I am currently sat in my room which seems to be shrinking by the minute as the piles of things to be packed are growing. How on earth do you pack for almost a year abroad?! The many unknowns of my gap year are making what is usually a simple task for me, very tricky. As you can see, much of my floor has disappeared with three more days to accumulate the remaining things to take! Hence, I am taking a break to inform you all about why I won't be around for the next 11 months or so.
Many of you will know two of the biggest passions in my life are God and the poor, so it makes sense that these are going to be the broad themes of my year away.
I will be leaving to travel to India on Tuesday (17th) which will be my home for at least three months, if not five. YWAM (Youth With A Mission) is a Christian organisation who run different 'schools' around the world, all under the broad mantra of knowing God and making Him known. I will be doing a DTS (Discipleship Training School) consisting of the three month 'lecture phase' (this is the knowing God bit) and then a two month 'outreach phase' (and this is making Him known). My home for the lecture phase will be in north India which, by all accounts, is beautiful. The outreach phase could take place anywhere in India or in surrounding Asia, but I won't find out where we will be going for another month or so. After I have graduated (how exciting) from the DTS, I will have two weeks before my visa expires in which I hope to travel and see some more of India, but we will see closer to the time is that is realistic.
Around the end of February, I will fly from India to Uganda where I will be living with a lovely Ugandan family for the next six months. This half of my year is a bit of a blank canvas as I don't know much of what will fill my time. But, at least to me, that's half of the excitement because God could have so much up His sleeve for those months and I don't want to mess up His plans. One project I will be getting involved with is the Acholi community on the outskirts of Kampala who have been internally displaced from the north of the country to the capital by violence in their home area. They fled to their current location, however they have poor living conditions, little hope of returning home but also little hope for the future as they receive no help from locals or the government because of their 'alien' identity. I will be working with a bead making cooperative in the community, and anything else which may help these wonderful people.
I have visited Uganda before, so I know what I am getting in to out there, but India is a huge mystery. It should be a wonderful year, which I will do my best to keep you all updated on through this blog. Internet access may be sporadic to say the least, so please be patient with me. My prayer is that I will grow closer to God this year, that He will be glorified and His kingdom will touch some of the dark places on Earth through where He has placed me. Amen.
Right, I best get back to trying to pack. Wish me luck!!
Oh, and if you are blog fan with a bloglovin' account, you can now follow my blog on there - the things I do for you lovely tech-y people. (Ignore the gobbledygook below, that just links my blog to bloglovin').
<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/10632113/?claim=nkgu7e7jk68">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>
Many of you will know two of the biggest passions in my life are God and the poor, so it makes sense that these are going to be the broad themes of my year away.
I will be leaving to travel to India on Tuesday (17th) which will be my home for at least three months, if not five. YWAM (Youth With A Mission) is a Christian organisation who run different 'schools' around the world, all under the broad mantra of knowing God and making Him known. I will be doing a DTS (Discipleship Training School) consisting of the three month 'lecture phase' (this is the knowing God bit) and then a two month 'outreach phase' (and this is making Him known). My home for the lecture phase will be in north India which, by all accounts, is beautiful. The outreach phase could take place anywhere in India or in surrounding Asia, but I won't find out where we will be going for another month or so. After I have graduated (how exciting) from the DTS, I will have two weeks before my visa expires in which I hope to travel and see some more of India, but we will see closer to the time is that is realistic.
Around the end of February, I will fly from India to Uganda where I will be living with a lovely Ugandan family for the next six months. This half of my year is a bit of a blank canvas as I don't know much of what will fill my time. But, at least to me, that's half of the excitement because God could have so much up His sleeve for those months and I don't want to mess up His plans. One project I will be getting involved with is the Acholi community on the outskirts of Kampala who have been internally displaced from the north of the country to the capital by violence in their home area. They fled to their current location, however they have poor living conditions, little hope of returning home but also little hope for the future as they receive no help from locals or the government because of their 'alien' identity. I will be working with a bead making cooperative in the community, and anything else which may help these wonderful people.
I have visited Uganda before, so I know what I am getting in to out there, but India is a huge mystery. It should be a wonderful year, which I will do my best to keep you all updated on through this blog. Internet access may be sporadic to say the least, so please be patient with me. My prayer is that I will grow closer to God this year, that He will be glorified and His kingdom will touch some of the dark places on Earth through where He has placed me. Amen.
Right, I best get back to trying to pack. Wish me luck!!
Oh, and if you are blog fan with a bloglovin' account, you can now follow my blog on there - the things I do for you lovely tech-y people. (Ignore the gobbledygook below, that just links my blog to bloglovin').
<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/10632113/?claim=nkgu7e7jk68">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>
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