n:flame GAP Year Students

Check out who I am partially responsible for this year!!

Om Nom Nom

Originally uploaded by Roothie

I had lunch today with my good friend Pip and her little girl Millie. Never have I seen such a little person eat such a big sandwich.

Books

I have just benefited from Roy’s big book give away. Picked up a couple of nice numbers. Thanks Roy.

and thanks Lewis!! ;-)

Sunshine

Originally uploaded by Roothie

I am loving this 'late summer'. Today I sat reading in the sun, awesome. Shame we didn't get more of this over the actual summer, as opposed to almost October!

Film Review

Yet another film that made me wish I'd lived in a different period of history. I loved the costumes and the fashion.

I enjoyed the film, it stirred up a variety of feelings as I watched it. Mainly it made me appreciate being free to live and do as I please. She was so trapped between her 'duty', family, and the man she really loved. Its quick a girlie film, so I would recommend this to all females out there.

Sweet Gifts

Sweet Gifts
Originally uploaded by Roothie

I have had a lovely girl called Jennie with me on work experience for the past three weeks. She does not know what a blessing she has been to me, no matter how much I told her! The thought of someone to look after for three weeks at the beginning of term, and alongside Roy leaving was too much to cope with! But she was awesome and really helped my ongoing battle with my workload! She brought us in a massive tin of sweets as a thank you, which I know will not last long with the team I work with!!

Film Review

Oh wow! This film is something else! I don't even know where to start with describing it!! It is a really interesting concept for a film, in a way with the stars mocking the Hollywood lifestyle. It pushes the boundaries at times, and there was some nervous and embarrassed laughter coming from me and my friend throughout it. There were genuinely funny moments which made seeing the film worth it. I personally couldn't stomach the fake gore at one point.

There was a good cast, including some sneaky cameos. Tom Cruise's character being the most surprising. I cannot obviously go without mentioning the transformation of Robert Downey Junior. His performance as a stereotypical 1960s African American man was amazing.

I personally did not feel that the film dragged. I didn't wonder when it would end, and didn't feel that scenes were too long. If you have a certain sense of humour, then go and see this film!

My Sunday

What a day I had today. A group called Face2face came to Church this morning to share testimonies. I have seen them before. They tour the UK and Russia spreading the gospel through their music, which is mainly covers, but stuff that gets you thinking about God. Certain lyrics from secular songs stand out like never before. The one that spoke to me was a few lines from a Phantom Of The Opera track, "anywhere you go, let me go too,that's all I ask of you".

For lunch I went to visit my cousin and his girlfriend at their flat in Hackney. I knew they would pick a very trendy area to live in, but a whole new side to Hackney was opened up to me. They live very close to Victoria Park, and the area there is slowly emerging into a 'village'. We walked around the park and along the canal for a few hours, rounding off the afternoon with ice creams! We had to make the most of the nice weather!

I then returned to Enfield for our youth service, Passion Fruit. As the next generation of our youth have gone to uni, it is nice to see the younger ones taking more of a responsibility in the service.

Break Away

Originally uploaded by Roothie

So we went to Butlins in Minehead. All the Christians I have spoken to asked, "wasn't it weird for it not to be Spring Harvest?!" Seeing as I have not been to S.H in 7 years my answer is no! We got a privately owned caravan at a bargain price of £14 each for 3 nights, so I wasn't going to pass it up, no matter what the Butlins connotations!

It was nice to get away for a few days as I have not really has a summer break this year. (lots of trips coming up to make up for this!) We had lovely weather, which was a shock for our current UK temperatures. Apart from our noisy neighbours we all enjoyed ourselves. We mixed coastal walks with shopping, partying and relaxing.

I've decided to share my photos a bit more on my blog, so from this photo you can link to a select few of my photos from the weekend.

Time Out & Paper Tests

I've just come back from two days away at 'The Barn' near Hitchin. We took our new gap year team away for a day and night, followed by the rest of the wider n:flame team joining us for our termly away day. Its always nice to hang out and spend time with people I don't always get to have quality time with. It was also a good time to bond with the new gap year team.

During a session yesterday morning on 'working in a team' we all took a Myers-Briggs test. I had not done this for a good few years and I found it quite hard as some of the either/or answers I couldn't decide on. But I was pleased that the ESFJ description sounded about right for me.

Then this afternoon we had a session on gifts of the spirit. Time for another round of questions and adding up the answers. I really enjoyed this. We had to rate ourselves from 1-5 on 52 questions. I have since googled this and there are many similar 'tests' out there. The highest you could score was 20 per category. My highest four from this test were Administration - 20 points, Pastoral - 19 points, Practical Help - 18 points and Leadership - 16 points. Scoring high on administration does bode well for my job!! 28 And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. 1 Cor 12v28.

All-in-all it was a good couple of days away. I felt really blessed by the time. Now onto to my next time away with some uni friends this weekend.

It Gets Earlier!

Christmas stuff in the shops already! Why when September rolls around does it mean that stores can bring in merchandise three months early?!

Protecting Our Children

I attended a course today on how to fill out a CRB form! It was as tedious as it sounds, but it had to be done. The lovely people from CCPAS hosted the training session in Islington. They also talked to us about the new Vetting and Barring Scheme. I think this is an essential thing to enforce and will affect anyone working remotely anywhere near children or vulnerable adults. Roll on October next year when the whole scheme is launched.

Haircut Rant

Today I had a haircut. I am trying to grow my hair long again so haven't been to the hairdressers in a while. My usual trusted hairdresser/friend Janet has moved away, so I was very nervous about going somewhere new as I have had so many 'stylists' get it wrong with my hair. I had to wait around for my appointment, and the girl who cut my hair didn't even see my hair dry before she started on it, she may not have even known that my hair was as curly as it is! She cut too much off, which defeated the object of the style and growing it out. So now I am left with it all short-ish again. What do you do in this situation, its not as if they can stick it back on! (well, my budgets don't stretch to extensions!) I am a little miffed to say the least. I was too annoyed to complain at the time, so I may compose a strongly worded letter!

Gingers Rule!

I was sent this link on email today, along with this message from my friend, "as a race, your needs have long been neglected. now is your time to rise and prove your red headed powers to the WORLD!" Here here I say!!

A Year Review

Not that I can quite believe it, but one year ago today I started work at n:flame. The past 12 months have shot by. When I took the job I said that I would do it until the summer and then decide from there. I currently have no desire to go anywhere, so am going to see it out for another academic year.

Its been an interesting year. The biggest thing to overcome was getting used to the change of job. I moved from a very fast paced, highly demanding job with five staff and looking after over 70 companies to following God's call and working in a much quieter, relaxed environment. It took a while to get used to it, but knowing everyone at n:flame helped me to feel at home almost straightaway.

Roy was unfortunately ill for 5 weeks just after I started, so I had to get used to things very quickly. In that time our new office arrived and I got to make a mark on the new space and didn't feel like I was filling someone elses shoes. We were donated a fancy colour printer within the first month and this meant that all of our publications could be in colour, a nice coincidence to me taking over and looking like I'd brought in some bold changes!! ☺

The highlights from this year were getting involved with leading a school CU with Lewis; seeing our GAP year boys change, grow and mature in their faith; finding my knowledge of God deepening and finally, feeling I was in the place God had called me to.

I've made some really good friends within the team, people who support me in good and bad times. Of which there have been both this year. There are far too many good times to mention and the worst things are the failed relationship that I had higher hopes for and Roy being made redundant.

Following the change in staffing I have had to step up and take more responsibility. It is still not as much pressure as I used to have in my last job, but I think that I had got too comfy in my role and was shocked when the hierarchical carpet was pulled from under me. All we have done as a team is trust God during this time, even though we don't always understand the changes.

Things I hope for in the next year include...feeling personally more confident in my new role...feeling strong enough to stand up for things without Roy there to do it for me...successfully working alongside and mentoring the new GAP students...feeling that I am able to make a difference in the work that I do.

New Neighbours

So I met my new neighbour yesterday. He said hello first and introduced himself. He seemed very nice, and he informed me of his family etc. I asked about his garden office that I can see from my flat and he was very quick to say that it was for his job as a church pastor. I was very impressed with his speed to say he was a christian! Top holy points to him!! I then wondered if they has spotted I was a christian...although the only thing to give me away by sight is the fish on my car. I then just put it down to one of those locational Godincidences. (as opposed to coincidences!!) But as I soaked in the bath this evening singing along to worship songs on my ipod, I then wondered to myself how far does sound carry from my bathroom and did my very loud singing on Sunday evening give me away....?!?

Book Review

This evening the new book group met again. Most of us had read The Shack over the past month. It was received positively among us all.

I really enjoyed it. I don't often retain information for long periods of time, however some of the stuff from this book totally changed how I viewed God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and I don't think I will forget it in a hurry. I also gained a new appreciation for how the three work together. As I read it I decided to mark parts that really stood out to me, I ended up marking a lot of the pages! The way each of the characters interacted with Mack the main character was awesome. I found myself writing notes on certain pages thinking about how I interact with God following things I was reading.

Obviously this book is fiction, and I do not know how theologically sound it is. But I found myself envying Mack for being able to spend such a decent amount of time with each of the three 'God persons'. I would definitely recommend it to Christians, but also to non Christians as it helps to paint a lovely picture of God. A picture that is different to how most people would imagine.