First week on Essential

Wow, what an amazing first week of Essential. Met all the other people on Essential who are amazing and so easy to get along with. Just a time of meeting together at Gilwell Park and spending time round a camp fire. Got to do some of the activities there although in future I wouldn't trust a raft built by me. So after an amazing few days of meeting new the Essentials I went off to Bedford which is going to be my placement. The officers there are absolutely amazing and I was blown away by the effort they have and are planning to put in for us to make sure that not only they benefit from us but more importantly we benefit from them by all they can teach us. I couldn't have been more welcomed. Every single person we spoke to and were spoken to by was so friendly and it couldn't have been a nicer welcome.

Definitely saw God at work in peoples lives. The people at Bedford Corps are definitely working towards a direction and know what they want to be doing but are also keeping God at the centre of all the community and outreach which is so important. Very good day on Sunday although I feel a bit bad for beating the man who taught me to play dominos 4 times in a row but he loved it and we had a great time just chatting over lunch.

Today we are back at the William Booth Training College for some training to prepare us for the year and I am sure we will take what we learn into the rest of our lives. We had a lesson about discipleship and all about what it is, where it came from and what it means to work at being a better disciple. This is so important because "Christianity without discipleship is Christianity without Christ." (Dietrich Bonhoeffer) and we all have to work together to keep each other on the right path.

This week has been an awesome week of new experiences which brings enjoyment and challenges. Early morning have always been a problem for me but over the week I have found it easier and easier to get up in the mornings; including waking up before my alarm on some occasions. I have really enjoyed all of the new people who have been so kind to me and have made the transition away from living at home to easy.

This week I have prayed on all sorts of things. We were urged to look in the past over the last year and I realised how much I have grown and matured and the people around me have commented but I never realised until I looked back. We also looked at the present and everything happening as we go away from home into a new life almost and all of the help we can get from God and also the people around us. Finally we looked at the future and what we will be doing over the year. This is going from all the training Alove will provide to all the work we will be doing at Bedford from out in the community to the stuff at the hall to all the youth work that goes on there.

Ii have recently started a daily reading plan on the android app Bible. It is a Bible in a year and it has a few selected chapters a day; not all in order but they compliment each other really well. I have found that it just makes reading the Bible much more interesting and so I don't treat like I would any other book because it deserves much more than that.

My biggest achievement this week must be the amount my confidence has grown. It has really given me the opportunity to get to know those around me and talk about anything such as my faith and my situation and testimony.

Next week promises to be a great week. We are continuing our training at the Training College then going off to Leeds at the Westwood Christian Centre. I haven't been there but I'm sure I'm going to have a great time there learning loads and trying to put it into practice.

Promises to be an amazing week and an ever better year. Looking forward to it and I know I have the support and will continue having the support I need to make it an extra special gap year.