Malmesbury Abbey Youth Groups

Just...

Update from Claire in Costa Rica.

Hola, hermanos y hermanas en Christo!

Summary
Praise God for his awesome work in the church of Avangaritos.
Pray for the love of the church to spread into the rest of the community
where there is much need.
Thank God for what he is doing in the life of each team member: we have all
been so encouraged and at the same time have had struggles, pray that we would
be aware of His work in our lives, and would work with him.

Avangarutis
Wow, we´re now back in San Jose after having an amazing week and a bit working
with a rural pentecostal church in the village of Avangarutis on the gulf of
Nicoya. We have really experienced the power of God, and have all been changed
by the experience. Meeting with God has brought each of us joy and
encouaragement, but also challenges and struggles, so there is a lot to praise
and pray for. The project was to build a disabled toilet block at the church site, which was
under construction. However, much more importantly, it was about getting to
know the church, and about loving, serving, encouraging, and learning from
them.

The ongoing adventures of ASBO Jesus...

http://asbojesus.wordpress.com/

Abbey Disco Party.

This Friday, 18th July, 7-9pm at Malmesbury Abbey is our 3rd annual Summer Disco Party!

It's for years 7 and 8 from Malmesbury School, and years 6 from all the local schools who are going up to Malmesbury School in September - to celebrate their move to secondary school.

There will be music, bouncy castles, party food, games and chocolate fountain. It's free admission.

This event is hosted by the Abbey's Friday night youth group which meets every friday for trips, food, games, talks, discussions, crafts, drumming, dancing, sport and more.

For more information about this disco, or about the Abbey's youth groups, contact Youth Pastor Alice Pettit, alice@malmesburyabbey.com

Tim's bike trip - stop the traffik.

Hey everyone!

Some of you might know about the Stop The Traffik global movement, which is trying to stop human trafficking throughout the world, once and for all. It’s been going for a number of years now, and has done a lot of good in a lot of places, but trafficking still happens, so STT still needs help.. My friend (Conor Bennett) and I are cycling 120 miles from Stroud (Gloucester) to the London HQ where we’ll meet the London branch for a little refreshment and to tell of some of the stories we’ve had on the way.

We hope you’ll support us both financially and in your prayers. We’ve been doing some training, but it will still be a challenge. We’re both up to it mentally, but we just pray that our bodies don’t complain at us too much!!

It’s only a month and a bit to go now, things are all falling into place. We’re setting off from Stroud on Wednesday 27th August, just hoping that the weather will be alright for us!

Contact me at: moo92@hotmail.co.uk
for more information

Much love, Tim Searle-Barnes

http://www.stopthetraffik.org/

News from Claire.

5th of July update:

Hola!
Thank you again for your prayers. We have been so privileged to see lots more
of God's work in Costa Rica over the last week, and we love to share it with
you. We've also got closer to the poverty of the shanty towns and the families
there, and long to communicate to you just how many wounds there are to be
healed here.

(Btw, this is a long one, so - wait for it - there is a SUMMARY at the bottom,
if you're outrageously busy and don't have time to read it all! BUT you know
you don't want to miss all the juicy bits though...AND one of us is bound to
quiz you when we get home!)

THINGS TO PRAISE GOD FOR:

*We have led six kids clubs this week, and have taken a bunch of kids out for
lunch and to visit a volcano, and it has been such a privilege to join in
with the work that God is doing in the lives of young people from the shanty
towns of Costa Rica. Robyn has been fantastic at heading most of the clubs up,
and we have all been involved with games, testimonies, talks, music and drama.
Some things that really stood out for us was the openness of the kids about
their desire to read the bible, to share with each other, and the friendships
there. It has been a real delight to form friendships with these young people,
and we have been so encouraged by them. A really special moment was seeing
children who rarely have full tummies saving food to take home for the their families,
when out to lunch: we really have seen the light and love of Jesus in them.

* We've all been growing in our faith, and have been sharing the journey
together. There are so many opportunities here to learn about obedience,
stepping out in faith, and God's compassion for the broken.

* Education Plus really is amazing. It is a faithful team of God's people who
know and love families in the shanty towns, and pour their hearts into
providing for them in so many different ways.

*Our language skills are definitely improving, and for many of us we are
finding that language is becoming so much less of an issue because we are
becoming more willing to give it a go and looking a bit silly - or very silly -
using actions and other methods of communication! It's been a really good
lesson in learning not to take ourselves so seriously!

*God has been keeping us all safe and well, and we are getting on really well
as a group (I think!).

* The wonderful hospitality that we have received from the local families we
have been staying with, and the friendships being formed there.