Woodland

Walking under a canopy of green, taking deep refreshing breaths of the pre-autumnal forest air. Meandering along dirt roads, strewn with fallen pines, taking in the familiar smell of the forest that evokes childhood memories of Sunday afternoon walks.

Dappled sunlight breaks through the canopy, dances on spiders webs, casts a rainbow.

The ground littered with life; bugs, fungi, spiders - the longer I look the more I see. Passing patches of ferns the aroma shifts, the next course of the sensory feast is served.

The aged and weathered trees stand firm, gnarled roots stretch deep into the ground, the trunk clothed in lichen and branches draped in Ivy.

The noise of the world outside is dampened, absorbed in all the undergrowth, the serene call of birds is carried through the woodland and the soft scuffling of unseen animals emanates from the road side.

Blackberries on the verges are sparse enough to make it feel like an earned reward while snacking on them through the journey.

A yearning grows, the desire to remain. To rest in the lush, vast green of this sprawling world. The urge to sing, to smile and enjoy the creators handiwork, to revel in its beauty and celebrate its complexity.

After a thoroughly enjoyable perambulation we headed back home for a cuppa. Thanks to you my friends who organised the trip and drove us to the forest of Dean.

Title font used: 'PlAGuEdEaTH'

Recently

Yep It has been a long old while since I last posted here though this is quite telling of the last couple of months of my life! So Since my last post I arrived back in rainy England, went to Newday - a national youth event run by Newfrontiers, visited the Netherlands, applied to and began my degree at Redcliffe college studying Applied theology in cross cultural contexts.

It has been a forest of new experiences, sharp learning curves, ups, downs and lots of busyness throughout, until now that is. I am now beginning to settle into my new home. It is quite telling that I am not settled in a place if I haven't found the time to get my camera out. Well as a point of settling in I went for a walk this week and the camera came with - and now you can join for the highlights of the journey.

Ok, watch this space, there will be more posts to come and they will probably (hopefully) be far more comprehensive than this one :)

Pretoria #2

I am convinced that it was nothing short of a God send when just as I was leaving the coffee house (the face of our ministry in Pretoria)  that I saw Tony hobbling though the gate with one of my fellow trainees under his shoulder helping him along. It made my week. He had somehow made it! It took me around 30 minutes to walk the distance from where I first met him to get back to the coffee house which is several blocks (I walk quite fast) so it is quite the miracle that he even managed to make it. I greeted him and showed him to a seat - I managed to get a new testament into his hand before I had to leave, his reaction was priceless-

'Glorious God hallelujah!'  

I was very frustrated to only have been able to give him a new testament, this guy knows a chunk of it already and he would actually be able to make use of a full bible.

The following morning I came prepared - I would not have to experience the frustration of wanting to give a whole bible but not have one on me - so as I approached the coffee house again the following morning I was elated to see that Tony had stayed under the stoep that night - I woke him up with a complete bible in my hand. I don't think he has had such an awakening in a long time. He was on the brink of tears - 'It's my food! - My daily bread!' Tony has stuck around at the coffee house since then and I have had the opportunity to begin building a friendship. It will not be fun to leave this city though I know he will be just fine.

In other news on Saturday we hosted a sports day for 30 shelter kids who have been taken off the street - it was good to forge relationships and display love to those who rarely experience it.

We visited a Creche, a prison, a brothel (the girls only), a hospice and walked the streets, telling whoever will listen that there is a hope that they are missing out on.

Creche ministry = clowns ( I personally find them terrifying)

 It has been a pretty intense week topped off by an experience evening on Friday - we had R5 (about 50p) to spend on food for the evening - it was chicken feet time ...

We went to bed on a full stomach (you can eat cheap if you know where to look) and a thin piece of cardboard under the stars. It was an interesting experience to lie on the pavement in a sleeping bag, though on reflection I think the hardest part of being homeless is the loneliness - I was surrounded by my friends and could happily sleep like that for some time but I think it would be a different story entirely if I were by myself. Maybe you should befriend the next homeless person you meet - they are notoriously unreliable, hard to love and most likely will betray you in a heartbeat because that is all they have experienced from other people, but you could change that ... today.

I got the opportunity to preach to the guys before we fed them

Title font 'Louis Ann'

Coventry

A week ago I went to Coventry with a friend to visit another friend who we hadn't seen in too long. It is good to catch up with long standing friends even if for a short time. We partook of the famous Coventry curry, made use of the most opulent bathroom ever, watched a film and in case you hadn't already guessed it visited Coombe Abbey...

Title font used 'Coventry Garden'

Random Ramble

You may be able to remember a couple of weeks ago we had a spot of particularly unseasonal weather which now seems like an age ago- anyway a group of us decided to hit Saltford and go for a walk followed by drinks. Unfortunately so did the world and his wife. I didn't really take many pictures and the walk was a bit of a non-event but you can't really go wrong with drinks.