What is iFriends ?
iFriends (International Club) is a club that is based in Bristo Baptist Church. There is a mixture of Christians from Bristo and people who come to Edinburgh to study or to find a job. It is a sports club where people have a chance to enjoy some exercise, have a nice chat with people from different countries, learn about different cultures and share your own. In addition we have the chance to introduce people to Christ through our fellowship and giving a good example of Christianity.
A Short History
When I came to Bristo in the beginning of January 2009, “iFriends” did not exist. There was a badminton club which was run by David, Adam and other people from Bristo who played there on Mondays. At that time we no longer had many people after the summer.
We were thinking how to change this situation and finally found the solution! We started inviting people from “Home from Home” to play badminton with us. These people started coming every Monday and they invited their friends. When we became good friends we started going to the countryside together, celebrating each other’s birthdays and having goodbye parties as well as making international evenings. We had some traditional meals, music, photos and souvenirs.
One day we decided to change the name of our club because we didn’t play only badminton. At first we had very many different ideas. Then we decided that ‘iFriends’ was the most suitable name for us. Today we have a huge number of friends from different countries.
What we did over the past year
Over the past year we have had a good number of people who come to the club almost every Monday. As we progressed, we formed a team of interns, people from Bristo and international people from the club who do all the setting up, preparations and planning. Diego with other friends from the club started working on our own website, that we are trying to improve just now.
We play badminton, table tennis, pool and other games that are in the church building. We also had so much fun having a trip to Loch Lomond. “It Club” and “iFriends” had a walk in Holyrood Park which was also very enjoyable and exciting! On Saturdays (about once a month) we watch a film and that is a good opportunity for Christians who are not able to come on Mondays to have fellowship with people from the club.
We had four international evenings (Iranian, Russian, Indian and Scottish) that were organized by Bahareh, Tanya, Janu and Brian respectively. In these events we had an opportunity to learn something new from each others’ cultures. We also had Christmas and Easter parties that gave us a chance to share Bible stories and have much fun playing games and eating traditional food for these days!
Almost every Monday or every second Monday we end up having a birthday cake celebrating our iFriends’ birthdays. They were very touched by that even when they expected it! We also play some music and do some art and many other things that are interesting for everyone. Before the end of my internship we had a fishing trip which is going to be on the 5th of June 2010 (see separate article).
The fruit
Going to “iFriends” gives the chance for fellowship between people from the club and church people and everyone participating has become very good friends. We have also seen an increasing openness to Christ among our friends. They sometimes ask us to pray for them and often share their problems and happiness with us. Some of them even started going to church occasionally.
Future plans
I am planning to ask the church and “It club” about having a “Day of Art”. In my opinion, we have many people in our church who are very talented and I am sure that they have something they could amaze us with. I have not decided the date of this occasion yet, but it will be approximately at the end of June. Before I go back to Russia I would like to discuss the future of the club with its members.
Thanks
I am really thankful to God that I have had a chance to serve Him through this ministry. Many thanks to Jim Purves and Bristo Baptist Church deacons for inviting and supporting me here. Special thanks to the Purves family who became my Scottish family. Also thanks to the following: to the team of interns David, Agy, Pedro and David Purves (who helped a lot before he went to Oxford) for their hard work and help; to Brian Wilson who hardly ever missed Monday night (!); to Richard for his excellent work and Matt for helping us to organize some special events together with “It Club”. Finally thanks to people like Cheryl, Adam, Leszek, Lucy, Ivor, Bahareh, Mahboob, Diego, Sveta, Brian and Lena for coming regularly and many other people who became a big part of “iFriends”!!!
The way forward
Generally speaking I am really happy with everything we do in the international club. There may be small improvements to be made but in my opinion the only real issue is how to find new people who are going to organize everything after I go back to Russia. We also need to find somebody who can help Diego in working on the website.
Thanks
I am really thankful to God that I have had a chance to serve Him through this ministry. Many thanks to Jim Purves and Bristo Baptist Church deacons for inviting and supporting me here. Special thanks to the Purves family who became my Scottish family. Also thanks to the following: to the team of interns David, Agy, Pedro and David Purves (who helped a lot before he went to Oxford) for their hard work and help; to Brian Wilson who hardly ever missed Monday night (!); to Richard for his excellent work and Matt for helping us to organize some special events together with “It Club”. Finally thanks to people like Cheryl, Adam, Leszek, Lucy, Ivor, Bahareh, Mahboob, Diego, Sveta, Brian and Lena for coming regularly and many other people who became a big part of “iFriends”!!!
The way forward
Generally speaking I am really happy with everything we do in the international club. There may be small improvements to be made but in my opinion the only real issue is how to find new people who are going to organize everything after I go back to Russia. We also need to find somebody who can help Diego in working on the website.
Tanya Alexeeva
