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!