Canoe Trip Prayer Request

I'd just like to quickly ask you guys if you could be praying for some discernment for me. I've got a second cousin coming over from Zimbabwe this summer for a while and the week I could get to see her is the week that my youth group has our annual canoe trip.

In normal circumstances, I'd easily choose to see my cousin who I haven't seen since I was like 6, but here's the problem this is my last year of canoe trip before having to move on to C&C the following year.

The thing is I was talking to my pastor today and from what I got out of it, it sounds like it's going to be a pretty fundamental trip like a good starting stone for the group's next year. And I'm guessing that the youth leadership's going to be pretty well established by the end of it, which I really want to be a bigger part of. I wanna step up and do a bit more... just be more involved with the way things go, y'know. It's not something I really want to miss out on, plus the canoe trip is great fun.

Thanks guys I really appreciate it!

Just Ask It

Do it. Just ask it. What I mean by that is that if you want to ever ask me something then ask it. Anytime, but I think it'd be cool to just have one blog set aside for questions. Don't be shy, go ahead - interview me if you want! I have no problem with personal questions. I think the only ones I won't answer directly on here would be things like my address or something, things that are too much for the Internet to hold, y'know.

Now for a short story that doesn't relate to what I just wrote.... Last night, well first of all, have I told that I'm going up to Thunderbay the first week of July for a something that's basically a missions trip? I think I may have mentioned it at least once before, possibly as a side note or indirectly. Either way, I am and I'm going with some awesome people I know to run a camp for First Nations kids. It's exciting.

So last night, I had a meeting for it and I went obviously. Three people there got to practise giving a short version of their testimonies as prep for the camp. The rest of us will go the next time. One girl though gave her testimony and what I never knew before was that she used to be into drugs, alcohol and cutting before. I talked to her afterwards about my friend in my media arts class, just asking her how to go about it and stuff. She mostly just said to ask questions, she said that no one really told her about Jesus but that she got into Him through the youth center (the people I'm going to Thunderbay with). What I got out of it was to ask questions to try and understand where they're coming from and I guess just be a friend because everyone needs friends.

Malawi Collage - "There's a fullout lizard on the ceiling"

This picture here is a photo I created on photoshop for school. It's a collage and my theme was my trip to Malawi this past summer that I've blogged about before. For school I had to put my name on it somewhere, and taking it off to put on here for you to see by only using paint is almost not worth the work. (You quickly become very appreciative of the tools you have on photoshop!) But I did it and I'm going to tell you about it. 

The first thing I'll mention is the cross, I went on a missions trip to spread the good news of Jesus and I wanted there to be something in there that showed it was more than a vacation. 

The picture of the girls at the side is a picture of seven of the nine girls who went, one of the other was taking the picture and and the other girl was elsewhere, don't know where actually at the time. I'm one of those girls. I'm the only one with braids still in my hair and I'm wearing a red sweater.

Two of the three pictures that are on the side were actually children that I took pictures of when I went (the two that are smaller). The other is a random girl I found a picture of on the Internet. I didn't notice it before but the two that I met actually have a slightly darker skin tone. These pictures aren't blurred but I think I used a filter called brush stroke to make them look that way. The one girl that's closest to the picture of my team was my favourite child I met there, she's so beautiful in person!

The background is a cool picture of someone who got their face painted with Africa. Pretty sweet.

The elephant was just showing how we went on safari. The food right beside it that looks like potatoes is actually a food called enshima (I have no idea if that's the right spelling). It's very filling and quite flavourless, so you eat it with sauce. It's good stuff. Some people in Africa say that they haven't eaten in a week if they haven't eaten enshima in a week (or however long). So in that sense, I may never eat again.

The last thing I want to explain, hopefully quickly, is the quote at the top. The quote is "There's a fullout lizard on the ceiling". I had to present this collage in front of my class and my teacher told me to tell the story behind it and I didn't because I really didn't want to but I'm telling you here. That's how much you mean to me (plus using paint to take out my name)... First here's a bird's eye view of the washroom:



The lines that are on an angle are doors. The one that led to where the bathtub was had no lock, actually neither of them did. The toilet didn't even get a door, it got a curtain, which is what the squiggle is.

SO back to this story. I was taking a bath and my friend Morgan was bugging me and saying that she would come in. A few minutes later, I said without thought something about there being a lizard on the ceiling. Of course, Morgan bursts in since it was the perfect opportunity for her to intrude. Morgan washes her feet in my water too while she's there. (I'm covering myself don't worry). Then, seeing the lizard she exclaims "There's a fullout lizard on the ceiling" and the picture really rips you guys off because that's only half of it. It's only really quoted because of what I said next: "Yeah, and I'm fullout naked!"

It was funny. Everyone who heard it laughed, but you can see why I wouldn't tell that story in front of my class. It's a story of me getting walked in on, and that's basically it. Hope you enjoyed it though!