#13 - Testimony

15/02/2011

Got up for devotions at 8, then had some cereal and two cups of coffee for breakfast. I am absolutely caning the coffee while I'm here, it tastes so good and energy is everything.

We then spent the morning writing our testimony in three minutes. A testimony is the story of how you came to know God. I'll finish this blog post with mine.

We then practised out sermons but just a 5-minute version, mine didn't go so well but after reading through it I have some ideas of how to restructure it so that's all good.


At lunch we all compared the weirdest foods we'd eaten. All I came up with was the octopus I had a few days ago, but Jarett certainly won the contest: among his were goat stomach and tuna sperm. Nothing more to say about that to be honest.
We then continued our education of the Americans with more Mr Bean and a few of Derren Brown's various stunts - they were impressed. We showed them when he gets winnings on a losing greyhound racing ticket, and when he walks up to a guy and convinces him to hand over his keys and wallet. Crazy.

We then spent an incredibly interesting afternoon with Amanda, one of the locals (she's American, where are they all coming from!). We each took a comprehensive test to find out what type of personality we are.
I am mainly a Perfect Melancholy, which means that I like order and striving for a perfect result. My emotional needs are sensitivity, support, space and silence. The other types of personalities are: Popular Sanguine (outgoing, confident and charming), Powerful Choleric (goal-setters who like control and getting credit for work) and Peaceful Phlegmatic (want peace and quiet and lack of stress). There's a lot more to it, maybe look up the test and see which categories you fall into, the guy who wrote it is Fred Littauer.
Really interesting stuff, and useful for assigning people to different tasks within a team which will come into play throughout the two months.

We went round to Ryan and Kelly's for dinner, which was burgers and fries. We then made 'Smores', which is when you toast a marshmallow, put it between two biscuits and put chocolate on top and then eat it. Typically American, undoubtably delicious.
We then did 'Startipping', when you focus on one star and spin around maintaining eye contact with the star. After around 10 seconds, someone shines a light in your eye and you have to stay standing up (almost impossible, Andrew managed to but was flailing and stumbling around like a big gorilla in doing so).
Me, Jarett, Jonny and Jess ran back which was good exercise - fair play to Jess for doing it in flip flops, and also for keeping up with us men (a joke of course, but we were riffing off the sexist banter extensively for a while after we got back).

When we gor back, I played 'Titanic: Two The Surface', a brilliant spoof-trailer for a sequel to Titanic where Jack Dawson is found frozen at the bottom of the ocean and has to get accustomed to 21st century life without Rose. It's put together with clips from several Leonardo di Caprio films, and is definitely worth a watch.

For some reason a load of us stayed up really late - it's quarter to 1am and we'll probably be up at 715 so I had better get some sleep.
But firstly I'll briefly share my testimony:


For the first 16 years of my life, I was happy enough not knowing or caring about God. In fact I mocked those who did, and thought that my lifestyle of selfishness and striving after girls, alcohol and occasionally drugs was all there was. I was happy enough living in a bubble of insecurity but looking back, there was no direction or real worth to my life.

I then left Southam College after GCSEs, and was drawn to Myton Sixth Form - looking back there was no particular reason I had, so maybe God was giving me a nudge. I met some amazing people who are now my best friends (Luke, Steph, Rach), and I realised there was something about them that I hadn't seen in anyone else before. They had a real aura, and after a few weeks I realised they were Christians.

They invited me to their church youth group Christmas meal, which I went to. I saw Marieke (now another of my best friends) giving her testimony, and the amazing emotion she conveyed really struck me - here was someone brought to tears with happiness talking about something I knew nothing about. It stirred my interest further.

Over the next few weeks, I came along to the youth group and even started attending church - I couldn't believe it, a few months earlier the concept of going to church would have brought a reaction of scorn and ridicule. But I kept going, and slowly I came to realise that I had been living for so long without something so unbelievably important: a relationship with God, the guy who created all of us and everything around us. He loves us an incredible amount, and no matter how much we do that is wrong and caused hurt to Him or other people, He will forgive us because of that love. That really struck me, because throughout this time I came to realise I wasn't a great person in any sense really and yet despite my numerous shortcomings, God loves me.

It's a pretty awesome reality, and something that we shouldn't hide away from or treat with scorn but look into, think about, investigate. If you think I'm talking complete trash, find me a historian who will dispute the historical accuracy and legitimacy of the Bible which clearly states accounts of Jesus' life and teachings.

And don't get me wrong - I'm hardly a saint now, in fact anything but. I still sin all the time; I hurt people, manipulate people, get angry, am selfish and many more things I wish I wasn't.
But I have been lucky enough to be shown God's love and invite Him into my life, and for the first time I am happy and enjoying myself and my life has a purpose.

I didn't just come to Panama to chill, I came to help out poverty-stricken communities and show them that we are inspired and energised by God's love. We're not here to force ourselves or our faith on anyone, we're here to help people with whatever needs doing and to participate in the local churches.
And it's all because of God.

If you don't know God, I really ask you to just ask a Christian friend or relative about their testimony, or maybe pop down to your church - I promise you won't regret it.

God bless all of you

JG