my longest blog silence yet possibly...

but I have not abandoned this, yes I haven't looked at it all semester but still feel like sharing on it.

So Spring semester is nearly over, 2 more days!!It has flown, I cannot believe it!!Let me go back a bit and fill you in...
So from January until End of Feb I was working doing some demolition, yes.. I said demolition! We have an old hospital which is being converted into the Metro International Center, but the conversion is lengthly due to the money and sheer size of the task, anyway, I was scheduled to help there for a week, doing the girl things, clearing up broken walls after the boys but I liked it so much I asked to be there for all off-semester. It was great! really it was!! breaking down walls released agression I never knew I had!ha... was great. Anyway that was my off-semester!.. then we started back in March to get prepared for semester.


We had two great interns this time round, Paige from Missouri and Benji from Switzerland. We can be seen here posing like idiots....
With recession and Visa problems for returning staff this semester was doing more with less.. it was pretty crazy, anyday I did sidewalk it was me with 2 others... this is okay but new to me, always been blessed with more than this! Anyway, it worked out well in the end.
So we did Sidewalk for 12 weeks.. it has flown. Our lessons were stong this semester... that was great. The weather has been erm... not good, I mean for us! God knows what is best and we trust Him but it is raining this week and last week.. usually it is way up like high 20's and humid... this has put a dampner on attendance, but God knows what is best!

My site :)... well I am falling in love with my people more and more. I have seen relationships with kids and families grow, new people coming.. and sadly some falling away. However, overall I think my site has grown, in numbers (since I took over) but also spiritually. I have way more parents attending now with their kids which is great! I will share two things about my site...
first... I spoke about a little boy Robert in a previous post, his mom left him. Well thankfully I have been able to see him more this semester. He is so beautiful.. here he is on the left...

One day I went to see him at his babysitters house and he started calling me 'Mom'.. It was so sad to me, I see him for like 10 mins one-on-one a week and yet that qualifies me to be called 'Mom'. More than this, last week when I went he was upset, his Mom had contacted him because she got into some accident.. I asked why he was sad and he said 'I wasn't there to protect her'.... this little 6year old's heart is so precious.. I wish I could be his Mom and show him the love he deserves, but even that wouldn't be good enough... I just pray he will come to know God's unfailing love. Continue to pray for him.


Another thing.. unfortunately a kid who comes each Tuesday to my site got caught in a shooting on Monday afternoon at 3pm. He was outside playing on the basketball court and a gunman enetered and started shooting all around. He was hit in the leg. Thankfully he is alive, praise God!! I saw him the day after it happened. He didn't say but I can see the fear, Please pray for Him, pray that this would be a significant thing in this life, a significant decision to live for God and choose His way. His name is William, he is only 11. You can watch the news report here....http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/video?id=6866115 . I share this pure to illustrate the craziness here, it is scary, but what worries me is this is real for these kids... not just the adults who do this sort of stuff but the kids, the innocent who get caught up in it.. I am praying Jesus name over my site, over these people, satan has no place here, these people belong to God.

Those are just two of many moments this semester... I had great times with my kids but hard ones too. I also had the priviledge of a visit from my friendy Reb and family Rents and Sis too.. that was great to show them what I am doing here, I think they all enjoyed it too!!

Amongst other things, there has been a princess tea party, puerto rican day, viva mexico day, a fractured toe, a swine flu thing, me driving in new york (ha!), lots of rain, lots of thunder, a trip to the movies with our kids... lots lots lots.. I have many many stories (not too many pictures) but stories yes... and I will be excited to fly back to Norn Iron in a few weeks to share them more... on this note... If anyone would like me to speak at their church about the work of Metro I would be interested on sharing the vision and work, so let me know and I will see if it can fit into my schedule.

Thanks to all who have been praying for me this semester, it has been appreciated, without that support we could not do this. Continue to pray for my rest during vacation time, and for camp in August, that I would be prepared for my role (not even sure what it will be yet!).. other than that.. hope to catch up with many of you soon...

Sarah

P.S pray for Pastor Bill, he as broken his femur and is currently in Rehab, this means no fundraising for him for a while, so pray for provision for Metro, thankyou thankyou thankyou times infinity.

well January is nearly through..

but I will back track a little to December..

We finished up sunday school for the semester with two crazy weeks, first one we gave stockings to each child, then the last week they all got a gift, this was a little crazy and they are age and gender specific, but it passed off great with lots of kids. My site is on Friday and it being the last day would you believe it snowed, like not just a little, it snowed!! but we did a super quick lesson and ended up we had 330 kids on my site, which has been the highest all semester! I can't even guess how many would have come if it had have been nice weather! anyway it was great. below are some pictures...


The last two saturdays were also pretty crazy with 6 sessions of sunday school but it went real smooth and I enjoyed it a lot.

I then hopped on a plane and went back to Ireland to spend two weeks with family and friends.. this was great, so lovely to be back in the comfort of home and eat lots and hang out with people, I really enjoyed being back, but I jumped back on the jumbo to NY and have been here since, for 3 weeks now!!

There is no sunday school at the minute, that starts back in march so now we are all working in other parts of the ministry, so I was in the child sponsorship department won-by-one and now I am doing some demolition!! The centre we purchased is an old hospital with asbestos, so they are demolising the inner walls and reworking the whole building, to have us there doing the demolition labour the ministry save 10,000's of dollars!! I was only supposed to be doing this for a week but I really liked it (not even sure why myself) and so am there for the rest of shutdown!

It is nice finishing at 5 each evening, more time to rest and chill out which is great, also my friend Rebecca is coming for a week soon so will be taking some time off to spend with her!! apart from that nothing else to report here. I still visit my kids each week which is great!!

things to pray for..

- that God would reign in this city, my site (there was a shooting there on wednesday)

- that this time would be productive spiritually, that I can really grow in God.

- preparations for next semseter, interns coming, site changes etc.

- safety as always but particularly now I am in construction.

- also for a big event we are having for girls in april, it is a princess tea party, the girls get their own dress and tiara and come to a special party for them, because they are princesses to their father God, it is special and limited spaces, my two girls coming are Julia and April, please pray for them already, that this would be a significant point in their life that they never forget.

Thanks so much

Thanksgiving has been and gone...

...and it was great! we had a day off work and I went to a family on my sites house. It was a very traditional american thanksgiving (so I'm told) with smoked turkey, mashed potatoes, greens, butternut squash, macaroni cheese, yams, stuffing, cranberry.. a lot like christmas.. followed by pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, peach cobbler.. mmmm.. the deserts were wonderful.. I really love pumpkin now! anyway, I ate a little of each thing, it being my first thanksgiving and all, then went to another church lady's house for another dinner!! this time puerto rican style!!.. so rice and beans, pork shoulder, potato salad (which contains eggs here), a strange pork/green banana thing and lasagne... I ate so much that day I barely made it off the train and collapsed in a very full state!!

But apart from the food it was great to fellowship with some of my people!

So on thanksgiving week we gave out turkeys and boxes of food to some of the sponsor kids on our site, this was a little stressful but all good!

But that was all a few weeks ago now..it is christmas all the way!The weather is getting colder here, only been bitterly cold on 2 days so far, I am coping suprisingly well with the climate so far, but sidewalk has to be cut much shorter which isn't so great!

Anyway all week we've been giving out stockings they have been made by people all over the country filled with goodies.. then next week all the kids get a gift worth 10 dollars.. as you can imagine these weeks all potential kids on your site will attend and so on friday at my site I had 270 people come.. this is great as we teach a pure evangelical message at this time so they all heard it!!

Yesterday we had a crazy saturday of indoor sunday school it has been upp-ed to 6 sessions instead of 3, so they were at 9,11,1,3,5,7.. with pickups and drop offs inbetween, it was a long day beginning at 7.30 and ending at 10.30 last night but it was good.. however I had my first experience of a full bus with 82 kids on, like 4 to a seat... it was slightly stressful!!!but good/

The other night I helped out in calling some of the ministry sponsors to wish them a merry christmas. It was so great to chat to them, and they encouraged me so much... one lady told me she wasn't getting a christmas gift this year, instead she was giving that money to metro.. people really care so much for what we do, they are so giving. Actually in staff meeting Pastor Bill talked about the verse Luke 6:38, about giving...and how it is often perceived as financial giving.. yet it is so much more, giving of your life, your time, your efforts.. all you can to advance his kingdom..

Yesterday I started to help a little 5 year old boy zip his coat and he said to me "my daddy beats me with a belt".. I asked him why and he replied "because I am bad sometimes... but I am being good at yogibear".. and I couldn't even say anything, I was so taken aback by this little innocent defensless kid telling me this.. and I walked him to his bus and gave him a hug and told him I loved him, and he said "ok, merry christmas"... giving a hug, giving love.. we can never know what that means to someone. Life as a christian is about giving not getting.. it is not about us, first God, then others, then us...


anyway, just some food for thought! I will be back in the motherland in a week and a bit.. looking forward to seeing all again and getting some nice home cooked mummy's food!!but yes, hopefully get to see people. I have to try raise support, so if anyone wants to support the ministry, by commiting to sponsoring me on a monthly basis for ministry funds let me know and i'll hook you up with a pack...

other than that Merry Christmas to all.. if I don't catch you when I'm back then have a blessed season and wonderful new year!!

p.s sorry no pictures but my camera broke

a busy month later..

I get round to writing this! Apologies for lack of contact, but it has been a bit manic...but all good.

so we has pumpkin week.. not halloween as we don't celebrate it, but it was quite the experience.. americans go mad for halloween, it is really sad actually, they are dabbling in things they don't even understand.. but anyway, we carved pumpkins, above is my yogibear! I had only ever carved turnips, so it was quite an experience. So that week each kids got a pumpkin (not as big as this one!!) a christian family in Iowa donate their whole crop to metro.. which is so amazing, because usually metro spent $15000 on them before this!people are so generous.

So my site happens on friday, which was halloween and it was expected to be crazy... with eggs and stuff, so we were warned, as well as that there was a lot of gang activity and so we were being very careful but God was very faithful and no situations arose.

Time changed last weekend so it is getting darker much sooner and so our sites are being shortened. Also it has rained quite a bit, so we have to adapt things as we go! need to be flexible!

So it is mid semester.. and tiredness is setting in, but we are trying to keep the energy high! I am still enjoying and really seeking out what God has for my people on my site. I really feel I am making relationships with the kids and people which is great, but I am seeking what else He wants for it. I would appreciate prayer for this, just for discernment and guidance.

Thanksgiving is coming up so we will be delivering turkeys and 'boxes of love' to the sponsor kids whose sponsors paid for them to have it.. so that will be interesting. We have been wrapping presents too for christmas, so it is all go.

I'm keeping well and enjoying it muchly! Definetely a job with high job satisfaction!!

anyway hope all is well at home, I'll finish with a story from friday's site..

we were teaching a emotional lesson, ' encourage yourself in God by remembering all the good things he has done for you'.. and Char the other staff shared her testimony, of how her mom kicked her out of the house when she was just 15 because she wanted her to be her mom and stop drinking... and the holy spirit was right there on the basketball court and the kids were experiening God's presence, it was so strong. Afterwards a little boy named Robert came up to me bawling his heart out, and I asked what was wrong and he said ' my mom left me'... he was so broken, this little 5 year old, his mom had walked out on him and he understood exactly what that meant, and his little heart is broken, he lives with him Gran and Dad.. and I couldn't do anything but cry and hug him and tell him that God would never leave him. and it really hit me, these poor kids... all over the world, shouldn't have to suffer such heartache.. it is heart breaking.. I just pray that he will always know God's love for him and will put his trust in God. It also made me realise again how blessed I am.. how we all our, so I guess I share this to encourage you to not just rattle through each day, but realise how blessed you are and be thankful..but also to pray, pray for the cause of the oppressed, fatherless and widows and all those in desperate need, as christians that is our duty Isaiah 1:17... prayer is so powerful.. check out 2 Kings 20.. how king Hezekiah prayed and God changed the outcome..

please pray for little Robert, that God would heal his heart.

Thanks for all your prayers,
love sarah

5 weeks later..

.. I get around to writing a proper blog!

It is crazy, can't believe I've been here this long, yet it has flown by... we are going into our third week of sidewalk now on Tuesday!! It has been going good so far! Our numbers have been high, so we are aiming for more and more each week.

Saturday sunday school has been going good too..I am back on one of my buses from last semester, so it is cool, but a real challenge.. the kids are wild.. but it is ok!!

Apart from that.. church is good and life is good as the weather is nice, mild, sometimes hot and still sunny!!

I'm really seeking out what God wants to do on my site, with our people.. seeking out what I am to believe for this semester. I am learning so much that we need to seek out God's will, then we need to have faith in that, do it and by our faith it will be done in Jesus name. It is simple yet so profound!So, yea any prayers for me, please pray for a vision of what God wants to do.. what he has instore for my sites. Please pray for the people, that they would have hungry hearts.

Hope all is well back home in harvest season (it is weird there is no reference to that here) but halloween and thanksgiving are already being talked about... we don't celebrate halloween at yogibear, we call it pumpkin week and give away 'hallelujah candy'!!oh america!

sorry no pictures yet.. I'm on it for next time!

mucho amores

I have arrived...

in Brooklyn! I touched American soil after a bit of a delay at 10.30pm US time last Saturday!

So I've been here for over a week.. it was so weird to be back to begin with. Still feeling very much like an intern! Anyway we had the week off to get settled in, so have started the process of official things like social security numbers, also took a trip to Ikea to kit out my room. I'm living in a flat with 2 other staff, I have my own room, but it hasn't got a window which isn't the greatest but I have plenty of fans! So this week was about settling in, Nati a returning staff had her birthday on Thursday so we celebrated that. there is 11 returning staff and we've mostly been hanging out all week as the rest are all in work!

So on Friday we found out what Units we'd be working in for real now!! I was placed back in my Unit..!this is great and I was the only one this happened too.. I feel blessed! So I have my same site in Harlem I had on internship, my kids and my people! it is great!! So I am very excited!

On Friday through until Saturday I attended a teaching session in the church called na 'encounter'.. this experience was amazing.. where God dealt with some stuff I've been dealing with.. I was am now walking in freedom!! Hallelujah!

So work offically starts on Tuesday, Will be in the office for these two weeks.. then semester begins!! I am so excited!!

I didn't settle as quick as I had thought, I am more so now, so thanks for all the prayers and well wishes!! Hope all is good at home!

Please pray for these 2 prep weeks, and as our teams meet our interns for this semester!

Love to all readers!

Time goes by...

I have been home from NY for about 6 or 7 weeks now, this time has totally flown! I still feel like I'm just home, catching up with people for the first time in ages!

However I am going back in two weeks time to work with Metro Ministries fulltime as a staff worker for the Sidewalk Sunday School department! It is pretty crazy that I'm actually moving away.. but it won't be forever.. a year at least, and really how the Lord leads.

Tonight it really hit me that I'm leaving, I co-hosted a BBQ for my young people from church, and it was great. New people moving up as they start secondary school, and just catching up with the regulars I haven't seen since February.. they are so great and as I drove home it hit me... I am going to miss so much of home. I'm going to miss at least a year of these young ones life.. and now that has got me thinking.. hence why I am blogging.. purely for my own through process..

However, I believe in God's promise to me, in Mark 10:28-30..

Peter said to him, "We have left everything to follow you!" ...."I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life."

I am leaving much behind for now, but there is so much I will gain...
if by any chance you are reading this before september 6th, please say a prayer for me as I get ready to leave, thanks