Posts tagged review

Well this week started with disaster! I spilled water on kate (my laptop, yes I realise it is sad and slightly disturbing that she has a name) and after leaving her to dry out she wouldn’t start up! I have sent her off off for repair now and it is going to cost a lot to fix. I lost a little data (a video of my trip to Japan that I was putting together) but most of it was safe thanks to Jungle Disk. It also sent the start of my week into turmoil as I had just gotten all the software set-up so that I could start work. Luckily I still have my old laptop – now pushing six years old. So Monday I spent getting everything set up on this computer. Everything is working well now, but it is so slow which can be frustrating.

Tuesday I met with three organisations that work with youth in Newcastle and got an absolute wealth of information. From experiences working with the youth to how to raise funds and how much to expect. Everyone expressed support of what I was doing and were keen to work with me once we are up and running. It was a very encouraging time and it is quite likely that I will get referals from these people so I can get some youth into my course!!

I have also spent a lot of time on the funding proposal I have been writting with Sara. It is looking pretty good now, still a few more tweaks to make before the Tuesday deadline. As well as this I have written some briefs about the company and one of the products we are going to launch. I am working towards getting a website and material together in order to promote what we are doing.

It hardly seems possible but I also managed to get a lot of work done on an application I am building for Simon and am rediscovering my passion for programming. It has been a lot of fun!

Well looking back I have actually achieved a lot this week. At the start it hardly seemed possible. In fact I had a brief moment when I felt the weight of everything and I thought I wasn’t going to cope. At this point I realised I had a choice about how I was going to approach the week. I decided that the cirumstances around what were happening were not going to stop me from completing my mission. I know I am in the place that God wants me and with his strength I am going to complete the task he has assigned. I have never felt so empowered in my life. This is going to be an amazing year!

Had some good progress this week although not as much as I would have liked!

I decided to start applying to get some funding, up until now I was sceptical as to whether it was a good idea. I guess having little money come in changes that perspective! So this week I have spent a lot of time trying to nut out exactly what it is that the business is going to be doing and putting that into words. It is an interesting learning process and some of the things that the funds are asking for are things I hadn’t considered before so it is good to think about those things. I am very lucky to have meet Sara who is going to help me get the application all sorted, she has done this kind of thing a lot before which is great because the more I look at it I realise I have no idea!

Apart from that I have spent a lot of time looking up and contacting organisations that work with youth. The plan is to find one that would be a good fit to work with. So far it has been quite promosing and next week I have a couple of meetings to discuss what we are doing.

It is great that everything is progressing nicely, but the big push for next week will be to actually do some paid work as I did none this week! I am hoping to get around 30hrs in, possibly more if I work all night

Today sees the completion of my first week in Newcastle. I thought I would take the time to document what I have achieved this week. In part to keep myself accountable and so that in the future I can look back and see the progress.

I arrived here last Friday, I spent the weekend looking at flats and went to a couple of churches, notably Tyneside Vineyard where I met some wonderful people.

On Monday I was very anxious about my flat situation, there were a lot of options, some cheap some expensive, that I could have gone for and I didn’t know the right move. I asked God to sort it out and he reminded me of a place that I had seen that I had written off as it didn’t precisly fit my criteria. I called the agent and put in a ridiculous offer. She took it to the owner and five minutes later called me back to confirm I had gotten it. It turns out that this was a very good option and what I have for the price is and amazing blessing.

I moved into the flat on Tuesday. I was so glad to finally have somewhere to stay. After nine months on the move I really needed some stability. The next few days I spent getting things I needed and sorting out paperwork, utilities etc. I also started work on some paid work as well as planning out the next few weeks.

I am feeling much more organised and ready to tackle the tasks ahead. It has been a good week!