Filtering by Author: Gap Year

Exploring York

Gap Year, Kara, is part of the new team working around the area of York! Here’s a video she made of some of her adventures.

This footage is from a few different days in York. I love York. I live pretty close to York, so I'm able to get into the city center really often. The group at the end is called The Y Street Band, and they were REALLY good.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR


KARA LANDHUIS

Des Moines, IA | 22

PROJECT: York

Kara attended Iowa State University and earned a degree in advertising. After working as a graphic designer for a year, she decided to take her skills to England to serve the youth and communities there.

Posted on October 15, 2015 .

The Hills are Still Alive

Everyone has heard the saying, “When God closes a door, He always opens a new one,” and I feel like in my short life, God really has not closed many doors. But about 2 months ago, God slammed a door right in my face.

After studying abroad in Austria during Fall 2013, there was nothing I wanted to do more than to go back to this beautiful place. The new graduate program that Salzburg College just started was my dream solution for doing just that! So after praying and convincing my parents that I needed to go, I signed up. For about 5 months, I thought I was going to Austria for a year. Well, about a month before I was supposed to leave, I got an email telling me that the programme was cancelled due to lack of participation. Obviously, I was devastated. It was the middle of July, I was a college graduate, and what little concrete post-graduate plans I did have had flown out the window. Most other programmes that I had thought hard about and could qualify for had already closed their applications. I was freaking out a little and very, VERY concerned about where my life was going.

Looking back now, I know that God had his hand in all of it because about two nights after I received the email about my cancelled program, I was getting another email from a different program! I have known about Tees Valley Youth for Christ (TVYFC) for about 3-4 years. The president of TVYFC, Mike Taylor, happened to be on my student leadership university 301 bus. Yes, BUS! God works in the coolest ways. He was originally from the NWA and he recognized my mom as a Tollett so that got us connected! Right before our SLU 301 trip, Mike had taken a group of SLU students on a mission trip to the North East part of England, in the Tees Valley. This was the first time I had ever heard of the mission opportunity in England. A couple of years later, my mom was able to get Mike Taylor to come speak at my brother’s home group about a new programme that was being started in the Tees Valley. It was an opportunity for high school/college graduates to take a “gap year” in England. While I did not hear Mr. Taylor speak myself, my mom sent me a link to the website and that is when I learned about the gap year programme. So when I found out that I had no plans for Fall 2015 – Spring 2016 the gap year programme with TVYFC was one of the first things I looked at. However, the application deadline was June 1 and it was Mid-July.

With nothing to lose, I decided to email TVYFC and see if they would let me send in a late application. I sent the email at 12 am (Central Time) and they got back to me in less than 12 hours and told me that if I got in all my paperwork that night they would consider my application. I did, they did, and I was accepted! So…. I AM A MISSIONARY IN ENGLAND!

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD
-Isaiah 55:8

England has always been on my heart and I have wanted to live here ever since I was little. I am so thankful that I am finally able to do that. Even though this was not what I planned – and I honestly wish that God would have given me a heads up a little sooner – I am so excited and ready to serve the Lord in the Teesside area.


TRACEY MARDIS

Springdale, AR | 22

PROJECT: Billingham

Tracey attended Ouachita Baptist University to study psychology and Spanish. Tracey isn't for sure what she is going to do after her gap year but she is excited to see what the Lord has in store for her. She loves cats and enjoys exploring new places.

Posted on October 7, 2015 .

Running

I have been thinking a lot about running lately. This is probably due to the fact that I have actually been running more frequently these last few weeks in preparation for a a half marathon in Cumbria. For me, this is one of the cool things about living in Teesside: I get to throw on my running shoes, go out, and explore cool areas of the northeast of England. It is beautiful here- both in what the naked eye can and cannot see. 

Here are a few pictures off my phone to give you a tiny taste of that beauty (it runs much much deeper that these simple photos, i assure you):

Running. It is always an intimate time with my Father.

I ran my 10-mile long run yesterday, and honestly, the last two miles were the hardest. This was not necessarily because I was physically tired. God created our human bodies with the capability to run faster and farther than we can dare to imagine- if only we believe it. I think the last two miles of my run were hard because quite frankly, all I wanted to do was to mentally check out and cruise. I battled the inner voice that told me to just relax and walk the last two miles because I had already run an 8-mile distance that was already “good enough." I battled the voice that reminded me of the bad week I had last week- the voice that told me to settle for the 8 miles instead of the 10 that I had originally set out to run because surely, I was too out of shape to run the full 10 miles. 

Looking back at the last two years of my life, I now believe that God called me to serve him and to live life with the Tees Valley Youth for Christ gap year program for two years. Things might have seemed a little murky and uncertain at times, but I now see what He had called me to all along. My 1 year and 10 month mark is coming around the corner. And today, at the “mile 8 mark” so to speak, I fight the temptation to mentally check out and cruise. 

At the end of the day though, my heart’s desire is to run hard to the finish line (whatever that might look like)- for the Lord to pour every last drop out of me as a drink offering unto Him. Not for myself or for other people. But for my God’s great glory. Because He is worthy of all of my praise and of all of my life. There is still much work to do. The harvest is plentiful here in Teesside. Will you keep me accountable? Will you join us and pray for our team here? 

I pray that, by the grace of God, this verse in Acts 20:24 will be true for me with my remaining time here in England, for my teammates who have just begun an exciting new chapter of their lives with the gap year program, and for you who might be considering this call. Hey, do you want to run 10 miles with us in the UK? God will blow your socks off with His great love and It’s totz worth it.

“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me- the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” (Acts 20:24)

About the Author


RACHEL HU

Los Angeles, CA | 25

PROJECT: Stockton

Rachel attended University of California Berkeley to study architecture. After working at an architecture firm in Los Angeles for a year and a half, she felt God call her to move to the UK to serve him in full-time ministry with YFC.

Posted on September 30, 2015 .

Finding Joy

The holiness and glory of our God is what has continually come to my mind and heart over the past 3 weeks since beginning on this unprecedented journey across the pond to Northern England. In the last 3 weeks, the Lord has placed many new people into my life that have encouraged and loved me, and I could not be more excited to journey alongside of them over the upcoming year. As the disciples began to travel around in the first few chapters of Acts, I have been often reminded that the dispersing of believers to grow the Church was not a very easy thing. Neither will it be an easy task here in Teeside, but the reward and the victory that is found in the Journey is so great! In Acts 5, we see the Apostles thrown into jail for sharing the Gospel, but during the night an Angel appeared and they were set free from their cell and quickly went back into the temple courts to preach. Soon after, they were brought back in to the Sanhedrin and accused:

“The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. ‘We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,’ he said. ‘Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.’ Peter and the other apostles replied: ‘We must obey God rather than human beings!”
-Acts 5:27-29

Right after this conversation takes place, and the apostles state their faith and trust in Jesus, they are told not to speak of the name of Jesus and are severely beaten. After being flogged, the apostles are recorded to have left the Sanhedrin rejoicing and were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus.

There is so much joy and hope to be found from the apostle’s example. When facing persecution or tough times, there is joy to be found when you and I simply count it worthy to suffer (no matter the extent) for the sake of making the name of our King and Savior known. The priests were very unreceptive to the name of Jesus, just like people may be here in Teeside, but the joy found in carrying the name to the nations is worth the minimal pain and suffering that we get to face here on this earth.

In the past 3 weeks, the team here has spent a lot of time in training but also enjoying the beauty of this country and the Tees Valley. The pictures in this post are ones that capture two of the most beautiful spots that we have seen. The first is on top of Roseberry Topping, which looks out over the Tees Valley and the second photograph is from the Lake District. Please come alongside and pray for the people, churches, and schools that we are forming relationships with here in Teeside so that the Gospel might be spread and a God-sized dream might be seen here!


ABOUT THE AUTHOR


JARED FULKS

Peachtree City, GA | 21

PROJECT: Axiom

Jared attended Liberty University and recently graduated with a degree in business marketing. He thoroughly enjoys sports and shoes, while spending time eating whatever dessert is on the table. 

Posted on September 18, 2015 .