Angelina's Missions Trip to England

Hi! My name is Angelina. I am 16 years old and live in California. You might remember my article last year about the European cruise I was blessed to go on. Well, this summer I was privileged to go on a missions trip to England for three weeks! I had an awesome time. Our team consisted of eight adults and nine teens. We left my church at 5am Friday and arrived at Heathrow Airport in London at 6:30am Saturday! We immediately caught The Underground, got off at our stop, and pulled our luggage around town trying to find our motel! We finally did and then to avoid jet lag, we stayed up ALL DAY sightseeing, which was a blast! We got to see Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Parliament Buildings, the Tower Bridge, and the Tower of London while wandering around like a bunch of tourists! We were surprised to find the weather very humid and hot. Sunday afternoon we dragged our luggage to the train station and made our train just in time! It was a 2 hour ride to Rugby. Our hosts picked us up individually. My friend Ashley and I stayed with the Wilkinson Family and shared a room with their 16-year-old daughter which worked out nicely. Her family made us feel right at home. Rugby is similar to my town in size and is really beautiful. I loved all the old brick buildings and towers. The narrow roads and crazy drivers made it exciting and scary to ride in cars, especially because they drive on the left side of the road! At our first worship meeting at the Christian Life Centre, I was excited to see their hunger and passion for God. It was so neat singing the same songs we sing in Redding and worshiping the same God with all our new friends on the other side of the world! While praying for them afterwards, the Holy Spirit fell and the prophetic broke out. During the day our emphasis was on the local public schools. We joined the local Youth For Christ team and split into four groups. I was with two of my teammates and five British people. Speaking in Religious Education classes was such a great opportunity to spread the Gospel. We worked all day long, doing six classes a day with kids aged 12-16. Our lesson was on Truth, Lies, and Consequences. I would go up to speak in front of the class and do one of the segments, which was new and fun for me! After-wards we would split up into small groups and answer their questions. Some were interested only in California but others had deep, thoughtful questions about God, Heaven, hell, etc. I really got to talk about God's love for each of them and how real and alive He is to me. I always had to make sure I didn't tell them they had to do or believe some-thing, which was against the rules. I always had to say "I've found that..." or "I believe..." The kids were so open and hungry but sometimes they held back because it was considered uncool to be a Christian. It was so exciting and a real breakthrough when I saw several girls accept Jesus into their hearts during a school Christian Union meeting. We just really encouraged them to not be intimidated and hurt by the opposition they face on campus, and to just show God's love. At one school, four girls actually asked us to pray for them, which we were allowed to do because it happened to be a Catholic school. I prayed for one who had tonsil pain. After our quick prayer I asked her how it felt and she said the pain was lessened and there was a good numbing feeling! The other three girls also got touched by God. One of them was 15 years old and pregnant. She said that after we'd visited her classroom she went home and asked Jesus into her heart!!! After we prayed for her, she was amazed and said that she really felt God's presence! I got to develop relationships with a few kids that came to our evening functions at the church. One weekly event was The Vibe, a disco dance club for teens. Another event was The Source which was more of a Christian youth group. We also had Drop In nights where there was music and food and we got to hang out with them. One girl who came had a sprained finger in a brace. She let us pray for it and was healed! It was cool to see God start to really unite the leadership in Rugby. They've decided they're going to meet weekly because they're desperate for God to move. This is a very big deal in Rugby, to see the walls of division break down between the churches of different denominations I feel that the main things we imparted were the necessity of intercession and also the boldness for stepping out and asking people to pray for them. It was nice getting to know the Youth for Christ team. They teased us mercilessly about our accents, pronunciation, and our names for thing (pants/trousers, trash can/bin, cookie/ biscuit, chips/fries, etc.)! During our time off, we got to visit Warwick Castle, Cadbury World (a chocolate factory!), and Coventry. I really enjoyed seeing so much of England. The three weeks just flew by and we were all sad to leave. Our plane ride home was eleven hours long! Once again, God miraculously provided all the finances I needed to go on this trip. I just want to remind and encourage you that where God guides, He provides!



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