Monastery

Today was pretty awesome surprisingly.

We went to a monastery and together with our leaders, we had a prayer retreat.

We started out in the same room with a couple songs then we were all given individual rooms to spend time with God.

When I say time I mean 2.5 hours in the morning then a half hour lunch, then 2.5 hours in the afternoon. All that time alone by yourself with a bible and a notebook.

WOW. crazy amazing things can happen and be heard when you give the opportunity.

For anyone that really knows me, you know I can stress out and go crazy about things really easily. I asked God to give me a passage to kinda meditate on and pray over and this is what came up randomly:

Do Not Worry

²⁵"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life

²⁸"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³²For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Crazy right? I thought so too.

For the second portion of the retreat. My head was filled with song and I ended up just writing lyrics which I got really excited about because I reallly like them and I think they have a great deal of meaning embedded in them.

When we got home, the girls all wanted to was veg and just chill out but I CAN NOT SIT STILL! especially seeing as I had just sat still all day long. So I went for an adventure. I hopped on a bus and went to Zellers then Dollarama. When I decided to head back, I started walking to the next most convenient bus stop (about a km away). I waited there for a moment but then looked to my right and guess what just happened to magically be there? STARBUCKS! ... HEAVEN!! :) so then I decided that I just didnt feel like taking a bus so I walked to the next stop, hopped on the bus but then got off 3 or 4 stops later because I had some serious energy I needed to burn. I then walked about 5 kms home in the almost dark :) I made it home though!! :) yay me!

Greatly enjoyed my day. Thought it was fantastic!

Excited for another fantastic one tomorrow!! :)

Superstore

Why did I title by blog Superstore you may ask? Well, because I had my first experience at one today. I also made my first purchase. I bought pj pants (yes it is a grocery store but they have Joe clothing! :)) that were only 8$!!! I needed them for the tour... at least I justified it ahaha :)

Today was a good day.

To start it off, we went to the office (like everyday) for nine a.m. We had a session with the director named Claude. He gave us a two hour presentation on what FLN is.

After that we studied Psalm 139. Let me just start by saying this is one of my favourite passages. What our assignment was today, was to rewrite it in our own words and how it applies to our life. If you haven't done this, I would highly suggest it. I find it very incredibly inspirational. ANYWAYS i really enjoyed that! :)

After finishing that and a fifteen twenty minute lunch session, we had a speaker named Tim Houck. He talked to us about teenagers of the NOW generation and how to speak to them and all that fun stuff. The crazy thing is that really was interesting was that he teaches the same way to college people as he does to jr youth people. When people are in Jr youth they are just given responsibilities and stuff but when your in high school your trying to act all cool and mature... which normally is taken to far and results in being more mature than a forty year old in some cases. When you are college age however, everything is new and more responsibilities pop up. Therefore, you need to teach young adults with the same method as a jr youth. Crazy huh? This afternoon he also taught us how to speak. Its crazy that I am actually being taught how to speak in front of others like "preaching". I find that really crazy and cool at the same time.

Grocery shopping then arrived. Joy. aha... enough said.... -_-

This evening I read and read and read. I HATE READING! good book, but I hate reading. I read a total of about 50 pages of a very in depth book. SOO interesting... :/ oh well.. Title? "Becoming Human"

Tomorrow we are off to a prayer retreat at St. Benedict's Monastery. Should be good times seeing its at a monastery..

Anyways! Bed time!

Sundays!

I miss Sundays at my church in P.S.!!! :(

Today was church! I really like the church that we attended today. Really modern and has some awesome ideas and ways of doing things! The worship was awesome which is always a make it or break it thing for me. I really enjoyed it though.

After church, we went to a Goldeyes baseball game which was alright ahah baseball is not interesting enough for my liking...

AFTER THAT we went to Osbourne which happens to be my favourite new street. Lots of very very cute stores. I even resisted buying the most adorable pair of retro high heeled shoes... sorta sad I didnt get 'em :(

I finished the day off with baking. I think baking is sooo relaxing however I quickly found out that margarine is NOT a good sub for butter :/ hahah oh well still good!

and that concludes my day.. now on to reading one of the three books I have been given.... Unfortunately one has to read by tuesday... not cool.. If anyone is in for a really great but deep read, try gettin into "Becoming Human" by Jean Vanier

THE END ahaha

Still Lovinn it!

Today was pretty sweet! We relaxed this morning but then headed out to meet Natalie and Sheryl at a local burger joint. After being treated to lunch, we headed out on a photo scavenger hunt. My team however decided to catch the bus on the wrong side of the street. This mistake cost us about an hour and a half, therefore, we only got 3 out of the 20 photos we needed. It was fun tho. After we were finished we met at the Forks Market and got frozen yogurt then we headed home.

A couple hours later, we got picked up by John and Josh and went to hang out at Ryans (Another friend) house. There we played scattergories and watched "Catch Me if You Can". I JUST GOT HOME. I think I fell asleep five times while watching the movie. Now it is 1:20 and I am wide awake... so annoying.

anyways gunna try to sleep!! Church testing today! testin out this one ----------------------------->http://www.riverwood.cc/index.php

Lovin it!

Today was the first day in the office. Just sayin, I have my own desk! hahah

Filled out tons and tons and tons of forms and the office had a welcoming coffee break for us interns. :) Everyone at FLN (family life network) is so nice and they are constantly encouraging that we consider them family. The people here are soo nice and I am LOVING my time!

After a brief schedule overview of the next few weeks and filling out forms, we went on a driving tour of Winnipeg. I LOVE WINNIPEG! Its bigger than barrie but much smaller than toronto. It has lots of little shops and restaurants.

Tonight, we went to the River Barge Festival located at the Forks. If you dont know to where I am referring, CHECK THIS LINK http://www.theforks.com/. At the forks, there is two large buildings that are FILLED will different ethnic foods and shops. I LOVE LITTLE MARKET SHOPS! so excited! ... My conclusion is that Winnipeg may very soon be home to me one day. I LOVE IT HERE! :D

IM HERE!!

Ok. SO i just finished writing this huge long post and then all the sudden its gone.. -_-

LET ME BEGIN AGAIN!

-First Impressions-

Winnipeg is pretty awesome! Its crazy however to think that I am actually here.

When I arrived here, I was greeted by a bunch of girls who brought me back to our house where I am now living. Currently living here is: Jennifer (Team Leader), Cecilia (Co-Leader/Artist), Courtenay (Intern), and Myself. Tonight, however, we head to the airport to get one more intern and then our house is complete! :)

-Changes can be GREAT!-

Going from a small town to a city can be a pretty drastic change. Sometimes the change can be bad but sometimes it can be good... Especially when your in walking distance of the down town ;) hahah. So after arriving here, unpacking, and having supper, we decided to go for a walk. We went to this place called "Sam's Place". It's a christian coffee shop that has live music and used books. I think this place will soon become my favourite place ever.

-Home away from home-

Our house is so cute! Its a small three story building that is surrounded by hundreds of houses on every side. The streets that surround me are FILLED with beautiful arched elm trees. The neighbourhood that we live in is mostly a family (Mostly Mennonite) community.

-Final thoughts-

Aside from me missing my family and friends, I really miss the water. All the water here is brown... not to appealing.. :/

-CONCLUSION-

This is going to be an amazing year and I can hardly wait to see what God has in store!

TEN MORE DAYS!!!!