Update!

It has been too long since my last post so to make up for it, this one is really long. Thanks for your patience! I will try to make the next ones shorter and more frequent.

I have been really loving my time here in Abbotsford thus far. I am continuing to learn and grow as so many awesome people speak into my life.

On Tuesday morning, I finally found out where I will be going for my assignment phase: the Philippines! I am super excited to be leading a team of five to Baguio City, Philippines for three months. We should be leaving at the very beginning of March. I don't fully know what we will be doing there but we will be working with a local pastor who does a fair bit of evangelism and work with kids and youth and stuff. I'll let you know more later as I find out, since I don't know much right now.

My team is full of some truly gifted and diverse people that I am really looking forward to doing ministry with: Jonas Beyer, from Germany; Tejal Kristjanson, from Winnipeg; Charis Miller, from Saskatoon; and Ashley Irving, from Fresno. We had our first team time today which was quite exciting.

It is definitely different now that I know where I will be going and with whom. Before, there were 9 of us and each person could potentially be on my team, and we had no idea where we would be going. Now, preparation for ministry has become a lot more real. We found out early that one team would be going to Ukraine, but due to another potential location not working out, we only found out about the Philippines option on Monday.

The TREK leadership team discerned and chose teams on Monday afternoon and revealed them to us immediately before a worship time Tuesday morning. Even though I didn't have a real preference for location and knew that both teams would be full of solid people, it was still one of the most suspenseful times in my life!

I remember thinking about the Philippines a while back, thinking it would be a cool place to visit sometime, and it's crazy to think that I will be there in about a month! I am starting to really get excited about sharing God's love with the people there.

One highlight of our training time so far was a silent retreat that we all did last week. For 48 hours, we didn't communicate with each other, use phones or computers, or even read anything other than the Bible. I thought it would be really hard, and at times it was, but it was also a really enriching time where I could dig into God's Word and enjoy spending time alone with God. Among other things, this experience taught me that God is sufficient in my life, and that distractions too easily get in the way. I would definitely recommend doing something like this if you haven't; it is very rewarding.

We have also listened to many wise and experienced teachers who have shared the knowledge they have gained from many years of following Jesus. Just today, we learned about spiritual disciplines from a couple who spent much of their married life serving as missionaries in Turkey. We also spend time memorizing Scripture (also highly recommended), and helping out in the MB Mission office stuffing envelopes. We also spent a day in Vancouver about a week ago, doing a photo scavenger hunt and seeing the sights. This is a picture of some of us in Vancouver:

left to right: Jonas, Mitch, Tejal, Katie-Sue, Ashley, me (Mitch and Katie-Sue are part of the Ukraine team)

I don't have a full picture of the team yet, but I will post it when I do!

Me in Vancouver

There's probably a lot more I can say, but I've been rambling for a while so I will just say thanks for reading, and please pray for me!

• Pray that God would give me the ability and confidence to lead as well as humility and a servant's heart. 
• Pray that our team would be united and that we would be rooted in Christ so that we can overcome difficulties and conflict. 
• Pray that God will help us prepare for ministry and that opportunities in the Philippines will fall into place.
• Pray that God would continue to teach me many new things as He already has been doing.

As a reminder, if you wish to donate financially (I still need to raise a good chunk of the $8600), you can go here (http://www.mbmission.org/donate/information/stm-participants) and click on TREK Winter 2012.

Thanks for your prayers, support, and for simply being interested enough to read this blog! Feel free to comment.

PS. Maybe pray for strong stomachs in the Philippines. Check out this to get an idea of what I mean!

First 3 Days

Hello from Abbotsford! The first few days have been busy but already very rewarding, and I am really excited to see what God has in store for the next few months. We are still waiting to hear where we will be going, but I will let you know soon. There will be two teams sent out (one team of 5 and one of 4) and one guy will be heading to France by himself to work with missionaries Russ and Marj Speiser.

To give you an idea of what my time has been like so far, I will present you with a bulleted list of highlights, because everyone likes bulleted lists.

• The Mark Centre. This is where we are all staying. Here is a picture:

This is a really great place where we all live, eat, learn, worship, and hang out. You will notice that there is green, which is a nice change from the browns and whites in Saskatoon. We actually did some gardening work yesterday (in January!).

• Awesome people. I have already met many amazing people, including 9 fellow TREKers. I feel like I know them well already and it has only been 3 days. It is going to be great getting to know them more and serve with half of them for 3 months. I have also met many wise and passionate people that it would take too long to list here, such as Luke Haidle, the TREK director, and Steve Klassen, the director of the MARK Centre, the place we are staying. These people have taught me a lot already, which leads me to...

• Learning. Our days are broken up into 3 to 4 sessions a day by various speakers. Just today, for instance, we heard from the aforementioned Steve Klassen, JP Hayashida, who leads MB Missions's Operations and IT; Randy Friesen, the director of MB Mission;  and Larry Neufeld, head of media and mobilization. All of these people are full of wisdom and an obvious passion for serving God. They taught us about Jesus' calling in Mark 1:17, the structure and purpose of MB Mission, risk-taking obedience, and the importance of communication. Each session taught me something new, challenged my thinking and worldview,  and inspired me to live my life for God. I could go on in much more detail, but I don't want to write a book. 

I am excited to see how God will use all of this great training to equip me for my experience somewhere around the world. We have some cool things coming up in the near future, including a trip to Vancouver on Saturday, and a 48 hour silent retreat starting next Thursday. 

Please pray that God will continue to teach and challenge me through the speakers, and that he will speak to me through spending 48 hours in silence next week. Also pray for continued unity among the group of TREKers and that he will lead us all into the teams and locations He wants us in.

Update: If you would like to support me financially, you can do so on the MB Mission website. Just go  here and select the TREK Winter 2012 option. 

Feel free to comment or ask questions. It would be good to hear from you!

Welcome to my blog!

Thanks for checking out my blog!  For those who don't know, I will be participating in MB Mission's TREK program which runs from January 8 to June 16. The purpose of the blog is to share my experiences and prayer requests to family, friends, and whoever else might be interested. The dates for the program are:

• Training Phase - January 8 - March 3
• Assignment Phase - March 3 - June 2
• Debrief Phase - June 3 - June 16

The training and debrief will be held in Abbotsford, BC, but I still have no idea where I will be for the other 3 months. Teams and locations should be finalized after the first couple weeks of training; I could be going anywhere from Brazil to Thailand to Kazakhstan. Wherever I end up going, we will be working with churches and missionaries in areas such as teaching English, children's ministry, sports, service projects, and more.

I can't wait to get to Abbotsford to meet everyone and start training. Some of the things we will be learning include teaching English, cultural sensitivity, servant leadership, evangelism, surrendering your rights, and many other topics that I am really excited to dive into. 

It is a new experience for me to enter into something like this with so many unknowns, but I am learning to trust God to take care of the details. Please pray for me as I prepare to go. 

I have included a support letter below.