My name is Jill. I'm from Dallas, Texas, but have lived in Virginia the past four years where I attended Liberty University. In December I decided I was going to come to England to join the Tees Valley Youth For Christ team. Before I heard about TVYFC I was out of college and not too sure what my next step was in life, so when God opened up the opportunity for me to serve in England I was all in. At the time I was working as a waitress and would occasionally have a costumer ask about my life outside of the restaurant, so I would tell them about my plans to cross the pond. By the grace of God I had a few customers give me support money without me even asking. I'm not even sure if the people were Christians. To me this was a sort of confirmation that the Lord definitely wanted me in England. I was extremely blessed when I came to raising money. With the help of my family, friends, and church I was able to raise enough money for the year.
I've now been in England for about two months, and what an amazing two months it has been! The people here are so great and have made me feel right at home. Going to a place where I knew no one was pretty nerve wracking but God has given me so many new friends to live life with and I love every second of it. I live in a town called Hartlepool. Here, I work with my team to run a few youth clubs during the week. We play games and share Bible stories with primary school kids. These clubs are extremely challenging yet extremely rewarding at the same time. A majority of the kids come from broken homes and the only time they will ever hear any thing about Christ is at these clubs. I absolutely love that we get a chance to share God's love with them even if it is only for an hour or two every week. The kids are so great and you can really tell they love spending time with us. During the week my team also goes into primary and secondary schools to help in the Religious Education classes. Going into these classes is so fun! In class we get to share the Christian perspective on a lot of worldly issues. This is sometimes intimidating, but so amazing that we are given the chance to freely talk about God and what we believe. I love that we get to have conversations and build relationships with theses kids!
Like I said before, I've only been here two months, but the amount that I've grown in Christ already is unreal. I'm learning and growing everyday and I'm getting to watch God move across Teesside. I can't wait to see what He has in store for the rest of this year. I pray that the people in the Tees Valley will see Christ in the people of TVYFC and hunger to know why we are different.
About the Author
JILL O'DELL
Dallas, TX | 23
PROJECT: Hartlepool
For the last four years, Jill has attended Liberty University. She still hasn't graduated but intends to. After she dropped out of school, she was left with a huge desire to travel and build new relationships along the way. Jill loves people and desperately wants them to know Jesus.
