1 week prior

5 days till I head out to AFRICA! It's hard to believe that in less than a week I'm going to be completely submersed in a new culture, with new people, new foods, new climate, new new new.. I am so excited.

One of the things I'm most looking forward to is connecting with the kids at the Village of Hope. I don't even know the details of what our time will look like for the next 2 months, but I know that God has really great things planned for us. The spontaneity of how 4 of us cousins are going there adds to the fact that we're supposed to be there.

Some things that we will be helping with...
-the library. There's "library time" where someone reads to the kids, or helps the kids read. The kids go to school, where they actually are taught in English. However, they don't understand that much of the English language.
-making beads. They have a project at the Village, making jewelry out of recycled paper beads. They're pretty sweet. We might be helping with making the jewelry and helping sort beads.
-playing with the kids :) A lot of our time in Uganda is spent how we want to spend it. The more we invest into the kids, the more rewarding it will be.
-teaching music. The kids love music, and some really want to learn guitar. There's also a keyboard there, so I might get to teach some of that.

I would love your prayers for me and the other girls going on this trip. That God would open our eyes and our hearts to serve completely, to grow to love the people we are working with, and to give us the strength we need.

the vision of Village of Hope...

In the 1980s, the Lord’s Resistance Movement, a militant group in Uganda started rising to power. It has been estimated that 66,000 children have been abducted in Uganda and made to work as soldiers, porters, sex slaves, human shields, bait and as “wives” of rebels. Village of Hope provides a safe home for rescued, orphaned children, training widows as “moms” to the kids and supplying the children with an education. This is a unique place where nurture and counseling helps the kids move beyond the pain, wounds, and heartache from years of abandonment, abduction and hopelessness. At Village of Hope, they know that healing comes through time, love, and hope in the grace of God. There are still about 1,200 Ugandan children being held by the Lord’s Resistance Army. God has been at work in Uganda, bringing healing and restoration to the rescued children. Please pray that the children at VOH would be able to feel God’s unconditional love.

 

prayer

I have just been realizing more and more this school year how good prayer is. Ah man... it is so comforting knowing that we can go to God and tell him anything and everything that is on our minds. And he hears us! This year I have felt really blessed to have a lot of one-on-one prayer with close friends. I hadn't really had that much before. To know that I have people who are watching out for me, and notice when I'm down is, well, an answer to prayer. It is also really humbling. A lot of times in prayer, I come before God having to admit that I am not strong enough to do things on my own, that I need God's strength.

If you have a couple spare minutes, I would encourage you to spend some time with God. Stop from whatever distractions you have, whatever is on your to-do-list and just breathe... be with God. be refreshed. be honest. God already knows what's going on in your heart, why not tell him?

Some prayer requests I have right now are...

-Brazil mission trip in January, we have to get our visas done this week

-my health, I feel sick and haven't had energy this week, or even joy for a while

"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire,

and it shall be done for you."

John 15:7

no sacrifice

To you I give my life, not just the parts I want to

To you I sacrifice these dreams that I hold on to

Your thoughts are higher than mine

Your words are deeper than mine

Your love is stronger than mine

This is no sacrifice

Here's my life

To you I give the gifts

Your love has given me

How can I hoard the treasures that you've designed for free?

To you I give my future

As long as it may last

To you I give my present

To you I give my past

- Jason Upton

Why is it so hard to give? to surrender? to release? It seems easier when I have things under my control. I have really been struggling with surrendering my life to God. Surrendering plans... hopes... time... relationships... I want everything to be figured out, to know what to do with my life. Why does his timing have to be so different than my own? I have been realizing that it is so much better when I place all of these things in God's hands. But it is so hard to do. The older I get, the more life seems really complicated. I feel really blessed to be at a place like CLBI, where I am surrounded by loving people who are so supportive of me. To be open and vulnerable in a safe place. being real... a good place to be.

.... I get to see my fam jam in two weeks! Can't wait. American Thanksgiving on the coast. oh yeah... :)

Light

We've probably all heard it said before that Jesus is "the light of the world." As Christians, I hope believe it, too. There is definitely plenty of scripture that says Jesus is our light. I was talking with my Nana tonight, and she was telling stories from when she lived in Nepal. She was explaining to me that people in Nepal would not go out in the dark because a fear of evil spirits. They would stay where there was light because they had an knew that there was something evil wherever the darkness was. There was one time when she was coming home from a wedding, and her vehicle broke down. She tried to get people to stop and help her, but no one would stop. She finally decided in order to stop someone she would have to go out in front of the next coming vehicle and take the risk by either getting help or getting hit. Thankfully, the next car was someone coming home from the wedding. What she found out later, however, was that the other people were afraid to stop because they thought she was a spirit. Here she was, out in the dark, alone, wearing a long, black coat, on the side of the road, trying to get someone's attention, and people think she's a spirit . Can you see how their culture would see it this way?

I think the Nepali people's view of darkness can help us understand what it means when Jesus says he's the light of the world. Although some of us have a fear of the dark, it doesn't mean quite the same thing to our culture today as it might have then. John 8:12 says, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." Never walk in darkness. For some Nepalise who become Christians, they find it so freeing to not have fear of darkness.

1 Peter 2:9 says, " But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." Jesus calls us out of that darkness and to be free from the fear associated with it. We are chosen by God to live in his light. The next time you read something about the light of Jesus, or maybe even sing a song that has to do with darkness or God's light, think about what this really means. What is Jesus speaking to us?

Surprises

January 10th

I had a day full of surprises. I woke up this morning to the sight of girls coming into my room singing happy birthday, holding Tim Horton's donuts and hot chocolate. The donuts had special meanings behind each one, for example, Boston Cream because I'm American, a donut with sprinkles because I "sparkle," an Apple Fritter because of Jonnny Appleseed, and we think he's American :) It was such a wonderful way to start off the day!

Because the roads were not very good weather-wise, we didn't have class until later that day because the teacher wasn't there yet. We had chapel at 10. It was so fun to see everyone again. Because we had no class, I went out in the snow with my cousin and a friend. We climbed piles of snow, made lookouts in a pile of snow and tackled people in the snow. It brought me back to memories of playing King of the Hill and digging tunnels during recess at elementary. During lunch, I had to stand on my chair while people sang "Happy birthday" to me (It's a CLBI tradition). I went back in the snow after lunch and we wrote the letters, CLBI, all nice and big in the snow right under a bridge. We were pretty proud of our accomplishment. When I came back to my room, I was shocked to see a bunch of girls in my room with balloons covering the room! They surprised me with a bunch of messages that they had written on the balloons. Some of them were funny, like "Your eyes are like someone took stars from the sky and jammed them in your face," and "you're pretty fly for a white girl." Others were thoughtful things about me, like "You have a beautiful soul and it shines through in everything you do, love you!" Some friends cards were written on the balloons. It was quite the sight! After all the excitement, I spent some time to open a couple cards and listen to voice messages that I got on my birthday. Man, people are so thoughtful :)

After supper and class, I was hanging out with some friends in the cafeteria. We decided to head to the coed (an on-campus hangout place for guys and girls) to see if there were any people hanging out in there. When we got there, the lights were all off and I was thinking that maybe people were watching a movie. Then all of a sudden everybody popped up and shouted "Surprise! Happy Birthday!!!" I was completely blown away! Almost everyone was there, even the teacher haha. My friends had even gotten my favorite snacks and drinks. Some friends even made me my own cake. I also had to do this funny challenge of finding 19 gummy worms in a bowl of whipped cream. With my mouth. It was, uh.. interesting, and really funny. Did I mention there was a dance party? There was a strobe light and music. Even learned how to waltz :) Today was one of the best days ever. I couldn't have even planned anything better. A huge thank-u to Naomi who planned so much! And so many others who helped with everything-Lenea :) What thoughtful, wonderful, caring, loving people I'm surrounded by.

3 birthday surprises. 80 some balloons. 132 birthday wishes on facebook. Don't think this birthday can ever be topped ;)

*side note: I've always wanted a surprise birthday party, but of course you can't exactly plan that yourself ;) Also, I recently saw the movie, Patch Adams, and in it there's a birthday party where a room is completely filled with balloons from top to bottom. I thought that would the sweetest thing ever. How fun for these 2 wishes to come true :)

*be sure to check out the photos from this day in the photos tab!

the eyes of Jesus

The first week in November, I took part of an experience called Urban Hike. With 20 other students, I went to Edmonton to live with the homeless for a week. We spent the week helping out in soup kitchens, wandering the streets, hanging out with the homeless people and sleeping in a church. It was a really good experience and time of learning. I was able to see first-hand the hopelessness that was portrayed in the eyes of the homeless. A lot of the people I met seemed stuck in a place that they couldn’t get out of. Some of them didn’t like the way they were living but were unwilling to do anything to change it or weren’t sure how to change. Many of them were bound by addictions.

The people that I met on the streets needed basic possessions that I often take for granted. Some that stuck out to me were: shelter, food, and relationships. For many of the people I talked with, they went to the soup kitchens every day to get meals. They couldn’t provide food for themselves. Some of them had a place to sleep at night but even then it wasn’t a very nice place to be. I observed that when these people were eating their meals, they would usually keep to themselves. It seemed to me that something they need but weren’t getting enough of was friendships.

My favorite thing about Urban Hike was the conversations I had with people who came into the soup kitchens. One conversation that a couple people and I were able to have was with Darryl. We met him while waiting in line for food at a soup kitchen. Afterwards we took him out for coffee to hear about his life story. He is about 50 years old and going through the Herb Jamison rehab program downtown Edmonton. He used to be a farmer until a couple years ago. When his wife left him and took the kids, he turned to alcohol to find relief. He spent at least 10,000 on alcohol. After he lost everything he owned, he came to the city. Soon after, he enrolled in the drug rehab program. Darryl is a very wise, theological man. He understands the value of life and had real hardships in life.

When we first sad down with our coffee at Tim Hortons, he held up a $20 bill. One of the first things Darryl did when we sat down for coffee was pull out a $20 bill. “What is this worth?” he asked us. He then began to crumple it and form it into a ball. “Is it still worth $20?” Darryl asked. “Yes, it’s still the same amount,” we responded. Darryl replied. “Just like this bill, people can’t always see that they are valued. They might be all crumpled and bruised, but that doesn’t change their value. Even when I throw this money on the ground and it gets trampled, it hasn’t lost any of its value. Many people who are living on the streets cannot see their own value. They’ve been hurt and damaged by other people or even themselves that they forget how valuable they are.” Darryl reminded me that someone on the street is not of any less value than me but is equal. They need reminder of how important they are and how valued their life is.

A lot of other things happened this week which I was able to take and learn from. We went on a rose walk, where we gave roses to prostitutes. That was definitely an interesting experience. One thing I struggled with during Urban Hike was realizing that it was not up to me to change these people. The only thing I could do that would have an impact on them was to love them. I wanted so badly for these people to find freedom in Jesus, to not be bound by their addictions or struggles. But it was not up to me to stop their addictions, get them off the streets, turn their life around or make them be a Christian. This is something that only God can do. Urban hike. I learned a lot and grew in my understanding of who God is and who he calls us to be.

Life is a journey

Life is a journey.

one that we don't always have control of

one that can make your soul take flight

one that can make your heart tear in two

Life is a journey.

not an easy one, which everybody who has lived a life worth telling knows

not one that has easy answers

maybe not even one with any answers

Life is a journey.

worth the risks and the falls, worth trying new paths,

new adventures, discovering new stories

one that can take you places beyond your comfort, beyond your desires of living

one that is harder than a simple yes or no

Take the jump, come out of the box you have made for yourself.

Say yes to this journey of life.

To the journey of life's discoveries.