Wow... It's almost THAT TIME!

Tomorrow I fly to Alberta where I will be taking a week-long class.
Then in 12 days I board the plane for Germany, the first part of my GlobeTREK journey!

Wow!

This summer has sped by so fast. 

I am so grateful for the time of rest and preparation that I could enjoy.

And now I am nervous and excited to start this adventure. 

Some prayer items:
Prayer for peace and stamina and courage
Prayer that I will be present in the moment and not get bogged down in secondary things or things that don't really matter in the long run
Prayer for unity as a GlobeTREK team

Thanksgiving for the visas that I have been able to get for my travels
Thanksgiving for time with family and friends over this summer
Thanksgiving to God that His way is perfect and He will perfect that which concerns me! (Psalms 18 and 138)

Again, a big thank you to everyone who is sharing in this adventure with me.  I hope you have a great rest of your day, and I look forward to keeping in touch as things get going!

A 'faucet-nating' update

So for some random updates...
I know that updates can sometimes be unexciting, but hopefully you will find these ones 'faucet-nating' (fascinating). 
Bonjour mes chers amis!  As alluded to, preparation for GlobeTREK includes many 'faucets' (facets).
1) French faucet

 For one, I am learning French. This was on recommendation from a woman at the Jubilee Health Centre that I am communicating with. And, after spending a week in Quebec, I am more than excited to learn this beautiful language. My knowledge of Spanish helps with comprehension... pronunciation is another story! But I have taken out some resources from the library—including an audio disc!--and so here goes.

2) "The Basics" Faucet

Another prep-area is my personal walk with God. I know that this coming year will be very challenging on physical, emotional and spiritual levels. I am reading a book from Open Doors called “Standing Strong Through the Storm” by Paul Estabrooks and Jim Cunningham. This book looks at persecution, the results of persecution, and what that means for the persecuted as well as those living in 'free societies.' It provides biblical keys for Christians to enable them to stand strong and be victorious no matter what storms they face.  

So, "let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful" (Hebrews 10:23)!

3) The public washroom faucet

 

And here come the airport washroom faucets! As far as I know, my plane ticket to my 6 month destination, South Africa, has been booked now. Hurrah! I can't believe how quickly the travels are approaching!

In regards to all these preparations, I have several prayer requests and praises:

• I have been experiencing some difficulty in applying for visas, but it looks like that could be clearing up (thanksgiving!).  However, continued prayer that these logistics will work out is still appreciated.
• Prayer for spiritual growth and maturity.
• Thanksgiving for the support of my family in this venture. 

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."  Ephesians 3:20-21

of bike-a-thons and busbies

So many things have happened!
The bike-a-thon, which took place ten days ago already, was a success!  Over three hundred people participated and raised around $73,000--praise God! 
Since then, I have also spent a week in Quebec with my family.  I have a new appreciation for the French Canadians and their culture, though the Quebec mosquitoes bite as vigorously as the Ontario ones!  Besides some random trivia (my brother informed me that we passed 223 vehicles between exits 26 and 13 on Highway 30 in Quebec), I also learned that the busby--those tall fur helmets which seem to have become a British signature piece--originally came from France.  The French general Napoleon, a short man himself, had his soldiers sport these towering head-pieces to render them taller and more formidable.  When they defeated Napoleon, the British brought the fashion back to their home country. 
I find it interesting how cultures interact and shape each other.  I also find it interesting how people maintain their distinct cultural identity even as they copy and borrow from other cultures.  While some things may seem rather strange, different cultures can have a lot to offer each other.  For example, when I watched the change of the guard at the Citadelle in Quebec City, my mind kept trying to make me laugh by pretending that the busbies were wigs.  However, when I thought about it, the busbies actually have some good strong points:  In the heat of battle, the height of the hats gives some confusion about where the soldier's head is if you are aiming for it.  Also, the 'misplaced' chin strap is positioned to protect the soldier's face from sabre lashes.  The fact that you cannot see the soldier's eyes is another good tactic.  So perhaps respect is more in order than ridicule!

 

Sunny days

This past Saturday I experienced my first sun over-exposure of this year. Since I am busy with odd jobs, an online course, and GlobeTREK preparation, my summer schedule is pretty flexible and so I took the afternoon to bike to Port Stanley with my sister and two brothers. It is about a 30 km bike ride round-trip, and the sun shone cheerfully on us. It shone a bit too cheerfully, perhaps... and perhaps I met it with a bit too much enthusiasm after my first experience of a frigid Alberta winter. Whatever the reason, I burned royally and my shoulders are still tender. But I don't regret it—I am so blessed by the time I can spend with my siblings!

Not to mention, that bike ride was vital preparation for this coming Saturday (at least, that was the excuse we gave my parents to let us enjoy an afternoon of biking to the beach!). On June 7, my family is taking part in a bike-a-thon hosted by Word and Deed Canada (wordanddeed.org). This bike-a-thon spans 52 beautiful kilometers of bike trail along the Niagara Parkway and raises money for one of Word and Deed's projects in KwaMhlanga, South Africa: the Nakakele AIDS clinic. In an area where HIV/AIDS infection rate rises above 50%, the clinic has around 20 beds, and seeks to treat AIDS patients, alleviate their symptoms, and share God's Word with them. Associated with the clinic, an eight-person home-based hospice care team also makes around 520 home visits each month, caring for around 350 patients, hosting Bible studies, referring patients to the clinic, and educating the community about HIV/AIDS.

This will be my fourth year participating in the bike-a-thon (if I remember correctly), and this year I am especially excited about it since I will be close to the AIDS clinic during my time in South Africa. Maybe when I have a day off I can visit and see the kingdom work they are doing in South Africa as well! In the meantime, I hope for good weather and a good turnout on Saturday!

mezzoforte trust

And so I now revisit and revive my blog :) I am excited to be blogging once again, and to have something to blog about. Currently, my life is an interesting mesh of studying, odd jobs and preparing for GlobeTREK while I am home for the summer.

...And inbetween I make time to play piano... I think that is something that I will miss a lot during the coming nine months of travel. 

But maybe I shouldn't worry because God often provides little unexpected blessings! My trust varies between piannisimo to forte, though God has never let me down.  Sometimes His provision looks different than I expect, but it's always there!  

During one year of university, I only had access to a piano once a week at church. THEN... a couple from my church who live across from my dad's work were getting rid of their piano. They said if we would take care of moving it out, we wouldn't have to pay anything. So my dad and my uncle helped move it into my apartment at school! Thankfully the landlord didn't mind... especially since the piano was so heavy that my dad said he wasn't bringing it anywhere else after that! For all I know, that piano is still sitting on the main floor of a dinky little house in St Catharines. I hope someone else is appreciating it :)

In the meantime, I am appreciating my parent's piano at home.  I play it as much as I can in a house with one piano and four pianists.  My mom jokes that we need a sign-up sheet on the living-room wall!  Sometimes we compromise though, and I play piano, my sister sings, my brother plays guitar, and my mom listens.  

Isn't it amazing how our God delights to enthrone Himself on the praises of His people? (Psalm 22:3) I continue to marvel at how God delights to be magnified through means that bring us such joy at the same time! 

The poetical musings of an avid traveler

T hink you that each is a traveller on this
R aft we call 'world'?
A nd think you that we all whirl to 'Eternity", whether
V iking or Jew or Kurd?...  and think you that
E veryone will meet the Great Navigator, nor more to
L inger on earth?  And your destination...  where is it really, think you?

t rees sail past my porthole, as I
r ace in my steel boat on a river of
a sphalt.  Tributaries beckon
v ery persuasively.
e very exit is an invitation--forget the itinerary!
l et the day rush on as it will!

W ater streams smoothly in a liquid mass
A dvancing yet looking like old ripply glass
T orrentially moving yet seemingly still
E ach drop glistens and plummets until
R ainbows sparkle in the mist by the shore.
F ullgrown trees and their young look in wonder
A s the air and the water are rent asunder.
L ife here is untouched by the run of the mill--
L ilting, stunning, unexpected, joyful

Speak up!

It feels so strange to be home for the summer!  I enjoy it, but yet I also find it too easy to be occupied with work and family things, more difficult to engage with new people and get beyond my little sphere here. Today I want to share with you all a journal article that I wrote last year, as a reminder for myself and hopefully an encouragement for you to speak up and remember the bigger picture in life:

I glanced at the girl on the bus seat beside me.  Her build was finer than mine, and her straight black hair hung down to her shoulders.  I was surprised to note that she was not 'plugged into', or at least absorbed in, some form of electronic device.
The bus pulled away with a sigh from Brock University, and I glanced at her again as Proverbs 31:9 flashed through my mind--"Be a voice for the voiceless... speak up for the oppressed."   I tried to settle back in my seat and disengage my mind, a futile attempt to silence this insistent action call from Scripture and the silent unborn.  Instead, other images echoed in my mind... the time that God impressed on me the need to talk to a friend, and it turned out that her dad had just passed away... the Scriptures that warn against quenching the Spirit and ignoring God's voice...  
"O.k., Lord, I know that disobedience isn't worth it."
I turned to the girl and started with some small talk, leading up to the question:  What do you think about abortion?
Silence... "Why do you ask?"
"Well, I think abortion is a very important issue.  What with all the discussion about it in parliament over Motion 312 and 412, I am curious to hear what people thinks about it."
...   "I had one"...
Her voice took on the rough edge of unshed tears--the kind of quality that I hear in my own voice after I have stopped crying but my voice hasn't realized it yet.  She went on to say that it turned out that she had miscarried anyways, so they just did the procedure to clean out her womb.  She said that she would never do it again, and she should have known better before she even started fooling around with her boyfriend.
I just listened...  What could I say?  O Lord, this is so wrong!  She didn't really want an abortion, but no one offered her support or alternatives.  She's only in first year--far too young for all this pain.  She knows that she made the wrong choice because she keeps trying to excuse herself--"it was only the procedure; it turns out that I had already miscarried before..."  
Out loud, I expressed sympathy for all that she went through, reaffirmed her decision not to ever undergo another abortion, and recommended that she check out the Silent No More Awareness Campaign.
We were at the Pen Center now.  The bus stopped and we disembarked.  I thanked her for sharing with me and wished her well.  Our ways parted, and tears pressed against my eyelids as I strode angrily across the praking lot.  Angry, because the pro-choice movement offers few choices but murder.  Angry, because of the injustices in the world.
And tears, for hurting young girls like my seatmate.  Tears, for the unborn children--human beings who are precious to God.
Abortion affects the lives of many people that we meet every day.  And yet it is one of the most taboo subjects of our time.  We can't even pass a bill in Parliament that will let politicians start talking about it.  At least we still have the freedom, as individuals, to discuss these matters.  God grant me grace and courage not to let these opportunities pass by!