Friends of LPO
This week's prayer focus:
LPOFor the planning of volunteer teams which will be vital in the preparation of the site for 2010 guests. Especially for our friend David Britton who is phoning round to assess availability and put all the "names into frames".
SHH
For more bookings, especially around this period when the early booking deadline ends. For effective marketing activity to support our Customer Service team.
PROGRAMME
We're sorting out worship leaders and pastoral team so pray that we invite the right people who will fit in well and serve our guests in the best possible way.
Scroll down for Prayer weekend report
The best people to share with others the unique Le Pas Opton (LPO) experience, are people who’ve been here themselves. Over the years we’ve worked with many fantastic people who’ve committed time and much more to doing just this. This began informally with guests simply telling their friends and over time we have developed a resource programme to support and thank those who feel that spreading the word about a Spring Harvest Holiday is important to them.Relationships are at the heart of Spring Harvest Holidays. Many friendships have been made here, both on holiday or indeed as part of the work that we do.
Our friends help us in many ways. Here are a couple of ways that you can become involved
Ambassadors
At the heart of Spring Harvest Holidays is the Le Pas Opton community. A real community,. bound by the spirit, that reaches out from the time spent at the park, to the time spent back home. At the very core of this community is a group of individuals who have a real passion for LPO and the transforming holidays that people have there. The 'Friends of LPO' have grown over time and range from regular guests, to our hard-working volunteers - each have a passion to see more people enjoy the unique experience of a holiday at LPO.Our 'Friends' have gone the extra mile in many different ways to help promote Spring Harvest Holidays. These have included giving out brochures to friends, giving a presentation to their local church, manning a Spring Harvest Holidays exhibition stand or organising a group visit to LPO.
We all get excited about how God moves in our lives when we give Him the space to do so - and on holiday, away from the distractions of our ever-busy lives - is one of the best opportunities to do that. Letting other people know about this opportunity and the fun times to be had is a real privilege.
This year we're more formally recognising these individuals as 'Spring Harvest Holidays Ambassadors' , with a scheme that ensures they are well resourced and thanked for their efforts. If you have the same interest and passion as these great people, then please get in touch to find out more.
To find out how you can help, email Jim Long, our 'Ambassador's Ambassador' at jim.long@springharvestholidays.com or call our Customer Service Team on +44 (0) 1825 748318
Volunteers
Each spring an intrepid team of volunteers travels from the UK for an "activity holiday" to help with various tasks including:- montage (putting up and equipping tents)
- planting flower beds and hanging baskets
- minor building and decorating works
- cleaning and de-winterising of mobile homes
- a host of other jobs needed at the start of the season
The core montage team come for three weeks or more and focus on tents and inventory. The work is quite physical and takes place weekdays for around seven hours a day. The core montage team receive expenses as a contribution towards their petrol and subsistence.
Other tasks are fulfilled by an ad hoc team who usually come for a shorter period. Like the core montage team, they stay in mobile homes on site and enjoy evenings and weekends in the park and the region.
The team dynamics are fantastic. Some of our core team have been with us since the first season. The day starts with prayer and a briefing, then it's down to work. Evenings are light and usually quite warm, so barbecues, meals together and shared activities are part of the fun.
We need people who are physically fit, have their own transport, are practically minded and organised. If you'd like to know more, email andy.heald@springharvestholidays.com
Prayer weekend report Dec 12 and 13 2009
First of all thank you to the friends of LPO across the UK and France who have joined us in prayer this weekend.
Steve May-Miller travelled from the UK with work colleague Andrew Paviour and long time LPO volunteer and team member Jen Rumsey, meeting up at LPO with Chris and Laura. Saturday afternoon saw two sessions of prayer, praise and spiritual warfare around the site. We also joined local English and French speaking Christians in St Gilles for a bilingual service of Christmas carols and readings. It was great to see Elisabeth, one of our reception team from 2007, playing the keyboard for this gathering, which was followed by du vin and des mince pies. Mince pies are an unknown commodity in France, it seems.
That evening we shared a meal in La Moisson with guests at Roger and Beri Fray's Joie de Vie Advent retreat, some of whom joined our prayer sessions throughout the weekend. Sunday morning started with a very cold prayer walk to all corners of the site after which we defrosted ourselves with the retreat guests in Le Printemps. There followed a wonderful worship session together and a chance to debrief about the prayer before lunch.
On Sunday afternoon we set out one more time to hit the areas we had missed. This weekend we have prayed in the office, reception, swimming pool area, main entrance, pool office, Sticky Fingers area, bar area, workshop, accommodation, sani jaune, play areas, all-weather sports, by the river, marquee and staff village. We've also prayed for guests, team (past and future), local contacts, all individual age groups and more.
We have a sense that we've dealt with strongholds and swept the place clean, ready for a fresh start (aided by a prayer broom!). The guiding verses from Ephesians 6 and about binding on earth and in heaven were relevant. We've also heard words about building good walls, tearing down bad ones, about angels guarding the entrance, about a challenge to ask our 2010 volunteers to pray individually for every single emplacement and more.
If you want to stay in touch with prayer needs and answers to prayer, watch the website as we'll be doing weekly updates from now on. And if you would like to join our 2010 volunteer work and prayer teams, give us a call or drop an email to the office.
