Hooray an UPDATE Post!

I have so much to update you on, friends! Let’s throw it back about a couple months …

1On February 9th-12th we hosted a beautiful Valentine’s fundraiser weekend for our 53 formally invited guests. They came to be challenged by the speaker’s (Mark Buchanan’s) devotionals, enjoy wine and 3 course meals, and to give the Station coffers a huge boost through outbidding each other on our auction items and other various donations. We raised $79,680 + $61,000 in pledges over the next couple of months, all to be matched by another donor. So exciting!

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2. The next weekend we had our second Young Adult Retreat, and Mike Sambrooke spoke about how we’re richer than we think. He talked about our IDENTITY in Christ as Prince and Princesses, and how God desires us to be good stewards of what he’s gifted us with physically, but most importantly, of our hearts. He desires us to believe the truths He says about us. When God looks at us, He sees us as righteous as Himself, and holy as Himself. He also desires us to love reconciliation and peacemaking as we are led by His voice. But Sam also touched on how a way of reconciliation is ‘dining’. When we eat around a table with friends and family, do we eat or do we take the time to enjoy and to fellowship? In relationships, school, work, reading the Bible, etc, do we rush and take these things lightly, or do we see them as gifts from God and do them well?  — Those few things really stood out to me.

The intern team once again planned the program for the retreat. A highlight was The Amazing Race game/event we organized! Together, we thought up clues and activities for each station, and we involved the majority of the year round staff. It was a blast, and gave the people who weren’t super familiar with Barnabas an opportunity to learn about and see more of the property!

On the Saturday evening, my two friends and I went on a midnight hike, and had an incredible time of prayer and worship once we hit Bridgemans Bluff. Matthew and Justice are strong gentlemen of faith, and I’m blessed by their friendship. They’re encouragers and peacemakers who love reconciliation. Sharing the Good News excites them. They dine with the Word, and unapologetically stand firm in what they know is true. Their desire is for God to use them in our broken world. I’ve learned so much from them – they are Kingdom advancers!

Young Adults 19/2/17

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3. A week later my two friends, Victoria Wiebe and Rachael Scheltens, and I attended Capernwray Harbour Bible School on Thetis Island for their preview week. Traveling there was quite the adventure. Looking back, our itinerary was: an hour car ride to the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal, an 1 hour and 45 min ferry ride to Departure Bay, a 45 min bus ride to a gas station in Chemainus, a 10 min taxi ride to the ferry terminal in Chemainus, missing our ferry by 10 min, hanging out in the small town at a quaint tea shop for an hour, and then a 45 min ferry ride to Thetis. And then on the way home, we caught our ferry back from Departure Bay literally in the nick of time – we had about two minutes to spare!

We experienced the camp close to how a participating student does, and learned and grew so much in such a small period of time. The lectures were on Ruth and Revelations, and our hands were always so sore after the sessions because we took a crazy amount of notes! We developed friendships with some of the people there, and were blessed by their hospitality to us. It was an amazing opportunity.

It snowed!

Calling the taxi – after I called the wrong number!

Ferry from Chemainus to Thetis Island

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5. And lastly, we had a Single Parent Family Camp last week. Lots of kids, lots of laughter, lots of strumming ukuleles n’ singing, roasting marshmallows, bedtime story skits, worship, baking, crafts, and just having a grand ol’ time.

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It’s hard to believe that the internship ends in less than a month! We would love prayer as we start wrapping up our time here, and for this transition period for all of us. Nick and Ev are moving to Vernon, BC, on April 14th, Catherine and Dave are moving to Squamish, BC on April 30th, and I’m attending Trinity Western University in the fall (after this summer working here at Barnabas as the 3/4 year old group leader). Prayer simply for peace, joy and safety come to mind 🙂 Thank you, my loyal blog followers!