I Got a New Job!

So it’s got to that time where I realise I haven’t written a blog in a while and that I probably should keep people updated with everything that is going on! Be warned, this one ends with some exciting news!

Spring Harvest (28th Mar – 1st Apr)
Having been going to Spring Harvest for the last 5 years, I was thoroughly looking forward to going again this year and its always a week I enjoy! This year was slightly different as I was working on Distinctive – the 11-14s venue – as opposed to sports team and it was a nice change! I was working alongside a great group of people from all over and it was a great week! As part of it, I was given a small group for the morning sessions each day and by far one of my favourite things from the week was getting to know them all and seeing them grow and develop during the week!
As always the Scarborough Wimps were on top form in the football tournament with me and John both taking part and managing to get to the quarter finals! I’d love to say we won it, however I don’t like to lie and there were some pretty dodgy referees…
Another memorable moment of the week was definitely the last night where I ended up in the slop and had a mixture of limeade, mashed potato, brown bread, cornflakes and much more dumped over my head whilst I stood there; much to the amusement of all those in Distinctive!
The week seemed to absolutely fly and all of a sudden we came to the last day which also happened to be my birthday! It was a privilege to celebrate it surrounded by some top people and I lost count of the number of times I was sung to – at least 10 of those were from the boys – and loved being able to be around friends and family!

With Spring Harvest over, I took the opportunity with two weeks off, to head home with the parents and spend some time sleeping, resting and winding up my parents, as well as visiting friends and shopping with Mazza! I returned to Notts two weeks later and spent some time working alongside the boys before I then saw two of my brothers and nephew again the following week! For those of you that don’t know, I am a huge Aston Villa fan (yes, we’re rubbish, I know) and despite having already been relegated, we went along to watch them try and at least score a few goals against Southampton! It was a great day out and to my surprise, they scored 2!

DTI (29th Apr – 1st May)
After a few bits and bobs here and there, Nomad were back on the road with a fairly busy weekend! After spending the day back at Grace Academy Coventry, we then headed on to the Lincolnshire Showground to camp for the weekend at DTI – Vineyard Churches youth weekend away. We had the cage up for the whole weekend and just got to know the young people – some of which happened to have been part of my small group at Spring Harvest – and have a bit of fun whilst freezing to death at night! Camping at the end of May was not the brightest idea, however the rain did hold off!

Salisbury (1st-2nd May)
The busy weekend continued and after somehow managing to pack up two tents (!) we headed down the country to Salisbury for the night before taking setting up the cage for the Salisbury Street Fair the next day. We were working with the local church and Paul Kingsley-Smith who moved on from YFC recently and so it was great to spend some time catching up with him and his family, as well as getting to know some great kids! The only downside was that we got absolutely soaked, but soon embraced it and had a top day!

Alsager (9th-13th May)
With a few days of rest, hub training and a day session in Essex all thrown in the mix, we were soon back on mission and this time we headed off to Alsager in Stoke on Trent; somewhere we’d only visited for a day last year and so it was really great to be able to return for a longer period of time this year! However, this week was one that was slightly different to the rest, as rather than using the cage and doing PE lessons, we had been asked to lead RE lessons the whole week as the school didn’t want the cage at all. To get round this, we set the cage up just over the road in the local church car park and had it open after school and let the kids know. Although incredibly different, it was actually an incredible week and despite doing around 30 of the same RE lesson and watching the same clip of Susan Boyle EVERY time, I loved the change!
One really encouraging thing was that as aforementioned, we had the cage set up after school for the students to come along and play in. Initially we had 3 kids on the first day and then 1 the following two and so we were a little disheartened to begin with, however come Thursday and Friday, around 15 kids turned up and it was so good! We were able to get to know them really well and spent a great week working alongside Jonny – our contact for the week – and his 11 week old puppy Mozart!

Goole (16th-18th May)
With the weekend left to recover, we were off again, this time to where Joel lives in Goole for 3 days. It was a little bit of a last minute arrangement booked by his Dad, but it was a great time nonetheless. We set up in the local secondary school during the day and then moved it over to the local park in the evenings and the young people absolutely loved it! We really got to know a lot of them and share our stories with them and it was great to see some of how the local work in the area goes down!

And with all that fun stuff out the way, I do have some incredibly exciting news… Many people have been asking me about what my plans are for next year and I am pleased to say that I am going to be leading the Nomad team! I was interviewed and got the job the other week and I am absolutely over the moon! I know people have been praying for me and my future plans and I’m super grateful for all those of you that have! Obviously there’s a lot to happen regarding getting up to speed on all the finer details of Nomad, but it’s really exciting and I cannot wait! If you do want to find out anymore, or would like to support me in what I’m doing, please feel free to get in touch!

Thank you so much for giving my blog a read and catching up on all things Nomad, it’s been a blast these last few months and I’m so excited for what the next few years hold!

God Bless 🙂

Pictures

Spring Harvest Distinctive Team! 

Academy Girls cooking up a storm!

 

After a very wet day in Salisbury!

Sharing why we do what we do with students in Goole.