I'll begin with the end.
Materials - Canvas, Glue, Crayons, Hair Dryer:
This is what me and my fellow staff member and friend, Jaime, did this afternoon.
It was great.
It now has a home hanging up in my room.
Well, the first official week of the Impact UK DTS has finished. All of the trainees are finally here and getting to know each other and it's so great to see. This past week has simply been a lot of orientation to everything - the oval, the town, DTS in general and each other.
This week has been pretty crazy for so many reasons. One reason being the fact that this time, exactly one year ago, I was in these trainees' exact place. This place of coming to a new environment with so many new faces not really knowing what's to come but being excited for it all. I remembered all that I was feeling and what I was thinking as all these new things kept coming at me. I thought back to where I was just one year ago and what God was doing in my heart and my life then and looking at where He has brought me to now. It's pretty incredible. It made me realize yet again how much happened in 2011. I grew in so many ways, made so many new and unexpected friendships and did so many new things I never thought I could do. God kept His promise to me at the very first community meeting here - giving me new life. This is certainly new.
I think I'm going to learn a lot during these next 8 months. Correction - I KNOW I'm going to learn a lot during these next 8 months. There are so many areas that I need to grow in and I'm ready for it. And I know it's going to be a lot of work. In a nutshell - lots of meetings, lots of tea breaks consisting of tea, coffee, biscuits and a new addition - FRUIT! We have Basic Leadership School (BLS) once a week - it's just as it sounds. There will be lots of meal preparing and cleaning up after meals. Those are fun. I will be co-leading a small group with a few girls which will meet once a week. These small groups are a good space for the girls to really get to know each other on a deeper level and help them to process the week's teaching a bit more. I will also be a one-on-one for one of the girls. This one-on-one relationship is really important to me. A 1-1 is someone the trainee has to go to once a week just talk and just have someone really there for them. I know how much of an impact my 1-1 made on me during my DTS so I take this very seriously and I'm excited to be that for someone and really be able to invest in them and go with them through this process. There will also be lots of community time and worship and local Evangelism and so many other things.
That's just a small glimpse into life here as staff. There's more to tell, but it can wait.
I never in my wildest dreams could have ever imagined that I would be living in England doing what I'm doing. I absolutely love it. I absolutely love all the staff that I am so incredibly blessed to be working with every day. They are all so great and I am constantly reminded of that every single day. I have such a great room and an amazing roommate. I live in a ridiculously beautiful place. There are so many incredible opportunities ahead of me. Needless to say - I'm looking forward to this.
I love that I'm here and that I'm doing this. I know it's going to be hard and it's going to challenge me in so many ways - challenge my thinking, my heart, my comfort zone, and so many other things. But I think I'm ready for this challenge and I'm so excited to see what God does in me and through me throughout these 8 months.
So begins Week 2....
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