Well hello people!
I apologize ahead of time, this may be a very long blog post.... sorry!
So we will start with my mission choice as you might be interested. So I went with -drum roll please-.... Vancouver and the Island! And I would like to clarify NOT North Vancouver but rather East Vancouver, haha, I keep wanting to say North Vancouver, definitely not my intention, and very opposite of East. So now I will explain how I came to this decision. When we first introduced to our options I was most intrigued by India and Vancouver, but I was definitely torn between the two, and then when I learned we only had a week to decide I was thinking How is God going to reveal which trip I should go within a week?! I actually was really doubtful, like God wouldn't answer my prayers. So I did pray a few times, and I was still completely divided. Then, the one day I decided to just go to the dock with my Bible and read, pray and contemplate, -I really contemplating. As I was sitting on top of the tower I pulled out the church bulletin from that Sunday because I had slipped it behind my Bible cover. I decided to look over thinking I might find some 'inspiration' from it, and on the first page there was a family bio, and there favourite bible verse was Isaiah 40:27-31 which is:
"Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint. "
As I was reading it, I thought, well that really doesn't help me at all, so I moved on. I did some leisurely reading, praying, and I just sat there thinking and taking in the view. As I was thinking I was kind of thinking of the reason and reasons not to go to each place and where I was here at Kaleo. As I have said before, I want to be challenged, and I definitely put that into thought. I thought Vancouver was a great option because I would be able to do mission work within our own country. I think that Christians really skip over doing missions within our own country, we go to other countries to do missions to get the experience, culture, the fact that we go to another country, and I think even souvenirs can come into play. And I have done that before, I have gone to Turkey and Mexico, and they were definitely great mission trips, I learned so much, but I think it was my turn to do something within the borders of my own country. India sounded incredible and the stories of things that happened there really impassioned me, and while I was in social studies in high school I learned so much about India like the ever-increasing birth rate, the sex slaves, and the caste system which I was passionate about. To be honest though, I think I would have been going to India for the wrong reasons, more just for the experience and to say that I went there. I really wanted to go there and felt like if I didn't go, I would be missing out. One reason I didn't want to go to Vancouver is because I don't think I can relate to them, I have grown up in a small town in Saskatchewan, with a great family and community, and I am such a shy person at first and I am not a great comforter in my opinion. It is then that I realized how relevant Isaiah 40 was to me. God can give me the tools I need to accomplish this. I don't know if this is from the Bible directly or I heard it from a speaker, but God can use us the best when we aren't previously equipped ourselves so that all glory can be given to him and we can depend on him. I am pretty sure that was my deciding factor, but there was something inside of me that didn't want to go to Vancouver, I thought that I wouldn't get the awesome and exciting experience of Argentina or India. But I made my decision despite my selfish nature nagging at me. Also, for the Vancouver trip we will be working here on the Island for a time too, probably helping out with Kidstown. Which is so great because God has really put it on my heart to be able to take part in that ministry, and I am learning so much of the condition of the Aboriginal people and having my viewpoint completely changed. I was definitely still doubting my decision and if it was the best but on Friday I talked to my pastor, PJ and my mom on the phone and they both confirmed through two different conversations that they thought that this was the best choice to make, which I am so thankful that God was able to give me assurance in my choice.
Alright, so onto the next subject. Well during reading break all I pretty much did was homework, but the one day we went to Victoria to help out SALTS. I'll be honest, even though we did stuff like cleaning, trying to hang up life-jackets, and folding up sails, it was actually really good, I wouldn't particularly use the word fun, but maybe one step below that. The lovely Jordana, one of my Kaleoites, invited us -the Kaleos working on the SALTS thing- to go to a Watoto presentation at a church in Victoria. Watoto is an organization in Uganda that deals with war victims, and this tour was specifically about previous child soldiers. I have been involved with an organization called Invisible Children that is involved with child soldiers in Uganda, and I have been trying to always keep up to date with the LRA and what is going on there, but I sometimes fall behind and lose my vigor. So this event I was really excited for. I've always been passionate about Invisible Children and child soldiers but to see these children and hear their accounts first-hand was so different and real. For most of the presentation I was either crying in joy or from experiencing their pain. I remember the one part where they did a re-enactment of the LRA invading a village, my mind just kept screaming this is so unfair, why should they have to experience this? Overall this experience was incredible, and it really actually revealed and made me realize more my passions. I remember the one lady said 'forgiveness is the anti-venom', and to see these children forgive the LRA can only be accredited to God's grace working in their lives.
Alright, time for my last subject. So this weekend I was a counselor at the jr.high retreat at Qwanoes. I'll be frank, it was probably my worst counseling experience. I have been a Sr. Counselor for two years at LBC in Saskatchewan, but I have never had an experience like this. I think there was a few reasons why it didn't go that well 1) I wasn't able to get into the mentality of being a Kaleo student to being a counselor, during the summer since it is your job and you really don't have to think about school assignments etc. make it a lot easier 2) I know some of the Qwanoes staff but there is so many people I don't know, and at LBC I know all of the staff, and usually pretty well, which is something I need 3) I didn't fully rely on God for the first part of the weekend 4) I have had challenging campers before but I definitely found this weekend it was very challenging. 5)I went into it tired from a final exam and a lack of sleep on friday night. I would like to tell you also that there is hope for this story! It did get a lot better Saturday evening for me. I was just so fed up, tired, and I felt that I didn't have the capacity to love my campers. So I cried out to God and decided to change my attitude, and definitely that helped too. I asked God to reveal these girls to me like he sees them, to love them like he does, and it worked! I connected with my girls when we went swimming and had some shenanigans at DQ. One girl definitely was really challenging, but it was so much easier to see them and love them through how God loves them. The first half of the weekend was slight misery for me but the rest of it was actually really good, and my cabin had some really good discussion and a few of the girls really wanted to hear my testimony. I would just ask that you would pray for those girls and that God would soften their hearts, and keep working in their lives.
Well that is it! I thank you readers for those who read the whole thing in its entirety and I also apologize once again for its length. This week is our Hermeneutics course with Merrill Dyck, just to let you know.
So long and farewell!
P.S. I forget to put this on awhile ago but I saw my first, real live, wild, raccoon! I have to say though that those things are evil! I've heard such horrid stories about them and those beady, reflecting eyes!
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