Hawkwell and Gorleston

After a brilliant week at home, we headed off to Hawkwell for an activities week. You might ask “what would a band and drama team do for an activities week”. Well, we did just that. We had about 25 young people turn up for the week and we turned them into a band and a drama team. Diversion went off to help the drama team write a piece of drama while we helped the band to write a song. Each day we split off into our two parts and the band did a bit more to the final song. In the afternoons we all hang out together playing pool, playstation, basketball and generally just chilled out together. It was an awesome week. The band came up with the name “Connect” because they are all connected together and with God. The drama team chose the name “Herd Wot?” which is an anagram of “The Word”.

The given theme for the song and piece of drama was relationships. The final piece of drama was called “Do you know you you’re talking to?” and was about the dangers of meeting people online. The final song was called “Face to Face” which was about having real friends rather than friends on the internet. By Friday we had the song recorded and the drama filmed. On Friday the band worked on performance techniques ready for the gig that evening. At the gig, Taste played some songs, and Diversion performed their own piece of drama, then at the end of the evening, Herd Wot? performed what they had been working on all week and Connect performed Face to Face. The gig was amazing and Connect even had an encore! We had some really positive feedback from some of the young people and parents so I would consider the week a great success.

On the Saturday, East Norfolk Youth for Christ was holding an “Alternative to Halloween” event called Treat. Last year when they ran Treat apparently there was so much mess after all the games that people were slipping over all over the place! So this year they decided to do less messy games and get the Check It Out team in to help with the entertainment. We set up at one end of the hall to play music and perform drama while the other guys set up their messy games at the other end. It was a fantastic evening where everyone seemed to be getting involved. The games were suitably messy and I managed to fit a stage dive in at the end of one of the songs! After packing down I got back to my hosts in Essex at about 2:30am. They are in Sri Lanka at the moment so they left me lots of notes around the house telling me how to use everything. We’re in the office this week preparing for our 3 week tour starting next week in Oben!

Grantham Week 2

After a long fortnight in Grantham, I’m now at home for a week’s holiday. This week has been very different to the one before. We we’re in St. Hugh’s school which is just round the corner from Ambergate. It’s a much bigger school than Ambergate (where we had whole year groups for a lesson). We took various lessons and a few assemblies over the week. I seemed to acquire a fan club of teenage girls over the week which got rather exhausting if I’m honest. I’m not used to female attention! But anyway, the young people seemed to really enjoy our lessons and assemblies and mostly joined in and got involved.

On the Friday at the end of the Grantham fortnight, we had lessons in the morning, then we packed down all our gear before lunch (which was a miracle in itself) and moved it into the Church of the Epiphany which was right in-between the two schools. We set it all up again there after lunch for the gig that evening. We had invited everyone from both schools to the gig. An hour before the gig was about to start, I was asked to do a bit of singing in a couple of the songs which I had never done before so I was quite nervous, especially because we didn’t really have a proper practice for it! Overall the gig seemed to go down well and lots of young people asked for our “Check It Out” flyers at the end which give the first steps to “becoming a Christian” (as much as I hate that phrase).

It’s good to be home now, to get some sleep, see some of my friends from Church, and generally not have to do much . But I’m also looking forward to getting back on the road with the team for an activities week in Hawkwell. I’m not really sure what happens at an activities week but apparently it will be good fun!

Grantham week 1

Well our prayers have been answered about this week. Were doing a week at Ambergate sports college in Grantham which I’m really enjoying so far. It’s been great to chat to some of the young people there and take their lessons. We’ve set up in a nearby church as there is more space there and our loud noises won’t disturb the rest of the school. The church is related to the school and is literally just round the corner so the teachers are happy to bring the young people over for lessons. I’ve already had some cool conversations with them over lunch time. One guy asked me “Who is God?”, to which I gave a fumbled answer about the “trinity”. He told me he believes there’s a God but he’s not a Christian or anything.

On another note, my fingers really hurt from playing my bass so much, to the point where it’s hurting to type this blog! I’ve bought some surgical spirit to make an attempt at re-callusing my fingers quickly. I’m loving playing my bass at the moment, more than I ever have. If my fingers didn’t hurt so much I probably wouldn’t put it down!

I’m looking forward to my holiday which is from the 17th till the 24th. It will be good to get home for a week of normal intensity life and see some of my friends and family

The Last Week Before The First Week

Well it’s our last week of rehearsals this week and we are all working our poor little socks off doing final preparations. I have learnt quite a few songs over the past month (and we wrote one!) so my brain is full of jumbled up pieces of music. I’ve really enjoyed my first month working for Viz-A-Viz and can’t wait to start going into schools telling the young people what it means to know Jesus. We’ve run through some lesson plans and had various training sessions but I still don’t feel ready (but then I never do so that’s OK).

It’s not all gravy though – I’ve underachieved one of my goals already. I planned to keep this blog updated weekly and unfortunately, I missed last week out! Also there seems to be a lot of sickness going round the team at the moment so we would much appreciate your prayers for that.

We leave for Grantham this Sunday for two weeks of schools work. We’re not actually sure what we’re doing for the first week in Grantham because the school we had been booked in for has pulled out. There is a small possibility of another school using us but prayer is needed at such short notice!

Last Wednesday we had a photo shoot which was quite fun, even though I don’t like standing around or people taking lots of pictures of me. I guess I might have to get used to that this year. Here is one of the photos that were taken:

Claire (Vocals), La Roche (DJ, Keyboard, Vocals), Andy (Guitar, Vocals), Me (Bass Guitar), Keel (Drums), Becca (Vocals)

Lastly, were still not actually sure where were going for the first week in Grantham

Moving Forward

This is my third week in Essex and I’m still enjoying myself thankfully . We have mostly been rehearsing every day so far along with the odd bible study etc… On Tuesday we moved all our gear to Barnard’s Farm. Theres a converted barn there where they let us practice all through September. The gardens there are amazing. I took a short walk on my lunch break and was actually very impressed! The barn itself that we rehearse in has been converted into a dance studio so it’s all nice and done up.

We had a hair makeover day yesterday when we all go to get haircuts, then some people seem to get dye forced into their hair. So I now have short hair with blonde bits in (as seen to the right)! I quite like it but its gonna take a little while to get used to.

The band has started to write some songs now which is quite exciting. I’ve never really written a song with anyone else so it’s a new experience for me. Thankfully the other members of the team are better at it than me or it would probably be rather naff!

Please pray that God will continue to help me feel settled in. Please also pray that I find stuff to do in my free time as I don’t live near any of the other volunteers.

Hosting

Bob and Sue have decided they want to be my hosts for the year. This is fantastic news and a real answer to prayer. I get on really well with them and they are such a nice couple to stay with! Thanks to all who have been praying for a place for me to stay.

The First Week

Im writing this blog because I’ve been told to! But I also think this is a good idea because it means you can all keep in touch with me and find out what I’m doing on my gap year.

I’m staying with a couple called Sue and Bob for the first couple of weeks which is great, but I don’t know where I’m gonna be staying after that. I would really appreciate it if you could pray that I find somewhere to live.

This week we’ve been rehearsing lots and lots which I love. That’s the best part of my day here. Apart from that we’ve been eating cakes, drinking tea and attempting to be sociable. It was Ben’s birthday last Thursday so we had a barbecue to celebrate.

Theres lots of illness here at the moment so please pray that people get better quickly, and that God protects those of us that havn’t been ill yet.

I want to thank everyone that has supported me so far, financially and in prayer (and the card I got from the Holts!)

Arrival

After a long series of events, I have arrived at Viz-A-Viz ministries at the office and work has begun. It all started when I was looking for a gap year towards the end of college. Daniel Beckett (my youth worker) tried to help me find one that I would enjoy. He suggested joining a band called “Taste” as a techy but it didn’t appeal to me. I also noticed they were still looking for musicians for this year but I didn’t think I would be good enough to do it. I applied to do a gap year but that just didn’t work out for me. It was as if God had just closed the door on it, which at the time was annoying, but now I see it was a good thing. I started to ask God what he wanted me to do for this year. Emily (a girl that was currently doing a Viz-A-Viz gap year, and staying in my house for that matter) invited me to an event called “Leading Edge” to be a techy. I went along for the experience, thinking it might be a laugh, where I met this band called Taste. I found out that they were still looking for a bassist and their current bassist mentioned to me that he wasn’t very good at playing the bass when he started and has just improved over the year. For some reason I still didn’t want to do that year. I started looking for other ways to spend my year – none of which seemed to be the “right” way. On Friday 21st August, my computer broke. This might not seem like such a big deal, but I spent a lot of time on my computer, and this meant that I had to find other stuff to fill my time with. The Sunday after, my dad said to me that if it was the money that was the problem for the gap year, then I shouldn’t wory about it and God can sort all that out. Suddenly, it seemed like the right way to spend my year, as if God wanted me to apply. I sent Joy (the band manager) a text to see if she was still looking for a bassist, and it turned out that I was the answer to their prayers. So I’ve had a busy week trying to get stuff sorted, get packed, and learn the songs before moving out on Monday 31st August. We have already had rehersals today and yesterday and I think they are pleased to have me on the team

So thats the story of how I joined Taste. I want to thank the people that have already started to support me in prayer and financially at such short notice. You know who you are! If anyone does want to support me financially then visit the Viz-A-Viz website, click “support us” and print off one of the “Regular Gift” or “One-Off Gift” forms and put my name on it. The address to send it to is at the bottom of the form.

http://www.vizaviz.org/