World cup

Watched the world cup final last night on a big screen on the street. As World Cup finals go it was a bit rubbish until extra time when Spain actually pulled their finger out and started going for goals. The atmosphere was just amazing when Spain scored their goal, it just all kicked off, fireworks, smoke screens, air horns, flags waving, people screaming, beer flying, spainards crying! The place just went mental.

Brilliant!!

A day in Ibiza

I've been pretty sick for the past week with tonsillitis but am recovering well and actually have the energy to blog to all you good people :)

I don't know how many of you actually know what exactly i'm doing out here so I thought i'd share a typical day in my life here in Ibiza.

Monday-Friday

12.30/1pm- I Wake up around 12.30 in the afternoon and have breakfast! It's a very strange life being almost nocturnal. I am a person who needs quite a lot of sleep, and it's really important that we rest enough here because the work is draining and the wee hours of the night can be quite long!

4.00-8.00- Centre. From 4pm-8pm we open our centre in the West End of San Antonio (just off the main strip where all the bars and clubs are) The centre is for people who have come to work out here in Ibiza for the summer, we offer free internet and have a Wii and table tennis table for people just to hang out and have a place to get away from all the crazy-ness of life in Ibiza. We also have a prayer room attached which is open for people just to explore, write prayer requests and just spend some time with God. I really like the work in the centre because it gives us a chance just to get to know people better, get to know their stories and take an interest in their lives. Quite often people come out here expecting that finding a job and living for the summer will be easy, but often jobs are hard to come by, they have long hours, bad pay and often the flats they live in aren't great living conditions, the centre offers a place to get away from that and talk to someone if they need to.

11.30-5.00am- Streets At night (Monday-Thursday) we work out in the West End. There's no way I could describe a typical night because every night is so varied and literally anything can happen. Sometimes we are talking to holiday makers, sometimes wheeling people home in our wheelchair and other times helping people who are totally wasted get home (the taxis wont take them in this state) Last weekend a holiday maker the guys were helping home poo'd himself in the van! Literally anything can happen!

5.30am- Bed I think this explains itself and it is very welcome at the end of a long night!

Weekend

on call- We are on call Friday and Saturday and respond to call outs from bars and clubs in San An if they see someone outside their bar that needs our help.

Community time- Every weekend we try to spend time together as a community just hanging out and having fun. Our community is spread out over 3 houses so it's nice to have everyone in the same place at the same time.

Sunday Service- Every sunday we have a small informal service in our centre in the West-End. We welcome such a huge range of ragamuffins it's brilliant! From Prostitutes to drug dealers, you never know who might turn up.

Any other times we are free we try and get to some clubs. It's a wee bit of a shock to the system though when you start a night out at 2am! (my wee Northern Irish body is ready for home on a night out at 1!!)

3 weeks in

So i've been totally rubbish at blogging! My bad.

So much has happened even in my first few weeks it's hard to know how to put it into words.

I really feel like i'm settling into the work here and really getting to know some of the people that work out here as PRs and ticket sellers etc, i'm finding out their stories, what makes them tick, and it's really exciting that they are open to talking about what we do here, why we do it and who Jesus is.

We've seen prostitutes at our church service, Workers out here giving their lives to God and a holidaymaker receiving salvation on the street because he realised that a life with Jesus offered him release from a lot of the things he was struggling with; he asked 'how do I get to know this Jesus guy?' and chose to become a Christian right there on the street! It just blows my mind how good and faithful God is and how he works in such unexpected ways.

We've just received the new 'Jesus loves Ibiza' bibles and we reckon we've given out over 100 in just under 2 weeks! People are hungry for God's word! The bibles themselves are Message translations of the new testament and we've found that people are looking to read God's word. I've had a few people coming up and asking if I have any of those 'cool bibles' and people come into the centre looking for a copy of it. It's amazing to think that among all the darkness that happens in the West End God's word is being read on the streets and friends are talking about it together. We had one guy come into the centre this week who was given a new testament 6 weeks ago and he's read it cover to cover! We've had people asking us what parts of it mean and a guy said 'I'm reading the bible every day because my friend is'. I love it that God's word is being read on these streets by people who don't yet know Jesus. My prayer is that God would reveal himself to them through the bible and they would come into a relationship with the father which means they don't have to live this crazy unfulfilling life of drink, drugs and sex, but that they would know the father, the life-giver and the creator of the sunsets in Ibiza.

The Church of Jesus

God cannot be contained in temples built by man

A new 2 week team arrived on Sunday, they're from America and it's great to have them with us to be part of what God is doing out here.

On Sundays we have a service at our centre in the West End. up until now it's just been christians in attendance but this Sunday we had a whole mix of people including PR friends who are exploring christianity and some prostitutes, who in previous years have been very reluctant to have a relationship with us. It was amazing just to look around and see the diverse mix of people in that room. It's like the church Jesus preached, all inclusive, non judgemental and welcoming. I'm really excited to see how this develops over the season, what it can teach me about what church should be.

Ibiza's diversity never fails to amaze me. On one part of the island there are sleepy Ibizan fishing communities and on the other there is a hedonistic party capital of Europe. Seeing the diversity in the service on Sunday allows me to dream of unity in this diversity.

Ibiza

Well I've been in Ibiza for 5 days now. It's all been kind of a whirlwind and i'm now feeling settled and excited for the 8 weeks ahead and already i'm dreading leaving! It's just going to pass so soon. I'm living with two amazing girls (Christine and Claire) at the minute with a 4th (Abby) arriving on Sunday

Christine and Claire <3


I've been getting up to some praying, some working and some playing!
On Tuesday Claire and I went to the Ibiza Rocks opening party where we saw Bombay Bicycle Club and Biffy Clyro who are one of my favourite bands, so that was awesome!

My first team comes out next week so i'm excited to have them out and get to know some new people. Sorry for the brief nature of this post. I'll update with a better one next time lol

<3

Realisation

Today I finished my PGCE. I am now a qualified teacher.

Lying in bed earlier (afternoon naps are the best!) it finally hit me that I am going away for 2 months and I'm not going to lie, I got a little bit scared. I'm down to my last preparations now, packing, moving out of my house in Belfast etc and I still can't really believe i'm getting this opportunity to live in a community in a different country and serve God.

I kind of feel a little bit like Pippin in Lord of the Rings when he and Gandalf are waiting for the final great battle against Sauron and his armies in Minis Tirith.



PIPPIN: It’s so quiet.
GANDALF: It’s the deep breath before the plunge.
PIPPIN: Is there any hope Gandalf, for Frodo and Sam?
GANDALF: There never was much hope, just a fools hope

I feel like i'm standing in the deep breath before the plunge. The battle in front of me is huge, but I can carry the hope of Jesus with me and I know that even though it will be tough there will also be triumph at the end.
I'm excited

Packing...

So it's under a week until I jet out to the white Isle which will be my home for 2 months. To be honest I haven't had time to stop and really think about the reality of living in a different country for 8 weeks. I'm just finishing up my PGCE and will have been a qualified teacher for the grand total of 2 days before flying out to Ibiza.

Lots of people have been asking me how i'm feeling about it and I can't ever really give them a straight answer, there are so many things going round my head. It's been 2 years since I was last out there and a lot has changed in 2 years, I'm worried that i'll be so focused on what it was like before that i'll miss what God has for me this time. I'm nervous about spending so much time away from my family and friends, and that when I come home I'll be so different but everything else will still be the same. But mostly i'm excited, it's been a hectic year and I am looking forward to spending time with God and friends in the most beautiful surroundings continuing to press into the plan for my life and grow into the person God created me to be.

So mostly i'm excited and so so ready for this adventure