23rd March 2014

An insight into what I get up to as the YTP student in Gunville

At Gunville Methodist Church this week:

• Rock Solid:

Rock Solid just keeps on growing and we welcomed another new girl to the fun this week. We thought about family, made some craft and played 'pirates' among other games.

• The Space:

The team are all in  high spirits at The Space and this week we even had a young person come in for a hot chocolate and a game of 'dobble' (a card game).
We will need people to make some cakes for this Wednesday so let me know if you can do that.

• Rising Tide:

We thought about Joshua 6 this week and how the walls of Jericho can represent our sin, getting in the way of us and God, but when Jesus died on the cross he knocked that wall down.

At Moorlands this week:

This was the last week that the campus based students will be in college this term before Easter. I handed in my latest essay on Exodus and we had lectures about the use of poetry in the bible.

With Youth for Christ this week:

• AOK

I went into Carisbrooke College with a couple of others from YFC to do 'AOK' (Acts of Kindness) - we handed out free juice to the students at lunch time. This is a great opportunity not only to bless the students in a small way, but also to build relationships.

• Team meeting and Prayer Breakfast

This week we had a 'team morning' so we met up for breakfast on the beach. We welcomed Dan back from Canada and heard all about the youth work that he was doing out there and we spent some time praying for one another.

• Emerge

We held Emerge - a youth event, on Friday. Emerge is the most 'in depth' event that we run and is a great chance for young people to get together with others who are passionate about God to worship him and hear some quality teaching. I was hosting the evening with Ben, and between times of worship, Hannah gave a talk on our identity in Christ.

And the 'other bits'...

I had a couple of meetings this week, one was generally to chat about the youth work that I am doing and where we are going with it, and the other was really exciting - I met up with a young person to talk about ideas for her future. She has such a heart for God and I'm so excited to see what he will do in her in the near future!

I also had my friend Clare visiting this week so she came around to help out at all the different things that I do. It was lovely to have her here and was really good for me that it made me make some time to just go out and relax, chat and just 'do life' together.

Tomorrow I'm off to Moorlands Bible College for my last 'block week' of my first year. It will be an intense week of lectures but will be a great chance to catch up with the other placement based students and hopefully an opportunity to continue to grow and learn.

Things to pray for:

- Thank God that Rock Solid is still growing and pray his blessing over all the young people and leaders involved.

- Thank God for all of the young people that we are in contact with, even in a small way, through The Space youth cafe, and pray that God will grow that contact.

- Pray for all of the youth work this week to go smoothly whilst I'm away.

- Pray for me as I spend a week studying at Moorlands Bible College.

Lorna Randall

07582778489

lornarandall812@hotmail.com
www.lornarandall.blogspot.com

16th March 2014

An insight into what I get up to as the YTP student in Gunville

At Gunville Methodist Church this week:

• Rock Solid:

Rock Solid is continuing to grow and we had two more new girls come along this week. We played a bunch of games and agreed some rules and consequences which the young people came up with and signed. Kristy led a craft session making friendship bracelets with Rock Solid advertising on them to give to a friend who doesn't come along.

• The Space:

We ventured outside into the sunshine at The Space this week and gave out lots of free cake to young people walking home from school. Although no one stayed it was a good opportunity to bless people and to tell them what we're doing and invite them to come back with friends next week.
We will need people to make some cakes for this Wednesday so let me know if you can do that.

• Rising Tide:

We looked at Psalms and what we can learn about God from them. After learning lots of things about God, we used all of that to write our own psalm.

At Moorlands this week:

We had hermeneutics lectures in the morning about interpreting the Bible and we specifically learnt about genre and the narrative genre in Genesis. We didn't have any lectures in the afternoon so I made use of the library to make some headway on my Exodus essay.

With Youth for Christ this week:

• 24hour prayer

Ben - a YFC youthworker who works in South West Wight, is setting up a 24hour prayer space at the end of the month. As this is something that I have a lot of experience in, I went to a meeting with him to help out with ideas for it. I also got to go to his Rock Solid club in Brook just beforehand.

• Team meeting and Prayer Breakfast

Like usual, we had our prayer breakfast and team meeting on Monday. We thought about praying for people that we know who aren't Christian, and we planned a couple of upcoming Friday evening events.

And the 'boring bits'...

I finished my Exodus essay (including a map!) so that is ready to hand in on Tuesday. I also had a few meetings this week - most of them were to talk about what I'm doing, how I'm getting on and what I need and want to be doing in the future. It's exciting to think about possibilities and opportunities. I really want to provide lots of new experiences for the young people that I work with as I think that this is really important for discipleship.

Things to pray for:

- Thank God that Rock Solid is continuing to grow and pray for all the young people that come along.

- Pray that we get some more young people coming along to The Space.

- Pray that ideas for the future would become realities - that God will make his plan clear and that he will bless what we do.

Lorna Randall

07582778489

lornarandall812@hotmail.com
www.lornarandall.blogspot.com

9th March 2014

An insight into what I get up to as the YTP student in Gunville

At Gunville Methodist Church this week:

• Rock Solid:

We had 2 more new girls at Rock Solid this week! We thought about listening to each other and to God. Kristy led a brilliant session making prayer diaries and we also played some games in which everyone had to listen to each other.

• The Space:

We opened up the doors at The Space again this week and I ventured up the road with a tray of free cakes to advertise more free cakes and hot chocolate in the warmth of 'The Space'. 

• Rising Tide:

This morning at Rising Tide we have been looking at Rahab and the spies. We made bracelets to remind us of the red cord and to remind us to help people who are doing good.

At Moorlands this week:

We gave group presentations on the social and cultural background of a given verse. My group had the book of James. We also had lectures on Old Testament in which we started to go into some depth about creation and the fall. I've been working on another essay this week on the book of Exodus.

With Youth for Christ this week:

• Schools Work: 

We went into Christ the King College for lunch club on Friday where we led some games during lunch time.

• Renovations:

Some of the guys from YFC stripped the carpet out of our meeting room at Bethany so that we can start renovations on it.

With DofE this week:

We put together a programme for this half term. The young people are looking forward to more team building activities and a ''Camping Masterchef' night, but they don't seem as excited about the map work and route planning. 

And the boring bits...

I've been working on another essay, attended several meetings and done lots of planning and paperwork!

Things to pray for:

- Thank God that Rock Solid is starting to grow and pray that it will continue to go well.

- Pray that we get some more young people coming along to The Space.

2nd March 2014

An insight into what I get up to as the YTP student in Gunville

What happened this week at Gunville Methodist Church:

Rock Solid:

Exciting things are happening at Gunville Rock Solid! This week we had two new members, and the promise of another next week so we're now up to 7! This week we thought about lent and sacrifice and we made some pancakes.

The Space

The Space - our new free youth cafe, opened for the first time this week with lots of lovely cakes. We had a group of young people from Cowes come along and we had fun chatting and playing a card game called Dobble.

We'll be needing more cakes on Wednesday, so get your aprons out!

You may have noticed (if you were REALLY observant!) that I was preaching in church this morning. This is mainly because I enjoy the opportunity to bring the word of God to you, (and I love to talk!) but also was an assessment for my course at Moorlands.

At Moorlands this week:

We had a brilliant guest lecturer who taught us a method of reading the bible called 'inductive bible study'. We also had a lecture on the Old Testament and I got another essay back with a good grade.

With Youth for Christ this week:

Catalyst:

We ran Catalyst on Friday evening for young people from across the island. The theme was sex and relationships and we spent time worshiping God together too.

Schools Work: 

We went into Christ the King for Friday Lunch Club. We spent time chatting with young people and building relationships and I took the opportunity to advertise The Space and Rock Solid.

Things to pray for:

- Thank God that Rock Solid is starting to grow and pray that it will continue to go well.

- Pray that we get some more young people coming along to The Space.