The DBU Patriettes arrived in London, England, during January 2017, as part of the Dallas Baptist University Global Sports Mission Initiative program.  Below is a daily recap detailing the Patriettes' service in London.

DAY ONE BLOG – BRITTNI BEAN (DBU PATRIETTES HEAD COACH)
Hello from London!

It is about 10:00 p.m. here and we are all headed to bed after a long day. Our flight landed in London at 9:45 a.m. and we 'hit the ground running' upon our arrival so that we could adjust well to the time change. Thankfully, everything went very smoothly during our travels. Once we arrived to the hotel, we were able to walk around Kingston Upon Thames, and received a wonderful tour from DBU Alumni. She took us to a number of locations including Big Ben, the London Eye, and Westminster Abbey.

The girls are soaking in every moment and we are all very eager to begin serving in northern London in just a few days. For now, amidst the sight-seeing, we are praying for the Lord to give us all divine appointments, whether that is on the tube, at restaurants, or elsewhere. We asked our waiter at dinner tonight how we could be praying for him, and he seemed to be very thankful we asked. We also met a woman on the tube who seemed very blessed by the girls' intentionality and interest in her life. They are doing a wonderful job of making the most of every opportunity so thank you all so much for the prayers. Talk to you soon!
 
DAY TWO BLOG – ZACH BEAN (DIRECTOR OF UNIVERSITY HOUSING)
Hello all!
 
Today marked day two of our London visit! We have so enjoyed our time here. It was very cold and rainy most of the day, but it was still so enjoyable.
 
We started the day with breakfast in the hotel and given that we had a few hours of free time, we let the girls go shop around the area for souvenirs. Many of the girls came back with excitement about their conversations with the locals in the shops. It was great getting to see them have so much joy in doing that. For lunch, we decided to eat downtown in London. "Fish and Chips" seemed to be the meal of choice. After lunch, we went back by Big Ben and Westminster Abbey (this time during the daylight) and also to Buckingham Palace. I'm attaching a picture of the girls at the Palace. This was by far their favorite part of the day. Our next and final stop before dinner was the Victoria & Albert museum. After a few good exhibit tours and a tube ride back to Kingston upon Thames, we got dinner close to the hotel. I can tell that this experience is already creating lifelong memories for the girls. I can't wait until we arrive in Northern England tomorrow and begin our mission serving and ministering to the students in York and Middlesbrough.
 
Tomorrow will be filled with a lot of travel as we head to Northern England by train to meet our mission trip contacts and settle into the hostel. We will keep you all up to date about our day tomorrow, but for now we are turning in for bed. Thank you all for the prayers, please keep them coming!
 
DAY THREE BLOG – CHRIS HOLLOWAY (DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL MISSIONS)
Today has been wonderful for our team. We had an early morning in Kingston as we prepared to travel for several hours by train then tube then train again to reach the town of Osmotherly. The trains moved quickly, but our team moved quicker as we were able to traverse the train systems with 19 people with great ease. 

Upon arriving to Northern England, we were greeted by our 3 hosts who have planned a wonderful week of ministry for us. The team was ecstatic to see face to face who we have been skyping with for months. The team set our bags down and immediately was taken on a hike around the lake where our hostel is. Though the hike was dark, the landscape around was beautiful and we really appreciated the much needed fresh air after being in vehicles all day. We stopped by the lake during our hike and took time to pray for our week. We returned to our hostel to a wonderful dinner waiting for us. 

After a great time of fellowship together, we had a time of worship led by Natalie Rolland. Mike Taylor, director of Teeside Youth for Christ (YFC) told us his story about how he ended up living in England. It was such a blessing to hear his call at 49 as the Lord led he and his family here to share the gospel with those in England. Our team was challenged to take steps of obedience, even when the way doesn't seem clear. 
We have a lot ahead of us tomorrow so the team is currently resting. Everyone is in good health and the team has great unity. Please pray that the Lord will give us wisdom as we prepare to go to the churches and schools this week to share the gospel. England is a dark place spiritually, but we know the Lord is stronger. 
 
DAY FOUR BLOG – CHASE ROLLAND (DIRECTOR OF ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES)
Today started off by us splitting into two groups and attending traditional Anglican worship services. This was a new experience for most all of us but something that we all very much enjoyed. There were different parts of the service that stood out to different individuals, but one thing we all agreed on was the emphasis on prayer. There were so many times set aside to just stop and talk to our great Jesus. The one thing we didn't like about the service (but it kept us all awake) is that it was about 40 degrees in the sanctuary. 

For lunch we drove to Whitby (home of Dracula, Captain James Cook, and fish and chips), which is one of the most beautiful places we have seen, and the girls had a blast getting to look around and take some amazing pictures. 

Our day ended in York, uwhere we attended church at The Belfrey. This was an experience we will never forget. We joined in amazing worship with a multigenerational group that is on fire for The Lord. It is one thing to see a group of believers praising Jesus in America, where Christianity is "the cool thing" or where we aren't ridiculed for our belief, but in this country, where only 3% of the population proclaims to know Jesus and they are ridiculed for that proclamation, it is so refreshing and uplifting to see how God is moving in those believers lives. 

Last but not least, one of the teams got to meet up with Logan Thompson (see attached picture) and the second team will see him tomorrow. What a testament to what God is doing through DBU. The Patriettes traveled all the way to England and get to serve alongside one of DBU's recent graduates who is now serving here on a daily basis. The girls loved the entire day, grew as a team, truly saw how Jesus is working in England, and they are ecstatic about starting their work in the schools tomorrow. 

DAY FIVE BLOG – BRITTNI BEAN (DBU PATRIETTES HEAD COACH)
Hello everyone!

I am so excited to recap our day for you all. Some of you already know this, but half of our team is serving in one school and the other half in another, both in different towns. Only one group started serving in their school today, so most of the recap will be about their experience. The other group was able to do a lot of prep work for their service beginning tomorrow and they are very eager to meet the students.

The team that served today went to Kings Academy, a public school in Teeside that has a Christian ethos. The girls had an incredible experience getting to teach dance classes and build relationships with students ages 11-18. The girls began each class by playing an ice breaker game. After that they would teach the students a fun dance, and then they split the student into small groups to chat with them. With it being the first day, we didn't expect a whole lot of deep conversations right away, but rather just typical conversation about life in America vs. England, etc. However, the Holy Spirit definitely guided the girls in their conversations during small group time and they were able to share the gospel with several students who were interested! At one point I watched four of our girls each share their testimony with some eighth grade girls who were very touched. I overheard these young girls respond and it was incredibly evident that they desire to learn more about the hope we have in Christ. Please pray for Abbie and Nadia, the two girls that were extremely interested, but just fearful of what their families might think. 

On the other hand, Zach and I happened to sit next to an 8th grade boy who claimed to be an atheist. He was extremely knowledgeable about the Bible, and he had some very difficult questions he had obviously thought through at some point in his life. We were amazed at how bright he was. He even understood and explained the gospel to us, but it had absolutely no significance to him. It seemed to be just another pocket of knowledge to have about "another world religion" to him. Zach did a great job talking with him and showing him love more than anything. We plan to really get to know him more throughout the week, but please pray for Cayan (like Cayenne pepper) so that He can experience Jesus!

One last highlight I will give you is about Brooke Sands, a veteran on the team. She really took interest in a young boy named a Brandon that apparently never talks to anyone, not even the teacher. Brooke talked with Brandon the entire class period, and she said she would have never known that. After the class ended, the teacher had tears in her eyes and explained to Brooke that she had never seen him interact with anyone like that. Brooke was so thankful to be used by God like this and she is looking forward to seeing him throughout the week. Please pray that God will continue to use Brooke to point Brandon to Christ.

Tomorrow both teams will be serving in their schools all day. Both schools start every day off with an assembly. On some days it is the entire student body that gathers, and on other days it is only several grades that attend. This time is very brief but it includes a short message from the Bible and information they might need to know regarding school (similar to DBU chapel services). The schools have asked our girls to deliver a message at each assembly for the rest of the week, so we have a different girl sharing every day of the week at both schools. I am amazed at their willingness to do things like this that are out of their comfort zone. I didn't expect them to be so quick to volunteer for things like this but they have been awesome! I know they are all so scared to speak in front of 600+ students, so please pray for them, but I believe God is going to use them use them in mighty ways. 

Thank you guys so much for the prayers, please keep them coming! 
 
DAY SIX BLOG – ZACH BEAN (DIRECTOR OF UNIVERSITY HOUSING)
Good Evening!
 
As we have stated in previous emails, the girls have split up into two teams (York and Teeside) and traveled to different schools throughout this week of ministry. Chris Holloway and Chase Rolland lead York. Brittni Bean and I lead Teeside.  So that you can have an idea of what both teams are up to, I have included write ups about both groups' experiences.
 
Teeside – From Zach Bean
The Teeside team woke up early and hit the ground running as we traveled back to King's Academy for another day of ministry. Alexis Hazlemyer shared a devotional at today's student assembly to over +600 students. Alexis is a freshman at DBU and has incredible leadership ability. She shared from Mark 1:40-45 about Jesus healing the leper of his disease. The students seemed to be attentive as she explained that Jesus' hand is always within our reach and that he can heal us of all our uncleanliness. She did an amazing job.
 
After assembly, we went to two classroom sessions where the girls performed a "No Longer Slaves" routine for the students. This was a worship song from their Christmas Show back in December. The dance was a great lead into Jesus' ability to free us from our sins and that apart from him we are unable to break free with our own strength. Four of the girls shared testimonies and from there they broke out into small groups for further discussion and relationship building. It has been so touching to see the intentionality of this team as they minster to mostly shy and uninterested teenagers. There were great conversations again during this time, and the teachers continued to affirm us in each session saying "Your lesson was absolutely incredible!" or "I can't believe you got the students to participate like that!" This is truly a blessing and testament of the Lord.  
 
From King's Academy we ventured to Lordstone, which was a great location to look over Middlesbrough. Mike, our group leader, calls it the Valley of Dry Bones in reference to the Ezekiel passage. He hopes and prays that this land will one day have God-breathed life back into the people. He has been an incredible leader for our trip. Lastly, we went to café church in the middle of Yarm (which by the way has an amazing dish called Parmo that's famous throughout Middlesbrough. Not healthy in the least, but amazing.). Café church is literally a church service in a coffee shop. Such a creative and effective way to reach a population that has no desire to step inside a church!
 
York – From Chris Holloway
Today was a full day for the York team. We started early in the morning in Manor school. Bria Roberts, co-captain of the Patriettes, shared with the students about how the Lord transformed her life through the gospel in a morning assembly. She did a wonderful job communicating gospel truths in an environment that is hard to do this effectively.
 
After our assembly, the ladies taught dance classes to various students. The students love this and this opened up wonderful conversations for getting to know the students and the gospel. The students of Manor really enjoyed having the Patriettes there and hearing their stories. After having lunch with the students, we started our next adventure to Vale of York. This is a new school of ministry for UK-USA ministry, and it is an honor to help pave the way for future ministry. Vale is different than Manor in that many students are perceived as problem students and are not used to receiving attention and value. The Patriettes changed all of this with their intentionality towards the students in the dance classes. The students are already looking forward to return of the Patriettes later this week.
 
We took a break and went to the home of our host for the week, Cory Butler. He is the former youth pastor at the Heights Baptist Church, and he has been incredible. He, his wife Meredith, and their two children were gracious to open their home for rest and dinner. It was such a great time to reflect on the day and relax.
 
The York team finished the day with the Belfry youth group. This is one of the churches that we visited on Sunday. We had a great time of games, testimonies, and worship. The youth group and leaders prayed over the DBU team before we left. It was so humbling to be a part of this love.
 
The teams are doing really well and in their words "each day is getting better and better." Everyone is in good health. Please pray for us as the days get longer. We only have a limited amount of opportunities and we want to be found faithful.

DAY SEVEN BLOG – CHRIS HOLLOWAY & CHASE ROLLAND
Teeside (Chris Holloway)
 The Teeside team returned to the King's Academy this morning to continue dance class and Religious Education classes. As rumors have spread about a dance team from Texas are confirmed, the kids here are more excited to interact with the girls. This morning, Camille Funk, freshman Patriette, shared with the students about how Jesus healed a leper in the book of Mark. The students were really quiet and attentive. Afterwards, one of the students came up to one of our Patriettes and said, "I've been to many assemblies, but I really liked Millie. I could relate and understand her." Praise God for this one connection known and the many connections unknown.
 
The highlight of our time at the school was our religious education classes. We had the opportunity to split into two classrooms and talk to 7th graders about creation, the fall, Adam and Eve, David, and sacrifices. As you can see, we were across the board on topics, but the students did such a wonderful job. Never have I been in an environment where children asked such tough questions about faith. The class time flew by and the girls did such a wonderful job answering questions. We ended the day at King's Academy with two drama classes that gave the team an opportunity to continue to build relationships with these wonderful students. 
 
The team was back in action pretty quickly after leaving the school. They went to work in a church with an after school community. Many of these kids have a rough home life, and this is a warm place for them to be loved on. Alexis Hazelmyer and Mackenzie Lohnes shared their testimonies. Of course, there was a lot of dancing. This is a group of students that Logan Thomson, DBU alumni, works with often, and it was an extra blessing to be able to serve with him today. The Director of the program told me "your group coming today is what keeps me going. I'm by myself in this ministry and the help you and other groups provide helps to give me hope." 
 
The team is getting ready to have a devo and rest for the night as they prepare for their last day in the school. I am so proud of their team. The kids love our team and they are truly making a different in each other's lives. 
 
Please pray as the King's Academy team goes on their last day of ministry tomorrow. Pray for strength, wisdom, and that God would receive all the glory! 
 
York Team (Chase Rolland) 
 The York team had yet another amazing day. We started off in Manor school where Kenzie Thacker gave her testimony in the assembly. We all thought she did a great job but didn't realize the impact it had on students lives until later in the day. When we were in a dance class later that day three students came and found her just to spend time with her. Before those students left they told her that they related to her story and they were amazed how God changed her life and took care of her. 
 
Later in the day Bria Roberts had a girl pull her to the side and share some things she had been scared about and struggling with recently. The young girl told Bria that she had never told anyone these things but for whatever reason, she really wanted to tell Bria. The Lord really went before us today to prepare the hearts of these students!
 
These are just small instances of the way these kids are engaging with the whole team here. The first couple days were very fruitful but they were filled with more small talk and getting to know the kids. It is amazing to see the growth in all these girls in just a couple days. They are jumping into conversation about the gospel and the way Jesus has changed their lives. The kids are opening up and asking deep questions and really wanting to learn. It is so evident that seeds are being planted in so many lives. Please pray that this will continue the next couple days. It has been a blessing to see these seeds being planted but it has also been very heart breaking to see how few of these kids know anything about our great God. Most of what they do know is either very skewed or just as if they learned it for a history class. The ones that do believe there is a God think having a relationship with him is all works based. This has led to great conversation but we have to pray their eyes will be opened to the truth.
 
We finished the night off at John Rhoade's house. We had dinner, games, and a time to share testimonies to a youth group located in the Yorkshire area. Four of the Patriettes (Maddie Anderson, Madi Terry, Madison Craver, and Abby Etheredge) shared their testimony with great courage and conviction. This day was filled with guidance and opportunities from The Lord and we are looking forward to the final two days.
 
DAY EIGHT BLOG – MACKENZIE LOHNES & CHASE ROLLAND
Teeside Team (Mackenzie Lohnes)
Today was our teams final day at Kings Academy in Teeside. It was bittersweet because we've gotten quite attached to the kids, teachers, and the school in general. In the morning we attended two Religious Education classes. One was with the year eights and the other with the year nines. In each class the team split into small groups which gave the classes a chance to ask us about Christianity, our personal faith, and even America. It was awesome to hear from each of the kids and share our stories. They had so many questions and it was absolutely incredible to see their faces light up when things began to make sense to them.

After the two RE classes and a fun lunch with the older students the team went to a drama class where we performed our dance to the song "No Longer Slaves." We then worked with the kids in small groups to come up with their interpretation of the song as well as our choreography. It was so cool to see the unique connections they were making between the song and the dances they made up. After the kids performed we just sat down and chatted with them. The kids were really interested in hearing what we had to say which made it really easy to pour into them.

For our last class periods the team split in half. Half of the team went to a long period dance class with the year elevens, which I heard went extremely well! The other half of them team, including me, went to two short periods of drama with year sevens. During these two periods we played some games and showed a couple of our dances to get the kid's attention, because they are younger and have a shorter attention span. After that we split up into small groups and just talked with them. The year sevens are especially curious about everything and asked so many good questions.

All in all today was a fantastic conclusion to our week at the academy. This week has given us the amazing chance to love on and pour into these incredible kids. It is sad to go but we are leaving with the confidence that the team has planted seeds and opened doors for even more opportunities in the future.

York Team (Chase Rolland)
The last day of service for the York team was a great success. Maddie Anderson gave her testimony in the assembly and the students were definitely attentive. This is partly because they love to here us talk but even more so because they relate to everyone of these girl's stories in some way.

The last few classes we were able to serve in were a definite success. There was so much talk about the gospel and many Bible stories. The kids have gotten more open and interested every day and they have loved every minute with the team. The below paragraph is a perspective from Kenzie Thacker just to show how the girls loved their time with the students:

" I actually bonded with a small group of girls that brought me to tears when I left them! The group that we got to be with second was easily the highlight of my day. The girls walked in and I migrated right to a group of girls that I just loved! I got to sit down with them and tell them my story and just poured into them. I loved watching their reactions to my story and when I shared the stories and the miracles of Jesus they were shocked that it actually happened. They had heard them but they didn't know that we were actually real and happened. It was incredible. We came into this trip wanting to introduce Jesus to these kids and bless them, when in reality, they have blessed me way more in multiple different ways. I'm so ready to come back!"

The day ended with a devotional from Logan Thompson, worship lead by Natalie and Zach, and a time of encouragement for all the team. This was truly a special time. Brittni did a great job of dividing up the time so that it didn't last all night (because they could definitely go on all night talking about this great week and their teammates). One of the greatest things at this time was to hear the encouragement given to our entire team from Josh Wilson. I say this because he really appreciated and loved the way the girls handled this whole week. UK-USA has had teams that made the week difficult in the past but the Patriettes were stars all week. The principles, teachers, and leaders in the school were all so impressed and happy to have them here this week.

Not much more that I can say other than that this trip has been amazing and the Patriettes are truly a special group. We look forward to our final day in London.
 
DAY NINE BLOG – BRITTNI BEAN (DBU PATRIETTES HEAD COACH)
Hello all,

Friday was a wonderful day for us all to celebrate what God did this past week. We leave truly amazed at how He used us, but also how He changed us this this week. I can't tell you how many one on one conversations I have had with my girls about how this trip was more than they could have asked for or imagined. I feel the same way. I was brought to tears many times this week about all the God did in me, the girls, and in the people we interacted with. He is so so good. It was so nice to experience another culture, work through very challenging questions about our faith, and to soak in the unity the Lord has given our team.

To our surprise, we woke up on Friday and the ground was covered in snow. It was so freshly fallen and dry that it didn't affect our travels too terribly. We headed straight to one of the schools we were at all week so that Amanda Satchell, a freshman from Frisco, TX, could share her testimony to one last group of students. She did an incredible job of articulating the gospel to them and we were all so proud. It was so great that the whole team could be there together for this. We then did some last minute shopping and sight seeing in the town called York. This town has many old Roman walls from about 70AD and it was amazing to learn about the history behind some of the structures we were seeing. We had a last minute encouragement from one of our leaders, Cory Butler, before heading to the train station inside of a really old church. This happened to be the same church where we kicked off our mission trip on Sunday night so it was neat to end our trip where we started it together!

When we arrived to London we quickly dropped our bags off at the hotel and booked it over to the theater. We were able to see Wicked as a team and to be honest some of the girls cried tears of joy when they found out! They were ecstatic about it. It was honestly the perfect way to end the trip. I am attaching a picture we took after the show ended.

Thank you all for the prayers and encouragement during our trip. We are so blessed to have experienced all that we did and we don't take it lightly.