I’m really happy to share with you the first project from our December 2019 graduation. This is Edwianah from Madagascar, she was with us for one year from January 2019 and gave a fabulous injection of positivity into our community. She may have been small in stature but she certainly made up for it in personality!
* What stream of the Catalyst volunteer programme where you a part of?
I was a part of the creative ministry stream.
* What did you learn during your time on the Catalyst programme?
I learnt a lot of things, as I was in the creative ministry stream we were talking a lot about our gift/s and how to use it/them.
Use your gift to communicate with others, to share the gospel, to help others see God, so everything is about how you use your gifts to help others. But I also learnt how to use my gift for my own spiritual health, as I sing for example, during the time that I was in Ash I learnt that I can take myself closer to God and take care of the growth of my relationship with Him through singing and taking my time to really feel the words and His presence when I sing.
Lastly, I learnt that being creative is not always easy, there are some moments that you are just stuck in the middle of nowhere, but you have to learn how to be patient with things. And you have to accept what you have and always try to improve and to use it for the good of everybody, as God gave it to you for a reason.
* Tell us about your final graduation project.
My final graduation piece was a song that I wrote, named ”your words”, I had some help from other volunteers (part of the life in Ashburnham Place is ”To help each other”) so the song talks mainly about how God gives his words and how these words make you feel so peaceful and confident. As I learnt a lot about how to communicate with God through words, I found it really helpful.
* What are you doing now?
Now, I start to think about the way back home!! I do not concretely have the answer about what I will do but I have the faith that something is waiting for me somewhere, something good.
* Any advice or message for future volunteers?
“Ash is just a year of your life, it is not your entire life, so enjoy it” someone told me that and that is what I did. I completely enjoyed my time, doing everything I had to and what I thought would be good for my future.
Since the beginning, I had to set my mind on the fact that being in a community is completely different from home, so I did not have big expectations and then I was not disappointed at all.
While you are here, do not forget WHY you came and remember that God is in the middle of everything so just make yourself happy and be curious! I found being here makes you discover lots of challenges for yourself. Be blessed!
Many thanks Edwianah, we’ll be praying for your future direction and how you’ll continue to use your giftings for God’s glory.
Video Credit: Michelle Pannell
