Visa Update

One of the big themes we have been learning about while on training is putting our trust in God. As we step out in obedience to His calling, we will find ourselves in situations where we don't have the strength or ability to do it on our own. In these moments, we can no longer rely on ourselves but must depend on God to pull through for us. God wants us to live our lives like this, not depending on our own strength but trusting in God's provision.

During training, there haven't been many opportunities to really exercise this kind of faith in a big way, as I am anticipating there will be in the Philippines. I have been praying that God would show me how to place my trust in Him.

If you read my last blog, I asked for prayer about our visas. When we went to Vancouver on Tuesday to apply, the consulate told us we would need a letter from our host in the Philippines before our visas could be processed. Doing this would take an extra four days, which would make the timing really tight for our departure on March 4. I was already worried about getting the visas on time before this, so I found myself quite stressed out about it. As I prayed, I felt that God was telling me that this was something I would need to trust Him with, since it was out of my hands. He wanted to teach me a lesson on faith and His provision. Realizing this made me feel better, and I gave the visas to God and put my trust in Him.

The next day (Wednesday), Nate, one of the TREK interns, told me he looked into the issue more. Requiring a letter seemed unusual, so after some digging, he found out that we don't actually need to apply for visas beforehand. We can simply get a 21 day tourist visa when entering the country and then apply for an extension while there. This is a common way of doing it in many countries. We think that there was some confusion due to going through an organization that led to the requirement of the letter, which we now know is unnecessary.

So it turns out that in one day, God completely answered our prayers in a way that was totally unexpected. God taught me a huge lesson in trusting Him, as I far too often rely on my own ability or worry about things that are out of my control.

Update

It is a little surreal to think that in 13 days, I will be in Baguio City, the Philippines, getting ready for three months of ministry there. Our flight leaves the Vancouver Airport at 11:10 AM Pacific time on Sunday, March 4. I am excited to finish this last leg of training, which will include cross-cultural training, learning to teach English (not sure how much we'll use it, but it should be good anyway), and some practical training on things like music and children's ministry.

The view from Steve Klassen's backyard, where we had a session on the Gospel of Mark

The last couple of weeks have been solid, with some really good sessions on spiritual authority and evangelism. I learned a lot about the authority we have in Christ and am pumped to exercise that more as we go serve. I also learned how witnessing is an essential part of our life as Christians and should flow out of our love for God and desire for others to know him.

Getting ready for some all-night prayer

We were also able to share about our trips with a nearby church and be involved in an all-night Prayer for the Nations event that MB Mission put on. It was awesome to spend an entire night learning about and praying for different countries around the world.

Every Tuesday is Plaid Tuesday

Before we leave, we need to have our traveler's visas processed. What was supposed to be a three day process is ending up taking longer, as we just found out that we need a letter from Sam (the pastor we will be working with in the Philippines) to the Philippine Foreign Affairs Office in Manila, before our visas can be processed. If everything works smoothly, we should have our visas in time, but prayer would definitely be appreciated to ensure that it happens!

Reading through the old blog posts, I realized that I haven't said much about what we will be doing in the Philippines. Our team will be working under the leadership of a local pastor named Sam Arcaño. We still don't know all the details, but some of the ways we will likely be helping out include youth evangelism and discipleship, Bible studies, VBS's for the kids, youth camps, and music ministry.

Along with the visas, also pray:

• for energy and determination to finish training strong
• that God would teach us what we need to know through the sessions
• for some good team bonding before we leave
• that God would be at work in the Philippines now and when we go

Thanks for praying, and for reading! Have a great day.

Pender Island

This past weekend, I was privileged to travel to Pender Island with my fellow TREKers. Pender Island is a small island just east of Vancouver Island and as you will soon see, it is quite beautiful. We stayed in a lodge that the MARK Centre is currently leasing (check out their page for more details and some pics). We did many of the same things that we we would normally do here in Abbotsford, including hearing from inspiring speakers (Steve Klassen, Sam Dyck and Ray & Judy Harms-Wiebe) and some work duties. We also had time to take in some fun activities, like canoeing, hiking, and my favorite: frisbee golf! But rather than writing a bunch, I have included 13,000 words worth of pictures.

View from the ferry

The Lodge we stayed in, with an amazing ocean view on 3 sides

Frisbee Golf = good times

Steve Klassen trumpeting hymns into the Pacific sunset

Canoeing in the mist with Megan and Tejal

Fog

I'm smiling because I finally remembered how to breathe. 6˚C water is so refreshing!  

Light shining through the smoke from the campfire

The stairs I helped build as part of our work project

The view from above, after a good hike 

Roe Lake

Hiking path

A good place for skipping rocks

We all had a really great time on Pender, and we are now back in Abbotsford, learning about spiritual authority. We heard from Randy Friesen today, which was really inspiring and challenging, and I am looking forward to more sessions throughout the week with Keith Martens.

God is good. Thanks for reading.

Amazing TREK Race!

If you have seen the TV show "The Amazing Race", you will have an idea of what my Saturday was like last week. TREK leadership organized an epic all-day "Amazing TREK". My Philippines team raced the Ukraine team all through Abbotsford in the snow, rain, and hail. We used a GPS to track down bandanas hidden in the woods, completed obstacle courses, ate at a Sikh temple, exercised our brains by memorizing a passage of Scripture as fast as possible, dunked our heads in chocolate pudding, built fire in the rain, and much more. The race started at 6 am and we limped across the finish line at 7 pm.

Needless to say, it was intense! By the end of the day, we had walked/ran at least 15 km and were dead tired. The hardest part was the "missionary breakfast", where our team had to eat a huge meal of really unique foods from around the world before moving on. If you clicked on the link in my last blog, you will know what balut is. And yes, that was on the menu! Most of the other food wasn't much better. Before we went in, one person had to volunteer to eat a "special meal". Knowing that I have a fairly strong stomach, I volunteered. Unbeknownst to me, the special meal was Cheerios, and I was unable to help my team eat the rest. You may think that was lucky for me, but it was actually very difficult! My team, despite a valiant effort, had a tough time keeping the food down, and I felt so useless and so badly wanted to help out.

Through the whole experience, our team learned a lot about each other and we discovered how well we work as a team. I am really excited to be travelling to the Philippines with such awesome people.

Here is a team photo:

From left to right: Jonas, Ashley, me, Tejal, Charis

And now a picture I took today of a park nearby the MARK Centre. As you can see, it is nice here.

Tomorrow, we are heading out to Pender Island (a small island close to Vancouver Island) for a four day retreat. I am quite excited. I will be sure to post some pictures and stories when we get back.

I am still learning lots; it is like drinking from a fire hose. It is great though. Today, we heard from Jamie Munday about holistic mission and how the Kingdom of God is not just about our own relationship with God but about being involved in His work of reconciliation with others, the community around us, and His creation. Good stuff!

I hope you enjoyed reading this. As always, I would love to hear from you, so comment away!

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.