Finding joy in the MINISTRY i've been assigned to!

Throughout the year in the kaleo program I served at Bethel Tabernacle and also in camp ministry as a senior counsellor. Each camp experience was different as it challenged different aspects of my character and encouraged me to apply what I had been learning through academics and general life to small groups and counselling. In ministry at Bethel I found it at times challenging and frustrating. I found myself feeling discouraged and uninterested with attending because I felt as though there was a lack of opportunities for me to serve. As  and each week I went with a negative attitude my experience resulted in a negative experience. However near the end I realized that the way I was and what I was doing was not glorifying God and therefore that meant that the way that I acted had to be adjusted. It meant that I had to figure out how I could be joyful and positive about the experience even when I struggled to be there and enjoy my time spent there. As I changed my perspective about my ministry I found that my experience also changed. I felt as though I began enjoying the ministry and I was able to see God work in a significant way through us as leaders and through and in the youth attending Bethel Tabernacle.

In church ministry I’d say I was stretched the most in being joyful, even though at times I didn`t want to be there and there were other things I wanted to do I realized the importance of bringing God glory noticed that, that was something I needed to change. I needed to be joyful amongst it all. Within this struggle to be joyful in serving there, this meant I also had to be positive about the experience throughout the week when I wasn`t there. Rather than complaining this meant that I would need to be positive and not talk down my church or my serving opportunities. For me this was something I struggled a significant amount but as I began changing these ways of habit I found that not just in ministry but many other areas I was able to become joyful in everything I did and find how I could glorify God in all things and everything I’m doing. In camp ministry I found that I was stretched extensively in the last counselling experience as I knew the importance of discipline and knowing I didn’t have anyone who would discipline for me. This stretched me a significant amount because it encouraged me to set boundaries and rules so that I would be respected from my campers and so that they could truly have the best experience that they could at the retreat. I was also stretched through camp ministry as when I was doing cabin devotionals the questions that the campers were asking were challenging and I had to use knowledge gained from classes and scripture to prove and give them answers to the questions that were being asked. Through these experiences I grew as I was able to realize the importance of being joyful, I learned the importance of boundaries and learned more about God through teaching campers about God.

The things that I will miss the most from my church ministry is the youth that I found I was able to have one on one conversations with on a deeper level. I am going to miss watching them on the journey to discovering Gods truths, which he is and what he has the power to do in their life. I’m going to miss being able to sit down and pray with them for their walks with God. I’m also going to miss the journey and struggle of finding joy there because through that journey I was able to see transformations occurring in myself as I had to discover the way God wants me to see the opportunity and experience and as a result I had to discover spiritual truths. In that I learned more about God and who he is. Overall this experience I am thankful for as it challenged my thinking, encouraged my prayer journey, and helped to change my character and who I am discovering how being joyful in everything is a much more beneficial thing as you see God in a new way and are able to bring him glory in what you’re doing.

Juniors Retreat Reflection

After camp and youth ministry class I have come to appreciate the amount of work that goes into planning a retreat and the energy and planning it takes to be sure every detail is covered and planned for in the case of certain things occurring! For instance it takes a lot of pre prep to know he materials that are needed for every aspect of the retreat: for games, for activities, for chapel and for cabins. Until camp and youth ministry class hen planning a retreat I didn't realize how much planning actually must go into a retreat to make sure It flows smoothly and everything works according to plan. Another thing that I've come to appreciate is serving in aspects such as counselling or dishes because when learning I learned a lot about how every part of the team I super important for a retreat or camp to work successfully because without people to serve in any or specific areas camp wouldn't be able to run smoothly and therefore even jobs such as maintenance and dishes have come to be viewed as important in my perspective.
Throughout the juniors retreat what stood out to me the most was how every part of the team was needed! Whether that was counsellor staff, games crew. Games assistance. Dish crew, or maintenance crew in order for the juniors retreat to run smoothly every position needed to be filled. Another thing that stood out to me from the juniors retreat was the busyness of the weekend and how late the kids stayed up! Most kids go to bed between 7 and 9 and they were going to bed around 12 and 11. To me this seems really late however they did get a bit of a sleep in on the Sunday morning which was good! Finally another thing that stood out to me was the order in which things occurred for the retreat, whether that was upbeat fun music, then games then music and a slow song which led into the message because it was interesting to see how that encouraged children to release their energy then engage in the teaching moment.
During the retreat it was cool to see God at work firstly in my cabin, our first cabin devotional I had a girl who started asking deep questions about god, who he is and why he loves us and as I got the opportunity to explain and answer some of the question it was really cool to etch some of my girls deeply think about what I was saying and truly analyze it to figure out what that means for themselves. After this I could tell one girl was confused about it a lot so I connected with her after and we were able to talk about it on a more deeper level an I think she was able to begin to understand a bit more about how much god loves you! The second way I saw god working at this retreat was in my cabin after that first devotional I was able to explain what it truly means to be a part of gods family and then was able to pray a prayer with some of my girls! Which was really encouraging and some girls even asked me for bibles. Finally the final way I saw god working this retreat was trough the things he has taught me this year and the things I've learned through the retreat serving as a counsellor I was able to use those things in sharing gods truth and new it was f him and not myself with the main purpose of glorifying him. I was really cool to be able to see what e has taught me this year and I know he was able to use what he's taught me this year to teach others so that was really encouraging.

Vancouver Missions Trip Experience

In the Month of February, two teams set out on mission’s trips to two different places. One team traveled to Mexico while the other team traveled to Vancouver. The process of choosing which trip I wanted to go on was difficult. I saw pros and cons to each and had very little idea of where God wanted me to go. As the day to choose our trip fast approached I had absolutely no idea where God wanted me to go and where I wanted me to go. In conflict with about 5 minutes left of the day before my answer had to be in I went to Lyann undecided telling her the conflict I found myself in. Her solution to this problem was her right hand would be one destination while the other would be another destination. I chose right hand which just so happened to be Vancouver. A month after this decision I found myself waking up at 4 am on the morning of February 14^th, loading up my stuff into a 15 passenger van and piling in to arrive at the ferry terminal for 6:00am.

                Arriving at New Beginnings church by 9 am exhausted not sure how I would make it through the remaining of not only the day but two more weeks we hopped right into serving. Our week at New Beginnings began by emptying storage closets, building retaining walls, washing vans, washing floors, helping tutor and running youth events. As I began emptying storage closets I could tell my attitude was beginning to suck. I felt unsettled and miserable and found myself getting frustrated very easily by others around me. The only thought at this point running through my head was ‘I must have chosen the wrong trip’. I knew there was nothing I could do to switch at this point so instead I chose to pray. I prayed every day for God to change my heart, and adjust my perspective and eventually found myself serving with a true servants hard seeing God in more than just on way in each and every circumstance.  One of the things that was most exciting to do was the tutoring; in this I was given the opportunity to sit down with kids, play educational games, chat with them, and just be a friend to them. This was super encouraging as we got to see these kids about 3 times a week.  When we came back to Potters Place we had a youth service that we were running. There were kids of various ages here and we each took control of different age groups. One of the coolest opportunities I had this night was while upstairs there was a little girl who was hanging out by the piano and I decided I’d go check out what she was up to. This resulted in me sitting down with her on my lap teaching her Mary Had a Little Lamb on piano. Every time she got a bit more of the song and was able to play it watching her face light up with a huge smile was very rewarding. After coming back to New Beginnings we all found ourselves exhausted and taking off time to hang out in community and rest so that we would be able to serve better the next day. There was one particular night that Derek was especially tired. Almost everyone was watching Lord of the Rings except Brookelynn and I. We decided that it would be exciting to hang out on the stage. Derek joined us and slowly he began fading. His energy level went from very high to VERY low. He found himself eating cookies in his sleep and falling down stairs. This was one of the funniest moments for me as Brookelynn and I stopped, looked at each other after hearing a huge bang (knowing Derek had just left to go down stairs) and eventually picking up the speed of our walk to stand up at the top of the stairs looking at Derek at the bottom lying with all the dirty shoes on the ground. In that moment we knew he had fallen down the stairs. Rather than asking if he was okay we broke into laughter- we couldn't ask because we were laughing so hard.

After approx. a week at New Beginnings we packed up our stuff and went to East Hastings to Potters Place mission. Due to the lack of communication we had no idea where to go and what to do. Finding out within 15 minutes of a service that we were running it, everyone jumped right in encouraging each other and praying for one another. While at Potters Place we had the opportunity to share messages, testimonies, pray with people, make meals, serve meals, build shelves and organize food. East Hastings was a different environment from that of the location where New Beginnings was. An example to show the difference is while at new beginnings Derek would continuously say “let’s avoid alleys there not safe” to a contrast while at Potters Place when Derek would encourage us to walk down alleys because it was safer than the street. The highlight while at potters place was being able to sit and chat with various individuals. This was cool for me because I got to hear their stories, I was able to encourage them through prayer and just be someone for them to talk to. This was cool because after praying you could tell they appreciated it and that even just if for a few minutes they knew that there was hope. Well at Potters place we also did two street serving things. One was handing out sandwiches to people. This was crazy because we weren't even able to make it a block without over 70 being all gone. The other was handing out flowers to prostitutes. This was a cool opportunity as we actually found that we were out too early and there was very little out when we went. when we all found ourselves feeling discouraged in that moment there was this one lady who my group approached with a flower. We simply told her that we were from potters place mission and we just wanted her to know that Jesus loves her. She was overjoyed, she had no idea what to say and she simply smiled an incredible amount. this was a true encouragement to see.

One of the hardest things about this mission’s trip was the knowledge that you couldn’t help the people at potters place, that there was a reality that these people could easily die from overdose, being murdered because of debt or simply that these people would be living on the streets for the rest of their lives.  We could talk to the people, pray for them and hope that they could get back on track but the reality that we all knew was that these people have been living this way for such a long time and there was absolutely nothing I can do to change it. Nothing I say or do could convict them enough to cause them to turn from their lives. The only hope there was, was God. Preaching a Salvation message I realized you know these people can be running from so many things in their lives and turning to things to fill their lives up with some sort of hope but until they are convicted through the Holy Spirit and forced to their knees in surrender to God they will never find the hope, the light they so eagerly are searching for. I felt helpless because all I could do was pray and hope one day God would be able to break through to them. In this I saw God showing to me how powerless I am, but rather how powerful he is. I realized I try so hard to be other people’s heroes, I tried to be their saviour but the one true savior is God the Father, His Son and The Holy Spirit. In knowing this as I went to speak a message to people at Potters place I found myself speaking the best-spoken message I’ve ever presented before. The words God spoke through me were not my own but rather his. I was able to share hope to the people there that their hope in God through my testimony and able to show them that there is a way out. Even though I saw no physical fruit, even if that message stuck out to one person and one day that person remembers that in their hopelessness God is there that is all that mattered. I only care about people knowing about the Hope in God. The only reason I was able to speak an encouraging, yet convicting message with little preparation so incredibly was because none of it was my own, but all was from Christ. One man came up to me that helps serve and said to me that the message I spoke hit something in him and that he just couldn't stop thinking about it. Hearing this was encouraging because I knew God worked in an incredible way in that man’s life through me. I realized God is truly the only hope and that was encouraging to see God working in even the people’s lives who I didn't think were there to have their lives worked on.

While on this missions trip God showed me the importance of prayer. While I found myself frustrated, unsettled and not enjoying the missions trip I found at the bottom of it was my perspective. I knew in this I needed to pray. I prayed every day of the mission’s trip for God to help change my heart, for God to change my perspective, and God to give me the Energy and motivation to serve with everything I was. There were points in this trip where I had no idea how I could wake up the next morning, get out of bed and serve because I was so exhausted. In these times I found myself praying for energy. I’ve always seen prayer as something important in my life but I’ve never truly prayed according to Gods will. While on the missions trip I found myself turning to God for both the big and little things. I found myself learning to rely on his will more and allowing him to change my heart how he wanted to show me why he led me to Vancouver.  While on the missions trip I didn’t realize I learned about prayer but coming back I’m realizing now more and more that prayer was the only thing that got me through specific parts of that trip. Through Prayer God was able to teach me about his sovereignty and Goodness, I was able to learn reliance on him and realize he was my only hope. I realized that he was the only way I would make it through the rough days and I found myself able to rely on that. Because of God my heart for the mission’s trip was changed and I was able to see God working in my lives, others’ lives, and various situations.

Vancouver missions trip pre thoughts

After our class 'perspectives in missions' I feel like I have more of an idea on what to expect. I feel like the class has prepared me more for the amount of impact short term missions doesn't have on others and the idea that if my goal and main purpose of the mission is to impact others the experience  be unsuccessful because in the class we learned that short term missions impacts the individuals serving more as thy serve with a servant heart and are more vulnerability to God dpi g work in them. Overall for my upcoming missions trip I feel as though the class made me think a lot more about the realities of what we are going to see while serving. Due to this I have an anticipation and expectancy that God is going to do a lot of sweet things I'm our group. I also believe that through us he is going to work some pretty sweet things. As a group I am super stoked to see the work that God does to bring us together. Overall for my upcoming missions trip I have very little idea on what to expect and that scares me a lot. I'm scared to see the realities of the way people are living due to various circumstances. I feel like overall there nothing that I can truly do to prepare myself.
     I am most anticipating serving at New Beginnings church because I am excited to serve teenagers and be an example of God to the through showing them that they are worthy of love. I'm excited and anticipating this opportunity because I know that many New beginnings youth are sponsored to come to camp in the summer so I am very excited to build a connection with a lot  of them before the summer so that those who attend camp in the summer already know someone who's there, who cares about them and who they can talk to. This opportunity is also exciting because the pastor is doing a lot of work to adapt opportunities to skills that we each have in the group. While at potters place I am anticipating the opportunity to share my testimony and a message because though it scares me a lot  I am able to trust in Gods ability to use the words I speak to impact others hearts. Finally another aspect of this trip that I am anticipating is the time that we as a Vancouver team get to spend together in devotion in the morning and processing in the evening because I feel that god is going to bring our group together so tightly and it excited me because I feel like we have an incredible team.
        I think that my greatest challenge on this trip will be in processing what I am experiencing and seeing with God and with others. I feel like this will be my greatest challenge because a lot of the time I like to try and solve my life issues on my own from doing this I've learned that all that does is hurt myself more. So processing what I'm seeing and experiencing with others scares me a lot because I know personally for myself that I'm going to have to force myself to do it even when I feel super uncomfortable. leading up to the trip I've been trying to pray about that aspect and praying that God would help me overcome the fear that I have so that I don't get emotionally drained while on the missions trip. So preparing to overcome this I have doesn't time in prayer and journaling however there is not much more that I can do to prepare myself. When the time comes to process what I'm seeing I know that I can not  not talk about it. This means that I'm going to have to ignore the fear and just do it so that I can continue to serve with all my heart and soul without burning out.

Missions Fest 2013 EXPERIENCE

Originally I was not overly stoked to attend Missions fest because I have never really had much of an interest in missions. However as we drove downtown back to the church we were staying at I realized that my heart was broken. As we drove through East Hastings I felt a burden to help the people there who seemed to have their lives in such a state that seemed so hopeless and broken. I wanted to love them with all my heart and just be there to pray with them and hear their stories. After driving through and seeing this I realized that I care a lot about other people and mission is more than just going out to a third world country and serving there I realized whether I’m working at camp, or evangelising at home I am serving as a ‘missionary’ in essence. With the new perspective of loving people and being a missionary in more than just third world countries I was able to go to missions fest with a new view and opinion.

          At Missions fest some of the highlights were mostly talking to missionaries and people at the booths. Being able to hear the heart of them and hear what it is that they were doing was super encouraging. One of the booths I was super interested in was More than 12. They had a huge heart for loving people that are judged and looked down upon often. It was cool to hear about the ministry they have and what led them to that ministry. Another booth that interested me was inner hope. They are people who open up a place for broken people to stay who needs a place to stay. They are able to stay there for as little or as long as needed and they are given the opportunity to get back up on their feet and get support from those around them. These are two of the ministries that my eyes were opened to and I felt super burdened as a Christian in the way I serve others and love others. These ministries made me enjoy being at missions fest a lot more as I was able to deepen my understanding for missions and gain an even larger understanding and perspective for missions.

          Hearing stories and inspiration for the missions I felt encouraged. It was really cool to hear the stories. Through more than 12 it made me think a lot about the way that as Christians we treat others. I thought about the fact that as Christians we have a duty to love others and while it is awesome these people have opened a place where people who aren’t often loved can go and feel loved while being ministered to I also don’t think we should have to have that. As Christians we should be loving people so much that everyone feels welcomed and accepted in the church. Missions fest made me think a lot about our love and the way we show it. I realized that love is a huge thing in being a missionary to others and opening up doors to evangelise to individuals.

          Overall as I went to missions fest originally I was not extremely stoked, I had a poor attitude and mostly was just excited to be away from having to do school work. However as we drove through East Hastings, spent time in community and I sat through mission speaker people and spoke to people at the booths my heart was changed and I realized how important missionaries are and realized despite my belief of ‘missionary work not being my thing’ that I in fact am a missionary because mission work isn’t what I thought it was but rather applies to more than just cross-cultural mission work.