Hello all!

Happy New Year! I hope you had an enjoyable New Years and Christmas!!:D

Another month has passed and I’m beginning to release my year with the church seems to flying by!

I enjoyed a couple of weeks off for Christmas seeing family and friends and spent New Years admiring the London fireworks.

I started off the New Year with a week training, this time held at Centre Parks and for all the FPs in the UK, so there were about 150 of us, which was pretty awesome to see. It was an amazing life changing week with incredible teaching from Dave Devenish on Mission, John Groves on Freedom in Christ, Dave Holden on Intimacy with God and Steve Tibbert on Leadership. The thing that impacted me the most was that only intimacy with God will keep you close to Him, not serving, doing all the right things. It challenged my priorities in life and made me want to make some healthy choices in my everyday in how I spend my time. Amongst all the teaching we also had some free time to enjoy each others company, it was a great chance to get to know people more and become an even closer group.

December was a busy but good month. I was involved in the Christmas Kidz Klub which many children from Merstham came to and greatly enjoyed. We also had a Carol Service in Merstham, which some of the children and their parents from the Kidz Klub came along to. Please pray for those who came were impacted by the Good News of Jesus.

Last month I shared about my training day treasure hunting in Bedford. As some of you know I hadn’t been too well and at the end of the day I was prayed for to be healed. I had gastrateous which meant I had weak stomach acids, which were set off by anxiety. I’d been prayed for before but hadn’t been better, this time they prayed for the anxiety to go and I made a conscious decision to fully trust in God. The next day I was fine and they day after I decided to come off the medication I’d been put off to test if I’d been healed, it was a big step of faith but knew I had to do it. I did and was completely fine, a few days later I tried pasta, a food that had always made me unwell, for the first time I had no reaction. I had blood tests and they found no further problems with me which had been suspected. The week after I went back to my doctor and told Him what had happened, he was a bit stunned but could not deny that I am now well; please pray that this has got my doctor thinking! Praise God!

I’ve greatly enjoyed discipling the girls in the youth and seeing how God is using them. Another of the girls I am discipling from Y2K is getting baptised this Sunday and has asked the girl I baptised a few months ago and myself to baptise her, so will be a real privilege and very exciting. Please pray for her in the lead up to Sunday and also please pray for her parent’s, who aren’t Christians, which are not sure if they want to come on Sunday, that they would come and be impacted by Jesus. Hannah and I have recently started a small discipleship group with two of the girls in our youth which has been greatly enjoyable.

We had a very amusing and successful evening when we put on ‘Sublime’s Got Talent’ where our youth put on talent show for us, from musical performances, to cake icing skills we saw much talent. Hannah and I were joined by Hitesh and the enthusiastic Ken as judges, which was good fun.
Y2K is due to kick off soon which I am looking forward to. Sublime’s first meeting is this Sunday and we are looking forward to putting on more socials for the youth to bring their friends to. We had a girls social last month were we had a meal together and got to know the girls a bit more.
God is incredibly using me and I am so excited as to what He has in store for 2009!

Thank you all for your encouragement, prayers and support it really makes a huge difference and blessing to me, thank you.

Lots of love,

Rachel XxX