Friday night was our big Welcome event - the Formal Dinner. It is the most "posh" event we put on. The entire staff worked all week (and ALL day on Friday) to prepare fully "laid-up" tables (candles and all), serve sherry and juice in the lounge, play waiter/waitress for each table, and finally clean up the whole thing at the end of the night. And we did it all in our nicest clothes! I think the residents really enjoyed the evening - especially the team presentations that we gave. The Kitchen team was by far the best and had the whole crowd in stitches. It was a lot of fun to see everyone all dressed up and get a chance to really mingle with the residents. But it was also a huge relief to get it over with.
From left: myself, Leandro, Alice, and Pedro - all Brazilians! :)
After getting some much needed sleep this weekend, we had our first Alpha course meeting last night. It was not really what I expected at all. There were about 12 staff members who came as leaders or assistant leaders, as the Warden's wife wanted to prepare for two groups. However, we only had three residents come and she still split us up into two groups, and even then she moved people around so that the staff members who had been talking to the residents ended up in a discussion group with a different person than they had been connecting with. So, I led discussion with 6 Christian staffers and a resident who ended up already being a Christian. It was a great discussion, but it tended to balance precariously on just being a Christian debate rather than a real Alpha discussion. But, I suppose that's just where we all were at the time, and I got to meet a resident that I've never talked to before (who coincidently has Aspberger's Syndrome). The other group had two non-Christians in it, and I think their discussion went really well, so I count that in God's book the evening was a success. Plus, I get the opportunity to buy all of Nicky Gumbel's books for £2 each! What a steal . . .
Thank you so much for praying for Alpha, and continue to pray that residents who wanted to come but forgot or were too shy would be drawn next week.
Now, I am going to go enjoy my day off! It will probably include guitar practice as I need to keep A, D, E, and C in my memory for more than one day . . .
1 comment:
Guitar practice, eh? It's always going to be something with you Joe!
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