What a Week!

This past week was our 24/7 week of prayer. What an amazing experience! We started last Saturday morning and I was the first one to spend an hour in there. Kelsey joined me, and we just sat in silence. We had our Bibles and we were writing out a couple verses, but we were both nervous to be the first ones to put anything up on the walls. So, we just left our pages on the desk. Someone came to relief us, and I wanted to stay. There was something about that room that made me want to be in there all the time. Slowly, people became less hesitant to put posts on the wall and the next time I was in that room, the walls were covered. As the week went, the paint on the walls slowly disappeared behind everyone's prayer requests and praises. As I read more and more of the posts, I realized how many scared and broken people there are in this community. There were many people asking for prayer for themselves. They wanted to feel Christ close to them, they wanted to be healed, they feel broken, they are scared to let the rest of us in. It made me realize how little I actually know the people that I live with. I wish that some of the posts had names at the bottom so I could run to them and hug them and love them. But, my time spent in that room was very significant in my personal walk with God. I prayed over every single post in that room and every person that is in this program. As the week progressed it was great to see that prayers were being answered. This past week itself was an answer to prayer for me. The week before, I had been thinking a lot about how I am at Bible college, but I am not reading my Bible or spending time with God. My God-time had become something that I did for homework. I was really struggling with the lack of God-time in my life. Being able to have a place and a time designated for prayer and time with God really helped me with seeing the importance and the difference that it makes in my day. I am really needing to make a conscience effort to sit down and spend time with God. Because of the prayer week, I was unable to go to youth group on Wednesday or Friday because of the times that I had to pray. I really missed the kids and prayed for them the whole time that I was supposed to be with them. It was a really sweet experience! Also during this past week on Tuesday and Wednesday we broke into two groups. One group went to Victoria on Tuesday while the other group went to Oceanview (an old folks home) and then on Wednesday we switched. I went to Oceanview on Tuesday and I loved it! The ladies in that place are phenomenal! They tell stories over and over again, but it is so fun to just be with them. They like to do puzzles and play with the ball. I really enjoy spending time with the ladies and just loving them and I am hoping to go every Saturday to visit with them. And then on Wednesday, a small group of us went into Victoria to visit and talk with some homeless people. I'm not going to lie, I was terrified! I had asked Jon, the night before if he would go with me and I expressed my fear to him and he was so good about it! He totally comforted me about it and he said that I could hold his hand if I was ever really scared! And I came close to reaching for his hand when we were talking to these three homeless men who were drinking alcohol on the street. Walking around the streets really opened up my eyes to the kind of world that is really out there. I think the part that scared me the most was having to communicate with them. The world puts such a label on homeless people and I am so used to walking by quickly and avoiding eye contact, but this time I was forced to make eye contact and make conversation. It was a good experience and I enjoyed listening to their stories, but I don't know if I could do it again. I was so thankful to have Jon there with me and I wouldn't do it without him. The week was just a good week. I spent a lot of time with God in prayer and in His word and I put myself out into the world and became a servant. It was a very powerful week!

So, this past week was reading break! It was so much fun! A lot of people went home or went to other peoples homes. I was one of the few who decided to stay back though. It was interesting and kind of strange at the beginning to be here alone, but at the same time it was very refreshing. No one else was around and it was very relaxing! I wasn't at camp the whole time though. Catherine and I hopped on the ferry to Salt Spring Island on Wednesday and we spent the night at Ellie's house! It was so incredible to be in a house with a family! We did what any typical girls would do and we went shopping around town, watched movies, ate ice cream and sat in the hot tub until the wee hours of the morning. Reading break couldn't have come at a better time because we all have so many assignments to do, and we were all pretty stressed out so it was a sweet time to just relax!

Youth group this past week was so much fun! Friday night was one of the girls birthdays, so she brought an ice cream cake and we all celebrated with her. It was sweet to see a 16 year old girl want to celebrate her birthday at youth group with her leaders and not out on the town like most 16 year olds would do. We talked about persecution and that really challenged some of the girls in the group to really think about their faith. We talked a lot about whether or not we would talk about Jesus if we knew that we would be persecuted and some of the girls had to think hard and were still thinking hard when they left. It was a good time for Jahnaya and I to really share what we believe without even thinking twice about what others might think. I love all the girls so much in both the junior youth and senior youth. They are a group of such special girls, and I look forward to spending more time with them and helping them grow in their faith!

So, girls night was incredible!! We had so much fun shopping and blessing each other! We also had a blast ambushing the boys in paintball! It was a very relaxing two days and it was really good to connect with just the girls...although we did talk about the boys quite a bit! haha!!
Anyways, on Wednesday night I went to junior youth and had a blast as usual!! We played games and lately we have been going through the basics of who God is and last week we talked about forgiveness. One of the girls totally poured out her heart and shared with Ellie and I everything that has been happening at home, and it was kind of scary to know what she lives with everyday. It was eye opening for me, because I now realize that many of these kids come from very broken homes and youth group is a safe place for them to just be who they are. It put a whole new perspective on why I am there and who I need to be to these kids. I need to be a model of what a Christian is to these kids. Now that I understand that, it changes the attitude that I will have when I go to youth every week. These kids need me to be there more so then my homework needs me to look at it. And lately I have also come to the conclusion that God placed me in Warmland for a reason. I'm not gonna lie, I haven't exactly been excited or happy about going to church. I know that I need to change my attitude though. If I am going to make the most of my time here and be a blessing to my church, then I need to change my attitude! Pray for me!! Anyways, I will definitely keep you updated about my attitude and youth group!! Later!

hello everyone! so, I missed writing last week! stink!! I was definitely swamped with school work and it completely slipped my mind! Anyways, I am writing this week! Yeah!!! So, this weekend was th junior high retreat! Sooo much fun! I was an all-star again and I loved it again! I like being an all-star because I can connect with all the kids! We played the same games that we did with the juniors, but it was more interesting with the junior high kids. They are so much more intense and they try to cheat, so you really have to watch them! haha....Andrew and I were all-stars together all weekend and that was so much fun because Andrew is such a good guy. I find the weekends that I have to serve I connect so much more with the staff and other Kaleo students that I am working with. I like it so much! I was a belayer in the challenge course too and that gets really intense because the kids get so scared and you really have to work hard to convince some of them that they will be safe. It took a lot for me to believe that I would be safe when I did it, so it was really hard to help the campers through something that I was terrified to do! It was a really good experience though because after they had done it they were so glad that they did and I felt the same way after I had done it as well! It is so good to conquer a fear and then the feeling of accomplishment afterwards is so rewarding. Just seeing the campers so scared going up and then coming back down laughing and saying that they want to go again, is so rewarding. It just reminds me that the Lord is my strength and that I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Retreats are always a good time to step back and do a reality check! I love it! Anyways, I better get going....all the girls are going away tomorrow night! so excited! Later!