For such a time as this

I was having a chinwag (my favorite British word for "chat") with one of my new British friends. She's a wonderful gal, close to my age, with whom I share four very important passions: God, youth work, hot chocolate, and shopping at IKEA. Aside from all that, I'm just downright impressed that she graduated from Cambridge University! I mean...wowzers. So, anyhow, the other day we had a chinwag (seriously, I can't stop using this word) about youth work in West Bridgford (the *posh* area of Nottingham that I live and work in). Now, my friend was born and raised in Nottingham, and has a wonderful grasp on the community and youth in the area. My friend remembers more than one group of workers coming in for weeks or months at a time, attempting to set up some sort of youth ministry in West Bridgford. The way all of these groups individually described West Bridgford to her was as if it had a sort of haze over it...like a cloud of apathy just hanging there above the seemingly perfect little town.

West Bridgford has long carried the title "Fur coat & no knickers," given to it from the surrounding areas of Nottingham. Aside from being an adorable-sounding British phrase, "Fur coat & no knickers" basically means it's all about show. The theory is that West Bridgfordians only have enough money to APPEAR wealthy (thus the fur coat), but underneath it all...can't even afford underwear.

Putting both of the above ideas together in my head seems to paint an almost Stepford Wives-ish picture.

Where I find myself right now is in a state of awe of God's timing. The team I'm working with is in the EXCITING stage of putting together a vision team for our future outreach center / youth church / cafe ministry / whatever you want to call it. As we've been making lists of names and praying over them, amazing things have been happening. Again, this is something that has been hard for me to assign words or coherent thoughts to...but of course, I'll try to type it out anyway! Please forgive me as I attempt to record my scattered thoughts.

There are already big stories of God's power coming from our vision team...and we haven't even had our first official meeting yet. Ha! We divided the names of the people we needed to "cast the vision" to, in hopes that we could persuade some of the people on our list to join our vision team. So how's this for making our job easier - some of them approached us before we had time to ask...inquiring about how they could get involved in what we're doing because they had recently been feeling like God was really tugging on their hearts to get involved in youth ministry!

One of the gals I asked to be on our VT was recently given the task at her job to map out all the local youth clubs or centres...and, as expected, she found a grand total of ZERO. Zip-a-dee-doo-da. This is quite an embarrassing find for such a prestigious area of Notts! The government in the area is to the point where they are DESPERATE for anyone to do ANYTHING with the youth in West Bridgford. So, now our vision team gal's task at work is to propose what the local borough councils should invest in...gee, can you think of anyone wanting to put together a community minded youth ministry?? :)

This is the perfect time for our ministry to take root. The churches in West Bridgford are coming together in an amazing way for the first time. It just seems like the local church leadership is being pruned, primed, and prepared for something BIG. Time and time again, the passage in Esther about how Mordecai suggests that she was brought to her position by God specifically "for such a time as this" has come up. It keeps popping up in sermons and devotions had by our vision and prayer teams.

My teammate, Amy, told us that her mom says God answers prayer in four ways:

1.) Yes
2.) No
3.) Later, or
4.) I thought you'd never ask!

We're thinking that all of our prayers for this area of Nottingham is resulting in God answering us with #4. That's exciting.

There is an unseen spiritual battle going on right now in West Bridgford. Satan has had an invisible hold on this area for a long time now, and he's not going to let go without a fight. But...God is raising up an army of dorky Americans and silly Brits that are ready to take hold of the promise found in 1 Chronicles 20:15 - "Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's."

Selfishness, Football, and Velma

It is interesting to talk with the English about what they think of the USA. Unfortunately, most of them only know the USA seen on TV - via New York City and "Hollyweird," as my Dad would say. Unfortunately, people like Tom Cruise and Paris Hilton end up being the face of the States to the rest of the world. Lovely. I've heard many opinions on the American lifestyle, but the one thing that comes up time after time is selfishness. Most of the people I've spoken with here have the mindset that Americans are incredibly wasteful. Images of large SUVs and other un-necessary gas guzzlers that are all about status and image puzzle the Brits (you could NEVER fit even a mid-sized American car on their tiny little roads!). I never realized how much open space we have in the US compared to a tiny little island country like England where they have to build UP-wards instead of OUT-wards. I've never learned so much about recycling since I came here! It's like every English person tries to take me on as their personal project, teaching me how to refute my "wasteful American" ways. They drop a heavy fine on you if you don't recycle properly! We have had more in our recycling bin than in our "rubbish" bin every week! I've heard more than a few sermons on the importance of recycling...that's so bizarre to me, but it's finally all starting to sink in. Weather I completely agree with all of the American stereotypes, I'm going to do my bit to change my wasteful habits.

One of my favorite hymns in the churches here is called "Make Me A Channel of Your Peace." The song is a great reminder, again, of the pitfalls of a selfish lifestyle. I'd never heard of this song before, but apparently it is an adaptation of a famous prayer by St. Francis of Assisi.

Make me a channel of your peace.
Where there is hatred let me bring your love;
Where there is injury your pardon, Lord;
And where there's doubt true faith in you.

Refrain:
Oh, Master grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love with all my soul.

Make me a channel of your peace.
Where there's despair in life let me bring hope;
Where there is darkness, only light;
And where there's sadness, ever joy.

Refrain

Make me a channel of your peace.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
In giving to all men that we receive;
And in dying that we're born to eternal life.

Refrain

According to Wikipedia.org (I'm addicted to Wikipedia! It's a disease, I know), Mother Teresa started each day reciting this prayer. Many quite diverse musicians have recorded their own versions of the song, and even Margaret Thatcher paraphrased the prayer right after she won the election for Prime Minister of England in 1979. If you would like to hear a version of the song that is very similar to the way the hymn is played in churches, click here: Channel of Your Peace (A big thanks to my friends Dan & Serenity for bringing that link to my attention! I really am in love with this song, and Denison Witmer did a great job on it!)

I hope and pray that as Christians (regardless of tribe, tongue, or nation) we can learn to leave selfishness behind. As much as we seek to be understood, may we even more seek to understand others. As much as we seek to love, may we even more so seek to love the rest of the world with the love of Christ.

In other MUCHO important news...I have made a very important, life-altering decision. After much prayer, fasting, and supplication, I have decided which football team I will claim as my own. Football (soccer) is more popular here than ANYTHING else. I've never experienced anything like the loyalty every person in this country holds for "their" team! When the country surveyed its youth, 5 out of the top 10 role models they listed were footballers. So...drum roll please...I've decided that my team is...Liverpool! And yes, I'm such a girl. I chose my team not based on stats, popularity, players, coach, or anything normal like that. I just picked them because that's where The Beatles are from. What can I say? Any city that can produce hits like "Eleanor Rigby" and "Penny Lane" deserves my support, right? :) Hey, at least I didn't pick them based on how pretty their uniforms are.

I hope that all of you enjoyed your Christmas and New Years Eve! I spent Christmas Eve through Boxing Day in the ORIGINAL Boston, which is in Lincolnshire. My British roommate's family invited myself and my teammate over for the holidays! We had a lovely time, sampling traditional British (and Dutch) Christmas food. As for New Years Eve, one of the local Church of England evangelists invited me over for his "Fancy Dress" party. "Fancy Dress" in England means "Costume Party," and the theme for his was cartoon characters. I went as a surprisingly convincing Velma from Scooby Doo! You can see pictures of Boston and Velma on my Flickr site, if you so wish.

Velma_5
Originally uploaded by sisterhutch11

Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas! That's what I see and hear all over the country. I don't know if it's always been this way, but it's rare to find a "Merry" Christmas anywhere. I suppose I don't mind, but it's just one of those things that I've noticed is different about Christmas in England than in Florida.

I've been asked by many of the English what differences I've noticed in the Christmas season here as compared to the US. So far, I can't put my finger on too many differences, but will list the main ones for you here:

1.) The weather! It actually FEELS like Christmas here in Nottingham :) It hasn't really snowed yet, but there was a snow flurry once. I was walking to church that night when it started to flurry. I ran into the building with a huge smile on my face proclaiming, "Look everyone, it's SNOWING outside!!!" The response was "aww, poor Florida girl thinks THAT'S snow..." Well, it was enough to get me excited and ready for Christmas!

2.) Mince pies and Christmas Crackers. Everywhere I go these days...church, schools, shopping stores...there are mince pies and Christmas crackers! I was excited about mince pies at first, because I thought it was a meat-based pie. Boy howdy was I wrong! Mince pies, though sometimes referred to as "mincemeat pies," are made of dried fruits in a pastry. I think it's the fruitcake of England, honestly. I definitely prefer the Yule log as a Christmas desert! It's strange to eat a desert that is shaped to look like firewood, but MAN is it good. It's like a giant tree-shaped Little Debby...mmm! Christmas Crackers also hold a misleading name, since they are NOT crackers! You don't even eat them at all, sadly. A Christmas Cracker is a traditional cardboard tube wrapped in festive paper. Two people hold either side of the Cracker, and PULL! The package sort of explodes...and one of the two sides produces a small present for one lucky winner. There are also Christmas jokes and small paper crowns that shoot out. I guess it's a cross between Cracker Jacks and a wishbone!

4.) Christmas Carols. Well, there are a couple of differences when it comes to carols. First of all, some of the traditional carols (like "O Little Town of Bethlehem") have different tunes here! I was told that American colonists changed the tunes to be more receptive to harmonies. But another difference I've noticed in celebrating Christmas in this culture showed up during our after school club Christmas party last week. We had planned a game for the kids to compete against other groups in a yuletide version of "Name that Tune." They were asked to receive their Christmas carol assignment, run back to their team, and GARGLE the tune until their group recognized the song. Sounds like a great game, right? Well, the only hitch was that only a couple of kids in the club recognized even half of the songs on the list. My teammate David since this experience heard on the radio that 77% of the English haven't sang a Christmas carol in 4 years, and that around 46% of the British couldn't sing one Christmas carol if you asked them to. Can you imagine life without "Silent Night"?

I had the opportunity to spend a few days in London last week! The city was beautiful in its Christmas decor. Feel free to check out my pictures on my Flickr website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sisterhutch

BenScene
Originally uploaded by sisterhutch11

Finally, I have a prayer request. Hope '08 (http://www.hope08.com) is a national effort to pull churches in the UK together for one year in events across the country. I've been going to meetings with local youth ministers to start our own youth effort in Nottingham. We're going to be planning a number of large-scale youth events throughout the year, beginning with our kick-off event on January 25. It has been VERY encouraging to meet with youth workers from 5 VERY different churches. Please pray that our unified efforts will result in some amazing events for kids in this area! I know that God wants to do something awesome in this city, so pray that we will allow God to use us however He can.

I pray that you will all enjoy your time with your family and friends this Christmas season! I miss you all even more during this time :)

The famous Cristabel

If anyone would like to receive an e-mail notice when I post an update on this blog, well...today is your LUCKY day! I just found an easy way for me to input e-mail addresses into my Blogger that will automatically send out a notice when I update. Just send me an e-mail at SisterHutch@gmail.com and I'll add you!

May I just quickly say that it's so much fun being a foreigner? Over the last week, I have been asked if I'm from Scotland, and if I am a Mormon missionary (which is pretty common of Americans in this area). Also, I've found out that "Crystal" isn't a very common name in England. One girl wrote down my name as "Cristabel," which was a more common name to her than "Crystal." Sometimes, being American makes me feel famous...mostly among young girls that are huge High School Musical fans. I guess they think that since I sound like everyone in the movie, perhaps I know them, or could at least help the girls meet the stars of the film.

Random thoughts, but there you go! I hope everyone has a lovely day. It's raining outside right now (big surprise) so I'm going to go fix myself a spot of tea :)

Living life on purpose

I should have decided to be a missionary YEARS ago! I've been told my whole life that every Christian is a missionary, yet somehow...having an official visa with "missionary" stamped under occupation has made me live life differently. What can I say? I'm always a bit behind.

One thing that has changed about me is being conscious of living life intentionally. What I mean by that is attempting to build relationships with anyone I come in contact with. It's SO hard, but is turning into a fun game for me :) When I go to the local grocery store, I try to be in the same person's line (Sue is her name), and I try to frequent the same places at the same time each week (you can find me hanging out with "The Jacket Potato Man" in town center during lunch hour once a week or so...yummm!). It's fun to try to create quick, memorable moments for each of my unsuspecting contacts. I have to admit, it's probably easier in a different culture, because the moment I open my mouth, I hear: "Wow, YOU'RE not from around here!" followed by the imminent "why on earth would you move to England from FLORIDA??" conversation. Haha!

Other than sharing short moments with local shopkeepers, I'm trying to get involved in community work and clubs that have absolutely nothing to do with church. Over the next month, I'm going to be visiting homeless shelters, retirement homes, reading to the blind, working in a charity shop, attending a salsa dance lesson (yikes!!), and taking an improv comedy class. All of these things scare me, and put me WAY outside of my comfort zone. I think that mostly it's that good kind of scary feeling that often comes as a side-effect of extreme excitement! This is my way of trying to go to "their" turf, if you know what I mean. This isn't one of those "invite people to church" cultures, and if I can't get someone to GO to church, then I guess I have to bring church to them. So, here I am...trying to be the church. Even in the midst of a salsa dance lesson...I can't even type that without laughing!

Please pray for me as I attempt to get involved in these areas. I specifically ask that you would pray for my social skills, as strange as that may sound! I can be very shy at times, and am often an awkward wallflower when put in uncomfortable situations. I don't have time to be awkward! Building relationships takes time, and I really want to jump right in and get to know the right people at the right times.

I want to leave you with a challenge to do what I neglected to do for the first 24 years of my life! Dare to be bold, and dare to be a missionary in your city! Do something that scares you to death for the sake of the Kingdom :)

Religious Education

Last week was AMAZING. I got to experience something like nothing else. Something that challenged me, and re-affirmed my presence here.

I went into the classroom.

The West Bridgford School is a secondary school in the area that has opened its doors to the Fittros (CMF missionaries I'm working with) since they moved here about 5 years ago. WBS is where we host our after-school club on Thursdays, and where we will soon be hosting a lunch-time club once every other week. But this last week, my teammates and I were invited into their Religious Education classes.

Religious Education (known simply as "R.E.") is a standard course taken by all students in the public system which stresses knowledge about major world religions. They teach different aspects of religion (existence of God, forgiveness, life-after-death...) during different years of school. The section they were on this week was prayer. My team was invited into the class to give the Christian perspective. It was sort of strange at first, feeling like a caged animal at a zoo having people watch me carefully, poking around to study my reactions. I eventually got used to the stares, and tried to forget the knot of nerves welling up in my stomach, praying that I wouldn't be asked any question too difficult...or that I would answer a question in the wrong way!

Overall, the experience was wonderful. In one class, I was placed alone in a small group of about 11 13-year old students. They were told to interview me, and ask questions pertaining to reasons why many people don't believe in prayer. The kids were great - I got a few questions like "How amazing is it to live in Florida?" Then they asked the usual questions like: "How do you pray?" "Why do you pray?" "What can you pray for?" "How long do you pray?" "Where do you pray?" and then got into more difficult questions such as: "What if God doesn't answer your prayer?" and "Do you ever talk to God out of anger?" I was honored and delighted to answer all of their questions! As per my teammate David Fittro's advice, I tried to keep my answers as real, open, and honest as possible. I wanted to show those kids that God is a personal God. He isn't only my Creator, but He is also my friend, and having the chance to talk to Him is a HUGE part of my daily life. The kids in my group were literally shocked when I explained to them that prayer doesn't have to be this huge formal event (hands folded, head bowed, eyes closed, while reciting a memorized incantation), but that prayer can be anywhere, anytime, and about anything. I tried to compare prayer to the way we get to know our best friends, and how we learn more about people and grow closer to them the more we keep our communication lines open.

The kids in this culture are so far removed from Christianity. Most of the kids I've met in the schools don't just NOT go to church themselves, but they literally don't know anyone who does. Anyone they may come across in life that does go to church doesn't take it so seriously to the point that it effects the way they live their lives. When the Religious Education teacher asked the kids "Do you think prayer is important in the lives of Christians?" one kid raised his hand and said "I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't such a big deal to them."

I'm so glad to be a part of something that can help change the perception of Christians in the lives of some pretty amazing kids. Please pray for the team here as we continue to venture into places far removed from the empty Church buildings to be a light.

Pictures from around Nottingham - - and the Goose Fair!

This is a slideshow I put together of mostly Goose Fair pictures. The Goose Fair is an annual event in Nottingham that happens every October! It's filled with hundreds of years of tradition, and was fun to experience.

If you want to see all of my pictures, you can click on the "My Pictures" link on the left side of this page, or go to www.Flickr.com/SisterHutch

Enjoy! :)