Hi there, I am Raj Indeevar, I am 14 years old and this is my story of hope.

My experience this year has been overall really good. I’ve spent a lot of time with family and played lots of games with my friends online. A usual day consisted of homework, TV, Xbox and a movie at night. There was not a single day spent outside, making it really boring at home. At first, it was odd and scary and I took a lot of time getting used to Covid-19 rules. There were a lot of things that I missed like school, church worship, sleepovers, and the biggest thing that I missed was the Saturday worship which we had every week. It was the only day where all our friends met up and spent time together, having fun and praying to God.

During this pandemic, I found God through many different ways. One of them was through family. Every day we as a family would eat together, pray together and spend time asking God to help us through these rough times and be with those suffering from this deadly virus. Because of this I think my personal relationship with God became closer and I started to look to God more.

Throughout the year there were many occasions where I felt hopeful. One in particular was when me and my brother attended a Green Agents of Change programme for young people, organised by the Methodist Church in the UK. It was a really good experience where I found some fascinating ideas of what young people are doing to help issues of ecology. During the meeting, there was a video about all the different Christian activists and how they are helping to keep the world green. It inspired me to see several of my peers working as agents of change and also offered me hope to care for the world and strive for a better future for our planet.

During lockdown, on our regular daily walks, me and my dad had conversations on faith, on stories in the Bible and on issues of life, which gave me a sense of hope and allowed me to recognise the meaning of Christian faith through Jesus.

This year has given me many opportunities where I found God and hope. I feel reassured that God is always with us even through this lockdown, working with us and helping us overcome this phase.

Raj Indeevar lives in Greater Manchester and is 14 years old. He participates in the Green Agents of Change programme organised by the Children, Youth and Families Team of the Methodist Church.