Thursday, 22 December 2011
A week in the life of a Pais worker
Ok, so I thought you people might like a little insight into what I get up to on a weekly basis. I've been so busy lately and I'm pretty sure people have been wondering what exactly I've been doing, or else don't believe me. Some people probably think I'm just dossing about out on a gap year and not actually doing any real work, just because I don't get paid. Also, remember that I've just come out of three years of being a lazy student and aren't used to working full time!
We work every weekday, usually 9am until 5pm. Sometimes we have to start earlier for assemblies so we finish that little bit earlier too. A lot of the day is spent in the office, planning and preparing various lunch clubs, assemblies, fundraisers, mission weeks and so on.
Every other Monday we have an assembly at one primary school, and every other Friday an assembly at a special school. Every other Tuesday is after-school SU (scripture union) at another primary school.
Every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday we have lunch clubs at three of the local secondary schools.
Then we have irregular bookings at other schools. A lot of schools have us in as guests for assemblies and lunch clubs maybe once a month. We've also done RE lessons and special anti-bullying workshops at some schools.
In January we have our mission week, 'Who Loves You?'. This was originally planned for December but we had to postpone it due to schools being busy with exam week. For that week we will be in a different secondary school everyday, doing an assembly, lunch club, giveaway and RE lessons. The week will end with a big event that we invite all of the students too, so a lot of time is currently going into planning this mission week.
I'm fairly busy in the evenings too. On Mondays I have homegroup, Wednesday is the youth drop-in's Bible study, Friday's youth club and Sunday we have youth drop-in. Every couple of Saturdays I volunteer at Exodus' events. Tuesdays and Thursdays are my free evenings where I try to relax and catch up with blogging and other stuff, although I often have various things on those nights too. Starting February I'll also have my Exodus team meetings on a Thursday evening.
I'm sure you get the idea...
Basically the idea of this blog is to let you guys know what I'm up to practically on a day-to-day basis, and also to let you know that if I haven't been in touch a lot then I apologise and this is why!
I'm now home for Christmas and am so excited for the break! A lot of time will be spent catching up with family and friends, but I need to try and relax a bit too so that I'll be refreshed and ready for the new term in the new year.
Thanks for all your continued support! :)
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Another way overdue update!
The last two weeks have been crazy busy, including trips to Wales and Newcastle and our big fundraising event, Open Mic Night.
I went home for 3 days last weekend for my sister's 18th birthday. It was really nice to see my family and friends and have a break for a few days. It was a jam-packed weekend that included a family meal at Chimichanga, a City & Colour gig with Abigail (amazing!), a party at my mother's house and going out with the girls. I keep thinking Christmas, the next time I'll go home, is so far away but then being reminding that it's actually not and will probably come around really quick.
Our Open Mic Night fundraiser went really well! Despite a lot of nerves and stress before hand the whole night came together and went rather smoothly. We had a some great local talent performing various things for us and a really good turnout, as well as raising some money for Pais! I just want to thank everyone who helped out and took part, we couldn't have done it without you!
After Open Mic Night we went down to Annalong in Newcastle for a few days (who knew there was a Newcastle in NI?!). It was our fresh training retreat and it was really nice to get away for a few days, worship and pray together while learning some great stuff, and to be refreshed in the spirit ready for the new half term! Even better was that we had the pleasure of the company of the Cork team and the lovely Donna :) We hit some storms on the way that led to the Cork team loosing a car to flash floods and us having to take another route adding about 40 minutes to our journey. But eventually we all got there safely and had a great week together!
Then we had the privilege of having past Pais worker El Gruer with us for a few days. El is now a full-time performance poet, touring around the UK, ministering through her amazing poetry. She did some training sessions with us on creativity and set us the task to encourage one of our leaders in a creative way. I picked out El's name which totally panicked me, since I'm so not creative... Or so I thought! After some prayer I felt I had something to say to her from God and had even thought of a creative way to do it. Picking El turned out to be really good for me since I knew I couldn't be lazy about it and felt like I had to put in loads of effort, resulting in a handmade photo frame with some encouraging words and a Bible verse on it. Before El came I'd heard a lot about her and it was obvious that everybody loved her, and it didn't take me long to realise why and join them in loving her!
I also got the chance to go to a meeting in Belfast about prayer spaces in schools. I'd liked the idea when we first heard it, but the meeting really inspired me to go and put it all into action! They gave us some great ideas for having creative, fun, thought-provoking prayer spaces that the students want to come to and have the chance to get to know God. Hopefully we'll start to implement some of these ideas in our mission week which is coming up soon!
Please pray for our encounter mission week (Who Loves You?), the prayer spaces and the team down in Cork where things are a little slower starting off! Thank you for your continued support! :)
I went home for 3 days last weekend for my sister's 18th birthday. It was really nice to see my family and friends and have a break for a few days. It was a jam-packed weekend that included a family meal at Chimichanga, a City & Colour gig with Abigail (amazing!), a party at my mother's house and going out with the girls. I keep thinking Christmas, the next time I'll go home, is so far away but then being reminding that it's actually not and will probably come around really quick.
Our Open Mic Night fundraiser went really well! Despite a lot of nerves and stress before hand the whole night came together and went rather smoothly. We had a some great local talent performing various things for us and a really good turnout, as well as raising some money for Pais! I just want to thank everyone who helped out and took part, we couldn't have done it without you!
After Open Mic Night we went down to Annalong in Newcastle for a few days (who knew there was a Newcastle in NI?!). It was our fresh training retreat and it was really nice to get away for a few days, worship and pray together while learning some great stuff, and to be refreshed in the spirit ready for the new half term! Even better was that we had the pleasure of the company of the Cork team and the lovely Donna :) We hit some storms on the way that led to the Cork team loosing a car to flash floods and us having to take another route adding about 40 minutes to our journey. But eventually we all got there safely and had a great week together!
Then we had the privilege of having past Pais worker El Gruer with us for a few days. El is now a full-time performance poet, touring around the UK, ministering through her amazing poetry. She did some training sessions with us on creativity and set us the task to encourage one of our leaders in a creative way. I picked out El's name which totally panicked me, since I'm so not creative... Or so I thought! After some prayer I felt I had something to say to her from God and had even thought of a creative way to do it. Picking El turned out to be really good for me since I knew I couldn't be lazy about it and felt like I had to put in loads of effort, resulting in a handmade photo frame with some encouraging words and a Bible verse on it. Before El came I'd heard a lot about her and it was obvious that everybody loved her, and it didn't take me long to realise why and join them in loving her!
I also got the chance to go to a meeting in Belfast about prayer spaces in schools. I'd liked the idea when we first heard it, but the meeting really inspired me to go and put it all into action! They gave us some great ideas for having creative, fun, thought-provoking prayer spaces that the students want to come to and have the chance to get to know God. Hopefully we'll start to implement some of these ideas in our mission week which is coming up soon!
Please pray for our encounter mission week (Who Loves You?), the prayer spaces and the team down in Cork where things are a little slower starting off! Thank you for your continued support! :)
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Things I'm thankful for this week...
I've been feeling particularly blessed and thankful over the last few weeks. This is especially due to the news that two good friends of mine lost a parent each a few weeks ago, leaving me thinking about just how precious life is and how we should be grateful for what we have.
Some things I just want to mention and give thanks to God for are...
- my family and friends, who have been a great support to me as I've moved away to live out God's plan for my life. Like I said, life is precious and I don't want to spend it doing something I don't feel completely fulfilled in while God has this amazing plan that I'm missing out on!
- the friendships I've made since I've been here in Northern Ireland, particularly through our partnerships with Exodus and the Vineyard interns who sometimes join us at schools. I'm here to 'do a job' so to speak; to build bridges between school and church, teach the young people about God and get them involved with youth groups etc. But having friends here is so important to me! I think I would crack up without people to just chill out with outside of work and I just want to mention Kirsty and Suzi - the lovely Exodus interns (because I promised I would!), Donna, Rob and Ben :)
- the church I have been placed with, Mountsandel Christian Fellowship. The people there have been so lovely and welcoming and I love how everyone actually knows everyone! I spoke at the front for the first time last week, just a short devotion before communion, and I was super nervous, but everyone was really encouraging afterwards! I'm also grateful for the large group of 20-somethings in the church who again mean a lot to me in terms of having friends here in NI. There's just so much I love about MCF and I can definitely see why God put me here with them, as I think I've mentioned on this blog before!
- the Cork team! It was so good to meet up with the Cork team for our retreat a couple of weeks ago! I love those guys, Annette, Kristin and Dan, and I really miss them when they're at the other end of this island! They all have such great hearts and spirit, and although things are getting off to a slow start in Cork, they keep pushing through and I'm excited to see what they'll achieve this year. Please pray for them!
- and last, but by no means least, is my team! We've been building up great friendships, and the retreat in particular helped us to refresh the bonds between us, outside of a work atmosphere. We aren't always the best of friends in the office but then I just think that if we were all exactly the same we'd be a rubbish team! It's the differences in us that make up a good team and I always think of Romans 12:4-8 where it talks about the different parts of the body making up one. This is exactly how I see us as a team, all contributing our different gifts, and I'm excited to see where this will take us this year!
Some things I just want to mention and give thanks to God for are...
- my family and friends, who have been a great support to me as I've moved away to live out God's plan for my life. Like I said, life is precious and I don't want to spend it doing something I don't feel completely fulfilled in while God has this amazing plan that I'm missing out on!
- the friendships I've made since I've been here in Northern Ireland, particularly through our partnerships with Exodus and the Vineyard interns who sometimes join us at schools. I'm here to 'do a job' so to speak; to build bridges between school and church, teach the young people about God and get them involved with youth groups etc. But having friends here is so important to me! I think I would crack up without people to just chill out with outside of work and I just want to mention Kirsty and Suzi - the lovely Exodus interns (because I promised I would!), Donna, Rob and Ben :)
- the church I have been placed with, Mountsandel Christian Fellowship. The people there have been so lovely and welcoming and I love how everyone actually knows everyone! I spoke at the front for the first time last week, just a short devotion before communion, and I was super nervous, but everyone was really encouraging afterwards! I'm also grateful for the large group of 20-somethings in the church who again mean a lot to me in terms of having friends here in NI. There's just so much I love about MCF and I can definitely see why God put me here with them, as I think I've mentioned on this blog before!
- the Cork team! It was so good to meet up with the Cork team for our retreat a couple of weeks ago! I love those guys, Annette, Kristin and Dan, and I really miss them when they're at the other end of this island! They all have such great hearts and spirit, and although things are getting off to a slow start in Cork, they keep pushing through and I'm excited to see what they'll achieve this year. Please pray for them!
- and last, but by no means least, is my team! We've been building up great friendships, and the retreat in particular helped us to refresh the bonds between us, outside of a work atmosphere. We aren't always the best of friends in the office but then I just think that if we were all exactly the same we'd be a rubbish team! It's the differences in us that make up a good team and I always think of Romans 12:4-8 where it talks about the different parts of the body making up one. This is exactly how I see us as a team, all contributing our different gifts, and I'm excited to see where this will take us this year!
Monday, 10 October 2011
Finally some photos!
Here are some pictures at last :D they were all taken down at Portstewart strand with my team. There's just a few on here but if I actually know you then you can see the rest of them on Facebook... https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150851668050495.759482.602670494&type=3
Enjoy :)
Enjoy :)
Now we're getting into the swing of things...
Well I guess I haven't got into the regular habit of this blogging thing yet!
So last week I finally went to the beach and took some photos of Northern Ireland! We went down as a team after doing an assembly in Portstewart just to chill out and spend some quality time together. It was such a great morning and we had a lot of fun! Portstewart strand is so beautiful and there are some amazing houses there! Maybe I'll get to live there someday :)
We've had lots of stuff at schools over the last 2 weeks, including assemblies, lunch clubs and after-school clubs. My favourite so far was an after-school scripture union (SU) at a primary school. There were a lot of children there and the response from them was really great. They seemed to really enjoy it, and we had fun doing it too and all felt like we played our parts really well. We're all still getting used to it and I still get very nervous about speaking in front of large groups, but I guess I'll get used to it! Today we had our first SU at an all-boys secondary school. Giving a short version of my testimony to about 50-60 11-14 year old boys was TERRIFYING! But I got through it and I'm so glad I got to share with them how God has changed my life! I loved seeing some of the boys from my youth group there too, even if they are some of the more disruptive ones. One of them said to me "you should be thankful I'm here, I've got street cred to keep!" and I really was glad they came even though it's not their thing. Hopefully they'll keep coming as their "street cred" could really come to some good if they could get their friends to come to SU and youth :)
I'm still really enjoying MCF and the family feel of it and I love being a part of youth and the youth drop-in. I feel like I really fit in there and I love seeing how God's plans for me are working out and being reminded of the fact that He always knows what He's doing, even when I'm unsure. I'm really starting to see why God put me here instead of Texas, especially for personal reasons, and it's crazy to think He knew all along. It's amazing to be able to lo back and see how each thing panned out and each door opened along the way.
I love the Sunday night drop-in at the moment, although I don't know if I'll still be saying that in a few months if the guys start getting on my nerves! But for now I'm enjoying getting to know them. They make me laugh and I think it's awesome that they come and know they can just hang out and chat to us, even letting us talk to them about God and asking questions. I think spending time with this year is going to be very interesting and eye-opening! I'd love to see them using their time, energy and influence on the younger guys for good, instead of bad, especially in a church and youth setting!
Please pray that God gives us the words to speak to the students, as well as creativity when trying to come up with ways to convey our messages, and confidence when we are out the front performing and speaking.
Also pray that God continues to open the minds of the young people at youth and that they continue to be asking questions and intrigued to find out more about God, and that He helps me to speak to them and to answer their questions in a way that reaches out to them.
Thank you for your continued support! It means a lot knowing that there are people behind me, believing in me and praying for my work here :)
So last week I finally went to the beach and took some photos of Northern Ireland! We went down as a team after doing an assembly in Portstewart just to chill out and spend some quality time together. It was such a great morning and we had a lot of fun! Portstewart strand is so beautiful and there are some amazing houses there! Maybe I'll get to live there someday :)
We've had lots of stuff at schools over the last 2 weeks, including assemblies, lunch clubs and after-school clubs. My favourite so far was an after-school scripture union (SU) at a primary school. There were a lot of children there and the response from them was really great. They seemed to really enjoy it, and we had fun doing it too and all felt like we played our parts really well. We're all still getting used to it and I still get very nervous about speaking in front of large groups, but I guess I'll get used to it! Today we had our first SU at an all-boys secondary school. Giving a short version of my testimony to about 50-60 11-14 year old boys was TERRIFYING! But I got through it and I'm so glad I got to share with them how God has changed my life! I loved seeing some of the boys from my youth group there too, even if they are some of the more disruptive ones. One of them said to me "you should be thankful I'm here, I've got street cred to keep!" and I really was glad they came even though it's not their thing. Hopefully they'll keep coming as their "street cred" could really come to some good if they could get their friends to come to SU and youth :)
I'm still really enjoying MCF and the family feel of it and I love being a part of youth and the youth drop-in. I feel like I really fit in there and I love seeing how God's plans for me are working out and being reminded of the fact that He always knows what He's doing, even when I'm unsure. I'm really starting to see why God put me here instead of Texas, especially for personal reasons, and it's crazy to think He knew all along. It's amazing to be able to lo back and see how each thing panned out and each door opened along the way.
I love the Sunday night drop-in at the moment, although I don't know if I'll still be saying that in a few months if the guys start getting on my nerves! But for now I'm enjoying getting to know them. They make me laugh and I think it's awesome that they come and know they can just hang out and chat to us, even letting us talk to them about God and asking questions. I think spending time with this year is going to be very interesting and eye-opening! I'd love to see them using their time, energy and influence on the younger guys for good, instead of bad, especially in a church and youth setting!
Please pray that God gives us the words to speak to the students, as well as creativity when trying to come up with ways to convey our messages, and confidence when we are out the front performing and speaking.
Also pray that God continues to open the minds of the young people at youth and that they continue to be asking questions and intrigued to find out more about God, and that He helps me to speak to them and to answer their questions in a way that reaches out to them.
Thank you for your continued support! It means a lot knowing that there are people behind me, believing in me and praying for my work here :)
Thursday, 22 September 2011
A lot to tell!
Well I've now been in Northern Ireland for almost 3 weeks! We've been really busy and it's gone quickly so this might be a long post! I'm pleased to report that I'm getting on well with the accent, although if someone speaks quickly and catches me off-guard they do have to repeat it! The N.Irish have some quirky little words and phrases for things, but I think that'll be a topic for another post :)
The first two weeks were Foundational Training, but I only had one week of this since I arrived a week late (after being stuck in New York!). FT was a really exciting, challenging, overwhelming week! It was so tiring and I know I struggled sometimes through the day but I was also learning some great stuff. It involved a lot of theoretical stuff, including the vision of Pais, the Kingdom Principles, mentoring and youth work.
For that week the team stayed in a church hall in Portstewart, together with the Pais:Eire team, which gave us a really good chance to get to know each other, especially during free time in the evenings. On my team there is a Northern Irish girl called Heather and three(!) Germans; Tamara, Raffi and Jan. Being with the Germans has made for several amusing conversations, including Raffi's pronunciation of a 'v' as 'w' (think wegetables, wideo). I love it! Although I think, despite my protests, I might learn some German this year. My iPad already has an alternative German keyboard and language setting and a translation app!
On the evening of the last day of FT we had a commissioning service where we were introduced to various people from our churches and were commissioned to go out and serve. The day after the Eire team left to go down to Cork. Although I'm really excited to hear what they're getting up to down there, I do really miss them!
So after the commissioning service I moved in with my host family, the Robinsons, in Coleraine. They're a lovely couple with four 'grown-up' children, two of which still live at home. They have a really nice house and are looking after me well and making me feel really at home :)
My placement church is Mountsandel Christian Fellowship and I really like it there!
Everybody has been so welcoming and so many people came to say hi. I went to youth drop-in on Sunday evening so that was cool to meet some of the young people from the area. The usual youth club starts back tomorrow night after a break for summer so I'm excited to go and get stuck in and get to know more people!
Last week we had 'vision week' of training at our office in Exodus in Coleraine. This involved more practical stuff, such as preparing assemblies and preaches. We also went to a volunteer training evening at Exodus as we'll be partnering with them this year and volunteering at some of their events. Exodus is a night base in Coleraine for teenagers aged 14+ to go hang out. They have an event every Saturday that are usually themed and a great place for teenagers to come and hang out, as well as being open at various times through the week.
We went into a school for the first time on Wednesday to do a lunch club! It was scary being the first time but it was a fairly small group so we were eased in to it and it went really well. On the other hand, tomorrow morning we are doing our first assembly at a primary school! That's a bit more daunting since it's the whole school and it's younger children we have to entertain while teaching! We've spent the rest of our time this week preparing lunch clubs and assemblies and phoning schools to book appointments to go in.
Our timetable seems to be filling up fast and I'm really excited to see what God has in store for us over the next few months! Please pray for doors into schools to open, the pupils to be open-minded when listening to us, and for energy and good health for the team :)
P.S. I've yet to take any photos of NI :( Hopefully I'm going to get snappy-happy soon and have lots to show you :)
The first two weeks were Foundational Training, but I only had one week of this since I arrived a week late (after being stuck in New York!). FT was a really exciting, challenging, overwhelming week! It was so tiring and I know I struggled sometimes through the day but I was also learning some great stuff. It involved a lot of theoretical stuff, including the vision of Pais, the Kingdom Principles, mentoring and youth work.
For that week the team stayed in a church hall in Portstewart, together with the Pais:Eire team, which gave us a really good chance to get to know each other, especially during free time in the evenings. On my team there is a Northern Irish girl called Heather and three(!) Germans; Tamara, Raffi and Jan. Being with the Germans has made for several amusing conversations, including Raffi's pronunciation of a 'v' as 'w' (think wegetables, wideo). I love it! Although I think, despite my protests, I might learn some German this year. My iPad already has an alternative German keyboard and language setting and a translation app!
On the evening of the last day of FT we had a commissioning service where we were introduced to various people from our churches and were commissioned to go out and serve. The day after the Eire team left to go down to Cork. Although I'm really excited to hear what they're getting up to down there, I do really miss them!
So after the commissioning service I moved in with my host family, the Robinsons, in Coleraine. They're a lovely couple with four 'grown-up' children, two of which still live at home. They have a really nice house and are looking after me well and making me feel really at home :)
My placement church is Mountsandel Christian Fellowship and I really like it there!
Everybody has been so welcoming and so many people came to say hi. I went to youth drop-in on Sunday evening so that was cool to meet some of the young people from the area. The usual youth club starts back tomorrow night after a break for summer so I'm excited to go and get stuck in and get to know more people!
Last week we had 'vision week' of training at our office in Exodus in Coleraine. This involved more practical stuff, such as preparing assemblies and preaches. We also went to a volunteer training evening at Exodus as we'll be partnering with them this year and volunteering at some of their events. Exodus is a night base in Coleraine for teenagers aged 14+ to go hang out. They have an event every Saturday that are usually themed and a great place for teenagers to come and hang out, as well as being open at various times through the week.
We went into a school for the first time on Wednesday to do a lunch club! It was scary being the first time but it was a fairly small group so we were eased in to it and it went really well. On the other hand, tomorrow morning we are doing our first assembly at a primary school! That's a bit more daunting since it's the whole school and it's younger children we have to entertain while teaching! We've spent the rest of our time this week preparing lunch clubs and assemblies and phoning schools to book appointments to go in.
Our timetable seems to be filling up fast and I'm really excited to see what God has in store for us over the next few months! Please pray for doors into schools to open, the pupils to be open-minded when listening to us, and for energy and good health for the team :)
P.S. I've yet to take any photos of NI :( Hopefully I'm going to get snappy-happy soon and have lots to show you :)
Thursday, 15 September 2011
My big plans!
Soooo… some of you may have been wondering what I’m doing for the next year of my life now that I’ve graduated, and some of you may not care (in which case, stop reading now!). Well now that it’s official I can tell you…
On 1st September 2011 I will be moving to Northern Ireland to join the Pais Project for the 11/12 school year!
The Pais Project is an international youth and schools missionary organisation. I will spend the weekdays going into schools with my team, teaching students about God through assemblies, lessons, workshops and lunchtime and after-school clubs. I will also be partnered with a church where I will attend and serve at several meetings a week.
The Pais Project started in 1992 in Manchester, with Northern Ireland being the first team to be planted outside of Britain in 2000. It has now grown and in 2011 there are teams in 8 nations! These are Great Britain, Northern Ireland, USA, Germany, Canada, Ghana, Poland and Eire, and it is continuing to expand. It is estimated to have reached over 8000 pupils this year in Northern Ireland’s North Coast Triangle alone! When I first heard about Pais in 2008 it was like a seed was planted and over the years of growing in my relationship with God I have felt my path being led increasingly to becoming a part of this movement.
I am so excited about this opportunity to reach young people in local schools and see them integrated into local churches. I think it’s going to be an amazing year and an unforgettable experience.
But in order to make it happen I need your help! My accommodation, food, transport and training is provided which is incredible. However, in order for me to be a part of this exciting opportunity, I need to raise financial support for myself over the year. It’s suggested that I aim to raise £100 per month. I trust that God will help me do this, and perhaps you can be a part of His provision for me. If you feel that you are able to support me financially at all please email me (address below), it will be much appreciated!
If you’re unable to support me financially, then please do support me with your prayers. Please pray that I, along with the other Pais missionaries, will be able to raise the needed support and that we will be a blessing to the communities that we’re based in. I will also be sending out email updates throughout the year with news of what’s been happening and how God’s been using myself and the team in the schools and churches and with things we need prayer for. If you would like to receive these updates please send me your email address so I can add you to my mailing list.
Thank you for reading this note and being a part of my life! It’s going to a challenging but amazing year and I’m grateful for all your support!
Love, Lauren x
laurenfry@hotmail.co.uk
To find out more about the Pais Project please visit www.paisproject.com

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