Clares version `lake

Dear friends,

Thank you so much for your prayers!! George, Gabe, Rachel and I had a really amazing time in the beautiful Lake District last week. it was so evident every day that God was leading us specifically to be in places and to meet some wonderful people who were open to the Gospel, as well as meeting many who are already walking with God who we could encourage and be encouraged by. One thing which struck me was that people were more open to the things of God than I had imagined they would be, and that conversations about knowing God through Jesus would often come quite naturally. It felt that everyone we met was somewhere on the journey towards getting to know God.

Our team: For people who had really only just met (Only George and I know each other well), we were a very united and joyful team, and it was amazing to see just how ONE we were in mind and purpose, each bringing different and special gifts to the trip and being able to naturally share the JOY of living with people! We named the trip 'Random Tandem' because of the way we could see God working in and through us, as a group and as individuals, and just the wonderful randomness of everything we did, and seeing God working through it all! It was awesome to see how God often brought across our path the same people more than once so that we could more easily build a friendship with them and have further opportunity to share with them something of the Kingdom of God.

Our most wonderful divine appointment of all was when my car broke down on Honister Pass on way back from Buttermere (broken drive shaft which could not be fixed in the Lakes and had to be towed back down to London at the end of the week!) and while George and I went for help, Rachel met a guy in a car in the layby who is having a very hard time in his life and who's sister is a Christian and has been praying for him for many years! He gladly accepted our offer of supper that night and helped us move hostels the next day and spent the day with us. We were able to offer real encouragement, hope and prayer to this dear man who desperately needed real friendship at that moment.
God is amazing!!!!

One way we were able to build friendships with people was by being able to cook for some folk in the hostels. One couple - Lizzie and Rupert- we kept meeting, since our journey through the Lakes happened to be a very similar route to theirs, and we ended up having supper in the pub on the last night together and sharing deeper things and being able to give a 'backpacker's New Testament' to Rupert who accepted with great enthusiasm. Lizzie is a Christian but not part of a Christian community at the moment but she is now wanting to find a church!...One evening in the hostel in Grasmere, we met a bunch of German guys and girls who offered to take us in their big van over 2 of the most remote passes in the Lake District that night. It was a beautiful clear night and at the top of the Hardknott Pass with no sign of civilisation for miles and only a few sheep to watch our antics, we ran, danced and sang (and quoted poetry- thank you Rachel!) at the top of our voices! On the way home in the van Rachel and I sang songs, and, while trying to find a song we all knew, I remembered a German worship song, and on singing that discovered that one of the girls, Louisa, was a Christian! The next day I had the opportunity of giving her and her friend Anna Marie, a backpackers New Testament and to pray for them...such a privilege!

Another reason for our trip was to see what possibility there is of facilitating larger scale backpacker friendship evangelism events in the future. We visited the inspiring Bassenfell Christian Outdoor Pursuits centre in Bassenthwaite, and George and Gabe just came across Rydal Hall while walking, a beautiful stately home run for Christian holidays, conferences and retreats. Plenty of possibilities and with George's great commitment and vision, it is quite possible it will take off, so watch this space!

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