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!

Just Clowning Around

Having a clown along on a mission trip is always a blessing, so the WMU team in London is doubly blessed!  Happy Hearts and Twinkles (aka Cherry Peach and Suzy Wall) are part of the clown ministry at Frio Baptist Church in Hereford, TX. 

Twinkles and Happy Hearts outside High Leigh Conference Center

Suzy got serious about clowning on a mission trip to Honduras in early 2000.  The purpose of the trip was to rebuild churches and clinics after a hurricane, but Suzy has a heart for ministering to children and knew that without Spanish she would be limited in what she could do.  She found a library book on balloon art and taught herself to make a dog, a sword, and a fish.  She associated a Bible story with each of those, and someone would tell the story in Spanish as she made the balloon figure.  By the time she returned home she knew that clowning was how she would serve God.

Cherry has also been clowning around for a number of years, and the two served in the same association where they often entertained at VBS and GA camps.  When her husband was called as the pastor of Frio, Cherry joined the ministry there.  Together, they have served God at the Olympic Games in Athens, Beijing, and Vancouver.

From Twinkles and Happy Hearts, we have learned that a bright costume, crazy wig, and face paint can open many doors.  It enables them to speak boldly without offending, to open conversations with the most unlikely people, and to share God’s love in a way that makes us all smile.

Monday – Royal Docks Team

Today the RD team split into 2 groups.  One group volunteered with the children attending Summer Scheme at the Community Center.  Sixty children kept the activity level high!  Near the entrance a group of boys tested their skills on a video game.  Close by was the crafts table where children were invited to design their own flags.  There were board games in the hallway and action games in the gym, as well as sports on the green.  Our job was to spend time with the children doing whatever activities they chose.   Most of us are grandparents, so we just did what came naturally. Each of the 6 volunteers was rewarded with smiles, hugs, and sometimes a precious piece of art created by a child.

The other group worked along the route traveled by visitors to the games at ExCel.  “The Gift Box” is a freestanding open box that displays promises on the outside (such as might entice vulnerable young people to leave their homes and families), but when visitors step inside they are presented with stories of human trafficking.  This traveling display is one of several created by Stop The Traffik, and used to raise awareness of the human exploitation problem around the world.

Another activity in this area was a quick survey.  Volunteers asked passersby two things:  “What question would you want to ask God?” and “What wish would you make to God?”  From these questions and the responses they elicited, the volunteers were often able to open conversations about God and these conversations sometimes led to prayer.  If the visitor was willing, the volunteer wrote down the first name and prayer request and we will be sharing these with you.

Tuesday is a free day for the RD team, so we will do a little sightseeing and try to soak up some Olympic atmosphere!  Then on Wednesday we will be back at the Royal Docks area to continue our ministries.

Sunday Around London

WMU Group Outside High Leigh



BV Community Center

The Royal Docks team had a wonderful time Sunday with our host ministers at Royal Docks Community Church and their congregation.  Dave and Sally Mann greeted us in their home with a traditional cream tea, and as we enjoyed tea and scones, Sally filled us in on the background of the church.  She and Dave left a thriving church to minister in the area known as Britannia Village.  Dave became director of the community center, and gradually they began to reach out to an population that was almost completely unchurched.

ExCel Center

We took a brief walk around the area, stopping for a view of the ExCel venue where table tennis, boxing, fencing, judo, tae kwon do (and other events) take place.  Then we went on to the community center which is used by the Royal Docks congregation as well as another church or two.  We were warmly welcomed and got to know some of the members, especially the wonderful children.


Worshiping at Royal Docks

Tomorrow we will return to Royal Docks where half of us will work with the Summer Scheme, a children’s program that Dave runs in the community center.  Others will assist the youth with a juice bar they are running near the ExCel venue.  This is a program that the church has started to help some of the kids from impoverished families earn a little money.  We will also be assisting with the “Gift Box” display, which informs about human trafficking.

Stay tuned for more updates from both of our ministry teams.

Prayer Requests: Pray for divine appointments. Pray for guidance as we make decisions about how and where to serve. Pray for the ability to speak the truth in love.

Ready To Shine On London

The weather's been quite lovely, and it's common to talk about the weather here. We've had an occasional shower, but it's been pleasant and mostly sunny overall.

While in training today, Ish (the Methodist liaison for More Than Gold) told us that when the churches here in the UK were preparing through prayer before the cross-country Torch Run, their prayer came from Isaiah 60. "Arise and Shine" became the heart of these churches, not knowing that the theme of the theme of the Torch Run would be "Moment to Shine." This has brought great motivation and encouragement to all those (including us) who are shining their lights here.

Tomorrow is our first day out in the city to do ministry, and our group has been split up into 2 smaller teams: the Royal Docks team and the Westminster team. The RD crew will attend a training time in the afternoon tomorrow and will then join in the Royal Docks evening worship service. Royal Docks is a Baptist church plant near the docks. Throughout the week, the RD team will assist the outreach efforts of the church.

The Westminster team will spend some time close to Westminster Abbey and surrounding areas, ministering to and having conversations with people. Half of the W team will also participate in some training tomorrow for the More Than Gold Communications Center, with the primary purpose of fielding phone calls and directing the media and other outlets to the right people for answers to their questions.

Prayer Requests

We spent a substantial amount of our time today in prayer.  Here are specific areas we prayed about, and we ask you to add your prayers to ours.

Churches:  Pray that we will be a blessing and encouragement to the local churches, and that these churches will see fruit from our joint labors as souls come to know Christ.

Protection:   Pray that any evil plans for violence or other disruptions will be exposed and halted.  Pray that these coming days will be peaceful, not only for the sake of all the people here in the city, but also for the sake of the gospel.

Divine Appointments:  Pray that God will provide opportunities for conversation with those needing an introduction to the Kingdom of God, and that we will meet those appointments with thanksgiving, expectation, and faith.

While the Games' Torch Run mantra is not necessarily God-centered, it's a great call for us all to Shine On London!

Greetings from London!

Hello from London! All 24 team members arrived safe and sound in spite of a few obstacles. There were some delays; three members arrived late for their Atlanta connection, but made it on the flight (albeit without their luggage).

There were other challenges today as well. Navigating the London rail system (officially the London Underground, but locally called the Tube) required climbing numerous flights of stairs with luggage. We helped each other, of course, but there were also many Good Samaritans who pitched in. Three of our teammates suffered falls on an escalator, and two of them received first aid from the London Transit Team. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries, and all were able to continue their journey.

Our lodging is at the High Leigh Conference Center, located in Hoddesdon, a small town north of London. The center provides several levels of accommodations, including hotel, dorm, and "bronze" level, which evidently involves sleeping bags. We are fortunate to all have beds.



High Leigh Conference Center

The WMU group is only a small component of More Than Gold's efforts to bring Christianity to the Olympics. Approximately 250 missionaries representing several countries are housed here at High Leigh. There are 3 additional locations hosting More Than Gold volunteers in London.

Tomorrow's orientation topics include safety, understanding London's cultural diversity, ministering to other faith groups, and pin trading as an evangelism tool. The day will conclude with prayer time and a commissioning service.

Prayer Requests: Pray that we will overcome the fatigue of a long day of travel. Pray too that we will find unity as we work together.

Kim Wilson is collaborating with me on this blog for the duration of the mission trip. She's a campus minister at California University of Pennsylvania and will provide both blog content and photos.

On Our Way

Later today, 24 Baptist volunteers from around the country will board planes and begin the journey to London for a ten day mission trip that centers on the Olympic Games.  Tomorrow morning, when we meet at Heathrow Airport, it will be the first face-to-face meeting for most of us.  We’ve had conference calls, email, and a few personal phone calls, but there is still much for us to learn about each other. 

Here are a few things we do know:

·         Each of us has a heart for missions, and this trip will be dedicated to Kingdom work!

·         We each have been given different personalities, abilities, and spiritual gifts, and God will show us the way to use them to His glory.

·         We have prepared.  Through the leadership of WMU, we were challenged to both spiritual and physical fitness, so we’ve prayed and studied and laced up our walking shoes to get ready.

·         We all need and desire the prayers of everyone back home as we begin this journey.  Each day this blog will provide photos and updates on our activities, and we will include specific prayer requests.  For now, just pray for the team to follow God’s will in all things.

As we head out, we still don’t know our actual assignments, but whether we are giving someone a bottle of cold water, distributing literature, befriending a fellow traveler, or simply trading Olympic pins, we will be in the mission field spreading God’s love.