NBI HO!!!!!!!!

I'm at Nipawin Bible Institute!!!! It's good to be back. Our team got here Saturday and we leave tomorrow morning at an insanely early hour. Life on the road is hard. On the plus side, I have the day off today and can spend it entirely with Dielle. I stayed up late last night catching up with some of the guys. I'm enjoying my stay here. The team definitely needs the day off. We haven't had one in a week and a half and we're all pretty tired. We have a long drive tomorrow all the way to Drumheller. Over 8 hours. We'll likely listen to some Chronicles of Narnia on cd and read lots and listen to a new cd I got from Dielle. She is also being kind enough to lend me her discman for the duration of the rest of the year. She's nice. I like her.

We got some news yesterday. The father of a VTI staff member was just killed in a car crash. The staff member and here husband are in the Philippines right now with VTI's 4 month team, so they will be taking a flight back. Pray for Gary and Beverly (it was Beverly's Dad) and for the 4 month team as they will be operating without a staff member for a little while.

Fall Tour

Well, tour is here and it's going well. We've had some interesting programs. It's hard to flexible, but we do what we can. It takes a bit of extra effort to do part programs as opposed to full programs because we know how a full program will run because we've done it several times. I'm doint a lot of reading on the road. The Circle Trilogy by Ted Dekker is an amazing series. I highly recommend them. This weekend we will end up in Nipawin for 5 days. There will be much catching up with family, old friends, and seeing Dielle. I am very happy about that. I may have a hard time going to bed while staying in the in the dorm though ( I hear that's the plan). It'll be wonderful!

We're visiting some awesome Churches. It's so exciting to see what God is doing in different communities here. It's a privilege to join for one morning or evening. God Bless you all.

(Insert Creative Heading Here)

We get a whole day and a half off this week! I'm thrilled beyond imagining. We told Janelle that she can't do any work tomorrow because she'll get burned out. She works very hard. I'm going to break my own rule. It's okay. I take some time to chill everyday. I force my mind off work after 9:30. It's a good rule. Then I can do some work on Monday.

Today was our last Sunday in our home church. I'm gonna miss it. We did a program there and I got to preach. It was cool. I like preaching. Although I do need to do a bit more research on Oliver Cromwell before we get to England (he was English and they'll know all about him). He's one of my sermon illustrations.

I'm excited for fall tour. Partly because I want to get going and partly because we're going to NBI for 4-5 days!!! I get to stay in the dorm, see Dielle... it will be a jolly good time. We leave this Friday. One more week of training camp!

Timely Answers to Prayer

A little while ago, our team had a great answer to prayer. We meet to pray every morning. One of our requests this particular day was for spiritual renewal. We were tired and needed some spiritual and physical rest. At breakfast, we got some great news.

We had been praying for a Christian school in Uganda that was under threat of being shut down. A group of Muslims were planning on buying the land surrounding the school and making the property inaccessible. The missions organization sent out a request for money to buy the land first. VTI responded by contacting some of their alumni and requesting money for this on behalf of the school. As the deadline for purchasing the land approached, the Muslims were celebrating, saying, "Muhammed is greater than Jesus". Two days before the deadline, God proved them wrong. The money made it and the school stayed open. Praise God!

This answer prayer answered the request we made that very morning: spiritual renewal. We had a morning of prayer that day. God is good! He Loves to answer our prayers.

I currently have more than enough support for this month. We'll see what happens in the months to come. God will bring in the money as I need it.

Beauty in insanity

My teammates have discovered a new way to torment me. The other day, while we were doing dishes, I was scrubbing the pots and pans and silverware. I always try to finish the silverware first for no apparent reason and I don't like to miss any because it's easier if we do it all in one bunch. After I wash the silverware, it goes through the sanitizer and then to the dryers. It is this bunch of people who are my tormentors. You see, I missed some silverware and and bemoaned the fact loudly. After taking what I missed to the sanitizer, I came back to discover more silverware in the sink. I KNEW that this silveware had not been there when I had left and, seeing that there was a rack of silverware currently being dried by suspiciously smiling people, I began to make accusations. They were justified and correct, but they didn't help except to seal for myself a fate of silverware randomly appearing in the sink well after I washed the rest of it. I, began freaking out this particular time and drew the attention of a staff member. When he asked what I was ranting about, James replied, "Silverware". I like it here.
BJ

leaving the nest

This has been a big weekend for the team! It was our first weekend away from training camp. We were billeted out to different families in our home church and we led singing on Sunday morning. We did not have a staff member along to guide us. I suppose you could say we were trying our wings or something like that. It was a wonderful weekend and we still love each other. In fact, we're getting tighter every day. God is really blessing us. We had a team day off today. We were told to go into Calgary and have fun together. So we did some shopping for a few necessities and we stopped in at a Christian bookstore (Blessings) and bought some books and cds. It's always so hard for me to look through book stores and only buy one book. However, I was sucessful, as usual, in limiting my spending to $23: a cd and a book. It has a been a jolly good time, but I am tired. Sleep is good.

First Program

Friends and Followers just did their forst program. We took over the Sunday School for our home church this Sunday. It was a little hectic getting ready for the program. We learned a puppet script in two days. We're still just getting used to our puppets, too. The program went well, though. The kids enjoyed (so did we). It is very tiring to sing and jump around at the same time. It's not really good singing technique to be using your diaphram as a pivot point for swinging your upper body around. I'm starting to think that recreation time isn't actually there because we won't get enough exercise, but ot get us in shape for Children's Programs. It's a lot of fun.

Puppets are another thing. Our team has four puppeteers (I'm the puppet coordinator and a puppeteer) and only James has used puppets before. We have literally made up a personality for our puppets, including a life story, family, quirks, pet peeves, etc... Puppets are fun. There are rules about our puppets. They cannot accept Christ (they don't have a soul) and they can't get away with being bad (though they can be bad). Puppets are very realistic to kids, so we need to treat them as though they are real characters. No one puts on someone else's puppet. It's actually quite fun. The realistic part of it just adds to the puppet experience. It also set a standard of excellence for the puppeteers. Puppets are such an amazing teaching tool! They need to be used wisely.

Praying

I'm feeling excited and stressed all at the same time. Sunday night was a night of prayer and fasting. That means we skipped supper and prayed form 6-12. It was great. God spoke to us. Today is our day off, so I slept 'till 9 to make up for staying up so late.

The guys have made a pact to be in bed by 11 every night because we're all getting really tired. This should help us get our rest. We also read a chapter from a book called Siberian Shivers every night. It's a collection of funny missionary stories from Russia. We're enjoying a lot. It's good to laugh before going to bed.

I have a lot to do today. It doesn't feel that much like a day off because my to-do list is so long. I guess I'll just have to see how much I get done. I have to remind myself that it's not worth stressing over. That's my life for now.

Things are underway.

Training camp is about to get a little busier. We are now starting to get into the program planning part. We have to write our own dramas, puppet plays, and that sort of thing so it will be much work. It will also be fun. In 10 minutes, I'll be going to a preaching class with James. We are the two preachers on team. The rest will be creative teachers and chalk artists.

I feel like I'm constantly tired. I always wanted to nap after lunch and for the rest of the day. Mornings are great! I love walking outside and smelling the fresh, rainy, mountain air.

Training camp seems to be flying by. At the same time, time goes by very slowly too. It feels like I've been here forever and that it went by quickly. Time doesn't make much sense, really. These are the ponderings of my tired mind for the day.

Week One @ VTI

Life at VTI is great. So much is happening here I don't know what all to say. The schedule is hectic (I learned that word from Mom), but there's still time to chill out and get to know the team. I'm learing alot just watching these people. Their lives show me things I want to have. They are so passionate and committed. I want that. I feel like I'm growing so much here.

I must say that the idea of missions scares me, but I've got a great team here. I'm going to learn to be a little less indiviualistic and work with other people this year. I don't have to do everything myself just to prove I can. The fact is, I need help. I know I can count on my teammates the way I want them to count on me.

I still need lots of money for the year. Pray for that, please. Pray for Team unity, too.

Harvesting grain with my eyes...

I have a blog! Here you go Dielle! It's even your favorite colour.