kingsland members around the world

from Kat in Cyprus

Hi Everyone
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> Well I've arrived!!! I can't believe I'm finally here. I arrived late on Tue evening and spent the first few days trying to sort out our apartment which had no electricity supply!! Thankfully Wendy is a dab hand in dealing with people in foreign countries so we got it all sorted and finally moved in yesterday.
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Got thrown in the deep end on Wed evening as I was put in a team who are witnessing to the cabaret girls in Nicosia, many who are trafficed in from Russia, Bulgaria, Romania and Phillpines. We only got a few  minutes with each as they were walking to work and we had to be very careful as their bosses are often watching them and don't like us talking to them. Many of our volunteers are from the countries the girls are trafficked from so it was amazing to pray and meet some international brothers and sisters. We had one chat with a young girl who was on the verge of tears asking us to pray for her as she desperately wanted to escape. The system is quite corrupt and officials are often involved in the trafficking as well. As we speak there is a court case where a girl is giving evidence against her club boss and is finding the legal system very tough. Please pray protection for these girls and that justice would be done in this situation. I'll be working on this project as well as the clubbing ministry so I will keep you  updated..
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> I also did my first night last night in Agia Napa. It was so amazing and all the workers can't wait for the cafe to offficially open on Tue. It's great that they love the Christians who have come to support them. They are so blown away that we have a faith but look normal!!!  Please pray that we would have some great conversations on tue when the cafe called 'Rehab' opens :-)
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> Finally please thank God for all his provision for me and all the team. It is however much more expensive for food and travel out here than I expected so please pray that those who took sponsors forms would send them back in as it is quite a struggle. I have been told by Wendy that I still need to raise another 200 pounds per month otherwise it's going to get very difficult for me. I'm trusting God though, He kept me going through Collective so pray I would see His provision in the most unexpected ways:-)
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> Thank you again for all your support. And I'll be in contact again soon.
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> God Bless
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> Kat xx

Up coming events!!

Hi everyone!!

Ok I've failed again on this blog stuff but thankfully God is gracious and i'm goin to try using the wisdom of my wonderous pastor neil and write little and often :-)!! If you want to know what I've been up to over the last months let me know ur address and i'll send u an infamous newsletter.

Next Wed we are in Clacton County High doing a day of yr 7 RE lessons on Our Identity in God. We will be doing the yr 7 assembly then 5x1hr lessons with 70 kids in each session. This is an amazing opportunity which came from meeting a lady at the baptisms on Sunday. Praise God because she came as a guest of Paul & Graham and this school day may lead to a more work in the school so please pray.

Next Thur we are doing a youth event in Basildon which I believe has some link with Tony Anthony which is great. This is a bit of an unknown quantity but pray lives will be touched and transformed and that Collective will get into the schools in this area soon.

Please just pray for more schools weeks this term as we have loads in the pipeline but nothing definite as yet.

Loads a love

Kat xx

Kat's Catch up from 2006

Hello!!

I hope you are well and that you had a good Christmas and New Year. I got my first morning at Lexden today and it was totally amazing, the annointing of God during the worship WOW!!!! It was so great to just let myself go in the presence of God and feel those around me melting in His presence too. God's been really speaking to me about being like David in worship and not caring who is watching because we serve an Almighty King and that's who it's all for!!

So what have i been up to... well as usual i've taken ages to write this up so get ready for a for a 4 part epic. I'm going to do it month by month:-)

Oh yeah if you get my newsletters don't read any further because your getting one in the post this wk and it's mainly all the stuff thats on here but you get it all in one swop.

NOVEMBER

Our final schools missions in 2006 were Harwich School & the Colchester Institute. While the Institute were 16-18yr olds they didn't eat us for breakfast as previously thought. We had some great debates over our Christian beliefs and the teacher is enthusiastic about having us back in the future.

Harwich was very exciting purely because of the overwhelming response we had. Harwich is known as a rough school and loads of people had warned us it would be difficult. However all the kids were well behaved in the lessons, and were really open to chatting with us as we ate dinner with them. The most astounding part was the lucnchtime concert.

In Harwich we were in on a taster day so had only been in three RE lessons and around at lunch, but a staggering 400+ turned up to join in the fun. In fact there were so many that they were watching from the windows outside because the hall was completely full!!! 

Added to this that the Head Teacher who wasn't a Christian desperately wanted a load of our singles becasue he felt the moral message we promoted was paramount for his students!! Needless to say we are back in Harwich for a full schools week beginning the 12th March, so please pray that God will totally blow the roof off again and that we see loads of kids in the follow up events.

Fun & Games

Hi all

I thought I better fill you in the last few months fun & frolics because there have been quite a few :-) September kicked off in true Kat style by a clumsy accident that resulted in some badly torn ligaments which left me on crutches for three weeks and unable to perform for the last two months :-(  Thankfully God had timed everything to perfection as our diaries have been much quieter as it is the beginning of the new school year so I was able to rest up. However as you can see by the pictures whenever I do something I do it in real style.

When I had the accident ( caused by a very dangerous dance move aptly named the "star jump" don't try it home unless you are a trained professional!!) I was at my mates Charity do with an 80s theme, hence the lovely outfits. Me and the girls had decided to go as the cast of "Fame" and I loved the fact as I got to don my luminous pink tights. I believe of all the nights to get wheeled into A&E singing Agadoo at the top of your voice because you've had half an hour of getting legally high on Gas and Air this was defiantly the one!!! Needless to say we caused quite a stir and yes that is the beautiful Lorraine dressed in the black and red as Madonna!!

God has definitely taught me patience through this experience but please pray for a complete healing because I still walk like a gangster ( with a limp) and can't perform all the songs in our concerts. It's still quite painful and i haven't got full rotation which is starting to bug me, also I'm car less at the mo so it means lots of walking for public transport which is aggravating it more. Please pray God will sort out a car for me as four girls and only one mode of transport is getting a bit difficult.

Our schools missions in Ipswich went really well. These were small taster things for the schools (Thurleston & Claydon) and were really about building relationships with the staff so we can come back next year and do a full schools week. We are going back in next week for assemblies and a lunchtime concert in Claydon, as on Sat 18th we are performing at "Platform" in Ipswich so prayer that the right amount of kids will get to the event. Not too many as it is only a small venue but God's perfect number
so the kids that already go don't feel threatened and that they all fit in !! I'm also going to be doing a God Slot on Esther so pray that God will tell me what to say.

I've just finished a schools week with TCC in southend which was amazing. We were in the Deanes school doing mainly music lessons. Again it has built great relationships with the pupils and staff for future missions but also blasted a huge hole in the distorted view that kids have of Christians. The concert was amazing and 50 kids responded to becoming Christians. Over 25 of those made commitments which is so exciting but obviously we want disciples so we will wait and see how many of those come to the follow up events this week. The events are tomorrow evening and on sat night so please pray they will come.

Ooo yes we have also had the wonderful Laura down with us this week. Laura is the new girl who will be replacing Jayne in Jan. We are looking for a new host home for her somewhere in the St Johns area so if you know anyone please could you let me know. Please pray that laura will feel at home in Colchester and that team unity will be protected in this time of change.

Oh yeah the CYO celebration at St Botolphs was amazing. If you weren't there why not ?  The worship was electric and really brought some Christians in to a new relationship with God when they saw how the young people worshipped which is so exciting. God really moved that night and I feel so privileged that He used little old me to impart some of his Love to the congregation. I've never been so nervous before you would think with all the performing I would take it in my stride but I was holding on to that stand for dear life so my legs would stop shaking!!! I've been so touched to see how God has spoken into peoples lives through it and really astounded to see how much God has transformed my own life in such a short space of time since being a Christian.

God has really been speaking to me not only about the importance of Gods love as our Abba, our daddy but also the role of fathers in general, thats what my talk was about. I think feminism has a lot to answer for in todays fatherless generation, as all the males are losing their rightful roles ordained to them by God. Don't get me wrong I'm one headstrong female but men need to be the men God created them to be. I love the fact that God has made me his royal daughter, a princess, his beauty, that there is nothing wrong in me being a woman with desires and dreams because that is how he ordained us women too.  We are all royal princes and princesses part of Gods great kingdom, a kingdom full of great adventures. I love it, it makes me so excited to be part of his family!!!   

Anyway hope you are all being blessed, I'm missing you all so much when I'm away.

Kat xxx

The final chapter

Right heres the last bit i'm going to do it bullet point style as to speed it up :-)

Brightlingsea Baptist in July- Great morning doing a presentation for sponsorship. Best bits -lots of old people giving us young uns a run for our money when they started joining in with our dance moves!! Although I think it was a bit loud for them lol. Extra info - My old uni friend's parents in law go there Mr & Mrs Carter, Mr Carter is very ill with a heart problem so pray for that would be good. Also pray for my friend Sharon and her husband Joe that they would find their way into the Kingsland family.

Interview for Trinidad & Tobago Radio - Yes you did read right!!!  This was done by Rhonda who was over working with St Lukes and we met at the beginning of the year doing the Gilberd mission. Best bits - All of it cause it was so much fun especially making up stupids jingles too :-)

Bens Leaving Do- Totally gutted cause my best male pal has jumped the CYO ship and headed back to Frinton to do plumbing. Best Bits - All the time in the office having a laugh - When you spend all day with girls you realise how wise God was when he created the male species!!

Tiptree Sports Week - Yeah I loved this week as we got to work with the guys from the tiptree congregation. We did dance workshops & I ran 5hrs arghh!!!!! of drama workshops & a concert. Best bits - Meeting up with the kids we had seen last year when we did the gig on the back of the dodgy lorry lol. Building up more relationships with them and chatting so openly about our faith. Hearing testimony of how Kids were realising God loved them. Seeing people pretending to be seals,dogs, lion, & stick insects ;-) Oh and not forgetting that I finally got to met the beautiful and very gifted Amy who was the awe inspiring blogger out in canada on this Kingsland site!!

HOLIDAY!!! - Went on mission to Haverhill & Konigsbrunn in Germany aka going to see my Nan & Grandad, Dad, little bro and step mum all hard nut atheists!! 

Background info - My nan & grandad think the bible is like Mein Kampf and are gigs are like Hitlers Rallies & my nan is also a true scientist so the Bible is a load of lies. A few prayer points there :-)  My dad used to go to church decades ago but is hard to talk to, quite sarcastic and struggles to say the word love. My step mum is totally stressed by the kids who are a bit like teenagers from hell when they get going, and my younger bro is struggling in school and spends all day on the computer in the dark.   So as you can see a lot of pray went on before I left Colchester!!! 

However while not all things are sorted over night or even i three weeks God was totally amazing. Before I went away I was told God had given me a reconciliaratory ( is that actually a word!!) spirit. Well it came in quite useful. While my nan & grandad did get fired up as usual at least they both admitted that they felt there was more to life then just this existence on earth. With Gods help I was able to encourage and bless my dad & Janine (my step mum) & i'm sure I saw more loving signs from my father which was amazing. The best bit however was going to a church over there and meeting some great people. I'm going back over for christmas so i'm hoping to hook my family up with this church some how!!! 

Thomas was my greatest delight I love him so much. We spent so much time chatting about God and he loved having evening prayers. The best bit was when he said he had already prayed the pray to be a Christian several times cause he wasn't sure if it had worked :-) He didn't want anyone to know (from reading the above you can see why!!!) and he has said he will come to the church with me at Christmas!! How amazing is that!! Please pray for all my family, I'm so excited to see how God is moving I know he can transform them like he did me it's just a matter of time:-)

Oh and thanks for all your prayers for my back (which i put out canoeing) - although God was great cause he healed me enough to do a bungey ball (a contraption that shoots you up in the air at a rate of knots) & a paraglide off a 1750ft mountain in the alps!!!!!

Well that takes you up to the end of Aug, oh apart from visiting my beautiful little sister (who is up the duff again hurrah!!) & gorgeous baby niece Lucy-Mai & surviving a non christian pub crawl (aka The Hen Night in York) which is another novel in itself :-) Hope reading all this didn't take too many hrs out of your day.

Love U All Loads xxxxxxxxxxx

2nd installment

Hi All

Sorry, my next instalment has taken so long, I've just got back from my summer mission (aka going to stay with my Dad and step family in Germany for three weeks :-)  I'll get back to that later cause God has been so faithful and it's all very exciting!!!

Right from where I left off... Our next adventure was going to Solid Youth Event in Essex which was great cause we got to go crazy for our boys cause thebandwithnoname were playing and  we always love supporting them. This gig was extra special for us cause we had kids we had meet from four different schools missions  Southend, Shoeburyness, Romford & Colchester. It's great to see how God is using us to impact this area so please pray for more and more of his grace so we can get known in other areas and get into more schools.

The best bit for me though was having the Gilberd school kids there - these are the guys who have been going to the follow up cafe and have now created it into a bible study every Friday for three weeks, and then a big social event that they can invite all their mates too. We have been so privileged to see God moving over the last year since our first gig in Jan and hearing how other people in the area are noticing a huge change in their behaviour and attitude. This stuff really excites me, seeing how they have had revelation that God truly cares and listens to their prayers. It's the reason I'm here and sometimes you can get so caught up with other issues in life that you forget why God called you in the first place, but then you see the Almighty moving and your spirit leaps and it all clicks into place. 

We then got to go back and do some follow up stuff in Horringer middle School which was fun and it was great to see that numbers had been added to their CU. We are excited that we have built relationships here and we have high hopes for all God is going to do in that area through BCY and the churches over the next couple of years!!! Watch This Space.

Then we had our church open day which was a real laugh, firstly the fact that I couldn't even run a mile without walking, secondly seeing people trying out all different workshops and thirdly trying to teach Mike our Gospel Drama so he could use it for a talk he was giving that night!!!!

Next we went to a real gem of a school, the kids were the best we have had as they had so much fun jumping around and dancing. St Christopher's special needs school in Southend is amazing the facilities are brilliant, although it was inly for a small concert we had a great time and hopefully will get to go back again next year.

Finally we got to work with Little Keith at St Stephens Church in Colchester by doing a concert for all the youth who had been coming to their evening clubs. Please pray more blessing on this church and Keith, they have worked so tirelessly over the years to keep their youth programs going and it's very humbling to be able to add to their work for Jesus.

I got really excited because the noise brought some strays off the street into the church and I got to give my testimony to them which I love because these kids, the ones labelled the Chaves are who i have a real heart. I know God has totally taken me from a dark past that can seem so exciting to them and he has totally transformed me- he has given me so much more then i ever thought possible and I really yearn to see these kids choose real life - life to the max (that was our topic for the night). We got to chat and pray with some of these kids and found out they use to go to the youth groups but had fallen away and had been in trouble for vandalising the church building in the past. We are praying we can get into the school in that area so we can continue to sow seeds of truth in to these amazing youngsters. Please pray for them.

OK I'm stopping now cause there is so much more left to write and it's getting quite long winded again so I think i will save it for a 3rd instalment. At least it shows how good God has been which is always a great testimony to share.

TTFN xxx

JUNE FUN

Hello

WoW how amazing is this weather down south, I'm so glad God moved me down here!! Well apart from going quite brown I've been touring around the country with the Band again.

Horringer Court Middle School in Bury St Edmunds was totally amazing. It was so nice to spend time with younger kids and we were so shocked with their maturity- unfortunately the government wants to do away with middle schools. Personally I think that would be a real shame as I was really impressed with what i saw - yr 5 & 6 doing shakespeare !!! How amazing is that!!

We got some great questions too - Like would God love someone like Pete from Big Brother with his Tourettes Syndrome? If God made gluttony a sin, why did he make people so they want to eat too much? What's the point of hell if people can say sorry and get in to heaven? Why did you choose music to express your views about Christianity?

We also had a brilliant host organisation there called BCY who made us feel like part of their family, and i had the privilege of staying with the most amazing host family called Andrea & Adam. We have become firm friends and have already been back to stay with them cause we missed them so much :-)

Maidstone was fantastic cause we got to work with the Collective Kent lads who Soph & I trained with almost two yrs ago. Please pray that we will guys in Collective East Anglia cause it makes such a difference to the boys to have male role models in the band.

It was a tough week cause Collective Kent had already been in 8 months earlier so it had lost it's impact a bit, however the schools had asked for them back so we felt quite privileged. The lessons were on identity and went really well. the concert was tough because it was so hot on the stage -I'm sure we all lost 6 stone from sweating!!

However Jayne got really ill the next week with heat stroke and it meant she missed our Collective Away Day :-(

One thing I'd love you to pray into is a girl I had a random meeting with who said she was a satanist. She wasn't ur typical goth girl, in fact you wouldn't have picked her out from the crowd or expected her to say something like that. She was shaking when she spoke to me and asked what advice I could give her.

She said she only believed in evil not good. She said all her friends were evil backstabbers. I agreed with her that I believed in the devil but challenged her that if there was evil there was good. She replied that there was no good in the world.

I then repeated back to her, her own statement (using my counselling skills techniques, knew they would come in useful :-) ) "So you don't believe there is any good in the world". She replied that there may be a little bit of good, so I told her that little bit of good was God.

She asked why God had not shown himself to her and I said it wasn't that He wasn't there for her, He had just been waiting for her to want see Him. I told her to find a CU or to go to a church to ask more stuff to Christians. She said thanks and then rushed off.

Needless to say I was a bit shaken cause I've never had that before so please pray for her and keep her on your heart.

If you wandering what a Collective Away Day is then read on - Cause we are all scattered all around the country and so busy we only get to meet up with each other a couple of times a year. this time as a thankyou from innervation we got to do raft building and mess around at Sale Water Park in Manchester. My team lost as we went for speed rather then floatability, oh well it's about taking part isn't it. It was such a hot day I was glad to spend most of it in the water to be honest !!

I'm gonna leave it there for today and will do the next instalment in a couple of days cause I've gopt loads more and don't want to drown you in words :-)

Kat xxx

Hello

HI everyone

I'm so sorry it's taken so long for me to blog but as you have probably not seen me in church you may guess that i've been quite busy with Collective. I'm on a short holiday now recharging my batteries and getting some much needed decent God time before the next stint begins. Oh and thankyou Jamie for all you posts even though I have been absent from the site for so long :-)

Well since Bower Park we have been in Philip Morant in Colchester, Shoebury High School in Shoeburyness and King John School in Southend. We have also done church presentations in St Helens, Gainsborough, Oxford and Wales.

Needless to say it has been a very exciting but draining time. We are really looking forward to our next missions which are the horrinter school in Bury St Edmunds on wk beginning 19th June and then we are helping the Kent collective out by doing a Kent schools week on 26th June. Horrinter is a middle school with years 5, 6 , 7, 8 & 9 so it's like a bit of a junior school really so we expect the kids will love it. Its great to go to a place with younger kids as its not so based on what you look like, they are always much more excepting, suppose thats why Jesus said we should be like innocent children. Kent will be fun too cause we get to see the guys we trained with and we miss them all being so far apart.

Please pray for Soph, Jayne and Me as we also have to give innervation are decision as to whether we stay on for another year after december at the beginning of July, so we desperately want to make the right choice and go with what God wants. 

It can be really hard doing this work cause God can become a job, but when i step back and see what God is doing ie things like commitments, baptisms and staff also being encouraged its all very humbling. We have seen over 7000 pupils in the past 6 months which is totally mind blowing when you think how many seeds are being sown!! 

However why being busy is great cause God is using us so much I have been really struggling recently with self image problems as this band stuff is very much based on what you look like to the kids and I often find myself comparing myself negatively to the other girls in the band. I know this is mainly linked to being so busy that my God time and Word time has fizzled away so i'm listening to lies rather than what My Heavenly Father says about me, so please pray that I will find the time and energy just to rest in his presence and have a passion to get into His Word.

Another great thing though has been how God has provided for me not only financially, thankyou again to all my faithful supporters and especially my new ones you know who you are :-) but he has given me the host family from Heaven!!! Get this I now have a double bed with power shower ensuite, use of a large flat plasma screen tv, a hot tub in the back garden and the use of a company car!!!!!  When God blesses you he definately does it abundantly!!!  The people I live with have made me feel totally part of the family and i'm very much at home now, well who wouldn't be :-)

Well i think thats all for now i'm looking forward to the football on sat and hopefully i will back in Church again on Sunday Yeah I can't wait !!!

Oh yeah we have an official website now www.collectiveeastanglia.com

TTFN

KAT XXXXX

Shoebury School

Hi there

Hope you are well

We have just finished an exciting and challenging week in Shoebury school in southend. There were a mix of good lessons with well behaved kids to classes where i was being flicked with elastic bands, being yawned at and having kids refusing to do as they were told. We did end up with sore throats from shouting and were extremely drained from repeating the same lessons, especially some being 100 minutes long!!! 

We were working with Life in Abundance who were running a two week mission. Week A was schools stuff using Collective in lessons and with a lunchtime concert and after school concert, this all being preperation for Week B.

Week B was all about community projects where the schools kids go out and do litter picking, garden makeovers etc.   

In lessons we were talking about community needing people who are 'happy to me' - self esteem, putting others first - jesus death on the cross, long haul - commitment and relationship with God. Pray the kids will experience and discover all those thing while doing this project work.Please pray that they will have around 150 pupils turn up on Monday as that would be just the right amount.

I'm now on my easter hols now which is great cause i can catch up with all my friends and family up north. my little bro is comin over from Germany too so thats really exciting as i haven't seen him since last summer. I also turned the big 26 on friday can u believe it, i also found my first grey hair!!! ARGHHH!!! I'm sure grey hairs are not allowed in pop bands :-)

TTFN xxx

Bower Park

Hello!!

Just a very quick msg 2 say the week in Romford was totally amazing.

The school was hard but the kids were great and really engaged with what we had to say.

The lilos turned out to be double air beds ;-) and even though we all came down with flu and counldn't perform it didn't stop us doing lessons.

We fought on all week and I totally believe prayer and the most fantastic host family kept us going.

The Giberd follow up is still going well, loads of young lads are still searching which is great.

We also spent a brill wkend in prayer at Harwich which added to unity between youth workers in Colchester and my presentation on Sunday was well received too so I'm very happy at the mo!!

We are hoping to go back to Bower Park in July to do the concert bit right now we are focusing on the Philip Morant school which starts on Monday.

Please pray for full health and open hearts.  God Bless

Kat xxx