So we come to the final section of our epic epic tour. We’ve been on the road for almost 2 months non-stop and frankly, it’s been exhausting. Some of these tours have been really difficult, others have been a breeze, and we’ve all experienced both extremities! In many ways we’ve been looking towards this tour for the whole year – to spend two weeks in a foreign country (especially for someone who has never really been abroad) is a very exciting and daunting concept, and the event we were being involved in has been in planning for around 4 years! We were working with a lovely group of people at “The Fishermen’s Office”, in Herne, not far from Dortmund and about an hour’s drive from Cologne. Check out their website here: http://www.fishermens-office.de/
The two main guys we were working with were Hans and Friedhelm. Nothing was impossible for these two! CD decks for La Roche? On it. Extra lights and staging? On it. Acoustic gig and disco in a car park? No problem. They headed up a team of around 20 or 30 wonderful people, some our age and some a little older, who were all part of running “LIGHTHOUSE WEEK”. This was an open event for the youth of the area to come in, have some fun, hear some music (courtesy of Taste) and find out a bit more about what it means to follow Jesus and let Him transform their lives. It was such an incredible opportunity and we were very excited to be part of it! During the week there were around 150 kids on average every night, sometimes more, and all of them were really engaging with what Hans & Friedhelm’s team were doing. Speaking every night was a youth evangelist called Gofi, and he provided some really challenging and thoughtful insights into the Christian lifestyle. In spite of the language barrier we had some wonderful translators, one being Hans, another a girl called Regina and also a girl called Judith (pronounced ‘yoodit’), who is about my age. We got on really well and it was great to have her translation and her friendship!
Each night we were performing a handful of our songs, and occasionally joining the resident “Check It Out Band” leading worship. On the Friday night, however, we had moved a large amount of gear (and H&F had hired in a lot of tech stuff!) into the multi-storey carpark next door. The program would run almost as usual, with the addition of workshops, an acoustic set from us and finally an hour of La Roche’s dj skills – ALL IN THE CAR PARK! It was crazy and a lot of fun! Saturday night was a full length gig from us, in a very hot room with a lot of lights and a lot of crazily enthusiastic Germans jumping around – it was absolutely mental but so much fun (and very tiring!). Surprisingly La Roche did not win the “who can sweat the most in our gig” competition…and I have a suspicious feeling that I was one of the main contenders for the title…yum. Finally, the Sunday was more of a church service type thing with more worship and a chance for the kids to respond. I was priveliged enough to be asked if I would be part of the response team, praying with kids who wanted prayer and specifically blessing them in God’s name. I had the chance to pray and chat with a girl I’d been chatting to throughout the week (sometimes without the aid of a translator!), as well as to see other kids we’d been building relationships with come up, eager to find out more about God and how He can change their lives.
You can watch a short film of clips from the week here: http://www.lighthouse-week.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=71&Itemid=76
So now we have a well deserved two week holiday! The sun is out and I’m going home in approximately 3 and a half hours, wahey! After the holiday we’re into the studio to get recording on our album! Exciting stuff.
Please keep praying for all of us as a team, that we would be united and that the last 3 months of this year would be the best yet!
Thank you for your wonderful support so far!
Much love xxxx
