A UK Thanksgiving

My day started off at 5:00 am the morning of Thanksgiving. I woke up and put on my Hunter Wellies and trench coat. Then I grabbed my shotgun and headed out to the rural country side of Surrey. There I perched myself among the morning residue reeds (tall grass) and waited patiently for my prey. Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang; rang out my shotgun. With a shock look on my face, I went to claim the turkey that would become our part of the meal. After carrying the turkey across my shoulder for several miles, I finally reached my destination. I hastily went to the west wing of the house to prepare the succulent beast. I plucked the turkey feather by feather until it was bare naked. Then I reached down and grabbed my dagger out of my Hunter Wellies and with rapid speed the turkey was gutted. Now it was time to wander out to the garden to grab herbs and vegetables to make the home-made stuffing. I hastily prepared the stuffing and then punched it into the turkey. Due to the turkey’s massive size, it would not fit in the oven, so I had to roast it on a stick over the fire. Thank goodness for my gardener Harold and my maid Dorothy who helped me throughout the day. They prepared the veg and mash, because there just wasn't enough time for me to do this during the day.

With the banquet table all laid out and prepared for fine dining, I gathered my British subjects in the banquet room and the feast began. Soon the turkey was stripped to the bone and our stomachs were extremely full, but of course we could make room for the delicious home-made pumpkin pie. Yes, I made my first home-made pumpkin pie, let me tell you about it. To make this possible, one of the first things that I made sure to do when I got here was plant some pumpkin seeds in the garden, so that I would have ripe pumpkins for my Thanksgiving pumpkin pie. After months of tending to the pumpkins they were picked, carved, and pureed. Then cinnamon, ginger, crème fresh, brown sugar, eggs, and a pinch of salt were all mixed together with the pumpkin. Finally the mixture was poured into the biscuit based crust and put in the oven to bake. After an hour of waiting, the pumpkin pie was served hot with tasty brandy cream. The night ended with games such as Uno and consequence along with lots of fun and laughter. I am so thankful for the wonderful Lu Family who I was able to spend Thanksgiving with this year!

I did have a wonderful Thanksgiving this year, but it may not have been exactly like how I described it in the story above, but hope you did enjoy reading it! Many thanks to the Lu family for helping me write my story about my Thanksgiving this year! It is true that I did make my first home-made pumpkin pie though!

I am so thankful for the amazing friends and family that I have in my life, both here in the UK and in the USA.

The Poor Will Not Always Be With Us

This past weekend, I went to Eastbourne for a youth work conference. It was an amazing weekend with great sessions and inspirational speakers. One of the speakers was an American named Scott Todd. Scott has a passion for working to end extreme poverty in the world, and to make people more aware of what they can do to help end extreme poverty. One of the ways in which he has done this is by helping with the creation of 58: The Film. This film confronts the brutality of extreme poverty and shares with the viewer those people who live out the True Fast of Isaiah 58 and create stunning new possibilities for the future. 58: The Film allows the viewer to see the relentlessly loving God at work through His Church bringing hope to the darkest challenges of our day. As I was listening to Scott, I felt so inspired. I want to be a person who can make a difference like him. Then I thought to myself, only in my dreams do I have the money to start a non-profit organization or travel around the world donating my time and money to help improve the lives of those in extreme poverty. These thoughts were stopped when Scott spoke these words, "Even something as small as providing a small amount of funding to a child through the Compassion Organization or buying fair-trade goods does make a difference and has an impact on the goal of ending extreme poverty". This was a great reminder to me that there are little things that can still have a big impact. Since I have been here there are times where I feel like I need to be doing more. I am thankful for the amazing people that I work with here, who assure me that I am making a difference, even if there are times when I feel like I am not. I have learned that even though I can't see the impact that I have had here, doesn't mean that I have made no impact on the community of Bookham Baptist Church.

Sponsoring a child in extreme poverty will definitely make an impact and change that child's life. Our youth group is now looking into sponsoring one or two children in the New Year. We want to show the youth that they can make a difference in the world and we want them to be inspired to take action.

Just a fun fact for you! Did you know that in the 1981 52% of the world's population was living in extreme poverty and today it is 26%. In a generation, we cut the percentage of people living in extreme poverty in half! This just goes to show that we can be the change and make a difference in the world!


Below I have posted a talk by Scott Todd. Please take a look at it! It is very eye opening and inspirational!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uZV90fsoCY

I know that this post consists of many random thoughts, but I just thought I would share with you the many things that are on my mind! :)