International Youth Week 3 & I'm Very Tired!!

Well it's Tuesday morning and this is the last of three International Youth Weeks here at Capernwray. Each week has been very different, with a huge variety of guests and three different, but equally challenging speakers. The opportunity to lead meetings, share my testimony and present my own thoughts on God's word as well as sharing what I feel God has placed on my heart, has been really exciting.

Today we should be on a coach trip to Bowness-on-Windermere, but it's been lashing down with rain, so we are stranded at the house. We have pressed into service lots of tried and tested games and actually had some great fun.

Last night was Celidh (Kay-lee) dancing, but again it was too wet to do this in the courtyard, so we did it in the sports hall. Very good fun, but extremely hot, sweaty and resulting in many blisters!

Last week I spent my day off looking at railways again and therefore this picture is just for you Dad (you're the only one who will be remotely intererested, but I think it's a good picture! It was taken at Haworth station on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway - setting of "The Railway Children" novel).

On Saturday Ian, Jo, Erynne (who are on the guest team with me) and I went out for lunch. Ian is a local, and knew a good pub, so we went to The Railway Inn, which is right next to Ribble Head viaduct on the Settle to Carlise Railway. Another good place to watch trains. OK no more about trains.

Jenny and I are reading through the book of Job togther and emailing our thoughts and comments back and forth across the Atlantic, which is great and proving really useful.

I am hoping that I will be home on Friday 8th September, but should then go straight up to Sizewell for the MCF church weekend. I am also really hoping that Jenny will be coming back from Canada sometime around then, so maybe some of you will get to meet this amazing young lady.

Please pray for the young people here this week. Many of them are Christians, but also lots do not yet know the transforming power of Jesus Christ. Please pray that God will speak to them in ways that they cannot fail to here this week. Please pray for us as a team. We are all functioning on limited sleep and sometimes putting on a smile can be difficult, but we are enjoying the challenge and learning a lot from each other and from the young people.

Some Pictures from Family Week 1

Ian, me and our two new mates - Federico & Davide (from Rome)










The Guest Team!

Tuesday - A Day of Rest

Tuesday is my day off. So I drove up to Ravenglass and had a ride on the Ravengalss and Eskdale Railway - may be dull to some, but very interesting if you happen to like steam engines! I did mention in the Monday morning service that I like trains and I have been constantly mocked since! But the railway was very interesting. I then took the back roads through some spectacular countryside to Ambleside and sat and had a drink at the pier cafe and watched the boats and read a bit of "Everyone's Normal Until You Get to Know Them" which I am really enjoying.

All the young people have been on a coach trip today so Capernwray was very quiet when I got back. I called Jenny who has now arrived safely back in Ottawa and despite all the delays, has been given a free return ticket to the UK, so financing the return trip is now not an issue. God knows what he's doing.

I am learning a lot from this week's speaker who is a guy called Andy Feron who, like me studied at Capernwray, but is now working in a church in Northern Ireland. I have had a good chance to get to know him and his wife Rhodda and find out how God has worked in their lives.

I still have a stinker of a cold, in fact I think it's man flu - which as us men know can be fatal if the correct amount of TLC is not administered! Please pray that someone will give me some TLC and not just tell me to stop winging!!

Bye for now.

Teenager, Teenagers, Everywhere!

Well it's Sunday 16th July and Capernwray Hall was invaded by around 80 teenagers from 14-20years yesterday (most of them from Northern Ireland). They seem a great bunch and are enjoying the freedom that the grounds of Capernwray offer and the glorious summer sunshine we have here at the moment.

I myself am feeling low. After lots of delays at Glasgow airport (including an overnight stay), my friend Jenny has now retruned to Canada with her Brother Steven. I'm going to miss her tremendously. She is a great person and one with an amazing faith. We have become very close and prayig together by email just won't be the same. Hopefully she will be returning to the UK in September time and then I'd love all my friends to meet her.

I am writing this whilst I should really be preparing to lead tomorrow's meeting with the young people. If anyone has any ideas, please feel free to leave a comment ASAP!!

I have a very sore throat today (big "arrrrh" for poor old Russell)!

The speaker this week is a guy called Andy Feron who is brilliant. Yesterday he was speaking on letting Jesus into every room of your life, not just the front hallway! This morning he was speaking from 1 Samuel 2: 35 which really spoke to me. It says - "I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his house, and he will minister before my anointed one always."

What more can we do than that which is according to our Father's heart and mind.

Please pray as I lead the meeting tomorrow at 11:30am. God bless.

Start of Family Week Two

Hi All. Its Sunday and our next group of families arrived yesterday. We have gone from having 10 children in our group last week to 37 this week!! God is so great to give us just a small number of children to "practise" on last week and they were such and angelic bunch. As you will see from the picture, face painting seemed to be the highligh of the week! This week looks like it might be much more challenging! We have some children with some very specific needs and many young lads who just want to play football!

We have taken the families on a walk this afternoon, it rained very hard indeed!

The stories that I am teaching the children are: Nebuchadezzar, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego this morning, Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem tomorrow, Tuesday is my day off. On Wednesday I am teaching the story of Joshua marching around the walls of Jericho and Queen Esther on Thursday, with Friday being a review of the weeks teaching and Saturdays being change over day. I am teaching dressed as a Pirate which adds an interesting dimension as does the fact that I seem to have adopted a West Country accent!!

I have to say that I found week one quite a struggle, but I feel that I am settling into the routine now and starting to enjoy myself as well as feeling like the teaching is proving beneficial to the children. Please continue to pray for these children.

Back to Capernwray

Well Hello. First an explanation. This site is no longer girlie pink, because I had some technical assitance to change it to a much more manly green (thanks Jenny).

Well I'm back at Capernwray working on the staff looking after the guests who are stying here on Christian holidays. My journey back was great, but I did arrive pretty late on Sunday morning (about 12:45am). I just collapsed into bed and went straight to sleep. I was awoken the next morning by my new room mate Tim - another Irishman. He's huge and looks like a cross between Antonio Banderas and Jaws from the James Bond films (in a good way!!).

We've got straight into the teaching and I am teaching children from 5 to 11 years every morning. I have to dress as a pirate (called Russ the Repulsive - how apt) and I have been kidding myself that I look like Johnny Depp from Pirates of the Carribean (in fact I think I look more like Captain Pugwash!!).

The work is great fun. The weather has been baking hot. I had a day off yesterday (Tuesday) and travelled up to Morpeth to see my friend Jenny. We went out with her brother Steven and their friends Steve and Heather and went to visit Lindisfarne which was beautiful (they make Mead there which we had a free sample of...Mmmmm).

I really feel that God has given me this opportunity to share His word with others so that a) the children we teach come to know more about Jesus, and b) so that I can more fully understand the scriptures. In teaching others, I am sure I am starting to remember the Bible better.

So that's about it so far for week one. I'll try to add regular updates to this site, as well as photos so you can keep abreast of what I'm doing. MCF's cheque for £810 in support of my winter school studies here, arrived this morning, so that's the deposit (and then) some paid off! Great. I feel well supported.

Thank yor for your continued prayers.

Well Hello There!

Well with inspiration from my good Canadian friend Jenny, I have decided to set up my own Blog. This is a website that all of you that know me (and those that don't) can keep up to date with what I'm up to. Sometimes it will be exciting, most times not, but you will be able to post your own comments so if it gets too dull, you can let me know!

OH NO! I've just realised I've set this thing up and I've got a pink background. I can't work out how to change it!! Oh well at least it matches my pink T-shirt.