End of Year Update
December Newsletter!
Welcome back family!
Hey everyone! Welcome to my last Newsletter of the year!
If you’re new or missed the last Newsletter, I am back in England doing a School of Biblical Studies through YWAM in order to grow deeper in my understanding of scripture and to form a deeper foundation in Christ before I continue on in missions. I have a heart to keep doing outreaches and sharing the Word of God with people but I want to do it right and so this school has been such a blessing so far, helping me to know what I am talking about and to understand scripture in the way that it was intended to be understood. For the last week or so I have been back home with my family and my friend Chloe celebrating Christmas, and I really want to show and share a little recap of the last three months of the school and the last week of being with my family!
The last few months have been so much fun! I love living in community, God really made me someone who gets joy from being around other people. I have made so many amazing friends, gotten up to shenanigans, had some amazing interactive classes, watched people get way too into Volleyball, done outreach, and had base Christmas dinner… Overall it has been an amazing three months even despite the overwhelming cold at times and the brief bouts of being sick.
If you’re wondering what my school recap is, I can tell you some fun statistics! We have studied 22 books in the New Testament; studied for over 200hrs outside of class time; I have written over 180,000 words in assignments, research, and notes; drawn four maps based on Acts; written a timeline spanning 100 years of historical information; and over the course of term 1, I drank 404 cups of tea. It’s definitely been a packed few months! But despite the business and the late nights, I have enjoyed the opportunity to be a part of this school so so much and have grown so much already. Thank you, thank you, thank you, to everyone who has prayed and donated to get me here, to everyone who has had a hand in me coming to Christ and becoming part of YWAM, who has helped me get through the tough patches this year and every year.
I have also been beyond privileged to get to come home for the holidays where I know that some of the international students haven’t been able to and so for that I am so grateful to God for calling me to do a school so close to home. There is really nothing more comforting than curling up in your mothers bed and goodness knows I have been doing that! For the first time since moving to the UK we were able to host a big Christmas having 6 guests join our 7 man unit for a nice full house on Christmas day, which has truly been one of my biggest highlights of the season! We’ve had time to visit family friends, explore the new village we’ve just moved to, visit the local churches, and just be together which has been so so needed.
So what now?
Now I am hoping to continue on with this bible school! Next term we start on the Old Testament, working through the books of the law and wisdom literature, and then in Term 3 we go onto studying the prophets! What I have learnt has been so invaluable thus far and I can only imagine that not only will it get more busy but I will keep learning more and more.
Prayer Requests
Lastly as I wrap up, if you have any capacity to partner with me in prayer for the following things:
That God will give me continuous energy to keep learning and growing
That there will be financial provision for the international students who are still praying for their finances
For the new DTS joining in January, that they will come with ready hearts
That I will be able to finish fundraising my remaining term fees.
If you want to partner with me in anyway please stand with me in prayer, or if you feel so led I am always grateful for donations! I have about £900 out of £2600 thanks to the donations of some lovely people, leaving me around £1700 short for my fees next term! God is so Good in how He has been providing for me in this season where I don’t have the time to work. I am in need of the remining amount by the 11th of January so if the Lord puts it on your Spirit to donate I would be so grateful.
Feel free to donate into my PayPal account here:
all donations go straight to my school fees or any living expenses like washing my clothes, buying toothpaste, etc.
Or if you want, you can donate on the school website if you’d rather go straight through them!
Just put it down as lecture fees and pop in ‘Caeli Thomas SBS 2024’ as the reference and it’ll go through!!
Thank you for reading!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING. I hope I get to hear from all of you and get some updates on your lives! If I haven’t reached out to you recently just know that the Christmas season is super hectic but please feel free to message me, or send me an email and I can give you a call because I’d love to hear how you are and what is coming up for you in your life so I can partner with you in prayer!! I love and appreciate you guys all so much.
Much love family
Caeli <3