Here in the UK when a group wants to take a weekend to go somewhere, study the bbl, and build relationships, they call that a Weekend Away. We'd call it a retreat in the US. This past weekend our iHUB group, which is STAG's 20s-30s group for internationals, had a weekend away in Hertfordshire, which is about an hour south of here toward London. We stayed at a place which is now All Nations college, but was formerly the family home of a wealthy C family, who donated the building to be used as a college for training folks who want to go overseas.
Can I just tell you- it snowed 2 inches! That's not a lot for Michigan, but for here it's crazy! The strangest bit was that it all melted off in a few hours, and it was as if it had never happened. Strange weather we have here in England. :)
The weekend away was very nice- it was good to meet some of the postgraduates and post doc students, as well as getting to know the younger language students and au pairs. We were asked to lead a new group, iBASE, which is for language students and au pairs at STAG- most of these guys are 18-22, and are only staying for a year, maybe 2 maximum. The weekend was exciting because we got to know some of these people, and to hear some of their personal stories about how they met Gd when they came to Cambridge, and the impact that made on their lives.
If you would pr for us and the people in this new group we'd appreciate it. The group is mostly girls right now, but they're all very hungry to know more about the bbl and about Gd. We'll be meeting Tuesday nights for 9 weeks starting next week.
The term time is starting up again here, so people are back from their holidays, and the STAG routines are starting up again. Our ladies group is studying Paul's letter to the people at Colosse for the next 8 weeks. A branch off of that group will be meeting Monday mornings starting May 5th for friends of our group that want to know more about JC. I'm leading that group along with a Singaporian friend, and we have 9 ladies now (up from 2 a few weeks ago) who want to come! It's an introduction to what C's believe and why, which is helpful for internationals who come from a totally different background. Anyway we are being blessed with people who want to come, and even some husbands have expressed interest- the husbands we'll be directing to Arena, the evening version of the CE course, which G and I helped with the past 2 terms.
As you can see this will be a busy term for us. In addition to things here we're coming back to Michigan for our friends' wedding April 26, and also in mid May, to ride down with the Michigan crew to Kansas for O week. I'm hoping to stick around Michigan for Memorial Day if at all possible to catch up with people and visit. Pr for our sanity over the next 3 months. :)
P.S. Living proof friends, we just want you to know that we're thinking of you and pring for you all! We miss you and we'll see you April 27th, and hope you've all been behaving yourselves! :D
Umm, a small correction: post docs are not students. You know, it's very important to me. :)
ReplyDeleteOops- you're right, I meant to say post docs and students, and somehow the and was left out! Thanks for pointing that out- I hope your post doc work is going well. :)
ReplyDelete