Yesterday I waved goodbye to Natalie as she embarked on her Gap year travels that will take in Asia and Africa over about 11 months. Today I read through 35 application forms from yr 10 students at a local secondary school who are keen to go on a CRED Team Trip to Kenya in 2015. And then I chatted to a student from another college who is hoping to go on the trip to Kenya in 2014, and in amongst all that were various bits of admin for the 3 CRED Team Trips going out to India, Uganda and Ethiopia next month.
I guess it's all in a day's work in some ways, but it was interesting to reflect on how Natalie's first real experience of mission was on a CRED trip to Kenya about 4 years ago, and look what it has led to now! And as I read through the applications from some of the yr 10's, their passion about getting out there, meeting people from another culture, getting involved in the project, making a difference, and being changed in the process really shone through. I'm looking forward to meeting and interviewing the young people next week to see just how much the passion on paper comes through when asked to verbalise it, and what extra special nuggets of personality we get peeping through!
The student wanting to go to Kenya next year told me how she had applied for a previous trip but got turned down as she was so lacking in confidence. determined to get on a trip, she has been helping with 2 after-school clubs for the past year, to help her gain in confidence, and she told me today that she now is very happy to stand up in front of a group of children and teach them a game, or run an activity session. Fabulous to hear from her how she acknowledged what her weakness was, but didn't give into it. Instead she strove to overcome it, and has blossomed as a result into a much more chatty and outgoing young lady - it will be great to have her on the trip next summer.
And then there's all the students doing final preparations for the trips this autumn - they've been through the application and interview process, done the fundraising, and all the preparation for the activities and lessons they will be teaching at their various projects linked to CRED partners, and now its a case of final tweakings, collecting resources, packing, and actually delivering the week.
So many lives being impacted in different ways by the team trips - from even just thinking about it at application stage, to taking up extra activities to help with personal development, to the numerous ways in which the young people will be impacted when actually on the trips, and even afterwards on return.
Quite what all those different levels of impact will be, no-one can predict; some impacts are subtle, some are more obvious; some young people will come back with a new career in mind, or with a career choice confirmed, some might even decide to go off on longer term missional gap years!
Some of the impacts are fairly immediate, some take longer to show through but no matter what, it is certainly very exciting, and a great privilege, to be part of this amazing opportunity to shape the lives of young people in such a positive way.
I guess it's all in a day's work in some ways, but it was interesting to reflect on how Natalie's first real experience of mission was on a CRED trip to Kenya about 4 years ago, and look what it has led to now! And as I read through the applications from some of the yr 10's, their passion about getting out there, meeting people from another culture, getting involved in the project, making a difference, and being changed in the process really shone through. I'm looking forward to meeting and interviewing the young people next week to see just how much the passion on paper comes through when asked to verbalise it, and what extra special nuggets of personality we get peeping through!
The student wanting to go to Kenya next year told me how she had applied for a previous trip but got turned down as she was so lacking in confidence. determined to get on a trip, she has been helping with 2 after-school clubs for the past year, to help her gain in confidence, and she told me today that she now is very happy to stand up in front of a group of children and teach them a game, or run an activity session. Fabulous to hear from her how she acknowledged what her weakness was, but didn't give into it. Instead she strove to overcome it, and has blossomed as a result into a much more chatty and outgoing young lady - it will be great to have her on the trip next summer.
And then there's all the students doing final preparations for the trips this autumn - they've been through the application and interview process, done the fundraising, and all the preparation for the activities and lessons they will be teaching at their various projects linked to CRED partners, and now its a case of final tweakings, collecting resources, packing, and actually delivering the week.
So many lives being impacted in different ways by the team trips - from even just thinking about it at application stage, to taking up extra activities to help with personal development, to the numerous ways in which the young people will be impacted when actually on the trips, and even afterwards on return.
Quite what all those different levels of impact will be, no-one can predict; some impacts are subtle, some are more obvious; some young people will come back with a new career in mind, or with a career choice confirmed, some might even decide to go off on longer term missional gap years!
Some of the impacts are fairly immediate, some take longer to show through but no matter what, it is certainly very exciting, and a great privilege, to be part of this amazing opportunity to shape the lives of young people in such a positive way.
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