Thanksgiving Abroad

Well this past Thanksgiving wasn't my first away from home, but it was my first away from relatives.

I am not sure if it was even my idea, or one of my friends, but we decided to have a Thanksgiving dinner together, which is really cool of them.
So it ended up being Dan and Diana, Dejan and Deanna, Etienne and Cyril, Evangelina, Jo and Andy, Anne and Daniel and Keziah and Zoe, Anca, Jason, and myself. Plus Keith and Melody showed up for a little while.

We had all the food I normally had at Thanksgiving thanks to everyone bringing part of the meal, and I had the experience of making my first Pumpkin Pies, my first tofu loaf, my first cranberry sauce, and my first cranberry relish. It was stressful. and it took me 6 hours just to make those four things. An obvious clue to my lack of experience. I am thinking, Thanksgiving is a lot of work, haha.

But the best part wasn't the food, it was my friends, my family.I love everyone here and I feel so blessed (and thankful) to have these people in my life. To have that many people come together, and celebrate a holiday they never have before, makes me feel so loved. And I am thinking how much I will miss them in 7 months when I leave. And that makes me sad.But at the moment there is no time to waste on sadness. Only time to soak up all the happiness the people in my life bring to me.

So to all my friends who came and spent Thanksgiving with me, Thank you. I love that you are in my life, and truly appreciate you. I can still say that I have never spent a Thanksgiving with out my family :).

Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but becareful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude.-E.P.Powell

audrey.

What do I do with my life? Read on...

Monday Morning. It's cloudy outside. Gray. Windy. Damp. The rain comes and goes.
11:00. Where has the day gone already? Quiet. Still. But the computer growls.

I have been crazy busy until this morning.
It started on Thursday. I woke up. I made roughly 150 copies for a Bible Study. Then went out to eat with the Pastor and Youth Pastor and other girl, Diana, who I work with, it was for her birthday :). We went to Nandos which has the best chicken ever but I get the veggie burger. We eat for awhile. And then they all leave. I have to stay in the town center to find 3 things. 80 trays. 2 Angel cookie cutters. and a present for Diana. I spent roughly 2 hours searching. I am at John Lewis (department store) and I ask a lady who works there "Do you happen to have angel cookie cutters??" she replies "Ummm...yes!" I SCREAM "REALLY!?! AHH! YOU HAVE MADE MY DAY. You seriously saved me I am so happy thank you so much!" she looks scared "Glad I could help you...?". Hahahahaha. so funny. I needed these cookie cutters for Messy Church which is one of the largest productions the church here puts on ( it is in teh afternoon for families with kids ages 0-13, it is 2 and 1/2 hours long, we have crafts, songs, stories, games, and then we all eat a meal together), and I am in charge of organizing crafts. We need the cutters to make angel gingerbread cookies for the kids to decorate. So I am stoked that I found them. I go on to find 40 plastic trays (this is for one group of kids to make gingerbread stables on, because Jesus was born in a stable) I find them..and buy them.. with many strange looks from all around me...I insist on walking the 30-40 minutes back to the church because I think paying for a bus is a waste of money. But I won't lie, it was really heavy, and I was discouraged at times lol. I get back. I have an hour until Health Evangelism. I juice a bunch of veggies because I am trying to fight off a cold. I go to H. E. and am there helping set-up, serve, and clean up until about 10 (I love the people who put it on and love helping them, they are my friends). At 10 I start making my first batch ever of Communion Bread, which by the way is really easy luckily for me. Afterwards I organize the 150 copies I had made earlier. I get to bad at 12:30. I get up the next morning at 7:15. I get in the shower. I make oatmeal and run downstairs. (I have a meeting at 8). The church rents out the rooms to different organizations for them to have meetings and stuff and the student missionaries help set up tea/coffee/biscuits/AV for them. I get there and one room had been set up wrong on accident so spent 20 or so minutes sorting that out (becoming later and later for my meeting)...Finally at 9 my meeting with Lorna can start. What are we doing today? Making gingerbread...We made gingerbread from 9 in the morning until 11 at night. The goal was to make enough for 80 kids to make stables, we made enough for 40...ran to hobby craft and came up with something for the other 40 kids to do (all for messy church)...and everything worked out. Went to bed by midnight. Got up at 7:00. Finished preparing my Sabbath School lesson. Led the Youth Sabbath school...helped make sure everything was ok for the Parallel modern Church Service...went to Church...ate lunch...started setting up for Messy Church...had Messy Church (CRAZY)... was the MC for Messy Church...helped clean up from Messy Church...went to see 2012 with one of the teens :)...got to bed by 1 a.m....got up Sunday morning went to a Pathfinders meeting from 10-12...checked on the center which was being rented for a birthday party...slept from 2-3...showered...went to a birthday dinner...came back...went to prayer meeting where I read the Scripture for the evening...watched Flash Forward in the flat...Called my mom...Dad...and Brother...went to bed by 12...got up at 9 this morning...did my devotional finally...got on here...and now I am going to clean the flat which is TRASHED. So now you know how 4 and 1/2 days of my life have gone. Haha. But I love it. I love being busy and knowing I am here for a reason, Knowing that I am helping God and this church.