A brief overview of the last week

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 25 August 2007 08:57:38

Saturday: Got up stupidly early for a Saturday. Packed. Got a lift to Soul Survivor. Set up tents in driving rain. Changed into dry clothes. Traipsed through mud to get water. Traipsed through mud to get to evening meeting. Traipsed through mud to get out of evening meeting. Went back to our encampment for hot chocolate. Went for shower to get mud out from between toes. Went to bed.

Sunday: Woke up stupidly early shivering. Put several extra layers on. Got up. Went to seminar about seeing God as a perfect father. Traipsed through mud to get to morning meeting. Traipsed through mud to get out of morning meeting. Had lunch. Went to guys-only seminar about sex and relationships and stuff. Went to seminar about the Bible. Had dinner. Traipsed through mud to get to evening meeting. Traipsed through mud to get out of evening meeting. Went back to our encampment for hot chocolate. Went to Mr Boogies (cheesy-but-fun disco venue) and danced to Grease, YMCA, S Club 7 etc. Went to bed.

Monday: Woke up stupidly early shivering. Put several extra layers on. Got up. Went to youth leaders' seminar/get-together and took advantage of free tea and croissants. Went to overflow venue for morning meeting. Found atmosphere a bit bizarre. Had a visit from God, cried a lot and wrote some stuff down. Had lunch. Went to guys-only seminar about rising up as men to take more involvement in standing against injustice etc. Went to seminar about the Bible. Had dinner. Traipsed through mud to get to evening meeting. Traipsed through mud to get out of evening meeting. Went back to our encampment for hot chocolate. Played cards. Went to bed while trying not to listen in to my friend in the next tent on the phone to her boyfriend.

Tuesday: Woke up stupidly early shivering. Put several extra layers on. Got up. Skipped morning seminar for shower. Discovered everybody else had had the same idea. Traipsed through mud to get to morning meeting. Traipsed through mud to get out of morning meeting. Had lunch. Went to guys-only seminar with question-and-answer type session. Went to seminar about the Bible. Had dinner. Traipsed through mud to get to evening meeting. Traipsed through mud to get out of evening meeting. Went back to our encampment for hot chocolate. Went for a walk. Went to bed.

Wednesday: Woke up stupidly early shivering. Put several extra layers on. Got up. Didn't go to a morning seminar because there weren't any. Traipsed through mud to get to morning meeting. Traipsed through mud to get out of morning meeting. Had lunch. Went for a look round the market place. Ran into a friend of mine, introduced her to my landlord and watched them make arrangements for friend to move into our house in a month's time. Got a free badge for my trouble. Went to seminar about the Bible. Had dinner. Traipsed through mud to get to evening meeting. Traipsed through mud to get out of evening meeting. Went back to our encampment for hot chocolate. Wandered round the market place buying a few things. Wandered around for ages with my friend looking for where the late night worship venue was. Got very lost. Got directions from a steward. Found late night worship venue was right next to where we'd started from. Worshipped a bit. Walked past one of the cafe venues as they were closing and were invited to take their left over chocolate and fizzy drinks. Took a bottle of Dr Pepper. Thanked the Lord for His provision. Found a traffic cone over a bin in the toilets. Took traffic cone and planted it outside friends' tent. Went to bed.

Thursday: Woke up stupidly early shivering. Put several extra layers on. Got up. Coughed frequently. Packed up tents. Went for one last visit to toilets. Saw state of toilets and decided I could hold it in for a few hours until I got home. Did emotional goodbyes. Got lift home. Unpacked. Saw cough developing into full-on cold. Went to bed.

Friday: Woke up stupidly early with one nostril bunged up and the other one dribbling everywhere. Pottered around the house. Had impromptu jam session with housemate (he played keyboard, I played bongos). Phoned work to arrange something for next week. Went to a barbecue at friends' house. Probably stayed later than I should have considering the stupid cold. Came home. Went to bed.

Which just about brings us up to speed. Needless to say, God showed up and did some amazing things with our youth group and (as you Anglicans might put it) also with me. I'm still trying to get my head around exactly what's changed for me this week, but I know something has. In fact, quite a few things seem to have done. When I've worked it out a bit more, I'll let you know.

Good times.