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.