Meet the team!!

And there you have it folks!

Until next time...

Insert catchy blog title here

Greetings my fellow bloggers. It's that time again. BLOG UPDATE! Lots of stuff has been going on over the last week +... sorry, there's not enough time for everything and I also didn't capture everything by picture. But here goes:

We had a night of prayer last Friday night. 6pm to 6am. I had to relinquish my rights in believing that 4 o'clock only comes once a day. Apparently it comes around twice. It was set up in a way that kept you awake (hard to believe, I know. Sometimes praying at 3 in the afternoon can make you a little sleepy!) It was set up in about 45 minute increments and you were always praying with others. During each time, we learned about individual nations and how to pray for them (ex.- 45 minutes for India, 45 minutes for North Africa, etc) with some worship and snacks here and there in between. I think I enjoyed India the most, for the last couple months India has been on my heart a lot. I find it interesting and exciting that there is such a large Punjabi population here. And one of my favorite things on the amazing trek was when we went to a Sikh temple (and not just because I got to take off my soaking wet socks and shoes and sit inside a warm building and eat semi-normal food). Um, yeah. But anyway- This is a shot of worship with Kevin Boese during the prayer night:

Kevin is an AWESOME worship leader! So thankful for him!

Last sunday, my team went to one of the local churches to hear Art Loewen speak about what is going on in the Philippines. He has been working with DMI for the last decade or so and has lead about 13 short term mission trips to The Philippines (actually, to the same city we will be in! Baugio City) So it was awesome to see a glimpse of what the city is like and to be able to pick Art's brain. He is back there now and will be coming back a few days after we get there, so we are hoping to be able to meet up with him while there!

Art's presentation

Work duties- Yep, that's right I personally stuffed your tax info!

Lots of paper... perhaps some bloodshed.

WE'RE DONE... for the day...

Really?!

The girls had a little date night on friday night. We went to the mall for a while, grabbed some snacks and a movie and came back to the Mark Centre to hang out and generally be girly. It was nice since I feel a little bit of our girly-ness is maybe a little squelched by SO MANY GUYS!!! But seriously... House of Knives? Would you ever see a store in the States that just has loads of butcher knives freely hanging on the wall?!?! Okay... maybe in Texas...

Well... that is all for tonight. I have a little reading to finish before discussion tomorrow morning!

Until next time...

Busy busy!

A lot has happened in a few days! 

Well... last friday we went to Missions Fest in Vancouver. I think if I weren't already involved in a missions program, I might have found it more interesting. Basically it was just an expo with tables of different agencies and people sharing their causes. I think I would have enjoyed it better if the amazing trek wasn't looming for the next day (more on that in a second!) and if I had had the time to go to some of the sessions. I did get to sit in on a part of one of the sessions. It was the daughter of the founder of World Vision. She was pretty interesting, and it was interesting to hear a little about how WV got it's start. 

It was located at http://www.canadaplace.ca/. Pretty sweet location, right on the water. I heard something about cruises leaving from here... the building itself almost looks like a cruise ship.

Chris was so excited at 4am for the Amazing Trek

Moses and Brittany were less excited.

I caught a fish! And then ate him. :)

Team time- We went out for coffee and then for pool.

2 Bdays in a row! John-Michael...

Jason!

A clear day... :)

Yeah... busy week. Amazing trek was... difficult but good. I was SOOO sore afterwards. I didn't even realize that my body had some of the muscles that were sore afterwards! Who knew the muscles in the tops of your feet could hurt so much! Oh well... even though my team didn't win, I had a great experience. Some of the challenges were more fun than others. One of them was at a firehouse, we had to dress in full gear and bowling roll the hoses out to hit a cone. Then we got to play with the hoses and had to knock a sign over with the water. Also, we had to find 4 bandannas that were located in a park with just a gps and the coordinates. Caught a fish, built a fire, cooked the fish, ate the fish. Had to solve a riddle. Had to eat LOTS of disgusting food:

Balut, anyone?!

Oh and the list goes on of things that we had to do. We were told that it would begin sometime between 4-6am. So we all got up at 3:30 (AM!!) in order to be ready, even though it didn't actually start until 5:30. And the day went on and on and on... We finally finished around 9:30 that evening... many, many miles and obstacles and odd food delicacies later. Ugh... won't lie... glad that one's over. But I definitely saw the value in it. It was good to see some of the strengths and weaknesses of each person in our team and our team as a whole. Hmm... Okay. That's enough for now. I must sleep. :)

Until next time...

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...