Preparation Time

Thud! I look over and see one of our male stilt walkers completely laid out on the floor. Evidently the makeshift walls for the girls sleeping area are not very stable. And when you have 4 extra feet of fake legs strapped to yours, it's a long ways to fall. This is only part of the madness. Cardboard and plastered  pieces of armor lay along the tables waiting for a template to paint on fake abs or fake shoulder blades. Soon to come is the neon spray paint that will make us stand out even more. Our warrior costumes are coming together. All the sewing has been finished. Marta slaves away at the iron, making sure there are no wrinkles in the costumes so we can properly decorate them. There's a chainsaw running in the background, cutting apart pallets for who knows what! Johanna and Matias practice tango so that we can perform in the streets and draw a crowd.
It's starting to come together. Everything my internship has been about, all the preparation for the Arise All Nations outreach and it is already over. Now we are in full swing prep for the carnival. People pop into the church as they see the stilt walkers and hear the percussionists practice our war march. Josue is teaching about 10 people a routine that we will all follow in our procession around Notting Hill. Stilt walkers, warriors, puppets 15 ft tall, marchers- all accompanied by a strong drum line, a call to the nations, a declaration of war. We are sure to draw a lot of attention.
This carnival is said to be second largest to Rio's Carnival. It's origins are in the race riots that were held just around the corner at our very own Ladbroke Grove tube station in August of 1958. The carnival came the year after the riots as the "unofficial reply" to the riots. It has been growing ever since. Now people come ever year at the end of August, gets themselves smashed, wasted, stoned out of their minds, and however else you say "completely removed from reality". The shops around board up, the churches close, no one can drive through, and you can barely even walk through on carnival days.
And yet here we are. We have come from all over the world to shine God's light in this place. And we know that light shines brightest in the darkness. This carnival, this whole area, has a serious darkness. People think us crazy, they ask us why we would come to such a difficult area, and our answer is always "Because that's where God is needed the most." When there is only darkness, it gives God the biggest opportunity to do the craziest miracles. And when we pray, God moves.
It doesn't look very glamorous, sleeping on the floor of the church, showering only every few days, getting 4 or 5 hours of sleep, depending on how lucky you are, and working our butts off during the day. But we have the best time of it. What more could I ask for? Working with my friends, my family, to further the kingdom of our God in London. but really the impact is worldwide. All the things we do,  plant seeds. And we perform for an international audience. For His glory, so others may know the joy we have, and the grace we have been given, and the future we get to look forward to.