The Wild Musing of Ally Kerr

seasons changing

2008-12-06T07:32:00.000-08:00

I am enjoying the lead up to Christmas, more this year than ever before. I'm not sure why I have changed my mind about the christmas music, the trees and the lights, normally I don't like it until a week before Christmas. It might be the "snow" or the cold or Rachels obsession with Christmas, however I am enjoying the season.

I graduated from the Internship last week, it was a great night, some of the young people came and a lot of friends were there to hear about the journey of the last two years for myself, Taryon and Rachel. It has been quite a journey and I have really appreciated how much I have experienced and learned. Thankyou for walking through life with me, for reading, emailing, talking, writing and praying.

My next steps are a bit unsure, I am looking for a job in the short term and hoping to find one that will allow me to continue doing my SVQ 3 in Playwork.

I hope you are enjoying this season as much as me. God Bless

Finishing up

2008-10-29T05:40:00.000-07:00

So, I am now in the last month of my internship, seems like the time has flown by quickly but at the same time I have learnt a lot and been all over the place!!

I have been so blessed to have some amazing oppertunities such as:
* working with the young people at St Andrews church, geting to know them, seeing them change and being a part of their lives for a while
* travelling with the Duff family last year in Sweden and Kyrsgyzstan
* going back to Morocco
* leading a team to Orkney, great fun!
* working with the homeless and orphaned in Portugal and praying with them and for the country

God has been good to me, I am so chuffed to have seen so much, done so much, learnt so much. Now even in these last few weeks I am able to fulfill a dream to visit Aberdeen. I am going with a small team to pray and worship and spend time with Deborah and Ian, I am so excited.

Portugal and stuff

2008-09-17T04:44:00.000-07:00

I had a very impacting time in Portugal, it is hard to explain all that we did since the main focus was prayer. We prayed for specific peaople and places and asked God what he had on his heart and did what he asked. We had done a lot of prayer and research before we went, which i really enjoyed, so we went in with a fair amount of knowledge of the status of Portugal and it's history.

So we know that people are made with a particular identity and Satan often attacks the specific things that God places in us, does this also work for a country? Can Portugals emphasis on the arts and history as discoverers be things God placed there and things that they struggle to hold onto because it is attacked? Is Scotlands struggle with violence and worthlessness a direct result of Satans attack on our creation as Warriors of Gods Kingdom?

Recently we have had a lot of teaching on the Kingdom of God, lots of us went to Dundee yesterday to hear teaching by Dr Atif, a monk who has focused a lot of his life on discovering what God means by a lot of the things he says and looking at the early church and what they practiced and why. It was very interesting and slightly confusing! We also had teaching this morning from Andy Hall on The Kingdom of God and Authority and Power used together. Food for thought, definatly. (Andy's teaching were recorded so if you want to hear them i should get the link in a while so let me know)

Lots of thoughts all over the place today!

all aboot Orkney

2008-08-18T07:04:00.000-07:00

I'm back from Orkney with loads of great stories to tell, i will try not to bore you with them all!

The overview is that on the 27th July2008, 96 young people and about 30 leaders came together in Ayr for a week of intense dancing, drama, puppeting, face painting, kids club, evangelism and sports training. Add in quiet times, group devotions, morning worship and testimonies and evening rallies, and do it all while camping! It was a busy week with 7am wake up and 11pm lights out and 1 hour inbetween for off time and showering. I found it quite challenging to adjust to this but harder still was finding time to memorise your memory verse, practice you performance piece and come up with a team cheer! The camp was very loud and lively but we had some amazing team times, great worship and learnt lots of fun skills that we could use in Orkney. Touch The World did an excelent job of equiping us for what we would be running in Orkney.

Then on Saturday 2nd August we set out at 6am with our team of 10 (3 leaders, 7 members) towards orkney. We arrived in at about 8pm and were met by the youth worker of the Baptist church and a few others. During the week we lead church services, ran a holiday club to the theme of "down in the dumps" and held a youth evening every night called "the noise".

My highlights were

*During the noise we had a small room in the church assigned as the prayer room with 2 of our team in there each night. At the beginning of the week our team were not so excited about the prospect of an hour and a half in a prayer room, however God really spoke to us all and they got really excited about being in the prayer room. On Thursday night I went in at 9.45pm to tell the two people we had in there that they could leave and they said they wanted to stay a little longer...they stayed a total of 4 and a half hours, our God is exciting!

*On the last Sunday we did a presentation for the church about the Holiday Club and throughout the service 5 or 6 of the children we had had at the holiday club came to sit with us. They were so excited about what they had learned and all the kids songs and dances we had done, it was great to see them all up performing the "flabbergasted" dance, and especially children who wouldnt normally go to church.

Quite a long update but a wonderful time. Also the picture is our team plus some of our friends from Orkney, Allison Graham, Amy Graham and Cameron Stout who kindly drove us to the boat at 5am!

Xplore

2008-07-03T05:18:00.000-07:00

The Seamill Centre Xplore department is in full swing! For the summer all the interns are involved with Xplore, i will be the only one going to Orkney, everyone else is going to Hong Kong and China. In Hong Kong they will attend gateway camp and in China they will be working with handicapped people in a school and wokplace set up for people with disabilities. This is all govenment approved work.

The group going to Hong Kong and China will be 16 people all together, many of these are young Scots from 14-18years old. They will be coming to the Seamill Centre on Sat morning to do 4 days of training before going. I will be involved in the training days which will be some cultural training, some teaching on love, some worship together and some building team. Please pray for the whole team as we meet togeher on Saturday and begin this adventure.

Xplore Orkney

2008-06-19T12:28:00.000-07:00

Orkney is a go'er!! I have been starting to wonder and worry a little about whether the TTW Ministy got my application and still wanted me to go to Orkney. I emailed my friend who first asked if i would be willing to lead and she said she would get in touch with people in the office...weeks later i emailed again and then finally yesterday i got a letter from them. I read through the mass amounts of information they sent me and though i like that i am now informed i think i enjoyed the blissful ignorance.

The camp will be from the 26th July - 11th Augwith one week in Ayr and one week in Orkney. The have a packed schedule with a lot of strict policies, that should be interesting!! It will be a big shock to go from working with primarily non-christian or non-churched young people to being with Christian young people, people might listen to what i say!!

While in Orkney we will be partnering with a church there and helping with their kids club and youth ministry which i think will be a lot of fun. I don't know what sized team we will have, in total between various different outreach locations TTW has 96 young people going this summer. Please pray with me that God would change the lives of all the young people involved and the people we meet, God is moving in the youth of Scotland and I am excited to be involved.

ally xxx

If you wish to contribute towards the cost of my trip please send cheques payable to Youth With A Mission Scotland to 9 Glenbryde Road, West Kilbride, KA23 9NJ.

lots of wee updates

2008-05-16T11:04:00.000-07:00

* I have applied to be an Assistant Leader on an outreach to Orkney this summer with Touch the World Ministries UK. If you would like information about TTW please feel free to look at the website at http://www.touchtheworlduk.org/

* Things seem to be going ok without Blair, I miss having him as my leader as he was very good but Rahel and I seem to be copng so far and the leders at the base and the church hav been very supportive which we really appreciate.

* The Leadership Development Course is still running at the base, it is a 6 week course and we have people from all over here. The base is very busy which has been stressfull with noise levels, cooking quantities and cleaning buteverything seems to be in order. I have befriended one couple who have a 6 month baby boy. They are French and Nigerian and their son is beautiful, i have enoyed playing with him during lunch and dinner!

* Last weekend i travelled to somewhere in the middle of nowhere, an hour from Aberdeen to "nanny" for Deborah and Ian Matchett, i spent a wonderful weekend looking after baby Zoe, who is now 7 and a half months and VERY energetic. This is a picture of her in the bath, she loves the bath.

* This week Rachel and i will spend two days at a Youth Workers retreat in Perth run by SCYWF (Scottish Christian Youth Work Forum). This will be a time to come together with other youth workers, pray together, worship together and relax together, im looking forward to it.

* And to end a busy week next Sunday (25th May) is my 21st Birthday, which I am excited about, and is also the night of a Youth Band Prise night which I am sure ill be a wonderful time to be led by the youth in worship. Hope to see people there.

Thats all for now. God Bless

A BIG Change

2008-04-25T07:05:00.000-07:00

Well, some will know and some will not but here is it, Blair is stepping down from his position as the YETI Leader. He and Naomi have both stepped down and are doing a 6 week course that will hopefully help them to re-focus and hear from God about what to do next. Those of you who know them will know that this last year has been a huge struggle for both of them with sickness and tirdness and other things too.

The impliations of this big change for Rachel and I particularly are quite big. We have had a lot of support from leaders at the base who have stepped in to help us in all ways they can. We are in process with people at the church to look at what happens with the youth group and all things church like!

Other things coming up for me are that I am going to Orkney in the summer as an assistant leader on a youth camp. The camp is run by a church in Ayr and I have come in contact with Ruth, the youth worker there a few times in the last few months. She got in touch and asked if I would consider it and so I did. I talked to people here about doing this instead of the Xplore trip to China and they said yes! I am still involved in the prayer and practical preperation for China aswell. I am excited about going to Orkney, one of the main focuses of Xplore is to 'Serve Other Minstries' and so this is that in action! We are also going to help at Frenzy in June, so if you are there look out for me!

Thats all for now folks!

just some thoughts

2008-03-28T03:54:00.000-07:00

Time seems to pass by so quickly, I am very much enjoying going outside after dinner time and it still being light, hearing the little birds outside my window in the morning, seeing an almost blue colour in the sky and of course that nice big yellow circle that makes the heat levels bareable!!

At the moment life is going far to fast but I am managing to keep up mostly. We have been struggling a bit with getting things to come together, just when something looks like it will work or should be easy enough something comes and puts a spanner in the works. I have been getting very frustrated with this cycle happening over and over, it can make you feel very unproductive. However I am learning to adapt better!

Somthing that I am now learning to live with is, no matter how well planned the program may be the real youth work happens on the walk home! We have taken to standing outside on the way home talkng with the young people we have at the youth group as we walk home. We also have an open door at the church when we are there and some of them drop by to visit. It seems that much more of the relationship happens in these times. I don't know why it surprises me, i was the same. I guess I am realising that being program focused is not as productive as being relationship focused, even though it feels much more productive.

Well I will leave you with those thoughts, if you have any wisdom to share please do share.

Life goes on...

2008-02-10T05:40:00.000-08:00

So, now we have reached February already, doesn't time go fast.

I was doing a teaching in the internship last week on life. (when i say teaching i mean 15mins of torment, start small!)

I think that it is an interesting topic, very vague of course but from looking at what God said about life I was very challenged. If we are supposed to surrender our lives to Him, and the way he describes life is "hope and a good future" and "life in abundance", it should be a lot of fun. So i conclude that if God has a good future for me, which he says he does, im gonna stop worrying about it and start anticipating it instead. Lets enjoys life instead of wasting it.

"What i do today is important because whatever it may be i am exchanging a day of my life for it."

God is still Faithful

2007-11-30T03:20:00.000-08:00

You would never think it but here is my big confession, I am horribly afraid of travelling alone! I hate being lost and not knowing what to do and being all on my own, especially if I can't speak the language. However I made it to Sweden and home from Kyrgyzstan with a lot of grace and prayer.

I spent 4 weeks with the family, first week in Sweden and the latter 3 in Central Asia, helping with childcare mostly but generally trying to do anything I could. Travelling with 4 children is definatly not boring, Chris had lots of methods in trying to transport people and bags through busy airports, it was quite funny!

Sweden

Kyrgyzstan

The things I come away with from my trip is that God can use me in simple ways to make a big difference if i am willing and God is faithful, through and though, always, no matter how simple our prayers he listens. Being with the team was an incredible time for me and very encouraging. I miss them all loads, who wouldnt miss these kids, they are so cute.

Kyrgyzstan

2007-10-23T05:30:00.000-07:00

You can follow my trip progress with the Duff family at www.silkroaders.blogspot.com If there ar no posts that means there is no internet.

back safe to Scotland...

2007-09-01T12:23:00.000-07:00

I am now back from Morocco with a little sunburn, a few more Arabic words, lots more friends and tonnes more love for the country and all those in it. In a bid to try and have different things on my two blogs I am going to write on this one a Psalm that my team wrote together about our time in Morocco. It was the last day in Agadir before starting our journey home, we were doing worship together and I was leading it. I got each person to come up with a sentence about what they love about the culture and another sentence thanking God for something from our time there. Here it is...

I see you're beauty in the way Moroccans value people and celebrate life, the way they love one another. They give to their poor, they don't see different tastes as a reason to dislike each other. I thank you God for a culture that respects you and longs for you. I thank you for a people that embrace life, love people and welcome diversity.

Thankyou God that you can use 4 normal people to change a place, our lives lived honestly before you changes things. I thankyou for opening people up to us when we played games with them. You opperate out of overflow with a hackysack. Thankyou that we can make a difference and we can see it in the grateful eyes of a child playing, a mother watching, a friend re-uiniting and a woman begging.

Amen, praise to God for what he has done.

"How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news"

Morocco

2007-07-27T01:45:00.000-07:00

Well well well, it has been a while. My latest news is that my Xplore team is going to Morocco! I am very excited about this as i will get to see people i met last year. I am going with Steve, Allison and a boy named Luke. We will be leaving next thursday and spending two weeks there.

As we have been praying we have heard God say some specific things about what we will do in Morocco. The sciptures we have are psalm 91, psalm 139 and isaiah 52. All of these talk about bringing light into darkness protection from darkness. So we are going to be Gods light, we will be doing things like street work, friendship work, working in a refuge for unwed mothers and helping the long termers set things up.

I would appreciate your support as I go, we are still very short of financies and also some people on the other team particularly have been getting sick, one has glangula fever. Please will you pray with us for the financial need to be met and for the protection as we go into Morocco (and Portugal for the other team).

Xplore

2007-06-24T05:31:00.000-07:00

Firstly, i will appologise for it has been almost a month since i last posted. The month has been busy but very fun. Schools have almost come to an end so my "normal week" will no longer exist, although i am not sure it every did really! So anyways, the next few weeks for me will be preparing for Xplore, planning ahead with youth stuff, hopefully getting the rooms in the church a bit more finished.

I will tell you a little more about Xplore, it is a course i did two years ago here at Seamill and overseas in Romania. It is an introductions to missions basically. A three week long program, one week here to get to know God more and prep for the two weeks overseas doing mercy ministry.

The Vision, to see Scots (and others) introduced to the nations and to have an impact in the nations. To follow the footsteps of the Lord and carry His heart for His children. To spread the love of God around the broken world by showing that someone cares.

The practicalities, the interns at Seamill will be leading outreaches and need to raise money, if you are interested in giving to this please send cheques (made out to YWAM) to Xplore, 9 Glenbryde Road, Seamill, KA23 9NJ. We are also still praying for more interest and applications so please pray with us. If you are or know anyone between 18 and 30 who would like to do this let me know. More info at www.xplore.org.uk

Germany

2007-06-01T01:18:00.000-07:00

At the weekend i jetted off to a YWAM conference in Herrnhut, Germany. The conference had roughly 1000 people at it from all around Europe. It consisted of various lectures and talks on things like, Ministry to Children, Human Trafficing, Reconciliation etc. There were also tours of Herrnhut and workshops in the afternoon as well as worship and story telling tents. In the evenings there were main speakers and worship together in the main tent.

Having arrived very late and about 12 hours after we were supposed to (email if you want to know thw story), Allison and I crashed on the floor of a girl named Tony's house for the first night. In the morning we introduced ourselves and set off to register and find our "dorm" (tent). The weekend passed quickly. It was incridible to hear stories from all around Europe. YWAM is only 47 years old and yet there are now 16,000 full-time staff, quite incredible how God is moving all around the world.

Very early on Monday morning we set off again homeward. This journey being no smoother than the preceding one. Ah well, im back now.

Superheros

2007-05-18T02:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday during what we call "Special Break" myself, Allison, Rachel and Bry came up with a fantastic idea. When we do our household cleaning, maintenence, cooking, gardning, hospitality stuff (Practical Ministry) we should all have names for it...

for example, Allisons name is Shmc -Super Hardcore Maintinance Chick

the name we came up with for Bry was Siblme - Super Incredible Base Leader Mum Exrordanaire!

my name is shoc - super housekeeping organiser chick

Prebens name is Spagyeti - Super Powerful awesome gardning youth and evangelism team intern

So now equiped with names, we are considering having t-shirts with cartoon logos on the front, our "names" on the sleeve and our job on the back eg for me Housekeeping Queen!

So there you have it, give us some coffe and cookies and we all go mad and laugh hysterically for half an hour before returning to hoovering stairs, fixing things, cooking meals and running a base!

Next Wave

2007-05-14T03:32:00.000-07:00

Now, all you YWAM folks will know this must be some kind of ministry, these YWAM folks like their waves. However hopefully most people by now will know about this ministry which is infact a boat, quite appropriate really!

This last week i have spent much of my time floating about Arrossan Harbour, quite literally as i joined the crew on board the Next Wave. This team is a crew of 13 who have recently moved aboard YWAMs newest ship the Next Wave. The vision of the ship is to inspire the Next Wave of young people to stand up for Jesus and to spread His gospel. The ship and crew are touring the British Isles until September when they will go to the Mediterainian and will have a DTS on board.

The week consisted of various events and open ship times where i helped welcome and facilitate. An all day visit to Ardrossan Academy where I...erm...made sure they didnt get lost? A Ceilidh where i laughed hysterically at Americans doing Scottish dances, its just funny! Some cleaning on board the ship and some getting to spend time with the crew. It was a wonderful week and i will very much look forward to their return in August.

If you are interested in finding out more about Next Wave you can go to www.marinereach.info to follow their paths, arange to visit, make a donation or apply to sail with them.

Grace

2007-05-04T02:23:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been in a situation where you don't quite feel up to the job? I realised the other day that most of the young people at the youth group actually trust me!! Some more than others, but there are a few that trust me way more than i trust myself!! Scary thought, i don't quite feel mature enough to have people say, ok i will take your advice but only because i like you and coz most of what you say is right! Ha, i bet there are a lot of folk who disagree with that. It is quite a responsibility to live up to, luckily i know i will fail sometimes but thats ok because I am only human. Gods grace covers me, what a relief!

A Visit from a Swede

2007-04-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

Meet Anna, she is 19 and is mission building here at the Seamill Centre for 3 weeks. I like her a lot, she is fun to be with and very cheerful. I feel like I am doubly blessed by Anna being here, firstly in a work setting because she is helping with the very crazy cleaning rota and secondly because she has been a great friend.

You know those times when someone comes into your life, just for a short while but you just get on really well. I am coming to find these times a real blessing. I see lots of faces pass through the entrance of my house each day, some i know well, others not at all. Often people come and stay, for a week, a few days, maybe a few months. The conversations are always the same "my name is alison, i am from west kilbride, i did my dts last January, i went to Morocco, I am part of the Youth and Evangelism team..." Sometimes I find myself avoiding these conversations, more faces, more names, more of those usual conversations. But sometimes, just on the odd occation you find that that face, that name, that conversation is with someone very precious who is a refreshment and a joy to be with. Anna is one of those people, I have been so blessed by her.

2007-04-14T05:59:00.000-07:00

12 Young People

6 Leaders

20 hours

Chaos!!!

On Thursday the 12th April at 3 pm the St Andrews youth group invaded the church for a night of fun and madness. Armed with paintbrushes, paper and power tools they set to work on various projects around the church. In an hour and a half they had completed the painting of a room, the re-organising of storage and the planning of shelving and an office/prayer room. Then 3 hungry teams re-united for some pizza and ice cream and a good old giggle.

After the dinner clear up we ventured outside for an easter egg hunt, then down to the glen for some games. Two hours later 12 hyper young people and 6 tired leaders headed back to the church for some down time followed by more games.

At 12.30 the gaming came to an end, the sleeping rooms were established, movies set running and card games started up. Long into the night the sound of games, movies and snores could be heard alongwith the quiet whispers of leaders saying the beautiful words, "It's your turn to go and sleep."

With only one person surviving the whole night awake the leaders wakened those who had drifted off and warned them all to be packed up and ready by 9.30. Breakfast began and tired but excited faces came in for their cereal. At 10 the teams united again and set to work on the clean up, by 10.45 the church was sparkling and the van was packed, just one thing left to do. Judge Cool returned to announce the winning team, "Red in the Head", of course, how could they loose with such a great leader. A great night was had by all, young people and leaders.

Me showing off my artistic skills with my team shirt!!

The Red Room

2007-03-29T10:26:00.000-07:00

Today during my base service I did an orientation with one of the staff here. Her name is Rachelle and she was staff on my DTS last year, it was a bit strange telling her what to do!! I am starting to learn that in the world of YWAM age is not an issue and everyone has something to offer. After orienting Rachelle I took to finishing the organisation mission of the "Red Room" (cleaning closet!). I have label everything, and i mean everything so that people know what to use for what and where! I have given a label to every mop, brush, dustpan, basket of cloths, hoover, shelp and box! My mops, brushes, hoovers and dustpans all have names and homes so that people know who they are and where they should be kept. It really is rather amusing. Maybe I will try to take a picture of the cupboard sometime and put it on here...

tagged

2007-03-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this is a game of blog-tag, so im supposed to write 6 peculiar things about myself, and then tag some other peeps, so here i go, 6 odd things about yours truly:

I was tagged by: Janelle Nickerson.

1 I have a cafetier but i don't like coffee!

2 I sound like an american sometime, but im not, i promise!!

3 I love when there is really heavy rain but no wind

4 I am a missionary in my own village

5 I love peanut butter in sweets like reeses peanut butter cups, or peanut butter kit kat chunkys but i hate peanut butter and i don't like peanuts!!

6 I live in a house with about 25 people!

I tagged lissa, sturla, sam, johannah, ian and sheena - now they will continue the randomness, if they enjoy that kind of crazy strangeness!

I hate technology

2007-03-15T14:25:00.000-07:00

So as some of you will know i attempted to write a newsletter last week, when i say attempted i mean struggled and battled through the world of hotmail. Firstly i wrote the newsletter and attempted to add a picture, then i tryed to send it to people and it wouldnt allow more than 50 people. As i had a little over 50 it didsnt work and when it came back my picture was gone!! So i sent it to half the people without the picture no knowing. After this problem i tryed to send it to the other half and it ran away from me, then the internet went down and then i coulnt find where my email had gone... then i gave up. All in all it was a difficult time. Hopefully those who did not get it will not bother too much and those who wished to see the picture and didnt, i will attach it here!! It is me, Janelle and Rachel.

Otherwise i am doing well, although my shoulders still hurt, for those who have been around me at all in the last few months you will know that something is wrong with my shoulders and i don't know what...but it hurts!

Bless you all, ally xxx

Im so bad at this!!

2007-03-07T14:13:00.000-08:00

So since i am not being good at remembering to update this I guess probably people don't read it anymore. However i am going to try harder now. I will give you a few little mini updates on some random things I have done/am doing...

* A couple of weeks ago I was bitten by a dog while babysitting, it was on my back. I had a nasty scar and a BIG bruise, however it is not sore anymore and i don't think i have rabbies!

* I am currently part of the Youth and Evangelism Team Internship at YWAM Seamill and am working with Blair, Rachel and Janelle. They are all super crazy and we have a lot of fun. I never realised how busy youth work is, i am working most nights and am ALWAYS tired, its mad!

* My wonderfully fantastically great friends Deborah and Ian have just announced that they are having a baby, i am so super excited. I know that is nothing to do with me really, but im happy!

Once i download pictures i will start posting them so you can see the crazy people i now live with! Ah the joys of community living, it is a challenge but i love it!

God Bless you all, ally xxx

Happy New Year

2007-01-02T09:28:00.000-08:00

I realise I have not blogged for rather a long time and just thought I would say hello and Happy New Year to those who actually read this!!

What will this year hold for you? What are your dreams?

Desperate for God

2006-12-05T06:36:00.000-08:00

Recently I have been going through what I can only describe as a dry patch in my relationship with God. I know it is completely normal to have times when you feel more distant from God and I know that it has the effect of making me cry out to God more. Somehow I don't cope well with it though, I hide away, I cry and cry and eventually He comes and comforts me again. Last night as I was sitting on my bed thinking through what goes on inside i wrote this little poem to try and understand how I felt.

How long will you leave me crying,
How long will you leave me alone,
How long can I stand the emptiness,
With my heart returning to stone.

How much do I have to shout for you,
How deep do I have to yearn,
How much can I take and hide away,
Before I begin to learn.

When will the waiting be over,
When will I feel you near,
Why must I sit through the silent times,
Waiting for something to hear.

When will I feel you hold me,
When will my heart be still,
Why don't I seem to understand,
That this is paert of your will.

I guess this is just me being honest with everyone who is reading this. It is ok to struggle and ok to feel alone and I know that my Dad will comfort me soon and show me everything he is teaching me during this time. It is all about trust and it is out of my control. Probably a good thing really!!

wedding wedding wedding!

2006-12-04T05:18:00.000-08:00

So it is now only 5 and a half days until my big sister Gill gets married to the lovely John Burns (yes im sucking up, im gonna be related to him soon!) It has been interesting to see how things have been happening so quickly, it seems only yesterday I was saying 5 and a half weeks! My house has gone into chaoes and the weird thing is Gill is never here. She and John have planned everything themselves and are doing a great job of organising, i know i never thought i'd say that about Gill!! Every conversation in my house somehow manages to come round to the wedding, every room has something related to the wedding and my mum is finding things to panic about where there are none!

I am very happy and excited for Gill and John getting married although I am a bit sad as i know i will miss having her around. It is a funny thought to think that your sister will soon be someones wife but a very joyful ocassion too. Please pray for dry weather on sunday!

Good news folks!

2006-11-03T07:21:00.000-08:00

Well I had some good news last sunday morning, I have been accepted for YETI! This is the 2 year internship program at the YWAM Seamill base. I would have liked to tell you all before now but my computer got a virus invasion and its not working now...im at the library the now!!

Anyways I will be able to update people more in person and stuff...feel free to email and ask questions if you would like... i may not reply quickly though because of the lack of internet!!

More information on YETI in a previous blog if you want to catch up!

Love you all

Weekend in Comrie!

2006-10-22T12:53:00.000-07:00

Ok so here are some pictures from the Youth Group weekend that I was at!! Unfortunatly i dont have pictures of everyone because silly me didnt take her camera so i have got some pics off of Eilz (cheers love) so that i can let u experience some of the very random weirdness of the wonderful youth group!!

I shall share with you a concern i have discovered, having a realisation that you are getting old when you are only 19!! help people i don't know whats happening! When i was on the weekend, the first night we discovered at about 3.30am that Tab, Hetty and Eilz were in no way tired and heading to bed. I was exhausted! I'm not normally the type to get tired early and send people to bed, im also normally good at surviving on frightfully small amounts of sleep. However after 2 and a half hours sleep on sat night and then swimming on sunday i finally realised im getting old! However I'm in no way happy to accept this fact so i shall be fighting it, after all im still a teenager i can sill rebel, even if it is against myself!

They don't care how much you know, they want to know how much you care.

2006-09-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

Last sat i went to a conference type thing in Glasgow ICC, it was called "Close Encounters of a Teenaged kind" and focuses on various aspects of youth work. The day was very enjoyable and helped to bring inspiration after a couple of weeks of feeling very dry. I am therefore gonna share a bit of what God was showing me on sat, things that stayed in my head that made me think.

The title of this post was a phrase that stuck with me and challenged me so much, it is true, i know it from experience on both sides. What we know is not important in youth work, young people are not looking for someone who is super smart, they need someone who cares about them. Put it this way, do you remember what the minister was saying on sunday? what about the sunday before?? Most of the time words go in one ear out the other, the thing that makes an impression on us is when people share their lives with us. We remember stories and we remember experiences, we remember what they did and how it made us feel. So why are we trying to impress people who just want to know us!!

Youth reaching out to youth, this is a fantastic idea and really i think is the best way forward. We train up young people (like me) and release them to train more young people and so the cycle goes on. The idea of giving the youth responsibility, trusting them and letting them do things their way is a really great way of working. I wanna see this happen, more young people being given responsibility and training. Let the young people have ownership of their youth groups and stuff, they know what goes through the mind of a young person and they know how to talk to them.

Statistics - 88% of young people in the UK are not involved in any church group, so yes you got it, all the small groups, youth groups, church drop in groups, kids services, everything we put so much time, effort and money into is only actually for 12% of the youth. Young people often don't want to go into a church, we can't make them so what can we do? Lets get out there, lets go to where they are. Where do you see them, when do you see them and how can you meet them there. Lots of young people hang out in the streets so lets go there, some are drinking in the train station, lets go there, don't be put off by what they are doing, just be a positive influence in whatever situation they are in. Its all about the getting to know you's. In what I have experienced too many christians are not willing to get out there and be amoungst the "bad stuff" that others are doing, but why not? No-one is saying you should join in but meet people where they are at, that is what Jesus did, he went out there and met people. I think we are too afraid of putting ourselves amoungst the "bad stuff" that may tempt us that we don't realise that the people out there are worth it!

"be covered in the dust of your Rabi" (not sure how to spell that) Anyway i was thinking if we as christians are trying to deciple people we should be living examples. We are disciples of Jesus, but how close are we, are we being covered by the dust his feet kick up?? It is such a challenge to know that we are judged on all that we do, young people in particular watch everything you do and observe you. Are we prepared to give everything to deciple these young people, we will be asked to be open, honest, vunerable, humble, and ultimatly real. The best way to teach it is to live it infront of people!

God Bless all you guys who are reading this and may you be challenged as I was to see people differently. The things I have learnt have encouraged me to pull closer to Christ and seek his heart for others. If you want the light to shine you have to plug it in!

...If God loves them, why don't we...

2006-09-17T15:50:00.000-07:00

Mr Smith was a smartly dressed successfull buisness man, he was married to a beautiful lady with long brunette curls and a wide and welcoming smile. They had two children, Jonny, aged 17 and Sarah, aged 11. They had been attending the church since moving to the area 6 years ago and were all well known and respected. Jonny was a very polite young man, always well dressed and very popular with the other young people in the church. A talented guitar player he had recently started leading worship at the church youth group. He enjoyed being with his friends at church and being surrounded by people who respected him. Out of church his enjoyment in being respected was also apparent, young boys and girls came from miles away on friday nights between 9 and 11 to stock up and spend some time high flying. One friday night a local kid accidently finds himslef walking though Jonnys hideout, Jonny, afraid of being dobbed approaches the kid to "have a chat". By the time Jonny leaves the kid is underfoot being trampoled by the crowd of followers, now re-stocked and ready to go and sell. The kid, Dave, wakes up in the morning, cut and battered, unaware of what had happened, just as Jonny had planned. On sunday morning, Jonny puts on his shirt and tie and grabs his guitar ready for the morning service. Dave having spent the night on the street after being locked out by his mum who is convinced he has "got himself in trouble" hoping to find some heat and comfort wanders into the church. Jonnys heart skips a beat as his eyes fall on a scruffy, dirty, bruised looking boy, but he keeps his cool, after all he is an expert in the art of deceit. As the curious eyes of the congregation scan the company each persons mind determines a story behind the state that Dave has "got himself into". "He must be one of those drunk kids, got himself into a fight, thinks he's so clever" comes the sounds of the not quite discrete assumptions. Another still with a different story, "I'm sure my boy told me about that sort, out selling drugs from as young as wee Sarah Smith's age", "What does he think he's doing in here" says another, "does the boy not own a clean shirt".

The story is harsh and cruel and unfair, but the thing that worries me is, we are all so used to expecting the worst that we don't let people create their own identity. Appearances can be deceiving and situations can be unfair. The way we treat Dave in the story should not differ to the way we treat Jonny. Dave shouldnt be judged for his appearance and situation and similarly Jonny shouldnt be judged for his. When God looks at them, he sees two broken hearts and his only response is to heal them. So why is it we can convince ourselves that some people are beyond hope yet declare that our God is all powerful and all loving. Don't allow yourself to put a label on anyone, no-one is beyond help. I think we have to take great care in not only giving up on others but giving up on ourselves, we cant assume that God cant help us just because we are short tempered or keep failing in school or cant manage to quit smoking. God will take you where you are at, you only need to be willing to let him.

Being back at the Ark volunteering and working to serve young people from all backgrounds God has challenged me in how I act. Challenged me to see them with his eyes and love them through the behaviour, language and abuse they may give. I am praying that God will put these young people on my heart and let me see them for real. I want to be a servant to them and serve willingly, I want to see it as an oppertunity to be humble and loving to them, whether or not they throw it back in my face. I am praying for the strength to do this because i know I can't do it without God.

Everything is so uncertain!

2006-09-14T14:45:00.000-07:00

Ok so its been ages since i updated but i feel like i dont have much to update! Nothing in my life is certain at the moment, everything changes from week to week and i almost never know where i am or where i will be at any given time!!! Ahhh well im still a teenager i guess its fairly normal! Anyways i will give you slight updates!

* I have handed in my application to YETI so it will hopefully be being processed soon!

* My friends Brenna, Jenny and Johannah have moved into a house near me which is very exciting for me because i can walk there faster!! However it probably means i will be margonally less fit because i won't walk to Seamill as much.

* My best friend Lauren is moving to St Andrews on Sat for Uni, smart little cookie that she is! However I will miss her very much and again won't be walking to Seamill as much.

* My cell group finally met last night, was great to see everyone and we literally did talk for 3 and a half hours about absolutely nothing, but it was a good social. Don't worry we do actually do cell, we were just having a catch up night because of not seeing each other for ages!

* I am eventually returning to the Ark Volunteer team tomorrow night, I am so very excited about this because I miss the team, i miss getting to know the arkers and I miss the atmosphere. For those who don't know what The Ark is, it is a dry bar night club in Ayr, set up by churches in ayr for the youth of ayr. If you want to know more, see pictures or chat to the arkers on the discussion forum go to www.ayrark.co.uk

Anyways, so thats what I have been doing, very uninteresting! I will try to blog something more interesting soon but its late and im feeling very uninspired, sorry!!

random stuff

2006-08-19T09:15:00.000-07:00

Well I realised that it has been rather a long time since I last posted anything really however I don't have huge amount happening to post about!!

Flower Show

Today I helped Steward at the local flower show, i went round with the judge and showed her what to look at and she picked which ones were best and i stuck 1st 2nd and 3rd stickers on them!! Doesn't get much more exciting that this folks!! Well it is a small village!

Brenna

For those who have been reading all the blogs you may be wondering what is happening with Brenna, God has been very faithful and money came in for her flight which she will be on as I type! Thankyou to those who supported either financially or in prayer.

Jobs

I am currently looking for a job for the next 5 months or so. If anyone knows of anywhere looking for unskilled workers preferable full-time and nearby I would love if you could let me know.

Skype

I have a skype headset now, thanks to adam buying me one for my birthday (dont worry my birthday was May but Adam and I always get each others presents late!!) If you have skype you can add me my name is icklekerr.

OSC

My work at Out of School Car has finnished now as all the delightfull little children are back at school with lots of fun homework to keep them busy, its a shame really! However I am getting a few shifts looking after the Primary ones in the afternoon until they go into school for the full day.

I did warn you that I didnt have much to tell!!

Pot Luck Supper

2006-08-09T11:19:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone, this is an invitation to a Pot-Luck Supper on Sunday night, thats the 13th, at 7pm in St Andrews church hall. I will be showing some pictures and probably telling a few stories from DTS. The majority of the night will be fellowship and food, thats where you guys come in! If you are coming along please bring some food you like, the idea is everyone brings something and it all goes on the table and everyone eats it!! It can be anything at all that you bring, sweet or savory. It would help me if some people tell me what they are bringing so i can try to avoid everyone bringing the same thing!!!

Hope to see you there, bring mums, dads, children, grans, friends, anyone you think might enjoy it. Love ally xxx

Help Brenna Get Home To SCOTLAND!

2006-08-06T11:07:00.001-07:00

Okay, my friend Brenna is a YWAMer here in Scotland but she's stuck at home in the states waiting for funds to buy her flight back. Help her get back here!! You can check out her website at www.brennastewart.org or just

It's for a good cause! Brenna was one of my leaders on outreach and she is such a blessing o me. Without the support of Brenna i would never have got through the last 6 months, she was so supportive towards me. She is passionate about Scoland and Scots, she has an amazing gift of understanding this culture and it is such a blessing to have her working for God in Scotland, please help bring her home. Thanks!

Paypal Donations

2006-08-06T05:55:00.001-07:00

I have now signed up with paypal, this is an online bank type thing. If you would like to donate money through this please click the link below.

About YETI

2006-07-31T09:01:00.000-07:00

Ok so i realise that i have not really described YETI very well so i shall tell you a bit more about it and why i would like to do it.

YETI stands for Youth and Evangelism Team Internship, the internship is a 2 year program with Youth With A Mission. All the internships involve some time together as an internship with training, development and teaching, some time serving the base, cleaning, cooking etc and some time focused on the youth and evangelism. So as for the Youth and evangelism part, the team focuses on reaching out to young people in this area. Some of the projects are street evangelism, going to glasgow train station to meet people, running the Scripture Union classes at schools (Ardrossan and Largs academy) and there is also the oppertunity to start things and try new ideas. Hopefully the young people we are in contact with will suggest things they would like to see happen and we may be able to accomodate some of what they see the need for.

My heart for this is to meet young people and help them to live out their full potential. I want to encourage them to seek more to life than drugs and alcohol. My main focus would be working with SU classes in schools and building relationships with the christian young people. My aim is to really encourage them and help them to be confident in who they are and in their relationship with God so that they will be able to show people that Christ lives in them. The hardest thing for teenage christians at school is not compromising their beliefs for their friends and not compromising friends for their beliefs. I want christians at school to be encouraged in their faith and in their friendships with non-christians. Through teenage years the people who influence you most are your friends, trust me i am a teenager!! So why is it that we are not supporting the christian teens that are trying to work out how to be a witness to their friends without seeming like a looser??!!??!! Well i always struggled with that at school and now i want to help those who are in the same situation, i want to see them Grow in relationship with God and in Confidence to Lead. I want to be a friend to them that they can come to when they struggle and when things are going great... basically i want to be available.

So yeah YETI is definatly a good oppertunity for all my excitement and passion to be put into because i can get lots of support and training as i learn how to do things effectively but also i dont have to spend ages learning about it before i do it. It is ideal, i get trained on the job so to speak. The drawback of course is the money situation, in order to do this i need people who believe in me and my vision for this place to support me monthly. It is a lot to ask i realise but it is something i believe would be worthwhile. The difficulty, i have found is that a lot of people believe that missionaries go to Africa, which i agree some do but i also think God wants people to serve him in Scotland and i want to be obedient to that call but i can't without people to support me financially and in prayer. Pleas think and pray about whether God would have you support me, if you would like to support or hear more about my dream please email me at ally_k_@hotmail.com

Where to go? What to do?

2006-07-20T11:38:00.000-07:00

At this stage in my life i have reached a point of decision, where to go next! I would ask that you pray for me as i consider my options and prayerfully choose which step to take. At the moment i have a few options, some of which i am leaning more towards than others but i am considering all regardless. My options are:-

*University - i have a place at Paisley University Ayr Campus on the Primary Education course.
*YETI - Applying to join the team in Seamill for a 2 year internship course.
*Working - Getting a pert time job and working with YETI as an outsider!!!

I know which option i would choose if i didnt have to take into consideration money and support of friends and family, however i am obviously not wanting to upset anyone so it is a little more complicated. Please pray for me as i talk with my parents about this, and pray for understanding on both parts. Thankyou, I believe your prayers are powerfull and i greatly appreciate them.

Catch up

2006-07-12T09:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, so instead of filling the whole blog with what i have been doing the last 6 months I have put a link to a catch-up letter. This letter will tell you a bit about each of the places i went to on DTS and has some pictures along the way.

http://members.aol.com/adamkelso1987/ally/index.html

Heart for Scotland

2006-07-06T14:18:00.000-07:00

Well while i was on DTS God really increased my heart for Scotland. I knew God had asked me to do DTS in Scotland because i knew there was more i wanted to learn about here and about the people here and he was well and truely ready to show me more. Of course my way of being shown more and Gods way is so very different and that took me by surprise a little. God showed me a lot of the brokeness in Scotland through different things in me which though small have had a huge grip on my life. Also another way in which i have learnt more about Scotland was through the perceptions of my fellow students.

While in Morocco i was chatting to a guy named Mohammed (one of the many) who had befriended the guys on our team and been introduced to the girls therefore we were allowed to talk!! One thing that this guy said which was his moto in life was " i know who i am and i know with whom i am speaking". This moto stuck with me for a long time as did many other things he told us (me and Brenna), he was confident in life because he knew himself well and he knew where he was in life. This got me asking questions about how well we know ourselves and how confident we are in who God has made us to be.

Back in Scotland God is continuing to break my heart for the people of Scotland who don't know who they are or where they fit, constantly looking for somewhere to belong. Young people who deeply desire to be accepted for who they are yet have no idea how to be themselves because they are so scared of being rejected. People who isolate themselves because it is far easier than being isolted. My heart cries out to these people, Scottish people, because I know and understand a wee bit of what it is like.

Bear with me im learning!!

2006-07-04T03:23:00.000-07:00

Ok so my friend Brenna set up this blog for me because she is wonderfull so now im going to learn how to use it.....i hope!
Hopefully i will be able to keep people updated on things that have happened over the last 6 months as i process it all and what my next steps are too. Also as well as writing i think i can put up some pictures, that may take me a while to figure out mind, so you should be able to see places i've been and people i've met!

My Friend Ally

2006-07-03T15:19:00.000-07:00

So here goes, I'm obviously not Ally Kerr, but I love her dearly and want the world to know and love her as well!! So I'm posting the first blog! Ally truly is a wild muse... so pay attention and see a bit of her world. PS- She's a cute Scot who makes awesome shortbread! That's Ally on the left in the green... we took this in Morocco!