So I realise it’s been quite a while since my last blog and I started writing it several times but got distracted! So from January until now, here’s a quick summary of everything that I’ve been up to in my Nomad journey!
Abingdon (29th Jan – 3rd Feb)
This was the 3rd year in a row that I have been to Abingdon with Nomad, completing my circuit of the local high schools in the area, with this being the turn of John Mason school. As per usual, we spent the week taking PE lessons as well as assisting Matt (our contact for the week) with a few RE lessons as well. It was a pretty poor week weather wise, but a great week with regards to the lessons and students that we got to meet! As per the last two years, we held an event on the Thursday evening with the cage and one of the team sharing their testimony and it went down a storm, with kids from all over coming to attend!
Queensferry (17th – 26th Mar)
Queensferry saw the first of our two week stint in Scotland and it was great to be back once again for a regular in the Nomad diary. It was a classic Nomad schools week with plenty of lessons taken and football played and as is normal with Queensferry High School, we also took a good number of RE lessons too.
This year the focus was on Trust and it was great to look at a theme that is so simple, yet so crucial in day-to-day life. Each class we taught were really responsive to the theme, from Year 7 to Year 10, and we had some great discussions throughout the whole week.
The team was split over the 3 churches in the area on the Sundays and I made my return to Kirkliston Community Church. Even though it’d been a whole year since I’d been, it was like walking back into my own church and it was amazing to share how the year had been and what the team were up to in the school! We topped our time in Queensferry off with a cage event on the Friday evening, inviting young people from the school and local churches and it was great to see a few who we had connected with in particular come along and want to find out more about our faith!
Dundee (26th Mar – 1st Apr)
After a great week in Queensferry we continued our journey north to return (once again) to Dundee; the second leg of our Scotland tour. Unlike the week before, we visited 5 different schools with a mixture of primary and secondary. It gave the week a much different vibe, but was definitely a welcome change to normal! I particularly enjoyed being able to share our Christian message with the younger students as it was a welcome reminder to us that it’s a story for everyone of all ages to hear. Often in Nomad we’ll just focus on the older years and as great as it is to share with them, I really enjoyed sharing what we had and seeing the kids respond in their own ways!
Spring Harvest (4th – 14th)
With a brief few days to recover and wash kit we were back on the road once again to hit up Spring Harvest; a firm favourite of mine in the Nomad diary! This year was different to normal however, as we took on both Minehead and Skegness – one working on the 8-11s team and the other split over 11-14s and Sports Team. I love the Spring Harvest weeks as they are always a great break in the diary where you get to spend time with some top people and just see young people encounter Jesus. Personally, I really enjoyed the Minehead week as it was a little different to normal and I love the fact that amongst all the silly games, messing about and pigeons trapped in venues, kids are still learning about Jesus in a way that appeals to them!
Clevedon (8th – 13th May)
Now for those of you that have been with my Nomad story right from the beginning, you may remember that we went to Clevedon for our first ever mission and now 2 years later, I returned! It was amazing to be back in the place that my Nomad journey started and to see kids 2 years on and how Nomad had impacted them. One amazing story from the week involved a lad that we’d met before but at the start of this year – during the week we did in Nailsea. As it happened, he had been in the school and experienced Nomad in his lessons there, but in the 9 months since, he’d changed schools and was now attending the school in Clevedon! He was massively excited to see us again and listened really intently to the message we gave in the lesson and bombarded Josh with questions at the end, coming back every lunchtime to chat and find out more. Long story short, he was really keen to find out more and decided to give his life to Jesus that very week and you could tell that he was so happy about it!
It’s been a whirlwind few months and it’s mad to think that it’s only a month and a half until the end of the year! Becoming team leader has been a huge challenge but I’ve really loved it and a massive thank you to all those of you that have supported me in any way; from the smallest to the biggest things, it’s all a huge help! For those of you who do pray, the team for next year is currently low on numbers so please pray that we get a few more people signed up that are passionate about using football to reach young people!
As always, thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog and see what I’ve been up to on my travels and please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you would like to know anymore!
God Bless,
Beth 🙂
Photos
The Life of a Nomad! 
June 9, 2017 at 12:06 pm
What an amazing “wide open” and beautiful way to live! I imagine that everyone on your path is changed by your faith and energy. 🙂
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