This week was half term for the schools and the same applied for those in the Oxygen team….to some extent! We have been allowed time off from doing the usual projects but instead the staff tam have been working hard on a first aid course (apparently the acting skills in Casualty are better than those on the first aid video!) and the Gap team have been carrying out ‘Challenge week’.
Monday morning we met Debbie and were given our first mysterious envelope of the week….inside were the instructions that we had to ‘Use £5 to bless people you feel are undervalued, need encouragement and need blessing…The only condition is they must live/work in Kingston’. So after a few puzzled expressions and much debate we headed into Kingston town armed with £5 worth of sweets each with an encouraging note attached. The notes varied from ‘You are loved more than you know’ to Grace’s suggestion of ‘Have a nice day!’ (Can you tell she lived in America for a while?!). We then went into each shop along Kingston high street and the market place offering the sweets to the shop workers because we felt sorry that they had to work on such a sunny day. As you can imagine we had a variety of responses from enthusiastic acceptance, to ‘this is weird’, and blunt No’s! We even had one lady ask us if it was a joke like one of those shows on TV where people film your reaction!!
Tuesday morning we received our second white envelope – this time we had £10 but we had to make a difference nationally or internationally! This was even harder to come up with an idea for, especially on a budget of £10 but after some helpful team discussion time in Starbucks (!) we came up with the idea to send Grace (who is leaving the team at the end of the week to go travelling, boohoo) travelling with the £10 and to buy coffee for a homeless person in each country she visits. We also each wrote a letter for her to give to the people along with their coffee – watch this space for an update on how that goes!
On Wednesday we were given £12 with which to bless each other...woohoo! We decided to divide the money up so we each had £2 then we drew a name out of a hat and had to find a gift for that person using the £2 of something that either reminded us of them or that we thought they would like. Jamie received guitar plectrums, Bandna was given a nice belt, Bonnie had origami flowers with notes inside them, Anne received some art materials, Grace had bananas and peanut butter and I was given slipper socks – an interesting mix!
On Thursday, our final day of challenge week we had to bless those who the bible says are in need of blessing, such as the hungry, thirsty, imprisoned, sick etc with £10. This was probably the most challenging as we had to cover a wide range of groups with only a few pounds! Bandna came up with the idea to make and send Christmas cards to the local prison (which only cost us a stamp!) and Anne suggested making up a shoebox to send to operation Christmas child, which we tried to fill with donations from the local Kingston shops and finally we sent some of the money to the charity ‘Action for Children’ who help disadvantaged children. It’s amazing what you can do with just £10 when you put your mind to it – it’s definitely a lesson I’m learning this year!
It has been a good week for getting to spend time as a gap team again – normally our weeks are too busy to see each other much – and for thinking about how we can use our little resources to give a lot of blessing. It has made me think that even though I may not have much money this year I can still bless people through my use of time and energy and by just being me!
Hey hey!! Hope you’re well, and again thank you for taking the time to read this. Just wanting to update you on the latest news and goings on with me :D.
We had `Challenge week` last week, which was cool. Basically, we had to bless as many people as we could with little money, and we got points for innovation, originality and number of people blessed. We had varying degrees of success, Monday, we bought loads of sweets and took them round to all the shop workers on Kingston high street which was hard work, but was quite rewarding. It even led to someone we gave sweets to, going out of their way when we needed their help later on in the week with another challenge. Some people were not so receptive, one woman said `sorry I don’t have time for this`. WE WERE OFFERING HER A SWEET!!
Anyway, projects are starting up again this week, which is cool, can’t wait to get back to work! I never thought I would say that in my life, ever!! It will be good to see the young people again and get back to working with them.
Prayer requests. I still haven’t settled on a church to go to so please pray that God will guide me to the right one.
Please pray for the young people as they go back to school after having a week off, that they can enjoy themselves and can concentrate on working as well.
Have a great week!!
Jamie
Soooo, my third update. Hope you’re well, and thank you for taking the time and interest in reading this. Last week was a bit weird to be honest! Everything was going really well, then I had to wake up for the dentist on Monday morning! I hate the dentist it’s horrible! But anyway.
I feel I have really settled into the area now, I’m starting to feel very much at home which is good. Nearly all the projects are under way now, and the ones that aren’t are in advanced stages of planning which is good.
Rm1 at Hollyfield is going well, more people are coming which is good. A couple of weeks ago we had eight young people which made it challenging seeing as I was used to one or two turning! They were also hyper on something as well, they just seemed set out to make that two hours a nightmare! It calmed down the following week which I was quite grateful for. Rm1 at Coombe Boys is still going really well, I’m really enjoying working with the young people there and building on relationships that have been initiated. Pray that it continues.
And then there’s Kingsnympton.
What an evening. We had four turn up to start with and they were joining in the activities we had planned for them and things were going really well, then to cut a long story short, we had to call the police down because one of the boys who comes to the group had been sent down by a parent to beat another boy up because apparently he pushed his younger brother into a door. The parent had already threatened this tiny boy as well and sent another of his sons to beat the boy up but he hadn’t. We called the police and it got sorted out the next day after a few long hours of waiting.
Prayer requests
I am finding myself to be really tired during the days, and I’m sleeping perfectly well most nights so please pray for me to be suitably rested so I can give 100% to my work. Also I mentioned about a young person at Rm1 Coombe Boys who was having trouble fitting in and was getting bullied for the way he acted, he has now acknowledged that people find him annoying, and he is trying to change the way he is so please keep praying for him. Keep praying for good numbers at Hollyfield as well just not excessive numbers!!
Hope you all have a great week!
Take Care God Bless
Jamie
Just to say... whoever wasn't there last Saturday afternoon missed an amazing service and the chance to meet the incredible new gap year team.
It started with an introduction of the team, through a video that can be still checked out on our website and was followed by a thoughtful sermon by Peter Holmes accompanied by amazing scones with cream and jam, finishing up with the commissioning of the gap team and the new staff of Oxygen.
For me personally, this Saturday afternoon event has been a big encouragement and it was very good to see that we have so many people who give their time and energy to serve and support the work we do for the Lord.
Thank you. Please keep praying that Oxygen will be able to reach all these young people who feel insecure and hopeless in our world where material wealth and academic achievement counts more than the human being itself or its spiritual growth and developement and that we as we go out and work with these young people succeed in building relationships through relying on God's word.
______________________________________________________
"It is Tuesday the 22nd of September 2009. The last minutes of the game. The tension among the fans is increasingly growing. The amazing goals we have seen. The last minutes show that the chances for either team to win the trophy, are undecided. But what is that? A hooded young man steps out of the rowed and... what is he doing? He is striking out to..." Whoever wants to know how this story ends will need to come and visit the young people who attend our Tuesday night session in New Malden Christ Church.
After the summer break we are very fortunate to be able to say that the kids we already got the chance to get to know and build relationships with last year, are still coming along and are very enthusiastic and enjoy themselves getting involved in drama, cooking and football playing during our sessions at the "Urban Nite" project, which is run by Oxygen in cooperation with the amazing support of the Christ Church youth worker Nathan Larkin.
Please keep praying for the young people of New Malden and Kingston and that they will feel comfortable and bring they friends along so that we can provide more hope and be a safe heaven for the kids around the borough.
Why did I come to work for oxygen and become apart of the gap year team? Well that is a good question, and to be honest not sure of the answer. I had previously applied to do a youth work degree and was accepted onto the course. I then had to find a church that I could work in whilst studying. I did find a church however it just did not click into place. When it comes to big life decisions I do really feel and pray that God allows things to happen and give me a calm and peace about it if it is the right place or thing for me to do. This did not happen about the course or the church that I found.
This is when I found out about oxygen through a friend. So I decided to research into Oxygen and the projects. The basis of just loving the youth through there circumstance just grabbed me. Things started to click and make me excited about applying. When I got an interview and was able to have a taster of some of the projects it ignited my enthusiasm. I had calm about the interview and I just really felt Gods hand in it. This is when I knew I wanted to come here and it was the right thing for me to do.
Moving to Kingston was a slight mission as I was moving out of my room and taking absolutely everything I owned with me. Lucky for me I am blessed with a supportive and lovely family, which helped the move to be as easy as possible.
This is my first time moving away from home. When I went Uni I commuted from home so never had that living away experience. So this is all new and exciting for me. So far I have been enjoying it. I get on with all the team and just really enjoying getting busy and in a bit of a routine. I have had my moments of missing my family but I am sure that is to be expected.
I really like all the kids that I am working with and enjoying the new challenges that they present. I am learning lots more than I thought possible in the first two weeks, and have almost familiarised myself with Kingston area and where I am meant to be; so far so good.
