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!