Brrrrr it’s cold here in London! This is where my Florida blood cries out for sun and warmth. I’ve started taking Vitamin D supplements this week to give me a bit of a pick up as I have noticed the lack of sun does make a difference in my energy levels. Here in London we joke about having Summer for only a week or two whereas in Florida you only have a week or two of winter and sometimes just days!
Even though it’s been cold it’s been good! Our church recently did a series called “What Jesus
said about…” and I had the privilege of preaching one of the messages on the topic of “Waiting.” If you would like to hear the message, especially if you are in a waiting period, you can listen HERE. I focussed on 2 questions: Why do we wait? 1. To change us, 2. To learn to trust patiently and 3. To bring glory to God. The second question was: What do we do while we wait? 1. Put your HOPE in Him, 2. Don’t wait alone and 3. Wait expectantly.
December is also full of Christmas parties!
Here are pictures from our staff party and campus party!
This year I have really experienced God’s love, provision, peace and joy and I know that a lot of that has to do with your prayers and support! Thank you so, so much for your faithfulness!
Loads of Love
Traci
Warning – this is a bit of a long one but there was so much to share from this past month!
If you ever attend a service at an Every Nation Church, you will most likely hear them mention students at one point or another in their services. Reaching students is a huge part of who we are. Most people choose a faith
during their student years and it’s the students on campus now all across the world, who will one day be our world leaders!
October in Europe is usually the time when
most Universities have an influx of thousands
upon thousands of students from all over the world start their academic years. Imperial College ranked in the top 10 of
Universities in 2017, is one of the Campuses
that we focus on in London.
This past month the campus welcomed students from all over the world as you can see on their steps. We had a stall at on their Freshers Day and used many tools to engage with Christian and non-Christian students including poster board questions, the God
Test and a 30 second Survey. And what’s exciting is that we have seen both Christian and non-christian students coming to church and getting involved in our events! We are trusting for student salvations this year and deepening relationships with God.
As many of you know, doing missions trips is also a huge passion of mine! I loved being part of team and not only watching lives change in the city where we are ministering but also the lives of the team members being changed! I also love being able to encourage the churches we are supporting and coming alongside during the time we are there.
This trip was no different and God certainly did not disappoint! Our team consisted of Americans, a Romanian and Ukrainians. We had Ten Days to help our church in Lviv, Ukraine to launch their Campus Ministry. Our goal was to start English Clubs on one of the local Universities to build relationships with the students to where our Ukrainian team could then continue walking with them and introduce many of them to a relationship with Christ.
There was such HUGE favour on the campus with the director that he even went around to the
classes and encouraged the students to join the clubs. We did God Tests and passed out flyers inviting students to the clubs.
Over 50 students arrived on the first day and we were able to divide the classes into Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced. For 5 nights students came for 3 hours an evening to learn vocabulary, have discussions around a Bible story and play games!
In the Beginners class we had students from different classes and universities all tell us that it was common all through school and university to be told that they were stupid, terrible and the worst students ever. Coming to
our clubs they were overwhelmed by our acceptance, encouragement and approval of each of them! Most of our team were able to share our testimonies during the week with many of them.
By the end of the mission our goal had been achieved and the campus ministry was launched with an amazing lady named Tanya leading the ministry! Students sent Facebook messages to the team saying that it had been the best week of their lives!
This ministry is at the beginning stages and Tanya needs lots of prayer to keep moment going and to also build a team of young leaders in the church to help her out. Please remember her in your prayers.
On my return to London, I have hit the ground running! I can’t believe that Christmas is around the corner. For those of you living in America – Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you so much for all of your love and support. Please pray for more people to join our team in the coming year.
You are an amazing blessing!
Lots of Love
Traci
I can’t believe it is already Autumn. This year has really flown by so far. It feels like I was putting my winter clothes away just a month or so ago and now they are back out again!
They do say that time flies when you are having fun. This has been a fun year for me as I have been able to not only walk with and help people grow in their relationship with God here in London, but also in many other countries across Europe.
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to travel to Stavanger, Norway to help a church go through an inner healing seminar that we do here in London. I was only there for the weekend but it was amazing to see God do a work in the 12 people on the course in such a short space of time!
From Stavanger, I flew up north to Alesund where a young couple has started an Every
Nation Campus Ministry on NTNU. There is no
Every Nation Church in Alesund but Vidar and Caren are starting where a lot of our churches have been planted from – the University! They have incredible favour on this campus and I had the privilege of spending 5 days with them and being a part of starting their Leadership Course called LIFE Class on Campus. This LIFE Class is mainly made up of non-Christian students which is incredible!
This was Caren’s feedback after the Course: Through the LIFE class where Traci talked about an important Leadership skill
(handling crucial conversations), we met 6 new students and they are now part of our Life groups. Five of these are guys who are part of the student parliament or are leading their own companies.
I was also able to sit in on a few of Caren's Mentorship groups and speak to some of their Student Christian Leaders.
Please pray for Vidar and Caren as they continue to establish this ministry on campus, for students to become Christian and to see transformation in their lives as well as on the whole campus.
One more exciting thing that happened in the last few weeks are baptisms! Here is a short video.
Last week, we also had a mission on one of our main campuses here in London but there is too much to share so I will save it for my next letter!
Please pray for me as I leave on 17 October for a Ten Day Mission to Ukraine. I love Ukraine and over the years you have seen me go to a few missions alongside our church in Lviv. This trip is to help them grow their Campus Ministry that was started this year! Please pray specifically for health for me and for salvations and many seeds planted on campus!
Thank you so much for being a part of my team/family! Your love, prayers and support are such an encouragement to me!
Lots of Love
Traci