Back in Canada August 19, 2007

Well, I’m back in Canada.  It’s good to be home.  I loved Africa – it was a great experience but it’s also good to be home.  Wow!  I don’t even know how to start describing all that I experienced.  The first couple days in Timbuktu took some adjusting.  It was rather overwhelming and I felt like it was going to be a long 4 weeks but once I got used to the heat and the environment the time flew by.  Much of our time was spent doing eye glass clinics and children’s ministry.  My favorite part was playing with the kids and just hanging out with them.  They were a lot of fun.  They are starving for attention so they crowd around you.  It doesn’t take long to attract a group of them.  We played a lot of “duck, duck, goose” and hand games.  We sang songs over and over again and told stories.  I felt God saying to me during the times we hung out with kids – “Look at the little children.  See how precious they are to me.  Love them for me.”  It was special to be able to share Jesus with them just by loving them. 

Another ministry we did was eyeglass clinics.  We handed out about 300 pairs of glasses.  It was such a blessing to be able to give someone the gift of sight.  It was such a practical way of ministering to their needs.  Doors were opened for future ministry as well. 

Some of the fun things we did was an overnight camel trip, out for sweet potato fries, and drinking tea with the locals.  Overall it was a great experience. 

So now it’s back to life in Canada.  I’ve been enjoying a couple weeks of holidays before starting a new school in September.  I’m looking forward to what the new school year will bring.  I’m sure many more adventures await. 

Off to Timbuktu July 2, 2007

So we are finally off to Timbuktu.  I’m getting more nervous about it now.  I think it’s finally hit me that I’m actually going.  I must be crazy!  It’s going to be an adventure.  I’m glad I’m travelling with 3 other people.  I wouldn’t want to do this on my own.  Anyway, I don’t have much to write about today.  I’ve got to finish getting packed and we have a few things we have to go over as a team before we leave.  Please pray for our travel, that we will be able to get all the way to Timbuktu with no difficulties.  There’s so many things that could interupt the flight from Bamako to Timbuktu.  Pray that our tickets will be there and that the flight will not be cancelled.  Thanks for praying for us. 

I’m waiting May 25, 2007

I’m waiting for our SBS girls to be ready to go out tonight so this will be a really quick update.  We’re headed out for some dessert and some fun hanging out.  They’ve just finished working on Ezekiel so it will be a good break for them. 

I’m in the middle of working on Ezra and Nehemiah.  I’ve really enjoyed studying these books.  These will be the last books I teach this year.  It will be nice to be done and have a break from studying for a while.  So far in studying I’ve really enjoyed seeing the characters of Ezra and Nehemiah.  They are both very unique characters.  There is so much to learn from them.  Ezra was a quiet scholar of the scriptures who grieved deeply over the failure to keep God’s commands.  Nehemiah, on the other hand, was a passionate man who could not sit idly by and allow his beloved city to suffer shame and disgrace.  God used both of these men to restore the people of Judah to right relationship with God. 

I’m looking forward to teaching next week.  I’ve been blessed in studying and I hope that the students will too. 

We had a fun lecture this morning.  Jess taught on Esther and we watched the movie “One Night with the King.”  The students are supposed to come up with their own movie version of the story.  They are really good at this and hopefully they’ll have fun.  They need a break from all the long books they’ve been working on lately.  Anyway, looks like they may be finishing up their meeting so I gotta go. 

It’s time again May 11, 2007

So I’ve made it through an extremely busy time of preparing for Jeremiah. God was amazingly faithful. Even when I felt like I had completely bombed in my preparation for Jeremiah God still used it and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It’s not fun teaching when you don’t feel prepared. Thankfully, our weakness is God’s strength. So now that Jeremiah’s done, I have a stack of grading to catch up on before I begin studying for my last teaching for this year. On top of all this I’ve been working on outreach stuff.

I’m so excited to be going to Africa. It’s scary but also exciting. We’re working on defining more of what it will look like for us but we have some great opportunities. We’ll be going up the Niger River to do an eyeglass clinic in a small village. Friendship evangelism and children’s ministry seem to be a big part of what we will be doing. Sometime during the trip we’ll also do an overnight camel ride. But we still have much to plan and prepare for. Pray that God will provide opportunities for us to minister and that he would direct our planning as we go. Tim and I are inexperienced in planning outreaches so we need God’s help with everything. We are working closely with DTS which helps. They know what they are doing more. Anyway, also pray that God will provide the finances for us to go. The cost will be approximately $4000. Right now I don’t have the money to go. So pray that God will provide that and that he would provide for the other staff and students going on outreach.

Anyways, today we are headed to the YMCA for a fun afternoon. I should get some work done before that.

The latest news April 22, 2007

So the news this week is exciting!  I’m heading to Africa.  Yep, we’ve decided to split up our SBS outreach into two teams and take one team to Africa and the other to Thailand.  So I’m on my way to Africa with about 3 other people.  I’m really excited about going.  I wanted to go in February already but when that didn’t work out and it was looking like I would be going to Thailand instead I was a bit disappointed.   I’m excited about the experience and seeing what God has in store for us there.