Tea Time with Ru

Ruthina — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:31:36 +0000

I woke up this morning to all sorts of strange sounds. First, a horrible beeping sound (no, it wasn’t the sound of my alarm). It took a good 30 minutes to find it this sound resonating through the house – ends up it was the carbon monoxide alarm in my room. I was about to have a moment like Phoebe on Friends where she throws the smoke alarm in the dumpster, but fortunately I pushed enough buttons it finally stopped! Also, I woke up to the sound of rain pelting against the house – we’re talking the kind of rain that really makes you think you should stay inside all day. I think of all the rain that fell today were snow it would really help me get in the Christmas spirit! And lastly, the sound of my curtains hitting the wall because it was so windy outside. You know it’s windy when you are feeling the effects inside your house! Not the ideal start to a Monday morning, but I’m happy to say things improved once I made it out of the house!

We had Monday morning theology – talking today about Anglican theology, then an afternoon to work on some debrief stuff since our time here is so quickly drawing to a close. There’s a lot to process and apply and we were really grateful for the chance to spend time processing and preparing papers and presentations! The more I think through things, the more eager I am to apply the things I’m learning at home! More on that to come later, once I have my thoughts clarified a bit more!

Ruthina — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:10:56 +0000

Things are really starting to draw to a close here. We only have 2 weeks of the program left, then I’m going to do a bit of traveling before heading home for Christmas. This week had had a session about reverse culture shock when we return home and have started thinking about all we’ve learned here and what we’re going to do about it when we get home. It’s SO much information to process. I have learned so much and am currently thinking through how it all relates to my life/job at home! We also started making a video that can be shown to next year’s potential interns, spent a day working on our projects, then worked at the Vision to Action conference on Thursday. I think there were 900 or so people there which was amazing! This was the first conference of this type and proved to be a big draw for senior church leaders. This morning we went and visited the Trust on the World’s End Estate where we helped out in the cafe – I learned how to make cappucinnos and lattes and enjoyed hearing more about the work that they do there under the Social Transformation department. I’m so glad for a few free hours tonight to spend with friends and relax before another early morning tomorrow to give a talk at and help at the GAT Training Day! One of our first activities here was to attend a GAT Training Day…at that point I definitely would have never imagined that I’d be giving a talk at one just a couple months later! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Ruthina — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:27:57 +0000

You may have noticed that the time between my posts is getting longer and longer. That’s because things here are getting busier and busier! I have a lot jammed into my schedule here at the very end! It seems like each day there are major things going on!
Last week we finished off the week volunteering at the Prison Ministry Conference. Saturday I baked some pumpkin pies, watched rugby in the afternoon (yes, that’s what I did 2 Saturday afternoons in a row – I think I’ve really settled into the culture here!) and celebrated American Thanksgiving with some friends in the evening. I went to more stores than I can count looking for canned pumpkin. I finally found some at a small store hidden behind a box of Lucky Charms that was for sale for 8 pounds! With today’s exchange rate, that box of Lucky Charms would be $13.29. Yes, you read that correctly. Crazy!! No I did not buy the Lucky Charms – I don’t even like Lucky Charms really. But I sure was glad to find Libby’s canned pumpkin hidden behind them! So I set off to make my pies, only to find that we have no measuring cups in our house, so I just had to guess the amounts. And then I go to bake the pies only to realize we still can’t get the oven to work. I carried my 2 unbaked pumpkin pies over to some friends’ house in the rain where they kindly let me use their oven. Whew… Who would have thought it would have been so difficult?! Sunday I went to Hillsong for church in the morning – definitely a different model from what I’m used to at home or here at HTB – but good to see other ways of doing things, then went to SPOS for my normal Sunday afternoon routine of children’s ministry then the 6 pm service.
This morning kicked off with buckets of rain pouring from the sky, massive delays on the tube – at one point the tube even had to go in reverse. It was the strangest sensation – it’s dark in the tunnels, but there were some lights, and the windows were all steamed up and we were all crammed in there, then we suddenly started going backwards. It was really strange. I was really glad to get off when we finally arrived at my stop! Had a great morning of theology at SPTC talking about mission and public ministry, then spent the afternoon brainstorming the intern video we’re making tomorrow to promote the internship for next year. Beyond that, I’m just trying to make the most of my remaining days here!

Ruthina — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:21:55 +0000

Whew… This past week has been a whirwind of activity. After returning from Malshager I was off to Chichester for the Alpha Weekend away. We maxed out the venue with 409 people including 19 children! It was a fantastic weekend and so many people made decisions to give their lives to Christ. And of course lots of fun too! The event was held at something called a “holiday camp” and people stay in chalets. Now I’m not sure what comes to your mind when you here a chalet – I think of a little cabin in the mountains. That’s not what chalet means here. It’s kind of difficult to explain…. Some people try to put it in US terms and call it a trailer park – I’d say it’s more like a motel. Chichester is right near the sea, however due to stormy conditions (gale force winds – are you sensing a trend in my travels??? and buckets of rain pouring from the sky) meant I didn’t even see the beach from a distance! Instead I watched my first entire rugby match – I felt very English sitting in the pub on the rainy afternoon watching rugby! We returned exhausted and exhilarated on Sunday night. We jumped back in to our busy schedule on Monday morning with Theology class and various meetings. I am starting to hit the point of information overload. We’ve been here for 11 weeks (I think), constantly learning and soaking in and trying to make the most of possible and I think it’s starting to catch up with me! It’s a pace and style of life that you can only sustain temporarily – 98% of my life revolves around HTB/Alpha International – which is great for the time being but one can only keep it up for so long!! I’m not sure how much more I can absorb – but I definitely want to finish strong and there are all sorts of exciting things happening in the next month!

Ruthina — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:07:34 +0000

Just got back this morning from Malsanghar – a mansion in the countryside of Hampshire county owned by some people who created a famous mustard and rent it out to HTB groups. Our International Development team went away for a 2010 Strategy Day where we discussed vision and projects, alongside some good team bonding and fun! It was fun to contribute and be involved, although I’ll be home before 2010 and so am not really involved. It is interesting to bring in an outside perspective and also just to observe and note how different teams approach strategizing. Definitely gave me some new ideas for my projects I work on at home. It was fun to get away for a night to the country side – it was so peaceful with llamas and sheep in nearby fields, and hardly any people around. Quite the contrast to the constant buzz of London. After a few late night rounds of Trivial Pursuit I found that I am particularly bad at the UK version! It was always exciting when a US question came up that I had a slight chance of answering – because I’m hopeless when it comes to questions about cricket, the Royal family and so forth!
I can hardly believe that there’s only a month of the program left. The time has gone by so fast. While I am sad to go I am excited to move forward and put into practice things I’ve learned – there is such a direct application to my job at Alpha USA, ministries at church, etc that I’m starting to get the itch to do something with all that I’ve been learning. And of course excited to see family/friends at home while sad to leave friends here.
This weekend is the Alpha Weekend Away in Chichester – I am getting tired of living out of my backpack! Between Scotland, Malsangar and Chichester I am constantly packing and re-packing! No complaints though – I want to make the most of every moment I have left here!

Ruthina — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:12:14 +0000

Spent the weekend in Scotland – flew up to Edinburgh then took a day trip to the Highlands. It was a great trip! Someone in my Alpha group challenged me to make it to 8 European countries during my time here and I think I’m going to make it to the goal! It was a fun challenge to take on. Anyway…one thing at a time. Scotland.
On Friday we spent the day exploring Edinburgh – saw the castle, looked at the beautiful architecture, took a hop on/off bus tour. Edinburgh is actually built over the old city of Edinburgh which is kind of interesting. We counted the number of men wearing kilts and we tried Scottish salmon and haggus (lamb kidney, heart, liver and lung ground up with some oatmeal – surprisingly not nearly as bad as it sounds!), created a travel bingo game, went to an amazing coffee shop (thanks Janelle!) called Chocolate Soup, and much more!
Saturday morning we headed up to the Highlands – absolutely beautiful!!! The scenery was amazing and the tops of the mountains were covered in snow! It was a long day on the bus but well worth it. I also went on a tour of Loch Ness and saw the different radar screens they use to track life in Loch Ness – really interesting stuff! On the way home we watched Bravehart which was great. After hearing the movie referenced several times during the day I think we were all in the mood to watch it. Our adventure continued when the bus broke down and we were stranded for a bit. We ended up in a very small town that started with the letter P and overran the small Fish ‘n Chips shop and pub to use the toilet and get some food. I’m pretty sure they didn’t know what to do with all the tourists!
Another highlight of the trip was the AMAZING live music at the pub next to our hostel – you know it’s going to be good when it starts out with a Scottish version of “This Land Is Your Land” – haha! Really entertaining!
I could tell you loads more stories, but they’re probably much more entertaining in person than over my blog!
Check out photos here -
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2074313&id=141302000&l=52039d0033

My run in with the police….

Ruthina — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:53:56 +0000

Tonight I had my first encounter with a police man here in London. I was taking the rubbish out to the street and I see a police officer two houses down from me looking around suspiciously with a flashlight. Mind you I was planning on taking the 5 steps out my door and running back in, so I wasn’t wearing shoes, a coat – I had left the door wide open, etc. I kind of paused and looked at him because it’s not often that we have a police officer snooping around. Before I even had a chance to make my way back inside he comes over and starts questioning me – asking me where I lived, if we had a garden (that’s what the Brits call a yard) and various other questions. He then proceeded to ask me if anyone had been in our garden recently who wasn’t supposed to be! Ummmm…I sure hope not!!!! Talk about a question to freak someone out!! He proceeds to tell me that they’ve been having problems with theft and they have evidence that people are jumping over the little walls that divide the gardens from one another. There’s no access to the garden from the street – it’s completely enclosed by houses and other gardens. Anyway, Emily’s room is right by the garden and so I went to ask her if she’s seen or heard anything suspicious. She hasn’t. We go back out to the police officer and tell him. He told us to keep an eye out because there’s been some burglary and people have been stealing bikes. He then proceeded to say “You might call that home invasion” – in reference to my accent I think he just wanted to make sure I understood. But I’m not sure where he thought I was from because I don’t think we call it “home invasion” in the US! They have some evidence but not enough to catch them yet and if we see or hear anything we are to call 999 with the details. Scary!!! We have given strict instructions to the other roommates to always always always double lock the door and we’re leaving the hall light on whenever we’re not coming home until late at night b/c we don’t have a porch light! Maybe we can be a part of solving the crime….or maybe I’d rather not! Every little noise I hear makes me jump! Apparently they’ve been striking in the very early hours of the morning and I”m usually still up at that point – yikes!

Ruthina — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:30:23 +0000

On Monday nights I attend Pastorate training. Here at HTB they do pastorates with small groups every other week. Pastorates are mid-sized groups of 25-35 people. They are really easy for new people to integrate into, as opposed to a small group that goes deeper and makes it difficult for newcomers to join. It’s really interesting learning about the model and how to lead a pastorate. Sadly I’ll be missing the Pastorate Training weekend because I am giving a talk at a GAT Training Day – there are 3 things I’d like to be at going on that weekend sadly. Too much exciting stuff going on and just not enough time in the diary!
Anyway, as part of Pastorate Training we are reading a book called “Now Discover Your Strengths” by Marcus Buckingham. I love this sort of thing! I think it’s fun to learn new thing and confirm new things I already know about myself. An overall lesson I’ve been learning since being here has to do with self-awareness. As you grow in self awareness I have no doubt that you can be so much more effective and efficient in what you’re doing. So this book is based on the main point that we should focus on improving our strengths to a level of consistency rather than focusing on our weaknesses. It sounds very logical to me! I am so grateful for the opportunity to process through all this stuff – away from the normal routine of my life temporarily. It’s amazing (and I may have said this before) to have an opportunity a few years out of college. Sometimes we learn things about forming, storming, norming and performing teams – definitely something you learn about in college, but it makes so much more sense now that I have a context of a couple of jobs to put it into!
Anyway, so I took this strengths test and was amazed at how accurate it was. It put into words things I knew about myself and it’s nice to see a little more clearly where my strengths lie as opposed to skills I’ve acquired due to the nature of various responsibilities in work, ministry, etc. There are 34 different strengths and it’s a very small chance that you’ll encounter anyone with the exact same top 5 strengths as you. Go ahead if you like math and figure out the probability – the book said, but I can’t remember. Anyway – apparently my strengths include:
1. Communication
2. Activator
3. Woo (Winning Others Over)
4. Positivity
5. Connectedness
Really interesting stuff! And now, it’s time for me to get ready to go to my pastorate! My pastorate and home group is always a highlight of my week – I’ve met some great people through it!

Ruthina — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:28:27 +0000

Many more interesting sessions in the Global Alpha Intern world today. This morning we had a session on mentoring with a guy who used to work for Soul Survivor. It was definitely a thought provoking session. So often mentoring – even Christian mentoring is done in human strength. When given the title of mentor you are expected to have wisdom, answers, and advice. Geoff taught us about a style of mentoring where the mentor really leads the person to engage with God about whatever topic, struggle, etc. The goal of the mentor is to lead someone on a journey with God. He modeled this for us by asking questions, having us pray, asking us what God spoke to us about, etc. I don’t think many Christians would disagree that the end goal in Christian mentoring would be to point someone to God – but it’s not a method I’ve ever seen before. By pointing someone directly to God, and to have them ask questions to God, He will answer them when they seek Him. He will speak to them. He will remind them how much He loves them. Because isn’t that where it all starts? Only when we remember how much God loves us that we are positioned in the right spot before Him?

Matthew 11:28-30
Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.

Ruthina — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:35:53 +0000

Another weekend has come and gone. I had a fairly lowkey weekend – I must say I rather enjoy that my weekend begins on Thursday night instead of Friday night since we work on Sundays. I’m used to serving most of the day at church on Sundays at home so I pretty much feel like I get an extra day off! I really do appreciate it during this season of life as there is so much to think about and process through within a week. One of the leaders at HTB had a session with us at the very beginning of our time here about what we wanted to get out of the experience and he encouraged us to make sure that we took time to journal and reflect (as many others also encouraged me to do while here) and having a little time off is really helpful.

I spent the weekend doing some travel planning, meeting up with friends, going to Portobello Road Market, etc. I also volunteered at the Worship Central event on Saturday night – a room full of energy and passion for Jesus was a great way to counteract the evilness of Halloween. Then today was my typical Sunday serving in children’s ministry and going to church.

They are doing a new series about spiritual gifts which is really good. I am enjoying it very much. Tonight they were talking about living a Spirit filled life – a great reminder from Ephesians that thet very same power that raised Christ from the dead is available to us! It’s almost kind of hard to grasp how powerful that is….