Monday, April 16, 2007

Prayer Walking with Jodie

Today Jodie and I went for a prayer walk on the streets around our apartment. Our team has set aside one day a month for focussed prayer and fasting, and today is it. We met here in the morning for prayer together. Andi and Jodie helped lead the opening of our day, as we sang "Here I Am To Worship" and prayed for people we know, including their teachers and friends from school.
Then we split up for the afternoon, and Jodie and I were together. We ran into a friend who has recently given his life to Jesus, so we prayed for him as we walked. Also prayed for our friends in the market as we walked by their various stalls. Also asked Jesus to bring his reigning light in the midst of the darkness of the spiritualists and fortune tellers.
It was really fun doing it with Jodie, and I'm encouraged by the fact that today was the first prayer walk I've been on in a while that I've been able to focus and haven't felt light-headed (and that in spite of the heat and fasting). I'm thinking I'd like to include the girls in our prayer-walking in the future.
I asked Jodie what she liked most about the prayer walk: Seeing the Hello Kitty store, was her response.

London Sun

It has been amazingly warm here. We've had temperatures above 70 F and no clouds to speak of. Saturday football at Regents park was a bit hot as a result. I was beat after about 10 minutes of play. It probably didn't help that we only had 6 guys, so 3-on-3 was all we could muster.
The tone of Camden really changes when the weather is nice - lots of people out on the streets, no matter what time of day. Tons of people at Regents park - we took a walk there yesterday with the girls and it was hard to even find an empty bench or space under a tree to sit and rest.
We have been encouraged by a number of different people to make sure that we don't attempt too much in our first year, but to really take our first year as one of learning/listening. The change in season has reinforced that for me. The way the seasons affect the feel of the city is amazing - you'd assume that a city would carry on as usual, no matter what the weather, but it definitely changes things.

Home to Camden

We're back from our trip to Valencia, Spain. Actually, we've been back for a while, but our internet access has been non-existent since our return. It's back now, but I'm not sure for how long. Something about problems with the under-street network cables.
Anyway, thanks to all of you who were praying for our time outside of London. It was VERY refreshing. We stayed in a friend's apartment, which meant that the area was more Spanish than tourist, and that was nice. I did far less talking during that week than I ever do in even one day here. The girls and I played football and dug big holes on the beach. We visited an old monastery and a church/castle on a mountaintop overlooking the Mediterranean. It had a walk with the stations of the cross, which I did alone on Saturday of Easter week.
Our last few days there were colder and wetter than the weather here in London (we returned to 70+ degrees and bright sun) but it was still really good for us to be away and together as a family.