Sunday 25th-Friday 2nd March '07

Hello.

Hoping you have had a good week. I have been busy planning lessons this week as well as my final yr 10 lesson on Prejudice at Castle Manor which went well.

Yesterday I was at a meeting with Church leaders about HOPE 08, a year of mission across the UK, if you've not heard about it I urge you to take a look at the website for it, http://www.hope08.com/

So this week coming! On Sunday I will be 'promoting' if that's the best word the work of HSI at Haverhill Methodist Church to make people aware of what's happening, especially now Matt has left and I arrived. I'll be working round the churches over the coming months.

Monday, Tuesday and Thursday are full of lessons at Chalkstone Middle with the yr 5's as we look at Stories and I will be teaching them about the Easter Story so please pray for an openness and enjoyment in the lesson!

Hopefully the big office move is happening next week also, I have a little office at Samuel Ward which is now ready for me.

A busy week which I hope will be great fun not only for me but for those in the classes too!

Have a great week.

Monday 19th-Friday 24th February 07

Hello,

I trust you have had a good week. Half term has been busy, started off with a Valentine's talk at the Methodist Church on Sunday morning and one lucky couple won a meal out for 2 in Haverhill after winning my quiz..I do hope they enjoyed their Pot Noodle!

Just had the final morning of holiday club, 'Going Bananas' at Haverhill Methodist church. It's been a really good few days and the children left wanting more which always feels like a positive sign to me. We had about 40-50 kids each morning, we jetted off to banana Island where the kids sang songs, played games and learnt about Jamima, Zacheaus and Noah! Hopefully some will come along to the family service on Sunday morning.

So next week back to schools, I will be back to my mentoring in Chalkstone Middle and writing lessons for the year 5 RE lessons.
I have the final year 10 RE lesson at Castle Manor on Wednesday morning.

So as term gets going again, plans will keep taking shape. Hope you have a good weekend.

Half term week

Hello.

Hope you are all well and enjoying the snow! I always find it amusing that the UK can't cope with a couple of inches of snow!

Had a good week this week. Had three lessons at Castle Manor and after a very bad start I was thanking God because a girl approached me afterwards asking for a Bible! Certainly something to be thankful for!

Also had a few extra things going on and after a meeting with the Haverhill Echo I discovered an article on HSI and me on Thursday though they managed to completely omit the word 'Christianity' from the whole thing!!

Next week, well as you may know it's half term, so I have a series of lessons on the story of Easter at Chalkstone middle after the holidays so I will be planning that as well as being involved in the Haverhill Methodist holiday club, 'Going Bananas'. So looks like a fun week. Please be praying for the club which runs Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning.

I hope you have a fun weekend! I will be watching the rugby, so we need no more snow!!!!!!

Monday 5th-Friday 9th February 07

Hello.

After having a manic week I'm looking forward to a restful weekend. The mentoring is continuing to go well and this morning I had a great assembly and the first of the RE lessons appeared to go well.

This following week looks a little like this...
Monday, Wednesday and Friday I have the same RE lesson with yr 10's at Castle Manor to get round the whole year group.
Wednesday I also have the mentoring at Chalkstone.
We've also found out we'll be moving into the new office at Samuel Ward after half term holidays so that is an answer to prayers.

I trust you have had a good week and enjoy the weekend.

Tuesday 30th-Friday 2nd February 07

Hello.
I hope you have had a good weekend. This week is looking busy as term is well underway so here's how this week is looking for your prayers.

Wednesday: I have my weekly mentoring session at Chalkstone Middle which is followed by a Youth Services meeting to see how this work is going and how we can improve it.

Thursday: I'm in Clare for the Churches Together meeting in the evening.

Friday: I'm starting the morning off with an assembly on Commitment (yes more baked beans and jelly) with the whole school at Castle Manor followed by a year 10 RE lesson on 'Prejudice' which is the first of five lessons in Castle Manor. These are the first lessons and the first assembly I have taken at Castle Manor so please pray that it is received well and opens up great discussions.

I hope you have a good week.

Monday 22-Friday 26th January '07

Hello.

Hope you have had a good week so far. Just a quick update and to give you a few things to be praying about for next week.

It's been a bit of a slow week but I had a great time at Chalkstone Middle on Monday and have started to mentor a student there which is a great opportunity, please be praying for this work as it is so important.

I have also been to a meeting about Haverhill Methodist Church's holiday club 'Going Banana's' which is taking place in half term which I'm getting involved in.

With it being a little quiet at the moment it has given me a great opportunity to reflect on what I gained from the conference and to look forward to this term. Already I have been in conversation with Samuel Ward about setting up an after school Christian Union this term, hopefully we can set up something more definite next week...so keep that in your prayers.

I have also been looking into how I can set up a Rock Solid club at Parkway Middle, this will be a fun club run at lunch times, which again will hopefully start after half term, however I am praying that someone may be able to volunteer their help to assist me with this one lunch time a week...any ideas please please let me know.

I'm really excited about these opportunities, it will deepen the work so that relationships can be built outside of the classroom environment so that the youth can really explore what it is to be a Christian! With all this I still have a lesson to plan and an assembly for Castle Manor and I am hoping to organise a fund raising quiz night...so watch this space.

Next week will be more of the planning of these developments as well as more of the mentoring, I won't be around on the Friday 26th and Monday 29th as I'm taking time out after last week.

Please keep praying for the young people and the schools, prayer is more powerful than we can understand! Have a great weekend.

Youth For Christ Staff Conference

Hello, and a slightly belated New Year!

I just came back from North Wales on Friday after having spent a week in a Castle for the Youth For Christ Staff conference. It was amazing week....the food was great, plenty of it! I got loads out of the week too, there were some great seminars with lots of information for me to take away and think about what more we can do in Haverhill and Clare to move HSI on! It was great to link with other people in similar situations, especially other new staff and others working on their own.

Hopefully 2007 will be a great year for HSI and we can move the work on and reach more children and young people making a real impact on their lives!!

This term is starting slightly slowly, I have a meeting at Chalkstone this Monday morning about some mentoring, so praying that will go well.

Hope you have all had a great Christmas and New Year and are feeling well in the swing of things now!