Mountainside. That's kinda where I'm at right now. I've been in a valley for a while which has been a little perturbing and discouraging, but I feel like breakthrough is in the process of happening. I'm really glad for breakthrough. It's been really hard to pray for the last while and there's been lots for me to pray through, so I've been pretty out-of-sorts. I had a really good pray time with Claire last night and it was a cool reminder for me of the blessing it is to live with these girls. I'm so thankful for all of the people that the Lord has blessed me with to challenge me and encourage me and need me. Life is good.
On another note, the young adults' retreat was super! It was a good time for people to relax and enjoy creation and each other. I'm really thankful for the way it all came together. Now it's on to new tasks. Today I start working on my prayer and support letter. Should be interesting since I've never done one before.
It's absolutely gorgeous outside today, so I'm going to emerge from the house and enjoy it. :)
Peace.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
It's May 16th and I've just recently started hanging my laundry on the line outside to dry. Things were going very well until I woke up this morning to a raging wind/snow (kinda) storm. I think I'll take a different approach than most I've seen to talking about this weather. It's pretty cool. That I went to bed last night wishing that there were thunder and lightning to go along with the pouring rain and woke up several times in the night because the wind was so loud.
I just came in from taking my snowy laundry off of the clothesline and I feel like an icicle! However, I'll choose to view my iciness as a blessing. Here's why: My next move will be to jump in a nice, piping hot jacuzzi to get warm and then put on my coziest sweats and a warm blanket and snuggle up to finish the work I need to get done today. Feeling warm and cozy is one of my favourite things, but it wouldn't be as nice if my coziness weren't in direct contrast to how freezing cold I'd been before. So, I'm thankful for the raging wind and blowing snow. To the jacuzzi I go! :)
I just came in from taking my snowy laundry off of the clothesline and I feel like an icicle! However, I'll choose to view my iciness as a blessing. Here's why: My next move will be to jump in a nice, piping hot jacuzzi to get warm and then put on my coziest sweats and a warm blanket and snuggle up to finish the work I need to get done today. Feeling warm and cozy is one of my favourite things, but it wouldn't be as nice if my coziness weren't in direct contrast to how freezing cold I'd been before. So, I'm thankful for the raging wind and blowing snow. To the jacuzzi I go! :)
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
THE INTERVIEW
So, my interview was a million times better than I could have hoped! The board asked me a lot of really tough questions, but only so they could find out what my heart and vision was for my life and be able to support me in that. They were super-supportive about everything I shared with them and they really took the time to understand my motivation and purpose. They interviewed me for about an hour and then kicked me out for a while (after having some snacks) so they could talk about me. I got to have a lovely walk with Leesa through Hagersville which is a beautiful town. It was 25 C that day, so it was really amazing! Leesa and I had a really good visit. When we got back to the mission office, the board was ready to tell me their decision.
This was it: The board wanted to take me on as a part-time year-round Youth Ministries Worker in Thunder Bay. Focusing on camp for the summer and helping with that through the year and making connections with youth through discipleship and mentoring and also possibly camper reunions and things like that throughout the year.
They pretty much just left my position up to me to define in detail according to my vision.
I'm super-excited to be starting in on all of this and I'm really pumped to see where God takes it. I'm in the process of planning a Young Adults' Retreat for camp and that's been going really well too. I'm excited to see who shows up and how it goes!
Life is good! :)
This was it: The board wanted to take me on as a part-time year-round Youth Ministries Worker in Thunder Bay. Focusing on camp for the summer and helping with that through the year and making connections with youth through discipleship and mentoring and also possibly camper reunions and things like that throughout the year.
They pretty much just left my position up to me to define in detail according to my vision.
I'm super-excited to be starting in on all of this and I'm really pumped to see where God takes it. I'm in the process of planning a Young Adults' Retreat for camp and that's been going really well too. I'm excited to see who shows up and how it goes!
Life is good! :)
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Long-overdue post about the remainder of conference.
So, I've been terribly delinquent about posting these last couple of weeks.
The conference started on Wednesday morning. Everyone came to Hyde Cottage where we were staying for the morning meetings. People started showing up around 9 and there was a pretty even mix of people I knew already and people I was meeting for the first time. We prayed for a while and sang some worship choruses with accordian accompaniment and then a couple of missionary couples would give their report on what had happened in their lives in the past year. It was really neat to be able to hear what each of the other missionaries were focused on and to learn how to pray for them. We also had a speaker speak to us each morning for a while and that was really encouraging too. After the morning meeting at the cottage, we would all get in our cars and drive 5 minutes away to a little town called Cheapside. (Such a great name for a town!) Each day we had lunch in the basement of the church there. This was also a really nice time to visit with the other missionaries and board members and start to connect with the people I'd be working with. After lunch each day, I got to have a free afternoon. That was pretty sweet! On the first day, I crashed on the couch until dinner time. I think I was just really exhausted from all of the socializing with new people in an unfamiliar place. In the evenings, we'd go back to Cheapside for dinner in the basement. It was really neat. There were a bunch of people who just spent every day of the conference getting meals ready for us. It was really nice not to have to think about where to eat. On Wednesday night there was a business meeting after dinner. I wasn't officially a missionary with RLM yet, so I just listened in and counted ballots. It was good to hear about what's going to be happening in the coming year. That night, Mark and Christy and I played another game of Scrabble where they both whipped my butt again.
Thursday was much the same as Wednesday up until dinner time. We had an early dinner and took some pictures (a lot of pictures!) and then headed into Hagersville (where the mission is based) for the annual public meeting. The public meeting is a lot like a church service where people come to hear what's been up with the missionaries for the past year. Each couple gave a short, 10 minute report about what they'd been up to for the past year and told people how they could pray. Mark and Christy usually do their report at the public meeting in some unconventional way. They do a skit or something along those lines and present their information in that way. This year they did something a little less crazy. They wrote and read the testimonies of 4 people who had been impacted by their work over the years. One of the testimonies was mine. So Mark started reading mine and then I came up and interrupted and told the rest of my story. It was really exciting to be able to share my story with a group of people who had been indirectly praying for me for my whole life. I talked about my life growing up at Round Lake and also in Faith Chapel (which was planted by RLM back in the day). It went really well and it gave people a chance to see my heart and where it comes from. After the meeting, everyone piled into the hall of the church and ate timbits and drank juice and visited. I got to meet a lot of really cool people who have been connected with RLM for years. Some for up to 75 years in different ways. A lot of people I met that night said things like, "Oh! You're Jen! We've been praying for you for the last few months!" It was so encouraging and eye-opening to hear that people I had never met had been praying for the Lord's hand in my life as I was making decisions. So cool! I also go to see Abby for a bit at the meeting! It was awesome just to be able to hug her! After all of the visiting, Mark and Christy and I headed over to the mission home (office) to visit for a while with Don and Deb (one of the missionary couples) and David and Leesa (the executive director and his wife). That was a nice relaxing time just sitting around unwinding after a very long day. We got back to the cottage around 11 and were all pretty beat, so we decided not to play Scrabble that night. Even though we had good intentions of getting to bed early, Christy and I got to talking and ended up staying up a lot later than we'd intended. It was totally worth it though.
On Friday morning, we had our last morning meeting. One more couple had to share and we sang and prayed and then talked over some businessy stuff for a while. After lunch that day, the conference was officially over.
Friday afternoon, Mark and Christy and I went to Port Dover on Lake Erie and wandered on the beach and sat on the pier and looked through the shops for a while. It was a really nice day. When we got back to the cottage, we ate some dinner and then took a stroll down the beach from the cottage. It was so beautiful! There was a great sunset and I found lots of really neat sea glass and shells for Julia and Michael. Jon (Mark and Christy's son) came from Huntsville that night and we all played a rousing game of...guess what...?! You got it! Scrabble!!! It was a pretty good time. We had some good laughs and my level of sucking was about even with Jon's so that was good! After Scrabble, I had to pack because Fred was coming to pick me up the next morning at 9:30. I brought way too much stuff with me and it was a real pain to get it all back in my suitcase, but I succeeded and got to bed.
On Saturday morning, I got up and got ready, grabbed and apple and hopped in Fred's van for the half hour drive to Hagersville. Fred is one of the board members and it was super-cool to chat with him on our way to my interview. Fred and his wife have been connected with the mission in one way or another for many years. They adopted 10 kids and have done a lot of amazing things. It was really great to be able to connect with him in that time!
I think I'll write about my interview in a separate post because this is getting pretty stinking long!
The conference started on Wednesday morning. Everyone came to Hyde Cottage where we were staying for the morning meetings. People started showing up around 9 and there was a pretty even mix of people I knew already and people I was meeting for the first time. We prayed for a while and sang some worship choruses with accordian accompaniment and then a couple of missionary couples would give their report on what had happened in their lives in the past year. It was really neat to be able to hear what each of the other missionaries were focused on and to learn how to pray for them. We also had a speaker speak to us each morning for a while and that was really encouraging too. After the morning meeting at the cottage, we would all get in our cars and drive 5 minutes away to a little town called Cheapside. (Such a great name for a town!) Each day we had lunch in the basement of the church there. This was also a really nice time to visit with the other missionaries and board members and start to connect with the people I'd be working with. After lunch each day, I got to have a free afternoon. That was pretty sweet! On the first day, I crashed on the couch until dinner time. I think I was just really exhausted from all of the socializing with new people in an unfamiliar place. In the evenings, we'd go back to Cheapside for dinner in the basement. It was really neat. There were a bunch of people who just spent every day of the conference getting meals ready for us. It was really nice not to have to think about where to eat. On Wednesday night there was a business meeting after dinner. I wasn't officially a missionary with RLM yet, so I just listened in and counted ballots. It was good to hear about what's going to be happening in the coming year. That night, Mark and Christy and I played another game of Scrabble where they both whipped my butt again.
Thursday was much the same as Wednesday up until dinner time. We had an early dinner and took some pictures (a lot of pictures!) and then headed into Hagersville (where the mission is based) for the annual public meeting. The public meeting is a lot like a church service where people come to hear what's been up with the missionaries for the past year. Each couple gave a short, 10 minute report about what they'd been up to for the past year and told people how they could pray. Mark and Christy usually do their report at the public meeting in some unconventional way. They do a skit or something along those lines and present their information in that way. This year they did something a little less crazy. They wrote and read the testimonies of 4 people who had been impacted by their work over the years. One of the testimonies was mine. So Mark started reading mine and then I came up and interrupted and told the rest of my story. It was really exciting to be able to share my story with a group of people who had been indirectly praying for me for my whole life. I talked about my life growing up at Round Lake and also in Faith Chapel (which was planted by RLM back in the day). It went really well and it gave people a chance to see my heart and where it comes from. After the meeting, everyone piled into the hall of the church and ate timbits and drank juice and visited. I got to meet a lot of really cool people who have been connected with RLM for years. Some for up to 75 years in different ways. A lot of people I met that night said things like, "Oh! You're Jen! We've been praying for you for the last few months!" It was so encouraging and eye-opening to hear that people I had never met had been praying for the Lord's hand in my life as I was making decisions. So cool! I also go to see Abby for a bit at the meeting! It was awesome just to be able to hug her! After all of the visiting, Mark and Christy and I headed over to the mission home (office) to visit for a while with Don and Deb (one of the missionary couples) and David and Leesa (the executive director and his wife). That was a nice relaxing time just sitting around unwinding after a very long day. We got back to the cottage around 11 and were all pretty beat, so we decided not to play Scrabble that night. Even though we had good intentions of getting to bed early, Christy and I got to talking and ended up staying up a lot later than we'd intended. It was totally worth it though.
On Friday morning, we had our last morning meeting. One more couple had to share and we sang and prayed and then talked over some businessy stuff for a while. After lunch that day, the conference was officially over.
Friday afternoon, Mark and Christy and I went to Port Dover on Lake Erie and wandered on the beach and sat on the pier and looked through the shops for a while. It was a really nice day. When we got back to the cottage, we ate some dinner and then took a stroll down the beach from the cottage. It was so beautiful! There was a great sunset and I found lots of really neat sea glass and shells for Julia and Michael. Jon (Mark and Christy's son) came from Huntsville that night and we all played a rousing game of...guess what...?! You got it! Scrabble!!! It was a pretty good time. We had some good laughs and my level of sucking was about even with Jon's so that was good! After Scrabble, I had to pack because Fred was coming to pick me up the next morning at 9:30. I brought way too much stuff with me and it was a real pain to get it all back in my suitcase, but I succeeded and got to bed.
On Saturday morning, I got up and got ready, grabbed and apple and hopped in Fred's van for the half hour drive to Hagersville. Fred is one of the board members and it was super-cool to chat with him on our way to my interview. Fred and his wife have been connected with the mission in one way or another for many years. They adopted 10 kids and have done a lot of amazing things. It was really great to be able to connect with him in that time!
I think I'll write about my interview in a separate post because this is getting pretty stinking long!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
A Trip of Epic Proportions.
I'm home. It feels really strange to be here. I've only been gone for a week, but it seems like a month's worth of events have taken place. That being said, I don't think I could do the trip justice in just one post, so I'll start with the first part and post again later.
The purpose of my trip was to attend the annual conference for Rural Life Mission Inc., which is the mission that oversees the operation of Round Lake Bible Camp, which is the camp I volunteer at every summer. I officially applied in March to be year-round staff for camp, and the board of directors wanted to meet me and interview me before taking me on. The idea was that the conference would be a good time since it would give everyone a chance to meet me and spend some time with me before my interview. So, I met Mark and Christy at the airport at 10:30 on tuesday morning. Mark and Christy are the directors of Round Lake Bible Camp. We hopped on a plane and were of for Toronto. We spent just over an hour navigating the Toronto airport to find our baggage and our rental car and got on the road right away. (right after I found some take-out sushi for lunch of course)
The conference wasn't actually starting until Wednesday morning, so we had that whole day to do whatever we wanted. Since I was Mark and Christy's tag-along, I got to go to a town called Vineland with them to visit Christy's great uncle Don and his wife Vivian. They were great people! We spent a little time visiting at their house and then they took us out for an early supper at this cool little diner where I enjoyed a phenomenal greek omelette. We went back to their house after that and looked at some old (very old!) pictures of Christy's family. It was a really neat time connecting with them for sure. They had lots of neat stories about life in the air force and as a candy maker and other cool things. Don is also a painter, so it was neat to get to see some of his artwork. He also takes pictures of his paintings and makes them into notecards and he gave me a couple of those, so that was cool too. So, that was a really great part of the first day.
After we left Vineland, We set out for the cottage on Lake Erie where we stayed for the duration of the conference. We made a stop in a place called Selkirk which was right on the shore of the lake. Mark and Christy had found a really amazing place where there were huge rocks full of all different kinds of fossils. It was such a neat thing to see! I wish I had had a camera to take pictures! Every rock had a gazillion fossils in it. It was cool to speculate as to what they could have been before they were trapped in the rocks. The waves were crashing the whole time we were there and the air was fresh and crisp. It was a moment of beauty that I won't soon forget.
A short drive from Selkirk was the lovely cottage that we called home while we were at conference. It was such a nice place. 3 big bedrooms, a nice big bathroom upstairs and one downstairs too, cozy couches and lots of windows looking out on the lake. The sound of the lake when the windows were open was really relaxing and we enjoyed our time there immensely.
We played a little Scrabble that first night and then got to bed so that we could be well-rested for the start of conference on Wednesday morning. Overall, a great start to our trip. More to come later.
The purpose of my trip was to attend the annual conference for Rural Life Mission Inc., which is the mission that oversees the operation of Round Lake Bible Camp, which is the camp I volunteer at every summer. I officially applied in March to be year-round staff for camp, and the board of directors wanted to meet me and interview me before taking me on. The idea was that the conference would be a good time since it would give everyone a chance to meet me and spend some time with me before my interview. So, I met Mark and Christy at the airport at 10:30 on tuesday morning. Mark and Christy are the directors of Round Lake Bible Camp. We hopped on a plane and were of for Toronto. We spent just over an hour navigating the Toronto airport to find our baggage and our rental car and got on the road right away. (right after I found some take-out sushi for lunch of course)
The conference wasn't actually starting until Wednesday morning, so we had that whole day to do whatever we wanted. Since I was Mark and Christy's tag-along, I got to go to a town called Vineland with them to visit Christy's great uncle Don and his wife Vivian. They were great people! We spent a little time visiting at their house and then they took us out for an early supper at this cool little diner where I enjoyed a phenomenal greek omelette. We went back to their house after that and looked at some old (very old!) pictures of Christy's family. It was a really neat time connecting with them for sure. They had lots of neat stories about life in the air force and as a candy maker and other cool things. Don is also a painter, so it was neat to get to see some of his artwork. He also takes pictures of his paintings and makes them into notecards and he gave me a couple of those, so that was cool too. So, that was a really great part of the first day.
After we left Vineland, We set out for the cottage on Lake Erie where we stayed for the duration of the conference. We made a stop in a place called Selkirk which was right on the shore of the lake. Mark and Christy had found a really amazing place where there were huge rocks full of all different kinds of fossils. It was such a neat thing to see! I wish I had had a camera to take pictures! Every rock had a gazillion fossils in it. It was cool to speculate as to what they could have been before they were trapped in the rocks. The waves were crashing the whole time we were there and the air was fresh and crisp. It was a moment of beauty that I won't soon forget.
A short drive from Selkirk was the lovely cottage that we called home while we were at conference. It was such a nice place. 3 big bedrooms, a nice big bathroom upstairs and one downstairs too, cozy couches and lots of windows looking out on the lake. The sound of the lake when the windows were open was really relaxing and we enjoyed our time there immensely.
We played a little Scrabble that first night and then got to bed so that we could be well-rested for the start of conference on Wednesday morning. Overall, a great start to our trip. More to come later.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Perfect moments. Do you know what I mean? Those moments where each and every detail fit together in such a way that your heart swells and your mind is free. Even for just a moment. I had one today. I came home and sat down in our lovely living room and the sunlight coming in the window paired with the smell of fresh spring air coming through the open door and the sound of Heidi's music echoing in the kitchen and the clink of dishes in the sink and the knife on the cutting board caused my heart to fill with...joy? peace? It's hard to describe. I felt extremely alive and free.
Life is so beautiful. The fact that the little things like that can take my breath away makes me feel like life is more worthwhile than I sometimes treat it.
Life is so beautiful. The fact that the little things like that can take my breath away makes me feel like life is more worthwhile than I sometimes treat it.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
I love my family. I spent a good chunk of time with them today and I realized how amazing they all are. I think it's so cool how different people are...I had a plastic easter egg fight with my little sister which ended in a punching match, which was really hilariously funny. My dad made a joke of pretty much everything that was said and made me think through the validity of every statement I made before I made it. My stepmom found the funny part in every little thing and my niece was giggly and snuggly and cute every moment. My brother and I had a great talk about faith and worldview that may have seemed to end on a negative not, but really, I was just glad that we could dialogue and be real with each other. My mom cracked one of the funniest jokes she's cracked in a long time and I almost peed my pants laughing. All-in-all it was a fantastic day filled with friends and family and joy.
I love life.
I love life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
