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!