Commission, home and back again!

Wow! I've got a big update to write! Where do I start?! Well I guess I'll start with commissioning! It was a great day with great worship, a great talk and of course great company! Thanks to my parents, the Kenyons and Brenda and Denis for coming to support me! It was great seeing all my YFC friends again too! However its amazing we even found the venue! After leaving the house at around 8:20am I went to Julia's house to get her blazer which she had forgotten to take with her to London. Then at the station Simon had lost his railcard and tickets so I gave him mine and bought some more. When we arrived in Birmingham we set off for the BCC but as we did, I was asked to do an interview for some university students on student loans... Which of course I knew nothing about. Anyway after about half an hour wandering around Birmingham, Simon and I eventually made it to the church. We grouped together with our fellow YFC volunteers for a prayer time before moving into the lounge area for refreshments. Whilst I was stood with my friends talking, I didn't notice my mum stood right in front of me! Eventually I came to my senses and gave her and my dad a massive hug! Not long after that, I spotted Frances, Sophie and Eleanor Kenyon. We had a great chat catching up with each other and of course... The famous handshake!

We moved to the hall and worshipped for a while. Then we had a performance from Stance, YFC's street dance group, a talk from Gavin Calver, the YFC Director and then the new staff and volunteers at YFC were commissioned :)
After the service we spent some time saying goodbye before it was time to head back to Burton. Simon, Julia and I walked back to the station and after a temporary delay, (Julia forgot her purse) we headed home.

Just a few days later... Tuesday 30th October to be exact, I set off from Burton Station once again... This time headed for Burscough Bridge.

That's right! I traveled home! At around 7am I left my home in Anslow to take a train to Birmingham, where I changed to a train to Wigan North Western, after a quick coffee break and almost missing my train. That journey lasted about an hour and a half. I had half an hour to get my breakfast, a tasty cheese and mushroom toastie at the Station cafe. Then I walked over to the Wigan Wallgate station and set off on the final stretch of my journey. At about half 10, I finally arrived in Burscough. I paid a visit to Phil, who's birthday it was the next day. Then I headed home and just sat in my room for a while. After that, I headed over to Frances' house and I surprised her and her sisters! They didn't know I was home and they were so surprised to see me on their door step holding up a sign with my new address on it. I stayed there for an hour or so. We watched the DVD that Lauren made of my surprise meal and I shed a few tears. Then Frances and I formulated a plan to visit Nadia. Eventually we decided that Frances would knock on the door under the guise of borrowing a CD. We did this and Sonia answered. Frances asked if Nadia was in. Sonia told Frances to come in and Frances hovered awkwardly on the door step. I waited for my cue when Nad asked why Frances was here and I jumped out from the side. It was a great (late) birthday surprise. The next few days I spent relaxing at home, going out with mum and visiting people! Friday night we had a firework party at the kenyons and we took loads of great photos of our sparklers! After an amazing 5 days at home, I left after Strictly come dancing on Saturday night. My dad drove me all the way down to Burton then drove all the way back!

Performing the 27 Million dance at King's Way Church

After all this adventure you'd think I would settle down for a rest? Nope! The next day, I was at King's Way Church helping at a youth service. I took part in a dance to LZ7 and Matt Redman's Twentyseven million. Then I had a small part in the talk we did about poverty. I also sold myself in a slave auction... Don't worry! I'm not crazy! It was for charity and we were auctioning off skills, so for example,guitar lessons or making a meal, or in my case... Spanish lessons. Then we performed a few sketches about how stupid poverty is and I played a moving statue. Anyway after that busy service, I went home to find that my host family had gone out to look at a university and wouldn't be back until at least 6pm... At about 1pm, I was taking some rubbish out to the wheelie bins just outside the door and when I turned back around to go inside, the door had closed... And locked... Were my keys in my pocket? No! Was my phone in my pocket? No! Did I have shoes on? Do slippers count as shoes? No! In short, I was stuck. I managed to get back in thankfully, and sat myself down for half an hour, refusing to work on tidying my room until I had calmed down. Then I saw a movie on tv and decided to watch that instead. What... A... Week!

Blackberries & Fun!

Hello all! It's 2 weeks until commissioning and I'm super excited about seeing my friends again :) if you're coming down for the commission then let me know so I get the chance to catch up with you!

Just seen my first blackberries of the season and they reminded me of home... Scratched up hands and lots of yummy jam from when we went blackberry picking :D here's a photo! Miss you mum!

Off to town as I write this! So thankful for my new HTC! I really wanted a new phone after I accidentally knelt on my old pink one... God provided a brand new phone for next to nothing and now I can update my blog on the go! Three cheers for free internet :)

I missed the bus so I decided to walk the 2 & 1/4 miles into town to get some excersise :) surprisingly its not taken as long as I thought :O I've got some time on my hands before I meet up with Simon and Julia to go to the cinema so I'm doing a bit of shopping in town before hand... Speaking of which... For those of you who like LZ7... I was in one of the shopping centres on Thursday as I'd left my office keys at home and I had run out of a certain essential... Anyway I came out of superdrug and what should be playing over the sound system... Only This little light! I was so amazed and encouraged by this that I immediately called the biggest LZ7 fan I know... My dad! So there you go! Christian music is good enough to be played in shopping centres bringing light to an otherwise dull day!

I realise I've not really spoken much about my work outside the office! Whoops! Well first off I'm kept really busy so don't worry! I'm not slacking off! I'll tell you just what I get up to and if you could make time to pray that God will work through me and my team mates in the situations that would be fantastic!

So Mondays, depending on the week, I either do a lunch club and two nurture groups (from 12:25-3:30) or I have a day of training with the YFC volunteers in Ashby and Nottingham from 10am til 4pm. The next Hub Training is on the 22nd October so prayer for that will be great!

Tuesdays I have church support from 9am-12pm in which I help out at the mums and toddlers group. Then at around 1:45pm I'm at one of the local High Schools (Paulet) helping the Year 11 Spanish class with pronunciation and other speaking stuff. Starting this Tuesday coming (16th Oct) I'll be helping out at an arts and crafts club at St. Mary's church at 3pm. By 5pm I'm just about done! I've started going to a home group hosted by a couple at my church which I'm really enjoying. It's not work but its part of my growth so I thought I'd let you know. That's at 7:30pm but its a long ride from Anslow where I live to Winshill so prayer for a safe ride especially in these darker autumnal days. That's every two weeks.

On Wednesday I have a pretty quiet day. I just have a homework drop in club at King's Way church from 3:30pm til 5pm where the young people can come to either do homework or hang out with their friends after school.

Thursday... Wow its a busy day! A late start at 12:05 at Paulet for another Spanish support session until 1:05pm. Then its off to the after school club at St. Chad's church from 3 ish until 5pm. Prayer for this club will be especially appreciated as the kids tend to be very... Hyperactive... And it is very exhausting. After that I have about an hour to grab some grub then I'm off to King's Way church for N:Gage... The equivalent of Pathfinders. That's from 6:30pm til 8:30pm... We are preparing for a showcase on the 4th November which has a dance to 27 Million by LZ7 and Matt Redman, the dance looks fantastic however the YFC policy calls for the youth workers to take part in the activities with the young people... In other words my calf muscles are aching from my awesome dance workout... At least the dance looks cool :) so yeah... Prayer for energy on Thursdays would be especially apperciated as I only get home around 9pm.

Fridays we have just started up a new after school club at Riverview Primary School which we are fully booked up for! Popularity is great but it can be tough keeping the kids entertained so prayer for that will be great! That's from 3:30 til 4:30... Then I'm out in the evening at 7pm for Riverside's youth group! Phew!

That's my week day schedule... Now for weekends! Saturdays are usually my day off... However on Sunday I have youth work at church during the service. Then depending on the week I may have an event on during the evening. This Sunday I am going to a family's house after church for lunch which will be great. Then I'm out at a service in the evening and if all goes to plan... I will be sharing my full testimony for the first time! So prayer for that especially will be amazing!

There we have it! My full timetable! Prayer for any of the work I do will be fabulous and if you are praying for something in particular just let me know! Either by contacting me on facebook or just chat to my mum or dad! I have to go now as its about time to meet Simon and Julia! Thanks so much for reading! And thanks so much for the prayer! God bless!

Newsletter Fiasco!

Hello all! Just thought I would tell you all of our... Interesting morning printing & producing the termly newsletter! I arrived at the office a while before 10 am which was when I was supposed to be in by and was greeted with the news that the printer in the office had run out of coloured ink... Disaster!! After many attempts of keeping the printer running... One even involving the laying on of hands... We had to pull out the old printer from the storage room and print, compile and staple together just over 100 newsletters at a speed that made snails look like cheetahs! Very slowly!! But we made it! Just 300 copies left!

Anyway moving on from the newsletter... I'm looking forward to seeing my YFC friends and who knows how many home friends and family soon at the commission day in Birmingham! Just 3 weeks to go! Love you all and thanks for reading!

National Day of Prayer

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I updated. Not much has changed in my schedule apart from a few new clubs starting for after school. However on Saturday 29th October, I joined a few people from my church here, as well as some of the youth in one of my youth groups, to go to the National Day of Prayer and Worship in Wembley stadium! The worship was absolutely fantastic and we prayed about many things, amongst which were things like the upcoming year, the Jubilee, Olympic and Paralympic games and even the work of Tearfund. Here are a few photos from the day!

One of the highlights of the day for me was when I got to see my YFC friends from different places in the UK! I also enjoyed it when Matt Redman and LZ7 united onstage to play Twentyseven Million live! My youth group and I, though far apart in separate areas of the stadium, all joined together in a dance we had learned to that song.

Week Two! Woo Hoo!

 

Yeah so I closed my last post on Saturday 15th, here's what's been happening since then!

On Sunday was my second service and I went out with the 11-14 Youth Group this time. We made a banner with our handprints on it and we talked about what makes us who we are! Then we had more guests, Jess, a girl who used to live with my host family, Michelle, Leum and Rebecca and their two sons. We had a delicious roast dinner and played on the trampoline for a while. It was a great night and it was lovely meeting more people!

The next day was back to Monday again... Only this time I was straight out to an assembly at Holy Trinity Primary School. We talked about Roald Dahl and his book, the BFG for Roald Dahl day, and how dreams aren't just what you think about at night when you sleep, but they also can be your hopes and plans for the future. We then talked about how in the bible it says in Jeremiah 29:11 

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Then later we returned to Holy Trinity to run a lunchtime club where we looked at the importance of our names and we helped the children make a name plate for their door out of pipe cleaners. The children also seemed to like wearing the pipe cleaners as glasses so I also ended up making about 4 pairs of fluffy bright specs! 

The afternoon was taken up by two nurture groups, where we took aside a small group of children and talked to them about a certain topic. This week's topic was Things I Like! We encouraged the children to share things about themselves by asking them some questions. Then we made a collage of all the things we like using pictures from a catalogue, and after they had finished, they explained why each thing showed a little about who they are as a person. I, of course, also made one of these little collages with lots of things that I like! 

Tuesday was again working in Jelly Tots with the mums and toddlers. Then I had the rest of the day at home... which I naturally spent catching up on my sleep. 

Wednesday was again The Lounge. All the YFC One Volunteers went to the group this week which made it a lot easier to cover the whole group. I had a fudge milkshake which was divine! I highly recommend it! 

Thursday was mainly spent preparing for the three groups we had on later that day, however at 12:05pm I helped out in a Spanish class at Paulet school, which meant that when Simon and I made some dough for the pizza bases that the kids at Mix Mania and Thursday Crew were going to make, I was wearing my smart trousers and a white blouse! We got quite a bit messy with flour everywhere and dough on our hands, but it was a lot of fun! Then at Mix Mania I helped Chris with the cooking, being a helping hand for any of the kids who were struggling to flatten the dough or spread the tomato puree! Then Simon and Julia stayed for the Thursday Crew and I headed over to King's Way for n:gage again. This week Alex, Michael and Jack gave us a presentation about their trip to Burundi and the things they got up to, helping those who have nothing. Then we split into groups and started work on a drama presentation. One more thing... Peanuts!

So today, it's Friday (Woo!) and I have the whole day off work in the office which I have used to update this blog! Tonight is the Riverside Youth Group (which should be interesting as I'm supposed to be planning a game!) so I shall let you know how that goes soon! Hope you've all had a wonderful week! Thanks so much for your prayer support!

The first week!

Yeah so the most recent post was a summary of training! Here comes the account of my first week!

On the Friday which I arrived in Burton-upon-Trent, our team all met at the BYFC (Burton Youth For Christ) office whilst we waited for our hosts to finish work etc. We met some of the team and had the tour of the building (basically we walked to the toilets and back) then my host, Karen, arrived to take me home!

We arrived in Anslow, the village which I am staying in and I met Daryl, Karen's husband, and Alexander, their youngest son as well as Sophie, their Spaniel, and Pepper, their cat. I unpacked my few things into my new room and then I met James, the older son. We then all had dinner together which was delicious!

Saturday was a quiet day. I spent most of it wandering around Anslow taking some nice photos and just getting the feel for the area I'm going to be living in for the next year. We also had a BBQ at Mel's house to get to know the family and friends of the BYFC team.

Sunday was my first service at Riverside Church. I was very nervous as I didn't know very many people. I went with James and his friend Scott (who was visiting for the weekend) and we arrived as the church was filling up. Once the service had started, Daryl got me up at the front and asked me about where I'd come from and why I had come to Burton. Then I went out with the 15+ Youth Group and started to get to know some of the people I will be working with over the next few months. After the service was a meal to say goodbye to a couple who were leaving for Spain, so I spent a while wandering around with my plate of sandwiches and cake and started to chat to the church members. Then after church, we had two couples come round to eat with us. They were very friendly and we had a great evening.

On Monday, the hard work started! I was taken to the office by Sue and we had our team meeting and bible study time. We then sorted out our weekly plan and got to work with the basics... Namely the Health and Safety Policy and our Child Protection studies. We also met Graham who's another new member of the team. However the good day was also mixed with sad news as on Monday evening, one of our volunteers decided to drop out as she was too homesick to continue.

Tuesday was the start of the work. I helped out at Jelly Tots, which is a mums and toddlers group run by Riverside. Then we had more time to study back at the office. Tuesday evening we had some dinner guests, Ruth, who works in the office at Riverside with Daryl, and her son. Then later, once they had gone home, one of the YFC One volunteers from 2 years ago (Sarah) visited us and spent the rest of the evening chatting to us.

On Wednesday, Sarah came into the BYFC office and chatted to us for a while about her experience as a YFC One volunteer, her favourite parts as well as the parts she really didn't enjoy. Then at 3:30pm I was off to my first youth work session! The Lounge at King's Way Church is a homework club where kids can come after school to get help with homework, or just to relax, drink milkshakes and meet their friends!

Thursday was the busiest day of the lot! During the day we perfected our craft skills by making things with k'nex and hama beads. Then we decorated the office with our creations, some of which still hang today! At 3pm we went to set up for Mix Mania at St. Chad's, which is an after school club for kids aged 7-11. We had sports, k'nex, hama beads, cooking, painting, colouring and even scoobies! Then Sarah and I headed over to our next youth club, n:gage, at King's Way... We played games, had a word of the week and had a time at the end for prayer which in all made it a great night!

Friday was a much quieter day. We were just working in the office by day and in the evening I had a youth workers meeting to discuss planning for Riverside's Friday Night Youth group. That was an interesting meeting as it was my first time being on the planning side of a youth group and WOW! It's hard work!

On Saturday, I had the day off, but instead of sitting around at home, I decided to go see what was going on over at King's Way! There was a fun day planned and the YFC Nottingham volunteers had brought the football cage down, and there were crafts, milkshakes and even a graffiti artist! However I had to get home for a certain time because... My Family came to visit! YAY! My mum, dad and brother all came down in a huge white van bringing all my home comforts with them! We had dinner together and chatted in the sunshine for a while, then I had to head over to church to get ready for the Thanksgiving and Commissioning service we were having, partly to thank Phil, who had been the BYFC Centre Director for over 20 years, and partly to locally commission the new BYFC team! The service went well (despite the incident involving a sock and a can of coca-cola) and everyone had a great night! Our newly commissioned team were ready for action!

Team BYFC!

A quick summary of training!

Hello all! Sorry it's taken so long to update! Been very busy working hard! So last time I updated was last Tuesday so here we go!

Wednesday we had Nigel Roberts talk to us about schools youth work and teaching, during which I brushed my teeth with ketchup and a pigeon flew into a window!!! Then we had Dave Newton talk to us about Mission and Evangelism, then it was lunch then we had Telling your story both practical and theory by Erik and Grace with a final celebration and a signing of a covenant on Wednesday night...

Then Thursday we had engage training all day which was hard! We had Hannah and Damien for that and during one of Hannah's talks Damien re-enacted the pigeon from the day before by running into the same window! Then after a whole day of Engage, Pete hosted a quiz night (which my team... The Next Psalm... Came a disappointing 5th in) during which he got a call from someone and put it on speaker phone for all of us to hear! :D

So then we skip to Friday... In the morning was packing up :( which was boring and sad... Then we had a quick session on basic tips for Gap Year survival! And finally our last celebration together we had Gavin Calver (National Director of YFC just so you know!) come and speak to us and give us a pep talk! Then we said our goodbyes and dispersed across the country meeting our host families! I'll write more about them in the next update! Thanks for reading!

Lots of laughs and serious stuff too!

Hello! It's been 2 days since I updated and much has happened since then! Firstly on Monday we started our actual theological training with a talk on the Gospels by Nathan Iles. Then we had a talk on presentation skills (as well as a bit of practice) also by Nathan... I volunteered myself to give a brief 1 minute talk to the group (about 40 of us) and receive feedback on my technique... It was mostly positive thankfully! Then we had a session on issues facing young people by Dani Knox and then we had a talk on Jesus in the Old Testament by Richard Bromley which was interesting. Then after dinner we had team building games (which my team won!) including crossing a room with two chairs and not being allowed to touch the floor, getting untangled from a big hand to hand knot so we would form one cirle... Except we accidentally formed two circles... We still untangled ourselves first but because we were in two circles they discounted it which was really unfair... making a protective cover for an egg out of straws and newspaper so it wouldn't break when dropped from height... Except SOMEONE kicked our egg package at a wall... HARD so we failed... There was a race to pass a polo mint along a line using only straws in our mouths, and of course a speed cup stacking relay... Which we went on to win gaining 1000 points with a final total of 1080! Woo! Then later a group of us went off to play a game of sardines (where one person hides and everyone runs to find them and hide with them) and the last round ten of us were hiding in a tiny kitchenette with no ventilation and lots of body heat! Then some smart cookie decided to lock the door from the inside so those on the outside couldn't get to us without a key! After a while we realised that we couldn't unlock the door so we were locked inside this really hot room and unable to get out! Eventually one of the YFC staff went to get the key and we were free! A refreshing cup of water was thrown at us as we flooded out and another member of staff filmed the entire rescue! So a tip for all players of sardines out there! Don't lock yourself in a room with 10 other people! We decided to stop playing sardines (obviously) and played a mind game which I will cut short and say basically... Our poor coordinators... Exhausted from the long day... Were confused and perplexed about what was going on! Then we all went to sleep!

The following day (today) we learned about Jesus in the gospels by Mark Pugh, then the fascinating subject of Health & Safety! (woo!) by Lee Jennings, followed by Jesus in the New Testament (not just the gospels) by Liam Hanna. Finally our last session was on the all important issue of Child Protection, also by Lee Jennings. So there you have it! A complete update of how the training is going! We have a talk about practicalities like personal support (the money I've been raising) and our host homes, then who knows what the evening will have in store! Thanks for reading!

Let the training begin!

So here I am! First day of training and it's going great! The journey down was... Interesting... B4363 is one of the hardest roads to find! After an hour delay looking for it we happened upon the turning as we were heading down a detour! We arrived at the Pioneer Centre at about half past noon and said goodbye to my dad at about 1pm, just before lunch. I got to know a few people before heading to the first session to learn more about YFC and the year we are about to begin! Then after dinner at 7 we had a time of worship and teaching, refocusing on the reason why we are doing this gap year. Right now I am sat in the lobby just relaxing before I head off to bed ready for a busy day tomorrow... So Goodnight all! Thanks for reading!

Not long now!

Hey readers! Not long now! Tomorrow is my last day here in Skelmersdale then its off to Kidderminster to start my training! I'm still not done packing!!! But I've practically finished there's just a few more things I want to pack then I'm all set! I know this is such a short post but I will try to update as much as I can either at training or after it! Thanks for reading!

Surprise, Surprise!

Hello everyone! I've been meaning to write about this for about a week now but I haven't got around to writing. Last Wednesday, my friend Frances took me out to dinner, at a surprise location. My mum was driving us there and I figured out we were going towards Ormskirk. We initially drove past the restaurant and my mum parked the car far away from it so we had to walk there. I spotted Sophie through some glass and thought I would be eating with both sisters, which fortunately meant the coming surprise wasn't spoiled. We walked in and to my surprise most of the Pathfinder Youth Group were there! It turns out that Frances had organised this Goodbye meal and everyone knew about it but me!

Here's me and the amazing girl who organised the whole evening! 

 Thanks to everyone who made this evening one to remember! Sophie, Lauren, Nadia, Frances, Sarah, Katie, Tom, Jacob, Ty, Matthew (who isn't on this photo) and Nathan (who isn't on this photo either). Thanks to all the parents who arranged lifts.

Meeting the Team!

Hello again! So on Monday I met the two lovely ladies from the Burton YFC Centre! We sat in the cafe at Warbreck Garden Centre and discussed any questions I had about the year away. All in all it was an interesting meeting and I'm very glad I will be working with these two great people (among others)

I know this is only a short post but there's not much else to say!

Where in the world?

 

Hello everyone! Welcome to my Blog! Throughout the next year I will be giving updates of what I get up to on my year out with Youth For Christ! I suppose I should start by letting you know just what YFC does!

For more information of YFC... visit http://www.yfc.co.uk/

The course I will be taking is the YFC One, specialising in Drama. However I can explain more about what I will be doing when I actually start it! Visit http://www.yfcone.co.uk/ for details.

I found out in July that I would be going to Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire for my year with YFC. I am due to meet the people from Burton YFC on Monday so I will post then to let you know how that goes!











 









Apart from that I have nothing else to report!

See you soon!

Jessica