tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80599884531336180402023-11-15T18:57:44.169+00:00My Relay YearLaurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17570344303367405707noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8059988453133618040.post-57648781665507721582010-05-26T16:35:00.005+01:002010-05-26T17:20:44.218+01:005 Weeks to go!<span style="font-family: arial;">Sorry I've been so bad at keeping this up this term. There's been less going on because the students have been and some still are busy with deadlines and exams. I've still been keeping busy usually by doing more study. This week I've got my final study response to do. Its about heaven. <br /><br />Had my last ever CU meeting last week. It was kinda sad because I have enjoyed this year and love my students to bits even if they can be slightly frustrating at times, usually cos they aren't as organised as I try to be! I'm really going to miss them. I don't know where the last year has gone. <br /><br />Still don't have a clue what I'm doing when I finish relay. I am looking for a job I just don't have one yet. Same goes for somewhere to live that's not my mum's house. What I do know is that unless something unexpected happens I'll be living in Birmingham or Derby with Birmingham being my first choice. <br /></span>Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17570344303367405707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8059988453133618040.post-10859559796733328662010-04-28T16:51:00.005+01:002010-04-28T18:24:21.913+01:00My third and final term has really begun!<span style="font-family: arial;">Work wise things haven't been that busy. Just trying to get back into the swing of things and working out how I can best support the students when they are busy and stressed so don't have much spare time. The summer houseparty they had begun planning is not happening anymore because the speaker fell through and people didn't seem to want to go away that close to exams. Hopefully the picnic day out in the sun type thing will happen instead and everybody will have a great time. <br /><br />TEAM has started again after the Easter break. It was good to see people and get stuck into learning more about God. Today was pretty heavy going because we were looking at the Trinity the attributes of God and the Holy Spirit. all good stuff though!<br /><br />Outside of work things have been much busier. I had a great time at Matt and Hannah's wedding in Birmingham last weekend and on Tuesday I was back in Birmingham for a job interview for a health records clerk job. I think it went ok and I'll know by the end of Friday if I got the job. This weekend I'm going to Bristol to see uni friends. After that things should get quieter!<br /></span>Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17570344303367405707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8059988453133618040.post-1784884913435857312010-04-21T10:42:00.005+01:002010-04-21T11:50:08.911+01:00NWA and things<span style="font-family: arial;">I'm finally back in Cambridge after 3 weeks away</span>. <span style="font-family: arial;"> I had two reasonably relaxing weeks at home chilling out and looking for jobs followed by one week stewarding at New Word Alive (NWA for short). I had a great time at NWA catching up with friends and making new ones. Stewarding is definitely good fun when you are working with some great people, it is sunny for the whole week and you don't have to do any after hours stuff! I was based in the Great Marquee for most of the week so got to hear nearly all the bible readings from 1 Thessalonians and be at all apart from one of the evening celebrations</span>. <span style="font-family: arial;">I think my highlight of the week was being amazed by God's grace at the final student celebration</span>. <span style="font-family: arial;">I also really enjoyed hearing Rebecca Manley Pippert speak about evangelism. It was really encouraging to hear some of her amazing stories and advice. <br /><br />I've now started my final term of Relay at ARU and because of the way things work here with semesters and exams there are only 3 more proper CU meetings before the end of the academic year! The students have 3 weeks of lecture and then a short break before a few weeks of exams and then they vanish for the summer holidays. I will still spend time with the students but it wont have the structure of weekly CU meetings. I'm hoping that lots of the girls will come to the weekly prayer breakfasts I am planning to have on campus until they go home for the summer. I'm expecting that there will be more time for study and stuff but I am still going to try to meet up regularly with as many of the girls as I can. It kind of depends on how busy and stressed they get with exams though. <br /></span>Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17570344303367405707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8059988453133618040.post-85232126733200036822010-03-17T16:41:00.004+00:002010-03-17T17:36:09.231+00:00Wow, less than 2 weeks till Easter Holidays!<span style="font-family: arial;">I'm being really rubbish at this whole blogging thing this term! My excuse is I've been busy and have sent out far more short prayer updates instead!<br /><br />It's now less than 2 weeks till the Easter holidays :) Can't quite believe how fast this year is going! Need to make sure I make the most of the time I have left! This term has gone well. Mission week at ARU went pretty well and there were plenty of encouragements even if it was hard work which was no surprise! New Leaders training weekend was also really encouraging to see the new exec committee excited about the Gospel and leading the CU. The teaching and training and study I'm doing is also going well, although I still can't write an essay to save my life! I know this is all pretty vague and short but it's that or write absolutely loads of stuff that you wont have time to read!<br /><br />I'm trying to make progress with my plans for after Relay but I am finding it hard to really know what I want to do and how I can best serve God. I still want to move back to the midlands, ideally Birmingham. In terms of what I want to do job wise I'm struggling. I don't want to do more study or full time Christian work. For want of any better ideas I'm looking at admin and HR type stuff at the moment. God know what he's doing and has a plan even if I don't!<br /></span>Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17570344303367405707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8059988453133618040.post-16530961170149636802010-02-10T14:15:00.004+00:002010-02-10T15:55:04.009+00:00New term, time to get back into blogging!<span style="font-family:arial;">Sorry its been so long since I updated my blog. the last few weeks of term and the first few back after Christmas have been very busy despite the students not being around! I've been busy with Team days, study, bible study prep, Relay 2, admin, then the students finally started semester 2 and then I was away for mission week in brum. So things have been pretty good if rather busy!<br /><br />Birmingham CU mission week was called WhoWhatWhy? and the main speaker was Andy Croft from Soul Survivour Watford. There were lunchtime talks everyday where Andy was speaking about topics such as Who is Jesus?, What is Jesus like? and Why did Jesus die? In the evenings there was a quiz night, chocolate tasting evening combined with apologetics talks and a couple of straight talks. The talks were Why trust the Bible?, Why did God give us free will if he knew we'd mess up? and Why doesn't God make Himself more obvious? These questions were voted for online before the mission week by students at the uni. The talks were really good and numbers were pretty good throughout the week. <br /><br />I was based with Pritchatts Hall group. They were a really friendly bunch of students to work with. The prayer meetings on campus every morning were rather early for me (8am start) but really encouraging to see so many people there praying and to here stories of what God was doing throughout the week. Was an exhausting week! Whilst I was in brum I also had a great time catching up with friends mostly at the weekends. <br /><br />Got a couple of weeks of "normality" before ARCU have their mission week. Looking forward CU tomorrow night. Think that's enough writing for now!<br /></span>Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17570344303367405707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8059988453133618040.post-29139847409935452682009-12-02T16:48:00.002+00:002009-12-02T18:02:39.818+00:00A Conference and a Carol service<span style="font-family: arial;">The Biblical Evangelism conference I went to at the weekend was really good. My talk went quite well and I got some constructive feedback. The teaching about the Doctrine of Scripture was also really good and complemented what I've been reading in my core study this month. <br /><br />On Monday night it was the CICCU (Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union) carol service and my cu had mince pies and mulled wine first and then went along. It was a fun event, Rico Tice did a good job with his talk and lots of people came. <br /><br />TEAM has finished for Christmas. I've really enjoyed it this term and am already looking forward to next term and continuing the teaching including the detailed Bible overview. If you want more details about what I'm learning ask me. <br /><br />I'm really enjoying doing my one-to-one and chatting and studying Colossians together. It was good to have more time this week. Book club is going well. Reading Out of the Saltshaker was a good choice and changing the time means that we have more people coming. I think it's going to be helpful for all of us to read. I'm hosting a girly prayer breakfast on Tuesday so I'm hoping a lot of the CU girls will come and enjoy it. Can't believe there are only two CU meetings left this term!<br /></span>Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17570344303367405707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8059988453133618040.post-15554940361497840602009-11-25T16:52:00.002+00:002009-11-25T21:42:22.166+00:00Third month of Relay is nearly finished!<span style="font-family: arial;">Time for a quick recap on what I've been doing. CAM went well as did my first one-to-one. Went to my first church homegroup meeting last night which was good. <br /><br />On Friday I'm off on the Biblical Evangelism Conference. It's a UCCF conference and a big part of it is spending time in small groups giving a 10 minute evangelistic talk on a passage we given a few weeks in advance and getting feedback on it. I'm not looking forward to this and havent finished my talk yet. It should be a good weekend though. <br /><br />Generally everything is still going well. Only got one more week of TEAM this term and another 2 weeks of term for my students! I still have till work for another week after the students finish for their holidays. Time has really flown!<br /><br /><br /></span>Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17570344303367405707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8059988453133618040.post-5901894255640728632009-11-18T17:35:00.003+00:002009-11-18T17:52:27.753+00:00Life is getting busier!<span style="font-family: arial;">Our Relay prayer day on Friday was good and I then had a great weekend in brum and seem to have settled back into Cambridge life quickly. My essay is finally done and my talky thing on Hosea went ok. Went to my church cluster again last night and have got a home group to join so will be going there for the first time next Tuesday. Should be good. <br /><br />Coming up tomorrow evening is an evangelistic event called CAM which stands for coffee and music. It involves renting out the downstairs of starbucks in the city centre and having some live music and testimonies and a very short gospel presentation. Hopefully it will be a really good night and the students will be able to bring lots of their friends. <br /><br />Other than that its all the usual stuff going on. The most exiting things after CAM are starting a new book in the book club. Its called Out of the Saltshaker and its by Rebecca Manley Pippert. Its a great book about evangelism. The other exciting thing is I should be starting my first one-to-one with one of the cu girls on tuesday afternoon. We'll be looking at Colossians. Think thats a brief run down of most things going on at the moment. Life is definately getting busier even if its not really obvious from what I've written in my blog today!<br /></span>Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17570344303367405707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8059988453133618040.post-61386043805141903992009-11-11T16:49:00.004+00:002009-11-11T18:35:28.642+00:00Fireworks, Houseparty and Essay writing!<span style="font-family: arial;">I really enjoyed the fireworks although it was slightly strange not being in brum and being back at a reasonable time because the firework display was much earlier than the vale fireworks! As usual I enjoyed spending time with the students. <br /><br />Houseparty was great. Lots of fun, quality teaching on Ephesians and not much sleep thanks to an excessive amount of mafia playing! I really enjoyed getting to know the the students that came better. <br /><br />Been a slightly odd week so far with having Monday off and having supervision tomorrow because on Friday I'm meeting up with the other two East Central Relay Workers to spend time together and pray. I'm looking forward to that and then i'm going to visit brum again :) can't wait.<br /><br />Also this week i'm trying to write an essay about God's sovereignty. The title is 'If God is Sovereign and the world is like it is, he is not good - discuss' and the word limit is 1500. Making a start on it yesterday reminded me how much I don't like writing essays even if its an interesting topic because I'm not very good with words. <br /><br />Oh yeah my church cluster last week went well although it is kind of hard when there are a lot of people who all seem to know each other. I'll be going back next week and should be joining one of the homegroups soon.<br /><br />One more thing then I think thats everything for now. I'm still enjoying TEAM and learning a lot although next week I'm doing another mini talky thing, this time on Hosea, which I'm not looking forward to. I know it will be fine though. <br /></span>Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17570344303367405707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8059988453133618040.post-48466518500462055482009-11-03T12:45:00.000+00:002009-11-03T12:46:57.899+00:00Fireworks and Houseparty are coming soon!<span style="font-family:arial;">If you are reading this regularly sorry I missed a week. I was busy and am reworking my timetable slightly to make better use of my time. The last couple of weeks have been ok. As usual the best bits have been spending time with students. Since I last wrote I've been to SLOBS (Small group Leaders Own Bible Study) a couple of times which has been good to be studying the bible with Steve and two students who are leading the small group. I've also been enjoying just getting to know students better. Chatting in starbucks or the pub is so much fun.<br /><br />Study has also been particularly good recently. I've been studying God's sovereignty. It has been great to be reminded that God is good and in control! My mini talk thing for TEAM went quite well in the end even if I did leave it to the last minute which I am not going to do again! too stressful!<br /><br />Coming up this week is lots of exciting stuff. On Thursday its the firework display on Midsummers common so no CU meeting because we are meeting up to go to the fireworks together and hopefully the students will bring friends too. And then on Friday its the CU Houseparty (weekend away) at a place called Greenhedges in Sheringham. I'm hoping and praying it will be a really good time to get to know the students better and finally figure out who I'm going to do my second one-to-one with. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I'm going to my first church cluster tonight. Clusters are basically a group of 2 or 3 small groups that meet together</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> every other week with small groups meeting the on the weeks in between. I'm hoping that I'll have a good time and get to know more people in church through it. Think thats pretty much all I have to say for now so to summarize Relay is good but challenging!</span>Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17570344303367405707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8059988453133618040.post-14256398960905926852009-10-19T09:56:00.005+01:002009-10-19T11:32:01.632+01:00Back at work after a great weekend!<span style="font-family:arial;">I'm now back at work after an amazing weekend in brum seeing lots of friends. I loved seeing people and there were definatelty times when it didn't feel like I'd been away for two months!</span> <span style="font-family:arial;">A nice bonus to seeing friends was Jenson Button finally becoming F1 world Champion!</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Last week was ok. Had to do my first study response which was less fun but I'm still loving being a Relay worker. It was good to see people at our team day the other week. The main CU meetings on Thursday night are still going well and numbers are still good which is really encouraging. Had our first book club meeting on friday which was pretty good. We had 2 students come in addition to me and the 2 girls organising it.<br /><br />This week I'm hopefully starting my first proper one-to-one with one of the girls. Just need to finalise time and place! Should be good. Also need to figure out who else to do a one-to-one with. All the usual stuff happening this week plus at TEAM this week I've got to do a five min mini talk thingy explaining a passage in Ephesians so need to actually do that before Wednesday! Got my first SLOBS (Small group Leaders Own Bible Study) this week too. This is helping the two small group leaders prepare for the small group they'll be leading on Wednesday lunchtimes I think.<br /><br />Since the last time I posted I've made up my mind about church, which I'm pleased about. </span><span style="font-family:arial;">My new church is similar in style to my church in brum but a bit smaller so there are less students there and at the moment I think all the students are Cambridge rather than ARU students. </span><span style="font-family:arial;">Looking forward to sticking around and getting to know people there. Need to get my act together and sign up for a cluster/small group though!<br /></span>Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17570344303367405707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8059988453133618040.post-49457431030803087572009-10-05T09:59:00.004+01:002009-10-05T13:18:34.091+01:00First month of Relay done<span style="font-family: arial;">Can't believe my first month of Relay is well and truely over! I sent my first monthly report off this morning. For those of you reading this who aren't ex or current Relay workers its basically a review of what I've been doing with my time, how study is going, my finances and what I'm planning to do in the next month. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">International cafe went quite well and I'm going back tonight. There were quite a lot of people there which was good to see. CU last week was good. Was great to see lots of people there again. Thursday CU meetings are definately one of my favourite times of the week. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Didn't do much at the weekend. Still slightly odd that I don't need to feel guilty for not doing much on Saturdays! I also still haven't made up my mind about Church. There are a lot of good churches</span> <span style="font-family: arial;">in Cambridge which doesn't really make the decision any easier! Need to make a decision and stick to it soon though. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">The elective section of my study is now sorted. On Wednesdays I'll be doing a course called TEAM which stands for Training for East Anglia Ministry</span>. <span style="font-family: arial;"> I think the easiest way to explain it is by quoting from the website! 'TEAM is a one-year, one-day-a-week course focusing on learning to understand and apply the Bible, both to our own lives and to contemporary culture, in order to teach it effectively to others.' </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">This week I've got another team day to go to on Friday. Should be good to see the other East Central Staff and Relay workers. Other than that its TEAM and all the usual CU meetings and study and working out who to do one to ones with</span>. <span style="font-family: arial;">It's the first book club meeting on Friday but I wont be able to go because of my team day. I'm hoping and praying it goes well and lots of people go. That'll do for now, mostly because I'm not sure what else to say and have had enough of writing for now!</span>Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17570344303367405707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8059988453133618040.post-90890519972546698652009-09-28T10:50:00.000+01:002009-09-28T10:50:20.922+01:00I love my new CU<span style="font-family: arial;">Last week was generally pretty good. It was great to have a more normal week hanging out with students and studying. I'm learning that working to a timesheet rather than deadlines (like when I was a student) is very different! I'm loving being able to take time off at the weekend without feeling guilty about not doing work! Starting work at 9am everyday can be less fun, no lie ins if you can't be bothered to get out of bed and making the time up later in the day!<br /><br />The highlight of the week was definately the first CU meeting. It was really encouraging to see so many new people there (25-30 people there and over half were new!) and be able to get to know some of them better hanging out in the pub after the meeting. Last week it was also a bit of a novelty to go to my first ever exec meeting! I'm not actually on exec cos I'm not a student but the exec have invited me to come when I can so I can give advice if its needed and so i know more about whats going on which will make it easier for me to support the CU. I'm just loving getting to know the students better. <br /><br />Tonight I'm going to the Internaional Cafe (I Cafe for short) for the first time which I'm kinda nervous about. This week I'm also going to my second exec meeting, second CU meeting (exciting), doing more study, writing my first monthly report (not so exciting), more getting to know students and I'm meeting up with a couple of the girls on exec to talk about setting up a girls book club to read Christian books (also very exciting). <br /><br />I went to another two churches this sunday but still not feeling particularly close to making a decision on where I want to settle. Other than not having a church here I'm feeling a bit more settled and generally not missing brum quite so much. Think thats everything for now. I might get round to telling you about some of the cool stuff I'm studying another time but I've probably written enough for now! I'll just say that I really enjoyed looking at the Trintiy again this week and God is awesome!<br /></span>Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17570344303367405707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8059988453133618040.post-10758796612255045072009-09-21T09:56:00.001+01:002009-09-21T09:56:49.079+01:00I've been here a week!<span style="font-family: arial;">My first week was definately busy and pretty typical of life in that there were some good days and some not so good days. There are still plenty of moments when I wish I was still in brum but I'm trying to remind myself that God has put me here for a reason and He knows what's best for me far better than I do! I learnt some great stuff about writing bible studies during our relay training in London and came to the conclusion that I never want to live in London! My highlight of the week was probably the coffee and music night at starbucks. It was great to hangout and get to know more students there, followed by a pub trip. Church on Sunday night was pretty good too. Would be quite happy to go back there but I want to go to a normal morning service rather than kids service there and check out a few other places before I attempt to make a decision. <br /><br />This week should be slightly more typical. I'll be hangout out with the students, going to my first CU meeting here on Thursday night, studying and rewriting the Colossians bible studies I had to write for Relay 1 now that I know more about writing good bible studies. This is so that I can use them with the students when I start doing proper one to ones. Also can't forget supervision on Friday afternoon. I think thats a reasonable summary of what I'm doing this week.<br /></span>Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17570344303367405707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8059988453133618040.post-78114788492003926792009-09-14T22:00:00.000+01:002009-09-15T09:31:30.170+01:00I now live in Cambridge!<span style="font-family:arial;">I arrived in Cambridge this morning and have a very busy week ahead of me!</span> <span style="font-family:arial;">I met my supervisor/staff worker Steve this afternoon and had a wander round the city centre and campus. Both of these were good for helping me get slightly settled and know what I'll be doing over the next couple of weeks and where I'll be. Then I go to London tomorrow morning till Wednesday afternoon/evening (I'll find out for sure when I get there!) for a Relay training day with the other relay girls in my region and the London relay workers. Then on Thursday I can finally get stuck in with the CU's freshers week events. On Thursday evening they are having a coffee and music night at Starbucks in town and on Friday a lunchbar on campus titled </span><span style="font-family:arial;">'Do all religions lead to God.' And after that I'm meeting Steve again for supervision. This will be a weekly thing to check up on how I am, what I've been doing, what I've got planned and to pray and study the bible together. At least I think thats what a normal supervision session involves! Also can't forget prayer meetings for the freshers week stuff with the students at 10am on Thursday and Friday. In between all this I need to do some study, plan my time, spend as much time as possible getting to know the students and have some time off doing nothing!</span>Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17570344303367405707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8059988453133618040.post-26975166066497112382009-09-09T11:48:00.002+01:002009-09-09T11:59:15.255+01:00<span style="font-family: arial;">Welcome to my blog. I hope you find it interesting! The current idea is to use this space to keep you up to date withwhat I'm up to with Relay to make it easier for you to pray for me in a more informed way. And so I can share anything else I feel like! I'm aiming to write weekly but we'll see how that works out! If you're not getting my actual (most likely termly) prayer letters and want them just ask. <br /><br />I am now officially a Relay worker! I've been to my first training conferences where I had a great time learning about God's grace and getting to know other Relay workers and some of the staff workers and students I'll be working with this year. We also had plenty of practical training so it was great preparation for the year ahead. <br /><br />At the moment I'm in Derby getting ready to move to Cambridge on Monday. Part of me is excited and looking forward to getting started properly but I'm also pretty scared about moving somewhere new. But before that I have an early start to get to my team days in Cambridge this thursday and friday. As far as I know the team days will involve all of us East Central relays and staff meeting up to get to know each other better, pray and do some sort of bible study and or training. I'll have a much better idea after I've been!<br /><br />The day I arrive in Cambridge is the start of Freshers week so I'll be getting stuck in straight away! Think thats everything for now!<br /></span>Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17570344303367405707noreply@blogger.com0