Final Christmas club of the year...

I went to the bus thinking "There has been very little going wrong today, no resistance? A bit weird? Normally there is some sort of turbulence before cell." Then this familiar feeling came- "will the bus work?".

No. The batteries had been sapped by the cold (-6) and would not turn over the engine. Even our back up plan of someone turning the engine in the morning didn’t work because Tim’s car had broken down.

So we had to cancel the clubs tonight. Thank God for consent forms. Called all 31 kids parents up and told them and then met the last few kids waiting on the street for the bus. A lot of very disappointed kids tonight. Also one disappointed adult- me. I really look forward to it. We are getting into the swing and really relaxing and enjoying it. That’s the fourth cancellation! Drag. All should be ok when the back up plan is in action- someone turning the bus regualrily in the week and in the morning of an event.

One of the mums said that she couldn’t believe how much her kid loved it and was amazed that he was going to it consistently. Very effusive- very nice to hear.

Got speaking to the parent on the Polton hall committee and she was very enthusiastic about having it in the gala.

It’s quite nice having an excuse to make contact with the parents on the phone. What I did notice was that 2 of the forms were not the right details. Good to check in case of an emergancy. Half tempted to have one of us call the numbers of new forms from the bus to check if they have been filled in correctly or even signed on behalf of the parents. Looks like a few were like that!
So we start back up 2nd week of next term, 17th Jan.

With Love
Darius

By the way here is the programme of getting the bus out and back below. May be useful sometime in the future.

Pre bus pick up
Got all the stuff in the boxes*
Pick up keys for depot from office
Bus pick up
Open gates
Park car
Transfer boxes
Unplug power
Start engine
Fill engine with water
Put on heating
Put on lights
Switch on projector and dvd player
Put on DVD for transit
Leave
Lock up behind
Pick up Terry
Pick up Jessy
Pray madly for Outreach

Arrive at location
Reverse onto wedge and level bus off
Extra wood to pack wedge up
Switch off starter battery power
Put up Drivers screen
Put up bar stools
Get registration ready
Welcome children
Take consent forms
Take register and give out reward cards

Session 1
Introduce self
Introduce bus and say it is part of the Lighthouse church
Welcome newcomers
Icebreaker
Remember last week
Game
Video clip
Terry’s testimony
Circle time
Game
Circle time prayer
Hand out juice and biscuits tokens
Session 2
Friendship bracelets
Pro football
Singstar
Board game like rapidough
Cards
Juice
Crisps
Cups
Send away first lot:
Call a 5 min to end of session
Send the children off.
Anyone staying on stays upstairs with a leader.
Everyone else down stairs and sent away making sure they are going home safely

Recive older children.
Take register and consent forms
Send them upstairs immediately
Session 3
Welcome them to light house bus
Tell them its part of the lighthouse church
We like to pray for people and see lives change for the better
Icebreaker
Short recap of last week.
Intro to film clip
Show film clip
Expound on film clip
Share testimony
Comments discussion
Pray for what came up
Hand out juice tokens
Session 4
Pro evolution soccer
Sit and chat in lounge
Buzz downstairs
Board game downstairs
Juice and crisps at the bar by group
Say good by at 9.15

Tidy up
Clear rubbish
Pack away play stations
Pack away all the stuff
Hoover

Debrief
Sit and chat about what went well and what we could do better
Pray for kids
Take bus to depot
Unlock the gates
Park bus
Lock up bus
Switch heating off
Flick power swithch to charge only
Switch off fuse board
Lock back door
Plug in power
Lock up compound
Go home
*(Underlined are things that need to be taken)

Bonnyrigg Gala

By the way, I forgot to mention that one of the children who comes to the bus asked me if his mum could call me because she is the chair of the Bonnyrigg Gala comittee and she would really like it to be part of the Gala. Great!
Also numbers- we had 17 kids in the first 2 sessions and 14 in the last 2.

8 people who have just prayed the sinners prayer

Oh happy days. I have just been leading a evangelistic course with 14-18 people over the last 10 weeks and 8 of them have just prayed the sinners prayer today and let Jesus in! I asked them if they really meant it from their heart. They were earnest in it you could see it in their eyes. It was fantastic.


Here’s the story: We have had 14-18 folk in our SU group over the last 10 weeks and had a great time. We have gone from creation to Jesus being born and wanting to be born in us. Over the weeks I have felt them wanting to let him in. But I have not really shown them how to, until today- when they were good and ready. It was great. So I asked who had been thinking at home during the weeks of letting Jesus in to show throw our their sin and show them the way to life. In the group of 14, 3 hands went up then a few more tentative ones. So I said that today I was going to show them how to do it if they wanted to. I asked them simply who would like Jesus to come and be born in them and for him to throw out their sin. I really feel they understood what they were going to do. I emphasised that it was an important decision and that they didn't have to do it now or at all. And so I said "if you want to pray this prayer join in. If not stay quiet." I led them in quite a lengthy sinner’s prayer- in children’s language of course- it was great. You could hear them praying away quietly and earnestly even though some of their friends were just sitting there silent and uninterested.

After our various Christmas crackers and present opening time I asked those who had prayed the prayer from their hearts to stay behind and chat. The 8 of them, one a Muslim, stayed back and I asked them if they really had meant it from their heart to let Jesus in. And they were sure. So I told them of the angels celebrating over them and how were were going to discover how to let this new life in them grow over the next term.

They went out to play with a very special present within them- Christ. "Where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in" (Oh Little town of Bethlehem)

It is wonderful to see folk saved. Sometimes I have this sense that a person giving their life at 8,9 or 10 is not as significant and weighty as if they were an adult doing it. God is getting that stronghold out my mind by showing me that many of the full on Christians around me were children in other children’s groups saying that sincere prayer 12 years ago. Its a question of the heart not the mind. I realise their understanding of what their heart is leading them into will follow.

Thank you God. Lord may You and your word grow strongly in them.
See you. Lv Darius

The Matrix

I am sitting here contentedly with a Donner Kebab in front of me and a night of intensity behind me.

I was going to show some Matrix clips to the teens on the bus and talk from it. But I lost the dvd 2 days ago. It’s such a small thing with large repercussions. I knew that I was meant to do the talk on this but I couldn’t really prepare because I wanted to watch the clips. So I went to buy it.-not at Tescos- rent it- video shop don’t rent it anymore! One thing after another. Eventually I found a friend that had it to lend and got it. The whole day was a bit like death by a thousand cuts! Rather obstruction by a thousand little trips. I prayed a lot today- in between the swearing a lot and losing my rag.

Really, how hard is it to show a 10 min film clip and do a 10 min talk afterwards to 14 children? How hard can it be?

Hard. Hard hard.

I really could have cried. When I got to the bus at 5 pm having spent the previous 5 hours getting ready. Because the bus turned over clunked and was totally dead. Repeat of last week. I really could have cried. Then I got angry. The thought of cancelling another whole evening. That would have been at least the 5th in 4 months. We even had a cunning plan in place to avoid this, where Gary would turn the bus over in the morning to make sure it was all good. But, Tim’s car broke down so he couldn’t show him how to.

I called Tim and we called mechanics and electricians and finally found out I had to stip a panel off and press a fuse switch at it worked! Joy Joy Joy.

So our prayers were answered. What looked like a cancelled night was turned to good.
SO why so much opposition? Well, we did the film clip and then I shared a bit of my story how I wanted to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth and they were riveted. Riveted. 17 pairs of eyes listening intently. In the middle the concentration was so intense it felt like I could stop speaking and they would be riveted. I was tingling with goose bumps in the middle of it. God was intensely there speaking to them. It was deep and it went deep. It’s one of those 1 minute moments that I doubt if I will forget.

At the end I held out red jelly beans in one hand and blue in the other and asked them who wanted to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth like I did when younger and they all bar one leapt for the red. Then we prayed for some of them to get healed of eczema like I was. So all the fighting was worth it. It was great.

Do remember that boys headaches? He had one this week right after the last time we prayed. He misunderstood me and thought that I had prayed for them to come back so that I could send it away permanently this week. SO we prayed for his headaches to go completely. Not bad to go from permanent daily headaches to one in 2 weeks.

Next week is the last before Christmas. Terry is going to give his testimony.

Here is the image of our flyer:

It says the following:
For P5,P6+P7

Session
1
6.00 pm -
6.45 pm
Club Time:
Organised games, stories, film clips, quizzes, juice and popcorn
Session
2
6.45 pm -7.30 pm
Drop in:
Come and go any time.
PS2 competition
Play board games or cards.
Talk at bar

For P7+S1,S2,S3
Session
3
7.30 pm -
7.50 pm
Clip Club:
Watch film clips with comments for 20 min.
Session
4
8.00 pm –9.45 pm
Drop in:
Come and go any time.
Watch full length film with popcorn and juice.
PS2 competition
Play Monopoly, risk or cards.
Talk at bar
P7’s have open access to all sessions.

We went to take the bus out this week and it had an electrical fault. SO it was cancelled. The children were really dissapointed. They were looking forward to it all week they said. Its all fixed now thanks to Tims sterling efforts coordinating the wonderful mechanic we have, called Tommy.

So this is what we came up with:

It was then I realised I had forgotten my desire to see the children in Bonnyrigg on the bus. It is awesome how God fulfils dreams, even dreams that have died or that we have forgotten.
I know it’s only a small step, but its good to be doing children’s work that is not simply crowd control or entertaining them but is about building good relationships where we can freely share good news in a practical way by praying for their challenges. Week 1 was a bit of a dry run (2 people came). Week 2, word started to get out (12 People came).

It was week 3 this Monday. I was really nervous. Would they come? Have I got everything together? It took me 90 min to get the bus to the site. But when I arrived there was a possy of 4 kids waiting with their "tickets" (signed consent forms) to get on. (Its good to have the whole child protection system working well. It gives as sense of security for us as leaders) Then a crowd of 24 kids got on throughout the various 4 sessions of the night between 6 and 9.15pm.
We had a time together where we watched the fathers love letter on the big screen. Had loud music, popped balloons. Talked about perfect fathers. I asked them if they prayed and they told me that they prayed for their dead Nana’s grandparents and relatives to come back because they missed them! Later we watched the story of the guy who was raised from the dead after being stung by Box jellyfish- Ian Macormack

They were a bit cheeky with the whole God stuff but they listened because they knew they would get juice, popcorn and get to play on the bus if they did. It was nice when we all prayed together at the end and asked God to fill their hearts with his love and fill that space that was left by the death of their relatives.

Later I heard them talking to some people passing outside who were thinking aobut coming aboard (12-13yr) and them saying "yeh, its God stuff but its not that bad and its over quick". They ended up going home getting consent forms and coming aboard.

We had a great time. One group coloured in upstairs, another watched a video, another played singstar and another played Uno. They all found a place to settle and locked into the activity and we had a great time.

Our aim is to do as little crowd control as possible and as little activity organising a possible so that we can join in with the games, chat and chill out together.

I hope we can capitalise on the initial wave of interest and enthusiasm and keep them coming and engaged. We will see, God willing. We are finding our feet but it worked. It was really fantastic. We had 24 different people aboard and spent good time with each other.

The highlight for me was Jen and Debbie told me that they had prayed for a boy last week who gets recurring headaches. So I asked him this week about his head. And he told me about being defibrillated twice in hospital a year ago and how he has had bad headaches throughout the week for the last 6 months or so. I asked him if he had any headaches last week. And he said no. (this is all while he is staring intently at the screen whilst playing colin macra rally 3)
I said "well that’s an answer to prayer."
And he said "what do you mean?"
I said "well, Jen and debbie prayed for you didn’t they? And now you’ve not had any headaches for a week."
He said, "did they? I don’t remember them praying for me."
I asked Debbie across the bus. And she said that they had prayed after the folk had left the bus –he didn’t know!
So I told him that we had prayed for his headaches to go away the previous week. And now this was the first week in over 6 months that he had no headaches. I asked if I could pray for him to have another week free of headaches. And told him if he felt one coming on he should say "go away in Jesus name". So after practising it he said he would do that. So watch this space.
With Love Darius

Sorry for not writing the blog for so long.

The long and the short of my bus news is that things were going great up till summer. Had a long break. Then it took a while to get things going again. We lost momentum. We did 3 sessions then all of a sudden the local guys stopped coming. So rethink time. To be quite honest I was a bit glad because my heart wasn’t completely in it anymore. I wanted to do a whole new fresh outreach and start from scratch but felt obliged not to let the existing cell down.

I realised we needed to do something more than an organised programme of games and God stuff. Which lead to re thinking what I did on the bus. So instead of doing a 1 hour session with the kids on the bus I decided to try a whole evening where there is a combo of organised Gospel stuff and chilled out hanging out on the bus.

I did a little flyer. I will post it tomorrow.

April

Hi there,
I am sorry that I have not posted for a while. We had a great last session of term with Dean and Elizabeth Norby. They had a great Easter party. I was so struck by how we are used to our own way of doing things. They blasted off by doing "you came from heaven to earth" with motions. You could see the 10 year old cool boys wondering to themselves whether this was really and activity they should condescend to do, but Dean and Elizabeth were fantastic and carried them along with sheer enthusiasm and they all got stuck right into it. Worshiping God! They really enjoyed it. Fantastic. It is so great doing children's work as a team. Unfortunately, they have left to go onto a different area now.

This term we started 2 weeks into the term. We were thinking that we would not run a Summer term because they tend to fall away because the sun draws them out to play more. But we decided even if it is only 8 we would do it. Well, 22 children turned up! They are fantastic and so well behaved. We played miracle tig. Where, if you are tigged you get a terrible illness and have to dramatically get you self to hospital where you can be healed by the healthy people as long as you keep away from those that are the "plagues" and not get tug again. They loved it.
Watched "Miracle maker" and talked about miracles. Told them how I was healed miraculously through prayer from eczema and Megan of an asthma allergy to our cat 4 weeks ago. They talked of miracles. They are really searching for truth. They listened and discussed stuff about God earnestly. It takes me back and makes me realise that many of the thoughts I thought then are still with me. I'm still a kid!

Well we prayed for God to meet us. Peace reigned as they all earnestly bowed their heads and prayed. Then we were all sad we had no more time and it was time to leave! Nice when you all feel that!
School shut for elections next week.

We were going to do the kids cell on the bus but the bus has sprung a leak from the hydraulics and best not moved till its fixed. so we had an impompu picnic with the guys in Stoney bank in the afternoon and pretty much did the same thing as the SU group. Its very different doing stuff out of school. They are much more distracted. But great. We basically played tig for an hour with a wee drink story and chat break. Terry visited us for old times sake. Great to see him as the fruit of our old children's cells.

In the evening had a great time with my friend. Not on the bus this time but really great just sitting and talking about the deep things of life. Its funny having started our chats on the bus because the bus is laid back and homey but it is still different. You know that its their for a reason, for God and you tend to just chat about God and the deeper things without trying. Good way to start things.

I very much see the bus as catalyst that starts and stimulates, attracts and leaves with a wee cell planted or grown.

Well see you.
Love Darius
Next post in 2 weeks. Peace.

Hi there.

Thank you to the 6 folk who have signed up to my blog. Sorry its late. Went on an encounter weekend. Little time to write.

I have been a naughty boy. I left the heating on in the bus for 4 days! It was very hot when I got in. Not good. The wood veneer on the bar is cracked because it dried out! Hope no one notices. Also our lovely table that folds out has prematurely bowed. I wonder when folk will notice? Actually, that was what it was like when I went first. But then I went back later today and found that the table is now re hydrated and straight and the veneer has swelled again and looks ok! Filled her up with fuel- 115ltrs!!! I couldn’t believe it when I filled her up. I figured out that I had the heating on for 90 hours. And it used up about 85 ltres. Which means that it uses a ltre an hour and costs 85p an hour to heat at half power. An expensive calculation!

What a day so far. Started with prayer meeting. Fantastic. What a difference it makes starting a prayer meeting with worship songs. We prayed for our upcoming encounter weekend.

Our plans to use the bus in Dumbidykes are not straightforward. We wanted to go there tonight. Just got permission from the council to park in the turning circle for the fire engines! But the problem is that my friend wants to do it as part of a community IT centre near by. I think it would do them and us a disservice by doing a joint thing because it would associate us with them and it might be awkward for them in the future. Who would have thought going out and telling children about Jesus could be so complicated!

I wanted to go sit in the bus and pray for a while and fiddle, but no. I had to prepare SU club a bit more and then began the quest to build a collapsible cross. I used to have one but I mislaid it. Went to Jewsons and bought some 6x2 and started a last min cross construction- see photos. It is essentially a flat pack cross. I really wanted to do it with the kids at SU.

SU club- we had 42 kids! They just kept coming. It started with the usual 10-12 but they just kept coming from lunch. We watched Alsan coming back to life again and the battle scene. It’s a bit like watching the “A Team” where lots of fighting and shooting but no blood! They enjoyed the battle scene. There are a lot of boys in the club- a fair split – which is good.
I did the bridge diagram with them and tied it into the Narnia story. To cut a long preach time short- yes- they stayed there and listened to me talk for 15 min! Can you believe it? 15 min. I can hardly. I have run a club where we had 8 kids and it would take you the whole hour and half to get a chance to say “Jesus loves you” without one of them acting out “boring” or hitting each other. But the down side is you spend years wishing you could just get the chance to speak the good news to some kids if they would sit and listen for 5 min. Then they do! For 15 min! Then while I was talking the terrifying thought hit me. Is this making sense to them? Is this just going to get them confused? What are they going to say to there parents? What might there parents say to me? Is this too up front talking about the cross? How do you say this so that the kids don’t just get all religious? What will the head teacher say? What do you say? What do you say to help them have a real living relationship with God? Are my assistants impassive faces agreeing or are they worried? Am I paranoid?

With these thoughts going on whilst simultaneously telling them that God loves them and died on the cross for them. I then asked them if they would like Gods love in them. Then a forest of wonderful little hands shot in the air.

So we did a wee practical prayer. The cross I made had lots of love heart Post-its stuck on it and they were to take a yellow post it (their life) and give it to Jesus by swapping it for His love (Heart post-its). They liked it.

I did say to them, as a disclaimer, that it takes a lifetime to understand what Jesus did on the cross and that God wants us to take the time to find out.

They came back for more love heart post-its. The boys as well! They then went away into their lessons wearing them on their chests proudly. Brilliant. I adore them. They crack me up.

They are great. A girl came up to me and said “Is it true that you only go to heaven if you believe in Jesus”. It was clearly a situation where her and her friend had been discussing and I was now the final authority. It’s amazing how hard it is to say “yes”. Why? I have no problem saying it to an adult but a child? Why? Because they believe you because you’ve said so. I didn’t want to say yes! Why? Because I want them to discover for them selves. But if its not preached how will they know? So I said yes. This kind of behaviour would not be alloed in an American school. Ironic.

Bottom line- having gone from 2 years of toiling with a cell group of 8 children to 2 groups one with 40 and the other with 18 and all of them willing to listen and sucking it all in, it’s a total cultural change.

I am having to change my approach from “oh, yes, a moment of calm where they are listening, I must explain the whole of the gospel in 2 min. I may never get this chance again!” to a place where I need to chill out a bit. I am moving to a place where “They want to listen??!!! Ok, lets take time to add one more part to their understanding and experience of the cross”.

I had a long talk after this with one of the parents about new age stuff and her obvious healing gift and prophetic gift and how she might like coming to our supernatural Sundays to see how we use our spiritual gifts in the church as opposed to the new age. Great chat. I have a lot of respect for people who don’t believe what you believe but still take time to listen and discuss. Respect. I was like that when I was seeking. I am on a journey of regaining that but still holding on to the truth.

Came home did more prep for the cell group session on the bus.

Got there just on time. Jo (my wife and assistant cell leader)

was playing Narnia tig with them. We watched the rest of Narnia and did the bridge picture with them. Again we had a 15 min talk from me!! And then a 10 min discussion. I told them that it’s like they have an uncle in Australia who has died and left them a million pounds but that they need to swap what’s in their bank account with what’s in his. It’s a swap not an add on.

Well, all the kids went and swapped everything they had with everything God had by taking a yellow post-it and sticking it on the cross (Their stuff) and taking a red heart (Gods stuff). Wonderful mayhem around the cross.

Before and After:

Then we all belted outside and played Narnia tig

repeatedly. I still wonder “Do they really mean it? Do they understand what they are doing?” Well, I recon I will just have to keep trusting God as usual!

Well, that’s all folks for this week. The cross preached to 60 kids. It feels like a rare day - well spent.
With Love Darius.

The Thursday Adventure

So what happened this Thursday 8th March?
7am Had a prayer time with the guys in our Tranent Church flat blessing the church in Tranent.
8am Men's Breakfast. Talked to a friend about how we could use the bus in his area of Dumbiedykes and decided to do a video project on the bus between 6 and 7pm on Thursdays. A little bit of a scary because I don't know the kids and it is a rough area.


12.30pm Lunchtime SU club for P5,6,7 that a few of my friends and I do. We had 28 children in the hall this week. I used a great kids programme built around the new Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe film. It's Fantastic! Very hard to find on the web. This is it: http://www.outreach.com/print/articlef.asp?article_name=p-narniacurriculumpdf&sid=43F11D803E17F
We played Narnia tig. They love it. We watched the clip of Aslan being killed. Then we had a talk about Jesus dying for us and for the first time we prayed and said sorry for the bad things we had done and asked to feel Gods love. This is nearly the end of our “Meet the Real Lion” Narnia series. The kids are loving it. About 1/5 of them haven't seen the film. It was great, the boys don't giggle thinking the praying is silly. They quietly closed their eyes and repeated the prayer I led them in. It really felt like they meant it and were reaching out for God. I felt a bit choked up actually. Had the headmistress in checking out what we do for a short while- a bit scary- even though she is totally behind us and is fantastic.


1.30pm Went home and updated our GenerationX (The Name of my children's cell)“Bus Passes”. They really help me remember the kids names and I have been flicking through them and pray for them when I see their faces. The effort is paying off. Hard work though.


2.30pm I went to see my pal who has created a board game and played it. I can now see why he likes it so much because it is very good. Kind of like souped up risk but quicker- a good thing.


4 pm I went to the bus and got it out the compound and belted over to the road (47 MPH down the bypass) outside StonyHill community centre and got there just in time for 4.30. There were about 15 kids standing their waiting. When they saw the bus they said “ is that our bus?” because it looked so scabby! They had only seen it in the dark. The inside is finished but the outside isn't, so it looks pretty old and scabby.
We played Narnia tig with them. I follow the same program as the SU club. Watched the film in the cinema. Its great to see them sprawled out over all the beanbags in the top floor den watching the film on the massive screen with the volume on loud.
The programme has this cool game where there are 20 cards rolled up in balloons. They burst them get the card and match it with someone else. 10 cards map out the story of Narnia and then another 10 map out the corresponding story in the real world: Alsan Lord; Jesus Lord, Edmund tempted;we tempted, Witch lied;Devil lied, Edmund had to Die;we have to die, Aslan swapped with him;Jesus swaps with us, Alan rose;Jesus rose, Alan freed statues;Jesus frees us, Aslan destroy evil, Jesus destroy evil, Aslan crowns;Jesus crowns us etc
Brilliant! Really helps the kids get the progression and relate to it.


We had a lot of questions about “is Jesus the only way?”. It's really hard to be unequivocal and still stay focused on the point that Gods love is for us. The best bit though was this: I said “well, lets pray and speak to God and see what he does”. So we closed our eyes and I led them in a prayer that kind of went “ God we want to know you. We want to know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. We don't just want to believe what Darius says just because he says it(a little surprised laughter), we want to know it from you. Please help us know you.” Lots of them prayed it out. A few giggles from some embarrassed boys but on the whole they stayed focused on God. Then we had a bit of time where they were quiet and waited for God to touch them. He did, I knew he would. His answerer to all our questions is simply: Him. I asked for a show of hands of those who felt something happen. Its amazing what can happen in just one minute of prayer. Unfortunately I didn't have time to ask them all what happened. I asked a new kid what he felt. He said “I felt sparkly inside”. I think that is just about the best description of how I feel when I feel God touch me. Fantastic. We made a real breakthrough. We've gone from the “I'm going to teach you something” stage to the “Now you know enough to discuss, lets talk about it” stage.


Well after that, filled the bus up. 100 litres of fuel! £90. Takes a while.
That evening I parked it up in Macmerry and chilled out with a pal on the bus and talked about life the universe and everything. This time was the highlight of the day. He's not a Christian but simply wants to live life deliberately and not just drift along. We talk about getting in the “Zone” a lot. (That place in sport where everything just seems to flow and go well and time slows down.) We have a time where its kind of like a conversation club. We both just talk about life but drill down through the superficial to the deep issues of life like trust and love, how is it in the real world not just in theory. It's a place for me where I can share my faith with someone in a casual deep way without feeling that I need to fix up my friend and sort him out. Its like he's on his way and so am I and lets trust God to guide us. The bus really swayed around a lot in the high wind. It was like being on a boat. I'm glad we paid 4k to put the heating in. It was worth it. The night was cold and it rumbled on on low keeping us comfortable. Noisy though. With hind sight I might have put it in the back of the bus out the way.


Locked the bus up at 12.20am and went home.


One and a half years of dreaming about using a bus like this for outreach is starting to come to pass. Thanks God.
I'll tell you how next week goes.