Merry Christmas!

Hello and Merry Christmas to you all!

I hope you had a great Christmas and have a happy new year and a lovely holiday wherever you may be. So I just got back from our Christmas holidays to BC. I brought along my room mate, Jenny, who is from Scotland to spend the holiday with me and my family. She had never seen any part of Canada besides Winnipeg before, so it was pretty exciting for her. We spent the week on the slopes snowboarding/skiing, spending time at the hot springs and just as a family enjoying time together. It was a great holiday and so nice to see my family again.

Before the break we spent some time on a few other topics. One was "The Nature and character of God", and the speaker was Tanya Lyons from Vancouver, BC. She, as well as our last speaker Randy, are the directors of the YWAM base in Vancouver. She talked about God's nature, and how He is uncreated, triune, all powerful, all knowing, personal and relational. She also talked about His character -- what He does with that nature, like He; creates, loves, has no favourites, shows mercy, is wise, is truthful, is holy, is just, etc. We watched a clip from the movie Ella Enchanted. If you have seen it, you will know that Ella is under a spell of obedience and must obey all orders given to her. We compared that to us and God, and found that He is not like that at all. That clip illustrated to us the principles of God - how he made us and what He wants for us. He made us so that we could make choices. God gives us freedom and choices and He trusts us. I'll leave you with this thought: If God just showed himself to us with all his power, we would have no choice but to believe - so He hides himself a little.

The next week was Staff Teaching Week! That is where the staff teach us :D That week we did a lot of team building activities and personality tests. I found that I am an ENFP. For those of you who know what I'm talking about that will say a lot, but for those of you who have no idea what that is I encourage you to check out the Myers Briggs temperament test, and see what your results are. Anyway, we discovered who our introverts and extroverts are in our group. We are actually 50/50 in that area, so that was kind of cool. We split into those groups and confronted each other on the struggles extroverts and introverts will face. It was good to get that out in the open and hear what the other side had to say.

We also did a small project this during this week. Part of it was that we went to the north end and then back to the west end, and bought coffee for homeless people and gave out bags with treats in them. We spent a morning and afternoon walking around, spending time with people on the streets. It was really neat. The other part of our project was that we surprised the staff with a nice mean and evening dedicated to them and all that they do for our school. We had a nice little banquet with lovely bannoffee pie and chocolate cake for dessert. Here's a photo of us all after the evening.
For one of our team building activities, I was the leader. No one but me could talk or see, but I was the only one that could not move. With direct orders, I had to get the whole team to put a tent up (while they were wearing blindfolds). Did i mention we had a time limit of 15 minutes? Seems pretty difficult, eh? Well it was. It was very frustrating as a leader because the task seemed almost impossible. But, I never gave up. Finally when the time limit arrived, and the tent was still laying flat, Kim gave the team the choice of finishing the task or quitting then. The team decided to quit, and I felt like they had given up on me. This activity really gave me a different perspective of how it will be for the leaders on outreach. It was a very good week for our team.

The last week before Christmas holidays was on Relationships, and our speaker was Kara Thompson. We talked about why it's normal for christians to have sexual struggles, and some recovery principles. We went over some foundational values that we should have when going into a relationship/marraige. We also talked about some principles for the choice. Such as a shared faith in God, common values and a common calling, character and romance. Kara talked a lot about marraige and that we cannot expect the kind of relationships that we see in the movies. She showed us that love can come in the form of a triangle, and at each point there will be 3 different things. One being commitment, another being passion and the last being intimacy. When going into a marraige, these three things should be equal. Now, I'm not saying they will always be that way, but these three things are what build up a strong, healthy relationship.

So here I am back at the beginning; Christmas break! I've had a great month, and now I am preparing for the new year, and the trip to Thailand. I have $700 left to raise for my trip, and I would like to ask one more time for your help to reach this goal. Thank you again to everyone who has made this possible.

Have a happy new year :D

Humility & Authenticity

So, recently we switched around our duties, and I am no longer on the ywam blog. Feel free to continue to read it, but the new author is Jesse (the boy).

So to finish off sharing about our speaker Jack McNeill, I'll tell you about what I learned. He

talked a lot about going into a different country and into a different culture, and how to go about it. He explained that culture can be anything from manners, to how we greet people, to how we

eat a banana. As an example, Jack sat in front of the class with a banana. He began to eat it the opposite way that we would normally eat it. We talked about how we would see that as the 'wrong' way to eat it. But that is just how our culture eats bananas, and other cultures eat them differently. This is just one example of many. He talked about how the church is like a disfunctional family. When someone outside a family attacks someone in a family, the family grows closer. But if people inside the family attack

each other the family grows apart. This relates to our team and how we must be united here. But, it also includes the church communities in general.

At the end of the week, Jack said that everything he talked about boiled down to one main point. Are we willing to be neighbours to people? He ended off with Matthew 27:18-20. Jesus is saying I AM THE KING therefore going (could be praying for people, healing people, etc.) MAKE DISCIPLES baptizing and teaching.

The next week we had a speaker in named Chad Chomlack from Whistler, BC. He was great.

His topic was praise and worship, and what he said really challenged me on what I believe and why, and it pointed out things so plainly to me

that I thought were so complex. He talked about

Matthew 13:24-30 -- The weeds and the wheat.It's about how God does not want us to separate the weeds from the wheat, but to live amongst it and trust God to be in charge. We ask, "Didn't the weeds hurt the wheat?" We will never fully be wheat - we will always have that mixture until full redemption. Chad talked about the separation between christian and secular stuff (dualism) -- but we need to remember that God is in EVERY aspect of life. In the passage in Matthew, the workers ask "Shall we go separate and divide?" He says "No, it is not your job. Be in it, understand how it grows, and trust God to do the harvesting." Life is both/and, not either/or. We separate church and work. Our eyes are seeing through a lense of sacred and secular. Chad said, in a dualistic mind, you've prayed a prayer, accept Jesus and it's all about you and Jesus. Yes, your heart and life with God are important to Him, but your role in the community is a big part. It's both. We need to become more aware of who God is at all times. Chad talked about a lot more during the week, but that's one main point that has really challenged me.

The next week we spent the whole week volunteering at Winnipeg Harvest - a food distribution centre. To get more information on what goes on there, please check out this website:

http://www.winnipegharvest.org/

We spent the week doing lots of different jobs. We

sorted potatoes and onions - separating the edible ones from the not so edible ones. We bagged flour, sugar, rice and macaroni to send out to families. We filled large bags with packages with pasta, canned fruits, some sort of protein, and other things to create family packages. We did pre-sort -- which is taking what grocery stores, other organizations or individuals that sent in food and material things, and sorting

through what is good and what's bad. We also separated them into different areas. So you can imagine we found some pretty nasty things! Here's one thing we found!! Yes,

they are pig ears..... :O

We've also been meeting lots of neat people! We've met some people from Germany, Kenya and

all over Canada, all of whom we've had the privilege of spending time outside of the classroom with and are able to keep in contact with. The Kenyans and Canadians

that we have befriended, are in a program called Canada World Youth. Here's a link if you are interested in checking it out: http://www.canadaworldyouth.org/en/

They spend 3 months in Canada and 3 months in Kenya. It's really a neat program.

So finally I am onto this week!! We just spent the week with a speaker named Randy Pariseau from Vancouver, BC. He and our speaker next week, Tanya Lyons, head up the YWAM base in Vancouver, and we had the privilege of having both of them come and share their wisdom with us. This week Randy's topic was "Conversations on Leaderships". He lead, and we all engaged in many conversations about being a servant-leadership, women in leadership, humility, prayer and many other topics. We watched the movie We Were Soldiers based on the book We Were Soldiers Once... And Young. It was a great movie - I definitely recommend it. But, it highlighted different aspects of good leadership as well as bad. It was challenging and eye-opening. If you

ever get the chance to watch it, I'd say go for it! One note I'll share with you all, is something that has really stood out to me this week and recent weeks. The Abrahamic covenant > We are blessed so that we can bless. THAT is what leadership is all about.

One more thing! So as for my funds for the outreach phase go... I have $950 to go! I want to say a HUGE thank you to all my supporters. I wouldn't be here without you. If you are able to help finance the rest of my journey, please contact me. I thank you so so much. Please continue to pray for me, as God is really working in my life and through this ministry. :]

Thanks for reading! I know this one is a long one because I haven't been on here for so long! I hope I still have readers out there, even thought I'm not very consistent with this. After all this reading, I'll leave a few pictures to show you what else we have been up to! Feel free to leave a comment. Goodbye for now!

MA week.

Hey everyone!

Welcome to my blog, again.. hopefully, I'm going to share about MA week! What is that, you ask? Mission Adventures week. It's a whole week of us living in a church somewhere else in the city, and doing some urban mission stuff. The first day, we went and gave roses to prostitutes on the streetsWe went out with six roses, and we finished the night with none. Each of us had one rose to give away. We would go up to them, with two staying behind to pray, and offer them a rose as a sign of God’s love. I didn't find out the name of the girl I gave mine to, but I remember her by the sparkles around her eyes. She was beautiful. When I talked to her, my view of prostitutes changed immensely. They're just girls like me; a lot are younger or the same age. It was an amazing experience. For us to be able to look back at them and see them cradling that rose and smelling it, was something beautiful..

The next day we spent most of the day at Siloam Mission, a homeless shelter. We spent time in the kitchen preparing meals and filling up plates, as well as on the floor gathering dishes and spending time talking with the people there. There were a few people that stood out to me there. Each one of them just wanted to sit and talk with me. They were so sweet and kind, and I definitely got quite a few compliments from them. It was so awesome to hear their stories and their dreams -- which were big! At the time we were there volunteering, they had an opportunity for the people there to get a flu shot. There were TV crews and cameras all over the place. Some of us made it on the news! You can see us in the background: (I'm wearing purple!)

http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/player.html?clipid=1310442235

That night we went to the youth correctional center and got a tour of the place and did a chapel service. About 30 kids between the ages of 13 and 18 showed up to the service, where we sang some songs and each shared something. I talked about how healthy people don't need a doctor. How Jesus came and spent his time with the tax collectors and the sinners... and how he wants to spend time with all of us regular people. Afterward we were able to spend some time interacting with the youth and got to hear some of their stories.

On Wednesday we had a cultural day. We played a game that day that involved two tribes and one group of missionaries. I was a missionary (which is the hardest role!) Us missionaries had to go into an unreached people and reach them. We had to learn their language and customs and figure out how to communicate with them. It was lots of fun, and we all had to act a little crazy.

On thursday we did the downtown plunge. It was a day of being homeless. We had to go out onto the streets and we had a bunch of tasks. We had an extra lunch that we had to give away. My team found a homeless guy named Richard, and we gave him the lunch. He'd been on the streets for seven years asking for change. Another thing we had to do was panhandle. Yes, ask for money. This was very hard. We had to ask at least 5 people, and the first 4 people I asked just said no or walked away. The last person gave me a toonie! But he aslo wanted to know why I needed the money and he said I needed to get a job. Even after I told him I wasn't really homeless, he didn't listen to me and recommended that I get a job. :/

That day we also had bus tickets and we had to go somewhere on the bus and talk to someone. I met a girl named Emily who is a tattoo artist. I told her what we were doing and she shared about her life. Later that day we planned a halloween costume for Julia and Kerry, two girls from the neighbourhood.

When we got back to the house on Friday, we were all pretty tired and didn't do much that night. BUT.. the next day was Halloween! SO, Kathryn, Jenny and myself dressed up as the Ninja Turltes (Donatello, Michaelangelo, and Raphael (that was me)). We went to a comic con (a big comic convention) and so many people there wanted to take our picture! I felt kind of famous. Also, Adam West was there. Yes, batman. It was just a great time. Here's us getting a picture with a cute little boy!



MA week was really great -- my favorite so far. I have lots of stories from the week, so if you have any questions or if you want to hear them, don't be afraid to ask!

I'll let you know about this week while I'm here. We have a speaker in named John (Jack) McNeil. He's an anthropologist, and he's been speaking on Global Missions and a lot about culture. It's going great, I find him so interesting and I'm learning a lot. This week has been pretty slack besides the lectures. I guess for fun night on monday, Jenny, Kim and I went to the theatre (the cheap theatre) and watched My Sisters Keeper. Just so you know, in case you haven't seen it, it is so sad. I cried during the whole thing. Best fun night ever.. lol.

Umm... but yea, that's all that's been going on with me lately! Be sure to leave a comment. Thanks for reading!

PS -- I miss you all a lot!

one month?

WOW.. has it been a month already? We are now 1/3 done with the lecture phase!! Thailand is getting closer and closer and we have been preparing! I hope that you all have been checking the other blog out, because I really haven't been posting on this one as often. As a reminder, the link to the other blog is ywamwinnipeg.com.

Well in my last post I talked about my day of poverty. It was a hard day, I'm not going to lie. I didn't eat much that day because it made the experience that much more realistic. I was hungry and I was cold all day. It was honestly hard to ask people to borrow things all the time. I felt like it was easier to just go without something that I wanted, than to ask someone for it. It really did open my eyes to some of what people who really do have nothing have to deal with daily.
So, most of the stuff that's been going on lately is posted on the other blog, but here are a few stories just for you!

The other day, Janelle and I went to the Fyxx (a coffee place) to work on our book reports and journals. We spent most of the afternoon there. On the way back, a man on the street asked us for a bit of money and as I got some out of my backpack, I asked him a few questions. He told us that he didn't have home and during the winter he just finds a place on the streets to sleep. It broke my heart. His name is Phillip Hart if you could just remember to pray for him, and that he could find a place to stay.

We are introduced to so much of that around here. It's hard to see people like that, and look them in the eye and see their hopelessness. When you take the time to talk to them for a bit or ask them their name, they are just so grateful. One thing that Phillip said to us that stuck in my mind, was, "I respect you, because you respect me." People like him just want to be acknowledged as a human being. So many people just keep walking, and it's easy for us to just say no and move on with our lives. I encourage you to take time to talk with people who are ignored.
So next week is Mission Adventures week! I won't have a computer, cell phone or ipod all week and we are spending a lot of time on the streets doing some urban missions! I'm really excited. I know I'll have a few stories to tell after that week, so be sure to check this after!
OK so we had a speaker awhile ago who's name is Chris Whitler.. and he does a great t-rex impression. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_ZBcSVxhwc
It's really funny.

Anyway, I am going to try to write to you guys sooner next time!! And soon, I'll know what the exact outreach amount will be, and how far I am from it. Thanks again to everyone who is supporting me and praying for me. I appreciate it so much. Talk to you all soon! Be sure to leave comments. Have a great week, everyone.

Duties.

Hey there!

Soo.. I have now received the duty of writing the blog for the whole school on the YWAM website.. so I think I'll be doing a little less general writing on here, and more so on there. That blog won't be as personal because I'll be writing it for all the parents and friends of all the students, and so it will take a lot of my time to write two blogs. It will have an update on what we are learning each week, and some cool things that we got to do. I'll for sure post personal stories on here in the future that only you guys would want to read, but most of what's going on will be included in the other blog.

The link to that blog is www.ywamwinnipeg.com and then you will see on the left hand side a place right at the top that begins what i've written. Just click on that and you can check it out.

I write it every tuesday in the afternoon, so it will either get on the site that evening or possibly on wednesday. BUT.. there will for sure be one every week.

One thing that I'll tell you about that won't be on that blog until next week.. is what we are doing tomorrow. This week we've been learning about justice and injustices, and so we are going to experience that the best we can. There are three groups.. and each group has to go without something. One without food, one without water (washing, brushing teeth, flushing toilets, drinking, etc.), and one called poverty in which we can only have a bowl and a cup all day, and what we are wearing when we get up. Anything else that we need, we have to borrow. So I've been put in the poverty group.

I'm not really sure if I should be excited... or dreading it. I'm trying to picture how my day will go tomorrow, and I think of all the things I won't be able to do, like brush my teeth, wear clean clothes, or even have my own shoes and coat. But when I think about how many people have to go through this, or worse, I feel like in some way I can understand a bit better how they feel every day. Poverty is a big issue in the world today - we honestly don't realize it. As a north american, we are the minority. We have everything we need and more, but so many other countries - other people out there hardly have enough. I know this experience will open my eyes that I am excited for.

Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes. As for now, I'm off to sleep.. in my clothes that I'm going to wear tomorrow.. yay. :P Goodnight!

Exploration..

So lately I've been able to do a bit of exploring! Friday night we went to the Forks for a scavenger hunt. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's probably the most touristy place in Winnipeg. There are lots of shops and restaurants, a boat doc and just a big area. Things that you wouldn't be able to find just anywhere. Today a few of us went back there to check it out a little more. This week there's a carnival going on there, with rides and entertainment where we saw a band perform and a fire guy.. I've posted pictures on Facebook, that you should check out for a little better idea of what it's like.
Each week here we have a new speaker, and we all keep journals about the week with a chosen themed scripture. This week I chose 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 for my theme. This passage is about the unity of Christ's body. I think that these words will have a lot to do with how our team will work during our time here. We need to be united and know that we each have a special and unique gift that we bring to the body as a whole. Please continue to pray for unity for our team, as well as humility. And that we would be able to trust and open up to each other. Thanks.

Familiar Faces...

So another day has passed, and I am having a lot of fun!

Well I'll begin with where I left off after the last blog. A few hours later, Noemi (a friend from German) came by the YWAM house. She had an extra Keith Urban concert ticket, and had invited me to go! So her, and quite a few of her other German friends and I went down there and enjoyed the show! It was a lot of fun. On the way there and back we walked through portage place and I got to see a bit of the area.

The next day, the school began. Everyone was here by one, and registration was at around 4. BUT.. before that, we all went for a walk around the neighborhood to explore a little. There are six students so I'll tell you a bit out each one. Janelle, from Swift current; Jenny, from the highlands of Scotland; Kathryn, from North Carolina; Laura, from Red Deer AB; Jesse, from Calgary AB; and myself. We all get along great so far. Also that day, we did some 'getting to know you' type games, and went for supper at the Ellice Cafe. We are going to be having supper at that Cafe every weekday from now until the end of the DTS (Discipleship Training School).
Today we did more 'getting to know you' stuff, and talked about guidlines. We also went to a place YWAM rents, and has a children's program there. We moved some boxes from there back to the basement of the YWAM house. We played some hacky sac, and just hung out for awhile.

After supper today, Gail, Elwin and Byron came by the YWAM house. Then, they took a few of us out for coffee and desserts at a nearby place. We checked out their condo and got to see a bit more of what's around the neighbourhood. We found a pool! So we might go check that out one of these days.

This week is pretty relaxed -- full of getting to know each other better, and just getting comfortable here. So far, my YWAM DTS is going amazingly. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

Things We Go Through...

So here I am, in Winnipeg finally! The month of September has gone by a lot slower than I predicted, but I made it. We arrived in Winnipeg on Saturday, and stayed the night at RCMP headquarters (Janelle, the girl I came with, has a dad who is an RCMP officer, so we got rooms there for free). Today we came to the YWAM house. I share a room with one other girl, who is from Scotland. There are three girls down the hall (including Janelle). The house is three stories high, and we are on the third floor. I have a feeling we'll be getting our exercise!
Anyway, the DTS begins tomorrow and I'm pretty excited for it, but also pretty nervous. I'll let you know how it goes, but for today there is a potluck and a church service going on downstairs that we might go to. And hopefully we will get to do a bit of exploring!

Bye for now!

Give to the wind your fear
Hope and be undismayed
God hears your sighs and counts your tears
God will lift up your head.

-Jars of Clay.

Two Weeks To Go.

Today was my last day at my home church before I begin my YWAM adventure. Lately, I've been beginning to realize how important having a church family is. I am so thankful for all the support I've recieved from everyone in my church family. Today I had numerous people approach me to tell me how happy they are that I recently got baptized, and how happy they are for me that I'm going to be able to experience this YWAM DTS and outreach. It really encourages me to know that there are so many people in my community that are going to be praying for me and supporting me throughout this whole thing. And I'll always know that they'll be supporting me through whatever I decide to do with my life in the future. So to my church family: thank you.

So there are 12 days to go before I head to Winnipeg. As the beginning date approaches, I am beginning to get more excited! But also more nervous. Today there was one verse that came to mind, that I'll share with you, that is really going to encourage me for the next five months:

1 Timothy 4:12 "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. "

I know that I'm young, and that I don't have as much experience or wisdom as those older than me. But I know that God is calling me to this mission, and that He's going to use me just as He is going to use all that He has called to this mission: old or young.

Before the Adventure..

Hey everybody,

So I'm starting this blog to update everyone on what I'll be doing from the months of September 2009 to the end of February 2010. Here's what to expect: First I'll be doing a DTS (Discipleship Training School) in Winnipeg. This school is a five month intensive in spiritual and missional formation- three months of learning and service within Winnipeg, followed my a two month international outreach. The first month of this outreach phase will be spent in northern Thailand, working with those who are among the poorest and highest at-risk people groups of Thailand. The rest of the outreach will be spent serving among the urban poor in Vancouver.

I would greatly appreciate the thoughts and prayers of anyone reading this. I really feel as though God's really going to be working through each of us that are taking part in this opportunity to do His work. I'm excited to follow His direction and learn from this experience.

Also, YWAM is the organization I'll be doing this through. It stands for Youth With a Mission, and it's main goal for us is to "Know God and Make Him Known."

I hope you all enjoy what is to come in the future months, and continue to keep me in your prayers. Thanks!!


Jeremiah 17:7 "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord. 8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.