she was sharing this verse with us because in that second, I remembered that that exact verse was shared with us in our church before we left. In that moment, I realized that God was reaffirming our place here and through his grace, he will continue to bless us through work and provide us with everything we need as we continue to serve Him.
Looking forward to many more Sundays at St. Peter's Church.
Steph & Anthony xoxo
(the outside of St Peter's Church on a Sunny day...it's much bigger than the picture portrays)
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