Hello all from sunny, rainy, hailing, snowing Walsall! Yes, it's been a funny day for Mother Nature, she just couldn't decide what she wanted to wear today.
I just had to send out this story that happened this evening. We were at a kid's club for 6 to 12 year old children at the church. We did our dramas, told a Bible story, and played some games. The kids at this group are very, how shall I say, energetic? Enthusiastic? Rambunctious? And sometimes down right menaces! But they are so sweet and it is always such a huge blessing to us to have them run and give us hugs when they see us coming.
Okay, so at the end of the evening, we had some spare time to tell one last story, which is, naturally, Danny's job. He is the master of 'one last story.' So he proceded to tell the adventure of going Go-Carting last week with the youth group. Danny recounted every detail, every danger, and every challenge and the children (and us) were enthralled. He told of his brave battle on the go-cart track, racing against vicious teenage challengers, who tried to bump him off the track, but he didn't let fear defeat him,and he finally finished victoriously in first place. Actually, it sounded a lot like "Days of Thunder" except with go-carts.
At the end of is story, Danny asked the kids, "Does anyone know why I won the race?" Why yes, of course, Danny. It's because you didn't give up.
The responses from the children, however, were as follows:
-"Because girls are bad drivers." (That boy's walking home.)
-"Because you cheated." (Thank you for your honesty.)
-"Because you ate bananas." (Where we listening to the same story?)
And my all time favourite, the answer to every question:
-"Because you had faith in God so he helped you to win." (What can I say? We know how to program the young minds of today's generation.)
You know, there are only 3 or 4 children from the 30 plus group who actually attend church outside of this Tuesday evening club. But they are really teaching them the right answers to all of life's tough questions!
Until the next crazy thing that happens (which shouldn't be too long, we have another kids' club tomorrow night), God bless you all and remember...
...have faith in God!
Take Care,
~Alycia DeLong
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Happy Valentine's Day (or week for those of us who are forgetful)
Happy Belated Valentine’s Day, everyone! Hope your week has brought you many bouquets of flowers and boxes of chocolates! I’ve got no complaints myself. We’re in Stafford right now enjoying an easy going week as it is half term break for schools so we don’t have any assemblies or classes. This week’s schedule has consisted of bowling, movies, games, go carting, ice skating and tobogganing (indoor, of course). We’ve just been hanging out with the local youth group as much as possible, which has been awesome! We needed a week like this; the last two have been insanely busy with schools and events. Hey, that reminds me of a funny story…
So last week we were in Wales, Clydach to be exact. I know what you’re all thinking, ‘Hey, isn’t that by Swansea, where Catherine Zeta-Jones has a mansion?’ Why yes, as a matter of fact it is. But we never saw her. Sorry. I hope you weren’t thinking that was going to be my funny story.
Our entire team stayed in the church for the week, boys in one room and girls in the other, including Danny and myself (also not the funny story. Side note: And people are so shocked that we don’t have children yet). Anyway, we were scheduled for full days of schools from Monday to Friday and evening stuff every night. Our previous week in Stourbridge had been much the same and we were already pretty exhausted, but there’s nothing that a little coffee and a lot of prayer can’t do. We pulled ourselves back together and arrived at school Monday morning ready to go.
When we arrived we were quickly taken into one of the classrooms by the teacher who was coordinating our week. He told us that a major outbreak of the flu had broken out at the school. In fact the previous Friday recorded around 200 students absent. He asked if we’d all had flu shots (to which we just said yes) and said he’d keep us updated on the situation. We didn’t think much of it, but it was nice of the guy to tell us what was going on. There shouldn’t be any real problems because of this, or so we thought…
By the end of the day it had been confirmed that two of the students had meningitis and that they were taking emergency medical measures to stop a possible epidemic. There were staff meetings to be held, letters to be written home, public parent meetings to be arranged, staff and students to be tested, and lots of pills to be handed out. Wednesday was spent in a line filling out forms, answering medical questions, and receiving antibiotics. It was panic and chaos. Parents we taken there kids out of school, teachers were calling in sick, the media was all over the story, and rumours were flying that they were going to close down the school. It was up to us, four Canadians and two Brits, to save the day!
By the end of the week we’d seen every present student in years 8, 9, 10 and most of the other year 7 and 11 students. Pretty much everyone between the ages of 13 and 17 we had contact it. And guess what, we never even got meningitis. Not even the sniffles! Originally we were only going to see a few classes, but it seems that God perhaps had a different idea and cleared the schedule for us! On the Friday night, when we held our main outreach event, we had around 100 students and adults pack the church and enjoy a night of comedy, and at the end they heard the Gospel.
We move on to Walsall for 2 weeks after this and then we’re off to Scotland for a week, which will be fun! We had a great mission there last year, so it will be exciting to see everyone again.
Well then, I guess I’ll be off for now. I think it’s time for a cup of tea. I also want to see what’s happening on the Olympics. Men’s Skeleton was very exciting yesterday as Canada took the Gold and Silver! And of course there’s HOCKEY! I’m looking forward to what today will hold!
Until next time, God bless and keep your stick on the ice!
Sincerely,
~Alycia DeLong
So last week we were in Wales, Clydach to be exact. I know what you’re all thinking, ‘Hey, isn’t that by Swansea, where Catherine Zeta-Jones has a mansion?’ Why yes, as a matter of fact it is. But we never saw her. Sorry. I hope you weren’t thinking that was going to be my funny story.
Our entire team stayed in the church for the week, boys in one room and girls in the other, including Danny and myself (also not the funny story. Side note: And people are so shocked that we don’t have children yet). Anyway, we were scheduled for full days of schools from Monday to Friday and evening stuff every night. Our previous week in Stourbridge had been much the same and we were already pretty exhausted, but there’s nothing that a little coffee and a lot of prayer can’t do. We pulled ourselves back together and arrived at school Monday morning ready to go.
When we arrived we were quickly taken into one of the classrooms by the teacher who was coordinating our week. He told us that a major outbreak of the flu had broken out at the school. In fact the previous Friday recorded around 200 students absent. He asked if we’d all had flu shots (to which we just said yes) and said he’d keep us updated on the situation. We didn’t think much of it, but it was nice of the guy to tell us what was going on. There shouldn’t be any real problems because of this, or so we thought…
By the end of the day it had been confirmed that two of the students had meningitis and that they were taking emergency medical measures to stop a possible epidemic. There were staff meetings to be held, letters to be written home, public parent meetings to be arranged, staff and students to be tested, and lots of pills to be handed out. Wednesday was spent in a line filling out forms, answering medical questions, and receiving antibiotics. It was panic and chaos. Parents we taken there kids out of school, teachers were calling in sick, the media was all over the story, and rumours were flying that they were going to close down the school. It was up to us, four Canadians and two Brits, to save the day!
By the end of the week we’d seen every present student in years 8, 9, 10 and most of the other year 7 and 11 students. Pretty much everyone between the ages of 13 and 17 we had contact it. And guess what, we never even got meningitis. Not even the sniffles! Originally we were only going to see a few classes, but it seems that God perhaps had a different idea and cleared the schedule for us! On the Friday night, when we held our main outreach event, we had around 100 students and adults pack the church and enjoy a night of comedy, and at the end they heard the Gospel.
We move on to Walsall for 2 weeks after this and then we’re off to Scotland for a week, which will be fun! We had a great mission there last year, so it will be exciting to see everyone again.
Well then, I guess I’ll be off for now. I think it’s time for a cup of tea. I also want to see what’s happening on the Olympics. Men’s Skeleton was very exciting yesterday as Canada took the Gold and Silver! And of course there’s HOCKEY! I’m looking forward to what today will hold!
Until next time, God bless and keep your stick on the ice!
Sincerely,
~Alycia DeLong
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Guess Where I Am?
Hello from WALES!!!!!!! Yes, I am finally here! We are in Swansea right now until next Sunday. Unfortunately its such a busy week, I'm not seeing too much. And this is probably the only chance I'll have to do any internet stuff until next week. All of us are staying at the local church in Claduch, but it's the boys in one room and the girls in the other, so Danny and I are split up for the week. We don't have access to a phone or to the internet there (I'm at the library right now using the computers). Our schedule is full of school and classes during the day and meetings and kids club in the evenings.
So here's a funny story: The school we're at for the week is having a real flu epidemic. Out of 750 students, over 200 of them were away sick last Friday. Anyway, yesterday, 2 students were diagnosed with Meningitis. Today the entire school, including us, received free antibiotics to prevent it from spreading any further. So it's been a little crazy around here to say the least!
Other than that, we are loving it here! The church we are working with is small and mostly made up of age 60+ members - which means we are getting spoiled! The best thing in the world happened when we arrived at the church Sunday: I walked into the kitchen area and on the table to great me was a big container full of WELSH CAKES! It was magnificent (even though they aren't as good as your welsh cakes, Grampa)!
I'd love to be able to call or write again, but I don't know if that is going to be a possibility unfortunately. The past couple of weeks have been really packed. Last week we ran a youth drop in every night from 6:30 to 10:30. We were totaly wrecked by the end of the week. Hopefully we'll still be alive by the end of this one! Next week is the half term break for schools here, so it will be very laid back for everyone.
Well, I have to run, my time is up I am afraid. Everyone's leaving the library and I need to go with them so I can find my way back to the church!
God bless and Take care! Hope to talk to you all soon!
Love always,
~Alycia xoxoxoxoxoxo
So here's a funny story: The school we're at for the week is having a real flu epidemic. Out of 750 students, over 200 of them were away sick last Friday. Anyway, yesterday, 2 students were diagnosed with Meningitis. Today the entire school, including us, received free antibiotics to prevent it from spreading any further. So it's been a little crazy around here to say the least!
Other than that, we are loving it here! The church we are working with is small and mostly made up of age 60+ members - which means we are getting spoiled! The best thing in the world happened when we arrived at the church Sunday: I walked into the kitchen area and on the table to great me was a big container full of WELSH CAKES! It was magnificent (even though they aren't as good as your welsh cakes, Grampa)!
I'd love to be able to call or write again, but I don't know if that is going to be a possibility unfortunately. The past couple of weeks have been really packed. Last week we ran a youth drop in every night from 6:30 to 10:30. We were totaly wrecked by the end of the week. Hopefully we'll still be alive by the end of this one! Next week is the half term break for schools here, so it will be very laid back for everyone.
Well, I have to run, my time is up I am afraid. Everyone's leaving the library and I need to go with them so I can find my way back to the church!
God bless and Take care! Hope to talk to you all soon!
Love always,
~Alycia xoxoxoxoxoxo
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Week Three and Still Alive
Hello everyone! I know you're all probably wondering where we've been the passed couple of weeks. I missed you, too.
Last week we were in Kidderminster. We had originally been booked for a mission in Wales, but they rescheduled, so the gracious church in Kidderminster was blessed with our presence instead.
First, let's take a short trip back, back in time, to our mission in Kidderminster with our team last year...
It was a busy week in Kidderminster last February, 2005. Everyday was filled with assemblies, drama workshops, classroom presentations, and extra curriccular clubs. The church we were working with was very small and hoping to get more invovled in the community. At the end of the week, we planned a drama night and invited students from all the schools we had visited. When the event came, the church was packed with over 100 kids and parents! What a fantastic ending to a fantastic week!
Now, let us return to the present day - January 17th to 21st, 2006...
We weren't in schools very much because our schedule was put together very last minute. But when the schools heard we were there for the week, by Wednesday we were booked up for Thursday and Friday! We only visited two schools, one on Thursday and one on Friday. It was extremely encouraging that when we walked in we were recognized right away! The kids remembered every drama and every story we told! They even made special requests for their favourite sketches! We thought, 'Ah, we'll throw together a pizza and drama night and invite kids. Hopefully we'll get 30 or so.'
Friday night came. It was 6:40 and we could hear a few kids russling around the church doors as we set up inside. It was relieving to know a few did show up, even though we hadn't really advertised or prepared. At 7pm we opened the doors and there were over 100 kids and parents that filed in through the doors! It was fantastic! We had an absolute amazing time, they were a fantastic audience, and we even had the freedom to share the gospel with all who came! It was an absolutely fantastic end to a fantasic week!
This email is getting long so I'll give you a nutshell of this week. We've been back in Walsall, although we've been doing more promoting to schools that performing in them. It's all part of the procedure. But we've had an excellent response and much of our daily school schedule has quickly and easily filled! Not only for this mission, but even for the next year! They are pretty hard up for entertainment with a meaning here! I'm sure there will be many amazing stories to come!
With that I will close this installment of our adventure diary. Hope all is well with you! Thanks for the constant emails of encouragement we receive! They really make my day!
God bless you all and take care!
Sincerely,
~Alycia DeLong
Last week we were in Kidderminster. We had originally been booked for a mission in Wales, but they rescheduled, so the gracious church in Kidderminster was blessed with our presence instead.
First, let's take a short trip back, back in time, to our mission in Kidderminster with our team last year...
It was a busy week in Kidderminster last February, 2005. Everyday was filled with assemblies, drama workshops, classroom presentations, and extra curriccular clubs. The church we were working with was very small and hoping to get more invovled in the community. At the end of the week, we planned a drama night and invited students from all the schools we had visited. When the event came, the church was packed with over 100 kids and parents! What a fantastic ending to a fantastic week!
Now, let us return to the present day - January 17th to 21st, 2006...
We weren't in schools very much because our schedule was put together very last minute. But when the schools heard we were there for the week, by Wednesday we were booked up for Thursday and Friday! We only visited two schools, one on Thursday and one on Friday. It was extremely encouraging that when we walked in we were recognized right away! The kids remembered every drama and every story we told! They even made special requests for their favourite sketches! We thought, 'Ah, we'll throw together a pizza and drama night and invite kids. Hopefully we'll get 30 or so.'
Friday night came. It was 6:40 and we could hear a few kids russling around the church doors as we set up inside. It was relieving to know a few did show up, even though we hadn't really advertised or prepared. At 7pm we opened the doors and there were over 100 kids and parents that filed in through the doors! It was fantastic! We had an absolute amazing time, they were a fantastic audience, and we even had the freedom to share the gospel with all who came! It was an absolutely fantastic end to a fantasic week!
This email is getting long so I'll give you a nutshell of this week. We've been back in Walsall, although we've been doing more promoting to schools that performing in them. It's all part of the procedure. But we've had an excellent response and much of our daily school schedule has quickly and easily filled! Not only for this mission, but even for the next year! They are pretty hard up for entertainment with a meaning here! I'm sure there will be many amazing stories to come!
With that I will close this installment of our adventure diary. Hope all is well with you! Thanks for the constant emails of encouragement we receive! They really make my day!
God bless you all and take care!
Sincerely,
~Alycia DeLong
Saturday, January 21, 2006
God's 2 Cents
Hello there! This is just a quick note (yeah right). Everything's going well, we've had a great week, but I just wanted to send out this little interesting story!
A couple of days ago one of the girls on our team, Trisha, was talking with her host and looking at pictures. Her host told her about how she felt that God had really called her to be an intercessor and in particular, to pray for the healing of people. Then she pointed out a few pictures of families that she had prayed for to have children and they had. Anyway, all of a sudden she told Trisha, "I've been praying for Danny and Alycia, actually. I've felt God lead me to pray against anything telling them they can't have children."
Okay, I barely know this lady and she barely knows me. If she knows anything about what's been going on with my health lately, I have no idea how. We haven't talked to anyone here about it and even our team doesn't have all the details! But, this is what she said! The freaky fact of the matter is that I have had some doctors tell me that I may not be able to have children. It's been a hard and scary thing to hear and at this point we've really just been seeking God for his plan and purpose.
And then this? Yeah, goosebumps!
So how about that? God puts in his 2 cents, perhaps? If this is the case (which, I don't know about you, but it sure looks like that to me), God's two cents is worth more than the price of all the Starbucks grande cappacinnos in the world!
Just wanted to share that and say thanks again for all your prayers! They are being answered in amazing ways already!
God bless!
Love,
~Alycia
A couple of days ago one of the girls on our team, Trisha, was talking with her host and looking at pictures. Her host told her about how she felt that God had really called her to be an intercessor and in particular, to pray for the healing of people. Then she pointed out a few pictures of families that she had prayed for to have children and they had. Anyway, all of a sudden she told Trisha, "I've been praying for Danny and Alycia, actually. I've felt God lead me to pray against anything telling them they can't have children."
Okay, I barely know this lady and she barely knows me. If she knows anything about what's been going on with my health lately, I have no idea how. We haven't talked to anyone here about it and even our team doesn't have all the details! But, this is what she said! The freaky fact of the matter is that I have had some doctors tell me that I may not be able to have children. It's been a hard and scary thing to hear and at this point we've really just been seeking God for his plan and purpose.
And then this? Yeah, goosebumps!
So how about that? God puts in his 2 cents, perhaps? If this is the case (which, I don't know about you, but it sure looks like that to me), God's two cents is worth more than the price of all the Starbucks grande cappacinnos in the world!
Just wanted to share that and say thanks again for all your prayers! They are being answered in amazing ways already!
God bless!
Love,
~Alycia
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Another Quick Note (but not as quick as the last one)
Hello there all! Thanks for your prayers yesterday. We had a long day at the hospital, from 9 - 2. Most of the time was spent in the waiting room in between tests. All the doctors and nurses though were very nice. We played the pin cushion game, which is never much fun for me as I always have to play the cushion. My arms look a little mangled and they'll be bruising and sore for a couple of days, but the sympathy attention I get from Danny and the team makes it all worth it!
I'll be going back in about 6 weeks to meet with them again and see how I did on the tests. I hope I passed! I don't actually know what most of them were for. I was in the Endocrine department, so all the tests had to do with checking hormone level. By the end of the day I'd had 5 needles, filled six tubes of blood, and had one very nasty injection into my arm muscle to see how my body reacted. They passed on taking my blood pressure after seeing how stressed I was after telling me I had a bunch of needles ahead of me for the day!
Ooh, here's the funniest thing about the day (and it is definitely the funniest as I wasn't exactly laughing at anything else): When I first when in one of the nurses took my weight and height. When she pulled the measurement bar down to see how tall I was, it kind of klonked me on the head a bit. It wasn't bad, but it made a big clang sound. She apologized profusely and said, "Ouch! Sorry! I don't want to knock you on the head and give you a brain tumor!" She had no idea what was in my file, she was just the nurse taking some details! I laughed and laughed. She laughed too, feeling pretty good about the success of her joke, I suppose. She actually stopped laughing before I did and was looking at me as if to say, "Geez this kid is hard up for a laugh." I never told her why it was so funny to me. I couldn't. I was laughing too hard!
Well, I'd better run. I have lots of whining to do today about my poor arms. Hopefully, I'll get a couple of chocolate bars and a foot rub if I play my cards right.
God bless you and thank you all again for your prayers. I can't tell you how much I needed them (and Danny too)!
All our love,
~Alycia (& Danny)
I'll be going back in about 6 weeks to meet with them again and see how I did on the tests. I hope I passed! I don't actually know what most of them were for. I was in the Endocrine department, so all the tests had to do with checking hormone level. By the end of the day I'd had 5 needles, filled six tubes of blood, and had one very nasty injection into my arm muscle to see how my body reacted. They passed on taking my blood pressure after seeing how stressed I was after telling me I had a bunch of needles ahead of me for the day!
Ooh, here's the funniest thing about the day (and it is definitely the funniest as I wasn't exactly laughing at anything else): When I first when in one of the nurses took my weight and height. When she pulled the measurement bar down to see how tall I was, it kind of klonked me on the head a bit. It wasn't bad, but it made a big clang sound. She apologized profusely and said, "Ouch! Sorry! I don't want to knock you on the head and give you a brain tumor!" She had no idea what was in my file, she was just the nurse taking some details! I laughed and laughed. She laughed too, feeling pretty good about the success of her joke, I suppose. She actually stopped laughing before I did and was looking at me as if to say, "Geez this kid is hard up for a laugh." I never told her why it was so funny to me. I couldn't. I was laughing too hard!
Well, I'd better run. I have lots of whining to do today about my poor arms. Hopefully, I'll get a couple of chocolate bars and a foot rub if I play my cards right.
God bless you and thank you all again for your prayers. I can't tell you how much I needed them (and Danny too)!
All our love,
~Alycia (& Danny)
Monday, January 16, 2006
A Quick Note
Hello there! Hope the week is treating you right. I, so far, have no complaints. I'm on my second cup of tea and things are looking good!
I just wanted to send out this little update/prayer request to a few of you. I have an appointment with a specialist in Birmingham tomorrow to try and find out more on what's happening with me healthwise. Hopefully, they'll be able to shed some more light on why my pituitary gland is acting up and how to sort it out. Even if they don't know what to do, we have Dr. Jesus who is the best out there. You never really know what he's going to do. It could even be that he wants to use me to show off to a few doctors and show them what a real miracle man can do! I'm up for that!
Anyway, if you would keep Danny and I and the doctors we will meet in your prayers tomorrow, it would be much appreciated!
Thank you and God Bless!
Love,
~Alycia
I just wanted to send out this little update/prayer request to a few of you. I have an appointment with a specialist in Birmingham tomorrow to try and find out more on what's happening with me healthwise. Hopefully, they'll be able to shed some more light on why my pituitary gland is acting up and how to sort it out. Even if they don't know what to do, we have Dr. Jesus who is the best out there. You never really know what he's going to do. It could even be that he wants to use me to show off to a few doctors and show them what a real miracle man can do! I'm up for that!
Anyway, if you would keep Danny and I and the doctors we will meet in your prayers tomorrow, it would be much appreciated!
Thank you and God Bless!
Love,
~Alycia
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Week One on the Road
Hello and Happy New Year!
Hope this email finds you in good form and back into the swing of things after the holidays! We are full speed ahead into our tour time and have just completed our very first week on the road. So here is the run down of what's happened this week.
It was a fantastic first week in Walsall with the Walsall Christian Centre! All week we were in Manor High School doing assemblies, Religious Education Classes, and performing our play. On Wednesday we did our play 4 times in a row! By the end of the day we all deserved Oscars, or gold medals in long distance drama performance. Every other day, though, we'd arrive at the school at 8:30am for a 20 minute assembly in the morning; then we'd split into 2 groups and do classroom workshops about basic Christianity, Faith, Personal Relationships (in which students brought up everything from dating to divorce), and all sorts of the issues we face today.
It's always an exciting time going into classrooms because the students here really aren't afraid to ask you any questions about anything. And it's exciting for us because we really have to be on our toes when it comes to responding to their questions. The two months of training really helped! The team was great. It can be very scary to be put on the spot, especially when it comes to questions about God and faith, but they really shone! That is one of the most rewarding things for Danny and me to see as leaders. The truth is that in the training time, we don't really teach them what to say when answering questions. The training time is only supposed to be a launch pad to help them discover these things for themselves. When a student in a high school asks one of our team, "Why do you believe in God," or "Do you ever have doubts?" or "Why does the Bible say that you have to believe in Jesus?" we don't want our team to have a scripted answer we wrote for them and made them practice over and over. We want them to know it for themselves. One of the greatest things I learnt from going through this training and being in classrooms myself over the years is this: God is not afraid of questions. He's not afraid of simple questions, he's not afraid of hard questions, he's not afraid of a sceptic’s questions, and he's not afraid of my questions. I think that in most cases, we are the ones who are afraid of answers.
On Friday night we did our second full play for the church youth group. We'd invited students from Manor to come and about 10 or so came. At the end of the night, we were able to really tell them about Jesus. With that, we had 4 young people decide for themselves that they wanted him to be a part of their lives, too.
Saturday morning we did a kid's program at the church and had a blast! I don't know who has more fun running around in the games, us or the kids. I think I had the most fun sitting and watching. You know, some one has to do it. One of the guys on our team, Trevor, is really good at making sound effects over a microphone and he can sound just like an entire drum kit! The technical term for his talent is called 'beat boxing.' When he got up on the stage to do it, he asked the kids first, "Does anyone know what 'beat boxing' is?" One boy enthusiastically put up his hand and answered, "It's when you beat some one up and put them in a box!" Come to think of it, I didn't see his little brother at kid's club that morning. I wonder...
Well, that wraps it up for me! We're heading out to Kidderminster for this next week, so hopefully I'll have internet access and a great story or two to send off! As well, Danny and I move out of our flat (apartment in Canadianese) tomorrow, so I still have lots of packing and cleaning to do! It's true what they say: There is no rest for the...outrageously good-looking.
God bless you all and talk to you again soon!
~Alycia DeLong
Hope this email finds you in good form and back into the swing of things after the holidays! We are full speed ahead into our tour time and have just completed our very first week on the road. So here is the run down of what's happened this week.
It was a fantastic first week in Walsall with the Walsall Christian Centre! All week we were in Manor High School doing assemblies, Religious Education Classes, and performing our play. On Wednesday we did our play 4 times in a row! By the end of the day we all deserved Oscars, or gold medals in long distance drama performance. Every other day, though, we'd arrive at the school at 8:30am for a 20 minute assembly in the morning; then we'd split into 2 groups and do classroom workshops about basic Christianity, Faith, Personal Relationships (in which students brought up everything from dating to divorce), and all sorts of the issues we face today.
It's always an exciting time going into classrooms because the students here really aren't afraid to ask you any questions about anything. And it's exciting for us because we really have to be on our toes when it comes to responding to their questions. The two months of training really helped! The team was great. It can be very scary to be put on the spot, especially when it comes to questions about God and faith, but they really shone! That is one of the most rewarding things for Danny and me to see as leaders. The truth is that in the training time, we don't really teach them what to say when answering questions. The training time is only supposed to be a launch pad to help them discover these things for themselves. When a student in a high school asks one of our team, "Why do you believe in God," or "Do you ever have doubts?" or "Why does the Bible say that you have to believe in Jesus?" we don't want our team to have a scripted answer we wrote for them and made them practice over and over. We want them to know it for themselves. One of the greatest things I learnt from going through this training and being in classrooms myself over the years is this: God is not afraid of questions. He's not afraid of simple questions, he's not afraid of hard questions, he's not afraid of a sceptic’s questions, and he's not afraid of my questions. I think that in most cases, we are the ones who are afraid of answers.
On Friday night we did our second full play for the church youth group. We'd invited students from Manor to come and about 10 or so came. At the end of the night, we were able to really tell them about Jesus. With that, we had 4 young people decide for themselves that they wanted him to be a part of their lives, too.
Saturday morning we did a kid's program at the church and had a blast! I don't know who has more fun running around in the games, us or the kids. I think I had the most fun sitting and watching. You know, some one has to do it. One of the guys on our team, Trevor, is really good at making sound effects over a microphone and he can sound just like an entire drum kit! The technical term for his talent is called 'beat boxing.' When he got up on the stage to do it, he asked the kids first, "Does anyone know what 'beat boxing' is?" One boy enthusiastically put up his hand and answered, "It's when you beat some one up and put them in a box!" Come to think of it, I didn't see his little brother at kid's club that morning. I wonder...
Well, that wraps it up for me! We're heading out to Kidderminster for this next week, so hopefully I'll have internet access and a great story or two to send off! As well, Danny and I move out of our flat (apartment in Canadianese) tomorrow, so I still have lots of packing and cleaning to do! It's true what they say: There is no rest for the...outrageously good-looking.
God bless you all and talk to you again soon!
~Alycia DeLong
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Happy New Year!!!
Am I on the ball or what? I've sent out emails before, during, and after Christmas, and now here's my New Year's update already! Yes, I am the Queen of Keeping in Touch!
That is until Saturday when we pack up and hit the road. We'll be moving out of our flat and travelling with the team for the next 4 months. Ah, yes, happy days are here again! I will do my best (as always) to keep you all updated on the latest amazing, unbelievable, incredible, and embarassing tales of our adventures on LifeForce, though! We start our presentations in schools on Monday and are travelling around the United Kingdom until early April. We will then be doing the rest of our mission in Malta. This week is the try-to-remember-everything-we-forgot-over-Christmas-break week, which is always a bit shaky, but a lot of fun. It's only the third day of the new year and things are full-steam ahead!
So how is the new year treating you all? Hope everyone had a festive and blessed holiday. I spent New Year's day in the same way many British people did: On the floor of my bathroom. My reasons were completely legitamate, though, I assure you. I came down with a very violent case of the stomach flu on New Year's Eve. This is my first day out of our appartment this year (ha ha. clever.) What really sealed my doom was that on New Year's night I had some Stilton cheese with mango and ginger. We all make mistakes and have regrets, and well, I learned my lesson the hard way.
You know, this may be the cold medicine talking, but sometimes I even amaze myself at what small incidents (that should probably never be spoken of) I can turn into a paragraph-long story. Maybe I should make a New Year's resolution about that. I won't go into any more details, but let's just say that my resolution to lose 5 lbs - I've already accomplished.
Change of topic: New mailing address. Yes, since we will be on the road, exploring the wild English country and its ruggid terrain, we have established a mailing address to which all letters, cards, photos, care packages, money orders, traveller's checks, credit card numbers...oh, whoops! What am I saying? He he he, just a little missionary humour there (and the cold medicine). Anyway, if you ever want to mail us anything, our mailing address is
(drum roll...)
Danny and Alycia DeLong
1 Prince George Road
Wednesbury
West Midlands
WS10 9PZ
England
With that, I think I shall bid you all adieu and go back to bed. I think the cold medicine is wearing off.
God bless you all and may the new year hold many blessings for you as well!
Best Wishes,
~Alycia DeLong
That is until Saturday when we pack up and hit the road. We'll be moving out of our flat and travelling with the team for the next 4 months. Ah, yes, happy days are here again! I will do my best (as always) to keep you all updated on the latest amazing, unbelievable, incredible, and embarassing tales of our adventures on LifeForce, though! We start our presentations in schools on Monday and are travelling around the United Kingdom until early April. We will then be doing the rest of our mission in Malta. This week is the try-to-remember-everything-we-forgot-over-Christmas-break week, which is always a bit shaky, but a lot of fun. It's only the third day of the new year and things are full-steam ahead!
So how is the new year treating you all? Hope everyone had a festive and blessed holiday. I spent New Year's day in the same way many British people did: On the floor of my bathroom. My reasons were completely legitamate, though, I assure you. I came down with a very violent case of the stomach flu on New Year's Eve. This is my first day out of our appartment this year (ha ha. clever.) What really sealed my doom was that on New Year's night I had some Stilton cheese with mango and ginger. We all make mistakes and have regrets, and well, I learned my lesson the hard way.
You know, this may be the cold medicine talking, but sometimes I even amaze myself at what small incidents (that should probably never be spoken of) I can turn into a paragraph-long story. Maybe I should make a New Year's resolution about that. I won't go into any more details, but let's just say that my resolution to lose 5 lbs - I've already accomplished.
Change of topic: New mailing address. Yes, since we will be on the road, exploring the wild English country and its ruggid terrain, we have established a mailing address to which all letters, cards, photos, care packages, money orders, traveller's checks, credit card numbers...oh, whoops! What am I saying? He he he, just a little missionary humour there (and the cold medicine). Anyway, if you ever want to mail us anything, our mailing address is
(drum roll...)
Danny and Alycia DeLong
1 Prince George Road
Wednesbury
West Midlands
WS10 9PZ
England
With that, I think I shall bid you all adieu and go back to bed. I think the cold medicine is wearing off.
God bless you all and may the new year hold many blessings for you as well!
Best Wishes,
~Alycia DeLong
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Christmas Time
Wow, Merry Christmas, eh? Hope the holidays are treating you well and all your Christmas wishes are coming true! Danny and I wished for snow. Guess we should have been more specific and wished for snow here. We have none. The weather's been quite nice actually. Light winds and slightly overcast...
Wait! What am I doing? I have to tell you what I got for Christmas!!!!!
So Thursday, Danny and I took a trip to (drum roll please...) LONDON! It was beautiful to go at Christmas with all the lights and carollers and psycho shoppers! Since it was Christmas, Danny and I decided no to have the usual McDonald's lunch, but to really treat ourselves like royalty. We went to Burger King. Enjoying our Whoppers and fries, Danny asked me, "What would you like to do first?" It didn't really matter to me, we were in London! But that sneaky guy had already made plans. He reached into his pocket and pulled out (drum roll again, please...) TWO TICKETS TO SEE THE LION KING MUSICAL AT THE THEATRE!!!!!!!
Yeah, wow! I don't know what to say about it except that it was AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, SPECTACULAR, MAGICAL, ENTHRALLING! In a word - it was COOL! The puppets, costumes, music, set, stage, everything was unbelievable! It totally inspired us both to revamp all our LifeForce drama stuff. We might need to adjust our bugdet a bit and squeeze in some more fundraising stuff, but it will be all worth it!
I still can't believe we went to the Lion King.
All that tormenting and teasing is finished! For Christmas Danny and I saw the Lion King and it was the best Christmas present!
So yesterday, Danny and I are sitting at home enjoying a quiet Christmas eve, when all of a sudden he says to me, "I have the best birthday present ever for you! Ha ha ha ha ha!"
Unbelievable.
We have enjoyed our Christmas here overall, although to be honest, it hasn't really felt like Christmas to either one of us. The lack of snow is a big factor. And it is an even crazier time of year here than in Canada. We are truly a laid back culture. The English are all or nothing people. They either don't care at all or they are 100% gun-ho! And when it comes to their music, they are crazy! The show "X-Factor" which is like one of those Pop Idol shows, had a third of the country voting on it's contestants. Will a third of Canada vote for a prime-minister in January?
Christmas lights are another thing the English are crazy about. There are no houses with one simple string of icicles hung from the eaves. Oh no. There will be 5 houses in a row with not even a paper snowflake on the window and then BLAM! Some one has decorated their place with enough lights to make Stevie Wonder blink. They put up twinkling lights, strobe lights, flood lights, light-up snow men, Santas, reindeer, stars, angels, nativity scenes, candles, etc., etc. 'What's that? Does it light up? Stick it to my house.' It a totally unrelated story, Scotland and Wales are experiencing rolling blackouts due to power shortages...
Well, I'm sure you all have many Christmas things yet to do today so I won't keep you any longer! May God bless you all this Christmas and all throughout the new year!
Best Wishes,
~Alycia (& Danny) DeLong
Wait! What am I doing? I have to tell you what I got for Christmas!!!!!
So Thursday, Danny and I took a trip to (drum roll please...) LONDON! It was beautiful to go at Christmas with all the lights and carollers and psycho shoppers! Since it was Christmas, Danny and I decided no to have the usual McDonald's lunch, but to really treat ourselves like royalty. We went to Burger King. Enjoying our Whoppers and fries, Danny asked me, "What would you like to do first?" It didn't really matter to me, we were in London! But that sneaky guy had already made plans. He reached into his pocket and pulled out (drum roll again, please...) TWO TICKETS TO SEE THE LION KING MUSICAL AT THE THEATRE!!!!!!!
Yeah, wow! I don't know what to say about it except that it was AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, SPECTACULAR, MAGICAL, ENTHRALLING! In a word - it was COOL! The puppets, costumes, music, set, stage, everything was unbelievable! It totally inspired us both to revamp all our LifeForce drama stuff. We might need to adjust our bugdet a bit and squeeze in some more fundraising stuff, but it will be all worth it!
I still can't believe we went to the Lion King.
All that tormenting and teasing is finished! For Christmas Danny and I saw the Lion King and it was the best Christmas present!
So yesterday, Danny and I are sitting at home enjoying a quiet Christmas eve, when all of a sudden he says to me, "I have the best birthday present ever for you! Ha ha ha ha ha!"
Unbelievable.
We have enjoyed our Christmas here overall, although to be honest, it hasn't really felt like Christmas to either one of us. The lack of snow is a big factor. And it is an even crazier time of year here than in Canada. We are truly a laid back culture. The English are all or nothing people. They either don't care at all or they are 100% gun-ho! And when it comes to their music, they are crazy! The show "X-Factor" which is like one of those Pop Idol shows, had a third of the country voting on it's contestants. Will a third of Canada vote for a prime-minister in January?
Christmas lights are another thing the English are crazy about. There are no houses with one simple string of icicles hung from the eaves. Oh no. There will be 5 houses in a row with not even a paper snowflake on the window and then BLAM! Some one has decorated their place with enough lights to make Stevie Wonder blink. They put up twinkling lights, strobe lights, flood lights, light-up snow men, Santas, reindeer, stars, angels, nativity scenes, candles, etc., etc. 'What's that? Does it light up? Stick it to my house.' It a totally unrelated story, Scotland and Wales are experiencing rolling blackouts due to power shortages...
Well, I'm sure you all have many Christmas things yet to do today so I won't keep you any longer! May God bless you all this Christmas and all throughout the new year!
Best Wishes,
~Alycia (& Danny) DeLong
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
An Apology
Hey everyone!
I know that I just sent out an email a couple of days ago, but hey, it's the holidays! What else am I going to do?
Really, the purpose of this email is to apologize to everyone for my email "DeLong Reports: UNBELIEVABLE" in which I wrote how Danny found out what I got him for Christmas. I didn't mean to belittle anyone involved in 'letting the little cat out the bag'. Danny and I thought the entire thing was funny, after all, I had bought the gift at a second-hand church sale for about 50 cents. And I didn't throw it out the window. But I was a real jerk when I teased some people about it. I never meant to hurt anyone's feelings or make them feel stupid, but I did. And I am very sorry. It seems my gift is not only to totally stick my foot in my mouth, but to shove the keyboard in there too. I figured, though, since the my offense was made in public I figured the apology should be made in public as well.
Well, then, there it is. If any of you wish to email me and call me a jerk personally, I am open and understanding to that. Otherwise, I just want to say again that I am sorry.
Hope I haven't dampened the holiday cheer for anyone. Take care and God bless!
Best Wishes,
~Alycia DeLong
I know that I just sent out an email a couple of days ago, but hey, it's the holidays! What else am I going to do?
Really, the purpose of this email is to apologize to everyone for my email "DeLong Reports: UNBELIEVABLE" in which I wrote how Danny found out what I got him for Christmas. I didn't mean to belittle anyone involved in 'letting the little cat out the bag'. Danny and I thought the entire thing was funny, after all, I had bought the gift at a second-hand church sale for about 50 cents. And I didn't throw it out the window. But I was a real jerk when I teased some people about it. I never meant to hurt anyone's feelings or make them feel stupid, but I did. And I am very sorry. It seems my gift is not only to totally stick my foot in my mouth, but to shove the keyboard in there too. I figured, though, since the my offense was made in public I figured the apology should be made in public as well.
Well, then, there it is. If any of you wish to email me and call me a jerk personally, I am open and understanding to that. Otherwise, I just want to say again that I am sorry.
Hope I haven't dampened the holiday cheer for anyone. Take care and God bless!
Best Wishes,
~Alycia DeLong
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Unbelievable
Seasons Greetings and Christmas Blessings to you all!
I have an absolutely unbelievable story. No, seriously, this one is takes the cake. Now, I realize that this is a huge claim to make after all we've been through (ie the "prostitute/pastor too" incident), but at the end of this you will say, "UNBELIEVABLE!"
Remember my last email where I confessed to my own humanity and weak nature when I almost overheard (okay, eavesdropped on his conversation with his mother) what Danny got me for Christmas. But, as you all know, by the grace of God I was saved from my sin and I still do not know what he got me. Apparently though, most of the rest of the world does because I have been receiving non-stop emails from people (most of whom are in my immediate family) teasing me that they know what it is and I do not. I have graciously accepted this. After all, I deserve it, right? Well perhaps it's time that we bring some balance back to the scales of marital bliss, shall we?
I have been very excited for Christmas, not only to find out what Danny got me, but to give him a great present as well. The church we go to here in Walsall had collected a bunch of stuff from the congregation to have a fundraiser sale for the nursery. At the sale I found a great gift for Danny - a video game controller for the computer. It was still in the box and everything! Just like new! And I bought it for 30p - which is about 60 cents Canadian! As soon as I got it home, I wrapped it and hid it in my closet, and I could hardly wait until Christmas to give it to him! This year I got him something that he will like and use for sure! I was so excited I even emailed a few people, who will remain nameless (but they are all my immediate family) about it. That was my fatal error.
To those persons who shall remain nameless (but are all members of my immediate family): You know when you reply to an email, the original email is attached to your responding email. Hence, anyone who reads that email can also read the original email sent. For example, let's say some one emails you secret information concerning a Christmas gift purchased for their spouse. You reply to the email. The spouse then has access to both your email and the original message.
I know what you are all saying: NO!! HE DIDN'T!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!!
Danny confessed yesterday. He said he didn't mean to find out what I got him for Christmas - it was an accident. Yeah, you're getting a big lump of coal buddy. I threw the game controller out the window of our 4th floor apartment. Sorry, it was an accident.
And as for my immediate family - if I had a will, you would all be removed from it!
Merry Christmas and God bless us everyone!
~Alycia DeLong
I have an absolutely unbelievable story. No, seriously, this one is takes the cake. Now, I realize that this is a huge claim to make after all we've been through (ie the "prostitute/pastor too" incident), but at the end of this you will say, "UNBELIEVABLE!"
Remember my last email where I confessed to my own humanity and weak nature when I almost overheard (okay, eavesdropped on his conversation with his mother) what Danny got me for Christmas. But, as you all know, by the grace of God I was saved from my sin and I still do not know what he got me. Apparently though, most of the rest of the world does because I have been receiving non-stop emails from people (most of whom are in my immediate family) teasing me that they know what it is and I do not. I have graciously accepted this. After all, I deserve it, right? Well perhaps it's time that we bring some balance back to the scales of marital bliss, shall we?
I have been very excited for Christmas, not only to find out what Danny got me, but to give him a great present as well. The church we go to here in Walsall had collected a bunch of stuff from the congregation to have a fundraiser sale for the nursery. At the sale I found a great gift for Danny - a video game controller for the computer. It was still in the box and everything! Just like new! And I bought it for 30p - which is about 60 cents Canadian! As soon as I got it home, I wrapped it and hid it in my closet, and I could hardly wait until Christmas to give it to him! This year I got him something that he will like and use for sure! I was so excited I even emailed a few people, who will remain nameless (but they are all my immediate family) about it. That was my fatal error.
To those persons who shall remain nameless (but are all members of my immediate family): You know when you reply to an email, the original email is attached to your responding email. Hence, anyone who reads that email can also read the original email sent. For example, let's say some one emails you secret information concerning a Christmas gift purchased for their spouse. You reply to the email. The spouse then has access to both your email and the original message.
I know what you are all saying: NO!! HE DIDN'T!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!!
Danny confessed yesterday. He said he didn't mean to find out what I got him for Christmas - it was an accident. Yeah, you're getting a big lump of coal buddy. I threw the game controller out the window of our 4th floor apartment. Sorry, it was an accident.
And as for my immediate family - if I had a will, you would all be removed from it!
Merry Christmas and God bless us everyone!
~Alycia DeLong
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Nautghty or Nice?
Hello, it's me again (I can hear those groans). Remember last email how I mentioned that I had a Christmas story already? If you don't it's probably because you're one of 'those' people who don't actually read my brilliant work in its entirety. I don't take it personally; my own husband doesn't even read the whole thing! That last one was pretty long though.
Anyway, on with the show...
So, Christmas is less than a month away (insert screams and shrieks of panic here) and the hunt for that perfect gift is on. Well, for like 2 weeks now Danny has been bragging about having found the most perfect present ever. Every day I hear him teasing me with his little sing song heckling, "I got you the best present! The best present ever!" He'll sing and prance around non-stop. It makes me want to beat his little secret out of him. But he's just so gosh-darn cute. So I satisfy myself by imagining that I pie him in the face instead.
The other night we were at a friend's house to use their phone. Not only to use their phone, but also so Danny could watch NFL football (the real motive). I'd been on the phone for some time talking with Danny's mom, when he came in for his turn to chat with her. A few minutes into the conversation I was informed I had to leave the room because he wanted to tell his mother what he had bought me for Christmas. Well, I pouted and whined for a moment, but then left the room to join the others watching football in the living room. But as I left, the funniest thing happened. I was passing through the kitchen when all of a sudden a little devil popped up on my shoulder. He was dressed in red and had horns, a pointy tail, and even a tiny triton in his hand.
The little devil said to me, "Hey, you could totally listen in and find out what that great Christmas present is. Danny wouldn't even know and you could just lie about it if he brings it up!"
Yeah, I could! I made a small u-turn in the kitchen and headed back towards the door to the room. I could hear Danny's voice clearly from inside.
Just then a little angel appeared on my other shoulder and said, "No, Alycia, don't do that! You don't want to wreck Danny's surprise for both of you. And you certainly don't want to deceive your wonderful husband!"
Of course not. That is definitely true. What a brat I am! Why, shame on me for...
"Awww, what's the big deal?" the little devil piped up. "Besides, you'll be doing you both a favour by finding out. The suspense is going to drive you crazy! And then you'll drive him crazy!"
Definitely a good point. In fact, it's already driving me crazy! I suppose it's really not that big of a deal if I just hear a bit about it...
"Alycia Rae Stephens!" Uh oh. My full maiden name. This little angel meant business. "You know happy it makes Danny to surprise you! And how he's taken the time, the energy, and the money - going out of his way to do something special for you this Christmas - and you want to take that away from him? Shame on you indeed! Now, you turn yourself around and march straight out of here NOW!"
What was I thinking? Of course I don't want to spoil Danny's fun and I especially don't want to lie to him about it! What am I? Five years old? How ridiculous am I being...
The little devil gave his final argument. "Awwww, come on!"
Sold!
I snuck around the door and crouched down behind the cupboard so I could hear but not be seen. As I huddled there, totally still, ears alert and tuned into every sound I could hear Danny:
"I got Alycia the greatest gift! She's going to love it! I saw it last week but only picked it up the other day..."
Blah blah blah! Get to the point!!!!!
"Oh dear," said the little angel. "Looks like I'm going to have to call in some Divine intervention." Producing a tiny trumpet, the angel lifted it to his lips and gave it a loud blast.
Danny continued. "This Christmas, I got Alycia..."
"DANNY! COME QUICK!" Our friend Matt boomed as he burst through the kitchen doors and ran towards the room my ear was glued to. He had scared the living daylights out of me (to put it politely), but in that split second I jumped to my feet from my suspicsious position by the door.
"Shhhhh!" I hushed him angrily.
"But the football scores are on!" said Matt, defending his overwhelming entrance.
"Not now!" I continued scolding him, "He's talking to his mother!" I was on a mission here! Matt huffed and returned to the TV, and I returned to my espionage...
"Anyway, that's what I got her," Danny finished up. Pause. "I know! It is the perfect present!" End of conversation.
I missed it?!? I MISSED IT!?!?!? Why, of all the unfair, stupid, bad timing... This was all Matt's fault! If he hadn't been so rude and selfish...
Wait a minute. Who's the bad guy here again?
'What's gotten into me?' I thought. I left the kitchen and sat down on the couch in front of the TV with Matt and the others there.
You know, I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do and what I hate I do. And if I do the wrong thing even though I admit it's wrong and I don't want to do it, I'm still guilty because I do it anyway. As it is it is no longer I myself who does it but it is sin living in me (a.k.a. the little devil). I know that nothing good lives in me that is in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good but I cannot carry it out.
Know what I mean? I think Paul in the Bible can relate. After all, he wrote about it too in Romans 7.
Thankfully, I was rescued from my fall into temptation by God's divine intervention. I suppose it shouldn't really surprise me. Since Jesus himself suffered when he was being tempted (in Matthew 4) so can he help us when we are being tempted (see Hebrews 2).
Finally to wrap it all up here, I just have to say that looking back at my shameful, pathetic behaviour - it was by grace that I was saved! (Ephesians 2)
With that, take care, God bless and try not to peek under the bed or snoop through the closets!
Sincerely,
~Alycia DeLong
Anyway, on with the show...
So, Christmas is less than a month away (insert screams and shrieks of panic here) and the hunt for that perfect gift is on. Well, for like 2 weeks now Danny has been bragging about having found the most perfect present ever. Every day I hear him teasing me with his little sing song heckling, "I got you the best present! The best present ever!" He'll sing and prance around non-stop. It makes me want to beat his little secret out of him. But he's just so gosh-darn cute. So I satisfy myself by imagining that I pie him in the face instead.
The other night we were at a friend's house to use their phone. Not only to use their phone, but also so Danny could watch NFL football (the real motive). I'd been on the phone for some time talking with Danny's mom, when he came in for his turn to chat with her. A few minutes into the conversation I was informed I had to leave the room because he wanted to tell his mother what he had bought me for Christmas. Well, I pouted and whined for a moment, but then left the room to join the others watching football in the living room. But as I left, the funniest thing happened. I was passing through the kitchen when all of a sudden a little devil popped up on my shoulder. He was dressed in red and had horns, a pointy tail, and even a tiny triton in his hand.
The little devil said to me, "Hey, you could totally listen in and find out what that great Christmas present is. Danny wouldn't even know and you could just lie about it if he brings it up!"
Yeah, I could! I made a small u-turn in the kitchen and headed back towards the door to the room. I could hear Danny's voice clearly from inside.
Just then a little angel appeared on my other shoulder and said, "No, Alycia, don't do that! You don't want to wreck Danny's surprise for both of you. And you certainly don't want to deceive your wonderful husband!"
Of course not. That is definitely true. What a brat I am! Why, shame on me for...
"Awww, what's the big deal?" the little devil piped up. "Besides, you'll be doing you both a favour by finding out. The suspense is going to drive you crazy! And then you'll drive him crazy!"
Definitely a good point. In fact, it's already driving me crazy! I suppose it's really not that big of a deal if I just hear a bit about it...
"Alycia Rae Stephens!" Uh oh. My full maiden name. This little angel meant business. "You know happy it makes Danny to surprise you! And how he's taken the time, the energy, and the money - going out of his way to do something special for you this Christmas - and you want to take that away from him? Shame on you indeed! Now, you turn yourself around and march straight out of here NOW!"
What was I thinking? Of course I don't want to spoil Danny's fun and I especially don't want to lie to him about it! What am I? Five years old? How ridiculous am I being...
The little devil gave his final argument. "Awwww, come on!"
Sold!
I snuck around the door and crouched down behind the cupboard so I could hear but not be seen. As I huddled there, totally still, ears alert and tuned into every sound I could hear Danny:
"I got Alycia the greatest gift! She's going to love it! I saw it last week but only picked it up the other day..."
Blah blah blah! Get to the point!!!!!
"Oh dear," said the little angel. "Looks like I'm going to have to call in some Divine intervention." Producing a tiny trumpet, the angel lifted it to his lips and gave it a loud blast.
Danny continued. "This Christmas, I got Alycia..."
"DANNY! COME QUICK!" Our friend Matt boomed as he burst through the kitchen doors and ran towards the room my ear was glued to. He had scared the living daylights out of me (to put it politely), but in that split second I jumped to my feet from my suspicsious position by the door.
"Shhhhh!" I hushed him angrily.
"But the football scores are on!" said Matt, defending his overwhelming entrance.
"Not now!" I continued scolding him, "He's talking to his mother!" I was on a mission here! Matt huffed and returned to the TV, and I returned to my espionage...
"Anyway, that's what I got her," Danny finished up. Pause. "I know! It is the perfect present!" End of conversation.
I missed it?!? I MISSED IT!?!?!? Why, of all the unfair, stupid, bad timing... This was all Matt's fault! If he hadn't been so rude and selfish...
Wait a minute. Who's the bad guy here again?
'What's gotten into me?' I thought. I left the kitchen and sat down on the couch in front of the TV with Matt and the others there.
You know, I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do and what I hate I do. And if I do the wrong thing even though I admit it's wrong and I don't want to do it, I'm still guilty because I do it anyway. As it is it is no longer I myself who does it but it is sin living in me (a.k.a. the little devil). I know that nothing good lives in me that is in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good but I cannot carry it out.
Know what I mean? I think Paul in the Bible can relate. After all, he wrote about it too in Romans 7.
Thankfully, I was rescued from my fall into temptation by God's divine intervention. I suppose it shouldn't really surprise me. Since Jesus himself suffered when he was being tempted (in Matthew 4) so can he help us when we are being tempted (see Hebrews 2).
Finally to wrap it all up here, I just have to say that looking back at my shameful, pathetic behaviour - it was by grace that I was saved! (Ephesians 2)
With that, take care, God bless and try not to peek under the bed or snoop through the closets!
Sincerely,
~Alycia DeLong
Sunday, November 27, 2005
It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Canada
Hello there from sunny England! HA! It's snowing here. Big fluffy snowflakes and quickly everything has become a winter wonderland. How magical all the Christmas lights are! How magestic are the Cathedrals! How quaint are the little English homes! How insane are the motorways! In fact, we are not driving home tonight but will be staying out at the OM/LifeForce base for the night. On that note, what a perfect opportunity to finally catch everyone up on what's been happening here!
Now, I realize I haven't written since LifeForce training started back in October. Wow, has time gone fast! Let's do a quick recap though:
1. LifeForce training is happening at the Operation Mobilization base in Halesowen. It's a fantastic place with rooms for our team to eat, sleep, learn, practice, watch movies, and just hang out in! If you'd like to see it, go to http://www.luke.om.org/about_virtual.htm and you can see pictures of the place.
2. Danny and I are living in Walsall, about 20 minutes away (when there is no traffic). Typically, we commute every day between our flat and LifeForce, but on average we are spending at least 2 nights a week at the base: Danny in the boys' room and myself with the girls. Those are usually late nights, if you can imagine.
3. There are 9 of us all together at this UK LifeForce base. Three will be returning to Canada after Christmas though to carry on with their normal lives (which may never be normal again spending 3 straight months with us). Wow, exciting stuff, eh? Well, maybe I have kind of skimmed over things a bit.
The classes we've had have been excellent. There have been teachers from all over the UK come and share their experiences, their wisdom, their victories and their failures with us and each class has impacted all of us in many different ways. It amazing how God can use the same thing to teach different people different things. He really knows how to meet us where we are!
Wow, exciting stuff, eh? Well, maybe I have kind of skimmed over things a bit. I'm trying to spare you from a horrendously long email. That's why I'm keeping it to an obscenely long email. You're welcome.
Well, I should wrap this up here for now. Speaking of "wrap," I have a Christmas story already. Next time though. I will say that the UK is crazy about Christmas! Lights and decorations have been up and blinking for a good couple of weeks. There is a big debate about how much 'Christ' they should allow in Christmas. It's pretty much the same thing we deal with in Canada: don't say 'Merry Christmas' in the shops, don't play Christmas songs about Jesus on the radio or sing them in schools, should nativity scenes be banned, yada yada yada. Here's a funny thing that happened. A few local radio stations here had people from the Muslim, Hindu, and other religions calling in a singing Christmas carols over the radio in protest to a ban on traditional, religious-based Christmas music. Many people of other religions are starting to feel unsafe about the security and protection of their own faith, after all - look at how this 'Christian' country treats its own. It may not be long before more religions come under attack. They other reason for the protest though is that you don't have to be of any faith to see how stupid it is to make a fuss over these songs we sing once a year. Listen to the top 10 music charts, and the government wants to censor songs about Jesus' birthday over 2000 years ago?
Here's the real kicker: So the fear is that Christmas songs will offend people who don't believe in Jesus? The other day as we were driving, we passed a bingo hall and what was the name mounted on this massive building in bright, flashing, tacky colours? MECCA. Please forgive me if I am being ignorant and disrespectful for saying this, but if I was a Muslim, I think that I may be more offended by a bingo hall named after my religion's place of holiness than walking into a store that is playing "Joy to the World" over the speakers. Maybe that's just me though.
And that is my rant. Glad you hung in there with me. In the end though I am faced with a challenge to myself: Do I just rant, or can I do more? I can't leave it all up to everyone else to fight my Christmas battles for religious freedom. Not only that, but it is the time I like to take time to personally celebrate the birthday of some one who's become very special to me. This year, let's all send some one in office a Christmas card. Not to aggravate or harass them, but to wish them a Merry Christmas, and encourage them to at least learn about the man they are trying to cheat out of his own birthday party.
Yep, this email is now officially horrendously long. My apologies. Until next time, God bless and take care!
Sincerely,
~Alycia DeLong
Now, I realize I haven't written since LifeForce training started back in October. Wow, has time gone fast! Let's do a quick recap though:
1. LifeForce training is happening at the Operation Mobilization base in Halesowen. It's a fantastic place with rooms for our team to eat, sleep, learn, practice, watch movies, and just hang out in! If you'd like to see it, go to http://www.luke.om.org/about_virtual.htm and you can see pictures of the place.
2. Danny and I are living in Walsall, about 20 minutes away (when there is no traffic). Typically, we commute every day between our flat and LifeForce, but on average we are spending at least 2 nights a week at the base: Danny in the boys' room and myself with the girls. Those are usually late nights, if you can imagine.
3. There are 9 of us all together at this UK LifeForce base. Three will be returning to Canada after Christmas though to carry on with their normal lives (which may never be normal again spending 3 straight months with us). Wow, exciting stuff, eh? Well, maybe I have kind of skimmed over things a bit.
The classes we've had have been excellent. There have been teachers from all over the UK come and share their experiences, their wisdom, their victories and their failures with us and each class has impacted all of us in many different ways. It amazing how God can use the same thing to teach different people different things. He really knows how to meet us where we are!
Wow, exciting stuff, eh? Well, maybe I have kind of skimmed over things a bit. I'm trying to spare you from a horrendously long email. That's why I'm keeping it to an obscenely long email. You're welcome.
Well, I should wrap this up here for now. Speaking of "wrap," I have a Christmas story already. Next time though. I will say that the UK is crazy about Christmas! Lights and decorations have been up and blinking for a good couple of weeks. There is a big debate about how much 'Christ' they should allow in Christmas. It's pretty much the same thing we deal with in Canada: don't say 'Merry Christmas' in the shops, don't play Christmas songs about Jesus on the radio or sing them in schools, should nativity scenes be banned, yada yada yada. Here's a funny thing that happened. A few local radio stations here had people from the Muslim, Hindu, and other religions calling in a singing Christmas carols over the radio in protest to a ban on traditional, religious-based Christmas music. Many people of other religions are starting to feel unsafe about the security and protection of their own faith, after all - look at how this 'Christian' country treats its own. It may not be long before more religions come under attack. They other reason for the protest though is that you don't have to be of any faith to see how stupid it is to make a fuss over these songs we sing once a year. Listen to the top 10 music charts, and the government wants to censor songs about Jesus' birthday over 2000 years ago?
Here's the real kicker: So the fear is that Christmas songs will offend people who don't believe in Jesus? The other day as we were driving, we passed a bingo hall and what was the name mounted on this massive building in bright, flashing, tacky colours? MECCA. Please forgive me if I am being ignorant and disrespectful for saying this, but if I was a Muslim, I think that I may be more offended by a bingo hall named after my religion's place of holiness than walking into a store that is playing "Joy to the World" over the speakers. Maybe that's just me though.
And that is my rant. Glad you hung in there with me. In the end though I am faced with a challenge to myself: Do I just rant, or can I do more? I can't leave it all up to everyone else to fight my Christmas battles for religious freedom. Not only that, but it is the time I like to take time to personally celebrate the birthday of some one who's become very special to me. This year, let's all send some one in office a Christmas card. Not to aggravate or harass them, but to wish them a Merry Christmas, and encourage them to at least learn about the man they are trying to cheat out of his own birthday party.
Yep, this email is now officially horrendously long. My apologies. Until next time, God bless and take care!
Sincerely,
~Alycia DeLong
Monday, October 24, 2005
Better Get a Coffee
Hey there everyone! I know I didn't finish sending the rest of the Chapters from this summer's adventure. I'm going to amalgamate them into one story. So in a nutshell, after we returned from Malta we threw ourselves headlong into a week of kids’ club. There were over 50 kids that came. Most of them, actually, it was pretty much all of them except for a couple, came from low-income areas and very broken, confused families. Divorced parents, separated parents, arguing parents, teenage parents, no parents, grand-parents…you get the idea. But all of them 100% kids ready to play. We’d pick them up before 10am and drop them off around 5pm. We had 6 very long days of parks, playgrounds, songs, games, face painting, scrapped knees, and badly watered down juice. It was fantastic! You just don’t know how much difference a week at a kid’s club can make in a child’s life. Now, I never came from a background like any of them. I was very blessed with a wonderful mom and dad and even a brother. I never had to think twice about if they were going to be home when I returned, I never had to worry about if there was going to be food, I never wondered if my parents loved each other or me. Those are just a few of the things too many kids deal with by the time they’re 5 years old. But what I do know is that before I ever went to church on a regular basis (which wasn’t until my teens), I went to a kid’s club in my neighbour’s back yard for a week in the summer every year. We sang songs, heard stories, and played games. I learnt new things about God, and it always stuck with me. I don’t know where these kid’s will be 10 years from now, I don’t know where I’ll be – but I do know that that week, we could share with these kids that God loves them, and will always be there for them.
After kids week, Danny and I went to a weekend conference in Devon. It was beautiful there and the weather was great Danny and I were staying in a 2-man tent (borrowed) and we had an inflatable mattress to put in it (also borrowed). Sounds perfect, right? Well, the people that brought us the mattress forgot to bring the caps for it so no air would stay inside. But that didn’t stop us! We’re Canadians – get the duct tape! We fashioned ourselves a couple of caps that would have made MacGyver proud. However, once the mattress was fully inflated, we found it was too big for the tent. We let the air out and slept on the ground, which was just fine.
Okay, the last chapter was about a mystery ingredient recipe. One day Danny and I found this discount grocery store and in the reduced to clear bin (which is always a bad sign, but even worse if you find one in a store full of stuff that has already been discounted) Danny found a jar of yellow chunky sauce. It had no label, but it was 5 pence (which is like 2 cents Canadian). Being the adventurous people we are, we bought it. Now we do joke about being on a missionary budget, and that we are from Canada and that Canadians eat anything – but this transcends into a whole new level. A level I don’t even know if people in trailer parks resort to. The important thing is that we both lived to tell the tale. I don’t know if it’s a good illustration about faith, or a story of taking a stupid risk. A little bit of column A, a little bit of column B…
Well, this email has been huge. I hope you are all still with me! I haven’t even written anything about how LifeFORCE is going yet! We are into our second week of training and everything is going very well. We seem to have all settled in (all 9 of us) and are in the full swing of things. I’ll be writing more on that though next time. I’m sure you all need a breather. This is why I don’t preach on Sundays!
One last thing: I just want to say a huge thank you to all of you for everything. Every little email you send me back, every little prayer you say for us, all your immense patience and understanding with these massive updates and a few sparse personal notes in between, and the financial blessings – can’t forget that! Even though Danny and I are in another country, and sometimes we do feel very far away, we never have felt alone in this work. My prayer is that will return these blessings back to you in greater ways!
God bless,
~Alycia DeLong
After kids week, Danny and I went to a weekend conference in Devon. It was beautiful there and the weather was great Danny and I were staying in a 2-man tent (borrowed) and we had an inflatable mattress to put in it (also borrowed). Sounds perfect, right? Well, the people that brought us the mattress forgot to bring the caps for it so no air would stay inside. But that didn’t stop us! We’re Canadians – get the duct tape! We fashioned ourselves a couple of caps that would have made MacGyver proud. However, once the mattress was fully inflated, we found it was too big for the tent. We let the air out and slept on the ground, which was just fine.
Okay, the last chapter was about a mystery ingredient recipe. One day Danny and I found this discount grocery store and in the reduced to clear bin (which is always a bad sign, but even worse if you find one in a store full of stuff that has already been discounted) Danny found a jar of yellow chunky sauce. It had no label, but it was 5 pence (which is like 2 cents Canadian). Being the adventurous people we are, we bought it. Now we do joke about being on a missionary budget, and that we are from Canada and that Canadians eat anything – but this transcends into a whole new level. A level I don’t even know if people in trailer parks resort to. The important thing is that we both lived to tell the tale. I don’t know if it’s a good illustration about faith, or a story of taking a stupid risk. A little bit of column A, a little bit of column B…
Well, this email has been huge. I hope you are all still with me! I haven’t even written anything about how LifeFORCE is going yet! We are into our second week of training and everything is going very well. We seem to have all settled in (all 9 of us) and are in the full swing of things. I’ll be writing more on that though next time. I’m sure you all need a breather. This is why I don’t preach on Sundays!
One last thing: I just want to say a huge thank you to all of you for everything. Every little email you send me back, every little prayer you say for us, all your immense patience and understanding with these massive updates and a few sparse personal notes in between, and the financial blessings – can’t forget that! Even though Danny and I are in another country, and sometimes we do feel very far away, we never have felt alone in this work. My prayer is that will return these blessings back to you in greater ways!
God bless,
~Alycia DeLong
Let's Finish Catching Up
Hey there everyone! I know I didn't finish sending the rest of the Chapters from this summer's adventure. I'm going to amalgamate them into one story. So in a nutshell, after we returned from Malta we threw ourselves headlong into a week of kids’ club. There were over 50 kids that came. Most of them, actually, it was pretty much all of them except for a couple, came from low-income areas and very broken, confused families. Divorced parents, separated parents, arguing parents, teenage parents, no parents, grand-parents…you get the idea. But all of them 100% kids ready to play. We’d pick them up before 10am and drop them off around 5pm. We had 6 very long days of parks, playgrounds, songs, games, face painting, scrapped knees, and badly watered down juice. It was fantastic! You just don’t know how much difference a week at a kid’s club can make in a child’s life. Now, I never came from a background like any of them. I was very blessed with a wonderful mom and dad and even a brother. I never had to think twice about if they were going to be home when I returned, I never had to worry about if there was going to be food, I never wondered if my parents loved each other or me. Those are just a few of the things too many kids deal with by the time they’re 5 years old. But what I do know is that before I ever went to church on a regular basis (which wasn’t until my teens), I went to a kid’s club in my neighbour’s back yard for a week in the summer every year. We sang songs, heard stories, and played games. I learnt new things about God, and it always stuck with me. I don’t know where these kid’s will be 10 years from now, I don’t know where I’ll be – but I do know that that week, we could share with these kids that God loves them, and will always be there for them.
After kids week, Danny and I went to a weekend conference in Devon. It was beautiful there and the weather was great Danny and I were staying in a 2-man tent (borrowed) and we had an inflatable mattress to put in it (also borrowed). Sounds perfect, right? Well, the people that brought us the mattress forgot to bring the caps for it so no air would stay inside. But that didn’t stop us! We’re Canadians – get the duct tape! We fashioned ourselves a couple of caps that would have made MacGyver proud. However, once the mattress was fully inflated, we found it was too big for the tent. We let the air out and slept on the ground, which was just fine.
The conference was very interesting. There were numerous speakers, all of them doctors, professors, authors and all with education in the sciences. Everything from biology to math. At first glance, I thought, “Yeesh, it’s going to be one of those weekends.” But it wasn’t like that at all. Much of the focus was on creation and evolution. I came away from it feeling not only encouraged about the reliability of the Bible and creation, but also so impressed by how incredible our universe is – how much more incredible must our creator be? So often we believe what we are told or taught, and the things that are being taught today as truth should be put under the microscope – especially by Christians. I really believe that we aren’t supposed to hide from science. I don’t believe God is scared of our questions. I believe that He’s given us not just the right, but the responsibility to ask questions about what we believe. There are answers. Maybe not all of them come right away, maybe not all of our questions will be answered, but we’ll never know if we don’t ask. Do you believe in evolution? Why or why not? Do you believe that the universe and everything in it was created by God? Why or why not?
If you want to email me back about your thoughts, feel free. I can’t promise I’ll email back in full detail, and I don’t want to start any wars about it either. I’m just putting it out there, I guess. I believe in creation as it is stated in Genesis. God + nothing + 6 days = everything. If some one were to ask you, what would you say?
Anyway, here is an interesting website www.creationmoment.com
Okay, the last chapter was about a mystery ingredient recipe. One day Danny and I found this discount grocery store and in the reduced to clear bin (which is always a bad sign, but even worse if you find one in a store full of stuff that has already been discounted) Danny found a jar of yellow chunky sauce. It had no label, but it was 5 pence (which is like 2 cents Canadian). Being the adventurous people we are, we bought it. Now we do joke about being on a missionary budget, and that we are from Canada and that Canadians eat anything – but this transcends into a whole new level. A level I don’t even know if people in trailer parks resort to. The important thing is that we both lived to tell the tale. I don’t know if it’s a good illustration about faith, or a story of taking a stupid risk. A little bit of column A, a little bit of column B…
Well, this email has been huge. I hope you are all still with me! I haven’t even written anything about how LifeFORCE is going yet! We are into our second week of training and everything is going very well. We seem to have all settled in (all 9 of us) and are in the full swing of things. I’ll be writing more on that though next time. I’m sure you all need a breather. This is why I don’t preach on Sundays!
One last thing: I just want to say a huge thank you to all of you for everything. Every little email you send me back, every little prayer you say for us, all your immense patience and understanding with these massive updates and a few sparse personal notes in between, and the financial blessings – can’t forget that! Even though Danny and I are in another country, and sometimes we do feel very far away, we never have felt alone in this work. My prayer is that will return these blessings back to you in greater ways!
God bless,
~Alycia DeLong
After kids week, Danny and I went to a weekend conference in Devon. It was beautiful there and the weather was great Danny and I were staying in a 2-man tent (borrowed) and we had an inflatable mattress to put in it (also borrowed). Sounds perfect, right? Well, the people that brought us the mattress forgot to bring the caps for it so no air would stay inside. But that didn’t stop us! We’re Canadians – get the duct tape! We fashioned ourselves a couple of caps that would have made MacGyver proud. However, once the mattress was fully inflated, we found it was too big for the tent. We let the air out and slept on the ground, which was just fine.
The conference was very interesting. There were numerous speakers, all of them doctors, professors, authors and all with education in the sciences. Everything from biology to math. At first glance, I thought, “Yeesh, it’s going to be one of those weekends.” But it wasn’t like that at all. Much of the focus was on creation and evolution. I came away from it feeling not only encouraged about the reliability of the Bible and creation, but also so impressed by how incredible our universe is – how much more incredible must our creator be? So often we believe what we are told or taught, and the things that are being taught today as truth should be put under the microscope – especially by Christians. I really believe that we aren’t supposed to hide from science. I don’t believe God is scared of our questions. I believe that He’s given us not just the right, but the responsibility to ask questions about what we believe. There are answers. Maybe not all of them come right away, maybe not all of our questions will be answered, but we’ll never know if we don’t ask. Do you believe in evolution? Why or why not? Do you believe that the universe and everything in it was created by God? Why or why not?
If you want to email me back about your thoughts, feel free. I can’t promise I’ll email back in full detail, and I don’t want to start any wars about it either. I’m just putting it out there, I guess. I believe in creation as it is stated in Genesis. God + nothing + 6 days = everything. If some one were to ask you, what would you say?
Anyway, here is an interesting website www.creationmoment.com
Okay, the last chapter was about a mystery ingredient recipe. One day Danny and I found this discount grocery store and in the reduced to clear bin (which is always a bad sign, but even worse if you find one in a store full of stuff that has already been discounted) Danny found a jar of yellow chunky sauce. It had no label, but it was 5 pence (which is like 2 cents Canadian). Being the adventurous people we are, we bought it. Now we do joke about being on a missionary budget, and that we are from Canada and that Canadians eat anything – but this transcends into a whole new level. A level I don’t even know if people in trailer parks resort to. The important thing is that we both lived to tell the tale. I don’t know if it’s a good illustration about faith, or a story of taking a stupid risk. A little bit of column A, a little bit of column B…
Well, this email has been huge. I hope you are all still with me! I haven’t even written anything about how LifeFORCE is going yet! We are into our second week of training and everything is going very well. We seem to have all settled in (all 9 of us) and are in the full swing of things. I’ll be writing more on that though next time. I’m sure you all need a breather. This is why I don’t preach on Sundays!
One last thing: I just want to say a huge thank you to all of you for everything. Every little email you send me back, every little prayer you say for us, all your immense patience and understanding with these massive updates and a few sparse personal notes in between, and the financial blessings – can’t forget that! Even though Danny and I are in another country, and sometimes we do feel very far away, we never have felt alone in this work. My prayer is that will return these blessings back to you in greater ways!
God bless,
~Alycia DeLong
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
The Worst Story Ever
Hey everyone! LIFEFORCE UK HAS OFFICIALLY STARTED! Yes, all of our staff and students have arrived making us a strong army of 9. Of course, 3 of our crew will be returning back to Canada at Christmas, leaving 6 of us to go on the road in January. It has been totally crazy. Good thing I write my email updates in advance. I'll bore you more with all the details of our training centre later but for now, here is my last terrible story. I fear that the rest of my chapters may be so out of date now that they are irrelevant, but maybe I'll just merge them all together into one super-chapter.
Without further delay, this is the last, and the very worst one.
So Danny and I were in Kidderminster (some small town) doing school programs with the local church. The pastor of the church is only like 25 years old, and we all have a lot of fun together. Anyway one day, this pastor guy, Dan, and I were walking through the town centre to pick up some things for school when we ran into some one he knew. This guy was a big, rough looking guy - raggidy clothes, unshaven, smoke hanging out of his mouth and a really thick accent. They chatted for a moment and then this guy turns to me and says, "So, are you a prostitute?" I was shocked. I was appalled. I was confused, insulted, angered, etc, etc. I thought to myself, 'What is this guy about? Do I look like a prostitute, buddy? It's not even noon! This guy has to be drunk or something. Why I oughtta...
"Uh, no!" I squeeked out. I was speechless. (Insert your own sarcastic remarks here)
The pastor I was with, Dan, came to my rescue, "Ah, she's just here helping with the stuff we're doing in schools this week. We've got to run though. See you later!" My hero (that's sarcasm). As we're walking away I said, "I can't believe that guy! That he would just ask some one he's never even seen before a question like that!" Dan shrugged. "Oh he probably just thought that because you were with me." He said nonchalant.
My inner monologue voice was livid. "Because I was with you?!?!? What is that supposed to mean? Is there something about you I don't know?!?!?" I thought.
There was no time to get into it then as we had to get to the school for classes. The rest of the day though I was sick about the whole thing. Later that evening I brought it up as we were all haning out. I leaned over to Danny and told him, "Today some one asked me if I was a prostitute!" My sensitive husband burst out laughing. "Really? When did that happen?" "Dan was there! Tell him Dan! About that guy who asked me if I was a prostitute!" I blurted out. "What!?!" exclaimed Dan. "Where was that?" Typical man. Didn't even notice.
"In the town centre today. Remember that guy when he asked me, 'Are you a prostitute?'" Dan reflected for a moment. "Alycia," he slowly explained, "he didn't ask you if you were a prostitute. He asked if you were a pastor, too." Dead silence. Then the eruption of laughter. Finally, my eternal shame.
That is my worst story ever. I hope.
Anyway, those are my stories right now. I'll continue with the other chapters soon.
They kind of seem a bit boring after that, so I'll try and spice them up. Talk to you later! God bless!
Love,
~Alycia DeLong
Without further delay, this is the last, and the very worst one.
So Danny and I were in Kidderminster (some small town) doing school programs with the local church. The pastor of the church is only like 25 years old, and we all have a lot of fun together. Anyway one day, this pastor guy, Dan, and I were walking through the town centre to pick up some things for school when we ran into some one he knew. This guy was a big, rough looking guy - raggidy clothes, unshaven, smoke hanging out of his mouth and a really thick accent. They chatted for a moment and then this guy turns to me and says, "So, are you a prostitute?" I was shocked. I was appalled. I was confused, insulted, angered, etc, etc. I thought to myself, 'What is this guy about? Do I look like a prostitute, buddy? It's not even noon! This guy has to be drunk or something. Why I oughtta...
"Uh, no!" I squeeked out. I was speechless. (Insert your own sarcastic remarks here)
The pastor I was with, Dan, came to my rescue, "Ah, she's just here helping with the stuff we're doing in schools this week. We've got to run though. See you later!" My hero (that's sarcasm). As we're walking away I said, "I can't believe that guy! That he would just ask some one he's never even seen before a question like that!" Dan shrugged. "Oh he probably just thought that because you were with me." He said nonchalant.
My inner monologue voice was livid. "Because I was with you?!?!? What is that supposed to mean? Is there something about you I don't know?!?!?" I thought.
There was no time to get into it then as we had to get to the school for classes. The rest of the day though I was sick about the whole thing. Later that evening I brought it up as we were all haning out. I leaned over to Danny and told him, "Today some one asked me if I was a prostitute!" My sensitive husband burst out laughing. "Really? When did that happen?" "Dan was there! Tell him Dan! About that guy who asked me if I was a prostitute!" I blurted out. "What!?!" exclaimed Dan. "Where was that?" Typical man. Didn't even notice.
"In the town centre today. Remember that guy when he asked me, 'Are you a prostitute?'" Dan reflected for a moment. "Alycia," he slowly explained, "he didn't ask you if you were a prostitute. He asked if you were a pastor, too." Dead silence. Then the eruption of laughter. Finally, my eternal shame.
That is my worst story ever. I hope.
Anyway, those are my stories right now. I'll continue with the other chapters soon.
They kind of seem a bit boring after that, so I'll try and spice them up. Talk to you later! God bless!
Love,
~Alycia DeLong
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
The Donut Disaster
Hello again everyone! Here is story number two in our series of commercial breaks. This one's brought to you in dedication to Tim Horton's. Let's not take Canadian tradition for granted.
So last week we were in Kidderminster (some small town near Birmingham) working with a church in high schools. Danny, me and the pastor of the church were in 2 schools doing classes about values and christianity stuff and drama presentations every day, 5 times a day. It was very intense. So one day at lunch I found - to my great joy - that it was donut day in the school's cafeteria! Well, I snatched up one of the big ones, the kind that are long and topped with chocolate and usually have whipping cream on the inside. Ooooooh yeeeeeeaaaaaaaaah. I carefully plucked it from the donut tray and lovingly carried it back to our table in the cafeteria. Well, upon examining my treasure, I found that it was in fact not a donut, but a pre-cut hot dog bun from lunch the day before that some one had slapped some chocolate icing on and a few crap sprinkles! I have heard of some horrendouse crimes in the past, but this! THIS!! WHY?!?! Needless to say that I threw that disgusting forgery in the garbage (after licking all the chocolate off first). Appalling. Simply appalling. I am already in the works of drafting up a bill for the EU about this travisty (travesty? how do you spell that?).
Anyway, if I can have one request - please have a box of Tim Horton's donuts and a moment of silence this week. Do it for me. Do it for all Canadians around the world.
God bless,
~Alycia DeLong
So last week we were in Kidderminster (some small town near Birmingham) working with a church in high schools. Danny, me and the pastor of the church were in 2 schools doing classes about values and christianity stuff and drama presentations every day, 5 times a day. It was very intense. So one day at lunch I found - to my great joy - that it was donut day in the school's cafeteria! Well, I snatched up one of the big ones, the kind that are long and topped with chocolate and usually have whipping cream on the inside. Ooooooh yeeeeeeaaaaaaaaah. I carefully plucked it from the donut tray and lovingly carried it back to our table in the cafeteria. Well, upon examining my treasure, I found that it was in fact not a donut, but a pre-cut hot dog bun from lunch the day before that some one had slapped some chocolate icing on and a few crap sprinkles! I have heard of some horrendouse crimes in the past, but this! THIS!! WHY?!?! Needless to say that I threw that disgusting forgery in the garbage (after licking all the chocolate off first). Appalling. Simply appalling. I am already in the works of drafting up a bill for the EU about this travisty (travesty? how do you spell that?).
Anyway, if I can have one request - please have a box of Tim Horton's donuts and a moment of silence this week. Do it for me. Do it for all Canadians around the world.
God bless,
~Alycia DeLong
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Shaken Not Stirred
Just a quick story here. I actually have 3 outrageous tales of a typical day in the life of Alycia DeLong, but I'll start with this one. It is by far the least outrageous of the three. Consider this as a commercial break in the Chapters of our DeLong Sega. This message is brought to you by Alycia DeLong, the blondest Canadian in the UK, possibly Europe and the world.
I have to get a certificate in food and hygiene so that I can help in the kitchen preparing meals during the training time. It's a one day course and at the end of the day there is an exam. Well, I was all signed up to go last Wednesday, the college had called twice to confirm I was coming to the food and hygiene course. I was a bit nervous (you know, first day of school) but I thought, 'Oh, it will just be a bunch of cafeteria ladies and I'll make lots of friends.' I was the first one in class. The next person who arrived was a 40 or so lady who was very nice and we hit it off right away. The rest of the class arrived but to my surprize it was all young, 20-something guys (and not bad looking, but that is purely observation).
The instructor went through the schedule for the day, we filled out the registration forms and then he sent us downstairs to pay the class fee before we started. On the way down, I commented to my new friend about what kind of homework came with a food and hygiene course (ha ha). She looked at me and said, "Food and hygiene? I must be in the wrong class today!" I wasn't sure if she was making some sort of joke in British humor, which I sometimes don't understand. It made me suspicious, though. Suspicious and nervous. I excused myself from the line up, ran up to the class and asked the teacher, "Pardon me sir, but at the end of this course, what kind of certificate do you earn?" The reply came, "You get a private liquor license."
Now I have to be honest with you all, I did hesitate leaving the room. Not every missionary has their own private liquor license. In fact I can't think of any off the top of my head. But we are pioneers, aren't we? And it could be a great tool for reaching people in the world, where they're at, right? And think of the income that could be generated - extra money to give to the poor, perhaps? Danny and I have always liked the movie, "Cocktail" with Tom Cruise...
Okay, okay. I didn't stay for the course and I didn't get my own private liquor license. As it turns out the lady who registered me had signed me up for the wrong day. The Food and Hygiene course was the week before, so I have to wait another month. Besides, the course for the liquor license was £160 which is over $220 Canadian (not that I would have earned it all back making martinis for people in our appartment building.)
Anyway, that's my story of the day. I hope that if nothing else, its left you shaken, not stirred.
God bless,
~Alycia DeLong
I have to get a certificate in food and hygiene so that I can help in the kitchen preparing meals during the training time. It's a one day course and at the end of the day there is an exam. Well, I was all signed up to go last Wednesday, the college had called twice to confirm I was coming to the food and hygiene course. I was a bit nervous (you know, first day of school) but I thought, 'Oh, it will just be a bunch of cafeteria ladies and I'll make lots of friends.' I was the first one in class. The next person who arrived was a 40 or so lady who was very nice and we hit it off right away. The rest of the class arrived but to my surprize it was all young, 20-something guys (and not bad looking, but that is purely observation).
The instructor went through the schedule for the day, we filled out the registration forms and then he sent us downstairs to pay the class fee before we started. On the way down, I commented to my new friend about what kind of homework came with a food and hygiene course (ha ha). She looked at me and said, "Food and hygiene? I must be in the wrong class today!" I wasn't sure if she was making some sort of joke in British humor, which I sometimes don't understand. It made me suspicious, though. Suspicious and nervous. I excused myself from the line up, ran up to the class and asked the teacher, "Pardon me sir, but at the end of this course, what kind of certificate do you earn?" The reply came, "You get a private liquor license."
Now I have to be honest with you all, I did hesitate leaving the room. Not every missionary has their own private liquor license. In fact I can't think of any off the top of my head. But we are pioneers, aren't we? And it could be a great tool for reaching people in the world, where they're at, right? And think of the income that could be generated - extra money to give to the poor, perhaps? Danny and I have always liked the movie, "Cocktail" with Tom Cruise...
Okay, okay. I didn't stay for the course and I didn't get my own private liquor license. As it turns out the lady who registered me had signed me up for the wrong day. The Food and Hygiene course was the week before, so I have to wait another month. Besides, the course for the liquor license was £160 which is over $220 Canadian (not that I would have earned it all back making martinis for people in our appartment building.)
Anyway, that's my story of the day. I hope that if nothing else, its left you shaken, not stirred.
God bless,
~Alycia DeLong
Monday, October 03, 2005
Chapter Two: Lord of the Passports
Chapter Two: Lord of the Passports – Return of the Canadians (almost)
You know, passports are a mystical thing. They contain magical little stamps imprinted with ink made by gnomes. Some of the gnomes are happy little things, but some are surly. The surly gnomes poison the ink so that when certain airport personnel hold the passport, their reason is clouded and they become discombobulated. Confused? Exactly.
Basically what happened is this: We arrived back in England and while passing through immigration, the astute young man behind the counter informed us that the immigration laws in the UK changed in March. Not everyone in every airport knows everything about it yet, but what it came down to was that they weren’t going to let us back into the country. Some one some where when we returned in June didn’t know this something about the changes to the law and gave us some stamp in our passports that weren’t the right some stamp that we needed. They took our passports and said we would be sent back to Canada right away!
To cut a long, irritating and confusing story short (now there’s a first), we spent 3 grueling hours in the airport praying, sweating, brown nosing the airport personnel, and praying some more, but were finally passed through.
Free again we left the airport and drove back to Walsall, which is just over an hour away. Upon finishing packing we discovered that our little CD binder that holds about 12 CDs was missing. It had been left on the plane! We called and called but to no avail – it seems our beloved worldly possessions are gone on a vacation of their own. Permanently. Hope they have their passports worked out…
Well, that’s that then for this week. Next is Chapter Three: Survivor – Kids’ Club Season (insert dramatic music here).
God bless and have a great week!
~Alycia DeLong
You know, passports are a mystical thing. They contain magical little stamps imprinted with ink made by gnomes. Some of the gnomes are happy little things, but some are surly. The surly gnomes poison the ink so that when certain airport personnel hold the passport, their reason is clouded and they become discombobulated. Confused? Exactly.
Basically what happened is this: We arrived back in England and while passing through immigration, the astute young man behind the counter informed us that the immigration laws in the UK changed in March. Not everyone in every airport knows everything about it yet, but what it came down to was that they weren’t going to let us back into the country. Some one some where when we returned in June didn’t know this something about the changes to the law and gave us some stamp in our passports that weren’t the right some stamp that we needed. They took our passports and said we would be sent back to Canada right away!
To cut a long, irritating and confusing story short (now there’s a first), we spent 3 grueling hours in the airport praying, sweating, brown nosing the airport personnel, and praying some more, but were finally passed through.
Free again we left the airport and drove back to Walsall, which is just over an hour away. Upon finishing packing we discovered that our little CD binder that holds about 12 CDs was missing. It had been left on the plane! We called and called but to no avail – it seems our beloved worldly possessions are gone on a vacation of their own. Permanently. Hope they have their passports worked out…
Well, that’s that then for this week. Next is Chapter Three: Survivor – Kids’ Club Season (insert dramatic music here).
God bless and have a great week!
~Alycia DeLong
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