Last Warning: New Site

I am no longer going to be using this blog anymore. What I mean is that I will no longer bother posting here. I will leave it here in case I need it in the future for some as of yet unknown reason, I have officially (as official as this kind of blogging gets) switched to the superior, option-loaded multiply. It's simpler for me that way. I'm tired of updating two blogs and cross-posting doesn't seem to want to work. If you like hearing about my life, go to www.mennoman.multiply.com. Shalom!!!

Processing...

Wow! What a week! Camp ministry is something. We were at Camp Okatoks this week. We were co-counseling and taking care of the chapels so it was a full plate. I learned a few things about myself and about camp ministry. Firstly, that it is not the thing I feared all year. It's hard; don't get me wrong. I hate disciplining kids and trying to be their mom as well as their friend and spiritual mentor. It's a lot to do. I wouldn't mind the other two roles if not for the mom part. However, despite the fatigue and difficulty, I enjoyed it very much. I had a good cabin of boys and I felt like I connected to most of them well.

With discipline, I discovered that it keeps me up at night. You see, night time was one of the primary times when I had to be mean and threaten consequences if they refused to be quiet and go to sleep. I feel very bad after I threaten and I am kept awake thinking about the times during the day when I should have been softer or harder on them just as much as I am kept awake by the heat in our very warm cabin.

I also re-discover that I a selfish person. You see, as a counselor, I am required to be a good example to campers. I must be kind when they are unkind. I must be cheerful when they are complaining, which really does happen a lot. I must be very godly and perfect. I am tired of this by the end of one week. 1 hour after my campers leave, I whine about the weather. How ironic.

I realize that the campers are not any worse than me because they bicker with each other and complain about every activity and every other boys cabin. You see, I have been thinking these same thoughts all week. I have simply learned not to say what I think because it is rude and I'm supposed to be a good example. These children have not yet learned to resist speaking their mind; they are transparent. I shared with one of my boys that I am an awful person; just as bad as those rebellious guys in the next cabin. I am not rebellious and disrespectful to my leaders, but I think angry, dark thoughts a countless points in the day. After I restrain these thoughts for one blasted, miserable week, I want to blow. I feel justified in this. I am not.

I'd recommend camp ministry to anyone who is not faint of heart. You don't have to be good with kids (don't feel like I am) but you have to be tough enough to fail and keep rolling with the punches. It will change you.

Camp Mizpah

We were at camp last week. I loved it! I was worried about camp ministry, but Rhys and I had a cabin full of awesome, fun guys. The Holy Spirit moved that week and challenged a lot of people. I'm praying that God continues working in all of their lives. We had 11 people sign up for info from VTI and a couple guys who are seriously considering a GAP team next year. One guy has a Friends & Followers application for next year. He was filling it out in the lunch line-up. I told him he should do while he was sitting down, but it's very cool that's he's so excited. I found the week energized me as much as it tired me. Praise God for a very good week. Pray that He keeps on driving the campers to keep the commitments they made to him last week.

One of the cool points was a long hike we went on with some campers. In the process, we climbed a big hill. It was exhausting for me, let alone the campers, but we made it. I had the song "One Step More" running through my head as I heard staff encouraging the campers to keep walking, one step at a time. I thought about perseverance and how God only shows one step at a time in life. It would probably have killed me to know everything I would be doing this year last September, but each step I have taken has made me stronger so that I am able to take the next. I remember a poster I once had in my room that says, "Don't pray for challenges to equal your strength, but for strength to equal your challenges".

Montana is a beautiful place.

VBS

It has been far too long since I've blogged, but energy is becoming rare for this sort of thing. We are in Montana until July 7. We have been doing VBS the last to weeks and tomorrow we start a week of camp. This week we did a VBS in the morning and one in the afternoon. We had two pretty good groups of kids and it was a great week, though very tiring. I rather enjoyed getting to know the kids a little. We'll get a chance to see some of them again next week at camp along with some from our VBS a week ago. I'm looking forward to that as well. The whole team has been learning a lot about working with children these days.

One of the first days I had the pleasure of petting a dog and calling it ministry. Yes, when we went outside to do some games with our VBS crew, the neighbors' dog got very excited about all the people and started getting in the way. The only way to keep away her from the action was distraction so I sat there scratching the attention-loving pooch's tummy for about 20 minutes. The gross thing is that this dog starting licking her own butthole while I was doing this. That was somewhat appalling, so I scrubbing my hands very thoroughly when that was over. Gotta love dogs, eh?

This is the end haul for the team. We are very concerned about things such as energy and I'm searching for time for us to write and learn new dramas and stuff for a youth conference we are doing later on. We were asked to do several youth sessions at a missionary conference at Briercrest after team year is over and we all agreed, so we have that to prepare while our camp and VBS ministry is still going on. The greatest challenge at this point is maintaining an unselfish attitude while still getting the rest we need to work hard. It is very easy to either be lazy or do too much and burn out. Pray for common sense and supernatural energy.

Trek-A-Thon II

Last Saturday, VTI held its annual fundraising event, the Trek-a-thon. Trek-a-thon is basically a time where people raise money for VTI and then walk, run, cycle, blade, whatever 15-30 km, depending on how far they want to go. My team was there to help out with the festivities. This meant getting up at 6:00 or earlier to start setting up at Fish Creek Park by 7:00. As people started arriving, a few of us directed traffic, though I basically just stood there and looked friendly (I think). When the trek itself started, I went out on an old street bike that had no such thing as low gear to be what is called a course marshal. That means that we basically were supposed to tell people which direction to go (I didn't even know), repair minor injuries, and pump flat bike tires when needed. It also involved fooling around on radios for no reason whatsoever. FUN!!!

I think this means that I was supposed to know the course fairly well, but as it turned out, I ended up going the wrong way with a group of people. We eventually found our way and, shortly thereafter, I got a flat tire. I tried pumping it up with my slow hand pump and finally decided that it was punctured and started walking it back. At the 5km mark, I borrowed someone else's bike and got back when I was supposed to be back for lunch. However, lunch wasn't there, so I took a golf cart out to pick up my bike. The bike had gotten home some other way and, by the time I got back, I was late for the program we were going to do for the Trekkers. I felt slightly conspicuous, but I often feel slightly conspicuous. It worked out in the end. I was tired out of my mind from cycling around up long hills in high gear and a black t-shirt. Oh well! It makes a good story. I like good stories.

Trek-a-thon

We are at the VTI office preparing for Trek-a-thon. Tomorrow we are helping out at the actual Trek-a-thon itself. It looks like it will be a nice day and we are all wearing black T-shirts. Hooray for cooking to death. At least we get to drive around sweet old-fashioned bikes and catch a breeze. I'm looking forward to it.

The boys are all staying at Mark Sorell's house. He is the director of VTI and his sons have a Nintendo Wii. Rhys and I got a chance to play one while we were in England, but being non-gamers, we didn't take it, much to the dismay of James and Aj, who are more gamish than us. Nontheless, Wii (har!) have enjoyed playing golf in this Wii, though it is just as frustrating as real golf and I am just as bad at it.

Last weekend, our team went to my hometown, AUSTIN. The highlights of the weekend were seeing Dielle & my family, going to ACA (my old school), and seeing old friends for a short while. It's always good to go home again. I miss that town. AND IT'S GETTING PAVED STREETS!!! That's right! Austinians no longer need to hang their heads in shame because we have gravel roads. No, we have plenty of other things to hang our heads about. But we also have many things to hold our heads high about, so we'll just hold them somewhere in the middle and call it even. Yep!

I'm looking forward to the coupons I'll get to helping out with Trek-a-thon. I like coupons. These particular coupons involve fries, a burger, and a slurpee. I am happy about this for I enjoy all three of those things, but am often to cheap to buy them, which is probably a good thing, anyway. Usually, cheapness saves me from junk food, but not this time!!! I'm getting carried away and I am liable to post something really dumb soon... never mind. Too late!

On the Road Again

Well, we're off again. I feel pretty good, though. For much of our time overseas, I felt like I was running on 3/4 of a tank because of culture stress or something. I feel very good now, fully rested and ready to go. I guess that's a good way to start your tour. In comparison with our overseas schedule, this has been a picnic so far. Just wait until camp ministry.

We have just arrived in Calgary. We will be here for a week. We will spend a day at the Mustard Seed and work with the Foothills Alliance youth group fair share as well. We spent our weekend in Cremona, which is actually about 10 minutes (if that) from our training centre, but we still billeted out for the two nights we were there. It was cool. Pastor Mitch is a funny guy, very blunt. It's nice, though, because that means I don't have to worry that I'm being offensive and he's just not saying anything. It puts my mind to rest.

Missions Conference

We are currently having a missions conference here at VTI training centre recently renamed Discovery Lodge. So there's a bunch a Bible College and Mission reps here right now. It's actually really fun to hang out with them. Missionaries are supposed to be boring, right? HA!!!! I have news: if you think missionaries are boring, know that they have a much more exiting life than you do. It's true. These reps have already poured tons of advice and encouragement into my life. This is so much fun!

Yesterday evening, we did a presentation for them about our overseas time. We got a lot of positive comments about it afterwards. They got a lot of out of it. I'm glad we could encourage them after how they've all encouraged us this week. I've also gotten some food for thought on what kind of missions work I'd like to be involved in. It's lots of fun. I like brainstorming for the future. I just need to be careful that I'm still listening to God. It's too easy to stop listening while you're planning.