Changes

Hello! We are not sure how many people actually read this. It seems like it isn't so many... Recently, facebook has become the big thing which everyone spends their time and energy on. CHYP has decided to do that aswell. From now on, all the blogs will be put up on the notes section on our facebook acount. This blog will sease to exist. No worries though.. Just go to facebook and search for the name chyp prog. Become a friend, and you will have access to CHYPs blog.

Rewarding times

09.02.09 – 22.02.09

Time goes by fast when you are having fun. We decided to write the blog every second week because time simply goes too fast.

The snow went away and revealed the earth which is covered with leaves from the autumn last year. Now we almost have spring here. The birds are chirping and flowers are coming out. The wildlife awakens from its slumber and surrounds Cleeve House with beauty.

These past weeks CHYP has been doing three main projects:

•The first one is to restore Room 7, and that work is coming to an end now.

•The second is digging a trench in front of the house to avoid floods. It is taking a lot of time and effort, but it will save us energy since we won’t have to clear up after muddy, messy floods anymore. During that time, we all got the opportunity to use the digger, which was a new experience for us.

•Our third main focus has been to repaint the tearoom Counter. Francis Stacey, who has a lot of knowledge on wood graining, is our teacher throughout the team project. To repaint furniture, one has to go through a process in order to reach the final look. We started by sanding it down, and then painted a couple of undercoats plus painting another color on top of that. You have to do it several times if you want to have it done “properly”, as Francis would say. The finishing wood graining stage will be done by Francis. But that too has to be done in stages.

Apart from those projects, there has been a great deal of other activities going on;

Cleeve House is having a Wedding Fayre soon, so Anna called a bunch of companies and did some advertising to prepare for that.

Philip and Petra Hill came over to give an inspiring and informative testimony about their experiences with the Spirit World. Their talk became the topic of CHYPs conversations for the rest of the week.

On the weekend, Cleeve House hosted a game night for the regional bc brothers. Daniel Johnson and CHYP arranged the activity. The younger brothers seemed to enjoy their time together. If time allows, we plan to make it into an ongoing thing to unite the youthful bcs of this region.

CHYP also had the privilege of having Zack’s twin brother, Zeke, come over from New Jersey for a week. Two days earlier the Pobanz brothers both turned 18 years old, and can now officially be called “Men”. Zeke came here to see what CHYP is all about, as he is considering joining later this year. Zeke also helped us out with the three main projects, and did a personal project of making wood framed signs to go around the house.

Last but not least, CHYP had an outing day in London. Jonathan van Der Stok took us Sightseeing and drove them around to places such as China Town, Covet Garden and a Science Museum. We also drove past Big Ben, The London Eye, Trafalgar Square and Stonehenge. It was truly and overwhelming and exciting experience for us (Sam, Zack, Zeke and Anna.) As we were driven home, and had said goodbye to Zeke in Lancaster Gate, we couldn’t help but sleep. It had been two intensive weeks, and we are looking forward to the next ones ahead.

And Winter Came

02.02.09 – 08.02.09

Huh, another week has ended and happily some progresses have been made. First of all, Anna has finally created a blog and a facebook account in order to update others about the latest CHYP news. Another progress of the CHYP team was to finish the personal project proposals. Now the CHYP team is free to implement their personal projects which are carried out during the creative time:

Samuel - - > clearing the forest trail,

Zack - -> making a vegetable garden,

Anna - - > redecorate the staff living area.

Another big progress was completing the long lasted project of renovating room 7. The floor and walls a basically ready for use and need just some small improvements.

As for the formal activities Cleeve House had 2 events during the past week. One was a conference held by the Community safety and the second a 3-day get together. All went well without problems. During “house time” Zack and Samuel continued helping Uncle Carlo in e.g. cleaning radiators and moving furniture. Anna worked with Auntie Barbara in maintaining the house. Besides work, the CHYP team has also had a couple of free nights. In one of them CHYP went to see the movie Valkyrie with Uncle Andy Johnson and his son, Daniel. Last but not least, the regional Sunday Service was held here in which Simon Cooper gave a sermon. After the Service, there was also a Blessed Couples seminar. It was all in all a successful event. That is all for now! See you next time!

Getting into it

24.01.09 – 01.02.09

The past week has been a buoyant one. Besides doing the regular work, fixing and maintaining the house, the CHYP team experienced its first conferences. The county council, the Wiltshire police and another group held successful meetings and were content with the arrangements made by the staff. During the conferences Auntie Barbara and Samuel spent most of the time in the kitchen preparing food while Anna was in charge of the coffee table.

On days when there are no events we have a daily Schedule.

The daily schedule looks like this:

– 6.00 HDH

– Breakfast

– 8.00 ”House time” (work)

– 13.00 Lunch

– Creative time (free time/personal projects)

– 19.00 Dinner

– 20.00 Evening program/ Free Night

During “house time” the CHYP team works together with Auntie Barbara and Uncle Carlo organizing, fixing and improving the house. Last week Samuel and Zack did things like cutting and carrying wood, cleaning radiators, sanding and varnishing room 7. Anna prepared rooms for guests, cleaned and organized the laundry room, maintained the house and worked in the office.

After a lively week we celebrated Auntie Barbara’s birthday, watched the Blessing broadcast, and visited the Masters. Henry Master designed True Father’s early boats.

It was a week full of happenings and blessings.

Let it begin

12.01.09 - 23.01.09
As the earth starts its yearly circle around the sun, a new program is born in Great Britain, Cleeve House. It is the year 2009, January and the air is filled with a fresh, youthful spirit.

Cleeve House Youth Program, also known as CHYP, has three participants so far: Samuel representing Finland, Zack from America and Anna from Sweden. CHYP is currently lead by Jonathan van Der Stok and Mr. and Mrs. Zaccarelli.

The CHYP pioneers started their journey with a Kick off workshop, and were informed about necessary things concerning Cleeve House. During this time they also set up goals and plans for the program.
Then Sam, Zack and Anna started to do different projects around the house, such as Window Cleaning, Wood Cutting and Organizing the shed and other rooms. Samuel decided to refurbish his desk and managed thereby to complete a part of his personal project. Anna did some proper cleaning with Mrs. Zaccarelli. Zack and Mr. Zaccarelli started off a long term project on restoring and fixing Bed and Breakfast Room number 7. They are still working on it and plan to make it into the best room so far.

The first two weeks was a time of settling down and getting used to English culture, weather and Cleeve House in general for the CHYP team.
This is just the beginning..and there is more to come.