No More North America.

Woo, last day in North America for two months.

Today was moving day, getting all of our furniture out of the four apartments we were renting. But, it started earlier, with a practice at 6:45 in the morning. That went well, considering the hour.

Anyway, the AM dial consisted of moving stuff and some cleaning as well. Cleaning up after 12 guys takes up a fair bit of time, so I had something to do at least.

Then in the afternoon was some last-minute preparations, and I'm going to bed early.

Oh yeah, in case you didn't realize, this will be the last blog for a stint. I'm not exactly sure what the story will be in Russia. I know there will be some internet access, but it will be quite limited. Oh well, you'll hear from me sometime.

Arrivederci.

100.

Darn. 200 short of some sort of 'This is Sparta' joke... Oh well.

I'm writing this early because as of 5:00 today, no more computer. It's staying in Vancouver because it probably will break/ not work there, and it'll be a cumbersome load to lug around.


Anyways, another fairly busy day. I basically am finishing up my packing, doing some last minute shopping for little things I'll need, getting together stuff to send home, so basically, a lot of running around is what's going on.

Arrivederci.

Packed with Packing.

I had a nice, productive day today.

I started fairly early, getting a drive out to Delta BC to help out/observe Jack out with some younger goalies, just to get used to the idea and all. Oh yeah, and Jack gave me even MORE stuff. He gave me some material from HMI (Hockey Ministries International), some toques to give to some Russian kids and a Bible from FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes).

Then for most of the afternoon I packed for outreach, getting everything organized and setting up a box of stuff to send home as well.

So that is what my day really consisted of, it was quite a good day all around.

Arrivederci.

The Aftermath...

...Can be simply cleaning up the wrapping paper, or it can be the literal math, calculating just how much you've blown on the holiday (cue the guffaws from the peanut gallery).

Anyways, a fun day. Emily from church came up to Vancouver and thought she'd hang out with me for the day whilst in the neighborhood.

First I introduced her to all of the folks from YWAM staying over here for the break, she was happy with a guitar and a few rugby players, so she was happy there. Then we took a plate of homemade cookies to the girl's apartment down the street and got her acquainted with the girls.

Mom (being the mom she is) sent Emily off with more Christmas stuff (clothes) and a large hug.

Then we decided to join the insane and head to a mall. On the skytrain towards the mall, my hat sparked a conversation with a pair of police officers. No, the hat didn't say anything nasty on it, it was from the police officer's hometown of Newcastle, England. Also the other cop there played rugby, so once again, conversation was easy.

Then after a while being in the mall, we returned to commercial drive to eat, went down Broadway for a bit, and returned home. Emily went to see a movie while I decided to take a bit of time for myself, drop some stuff off at the apartment and have dinner. Then Emily invited me to play scrabble with her family. The invitation for one who enjoys plays on words to play with words was quickly accepted, and we played scrabble till about midnight. Then I came home and packed up my hockey gear for a practice scheduled for tomorrow (now, today).

Arrivederci.

What is the Greatest Gift?

I don't feel like flat out describing my day really, I kind of want to make it interesting, sort of a reflection of the day.

The title is a question for my self, which I intend to answer through this entry.

Although I received many a gift today, but they all are dwarfed by two things. As great as an endless supply of snacks, photography magazines and clothes are, they simply do not compare to two things: Family by blood, and family through blood.

For seventeen of my eighteen Christmases, I have grown accustomed to having family all around in this time, from brothers and sisters to aunts and uncles, and everything in between. For many, this blessing is a given. However, there are so many families that are broken and shattered, I fear that there are also many who have never celebrated Christmas the way it was intended to be celebrated.

Just as much as I have realized the wonder of this first gift, I was also introduced to another family with whom I can celebrate this season. I, for the first time in my life, have been privileged with the opportunity to experience this second family in the way God fully intended it to be felt. Even without much in the way of possessions, each member gave what they could, some gave up their houses for an evening while others invested their time in preparing a meal or even explaining the rules to the card game 'Uno'. Each mentioned gift may seem to vary in value on the surface, but at the heart of them is where the true value lies. This Christmas has put this lesson in full view for me, which made this a memorable Christmas.

It also helps that it SNOWED... IN VANCOUVER... ON CHRISTMAS DAY.

Arrivederci.

3, 2, 1...

Almost there. Kids, now is the time to go to bed, if the pure ecstasy of the season doesn't keep you awake, which it probably does.

Anyways, today was pretty fun, I didn't do a terrible lot, but that's a reason I enjoyed today.

So first off, I went out and did some laundry, and shortly thereafter dirtied it up all over again by going out for a run. I'll need to go out and run a few times this week, as it is required by our coach, to be in decent form when we go.

So after getting the work and such out of the way, I talked to a few people at home, and watched a movie with some of the guys in the apartment.

But now it's time to go to bed, for my mind to be invaded by sugar plum fairies and such nonsense.

Arrivederci.

We Do It Soooo Much Better.

Woo, it's Christmas Eve eve.

Anyways, I went to church today, and they had a candlelight service in the morning... I've got to say, that was a bit lame. I mean, it's only a true candlelight service when the only visible light is candlelight. Otherwise, it's sub-par in my book. Not that the service itself was bad, but a candlelight service without true candlelight is just a service to me.

Other than the service, I didn't do a whole lot, I went to hang out again with friends, and I got to say goodbye to the folks down at the cafe playing jazz, it was a pretty good day.

Arrivederci.

Slightly Less Musical Than Expected.

A stroll down Broadway stirs up ideas of musicals and glamour. Not the 0ne in Vancouver though.

I did a fair bit of shopping, just practical things I will need for the next little while, nothing exciting.

I did however get to watch more of Prison Break tonight with some of the folks here, we plan on getting through season 1 this week, certainly an attainable goal.

Anyways, it's very late here, and it's bedtime.

Arrivederci.

Just a Little Talk With EVERYONE.

I'm pretty much out of names for daily blog entries. But I think it's noteworthy that I've come up with sensical titles for about 90 of my blog entries... Anyways, my day.

The only scheduled thing today was some cleaning before people left for their respective abodes. So since two of the four people in this apartment were leaving early in the morning, most of the stuff was done the night before. So there was a bit of work done, but our base director was happy with the cleanliness.

Then Sam and I jumped from apartment to apartment to see just how many people there were around, it was a barren wasteland compared to 24 hours ago.

I also called Kingswood camp to chat with people there who wanted to, since it was their camp Christmas party today. So I talked to a few people, for a LONG time, I think I clocked in at 2-3 hours of phone time today. My ear hurts.

Then for some reason or another, a few of the guys went over to the girl's apartment and a fair bit of time was spent there. I got to play pinball on the computer and got a pitiful excuse of a high score (1.9 million). Then for a few hours, we watched Prison Break, said goodbyes and such, and headed off to our apartments for the night. Sleep will follow.

Arrivederci.

Done.

Today was the final day of lectures for this DTS.

The class was all about little things we should know/have on outreach to make things go a bit better (i.e. Don't tick off customs officers, shower with clothes on to do laundry and clean yourself, fun little things like that).

So then we prayed for the outreach teams for a fair chunk of the afternoon, then we had our last supper. Which unfortunate for me and a few others, we had to clean up after, so that took a while.

Two of the guys in my apartment are leaving tomorrow, the other is leaving sometime on Saturday, so solitude is just around the corner. Whether that's a good or bad thing, I'm not sure. I guess we'll find that out, won't we?

Arrivederci.

Welcome to the United States of Euphoria...

...Population, me.

Today is a blur, I'll just get to the big stuff. I mean, we ate and learned, that's it.

Now for the big news. It's Hiroshima in the head, Nagasaki on the noggin. All signs point to a blown mind. Jack the goalie coach who comes out GAVE me a brand new pair of Bauer Vapor XXX goalie pants (NHL-caliber stuff) and a new. Pair. Of. Custom. Bauer. Goalie. Pads...

Just let that sink in.

A. New. Pair. Of. Custom. Bauer. Goalie. Pads.

These things are divine. Remember the stick giving off an aura a while back? These behemoths produce a halo. In fact, they clock in on the UV scale, you need SPF 15 to be in the same room as them. They are red, white, and blue, custom made to the specifications of NHL goalie Nikolai Khabibulin (ironically, a Russian), and are probably worth more than every other pair of pads combined. Excuse me while I both wet myself and salivate in glee. But the best thing? These pads are so light. Both of the pads together weigh maybe half of one of my old pads. Plus they are 3 inches taller than my old pads, so no more shots to the knees.

Pictures will follow shortly.
Arrivederci.

A More Wakeful and Less Child-filled Future.

A "Good news- Bad news" kind of day.

The good news? No more workouts at 7 AM in the morning. We had our last one today and it went pretty well. Me and two other guys ran it this morning, so you know it was good.

Anyway, our class had an activity today, one of those 'teamwork building' things. I mean the ones where one guy in the group is assigned to be difficult and the rest are physically unable to do anything, it's fun.

Then, the bad news. Today was the last day of going to help out at the nursery in Burnaby. But I'll still see one of the kids from there because her parents work at the base, so she'll be around.

Well other then that, nothing really happened today. But I don't mind that, it was a fine day in my opinion.

Arrivederci.

Paid in Full.

A bit of a 'Giveth and Taketh' kind of day, but still quite a good day.

This was the due date for the last payment for outreach, so there's your taketh right there. Though it wasn't as big of a payment as first expected, so it wasn't as bad of a taketh as previously thought.

Hockey was alright today, I didn't find it to be too good, but it wasn't anything special. I also felt kind of sick afterwards, nothing too bad, just feeling a bit off.

Cue the 'giveth'. My care package came from home, it was quite literally Christmas in a box. I've also gotten a few Christmas cards from some people at church, which I really appreciate a lot. Anyways, my long awaited birthday present came from Nick, a CD of my friend from camp a few years ago, it's quite wonderful.

So that's all I did today, quite a lot and sleep is well deserved.

Arrivederci.

All Work, No Play.

No, I didn't have a crazy working day, I got all my work done. And I did have fun today, though I didn't play at jazz again thanks to lack of instrument. Anyways, my day...

It was another fairly restful day. Church was good, it's reaching the climax of the season which I thoroughly enjoy, I enjoy cacophonous choral carols creeping out of church coffers creating chills. Hooray for alliteration.

Anyways, one of the highlights of the day was devouring yesterday's highlight; that giant caesar salad. It was shared between my roommate and I and it sufficiently answered the question of why the Caesars ruled the known world for so long, they just gave everyone salad so nobody would have any beefs, only bacon bits.

Then I had some long chats with each family member today, each one eventually signed in on MSN to chat. After finally finishing familial fellowship, I actually got to the work portion of the day, which didn't actually take a terribly long time.

At that time I went to eat supper and called the family just because things were slightly bleak on your coast based on what I heard so I thought I'd call to make the evening a little cheerier, to fit the weather.

Then I went to the cafe down the street to hear some jazz. It was pretty good tonight, a few less players than last week so it felt a lot more orderly which was pretty good. I got to talk with the bassist a little more (he's sort of the leader of the bunch) and ensured that his old Toyota van would start before walking back.

So that was my day, a a garden variety slightly more varied than the vegetables in my salad.

A Whole Wad o' Nuttin'

That explains my day in a nutshell.

All I did was rest. I stayed in most of the day and just rested, but this cold is certainly on it's way out now, so I think it could be gone tomorrow or the day after, which is a very good thing.

Ooh, and I also scored a giant salad from the other guy's apartment... They had 4 giant 'salads-in-a-box', and they only used 1 tonight, so I got the other one! So at some point in the very near future, I'm going to tee off on that salad and it will be grand.

Doesn't that last paragraph just give you an idea of how uneventful today was? Aside from a chat with my dad, a giant salad was the highlight of my day.

Which brings me to another highlight of my weekend, sleep.

Arrivederci.

Left side, Strong side?

After the last two practices, I'm might beg to differ. Someone or something of a higher power I think has a personal vendetta against my left side... You'll hear more about that later.

Anyways today we got to hear from Tom Hallas, the guy we were supposed to have speak this week, but couldn't because of his role in the memorial service for the victims of the Denver shootings. So anyway he made it out for today and just talked about encoragement and answered some questions regarding the whole incident.

Hockey today had me convinced that there is a vendetta on my left side. Remember two days ago when there were 2 shots in a row to my knee and one to the shoulder (both my left ones)? Well shot number 1 today was a shot directly to the left elbow, and that hurt for the rest of practice. Woo hoo.

Anyways, we also had a really big and fancy meal tonight kind of to mark the end of our lecture phase since when it actually ends, most people will be gone. So we had a really nice Christmas-esque dinner and one of the guys did up a slideshow of pictures from the whole DTS. I also got to play with a Sony A camera, which was fun.

So that was my day, a pretty fun one.

Arrivederci.

Less shin kicking.

Today was a big improvement from yesterday in pretty much every way possible.

I still felt sick, but not as bad as yesterday, and that bodes well with me.

So we had our last class with Alan McBryan today, and that went pretty good for the most part.

Then we had intercession for Russia today and for all the stuff going on there (the insanely high abortion rate, rampant AIDS, the 'democracy' of Putin...) so we prayed for that and more focused on the impact our team will have there. So that went pretty well also.

Then I had most of the afternoon off, ate dinner and retreated to the apartment for the night. I think I'll head off to bed soon, to get some good sleep.

Arrivederci.

A Kick-to-the-Shin Kinda Day.

Today was not fun. In many ways. In fact, I don't think it's a stretch to say it was not fun in very way.

I woke up this morning and came to the sad realization that I have a cold. I also didn't want to miss class because I'd feel bad for missing a class, so I went anyway.

Class was alright, I stiff felt crappy there, but I wasn't blowing my nose every 10 seconds for the sake of everyone else.

Then we had hockey, which wasn't a terrible lot of fun. Our student coach for the day decided that it would be good in the warm-up to shoot for corners, as opposed to the way you're supposed to, at the goalie. So that was quite ignorant of him and quite bothersome as well. Then in the net drill the same guy decides to drill a shot in the neighborhood of my noggin. It didn't hit my head, but instead my shoulder, specifically a spot without padding. About 5 shots later, I ended up with 2 shots in a row directly off the same kneecap, also sans protection. Ouch.

Then when we got back for a little class, some good news. Our game jerseys came in from Winnipeg, and they're pretty sweet. They're embroidered and all that fancy stuff. Everybody got their jersey... Except me. They screwed up the size for me and so I got a really small jersey so I don't actually know when mine will come in.

Then we had a second class for the day, which adds up to two classes (one more than I would have preferred). Oh well. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Arrivederci.

Shakaaaaa!

Do you understand how hard it is to come up with a title about 'My Day' 82 times without being repetitive? Anyways, here's today.

We were talking about more theology, today covering how God could work. The three dominant views being Calvinism (Everything is done by God's sovereign will), Arminianism (almost like Calvinism, but with a dash of free will thrown in) and more "Open Theism" (God sees every option possible until decisions are made, than it is certainty). So that's what we learned, along with the main arguments for and against each.

Then I got to go and do the whole nursery thing today. I didn't want to really interact with the kids too much today, because I have a little case of the sniffles. Kids plus snot equals disaster.

So that was really all my day was made up of, it was a fun day.
Arrivederci.

Change in Plans

Our speaker for this week is actually from a base in Colorado (not the Denver base, but one somewhere in Colorado, I'm not exactly sure where) so he canceled in the last minute to be with the group in Denver. So thankfully on 5 hours notice we had a guy fly in from Edmonton talking on 'a panoramic view of God', so we're really appreciative of his coming on such short notice.

Hockey today was cool, our coach has passed on the reins to students the last few weeks and it this practice was run by my roommate, our resident Edmontonian Alex and me. So for my portion of the practice I got to put people through some goalie drills, it's fun to see the challenges of shuffling without skates cut for a goalie.

So then we actually had the rest of the day off, because the staff were having a party all on their own, no students involved. So a nice restful night happened. But now I'm off to bed.

Arrivederci.

Sour Tinged Sunday

A good day, but completely tainted by dark and dreary overtones from the YWAM shooting.

I can't quite wrap my mind around the idea of losing two YWAMers forever. We did have one leave a while ago as you might remember and that day was a pretty big downer, and even then we all know she's alive and well at home.I can't grasp the idea of two people here being gone forever.


Well I went to church down the road, and that's where I found out about the YWAM shooting so that cloud was hovering over all of the events of the day.

Anyways, I did laundry and did some running and stuff, y'know, responsible stuff that I need to do once in a while.

I also got to play street hockey with some of the guys, we have a completely vacant parking garage under the apartment so as dark and void of natural light as it may be, it's presence is an invitation for hockey. So I did that for a while, it was pretty fun.

Then I went down the street to check in on the jazz group. I got to talk to them for a while, help put stuff away, just hanging out with them.

So I'm not sure how today was.

Arrivederci.

Saturday, that ever so lovely Saturday...

Oh yeah, sleeping in was wonderful. I didn't do a terrible lot today, just journals and such.

The hockey guys did however have an entire afternoon of watching hockey night in Canada at our coach's house. Because we're on the west coast, watching the entire NHL doubleheader of CBC is quite easy, since the second game only ends at 10 or so... So we did that whole eat drink and be merry thing for the afternoon.

That's about it, tons o' fun.

Arrivederci.

That wonderful day everyone works for...

Yup, Fridays mean Saturday is right around the corner, a very good thing indeed.

So today was a lot slower than the first 4 days this week, we were in the base for most of it. The only thing really outside the ordinary was I had an oral presentation to do on the phrase 'God is just" so that was pretty quick, just 5 minutes.

Then we had a hockey game. I felt I played fine, but it seemed like one of those games where nothing goes right at all, so we lost. We didn't have a scorekeeper so I can't give any specifics.

Anyways, that was about all that really happened today.

Arrivederci.

Onions n' Brussels Sprouts

Sounds like a crappy day from the title if I do say so myself, but it wasn't so that;s good.

Today was our last outreach day. I went to a drop-in/detox center in downtown Vancouver called Harbour Light, run by the Salvation Army. So the work there (at least for me) was essentially cutting stuff. A bit of an odd assignment for me, but certainly one I didn't mind. There isn't too much else to say about the harbour light outreach, though I did get to talk to a guy there who has 20 years experience in jail, so they get some people that need some help.

Anyways, then we had supper, but instead of the monotony of sandwiches or some kind of standard meal for 50, we got to go to an Indian restaurant. I for the most part had butter chicken with naan bread, which is good for culinary wuss like me.

So it overall was a good day, though I did find it somewhat tiring.

Muslims n' Buddhists

Today was the day our YWAM group went to tour some of the other temples around, to get to know some of the beliefs of where we are going. So we went to a local mosque since both Indonesia and Malaysia are two of the biggest Muslim countries in the world, with Indonesia being the biggest Muslim country in the world.

So we went to the mosque in the morning, it was pretty interesting. All the men had to wear collared suits and slacks. Jeans are shunned at the mosque, for both men and women. All the girls had to wear a hijab, or a head cover at least. So we had a little tour and a sort of 'Islam 101' so we can better understand the religion. It's really weird because they worship the same god as us, but they have different versions of our old testament stories. The biggest example is they believe that Abraham was going to slaughter Ishmael instead of Isaac. So there were a lot of questions asked, with some interesting answers.

So after leaving the mosque we went to a Buddhist temple, a more aesthetically appealing place. It was very Chinese in style, in the architecture and such. There were a lot of golden statues of various Buddhas throughout history, and oddly enough, many plastic animals. So then we had a chat with one of the workers in the temple about Buddhism, and how it works. It's really self-centered, all about searching for enlightenment, how important Karma is and how reincarnation is. A very confusing religion.

So then we came back to the base, watched a movie, and that's about it.

So tune in tomorrow for the smashing conclusion of our urban outreach week.

Arrivederci.

Homeless Dudes n' Prostitutes

There's a title that'll raise an eyebrow or two.

Our day started too early, with dryland at 7 AM, and it was a pain to do this morning. Bad start.

Then we came and had a quick little briefing about what we were to do in the afternoon. We were going to walk around downtown and the East side to learn more about them and what needs to be done to improve their state, so it was pretty much wander about time and learn more about the needs of the city. Considering how time and energy consuming that was for me, I hated it. We talked to a couple people, but it didn't feel terribly productive, though it could be in some distant far fetched way.

Then we walked over to the Coastal church, a church which is right in downtown, a rare thing. So they talked about how they started and their outreach into the downtown, and how it was mostly relationship based.

So after that we came back and ate supper. I didn't get to much, which also sucked.

Then we had a prayer walk in the nice little pockets of prostitution in Vancouver. So to start we prayed for energy, since I lacked it or any hint of a can-do attitude. So anyways, my group was sent to the downtown district around Robson and Granville, give or take a few blocks. It is notorious for it's nightclubs and adult toy stores rather than flat out stereotypical 'girls-on-corners' style prostitution, that's for the East side of town. So anyways, the energy prayer was promptly answered by two women giving out Red Bull, though we ironically didn't drink it.

Then we had our first really trippy experience. A part of our prayer walk was each group was given a rose (or two) with a little note on it to give to whoever needs it, a prostitute or a 'client', whoever we felt needed it most. So anyways, one guy in our group felt the receptionist at a local shop called "Madame Cleo's", so we prayed over him and the shop. So anyways, the guy walks in, and as he is talking to the receptionist, a troupe of half naked girls surrounds him, with a very limited wardrobe. So anyways, he gives one of the girls the rose, and they all were really touched by it. A very neat experience.

Then we prayed over some other clubs like the 'Penthouse', a club that has been in Van for about 50 years, and one called "Roxy's" which ironically while we were walking outside it was playing "Tainted Love". The second rose was given out by the girl in our group to the bouncer at Roxy's, a but guy named Chris. So anyways, everyone was really uplifted from that experience, despite the lack of sleep and energy to actually want to go in the first place, so it was a good night that made up for the rest of the day for me.

Anyways, it's late.

Arrivederci.

Last day of freedom this week.

At least, that's what it's looking like...

It is Urban missions week, so today we did a prayer walk along Commercial drive, praqying for the needs and such.

It's looking like the last day of free time because the next days will be BUSY. Tomorrow I'll be going 18 hours straight, so that will supremely suck. Hopefully, I'll get some time to myself.

Anyways, enough complaining. We had hockey today, AND I FINALLY BROKE MY SHER-WOOD STICK! I am so glad, because that stick as terrible. It was heavy, weak, didn't have a good curve, so it finally broke today... I replaced it with a Bauer with the Cujo curve (a good thing), though I'm now running low on spending money for Russia again.

Anyways, it's late, and that's about all that happened anyway.

Arrivederci.

Semi-snowy Sunday

It snowed even more today, though it got washed away by rain later.

Anyways, church in the morning was cool, it was the first time I've ever seen a Youtube video in church, about Britain's Got Talent's winner Paul Potts. The guy has some obscure job in Cardiff Wales, but is an incredible opera singer. Check him out on youtube, he's very deceptive.

Anyways, on the way back from church our resident Korean YWAMer decided to throw a snowball at me... Big mistake on her part. I ended up catching most of them and pelting them back at her. So the moral of the story: don't mess with a Canadian in a snowball fight.

So I also got to scan some drawings, maybe I'll post on within the next few days, there's some pretty cool ones.

Anyways, our night consisted of childcare for a church hosting a banquet at the Hyatt in downtown Vancouver. I got stuck in the baby room, so it was slightly louder than I cared for, but overall the night was fine.
Anyways, I have to get up extra early tomorrow, so it's bed time for me.

Arrivederci.

Snowy Saturday?!?

Yeah, it snowed... in Vancouver... In early December.

In meteorologic terms, this is a miracle. According to Glen and Lorraine, it normally snows around late December/early January, and only for one week of the year. Not so this year. Greg out resident Australian got to see snow for the first time ever, so he had an adventurous day.

Anyways, this day was actually kind of boring, all snow put into consideration. It was a bit disappointing as well, since I planned to do a few things, and nothing actually got done. Oh well, I've got some of tomorrow as well.

Arrivederci.

Full Friday

Yeah, that extra bit of sleep we get on Fridays? Totally worth every second of it.

I slept in until 9, that's really late for me... So yeah, I needed it today.

We started off not with the usual intercession, but a more spontaneous intercessory meeting about the building we're in. The down payment on it was due today, which is about $75 000 and although I don't have the numbers, we were far below that to say the least. So we prayed for a long time, and even had one of YWAM's signature spontaneous offerings... From our little group we raised $2300 our of the blue. Anyways, we prayed about that most of the morning.

Then we had hockey in the afternoon, which was a game against a mens team from around the area. I'm pretty sure we won, but we didn't keep score, so I can't say anything exact. But I played good. Plus, the group beside us needed a goalie so I got to play an extra half hour. That group was considerably slower, but it was still fun, and I also let in no goals.

Then on the way back from the rink, our van overheated. So we pulled over and filled the thing up with water to try to cool it down enough to get back to the base, which happened after a few trips across the street to a running tap.

Then, more hockey! This was watching junior A hockey as opposed to playing. But the absolute best part was I got to use a $2000 dollar camera for the whole thing, it's nothing short of a dream. Anyways, 60 minutes of hockey, 650 pictures and a full charge later, I milked all of the photo ops at the rink for all they were worth, because it's not every day one gets to use such a beast. I will post pictures once I get them, but since it's not my camera, I don't know when that'll happen.

Anyways, it's late. Matt wants sleep.
Arrivederci.

Thiestic Thursday

Yup. I'm running out of adjectives.

Anyways, today was the last day of teaching about the cross, which was all about taking all we learned and using it in evangelism, so an important lesson today.

Our intercession fasting was all about abortion, and about reducing the number of them going on, and more education and information about them for those thinking about it. This is important because there is an abortion clinic on Commercial that does the most abortions in British Columbia, and there is also an alarming abortion rate in Russia, something like 7 per woman.

Anyways, then I had an afternoon off, had dinner where not a whole lot of people showed up, and I was going to babysit the director's kids because it's their anniversary today, but three people were already going.

So that was my day.
Arrivederci.

Wanton Wednesday

Woo, our longer day of the week.

The party started with a nice dose of class, which ended up in a whole theological debate regarding predestination vs. free will, it was fun hearing aspects of both, but as always, no conclusion was met. Ask Jesus sometime I guess.

So anyways, today's hockey was a little practice thing with the entire DTS there, with some people who have skated many a time before, and others who have never been on ice before, So, it was quite interesting, trying to teach with such a wide variety of skill levels. We didn't wear any gear either, so that's really weird for me.

Anyways, supper was a load of the quintessential 'Buck-a-Slice' pizza from a joint called 'Uncle Fatih's' which is nothing short of incredible. So we had pizza, an enjoyable treat.

Then for our night class we had a coffee shop-ish thing going on, asking theological questions and whatnot. My favourite part was the tables had paper on them so I drew all over the tables, with a bunch of random doodles some of which came out really nice. At the end we had communion, but not before a mysterious rodent of some kind ran through the building and scared the crap out of most of the female populace.

So that was my day.
Arrivederci.

Tepid Tuesday

Nothing terribly outside the ordinary today.

We got back into the early morning dryland thing again, after not doing it last week because of an extra game. So that was fine, kind of cold while we were outside, but nothing too bad.

Skip ahead to the afternoon, where Greg and I were at the daycare again, this week we went to a local playground, cleaned up the place, put out Christmas lights, and put one of those reindeer wire-frame thingies out in the front yard.

Other than that, there was nothing way out there.
Arrivederci.

Manic Monday

It was a pretty average Monday, though the sudden outburst of uncharacteristically pleasant weather finally ceased today.

Anyways, we got to meet our speaker for the week, a man by the name of Paul Martinson, and he'll be speaking on 'the cross' this week, as we are now ebbing away from the self-examination of the DTS into the more outreach centered topics.

We also had hockey today, which was a very busy practice, with a lot of shots and a lot more skating.

Other than that. not too much. I did however find out that a few people I know from the internet reside in Vancouver, which was kind of cool.

Anyways, that's it.
Arrivederci.

All That Jazz.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

Despite the exclamation point, it wasn't a particularly stand-out day, but it was a fun one, that really expressed how dichotomistic I really am.

Today was the smashing conclusion to the ten commandments series at the Eastside Vineyard, with the tenth commandment of not coveting the neighbor and all of their assets and in some translations, the ass itself.

So I had a nice, long afternoon off, just to sit around the apartment and rest. We did however watch Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. This movie was made at a time in Keanu Reeves' life when he didn't need to act confused, because he was confused.

Then there was the jazz. Oh, the jazz. The whole day led up to this. After some debate we found out there was no cover charge so no money was spent, quite a plus. Anyways, it was pretty good, the ensemble features a stand-up bass, two saxes, a trumpet, keyboard, guitar and for a little while, a trombone.

So afterwards I decided to hang out with the musicians for a stint, talked for a while, and unofficially got invited to play next week. Considering my lack of instrument and knowledge of jazz standards, the odds of that happening are slim to none, though drums is a faint possibility. Though I am now tempted to buy a trombone or just the mouthpiece from a pawn shop, then sell it before I go, even just to stay in shape musically. But, I digress.

I also found out the drummer went to St. FX which was neat to know. Also on a personal note, I also discovered that the bassist drove a Toyota van, which I helped him start because (drum roll please...) the starter didn't work.

So that was my day, a fun one in my book.
Arrivederci.

Soccer and Rugby and 'Bee? Oh my.

Yeah, aside from doing work and resting, there were those three sports.

So a few of the guys decided to take advantage of the ever so rare sunny Vancouver weather (though it's been really nice the last few days) and decided to have an afternoon of sporting. We only had eight people out, so the space and variety of sports was somewhat hindered, but not much.

First off we played some light contact 4-on-4 rugby (however that works). Because there wasn't the standard 11-on-11 and much less contact than normal, that didn't last terribly long. But for the time we did play I did score a try (the rugby equivalent to a touchdown).

The next sport we played was frisbee, with four on four it was certainly an interesting affair. I ended up scoring most of the touchdowns there, so that went pretty well too. Also there were no terrible collisions or accidents either, which is a perk.

Then there was soccer, 3-on-3, which went oddly well considering the opposition was composed of two pretty good players and one legendary footballer from Northampton England. So we ended up playing an hour and a half worth of sports in total today, a lot of fun and not too excessive.

Arrivederci.

Arrivederci, Cheryl.

OK, there weren't a great lot of events today, but the ones that did happen were quite important.

We had hockey today, I played pretty good in my own opinion, there were a few shining moments...

Anyways, onto what really matters.

Our cook up to this point in the DTS is a woman names Cheryl from Alberta. She decided to volunteer as a cook based on a minor utterance in a conversation with her daughter, who is a staff member here. So anyway one thing led to another and we ended up with Cheryl as cook.

Today was the last day she would make meals for us. After a few months away from home, she will be returning to Alberta to her husband, and to continue her job as a tutor for children with special needs. So tonight was a 'last supper' in a sense.

We each gave her one flower to make a bouquet which was really cool, and she gave a big speech about how much she got connected to the students and staff here. So it was a night full of tears (none of my own), laughter and good eatin'.

She will however be around for the weekend, and invited some of the students to go to a cafe down the road on Sunday evening to soak in some silky smooth jazz. Of course, it would be so wrong for me in many ways to decline the invitation to hear some of the local sounds.

Anyways, the Siren's song of my bed is growing louder, and I ain't tied to the mast.
Arrivederci.

The day before the day before the day everyone is waiting for.

That wonderful day all are waiting for is Saturday. Not there yet, but today was fun anyways.

We finished off our classes with our speaker this week, said our goodbyes and all that jazz.

Then we did intercession, which was making an encouraging collage for someone else. We only had an hour, so I was disappointed that I couldn't fill up the entire page. Plus, I hate collages, at least, I hate making them.

Anyways, MONEY, there was a boatload of money that I got today, which rocks quite a lot. I ended up with $165 from various sources, some of it destined for my personal account (that's why it was given, I'm not taking any off the top from donations!) and some of it for the outreach account. Oh yeah, as of now, my balance remaining is in triple digits, which is HUGE, very 'home stretch-esque'.

So I bought the matching scarf to my hat I got earlier, so I can be the ultimate matching fashionisto I was destined to be.

That's all the noteworthy stuff of the day,
Arrivederci.

Write on.

Wednesday is our late day, so let's hear about it.

This was the first day I actually wanted a jacket and my awesome sweet scarf, so I wore them today for the first time, which is a testimony to how mild it is here.

So class yielded nothing outside the ordinary, taking notes and such.

Hockey seemed to be an attack on my left hand. One of the first shots of the day went of the side of my hand without padding (it was the blocker side, which explains the lack of padding sort of) so that hurt for the rest of practice. Then in one drill I had that same hand squashed up between a player and the post, which also sucked. I was kinda tired too, bu had fun despite those things.

So we had supper, than watched a video about revivals in cities, like one city in Venezuela where there was a huge cocaine industry that completely collapsed and one in California where there was a lot of occultism, and the like, so it was cool to see what cooperation and faith can do.

So yeah, it's getting late, I'll be off to bed soon.
Arrivederci.

A daylight savings sequal?!?

I gained an hour of sleep! Because of the extra ice time this past weekend with hockey games, Glen (our coach) gave us this week's dryland off. So I got to sleep in until 7 instead of 6, and that was WONDERFUL.
The class was pretty standard, nothing too out of the ordinary happened. Although someone broke a finger or two yesterday one of the guys aunts died yesterday as well, ironically on spiritual warfare week.

Anyways, everyone had to go get a police check (except me and Greg, since we already have ours) for some child care we'll be doing early December. So me and Greg went to the nursery to work anyway, which was getting the nursery all Christmased up. That simply meant putting up a fake tree, all the while bragging about how our real Nova Scotian Christmas trees school that piddly wannabe, and we put up Christmas lights and of course, spent time with the kids.

And, that's about it for today.
Arrivederci.

Insert Title Here

Wow, it's getting the title that's the hardest part.

So we started our new topic this week, which is spiritual warfare, something which will in all likelihood be a very significant topic especially once we go on outreach.

We also had a hockey practice today, which went pretty well. The only ouchie I got was when diving for a rebound I landed on the buckle on my shoulder pad, so I've got a boo-boo on my back. On the plus side, I did make the save.

So then we had supper, which for the Malaysia team, was a challenge. The way it went is that they were presented with the basics found at a walk in shelter thingy in Malaysia: A crapload of cabbage and onion, limited chicken, hot dogs, and mr. Noodles. They were told to make a meal. It went over quite well, considering the resources.

But after supper, we still weren't able to use our industrial dishwasher, so doing dishes again took a fair bit of time since everyone was in and out cleaning their own dishes along with us cleaning the big dishes as well.

Anyways, it was a fun day.
Arrivederci.

Fun day Sunday

Not a great lot happened.

A bunch of guys played floor hockey and soccer in an old out of use parking garage in our apartment. I think I played for like an hour and a half, so I'm ready for bed.

That's honestly all that really happened today.

Arrivederci.

What did the tree say to the lumberkjack...

... Cut me some slack, I think we should bury the hatchet.

Speaking of burying the hatchet, you'll learn more about it later, but alas, I prefer to do things in chronological order.

So today was that blissful day of rest that I eagerly anticipate once it nears the end of the week, just to be alone and recharge. So there were two noteworthy events which occurred today. One was a resounding laundry party, which is just like it sounds. Laundry with the work 'party' tacked on the end of it.

The other was a hockey game (this is where burying the hatchet comes in). We drove about an hour or so away to Maple Ridge to play a random men's team there, who featured a goalie greasier than a thoroughly shellacked John Travolta. He was giving one of our players a tough time, with happy four letter words spewing out of him, and the odd blocker to the back of the head. The goalie did however, pick the best player on the team to bother and thus was shut up on many occasions, particularly one goal where he shot it, was stopped, but batted the puck out of midair after skating around the net. So yeah, it was fun anyway, we won 9-7 and I played pretty well.

Very late.
Sleep.
Arrivederci.

Angel week: day 5

The smashing conclusion to angel week.

A blissful sleeping in was followed by a time of worship and stuff, not too much happened aside that.

After lunch we had a hockey game, just without a ref. It was a good game for me anyway, but the coach wasn't totally happy with the team performance, because it at times was not organized. I did get slammed into for the first time in a long time, and I mean a good walloping, like two people sliding into me and then into the net. It probably looked painful, but it was actually a fun time.

Then we had the grand revealing of who was who's angel. I was the mortal of one of the hockey guys (Brian from Michigan) who got me a soccer ball. So I am now completely prepared for any possible sport here.

Then at night we had a group of ESL (English as a Second Language) class from Surrey so supper featured some cuisine from Canada and Korea. So I ended up having orange chicken, some sort of meat dish and kimchi. Kimchi is essentially cooked cabbage... But with enough spices to burn your face off.

So today was a much better day than yesterday.

Angel week: day 4

An odd duck of a day.

For the angel-mortal thing, I gave my mortal some German chocolate, and I also learned how to make a paper box to contain said goodies. So that was kinda cool.

Anyways, today's class involved a very important and existent part of every relationship ever: Conflict. In order to learn about conflict, we were thrust into one. The way at worked is the class was divided up into two groups- the "towards" people (very organized, goal-oriented folks) and "Away" people (spur of the moment, experimental type). Then we listed out the pros and cons of each type, and is sort of ebbed into a debate almost.

We had no lunch considering it was Thursday, there was no lunch. Instead, we prayed for the Halfway There Project ( check it out at halfwaythere.org ) which is all about building wells to tap into the water that 50% of Africa has access to. So we prayed for that, and then we had a sliver of time off, which is when I got my mortal their final gift, a gift certificate to the art store down the road.

This is the part where the day goes all to crap.

We were called into a random meeting at 3 in the afternoon. Nobody knew exactly what it was about. Well, like an abrupt and impromptu slap in the face. We found out that for undisclosed reasons, one of the girls is going home. She did not take it well, and cried away a vast majority of the afternoon, so that brought a lot of people down.

So once we did have a late supper, we discovered that we aren't allowed to use our dishwasher for a while, because the water runs off to a neighbors property or some silly technicality like that. So that evening featured twice the dishes to hand wash, to be done later than normal, to make it a very long day. So that is why I didn't write this yesterday, because I was preoccupied with sulking and skulking in the circumstances.

Hope today goes better.
Arrivederci.

Angel week: day 3

Woo, today was thoroughly enjoyable in almost all dimensions.

We started off with class, which was in our little groups from the day before. In case you didn't know, my group was the 'innovator' group, or the artsy people. So we went over what we all thought were traits and features of our group, and for most of the class, we all worked on one collaborated drawing, which was thoroughly awesome. I'll try to get a copy of it to flaunt.

Anyways, in the afternoon we had a practice which went really well, instantly followed my a game with an intramural team from BCIT (BC Institute of Technology). It was our first REAL game with a ref and everything. We won 9-7. I'll have to get used to the idea of more goals, because this kind of hockey (adult pick-up) features much less defense than the minor hockey I'm accustomed to.

Then we had another class at night, which too was fun. I also was decorating my binder all day, so now it looks interesting! So it was an arty and sporty day all at the same time.

That's all. Arrivederci.

Angel week: day 2

OK, so today is that day of the week that is really really busy.

It starts around six, then we go to do dryland. From this point on, we get to do dryland indoors, which is pretty massive. No frozen extremities, no more dog business to step in, it was the first time that both parts of the name 'dry land' were fulfilled. Although it was confined to a squash/raquetball court, it was still more pleasant.

So after dryland we came to class, where we did more relational stuff about what kind of people we all are, by dividing us all into mini groups based on a questionnaire. I ended up in the 'arty' group, which I had come to expect. But we ran out of time before the groups could do anything, so I can't elaborate on the groups.

Then we had our work duties, which meant I was off to the nursery with Greg. Today's work consisted of picking up debris and wood pieces from the 'massive windstorm' which was more like a light breeze for a bluenoser like me. Anyways, it was fun, the realy shy girl there has finally started warming up to me and Greg after 3 weeks of cowering away in corners.

Today's gift for my angel was a sketchbook, because she is a big artist/designer type person. I received a group of rubber duckies, all of which are lil' bundles of love.

So that was my day.
Arrivederci.

Angel week: day 1

This week we're doing an activity called 'angels and mortals'. It's essentially a week-long secret Santa kind of thing. So I ended up being the angel of Petra, our resident German girl. As usual, my extent of knowledge about her is her name. That's it. So this will be... challenging. I did however discover she has a few interests and likes: Art, and Ferrero Rocher chocolate.

So anyways, day one I've decided to get a substitute for her in the kitchen so she doesn't have to do dishes next week. That was a lot more complicated to pull of than I had previously envisioned, I saw it going down as 'I go in to do dishes, she enjoys time off'. What I didn't put into consideration was that I wouldn't actually be able to do lunch dishes 3 out of 5 days that week, because of hockey. So after tugging a few strings, I ended up finding someone to help out, which is great.

But, onto the actual happenings of the day.

A REALLY short day. The only thing we really had to go to was quiet time, followed by class, then lunch. The reason that happened is that the rinks were closed today for remembrance day, and for some reason we didn't have an afternoon session. So I took the afternoon at home, and got to chat with a few folks at home, which was pretty fun.

Then one of the guys asked me to help out with his "Angel-mortal" thingy, by writing to them on Facebook, amongst a host of others. So I decided that instead of saying something like "you rock!" or "U R KOOL" or some prole-esque utterance, I decided to challenge myself and write to her in limerick. This was the result:

There's a kiwi I know who is nice,
She is sweeter than sugar and spice.
She is ever so cool
At our DTS school
Her awesomeness will always suffice.

At Starbucks she'll order a Venti
(Did you know that's Italian for 'twenty'?)
That's a big 'cuppa joe'
(Slang for coffee, you know)
And it provides her with caffeine-a-plenty.

She also goes shopping a bit
Looking for that perfect fit
There's no doubt her complexion
Is tuned to perfection
To make her a fabulous hit!

But her crowning characterization,
Is the joy that comes from her salvation
But she hasn't stopped there
Now she goes everywhere
To show her light to every nation!

I'm so proud of it, I never do poetry. So this came out pretty well, a lot better than had expected.

Anyways, I'm gonna go to bed soon.
Arrivederci.

Remember.

A really restful day, there wasn't a ton going on today.

The only scheduled thing every Sunday is church, and I finish up journals and such on Sunday. The service today was all about not stealing, so it was pretty good, kind of a back-to-basics thing, but that's a good thing to do once in a while.

I guess the only other things of interest is that it was another guy's birthday here (Mark Scott, he's from England) and I almost won a shirt predicting soccer scores, I was one pick away.

Anyway, I'll be off to bed soon.

Arrivederci.

Excuse me while I salivate uncontrollably.

No, I'm not slobbering about finally having a political voice, I'm drooling over all the stuff I got/did today.

First off, I finally got to open the giant box that has been coaxing me towards it all week, just inviting me to indulge on the contents. Well at about 9:30 this morning, it was time to tee off on that tantalizingly taupe packaging. Inside that beguiling box was a marvelous mosaic of magazines, muchies and more. To list everything here would prompt another bout of uncontrollable drooling, . so I will leave it at that. All I can say is my inners will be preoccupied for a long time.

I also called home to discover that along with the corrugated cardboard care package, I would also be getting more money, which is a very good thing.

So for a while I went out to do some shopping for stuff I need for next week, and so I went out and got me a few things, including a shirt that is bright enough to run a small airport. You'll see it later.

Anyways, it was quite an enjoyable day, one that won't be duplicated for a long time.

Arrivederci.

P.S. Here's that superfluously solar shirt I was talking about...
It's just a short sleeve one though. But really, that only shaves 1 point off the UV scale for this thing.

My brain hurts.

Why does my brain hurt? A few reasons.

1) When we got to class today, me and three others were assigned to lead intercession. We knew this in advance, but I totally forgot until the time, so my brain hurts from helping come up with what it was about and where to do it. It was divided up into 4 groups, 1 for the local churches, one for the retail industry here, one for Vancouver's film industry (which is pretty huge) and my group was about the local music scene.

2) After lunch (where I was greeted by a birthday cake and chocolate), we had a mini scrimmage for our ice time with some local guys who play pick-up hockey. I got one shot of the inside arm that hurt, I hit my elbow on the ice without padding (followed by a lovely bump/bruise) and the icing on the cake, a nice hard shot to the dead center of my forehead, so now my brain hurts a fair lot more, I've been a bit groggy since that, but it's not too bad.

3) When we returned to the base, each of us was given a person to shower with love in many ways next week, almost like a secret Santa. I have know clue about the person I have, which would normally not be a problem if not for the pesky anonymity required, so now my brain will hurt in figuring out exactly what to do for the week.

My brain is also paining in preparation for tomorrow, which when I send this is 144 minutes away.

Arrivederci.

P.S. Here's the cake:

Chuggin' Along.

An... Interesting day.

Class was pretty standard, just finishing off the week's lecture about 'Hearing God', so it was a good week. We all prayed for our speaker Donna from Colorado and sent her off with a card and prayer.

If you are quite observant of my blog, you might have picked out that every Thursday's lunch is non-existent, and is replaced by a time of intercession. Today's was about persecution in the world's churches (for the record, November 11th is not only Remembrance Day, but it is also a national day of prayer for persecuted churches around the world). So each group went into a room, and while praying, a role play would be thrust upon the group. My group was about China, and we got whisked into a room with scraps of the Bible in Chinese, and English work, to cover up the Bible stuff because preaching the Gospel is illegal in China and is punishable by execution.

So as we're sitting in the room praying, two guys burst in and pretty much interrogate the room and one by one take a person aside to ask questions and eventually execute them, so it was quite a sobering thing. I ended up being shot second in our group, so I wasn't there terribly long, so I got to have more quiet time to try to pray more, but the adrenaline thrust into everyone from the surprise of the situation made earnest prayer almost impossible.

So after that, I had an afternoon off, and I read the rest of my book, and started on book reports and journals for the week. After supper, I stopped in a sports bar to watch a repeat of the soccer game I missed the night before. It had it's moments, but it wasn't a noteworthy game by any stretch. The only thing I was really sad I missed was there was a streaker, that would have been hilarious.

So that was my day, I'm really looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.

Arrivederci.

A toilet seat of a day.

A few ups and downs to the day.


I slept in till 7 this morning, did quiet time at the base, a pretty standard morning, until I realized my birthday present came in the mail, though I won't open any of the cards or anything until the day.

Hockey was a partial down, it was fun but not too much defense at all, a bit annoying. We came back to do some Russian visa applications, also a fair bit mundane, then at supper I watched the clock strike 7 and I wasn't watching the soccer game, another downer.

The time however was used much better though, just having a bit of time with God and such, so what was pretty good. I also found out later that the game was a scoreless draw, a monotonous match.

So it ended on a good note, to take all those unpleasant things from the day and dwarf them into size.

47 hours...
Arrivederci

You know it's autumn when...

...the Leafs start to fall. Ottawa slaughtered Toronto 5-1 tonight, it is good.

Not too much going on today, just some class, and working at the nursery... I do get to sleep until 7 today, that's going to be awesome.

Arrivederci.

You know remembrance day is coming when...

...Birthday cards start coming in the mail. I got a few today, but I didn't open then yet, I can wait.

Anyways, it was a pretty fun day, it started unpleasantly early (I think it was 6:30 or so) because I had to go to a church down the road for 7:30 to practice worship. The way it works here is the students are divided into 4 groups and today was our group's turn. So I got to play drums for the first time in a month or so, so that was good, and I kind of broke a drum halfway through. One of the legs of the floor tom gave out in the middle of a song, so that made it interesting anyway.

Then we went back to the base and started off our new week of lessons, the theme of this week being 'hearing the voice of God'. So we did some class, ate lunch, where I found out we won't be able to go to the soccer game ofter all (which sucks).

Next thing was hockey, which went quite well for the first time in a while, I did about as good as possible with almost no defense whatsoever. It was an hour and a half too, so it was a lot of hockey.

Then we came back and did some good ol' paperwork for getting a Visa to go to Russia, so that was a bit boring. After that there was dinner, and that is about all the noteworthiness the day entailed.

Arrivederci.

A strand of lovely events.

The hockey team went up to Campbell River on Vancouver island to help out with a few practices.

So we took a ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo, and then drove up to Campbell River. Campbell River is the home of NHLer Rod Brind'Amour ("Strand of love" in French, hence the title). When we got there we had a class to see the practice plans and to organize who was going to do what, because preparation is important for kids around 7-9 years old, since their attention spans are almost non-existent. So right after the class, we went and did a practice, which I wore no gear in, so it was quite a weight difference. But still, the practice went really well. The kids really warmed up to us well considering that we were brand new coaches they never saw before.

After practice we went across the street to the church to share a little bit about YWAM for the youth group there. At around 10 or so, we ended up back at our billets, and got to enjoy another full hour of eyelid inspection.

6:15 the next morning we get up and get ready to help out with a practice with pre-novice (or Timbits) which is about 4-6 years of age. We didn't get the expected number of players (we heard there's around 70 some days), but it was still a good time. Then right after that ice time, we ran another practice with the novices from the day before, which went really well.

After that we returned to our billet's home for lunch, which raised the national obesity rate by at least 1% it was so much food. Then we drove back, took the ferry and returned to that wonderfully overcast 'burg we all know as Vancouver.

It was quite a fun weekend, but I need to go to bed soon, I have to play drums at 7:30.
Arrivederci.

A Spirited affair.

Ok, I had to come up with some vaguely witty title for today, so pretend it's there... Today's theme was 'spirits'.

I for reasons unknown could not sleep in, so I got up and chatted with family online for a stint, and then went to school. We had some worship time, and oral presentations, and some intercession time, we as a Russian team prayed for the Indonesian team (team spirit, spirit number one).

Then we had lunch, and got to play hockey, where the goalie coach came today (uplifted spirit) and showed me some stuff and gave me much reading material.

Then we came back, had some time off (free spirit) and had dinner. Then I went downtown and returned the stupid plug for my MP3 player, and got frustrated by the continued lack of any relient K CDs, so I tided myself over by getting Michael Buble's "Let it Snow EP" in the meantime (Christmas spirit). I also bought the matching shirt to the one I bought a while ago, and got a few necessities.

But now I must sleep, I have to wake up early tomorrow to get onto the ferry on time. I might not have internet there, so again, don't assume I'm going to see the spirit in the sky just yet.

I'm with you in spirit,
Arrivederci.

Releasing the art in me.

A good day today.

I slept in blissfully until 7:30, walked over to the base, had class, took a long half-hour break, and did intercession. Our theme/topic was Australia/China. So my group somehow ended up doing mostly art, one guy and a girl were colouring a map of Australia... It was cool, they made almost veins on the island starting on opposite ends, one with a brown colour the other with green, and they ended up coming together in the middle, so that was cool. I was doodling about in a sketchbook I bought when I first got here, but just recently brought to class, I'll take a picture of it and post it later, I'm proud of it and how it came out...


...Anyway, after intercession I went downtown for a stint, cane back in time for supper, then we had a sharing time, of what turned out to be essentially testimonies. After each one all the staff came up and prayed too. I've always felt awkward giving mine, since it's not a radical U-turn, unlike some others.

I did however, feel like I was to say that "I suck on a social standpoint". I was always a bit out of place (being the youngest and smallest in my school classes, being a Christian goalie in a secular sport has been difficult, especially if you know what kind of garbage is being said in the dressing room before/after a game/practice). Even at Kingswood the first year I was apparently know as "the weird tall kid who plays sports" or something along those lines, since I was for the most part socially challenged.

Anyways, I also did a bunch of encouragement letters for people, but with kind of an artistic theme for each, I'll post some pictures of them at the end of this blog.

So it was a loooooong day, but a good one.


1. For Ji Yeon, our Korean student. 2, 3. For Chelsea from Seattle




























Arrivederci.

A Boo-tiful day.

A relatively ho-hum day, aside from a few costumed nutjobs around the city.

got up, went to class and had lunch afterwards,

We had hockey again, but a lot of it was either skating or some ridiculous odd man rush (3-on-0) for the most part, so the goals to saves ratio is really low, and that gets quite frustrating.

Then we came back, had a little class talking about where we're going this weekend (Campbell river on Vacouver island) , where we'll help run hockey camps for 6-9 year olds a few times, and where we're going in Russia.
Here's in order where we're going:

1. Moscow, the tourist-y portion of our outreach (2 days)
2. Zakamsk (7-9 days)
3. Nizhni Tagil (12-14 days)
4. We might take a few days off at the YWAM base in Perm.
5. Solikamsk*
6. Chernushka*
7. Kungur*
8. Perm *


*: If I heard right, we';; be in these places for a combined 2 weeks, not too sure where we'll be when.

We've also decided on black track suits, in case anybody cares about that.

I also went downtown for a stint, which was fun, Satan himself having a slice of pizza, hoards of random creatures of the night milling about, a herd of amusement park animals, and my personal favourite, a psychotic killer skulking about victimizing public commuters with the empty calories in a candy bar. I was thankfully not a victim of hid heinous actions, so I am still healthy.

Anyways, that's all tonight, don't get a tummy ache.

Arrivederci.

No love from Vancouver.

It was a fine day, just a few little peeves.
Slept in till 6:30 this morning for dryland... It was wet from all the dew, but it was alright.

We had a little prayer time which was walking around the block and praying while walking, it's good for praying and being able to do so with distraction. Then we came back, had some class, ate lunch...

...Then we went to Burnaby to do the nursery thing, there were 4 kids there today, so it was a lot more interesting than before, and one of the kids is a daughter of staff members at the YWAM base so we took her on the skytrain, which was fun.

Anyways, I decided to look for the CD and MP3 player parts this evening, with absolutely NO success. There are I think 2 of those docks for my MP3 player in Vancouver, and 1 cheaper version of it.

The CD however, there is not a single copy in Vancouver, and probably BC. I called the HMV to see, and the girl was really crabby and got mad at me when I asked. So whatever made her irritable, she took out on me. So that was a random part of the day. So instead of wasting my time trying to look around for it, I stayed in and checked out Ben Balisteri's blog (a concept artist for my favourite show, the link's on the side of my blog).

So that was my day,

Arrivederci.

A bit put off, part II

Ugh, today sucked with a resounding grandeur.

Woke up, went to the base, had class, had lunch,

then hockey was a lot more skating than usual, so did that, to make me sore.

Came back ate, and I realized that I forgot the dock and cable of my MP3 player in the Okanagen so I went out to buy what I needed, only to find out that the $60 dollar charger doesn't work without a $30 dollar dock, so all my money is gone in one foul swoop... Again. That also means that I can't get the relient K CD that comes out tomorrow, nor can I get tickets to the soccer game I've wanted to go to for a month now.

Grr.
Arrivederci.

Another ho-hum hymntastic sabbath.

say THAT five times fast...

Anyways, not too much today either, went to church, did some laundry, and did some school work. Other than that, the Boston Red Sox won the world series... Way to go, boys.
Arrivederci.

Blub sayeth the fish.

A day of rest essentially.


The only thing done today was we cleaned our apartment. Some went out to a halloween festival with costumes, creepy folks and fireworks. It has most of commercial drive closed and flooded with people. Not my cup of tea, so I rested more.

That's about it.

Arrivederci.

Come and Go.

As you may have already discovered, I couldn't get onto the net at the camp in the Okanagen. So I'll just go through it really quickly.

The drive wasn't too bad, although we did stop in the quintessential hick town, Merritt British Columbia. There was literally a tumbleweed rolling across the parking lot of the Subway. It was the size of a car tire or something, quite ridiculous.

When we got there, we played some frisbee/football/soccer for a few hours, ate supper and had a lesson/lecture. We met up with two other DTS groups, one from the Okanagen base we were staying at, and another from Medicine Hat. So the first night was relatively mundane, since most people were too tired to be social.

So the next day, we met everyone while they were awake enough. A vast majority of them are from Korea (the South, not communist side), with a few other people scattered about the earth (Samoa, Germans, Alaskan, etc.).

So every day we have a talk in the morning, they were all done by a guy named Ruland, the leader of all of YWAM Indonesia. It's quite neat, because he never took any English lessons in his life, he just learned from hearing it being used. Oh yeah, since about half the people were in the middle of an ESL (English as a Second Language) course, they had a translator the whole week. Anyways, the talks were always based on missions, being a conference about missions and all.

Then in the afternoon, there were workshops on various themes, from fundraising for missions (which I ironically didn't go to) to creative methods of outreach to unreached people (which I did). The other one I went to was all about the crazy happenings in Burma. Essentially it's run by one people group and they want to keep the whole country by themselves. To their dismay, there's quite a few other people groups sharing the country. So the Burmese people send out their army to drive everyone else out of the country, so anyone who isn't Burmese is always on the run.

The creative method of outreach was all about creative ministries, a division of YWAM that takes arts ranging from traditional work from wherever they are (Tibetan art, Chinese art, etc.) to making outreach movies in languages of unreached groups, using actors from the area. It was pretty interesting.

We also played a klot of ping pong. The problem is that pretty much everyone playing was South Korean, which in sequence means that they are amazing. So I did manage to keep up anyways, so that was cool.

There were also a few intercession times in the week, which involved some original form of showing it (a balloon mural, post-it notes all over the walls), which we had every day. We also had one ice time this week, which was fun, but ended on a sour note. I played fine, but right at the end, a stray stick met the face of my roommate, which ended with one less half-tooth. So at the end of the week, pretty much everyone bought a mouth guard.

It was also quite scenic, very much like my house, just more mountainous. Anyways, at the end of the week we had kind of a big send-off, where everyone went on the docks, read scripture over the waters and prayed and such. We then had lunch and left, even though the muffler fell off of out van on the way home for reasons unknown.

Anyway, I hope to buy tickets to the soccer game here, but we might have class that night, which would suck grandly.

That was my week, essentially.
Arrivederci.

Butter on toast, baby.

A busy Sunday, to say the least.

It started at 11 going to church, where the message was on the "honor your father and mother" commandment.

After church, I took a few buses down to the airport to meet my uncle Peter and our family friend Andy, they were bringing me a hockey stick and bag. So after walking around the airport, our paths collided in the bus stop outside the airport, so that was actually quite a miracle. So we all went in search of music stores, and after a few failures, went to eat lunch (or dinner, Atlantic time). Then we went back to the airport to pick up cousins of mine, and to pick up the stuff (which was left there for the afternoon). So then I got picked up by a friend, brought back to the apartment, to bask in the aura of nostalgic bliss thrust upon me by my stick from Nova Scotia and also with the new hockey bag smell that makes my heart soar.

That was my day, I'm off to Kelowna tomorrow, unsure if there's internet there or not, so if I don't talk for a week, it's that I have no internet, not the much more grave alternative.

Strapped at the 20.

WOO, ain't it great to be broke?

I basically went all out spending the last few bucks I have of my own today.

So first off, I woke up late, and went to a gym with the hockey guys to do a workout, for the whole conditioning and staying in shape thing. Ten afterwards me and Andy from Switzerland decided to go downtown where I got the scarf I wanted from Munich, since on a layover on our flight to/from Russia, I will technically be able to say I have been there. I got a book of skytrain tickets too, those were a good investment, I won't have to worry about getting tickets probably for the rest of my time here. I also got a ticket to the BC Lions game tonight (their CFL team) so that just about eliminated any money I had. I think I have $5 in my account or something (my personal account, not the fundraising one!)

Anyways, I have to get to the airport to get some stuff tomorrow from the airport, should be a riot.

Arrivederci.

A nice, healthy jolt of adrenaline.

Yeah, a mostly ho-hum day.

Woke up late, did some prayer this morning, I had an oral presentation to do today, that was really the only thing too out of the ordinary this morning. That's adrenaline jolt number one.

This afternoon had hockey, where I got a shot in the upper ribs relatively close to a lung, which put my breathing off for the afternoon, so that sucked a fair but, but I did play pretty good even while hacking and wheezing.

Got back, ate dinner, cleaned, walked home. It was sopping wet... Just the way I like it, so I walked a little slower, to be more fully saturated by the night.

So I get home, dry off, plop down and start up on the lappy, and lightning strikes in the alley behind our building. There was no thunder before it to give warning it was coming, so it was quite abrupt. There's a nice jolt of adrenaline right there, too.

Might do something tonight.

And by might do something, I meant will do something.

You see, there's a bowling alley on our street so we bowled, but it was interesting, because it was five pin, something I'm not accustomed to. And it also included (not by me) a strike from a gutterball. Anyways, I got 103 and 142 or something around there. Then I went with the hockey guys went out for pizza, and I came home.
Arrivederci.

So Long John.

Yup, our speaker had to leave today, but not before having one more lesson. We learned about what we can bring to the table in terms of YWAM. Things like different experiences, cultures, and the like are things we can all share to add to our DTS experience.

Then we skipped lunch (Thursday is fast day) so we did intercession instead, I was in a group with Greg the Australian and a girl from Korea. It was a pretty awesome time, because once in a while Jeyoung would pray in Korean, so that was pretty cool. We essentially prayed against sickness, stress of money and work and such and, since all three of us are going to different outreach locations (Russia, Malaysia and Indonesia) we each prayed individually for our own outreach place.

The afternoon was pretty slow, I read a book for most of it, then we had dinner, cleaned a heck of a lot, and walked home.

That's all for today,
Arrovederci.

There should be a title with something to do with today here...

...But there isn't. Sorry.


Anyways, today was a pretty full and intense day. We always start with quiet time or bible reading and the like. Then we had an hour to converse about last week and the week thus far, so they were relaxing times.

Then we had our teaching on servanthood, which has been fun. We started today talking about the characteristics of a good servant, and took examples from David, since he showed each trait at least once in his lifetime.

Then we went to hockey today. A bit of a slow day for me in the net, it was mostly about angling and hitting and in general things that I don't get to do, but I eventually did get some shots and for a few minutes, felt in form. But to get there full-time might take a little longer.

Anyways, came back and had the rest of our class, which was more on servanthood, and there was a section on getting the most out of outreach. This part was packed with amazing stories from previous missions trips and the trips that friends took... I mean, stories of healing, exorcisms, even a resurrection. So anyway, that prompted a time to pray for healing of one of the leaders (MacKenzie is his name) , who has hearing issues. So we prayed for him and had some time in the Presence. No presents like the Presence.

So after a few hours there, we walked back to the apartments, but not before I got to be generous. One of the guys walking with me has a cough and was gonna get some orange juice, but had no cash. So we went into a corner store where I bought him an O.J. and he didn't believe that I gave it to him, but after asking me how much he owed me (the answer is zero) he got it. So that felt pretty good.

Anyways, it's a late night, I'm a tired boy.
Buonna Notte.
Arrivederci.

Wet, and with caffeine on me.

Wahoo, today was fun.

We started off with dryland at seven in the morning. I came to realize that working out sucks without the Sun. At least, I think it does.

Then, we went with class which was all about reading... It was really odd, since the theme of the week is 'servanthood'. So that was a new perspective on that whole thing. It was about how we should read to be informed and so we can relate to a lot more people or something like that, very interesting.

Unfortunately, a shirt that I bought out here (which I like a lot) got some coffee spilled on it, so I was a little bummed there. But, keep remembering the shirt, it comes back up later in the day.

Then we had lunch, which featured an excess of ham sandwiches, which will be important later in the day.

Now later in the day, I discover that instead of doing my usual outreach at the preschool/nursery, I will be going out to Commercial drive and praying for people who want/need it. Certainly not within my ideal comfort zone. So this is where the sandwiches come in. The leaders decided that it would be cool to take them and give them to people on the street, so me and a guy named Simon (from Belfast, Northern Ireland) went up commercial drive to feed homeless people. The first while yielded little, because it was raining so not a whole lot of people were on corners and such. But once we got just past the Skytrain station at Broadway, there was a group of guys in front of a MacDonalds that took a few, and informed us of a group of people who live behind the Micky Ds. So we went there with a garbage bag full of individually wrapped sandwiches, and gave them all away but one, and the garbage bag that was holding them. We also got a prayer request from a man names Alfred to pray for a home for him, so keep that group on your mind, since behind the MacDonalds is actually their home. Another guy there named Wesley wasn't interested in prayer (though I will still pray for him), but was more interested in clothes, specifically socks. So hopefully I'll get some for him at some point in the future.

Anyways, since we only had 1 sandwich left, we went back to the base, but not before giving that sandwich to a man by the name of Brian. He was a really interesting fellow. He said he believed in God and everything, but he's had it rough for a while. He's been without a job for a few months and is also addicted to crack cocaine. So we prayed with him, and I think he really appreciated it.

So in case I forgot to mention, all this time we're giving sandwiches it is pouring wet. So anyways, remember the shirt? Well, I'm pretty sure that the rain got rid of the stain on the shirt, because it wasn't there when we finished giving out sandwiches, so it has been revived, in a sense.

So then we went back to the base, had some leftovers from the week, I did dishes, and scurried on home. I'm gonna do some work tonight too, so wahoo.


Arrivederci.

Boooowip, hear the angel of the six-string bass.

Not too much...


We were introduced to our new speaker today, he's a pretty neat guy, so we pretty much got to know him today.

Then we played hockey today, I didn't do well, probably because I was stiff and sore from yesterday.

Then we had dinner and went to the Davenports and watched the Princess Bride, with a few interactive moments here and there, it was pretty fun.

That's all. Arrivederci.

Pile of ouch.

Woo hoo, it's Sunday.

So I went to church again today, still doing sermons on the 10 commandments, so that was fun...

Then I got to play frisbee for the first time here. So a few YWAM guys went to some park and played for a few hours. Only one guy there ever played in a league, so they kind of had a bit of an edge. However the first game the team I was on won and the other team won the second game. Both the times we played the teams were essentially the same, but with 1 or two guys switched.

Anyways, I'm really sore now after a few midair collisions with people bigger than me, a few dives, stuff like that, and I ruined a shirt too.

That's all.
Arrivederci.

Things are comin' up Matt

Oh yeah, weekends make me smile.

I woke up late, had brunch, and then decided to go over to the other
guys apartment to finally make a phone call. So it actually worked for a change, and I talked to my mom for a while, so she liked that a lot, and I did too.

Then me and Dare finally decided it was time to do a giant load of laundry, and a giant load of laundry we did. So now, I've got clean clothes to look forward too, oh yeah.

Then I had to go on a long and somewhat laborious journey in search of a right-handed goalie stick (lefties use a righty stick in the nets, for the record). In my first few futile attempts at
finding one, I have concluded that aside from Roberto Luongo, Vancouver hates goalies. Period. Plain and simple. This city is essentially a wasteland in goaltender's merchandise. So with that in mind, I went all the way to the end of Broadway (kind of like Spring Garden Road) to look for a certain sports store which looked promising. I got there and much like every other store around, was a wasteland void of anything goaltender related. So I then decided to trek back towards the apartment when I stumbled upon "sports junkies" a used sports equipment store. That's where the miracle child resides. It was simply stunning. Not one, not two, but A WHOLE RACK OF RIGHT HANDED GOALIE STICKS. After ensuring this was not some kind of cruel and optimistic figment of my imagination, I picked up the stick in the flesh, and purchased it. I also got a pair of cleats for next summer, since they were pretty cheap. So now I'm halfway through my little equipment excursion, I just need a goalie sized hockey bag now.

So then I returned to the apartment, talked to my dad and sister on the phone, ate some dinner, and reveled in the aura protruding from that blissful behemoth of a stick. I am still in that state. It is good. Arrivederci.

P.S. This is what the cleats look like:

A bit put off.

well, today was alright.

Woke up late, heard some oral presentations, the usual in the morning.

Then we had hockey which was fun... Then on he way out I was offered $30 to play with a beer league for an hour. If you know me, I would gear up in a second, money or not. But I had to go with everyone back to the base to sit and do nothing for an hour. So I was put off for the rest of the day because of it.

I did get to chat with a few people tonight though, that was fun.

Arrivederci.

Buh bye Cantona

This was the farewell day for our speaker Rob... Who has quite a resemblance to Eric Cantona (most of you probably don't know who he is). Anyways, today was kind of a concluding day to the whole lesson... After hearing about forgiveness and stuff, it was about time to do just that; forgive and let go on grudges. The group I was in never really had to face too many of these dark and dreary things, so it kind of turned into an intercession thing for us (we fasted lunch again too). Rob really encouraged us sheltered folk by saying something along the lines of "your hearts are already in the right place to do ministry" so, that was pretty cool.

I also had a lot of free time today because it was 'work duty day'. Everyone is assigned chores, and mine is to set up and take down chairs and tables for meals and class. Since that goes on all week, the time set aside for everyone else to do stuff, we have off. So I worked on journals and bok reports, and got a lot done, so that was great.

Then we had supper, and I ended up doing a heck of a lot of work after... Both taking down all the tables and chairs (with a group) and drying most of the dishes from supper as well, so I'm kinda tired at the moment.

So that was my day.
Arrivederci.

boop boop badoop.

I'm lazy tonight, here's the E-mail copied and pasted over here.

Hello moto,

it was a pretty nice day today, not too stressful or anything like that.

We started off at 8, did our quiet time and had sometime with a small group, discussing last week's lectures. I think we ended up in a light debate over the whole question of free will.

Then we had our class, which is still themed 'knowing the Father's Heart' (ironically, the same week my dad's heart is being fixed). We just went through the story of the prodigal son, and analyzed it A LOT.

We also had hockey today, it wasn't the most exciting practice, it features mostly skating. Then we came back had dinner and we didn't have night classes, so I went to the mall to look for a hockey stick and bag, with no luck. I will have to take an entire day, because Vancouver seems to hate the left-handed goaltender. Oh well.

That was my day, basically.

Arrivederci.

A late fathers day?

... Today seemed to be themed 'fathers'...

First I had dryland training (ugh) at 7 in the morning... Not the most fun ever, bit it should be done.

Then we had our classes... this week's theme is 'knowing the Father's Heart'.. So today we had why people have a distorted and warped idea of who God is, because of their fathers. Because for some reason people tend to relate the Heavenly father with the only father they know; their earthly father. For some, this father is abusive, negligent, too preoccupied, etc. So that gets them off the wrong foot. Thankfully my father is none of those.

So then, I went to my weekly outreach which is at a nursery in Burnaby (home of Joe Sakic for hockey fans out there). That was more cleaning, because the only child there left early. So I bleached some toys, moved some stuff, and sorted out toys...

Then I came back to the base, ate some, and took a bus back to the apartment.

Twas my day.
Arrivederci.

"Thanks" for "Giving" us something to do today!

...oh yeah, like a fox I am.

So today was pretty solid. We had our new speaker come in today, his name is Rob MacAlpine (or something along those lines). He's a big music music junkie, married to a photographer, and has three kids: a dancer, a guitarist and a gymnast. Yeah, they're pretty artsy.

So today was basically meeting and getting to know each other. We also had a 40-minute run today, because we had no ice since it's thanksgiving.

But the highlight of the day was certainly the thanksgiving meal. It was everything a thanksgiving meal should be.. just that it was made for fifty people or so. So cheers to our cooks, it was a blast and a bit.

I also went up to the roof of the building which gives a sensational view of Vancouver, so I took a few pictures...

So the levels on it are poor, but maybe I'll toy around with them and see if they can look less blue.

Anyways, that was my day.
Arrivederci.

when I say 'week', say 'end!'... "Week!" "End!" Week!" "End!"

oh yeah. Went to the same church again today, it was quite similar to the last time, so it was good.

hung out with some of the guys pretty much the whole day, our big thanksgiving dinner is tomorrow, so there wasn't too much going on today, just a bunch of work.

Arrivederci.

And now the frivolous portion of our week...

...yeah, that frivolous portion is Saturday, ooh yeah.


Didn't do anything all morning, then me and Dare went off to downtown for a while. We went into the massive 3-floor HMV store on Robson street, then we went to a few more stores on Robson.

When we got back to the apartment we had some pizza, and went to a Junior A hockey game, which was the Burnaby Express versus the Surrey Eagles. The home team lost again, (6-3 Surrey) so the 'fans' if you can call them that weren't happy. I personally think the fans are actually abusive hockey parents taking out their penned up rage on kids they don't know, because they all yell instructions at them, which makes the game hilarious.

So yeah, that's about it.
Arrivederci.

Let the weekend begin

Oh yeah, weekends rock, but today rocked too.

We started REALLY LATE, 10:20 in the morning, (it was sunny too, that's a change) and we had a little bit of time to worship and intercede for the building in Vancouver. In case you didn't know, they need to raise $2.2 million in 55 days, and they only have $25000 towards it. So if you feel led to give away that 2.2 mil lying around, DO IT!

So we had hockey again today, I played decent, but not that good.

Then we got to watch the Vancouver Giants of the WHL (Western Hockey League) which is the west coast's equivalent to our QMJHL. Oh yeah, Vancouver won the Memorial cup, which is the trophy given out to the best major junior team in Canada (basically, one trophy short of the Stanley Cup). So we had a good time watching hockey even though they list 5-4 in overtime.

So that's what happened today.
Arrivederci.

Short but sweet.

Bon Giorno, today was a bit dull at the beginning and end, but certainly a riot in the middle.

We started off finishing off our time with Marty, because he had to go back to his family in Idaho. That was the only noteworthy thing this morning.

This afternoon however was quite a bit more active. We had a mini fast or skipping lunch, so during lunch time we prayed in groups, actually, intercede is a better word. So anyways out group was quite active. Most of the group received some kind of word about the rain, either about the gloom it seems to bring or about how beneficial it is.

Two girls in our group shared a vision of a little girl in an alley, alone. Whether this was an actual girl or not, we don't know. However, God told me it was a symbolism of the city of Vancouver: lost and looking for direction. Then, one of the girls saw a demon coming out of the girl, so we're pretty sure that she's a symbolism of the city.

Also the whole thing about the rain, God gave me the word that the rain is being used to prepare and cultivate the land for the seeds that churches and Christians have planted there, and that they will grow and bloom (possibly for the 2010 games). So that was really exciting.

That was also the only really interesting thing today. I got home early, that was cool too.

Anyways, that's it.
Arrivederci.