New Wine

I have come back from what has been an amazing week at New Wine and I'm missing it incredibly. I've decided that I'll recall it in the form of a list of thing that I miss and don't miss about it.

Things that I won't miss about New Wine:

1. The Showers

I was pretty lucky in the sense that I never really encountered a queue for the showers, although once I did have to wait inside the toilet block for around 15 minutes which wasn't the most pleasant experience I've had. But once you've got over that and you get in, the first thing that you notice is the state of the shower, you have to stand on a damp, mouldy wooden crate, which is ok with shoes on, but once they're off... Once that's over with and you stand on the raised shower platform, you then notice how low down the door is, which sets off the paranoia. Once you actually turn the shower on, it comes out as a dribble similar to the amount of standing under the drain, and it takes a while to get the correct temperature, once you're done, you have to reach for your shoes so as to avoid having to stand on the mouldy crate, once all this is acomplished, you've changed and youre out of the shower, you just have to wait for tomorrow.

2. The Smell

I can't complain about this for most of New Wine, but you get some areas which smells like the middle of a cattle sewage system, it's especially bad when the smell comes around in the middle of your campsite.

3. Waking Up

Sleeping is surprisingly pleasant, I generally slept through the entire night and it was pretty comfortable for camping. But when it's 8 O'clock and you hear someone shouting "Hey! Who wants to wake up Logan with me?" You then want to rush out of bed feeling tired and grumpy

4. The Coach Journey Back

The coach journey back was alright in the sense that I was relaxing whilst listening to music, however, then you hear a noise so high it puts you off whatever you listen to. You look at the T.V to find out that someone had the clever idea of playing Alvin and the Chipmunks. I tried to ignore it and turned the music up louder. After a while, I noticed that it had finished, but my victory didn't last very long, as I noticed someone had the clever idea of bringing the second one.

But enough with the negative which in no way reflect the week, onto the things I will definitely miss about New Wine! :

1. The Presence of God

Now, of course God is always with us, he isn't just at New Wine. But what's so great about New Wine is you feel him so much more there. With morning and evening celebration consisting of a 2 hour long worship and talk each, it's hard not to notice him working. Then there is the community consisting of pretty much 100% Christian, if you see people praying in the street, you don't really give them a second thought or look. There is also the contant playing worship music in the background from the practising bands which completely adds to the atmosphere.

2. Friends

Second only to God, friends is a vital part of New Wine. I am certainly going to miss waking up and having breakfast with about 20 of my friends. And it is brilliant being able to just pop into town with friends pretty much any time you want. And the bonding is incredible, as you can imagine, spend a week with anyone and you get to know them pretty well, I got to know people that I'd only really heard of before.

3. The All Nighter

After our entire youth group hd run through New Wine in our boxers and we'd got back, I was completely awake and starting to get bored. So i decided to move into Mike and Simons tent, along with Sof. We then decided that we would stay up all night, as it turned out, this was a genius idea. We stayed up and talked for about 6 hours, which was a lot more fun than it might sound, and we all really bonded, which was great.

4. The Milkshakes

Every day, we would get a different chocolate-flavoured milkshake, they are absolutely delicious, and the best £3 that I'd spend each day.

There are many other things that I'll miss aswell, but I've already spent over half an hour on this!