…is something I unfortunately cannot do.
This is not allowed…
But I can tell you my plans, always keeping James 4 in mind:
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
…This is recommended instead
Before the race started I was already thinking and praying about what to do next. I took the opportunity at the time to apply for and subsequently be granted a place to do a PGCE course in Mathematics* back at Portsmouth (Post Graduate Certificate in Education, i.e. an Initial Teacher Training [ITT] course), since I have spent a lot of time in the Education sector over the last several years (with the three years of full-time youthwork I did with Youth For Christ, and then all of the schools work I did through the University during my three year undergraduate degree [and I suppose some of what I have done this year]).
This is how cool I plan to be as a teacher (haha)
Although I don't think the Maths will be that complex…
I knew I always had that to come back to but I also went in with 'open hands' praying "if you have something else for me to do, please reveal it to me this year". I prayed about it at various points during the year, considering other options – going back to one of the ministries from this year, going to teach English in China, the possibility of working for a poverty reduction charity – but nothing in particular stood out to me or impressed itself on my heart. However, my desire to spend time back at home and minister to those in the UK stayed with me.
It will probably be more like this
Although I won't be a woman…
Although I'm getting longer hair…
So that is what I am sticking with, I will commence the PGCE in September (with a short subject knowledge enhancement course from August 20th, since it has been 7 years since I studied maths directly). Upon completion of ITT I will then need to complete an induction year, which means spending three terms as a Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) before I am recognised as a fully qualified teacher, so between now and August 2014 I will likely be spending a lot of time in schools.
There's American spelling in there, which I definitely can't use back home, but you get the idea
Alongside that I am currently applying to see if I can become a Special Constable (voluntary police officer), which requires a 16 hour a month (4 hour a week) commitment, as this is something that I think I would enjoy and a way I would like to continue to give back to the community. So we will see what happens with that.
I plan on looking smiley-er
Of course I also expect to get back involved with church life at King Church Portsmouth – worship band, small groups and so on.
Like this but with me playing an acoustic guitar
Somewhere amongst it all I plan to carry on learning Spanish too.
Yes, for her 😉
Basically, I plan to keep myself busy as I usually do.
See you sometime after the seventh 😀
*For my American friends, Mathematics in the UK is shortened to Maths, not Math, in case you wonder why I keep spelling it wrongly.
