Title: P.J.

W2

Author: Wezi Mtonga

Date: 2nd March, 2020.

INTRODUCTION

It is 04:00 hours again and I have to wake up to prepare for chapel, which starts at 07:00 hours
on Monday and 06:45 on Tuesdays to Fridays. These days it’s hard to know if I pray or I just
think about God before starting the day. The day starts early and on a fast pace because I stay
with eight other colleagues.

Today being a Monday, I have to go for two sessions in the chapel. The first session is the
devotion and the other is the psychosocial class. The worship leader for the chapel service was
Mr. Eric Muyangwa and the Theme was,”Waiting upon the Lord.”

This journal mainly relates to the activities in the psychosocial class. For the reflection of the day
to be effective, the following will be discussed; how I felt regarding the results of the previous
the journal assignment, lessons I have learnt about myself and counseling .Finally, a conclusion
will be drawn on the issues under consideration.

MY FEELINGS

I started off for class with some of the colleagues that I stay with, on our reaching class, I felt
relieved that the Lecturer was not there, this gave us ample time to calm our nerves. When the
Lecturer came in and asked if our weekend was fine. In response we said we felt happy with the
way our weekend turned out to be fruitful. I felt sad with what the Reverend said about his
[Link] said we ruined his weekend with our bad journal writing skills. In addition, the
lecturer said that, he was of the view that his prayers were not answered on Sunday, because of
the terrible journal reading and marking that annoyed. Upon hearing this I felt burdened to do
better.
I felt compelled to pray when the Reverend asked for someone to volunteer to pray because of
late only the same people have been volunteering to pray. I felt happy when the Reverend
thanked me for the prayer offered. I feel intimidated praying in the presence of Reverends
because they listen to every word that is said.

I felt anxious when the Reverend said that, we did not follow his guidelines, but we did things
that are totally different from what was expected of us. He further said, that instead of using the
construction “I Felt” we were busy saying “I was pleased or glad”. When I heard him say that, I
felt anxious because I recognized those words as the ones I had used. I felt relieved and grateful
when he did not mention my name as the culprit of the wrongly constructed phrases.

I felt shocked when the Reverend said that someone had plagiarised work. This made me feel
disappointed because we were sternly warned not to use other people‘s work as our own.

I felt scared when the Lecturer removed the papers of our journal assignments and kept
wondering how I had performed. I felt nervous when he called out my name first and handed me
my script. The comment on my script made me feel helpless and sad because it read “Work on
your feelings” .However, I recovered during the course of the lesson.

The assignments were given to the other class members and the topic of the day was introduced
as the basic features of counseling. With the introduction of the topic of the day, I felt hopeful
about having a productive counseling lecture. We asked to mention the counseling theories learnt
last time before the new topic was to be taught. I felt pleased because I was able to remember the
Behavioral theory.

I felt passionate about the features of counseling that we learnt.

LESSONS LEARNT ABOUT MYSELF

I thought I knew how to handle issues when it came to matter of counseling, but just learnt that
there are still miles to go. I have learnt that I need to be open with my feelings and not being
closed up. In addition, I have learnt that I should not go about counseling as if Iam the one with
all the solutions to all the problems during counseling [Link], I would offer solutions to
people that came for counsel without allowing them do it for themselves, following this
counseling lesson, I have stopped.
LESSON LEARNT ABOUT COUNSELLING

A lot of things have been shared about counseling by the Reverend, but I will only mention a few
things that I have [Link] I have learnt that Counseling is an art, that can be learnt. I was of
the view that people are either born counselors or not. Secondly, I have learnt that counseling has
ethics that have to be followed by every counselor. For instance, it is not ethical for a counselor
to disclose client information, confidentiality is highly [Link], I now know that it is
vital to be sensitive to what the client is saying in all the counseling sessions such that if any
inconsistence is notice, a reference is made to an earlier conversation.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I have learnt a lot of things that will be vital for the ministry that is ahead of me. It
is commonly said that, failing to prepare is preparing to [Link], these lessons are a means
to my being an effective minister of the word and sacrament. I will not be counseling people
blindly, but doing it professionally and that will be pleasing the Almighty God who called me.