Prayer List

The volunteers who did surveys on the docks compiled a list of prayer requests.  Please include these in your prayers.

Gail:  for good health
Sabina:  for happiness
Gerda:  for health
Frederika: to be able to go back to my home country in the Phillipines
Eleanor: for my son to be well
Tina:  for health
Bemi: for financial security
Unnamed wonan: for a painless death; she has lived with pain for years
A granddaughter named Louise: for peace and health; she has leukemia
Anne: for health and her family in Ireland
Todd: questioning why life exists
Raymond: for peace
Sandra: for an end to conflict
Toyin: for answers to her many questions
Natasha: for wisdom
Rashida: for answers about healthcare as she relocates to USA
Simon: to protect his family
Rhudy: for safety in the Olympics
Anne: for happiness
Darrel: questioning the meaning of life
Tia: for peace
Sarah: her husband has terminal cancer; pray for him and for their son
Maninder: wanting to visit close family
Mumtaz: lost her mother at a young age; pray for her heart to be healed
Rex: for a more hopeful future
Peter: wants to know if God is real; asks why God does not take care of his children
Dhirj: wants a closer connection to his family
Kehnile: for a good job
Dennis: for good health for his family
Gill: struggling after the death of her husband; wants to know what purpose her life holds now
James: for suffering to end
Liezal: is a Christian; pray for her friends to have a happy life
Becky: for guidance and good health
Rebecca and Alero: do not believe in God but are unsure about what happens after death
Claudia (a Mormon): to be more obedient
Bernie: for an answer to her question about which religion is the right one
Josie: for peace in the world
Joseph: questioning why good people suffer
Youstra: for her search for the truth
Benjamin: to serve God

In addition, please pray:
For the many people who shared their questions and wishes
For those who found the question offensive
For those who were so pleased to have the opportunity to share
For those who took literature

Good food and goodbyes



Dave (pastor and chef)

Today was bittersweet for the Royal Docks team.  We made our last journey to the west end of London to spend the afternoon with our new friends at Britannia Village.  We gathered at Dave and Sally’s home and then walked down to the green, carrying folding chairs, food, drinks, and a ball and bat.  Soon the air was filled with the smell of a charcoal fire, and the crowd began to gather.

Children and adults joined in a game of rounders, which is similar to baseball.  Others sat in the shade and talked.  We met two new friends: Hector, who is from Colombia, and Freddy, who is from Honduras.  They work on a cruise ship that is being used for housing for people working at the Olympic venues.

Alan Jarrett with Hector (left) and Freddy (right).

Evening worship was at 6:30, and most of the people who attended the barbeque stayed for the service.  A few of us helped with a children’s activity while the adults had a Bible study time.  The childen were sad we were leaving and asked us to come back. As they hugged us goodby, some also stated their intentions of visiting us in the U.S. 

At the end of the service it was time to say goodbye to the adults as well, and we exchanged promises to pray for each other. 

Tomorrow we go our separate ways with lots of great memories and a lengthy prayer list.  Perhaps some of us will return to Royal Docks.  We will certainly keep track of what is happening with Dave and Sally and their ministry.  And we will never forget the time we spent with them.

Last Day of Ministry

Today we head out to our ministry sites for the last time.  The Royal Docks team will join Dave and Sally in preparing for a cookout on the village green.  All week we have been extending invitations to local people, so we are hoping for a large turnout.  Twinkles will be there with face paint and balloons, and word always spreads quickly when she shows up. 

The evening service is at 6:30, and we are looking forward to worshipping with our new friends at Royal Docks once again.

Children playing on the green at Britannia Village

On TV in London!

Three of the London Bridge team, Cherry (better known as "Happy Hearts"), Vicki, and Melinda, caught the eye of a television crew in London. With Happy Hearts attracting attention, it is easy to see why they were noticed!  A morning talk show called "This Morning" has been following side activities with the Olympics. Their comments filmed earlier in the week were featured on the Friday show.

To view the show click here. The segment is about 20 minutes into the show.

Maureen's Story

People who sign up for mission trips expect to serve and minister.  They hope their service will be an inspiration and a blessing to others.  But inevitably, the greatest blessings flow back to those who came to serve.  People touch our lives and humble us with their stories.  Maureen is one of those people.

Maureen worships at Royal Docks Community Church and works with the under-5 children in the community center.  On Wednesday she cooked dinner for the 12 volunteers who are assigned there.  While we enjoyed afters (desserts), she gave her testimony.

Maureen and her pastor, David Mann

As a young woman with three small children, Maureen found herself in a violent and abusive marriage.  When she went to her parents for help, they turned her away, telling her “You made your bed and you lie in it”.  Her second relationship began with promise and soon twin boys were born, but it was not long before she faced domestic violence again.

Depression took over Maureen’s life.  She stopped taking care of herself and rarely went out.  She even felt that she had nothing to live for and that even her children would be better off without her.

On her own with five children, Maureen was seeking help, and gradually she found her way to God.  She attended Friday Breakfast group with a friend and started staying behind to pray and ask others to pray for her.  She started going to church on Sunday, and even though her family didn’t encourage her, they could begin to see the changes in her life.  Maureen says “My new faith wasn’t instant.  It grew.” 

More and more Maureen looked forward to attending church, praying, and studying the Bible.  An important milestone in her walk of faith was a church mission trip to Romania.  She says “The disabled children and their families broke my heart.  I know what desperation feels like. I cried when we had to go home. I was baptized there to show others that God was now in my life.”

One of Maureen’s greatest treasures is a gold locket containing a picture of her children.  They don’t attend church with her, but her grandchildren are coming and learning about Jesus. 

Pray for Maureen as she continues to grow in her faith and pray for her family that they will also come to know Christ.

Opportunities in Media

Six of the London Bridge team have rotated working in the MTG Media/Communication Centre. The team’s job is to assist the official media team by answering the telephone and taking messages or directing calls to the appropriate staff, making contact calls as needed, compiling or researching lists, assisting with photos, writing articles, and any other task assigned.

The opportunity to get acquainted with the staff and spend more than a few minutes with them is the highlight of this assignment.

New Friends from Prayerwalking

David Hews (pictured on the far right), the MTG Director of Volunteers, invited anyone who was available to join a prayer walk on Tuesday evening. The group met in Westminster at Methodist Central Hall and prayed at several points including: Parliament, 10 Downing Street, near Horse Guards Parade (an Olympic venue), and Buckingham Palace. The people in the group were from Jamaica, Poland, UK, and the Caribbean. The most meaningful event on the prayer walk was sharing Communion in front of Buckingham Palace.  As an added bonus, Kerri Walsh who had just qualified of the beach volleyball finals ran across the street to greet fans waiting in the restaurant beside the group.

Just What We Needed

Days on a mission trip are like days everywhere else.  Some days you feel you are doing exactly what God meant you to do, and other days you get a bit discouraged.  Some of the team working on the docks felt the struggle on Tuesday.  They were in an area with plenty of traffic, but most people were rushing to an event at Excel and weren’t interested in stopping to view the Gift Box or answer survey questions. 

At the end of the day the team convened for a meeting on the back porch of High Leigh for prayer and strategy for the following day.  The meeting had barely gotten started when a More Than Gold representative approached the team to tell us that a large donation of Olympic pins had arrived - 20,000 of them, in fact!  At his invitation we filled our backpacks and thanked God that he had given us another set of tools for the following day.

Pin trading, or badge trading as the Brits say, is a huge pastime at the Olympic Games, and even those who don’t collect and trade pins love to get them for free.  On Wednesday, Twinkles the clown joined the docks team to do face art, and the other members gave away pins right and left.  The result was that both the survey and the Gift Box were hugely successful.

The donation of pins that gave our ministry a fresh start should have arrived days ago and would have been long gone when we needed them.  Another example of God’s divine intervention!