Stranton Sponsored Abseil
15/06/2009
In 2007 the youth group at All Saints, Stranton in Hartlepool, organised a trip to Moldova with the help of a charity called Urban Saints. The purpose of the visit was to help serve a small community there by running children's clubs and renovating a house. Since then there has been a missionary, Sharon Easton, living there. She has bought an old building and is in the process of turning it into a community centre, particularly for women to use and she is now to reach out to the young men too.
So, Stranton Youth Worker, Peter Hart, is working with the young people and planning to take a group out to Moldova again next summer for 2 weeks. They would be helping Sharon Easton continue to renovate the community centre. And they have embarked on a series of fund-raising events, one of which was the sponsored abseil from the tower of Stranton Church.
"We need to raise about £800 per person," said Peter, "and at the moment there are about 8 people interested, including two who went last time and are currently at University."
"After our last trip we found no one had come home without being changed," Peter continued. "For a couple of the young people, the abject poverty in a supposedly 'European' country was actually quite hard to bare. And for most of us it just made us realise how much we waste and how much we take for granted. Several parents have mentioned how the 'child' we brought back is completely different. It is an incredible way to put faith into action, and there are so many opportunities for our young people to put their faith in God in ways that cannot be described, no matter how many Sunday evening Bible studies we do."
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