Beauty in nature...

Looking back on today's pictures, they are all from outdoors! Today started off rather chilly and quite foggy, but evolved into a slightly chilly and not so foggy day. :) It was probably one of about 3 or 4 days that it didn't rain  or just stay all foggy/cloudy. So! I walked a lot today, which was nice, and I got to take in some pretty scenery:

Mount Baker! (I think!)

Beautiful Sunset from the rooftop balcony.

Until next time...

Oh my goodness... did ya hear?

Team Philippines!!

Pretty excited for the location, but also for my team. Moses will lead us across the waters... (It was coming, I thought I would just say it first) along with Brittany and Chris. Team Philippines Unite!!

Work duty- Make Verenika for dinner!! :) Yum!

So excited for a clean room!

Amelia dusting

Clean bathroom!

After working out, we deserved those left over verenika!

Sorry, not much more time to go more into detail. I'm tired! :)

Until next time...

Serving for Jesus

Cleaning out the rock beds

Jason cleaning his own car :)

Proof that I did something.

My new home! :)

Come join me in my treehouse!

We've discussed why we serve a lot, I think it's a good reminder. We serve because Jesus served, because it's a way to shine His light, and an opportunity to give others the helping hand they need. Also- it can just be really good exercise! Today we were around the the Mark Centre (the retreat center where we are staying) and doing some clean up work outside. Some washed peoples cars for them, while the rest of us did some lawn work (raking and pruning and such). We spend a lot of time sitting around with all of the sessions we have and books that we read, so a little moving around is a good thing!

Until next time...

Session!

Favorite part of today? Defiantly the session on hearing God's voice with Evy this morning. She had lots of stories to illustrate what she was talking about, and I just think she's pleasant to listen too. :) So a few shots of the group in the church classroom that we use for sessions before it started:

Chris, Amelia, Ben, Moses, Carter

Kelley and Brittany with Alex creeping in the background

Steven trying to block out Sarah. Ha, he failed! :)

John Michael, Steven, Sarah, Jason, Alex

The rest of the day was a little rough. I wasn't feeling too well and after a few hours crammed in a back office at the MBMSI headquarters, I needed some solitude. It was wonderful to get to hideaway in the rooftop and just journal and sing and just be alone! 

Until next time...

Monday, Monday...

What a busy monday! Started out with an early breakfast and then had a little bit of time before our first session. Lots of people took the opportunity to do some 'reading':

We had some good sessions today, the first was about life journaling. Then this afternoon we talked about hearing the voice of God (pretty much the theme of the week while building up to our 48 hour silent retreat). Then I had a little bit before dinner and got to go out with my mentor (one at home and one here, blessed with two mentors!) for a little starbucks. Dinner tonight was pad thai~ special request of the birthday girl, Brittnay. She also got a sweet birthday cake in the shape of a grand piano (she's an awesome pianist and loves music in general) I actually thought it was a whale before I saw the keys, makes all the difference I guess!

Happy Birthday Brittany!

Dinner table waiting for dessert.

Chase and Jesse

Just for good measure, I added a couple cute little boys. :) I just loved how Chase was practically on top of Jesse to watch him play his game. Super cute!

Until next time...

Weekend and such...

Well, we ended up having a pretty slow, relaxing weekend. Saturday we were supposed to go on a temple tour to see some worship centers of different religions, but that was canceled because there is apparently lots of renovations going on. Bummer, but it was okay because we went bowing instead! :) Team Kansas didn't quite hold to the standards that were set... apparently those high school bowling team days were longer ago than I remember! 

Go Jes Go! Beautiful form!

My scare tactics...

Sunday was another low-key day. We had lots of free time which was good. I was able to skype with mom and dad... and since they don't want the world to see the picture I took of them, I'll post one of my dog instead! :)

What an adorable doggy! =) He heard my voice while skyping and came to cuddle up by the laptop to see me as well! Me misses me too, I know it! =P

Until next time...

Blessings

I love my fellow trekkers. I do. I was skeptical that I could enjoy a group of people so much after knowing them for such a short amount of time, but it's possible. 

Today was a pretty lax day, rain kind of blew some of our plans for service today, we were going to shovel snow, but it was raining pretty good and lots of us didn't have the proper rain attire. You know how to remedy that?!?!:

Wally World!!

Yup, a good ol' fashioned Wal-Mart run! It's kind of a joke in our family that we can't take a vacation without stopping in to see a Wal-mart. And here we are! But it was really cool, I was able to get a rain jacket and a lovely pair of rain boots for only $9!! Yeah!

Fur lined!

Nearly all of the Trekkers went to Wal-Mart and we decided to stop at wendy's afterward for a frosty. There was a man at Wendy's who was hunched over in the corner by himself and I think there were a few of us who felt the need for someone to talk to him. Two of our guys were able to go over and sit with him and talk with him. Long story short: Pray for this man if you think about it. His name is Grant and he has a lot of anger and hurt towards God. He's been on the streets since he was 17 and is now probably somewhere in his 50's. Pray for healing in his leg and that God would soften his heart and open his eyes so that Grant will see that the Lord has been there all along. :) Thanks.

Until next time...

Settling in

Oh snow...

So I was right. 30 centimeters is about 5 feet. Okay, still kidding. It actually turned out to be about 1 foot. I love this picture for many reasons. It shows the lovely snow on a lovely tree branch, as well as my new friend Amelia, and some interesting actions in the background! Perfect! We got the joy of 'trekking' (pardon my pun) down to the church where we meet for sessions sometimes. Apparently it doesn't snow frequently enough in BC for people to care about shoveling it... either that or it just melts so fast. I definately wished today that I had brought my snow boots, even if they do look like Napoleon Dynomite's moon boots:

Gosh!

I'm not necessarily a big fan of snow, mostly because I really hate having wet feet and pant bottoms, but I was thinking about the snow today during worship. The worship leader, Kevin Boese, was thanking the Lord for all of his creation which made me think of a Chris Tomlin song that mentions 'heavenly storehouses laden with snow' and I was just thinking about how this is still God's creation and really is quite beautiful. So today, rather than seeing it as a burden, I tried to see it more as a blessing. Perspective.

Until next time...

Snow! Snow! Snow!

Snow, I want to wash my hands, my face and hair with snow...

Just kidding. Who would want to do that?! It's SOOOO cold!

Were expected to get about 30 centimeters overnight tonight, I'm not sure, but I think that's roughly 5 feet. Actually, probably like 1 foot. But it already started tonight:

Until next time...

Let's get you up to date!

I've been gone for less that 48 hours and already... wow. Overwhelmed. It's exciting and scary and awkward and beautiful! We sat around and read the entire book of Mark tonight while drinking literally the best chai latte ever and then had a random jam/worship session. Now I'm exhausted and just want to sleep, but I know that you (my faithful readers (Thanks mom and dad! ;) )) NEED to know what has transpired in the last two days. And I'm also putting off sleep because I'm too lazy to clear some things off of my bed. Well, here goes:

Said Adios to my family... :(

Flew over some beautiful mountains!

And at one point the clouds broke and I could see land. I could have sworn we were flying over Antarctica, it was probably just Montana. :)

***WARNING*** Cheesy 90's Christian Music Reference

Okay, saw this one and had a good chuckle. Totally made me think of Steven Curtis Chapman's song 'Saddle up your horses'. Then of course for the rest of the flight that song was rolling through my head. But I thought it was very appropriate! Let me share some:

Saddle up your horses we've got a trail to blaze
Through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace
Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown
This is a life like no other - this is The Great Adventure

:)

1st fish and chips! YUM!!

In all of my experience with Seattle (1 1/2 hours at the airport) I think it's just as great as I've imagined! ;) Delicious fresh fish, STARBUCKS!, And an awesome friend to keep me company! 

The ridiculously small plane for the ridiculously short flight!

Trekkers!! Plus interns... and some other tourists!

We got to go to Vancouver for a bit today and even though it was short, it was great! Looks like an awesome city and I hope I get to visit it for real again sometime!

Well... I'm pooped. And my bum and back are tired of sitting here. So therefore... The End!

Until next time...

Day who knows what to who knows what...

This one picture describes the last month

I'm sorry, but that's all you get for this last month. It really has been a blur! I was accepted to Trek and from there life just came at me full force! Gift wrapping fundraiser, Brass caroling, Christmas, New years. It was all great, and I even took pictures. But falling behind in this little project means that at this point, this is really all I can do. Start fresh. So... no guarantees that this will be an everyday thing, but I'll try my hardest to keep you all updated! :)

Until next time...