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!