~~~Another traveling testimony...Upon getting back to Toronto from Finland I still had no definite way of getting home (no plane tickets yet purchased). I looked them up and they were about $900 so that was a no go. I then proceeded to make other plans with some girls driving through my area. Their plans fell through 3 days later and weren't going so I now had 2 days to figure out plans before I got kicked out of the building with all my stuff. I asked two Americans who drive my way for a ride. One was a possibility but that fell through graduation night. So we're supposed to be having an after party and I have 15 hours to figure out what I'm going to do. A thought was to bus to Buffalo and get a cheaper flight but the issue was I drove to TO so I had more than the allowed limit for a plane. Grr. Wow, was I on the fritz. Finally I was resigned to drive home with my friend, Amber (from PA) and figure out what next when I got there. Eventually I got a plane ticket and shipped some of my stuff and flew out Saturday. God is so good. I needed that extra day with at least one person from school to ease me back into "real" culture, but I really didn't need all the emotional turmoil figuring out a way home while going through the duress of leaving about 60 of the most amazing people I've ever gotten close to.
~~~Good-byes at SOM were ridiculously hard and a completely new experience. I have never been that close to that many people (due to heart issues that kept everyone away). These people have been a huge part of my life, my growth, and now my heart. Tears were flowing, and it was hard being one of the first to leave. Ahh...I need more time with them!
~~~HOME: first week was terrible. Since I have recognized this as a bit of a recooperation time, I took it easy the rest week, but that meant that I was at home all by myself. Partly good, but majorly awful...I don't have roommates or room neighbors with whom to bounce emotions off or hang out or discuss God. Talk about suck. Relationship are a good thing. This is what I have found. Finally. :)
~~~What now? The question of the century for sure. Well, the supporters to the idea that I stay in Indianapolis can certainly come up with things for me to do. Amazing, I wonder where they were last summer when I need time-occupiers? Oh, well. This just goes to show that God will take care of me and bless me no matter where I stay or go. There were opportunities in TO, there are opportunities here, but I don't feel led to live in either place at the moment. And part of me doesn't want to anyway. Currently I'm looking to intern at CTF Raleigh so we'll see how God is moving His hand in that.
~~~Faithfulness. This is what I've asked God to show me and He has been faithful to do so. :) haha. And even still there are wonderful opportunities for Him to come through for me. I'm sure I will never run out of ways I need Him to rescue me or provide for me or love me. I'm so glad that I serve a God who desired to do all these things for me before I needed them. yay. So now I need a job when I get to Raleigh and I need a car to get me there. Can't wait to see how this pans out. I'm expecting a good story.
Peace.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
testimony time
Fun story for you.
Coming back to Toronto from Finland we flew to JFK on Finnair, the most amazing airline I have ever traveled with. Our flight landed and we got off around 4pm and our connecting flight was to leave around 6pm. Cutting it kinda close already this did not take into consideration the fact that our connecting flight was to leave out of LaGuardia, meaning that we would have to take a cab there. Also there was the issue of getting through customs. Welcome to the American immigration system...aka terrible. The three Americans got through fine comparatively speaking - we still had to wait a long time because there were only two officials on duty. Not smart. The poor non-Americans had to go through a mile-long line to be checked and there were nine of them. Joe, Carter, and I pulled all the baggage and waited for the others. By the time we finally got the whole team together it was 5:15. Umm, will we make this flight?
So we start heading...um who knows where because we certainly didn't know where we were going. We had to back track to give our suitcases back because they had been tagged through to TO and then we head off. Well, then we have to go back because well, we don't have any boarding passes so where are we going to go? As we stand at the counter we were asked why we didn't have our boarding passes by at least three people at least seven times. Well, Helsinki should have given them to you. Why didn't Helsinki give them to you?
Now it is 5:40 and we are freaking out and all praying in words and tongues under our breathes and the lady helping us is freaking out. There is no way we will get a taxi and make it to LaGuardia in time but there is a flight that leaves from JFK but it's scheduled for 5:55 and like I said, no one has their boarding passes. A wonderful man calls and asks them to hold the plane which they agree to (P.T.L.) and the lady frantically prints off our passes sending each us off as soon as we get ours. "RUN!!! GOOOO!!!" It's all coming along until they get to Peter who is South Korean and Philip whose passport wasn't working (??). We all go, run through security, and dash through the terminal to the very last gate in the airport.
All are sweating by the time we get there. I have never been that late for a plane. You could tell they were inches away from closing the door without us but we came trickling in, but I was looking for Peter and Philip, desperately hoping they did not have to stay a night in New York without us. Finally they showed up too with their own story!!! YAY. It was such a relief to know our whole team was on the same flight and that we could just get home and not have to stay in NY for a time (even though Joe lives there and would have taken very good care of us). Sorry to all those on the plane who waited 40min for all of us to get on the plane. I think we finally left around 6:30. Amazing they waited for us. Thank you, Jesus.
And all our luggage was at Pearson when we got there. yay.
Another funny thing...Carter who was born in Canada but lives in America had to go through secondary security when we got to Toronto. Guess they didn't believe he was Canadian. haha.
Coming back to Toronto from Finland we flew to JFK on Finnair, the most amazing airline I have ever traveled with. Our flight landed and we got off around 4pm and our connecting flight was to leave around 6pm. Cutting it kinda close already this did not take into consideration the fact that our connecting flight was to leave out of LaGuardia, meaning that we would have to take a cab there. Also there was the issue of getting through customs. Welcome to the American immigration system...aka terrible. The three Americans got through fine comparatively speaking - we still had to wait a long time because there were only two officials on duty. Not smart. The poor non-Americans had to go through a mile-long line to be checked and there were nine of them. Joe, Carter, and I pulled all the baggage and waited for the others. By the time we finally got the whole team together it was 5:15. Umm, will we make this flight?
So we start heading...um who knows where because we certainly didn't know where we were going. We had to back track to give our suitcases back because they had been tagged through to TO and then we head off. Well, then we have to go back because well, we don't have any boarding passes so where are we going to go? As we stand at the counter we were asked why we didn't have our boarding passes by at least three people at least seven times. Well, Helsinki should have given them to you. Why didn't Helsinki give them to you?
Now it is 5:40 and we are freaking out and all praying in words and tongues under our breathes and the lady helping us is freaking out. There is no way we will get a taxi and make it to LaGuardia in time but there is a flight that leaves from JFK but it's scheduled for 5:55 and like I said, no one has their boarding passes. A wonderful man calls and asks them to hold the plane which they agree to (P.T.L.) and the lady frantically prints off our passes sending each us off as soon as we get ours. "RUN!!! GOOOO!!!" It's all coming along until they get to Peter who is South Korean and Philip whose passport wasn't working (??). We all go, run through security, and dash through the terminal to the very last gate in the airport.
All are sweating by the time we get there. I have never been that late for a plane. You could tell they were inches away from closing the door without us but we came trickling in, but I was looking for Peter and Philip, desperately hoping they did not have to stay a night in New York without us. Finally they showed up too with their own story!!! YAY. It was such a relief to know our whole team was on the same flight and that we could just get home and not have to stay in NY for a time (even though Joe lives there and would have taken very good care of us). Sorry to all those on the plane who waited 40min for all of us to get on the plane. I think we finally left around 6:30. Amazing they waited for us. Thank you, Jesus.
And all our luggage was at Pearson when we got there. yay.
Another funny thing...Carter who was born in Canada but lives in America had to go through secondary security when we got to Toronto. Guess they didn't believe he was Canadian. haha.
Emotions Running Wild
it's been a crazy week. i've enjoyed being back in toronto for this brief stint and am looking forward to going home, seeing family, and jumping into what's next. coming back and seeing everyone - my family of 58 - and hearing all the outreach stories has been amazing. i love them all incredibly and i love living with them. the hard thing has been all the goodbyes. we had to say goodbye to the wonderful friends that we made in finland - though we were only there three weeks, i don't doubt we will be friends for quite some time. now we have to prepare ourselves to say goodbye, or at least "see you later", to the group of the most incredible people i have ever met in one place. i have never been somewhere where i genuinely love every single person in the group and have enjoyed living with them. ahh my heart breaks that we must leave this place of intimate community. other the other hand better food, my own room, and decent exercise is calling my name as well.
tonight is graduation! can't believe it is already here and that it is today. these past five months have been absolutely life-changing, exciting, and just what i needed. i can't imagine my life without them...i'm positive i would have been a complete and utter wreck. wow, God is good.
then there is what comes next. it feels like standing on a cliff and getting pushed off. no control over where your body goes and nothing you mind can do about falling. this is of course not true, but that is the feeling. i'm currently sorting things out and then hopefully after a month in indy i will be moving south. i'm excited to keep moving forward. not much gets down when we stand still and right now that is my biggest fear. thank you, God, that you are in control.
and then there is how to get home....that has kind of been an ordeal. hopefully i'll be home in the states this weekend....or who knows. pray for me.
peace.
tonight is graduation! can't believe it is already here and that it is today. these past five months have been absolutely life-changing, exciting, and just what i needed. i can't imagine my life without them...i'm positive i would have been a complete and utter wreck. wow, God is good.
then there is what comes next. it feels like standing on a cliff and getting pushed off. no control over where your body goes and nothing you mind can do about falling. this is of course not true, but that is the feeling. i'm currently sorting things out and then hopefully after a month in indy i will be moving south. i'm excited to keep moving forward. not much gets down when we stand still and right now that is my biggest fear. thank you, God, that you are in control.
and then there is how to get home....that has kind of been an ordeal. hopefully i'll be home in the states this weekend....or who knows. pray for me.
peace.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Más y Más
This outreach has been amazing. Really there are no words and I'm not sure if I am truly aware of everything that happened here. God knows and I definitely hope it was a load more than I realize. I trust Him that it is.
And while this trip has been about ministering to others, preaching, and leading worship, I feel I have gotten more out of this trip than those we have come to meet. And it's not in that mission trip way that the people have impacted a change in my heart. That has happen in a way but really it's just God still working on the issues that haven't been resolved in my heart and that have a lot of healing left. I love it. And I think I have finally accepted the fact that this is a journey and that healing is a process. As many times as I heard this I hated the thought and wanted improvement to be immediate but now I'm ok with how it works. It's a journey. And I'm going to enjoy the ride.
So tomorrow we leave for Toronto. Can't wait to catch up with friends on other teams; I have missed them so much. And, though quite surreal, I'm headed to Indy a week from today though I haven't purchased a ticket yet. Errrr.... I'll do that soon I guess. And then I don't really know what is next but thankfully I am not stressed about it. That doesn't mean that I will do nothing, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it. God has been constantly reminding me that He has plans for me and that they are good and that He cares about my destiny and so I don't have to worry about it. yay.
And so this chapter soon ends and the next begins.
Peace.
Lahti
We just got back from three days in Lahti, Finland. Lahti is a city about a half hour train ride from Jarvenpaa and it is considerably bigger than our small home base. It truly felt like we had traveled to a different country - traveling all the time can do that to ya. Here we worked with Petrus the youth pastor of a pentecostal church there. (the official/most common religion/church here in Finland is the Lutheran church) He and Maiju (the children's pastor) helped us out considerably, gave us a tour one day of the city, and translated for us. This time we stayed in people's apartments. The girls stayed with Paulina, Petrus' sister, and her roommate Hanna. They were such a blessing and were so generous of their time, space, food, internet, etc. just like all the people we have encountered here. Their apt was so cute too; I hope mine can be so chic. The guys weren't so lucky with space and had to squeeze six of them into a one-person apt thought it helped the owner was out of town.
Our schedule was rather free in Lahti with only nightly meetings at 6pm. They provided lunch for us at the church, lovely, Tues we then went grocery shopping and settled in, Wed we got to roam around the shopping center there or hang out in a coffee shop, and Thurs we got a tour of the more well-known places in Lahti before going to the church for sound check. On tour we visited their ski jump - IT WAS HUUUGGEEEEE! omg I used to think that I would love to ski jump after seeing the Olympians do it on TV. Oh, wow, think again. I was scared just looking at it. And on the huge supports they had rock climbing holds. If I were harnessed that would be amazing. We also saw the harbor and walked out on the lake that was completely snowed and iced over.
At the meetings Peter spoke on Trusting the Father and I gave a testimony, Olivia spoke on Hearts of Stone and Joe gave a testimony, and Andrea spoke on Intimacy/Trust and James gave a testimony. Finnish people are known for being reserved and to not think very highly of themselves, but during ministry time (with some prodding) so many people came forward for prayer/prophecy and were completely touched. It was so cool. I love ministry time because I just pray what I feel God saying and I get to see them get affected completely by Him. So many times I wasn't getting any words but was just with them loving them and God touched them so powerfully. Cuz it's not about us anyway but He uses us and allows us to take part. Suzi and I were praying for one girl and just standing there with her loving on her and after awhile (with tears) she told us the vision she had from God and it totally blew us away! She saw Jesus proposing to her and getting married to Jesus and she was wrecked by the thought that Jesus loved her enough to want to marry her. We hadn't been praying any of that and Daddy just took her away! Amazing.
Our schedule was rather free in Lahti with only nightly meetings at 6pm. They provided lunch for us at the church, lovely, Tues we then went grocery shopping and settled in, Wed we got to roam around the shopping center there or hang out in a coffee shop, and Thurs we got a tour of the more well-known places in Lahti before going to the church for sound check. On tour we visited their ski jump - IT WAS HUUUGGEEEEE! omg I used to think that I would love to ski jump after seeing the Olympians do it on TV. Oh, wow, think again. I was scared just looking at it. And on the huge supports they had rock climbing holds. If I were harnessed that would be amazing. We also saw the harbor and walked out on the lake that was completely snowed and iced over.
At the meetings Peter spoke on Trusting the Father and I gave a testimony, Olivia spoke on Hearts of Stone and Joe gave a testimony, and Andrea spoke on Intimacy/Trust and James gave a testimony. Finnish people are known for being reserved and to not think very highly of themselves, but during ministry time (with some prodding) so many people came forward for prayer/prophecy and were completely touched. It was so cool. I love ministry time because I just pray what I feel God saying and I get to see them get affected completely by Him. So many times I wasn't getting any words but was just with them loving them and God touched them so powerfully. Cuz it's not about us anyway but He uses us and allows us to take part. Suzi and I were praying for one girl and just standing there with her loving on her and after awhile (with tears) she told us the vision she had from God and it totally blew us away! She saw Jesus proposing to her and getting married to Jesus and she was wrecked by the thought that Jesus loved her enough to want to marry her. We hadn't been praying any of that and Daddy just took her away! Amazing.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
it's cold here but the streets aren't slushy
this week we went on school visits tuesday through friday and taught lessons on our countries or just shared about religion. i was actually ok with the awkwardness that i knew would be there; it's just the lack of communication and information relaying that i am getting bothered by. the majority of the time we would arrive at the school only knowing that we were going to share something with the class and then someone showed us the room and said, "there you go. go teach." ummm...maybe it's just me preferring to be prepared (at least mentally) for whatever i'm about to do, but it would have been nice to have had a pep talk or debrief about what we should expect when we went in there. what kind of class is it? what have the kids been learning? what do they know? what should they or do they want to learn? what doesn't need to be said? etc. etc. four days of none of that on top of the other week we've been here with not much communication from the top down has been wearing on my nerves. i think we have moved past the stage of being flexible and now i just feel stupid.
on a happier note, i'm getting my energy back sleep-wise, especially after the long weekend and being sick earlier this week. i had a really bad sore throat one day and the next i felt like a cold coming on with a cold headache but i slept and i was peachy by morning! thanks, God. i am ready for things to snowball now, but i think some of the team are on vacation mode. oh, dear.
we led a house church and youth meeting this week as well which were good; God's been showing me several things as well. tonight after the filming of the TV service i did a bit of prophetic presbytry with isaac and philip for some who missed out on it before. then i got to go sledding! woot. utterly cold is what it was, the kind where you snif and any dripping that might have been there just freezes. haha at least it saves the mess. the hill was good and my butt got sore. verdict: the saucer is better. with its handles you can stay on better even though you spin and take bumps backwards. the straight sled just hurts...it threw me off three times. i couldn't make it all the way down on it once. ha. it was wonderful to get outside and get away for a bit.
next week we go to Lahti for a few days but i don't know what we are doing yet. :) one week and i'll be back in toronto!!
Peace.
on a happier note, i'm getting my energy back sleep-wise, especially after the long weekend and being sick earlier this week. i had a really bad sore throat one day and the next i felt like a cold coming on with a cold headache but i slept and i was peachy by morning! thanks, God. i am ready for things to snowball now, but i think some of the team are on vacation mode. oh, dear.
we led a house church and youth meeting this week as well which were good; God's been showing me several things as well. tonight after the filming of the TV service i did a bit of prophetic presbytry with isaac and philip for some who missed out on it before. then i got to go sledding! woot. utterly cold is what it was, the kind where you snif and any dripping that might have been there just freezes. haha at least it saves the mess. the hill was good and my butt got sore. verdict: the saucer is better. with its handles you can stay on better even though you spin and take bumps backwards. the straight sled just hurts...it threw me off three times. i couldn't make it all the way down on it once. ha. it was wonderful to get outside and get away for a bit.
next week we go to Lahti for a few days but i don't know what we are doing yet. :) one week and i'll be back in toronto!!
Peace.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
What's Happening
1. We did a "youth" conference last Wed and Thurs which was my first one to "run." It was intended for young teenagers but on the first night we pretty much had just adults in attendence. Our team led worship all three sessions and we gave the sermons as well. Wed night Philip spoke on God's Love and we had a ministry time afters. I prayed with Olivia and all three people we ministered to were some of the gypsy (Hungarian, I think) women that help out in the church. All we really touched which we were later told was amazing because they don't ever show emotion. Cool! Thurs morning I spoke on the cross to an audience of about 30 people, half of which were on my team. That in itself is another story. The ministry this time was in small groups. I was with Stine, Tuulia, and Karolina, all fantastic friends now. We prayed for healing for Tuulia and broke off some generational things and her headaches have not come back since! Cool! Thurs afternoon after a lunch out for delicious pizza was a time of soaking or prophetic presbytry. My group was Isaac, James, and Olivia and the words were flowing so much that we gave 10 min prophecies to each person. So good. Thurs night Joe spoke on faith and again we had ministry time afters.
2. Friday we left for a Young Adult conference that we also ran with the help of the leaders, Capa, Henna, and Juha, of course. Olivia led worship for the first time Fri night and I got to play bass!!! So much fun, I hope I get to do it again. The reason they let me was Peter, our typical bass player was speaking on Judgments and Inner Vows. He's from South Korea and did a great job. He had people journal for the ministry time and we soaked them when we felt led to. Sat morning Peter led worship but wasn't singing so it was Kristyn and me; that was a bit stretching too but I prayed that God would modify my voice in the monitors so it would sound good to everyone. :) Suzi spoke on "From Shame to Honor" and Carter spoke on performance. We got to play in the snow a bit which was much needed. It has been hard staying couped up in one place all the time and the snow here is amazing; in most places it comes right to below my knees. Sat night I was so tired and God made a way so I didn't have to sing (I was going to originally) and one of our new friends with an outstanding voice, Joanna, sang for me. Kristyn spoke on Destiny and we prayed for people afters again. The more we have been praying for people the more smoothly God's words for them have come forth which is exciting to be a part of. Oh, and we had small groups while we were there...my group just prayed for each other which I felt was what we needed. I hope it was. We left late morning Sunday to come back to Jarvenpaa.
3. At camp we had the opportunity to sauna and go swim in the ice hole. Did I go to the sauna? Yes, I am now in love with the concept. I find it very relaxing and a really cool experience. Did I then jump in the ice hole? Well, I wasn't quite convinced especially since I don't particularly like cold things though I thought it might be a cool thing to say that I had done while in Finland. Some of the other girls were going to go so I of course said to myself, "Oh, why not?" The thing was it was so hot in the sauna that I was finding it hard to breathe. Running outside was ok aside from having to watch out for ice (I didn't put socks on like some of the others did) and the water was of course frigid. So now my body had to deal with another shock - the ice water - and paniced. It was like I forgot how to swim and I got out as fast as possible and ran back. Once I got inside I could see straight and there were so many bright spots flashing before my eyes. My body felt fine, I just couldn't see. haha, I'm ok, Mom, it passed. After a while I actually considered doing it again, but this time I could breathe before leaving the sauna and I wasn't so freaked out. I stood up in the ice pool which was kinda cool and then on the way back in jumped in a pile of snow...I thought I was already numb, but I was wrong. :) Woot, I am now a true Finn.
4. Sermon... thins was the second time for me to give my sermon on the cross but the day before I was looking over it and feeling it wasn't the right way to bring the message...that I need to present it in a different way. I didn't get many thought as to how to change it so that evening when things were winding down I went to sit on the stage and soak about it. I had no clue where to begin (and being tired my brain was not functioning too well) so I started listening to my previous sermon and proceded to fall asleep in the kneeling position. About an hour later after getting over the most severe tingling pain in my legs I journaled, chatted with Philip, and then began to practice. It was kinda cool; I gave about an hour sermon to about 200 empty chairs and it was fun. The Spirit was with me and I was "rambling" coherently. Even if I didn't preach like that I think I was processing and that was good for me. My notes were rather lacking but when I spoke on Faith at BOL that was the case and the Spirit was completely quiding me. Thurs morning, after about 4 hours of sleep, I felt ok but had no clue what I was saying. I had a few good points but didn't feel like I was making any sense or forming a good sermon. People afters said it was really good so God must have done a miracle. :) PTL. I will look like a fool any time if God can work through that.
5. Monday we have a much needed day off and then the rest of the week we are teaching lessons in some of the schools near by. There is a TV service Sat night but I don't think we are the ministry team for that. Today, we were all sleep deprived but when we got back from camp they shipped us off to have lunch at an elder's home (it was delicious) and then we had to run the church service. We are shattered as my English friends would call it. Then of course I had to go play Floor Ball (street hockey indoors) for some exercise which has been pretty nonexistent here sorry to say. It was a really good time, and now I need another shower and an entire day an a half of sleep. :) God bless! Greater things are yet to come.
Peace.
2. Friday we left for a Young Adult conference that we also ran with the help of the leaders, Capa, Henna, and Juha, of course. Olivia led worship for the first time Fri night and I got to play bass!!! So much fun, I hope I get to do it again. The reason they let me was Peter, our typical bass player was speaking on Judgments and Inner Vows. He's from South Korea and did a great job. He had people journal for the ministry time and we soaked them when we felt led to. Sat morning Peter led worship but wasn't singing so it was Kristyn and me; that was a bit stretching too but I prayed that God would modify my voice in the monitors so it would sound good to everyone. :) Suzi spoke on "From Shame to Honor" and Carter spoke on performance. We got to play in the snow a bit which was much needed. It has been hard staying couped up in one place all the time and the snow here is amazing; in most places it comes right to below my knees. Sat night I was so tired and God made a way so I didn't have to sing (I was going to originally) and one of our new friends with an outstanding voice, Joanna, sang for me. Kristyn spoke on Destiny and we prayed for people afters again. The more we have been praying for people the more smoothly God's words for them have come forth which is exciting to be a part of. Oh, and we had small groups while we were there...my group just prayed for each other which I felt was what we needed. I hope it was. We left late morning Sunday to come back to Jarvenpaa.
3. At camp we had the opportunity to sauna and go swim in the ice hole. Did I go to the sauna? Yes, I am now in love with the concept. I find it very relaxing and a really cool experience. Did I then jump in the ice hole? Well, I wasn't quite convinced especially since I don't particularly like cold things though I thought it might be a cool thing to say that I had done while in Finland. Some of the other girls were going to go so I of course said to myself, "Oh, why not?" The thing was it was so hot in the sauna that I was finding it hard to breathe. Running outside was ok aside from having to watch out for ice (I didn't put socks on like some of the others did) and the water was of course frigid. So now my body had to deal with another shock - the ice water - and paniced. It was like I forgot how to swim and I got out as fast as possible and ran back. Once I got inside I could see straight and there were so many bright spots flashing before my eyes. My body felt fine, I just couldn't see. haha, I'm ok, Mom, it passed. After a while I actually considered doing it again, but this time I could breathe before leaving the sauna and I wasn't so freaked out. I stood up in the ice pool which was kinda cool and then on the way back in jumped in a pile of snow...I thought I was already numb, but I was wrong. :) Woot, I am now a true Finn.
4. Sermon... thins was the second time for me to give my sermon on the cross but the day before I was looking over it and feeling it wasn't the right way to bring the message...that I need to present it in a different way. I didn't get many thought as to how to change it so that evening when things were winding down I went to sit on the stage and soak about it. I had no clue where to begin (and being tired my brain was not functioning too well) so I started listening to my previous sermon and proceded to fall asleep in the kneeling position. About an hour later after getting over the most severe tingling pain in my legs I journaled, chatted with Philip, and then began to practice. It was kinda cool; I gave about an hour sermon to about 200 empty chairs and it was fun. The Spirit was with me and I was "rambling" coherently. Even if I didn't preach like that I think I was processing and that was good for me. My notes were rather lacking but when I spoke on Faith at BOL that was the case and the Spirit was completely quiding me. Thurs morning, after about 4 hours of sleep, I felt ok but had no clue what I was saying. I had a few good points but didn't feel like I was making any sense or forming a good sermon. People afters said it was really good so God must have done a miracle. :) PTL. I will look like a fool any time if God can work through that.
5. Monday we have a much needed day off and then the rest of the week we are teaching lessons in some of the schools near by. There is a TV service Sat night but I don't think we are the ministry team for that. Today, we were all sleep deprived but when we got back from camp they shipped us off to have lunch at an elder's home (it was delicious) and then we had to run the church service. We are shattered as my English friends would call it. Then of course I had to go play Floor Ball (street hockey indoors) for some exercise which has been pretty nonexistent here sorry to say. It was a really good time, and now I need another shower and an entire day an a half of sleep. :) God bless! Greater things are yet to come.
Peace.
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