Finally after many months my journey started with YAGM orientation, which has already been over a month ago! I was thrilled to finally get to meet my cohorts, staff, and alumni in person for the fist time.
During orientation we explored what it means to be on accompaniment this next year, some challenges we might face, and lots of other topics. When not listening to speakers and seeing presentations we got to spend community time with our other volunteers. Our days closed out in diffrent types of worship which allowed us to connect with God.
Directly after orientation most of us in the UK group were going directly to the UK. While I was excited to go most of us did not have our visas or passports back yet. So this week was a test in faith and patience for me, which I can't say I passed with flying colors, but with encouragement from staff and remembering that the trinity has a plan I was able to put trust in that. John 13:7 “Jesus replied, ‘You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ ” Is a verse that I feel fits well for this waiting period. I ended up getting my visa with plenty of time and ended up waiting an extra night for my flight anyway so everything worked out just the way it was planned.
At the end of the week it was bittersweet to leave everyone. We are all excited to be going to our placements, some sooner than others, but also knowing we wouldn't all see each other in person for about a year was hard. I am looking forward to the orientation with Time For God mid October and meeting all the other international volunteers in The UK along with getting to see some of my YAGM cohorts again.
