Reading Break!!

Hey again!

So I have a lot to do this week in terms of homework. I thought I would tell everyone at once how my reading break was and then I can focus on all my work and not worry about sending out a truck load of emails!

Okay here I go...

So monday a few kaleo students including myself went skiing/boarding at Mt. Washington...it was a lot of fun ...I got more aggressive with jumping, and I got to hang out in small groups with some of the kaleo peeps!

Tuesday we had more theology class, which was really good because we got to here more about the role of women in the church and just history of women in general. Things like, Adam only received direct instructions by God not to eat the fruit of the forbidden trees, and thus Eve received the information second hand. On top of that Adam was right with Eve as she was plucking the fruit off the tree, he did not try and stop here. (information like that) The rest of tuesday I was doing Homework Homework Homework.

Wednesday- Homework and packing until 4 am thursday morning (where 10 Kaleo students hoped on a ferry together including me ...excitingly awaiting the trip to Saskatchewan!

Thursday- Picking up other people throughout B.C. like in Kelowna, Chilliwack, and Coquitlam. From Kelowna we had everyone on the bus (24 youth, so we all had two seats to ourselves which was VERY NICE!). Revelstoke had a SWEET ghost town that I REALLY must check out again. There was such a great view all the way for our drive, of mountains, rivers, and just the beauty of God's creation. By the end of Thursday we were all pooped and stopped at Golden for the night (it is the law that a bus driver needs 8 hours sleep). So we went to bed around 9 and woke up at like 4 am and was on the road again. 

Friday- from Golden we went through Calgary and all the way to Caronport. Man was it an eye opening experience. To see beautiful mountains to the flat lands of the prairies. WOW OH WOW....i couldn't believe it! plus seeing the oil riggs! wow that was cool....and seeing nothing for as far as my eye could see was kind of scary! Our bus driver dropped us off at Briercrest at around 4:45 (btw or driver was so nice...her name was Brenda and she did such a great job of taking care of us!). 

anyways so then once we got off the bus into the cold winds, we went inside for the first time and got in line for registration. From there I went to Olivia's room for the weekend (she was the same girl that spent a week at kaleo in my room so it was nice to stay with a familiar face!). We dropped off our stuff, had a super quick bite to eat, and then went to the kick-off in the massive chapel room. It was a sweet play that joked around with our everyday actors and popular music. From there I went to a play with the dance crew there called Refined/Undignified. AMAZING!  then to a main session in the chapel!.. to a concert with Tipmeter, Britt Nicole, and Red...Unfortunately it wasn't that good as I spent most of my time sitting on a chair and reading a sermon, or walking around outside, or waiting for one amazing song by Red which they happened to play at the very end...so I wasn't really impressed with the bad choices this year...but thats okay because I got a  lot more out of the speaking and the experience.

Saturday- I went to the Flying Wallendas, a circus crew that travels the world bringing the gospel into their preformance...it was pretty good:D Juggling tight rope walking, clowns, flying rope girl lol. Another main session after that, lunch, watched Jake Daniel and Nate (Jakes little brother) with the 3/3 tournament this week, I along with Daneille Jesse and Erin were their cheer leaders (I ended up getting a free t-shirt because of my cheering too!:D). Then hearing Brett Ullman talk for Dating.for.life...i really enjoyed what he had to say. from that to supper...to a main session to a dance workshop with refined/undignified (now i have some moves!!)...to a praise session with Downhere...man was it good...i was up near the stage with Erin Wags Daneilles brother(Ryan) Josh and David. It was amazing!We worshiped until like 2 in the morning!

Sunday-breakfast, last main session (I actually fell asleep I was so tired from the weekend), lunch, said goodbye to all the cool past kaleos that we met at briercrest (man did they treat us like family!)..and were off our way on the bus ride home! 

I forgot to tell you! I am sponsoring a child! YUP IM A MUM! His name is Jhon Paul Ulloa Pabon from Ecuador. He is born on April 24, 1998, enjoys soccer, runs home errands, and needed immediate support! I picked him up and couldn't his picture down. How are you supposed to just pick one, or go through all the kids and pick your favourite! It is almost cruel! None the less I am supporting this boy for 35 dollars a month and couldnt be more happy! I am so thankful he is part of my family in a way, and I get to write him letters, I cannot wait until I send him my first one!

Yah so overall Youth Quake was amazing, and I am so happy I went. The speakers were so good, I got to meet a lot of past Kaleo people, I got to see the interesting land of saskatchewan and just had a great time....sure the bus ride was long, and I am probably lacking a ton of sleep, but it was all worth it! Bus rides were filled with pit stops, sleeping, deep talks, catch phrase the game, a movie or two and just chilling with the ipod in my ears playing some new music I got from ryan before I left.

I hope you all enjoyed this long read, and sorry there are no pictures! I will have to upload them later.

I am off for lunch and then continuing my huge load of hw.

Please pray that I get it all done..I will not be checking emails really until march 1st because I need to get this work done, so I thought I would tell you this here and then you all know how my time was instead of me emailing a whole bunch!

Hope you all have had an amazing week and enjoy the sun of this one (its a beautiful tuesday morning here!)

P.s. one last epic story of the trip....so we are coming back (this is monday)...and we have dropped off everyone from all over vancouver...we are the last people to get off the bus for the end of the trip. SOOOO... we would really like to catch the 5:45 ferry and not have to wait 2 more hours until the next ferry...so our bus driver is trying really hard to get there as fast as she can, and thank the lord We got A LOT of green lights:D anyways long story short we are cutting it really close 10 mins before the ferry is about to leave we finally arrive at the terminal. We have josh run to the ticket place and ask the man if we can still get on, while this is happening all of the other kaleo students including me are sprinting off the bus and grabbing our bags. At that very moment another bus load of people come up behind us and start heading towards the ticket booth. So I sprint a head with bags in hand and get in line...Once I get there he asks me where I was going and I oddly say Departure Bay ...and he says in a weird tone NANIAMO?! immediately he says you better run after i start giving him my money and I am like WAIT! there are still more with me...so I get everyone to budge in front of line with me. We all want to pay separately, but he said the only way we can make it on is if we pay all together. So I am like uhhhh this isnt going to work...then Ben comes to the rescue and says how much will it cost. At first someone says that there is 17 of us so we get charged like 300 bucks but im like no there isnt and i YELL there is only 10! (TIME IS WASTING!)....so we get everything under control and ben dishes out like 160 bucks or smth like that and the only reason he had that money in his wallet was because his brother gave him the money for his india missions trip....ben said to his brother that he didnt need it...but his brother sam was like you never know when u might need this money! HOW FUNNY IS THAT?!

lol anyways so we run with our bags and start heading in the wrong direction when this man yells NANIAMO THIS WAY...so we start running onto the road where most of the cars go to get on the ferry...we have like no time...we are running with our massive bags in arms and yelling and laughing and just haviing a hilarious time ...kinda felt like we were in a serious bums rush! As we get to the rap the lady is like tickets please...and all the people that ran fast including me stop turn around and yell BEEENNNNNN!  ben comes flying out of no where hands them the tickets and we walk on laughing and thinking of how much an "AMAZING RACE" experience we just had! lol

Hope you enjoyed the story!

all in all i had a great time!

wow good old memories

love you all

keep smiling

debb

Kaleo Ministry- SURPRISE:D

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Be curious always! For knowledge will not acquire you: you must acquire it. -Sudie Back

So it has been quite the valentines week...yup...WEEK... dont quite know where I am going with this, but I guess I will start with my week from Monday!

Monday:lots of exercise today run with India missions team, ultimate frizbee tryouts, and soccer at 10 pm. exam for Old Testament. 

Tuesday: theology class, went to duncan, surprised Daneille for her birthday in the girls bathroom!

Wednesday: sprayed jono in the face with some water from doing dishes, I got pay back for sure...learned a song that jono and tom made..we put the piano into it which was me playing.

Thursday: read a book for gospels out in the forest near this creek that goes into the ocean it was SWEET!  played ultimate frizbee, girls night (best one ever!) played games, talked, supported each-other, prayer, and then miranda jayme erin and I went and pranked the boys rooms. we were marking their mirrors with dry erase markers, putting shaving cream on their toilets and sinks, and just doing harmless things, mostly writing messages like "you got served", "dont hate the players hate the game" and in each guys room we had a quarter of a story, so they had to go to each room to read the story...unfortunately, as we were on our second room, two guys come walking down the hall...man did our hearts go instantly 1000 times fast...jayme and miranda bolted into the shower and Erin and I went under different desks....we were good for a bit..i cant believe they didn't see us, but then erin laughed and we had to run...so we were made-we were uncovered:( ...they guys were so shocked they just watched us run away in laughter lol it was pretty intense. there's more to the story but I dont have time, I guess Ill have to finish it another day, just remind me!

Friday: the guys pretended to be pretty annoyed at breakfast...tom josh eric jake ben and I took down the old wood skate park with some of the staff! i loved it. got to work with some tools and just demolish things! it was really fun, plus a good work out! (I stepped on a nail, but thank goodness it didn't puncture the skin, it should have the way i stepped on it, but it didn't! THANK GOD!)

Saturday:valentines brunch, napped until supper man was i tired! found out Shannon from kaleo IS ENGAGED! IT HAPPENED ON VALENTINES DAY! wow Jon (not jon from kaleo) did so much for their day, bungee  jumping, spa, breakfast, lunch, limo, dinner, everything wow oh wow!

went around a fire and celebrated jono's birthday with ice cream sandwiches! i sat on a nail...i know ....OUCH! 

Sunday: played piano for church, God helped me with my solo's thats for sure, because I thought I was playing piano until i arrived at church this morning. 

 I didn't make it to youth this week because of working with the skate park, demolishing it, plus of way too much homework before Youth Quake. 

I hope you all had a lovely valentines day! 

Answer to prayers: we have an intern pastor for our church until we find an official one, so this is very exciting!

Please pray for:

-the youth for Ladysmith, Ben and I will be missing next week because of Youth Quake

-for our missions trips

-for Shannon and Jon as they are now engaged! wow oh wow I am going to a wedding!

-for so much homework due on the 1st of march and before that date!

-for sleep, my eyes have been sore for two days now.

-for continuous energy for the last two months.

Thanks so much everyone for keeping up to date on me!

much love,

Deborah Fisk

FISH-KEEP SMILING!

Kaleo Ministry- LIFE in the OLD TESTAMENT!

My Ministry Team (we call ourselves EPIC MISSION -energetically praying in community!made it up ourselves!)-this looks like a band picture so much!
HOW EPIC IS THIS PICTURE! LOL GO TEAM!
climbing in the amazing oak trees of one of Naniamo's parks!
chilling in a little hut!
we are going to rock B.C.!
some of us went to moxies and spent the day in laughter!
believe it or not Tom and I did not know this picture was being taken!
Fish faces on the street of Vancouver....we wanted to do it like our buddy THE MASK behind us!

Another Week has come and gone...wow oh wow. It was a full one!

We had old testament class this week. Class was really interesting, and I now know that if I want to understand the New Testament at a deeper level, I must first understand some pretty crucial things in the Old Testament that point to Jesus. I loved learning about some of the crazy stories...they are something else!

I am proud to say that this was the first class ever that I was not tired in, I know that sounds really bad, trust me all my classes have been amazing and I have learned so much, but this is the first one that kept me so active that I didn't find myself getting tired after lunch! I pretty much made deborah history for staying alert through the whole week:D yah! (be proud mum and dad:D HAHAHAHA)

-I got some exercise in this week

-Kaleo had to make a movie on the Old Testament as our class project by friday, there were a few late nights but the movie was AMAZING!

-played a lot of piano and drums this week

-had a girl from briercrest stay in our room for the week, it was great having her and talking and laughing a ton just before bed:D

-went into town with eric jayme ryan karklins and tom just to get outta kaleo for a breather:D

-cut thomas' hair with dans help lol that was pretty fun.

-went to a meeting for Vancouver Island mission trip in Naniamo, had a great time walking around, seeing my house again, and just spending time in preparation for our trip!

-fondu for girls in Jen Lee's room

-pranked the boys rooms, and I paid the consequences! oh man oh! so we had a cleanest room test..(we didnt win but we should have and same with the boys that won it last year too but we both didnt win! SO RIGGED! but yah)-so we pranked them after all the rooms were nice and clean..not too bad:D then we were listening to their "meeting" of how to get us back...and they found Jayme, Miranda and I listening in on them and they locked us into the laundry room.... eventually after a ton of wrestling, yelling, and trading of personal stuff we were set free...it was a pretty funny night and I guess you had to be there!

Youth this week, we had a progressive Dinner. It was pretty interesting. There was a lot of drama that went down, gossip, back stabbing, fighting, talking over top of leaders, and just really weird night. I was pretty disappointed that they didnt listen to the bible study, but after awhile what can you do? I really feel like having a bible study on gossip and backstabbing and just what it means to be a true friend, but we will see when that chance turns up.

I love these kids, I really do, I just want the best for them, and sometimes that means challenging their level of respect. It is kind of depressing how the younger generation is being raised! PARENTS TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR CHILDREN!

Church this week was alright, thankfully we have a pastor filling in until we get an official one. I really pray that this pastor leads the church well for the time being. On another note, I was disappointed that in a certain situation that I overheard, some of the community cares for the floor of the church more then the development of their youth. This just makes me want to scream! 

Take hold of the chances the community has to bond with the youth, and inspire the future leaders! 

In church I also had to talk about my missions trip, I was a bit nervous but I guess all was said that needed to be.

Thank-you all for your constant prayers!

-Please pray for Kaleo and the last 2 months we have together

-For the missions trip in march

-For the youth of Ladysmith, may they fall in love with God!

-For the community that has shown a lot of love here.

-For my future, and where to go and what to do.

-For my Old Testament exam tomorrow.

-For the numerous piles of homework I have to do before Youth Quake (I AM STRESSED!)

-for deep sleeps!

Thanks so much again, have another great week!

Happy Early Valentines Day!

Love: Deborah

-FISH

Keep smiling!

Kaleo Ministry- a heart of ministry

Alivia, Jen, Miranda and I up mt. "zoo-hay-len" last semester in the fog!
Paul, Tom and I wasting time as we wait for the seminar!
Mir and I taking the streets of Vancouver!
The view from our snowboarding retreat of Mt. Albert-Edward (the first trip we had- WE CLIMBED TO THE TOP OF THE POINTY MT!!)

for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. -Romans 3:23

So Finally some pictures again, sorry about that.

So again this week was everywhere with a bit of everything.

a few highlights

-we had fireside, so Leila, Aaron and I went out with Isaac a staff member, got coffee at coffee on the moon, and had a great time talking...i had a great night with those 3!

-some boys from the India missions team had to jump in the ocean because they lost a bet to the girls, so to our enjoyment we were spectating the cold jump!

-got to go on the new ferry to Vancouver (man they are NICE!)

-tried on dresses down town, had a good time taking pictures all over the streets and just chilling down town with Kylie Kristy and Miranda...i think i broke into dance in the middle of the street too!

-spent the night at (inner hope) the organization/house we hope to be staying at in Vancouver for our missions trip (it was kinda like a trial period).

-really enjoyed going to the Muslim mosque, i learned so much!(so interesting how close our beliefs are-and sad too!), Hindu temple i was a bit tired but man we had amazing samosas after! wow oh wow!

-really enjoyed the Friday night seminar with tony...i learned a lot about missions and  how Christians should really take a stand for it. Not being of this world, detaching from the materials and picking up your cross to follow Jesus. Man i was really fed at that sermon, but it just goes to show how hard a christian walk really is!

-got to talk to a lot of booths at missions fest, including MAF ministry aviation fellowship!

-great music at the youth rally sat morning

-India film on untouchables was so educating...and heart wrenching!

-seminar on child sex slaves in Cambodia, man that hit me hard, since I have been there and since they are so young. LORD FREE THESE GIRLS!

-enjoyed talking and hanging out with Capernwray students and kaleo students.

Unfortunately, church was a bit frustrating this week. It is starting to wear me down that this church is not being led by a pastor. Other things came up on Sunday that also got on my nerves, but I am trying to shrug it off. I have to keep practicing patience when sometimes I feel like yelling, HELLO WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE! I pray that God really works in this church, it needs a revival in so many levels. Thankfully I really am connecting with the youth, and enjoy every opportunity to hang out with them on Sundays and on Fridays. Sadly I couldn't make it to youth this week, because I was on the mainland...I really miss those kids, its crazy how much they can become apart of yah. I feel like I have to look out for them, in every chance I can, give them a friendship that they can trust. 

Anyways, all in all, I had a pretty interesting week. I am learning, and I love that we become more educated people by just following God. Right now I have started Old Testament classes, and it is again opening me to some stuff that I never really thought about.

-Prayer requests:

-for Ladysmith

-for my prof

-for good health

-for a continuous work ethic

-for appreciation of the beauty around me!

-for a heart for missions!

-for my unknowing future!

have a great week

much love

deb fisk

FISH

KEEP SMILING!

Kaleo Ministy- "whistle while I work"

So for some reason I feel like I don't know what to say. It's a good thing to enjoy a quiet brain from time to time, one should take it as a little blessing/relaxing time from God. 

I guess I will start out with a Psalm I wrote for Theology class:

As soon as I draw close to you Lord, my enemy attacks.
Are you still protecting me?
Are you holding me up in your arms?
For there I am safe, I am covered by your wonder.
My will cannot persevere through daily attacks, but with your strength I can do anything.
Lord help my eyes fix upon you, keep my path straight.
As I pray I am already wandering, Lord how truly ignorant am I!
Shake the mountains; show me your anger, yet all you show is mercy.
Lord of mercy, I do not understand!
Lord of mercy, why do you keep me as your own.
I rebuke you, I stray, I am covered in sins.
Still, day-by-day you come to my feet and wash the dirt away. 
My Lord takes it all, and now I am free, I am white as snow.
Look at the load he carries, it is taller than the tallest mountain, yet it is not a burden for you Lord.
You are too powerful, how truly magnificent you are. 
Remind me of your mercy, so I may be faithful under attacks.
Let the enemy cower away at the sight of your work within me.
I give thanks to you Lord, for your mercy and love.
Let praise come from my lips unto your name until my life ends.
And even then I will sing your praises in heaven with the angels.

Hope you all enjoyed that.

This week cant really be determined as a good or bad week, busy or light. It was just a week, a bit of everything from everywhere.

A few main points of this week:

-Theology class was so amazing. It really stretched my brain with the christian community, marriage, and the church. How one should not be motivated to find a church that serves them best, but find a church where one's gifts can best be used. We need to serve the church, and the community within it, just think how amazing churches would be if we all followed that theology! (We have theology class monday and tuesday morning, so that we don't fall asleep in the afternoon like we all were this week). Mornings are amazing, afternoons are a bit hard, even the teacher was getting sleepy, so its a good thing we are doing it like this. 

-Didn't get to go ice-skating with Kaleo, because I have 3 weeks where I can't hit my head, so I was a bit annoyed at that. Enjoyed watching all the Canadian kids own once they got skates on though!

-Learned a great new game called Phase 10!

-Exam for theology of mission went well, I feel confident coming out of it.

-Lots of good conversations throughout the week.

-Watched a movie called Hot Rod (there is a lot of cloverdale (where I used to live) in the film so I was super excited about that!)

-Lots of reading/work this week.

-Played piano for 1 hour and 30 mins straight. Jer came along to listen and sing once we got to the worship songs:D

-We are doing a 24/4 week of prayer so not a full week, but 4 days, and it has been a pretty cool session so far. My last prayer time is tonight at 10pm-11pm. Our focus this prayer time is to pray for the missions trips we will be going on. 

Youth Group was cancelled this week because we had a Church Christmas Dinner instead. We had this dinner, because all the other times were cancelled during christmas because of the snow. It was a bit weird to be singing christmas carols during the end of January, but I still had fun. The youth were invited to come, so I had a good time sitting with the rowdy kids. They were a bit disappointed that they had no games to play, so I got them laughing with our conversations, and when we did the 12 days of christmas, our table was the partridge in a pear tree so we acted out something new when we stood up to sing that each stanza! Some of the youth were involved in playing instruments during the night, so it was fun to encourage them and see their performances. 

-Prayer requests:

-that I can start organizing my future with Gods direction, this is starting to become a burden that I don't want to think about. 

-for more time, I have been very good about my management this semester and am really buckling down, however I can just see with all the things I want to get done this semester it is going to be very busy.

- for Shannon and a trail she is working through

-for the youth of Ladysmith

-for the mission trip to Vancouver and parts of Vancouver Island.

-for classes this week and the professor Lech.

Thank you again so much for your daily prayers.

Have a great week, we are off to missions fest on thursday!

Keep smiling,

Deborah Fisk

aka FISH!

p.s. sorry that there are no pictures, I do not have a cord to transfer items off my camera to the mac computer yet.

Kaleo Ministry- let the stress buildup begin!

Bonjour mes amies! Ca va?! Je suis pas mal. 

I hope you all had a great week, and maybe enjoyed some authentic food:D anyone?! Personally, I am craving some authentic asian, thai, indian, and indonesian cuisine. Sniff! man have I had it good tasting the food of asia!

As most of you know, I just spent this week up in the glorious heights of Mt. Washington (on Island)! What an amazing place to spend 4 nights and 5 days! We were able to see in the distance the mainland and the white mountains there, mountains surrounding us, the one Mt. we climbed off in the distance, beautiful white covered trees - that went green as it was a hot week up on Mt. Washington- and land covered by fog as the chair lifts brought us above the fog level. It was SPLENDID. I can honestly say that the star night sky and the view throughout the day kept me in a state of complete satisfaction and enjoyment. 

So the time up there was pretty amazing. Apart from getting a concussion, and being a little more quiet this week, I had a good time. I got a concussion on the first day hitting the hills. It was my fault, because stupidly I was doing jumps without a helmet, but apart from loosing my memory for 15 mins, I still had a great day. I did go to the hospital after the fall, and to this day cannot remember the jump, fall, or skiing down the hill to first aid, but im alive and all is well so I guess thats okay right?! I had some good friends looking out for me, and when I came back from the hospital I got a lot of concerned looks. The week was full of injuries though, 2 broken wrists, 1 sliced pinky, a concussion, and one guy broke his leg before coming up the mountain. So that is pretty crazy. 

I enjoyed trying snowboarding, but currently I think I am a skiier at heart, I just love it so much more, and want to continue to learn how to get better with it. However I do not bash snowboarding because I think skiing is better, i respect them both! 

On Wednesday we got to snowshoe down the mountain after we jumped off the lift. It was pretty sweet slipping in the snow when there were large angles, and feelings your feet not really sink because of the good old snow shoes:D We also built a quinzee?! I don't know how you would spell it, but basically its a survival snowcave to live in. That was awesome. To finish off the day we went tubing at night, racing, spinning, and just going down these three massive slides for the tubes. 

Miranda and I went out one night and went tobogganing ourselves, which was awesome, because we got the work out for climbing the bunny hill multiple times, and enjoyed each others company as we laughed till our sides split for our horrible driving jobs. 

This week for Kaleo Ministry I was working in the Kitchen all weekend. I wasn't able to go to youth because of a thick fog (so I had no drive), and church was cancelled for me because I was cooking. I really wanted to hang out with the youth, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. Its better to be safe then sorry, however I do miss them!

Working in the Kitchen was very enjoyable, I got to work with two assistant cooks, and my roomies in the kitchen. Thankfully I knew where most of the things were in the kitchen this time, so it was easier to be more sufficient. I found it fun this weekend to be responsible for feeding people and providing a tool for good conversation to spread. I really experienced how fast westerners eat, so it was very cool when one of my guy friends said for a few of us to just stay, sit, and talk to him. 

Overall, I found the kitchen staff very loving as usual, because as you are working with food, there is tons of time to talk to each other and support each other through prayer and just listening while cutting or making some dish.  Plus I learned a few tricks for when I start cooking for others:D

Anyways thanks everyone for always reading and praying.

Please pray for:

- a friendship that is going through some tough times

-my future

-a summer job

-the work load that is about to build up

-a continuos passion for reading Job

-for the youth, that many will return next week and grow in Christ

love you all so much,

as always KEEP SMILING!

and send any prayer requests my way.

Did i ever tell you?! Answer to prayer : My friend Miranda's friend who got in a horrible car accident..who should have been paralyzed for life, is walking around like normal! Wow is she blessed. I pray she takes this as a kick in the butt and gets back on track with God! God was looking after her!

Deborah Fisk

aka-FISH!

Kaleo Ministry- Happy 2009... life is pretty much already an emotional rollercoaster

Hello Friends, Family and fellow followers of this blog! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope you all had a wonderful christmas. Mine was interesting for sure, but life is interesting, so why not take it as it comes eh?! I really enjoyed seeing my family (mark and the parents), seeing a few friends, and just enjoying the very white cold winter that we were blessed with. Of course there were some difficulties, considering we were driving everywhere in some messy conditions with a small honda civic, but every day there was something new to do. A few highlights were : working with Josie for a day as a caterer, spending deep times with Josie, driving with the parents, laughing with the family, playing games, eating random meals, making a new friend in Nanaimo, finding an amazing church there with a sermon that totally hit me, going tobogganing, and skiing with My bro, Dad and Garrett. 

(-by the way sit back and get comfortable, this is a long one:D)

So as you all know, I am back at school, I got here on the 4th around 6 pm at night. My family was kind enough to drive me home in the snow, thankfully they got home safe back to our house on the island. Lol im crazy, and I know my Dad loves it lol. 

So here is just some amazing things that have been happening this week:

This week has been amazing with my roomies. I have really enjoyed talking to them. We have had quite the conversations, and I just really enjoy being able to tell them about things and vice versa. On top of that we have been playing card games, laughing so much, giving each other words of wisdom, working together on a group paper for Theology of Mission (the class that went on this week), and having some sister fun "tussels" before bed. Lol when your rooming with me, of course there is going to be fake wrestling lol. 

Class has been very interesting and a bit frustrating. I loved learning about missions so much, and you could tell that our teacher really knew what he was talking about as he backed it up with biblical verses. I really appreciated being able to confront him with all sorts of questions on faith, people who haven't heard the good news, and Old Testament and New Testament times. However I did have a few tears this last class. It really hit me hard how life isn't fair, and how we as followers of Christ need to take it upon ourselves to be an example for him. We can't shy away at all, it is a very serious unending task to live our lives as best we can in relation to Jesus Christ. I can't shy away from telling the gospel to anyone who asks or is willing to listen. It is a gift that humans need to take, and keep, yet pass it on to someone else. All in all, I learned a lot about Short and Long Term Missions, missionaries, and everything in between. It was so necessary for me to get this class this year! On top of that we watched as extra curricular the movie Sometimes in April. A movie about the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. That again hit me hard and provided an opportunity for more tears to fall. Thankfully, they are educated tears, and hopefully my new understanding of missions will increase Gods continuous work in my life to do his will! 

Another praise factor this week...YOUTH GROUP WAS AMAZING! God blessed me so much. I was talking to Miranda half way through the week, and just suddenly wanted to start reading my bible, because my mum had been telling me that reading her bible every day was her new years resolution. It couldn't get out of my head. So, as I was talking to Miranda about reading the bible, she said I should read the book of Job. At first I didn't really consider that it was going to be the book I would end up reading, but sure enough I opened it and instantly was locked in. I can tell you that I have been reading my bible every night for 4 days, I know it seems little, but this is kind of unheard of for me:D Anyways, I have been reading Job daily, a few chapters a night, and just started taking notes on it the other day. I also have gone up to a leader here and asked for Commentaries and books on Job from the library so I can really dig into this book. I really want to suck this book as dry as I can at this time in my life. However I know every time I come back to this book in the future ill understand things I didn't before, and I will feel different feelings too. None the less it is amazing.

(Don't worry this is going to get to the youth group ...it all ties in!)

So, in chapel the other day, Jim wanted us to praise God, and I mentioned that I was finally reading my bible on my own time. I had an example from my mum playing through my head, my new friend Garrett had been talking all week about me needing to read the bible, and Miranda suggested that book. I told them I was just so encouraged and very passionate about this new start for me. Later in chapel Shannon talked, and during her little praise she told me that she had also been reading Job. So now I have someone to talk about this book with and encourage each other with. I was very excited that God blessed me with this information, as I didn't intend in talking during chapel at all.

(okay it all ties in here is the youth group part...) Sooo...long story I know sorry! So this week our youth leader asked if Ben or I wanted to lead devotional. I knew that my feelings before opening the book of Job were to never lead bible study again, I hated it, and found it very nerve racking and just something I don't feel inclined to do. Anyways, I knew right away after receiving the email from our youth leader that I was supposed to do the devotional this week. I drew up my passion for the book of Job, and out came a devotional for this friday. Here is a point form of what we generally talked about:

-talked about christmas and gifts recieved
-talked about Job and all the gifts/items he had in life/read passage from the bible
-talked about God allowing Job's possessions to be taken away.
-who Job still focused on and praise
-how we should focus on God when we experience the good and the bad in life. How material possessions are not as important as this world makes them to be. 
-told them some self experiences in life (our house getting broken into, my dad loosing his job, having to sell our house, having my friend be hit by a taxi and die) 
-told them about the ultimate gift we were given that will never go away even when everyting else does
-and challanged them to give smth up for a time and see what it feels like to have smth gone. 

All and all, IT WAS ALL GOD!

God totally blessed me, I needed that. I know it was for the youth, but I was also encouraged by it. Many of the kids came up to me and said they really enjoyed the devotional, and both youth leaders said good job and amen. THANK YOU GOD SO MUCH FOR HELPING ME!

IT WAS ALL GOD! I know for a fact that the bible study wouldn't have gone so smoothly without him. I remember praying all friday because I was so nervous, getting some Kaleo people to pray as I left out the door for youth, and saying a little prayer as all the kids were getting ready to listen. WOW OH WOW!

Anyways I am so sorry this was such a long entry, I am sure you had 12 cups of coffee between this paper, but I couldn't stop.

Prayer requests:

-Pray that I stay dedicated in my bible time with God. 

-Pray that I stay dedicated in praying for missions around the world for a month

-Pray for the message to impact the kids at youth group

-Pray for my future, I am beginning to be praying about it...I should have trusted it over to God a long time ago.

-Pray for a few friends that are experiencing some trouble

-Pray for organization for this year, and a strict dedication to the last 4 months

-Pray that I continually do a bit of working out each day:D 

-Pray for the Vancouver missions trip approaching in March. 

Thank you so much for all your prayers, and continuous interest in my life.

Send any and all emails my way.

Keep Smiling!

Love Debb!