Cycling Sea to Sea for Poverty

The Candy Shop

2011-01-24T16:50:00.004-05:00

The Candy Shop Trailer from Brandon McCormick on Vimeo.

The Candy Shop is about 30 minutes in length, and tells the story of sexual exploitation and forced prostitution through fantastical imagery and metaphor. Set in the dirty thirties, a boy notices that an evil man is snatching girls off the street and transforming them into lollipops for sale at his candy store. The storyline is complemented by creative costumes and a nostalgic set.

I have seen plenty of films about sex trafficking, and I have to say this is one of my new favourites. Most films and books are from the point of view of the victim of trafficking or the john making a purchase, but the Candy Shop shows us the process of manipulation that experienced traffickers use to lure young boys into the business of selling flesh.

I cannot even imagine the whirlwind of thoughts running through these young boys’ minds when they are presented with the chance to run such a business.

Opportunity. Money. Fear. Temptation. Seduction. Pride. Power. Doubt.

More than anything, this film reminded me that boys need role models. Though many traffickers are downright greedy and have no regard for human life, others are just a product of the pressures they face and the manipulation they’ve endured.

Whitestone Motion Pictures has done a fantastic job with this film, from beginning to end!

(Taken from the Hope For the Sold Blog: http://www.hopeforthesold.com/film-review-the-candy-shop-documentary/)

Behind the Scenes - Production Week 1 from Whitestone Protege Program on Vimeo.

Documentary - Our Lives to Fight For

2010-12-07T09:45:00.000-05:00

Final Version from M on Vimeo.

A new documentary called “Our Lives to Fight For” exposes the harsh truths about prostitution and sex trafficking in Canada.

Photo Blog of the Delilah Story

2010-08-21T18:52:00.019-04:00

(beginning of the structure)

(Painting the walls)

(Outline drawing for outer wall painting)

Artist: Stephanie Webb

(Spiral downward - Need to be prettier. Need to be slimmer. Need to be better. Need to be smarter. Need to be more successfull. Need to ESCAPE.)

(The day arrives! We have setup on the sidewalk directly infront of Kiev City Hall)

(Entrance to The Delilah Story - the cycle of slavery)

(Abuse - Verbal, physical, emotional and sexual abuse. The end of innocence. Her identity lost.)

(Sculputure by Joan Kim)

(Painting by Pearl Sangster)

(Control - Abuse is an outward manifestation of inner pain.)

(Hardening - Numbing the pain. Masking the wounds. Only the strong survive.)

(Abuse and Confusion - The unraveling of the man's childhood tainted with abuse and confusion. His conflicting ideas of love based on the father figure in his life.)

(Love?)

Every child is born innocent. A daddy's girl, a mommy's boy. With dreams of a bright and beautiful future. This is Delilah's story.

(Exit view and comment wall view)

The Delilah Project

2010-08-01T02:52:00.003-04:00

Well the weekend has come and gone. After two weeks of intense work, we finally completed the Delilah Project (as we titled it, the name we use for one of the girls we came to love in Albania) at 10pm on Friday night and delivered it to downtown central Kyiv at noon the next day.

The weekend was amazing and a great success. We spoke to roughly 400 people the first day and in total, nearly 1000 people came through our structure.

Before I go more into the weekend, however, I want to back up just a little to tell you about the miracle that occurred a couple days before. Since the beginning, when we first came up with the idea for the art installation, we inquired about needing a permit. At first we were told no, but that soon began to change to a possible maybe and yeah you probably do. A couple people suggested to try and do it without a permit because it takes nearly a month to get a permit and at this point, with only a week left to go, it seemed like an impossible task.

So on the Thursday, Sue, Bekki and Wouter headed into the centre for some souvenier shopping time, as well with the intent of connecting with police officials to somehow get permission and their okay for our structure. They went into the police station and were directed to city hall, where all permits are issued. It took a while for them to find someone who spoke english.

They explained what we were doing and the lady who worked there said that if they wrote up a letter and got it back to her before closing at 6 p.m., she would sign and stamp the permit herself, right then and there. On top of it, when she asked where we were planning on setting it up, in response to the unknown, she encouraged to set up the structure right out front of city hall! How amazing!!! God is so amazing! It was evident that this project had Gods anointing on it and this was meant to happen. Here we are in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, a hotspot in Easter Europe for human trafficking and they've told us that we can do our awareness campaign right outside city hall!

But why not? Earlier in the week, during the YWAM base Monday morning intercession, this exact thing was prayed for - that the city itself would back up this project! God is so good!

So back to how the actual weekend went.

Transportation ended up working out, which was another huge prayer request. We had two different vans set up, one for each day. The first van was from our contacts church and the other from the YWAM base. Thankfully everything fit inside.

About an hour after arriving and beginning our setup, the police arrived and stuck around for the next hour and a half. We showed them our permit but at first that wasn't good enough. Sue ended up having to go with them to get a photocopy of it as they wanted to take our permit but it was our only copy. It wasn't until Kelly (our main contact) showed up with his family and began speaking with them about how we are only helping the officials out, working beside them for the good of the people, etc., etc., that they finally left. We found out later that there was a demonstration/protest planned for 6:30 p.m. on the Sunday, that they were worried about and thought we were a part of it (it actually ended up being a protest against family violence! How fitting).

As we continued to set up, curiosity quickly set in amongst those walking by and though we were not complete for sometime, people were already checking out and walking through what was ready. We had many positive comments and feedback and as to be expected but still sad, a few negative ones (this is not my problem, this doesn't effect me, etc). A number of our walls along the side of the structure, were set up to be comment walls and we had many people leave their comments. At times you noticed as they excited, tears welling up in their eyes. There were a number of emotional stories, though we will never know just how many who walked through were actually walking through their own life story, a few stopped to share. On the Sunday, one of the first women to go through, became very emotional, sharing with our translator that she knew this all too well, having grown up in the city's orphanage - the abuse, friends trafficked as they turn 18 and have no where to go but to trust the men that our outside waiting, promising good things. It was obvious she had much pain to deal with and the two of them exchanged numbers to talk again.

Some were offended that outsiders would come in and tell them what was wrong with their country (or so they perceived it to be) and others were amazed that foreigners would actually come and share of their time to help their country out, to spread awareness of this great problem. Often at the end, whenever there was opportunity, we would ask if the person had known about the issue of human trafficking, and often the answer is no. Even the ones that do still don't often realize the extent of it or that they themselves could easily fall victim to enslavement (as there are many kinds).

As a group, our prayer is that all those that had the chance to come through the Delilah Project, will feel a stirring in their hearts, a movement, a call to action, a need to know more and that the awareness can continue to spread in this city and that they will also begin to realize that the women they view as just prostitutes or druggies, really didn't have the choice that we like to believe they do, that there is a story behind the mask of every women, man and child and that in this day more than ever love is needed for all, but more specifically - God's love.

----------------------

On another note, when we arrived home we were met with shocking news that at first left us with many emotions and tears. We received an email from Julie in Pogredec, that Xhulio, the boy we had all grown to love so very much, had passed away that very morning. It was heartbreaking to hear that his smile would no longer be witnessed here on earth but at the same time, through tears, I think about the wonderful fact that he is now in heaven experiencing the most amount of love he could ever know from our heavenly father and running around on his beautiful legs that work. I'm so happy that he no longer has to suffer and be ill-treated within his own family but I pray for the three young sisters, who we also got to know, that are now left behind. Please keep them in your prayers as well as our group, through the many emotions that we are dealing with.

Thank you.

Installation Art Project Blue Print

2010-08-01T02:29:00.002-04:00

Below is the blue print of the Delilah structure. I hope to add an entire blog of pictures shortly and possibly even a video that shows a walk through so that you will be able to have the full experience of what those here in Kyiv have had the opportunity to experience.

Installation Art Project :
Creating an interactive installation art to be on display in a public space in order to raise awareness on the issue of sexual slavery.

Objective ::
To unveil the unseen reality of sexual slavery* through the journey of not only the female sex worker but also the journey of the male perpetrator, highlighting the fact that they are both victims of an unending cycle.

*Sexual slavery defines all instances of sexual servitude, whether by choice or by coercion.

Aim ::
For users to walk away with their eyes opened towards the unseen reality they encounter on a daily basis so much so that they will be unable to ignore the blatant sexualization and devaluing of females in society.

Project Specifications ::
Here is the initial blue print we came up with for The Delilah Project

Size – 7m x 7m
Materials – Plywood or Dry wall (1.5m x 2.5m each)

Project Breakdown ::
The project will be broken down into 7 sections as follows;
1.Innocence (of a young girl)
2.Abuse and sexualization
3.Victimization and choice
4.Slavery vs power
5.Harderning
6.Abuse and confusion
7.Innocence (of a young boy)

The first 3 sections will potray the journey of a young girl into sexual slavery whilst the last 3 unravel the confusion behind the male pepertrator. Section 4 intersects with the culmination of both journies as the two lives converge.

Each section will be labelled with a sheet on the floor and partitioned off by a curtain of some sort.

Section 1 :: Innocence (of a young girl)
This section potrays the innocence of a young girl, her dreams and fantasies as a child about meeting her prince charming, the purity of youth and the hopes of what the future holds.

(Narrative Wall)
Every child is born innocent. A daddy's girl, a mommy's boy. With dreams of a bright and beautiful future. This is Delilah's story.
When I grow up…

(Quotes on Wall)
When will my Prince Charming come?
I am beautiful?

Section 2 :: Abuse and Sexualization
Potrays the abuse that happens at a young age and the exposure to sexual material, warping the ideals and sense of worth of females.

(Narrative Wall)
Verbal, physical, emotional and sexual abuse. The end of innocence. Her identity lost.

(Quotes on Wall)

This must be my fault.
Did I do something wrong?
Is this who I am?

Section 3 – Sexualization
What is a woman? What is her worth?

(Narrative Wall)
Need to be better. Need to be smarter. Need to be prettier. Need to be slimmer. Need to be successful. Need to escape

Section 4 – Escape
Potraying the desire to escape from the abuse (and the cycle) and taking the risk to pursue an education and/or job opportunity but ultimately ending up in sexual slavery. Emphasizing the question “Is it ever a choice to sell oneself?”

(Narrative Wall)
What is your choice?

(Quotes on Wall)
My Way Out (exit)
Career (work/ job)
Marriage
Education

A great job. A unique opportunity abroad. They promise lots of money. But they take away your passport . And they sell you into slavery.

A handsome husband. What a charming man. He says he loves you. But he lies. And he sells you into slavery.

Good education. A bright future. But the costs are high. The circumstances don’t allow. You have no choice. And you sell yourself into slavery.

Is there really a choice?

Section 5 :: Slavery and Power
The intersection of two lives, one as the victim and the other as the abuser. Potrays the contrast of power, control and submission.

(Narrative Wall)
75% of sex workers attempt suicide

Section 5a – Slavery

(Narrative Wall)
10,000 Ukrainians have been trafficked abroad since 1991 – International Organization of Migration (IOM)

Section 5b – Control

(Narrative Wall)
Abuse is an outward manifestation of inner pain

(Quotes on Wall)
I beat her into obedience, until I get my money’s worth

Section 5 :: Harderning
Shows the hardening process of the man, and how he becomes the person that he never wanted to become but surcumbed to in order to survive.

(Narrative Wall)

Numbing the pain. Masking the wounds. Only the strong survive.

(Quotes on Wall)
I Don't Care. Why Me? My life is worthless. I give up. I can't do this. I feel numb

Section 6 :: Abuse and Confusion
The unraveling of the man's childhood tainted with abuse and confusion. His conflicting ideas of love based on the father figure in his life.

(Narrative Wall)

Statistics prove that boys growing up in abusive homes are more likely to also become abusive.

(Quotes on Wall)
Love?
Mommy and daddy love each other
I will never be like him

Section 7 :: Innocence (of a young boy)
Encountering the innocence of young boys, their dreams and hopes and their love for their mother. Drives in the fact that even the pepertrators are victims themselves.

(Narrative Wall)

Every child is born innocent. A daddy's girl, a mommy's boy. With dreams of a bright and beautiful future. This is Delilah's story.

(Quotes on Wall)
I love you mommy
I want to be strong so I can take care of Mommy

~*~
(Outer walls)
Who is Delilah?

It could be your sister, your mother, your child, your friend, your neighbour. It could be you.
Ukraine provides one of the largest supply of slaves in Eastern Europe. The youngest rescued victim is 3, the oldest is 74 - IOM

An estimated 27 million people are currently enslaved worldwide. 88% of that are women and children.

1 million children are forced into sexual slavery each year

2 children are sold every minute

JAMM in Kyiv

2010-08-01T02:27:00.001-04:00

(Please note this is a past blog update by fellow leader Sue, written a couple weeks back).

We made it to Kiev last Friday, July 7 and got settled into our apartments. Sorry for the lack of update. Internet cafes aren't cheap.

Though our hearts are still broken for the kids in Albania, we're pressing through and channeling that energy into our work in Ukraine. While we're here we'll be doing everything in our power to make an impact on the counter-trafficking movement in Ukraine. We're gathering all the information we can, interviewing people every chance we get, and brainstorming like crazy hoping to pull it all together in some sort of documentary and installation art piece.

Here is our vision:

We have no idea what this portion of the outreach will be like
For Sure it will be different from the first half
But in many ways also the same
In Pogradec we learned.
We learned way more than most of us wanted to know
We learned way more than most of us know what to do with.

We are a Justice Arts Media and Music DTS
All of us have expressed, in some way, the desire to tell a story through our gifts
And we all have gifts.
This may be the most gifted team that has come through I.Net

We have packed into our minds the tragic, yet somehow hopeful stories of 30 some kids that we all have fallen in love with
Stories that, I believe, have determined in some way, the destiny of each of our lives

Let’s begin to tell their stories using our God given inspiration.

I fell strongly that Ukraine will be the time that we step into our JAMM title more fully

In Pogradec, we had Judy to bring us into the story of the kids and give us incredible insight into their unjust realities
Her we will mostly have ourselves
This will call for an extra measure of iniative and boldness to step into the dark places
To ask the hard questions in order to gain insight into the story of trafficking in Ukraine

This is why we came
It’s our Go given responsibility to tell the story
I am thinking Victor Malarek style

We have Emma, Bekki who edit video
Steph and Audrey who are gifted in multimedia and graphic design
Kate, Janet and Kyle who take emotion capturing photos that tell a story of their own
We have Ben who is a gifted writer
The Dutchies who have a unique boldness about them that make it easier to meet the right people
I am learning the art of asking the right questions to find out the necessary info to tell a story
Lizzy tells stories through her songwriting
Pearl just needs a canvas to portray beauty through the brokenness of a victim
Joan can articulate in great detail with her sketches of people and places
Christina will bring a prophetic edge to whatever message we have
And all of us have proven that we have nothing for hope for the oppressed

Perhaps this month can be about focusing on how to best tell the stories
The stories of Gino and Demir and Dezi
And the stories we will seek out here

The stories of real names
Real faces
Real people whose lives are the injustices we read in books

Let’s live up to our JAMM name and tell the story of God’s justice as we’ve found it in Eastern Europe
We never know far it might travel and what ears might hear it

We will knock on the doors of NGO’s, orphanages, police stations, night clubs, brothels in order to find out what we need to know

It’s our chance to be part of their hope

So let’s disrupt the rhythym of evil here in Kyiv so that imagination can breathe!

(written by Sue V.).

"I have many people in this city."

These are the days of ACTS in Kyiv

2010-07-18T15:45:00.000-04:00

It’s been well over a week now since we arrived in Kyiv, Ukraine and it’s been quite the time again. Unsure at first, exactly what we would be doing in this new location then discovering God had much planned and ready for us here. Our few contacts resulted in more contacts and many more ideas.

Instantly recognizing the intensity of sexualization of women in this city and knowing that Ukraine has a high trafficking rate we found ourselves surrounded and in the middle, identifying the many connections between this issue, alcohol and drug usage and the fact that Ukraine has the fastest growing infection rate for HIV.

One of the outreach ministries that we are connected to here is with Teen Challenge. Every Tuesday they go out, first to a Methadone Clinic (well, outside the clinic, as they are not allowed in) and then to the main train station for the purpose of building relationships, providing of limited medical care and handing out invites to addicts and the homeless for a coffee house Teen Challenge puts on the following night. The purpose of the coffee house is to share of God’s love and salvation for all and as well in hopes of helping men and women with their addiction through their own rehab centre.

We also have the opportunity to tag along with our translator and visit a women she has befriended, who has sadly contracted the virus of HIV through her lifestyle as a prostitute. She is currently 47 years old and only this year through a friend, came to accept that Gods love is for her as well. She recognizes that it is only through God’s strength that she has been able to quit many of her habits, including selling of her body for money. She noted that in her past there had been many times where, if she could have, would have left this industry and stopped her addiction to drugs.

These are just a couple ministries that we are connected with here.

One of our biggest excitements, that ties everything together, is our combined vision for Kyiv and for Albania – to spread awareness of Human Trafficking. We are a group of many talents – art, design, media, photography, and music and a heart for those effected by injustice. It is our hope and plan to use all these things, to research and investigate as much as we can about this issue here in Kyiv and combine it all into a presentation to present to the people here in Kyiv and to each of our own contacts and Churches back home in our many countries.

I am so excited about what God is doing in this group, in this city and in this vision. Before arriving we were not sure how we would fill our days and now the time is flying by with our many activities and brainstorming sessions.

I’m especially excited about the idea of an instillation art design piece in the main centre of Kyiv to put on display during the final weekend we are here, as well as a final documentary of all we have learned and experienced, sharing of the many personal stories we have encountered.

We have less than 3 weeks left already and they are going to fly by. Please continue to pray for the group, for strength, courage, boldness and for patience. Pray for open doors and please pray for a blanket of safety and protection over this group.

Til’ the next time, blessings ☺

Farewell, for now, Pogredec

2010-07-16T01:51:00.001-04:00

Well, we’ve been in Kyiv for almost a week now. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to write a final blog on Pogredec. Internet is very limited here, to the point of sitting in a restaurant for their free wi-fi if you order something…but that also means you need a computer, which for me this is not so. I hope to still be able to blog once a week but it may not be so scheduled as before.

We had an amazing final week in Pogredec. All the seminars went really well, even though attendance was small, I believe those that came were very impacted. I sat in on the one for the Roma girls and it was a very emotional time for one of the girls. At first she held it in, uncomfortable with some of what was being said, as these are not things you talk about out-loud or with others. It was so important for us to speak utmost love into this beautiful child of God. To be honest that we realize that her life is not easy, that some of her deepest hurt has come from some of the closest people in her life, but God will never hurt her, he will never leave or forsake her and though we may not be with her physically, she will always be with us in our heart and we will always be praying for her.

The Roma boys seminar went very well too. Three of the older boys we have come to know were in attendance and were apparently very alert to what was being spoken, clinging onto every word. One of the things our guys spoke on was the warped view of how men understand love to be. Often growing up hearing their fathers say they love their wives and in the next incident seeing them beat up the same women they just said they loved. On our final day, as we got ready to leave, two of these boys ended up hanging out with us for a large part of the day. Helping us move and joining us for our final dinner at our contacts house along with two of our translators. It was incredibly hard to say goodbye to these guys. It is just so amazing and so hopefull, to know what they have gone through and yet see how they do still have such compassionate hearts and love for those around them. We pray that this will continue in their lives and into their family lives.

That same final day, we walked one last time throughout a number of the neighbourhoods of our children to say final farewells and give one more hug.

That evening we talked about the fact that there are a number in the group that feel a lasting connection to Pogredec and though at this time we don’t know what that means or how that looks, it will be a continued conversation amongst us, of figuring it out.

A Women's Worth

2010-07-06T15:37:00.003-04:00

How many of us women at some point have felt worthless? Sadly, I think that is all of us. How many of us have felt unimportant or degraded as a person or our opinions not heard because of our gender?

This week our group has been holding a number of seminars on the value and worth of a women. In a culture where women are unvalued, used as punching bags or objects to have sex with - self worth is a thing of the past.
In total we are holding 6 seminars for the following age groups:
1) Albanian Church women
2) Albanian Church teens
3) Roma Women
4) Roma girls
5) At risk Albanian women
6) Roma Boys - to encourage them to see the value of women as God created them.

Each seminar has been geared to each group personally but include the same foundational information which touches on identity, what it means to be a women and what it doesn't mean, talents and gifts, love - what it is and isn't as well as abuse, trafficking and begging.

Today we shared with the Roma women. In the end, unfortunately, only 3 women came but this session touched the depth of my soul. The three women were all mothers of children that were a part of our summer camps and who we have formed relationships with from our neighbourhood visits.

The one women, we'll call her Litina, is a mother of five beautiful, vibrant children whom we just can't get enough of. The eldest, we'll call Johno, at 14 years, has a different father from the rest. He has grown up watching a man that is not his father, continually beat up his mother Litina. Some times to the point where her face has been almost unrecognizable. Only God knows how she has survived. The life of abuse is reality for most of these Roma women. Despite what the children of this mother have grown up with, they all are kind, loving, always smiling and laughing, being goofy and just acting like kids. Latina is a Christian women and thankfully knows pieces of God's love for her and shares it with her children.

The two girls, Pearl and Audrey, leading this particular seminar entered into the description of what love isn't:
Being emotionally hurt is NOT an action of love.
Being physically hurt is NOT an action of love.
Being sexually degraded or humiliated is NOT an action of love.

It was at this point my world once again crumbled as Litina interrupted and spoke up.
"I'm 28 years old and I have five children and my life is over. I live my life for my kids, I endure the beatings for them. If I leave my husband, they will end up on the streets. Now we have a home at least."

I...am 28 years old. ME, Stephanie...28 years old. As I write this sentence, tears once again come instantly to my eyes. Sure I am close to my thirties, and though it gets joked about I am still told again and again how young I am, how I have so much ahead of me still and here...here is Litina, the SAME AGE saying her life is over. That her life no longer matters - yes for the reason so that it won't be over for her children, but still - over?! How do we allow this world, how do we allow men - to define us this way! God created us for so much more.

God created man and women. Man and women - equally out of his continual love and he calls us to follow in these ways of love. The honour of being able to bear and raise children, of being the heart of a home, of bringing love and care into these children's lives, to be models for them - this is what it is to be a women of God. To be a protector and provider, yes, to be strength and light, to bring a consistent flow of love to them, but it is not a job. These women are not just an object, a slave, with no rights or dignity. They deserve so much more, women deserve more. We are all individuals, each with a unique identity, every part of our being was God designed and hand-crafted. We are all special and beautiful beings that Jesus died for.

Latina is no different than I, we are both women created by God. Neither of us deserving to be degraded or abused and yet, at this moment, one of us is. This knowledge of knowing what she lives within each day is heartbreaking and tears at me inside. I am so thankful to know that still she understands God love is for her too. I am thankful that she knows God hasn't abandoned her and that he has a special place waiting just for her.

Latina also shared a story about her sister, who at age 13, was sold into prostitution. Actually, many women are brides at these early ages - 13, 14, 15. The family lied as to where she was, saying she was in a hospital for an accident far away. Latina continually prayed for her sister, never giving up. Today she could share with us that now, her sister is married, has one child and has a good paying job and is no longer having to sell of her body. Latina recognizes the importance of prayer and that it does make a difference, even if for whatever reason, she is still in her own circumstances.

I don't know where to go from here exactly. I am thankful for the relationships we have made with these women, I'm thankful for all who have had a chance to share of God's love to these women. To encourage them again and again and to remind them of their invaluable worth. God has been putting thoughts and ideas on my heart. I don't know what they all mean or where they might go, but I pray that perhaps, this won't be the last time I see these women.

For now, however, they are in my prayers, my heart and my mind. I will miss them so much, as I will miss the children too.

A 'RESPECT'ful Rollercoaster

2010-06-26T15:25:00.000-04:00

Week two in Albania had it’s trials and was certainly a rollercoaster week. For myself personally, I started it off with being sick – only a cold but still finding myself sucked of energy that was certainly needed. However, I wasn’t the only one this week. After a few days a few more of us caught various ailments with one from our team being out of commission for a couple of days. Thankfully on the whole we have all found healing as the week came to an end.

Our theme for this week of camp was on ‘Respect’ with a side of love and compassion. It certainly was a needed theme as it was something we dealt with in various ways during the week. For some reason this week, things were definitely more chaotic, children extra hyper and not as attentive. We changed the layout of our day twice, trying to fill in any extra time that found us standing around, which coincidently happened to be when things became most chaotic. A few personalities changed, we were certainly out of the honeymoon stage – within our group and for the children as well.

It made you really wonder what was happening at home for some of these children. One of the boys who were so helpful last week seemed to have a massive amount of ants in the pants, rarely finding him able to sit for a moment, running this way and that, screaming and rarely following direction. On Friday, another one of our boys (Gjino) strongly acted out, slapping another child and kicking another, meanwhile in the girls group his sister was clingy, emotional and just not at all her smiley self. We found out after one of our guys and our contact had a sit down with the boy and he told them about the horrible nightmare he had gone through the night before. There are 5 in the family and Gjino, the oldest, is the only one with a different father. That night he was on night patrol – trying to be protector, trying to keep his family safe – no sleep for him. His step-father had come home drunk and beat his mother to a pulp. Here is a boy having to watch his mother get beat up by a man that isn’t his father and yet he can do so little. It is so hard to hear and see the consequence of these times in these beautiful children. Gjino is a good boy and so far he has not become completely hardened from his childhood but it could be a matter of time before that changes. I pray not.

On Thursday afternoon, on our way back from camp we sadly came across four of our students already out at the graveyard across the street, having probably been sent out as soon as they arrived at home by a parent or family member. The purpose of being there? To beg. It is cultural practice here when someone passes away that you are suppose to give to the poor, so often children can be found outside of the gates waiting for the families to leave and give of their ‘good deed’. It was so heartbreaking to see our children there. At first we were so dumbfounded we didn’t know how to react, finally making up some sandwiches and just spending what would have been our down time to relax from the long day with these beautiful children. It was certainly worth the trade-off. I gave one of the sandwiches to a girl named Sona, who is not from our camps, gave her a hug when she appeared receptive to it and then found her locked to my hand and side for the next hour. She was so shy at first but as we began playing games of Stella-Stella-Ola and thumb wars, she came alive.

Friday evening we headed into the mountains to visit another area where one of the families lived. These three girls only started coming to camp this week and already I have fallen in love with them. So shy to start as well they too are quick to give and receive a hug and smile. The family they come from are considered to be the bottom of the barrel and they know it too. They are the poorest of a certain collection of related families and it was rather apparent as they hadn’t had a bath in quite some time. One of our team helped give them bathes and pick out the many lice that had found home in their tossled hair. The area where they come from is quite the walk away and has no running water and only two porta potties for 6 families (in the past there were 20 families). We visited in their ‘house’, which was a room no larger than a typical classroom inside of a large concrete building with very few working windows to keep out the cold. I was somewhat surprised and thankful to see that this room wasn’t as awful as I had imagined it could be but to say the least, still completely unsatisfactory for living standards. They did have a number of couches that were their beds as well. Not sure how they were able to afford them (outside of begging) but am thankful to know the girls are not sleeping on the ground. Another gave a short testimony, we shared a time of prayer, thanked them and were on our way.

Today, on our day off we had the wonderful opportunity of traveling to Macedonia and enjoying the beautiful town of Ohrid. What a great day, though I am thoroughly exhausted now. It was so wonderful to experience this vibrant place, of many contrasts to Pogredec and only approx. 30 km away. It was wonderful to see, smiles and laughter all around, men and women together, hand holding and just plain respect for one-another. Surprisingly, many spoke English as well, which was helpful. I’m thankful to God how he has blessed us to see the many good things amongst the not so pleasant.

We only have one week left of camps, two weeks left total. Tomorrow we will be moving out to a different spot as others are arriving Sunday night to stay where we have been. It will be sad to move from this spot as we have gotten to know the faces of the people of this area, grocery shopping amongst the same store owners each day. We will be clear across town near to where we hold camps, so I doubt we will find ourselves out this way too often again, unless we have an urge to go to the gypsy market which is right around the corner and of course the neighbourhoods we visit are out this way too. Well, I guess we will see 

Thanks again so much for your continued support in prayers and in love. I hope you are all doing well at home too. Love you all!

An Emotional Week in Albania

2010-06-19T09:39:00.007-04:00

Well, we’ve just finished our first week of summer camps and it has been quite the week on so many levels. Emotions run with joy, love, compassion, hope but sadly mixed with anger, frustration, and sadness.

As you know, myself along with two others, have come to Pogradec, Albania (which borders on Macedonia and Greece) leading 12 students. This past week, we have had our realities turned upside down, our ground shaken and our hearts completely broken by a group of 24 Roma and Albanian children who come to our day camp from 9 in the morning till 1:30p.m every day.

Perhaps part of it comes from the fact that we are so blessed to see the same children each day, getting to know them more and more, having the opportunity to feed into their lives God’s love and our own. Possibly from knowing a little of where they are coming from and yet at awe that over just a short matter of time, the trust many of them have built up with us seen as they run towards us when they first arrive, ready for great big hugs and a smile. It’s enough to bring tears to your eyes – often – which is what happens to most (then having to try and hide it right away).

Several of the children that have come to our camp have been children of special needs. One boy is Xhulio. He has a brilliant and alert mind, the most beautiful smile, but his deteriorating body imprisons him. Save a miracle, muscular dystrophy will take his life in 2 years or less. He loves to watch the boys play futbal and often we throw a green ball back and forth as it just fits in his palm perfectly. He loves to spin the globe with his tiny hands, pointing at Canada and Albania. A few nights ago, Sue dreamt that he was running.

Klyde is 24 years old but has the mind of a young boy. We have been paired up three of the days this past week and already I have a strong fondness for him. He can be rather intimidating to a few in our group, due to his large physique and powerful clap and voice but he really is just a big teddy bear with a great sense of humour. He loves giving me high fives and big smiles. His footing is a little off so as we walk to the park to join others, with our hands and arms interlocked for just an added balance and guidance. I have had the pleasure to also meet his mother, who runs a little ‘convenient shop’ and they look so much like each other.

Desi is a tomboy. Her first day she joined us in the boys group and had a ball but by the next she found herself with the girls, pouting when the boys run off to play futbal and she has to stay and do crafts (I DO feel for her!). She is wonderfully theatrical and uses her limited but improving English to constantly entertain us. Desi’s mother has left her and her 3 siblings to marry another man and start a new family. Somedays, Desi shows up talking about how her brother wants to take her to Greece. We all know what happens in Greece, and so does Desi. It is a situtation that has caused much stress and upset in our group as we have become so fond of Desi.

Sheila’s (pronounced like Swalla) mother is in town, which means high alert. Her mother is a working lady, a victim of trafficking. Sheila has 10 aunts and uncles and 6 of them are working the streets. Grandma is the trafficker. What is the point of awareness campaigns and educating potential victims when grandma is the trafficker? Sheila found a way out when she was just 3 years old when a loving family adopted her. The reality, however (and what really hits hard) for the rest of the children, is that they just might not show up for the next days camp.

There are so many more children and so many more stories to share. I have been with the boys group this whole week and have just fallen in love with them, despite their hardness or roughness as it is so evident that there is a little child who just wants to be loved and appreciated behind the front. I think of Gjino, a 14 year old who has a tendency to throw a ‘fake’ punch but knowing full-well he has to be on his best behaviour or he won’t be allowed to come back and he is. Everyday I receive a smile and a big hug from this child who tries to act like a man. Marius, the singer, Dorione, the helper, little Klaidi who is just so adorable, Franco the dancer and the list goes on.

Though a rest this weekend was very much needed it is hard to not see their faces, praying throughout that we will see each one of them again come Monday. That they won’t be thrown out on the street to beg, the girls won’t have been trafficked or stolen away.

Our theme for this past week was identity, talking about how special they are, how they each were created by a loving father and good Shepherd who if even one of his sheep disappeared would stop to search till it was found and then celebrate. We talked about destiny – what we want to be when we grow up. For us, it is a fact that we have the pleasure of dreaming big, knowing with effort we can reach those dreams, but for these kids, they aspire to be a taxi driver at best, but in reality, most will beg, dive in dumps, or worse, become the traffickers themselves.

What I have shared with you may seem hopeless, something we have struggled with and talked about this a fair bit in our group. Again I am so thankful to know our God, to know him as loving and compassionate, as the Great Shepherd who looks after his sheep. We have hope in what God is doing in this area already and trust in that there is more to come in the future. Sadly, it may not come in the time that we wish for but it will come. The lost won’t be lost forever; this is God’s promise to us. Since our contact here first arrived over 10 years ago, already Christian schools have started, camps and women’s seminars. You can see change already. My hope is that as we have the opportunity to feed love into these children, that perhaps this next generation as they begin their own families, won’t be so quick to continue the tie of abuse. That is my prayer for them, that there will be love and respect between men, women and children.

As a group, we understand that every minute that these children are with us, they are NOT being beat by their fathers, they are not begging on the streets, and they are not being shipped across the borders. This knowledge of knowing that by serving them, by persuing whole-heartedly for the protection of their innocence, that for one more day they can be the children they are meant to be. It is the best we can give them for today. It is my hope.

As I wrap up for this week, I kindly ask once again to keep these children in your prayers, the children of Pogredec, of Albania and please pray for our group, for strength to continually live out God’s love, despite our hearts being so broken for these children.

Pogredec, Albania

2010-06-14T07:35:00.001-04:00

After a few days here I thought I would share a few observations:

• There is a big lake here and is considered the tourist town of Albania (more so for Albanians) as there is little pollution here…however, that doesn’t include the lake that we have been advised to sadly, not swim in. Why? Well apparently that’s where ALL the sewage pipes drain into…sigh!

• Between 6-7pm, people come out for there evening beach front stroll

• After an evening out walking along the beach front and sitting to enjoy our first Albanian meal, I observed that there were many men and very few women about. So where are the women? Apparently at home preparing house/food for the men when they come home. Women, sadly, are not held with high respect here and are mainly for keeping house and children. Also horribly sad, family abuse is the norm.

• You will rarely, if ever, see a women and man walking together. It is either men with men, women with women or women with children.

• Girls (and children) go missing often, though more so outside the town out in the country, many Roma women and children.

• Widowed women are required to mourn for an allotted amount of time (can’t remember exactly how long) and you will notice many older women wearing all black. This is because as a widow they are required to wear black for the rest of their lives.

• As a team, we mostly travel in threes at a minimum, as you can never walk as just one man and one woman as to the Albanian people that declares that you are married.

• It is not wise to climb a mountain in the middle of the day…or at least make sure you have more than enough water, lol. The view however, of the town is spectacular! And at the top is a great place to pray over the city.

• YWAM has done a lot in Albania but as things that have been around for awhile (since the borders opened 15 years ago), even though still just as important as when it first started, have a much harder time finding funding for the ever so important projects, like Christian schooling and church plants and orphanages. People get bored, they want something new and exciting, its sad, but its how we are.

• I’m incredibly excited for our time here and for our day camps. I look forward to sharing this time with you and sharing many more stories. Please pray for us in this week that we can be loving servants and the face of Jesus to these children. Pray for patience and flexibility as well.

Breakfast in Amsterdam, Dinner in Ukraine (quote spoken by Sue…first)

2010-06-14T07:31:00.002-04:00

It’s been nearly a week since we departed from Toronto and I can easily say that it was actually one of the best weeks of traveling I have ever encountered! God is good, no joking around this time  We prayed for smooth sailing and that is exactly what we had – and more!

We caught all our connecting flights and our only hiccup (as far as hostels go) worked for the better.

Arrived in Amsterdam and connected with friends and family – first my friend Alef (from my DTS) arrived about an hour after we did and then an hour after that family, Ab and Henny arrived and we all spent a few most enjoyable hours (even through only having slept for 2 hours during our short night).

From Amsterdam we flew to Ukraine, grabbed three taxi vans (at cheaper price and quicker transportation than the bus/train) and headed to our first hostel for our 24 hour stay over in Kiev. To our discovery they had no reservation for us, but God has sent us an Angel in our one driver – who bluntly told us, this was not a good area anyhow and helped us find a much better host…Centrally Located! Not only was that the name of the hostel but it was and it was even 2 Euros cheaper/person. It was beautiful, our view reminded me of my stay in Argentina. From our driving what we saw of the city has made us excited for our return.

After a great nights sleep, we headed back to the airport (having reserved our previous drivers for a scheduled time pickup) and flew to Budapest.

Having a 6 ½ hour layover, we gave the choice to the team to head out and enjoy the city. Nine of us chose to go in (well the others enjoyed the time to sleep some more and use the wireless internet) and we grabbed two taxis at 25 Euros/car/one way - not bad at all! It was amazing to be back in Budapest, having been there just 10 years previously (Ukraine as well) on my Summer Missions Project trip with CRWRC. What an anniversary  It was so great to see the many familiar sights. We had 3 wonderful hours to spend in this amazingly old, historical architecturally city. We also had the chance to enjoy a true Hungarian dinner – pickled cabbage and Gulash with bread and for dessert – the amazing ice cream I’ve remembered all these years. What a treat!

We arrived back at the airport with plenty of time to catch our final flight that took us to Tirana, Albania. We were instantly met by our contact Sherry outside of customs and were swept away to our stay (for 2 nights) at the “Hope for Albania” missionary foundation housing. It was a late night, or rather early morning when we finally went to sleep, waking up nice and late for a TRUE DUTCH breakfast! Another treat. The couple of the house is from Holland and often receive food shipments of Dutch cheese and chocolate sprinkles and peanut butter. What a great way to wake up!

We spent the day in Tirana, Sherry was kind enough to take us on a tour of the city and to tell us her story as well as her part in YWAM arriving in Albania many years previous to spread the gospel and to plant a Church.

We were absolutely mesmerized by the city’s beauty and European feeling. What a beautiful place, everybody comes out in the evening, enjoying the slightly cooler weather at that time, and enjoy some drinks in the square or games of soccer, or other activities in the surrounding grassy areas or just each others company.

On Friday, at about 11am, we finally left for our final destination – Pogredec! It would be approx. 3-4 hour trip…through the MOUNTAINS! And here I was thinking how I missed my summer last year in BC. The scenery was gorgeous! However, it was not without a little nausea for a few, including myself, though it was not too bad. There were many twist and turns and FAR down drop offs that were definitely enough to make anyone’s stomach turn, at least a little.

We finally arrived and were greeted by our contact here as well as the couple who are house managers of the Bible college that we are staying at. Orientation followed and a brief tour of “The Nest” (school where we will be leading daily children’s programs) and of the city.

We certainly were truly blessed this past week and I just praise our God, the Creator of this amazing World. The ultimate Artist, thanks be to Him. Thank you as well for your prayers this past week for our time of travels, as you can tell, they definitely made for a great week.

The JAMM Team

2010-06-06T22:07:00.002-04:00

Two of our students will also be writing a blog once a week to give updates on what the group is up to. You can check it out at:
http://jammdts.blogspot.com/

JAMM Cafe - 'Sold' movie

2010-06-06T22:03:00.002-04:00

For our JAMM Cafe, our media group filmed and put together a short video clip on the issue of Human Trafficking. Just as a warning, it again is not suitable for young children, but I hope it shows you why we have such a passion for human trafficking especially in sexual exploitation of young women and why want to spread awareness about this horrific issue and be a voice for those whose voices have been silenced.

JAMM Cafe

2010-06-06T21:09:00.003-04:00

Well, today was our final JAMM Cafe presentation. I'm so proud of all of them, they put together such a great service filled with urgence to action, love, and hope amongst a difficult issue as Human Trafficking. Below I have included a few of the speeches given by the students on the topic. Enjoy!

What is human trafficking?
Written by Kate Guther (student)

The United Nation defines human trafficking as “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labour or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, debt bondage, or slavery.”

This is also known as the stealing of a humans dignity.

Many of us shudder when we hear the word “slave.” Slavery did not end a hundred years ago. Today we are witnessing the most thriving slave trade in all of history.

Internationally, slave trade is the Third largest illegal business after arms trade and drug trafficking and generates approximately $32 billion a year to put this into perspective:
Apple made $4.8 billion for the year of 2009 which means that the sale of humans generated five times as much profit.

An estimated 27 million people are currently enslaved worldwide. The international labour organization estimates that there are 12.3 million adults and children stuck in forced labour and of those at least 1.39 million are in sexual servitude and most of them are women (wimin) and girls.

2 children sold every minute

Trafficking is right in our backyard.

It's tragic. It's horrific. And it's happening along the quiet 720 kilometers between Prince George and Prince Rupert, a stretch now gruesomely dubbed the Highway of Tears, the place where 510 aboriginal girls have gone missing or murdered since 1980.

More than 500 of the cases have not been fully investigated. Perpetrators remain unpunished
The United Nations have warned Canada to do something about this.

In August 2008, a 17 year old girl and two 16 year old girls, were rescued from an apartment in Gatineau Quebec, one girl was held captive for a year, the other two girls for six months. All three were continually sexually exploited, drugged, beaten and raped throughout their ordeal.

The first person in Canada convicted of human trafficking involving a minor, received a three year sentence for the trafficking of a 15 year old girl but was credited 13 months for pre-trial custody. He made over $350,000 sexually exploiting her over two years before she was able to escape. Essentially he will spend less time in jail than he did exploiting her.

As Kevin Bales author of “Slave Next Door” writes:
"In a country that believes in liberty and justice for all, how can we as Canadians tolerate slavery in our backyard?
What is wrong with our country that it allows slave masters to live - and flourish - untroubled among us? What more can we as citizens do to fix this problem? And what will it take for our government, which serves at the will and for the good of its people, to dedicate the needed resources, both money and personnel, to destroying this evil?”

Hope
Written by Sue Van Daalen (staff)

Have we lost hope? Have we lost hope in making a difference? We certainly do not lack the power, the compassion, the courage of the knowledge…no we lack the hope. But we, we the church have access to a hope that can change everything. This is the same hope that drove Martin Luther King Jr and William Wilberforce; the hope that changes nations. We have hope in a God who hates injustice, who defends the orphan, cries with the widow, walks with the weary, bleeds with the beaten and is captive with the slave. However this hope is not cheap and it’s not easy. But in it’s purest form it has the power to contend with even the most horrific of injustices, the hell we see on earth and in the darkest brothels of our city.

We are beginning already to see glimmers of hope in the thick darkness right here in Toronto. Timea Nagy, sold from Budapest to Toronto, is a survivor and a passionate abolitionist. In partnership with local law enforcement, she has rescued 23 trafficking victims this year, who are all on their way to freedom and rehabilitation.

This is a sign of God’s hope still prevailing.

So let us not become the unwitting hoarders of hope. No! Let us embrace our inheritance of hope. Hope in a God who never becomes numb to the pain and the suffering who hears every cry. For what good is hope if we hide it in the dark corners of our heart?
We put our hope in a God who does far more than sympathize with us, wish us well and be on His way, yes we put our hope in a God who suffers alongside the oppressed.
Translated from Latin, compassion literally means, “To suffer with”; Psalm 146:5-10
Hope in a God of compassion moves us to action! Feed the hungry, clothes the naked, bandage the beaten; free the slaves, fight injustice with injustice!

How
Written by Janet Bulle (student)
Our group will be traveling this summer to Albania and Ukraine, which are two main source and destination countries for victims of human trafficking. Women and girls from Eastern Europe are at the highest risk of being trafficked. Poverty stricken, unemployed and desperately trying to care for their family, what woman could turn down a job opportunity in the west? We will be serving alongside organizations and individuals who have dedicated their lives to preventing the most vulnerable from being victimized such as the Roma Gypsies and orphans. We also hope to raise awareness through media presentations about this issue in their country. We’re going to get first hand exposure and be broken by the things that break God’s heart and be filled with the hope in the same God who suffers with the oppressed. Micah 6:8 says, “What does the Lord require of us? To do justice, love mercy and walk humble with our God.” Please join us on our journey as we learn to seek justice, and love mercy in Albania and Ukraine.

Thank You!

2010-06-03T13:49:00.003-04:00

Well, today was our final day of lectures in this JAMM DTS and next Monday, June 7 finds 15 of us flying off for outreach. How time has flown by these last 3 months. I still feel like I just came back from my own DTS and now I am already moving out of Port Credit.

We are a group of 12 students (3 guys) and 3 staff heading to Albania for our first month and to Ukraine for our final month. When we leave on Monday we will be traveling nearly 4 days to get to our first destination, which may even include sleeping overnight in an airport in Kiev, Ukraine. Please pray for safety and that we will catch all are connecting flights.

We will be staying in Pogradec, Albania and will help run a day camp out of 'The Nest', a home for Roma Children (some rescued from trafficking clutches), the nearby park and the area school grounds. This will put our team in daily contact with some of the most vulnerable kids there. A few other items we will also be involved with are: prayer walks, leading open air evangelism, home Bible studies with Roma families, Art Therapy lessons, etc.

Our second month will be in the capital city of Ukraine in Kiev. Here we will be bringing with us an awareness program, collaborating with a group that is already building up a program to bring awareness to young women about Human Trafficking and how to keep from getting trapped into the web of this nightmarish issue.

Two of the students (Richard and Ali) and one staff (Heather) are heading off to Vancouver for their outreach time as they are unable to leave the country at this time, due to applying for permanent residency and refugee status in Canada. They will be working with Missions Adventures in the heart of Vancouver. They will be sadly missed as they are a big part of our group but we wish them a great time and will keep them in our prayers as well.

Finally, I just wanted to take a moment to THANK YOU ALL who have been such a great support to me over these last couple of years and have followed along on my journey that God has called me into. Your constant prayers have made such an impact on my life in so many ways and I just thank you so much for continuing to keep me, and those I am with, in your prayers. Also I thank you for your cards and words of encouragements. I am only able to do what I do when I am inline with Gods calling and also the support of my community. Each are an equally important element. So again I THANK YOU! May you be blessed as you have continually blessed me.

Too Busy

2010-05-15T09:49:00.002-04:00

Life . . . is busy.

It makes me wonder, however, what is it busy with? Have I made the most out of my busyness, have I used my time for myself, to make things better for myself or did I use it to serve others?

It hit me this morning, while reading my devotions. I feel like I hear the words "too busy" so often. From myself, from students, from friends, from people in the Church . . . I think from pretty much just about anybody.

Is busyness crippling? Is it a result of our individualistic nature that we find ourselves so embedded in? Everything seems to be all about 'me' now. We are fed this line everywhere we go. It's about what makes 'us' happy, what fulfills my wants, desires, needs. We are a hardworking society, which is not all-together a bad thing but if it is on account of sacrificing relationships or having time to help those around you . . . well . . . what do you think?

"You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave" (Philippians 2:5-7, NLT). Paul tells us what our attitude should be; "Don't be selfish . . . Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too" (Philippians 2:3-4, NLT).

Over the last few weeks, our group has often talked about how yes we stop to talk to a homeless person in Toronto, handing them a bagged lunch, but all of this is during our alloted outreach time each week. What about outside of that time? Do we find ourselves stopping in the same way to sit and just chat for a bit? or are we headed to our destination in haste having no time to take a moment for another. I know I, myself, have done this many times. We all have our excuses as to why we don't have enough time . . . but it makes me think that God is bigger than our excuses, he sees right through them and though he does not condemn us in them, he continues to encourage us to walk in his ways, to love our neighbour as ourselves to the point of putting their needs ahead of ours. Anything less, simply put, would be unchristian and disobedient.

I like this one paragraph in my readings this morning, that really ties in that I would like to share with you:

"I think of how Jesus lived. I've heard many a sermon on what a busy man Jesus must have been. I'm not so sure about that. He had many demands pressing in on him from every direction, but he wasn't busy in the same way we are. He wasn't running from meeting to meeting or from practice to practice. He very well might have spent many nights sitting with a group of friends over dinner, lingering for hours and hours, just talking about life. By today's standards, that might even be called lazy and self -indulgent. But what mattered to Jesus was people - listening to them, loving them, and helping them. He was busy with the slow work of taking time to care for people. He was never too busy to stop and help someone" (A. Van Schooneveld, Hope Lives, p30).

That is my prayer, that I will learn to never be too busy to stop and help someone in need. This is part of my journey in following Jesus and his call on my life. To put aside my own wants, to put aside the ways of western society that have dictated my life for so long, so that I can follow God to the fullest. This is a process, one that he will continually help me with and through and there will be many times still that I will fumble and fall short but thankfully God is patient and he will continually encourage me and help me in this. What a wonderful Father we have, that Jesus might come and be like one of us to show us the true meaning of relationship and the utmost importance it has in our lives and in the lives of all our neighbours.

I encourage you . . .

Don't be too busy!

Constance

2010-05-06T22:02:00.004-04:00

As we are preparing for our first JAMM Cafe this coming Sunday, going through various information and facts on Human Trafficking I remembered back to one of the projects I worked on with my group and presented on my DTS. In it my group discovered a music video entitled, "Constance." We instantly found it incredibly moving and wanted to include it in our presentation. It shows a 'closer to home' side of human trafficking.

Watching it again and sharing it with the girls in my room, I felt I wanted to include it in my blog. Constance is a story about a girl in the Philippines victimized by Human Trafficking. It was created by Mr. J Medeiros. It has inspired an international human rights movement called the "Constance Campaign." Mr. J spearheaded the movement, and has partnered with Non-Profit's like XXXChurch and HumanTrafficking.org.

Though the video doesn't show anything, it does elude to things that may be uncomfortable and not suitable for young children.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqyLRpGgxRs&feature=player_embedded

Lyrics:
1st verse:
An old man vacationing, he stands patiently
under a hotel sign that blinks vacancy
he’s thinking maybe he’s too late to make the drop off
till a truck coming his way breaks and stops short
and now he's out of sorts and you can see he’s sorta nervous
walking to the passenger door to meet his ordered service
this is someone’s daughter working blames his conscience
when the driver says “she’s my youngest, her name is Constance”
he comments “and its only 6 dollars per visit
just don’t leave any marks on her, it hurts business”
thought for a minute and he confessed “that’s fair”
since it was three dollars less then his cab fare.
“how old are you honey” she says “I’m thirteen.”
her nose was runny, its raining in the Philippines
he handed over the money in a chilling scene
the truck drives off and now he’s on the hunt to kill her dreams
the sign reads no vacancy, he leads Constance to a room
he has rented for taping see,
he’s about to turn six into six thousand
and all you have to do is click on your web browser
its not illegal to use raping as cash crop
as long as it says she’s 18 on your laptop
the sound of rain is her backdrop laying there
like she’s waiting for somebody to say they care
while the tears of God fall down the window pain
she feels unholy like her Father doesn’t know her name
Marry Magdalene and the Woman At The Well
He knows everything that happened and in His arms she fell.

hook:
repeat x2
in his arms she fell
will you stay with me

2nd verse

He’s 21 and all alone in his household
he’s tempted by the quiet he feels and the mouse he holds
the silence of his spouse is cold
so he’s about to help that man get his six thousand gold
one click and now she’s sold
withholding his conscience scrolling through the comments
there she is looking confident a picture of Constance
in a series of video clips, “adult content”
the title blinks in bold letters like the vacancy sign
its his time to go get her
its like his mind doesn’t know better
her soul is crying out “let me go” but he wont let her
he got her trapped inside his media player
held captive by his need to replay her
its a matter of he being here and she being there
that’s why he doesn’t feel the need to care
guilt is in the seed he bares
spilling his shares of the profit
on a 500 million dollar market
where children are regarded as product
and traded like stock tips
and raped for the sake of our pockets
his lap top sits like a window into Constance room
where he exits cause its almost noon
and he’s expecting his wife home soon
with new clothes for the baby
she’d be angry if she saw his new lady
a thirteen year old Filipino named Constance
trust me girl God has not forgotten
He knew Marry Magdalene and the Woman at the Well
He knows everything that happened and in His arms she fell

hook:
repeat x2
in his arms she fell
will you stay with me

Walk With Me Fundraiser

2010-04-25T11:25:00.004-04:00

Part of our focus for this particular DTS is on Justice issues but Human Trafficking in particular.

On Thursday, April 15, our group had the opportunity to serve at an awards fundraiser given by the organization Walk With Me. One of the other staff was heavily involved in putting together this fundraiser, along with a women named Timea. Timea Nagy is a sex trafficking victim who was trafficked into Toronto, in 1998 and started this organization.

(If you want to read more about her story you can read about it at: www.walk-with-me.org).
The purpose of the ceremony was to thank a number of people who have been really involved fighting human trafficking, going above and beyond their job descriptions.

A number of law enforcement officers, police chiefs, vice units,rcmps, detectives, all with incredible and inspiring stories of the difference a few committed people can make.
Joy Smith, who is a member of parliament was there. She is a strong advocate and voice for justice issues, currently trying to pass a bill in parliament (C268) for a minimum sentence for trafficking children.

(To see more on this: http://www.albertalawreview.com/index.php/alr/supplement/view/Bill%20C%20268%20Minimum%20Sentences%20for%20Child%20Trafficking
http://www.joysmith.ca/index.asp?ID=76&cat_ID=1)

In addition, there were a number of trafficking victims there who spoke. Jessie Fosters - a Canadian girl, trafficked into the states a couple years ago and still unable to be found - her mother was there. Her case has brought a lot of light from the media on human trafficking.

It was an amazing evening to be a part of and incredibly inspiring and hopeful as well. There is so much need and so many different ways to fight and get involved. A number of the attendees in the room, simply had opened up their houses to taking these girls in after they had been rescued. They treated these girls with the love and respect they were very much in need of.

Human Trafficking is an issue that can't be swept under the carpet anymore, here in Canada. It is an issue that we need to start spreading awareness of. To open our eyes to the fact that this isn't just an issue 'out there' but rather right here in our own areas, in our own towns! First natives have been stolen and trafficked for years but you rarely hear of it. Women from Eastern Europe and all over are being trafficked right into our strip clubs and brothels. They have been mixed in with those who 'choose' this profession but it is hard to tell the difference as they all 'look' the same and put the same fake smile on - but they have no choice, they know what will happen if they don't. Please continually keep these women and children in your prayers and spread awareness of this issue and pray that we can start protecting these victims in our Country by encouraging our Gov't to put bills in place for minimum sentencing on the Traffickers.

Life as a YWAM staffer

2010-04-14T10:03:00.005-04:00

Well, its been quite awhile since I have had a chance to write on my blog. Life has been very busy these past 6 weeks since I arrived in Port Credit and came on staff with the JAMM DTS here. As is typical YWAM style it has been a roller coaster ride, with each week being different from the last. It's been so great to get to know the 14 students that have come from all around the world. So much to learn from the variety of cultures!

We started the beginning, getting to know each other and hearing testimonies. I have to admit, that is the one thing I hate about YWAM - your reality comes crashing down. You begin to really realize all too often how much we put on happy-go-lucky faces when we walk into Church and pretend everything is all right. I always new this in part but hearing of peoples stories on my DTS and again now amongst this group, the sadness that is in some of their pasts, the SEXUAL abuse that is in MANY of their pasts, its revolting and disgusting and especially just plain sad. We think being within the Church that we should be immune from some of this but it seems as though there is just as much, if not more of these issues within our circles. The only difference is we try to pretend it isn't true and it is not there. There truly is so much brokenness in our homes - thank-goodness though we have such a loving God who is faithful and loving and forgiving and who gives hope in life.

Another thing I have began to understand a bit more in the last while is on the topic of Spiritual Warfare. I came face to face with it a few times on my DTS, it is not fun, it is instills fear. Once a week, every Wednesday, our group heads down to Toronto for outreach. We have linked up with Project 417 out of the Salvation Army building in Regent Park area to hand out bagged lunches. After the first week of orientation, where Joe (the Director of P417) walked us around the various areas around Regent Park to orient our group to Toronto, a number of the students became rather fearful of outreach. Our second week going out, this fear came out in another effect. After finishing the sandwich runs, 2 of the 3 teams were waiting in the Tim Hortons - our meeting spot. A man walked in, walked around and straight through our group and back out the door and a few seconds later came right back in and charged at Joe and punched him right in the face. Everything was all so very sudden, Joe quickly pinning the man down and two of our guys helped holding him. A few of the students were definitely shaken up at first by the events. We even found ourselves giving of witness testimonies as to what had taken place. We discussed it later and again the next day in class, what is Spiritual Warfare and how did that relate to the evening. The man had obvious mental issues and possibly had stopped taken his meds, it seemed very much that there were issues or demons inside and when he passed through our group something just triggered. There was no connection between him or Joe, it was random... Just to note the students are doing better and our last run went really well, but it really makes you more aware. When you are in circles, learning about our Lord, Satan is going to take any and every little fear and spin into something bigger to distract us and pull us away.

I was talking with a friend who made a very good note. Often we stick our children in Christian schools so they have a good Christian upbringing and well, lets face it - we think a safer experience. BUT are we deceiving ourselves to think that wouldn't Satan be all the more in that place? He doesn't want us to learn about God and he is definitely going to do everything in his power to keep us from our Heavenly Father.

Anyhow just a thought.

Well this coming week is definitely going to be an interesting one that I can't wait for. We will be moving out of our 'cozy' apartments here in Port Credit and moving down into a Church on Parliament and Bloor area for our lesson week on "Jesus in the City", where the speaker will be using various exercises of seeing and revealing Jesus in the context of Toronto. It will be a good lead up to our main outreach as it will be interesting to see how the students react to this week. Some of the luxuries of having TV, Internet and a phone at their fingertips won't be available.

Please pray for our group in this week and that they may continually be open to all the God has to share with each one of them.

In Gods Time

2010-03-19T09:07:00.005-04:00

So I am moving to Port Credit today. Where is that you say? It's a small town inside of the Mississauga area, right on Lake Ontario. It's cute, it's quaint and it is going to be home for the next few months.

Through a number of stories and events (feel free to ask me some time) God showed me that sometimes things don't happen the way I hope them too or in the time I hope them too. Sometimes we understand and sometimes we don't. I had a missed opportunity (due to being sick) on the outreach that was devastating for me but at the same time I was incredibly thankful my team had the chance to have the experience as apparently it was a pivotal moment on outreach. They had the opportunity to go to a brothel and to witness God's love and to witness a women giving her life over to God there. How wonderful!

Some of my fellow peers, knowing my hearts desire, shared words of encouragement that they knew God would use me still . . . Not in my time, but in his time.

Well, I never imagined that time would come so quickly but God is all powerful and all mighty and he loves us and knows our hearts desires.

While in Barbados I made connections with two people - Anderson, the director of the YWAM in Toronto and Sue, one of the staff there - who also has a heart for those trapped in Human Trafficking.

Once I was back home, I reconnected with them - first finding out about an organization that is in its grass roots to connect Ontario organizations against Human Trafficking, which I later attended a meeting and new this was something I was meant to be a part of. Secondly, I found out that they were still in need of another staff as they were about to begin another DTS school.

And that's how I am ending up in Port Credit! I will be joining their JAMM (Justice, Arts, Music, and Media) DTS as staff, alongside a great team! I'm so excited for this next step that God has put in place for me. I'm excited to be challenged (yes actually I am) in this new way, to step into a discipling leadership role and to be a part of these next students lives (all 15 of them, funny that's the same number as my DTS :) ). We are a staff of 8 and 3 of us, including myself, will be leading this group on their outreach to the Ukraine and Albania for 8 weeks come June. Of course, even more so, I am excited to once again answer Gods call on my life and to walk in footsteps of servanthood.

So that's a little update of what God is doing in my life! God is soo good.
Please continue to keep me in your prayers as well as my team and these next set of students.
Thanks for your continued support!

Porto Velho - Resseca Community

2010-03-09T10:16:00.009-05:00

Well here is the first of a number of entries I hope to make on the various places we visited and on the many things I learned about them. One of my hopes and goals was to learn as much as I could about each place to be able to share what I have learned with you so that you may have ideas of what God is doing in South America.

In our final week in Porto Velho, our group had the opportunity, along with a few staff from the base and a few students of Missions Adventures, to go into the Amazon and live alongside the river community people of the Resseca Community. It was quite an amazing experience in that week and I don't think any of us will forget that time...along with the crazy ferry ride that took us to and from. They certainly do pack you in in hammocks on those things. The boat is shorter than I am and they stack you 3 people on top of each other. It definitely made for a fun but long ride :)

We had the opportunity to work with the children there. They are amazing and so beautiful. As well we had the opportunity to help them prepare to redo the roof on the school house. We went deeper into the Amazon jungle to help cut down these specific type of palms they would use for the roof. We split up into many groups, each going with a man from the community and would drag the many branches to our meeting spot and then it was another 30 minute hike back to the little canoe boats we took in, carrying 5-7 palms at once. In total they needed 750 palms for the roof and we actually made this goal in the two days! These were an amazing but extremely exhausting two days. We learned so much, saw into the lives of these people and worked hard and got super muddy!

Louise and his wife are the missionary couple at this community and they have been there working for the last 7 years, arriving in 2003. Over the time there has been many positive changes and advancements in this community. For one, malaria is a big issue in these places and in 2005 they tested 180 people for malaria, a staggering 160 were positive. Since then they have been able to setup a malaria lab, which the community has been a part of and they themselves have become educated in and in 2009 when they tested for malaria, they only had 15 cases the entire year.

They held a microscope school in 2009 which included 6 people. At the end they took 3 to look for jobs in the city. 4 people have previously completed this school and found jobs. This is huge for them to have a job in the city, especially in healthcare fields, as those in the river communities are known for their lack of education.

In the last 7 years they have started a Malaria lab, a Pharmacy and even have a place for a Dentist and Doctor. Currently, however, the Dentist only pulls teeth if there is a problem. Their hope is to have some one come with equipment who can actually fix and prevent as well as do fillings and put on braces. The Pharmacy is the best on the river (that starts in Columbia and approximately 150 + communities along) as it has the most medication. There is a Doctor that works in the pharmacy and every 45 days he goes down along the river to check on the people and to attend accordingly and administering medication as needed. They do still need more Doctors and Aid female nurses are definitely needed.

Catholicism is big, sometimes prohibiting their kids from coming to the Christian school they built. They try to work alongside but it doesn’t always work, but the health care has helped to reach them more. God told them to work only with little kids with alphabets even though they may be prohibited to go to church things. They now have 30 members in the church, and the pastor of the church is right from the community and this is huge. He did YWAM and has no previous schooling but studies about parasites and works in the lab as well– and all this is with almost no schooling. Gods work in all ways here.

There are approx. 50, 000 river communities in this place on 3 connecting rivers (black river, wood river and ??). The obstacles that get in the way here are the same as in the big city – prostitution, abuse, drugs, adultery.

There are usually no teachers for the pre-school age and until last June there was only one guy in the clinic. They need doctors, teachers, and economics, those to work with young kids so they don’t get into drugs, and the need for people to come and live here and help. Churches in the area don’t get involved because the communities are too small and therefore not enough to be converted.

Average children for a river community family is 9-10/family as children are gift from God but the problem is there is not enough planting space as the area becomes more built up for these large homes and then not enough food is grown. The young ones have to leave and go to the city. Girls of 16 years already are going into the city into prostitution. Also there are no stores or shopping places anywhere around. The closest one is over 2 hours away or the 9-13 hours to Porto Velho. They grow what produce they can and then have to go into the city to sell and at the same time buy all their necessities to bring back to their communities.

Louise shared two visions they have for the future. The first being they want to be able to build a water system, which would be built away from the community into the jungle, approximately a 50 min walk to higher level land, where it does not flood. They would need pipelines built that go directly to the housing so that even in flood times (which I believe can last around 5 months) there will be clean, drinking waters. They pretty much lose their clean water during the flood season and end up having no choice but to drink the same water that they use to shower in, pee in, clean with, etc. Thus the reason for the many illnesses. Thankfully though because of the pharmacy they are able to give the children medication against worms twice a year.

Another vision they have is for a school for trades and higher education. A school that would be so great that people from Porto Velho would come for training. They were given this vision 2 years ago and were told that someone would come to help start this school. Well the amazing part of this story is that it appears as though God brought Alef (one of the members of my group) to this community to fulfill this vision. Alef began talking to them as he saw a need for a school there and as he is a teacher and also had begun the process of starting a school in Africa, felt God calling him to do the same for this community. It was truly amazing to see how Alef has been used in this and how excited and amazed the community was to have hope that this vision was now able to begin that process. The goal is to have something started in 2 years time. Please pray for these people and for Alef and for all who are a part of this project. God can and does work and use anybody and everybody to put together his plans for his people.

Home Sweet FREEZING COLD Home :)

2010-03-03T10:06:00.010-05:00

Well I officially have been home pretty much a week. Its hard to believe. Its hard to believe that 5 months have already come and past and now I have been home for a whole week.

I had to laugh that the week I chose to came home, happened to also be the only week of snow storms for Hamilton. I had heard there had been no snow and there was all this snow on the ground and it was soooo cold. When we came out of the airport I was wrapped up as much as I could be and the drive home found me wearing two sweaters, my winter coat, a wonderful scarf, my new Olympic mitts and a fleece blanket...and I was STILL cold!

On Thursday my first day back I had 3 teas and 2 hot chocolates! Now I know how some people feel when they arrive in Canada mid-winter after living in hot countries.

On the whole though, the transition went well, seeing some family and friends, attending my home church and receiving a warm welcome by many, diving into my photos to put together a small slide show (not all 8000 pictures so don't worry :) ) to be able to show at times (almost there), and already making connections with contacts I made a long the way to see what God has planned next for me.

One of the harder things the first couple of days was being cooped up inside. After having spent so long in the open out doors and even inside feeling like outside as none of the windows have screens on them, blue sky and sun every day it was hard to just see this white sky and hide out in a cold basement. I was so thankful to see the beautiful sun arrive back early this week, what a treat!!

Already I have heard the question of what's next on my plate and I had my prepared answer to give of ideas and thoughts...but already on Monday I discovered that things could change :) You just never know what God has planned up his sleeve for you as long as you wait on him to hear his voice and follow. [That's all I will share for now about that though, till I have more figured out and have felt that I am following Gods ways and not my own but I'll keep you posted as soon as I know.]

The other question I have had was how was my transitioning going, being away from all the people, seeing all the things I have seen, etc. Amazingly though I am excited to be home. After Sea to Sea last year, I had such a hard time. I never imagined how long it would take me to feel normal again...but God was also doing a huge U-turn on my life and I was making big career and life changes/choices. After my time with YWAM, I feel like God has been giving more direction of which way this new road is going and I was very excited to come home and to get started. I loved learning and meeting the many people in South America and it was definitely hard to say bye at times, but with saying bye it allows you also to come back [one day perhaps] and help in new, stronger ways.

So anyhow that's it for right now. I plan to go through my many notes and journals to tell you a little bit about each place and what I learned in those places, over the next weeks. So stay tuned :)

Oh I also do want to note as I am back home now a big THANK YOU!! to all you supporters. Thank you for your prayers and cards (though sadly many I didn't receive due to the mail system not being at its best) and for your interest and support over all. Your prayers helped me to regain health and get through the hard times and to value all the good times and to be open to seeing all the many miracles and gifts God gave to me and my team.

THANK YOU!!

Traveling Adventures

2010-02-14T15:25:00.003-05:00

Well I've already been in Barbados for two days and have enjoyed two beautiful days of rest at the beach, which was much needed after the previous two days of traveling back 'home'.

I thought for fun I would share about the travel mania we had coming back as I have heard a few people ask questions about my crazy facebook status :)

Thursday we flew from Bolivia to Peru to Caracas. Outreach was officially over. It's amazing how time flew by at the end. We found out just a few days before departing that we had a $25 USD airport departure fee to pay. Money is always a fun topic in our group and is usually followed by many groans every time it is brought back up, something we still kind of need to work on (in our dependency of God).

Okay wait this just reminded me of an old story back in Argentina that I need to share too. Previously I had mentioned of financial woes within our group. In Argentina we were at the point that we owed, as a group, another $2000 USD. This was due to miscommunication and flight fees being much higher than quoted. We really had to come in prayer together over this, many of us too afraid to tell our supporters back home, afraid of what they might think. During our week in Argentina, our director Samuel came down for a pastoral visit which was very much needed at the time. It was exactly the boost our group needed to reconnect itself. The Sunday we came together for a serious time of prayer over our financial needs and when it was time to share what we had heard, there were very few who had anything to share. Samuel put it out point blank that it seemed there were issues within our group (which was true) that were blocking any God movement. We needed to repent of any resentments or angers against people within the group or anything that you felt might be blocking you and after awhile we would regroup and try again. This was soooo important for our group and was really needed as when we came back together and prayed again we had much more release. Many of us felt that we were being told to wait on God, that he would provide for us but he also wanted us to come together more and to keep our financial needs front and centre in our prayer time. Well, the very next morning at worship time, Celina announced that over night we had received nearly all of it and only needed $200 more!!! God is amazing. He just granted us our own personal huge miracle. I was blown away. This was such an amazing time.

Okay so now you kind of have a better idea as to why money is a fun issue in our group and why a little amount like $25/person still is an issue - though obviously it shouldn't be when God continues to show his faithfulness to us by providing large amounts. But it can be still stressful when you know there are people in the group who litterly have no money left. I myself at the time had only $22USD of the 25 but was able to get another $3 thankfully. However, that was the last of my USD on hand.

So Friday morning, four of us (Sarah, Jessica, Susanna and myself) where on the first flight, leaving Venezuela (Caracas), heading back to Barbados, as the Saturday flight had been to full to allow all of us to travel together. This became evident that once again this was God looking out for our group.

Jesus and Cesar took us through the subway to the nearest taxi airport bus and then said goodbye. I had a little bit of Boliavares left and obviously didn't need them and felt that I wanted to bless them as they had been so special to us in our time in Venezuela and so I split what I had between the two of them. Off we went to the airport. We left the base at 6am for our 9:10am flight and arrived at the airport just before 7am and headed to check-in. Everything seemed to be going well, I had a nice check-in guy who spoke English relatively okay. My bag headed off down the ramp as did Sarah's and then it hit...so there is a $15USD check-in fee....WHAT!!!??? SERIOUS??!! I'm sorry but we have NO MONEY. They didn't think we were serious but we explained we had been traveling for 2 1/2 months and were at the end of our travels and had nothing left, just a few Bolivares, a couple of USD and a little bit of Argentinian money. The gentleman helping me said he could waver the $15 fee but that there was also an airport tax that we HAD to pay as they give you a bar code that lets you through a gate and that was a lovely $162.50 Bolivares!! We thought we were going faint. We didn't know what to do. We counted up the little we had which totalled enough for 2 people for the $15 fee and that was it. Unfortunately, the second man helping us was not so keen on wavering the first fee as it ended up sounding that it would come out of their paycheck (and to be honest I can understand that but can still hope). As my bag and Sarahs bags were gone they held Susanna and Jess's as collateral until we could pay the $100 Bs we needed more at check-in. So off went Sarah and Jess to find an ATM. While they were gone God sent us an angel who overheard part of our dilemma and ever so kindly all of a sudden handed us $200 Bs! "Here at least one of you will be able to get through." I nearly started to cry there I was so moved. So Susanna and I paid the man and then went out to wait for the other two in a better spot to figure out how we could get the money still for the airport tax.
Once we reconnected we tried to see if we could pay by Debit or by Credit Card at the window but they would not accept either. They told us of Intel-cambio where we could get money from so off we ran - as time was seriously starting to tick away here, already having approached the boarding time of 8am). We arrived there and Jess tried to use her travelers checks that she had never been able to get rid of (take note, travelers checks are the dumbest idea ever, don't use them). She started to fill out the first one as they would accept them, but apparently they are extremely picky. Jess filled out the date the Canadian way: month/day/year. Well that wasn't right, its day/month/year in S. America so they wouldn't take the check. Ahhh. So she grabbed another one (each equalling $100 USD) and filled it out the correct way but again they wouldn't take it because she had used (/) in between the dates as opposed to (-)!! Are you kidding me! At this point there was some frustration within part of the group.

We then ran to ATMs again to try and get money but each of us used our cards to no success. The machines kept cancelling the transactions. We were now down to 30 min before our flight was to leave! We were going to try another bank, when I thought I would go back to that Intel-Cambio and try my Mastercard which finally was successful. Thank you Lord! However, this was not a quick process either and took 20 min of the 30 that we had!! Plus some lovely fees that you normally wouldn't put up with but really didn't have much choice at this point.

We sent Jess and Susanna off to wait in the airport tax line so we would have no wait once we got there. Finally we received the $450 Bs that we still needed and ran to meet the other two. As we were running, I was thinking wow, I am so thankful that I actually still have strength in my legs to move so quickly....We got to the window paid our fee, ran to the gate (imagine four blondes running along in a line, so funny), used the bar code to get through, put our carry-on luggage through the machine and just as we were about to wak through the security door for ourselves, that's when it hit me. OH NOOOOOO, SARAHHHHH, OH SH--! I left my bag at the money place! Up to this point I had been amazingly calm through everything, trusting that God would hold our plane for us and that in the end it would all work out fine, but at this point, this was when I crashed and my heart just sunk. I ran back to the first gate and begged to be let out trying to communicate in little Spanish and hand gestures. Jumped over the gate and booked it back to the money place, except I ran to the stair that were past the place not realizing and when I got up to the second floor where it was, in my panic I couldn't figure it out and didn't know where it was. At this point I had 5 min! Finally God turned me around and I found my bag and booked it back. Sarah had waited for me and we ran to the immigration line that we still had to go through and with our Por favour (please please) we cut right to the front of the line as had the other two done as well. When we came out and rounded the corner we saw Jess and Susanna and then recognized the security guy that happened to be running with them now, was the same guy who had given us the hard time at the check-in. He was grabbing our tickets as we ran, ripping them and handing them back to us and getting us through the door and out to the plane. They had kept our bags off the plane and had noticed we were still not there and he (and of course God) had held the plane for us and as we got to the stairs to go up they said, "Okay now we put your bags on".

We got to our seats and collapsed. We were all shaking, my hand was quivering so much and part of me just wanted to release in tears but I just let a few out and took some big breathes. I was SO thirsty from all the running, so I grabbed my water bottle and took a drink then handed it to the others as I figured they had to be thirsty as well. All of a sudden, Jess goes...hey, how did you get the liquids through security? At that point we broke out in hysterical laughter, releasing our major amount of tension and adrenaline.

God then gave Jess and I our own personal little piece. That morning as we prepared to go, right beside the base is a donut shop and as we are both Canadians we were drooling and commenting on how we couldn't wait to have a Boston cream or a Honey cruller from Tim Hortons when we got back home. Well would you believe our snack on the flight was a...DONUT!!! and it was good :) Also the flight attendant, noticing how thirst we were, gave us 3 juice boxes in the duration of the flight! So nice!!

So that is officially my second most stressful traveling experience in my life (the first was my missions trip to Hungary nearly 10 years ago, when we missed our connecting flight from Newark to Frankfurt and had to beg for them to put our group of seven on another plane). I am so thankful though to Gods faithfulness and for watching over us and for sending us that angel.

I know now that we were meant to go as a small group the day before because had we been the whole group of 17, there is no way we would have made our flight because most of us did not have the money on hand. This way we were able to get back home and were able to connect with them and let them know so they could get the money before going to the airport. Thank you Lord for watching over our group right to the end.

So now tomorrow we start our final week of the lecture phase, entitled 'debriefing and re-entry week'. Tuesday Mom and Dad arrive, I am SOO EXCITED to see them again and be able to show them around my second home and to introduce them to my family here. Friday is our graduation and I am back on the following Wednesday to see all you wonderful friends, family and supporters!!

But don't leave yet, I plan on writing a number of stories over the week that I am back. I have so much to share with you still.

Okay take care! Love!!

A Humbling Moment

2010-01-28T07:45:00.002-05:00

I am in Argentina now. I absolutely love it here. I definitely recommend coming to this place. The people and the architecture are so beautiful. I had a great time in Brasil and am sorry I was unable to post any updates while there. I hope to tell some stories of my time there down the road but right now I want to share a few stories of my time here in Argentina as they have been such incredible moments. (We flew into Buenos Aires on January 19.)

There is this plaza (square) called Misery Plaza in english. We have gone there a number of times to worship, pray, talk and get to know some of the people there. This square is known for its name as mostly prostitutes, drug dealers, thieves, and many poor and homeless people hang out in this square. At night it is incredibly dangerous to be there as there are gangs and much fighting.

On this past Monday, we prayed about and decided to fast our lunch so that we could take our food into the plaza to hand out to various people. I split up with Dean, Jess and Daniel (YWAM staff at Argentina base who has guided us around). We walked to the near train station as often Daniel said there are homeless families living in there, however as it was early afternoon and extremely hot out they were not to be found. We walked around a touch more and saw a man and women who we gave our first two sandwiches too. Unfortunately, it was obvious they had no interest in talking or wanting us to sit down with them, so we said a short prayer in our minds and carried on.

Shortly after we came upon a women sitting alone with three large garbage bags. We stopped to ask if she would like some food and at first she said no, but then Daniel explained they were sandwiches and what was on them and she said okay. We asked her a few questions, finding out she is from Bolivia but has lived in Argentina for 30 years and that she is a Seventh Day Adventist. Then the doors were open and she began sharing with us a lot. She spoke so much and so fast that Daniel was unable to translate for us right away but you could just tell from her aura that she was not telling us a poor womens sob story but rather was sharing a part of her life with us and allowing us to see into her heart and to see another world.

We found out her name is Sophia and she has seven children but I don't think she had them all any more as Daniel mentioned her trying to keep them but not having enough money. She spoke of how they try to sell what was in their garbage bags in the market place but the mafia would make them pay a fee and the security that was suppose to keep them safe stole from them. So at the end of the day they had only made pennies and still had to feed all her children. She often went without, the shoes on her feet, she told us, she had found and were not her size but the ground is too hot to walk on barefoot. Her feet had become disfigured from being squished into them. Another team showed up and Alef had a bag full of soaps that we were able to give to her. I really felt that we should give her a pair of shoes and then Dean offered her flip flops but the women would not take them as she would feel awful and guilty to accept them as she would have nothing to wear to get home. Daniel told us there were many side street people selling flip flops, so Dean stayed with Sophia and the three of us went off on search of size 35 shoes as she allowed us to do this for her. After a short and quick search we found some flip flops that looked not too bad and bought them and headed back. When we arrived back her husband and a friend had shown up (earlier when she spoke of waiting for her husband we gave her a second sandwich and ten she said they were 3 and thankfully God has prepared us to have exactly 3 left for that moment). She happily and gratefully accepted the shoes and put them on. Thats when we saw her feet were disfigured. Sadly, as we were already late in getting back we couldn't stay long and shortly said cho and Que Dios to Bendiga (God Bless You). As we were walking away Daniel shared one last thing that she had spoken. He shared that Bolivians are treated like dirt, like a rat. In South America, Bolivians are looked down upon the most, hated even. She was so amazed to have foreigners speak with her as normally they are shooing her away and the Argentinians treat her awful. The final thing which had such an impact on me and I will never forget was that she shared that she had had a vision/dream just that night about Davids ladder and that God spoke to her that he would send her angels in that day to provide for some of her needs. She never imagined them to be foreigners. Wow, I was so incredibly humbled in that moment and wanted to cry. The emotions that went through me in that moment. I felt so incredibly blessed and so thankful to God for using me in this way. ME and my group. WOW! I could barely speak I was so blown away from hearing this. God is sooo good. You just never know how he is going to use you and then show you how he used you.

Well unfortunately I only have time to share this one story but I hope it blesses you. I have many more from our short time in Argentina that I look forward to sharing as well. We have been blessed to go to a number of orphanages, prisons (big story here), hospitals and various other places. May God bless you all and hopefully its not so long again till I am able to write next.

Porto Velho, Brasil

2010-01-02T16:44:00.002-05:00

Blog was originally written New Years Eve but only able to post today, Jan 2.

Well we have been in Porto Velho at the YWAM base here since Monday, December 28. Right away when we arrived at the airport we were greeted by missionaries here and their warm welcome made me super excited about this place. They were so friendly and organized and they spoke English well. It was about a 15-20 min slow ride to the base which is not in town again but about 20km out. It was also raining hard again, which seems to be the case always on our traveling days which is fine with me and also starts the place off cooler, which is nice. The colour contrast of the red mud puddles from the very red soil to the vibrant greens along the side of the road were beautiful. Driving into the base and around t our house was overwhelming in a positive way. This base is amazing and so large, approximately 40 houses and then schools, medical lab, a library, volleyball court, soccer field and even a pool.
Our house is amazing as well, we are definitely spoiled here. It is so clean. We are all in one large house, split into 5 rooms, along with the boys in their own room of course, and included is a small kitchen and sitting area. Jody and Mike Bunn are the current head leaders as the director of the base is away on vacation. They have 5 children and all are bilingual. They are a lovely family.
The base is shared with Wycliffe Bible Translator Missionaries, actually they were the first inhibitors of this area. They were here for 40 years when they sold it to YWAM 20 years ago. At that time it was much more remote and jungle-like, since then they have built many of their houses and various other buildings themselves, along with financial support. The YWAM base here is very much involved with the various Indigenous tribes here, one of the largest issues they have dealt with outside of bringing Gods good news, is the issue of infanticide. If a child is born to a single mother, are twins or handicapped in any way they are often buried alive and killed. They have worked at helping the tribes to recognize themselves that though the practice is part of their culture, that it is a part that they must and need to remove.
They also hold schools here for the Indians. Before 2007, they would go into the river communities at 3-4 months out of the year, but now they hold classes from February to September, which has made it much easier for the YWAM base here as well as for the Indians that come and so now they only bring groups into the river communities for a couple weeks at a time. Mike also flys a sea plane here, which they have been blessed with and is used for easier access but also for carrying of supplies to various areas as well as helping with growing crops to feed those that come to the schools. This base does many things and I have only just begun to learn a little about what they do.
We have not been actively serving this week as originally we were to be traveling by the ferry for five days but they had felt that at this time it was much too dangerous for us so they found us a cheap flight instead that brought us here a week earlier, thus the base is technically closed due to the holidays. This has been slightly frustrated as we do feel like we have been sitting around more than we ever anticipated but God has still been doing things within our group during this time. As well we also had one more week of lecture phase that was on the topic of justice and so the last two days we have been in class, which has been nice. Next Tuesday we will start serving within their Mission Adventures program, which I am very much looking forward too. In class, we have watched a few movie clips on the injustice in Brasil, the first some of you may know, is entitled City of God (in English), which showed the life of the ghetto and the life of a hood (or gangster) and the death that comes from this way of life. The other clip was entitled, Angels in the Sun which focused on a completely different issue, sex slavery and prostitution in the Amazon.
A little about Porto Velho
Porto Velho is one of the most violent cities in Brasil. It use to not be so organized in crime but it is now a lot like Rio de Janero (one of the largest cities in Brasil). Health care is also a large problem here, this is because the city is growing quite quickly because of new hydro/electricity companies coming here, which brings many people for the jobs but the result is not enough housing, school and medical buildings. Porto Velho was always considered a third world state but is moving into second world as many people are beginning to make money with the growth but the old social issues are still there and new ones have arisen. Security problems are also a huge issues, corruption within the law.
I spoke with one of the YWAM staff here, Genim, about whether or not human trafficking is an issue here, or prostitution in general. He told me there are many brothels in town, and there is a Pastor there with a Church directly across the street from one, and he has over the years been gaining trust with the women there (YWAM Contagem, Tio Pedro/Uncle Peter, Evangelism Guaiurrus-Belo Horizonte-Minas Gerais). Apparently he would love for a team to come and just spend time with the women and share our love and God’s love for them. I don’t know if this will work out but I plan to encourage arranging this as I believe this would be an extremely important time. Genim also spoke of a friend of his, Andreia of Avalanche Missoes Urbanas that works within the prostitution realm as a licensed Sexuality counselor. She also leads seminars on sexuality counseling for those who would like to be taught more proper counseling methods within this issue. Later on in the evening, I spoke more on this topic with Jody. She told me that Porto Velho is actually a main route for Human Trafficking, many girls are brought straight through here. Portuguese girls from Brasil are transported into Bolivia and Spanish girls from Bolivia are transported to Brasil. This is so the girls are not even able to speak the language and are taken away from anything they know or know as safe. They only learned of this in the last while but now they are starting up programs to make others aware and to share how they can help and what they can do.
Jorge Dias
This morning, Thursday, we had the pleasure to hear of the life of Jorge, who is a boy spoken of in the book, “A Cry from the Streets”, a book we had to read for DTS. He was a street child, a hard street child and he explained a little to us the life of such a child.
He started first with a story of a child that was interviewed and asked what he would like to be when he grew up. At first the boy answered a doctor, but then he changed his mind and said a thief. To a childs comprehension it is easier to be a thief than a doctor because to become a doctor you would have so many years of studying ahead of you and you would have to pay for those studies. It is easier to understand the way of the gun then to sit in a class and listen to words they have never heard of before.
Jorge was once a six year old street child. Sometimes people tried to take him off the street but until he himself could understand that he could actually be someone without the street, he was unable to leave it and nearly died. Jorge spoke that God does give street children many opportunities to get off the street but in their mentality the can’t see life outside of it and all that they know of this type of survival. Often when they finally do find the love and compassion, like Jorge did with the Dutch couple of the book, the security is so different and so far removed that it is more uncomfortable than comfortable and safe. The security becomes stifling and so for Jorge he rebelled against it numerous times before he was able to fully turn his life around, within the help and love of those he found.
In the streets, children are told if you don’t have a gun or machine in your hands you are powerless. Power comes in these weapons, but if we tell these children that they can become someone important, you will see change with that encouragement and they often do become someone important. Some children even ask for help but some cannot find it and that is when the devil starts spinning his lies, filling their minds with thoughts that sure they can ask for help but they’ll never find it, no one will help them and hopelessness sets in. However, if these children can find the help and are told they are valuable it is all the difference. We need to be there, we need to be that help in their lives. This doesn’t always mean you personally there in body but it could mean in supporting others and other organizations that are there and encouraging them in their mission.
Galations 6:7-8, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
These were words that were spoken upon Jorge’s heart. He had had a vision as well that God wanted him to go into the Amazon and work with the Indigenous tribes, but again he found himself returning to the streets one more time. This time however, he was in an accident where he lost his finger and ended up in the hospital. A missionary he had met in the past, came and visited with him and spoke with him. He asked Jorge if he thought he would lose his finger and Jorge obviously replied no. Then the missionary asked him where he thought he would be if it had been his life instead of just his finger. That made Jorge think that he did want something more and he went back to the refuge house for street children. In the early 90’s he did his DTS and then in ’92 he came here to Porto Velho to work in the Amazon, fulfilling his vision. Jorge was part of starting what this YWAM base here is about.
While working with the tribes he saw a lot of deaths in result of malaria and initially they didn’t know what to do about it. He and another from the base had the opportunity to study about malaria and to learn how to give help, they then started up a malaria lab here. Now he is a teacher and goes to various places in South America, Africa and India teaching a malaria course so that other places can find healing as well. Jorge spoke about Matthew 25 and encourage us to meditate on it. It talks about the need and desire that God wants us to go and help others, faith without work is dead, we need to work together and serve together, however that might look for each of us.
Well I leave with Happy New Year to you all. May I challenge you to find your ways to serve God and others, if you don’t already, in 2010. May God bless you all.

Christmas Eve Letter to Family - Manaus, Brazil

2009-12-30T16:17:00.002-05:00

Dear Dad and Mom,

Merry Christmas!! I love you so very much! I pray that you had a wonderful Christmas Eve and a blessed Christmas day. I am sending this message through Raquel so I hope you will find it in your junk mail. Since we will be staying on base all day tomorrow there will be no other opportunity to communicate on Christmas day unfortunately.

This evening (Christmas Eve) we will be having a Christmas dinner with the orphanage/shelter that YWAM Manaus owns and runs. We will have a little service with the children and all the staff, both of us offering up songs of worship and then myself and two others will give short little testimonies that relate to thankfulness of things God has done in our lives in the last while. It starts at 8pm so I will have to make sure that I keep an eye on the time for 9pm to arrive. I think I will take along my alarm clock, lol. I can’t remember if we were doing it again in the morning of Christmas day but I will wish you a Merry Christmas again at 9am J

Since we arrived here in Manaus things have gone fairly well. It has definitely been different than our time in Venezuela. I have loved the ministry once again at the orphanage/shelter. We have gone there two days now. It hosts children who are either orphans, street children or children that come from an unstable family that may or may not involve abuse. The children are so beautiful. One little girl reminds me of Lotus when she smiles and laughs (from what I remember of her anyhow). Yesterday we mostly just cleaned the building, which in my opinion is kept immaculate already. The children do not go without here, they care very well here. You can definitely see and feel Gods love in this place. Today along with a few others we got to play games, draw and just have fun with the children. I really enjoyed today and have taken many photos over the last two days. The others did construction work, well more like shoveling dirt around and leveling. I was luck to play with the children instead but that was because I, along with many in the group, have been sick all week L A few had fevers and flu’s. I mainly had severe cold and congestion (to the point of barely being able to breathe while I slept :P) and was fighting the flu. Also many have been experiencing dizziness and lightheadedness. We wonder if some of this, including muscle aches (which I also had) are the side effects now kicking in from the malaria pills.

I am thankful to be feeling much better this evening but was still too weak this morning for manual labour. Actually Faith and I just walked around finding various fruits on the trees and having a yummy fruit feast – which was badly needed! There are orange trees and mango trees and papaya trees and some other thing that I don’t know the name of but is so yummy. Oh and guess what! I now know the reason why Cashews cost so much. You would never guess how they grow!! I took pictures. Only one cashew grows per fruit piece. It is on the top and outside of the fruit. The fruit has a weird taste to it and I am still not sure I like it but eat it anyhow as I know I could use the nutrients. Anyhow google cashew fruit. It’s pretty crazy J

For Christmas day, everything is shut down here so Sarah and Alef and Kadeen left a little while ago by car to buy us groceries so we can cook ourselves Christmas dinner. We will also play some games and watch some movies. Not quite the typical Christmas but should be good! It is MUCH hotter here but it is also way more rainy. Our first day it poured and poured, we were soaked. It also takes forever for laundry to dry.

Oh one last thing. On the Tuesday, they were so kind and Raquel took us into downtown Manaus (as we are quite far out in the boonies here)for a tour around. It is amazingly awesome and beautiful!! Many buildings are influenced by the Neo-classical era. The buildings are so colourful and have so much character. There were many people around but by afternoon there were even more people! It was so crazy, I loved every minute of it. It is just such a beautiful area with so many things to see and so much more that we could have seen but obviously are not able to as we are not tourists. We also had to take city transportation so that took up much time too. OH what an experience there too! Hahaha, on our way home we had to pack all 17 of us plus one of the guys from here onto an already packed bus. IT was really quite awful at first, though we did laugh a lot at first but as we were not feeling well and it was the end of the day a few of us were beginning to be close to fainting, BUT God sent us a small mercy! The bus broke down! HAHA! We had not gotten far because of traffic, which in itself had made things worse as we barely moved so there was no air flow, when all of a sudden we heard a loud scrapping noise and the bus pull over to the side and come to a stop. Everyone groaned. We all piled off the bus and proceeded to wait for awhile for another bus to come along and pick us up. Part way through we somehow managed to find enough energy to perform two of our skits for the waiting locals. It was rather humerous and I think they were slightly amused, it passed the time that’s for sure and it was fun.

Anyhow I better get going now. I was able to write more than I thought as I had first written part of this out so that Raquel could take it with her and type up tomorrow at the office but she just allowed me to use her laptop right now and apparently if the sky clears up we may even get connection that I am able to send this through my own hotmail account. Guess you will see what happened when you get this.

Anyhow I love you both so very much!! We fly out on Monday to Porto Velho where apparently the connection is very good and will only cost just slightly more than $1USD / hr! I can’t wait to connect with you again!!

Merry Christmas Mom and Dad!

Sending all my love, your loving daughter,

Stephanie

Venezuela Continued

2009-12-16T14:53:00.002-05:00

Well since I wrote the last letter to my parents that I copied into my blog much has happened. Though there are often still times we find ourselves waiting in the basement we have also had many chances to get out and to do ministry and it has been awesome.
Right after my last blog we left and finally had a chance to walk around town. Who knew all that was there! We are just on the outskirts of the town and so we couldn´t really tell where we were. We are surrounded on two sides with the ocean and the town behind us on the third side and mountains on the fourth. It is such a beautiful area. I have really grown to love this place in the week we have been here. When we walked back through the town that day, the the town square they were having a festival for Christmas with violinist and children singing. It was so neat to see.
The youth group here is just amazing! Most are either alumni YWAMers or will be soon. They have been so welcoming and just so much fun to be with. It will be hard to say bye. A few times they have joined us in ministry as well and has allowed us to connect with them even more. Our translators Ceasar and Jesus have become so a part of the group. They have been such a blessing to us and God has been doing so much in their lives.

Ministry Opportunities
Visiting the school - we had the opportunity to visit the school again for a second time. It was special as this is their last week so the day we went they were displaying their final projects in each classroom. We really got to see what they are doing and what their focus has been. The teachers have really emphasized taking care of the land and respecting it. They even have a community garden that many of the children are able to grow their own vegetables and take ownership of them. The projects were amazing too, they are so talented! I was blown away by their creativity and use of resources to create things. Afterwards we presented a few of the dramas we have put together (more or less last minute but having done them so often now in the past week, we have perfected them very well and they have been a great success). We started with our chair skit. Josh is the main character who notices a no touch sign on a chair and proceeds to disobey only to find himself stuck to the chair when he needs to leave. Two friends come along to invite him out and he declines, too embarased to reveal his problem. The the third friend comes by and again Josh declines his invitation but then the friend comes back as he knows something is wrong and Josh embarassingly admits his problem. Then the friend (Dervon) tries to help him get unstuck to no avail and then suggests praying, which at first Josh moves away from but when he realizes he cannot get unstuck on his own, comes back and joins his friend in prayer. He then finds himself to become unstuck and they celebrate. Being stuck represents the sin we are stuck in and when we are in denial we may miss out on opportunities. God gave us friends and we shouldn´t be embarrased to share with them so they can help us get out of that sin and as we give it up to God, since he has wiped us clean by the blood of Jesus, we are released from our sins and found in righteousness in him.
The children love that skit, though it kind of helps that Josh is the main character and as mentioned before looks like their favourite cartoon character, Shaggy.
Our second skit is Solomons skit. It is just a fun skit for christian and non-alike, as Jesus put it, a good icebreaker. It is the one we did back in Barbados, where we are all synchronized in nearly smaking eachother but not, as we each perform our character. They absolutely LOVE this skit and the appause afterwards was deafening.

Working with homeless/alcoholics - once a year in December, right before Christmas there is a group that comes out across the street of the Church and bus in a number of homeless and alcoholics to cut their hair, give them a manicure and wash their feet and clean their nails. Afterwards they come into the church to talk and to be fed and given some clothes. A bunch of us worked with them as well standing around to chat with the little spanish that we know. The youth were around as well and a few got their hair cut too. We went up into the Church to chat more and were asked to speak our thoughts of the group that put this on into a video camera, with Ceasar translating. Celina spoke first and then I spoke. I remembered what I had just read in the Bible the previous day in devotions from Matthew 25 34-40, The Sheep and the Goats. About giving strangers drink, food and clothing. That everytime we do this for the leastof these we are doing it for God. I thought that it really applied and wanted to share that. You could really feel the heart in the main leader for these men. He really had a joy in doing this. Later I sat with the men, chatting with them some more. Tommy was with me trying to help with words and help me understand. Tommy is a 12 year old boy who loves God very much and already feels called into mission. For some reason he quickly took to me and always makes sure I am fed (Estefani, Tu es hambre?) Such a sweet boy. Cheo, one of the youth, told me to be careful with the men and to not allow them to kiss my hand or cheek (as is custom here) but that was kind of easier said than done at times. Anyhow I really enjoyed it all and love meeting the many people here.

Church Ministry - on Sunday we went to two churches. The first was a new church plant only 2 years old. We arrived a touch late (nothing new here - we already know if we are told we will be leaving at one hour, it is usually 2 hours after that that we will leave, except the odd time when we are told we have 5 min to get ready as we are going, lol, love it). The Church was in a neighbouring town about 20 min away. We came in and were given the front row to sit. They were in the midst of worship, after a few slower songs they sang a fun, jived salsa song and the Church was a moving! There were so many children in this church which was wonderful to see. Good variety of ages. We introduced ourselves (always starting off in Spanish with our name and where we came from) then we performed the chair skit. The people seemed to like it. Laura gave her testimony. After the Pastor and his wife thanked us and prayed over us and then we had a group picture taken. It was very powerful and even humbling to be told just how much it meant to them for us to come. We were the first international visitors and though it was short we gave them much encouragement than I believe we could ever fully understand. It was beautiful and a little emotional to realize all this. As we left many of the elderly women were at the door to give thanks and blessings and kisses on our cheeks with great big hugs.
We headed straight in the service going on at the Church we were staying at, once again introducing ourselves. Again the first part of the service was mellow and then they changed to lively spanish worship music and the youth went crazy. They all are in the front together and they just start dancing and jumping all around. We even had a congo line going. It was so awesome. There is so much heart here and just the way the church supports them is so powerful.

Hospital Ministry - yesterday we headed to the hospital. We had to walk part way as there was a bus strike and they had closed the centre of the town off so no could get in or out by vehicle. It was a peaceful protest to raise wages, they only receive like $1.50 BS, very cheap (like about 25 cents USD). We split into three groups in the hospital, Ceasars, Jesus and Carla and went to the various rooms to speak with and pray for the people there. The hospital was fairly empty and they spoke that many went home to prepare Hallaca´s (food) for the holidays. It sounded like a joke but Jesus said no. I don´t know it was kind of funny. I went with Jesus, Jordan and Dervon. We spoke with a pregant women (22 years old) who was 7 months along. When we came in she had been crying and was very sad. Her husband had recently left her and she had a one year and 3 month old staying with a neighbour whom she couldn´t see because they couldn´t gett hrough the strike, and she was in the hospital for respitory issues. Dervon stepped up to pray for her. It was very moving. She spoke of wanting to kill herself but something stopping her - God. When we left she was in so much better spirits, this was very powerful to see.

Okay sorry cut short here, have to go. Bye.

We Have Arrived!!

2009-12-11T14:54:00.000-05:00

Hey Dad and Mom,
I made it. Safe and sound with no hitches! Praise the Lord. I am currently in Porto Piritu, Venezuela. Things are good. I´m going to just copy my journal notes so I´ll be quick and you will know what has happened the last 3 days. I love you both very much!! So glad for the prayers, still very much needed.Dec 10 - It is already two days since we left Barbados. I must say it feels like a week so much change of locations in traveling has happened. We left at 7 30 am and headed to Trinidad where we were picked up by YWAM staff )Janell and Kyle= and brought back to their base )that is off in the boonies) for the day since our flight to Venezuela didn´t leae till 5 30 pm. On our way to the base we stopped for doubles at the best side road vendor (they are like Indian type food, chickpea on like a deep fried nani bread). We mostly relaxed at the base. I was amazed at how awake I had been feeling as I had only had 3 hours sleep the night before, going to bed at 1 30 am and waking up again at 4 30am. After about an hour at the base and chatting and playing with Melo´s pet snakes and a crocodile (mini), we crashed. Later we dtried to play some games and near the end Nicole Susanna and I along with they YWAMers on base there went to check out their obstacle course they made in the bus. Their YWAM is youth focused so they have this course for them to come for a week and learn about God and to work as a team to get through the course. Very cool. That walk helped wake me up again. We left again back to the airport and headed for Caracas. Once there we met with our two guides Ceasar and Jesus (imagine that lol), who took us to the YWAM base there. Unfortunately, it was night so we couldnt see much but we could tell there were large mountains from the thousands of lights from houses and streets that crowded them. The mountains were full of houses. Some looked like snow from all the white lights. The YWAM quarters were very tight but the bed was once again great and I slept so well (there were 7 of us in one tiny room, sleeping on bunks. The next day (Dec 9) we mstly just hung around waiting as we were wiating for the other group to show up that flew in at 8 30 am in the morning. Dean needed to go with the group to the immigration office to do the visa stuff,so they waited for her. Also we waited so that the others could get money exchanged too as we were told we were not to use US here as it would make us stand out, so there was no point going out anyhow as we had not money till later. It did make for a long morning and day but was also somewaht relaxing. At around noon we headed out with Jesus, walking around the long way to the grocery store to get food so that we could see a bit of the city. It was nice, extremely busy!! Cars and people and buildings everywhere.We left for the bus terminal much later than originally planned but thats what happens. The only unfortunancy is it was again dark out when we left after 6pm so we couldn´t see much again. We took a subway to the bus that took us to the bus terminal. We had a four hour drive to porto Piritu. Again we seperated to two different cities, 30 min apart (the other group went to Barcelona, a city, we are in a town). With me is Josh, Susanna, Jessica, Faith, Laura, Dervon and Celina. The bus ride was soooooo COLD! Thankfully I had on pants and my bike teshirt-tanktop which thankfully at lastl min had brought a long and my sweater. I had also thankfully taken in my pillow bag which also included my sheet which JEss and I proceeded to snuggle ourselves in. For awhile I even had it over my head as I was getting and had such a bad sinus cold from the AC from our first bus ride from airport to base. Dervon used my pillow case over his head and Ceasar used my pillow. Who knew we could find ourselves majority of the time cold here in S. America when we were constantly warned of the heat. Too funny. I was frustrated unfortunatly when we arrived as the bus threw us out so fast I lost my blue travel pillow case. It had somehow disappeared and I could not find it. Plus someone had spilt something all over the floor and my back pack was soaked. A little frustrating especially since I was so tired at this point. Our bus had left at 8pm and we arrived at midnight.Those that picked us up were so welcoming. We packed like 15 people and all our basg in a amsall van and drove off to the church )Communidad Christiana Discipular Maranath). We are in the basement, separated into 3 parts. Boys side, girls side and table sitting area and small kitchen. Our mattresses are all aligned together in a row. The AC was so cold again so we asked to have it turned down and it was much better. We went straight to sleep at 1 am ish as we were told we would be doing ministry already in the morning. Breakfest at 7 am and leave for the school where we would be speaking personal stories of values to the teens at 8 am. In the first class, Celina spoke first about her relationship with her sister and the value of understanding, followed by Josh and Larua. Caesar translated and Carla wrapped up. We then moved to another class where I spoke first about communication, hurt, trust and forgiveness in a friendship followed by Dervon on obedience. The children received us very well and listened intently. Afterwards they and us had a break and during we had the opportunity to sepak more with them. trying to communicate in broken spanish. The children exclaimed Josh looked like shaggy from scooby'doo who apparently is a cartoon favourtie for many. We headed back to base after, had a time of napping. When I awoke Jesus appeared (he had gone with the other group to Barcelona but took a bus to us in the morning). WE chatted for quite awhile. I really enjoy talking with him as it is fairly easy to communicate as he know more english. Randomly he began telling me stories of financial depenedancy on God. My ears perked up. I listened intently. He told me many stories of hi DTS leading expereience to CHina last year as we of how many times he found himself flighting to far away countries and having no money to his name only Gods provision . He spoke of God telling him to go to ARgentina for many in S. America that is the snobby country and that is how he felt but now he loves the people because he chose to follow God and god showed him how to love these people. Later at 2 30pm we had a meeting DTS and debriefing. Near the first end Faith felt that we needed to pair up as well did iSusanna and speak out any sins or things burdening us. I paried with Susanna and Josh During Faith was filed with the Holy spirit and started to be able to only speak in tongues. She was going hysterical in Joy running all over trying to hide a bit and trying to stop but it wouldn´t. Then Jess started up. It was intense for quite awhile. During Celina had the verses 2 Tim 1 6-8 and Josh had Habbikuk 1 2-5. In the evening many YWAMers (alumni came and spent time with us again. Going over spanish and chatting. They even began teaching us some of their local sala style dance. Fun Dec 11This morning has been a bit harder as I am having a lot of allergy problems from the AC and being closed up in the basement. We are mostly closed up in the church where no air gets in and we are not to leave on our own or even in a group. only with one of the local ywamers. It is very frustrating at times and I am beginning to feel a little claustrophobic. Thankfully we can go up on the porch of the church, all behind a locked gate. I am thankful that right now we were finally able to leave for awhile and walk a short distance into town to the internet cafe just to see something diff. There had been sooo much more waiting around then we thought. Thankful for the ministry the first day. The food is spread out and we are usually super hungry by the time we get to eat but what we have been eating (3 square meals) has been amazing. Breakfast and lunch or so good. Lunch seems to be made by a different church person each day so it is often not on time. Today was amazing. Beef with sauce and rice, vegetables, bread coleslaw! We have already learned though to not eat it all and save some as at dinner we seem to only get cereal or something else small. Anyhow thats about it for now mom and dad, my time is almost up already. I bought an hour but was going to try and give up the last 30 min to someone else but i now only have 17 min. At least this fills you in a bit. Feel free to print this up and post, just correct a few of my spelling mistakes, keyboard is lsightly diff and i was trying to type super fast. Please pray that we will be patient and that we can handle being couped up at times. Also pray as we are doing alot more dramas and evangelising than anticipated. celina is a little frustrated herslef as leader as they continually communicated that we were justice focused and would not be going much drama or evanglising in the way they are hoping for, oh well what can you do. Right now i am still excited. We will be going to work with some alchoholics as well as in the hospital during our time here! Okay well love you both so very much. HOpe all is well.Maybe talk to you again while I am here so write back!LoveSteph

Visa Mahem

2009-12-05T14:15:00.002-05:00

This past week God really showed his faithfulness to me when I gave up all expectations and just had complete trust in him. Trust in knowing that God is a big God who can do anything. He blessed me with another personal promise and moment so that I could share it with you.

In order to be able to enter Brazil, as a Canadian I need to have a Visa. In order to obtain a visa within Barbados, I needed my full student visa here and letter which still has not been approved. The students that had managed to get all their information in back in August found them receiving the visa very quickly, which was a miracle in itself as the gov't here changed in the last couple of years and it has become much harder to obtain. That changed for the second batch that got sent in back in September, which included mine and 2 other Canadians and 2 other Americans.

As this was the case, we were then told we would have to Fed-Ex our passports back to our parents in Canada, who would then send them to the Consulate of Brazil there and then once processed back to our parents and then Fed-Ex'd back to us. Not only was this a headache but rather costly as well. Thankfully Gods provision was already with us as we were able to send our stuff back to Canada along with our speaker Dave 2 weeks ago, so that cut down on one side of the cost.

So we had exactly 2 weeks and a day for everything to be processed before we headed out to South America. Come last Wednesday, I thankfully found an email in my junk mail from the Consulate stating that they did not accept self-addressed Fed-Ex envelopes, only Purolator or Courier and that they had put the process on hold till they received the proper self-addressed envelope. YIKES!! So quickly I got on skype, got a hold of mom and had her quickly mail out a Purolator envelope within a Purolator envelope. I immediately emailed the Consulate back stating this process.

So a week goes by and once in a while I think about things but on the whole not worried because I knew that God would allow everything to work but I knew that it would all be last minute. I had heard many stories of similar events and knew that I was going to have my own personal story.

Unfortunately, my poor mother got caught in a bit of the crossfire as she was on the waiting end of receiving everything back to immediately send it out to get to me on time. Mom trusted in God as well...but her body seemed to disagree ever so slightly when it came to trying to sleep which didn't seem to want to happen for a few nights in a row. Then on Wednesday morning of this week (Dec 2), she opened the mailbox to find a large envelope addressed to me and jumped up and down...to only realize it was not my passport but rather something else, which she immediately exclaimed, "I still trust, I still trust in you God". When she told me this story that evening I could just picture her and had a huge smile on my face. I love my mom so much. I was sad to hear though, that this process had added some stress into her life and spoke words of encouragement and to not worry as I wasn't. There is no point to worrying until 2 minutes after I absolutely need to have it because God will provide it exactly 2 minutes before I do and not any sooner :)

That evening though Celina (my leader) advised that I should email the Consulate again to see where the process was as I needed them to send my passport back by the end of Thursday in order for it to arrive by Monday, the day before I would leave to Venezuela. I hadn't been thinking. I was thinking Friday was the day I had to start taking action and was thinking oh, if it doesn't arrive on time, mom could just send it to where I'd be staying there....kind of forgetting that I needed my passport to travel to Venezuela and if it didn't arrive, I wouldn't be going anywhere.

So I wrote up an email kindly asking them to rush the process, which would be a very big rush as I had originally thought it was suppose to only take 5 business days to process but just checked then on their site and discovered it was actually 10 business days and since the earlier mayhem of the wrong envelope at that point it had only been 5 days! and I was pretty much asking them to be done by the next day, day 6. The Consulate is only open from 9am - 1pm and so during class break Thursday morning, I ran up to the office to see if there were any emails and since there was not, Celina and I spent the next 40 minutes trying to call the Consulate but NOBODY would pick up the phone!! Honestly, that was rather annoying...but I should mention, all during this time I never lost faith. I had such a sense of peace about it....but that doesn't meant the process wasn't still rather annoying at times. So since I had already missed about 30 min of class, I headed back as Celina would continue to try and grab me when need be. I don't think I was in class more than a minute or two when I saw her walking down, so I quickly excused myself again and went to see what was up.

Celina exclaimed..."YOU GOT YOUR VISA!!" We jumped up and down and exclaimed with glee and then I asked how she found that out. Apparently, I had accidentally left my hotmail account open on her computer and when she went to the inbox to just check there was an email stating in response to the one I had sent that night before, that they had processed the Visa through and would I like them to mail it or would someone pick it up.

Well, initially we were going to have them mail it back to my parents and then back to here but discovered that that process was actually 3 days, not 2! So it would be too late. God then provided again for my needs when I didn't even realize what I needed. Samuel (director) was in the office and made the suggestion of contacting our YWAM connections in Toronto, who just so happened to be the wonderful dutch Sue (who is also Rodneys friend and someone I plan on chatting a fair bit with when I get back home - but that's another blog). Poor Sue (but the amazingly wonderful Sue), was in the process of studying for her last final big exam that very evening. We had to make sure that the Consulate would for sure release my passport to her when she came and so quickly wrote up a letter, signed it, included my drivers ID and emailed it back off to her. So she kindly put her studying on hold (with the promise that we would intercede in prayer for her and her exam) and headed on over to the Consulate. They gave her NO trouble at all!! She grabbed it, headed over to FedEx and had it sent off that very afternoon! This litterly all happened within 2 hours!

The best part....it ARRIVED HERE YESTERDAY!! YEAHHH :)

I just love it. I love that God gave me this mahem to show me once again his amazing grace in ALL things - big and small. He loves us so and everything about us is important to him. He uses our struggles to teach us and remind us to continually trust in him. Somethings he reveals to us very quickly and some things take a touch longer (like even a few years) but God is always there watching over us.

Trust and Obey

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.

Refrain

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.

Refrain

But we never can prove the delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.

Refrain

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet.
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way.
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.

AMEN!

Thanks to all those who kept me in your prayers during this time. I greatly appreciated them!!

Long Bajan Weekend!

2009-12-01T17:28:00.004-05:00

Well in exactly a week I will be in Venezuela! Hard to believe that the time is so near. Like many I am getting excited for the next step to begin but as we were reminded today we still have this last week of lecture phase here in Barbados to go through (we have one more while on outreach) so we do need to keep somewhat focused :).

We just came off a lovely long weekend. Our first! It was Barbados Independence Day (43 years) yesterday, so we had no classes. It was actually quite the nice relaxing, fun filled weekend that I think we were really in need of. Saturday morning Solomon began fulfilling some of his promised to us by taking us to Oistins to swim with the Turtles there...well two turtles to be exact :) Three at the end. It was pretty neat and I was glad I had brought my swimming goggles along from back home for this. Though I have to say, I could have done without getting smacked on the head from the raw fish meat we picked up at the fish market to attract the turtles. Definitely didn't want to accidentally take a gulp of the water around us, let alone for the salt all the fish guts, lol. Afterwards we headed into town to pick up ingredients as we were having a potluck on Independence Day that we were all making a dish from our own Country.

In the evening, Solomon fulfilled his other promise by taking us camping on the beach, starting off with a hike there. Well, let me say....that was an interesting evening that was a good introduction into living circumstances in South America, haha. At about 9 pm, we headed out from the base and ventured out in the dark with some food, clothes and sleeping bags. Solomon, our fearless leader, led us though the bush on some trails for about an hour and a half as we hiked our way to the beach. When we finally got there we were welcomed with the stench of dead fish and as we looked around to find the source we discovered a dead dolphin decaying on the beach, which is odd because you don't find dolphins around Barbados. We left it there and moved a bit farther down so that the smell was less strong. We set up a fire as we cleared the seaweed to make a nice clear patch of sand to lay our sleeping bags down on. Some went to the jetty to try and catch fish, but they had no luck. We spent hours talking, roasting hot dogs, marshmallows (s'mores :) ), hamburgers, sweet potato and bread over the fire. I have to admit, I was one of the last girls to go to sleep. I wanted to make sure I was good and tired before I laid down so I wouldn't spend any time trying to keep the sandfleas away from me. I wrapped myself up like a cacoon in my blanket and dropped down to the ground. Earlier when I had laid my blanket down to just set out a spot, it was instantly covered in sand fleas :P I grabbed it back and shook it out and decided to keep it packed till I was ready to sleep.
Some people didn't sleep all night but I did manage to get a few hours of sleep. I woke up when I thought I felt Sarah poking my back. I turned around to see what was going on and realized she wasn't that close to me and she was obviously still sleeping. I turned back over on my side and felt it again. I put my glasses back on and pulled myself up and that's when I realized I was laying on two crab holes! Yep, I was awake now! I joined a couple others by the fire for about an hour or so and then all of a sudden we had an official waking up at 5:30 as the skies opened and it poured! We ran up to an abandoned summer house, that Ekkehart had discovered was vacant during the night, and climbed up to the porch where we hid out till the rain stopped. After that we headed back home, to the base, to crash in our waiting bunk beds for majority of Sunday.

Monday was an exceptionally exciting day for me as it finally worked out to get together with Malcom and his family. I spoke of Malcom in one of my first blogs. I met him on the plane coming to Barbados and we just clicked and hoped to get together while I was here. We assumed it would be within the first week or two, but finally entering week #10, it worked! Isn't that the way it goes. Bekah and Claudia came along with me and we drove to Accra Beach to spend part of the day. It was nice to finally be able to meet Malcoms wife and two beautiful daughters. He was very interested to hear about what we had been up to with YWAM and looks forward to hearing about our outreach when we come back. Unfortunately, it didn't end up working out for them to come and join us in the potluck but I'm still so glad it worked out for us to connect before I headed out on outreach.
We got home with about an hour to spare and I quickly finished getting my dish prepared. I made sweet potato fries with spicy mayo! It was sooo good and I was so happy as it was my first time making them and there potatoes are a little different then the ones back home and I couldn't find all the right spices. When we first arrived we discovered that Yams and Sweet Potatoes are in abundance here, so I made mention they must have some really good S.P. Fries here and they looked at me weird. I couldn't believe they had never tried them, so I was determined to make them for the potluck. They were a great hit!
It was such a great evening with so much amazing food from many cultures. Some very interesting food as well :) Rodney got his mom to make his dish which is an old traditional Bajan dish - Saous. Basically its Pork snout, ears and feet, mmmm, right? :P lol.
We all filled up on the many dishes and desserts and paid for it right after, with eyes bigger than our stomachs. We played a few fun games, danced a little and then cleaned up. Good times :) Great weekend!

A Camel and a Needle (personal)

2009-11-22T12:37:00.006-05:00

Well, the countdown is on. Only 2 weeks left till we leave for outreach! Can't believe how time has gone by so fast. As we prepare for outreach and for travel arrangements and other items we also find ourselves once again dealing with finances.

Oh finances - the word that everyone hates to talk about. Though funny enough, I've been finding it such a constant thing that God is having me deal with and work through. It has been good for me but it has also been a struggle at times as well. Actually a struggle is an underestimate, I've been pretty frustrated I'll say, but God has been really trying to reach me in a new way. He is trying to teach me complete dependence on Him. To show me that when I give these things up to him and when I give generously, how I can see him and have a relationship with him on a whole new level. To have complete dependence on him over finances I can see him work miracles, personal miracles in my life.

I wish I could tell you the many amazing stories those who have been with YWAM or rather those who've been in the mission field for awhile have and the way God has provided for them over and over again financially. Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying you need to be a missionary to experience these things, no no, but I think coming from the western culture, many of us don't fully know what it is to have nothing and depend completely on God to provide. One staff asked God to let him learn dependence on him in this way and found his bank account somehow dwindle down to nothing over a short matter of time BUT over the next 6 years of litterly having no money to his name, he was blessed to be able to traveled more than half of the world doing God's work. That's just the tip of all the stories that I have heard here.

So anyhow, where is this coming from? Well, I've really been learning that not every organization works in the way that CRWRC works (in their organization and planning ahead ways) or they way that I like or am more comfortable with and that's okay, it just means more lessons of flexibility. Before I left to come, I had been fundraising for the outreach section of my trip and had been hoping to raise $3000 CDN, unfortunately I didn't quite hit that amount and that's okay. I was still blown away by the generosity and compassion of family and friends, many who really had little to their names. Originally, outreach was budgeted at $2500 USD but now that has raised a fair bit.

I am currently hoping to raise another $1500CDN to cover the added costs.

I ask kindly if you could please pray about whether or not you may feel called to help me out. If you don't, that is completely okay. We are not always called by God to give in every situation. I thank you, either way for your prayers and for supporting me in other ways. I've really appreciated hearing from my mom of those back home who have been keeping up with me on my blog. Thank you.

I thought I would attach the proposed itinerary (that is most certainly going to still have changes but as close to the final as we possibly will have) for our outreach, so you have an idea of where we will be over the next few months as chances are, I will not be able to update my blog often (or at all, though hopefully that's not the case).

December 8th
We will be leaving in two groups, the first group will fly directly from Barbados to Caracas, Venezuela, the second group will have a night stay over in Trinidad and will be sleeping over at the YWAM base there and leaving the following day for Caracas. We will split into 2 groups for accommodations (2 weeks) as well and we will not be staying right in Caracas. Some ministry will be done together and some separate.

December 19th - 27th
We will be traveling 2 to 3 days by bus (all depends on the condition of the bus) to Manuas, Brazil with a short stay at the border, then off to the YWAM base. Here is where we will be celebrating Christmas. There is an orphanage on base here as well.

December 27th
We will be traveling 5 days by ferry to Porto Velo, Brazil and spend 3 weeks here. This includes a week long stay with the Indigenous tribe deep in the Amazon (no electricity, possibly be in water up to our thighs, where there are crocodiles, piranhas, feces, etc., fun times! :O ).

January 20th
Flying down to Buenas Aires, Argentina (because it is much to dangerous for us to drive down to Bolivia), (this is the one place not overly confirmed, we are having a hard time getting concrete answers from them).

Beginning of February to February 12th
We will again be taking a bus for 2 to 4 days to Santa Cruz, Bolivia (sleeping on the bus), spending 10-12 days in Santa Cruz.

February 12
Flying back to Caracas, Venezuela then to Barbados.

I don't know what we will be doing in each place as it is up to the base leaders once we arrive but a few items include: working in orphanages, working in schools for impoverished children, working in a clinic for the poor, working with street children, as well as working with the indigenous tribe.

Again I thank you for your support and prayers. I am so excited to see what all God has planned for us and to see how we might be used.

God's blessings!

p.s. all moneys can be given or sent to my parents. Thank you.

Worship. Praise. Thanksgiving.

2009-11-17T19:53:00.008-05:00

Last week (week 7) was an amazing week that led into an even more amazing weekend. Oh man, I get goosebumps, I'm so excited to tell you what's been going on.

Last week our speaker Tina Mollers spoke to us about Worship...yeah maybe you are thinking, I know about Worship, I do it every Sunday or when things are going good. Well, we went a little deeper into the Covenant and Intimacy in Christ. What's that you say? When we really open our eyes we really see how God shares himself in very PERSONAL ways with us. I have a number of personal stories that I can't wait to share with you that has happened this past week but first I want to talk about Worship, Praise and Thanksgiving. Have you ever stopped to consider that each of these three ways have specific focuses? I'm not sure I have. So, what do they focus on?

Thanksgiving = focuses on what God has done
Praise = focuses on what God is like
Worship = focuses on who God is

What does Worship mean to you? Have there been times where you have felt like you have come to Church and received nothing out of it? Have there been times where you have blamed the Praise team for not leading you well enough, so that you were more moved to worship and by that you GOT SOMETHING OUT OF IT? I know that I have had those moments, I think all of us have, but really, ourselves are the only ones to blame in whether or not we have strong, meaningful worship.

"But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.
He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."
Jeremiah 17:7-8

It's about being truly ROOTED in God. If we are completely rooted in God we will always have an amazing time of worship.Our fruit will never wither in droughts, even in times of hardships we will find ways of worship.

How you might ask?Ask questions! Think personally. Apply personally. Don't just SAY the words but look into them deeper. As you might repeat something like, "Hallelujah, Praise the Lord" what does that actually mean to you? Why are you saying Hallelujah? What are you praising God for? Remember Praise focuses on what God is like. So how does God's being effect you, that makes you want to respond in complete gratitude and thankfulness? Rather than thinking, "I can't believe this is the 10th time we are saying this line" think of 20 different characteristics of God and how each one has personally touched your life, so that each time you shout out "Hallelujah, Praise the Lord" it becomes more and more personal. Worship becomes deeper because it becomes a personal response to who God is!

As we truly recognize what God has done for us, our form of worship becomes so real and overwhelming because we are just overwhelmed in gratitude (got a story for this one too :) ).

Tina challenged us as well in our worship to have Biblical worship, to change our idea of worship and what it currently means to us. To erase judgment of how ourselves and others worship, to be outrageously crazy in worship and to create new, meaningful ways of personal worship. She encouraged us to draw these things out in creative means.

At the beginning of the week she challenged us to write, as a team, our own song of Thanksgiving. We came together and amazingly put together a beautiful, heartfelt song in only two days!! Unfortunately, I am not sure how I can share the tune of the song but possibly when I am back home I will sing it for you :)

I AM THANKFUL

Chorus:
Oh, I am thankful
I’m full of wonder
I am inspired
By all that you have done and you’re yet to do --- God

You bring me to freedom, with your truth and your life
The sun rises across the horizon, it’s a limitless life
I see your face in the stars
I hear your voice in the sea
I feel your peace and your strength
You’re setting me free

Chorus

Your loves always churning, like the biggest of waves
Your heart overwhelms me, I stand amazed
Nothing can ever contain
This mad passion I have for you
You’re giving me reasons to dance
I’m being renewed

Chorus

Beautiful, eh! And straight from the heart with thanksgiving!

Okay now for some of the other personal stories of the week.

Friday morning, for our last class we went into Bridgetown. Earlier in the week we had been given blocks of wood to paint which we took with us this morning. Tina again encouraged and challenged us to go out in groups of twos and threes and look for places/people that a) you could strongly feel the Spirits presence and/or b) where you could strongly feel the absence of the Spirit.

I headed out with Claudia and our leader Sarah. Sarah had a strong feeling to go to the Immigration building. She had often wanted to pray over the building. She had many stories to share of frustrations, rudeness, complications, etc. Over the last couple of years there has been a few staff here abruptly sent home after having their visas denied. She talked about too the hardships that the refugees from Guyana face when they try to enter. The immigration office gives them a very hard time and then if they are one of the lucky ones to be able to stay they face racism from the people here...including those from the Church.

Anyhow, so we felt that God was calling us to walk around the building 7 times, like in the story of the wall of Jericho. Each time stopping at the beginning to pray about what we should pray about next. The fun, extra part that God placed there, were the men outside the building. Apparently the back parking lot is used for car washing by some Bajans as a way to make money. After the second time seeing us pass them by they started to laugh, "Are you ladies lost? Need a tour guide?" We laughed with them and said no we were fine. Then they started to count how many times they were seeing us walk by. Each time we explained a little more what we were doing. During our last time we prayed for these men and we felt led to give our art block to one of the men. My block was of a sunrise with a heart in the middle.

On the back I had written, this block has been specifically made special for you. I explained (after he asked) that the heart represented the love we had for him but more so the love that Christ had for him. Claudia said she saw something in his eyes when I spoke these words. I don't know what he may have done with the block afterwards, but that is where we trust in God to work through the various seeds that are planted. At the end of this we all met back up in the main square and sang songs of worship. It was so moving. Various people stopped to see what was going on, some even pulling out cameras and video cameras!

Sunday morning, we headed to a Wesliyan Church to once again lead worship. Once again it appeared as though the church had an "institutionalized feeling" and over structured feeling. Bekah and Jess joked about divine movement and how they should breakout in crazy worship like Tina talked about. Well when Beverly (YWAM Staff, her church) led us in opening prayer she spoke the exact words that Bekah and Jess had spoken and it felt as confirmation. Oh yeah and also a bunch of the Logos people came to the same Church, which was neat. So anyhow the worship started (which a number of our YWAMers took part in musically) and the Spirit moved. There was dancing and jumping and a number of the members got involved. It was amazing to see.

But it didn't just stop there for us. The next night, Monday, a bunch of us went to the final Monday night worship on the Logos ship as they were setting sail for St. Lucia that very night at midnight. Okay, wait back up just slightly...early that day I had a very much needed conversation with one of the staff leaders. The last couple of weeks I've been struggling in various ways, not always knowing or understanding what the struggle was. Feeling like I had forgotten understandings that God had allow me to receive. Things seemed so jumbled in my head and I felt like I was constantly spinning, having a harder time fully grasping things. I needed a break I felt like - just some normalcy for a while. During the conversation, I began to remember truths that God had put on my heart and I began to feel some peace. I really needed to get some of that out because I felt like it had been blocking me from fully worshiping (because my mind wouldn't stop running all the time - oh this reminds me of the saying, 'Sometimes you need to stop talking to yourself and start LISTENING' :) )

Okay now bounce back ahead. So our wonderful friend Andrew from Sri Lanka, who we had had the pleasure of getting to know (crazy man on fire for God - he was awesome), led the evenings worship. The band played numerous Hillsong songs (along with others) and it was awesome. Our group was up at the front to the right and the Spirit was moving. Dean, Bekah, Jessica and I were right up front and oh man I wish you could have been there. I felt so incredibly free in worship. I am so thankful for these beautiful women who let it all out in their worship, who encourage me to be more like them (who are 10 years younger than I). I just felt like I was just able to give my complete all in Worship and really really mean it. It wasn't for show, it was just between God and I. During a slower song, as I swayed back and forth moving my arms like in a waltz/ballet movement, with my eyes closed I could picture God holding my hands and dancing with me, swinging me around like the little girl that he loves so much. I had the biggest smile on my face, I just felt completely overwhelmed in JOY. It was definitely the most moving and personal worship experience I have ever had. So much so that at the end of it all, Bekah started to talk to me about something and I couldn't stop laughing. So much JOY had built up inside of me and the JOY was pouring out in laughter. I told Bekah I'm not laughing at you, I just can't stop. Bekah was like, You've been speared by the Holy Spirit!! Jess came over to see what was going on and they started chanting out things, Release the Spirit, pour out the Spirit. In the midst of it, I slowly collapsed to the ground with them hovering over me throwing their hands all over me - Kadeen joining in and smearing my glasses all up. All the while I am completely unable to stop laughing. It was amazing. I really felt annointed by the Holy Spirit in that time. I really encourage you to have a moment like that! Wow, does it ever knock the socks off of you. I felt like I was vibrating for a few hours afterwards. I felt so alive.

After the worship, Andrew prayed an amazing prayer over us, praying for fire to reign down on us. It was so moving. Then we bumped into Jane back down on Deck 4 and she told us of a vision she had had earlier of us. She saw us all and then we turned into all these beautiful but extremely unique of eachother, gold crowns. She saw that we were annointed as righteousness in God. She saw that as we recognized eachothers beautiful differences (as we all had strong different characteristics) how as they came together they rose into the most beautiful crown of unity. That when we went out on outreach, God was going to do amazing things, using us. This was so much more encouraging then you could ever know. Everyone here is so beautiful, but there has been something not quite right. A sort of separation in the group, selfishness replacing selflessness. Though we are kind and loving to eachother, you could just sense it. However, after these last few days I believe that God has brought us together in a new way and we have taken one huge step forward on the way to this beautiful unity in the group. I am so excited for this group now. I really believe in this group and really believe that God is going to work us into the mission he has already started in South America in ways that are going to be amazing. Though, don't get me wrong, it's not going to be perfectly easy from this point. I am sure we will continue to have to strive to keep this unity, that there may be times we take a step back but I think we have come to a new place and I am so excited!

Okay, one last pesonal story. Last week Wednesday morning, I got up early again and went out for a walk with God in the sugar cane fields and then down to the road and back. As I was walking back, I was coming upon these short cement walls (like a bridge) on either side of the road. I felt that God was telling me to take a moment and to sit down on it. So I did. After about 5 minutes or so I then felt that I was to get up and continue on. As I got up, my head was still faceing down and I was noticing the puddles on the ground from the rains (as it had been drizzling at times during my walk too). All of a sudden I noticed a rainbow in the puddle and thought, oh thats so pretty...but then I noticed it in the next puddle and thought how peculiar. THEN I had this feeling to look up and there before me were two BEAUTIFUL rainbows! WOW! I really believe that God had me take a moment to sit, to be still as he prepared and designed these promises for me. God was sending me reminders of his Covenant and promises to me. I was so moved singing songs of worship (I had my iPod on). A man was walking from the opposite way and I stopped him to see if he had noticed the rainbows, he had not and there we stood for the next few moments talking about how great God is and his love for us. I am so thankful that I opened my eyes to that PERSONAL moment that God gave specifically to me.

So I encourage you - OPEN YOUR EYES! God is constantly sending you PERSONAL messages of love that are specific to your needs. God is GOOD ALL the TIME! All the TIME God is GOOD!!

Blessings!

A Time of Many Things

2009-11-04T17:11:00.004-05:00

Well, you may have noticed that it has been quite some time since my last blog entry. Sorry about that. There has been sooooo much happening in the last couple of weeks - some bad, some good and some amazing. Last week we found ourselves in a very stressful time that really seemed to effect every YWAMer here, myself included. It was especially frustrating coming off of such a spiritual high week having learned about the Nature and Character of God and Jesus' Ministry with our speaker Olu (who is definitely a gift that God allowed me to share in). I still plan on righting a blog about that week and about the Trinity so keep an eye out for that, but right now I think just so that I make sure an entry is made I'll just talk more lighthearted right now about some every day life stuff that's been going on.

I don't know if you have heard of OM (which stands for Operation Mobilization) or of the Logos Ships? I hadn't heard of them till a few weeks ago, I do know about Mercy Ships but not OM. They came into port here last Wednesday and as OM and YWAM have past history we had the opportunity to volunteer on the ship over the weekend. There is a team that comes ahead to put out word about the ship, gather up volunteers, get people excited and to pray over the ministry. Last Wednesday night we went to the ship for orientation. First we got a tour of this amazing ship. It is only 2 years old and is beautiful. They have done sooo much work to it. I don't know what the old Logos ships look like but apparently this one is a huge improvement (and comes with air conditioning even). The ship carries the largest moving book fair, there are soooo many books at really cheap prices for the locals to come and purchase. It's amazing! I'll try and upload a picture later. We had our pictures taken for our access volunteer cards and then a time of learning about the ship and what we will be doing for them.

There are 400 crew from ALL around the world! It was fun connecting with new people who were from your own country as well as meeting people from countries where I had yet too. Andrew, for example, comes from Sri Lanka - he is such a riot, it was so fun connecting with him and hearing about his life and his time on the ship. He is almost done and will be heading home in the early new year. Most crew come and stay on the ship for 2 years but there are shorter commitments as well.

On the Friday we had our first opportunity at volunteering; half of us went down into the book hole where they priced books and the other half stayed on Deck 4 which was open to the public. This was where I was. There were various positions in which we rotated through every 45min-1hr. White house where you sold tickets ($2 bajan), entrance where you welcomed and received the tickets, Icafe - where we had the opportunity to just connect with the locals and hear stories and witness as well, Kids Centre and exit.

I really enjoyed this time of connecting with the locals and meeting new people. God blessed me during my time volunteering in the Icafe as I first was able to join the ending of a conversation with Sarah (leader) and a local women. They had been talking a lot about God and witnessing and not having the right words and such and I was so thankful that I was able to share a few things that I had just discovered about myself with this women that I believe really helped her to not beat herself up. I'm talking about the "detailed person" and the "context person". I discovered during my time with Olu that I am the later, which may seem kind of weird because if you know me I am very detailed...when it comes to Art and Design. I struggle with having a hard time remembering where things are in the Bible or specific facts or specifics about a story but I am good at understanding the overall context of what is being spoken. I may not be able to tell you where it is specifically but I may be able to share other things and I can be honest that I don't know where it is but this is how I interpreted this but I encourage you to check it out for yourself as well... This is what I mean by beating yourself up. I think that often we put so much on knowing exacts that those of us who have trouble feel like we are inadequate and that is why we feel like we are not able to share or witness or how could God possibly use me. I can't just spill off verses like that person, I can't be a teacher, I can't be a missionary... but God doesn't call us all to be like that. We each learn differently and in that we can share his love and gospel differently.

Anyhow afterwords, I roamed around looking to see if anyone was sitting on their own, stopping to speak a hi, how are you doing, are you enjoying yourself. I then noticed a gentleman (Stephen) sitting alone, who earlier, I had seen come in with his family while working at the entrance. I stopped to just say hi and ask where is your family (his daughter was playing in the Kids centre and his wife was with her). I then sat down to chat and before I knew it we were in this amazingly spiritual conversation. Here I was thinking that I may have an opportunity to share about my faith but God had more planned in that moment. My shift was only suppose to be for 45 min...well 1 hour and 45 min later, lol, we finally said goodbye. Thankfully the shift supervisor had noticed how intense our conversation was and was able to fill my next spot with another volunteer. I can't tell you everything that we talked about but I had a lot of confirmation on items that God has been speaking upon me. He told me so many stories of miracles that happened in his life when he gave his life over to Christ. When he gave up his rights for things. He had been married once but as he stated he chose his wife for himself (out of selfishness) before he knew the Lord, it didn't not end well at all. He came into a terrible time in his life, which nearly drew him to taking his own life but then God intervened and he came to know the Lord. He laid down his right to be married and entrusted God that if and when he might meet another women it would be by God's direction and God's choosing - as he can choose the best spouse for you, better than you can yourself. This is one thing that has really been more on my mind then I ever anticipated it being while here but the last book we read was called, "Making Jesus Lord" and specifically talked about the dynamic power of laying down your rights and one of it's points was about relationships (there were many more though let me tell ya!). Anyhow I could probably go on about this for hours but I won't...at this time. I just thought wow, I can't believe that this is exactly what I've been reading about, talking about, discussing about, etc.

Another item, less personal, was about praying for Jerusalem. Do you pray for Jerusalem? I can't say I really ever had, except you know when things are really bad over there and you might mention them within other prayers. Well last week during intercession one of the staff felt called that we needed to specifically pray for Jerusalem and Israel. I thought, interesting, yeah okay I understand there is some more unrest happening but thought okay one time deal again. Then in that book I just mentioned, it talked about it again there - interesting. Well then talking with Stephen he talked about how God pressed on his heart to pray over Jerusalem every day. I was like, okay now I think God is seriously telling me something and I better listen up. Three times in one week! Psalm 122 and Isaiah 62 teach us to “Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem".

So anyhow that was just a piece of what happened for me that evening.
I then volunteered to go back on Saturday again (as it was optional on this day) as I had just such a great time there and really enjoyed the difference scenery and really just getting to spend time with local Bajans (and Logos crew too). It was definitely a blessing to be a part of the ship for a couple of days...of course the food on the ship didn't hurt :) lol, Oh man, the first time we had to wait in the cafeteria, we discovered fresh-made bread and chocolate dip (like nutella) and we were in a hay-day! We went berserk. Such a nice treat! Every time after that we made sure to have another sandwich, lol. I joked that I hoped we were not costing them more in food than our volunteer hours were worth. We also had the opportunity to join with them during dinners (and lunch as well on Sat). It was nice to have something different - especially since the one dinner was a stir fry and I was seriously craving that!

On the Sunday, we ended up having an opportunity to hang out with the children from the first community centre that we lead worship at as they were having a picnic just minutes down the road from us at Three Houses park. It was so nice to see those children again and we had a great afternoon with them playing soccer, games, in the park, etc. Though a very busy weekend it was relaxing in its own way.

Well that's it for this blog. I seriously need to head to bed so I guess pictures will come later at some point, as well as that other blog on the Trinity that I want to write. Hope you enjoy :)

Week 3, Dealing With the Past

2009-10-17T11:53:00.004-04:00

This week our topic was on "Dealing With the Past". If you are like me you probably interpreted it to be about dealing with issues from the past and though we did touch on that, we got much deeper and went much farther back into the past. Back when I was only a thought in God's mind. Back to the time of Adam and the fall. Back to truths and deceptions that cause us now to not understand God in the way that we are meant to.

One quote really struck me on just how true it is:
God has created man in His own image and man has repaid the favour. We make God out to be just a really, really good version of us. We can only comprehend the tiniest, tiniest piece of the puzzle so we just make up a pretty box that we think is right and put our God into it and think everything is perfect.

We think we know God from what we read and what we see or have been taught, but knowing someone doesn't always mean we will understand them.

The Deception of the Flesh

The Bible talks about the "flesh". The flesh may be defined as 'a condition in which a person operates out of their own resources doing things their own way' or in other words, me saying I can do this on my own better than God. However the Bible says we are NOT the flesh and the flesh is NOT us.

Galatians 5:16-17 "But I say, walk and live in the Spirit; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh . For the desires of the flesh are opposed to the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are opposed to the flesh ; for they are in conflict with each other, so that you are not free but are prevented from doing what you desire to do."

God did not call us to a measured life or a life with information overload. God called us to life. God pursues US! It's not about performing. He is satisfied with us already; if he wasn't how could he have put the Holy Spirit into our lives. This is the transformation. This is exciting!!

Satan uses the flesh to deceive us into untruths. His first deception was with Eve and Adam. He told Adam and Eve that if they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil that they would be like God [deception] BUT God created us in his image! We ALREADY are JUST like God, in his image. As much like God as we were ever going to be. So what happened? They discovered their nakedness, which in original translation actually means empty. They didn't litterly die but they died inside.

So Good does not equal Life?
No, doing the good thing or right thing doesn't mean you are experiencing life. I am living out of a system that I believe will bring me life (by doing good) but it doesn't - Good is under the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil (self-life, independence, bondage, law, death (in speration).
The Tree of life = Spirit-life, dependance, freedom, grace, life.

So obviously man's effort to get to God wasn't working...that's WHY Jesus always had to come to us. God knew that when he created us that we would separate ourselves from him, it was always the plan for Jesus to come to make us alive again.

When Jesus came and died on the cross for us he spoke the words, "It is finished". This was the reason for his coming, to give us life, to bring God down to us so that we may be a part of him. To wipe us clean from all sin and condemnation. We are now completely righteous. He gave us a new identity in God.
Colossions 2:13-14 - "And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made you alive together with Christ, having forgiven you all your trespasses, having wiped out the requirements against us. He has taken it out of the way having nailed it to the cross".

Romans 2:4 - "Or do you think so little of how riches is his kindness, forbearance, and patience, not realizing that it is God's kindness that is leading you to repent?"
The word for repent in Greek is "metanoia" which means turn around. God's goodness in us yells out "metanoia" to "turn around". There is no condemnation in God when we go the wrong way, just the guidance of "You are going the wrong way child, turn around".

God does not see our sins as Jesus died on the cross for ALL our sins. They have all already been forgiven BUT this doesn't mean we don't need to confess our sins. Not for God but for us. We are already forgiven by Jesus dieing on the cross but if we sin we still need to talk to God about it but we need not fear as we are already forgiven. Sin means now that is puts a wierdness into our relationship with God, it makes it awkward. God is not limited but sin limits us. We do not NEED to confess to God but we do so because it skews our relationship with him.

This was really amazing to hear. So freeing if you really think about it. There is NOTHING we can do to make God love us LESS or More. HE loves us unconditionally. He created us to share relationship with Him (the Trinity). We don't need to be good but we do it because we love him, because of our relationship with him. WE are ALWAYS going to be the fathers children.

So let's go back to Deception and "Dealing With the Past" on a now basis.

I Think...Therefore I Am??? Our self-concept directly affects everything in life.
Our beliefs about ourselves predict behaviour. What I believe about myself will ultimately determine what I do and how I teach others to treat me. For example, If I believe about myself that I am not smart enough and I tell others that I am not smart enough, eventually they will treat me like I am not very smart and then lets say, they will write-off what I have to say as it's probably not very good anyhow.
BUT I AM WORTHY because of Jesus Christ and I shouldn't be treated this way. So when do these deceptions in our mind begin?? We are not born with them but from birth we are "nature-ally" self-focused. Before the age of 5, we have highly developed a self-image, we need others to feed us, pamper us, change us, etc. As we grow if we see parents fighting or other children whispering we automatically think it is about us. We can't see beyond ourselves.

Sin soils, brings deception of how we see ourselves and how others see us. Sin wounds and defiles us. Things of our past, effects from family, friends have created lies in our heads that make us think we are not good enough, not worth it, maybe if I act this way THEN I will have friends, etc. These lies have sown into our hearts. These lies are arrows sticking out of our hearts so that when we meet new people and want to get to know them we can't get close enough because these arrows are in the way. However, we shouldn't blame the past but realize its impact in our lives.

These lies become strongholds in our lives that keep us in bondage of believe the lies are truths.
Four Characteristics of Stronghold Beliefs are:
1) Debilitating - we need to confess it to God so he can take away the lie
2) Controlling - our mind is now telling us what's true
3) Self-protective - put up barriers to keep people from hurting us again
4) Self-destructive - living in lies we are not experiencing Christ in his fullness.

We need to recognize the lies and once we discover them give them up to God so that he can reveal the truths to us. That we are perfect and wonderful in him, that he is well pleased with us.

So what happens if we don't? Our emotions become effected. Emotions are the colour of our soul, they are an indicator of what's going on underneath the surface in our "Emotional Bank Vault". Our fear is that if we let out the emotions we have hidden for so long it is going to destroy us and those around us.

So during this time we had an exercise in class in which we took a look at the messages about ourselves that we have received from people that have had an effect on our lives which then leads us to feel and think a certain way about ourselves and motivates us to build protective layers. Later we wrote down our final thought that summed up how we view ourselves. It was very sad and hard to see how some of us viewed ourselves - Not good enough, not perfect enough, I can't show who I truly am or they won't like me, I can never fail, I have to always win, etc. It was not easy and how strong those were to reveal these lies to everyone.

I want to share with you what I wrote as I want you to fully be able to take part in my spiritual journey and hopefully be blessed by it.

For me I wrote, "I am not worth it". My lie is that "I am not worth holding on to because either I am not pretty enough, funny enough, positive enough, smart enough." But mainly I'm just not worth holding on to, either as a girlfriend or as a friend. Now I will say I don't totally believe this lie, I believe God brings people into our lives to bless us for a short time or a longer time, some are meant to stay shorter than others but we need to see the value in the relationship and enjoy them for the time they are in our lives. However, there are times when I am low or down in the dumps or feeling lonely that Satan brings this untruth back into my mind and fools me into believing this.

The wonderful part about this exercise was that in the end we prayed to the Holy Spirit to reveal us truths to speak upon each other. It was so beautiful and so uplifting. It was such a special moment for us and another bonding time.

So how do we erase these lies or at least begin to work on erasing them?
In "Forgiving One Another as in Christ He Forgave Us".
However, let me note: Forgiveness is NOT for the person that hurt you. It is for yourself to release you from its clutches but we must also note that we can only do this in God, apart from Him it is impossible to forgive on our own.

Moving toward Freedom first 'Face the pain' [identify the person/event/emotion/effect] then Forgive (or cancel the debt), then 'Accept the offender as he/she is without demands for change' and lastly 'life free to engage again in relationships with others'.

To emphasize all that I wrote, I want to leave off with a song that Laurie left off with for us. I encourage you to listen to the song if you are able but for now enjoy the words and be open to them. Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. I really felt that I had to write it all out. I hope that it may have blessed you but if you have any questions or disagreements PLEASE send me a note or email me. I can't promise I'll have answers for everything but I encourage discussion.
Love Stephanie

"Not Guilty Anymore" by Aaron Keyes

It doesn’t matter what You’ve done; It doesn't matter where you're coming from
Doesn’t matter where you’ve been, Hear me tell you I forgive

You’re not guilty anymore, You're not filthy anymore,
I love you, mercy is yours
You're not broken anymore, You're not captive anymore
I love you, mercy is yours

Can you believe that this is true, Grace abundant I am giving you
Cleansing deeper than you know, All was paid for long ago

There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Jesus

You are spotless
You are holy
You are faultless
You are whole
You are righteous
You are blameless
You are pardoned
You are mine

________________

Ephesians 1:17 - "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better."

Week 2, The Father Heart of God

2009-10-13T19:53:00.003-04:00

This past week was the 2nd week of the lecture phase of DTS and we were blessed to have Claude Bonjour come and spend time with us and get to know us and bless us with his lectures on the Father Heart of God. We talked a lot about our relationships with our own fathers and we were all very open and it was amazing. We discussed how our views of our earthly father plays a huge roll in our views of our heavenly father, and God really spoke through Claude to a lot of people this week. During one session we each shared about our own personal relationships with our fathers and I was surprised how sad some of our stories were. It made me weep and I know God was weeping as well. Such heartbreak for so many in the group. It got me thinking that maybe we need to look at having more guidance programs for Fathers - new and old. Fathers play such an important role in a child's life and many of them don't know what it's like to be a Father or how to really love and show it b/c of the experience they had with their own fathers and so on and so on. We have programs for mothers but besides Peace Keepers, I don't think we really disciple the men in our church on being fathers that resemble the Ultimate Father of all, Our Father God. I just want to put it out there that I am not talking about ALL fathers. I'm pondering these thoughts and will probably come back to them in the future.

There were many emotional times during the week and when making a comment to Claude, he said, "And this is only the beginning, the first week, just wait!" Which is soo true. God is shaking us all up, there is a movement going on here. It's exciting but also very emotional at times.

I'll share one personal story that happened to me, a hard one. It was during intercession prayer that we have each Thursday morning for the various countries we will be going too. During orientation we were first introduced to "The Principles for Effective Intercession" by Joy Dawsen. A kind of guideline of 10 points on intercession prayer. We split into small groups to pray over Venezuela and the issues there. One of the girls in my group mentioned she had trouble with the guidelines because she grew up being taught how to be open and really communicate with God in prayer (through tongues and various other ways). She struggled with feeling like she was being "told" how to pray. I explained that though she has been blessed to know these, for some of us, including myself, the guidance is very helpful. I never really considered how important it is to ask God to reveal any sins left on my heart that I haven't confessed so that the devil will not take hold of them and this became revealed to me as you will read.
So we began in prayer, myself and a few others praying what was on our heart...then that one girl was overtaken by the Holy Spirit and began praying louder and louder then in tongues. It was amazing but sadly at that same time I felt the devil take hold of me and turn my thoughts of goodness into harsh criticism, feeling all of a sudden that everything I say and do is fake. That I don't really mean what I say and it just went on and on. I froze and could no longer concentrate on anything but selfish and awful thoughts. I had to get out of there...Thankfully Claude happened to be just outside so I got up and went out and spoke of what just happened to me. I am so thankful God put him there for me as I just started to shake so hard from crying so hard. He prayed over me, telling/revealing truths to me to rid of the lies that were going through my mind, praying Gods love on me.
I tell this story because I just want to show how Satan works so hard in situations where he knows that he doesn't have control. He grabs onto anything and everything, twisting things all around. When we first arrived we were told that great things are happening here, a manafestation. God is really speaking here...and he is! This really is an amazing time, we are learning soo much and God is surrounding us here...but that doesn't mean Satan isn't trying to work his magic because he is. Our self-esteem issues are high on the rise. So I just ask of you to pray for each of us here, students and staff. Pray that we can stand strong in God's love and in his truth and to close our ears to lies.

I have just been enjoying so much what we have been learning and I wish I could just tell you about it all, explain everything in full but of course that would take a very long time :P While learning there have definitely been times where various people from back home pop into mind of how much I wish they were here to hear this or that I could be where they were to share what I was learning, but hopefully in time.

Friday afternoon we went to a beach called Foul Bay to worship. That was really neat that we could take our worship outside the classroom and on the beach. Then we all went off for 10 mins to have time to let God speak to us through his creation. I saw a storm coming in (which didn't end up reaching land) and felt God saying that he was going to be shaking things up here and shaking up our lives and our thoughts. It's exciting. Afterwards we came together and shared what we had heard. As usual Alef always has something hilarious happen to him that creates another funny story. He was sitting at the Ocean talking with God and what comes up out of the water right at his feet....a PHONE!! That's right, a telephone! So he said he heard God say, You can call me (talk with me) anytime! lol. Love it! Afterwards we had the opportunity to go into the water for a bit. The waves were insane and I just stayed at the edge of them but it was funny watching others get bowled over and rolled up on the beach.

Friday night we went out to Cafe Sol for some Mexican food which was a good time, it was nice to hangout together away from base, time to bond more and eat some different food! Celina took a bunch of us to Miami beach for the afternoon on Saturday (after spending the morning working on my book report). The water here still amazes me, it is so beautiful. It was 5 pm and we were waiting for the bus which was supposed to come at 5:30 so we decided to walk to the jetty by the Oistins fish market cause you can see turtles there in the evenings. Finally we discovered how to get on the jetty, after some wandering (we had to cut through a building where they brought the fish to gut them...it smelled lovely). There were some men on the jetty and as we were walking by they said "you want to see the turtles?" They were throwing the fish guts into the ocean and there were 4 turtles eating there! They were so huge. It was awesome. We are going to go back one of these days cause Solomon promised to take us swimming with the turtles :-)

Sunday we went to a Community Center where we ran a children's church program for the community children. The kids had so much energy, it was so much fun. We sang some fun songs with lots of actions, one that Solomon taught us. It is sooo hilarious but hard to explain. Hopefully I'll be able to share a video of it at some point or at least once I am back home. We separated into age groups and my group focused on the Fruit of the Spirit. We started with a bunch of repeating fun songs to get to know eachother (songs from our camp childhood days). After our lesson we played simon says with them. They are such a good children, so darling. It was a great time.

In the afternoon we once again had the opportunity to go the beach, back to Crane beach, my favourite. The waves are just right there, a bit large but not enough to be sucked out by the undertow but large enough to body surf them in :) Fun!

Well we have already started week#3 now but I will tell you more about that later. Almost already a third way through the DTS, crazy! :)

South America Outreach Destination

2009-10-13T19:49:00.001-04:00

So we were told a tentative schedule type thing of our outreach. We will be going only to 4 countries, not 5 due to the fact that it is the rainy season in South America. So we fly out of Barbados to Trinidad and Tobago because that is the only way to reach Venezuela, from Trinidad and Tobago. We fly from Trinidad and Tobago to Caracas, Venezuela where we will staying and doing ministry. Then we will drive to Boa Vista, Brazil and stay there and do ministry, then driving onto Manaus, Brazil and stay there to do ministry. Then we will take a boat down the Amazon down to Porto Velho, Brazil and do ministry there as well. We then fly to Buenos Aires, Argentina to do ministry and then we travel up into Bolivia and that will be our last place before we fly back to Caracas and back to Barbados. We will stay in each place for 2-3 weeks.
All of this can change of course as we don’t have strong connections in every place so prayer that everything falls into place smoothly would be great. As well as protection as it is the rainy season in many places we are going and this creates a danger for traveling. This is one of the reasons we are not going down through Bolivia to Argentina but rather flying to Argentina and going up to Bolivia because the roads are better this way, it would be too dangerous to go the other way. So far that is all I have, I will keep you updated as I find out more.

Island Tour (and a weekly update)

2009-10-05T17:47:00.010-04:00

So Tuesday we went on a bit of a tour around the island of Barbados which was absolutely amazing! We started out at Codrington College which is where the Anglican priest go to become priests. It is one of the oldest buildings in Barbados and the grounds are beautiful and the view even more amazing. It is where one of the couples on the base here got their wedding pictures done. The ducks there were so friendly, the ducklings came so close to us that we could touch them, though when we did, they ran away, but the mother didn't get too mad at us. We were taking a bunch of pictures and joked that people back home would say, "You went to Barbados and all you took pictures of were DUCKS!!??" lol. It was here that I discovered that what I thought were goats I was seeing around the island were actually called black bellied sheep! That was interesting because they kind of looked like goats.

After that we went to a church in St. John. This church, as well, is very old and had some of the oldest tombs on the island. Some dating back even to the 1700's. We then went to Bathsheba which is a beach on the west side of the island which is known for its large rocks. It was so beautiful there. It reminded me a bit of the one lone rock at the farthest point along the Seawall in Stanley Park in BC. It was beautiful there. We then went to a place called the Animal Flower Caves. You had to pay to go in the caves so we didn't, but apparently there was coral down there that was alive and it was quite amazing to see. There were also cliffs here and that is what we went to see. It was very rocky, no beaches on this shore but the Atlantic water was soo blue. These caves were at the North-East part of the island and the waves had hit the cliffs so much that it hollowed it out in places, it was quite beautiful.

Then we continued on to a place called Farley Hill National Park which was just breathtaking. We had driven by some sharper rock hills but only caught a glance and didn't have a chance to take a picture but you could see them from the park. We went there to eat our lunch of cold hot dogs...we were hungry so everything tasted good :) Just before I had an opportunity to talk with fellow YWAMer Claudia. We had such a nice, deep conversation while looking over the valley. I really felt more connected with her. Also I just ask for prayers for her as she could use some. She's a beautiful person but she has trouble believing it herself.

We then continued our trek onto the 4 towns in Barbados: Speighstown, Holetown, Bridgetown and Oistens. We stopped at the jetty in Speighstown which is basically a pier and we were able to see schools of fish and I, along with a few others, saw a turtle swimming, very cool. We also stopped at another Paynes Bay between Speighstown and Holetown where we swam. There were locals with a boat and tubes as well as jet skis offering rides, which was a touch annoying as we were trying to enjoy the beauty and all I could smell was the fumes :P We just drove through the rest of the towns and back to the base. Solomon told us of a beach where you can swim with turtles and has promised to take us there one of the days on the weekend, so excited.

Wednesday we had lectures and more orientation.

International Day of Prayer/Testimonies
Thursday was YWAM's international day of prayer as it was the first Thursday of the month. So we skipped lunch and spent that time in prayer. We all got together, leaders and students and we all split off into groups of 3. Then we prayed and we were given 5 separate questions to ask God. After each question we shared what we heard from God with the other 2 people in our group. The 5 questions were: 1. What sin is there in my life that is preventing me from growing in relationship with you? 2. What do you have on your heart for me God? 3. What do you have on your heart for this YWAM base God? 4. What do you have on your heart for the church God? 5. What do you have on your heart for the world God? This session really stretched me to listen for the voice of God, we only had 5 mins pretty much for each question before we were asked to share in our group. The last 3 questions we wrote down our answers as those would be given to the head of YWAM to see what God was speaking to all of us. I did hear God speak somethings on my heart but a few of the questions I heard nothing, which is fine too. Janell (staff and worship leader) and Riikki (fellow YWAMer) were in my group. After that we stayed and shared our testimonies. We didn't finish through everyone so we continued Friday afternoon with that as well. That was a real enjoyable time. Some testimonies (specifically Solomons and Alefs) were very funny (well b/c they made them that way, they both had pretty intense things that they went through) and other testimonies we wept through. I really enjoyed that time as I think it really help us to bond more together and to understand a bit better where each of us have come from and how God brought us here to YWAM Barbados DTS.

Tae bo
We started Tae bo on Thursday with Solomon. I am so sore at the moment. Tae bo is an intense aerobic workout that had us all sweating especially because it does not cool down much at night here. It is still hot and by the end of the session our clothes are completely soaked in sweat! I don't think I have ever sweated that much before! But it is lots of fun! Kashama, Solomon's wife, joined us the first evening. I joked how mean her husband is, torturing us, she agreed, lol. Kashama has already become a special person to me here. She works only one day in the YWAM office and otherwise is in University. They live just to the right of the base so when she is not at school she is often around. We really click and I just love being around her and talking with her. She is such a hoot and add Solomon into the mix it's a barrel of laughter.

Friday we continued and finished with the testimonies as well as had another Tae bo session. We will be having one every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and going for a walk one night a week in the evening...not sure which night yet. Solomon and Alef - who is from Holland - go running every morning at 5 am. I wake up about 15 minutes later to go speed walking to the big hill, up and around and back. So far I've had at least one girl come with me every morning, which has been really nice.

Oistins Excursion
Friday night around 8:30 pm we left for Oistins and the fish market there, once again Solomon driving us. That was fun. I had flying fish, along with a bunch of sides including the Carribean Macarroni pie. We got a chance to look around the shops set up there and listen to the music - there were 2 dj`s and 2 separate stages - which was neat. We didn't stay out too late, which was fine because we still had fun!

Bridgetown Excursion
Today most of us spent the day in Bridgetown doing some shopping and getting some things we forgot. We took the bus in and though I started off sitting, it wasn't long before I gave up my seat for an elderly women and found myself standing, which was funny as it wasn't much before I made a comment there is no way I would want to stand on these type of buses. What a workout! Holding on super tight as those buses do not go slow and whip around the corners. Made for a great true Caribbean experience :) We started off at Chefette because the boys missed breakfast. Chefette is a local fast food restaurant - no McDonalds here, but there is KFC. So far I have only had ice cream at Chefette. Then we moved on to some stores. Cave Shepherd is a duty free store so we spent most of our time there and unfortunately it was here we lost part of our group. We looked around for them but couldn't find them. We headed out to check out the street shopping, which is much more up my alley. Feels more like being in the Caribbean, I can always go to a mall back home but the street shops we don't have. After we got all the household items and food we were missing we headed off to the beach. White as snow sand and crystal clear blue waters, just beautiful. We were there for a few hours, when Nicole and Riikka found us (two of the girls we lost). That was great. We stayed for about an hour and a half longer and then headed back to the bus terminal to go back to base. It was a great but tiring day.

Church/Dribble 2 Africa
Sunday we left for Church at 7am as it was clear across the island completely to the opposite side. It was a great service and Alef was the first to share his testimony in Church. Solomon talked about Dribble 2 Africa which is another program that YWAM Barbados is putting together in June/July 2010 to go to the World Soccer Championships in South Africa, where Solomon lived at one point. They will be working with orphans, young boys in high security prisons and evangelising on the streets. It sounds like such a great program. Solomon is going around the various islands getting the young Caribbean people excited to join. They are hoping to take at least 300 people!

The rest of the afternoon I just relaxed, uploaded pictures to Facebook and gabbed with the few people who had opted out from going to the beach again. Skype has been working well so I have had the chance to talk with mom and dad a few times which is really nice.

School/Work Duties
Today, Monday, we officially started classes with our guest speaker Claude Bonjour from Switzerland. Our first week is on The Father Heart of God. It was a great start. In the afternoon we parted to our "work duties" and/or ISCF, which is the school Christian intervarsity here. My work duty is actually in the office! I'll be able to put some of my design skills into play once again, helping out with laying out their newsletter, as well as helping plan the Christmas party for Children on the island that are infected or have been affected by HIV/Aids. Sadly, we will be gone for the party but I'm excited to be able to help with the preperations. Celina and Marcia were fighting over me in the office, which was funny. Celina is the accountant here (and she will also be coming on outreach with us) and she has soo much to do. So I will be helping her out as well, working on the Gov't VAT forms, going through the invoices and filling out and excell form so they can get their tax money back since they are a non-profit organization.

The YWAM Thickett Plantation

2009-09-28T19:18:00.006-04:00

(L-R: Back row: McNeal, Samuel, Sarah, Dean, Laura, Kadeen, Josh, Jessica. Second row: Alef, Claudia, Stephanie, Nicole, Jordan, Solomon, Suzanna. Front row: Celina, Riikka, Faith, Bekah)

Today was the start of orientation. We started with an amazing time of worship. We were really encouraged to let it all out, to just be us and to really give it all up to God in our worship. It was beautiful and a little emotional for some. After worship, we basically just went over the values of YWAM, the history of YWAM (which was presented by Sandy who has been at this base for the last 12 years, it was really quite interesting actually to hear how this all began and the reliance on God and listening to his call), as well as the book reports and projects we will have to complete while we are here. We got a bit of a taste of what the lectures will be about and we also got a tour of the grounds.

The grounds here used to be an old plantation. It is so beautiful and green. There are sugar cane fields which with them bring mice, and cockroaches (thus no open food in the dorms) as well as monkeys!!! That's right I saw a bunch of monkeys today. First outside our window and then later when we went for a walk, so cool. There are 5 cabins down past ours which are called the youth village. These are used by local churches for retreats or for children's ministries. The monkeys live down by the youth village. There is the great house, which is where we come for internet. It has a family room with a TV to watch movies, a library where we can borrow books from, a kitchen where of course all the delicious food is prepared as well as housing upstairs for guests. Their rooms are much nicer than ours and Alef had the pleasant opportunity to stay in them when he arrived early last Wednesday. We will be having a little shop soon in the family room where those from the neigbourhood as well as ourselves will be able to buy snacks and drinks during free time so that is kind of cool. Then there is the classroom which is also where we have worship. It can hold about 30 people so it is fairly small, but it has fans and is nice and cool. In fact a few were wearing sweaters!! Imagine that (though it was a cooler and rainy day today, nice). There are 5 houses on campus where the staff and their families live, and then there are the students dorms. There are 4 rooms each with a number of beds. The room I am in I share with 4 girls at the moment. Another is hoping to come but we don't know yet.

Well that's a little bit of what the plantation is like. I do hope to put up some pictures soon but amazingly I really haven't take any of the plantation. Surprising I know!

Take care!

The beginnings of a new journey

2009-09-27T17:12:00.004-04:00

God has been doing a lot in my life this past year.
After coming back from Sea to Sea I realized that I know could handle my desk job (though I still love designing) and I felt called to be using my time to glorify God by helping others, specifically those effected by injustice like AIDS and Human Trafficking. It was a struggle to figure out how to change my current direction but after a number of months I applied to Laurier University for the Human Rights/Human Diversity program to begin my education process of heading into a new direction. During my first course God put in my path another opportunity to be a part of YWAM and their Justice Discipleship Program. I wasn't sure at first as I was just making this huge change to go back to school and to leave my current job but after much prayer and consideration I knew that this was where God was leading me too.

It is already day two now, though technically YWAM doesn't start till tomorrow (Monday). I left Toronto on Saturday, bright and early! It was a really blessed flight. I met a few residents of Barbados heading home and I was surprised to discover they were all Christians, two of them even having heard of YWAM in Barbados. I sat with two very interesting gentleman; Stephen, a kind but talkative man who had left Barbados many years ago and has been working in Street Ministry in London, ON and Malcom who works for Air Canada as an Engineer on the Island. I really enjoyed talking with Malcom and hearing about his family. I believe God put them both there for me to meet but spefically Malcom who invited me to meet his family and visit at some point within the first while of my stay. What a kind man!

After arriving and waiting in the customs line I discovered two girls who had been on the same plane (but come from Alberta) were also a part of the same YWAM DTS. That was very exciting and as we waited in the long line we were able to meet and get to know eachother a bit. I got through first and then Jess, but Dean had disappeared. I was worried and tried to find out what happened and decided to wait with her luggage in the mean time. I later found out that her visa process hadn't gone through yet so she had to prove why she was here. Solomon, one of the staff members and our driver was called in to talk with the customs officer and I found myself now holding the "YWAM sign" as we were still waiting for 2 more people and Solomon was concerned he would miss them. Anyhow, everything worked out in the end which is good but a little nerve-wrecking for Dean. When we came out I discovered there were a number of us all waiting outside for us slowpokes. I will admit too the heat really hit me when we got off the plane. It was much muggier then I was expecting. Oh and another great start was when we all had to push our van to help it get started. Reminded me so much of my mission trip to Eastern Europe. I think every time we had to go anywhere the van broke down, either at the start or along the way! Good times :)

That evening we just got aquanted with our surroundings and meeting with those who had arrived. The plantation is in a beautiful but fairly remote area. We are halfway up a hill which gives us a beautiful view from some areas of the plantation. The doorms are pretty nice, the girls (about 12 of us) are split up into 3 rooms and the boys (just two) have a very nice large room. We are expecting two more people to show up later in the week. I am so thankful that I brought a small fan along, like suggested, as the rooms stay fairly warm but God grants us relief at about 5pm ish when it begins to cool down which make sleeping easier, as by 6pm it is already dark.

Sunday morning 7 of us headed with Solomon and his wife to their church. The worship was beautiful and full of lots of movement and hallelujahs. A few of the songs I knew but like most Christians songs the ones you don't are pretty easy to pick up. Typical Caribbean church lasts 2 1/2 hours and we were lucky as well to be able to partake in Lord's supper with them as well. Afterwards we headed back to base and then we were off to Crane Beach. It was beautiful! The white sand and the BIG salty waves :) We are on the windier side (opposite to most resorts) which is nice as it does cool things down a bit. There is also a cliff we could climb and jump off. It was about a 20 foot or so jump. We did it a couple of times, our last time jumping as a group. Myself and another girl, Jordan hung out in the water forever bobbing up and down with the waves, once in a while swollowing a mouth full (yuck). I really enjoyed the chance to talk with her as though there is an age gap we seem to be fairly similar. Oh yeah, so the next oldest to me is 22! Most are 19. Its okay though, like I found with Sea to Sea on the whole, away from daily life you really can't tell there is a large age gap. The only difference is a number haven't started or have just started university. Alef (22 from the Netherlands), however, is already working as a highschool teacher and has many stories.

So where do some of the other students come from? We represent many nations: The Netherlands (and that's not me! lol), Finland, England, US, St. Lucia, Switzerland and 4 of us from Canada! A great mix.

Well so far it's been a good few days, with a few little trials but they are to be expected as well. We start orientation tomorrow and on Tuesday we get to go on a tour of the island. FUN!

Well that's all for now. Thanks sooo much for all your prayers. Please pray for us this week as it will be a bit of a first overload but I'm so excited to see what's in store.

They're Finally Here!!

2009-09-17T17:50:00.004-04:00

I have finally finished all my paintings for my 2nd card fundraiser. I'm so excited about them and have already received great feedback. Below is a poster for the cards - Everyday Occasions - One of a Kind Designs. This year I am selling them as 2 separate sets. Set A captures a shot from a small village in Paris as well as a shot take in Keremos, BC. Set B is in memory of two various days on the Sea to Sea Bike Tour. Each set costs $15 or you have the option to buy both at a discount of $25. All are copies of my original paintings. Each card is also signed on the back. If you would like to order a set please e-mail me at: w_stephanie@hotmail.com.

(Mailing fees are extra)

Letter

2009-08-28T15:06:00.003-04:00

Last summer, I was given the opportunity by God's grace to be a part of the Sea to Sea Bike Tour. What you may not realize is the lasting effect it has had on my life. In the past year, God has taken me on a spiritual journey through roads and paths I had yet to venture. I struggled for awhile after the summer wondering what God wanted me to do with my life, feeling a tug, knowing he was calling me into new waters.

God has been continually molding me and preparing me for this moment and has instilled in me a strong purpose and need to "uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed".

Earlier this year, I went to MissionFest in Toronto for the Friday night concert but God had something planned more for that evening. There he put in front of me an opportunity to be a part of the YWAM (Youth With A Mission) Justice Discipleship Training School (DTS). I had never before considered something like this, as I'd always thought this was something that only younger youth became involved in. During the weeks to follow, I felt God's strong call that this was where he wanted me to be. I believe God has prepared my heart and has called me to share of the love and grace he has shown me and to use my gifts to help those who are victims of injustice.

This DTS that I will be attending has a very special focus of giving attention to the various social injustices in the world, ones that weigh heavy on my heart.

* 2 children per minute are trafficked for sexual exploitation
* Over 27 million are enslaved around the world
* Over 13 million are orphaned due to AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa
* 3 Billion People do not have access to the Gospel

"Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked" Psalm 82:3-4.

Field Assignment
I will be gone from September 26, 2009 to February 20th, 2010. The time will be split between the lecture phase, which is based on a plantation in Barbados and then heading off on outreach to South America to apply what we have learned. I ask that you continually keep me and the 19 others on my team in your prayers as at times things will be very intense and emotional. I also covet your prayers that I may be open and flexible to new experiences and used in ways I never imagined I could be.
　
With all large mission trips, however, there are also many costs and I am hoping to fundraise $3000USD for the outreach portion of my trip. Please take the time to pray and consider if you feel lead to donate. Cheques can be made out in my name, Stephanie Webb and sent to 252 West 32nd Street, Hamilton, ON L9C 5H6.

"With God all things are possible" - Matthew 19:26.

Thank you.

In Christ Alone,

Stephanie

2008-11-29T18:06:00.001-05:00

Embrace AIDS Shines with New Website

2008-11-24T10:09:00.005-05:00

It’s here, it’s live and it’s shining. iEmbraceAIDS.com is a new website created by the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee to provide young adults with a way to get involved in the rally to embrace people living with AIDS.

AIDS is a disease that’s been ravaging the world for over 25 years – and it affects everything. In many developing countries AIDS is the main reason people aren’t getting enough food to eat, enough money to live, or the education they need. To make matters worse, a family affected by AIDS is pushed further into poverty causing members of that family to make decisions that put them at greater risk of getting this disease. In 2007 alone, 3 million people contracted HIV, 33 million people were living with it, and over 2 million people died of AIDS-related causes – three quarters of these deaths happened in Sub-Saharan Africa.

miEbraceAIDS.com was created to help a new generation be a light at the end of the tunnel that is the AIDS crisis, and shine the light of Christ around the world. The site includes a variety of options for young people to do their part to learn about the disease, raise awareness with their friends, and be part of the solution.

The site will launch on December 1, 2008 (World AIDS Day). Visit http://www.iembraceaids.com/ to find out how we can “all shine together, all over the world, to bring AIDS out of the darkness.”

(Newsletter article from http://www.crcna.org/site_uploads/uploads/crwrc/ea/shine/SHINE%20newsletter%20article.doc)

The Story of Melchizedek

2008-11-17T14:13:00.004-05:00

This past week I decided to check out a friends Bible Study after having met a few of those in the group last month when 11 of us went to the Heaven's Rehearsal concert in Toronto. (It was really good by the way).

They usually meet for 6pm to have dinner together (each one taking their turn preparing) and then at 7pm one of them leads the study. Well, what a wonderful, special surprise I had when I realized what section in the Bible we were going to be discussing. The story of Melchizedek.

Many of you might be thinking, okay, so who's that? What's so great about that story?

Well back on the tour I had the priviledge of hearing many stories from Pastor Len while riding together. One of the stories that Len was excited to share was the story of Melchizedek. In fact, he had decided that it would be his mission during the summer to tell each new rider he rode with the significance of this story.

Sadly, I had forgotten about this story (as many events have boggled my mind since) so imagine my excitement when Shawn (who was leading) began having us read the chapters related to Mechizedek. As weird as this might sound, I was excited that I had had the priveledge of already learning the significance and was excited to watch as others started to put the pieces together the further we read and discussed about Melchizedek and the High Priest of that time.

As Pastor Len, notes it is not a story that is spoken of much which is unfortunate because it really is interesting. Len has kindly forwarded on his notes to me for my files and so that I may share it with you. It is a bit overwhelming in some ways so if you have any questions or thoughts PLEASE leave me a comment. I hope you enjoy!

The Story of Melchizedek
(Genesis 14, Psalms 110, Hebrews 4:14 - 5:10, Hebrews 7 and Hebrews 8)

This unfamiliar account of this is sadly neglected in Christian circles everywhere because so few take the time to explore its inner meaning.

(Genesis 14) A long time ago when Abram was slowly establishing himself in his new land there was a skirmish between rival lords. 5 of them had been subjugated to an alliance of 4. The 5 decided to go on strike and refused to pay tribute to the 4. After all, they had been under their control for 12 years. The 4 led by Kedorlaomer weren't going to give in so easily so on their warring expedition they decided to do battle. The 5 were easily conquered and led as captives as far north as Damascus which could be as far as 100 miles away.

Abram got wind of the battle and decided to take action because his nephew Lot was among those taken away (v. 13-17). Abram gathers his own army which consisted only of his family and servants and marched in pursuit. He catches up to the enemy, defeats him, and begins his return home. As Abram makes his way he nears a small village named Salem.

Here he encounters two prominent figures. The first is the king of Sodom (one of the 5 defeated kings) and the second is the King of Salem - Melchizedek. Seemingly Abram stands between these two dignitaries and is compelled to make a decision. The first king, Sodom, offers Abram all the goods or booty of the victory (v. 21). Mechizedek on the other hand only brought out bread and wine to offer some nourishment (v. 18). It was a very natural and neighborly thing to do. What Abram does is truly remarkable. Instead of accepting King Sodom's offer which could have been quite lucrative, he bows down to Melchizedek and offers him 1/10 of everything he had (v. 19-20). And then even rebukes the King of Sodom (v. 22-23).

The question is why? Anyone in their right mind would have been glad to accept Sodom's generous offer - it would have made Abram rich. It was especially significant because just prior to this God had promised all the land to Abram. God even said he would be great and the land would all be his as far as his eyes could see. It would be very logical to assume that God's hand was in this whole rescue and now the rewards of the covenant promises were coming to pass. Except the one making the offer was the king of Sodom and there is no way he could be part of God's plan. Instead Sodom represented the lure and trap of the world. It was exactly opposite of what God wanted of Abram. The other choice was Melchizedek. And for reasons only hinted at in the story, Abram surmised that since this was a High Priest of the Most High God, he had better give credit and honor and recognition to him rather than take it for himself. It was the perfect choice.

But that is only half of the story. Now we need to know who is this Melchizedek, where does he come from, and what does he represent?

Uncharacteristically, Melchizedek is introduced with no biography or background (Hebrews 7:3). Every major OT person has a lineage and place of origin, yet Melchizedek is presented without these important details. The significance of this is explained in Hebrews. Melchizedek, whose name means "king of Righteousness", is High Priest of the Most High God. He is the king of Salem which is the Hebrew word for Peace. Salem is a small village which later becomes the city of God – Jerusalem. All of these details along with his sudden appearance and then sudden disappearance are all part of the scene now presented with Abram and the king of Sodom.

Abram who had won a substantial victory is now presented with a choice. Either he is made ruler of the land by the world (Sodom) or he humbles himself before the High Priest of the Most High God. The first is attractive and luring but would reject giving credit to God. Abram was supposed to receive all the covenant promises from God and not through his own personal victories and conquests. Sodom tempted Abram to claim kingship, but Melchizedek blessed Him after Abram presented him with an offering.

The key to all of this is the phrase “after the order of Melchizedek”. In this world we have two orders – man and God-man. The first is God’s creation through Adam and Eve the parents of humanity, sadly, this order fell into sin. In order to save this order God introduces another order, another man who is above and beyond the confines of human falleness. This second order has to be connected to the first man (human) yet beyond man by being sinless. We all know that this second order is completed in Jesus Christ who is both man and God. A man who is not affected by the fall and thus is qualified to save the order of things.

What we need to see is that the introduction of this second order is not Christmas but actually foreshadowed in this amazing story of Abram and the battle of the kings. The sinful order (Sodom) is on one side of Abram, and the other is Melchizedek the High Priest of the Most High God. Melchizedek who miraculously, supernaturally, appears on the scene is the entrance of the new order. Some will even say he was Jesus himself. Whether he was actually Jesus or a type of Jesus is supported in the Psalms (110:4), where it says “you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek”. This means Jesus followed the unexpected order of priesthood. All the priests of the Bible were from the line of Levi. But Jesus didn’t follow that line, rather received his qualification from a different order namely Melchizedek.

So what we have is Abram standing between man and God-man and providentially he recognizes is only course of action. He chooses to give his allegiance to the God-man and thus receives the blessing. He is now qualified to represent the father of God’s people and enter into the covenant relationship. Later when Jesus came on the scene he fulfilled the promise and now offers to all of us the privilege of being part of this new order. We are no longer just human but we are adopted into a new order – a royal priesthood after the order of Melchizedek.

Now how cool is that!

Starting Over

2008-11-14T09:27:00.002-05:00

So after 2 months of just plain, boring rest, I began Physio this week for my knee(s). I went to see the same Doctor as Art Smit a couple of weeks previous who gave me a prescription for several sessions.

On the whole it seems a lot of what was agitated in my right knee has healed but there are still a few areas and muscles that are still tight causing mild discomfort. There is still very minor swelling (I didn’t even notice :P).

My physiotherapist started me up on a few exercises to strengthen my hip flexor and rotators and the glutes, plus another muscle that I cannot remember the name of.

Well, let me say it’s official. I have lost every bit of strength in my leg muscles from this summer. I cannot believe how tired (and sore) I am getting from these simple exercises. It’s so sad, lol. But I know it’s the beginning to preparing my body for next years season and well to just be able to bike in general.

It’s been extremely hard to put aside my athletic activities while I let my body rest and heal over the last couple of months so even though I know how tough it is going to be to get back into working out I’m also extremely excited for it.

But I’ll admit it’s no wonder why so many people give up all the time. It’s amazing how quickly your body loses shape once you stop (only 2 weeks!!). It seems like you are always starting over.

Challenged to Grow

2008-09-22T19:33:00.008-04:00

One of the things I talk about when asked what I enjoyed about the summer is usually about the community, the closeness, the support and encouragement. As well as being challenged in my faith and surrounded by others who live their lives for Jesus. I knew it would be something that would take some time finding again. I didn't really have any groups I was a part of that could get together and discuss various scripture. I talked with my cousin and she told me about a group that she goes too so last night I went and checked it out with her.

I really enjoyed our opening worship. Instead of songs or anything you would typically expect at the start of a study we ended up going out into the Dundern Castle park, separating ourselves from each other but close enough we could still see everyone and we spent about 7-8 min. in reflection on things we were thankful for and how they made us grow.

There were a number of things that came to mind but during that time and discussion later a couple of things hit me. Before the tour I had prayed that the upcoming summer would help challenge me and strengthen me to grow in my faith. Though my belief in God never wavers, I was struggling with being exactly who God wants me to be. I was finding my faith life and my walk was nearing more a luke warm level then the on fire faith I really did (and do) want to have.

Looking back I realized that though I am still not where I want to be that God did put many situations and people in my path that challenged me and help me to grow. Infact, I now feel that the issues with my knee were a great helping factor. Continually working on the fruit of the spirits; especially Patience!

During the morning service at Hope CRC in Brantford, Dirk and I put together a presentation on the Sea to Sea. I really wanted to share so much and really allow the congregation an insight into what we experienced. It was kind of funny though; I think Dirk's presentation was just over 2 minutes, mine was about 8 minutes :) and the offering that we were presenting through was about 4 minutes :) Oops, lol. Though after the service I got a lot of really encouraging feedback and comments of appreciation so I think in the end it went really well.

I've included below what I had to say (though yes I realize it will make this blog that much longer, I do hope you enjoy it).

Wow! What a summer!
Even now it is still hard to believe that after over a year of anticipation we have already completed the 9 week tour and have been back into the “so called normal life”.
There is so much I wish I could tell you, so many stories and memories to share but I could be up here forever.
So where do I start? What do I say that could sum up the most amazing summer in only a few minutes?
Over the last few weeks I’ve been asked numerous times, how was it? And I find myself only being able to say a couple descriptive words at best. It was Amazing! Life changing, Exhilarating! Unbelievable and absolutely God breathed.
So here is my chance to elaborate and I find myself not knowing where to begin.

In the beginning, so much of it was about biking. The tour found itself to be much harder than many even imagined and found themselves mostly focusing on just getting through the day. Not only that but taking the time to get to know everyone both young and old as well as trying to get into a morning routine. It was so funny to watch, some mornings, all the running around as people tried to get out before the fierceness of the sun shone high.
As a couple weeks went by it became more obvious that the real reason why we were on this tour was not coming out as much as many hoped or liked. We had been given these Sea to Sea cards that we could hand out to people along the way and we were really encouraged to take the time to stop and talk with anyone and everyone about why we were out there on the road riding in some days over 100F and where we were headed.
It was amazing how many people were extremely interested in what we were doing and many cyclists found themselves receiving donations right there along the way! Some days we would see how many cards we could hand out, tapping on windows of cars while we were stopped waiting for a light to change. Telling the wonderful staff at cafes that we would fill up entirely, some often giving us free food or drinks! Just stopping along the side of the road to talk especially when someone shouted, “Hey what’s going on?”

In the evenings we would have what we called Paleton meetings, where we discussed the happenings of the day, the weather, Ed would go over the route for the next day, and a few other things but what was really special to listen to was when we started to tell stories of various God moments because there were so many of them every day. God’s providence – we would say. How someone had a close call but through God’s providence it ended up not being that close. Riding through a neighbourhood on the way to Chicago where only less then a week before had been hit by a tornado! We come back and hear of how much rain you all had but God had us traveling in a sun bubble! In the end I think we had maybe 5 days of rain the entire summer, most of which stopped within the first few hours of the day!
There were stories of complete strangers coming up asking if they could pray for us and sometimes in their prayer focusing on exactly what we needed right at that moment. God was constantly putting people in our paths that touched us and used us to touch them.

I am so thankful that God chose me to be one of the 220 cyclists this summer. He used me and pushed me in ways I’ve never been pushed before. Over and over again he pushed me to learn patience, to be an encouragement to others, to be positive and to be happy with each day whatever may come.

As most of you know I found myself immediately faced with having to deal with my knee troubles but at the same time even though there were definitely some hard days, I always felt your prayers and knew that it was through God only that I was able to finish each day. Not by my own will or strength but by him.

In the end, entering into the 4th week, I did have to take a number of days off to let my knee heal but from that I was able to experience the tour in other ways that I never would have had the chance too, being on the bike the entire time. Seeing behind the scenes, spending time with the kitchen crew ladies, our media people, our SAG volunteers and yes, even though I did wish I could be biking, I am very thankful for those days as well.

I had promised myself that once we hit Michigan I would bike every day no matter what but God had other plans! From the moment that I received my knee brace, that my mom had to FedEx to me while staying in Dordt, I was able to ride pretty much everyday (except for a few missed km's those first few days getting back into it)!! I was so thankful and I know that it was because of all of the prayers back home. I couldn’t believe that I got to ride almost the entire last 4 weeks as well.

A number of things that also stand out from the summer were the views. Out west is like riding through a National Geographic magazine. It is so different then here and it is absolutely beautiful…sure after awhile we did get pretty sick of all the sage bush and craved for shade from a maple tree back home but still it was amazing all the same. The mountains to the desert to prairies to the lushness of the East. God sure is one amazing artist!

We also were able to enjoy the many Celebration Rallies held along the way. Each one quite different from the next but each powerful in its own way. Our own in St. Catharines having it's own God moment, where it poured right up to the start of the Rally itself and out shone a rainbow!

The community was one of my favourite parts. How the young and old mixed, supported each other, laughed with each other and encouraged each other. There was never a day I didn’t feel the support from those in camp and am so thankful for the many friendships made.

One of the most amazing days was riding into Jersey City that final day. It was an experience like no other. Escorted through three different jurisdictions, police cruisers closing down major interstates and intersections for us to ride straight through. It was hard to not feel like a celebrity but thinking how weird that was because all you were doing was riding your bike. Along the way we got tons of honks in support, people clapping and cheering us on, many not even necessarily knowing what we were about – us trying to throw out as many cards as possible - litterly, lol. It was so cool to ride into Liberty State Park and see the Statue of Liberty for the first time, then lining up along the water’s edge to finish the summer with dipping in our front tires into the Atlantic Ocean. Wow!

I want to end with saying thank you to this church. I want to thank you once again for your prayers for mine and Dirk’s safety this summer, and your prayers that I would be challenged and grow. I also want to thank all of you who sent encouragement notes my way at some point during those 9 weeks. Thanks as well to all of you who contributed towards the fundraising of the bike tour. The final tally from the summer is not exactly complete but at last tally it was somewhere near 2.2 million.

As I close though, I want to say that even though the tour is over, it is not the end. Not the end but rather the beginning. Poverty has not ended and so we must continue to find ways in how we can get involved, whether it be away on a missions trip or locally. But I challenge you all and encourage you all to find ways how you can make a difference. Check out how you can help those within our own community. It can be for an hour, a day or more often but unless we all come together and work at ending the cycle of poverty then how can it? Pray about it and ask God where you can be used today.

Thank you so much!

Continuing On...

2008-09-07T16:04:00.006-04:00

(I would like to apologize for my lack of updating here. At times it was not the easiest to get internet access as you all likely heard and when there was, it didn't seem as important. By that time I was out of trying to keep things updated and rather just focused on the tour and community living. )

Wow, I never thought writing this first blog after stopping well over a month ago would be so hard. I have started writing numerous times and yet I still have yet to post anything.

I guess the best place is to give a bit of a quick update on whatever happened about my health with my knee.

First I have to say a great big THANK YOU to all those who were praying for me throughout this past summer, even when you didn’t know what was going on. I most definitely felt the prayers and I know they, along with God’s love and strength through me was helped me finish riding through the summer.

After my visit to the Sports Injury Therapist, I still had to take a few days off to recover from his therapy as well. Riding with the media crew for one day and riding with Betsy and Art in their SAG the next (Wed, July 30). I even had my own SAG water stop for 2 hours! Though I’ll admit I wondered if Betsy and Art (who had to go pick someone up) would ever come back for me J

I decided that once again I would start back in slow and so on Thursday, July 31 I rode with Walter in the RV to his SAG stop, which was 50km to our destination. The ride was absolutely amazing and I flew! Granted I also experienced the great tailwind everyone was riding with that day. I had my best time this day too even though I wasn’t even pushing that hard. I rode the 50km’s in 1 hr and 30min!

The next day I decided to ride about the same amount and rode with Julie this time to her SAG stop, once again 50km from the end. This was the day that I spotted that fire and wrote about it in the previous blog. This day as well had quite a massive headwind and even though I enjoyed myself I prayed for other cyclists to catch me that I could draft off of for a break. Unfortunately, I could tell I had overdone the ride that evening and once again had to take the Saturday into Nebraska off. It was fairly frustrating.

I didn’t start riding again till the following Tuesday, the section from Sioux City to Sioux Center. I rode with Betsy till she dropped me off once again at the 50km mark to the end. The beginning of the ride I was fairly sluggish and hooked up with Russel till our refreshment stop in Ireton. There had been a bit of a headwind so it was really helpful to have someone to draft off of now and then. After the stop I was feeling much better and left on my own to go at my own speed, expecting others to catch up eventually but I ended up picking up my speed and found myself flying into Dordt College, our stop for the night and also where I hoped a package would be waiting for me.

During the previous week, I had realized that the only way I was going to get the knee brace that I needed was to have my mom purchase it back home off of my Knee Therapist and have her FedEx it to me. So through the help of Erinn and Barb, my mom was able to send it to Barb’s house (which is right near Dordt) and thankfully it arrived on time!! I was set or so I hoped.

The next day was the first big 182km day. It was pouring out! Of course our first really big day of rain and it ends up on the longest day, lol. I decided since Tuesday’s ride went so well; I would get a ride in and start at the 50km mark and just ride as far as I could (plus a small part of me hoped the rain would be done by then, lol). Well, we got to the second refreshment stop and sure enough the rain hadn’t stopped and everyone there was drenched to the bone but in amazing spirits. I was really eager to get on the road so I put on all my rain gear and joined a great group of riders. I ended up riding with Nathan, Eritia, Katrina, Hilena, Joshua and Sarah (part of the time).

What an amazing day!! Definitely up there as one of my favourites. Riding in the rain was great, the weather was really perfect, everyone was laughing having a great time and my knees felt amazing with the new brace – granted I could feel where the knee cap was trying to pop out and the brace was keeping it in, so it was definitely doing it’s job. Things were going so well that I ended up even pushing it a bit and at one point raced up a hill at 40km/hr! It was exhilarating to be able to go at a higher speed once again. It was great being able to let others draft me for awhile instead of always the other way around.
In the end I ended up riding the rest of the day and rode 136km!!

The next day was also 182km’s but this time I decided to start right from the beginning to see if I would be able to do the whole day and if I couldn’t well then I’d just SAG it the rest of the way. But I was pretty determined. I left with Joshua trying to catch up with the group we were going to ride with but had already left. We caught them after a bit but found ourselves continuing on as we had been pacing ourselves at a great speed and were enjoying it so much we were not in the mood to slow down. The day turned into another great one and definitely another favourite for me. Would you believe I actually averaged 26.6km/hr! Though I will admit about 20km from the end my body finally gave out on me. Obviously I couldn’t go at this pace and distance forever. I had only ridden 150km in the past week and a half and now in the past 3 days I had ridden over 350km! My body began to rebel and we had to slow down quite dramatically. I was determined with only 20km’s left to make it in and what a reward when I did. Joshua and I went in search of an ice cream store but after not succeeding we bought a tub of ice cream and a bag of ice (for our knees) and headed back to camp to enjoy success. Would you believe we pretty much finished the entire tub between the 2 of us! Aaron Carpenter helped a bit but still! Lol.

The following day had a very large climb at the end that I didn’t even dare try after finding myself struggling for a fair amount of the ride and ended up riding 112 km of the 161km day. Still pretty happy with that.

From that point on, however, I was able to once again rejoin the riding portion in full. Thanks to all the prayers, encouragement, my knee brace and of course the all powerful and loving Lord I was able to complete every Km on, even the steep hills and long climbs the last few day! What a glorious gift.

I had promised myself that no matter what happened I would make sure I rode the last 2 weeks but in the end I was able to ride nearly the entire last 4 weeks! God is GREAT!
Obviously there were still some days that were more trying then others but everyone was experiencing that.

Well, that about wraps up the story (and questions) about my knee. Sorry it took so long for the update (which is now an essay :P).

I hope to continue writing about a few more Sea to Sea related items and I promise to not take another month to post them so if you are still in the need to read a cyclists blog, continue to check me out.

A Week of Miracles

2008-08-02T10:24:00.007-04:00

Well, I didn't get a lot of riding in this week. Only 100km, split between 2 days but what can you do.

Instead I enjoyed the week by spending the days with different crew members. It's actually quite nice to view all the different sides to this tour and how much work our amazing volunteer crew staff put into this tour. They really deserve lots of encouragement from everyone and lots of thanks for all that they do for us.

The cool thing for me this week is that even through the hard times of this week God has sent me a miracle and used me for one. This past week I have seen God more then any other week and I am so thankful for these moments.

On Monday, I originally was going to send Erinn Swett off to find me the Knee Brace I needed that was recommended by my Knee Therapist, Conor, back home. In the end though, I thought it would be better to do things right the first time and go with her so that I could be properly fitted and also get my ankles checked out at the same time as I was having major issues with them swelling up like balloons (or as we like to joke, the worst cankles ever - where your calf and ankles combine :P).

Erinn had to go to the airport to drop off a few people and then get a hold of Joy, Pastor Len's cousin, as he had unfortunately forgotten his passport at their house (he stayed with them for the weekend) and she needed to go pick it up for him.

I spent the hour and a half on the phone feeling like I was on a wild goose chase. It was crazy, every hospital or medical centre I called passed me onto the next person. About 30 min in of calls I discovered that in the States you have to have a prescription for the Knee Brace I was getting (this isn't some high tech brace but better then your Walmart special). So now I was on the phone trying to find out how I could get a prescription and trying to find a place that could see me that day. I had nearly given up when I saw Erinn coming up the way. I went to tell her about my no-luck so far when she began to tell me her great news!!

While she was on the phone with Joy, Erinn had mentioned about the fact that I was trying to get a hold of someone about my knee and Joy stated that there is a Sports Injury Therapist that is within their Christian community (who also has worked with the Olympic athletes before) and said she would see if she could get me an appointment.

Pretty much in the midst of Erinn telling me this, Joy called and informed us that I had an appointment for 11:30AM with the partner, Jon Seeman of The Center for Spine Pain and Wellness. We jumped up and down with joy. I new as well that I had a number of people back home praying for me that I would get an appointment of some sort this weekend. Originally I was trying to see the founder of ART Therapy as Conor had told me that he was from Denver, CO but we discovered that his office was a 100 miles away still from where we were staying on the weekend, so that was a no go. But now here God used a number of various people to make it happen, starting with the purpose of Len needing to forget his passport at Joy's because it needed to be something important enough that Erinn had to go and get it and be in contact with Joy! Amazing how things work themselves out. Often you don't have the opportunity to see the effect of how or why the dominoes fall in a certain direction.

So we headed over there and I ended up being in the office for an hour and a half. He scraped at my scar soft tissues to get it to release (which I now have bruises from :P) then used Electrical Stimulation (that was weird as I could see my thigh pulse out from it and of course feel it too). As well as low level laser therapy, MRS therapy and adjustment. I was amazed at how much he did for me. Fitting me in on such short notice with a very long appointment. Was very detailed and explained everything to me as we went along, waved the consultation fee!! so in the end everything only cost me $65 US! I was absolutely blown away. He was and is a great man and I just want to send out a huge thanks to you, Jon and your office.

The rest of the day was great spent with Erinn driving around in her hot (rental) mustang. We went out for lunch and were going to do some retail therapy :) but there really wasn't enough time and I was getting a little tired.

Praise God for his amazing love and constant watching over us. Thank you as well to everyone for all your prayers.

Oh yeah, so my knee is not miraculously healed, but I did find out that even though it is badly agitated as long as I give it lots of rest over the winter I should not have any permanent damage. I just have to keep on top of elevating, icing and stretching.

So that was the start of the week. During the week we had numerous encounters of people coming up to us, praying for us outside of a 7-Eleven (that was so amazing). Art, Betsy and I were in the 7-Eleven and she was like are you that Christian bike group? and we said we were and she said to put all our stuff on her tab! Then Art and I were outside waiting for Betsy and she came up to us saying out she was going to be late but it didn't matter. She felt a strong presence that she needed to pray with us and she prayed a lot for the tours safety which is what we really need this week (well every week). It was so amazing!

Later on that day at our SAG stop we had a gentleman show up and give us a number of free health drinks to try and pass out.

My other big miracle story happened on Friday on my only other day of riding (I also rode part on Thursday). I drove with Julie today to her SAG stop (50km to the end) and started from there. Unfortunately, there was a very strong head wind the entire ride.

I was coming up a road and I could see smoke in the distance. There's been a number of times on the tour that this has happened and usually it's nothing much. I was thinking and hoping that was the case for this time as well. As I rounded the corner I noticed that some of the smoke was coming from a dugout pit that appeared they were burning stuff on purpose and it was mostly all gone already. However, there was another smoke cloud and I noticed that one of the large trees along the propriety was on fire inside the trunk. There was debris right in front of the tree so I wasn't sure if it was on purpose or not but one thing I have learned on this tour is to never assume anything. I saw that there was a house half a mile down the gravel road, so I layed my bike down and walked in my cleats over.

Luckily the women of the house, Deb Swartz was home and I informed her of what I had saw, not knowing that the tree was a part of their new purchased property. We hoped on her 4-wheeler to go check it out. In the time from when I first saw the fire to the time we got back, maybe 20 min later, the fire had spread up and extra 4 feet or so inside the trunk and was starting to near the crown of the tree. The tree was NOT suppose to be on fire and she couldn't believe it. Apparently her husband and a few other men had been clearing some of the debris from the land and since it was more at the smouldering faze decided it was safe to go for lunch. However, the wind had picked up a great deal and I guess a spark jumped out of the pit and spread to the tree. Deb was extremely thankful that I had stopped to let them know. I was just thankful that I had listened to my intuition and heart. I had felt God almost nudging me just to make sure.

Well, in her thanks she asked if I had had lunch yet and sent me to the next town to Kerry's Bar and Grill on her. I rode their while she called the men back from that place and dealt with the fire. I reached there maybe 30 min later. I wasn't sure how to go in and what to say to the people there but they knew who I was right away. I asked if I could sit with some of the locals and had a very pleasant lunch learning about the area and the farming and telling them about the tour. I guess one of the ladies called Deb to tell her I was there as she showed up not too much after. She informed me that sadly they did have to cut the tree down but where so thankful it had been caught when it was so that the fire had not spread to more trees or more of the property. She asked if there was anything that she could do for me but I kindly declined as I was just glad to be able to be in the right spot at the right time (through God's providence once again). She wanted to do something and said she would go home and check out the tour online and make a donation there. That wasn't the purpose of this but was a wonderful gesture. (Deb if you are reading this, I just want to say that I am glad I met you, though not under such circumstances, and I thank you as well. You and your family are in my prayers as you start this next section of your life with your new property and farming responsibilites. God's blessings!)

Later on that day I discovered that a number of others from the tour bumped into her at a Subway and heard the whole story and took some more pictures with her! Too cool.

So the moral of this story though is when you see something that just doesn't seem right, don't assume that someone else has dealt with the matter. Take a moment out of your time to just check things out before you move on. What made me stop was also a discussion I had had with Hilena Zylstra (my friend and social worker from home). She had told me that it is sadly very common for people to not act until they see someone else act first (it's a sociological/phsycological phenomenon that we dissociate ourselves from a situation as we figure someone else is already dealing with it). So we must be in reminder of this and take the lead and the initiative.

Today (Sunday) we also had another Godsend, a few people had to stay back from the church services we were attending to act as security for our stuff. They attended The Good Shepherd Lutheran Church across the street and after the service filled them in on what was going on across the way and what we are about. Since then they have been absolutely amazing to us, opening their doors (litterly), feeding us (with LOTS of food) that they only just started making this afternoon and hasn't stopped coming. They are also allowing anyone to sleep inside in the coolness of the halls. Thank you so much to all the members!! You truly have acted as Christ to us.

Well, I think that my blog is a pretty long one once again so I probably should wrap it up. Thanks to everyone back home for everything. I miss you and love you all and pray that things are well for you too.

Love Stephanie

A Rollercoaster Week of Emotion

2008-07-27T14:24:00.006-04:00

Well, it's Sunday. Just back from an amazing (but extremely hot) Celebration Rally here in Denver, Colorado.

Week 4 is now behind us and though there were great days and beautiful scenery I am thankful to have it over and look forward to week 5 with more downhill then up :)

This past week has been an extremely emotional and trying week for me and at times very frustrating, unfortunately. But it has also been a week of once again learning patience and putting it into action (which was the theme for the week) and accepting that it's okay to be served now and then rather then serve.

For those of you who don't know, I had many troubles with me knee this week with all the climbing and had to make some hard decisions. I am so thankful though that God put people right where I needed them to be when I felt like I couldn't go on.

I started out being on sweep team this week and the first part of the day went well. I flew up the first mountain and it was such a great feeling...but then we hit the second mountain and though we are not sure of exact numbers, we climbed roughly from just under 7000 ft to 9485 ft with an 8% grade a fair amount of the way. Things were going okay in the beginning but then they just turned sour. My knees gave out and shortly after my entire body. I was riding with Justin Helder and he was a godsend. He helped keep my mind off of the pain and helped me climb right to the top of that mountain. Of course we were stopping every couple of km's to take "photo breaks" (which could also be labeled as breathing breaks due to high elevation :P).

Of course with almost every large climb is a wonderful downhill ride. We rode into Hanna (small town) at the halfway point and stopped at a restaurant where many other cyclists were stopped.
It was there that my breaking point happened. We had 60km's left and I knew that I couldn't do it anymore but I didn't want to face that fact. My fellow sweep mate, Barb, found me out back and talked with me, prayed with me and helped me to make the decision that I needed to stop for the day and take the SAG wagon back. You wouldn't believe the number of emotions and thoughts that were running through my head.

I've let people down, I've let myself down...no, it's okay, it isn't the end of the world if I don't ride every km...but it sure feels like it...this tour isn't about me...why can't my body just be fine...I made it 3 weeks...that in itself is a great accomplishment...and I have 6 more weeks to go...need to be smart....and so on...the thoughts continued to come and with each, more tears.

Everyone was so compassionate and caring that evening. It blows me away the support that comes from within this tour and from those back home. I was so thankful too to talk with my mom that night too...sometimes that's exactly what you need.

Of course the next morning, still being sort of stubborn but having accepted some of my feat, I decided that I would still try riding the downhill portion that started out the day and then get picked up before the climb...I lasted 4 km's. 2km's out of town and the 2 to get back.

For the next 2 days, I rode with the wonderful kitchen crew that infolded me and helped me make the best of those days. I really did have so much fun with them and am so thankful for all the laughter.

Though I'll admit, I am amazed how quickly when sitting on the sidelines, you almost feel like you were never riding. Watching others through the clean windows of Jeri's jeep (I windex'd them before we left, haha, wanted to make sure I could still take good pics, I'm weird I know).

I didn't know how quickly I could let myself ride again but I was getting antsy and decided on Thursday (even though anticipated as one of the hardest days of the week) to get back on my bike with the intention of getting picked up by Betsy before the big climb and dropped off for the glory-downhill ride. I rode with Pastor Len. He is such a great guy to ride with, especially on the days where you are a little down. I am so thankful that he is on this tour and that God put him in my life. We had such a great day together and good conversation and we took our time, just enjoying the moment of being able to cycle.

I rode on Friday as well with the girls for the 55km day. We dilly-dawdled most of the day and it was awesome. Starting out with breakfast, then another restaurant snack stop as well as a candy store stop :) We also stopped for coffee one more time with only 15km and a climb left to go.

Sadly I discovered that my knee was not happy to do another climb and it failed on me again. With only a couple of km's to go I had to flag down Betsy (SAG driver) and hitch a ride into camp. I was so close. It was definitely a bit disheartening that on such a small climb I was still having such trouble. I really struggled that evening not knowing what I should do about Saturday's ride. There was some beautiful downhill that I really wanted to ride but the day started with a large climb and there was another one halfway through the day and I didn't want to be an annoyance by asking to be driven twice to bypass the climbs. But Betsy is just wonderful and goes out of her way to make you feel okay while she's is once again locking your bike up on the top of the van.
I was truly thankful that during Friday evening we had communion together as a community and also said goodbye to the riders who were only with us for the first 4 weeks. It was a very powerful and needed evening. I'm also thankful for wonderful friends like Nick Ellens, who are there for you when you need to cry on their shoulder (and of course to so many more people - you know who you are).

Well, I ended up riding 80km's of the 140km day on Saturday and it was so great. I'm so thankful I got to do part of it. Coming down the mountain was awesome (breaking my speed record only by a bit, but hit 72.7km/hour) and going through the canyons was amazing. God is so good! What an artist.

Going back to a comment I made at the beginning of this blog about learning to be served rather then to serve, I just want to explain what I mean. One thing that I and Julia have really enjoyed doing over the last week is sending notes to those who have had a hard and trying day. Being of the few late (and mature) 20 year olds, we have taken it upon ourselves to spread as much encouragement to others as possible when we can.

However, this week there hasn't been any of it. I think this has contributed to my fustration as we constantly talk about this tour not being about us and this week I've hated the fact that I feel like it's been all about me. It's hard to accept having the tables turned. To be the weaker person rather then being the strong one who watches out for others.

So I go into this coming week in hopes of a better one but also with understanding that there may still be trying days ahead. I also hope that I can put the focus back more where it should be. First on God and all his glory, second on spreading awareness of what this tour is about and awareness of poverty and to get involved and lastly on others involved in the tour. I realize that there is nothing wrong with having to take time for yourself but I am definitely looking forward to seeing smiles and laughter on the faces of others.

Thank you all so much for your love and support for myself and for everyone here. I miss you all.

I'm Alive!!

2008-07-11T23:38:00.007-04:00

Hey Everyone!!

It's me! Can you believe it! I sure can't. I haven't had much luck with getting on the Internet since being here. Seems like every time I finally get my hands on a laptop, that's when the connection goes down. Ah, well. I'm on now.

I finally uploaded all my pictures to date to my flickr page with some stories along with them. Please check them out!

Sadly I won't really be keeping a detailed day to day blog anymore as it is just too hard to being able to get online to keep it up-to-date. I will probably be posting pictures more then anything.

But I do want to give a quick update.

Things have been awesome here! I can't believe we are nearly done our second week of riding! How the time sure does fly by! Only 7 more weeks to go :( lol.

Everyone here is absolutely amazing and wonderful. The relationships that have been forming are so genuine. Everyone has such a respect for each other and for the leaders as well. There is just this wonderful sense of peace and community over the camp. It's wonderful.

I can't begin to tell you how much fun I am having. It's soo busy here, always having something to do. So many stories to tell...I've been able to keep my journal up to-date so far so if you have time when I get back I'll be able to tell you all about the summer. For now though you'll mostly have to read them through other people's blogs who I have been hanging out with. (Sorry)

I have been riding mostly with Hilena, Julia, Nick, Joshua, Ryan, Jeff S., David S. Len M., Jenna, Kaitlyn, Annette and so many more. I have been trying to jump around, especially on the days where my knee really bothers me as I hate to slow people down. Julia and Hilena (and others) have been so caring and considerate for when I need to stop and stretch.

Oh yeah, for those of you who have not heard, sadly my knee acted up right away on the first day and gave me a lot of grief. I've been popping those anti-inflammitory meds ever since (so much for my liver, lol). I have had so many people praying for me and I know that is what is getting me through each day. There have been moments I'll admit (like the second day before the hill climb up Steven's Pass) that I didn't know if I would be able to make it but God has been with me in every pedal stroke I take. Now it hasn't been all bad. I have had a number of days where I've been able to ride with not much pain and those days I try to fly and push for at least half of the ride to build up my strength. It's soooo much fun to do.

I've been getting to meet so many people of various ages and it's been wonderful. I have shed all competition feelings and have just accepted the speed I have to go at now and then. I have such a sense of peace about it and really don't feel in any hurry (except near the end on super long days) to get to Point B. It's been great. God has really helped me through this.

I've ridden with Len our main chaplain a few times now and it's been so much fun. He is such a great guy and has such an amazing character. He makes me laugh so much. Yesterday, it was just the two of us riding, just taking our time. I learned so much about him, his childhood, his children and how he met his wife. Amazing stories, which I all wrote down in my journal.

I absolutely love my sweep team. We work sooo well together and have such a great time. We've been sweep twice now (as we are Team A). We started with supper last night and then we swept the ride today (on an easy 56km, which we deserved after our super hard sweep last Tuesday up Steven's pass - we didn't get in till 6:45pm that night).

The food has been amazing here as well. The cooking staff have really outdone themselves. I am definitely NOT loosing any weight but in fact think I have gained some!! lol.

Ed and Jen having done a great job with leadership too and Ed has mapped out some really great routes with wide shoulders for us to bike on. Though the last couple of days we have had no choice but to ride on the very busy interstate a few times (something many have not enjoyed). Yesterday Len and I flew along the interstate at 35-45km/hour!

Well, I really should get going. I skipped Paleton and small groups tonight to get caught up (shame on me I know :P) but sometimes you got to do what you got to do :)

Anyhow I hope things are all well with all of you too!

ONE WEEK!

2008-06-23T09:06:00.002-04:00

Can you believe it! After waiting well over a year for this day to come it is nearly here.
Only ONE MORE WEEK till we are beginning the ride of our lives! Probably by now we have already dipped our back tire in at Golden Garden Beach in Seattle and our now on our way down the road! Having already started meeting new people and beginning the journey of getting to know eachother!
I am soooo excited and can not wait!!
Please though in this last week, keep everyone in your prayers. I don't know about others but besides my huge excitement there are definant nerves beginning to arise.
Well, I am off tomorrow for Vancouver. Leaving from Toronto at noon! Crazy....it's all coming so fast now!
Thanks for all your love and support over the last number of months and I look forward to hearing from you all along the way.
Love
Stephanie :)

Coast to Coast

2008-06-22T16:47:00.003-04:00

Well I will admit, I did not expect to end up in a paper this close to the start of the tour. It was kind of cool how it all happened actually. A women from my Pilates class works for United Way in Woodstock and they had a big photo shoot the week previous. Somehow she got on the topic of my summer and of Sea to Sea. The photography she was talking too was really interested in doing an interview with me and asked her to tell me to get in touch with him (as she didn't have info on how to connect with me).

So I was off to any other Pilates class this past Tuesday (or so I think) and Kelsey tells me her story. So as soon as I got back to work I gave the photographer from the Sentinel Review (Woodstock's daily, but small newspaper). We set up a time for the following day and that's pretty much how it went. I ended up using my old mtn bike helmet and my coworkers commuter bike for the picture.

The story ended up in Friday's paper and to my surprise ended up on the front page with a gigantic picture of me! Yikes, lol. I was expecting a small article with an equally small gray scale pic on the inside somewhere. lol.

Anyhow I have attached the text from the article for you to read (the only disappointment was he forgot to add the website so people could check it for more info, but incase they call my office - as it did mention where I worked - they can pass on all the info).

Coast to coast
Posted By Elliot Ferguson, Staff Photographer

On June 30, Stephanie Webb will put the rear wheel of her bicycle in the Pacific Ocean.
If all goes to plan, nine weeks later she will dip the front wheel in the Atlantic.
Webb, 26, is gearing up to be one of close to 220 cyclists taking part in a 6,200-kilometre ride across North America to fight global poverty. It's a cause Webb said she has always wanted to become involved in.
"You don't always know how you can make an impact," said Webb, who works as a graphic designer at Oxford Media Group.
"When I heard about this, combined with biking, I thought (it was) perfect."
The Sea to Sea tour is organized by the Christian Reformed Church. It raises money to help fund programs that fight global poverty and help communities in developing countries.
Webb first heard about the ride in 2005, when it crossed Canada. She regretted not taking part in that ride, and when she heard about this year's tour she was among the first to sign up.
Each rider has a fundraising goal of $10,000, and Webb is close to $2,000 past that amount.
Webb has competed in mountain biking for about five years and started riding on the road seriously two years ago.
She'll need the training those years have provided.
This year's tour includes 54 days of riding, including six "century" days, where riders will cover more than 100 miles (160 km).
"It can be somewhat overwhelming when you think about it, but you'll get there," she said.
The Sea to Sea tour is scheduled to roll through Woodstock Aug. 22, during the London to Hamilton stage.

An Old Forgotten Friend

2008-06-18T15:51:00.005-04:00

Well with my road bike now in Grand Rapids waiting to be taken tomorrow on the gear truck to Seattle, I decided to grab my mountain bike from my parents garage where "Sugar" (it's a Gary Fisher Sugar 29er) has waited 8 months for me to remember her.

I couldn't believe it had been that long but it was obvious when I hoped on for a ride monday night and everything felt so wrong. I felt like I was so compact on this bike that my elbows were by my side, that my back felt nearly straight up in the air and I felt like I was 2 miles of the ground!

I couldn't believe how the bike that I had been riding for, I think 3 or 4 years was completely unfamiliar too me. I have to admit I was somewhat devestated. I wondered how things would go after the summer as I had it in mind to sign up for the Squeezer Bike Race again this year (figured with my summer trainging ;) I might have a chance at first place this year) but now I wondered how well that might go. I guess though I do have a month before the race after I come home to get use to riding on my mtn bike and riding through the trails.

Anyhow so I decided rather than riding all road I would follow along the grand river trails, since I never do them on my road bike as there is too much gravel.

It was a really nice ride (though the bugs were out). I headed towards Paris and came out at Oakpark Road and was going to keep going when I saw the big grey clouds. I stopped for a minute to see which way they were actually going and realized they were heading right for my area so I decided to turn around just incase.

I was about 16km into my ride when all of a sudden BAM, my tube blew! Absolute dread filled me as I had no tools or a tube for that matter on me to fix a flat, seeing as all my tools were taped to the side of my bike box in Grand Rapids :P I had taken my cell phone along and took it out to try and call a friend...of course to no avail as I was down low in a valley. I started walking and everynow and then held up my cell to see if I had service yet...that's when the rain started, lol. Found a tree to tuck myself under and was surprised to find I sort of had service in this area, phew. I got a hold of my friend Amanda and asked if she could come pick me up...unfortunatly, the instructions to find me were not the easiest as I had to try calling her about 3 times as I kept loosing my signal.

Thankfully a very nice couple out walking their dog offered to give me a lift to a main road and the use of their cellphone that seemed to work much better than mine so I could make sure Amanda new exactly where to meet me. I found out later that Amanda had been called by another friend a half hour before to go out but thankfully God's plan was for Amanda to be home for when my call came in :) (Thanks girlie)

So, anyhow so much for trying to get on the bike some more this week. Tuesday night the weather was bad and just went to the gym instead and the rest of the week is too busy with getting things together so I guess that's about it for my training now.

Can't believe that this friday is my last day of work and in less then a week now I'll be visiting with my friend Julia in Vancouver!

The countdown is really on now...only 12 more days till we start to ride!!!! I'm getting sooo excited for it but am also starting to get a wee bit nervous with anticipation. Definitely ready to get going :) Soon.... Yeahhhh!

Packing it up

2008-06-12T14:47:00.013-04:00

My bike that is :(

After talking with Helena last Friday, I decided to send my bike along with my pastor to Synod in Grand Rapids to get it on the Gear Truck that will be leaving next week for Seattle. This way I won't have to worry about my bike on the other end once I am in Vancouver visiting my friend Julia and family just before the tour. It's been a bit of a stressful few days and though I am sad that I won't have my bike to ride over the next 2 weeks, I am glad to have it all taken care of now.

Here are a few pictures of Mari and Dave and I packing up my bike. (A big THANKS send out to you guys again!)

Putting the "Peddle" IN the Metal :)

2008-06-11T11:44:00.007-04:00

It's been such a busy week this week! I'm packing up my bike tonight (with the help of my wonderful friends Mari and Dave again - what would I do without them I don't know) and with that I have been trying to cram the rides in for the past 4 days.

Went out Saturday morning about 8:45am. Trying to beat some of the humidity heat that would boil down on us later in the afternoon. I had already stopped once at my usual place for a warm up stretch and was about 22km into my ride. I was going to pull over again for another quick stretch when all of a sudden these 4 guys came flying by. Something told me to hop onto their draft and ride with them for a bit. Well would you believe that one of the guys ended up being Mark DeVries from Sea to Sea 2005!! That was really cool. I couldn't help but think here I was about to stop again and all of a sudden found myself riding at about 32 km/hr! It was nice getting to ride with them for a bit and to chat it up with Mark. They also really encouraged me and I was quite impressed with myself that I was able to stay side by side with them even on the steeper hills. Though I'll admit I am thankful that I only did about 10-15km with them (I couldn't have handled that speed the whole ride that's for sure) but it was definitely a nice break to ride with a group again.

We hit Hwy 52 and they continued on into Ancaster/Hamilton where they had come from and I turned around to continue my route and head back towards Brantford.

At about 50km I thought I would stop in at my friends house...sadly they were not there (also sad cause I really needed to use their washroom, lol). I decided that I would slow my pace down and ride into downtown Brantford as there was suppose to be a street festival going on and as well I thought I would stop by the "Why Not City Missions" Centre where I volunteer at. They usually have women's breakfast and worship sat mornings. It was so nice to see a few familiar faces that I hadn't seen in awhile (and I also apparently planned it right as they still were eating so I filled up on food too :).

All in all it was a great ride. I rode about 6okm (nearly double my longest ride to date before). In total I rode for about 2 1/2 hours but was gone for 3 1/2 hours (due to my long visit at "Why Not").

That evening my friend Paula was having the first official summer patio party but to my surprise they ended up combining it with a surprise goodbye party for me. I was so blown away. OH and this is where the title comes in. They were trying to decide what to put on my cake, didn't think "Go Steph Go" was enough or "It's okay to Fail" and "Don't Die" (my loving friends :) ) were a little harsh, so they decided on "Put the Pedal to the Metal" however the lady who wrote up the cake kind of had some issues, lol, and wrote "Put the Peddle IN the Metal". Made for a great story. They also got me a big bouquet of flower. So sweet. Thanks guys. Sure going to miss you over the summer.

On Sunday, Hilena, Nick and I got together for another later afternoon ride, starting in bright sunny super hot weather (32 degrees feeling like 40) and ended in a great big storm! We rode around Ancaster and then down the escarpment into Dundas to the Buskerfestival. However, we were about an hour late :P oops. We stopped in at Freewheel Cycle for a bit to arrange our bike box pickups later in the week and the first Thunderstorm came through. Good timing. We then stopped at Thirsty Cactus for a bit as we were starving and storm #2 came through! Wow great timing again! We rode back up Wilson Street up the escarpment and then decided we had better head home as it was starting to get late out and we could see another stormy cloud coming in. It wasn't long before there was lightening all around us.

We got back to my parents house like 2 min before the big drops of rain came. Nick decided he could make it home down the escarpment and took off. Well all of a sudden a major tidal wave of rain hit and Hilena and I ran for my parents garage. It kept getting worse and we hoped Nick would turn around and come back. I ran out into the rain to see if I could still see him and yell for him to come back but there he was coming around the corner (phew). He came riding up the driveway soaked. He said all of a sudden he couldn't see anything, not even a truck that turned right in front of him! It was crazy. Though we were laughing so hard standing in the garage watching the storm that came in in a matter of seconds, couldn't believe how soaked we got in a matter of seconds. My mom came to the door with towels for all of us :) The storm lasted maybe 30-40min. It was great to watch though...from inside :)

God sure was watching out for us that day that's for sure! It's funny I've had a few people comment just over the last few days what do you do if you run into a lightening storm and I said, "Pray and trust that God will get us through safe and sound!" He sure did that day!

Also managed to get out for 2 more rides on Monday and Tuesday evening. In total over the 4 days I rode about 170km. Not too bad :)

Flying High!

2008-06-04T21:45:00.003-04:00

What a great day!
It first started with my mom calling me at work to tell me that from the bunch of letters I sent a few weeks ago to various companies I had recieved 3 RESPONSES all today! and along with them amazing support and contribution to the cause to fight poverty. In total from those 3 letters there were $800 in donations! Absolutely amazing! Praise God! Mom said when whe opened the mail all she saw at first was junkmail and she just sent a quick prayer up asking for something positive and low and behold were those 3 letters tucked in with it! So cool.

After work, I grabbed my bike and headed out for another ride. Missed riding last night due to weather but hit the gym instead. Today the weather was still blah, very foggy, misty, but warm at least so out I went anyhow. Thankfully the wind was blowing in the right direction so I could do my favourite route the right way with hitting the strong winds on my way out and having them at my back on the way home. Even though it was a slow ride out it still felt great and when I turned around I was flying! Riding and my spirit! It just felt so right and so great and I'm just so thankful that I was able to have that experience again. Thank you Lord for watching over me and guiding me through. Only through you.

I can also start to tell that my strength is slowly starting to come back. Yeah :) I was in such good spirits despite the gloomy weather overhead that when I got home and was doing my stretches listening to my IPod, I was also doing a little boogying outside! lol I'm sure I might have made a few neighbours smile, lol. Ah well, it's all good.

What a great day :)

Friends vs. IPods

2008-06-02T21:08:00.008-04:00

So Hilena and I got to go riding Sunday afternoon and it was sooo great!

We rode 32 km in an hour and 20 min (with about 15 minutes of stretching throughout for me, though the one time was way longer because we got to gabbing :) ).

And that's where the title comes in. You may have noticed in the picture of me in the previous blog that I have headphones on (don't worry I keep my music soft enough that I can hear a beat but also hear the sounds around me). I didn't get the IPod till last September and I do have to admit it really does make a lonely ride much more enjoyable and gives me more power in my ride.

BUT I will still take riding with people over my IPod any day. Hilena and I had so much fun and she was so considerate of my need to stop for stretching. I look forward to getting to ride more together during this summer...we realized we only have one more weekend before she leaves for Vancouver and then I leave the following week for Vancouver first too.

She was telling me how she was sitting in church yesterday morning and all of a sudden it hit her that in 2 weeks at that time she would be sitting on a plan and then I realized that I'd be gone in 23 more days as well!! It is just coming sooo fast now. I can't begin to describe how exciting I am starting to get...but I still feel I have a few things to take care of before I am ready...including moving back home! Thank goodness for a great mom who spent the day in my house packing for me :) I'm so spoiled :)

Got out for another quick ride today as well. I increased my km amount just a bit and did 22km today in an hour. Just another nice leisurely ride. I realized I had accidently forgotten my inserts for my shoes but it was okay. Perfect weather out. Sunny warm 23 degrees :) Love it! Hoping to get out everday but thursday this week so hopefully the weather cooperates. We had some amazing lightening (and thunder) storms this past weekend. Drove home through one. Had to remind myself to keep an eye on the road instead of the sky :P God sure knows how to do fireworks right!

The 30 Km mark

2008-05-31T14:08:00.007-04:00

Well managed to get out for another ride today. Thankfully the forcast for thunderstorms held up till later in the afternoon and was able to get a nearly sunny ride in.

I was cruising on my way out and was having such an enjoyable ride. Temperature was perfect, wind was decent, things were going well. I felt like I could have gone on forever but it was my plan to do only around 30km mark since it would only be my second time riding that long to-date.

Well lets just say I'm glad I didn't keep going on forever...in that direction...because I don't know what the radio guy was talking about barely any winds because when I turned around those "barely" winds seemed to be making themselves known. Though my plan was to really just take it easy on this ride so I wasn't overly concerned with my lower speeds on the way back.

I had averaged about 26.6km/hr on the way out and my speed on the way back amazingly only dropped me down to 23.3km/hr which really isn't much different then the averages I've been pulling lately. A sure cry from what I use to pull last year but once again I'm only in the beginning stages of getting back into training.

Even though the ride was great on the whole, unfortunately at km mark 28 my knee started to act up again. I slowed right down but it didn't deter. So once again I jumped off my bike and proceeded to do a number of stretches on the side of the road. It seemed to help but I could still tell I had to take it slow the last bit of the way home. I ended up doing 35 km in total (riding time was 1 hr 28min, actual time out was 1 hr 55 min). The last time I did around this much, it seemed that right around the 30km mark was when my knee starting bugging me that time. Here's praying I can get over this hump.

Well the plan tomorrow is to go riding with Hilena (finally) so hopefully all things go well there. I've missed getting to ride with her.

I took a few shots while biking today. I've noticed some of the lovely pictures others have taken and posted on their blog and thought I'd better get on gear on that as well. Enjoy :)

Back into the swing...er, I mean spin of things

2008-05-30T09:22:00.003-04:00

Only ONE MORE MONTH TO GO till we officially start riding!!! Wow I can not believe how fast it is coming now and I am so excited to get going.

It's been awhile since I have written on my blog even though there have been many times that I have thought about it. Up until the last few weeks I was still having trouble with my knee and kept getting so frustrated and I really didn't want my blogs to keep being about that, so in the end I never wrote.

But this past week, I have started getting into a bit of a schedule and things have been going great so far (much to my relief). Though I have only been doing about 15-18km / day of riding, I have gone out every day of this week and my total is about 70km so far for the week and I still have the weekend to go. To some this may seem fairly small considering most of our days are going to be well over 100km long but I've really learned over the last few months how important it is to ease back into something. One analogy that I think about that I heard at a christian retreat last year was that we need to be like elastic bands. An elastic band needs to be constantly stretched so that when shot across a room it can go really far, otherwise if it just sits there it will become hard and brittle and fall apart. The message here is that we sometimes have to pull back in order to spring ahead. And man I have done my share of pulling back.

ART therapy has really helped heal my knee but so has my dependence on God and my constant prayers to him. As well as all of my family and friends who have been acting as prayer warriors for me (thank you). They have been a real encouragement to me in my down times. I like the one comment made to me by a relative that maybe the purpose for me learning to slow down in my riding is that I will get the chance to ride with some people I might not have had the chance to otherwise.

I look forward to finally getting to ride with the cyclists who right now I only know through e-mails. It's going to be so amazing. My excitement is definitely building.

I am also amazed that I now only have $2000 more to go to reach my goal of $10,000. I have been blown away by so many and by the support they have shown for myself and for the cause of this tour. Thank you to all of you.

Please continually keep all of those involved in the tour in your prayers as we are only still just in the beginning stages.

One month and counting :)

A Night of Games

2008-04-27T17:56:00.007-04:00

This past Saturday, myself and the other riders from Immanuel CRC held a Progressive Euchre Game Night. We also put together a bit of a silent auction.
Though it was a bit smaller of a turn out then hoped, those that came had a great time. On an agreement of all we decided to continue our Silent Auction till next Saturday when we host the Bike Bike Breakfast at Immanuel CRC.
If you are in Hamilton next Saturday, 8-10am come out for some great food. The whole works - eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes and more! Maybe even waffles! Then while there check out our great selection of Silent Auction items.
**Side note: The breakfast fundraiser was a huge success. In total from all 3 fundraisers the Immanuel Team put on we riased approx. $3600. Thanks to everyone involved and for coming out (special thanks to a few of my friends for their support, so glad you could make it out).

Shifting Gears

2008-04-27T16:43:00.007-04:00

That's the title of our accompanying sea to sea devotional (which has just been finished being written and is off to print, go to http://www.crcna.org/pages/sea_shiftinggears.cfm to order your copy) but I also thought it worked well for this blog as I've been finding myself constantly having to shift gears in various ways over the last few weeks.

I finally found myself a therapist for my knee. He is performing something called ART (active release therapy) and it seems to definitely be helping (sighh of huge relief here). Over the last while I have had to shift my gears in my urgency to get training and to really learn patience and absolute dependence and trust in God (though I'll admit every time I read another cyclists blog about how many km's they've put in I ache to really get out on that road). It's been a constant prayer thing and it's been what's been getting me through and of course the many encouragements from friends, family and the church.

I'll say though even though my training has slowed down it seems like nothing else has. Fundraising is definitely a big task and can be very time consuming but when it's for such an important cause it's the push needed to keep going with it all. Especially when this past week they announced in the news with everything on the rise as far as costs go that another 100 million will be in poverty now. THAT'S ANOTHER 100 MILLION!! We can say it over and over and over again but does it every really hit us as real? That it's happening all over all the time.

"It is estimated there are more than 3 billion people in the world who live on less than $2 a day," Bellamy said. "Half of these are children and half of those are living on less than $1 a day."

I just finished reading a book titled, "They Poured Fire On Us from the Sky". It's a true story about 3 Lost Boys from Sudan and their journey across Sudan to Kenya and then to America. Throughout reading the horrors that they go through once again I find myself reminding myself that this isn't just a story, this really happened. When I was 13 and doing what young 13 year olds do (sleepovers, stuffing our face with junk food, etc) these boys were starving to death, only surviving by eating dirt, grass and bugs. Many of these boys were only 4 years old when they started to walk across Sudan to safety!!

It's things like this that has really pushed me to be a part of this tour.

I've also found though that even though this issue ways so heavy in my thoughts and in my preparation for this summer I sometimes catch myself not talking enough about that aspect of what this summer is about. We do all these different fundraisers and people come and spend money and that's great and all because in reality that is what we are hoping for but our focus still needs to be more about bringing awareness to those around us. The awareness is just as important because in awareness people can learn what they can do to help in this word wide issue.

The other week an e-mail was sent out to us cyclists about an idea that the Sea to Sea committee was looking at putting into action. Community Projects during the tour! On some of the lower km days of riding, a number of cyclists will go into communities that we pass through to help out in whatever way we can. Whether it's working in a foodbank or painting graffiti off a church, I'm so excited about this idea because even though I feel like what we are doing this summer, as far as riding goes, is no small feat but here we have the opportunity to really get involved as well. I think that one of these community project days will end up being a highlight of tour.

So in ending, first I ask, have you had a chance to support this cause of Ending the Cycle of Poverty by supporting one of the many cyclists going on this tour, financially and spiritually?

Also what more can you do? Remember the story of the boy and the starfish:

The Boy and the Starfish
A man was walking along a deserted beach at sunset. As he walked he could see a young boy in the distance, as he drew nearer he noticed that the boy kept bending down, picking something up and throwing it into the water. Time and again he kept hurling things into the ocean.
As the man approached even closer, he was able to see that the boy was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one at a time he was throwing them back into the water.
The man asked the boy what he was doing, the boy replied,"I am throwing these washed up starfish back into the ocean, or else they will die through lack of oxygen. "But", said the man, "You can't possibly save them all, there are thousands on this beach, and this must be happening on hundreds of beaches along the coast. You can't possibly make a difference." The boy smiled, bent down and picked up another starfish, and as he threw it back into the sea, he replied,

"I made a huge difference to that one!"

~Author Unknown~

They're Finally Here!!

2008-04-07T19:53:00.006-04:00

I have finally finished all my paintings for my card fundraiser. I'm so excited about them and have already received great feedback. Below is a poster for the cards - Everyday Occasions - One of a Kind Designs.

There are 3 different designs (2 of each in a set), all are copies of my original paintings. Each card is also signed on the back. If you would like to order a set please e-mail me at: w_stephanie@hotmail.com.

(Just a side note that I want to make clear, after receiving encouragement from others, I came to the decision to use this as a personal fundraiser to help me out in the various expenses that I have and expect to encounter. However, if there is a great response, I definitely will be looking at splitting the money and giving part directly to my $10,000 goal.)

A week of fundraising

2008-04-05T18:46:00.011-04:00

Dirk and I had our first big fundraiser on Wed - a Soup and Chili event. It was such an amazing evening. Soo many people showed up...felt like nearly the whole church.

But backing up a little I'll admit two weeks before there was a little freak-out on myself and my mom's part on it seeming like all of a sudden there was so much to do and get ready and the event was right around the corner. I had to find volunteers for the evening, make sure I had enough people making pots of soup or chili, right cover letters for donations from the grocery stores, etc. The wonderful ladies of Brantford's Coffee Break offered to supply many of the pots. Such wonderful ladies. My mom asked a few of her friends to help out and then even more came then first asked. So awesome!!! As the time drew closer things were definitely falling into place.

The only disappointment was that 2 Sundays before talking to Dirk he didn't know if he would be able to get back from his trip in time (he drives a truck for Voortman cookies). I hoped for his sake as well that he would be able too.

Well, it was Tues night, the night before the event and I had to go pick up 10 tubs of 4L Ice Cream from Food Basics. Headed over to the store, down the ice cream aisle, down to the veggie section...wait, what? Where's the ice cream? Back up, look again, back and forth I go. Oh NO, where did all the tubs of ice cream go that were JUST there a few days ago. Okay no worries there are still 2 other stores I can use my donation voucher at. So I head off driving all around Brantford to no avail. All the stores were sold out! How could this be. I nearly wanted to cry by the 3rd store.

However, I started to realize that God had already worked everything out. He'd provided and I hadn't even stopped to think about it or to say thanks. Shortly before I went out to go get ice cream Dirk had called first to say he would be able to make it for the fundraiser (yeah!!) and also to see if I wanted him to bring some Voortman cookies along. I said sure you can bring a few, we are having ice cream though. Standing in the store I remembered this and shot home to give Dirk a call back. I asked if he would mind bringing all the cookies he could after all and we would serve them instead of ice cream. Thanks God for providing for me. Here I am (along with many others) putting on this event for him and I forget to really depend fully on God. Too often we seem to need a reminder.

Though I won't lie, a few parents had to explain to their children that no, there would be no ice cream after all :P lol.

Another note was after I made a reminder announcement in Church on the Sunday before, myself and Dirk's wife, Elaine ended up being asked numerous times from others in the Church if they could make a pot of soup/chili for us!! What a blessing and in the end we certainly needed it as I was saying the turn out simply blew us away. It was such a blessing to really feel the church fully supporting us in being apart of this tour and raising funds for poverty.

We ended up raising $2273!!! Thanks again too all who helped out that evening!

Now for the next one...only 3 more to go.