Time Flies

Hey lovely people!

I can't believe it's been just about five months since I've been out here in Texas. So much has happened in that time and it feels like its absolutely whizzed by. 

Schools| The work we have been doing in the schools has been wonderful and has been particularly good over the past couple of months. I've really enjoyed getting to know the kids in our two schools and they are so friendly and welcoming. It is not always all smiles as both the schools we work in are in low socioeconomic areas which comes with its own challenges. What's been really great is watching some of the kids share their faith in such an unashamed way. We went to the school talent show a couple of weeks back and these two girls sang the song 'How He loves us'. It was so beautiful and all the students cheered them on with some singing along - it felt like church at school #priceless

Black Friday| I experienced my first Thanksgiving this year much to the surprise of many of the students we work with! They could quite get their heads around the fact that it's only an American holiday - I don't think they quite know the history of Thanksgiving haha. 
It was a good time with good food - not exactly the traditional Thanksgiving I had in mind but I guess I'll just have to come back next year for that. 
Black Friday was crazy!! The sales basically started at the beginning of the week and got crazier towards the end. Some people camped outside stores two weeks in advance #really-_- #notaboutthatlife 
After Thanksgiving dinner (Thursday) we went to see what the sales where like. Before going I had the stereotypical image of people wheeling around big TVs and after going I can confirm it is the TRUTH!! It was so much fun - I wanted to take lots of pictures but I didn't want to upset anyone because this is Texas and people carry guns...
I went to Macy's and they had a live band playing!! Honestly it was such a fun experience. The shopping mall closest to me (where the Macy's is) didn't close all night - it was open from 6pm on Thursday to 10pm on Friday!

Christmas and New Year| I'm definitely going to miss not be with my family at Christmas this year but I'm looking forward spending time in New Jersey and Toronto over the next two weeks. I also get to explore NYC which has been on my wish list for some time!!

Food| I didn't write about any food last time so I'm back with the best thing I've eaten this month. Now I'm not a big fan of sweet deserts but this is one of the best I've had - Crispy Strawberry and Banana Cheesecake from IHOP.

Thank you| I would like to say a special thank you to all my friends for your constant support while I've been out here and for checking up on how I'm doing. It really does mean a lot so thank you very much. 

Prayer| It's been a good time of learning more about God's character and my own so far and I want to keep learning and make the most of the time I have left with the kids this year. So please pray that the new year will bring a renewed passion and commitment to continue what I'm doing here and that I will be a good steward of my time. Thanks a bunch :) 

Merry Christmas and Joyful New Year!

Lots of love
God Bless 
Tess

Busy times But Good times

Hey People, 

Sorry it's been so long!! Life has been very busy ;)

Much has happened since I last updated y'all so I'll do my best to give you all the highlights. 

Wedding| No not mine :) I went to Canada to attend my cousins wedding and the best part was...I got to see my parents too :-D
It was really nice trip - I didn't really get to see much of Canada as I was only there for about three days but the country seemed nice. They have Queen Elizabeth on their paper money and have similar looking coins. 

Me, Mummy and Daddy at the wedding :)

And the hotel were showing that week's Arsenal match so I got to watch it before leaving for the wedding #perfectsaturday 

Dallas Mavs| Basketball is big out here and the Dallas Mavericks are the big team in the area. Well a few week ago we got free tickets to see them play. It was SO fun!! Our seats were kinda far back but the atmosphere was amazing and it was very interesting to watch all the entertainment that happens when the game has stopped (aka commercial breaks). Basketball is definitely my new favourite sport. I even know the players names now :-) 

I also had a little accident on the way to the game on the train and hit my head (quite hard on the overhead coat rack #donotask). We were teaching at school the next day and the teacher took me to see the school nurse who gave me some ice to put on it and told me I had concussion. But I'm all good now :-)

Me with the icepack on my head at school.

Pep Rally and Homecoming Game| I've been learning and see many new things since being out here and this is one of my favourite things. I love the school we work at (Eastern Hills #keeptheminyourprayers) and we went to there Pep Rally and Homecoming game last month. What's a Pep Rally I hear you say?....Well it's a school event that is before a game - in this case a football game. The purpose of it is to support the football team and get everyone in the school spirit before the game. There were performances from the cheerleaders, games and the school band played some songs. To make it even better it was the Homecoming pep rally game. Don't worry I didn't know what homecoming was either! - it's a traditional where the school's alumni are invited to the game - it's a way of welcoming the alumni. So we went support some of our students in the game that night too. 

Fresh| So each year Pais take the apprentices on a retreat and this year we went to a small town called Glen Rose. It's a completely different look and feel to Texas and so so relaxing. It was 4 days of bible study, musical worship, prayer, laughter and relaxation. My favourite thing was watching the sunset. It was so beautiful! We also had a chance to play some football (soccer) and of course my team won...hehe. 

Road Trip| We took a road trip to San Antonio. It took about 6 hours to drive to San Antonio and we stayed at a lovely house with my team mates former hosts. San Antonio has a lot of Mexican influence and history. We went around and saw many of the historical sights and had a tour of the Alamo which is where the Battle of Alamo took place. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the building :( 
We also went to an old Cathedral which was so beautiful inside. 

On our way back home we stopped off in Austin, the state capital. Austin is a really cool city. It's busy and fast paced with lots of places to eat and numerous cool coffee shops. Austin also has a car rental system with the smallest cars I have ever seen. They are called To Go cars and they are even smaller that the average smart car!

The Circus| A lovely couple from the church bought us tickets to see the circus last weekend. I didn't really want to go and didn't know what to expect. But when I got there - it was amazing!! Tigers, elephants, candy floss (aka cotton candy aka my weakness), flying people, horses, motorcyclists in a cage and so much more. I had a lot of fun and am very glad I went :) 

Weather| Whoever said it never rains in Texas.....well they lied! It does. And it rains nonstop for over 36 hours at a time sometimes. I'll leave it there. 

Thanksgiving| It's Thanksgiving next week!! I am so looking forward to all the new food I am going to try for the first time. I'll be sure to contain the excitement for long enough to take pictures for you all. 
On that note: I have so much to be thankful for. I am thankful for everyone reading this - for all the love, support and encourage you gave me before and since coming out here. I love you all very much!

Well I won't leave it so long before writing again. Have a blessed week ahead people. 

Much love. 
Tess

Deep in the heart of Texas

Howdy Partners!

FOOD| I can't contain my excitement on this one guys - just writing about it is making me hungry. This week I finally tried Chicken and Waffles. Beautiful. Absolutely delicious and BY FAR my favourite dish since arriving. It was well worth the wait! Four perfectly made, light and tasty waffles, served with three pieces of crispy, tender chicken, maple syrup and peppered gravy. Mmmmmmm. 
And don't worry guys - I'm still staying healthy ;-) I'll only have it once a month!

TEXAS STATE FAIR| Once a year the state of Texas have a big state fair in Dallas and we went along to check it out this week. It was truly a different taste of Texas - it was really fun and we got to see an experience new things.

Okay so imagine some of your favourite deserts...........and now imagine them deep fried!! That's the Texas State Fair. They have everything from deep fried milk and cookies to deep fried butter (yep I said butter). 

I tried deep fried ice cream and it was nice and also very sweet so I didn't eat much of it.

The other thing you'll find at the Texas State Fair is giant sized everything. Giant corn dogs, a giant plate of curly fries and giant onion rings are but a few of the wonders I saw.

PUMPKIN CARVING| I carved a pumpkin last week!
Clearing out the pumpkin was the worst part as it couldn't have smelled worse! Btu again well worth it as I'm rather proud of my first attempt. :)

DALLAS| I took my first proper trip into Dallas with a few friends this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed experiencing the busy city life once again. 
First stop was the Dallas Museum of Art. Then we walked around for some time (never get to do this usually - always in a car) and I tried Italian Ice which is similar to sorbet but not as smooth. The best part of the trip was trying chicken and waffles (which I've already told you about). 

SCHOOL| We aren't allowed to talk about God openly/directly in our lessons but this week we pushed the boundaries as we spoke to the kids about where their identity comes from and whether it should or shouldn't be wrapped up in the things they do. God has really blessed all the work we do with the schools and we are seeing the students asking questions and wanting to know more about God and how to understand the bible. 

PRAYER| A student from church has been suffering with concussion and if she isn't able to get to the route of the problem she will not be able to play soccer at school anymore and will loose her scholarship to university. She is extremely worried and said she has been working towards this since she was five years old and will be completely lost if she isn't able to continue. Please pray for healing for her and that God will show her that she is more than just a soccer player.

Thanks for your time folks!
God Bless and have a fruitful week!

Let There Be Light!

Hey People!

Stormy Weathers| When it first started we just thought it was a bit of heavy rain and were quite unmoved by it so carried on with what we were doing. But then the lights started to flicker and all power went. At the time we were at church and within a couple of minutes they were rushing us to a safer building because the church's roof is made out of tin and they thought it may collapse!! 

By the time we got to the other building the storm had gotten pretty serious. Things were flying everywhere - we were getting reports of the 80 mph winds pushing cars off the road and big oak trees falling down. 

After about 30 minutes it had passed and we were left to explore the damages. Indeed many trees had fallen down - there were branches and trash cans all over the road (it was also trash day) - the roof of a school had been partially ripped off too. The traffic lights weren't working because the whole area had temporarily lost power. The skies started to clear almost immediately and a few hours later the sun was shining again and it was all back to normal. 

Well not everything was back to normal.......52.5 hours!!! - That's how long we lived without electricity in the house for!

The novelty wore off after a few hours and it wasn't fun at all. However it did create a nice mood for some reflective thinking and a taste of what life before electricity was like. And there was no major damage to the house so thank God!

Blood moon| I got to see a total lunar eclipse this week guys. It was really cool and I had to wake up at 5.15am to go outside and see it but it was way worth it! A lunar eclipse occurs when the Sun, Earth and Moon are exactly aligned with the the Earth in the middle. The Earth's shadow falls on the moon and it's called a blood moon because the moon appears red.

Concert| I went to my first concert here in the US on Saturday. It was a Lecrae and Andy Mineo! I went with a few others and it was a great venue too!

Funtimes| My new favourite game is Mancala! My mum has it at home but I didn't know how to play it. But I will be a worthy opponent by the time I get back! :-)

Prayer| Some of the kids at church have inconsistent attendance because their parents are divorced and they live between two homes - so please pray that we will still be able to have an impact on them and they will still feel like they belong to the group even if they aren't there often. 

That's all folks! Stay safe and God bless :)

Working 9 to 5

Hey Friends!

This has been a very, very busy week with not much sleep but it has been a good week!

Food| So there is a famous Texan chain of restaurants called Babe's Chicken and they specialise in Fried Chicken. We went out to eat for my host mum's birthday and this is the amount of chicken they gave us for four people!! There were about 20 pieces!! It was just too much to look at! And they serve it with creamed corn, biscuits (not at all the same as English biscuits!), salad, mashed potato, cream gravy (white not brown) and green beans. And of course all the sides are endless - just ask for more and it appears! 

In other food news I've become an expert at grilled sandwiches and my favourite is salami and Monterey Jack cheese. 

Okay so donuts are a popular breakfast option out here and we decided to get some this week. The donuts are very good and soft but unfortunately WAY too sweet for me so I just stick to the plain glazed ones :-)

New School| We went into a new school this week called Polytechnic High School. The school is ranked one of the worst in the Dallas Fort Worth area so we were not sure what to expect going in there. As we walked up to the building we started to like it more and more. It was an old but very well kept school building. It was beautiful. We went in  and helped out with the English classes for a couple of hours and will definitely be going regularly. 

Youth Group| 'See you at the Pole' is an annual gathering of students at a local flagpole for a time of prayer, bible reading and worship. Lots of the kids at church took part in their schools and so in keeping with the theme we held a prayer event on wednesday night. We set 5 different stations with different prayer stations. 
At my station they had a chance to prayer for at least one male and one female in their lives. 

The annual youth conference at our church was this weekend. The focus of the conference was equipping the youth in sharing their faith with family, friends and others in the community. The conference was over the weekend and so we all spent Friday at the church. 

On the Friday night we set up a camp fire in the little woods area outside the church and had Frito pie. What's on earth is Frito pie I hear you say? Well at least that's what I said! It's chilli served on a bed of Frito crisps topped with cheese and sour cream (sour cream is optional). It was really nice and if you leave it for a couple of minutes - I even had seconds! After that we played a couple of games out there and then went in for some down time and well earned sleep!

Prayer| If you pray please pray for good health for my whole team - the long days and AC affect (HOT outside and COLD inside) can make us feel under the weather. 

Right that's it for this week folks! Have a great week!