....don't know when I'll be back again....
well actually I do know. I'm going to be back September 9th as long as my plans go accordingly.
I can't believe it. I'm finally heading back to my home country: Canada. I'm really excited to be back but in some ways a bit nervous. I think that I'm going to experience a lot of reverse culture shock especially regarding driving since I will back on the right side of the road. I will definitely try to post any exciting things that happen while i'm back home!
Hope to see some of you soon!
Blessings,
Jenny
Friday, July 15, 2005
Thursday, July 14, 2005
I didn't make the height requirement for Mountain Troll :(
I'm sure that some of you are wondering what on earth I am doing in this picture. Well first of all I would like to let you know that I have finally figured out how to post pictures on my blog! It only took a few months as well. Some of you may be thinking "wow this girl is technologically challanged!" but in my defence I would like to say that honestly I'm so busy that I don't have all that much time to try and play around on the computer to figure these things out.
Anyway about the picture. Well I mentioned that recently I had been down to Tamworth to visit my friend Fiona, and this is when that picture was taken, but really it goes back a long way before that....all the way back to about February. Yep, February because that's when Steve's birthday was. I decided to buy Steve some Lord of The Rings Top Trumps cards. We don't have them in Canada but they're great fun. Espcially if you're an geek about films like Star Wars, Lord of The Rings, or even about Friends! Anyway after Steve opened his cards we decided to play a round. Basically each card is a character and has the stats underneath their picture (height, weight, magic, tolerance to the Ring etc,) and whoever goes first chooses a stat to compare with the other person. If theirs is higher then they get the other players card, but if it's not they have to surrender their card. You keep playing like this until someone has all the cards. Well I had been dealt a pretty sad hand of cards. The only good card I had was the Mountain Troll because he was incredibly tall. Eventually Steve managed to steal it from me which then led to my downfall! Grrrrrrr! So that is where the whole Mountain Troll bit comes from. Heather is such a great sport to put up with all the nonsense that went on in her house! I think that one day I shall make her a certificate for being such a great sport.
Now back to the picture. While I was down in Tamworth we went to a discovery type museum in Stibston (??) which also featured a coliery mine tour. There were these tunnels inside made to look like mines and were meant for kids to be climbing around in. Well, I think that being a youth worker entitles me to qualify as a "big" kid so Fiona and I went crawling around and took some photos. I think that John, her fiance, wasn't sure what to think! Well I decided that being in a mine I needed to pose scary because of all the stories of mine monsters, but I didn't think that I made the height requirement for a mountain troll, as sad as that is because it was so much my ambition to be an honourary Mountain Troll. Maybe one day?....In the end I just had to face reality and accept that the most I could be was a Mine Monster.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
I was in Tamworth this past weekend visiting my very good friend Fiona Hadley. I may write more on that a bit later but there are pictures of my weekend on my msn space: http://spaces.msn.com/members/jmostar/
Life on Fast Forward
I'm sorry that it's been ages since my last post for anyone out there who actually reads them. Life seems to have gone on turbo mode at the moment.
Sunday the 3rd of July I went into Newcaslte for ixth hour (9th hour for the roman numerically challanged). It's a youth even thats put on by Youth For Christ in the North East and there's usually a band called Y-Friday that play as well as a dance/drama group called Dependance who are invovled. This past Sunday though was really special because Tim Hughes was leading worship. It was really really good! I've heard his cd's but I'd never seen him live and it was amazing. A really great time of worship. The speaker was challenging as well. In light of the G8 conference and the live8 appeal the topic of choice was to do with making a difference. I've found that recently it's been so easy to become so self absorbed and so selfish, thinking only about myself and my needs and what the speaker said really penetrated and I realized that I need to do something about it.
The speaker told a story about when he'd been in another country that has rainy seasons and they'd been doing a series of meetings. One evening it just started pouring and all the people who had come out began to leave. The man in charge suddenly jumped up and shouted "DO YOU WANNA SEE A MIRACLE?" so everyone stopped and turned around and this man continued " Rain in the name of Jesus STOP!" and immedietly the rain stopped. The speaker went on to say that he was sitting on the stage thinking "oh my word! It's my turn to preach tomorrow and I hope it doesn't rain!" He said he went home that night and prayed for forgiveness for every sin he'd ever commited, every sin his wife had ever commited and for the sins of the world so that it wouldn't rain the next day. But sure enough when he got up to speak it began to rain. This time no one left and just waited for him to repeat what happened last night. So he kind of feebly said " Jesus, please stop the rain" and it stopped! He carried on to say that it doesn't matter who we are, if we step out God will do the rest.
The next day I was provided with that opportunity. I had to go into work for a training day, not for me but for the team of youth we're taking to Canada. I wanted to go in early so that I could exchange a pair of jeans that I'd bought that were the wrong size so I decided to get into Morpeth a bit earlier for about 9:30 and then I'd have time to do my errand before 10 when the day was to start. So I set out and waited at the bus stop....and waited....and waited....and the 9:15 bus never came. I was a bit miffed but there was nothing to do except to simply wait for the next bus. As I was waiting an elderly lady came and sat down beside me. We got to chatting and it turned out that she was going into Morpeth because there was a huge dr. bill that she had to pay. She'd recently had an accident and broken both her wrists which I had noticed were both bandaged up. She also had recently lost her husband and was having a hard time with the government getting the compensation that she was supposed to because he had been a miner. As she was telling me all this her eyes were welling up with tears and I felt the Holy Spirit promt me to ask her if she wanted prayer. I decided that if I was actually gonna step out in what I had felt challenged by the previous evening that this was the time to do it. So when there was a break in the conversation i said:
"Well, I'm a Christian, would you like me to pray for you about all these things?"
I think I totally shocked her because she looked completely stunned. She asked me to repeat myself so I did and she said:
"Oh, no thank you love" and she chuckled a bit like I was just a young girl and didn't know much and then a friend of hers came to the bus stop so she began chatting with her.
I don't really know if I had done things right or if said things right or if God did anything in the situation. I have to have faith that He did do something even though I couldn't see it. I will admit that I was a bit discouraged. In a way I was hoping that she would've said yes and that Id've had the chance to pray and that God would have done a miracle in her life, but that's not my call. She lives on my street though, and I've bumped into her a couple times since then so I don't think it was a coincidence that I missed my bus.
I think that I will try to buy her some flowers before I leave for Canada just to let her know that I'm still thinking of her, even if it's just to remind her of the crazy Christian girl she met at the bus stop.
Sunday the 3rd of July I went into Newcaslte for ixth hour (9th hour for the roman numerically challanged). It's a youth even thats put on by Youth For Christ in the North East and there's usually a band called Y-Friday that play as well as a dance/drama group called Dependance who are invovled. This past Sunday though was really special because Tim Hughes was leading worship. It was really really good! I've heard his cd's but I'd never seen him live and it was amazing. A really great time of worship. The speaker was challenging as well. In light of the G8 conference and the live8 appeal the topic of choice was to do with making a difference. I've found that recently it's been so easy to become so self absorbed and so selfish, thinking only about myself and my needs and what the speaker said really penetrated and I realized that I need to do something about it.
The speaker told a story about when he'd been in another country that has rainy seasons and they'd been doing a series of meetings. One evening it just started pouring and all the people who had come out began to leave. The man in charge suddenly jumped up and shouted "DO YOU WANNA SEE A MIRACLE?" so everyone stopped and turned around and this man continued " Rain in the name of Jesus STOP!" and immedietly the rain stopped. The speaker went on to say that he was sitting on the stage thinking "oh my word! It's my turn to preach tomorrow and I hope it doesn't rain!" He said he went home that night and prayed for forgiveness for every sin he'd ever commited, every sin his wife had ever commited and for the sins of the world so that it wouldn't rain the next day. But sure enough when he got up to speak it began to rain. This time no one left and just waited for him to repeat what happened last night. So he kind of feebly said " Jesus, please stop the rain" and it stopped! He carried on to say that it doesn't matter who we are, if we step out God will do the rest.
The next day I was provided with that opportunity. I had to go into work for a training day, not for me but for the team of youth we're taking to Canada. I wanted to go in early so that I could exchange a pair of jeans that I'd bought that were the wrong size so I decided to get into Morpeth a bit earlier for about 9:30 and then I'd have time to do my errand before 10 when the day was to start. So I set out and waited at the bus stop....and waited....and waited....and the 9:15 bus never came. I was a bit miffed but there was nothing to do except to simply wait for the next bus. As I was waiting an elderly lady came and sat down beside me. We got to chatting and it turned out that she was going into Morpeth because there was a huge dr. bill that she had to pay. She'd recently had an accident and broken both her wrists which I had noticed were both bandaged up. She also had recently lost her husband and was having a hard time with the government getting the compensation that she was supposed to because he had been a miner. As she was telling me all this her eyes were welling up with tears and I felt the Holy Spirit promt me to ask her if she wanted prayer. I decided that if I was actually gonna step out in what I had felt challenged by the previous evening that this was the time to do it. So when there was a break in the conversation i said:
"Well, I'm a Christian, would you like me to pray for you about all these things?"
I think I totally shocked her because she looked completely stunned. She asked me to repeat myself so I did and she said:
"Oh, no thank you love" and she chuckled a bit like I was just a young girl and didn't know much and then a friend of hers came to the bus stop so she began chatting with her.
I don't really know if I had done things right or if said things right or if God did anything in the situation. I have to have faith that He did do something even though I couldn't see it. I will admit that I was a bit discouraged. In a way I was hoping that she would've said yes and that Id've had the chance to pray and that God would have done a miracle in her life, but that's not my call. She lives on my street though, and I've bumped into her a couple times since then so I don't think it was a coincidence that I missed my bus.
I think that I will try to buy her some flowers before I leave for Canada just to let her know that I'm still thinking of her, even if it's just to remind her of the crazy Christian girl she met at the bus stop.
Sunday, July 03, 2005
word for the day
One Christian College professor was honest and put it like this:
I am nice to my students, respectful to my colleagues, love my family, do not steal, commit adultery, use drugs or swear, and I floss regularly.
But when I look at myself honestly I see that I harbour bitterness, hoard my time and resent others intruding on me. I am vain, consumed with how others percieve me. I wrestle with my sexuality having strayed with my eyes and my heart. I pretend to listen but I do not. I think more about being great than about being good. I act more spiritual thatn I am. I am a mess, broken in every way - and my only hope is God's mercy.
I am nice to my students, respectful to my colleagues, love my family, do not steal, commit adultery, use drugs or swear, and I floss regularly.
But when I look at myself honestly I see that I harbour bitterness, hoard my time and resent others intruding on me. I am vain, consumed with how others percieve me. I wrestle with my sexuality having strayed with my eyes and my heart. I pretend to listen but I do not. I think more about being great than about being good. I act more spiritual thatn I am. I am a mess, broken in every way - and my only hope is God's mercy.
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