Today has been a really manic day, the kids on the bus were really violent and nasty to each other at times. One threatened a smaller boy with a BB gun and he thought the guy was gonna kill him!
Throughout this week it has been harder and we had our first lunchclub in Erith, where the kids are really lovely. They all really appreciated us being there and really respected us. One of the guys went up to my friend and thanked her as it was the best lunchclub he'd been to!
Monday with Bexley Grammar continues to be my least favourite day just because we are only doing one youth centred thing, the lunchclub because of training in the afternoon.
I have found it really hard in the past weeks to not 'give up' and go home (not that I'd have much to do there) just because when I went to London I assumed we would be reaching the kids with problems and those who would be self harming or carrying knives (even if just for protection) but uptil now the luchclubs have only really attracted the 'lovely kids' who may have problems but not the really 'hardcore kids'., In a way this is a bit of a disappointment as I expected the youthwork alot more to be going out and reaching them where they are at rather than working with them when they joinour lunchclub. But ultimately God is control and I'm learning to trust him even if I expected better or different experiences.
Looking forward to seeing you guys at halfterm!
Katharine

week 3/4 or is it 4/5?!?

hey Blog followers!
Greetings
This past week as been a really cool week and there is evidence to show that this week will be even more chaotic if possible. Already this wek we are booked into 2 more schools (schools that arent new to XLP but that finally pulled their socks up anbd found us a room!) So madness descends.
On Friday Jo sent us out with £1 to spend money on something to make peope happy. we needed to make people smile and got 100s of bonus points if we managed to plug XLP and 1000s if someone became a Christian! So we brought a bunch of flowers and gave them out flower by flower. We had some really cool conversations with the least likely of people...some of the best where with people we would have originally bypassed. Although this was a one of activity to make us step out of our comfort zones and talk to strangers Jo has made Make someone smile Friday a regular part of the timetable (Woop!)
Can't think of anything exciting thatas happened apart from the fact Im going to a youth event called Human Cluedo how cool!
Miss you guys and can't wait till i see you again!

Terrific tuesdy!

Hey Blog readers!
Today we were quite busy as a greenwich team. We went first of all to a school called Crown woods where we run an induction programme for people who join the school after the 1stweek. We have the joy of talking them through their planners and spenting the 1st 2-3 hrs of their new school life with them.
Although we had to do the really boring stuff of questionaires (we had to read through the questions incase some of them had a different 1st language and was too afraid to ask for help) we also had great fun playing games with them.
After Crown woods we spent a while getting lost in Greenwich (the bus 132 does not go to Welling...Oli!) but ended up in a starbucks, only to have to move on to Abbeywood where we met up with Ian the bus man and the XLP bus which is kitted out with Playstations and computer and guitar heroes! The kids at Abbeywood were lovely and it was a shame that we only had 2 hours with them and can only go once a week.
On a brighter note Jo (the team leader) has managed to get in contact with all the school teachers we negociate with and were have arranged trips into all the schools but one. This is a real answer to prayer as it was only yesterday when we still had to hear back from 3 schools.
Loving London life in general...Greenwich rocks!

2nd week

Monday was a really cool day, we went into Bexley Grammar school to promote our lunch club and we had some cool conversations with lonely year 7s. As the start of the training programme we looked at the practicalities of working in the schools. Tuesday was a planning time and we spent it getting ready for an induction programme we run on wednesday.

One week later...

I've just finished my induction week at River Church with XLP, it was a fab week of bonding and learning to work together as a team. Here is a little day to day diary of what we did

Sunday:
Today was a relaxed day where we had a picnic in James Park with the trustees of XLP. We met all the families of the workers at the same time and saw all their lovely children. What was funny was that on the same day my cousin Stef (1st year uni) went to James park with her CU but we didnt meet :(. we were serenaded by a steel drum band as it was a cycle through the streets of London day and to celebrate there was festival styly activities in James park. We finished the day at Shadwell (yes woo, now i too have seen Shadwell!) after a long walk there. St pauls in Shadwell works with XLP and Lucy and Jazz (students like me) are posted in thst church. They were really welcoming and we had pizza after the service (much to the relief of 30 bellies!)

Monday:
Spent much of today in the River church base. we started with a bible study with Patrick then spent the afternoon playing fun team games such as potato thrust (don't worry I'll teach you!). After cooking beans on toast for 10 people we played some more games such as teeth (classic!). We did have a brief period of private time just before tea when I sat on my bed listening to 'heartbeat' (scouting for girls) and missed all my friends loads (if your reading this...your still my best mates, i havent found anyone to replace any of you yet!) I found it hard to be myself today and prayed that Gopd would release me to be real.

Tuesday:
Answer to pray today. We did the DISC personality test (I'm an ID if that means anything to anyone) and this realy freed me up to be real with people and not be worried of not being liked...God is good! But the best part of today was the bible study with Patrick, it was focused on why we should pray and gave 4 concise reasons...
1 it shifts our perspective-we see things as God does
2helps us realise we're not alone-God is with us continously
3It quietens the mind-as to live in love God has to control our thoughts
4Prayer has to be our strongest weapon
Really good talk!

Wednesday:
Today was borough day where we went to Greenwich (the borough i'm based in...not Lewisham...i was wrong!) we visited and had lunch in Woolwich Common estate where we help run a youth group called X-Factor. It was really exciting to get a feel for the borough and spend some quality time getting to know the individual people on my team (Jennie Sheffield, Oli Spence, Hannah Burns and leader Jo Whitehead). Greenwich p\ark was very beautiful and although we got lost on quite a few occasions it was fun seeing what Greenwich has to offer. We ended the day in the O2 Dome eating a meal in Nandos.

Thursday:
Today we focused a lot on the more practical aspect of what we are doing in London. Reaching the kids, we did a Drama workshop styly afternoon where we focused on the ideas that lie behind good storytelling. The bible study today was on the contrast of love and fear and how they are opposites. This led us to pray in our borough teams about the fears of one another and it was a really releasing time for us all.

Friday:
As the last day of the induction week everyone was slightly sad todya as it will be the last time we are altogether for such a long time. Leo the Arts coordinator did a really great talk on how they use the arts to connect with the young people and empower them to go further. Greenwich is the first borough to host the Arts showcase ( a big show where final acts from schools across Greenwich perform to audiences including their family, friends and other shcools). Although this is almost the first stage to connecting with the young people as they use the arts showcase to mentor the youth and get alongside them and improve their acts. By doing this the relationship is then continued after the showcase. So a really great way to egt alongside people and empower them with a vision of hope.

Saturday:
I moved into my 'new home' for the year today so it ws always going to be a bit of a difficult day. The Jones (who I now live with) are lovely people though and I feel really welcome in their family. Saturday is my day off so most was spent resting and haviong 'me' time!

This must be the longest blog post ever...sorry I will tryand update more often!
Thank you for spenting the time to see how I'm getting on!

One day to go before i go to London. I now know my address and some of the people who are going to be with me when I go to Greenwich.
The first week of XLP is a residential course which will be bonding time between the teams. I'm really looking forward to going as I have just finished reading a book by Patric Regan, the founder of XLP, called 'The Conspiracy of the Insignificant' and it was how God spoke to him and led him to found XLP. Its a very good read and I recommend it!
I meet my host family just after lunchtime tomorrow and then at 4.30 everyone from XLP are meeting for tea and a worship session.
I'm more excited than nervous though I am slightly worried that I might not get on with the people in my team or someone I get on really well with isn't in my team, as so I won't see them too much, but i'm sure these are unfounded concerns which won't come true.