Diary of an Apprentice - Week 2
Hannah O'Donnell, 4th October 2021
A busy and productive week. Thank you, Lord, for giving me energy and motivation to get jobs done that perhaps I was procrastinating on.
Hello again! This week has been a busy week of getting stuck into all of the youth work in and around St. John’s and learning more about time management.
My week started off with prayer meetings with Si, the associate vicar here at St John’s, talking about how my week had been and what I had planned for the upcoming week. We prayed about things that I’m nervous for and thanked Jesus for the blessings I’ve been graced with this week. For example, I was praying for energy. After my first couple of weeks in this new role, I’ve been quite exhausted and worn out from the new lifestyle. So prayer that Christ would sustain me and give me chances to have real rest was a big one! We also thanked Jesus for how well my first week at the North West Gospel Partnership Course (NWP) had been, I was incredibly nervous to meet so many new people, but God provided many many friendly faces for me to chat to without fear. Answered prayer? Check!
This week I’ve also been part of a huge amount of youth work. I attended Explorers and Pathfinders on Tuesday, NISCU’s Year 7 Lunch Club at Whitehaven Academy and an evening church youth group in Wigan on Wednesday, CYFA on Sunday evening and doing lots more planning and preparation for GGANG (the girl’s bible study I hope to set up soon). I really, really love getting involved with youth ministry and getting to build relationships with the young people. I feel as though I can relate to some of their worries and fears as well as the sins they struggle with the most at the moment - I’m able to provide Christ-inspired wisdom that I have learnt going through similar, if not the same, situations. Many people who know me personally would also agree with me when I say I'm pretty much on the same maturity wavelength as 12 year olds so that's handy when attempting to have fun and build good friendships! :) This week was my first week of doing ‘the teaching’ at a youth group: at CYFA we are going through the Youth Christianity Explored course (CY) and Si asked me to lead it this week. I was nervous, but also very excited to get my first talk under my belt; praying that there would be lots to learn and that I would be humble enough to understand what could’ve been improved/changed. It went as well as I could've hoped, for a 1st attempt. I felt confident and comfortable and the CYFA members were willing to get involved and answer questions which really encouraged me too - giving talks at youth groups was something I thought I would find terrifying and hate doing, but actually, I'm really looking forward to Si asking me to do it again! Praise God, you equip us and the Holy Spirit gives us the words to say - it is never my own, so I never need to fear.
The rest of my time was enjoyed through time spent with friends and time spent reading, two of my favourite pastimes. Overall, a super week, a week where it was easy to praise and thank God because it was enjoyable and positive. But, I'm aware that as the year goes on, I will be given more responsibilities and duties to take on. So, starting now - in preparation for that - I'll be praying that when I'm exhausted and I recognise my mental health is declining I will be able to throw myself at scripture and see all the blessings I have. I ask that you would be praying for me too.
Hannah's Fact of the Week
I LOVE SPORTS SCIENCE. When I say LOVE, I mean L.O.V.E. There is something about learning about the way the body works together to create movements and how our brain can affect our performance and so on that just completely fascinates me. God created us so intricately and intelligently, I will never ever be able to fully comprehend it and that blows my mind. I love it SO SO much, haha! To carry on my studies of sports science, on Saturday, I attended a university open day at Leeds Beckett Uni. The facilities were awesome and have made me really excited to get making decisions about my future beyond this year. Prayers that I would be wise and have glorifying Christ at the centre of my decisions would be greatly appreciated.