Rosie's snippets from Phuket!

Lasts and Goodbyes

2009-06-29T02:53:00.000-07:00

Something I don't think I could hate more; leaving. All the 'Lasts' and the "Goodbyes'. Leaving somewhere, people who you have lived life with for any extended period of time. Its the that time of year again, the time of year I dreaded in Canada, has come about in Thailand all too quickly.

Last is so final: in the end; finally; in conclusion.

So we had our last ministry on Thursday, our last week in the office, our last trip to such a such beach or restaurant, and our last weekend all together in Thailand.

This week will fly past, we have Foundational Leadership Training, wednesday - friday. On Saturday we graduate this Pais year. And then the goodbyes start. Joel, Linda and Imko fly on Sunday. Nic, Sarah, Louise and Josh on Tuesday, Sam on Wednesday. Saying goodbye to the people I have lived and worked with 24/7 will be hard, but easier then saying goodbye to the kids, who it will be hard to keep in contact with.

Getting over this hurdle is the thing forefront in my mind right now, but I am looking forward to the new adventure in Rotherham. Maybe not the culture shock!

It not all bad, last week Linda, Sam and I went to Krabi. It was awesome. I ate crocodile and chilled on the most stunning beach ever. On Friday we went to see the Morgans, and stayed in a traditional Thai house, after going honey hunting through the forest - unfortunately the tigers live on the other side of the island so I didn't see any. But we got to squeeze the fresh wild honey into a bottle. Its awesome from the mango flower, its dark and tastes a bit like molasses.

anyway, a random blog post for a random time in my life...

Drama, Drama, Drama

2009-06-01T02:45:00.000-07:00

When writing the weekly report for last week, the one word I used to sum it up was Ouch, but now I'm thinking Drama would have been a better word!

It all started on the 22nd of May. We where doing fruit games at Sussex House, and after various messy games, such as apple bobbing, banana tossing and squeezing orange juice, we played fruit bowls. Anyway lets just say that I managed to slip on the wet floor, and bang my head.. fair does, what does it really matter. Actually, a little bit, after a few minutes the headaches started, yay for headaches. Hey, I lived with headaches for a long time last year. Any the drama in this story concerns other people, as they wanted me to go to doctors, which I flatly refused due to my experience in Canada, take pain relief and rest - I paid like $100 for this privilege - not again! So far I have managed to stop them forcing me to the doctors, but please pray that the headache will go away, it is mainly subtle but can get painful at times.

The last week was full of Drama, Drama prep and 4 hours of Drama lessons at Tessa Bann, where we interacted with 140+ kids! Sweet! We are doing a 5 week drama course, using the story Daniel in the lions den. Lets say it is very fun to act, between 2 of you! So far we have introduced the story and the idea of voice projection Over the next 3 weeks we will look at Emotions, Body Language and Stage Positions, the final week, will see each group - 6 to a class- perform in front of their class mates. At the end of every session we have Question a Pais Worker, please be praying that we will get questions about why we are here, about the story and why Daniel was praying, and just opportunities to share our faith. This might be the students only opportunity in their lives to hear about God.

I changed my days off, so I could spend Friday and Saturday with Laura, before doing a stupidly early airport drop on Sunday morning, at least now I can laugh that she is in freezing England. Im terribly jealous of the amount of Thailand she has seen after just 2 months, I've been here 10! Linda and I have just booked a weekend off - we are allowed 3, and its my first this year oohhps -, and we are going to go to Krabi, Im also counting my pennies to see if I have enough money to go to Chiang Mai at the end of the year.

On Friday Laura and I, went on an ATV tour in Pang Na. It was sweet, there was just 4 of us on the tour, Laura and I and an Australian couple who are honeymooning here. We had fun, and got extremely muddy, especially and the couple from OZ and I got stuck. It was sweet! Friday date we went to all you can eat Japanese. Saturday morning we planned to get up early and go to the Royal Yacht Club for breakfast, but we had eaten too much at Oishi. We made our way to Nai Harn, where we both neglected to but sun cream on our faces - yay for looking like beetroot! We then went for a Thai Massage then headed to the Night Market where we sampled lots of yummy food.

Re-cap on Prayer Points:
1. That my headache will go away
2. For oppertunties to stem out of the Q+A at Tessa Baan.
3. For support for next year. Im still looking for 10 people to sponsor me £10 a month. If you are interested and would like to know more please contact me
4. Passion for England, where I will be serving next. I still haven't made a decision, but I need a love for the kids I will be seeing next year, even though I don't know them yet.

Sawdee Ka!

2009-05-21T08:47:00.000-07:00

Sawdee Ka!

I just wanted to inform you about something really cool that happened this week.

Last week I asked a teacher at Tessa Bann if we could go in one lunch a week to hang out with the kids. Yesterday we went for the first time, not knowing what to expect or if any kids would interact with us.

Josh, Joel and Imko started kicking a ball around on the football pitch, and slowly the kids joined in, until there was about 33 playing football! While us girles, started skipping and playing hopscoth which got Sai, L, Fern and Rung interested. We then proceed to draw on the playground with chalk which drew a bigger crowd, as people realized we where friendly. In total we interacted with roughly 75 kids! Awesome or what.

Yesterday night, Sam, Linda and I braved an oil massage; it was awesome. I am so getting into the spa thing, especially as it is so cheap. I will miss the spa dearly when I return to the western world. Life will not be the same.

As well as all the cool things happening at schools - we had a student come to Yes - a cell kind of thing the church puts on for young people, for the first time last week, and 2 students who did Blueprint at the University have come to a few events now. How amazing is God?

I am being blessed at the moment, by the opportunity to house sit for a Canadian family in the church - oh yeah!. What a blessing, internet, hot showers, air con and duvets in the bedroom, and a vast selection on dvds to watch. Let's not forget the washing machine and just somewhere that is home to someone, a real house, somewhere to go at the end of the work day. Yay for being able to drive in Thailand!

Canadian blessing all the way, as over the past 2 weeks the church has had a team visiting form Glad Tidings in Victoria. It has been really good to be able to chat to young people who are a similar age - and the fact they are from Canada means they had something going for them too! They had a dentist with the team who went around pulling out teeth, and last Friday I got to pick Dave, Andy and Sarah up from the Burmese school where they had been pulling teeth. well Josh and I thought we where doing them a favour, but we ended up getting taken out to Sizzlers - a steak house, with all you can eat salad and pasta bar, so I got to spend a few hours getting to know them better before ferrying them about some more. Free toothpaste and toothbrushes too, all very helpful. However when we asked Dave questions we where informed that a lot of stuff we thought we knew about cleaning our teeth we didn't, we also got to watch a very interesting flossing demo. I must say seeing some little boy's teeth being pulled out was not a highlight of last friday, as he choked twice on he blood as the tooth was difficult to get out.

This was supposed to be a short, sweet, snappy update but turned into rather along one. Hopefully my May newsletter will hold some interesting stories and events.

Please don't forget to check out: rap4jesus.ra.funpic.de/BBB.doc
and support us on our adventure to helping Zaw and the wider Burmese community!

Thanks for all your support and prayers

Rosie

newsletter!

2009-05-13T23:47:00.000-07:00

Please take the time to read my latest newsletter, check out the pictures of the kids too!

Hello!

2009-05-13T23:42:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I am sorry for the lack of blog updates this year, time flies by, and access to the internet is limited. Better luck next year!

It is now official, I am moving back to England - I am not sure where I will be yet. This posses a lot of challenges, which I would really appreciate your prayer for. I will be living in a country that is supposed to 'Home', yet I haven't lived there for 3 years. It will a interesting to learn all about English Culture again after being away.

Lots has been happening and lots is going to happen in the next 9 weeks. I only have 7 weeks left on Pais Asia. Eek Scary.

The Thai schools have started back this week, so I will be speaking to teachers shortly about what we can do in the short space of time we have left.

As most of you will now be aware Pais Thailand are raising money for the church's Burmese Pastor and also to send a brick machine to Burma, by all running different distances. Please put this link -rap4jesus.ra.funpic.de/BBB.doc
into your address bar and download the profile to find out more about this.

I am having a few days off at the end of the month - well shifting them, so I can spend some time with Laura before she flies back to England. Im looking forward to the relaxation! woop.

Hopefully next week, Sam, Linda and I are going to brave an oil massage.

Please read my latest newsletter, Im sorry its late!

Thanks for everything.

March news!

2009-03-07T00:27:00.000-08:00

Hi

We are in the middle of planning another camping trip - for next weekend! Things have come together very fast, but it will be good to spend time with the kids from sussex house and the guys before they leave.

It's a week of finals; final team week - so everyday is a countdown, but it is also the countdown to something fresh new and exciting!

Last week Sam and I started Mentoring and Training students at the British International School, to prepare them to help some of the Burmese in a camp next to their school. This went well and we are looking to partner with the more with some initiatives that we as Pais are doing. Hopefully we will be able to do some extra training and pass on skills, that help them to in turn train next years years 12s! truly missionaries making missionaries!!

Catch up!

2009-01-29T02:31:00.000-08:00

newsletter!

2008-10-26T23:13:00.000-07:00

Holiday

2008-10-23T05:16:00.000-07:00

Hi,

So I am in the middle of a weeks holiday, which has so far been awesome, full of beaches and food - the best way to go I think. I even went to the cheap book store and stocked up on book which makes me happy. Other then going to what is becoming the pais beach - Nai Harn -, and eating at all our fave places, we also went to Phi Phi island for 2 days. We went snorkelling and stayed in a cool resort. Phi Phi was amazing and stunningly beautiful, we created some awesome memories there.

Pais has been going well, we have been without Nic and Sarah, and Laurie went away to youth camp for a week, so things where pretty quiet but we still manged to get lots packed in, including a sunrise, and some time at friendship beach. The schools have been on holiday so we have being doing lots of prep, which should make life easier, we also wrote some workshops for BIS and will be doing them over the next two weeks.

For all you canadians, I celebrated thanksgiving with ice cream and chocolate cake, watching the holiday, because no one out here would celebrate with me. most disappointed.

Lauries parents brought me marmite, which has made me happy, and as everyone else in the apparment hates it, i can leave it whereever i like.. which at the moment as we have a broken fridge is random places. We failed to defrost the fridge properly apparetnly and it broke..ohps.

I do have a newsletter prepared but its on my mac, and i havent had a chance to send it, sorry.

Lots of Love Rosie

Hi from Thailand!!

2008-09-23T05:27:00.000-07:00

Well my first post from Thailand. And my what an adventure it has been so far!

I flew on the 21st August landing in Phuket early on the 22nd after flying on the Airbus! Hours after landing I was standing in Tescos! Stocking up on esstentials, and after that we watched a movie at Sussex house - the childrens home.

Since that first day I have packed so much in, work and socially. Its been busy but good!

A list of amazing things::
# I have been to Friendship Beach twice. (a resturant that does english food and pool)
# Nai Ham (?) Beach twice - awesome waves!
# Watched Joel kill a rat with a broom
# Night market
# Beach with Kids from Sussex House
# Phuket Stunt show
# Koren BBQ
# Natural Resturant
# Swevsons Icecream
# Royal Phuket Citys half price cake
# Kata Beach with my team
# 365 thai speaking students in a week - english, drama and footbal lessons
# Played Beach Volley Ball

and lots of other things!

After 2 weeks of Pais Foundational training we had vision week and painted Sussex House, we got stuck in to Pais. And straight into the schools which is amazing for a pioneering team!

We have started from stratch, with no equipment or money to buy resources for the schools we work in. The bulk of our ministry is in poor thai schools who have little resources themsleves. We dont even have enough money to cover petrol for the year, without the petrol we cant go into the schools! SO we are looking for people to support us in this. If you feel you may wish please let me know.

Getting to the Internet is hard, but I will try and keep you all posted as much as possible. I do have a cell phone and an address if you wish to contact me in this way please let me know and i will get my details to you!

Bumprints In The Sand

2008-08-01T10:42:00.000-07:00

Someone read this out at FC::

One night I had a wondrous dream,
One set of footprints there was seen,
The footprints of my precious Lord,
But mine were not along the shore.
But then some stranger prints appeared,
And I asked the Lord," What have we here?"
Those prints are large and round and neat.
"But Lord, they are too big for feet."
"My child," He said in somber tones,
"For miles I carried you alone.
I challenged you to walk in faith,
But you refused and made me wait."
"You disobeyed, you would not grow,
The walk of faith, you would not know,
So I got tired, I got fed up.
And there I dropped you on your butt."
"Because in life, there comes a time,
When one must fight, and one must climb,
When one must rise and take a stand,
Or leave their butt prints in the sand."

A friend sent that to me and this message with it:
Because in life, there comes a time,
When one must fight, and one must climb,
When we must rise and take a stand,
Or leave our butt prints in the sand.

goodbye

2008-06-20T14:30:00.000-07:00

so after a long week and lots of goodbyes and even some tears, i am sitting in YVR looking at the mountains my heart breaking wishing i didnt have to leave.

im sure when i get into the swing of thailand, i will be able to cope, but right now it feels like my world is falling apart.

vancouver has been my home for the last 2 years, i have poured everything i possess into this place, and i feel a huge tug at my heart. i cant believe its over, i think im still in denial.

im determined to be back no matter what the cost even if its for a holiday, so if you want to bring rosie back to vancouver and you want to buy my flight let me know :p

huge thanks to everyone who has been there these past two years, and everyone who has had me stay in their home.

mystery..

2008-05-29T23:21:00.000-07:00

the other day someone said to me that im a mystery to them, this got me thinking.

mystery
• noun (pl. mysteries) 1 something that is difficult or impossible to understand or explain. 2 secrecy or obscurity.

oxford english dictionary

life is one huge mystery full of little mysteries that we some how solve. its like a puzzle, that we have to fit together piece by piece with out having the box to look at or blindfolded.

in a way being a mystery to someone is kind of cool, but on the other hand, i don't think God wants us to be mysteries to people. he doesn't want us to have secrets, to not be able to understand each other. God wants true community, authentic relationships, he wants us to journey with people, to share life.

of course to certain people you are always going to be a mystery, one that never get solved, for plenty of reasons. but when someone who knows you, whose job it is to probe further, to walk with you and your a mystery to them, maybe we need to take a step back and start looking at ourselves. asking questions like why? what is the reason why i am hiding? the true reason, not the one i am using to shield myself, not the safe answer.

heartbeat

2008-05-24T12:24:00.000-07:00

If you know me well, you will know that I was brought up going to the Isle of Harris every May for 2 weeks. The last time I went was when I was 16, I remember this time well, because God kept me firmly planted on the ground, through a time, in which I was unstable. The last couple of times I went to Harris, I felt this longing build up inside of me for the people on the islands, mainly the youth, and I felt that my parents had faithfully brought me to Harris pretty much year in year out for a reason; so a love of this place would build inside of me, to prepare me for the future.

I have know for a while that some how some day I will end up serving the people of Harris. Although now I know the time is not right, God is putting my heart in tune with his for these people more then ever, my heart breaking for them. Right now hes expanding my heart for all of those in the islands and highlands. How hard it is, to have your heart break for a place and have to wait, its taking everything within me to not go to scotland and start some how to bring this picture into life, yet it wouldn't me in God's timing, so I must learn to give it to him, again and again, and listen to him, to tell me when the time is right.

My family are there right now on holiday as usual, and its killing me!

As my heartbeat for scotland intensifies, the countdown clock to me leaving vancouver is ticking away a little too fast for my liking. 27 days left in this beautiful city, 27 days with the youth, 27 days with the friends i have made and 20 days with anne and dennis eekk. today is another beautiful day, with the city basking in sunshine, snow still on the tops of the mountains.

Things are starting to wrap up here, schools are finishing, we are planing leadership training and graduation. Its a weird feeling to be wrapping up my life in a city where I have pour out my heart and soul. I have so much to do, so many places to see 'one' last time. I will have to visit for holidays! I dont seem to have enough time, life is fast space, and tires me out quickly, recently my headaches have been intense and I have been feeling sick - and actually been sick! However I do have a week here after graduation, which thankfully gives me some time.

One thing I have ticked off my list is cycling around stanley park; Last week the team had a social day and we decided to hire bikes and go around the sea wall. I am so glad I did it, it was great to cycle through the park and feel like you where know where near the city, yet really you are 5 minutes from the core.

Last week we took the youth camping to History Maker. It was a stunning weekend with the temperatures hitting 32c. This was way better then last year when it rained the whole time. We managed to find a nice pool by the river, it was freezing so we tested ourselves to see who could put there feet in the longest. We have a number of cool stories; snakes, hands - simi and jordan :P, kris getting stitches. Admittedly I don't remember much about the weekend, as most of the time I spent there I felt sick so sat outside. Mike P and derlirous where excellent though! If you are ever camping in BC find Anthony and Del. and get them to come with you! We woke up o breakfasts of ham, bacon, cinnamon and apple pancakes, chocolate and banana pancakes, watermelon, melon, yogurt, tim hortons coffee, doughnuts (not all on the same day thankfully!!).

I have tons coming up in the next 3 weeks; prayer meetings, two conferences, goodbyes and all the pais stuff - which is a lot!

Right now I could really do with prayer as I wrap up the year and say goodbye.

Rosie

Pais::Canada 24/7 Prayer

2008-05-06T12:22:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Pais::Canada is doing a 24/7 prayer week from 6th-13th May.

If you would like to join us, that would be fantastic.

Prayer needs :: Pais Canada

Vancouver Eastside Team:: Rose, Rahel, Tabea

Integration
Truth in McBride Elementary
Love at John Oliver Secondary
Value shown to the students at Livingstone
Students at Tupper Secondary equipped – young leaders empowered
People journeying with and being faithful to the students at Simon Fraser
Good relationships with staff in all schools
Leader for the Eastside team next year
Connection between younger and older generation in youth groups and in schools work
Jayda – student at McBride who has recently been attending youth!
Chancy – a student from Tupper who we've made deep connection with

Vancouver Salvation Army Team:: Becky, Lotte

Vinny – a student the team has been working with one on one.
Templeton
Aries – alternative school
McDonald School – the team run a weekly drama club with the students there
History Maker – students who aren't Christians yet are going to history maker with the team! Please pray they will be open to what God has to say!
Integration

North Vancouver Team:: Jenna, Ruthie, Andrew

Integration (specifically with Grade 6 Queen Mary girls – already come to events and have relationships with Jenna)
Seycove students::
Linden (Shadowing the team on Wednesday! Wants to be a Pais worker but doesn't know Jesus, yet.)
Lucas
Dustin
Britney
Sterling
Katherine
Westview / Northshore Alliance Church would deepen their connection.
Outreach BBQ at Westview would be a success
LGCA servant leadership club would grow and change the hearts of the students to focus on outreach
LGCA car wash goes well

NSAC:: Build a core team for pre-teens at NSAC
- Heinz leaders and DIG teachers.
- Sock hand out/camp out goes well

St SIMONS:: Girls bible study develops deeper community
- Unity in youth group
- Wisdom for youth leadership
- Deeper connection between St Simon's youth and Seycove students.

Westside:: Rosie, Robin, Jess
(*names of certain students changed)

Bayview::
- James*- robin has been working one-2-one with him
- film enrichment class; the students would continue to enjoy it and learn how to settle differences
- hugh hooper(principal) - wisdom as he leads the school (he is a christian)

Lord Byng::
- we would see the same students each week, and develop meaningful relationships with them.
- especially; leah, evan, russell
- maria(principal) - she would see her dream of school community come to fruition

UHill::
- robins soccer group; numbers would increase and they would come to christ. the ice would be broken. he would love to talk about christ and answer their questions
- Anne* - that she would make wise decisions about her friends
- relationship with staff -diane- would continue to increase. we have built a strogn foundation.

Kits::
- we have just started an after school drop at the church and can't advertise on the school; so that we would be able to connect with students
- for cal - a grade 8 who just started a underground prayer group in the school; right now thank god for continuing the work of his kingdom and letting me be a part of it. Also pray that ppl in the group would step up and decide that they want to practice their faith, not just believe it as a sort of safety net. And pray that god help sme have the courage and strength to stand up for him and confront ppl. (i am NOT good at confronting...)
- the school would open up to christian groups and pais.

PGCC/UTOWN::
- the youth would transition well, with tom and rosie leaving, we find the right youth pastor
- we would become more missional

UC::
- Unity

Canadian Department:: Rebecca, Ali

Recruitment- we need 9 new interns for next year
Fundraising- we need finances to make our year-end budget
Leadership- that God would continue to develop our leaders, give them wisdom etc
Calgary- that God would be preparing the hearts of those we're coming to serve there.

Thanks

Rosie

catching up

2008-04-22T21:02:00.000-07:00

hi,

im sorry that ever since that week of mad blogging its been a while. life has been sweeping by me. but today i got to walk to work along the beach in brilliant sunshine.. god is amazing.

many of you know I went to england over spring break to visit mainly my grandma, the visit was planned quickly and so i rushed off without really processing all that was going on. it was good to catch up with friends and family and even manage to squeeze in a saints match - i finally got my rugby fix.

as i was traveling to the airport to return to vancouver my grandma took a turn for the worse, but i boarded the flight, a few hours after i returned to vancouver she passed away. hearing news like that is never easy by email and i don't think it fully sunk it for a few days. i didn't think i would be returning for the funeral as i had just been to england so off i went to work and started to get into the flow of things. on wednesday morning my dad offered to fly me home if i would like, after debating this and then deciding i would regret it if i didn't, i agreed to fly back and he started booking flights. i ended up flying that afternoon. i kept the second time i was home very quiet, many people didn't know i returned.. so sorry if you are one of them.

i then returned to vancouver on 13th april.. so now i can say i am fully catching up with live this side of the atlantic and its pretty much full steam ahead (unless my head says no!). since i've been back i have attended large youth events, had meals out with friends, enjoyed snow and weather so sunny and gorgeous you don't need a jumper, and generally had a pretty awesome time.

so much of the westside news, is based on what happened in my absence - robin and jess, did really well, im proud of them!.. so we started a new piece of ministry, opening up a church in the westside opposite kit's high school for after school drop in once a week. robin and jess have huge enthusiasm for this school, so now we pray around it once a week! lord byng is going well and we got to hang out with some students today and play cards :) and bayview filming has stopped and we have started editing - with me the star of one of the films.. oh dear and some hilarious footage from the lads. u-hill has been going great with robin starting a football tournament and staying till 7pm with students what we had in the first term! God is defiantly doing some thing on the westside.

thailand.. where am i up to.. well after having said yes, the next big step is booking my flights - i cant do the visa or injections until i get back to the uk for the summer) so what i really need now is the money to book them. as thailand draws closer i get more and more excited and more and more convinced this is the right next step and that yanking myself out of this city is the right thing to do. if you have any questions about thailand please please talk to me.

prayer requests:
1. i would stop hitting my head and that it would fully heal
2. kits students will come to the drop in
3. everything with thailand works out
4. for dan my brother :)

Spring Update

2008-03-14T16:36:00.000-07:00

A video update from Robin, Jess and Rosie.

Enjoy!

the next step

2008-03-12T20:49:00.000-07:00

After much discussion, thinking and prayer I will be leaving Vancouver and moving on. As much as it breaks my heart to leave this city, the place that has become my home and where my Canadian family and friends are; that God has broken my heart for, I know its time to move on. It will be tough in June when I finally leave, but I know I will back at some point, that I came to Vancouver for a reason and it has grown and stretched me. It will always have a great big chunk of my heart .. don't worry tom. I will never forget the city, that managed to draw me closer to God, stun me with the scenery and reconstruct me.

God has been placing lost and forgotten youth on islands around the world on heart. I see the move Im making as a start on that road and I am extremely excited that I that I have this chance to start to livng this dream into reality.

In August I will be moving to Phuket, Thailand. I will continue with the Pais Project and therefore still be doing schools and youth ministry. I will spend time in Thai schools, International schools, a HIV/AIDS children's home, another children's home - orphanage, and some work with Burmese Refugees and lots more. I am really looking foward to living in in Asia, experiencing a new culture and language - yes i will be learning trying to learn Thai!

Check out the Pais Thailand page for more information.

This video may give you some insight into some of the work I may be doing.

If you have any questions or feel you would like to support me or Pais Thailand financially or with your prayers please let me know.

pais promo video

2008-03-12T20:25:00.000-07:00

This video highlights some of the awesome stuff Pais does. If your interested or have any questions, please let me know!

www.paisproject.com - join the movement! Pais Project offers a free 1-year (or more) apprenticeship in youth and schools ministry. Free training and accommodation is provided in various nations across the world. Our pais apprentices will intern at a partnered church, working within their youth ministry and helping to build a relational bridge between the church and the schools within the community. Apprentices will work in small teams within the schools, offering services such as lunch-clubs, workshops, chapels, life-lessons and mentoring, while building life-changing relationships with their students. We are committed to seeing students raised up as leaders and M4 is our program that intentionally makes missionaries out of the young people we work with. We are missionaries making missionaries!

Thanks for all your support and prayers as I journey with Pais and the vision God has placed on my heart.

leg wax video

2008-03-12T15:30:00.000-07:00

...paths...

2008-03-10T20:08:00.000-07:00

in life we have to make a lot of decisions; do we decide to walk the easy well trodden path or go of the beaten track, try something new and take risks?

so many times when faced with a choice, we automatically pick a well trodden path, the boring, run of the mill life. we are afraid to take the risk, to step into the unknown to fully trust the God who gave us choice in the first place.

God didn't create us to lead boring life's, to never take risks and to be become so tied to a path that we never veer off. what i love so much about God, is that we CAN take risks, we can step out. he created me to be dangerous, to find out things about him that no-one else knows, to live a life that is completely missional, authentic and passionate.

it doesn't matter where in the world i am, who im with or where i am going as long as im following God.

we have become so concreted into life as we know it, when it comes to meeting God, we structure him in, and don't allow him to move how he wants to. he's screaming at us, to get of our bums, and have some authentic time with him, and all we can give him is church, and then a lifestyle that doesn't reflect what we say. we don't allow him to pick up our lives and move us to another place, physically or spiritually, we become afraid of growth and of new things. we encase our selves in a bubble and pretend that we have a real relationship with Him, yet he's there hitting the bubble, trying to get in, to have a small part of out lives. he longs for the barrier to be taken down, for us to be comfortable spending time with him and looking at our lives, not shamefully hiding them away. some of us, fool ourselves into thinking the bubbles protect us from hurt, the past, problems, yet instead it intensifies them and creates a separation between us and God. God isn't going to to dish anything out we can't take, or make is deal with a issue we aren't ready to deal with. he's gentle, kind, loving and patient. something i have been learning as i tear away the bubble from own life, dealing with of once and for all the crap in the past that i have put there and that has been created for me.

if we want to truly make a difference in this world, we need to wear our hearts on our sleeves, not hiding it away. we need to be vulnerable and real with the people we met, and with God. not allowing this world to taint us, to makes us unfocused and take us of track. we need to get real. we need to fight. to persevere. we are in war. lets not forget that.

long awaited update...

2008-03-10T19:08:00.001-07:00

The Team:

This term has been amazing, we have started new schools work and are in talks to start something after spring break. Every week the team has been seeing 70+ students at Lord Byng High school, and relationships are starting to form. We hand out free coffee and hot chocolate, to help start conversations and provide a place for students to hang out after school. After spring break, we are going to start opening up Westpoint Church to students from Kits High school once a week. This is an amazing opportunity as people work together from different churches and organizations for one common goal! Watch this space! I am really looking forward to this as we can use this to develop leaders from the various youth groups and we can start being missional as a team with them.

We waxed Robins legs to raise money for the team, so far we have $410, so if you want to help us reach our goal of $500 please e-mail: pais.westside@gmail.com. With the money we will be able to continue providing hot chocolate and cookies to students at Lord Byng and be able provide the team with resources like an an external hard-drive.

Pais:

For me this month has been figuring things out, looking back at what has happened while looking at the future and where I want to go. D-day - decision day - is on wednesday, which means my the next stage of my life is decided. I will let you all know as so as I make my decision, where i will be going, what, and how you can support me in prayer and financially. Being in Vancouver and being on Pais has changed me so much. It has forced me grow and experience things I never thought I would, in a safe environment and tons of support, I have come out of my shell and found something I love.

Me:

Well the last month has been tough. I finally got out and did something on my weekend - even waking up on the crack of dawn! and went snowboarding with Jess, Robin and Sarah. Well Im still concussed so it was a very expensive snowboarding trip as I buy drugs and have 2 doctors bills! I had a greta day, although the effects suck. I am still getting headaches and getting tired very easily, which is a pain. So I have been doing half days, thankfully my team is amazing, and I feel completely at ease leaving them to do tasks and schools work. This month has been crazy from another point of view, with decisions to be made, e-mails and chats about the future, all while hitting my head far to many times! It kind of feels like I have been living a dream and haven't got back to reality yet.

Prayer Points:
1. Wisdom
2. Finances
3. Team
4. Schools - intentional relationships, more doors opening.
5. Healing - for my head.

Thanks for all your support.

snowboarding..

2008-02-18T16:23:00.000-08:00

well while boarding on mount seymour, on saturday with jess, robin and sarah, i fell and bumped my head..(i was wearing a helmet) and now i have mild concussion and neck strain, so if you could be praying that the pain goes pretty quickly it would be much appreciated.

other then falling, i had a fantastic day, and even did a blue run :) watching jess learn was good fun, and getting to know sarah was awesome.

thanks for all your support.

jim x

life...

2008-01-28T18:03:00.000-08:00

So since I've been back in Vancouver, life has been pretty busy. Last weekend I took the greyhound up to Whistler to stay with Nick and Lindsey (my relatives) in their suite at the 4 seasons! Very nice. I also learnt to snowboard and came back feeling very sore but proud that I managed to get down the runs while linking my turns. Hopefully I will be able to keep it up and go to some of local mountains soon, although it is an expensive hobby.

School's; we have started a new school, Lord Byng and its going really well, some great connections have been made and we have only been there 2 weeks. Also at Bayview we have started to film which is great fun - although I did get interviewed about having braces. University Hill has been going well, I have been learning how to play poker with some of the boys, although we have a few weeks off because the whole school gets to go skiing - slightly unfair, we never got to do that!

Work so far this term has been good, and an interesting learning curve with new things to try and do, and obstacles to over come; so files just dont like macs and it makes my job harder, therefore I think all the Paisers should buy macs - in my dream world anyway. Pais, had a booth at Mission Fest a conference style missions thing, with loads of organizations, it was a long weekend, but good, and we had some brilliant conversations with people, Rebecca spoke twice and we even had a gold fish which people could name.

Fundraising::

The Pais Westside Team is trying to raise $500 (£250) in order to fund the resources needed for ministry work. To help with this fund-raising, we are asking you to sponsor us/donate some money.

The Westside Team works in 3 different schools in the Westside area of Vancouver. As a voluntary organization we rely heavily on donations to keep the team running and to help us provide professional services to the schools.

Most recently, we have started a new after school cafe at Lord Byng High School where we are supplying free hot chocolate and coffee for the students. Thanks to a local cafe called The Well, we have been donated free coffee each week, but we are still needing to buy hot chocolate (which has proven to be the most popular), milk, and cups each week.

As well as the needs for Lord Byng, we are in constant need for office supplies such as printer ink and paper.

To help you in sending money to us here in Vancouver, you can click on the following link and it will take you a page where you can make online transactions, safely via Paypal: Make a Donation

(You might need to sign up for a Paypal account. Our account is in Jess Gordon's name)

We understand that you won't be able to attend the spectacular event, but we hope that you will consider donating to the team... as a bonus, however, we will video the event and post it online for you to watch.

Thanks for all your support and prayers!

Am I Willing?...

2008-01-12T12:01:00.000-08:00

Its a question God keeps bringing to my mind.

Am I willing..

~to do what it takes, to be 100% committed?
~to follow Him no matter what?
~to go where He sends me?
~to forget about material things and worldly opinions?

A lot of people don't understand the enormity of the questions above - me included Im sure-, we think yeah I am willing, but yet when it comes to the crunch, when God has journeyed with us to the pivotal moment, we run away scared of the change that will surely take place if we continue down the path. The change that will only bring us good, it might be throwing away the past, forgiving hurts or any number of things, yet we don't trust in God enough to allow Him to bring us through the process and out the other side, maybe also we don't trust our selves to really change and we question our ability to cope with the outcome. Whatever it is and whatever the reason, out trust seems to fail us.

When we commit ourselves to God for the first time, or a promise we make, everyday we need to constantly renew the promise, the reason behind it, least we forget or falter.

Im guilty, we sing a song at church and one of the line says 'I will go where you send me', I always sing it heart pumping, silently praying to God, that no matter what I am His, He can send me where He likes and I will go. Yet when opportunities arise, my logic kicks in; do I have the money? does this mean I wont see my friends wherever they may be for years? what about a qualification surely I need one of those to get anywhere in life?

And well guess what... God is like, well aren't I providing for you know, when you needed money didn't someone hand you some. Question is null, void. When I ask him about my friends, He's like you do a pretty good job with your laptop of keeping in touch, why do you think I gave you one. Question is null, void. When I ask about qualifications, He answers with a resounding No, look at the people around, where they have gone for my Kingdom, if you need them, when the times comes you will get them. Question is null, void.

Yet still I question, and so I began to wonder, when I began to trust so little. All throughout my life God has kept me safe, with the help of friends like samand countless others; ash, tom, kate...Alone these past year and a half have been testimony to God goodness, but mixed with the past, the evidence is overwhelming, trust is the one thing I should be able to do.

1st Term Update

2007-12-21T14:24:00.000-08:00

Pais::Westside Team update on schools ministry in Canada. If you wish to support us in prayer or financially please e-mail us at pais.westside@gmail.com.

Thanks for your support

Robin, Rosie and Jess

quote

2007-10-30T07:24:00.000-07:00

I took this from Bethany...I like it...

“Don’t be fooled by me. Don’t be fooled by the face I wear. I wear a mask.

I wear a thousand masks-masks that I am afraid to take off; and none of them are me. Pretending is an art that is second nature to me. But don’t be fooled for my sake, please don’t be fooled.

I give the impression that I am secure, that all is sunny and unruffled within me as well as without; that confidence is my name and coolness is my game. That the water is calm and I am in command; that I need no one. But please don’t believe me, please. My surface may seem smooth, but my surface is a mask, my ever changing and ever concealing mask.

WHO AM I, you may wonder? I am someone you know very well. I am every man you meet. I am every woman you meet. I am right in front of you. In truth, I probably am you”
Charles C. Finn

update

2007-10-22T19:57:00.000-07:00

hi random humans!

sorry i have been so slacking on updates sine i have been back in vancouver, life has been crazy as always and i never seem to have too much time!

the schools work is amazing, we have the friday games mini, Robin is really connecting with the guys and Jess and I have plenty of opportunities to really connect with new shy girls, who are really starting to com out of their shell. We have also just started working in Bayview Elementary, working with gifted students to make films and do other projects on tuesdays lunch times. we get to work with the principal which is fab. Robin and Jess are great :) like any Pais team, we struggle with resources, so if you feel that you would like to contribute to the work we are doing in schools please e-mail me.

Pais has just helped run a conference called Campus Fire, the westside team where in volunteers and it was fun but hard work! we met some amazing young people and christian leaders and artists.

life is good even though the weather has turned more to rain, and we finally have our pais tee-shirts and hoodies! :)

ok my brain is stopping.. if you have any questions just ask..

prayer requests:
1. for the students in the schools
2. leadership guidance
3. strength
4. money for the team and myself

love.. what is it?

2007-10-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

rainbow bridges... funny... one evening at C4 over the summer, during worship I really felt a lyric we had sung at resonate (Pais Leadership Training) stick in my mind:

I CHOSE TO STAND FOR MY GENERATION

We can sing these words but do we really mean it? What does it mean to stand on behalf of your generation? How much am I willing to sacrifice to see my friends and family come into the Kingdom of God? How much of my heart am I am willing to give to the cause?

Anyway from that I started drawing - which is crazy cos Im rubbish - I drew a bridge, a rainbow bridge, with water running to the cross. I didn't think that much of it, other than a cool picture, yet when we had a 'Ben Woodman' day - pastoral care, and it transpired that Tabea - a first year intern from Germany and an awesome gal, had a picture of a rainbow bridge also. I wonder what this means?

what is love? how can we show it? what does it truly mean...

'you care so much about someone that you do something for then regardless of how you feel, you care about someone regardless of what they do' jen lockwood :)

jesus love he accepts us for who we are - unconditionally its not about what i do but who i am

love is... crazy. vulnerable, scary and some times unseen

....caring for who another person is regardless of what they do

so how do you stop yourself from loving someone? do we do it without knowing so or are even aware? how long does it take for the barriers to go up.. theres so many people in my life who i know i should love but yet i have no or little feeling for, and whose fault is this.. mine or there's.. lets say its mine, because any guesses it would a heart issue, but then how did that issue occur, when did the cycle start and how to break it, with out bringing up all the dirt and filth and watching my heart splatter everywhere

but then heart splattering every where could be cool.. like a little piece of who i am infiltrating and mucking up the surrounding area - hopefully for good.

videos to texas!

2007-09-17T20:44:00.001-07:00

Introducing... Robin and Jess

2007-09-17T13:50:00.000-07:00

My wonderful team Robin and Jess after being commissioned in Texas. We are ready to hit Vancouver and shock the nationals. We look amazing because we are all dressed up! In the loo's no less! ha! We believe this photo captures the very essence of the team and indicates of many good laughs to come!

Our adopted team in Texas: Adam, Pierce, Missy and Chris, With the best Pais Team: Me, Robin and Jess! I think we make a good extended team and the Texan guys are amazing, crazy, funny and inspirational. We are privileged to be connected with them this yea

So My first week with the team - Vision Week, went well. Because of the nice weather we spent most of the time out of the office, sharing testimonies at the beach, dreaming in the park and praying over the city from Grouse Mountain. The city was so clear and beautiful from the top of Grouse, my heat was beating rapidly and I just wanted to cry out foe the lost and broken people - I had to restrain myself otherwise I would have gotten some very strange looks! There's something about Vancouver, the beauty of the mountains and the sea, maybe the people :P that captures my heart. My cry at training was for God to break my heart for his people, and his city and I think he's doing that...scary.

As much as Canadians might think I prefer England, they are much mistaken, I would be quite happy never to live there again. I might seem loyal to England because I like the chocolate, the marmite, and other great foods and support the Rugby team with vengeance. BUT I love Canada and all it brings. I think maybe I got/get so hooked or seemingly so on English things is because Im scared to truly allow Canada to penetrate my heart and my very being. Im now allowing my self to be equipped to fight for His Kingdom, His Heart, His Nation and His People. And part of that is learning to trust other people with myself. Robin did a devotion on trust while in Texas and he got us to lean back and trust someone was going to catch us the standard trust building task, yet I felt way out of my comfort zone, like a fish out of water, and didn't quite know what to do with myself.

Before I left for England in the summer God started to bring up some hidden things and break down walls and barriers which I had put up in my own life, because of experiences. I felt so out of control, not knowing what was happening or where it was going, and was scared for the change that seemed inevitable not caring that it would be good change. I stumbled about, keeping the 'brave' face on for all and everyone to see, unless I was around tom, and for some reason God allowed Him to see into my life and for me to open up somewhat to him. I flew off to England with a heavy heart knowing something would explode from inside of me at some point, so to save myself from this and to stop this happening I created new and stronger walls around myself, not allowing anyone to get anywhere near me and retreating into 'me'. Now Im not to sure where I am , what I am doing, How I am going get there and how the heck to overcome the crap I have piled up around me..watch this space.

However I have become more certain that I have a calling and God wants to use me and my story, that he will sort out the past and present and the future...

Trusting in God isn't always easy especially when He's having a good old chuckle at you! Which I swear He was doing when the banks gave me hassle again!

jim xox

Training, Leadership, Vancouver and Texas

2007-09-05T19:41:00.000-07:00

Hi!

Im sorry for the lack of communication over the summer months, and in the past 3 weeks.

I am back on Pais::Canada for a second year, and I am now an Area Leader. I have two fantastic team members Robin and Jess. Robin in German and Jess is English, so we have a cultural mix!

It seems crazy to think that a year has past already, but I am excited for this year and what God has in store for me as a person, for the team and the department. I am lucky enough to be staying at PGCC with the amazing tom!

Training in Texas was great, hearing the Kingdom Princples again and learning new things about Leadership and how to be effective and intentional in ministry. It was great to be with the USA department, see old friends and make new ones. My team has 'Adopted' Adam team down at Pantego - the church where training was based. I got to stay with Crains again, and meet Brandon the newest arrival, I loved being there, they are like a second family, and really welcomed me into their home - they even hid presents in my suitcase - hint hint mum and dad - and brought me oreo cakesters! But the best thing about texas was flying first class to newark - now my dad has treated me once, he wont get away with me flying coach anymore! the worst thing was either Pierce eating a pickles pigs trotter OR my angel calling me a monkey...ask if you want to know the story..

So now Im in Vancouver we are doing cultural training at the moment which is excellent, and then next week we have Vision Week in our teams. Im staying with a great family the Carbols - there are 9 of us in the house - they have 4 kids and are legal guardians of 2 others, so its just like being at home. I have a big room in the basement, and share a bathroom with Sarah, we also have our own tv and snooker table! and they have a kitchen almost like at home in the uk, but they dont have an aga!!

If you want to send goodies or presents or even letters send to:

Dame Rosie Honeywell
4093 w29 Ave,
Vancouver, BC,
V6S 1V4

telephone: 604-222-9550

e-mail: rosie@pgcc.org

Please pray for me for strength and wisedom as well as finances for myself and the team as we start this year.

Home

2007-07-02T10:04:00.000-07:00

is wet!! and busy!!!

anyway im back in the UK for the summer with a pretty busy schedule.

im sorry i havent written on here for ages, and update soon for sure, i need some time to sort my head out and collect my ramblings and but them in a decent blog!!

Prayer points:
*My VISA still hasnt arrived its had over 37 working days - the time it takes apperently - since last week!
*finances

ohppps!

2007-06-03T13:30:00.000-07:00

So theres been a lack of blogging, replying to e-mails and all sorts during may, and now june! Ive been busy - whats new - with youth events, concerts and general life.

So to put an end to this im blogging, while tanning on the deck! woop!

Over the May Long Weekend, the youth group headed up to Chilliwack for a youth conference called History Maker (www.historymaker.hm), so we camped by a river with plenty of tarps, because it rainied the whole time until we left! Tons of stories about slugs, smores, breakfasts and of course history maker if you intrested.

Then the next week - Friday 25th, Kris, Angela, Mellisa, Tim and I headed to the Thunderbird Stadium up at UBC to hear Hillsong United and Phill Dooley. An awesome service with around 4,000 people. The worship was immense and I know God did stuff in me, and im sure in loads of others as well!

Oh and my dad came to visit between HM and Hillsong, so there was plenty of nice dinners and even a trip to vancouver island on the 26th. Very good, he stocked me up with custard, branston pickle, money(i paid him back though) and other goodies :) pictures will follow when i return to england because yeah he has most of the cool ones of RCMP's and things on his camera!

Pais has been awesome, and this is out final full week! scary! I wil miss the students and the schools of the summer, although its looking promising for next year and we have met with the princple of Bayview elementary and its looking good for next year :) Youth group rock, its been slightly odd we have only have had 2 since history maker but we have cleaned a car, eaten pancakes and had gone down to pray at a stabbing site, all in all im pretty proud of them! awesome bunch that they are :)

Over the next 2 weeks, i have graduation, mush and moo face, saying goodbye to the schools and generally crazyness, should be fun although this friday will be my last youth group untill septemeber :(

Yesterday, Anne, Dennis and I headed out to Richmond for BBQ's, DQ cake and Anne family goodness! We then headed to steveston a 'fishing village' and brought some prawns so we had prawns for dinner and i hated pulling their legs off, luckly we brought them without heads! erugh i wouldnt have coped!!

newsletter!

2007-05-08T11:38:00.000-07:00

the beauty of macs and ease of creating ncie lookign stuff in like 2 secs!

Oh Tom joined the Mac club! Which is just wicked!!

So ive sent my visa of, its in the hands of canada post and the visa offices, so please be praying for that!

yesterday the weather was awesome, so i went and worked on the beach, no such luck today :(

Its nearing the end of the year, which is scary! but good! with HM, my dad visiting, Hillsong United, then Mush and Gemma, I sure summers gonna come round fast and hit me in the face! but then go by just as quick..

Please take time to read the newsletter - if you click on the image the get bigger.. wow magic!

not impressed...

2007-05-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

... so life looks up then life looks down

right now im really peed off because along with everything else, first of all work jeans pair 1 get a hole in - thats ok i have another pair to wear until i go shopping on saturday, lifes good, then work jeans pair 2 get a hole in the knee today, so i head to the bank with kris after youth, praying there will be no trouble - cos its a new cashpoint card - and YET again Lloyds bank have failed me and i cant get my money out, no doubt in a few days i will recieve an e-mail from my dad saying my account has been flashed up for fraud AGAIN, this will be the 3rd time since setting foot in Vancouver, when I INFORMED the dumb people before I left and it is on my records that i am living here.... GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR I am soooooo angry with them its unbelieveable...

...yet God knows this stuff is happening cos for 3 days in a row i have wicked stuff from family and friends in the post
*monday - postcard from povey :)
*tuesday - letter and bookmarks from Becky :P cats woop!
*wednesday - letters from mum. postcard from dad and bag and gown from japan - i was seething as i walked through the door then i saw the airmail packets my dad uses and was like sweeet :)
and gemma's booked her flight out :) plus we had a pretty cool assembly today- first one as team! woop! woot woot!

so at youth tonight we looked at Ecclesiastes and i DARE you to look into it to! have fun and be challenged:

Ecclesiastes 5 v 1- 7
• Pick out something that really hits you. Why? Discuss (promises, mouth stuff, links with james and 2 tim)
• How does this passage make you feel about your own life?

Ecclesiastes 11 v 9-10, 12 v 1-7
• We HAVE to account to God for EVERYTHING we do, does that scare us? Intimidate us? How would we live our lives differently if we knew we had a 24hr camera on us? (we do btw) what would we change? Do we need Gods help?
we are told to HAVE fun.. not sit in our rooms all day! come on!
• Pick out something that really hits you. Why? Discuss (young as we may seem, dont let this stop us, us it for God's kingdom, before we get too old, maturity within this)
• How does this passage make you feel about your own life?
• Whats important?
• We NEED to be on focus, on task, full on in love with God, NOW, TODAY. How can we do this as a group? – brainstorm, As indivudals..

yes life is...

2007-04-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

...confusing, tough, diffcult.

so i again havent posted for a while, lifes being throwing things at me from all angles, battling them off doesnt seem to be the soultion to the issue, ive gotta get down to the root. theres been so many times in the past few weeks, when ive wanted to weep but had no tears, or when ive had to hold tears back cause im in public. so whats battling at me? my own stuff i should leave beind i guess, friends with problems coming from all directions. well we all know whoose having a go at me, reality is starting to sink in that YES i have commited another year to Vancouver, as i start to fill in forms for visa renewal and the task ahead starts to daunt me... responsable for a team, fun yes, scary yes, exciting yes, can i do it yes with God's help. but first i have to get through the summer in england alive.. weddings, clashes with dates, beach trips, catching up with old friends, being their for them, sorting out my own issues, training keeping up with life in vancouver, summer is going to be full pelt! plus i need to raise awareness of my financal situation for next year - erm no money - and the need for prayer and covering.

i blogged a while ago about intergity and purity in all aspects aspects of your life, right now im standing on the edge peering into a huge deep hole, which should be filled by a mentor/accountbilty partner or whatever you call it. failing at one of my biggest 'pet' loves is not an easy task. walls have been built long ago to protect me from people gettting close and old wounds being brought up and dealt with. yeah i used to open up to all of 2 very special people - both from the same family ha ha- but for a while now, even long before i left england ive being putting my self in this huge metal protective bubble, ridding my self of any need/want/desire to sort my life out and get back on path. God's hinted a few times since i left england of his desire for me to sort stuff out for once and for all, to throw it away and to stop the ties bringing me down, but i just cant seem to pay attention for long enough and run away scared in the other direction, how many times has he told me to go sit on the beach and reflect on his wonder and goodness but i have always found an excuse to not go. the plane jounery back to england was a wake up and again i felt this huge urge to get stuff sorted but then the guilt kicked in and i never let anyone see the true effect it had on me. its like i cant deal with stuff, i have to be strong. ok admitted i havent found anyone i can open up to, but that shouldnt stop me i should seek to form the relationships right? things really hit home when tom, amy and i went through my report - long story tom was like so late with the 1st term, that we did 2 together therefore we had a meeting anyhows - it was uncomfortable i hated every second, expect when he had something critical to say about me, which i could then accept, agree on and in the long become a better person right, the issue was the good stuff, odd as it may seem, i just cant accept it, i look at it as lies..it was the most diffcult thing ever, and mulling it over since i see some areas which need to be addressed before i can even really see the report of what its worth, it will be a long tough hard jounry but worth every minute. lonely, stressful, agonising, painful, hurtful, refreshing, renewing, but i cant do it alone, i need your prayer, guidance, comfort and knowledge. i cant go on with this stupid 'im ok' face on all the time. i look back over the years and think oh my gosh how far have i come, i cant believe it, then i think crap i havent gone far at all, i still battle with thoughts of s.h, though i get know where near it, someone once said the flash backs are the worst, how honestly can i say i agree.

on a brighter note, yesterday was amazing, i went to Langely (my first time) with anne and dennis for annes nephew - brad and devin's baptisms, awesome, worship took me right back home at the first song, then i moved switfly back to canada, but felt at home again after more english songs lol! then an afternoon in the sun eating and drinking wine woot wooot! specialness :) THEN a drive through - 'country roads' to white rock... oh the green, lambs, cows, horses!! woop finally after all this time some green! i thought i was in heaven! i knew i missed the countryside but not never much until we where driving through the wind in my hair even though they had poxy little bends!

pais and youth are awesome as ever, making me tick and get up in the morning :) i just love building relationships with the students and i am sad to say that in 6 weeks we wont be in eric hamber as Pais::Westside as tenth ave church is leaving me to go to Pais::Eastside! humpf is all i can say to that lol!

i dont quite know the point of this blog, i high hopes for it but they dwindled! maybe just maybe i will add more i do feel like i need to add something!

OHHHHHH!!!! I am staying in the uk a week longer in the summer, in town untill the 18th August.. and guess what Im flying FIRST CLASS to training in Dallas!!!! WOOOOO!! i love my dad :)

video

2007-04-19T20:59:00.000-07:00

.. erm an odd video made by miss hicks, staring me and denai, amongst others, keep your eyes peeled though cos its fast lol:P

ooo dennis..

2007-04-07T12:49:00.000-07:00

..

he is old, but thats no excuse!

he makes me laugh like crazy! he burnt a dvd and was using label maker and pondering why it wasnt working... he expected it to transfer the image on his screen to the disc while in his computer! oh man! he has sooo much to learn!

he also wrecked my childhood while we where dicussing Dennis The Meance.. it turns out the US one is blond and innocent - i.e. he doesnt mean to be bad, personally i like mine better... and then we found out the where created in the same week, i feel deprived! I am going to search for a Beano to enlighten them!

ohps

2007-04-06T15:29:00.000-07:00

i havent blogged for ages!

so dom came out for spring break and we did stuff like science world and had an awesome time. we went ice skating - ha as anyone ever seen me on ice.. well i manged to get round the rink without holding the side, i must say i think i did pretty good. we also went to Donna and Roy's for moose and buffalo! woooop!

he also brought supplies:
* 3 x tins of baked beans
* branston pickle - im running out! arghghgh
* catherdal city cheese
* mini eggs

now im on a 4 day weekend which is sweet: i have my english cadburys crunchie egg, english cadbury mini eggs but no creme eggs :( ooh i got a easter card from MUSH :)

pais has been busy we need a sex ed class for grade 8 boys last friday! amy has been sick this week so its been pretty much me and denai which has been cool, different lol!

tom went to england so me, kris and tanis sorted out youth group which was good, we did youth in a mall, actions - we got kris mucky! hopefully photos to follow, and pay if forward, with some amazing developments happenign, but tom has not been told yet so watch this space!

congratulations..

2007-03-29T09:39:00.000-07:00

... to Where On Earth...

for getting through to the second round of the surface unsigned do dah wotsit!

they even got a nice review from bbc man (http://www.surfaceunsigned.co.uk/midlandsReviews.html):

Where On Earth – Qualified
Arriving with a bus load of fans, its easy to see why Northampton based Where On Earth have such a following. Their sound is pop-punk, yet the energy and talent within the band distinguish them in a crowded genre. Excellent layered vocal harmonies, hooky guitars, exceptional percussion and intelligent lyrics combine with their animated stage performance for a compelling whole. Well-written danceable tracks with catchy sing-along choruses, they have the makings of pop-punk anthems. Be sure to check them out in the second round.

To find out more about the band, or to hear their demos, visit
http://www.myspace.com/whereonearthband
Also check out http://www.indiestore.com where they were picked from thousands of bands for featured download status by NME, Rolling Stone and MixMag columnists!

Check out their music i would say its pretty awesome, i do like it! www.whereonearth.net

humm

2007-03-18T23:04:00.000-07:00

(so dom arrived yesterday, all is good :) )

hum i have just been watching the pais:thailand updates, its making my heart pump like crazy, i know however i am not called to move from canada yet, but i cant wait for the bigger picture and the other countries God is placing in my heart, where-ever they are. its so exciting! he he where next i wonder.. i do feel it will a 3rd world country.. who knows...maybe i go to uni first.. maybe i dont..

something to watch

2007-03-18T22:44:00.001-07:00

whats going on in the crazy world of Rosie...

2007-03-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

1. Anne and Dennis have left me for 3 weeks, so I have to look after Chloe and pick up her poo, its disgusting! I am very proud of myself as I managed to cook using a common oven, I was slightly stuck but managed Spag. Bol., Lasange and Shepards Pie wooop :)

2. Rose turned 19 woop :) oh dear last year of being teenagers what will we do... how can we make it special ooo I know, agree to stay on Pais :)

3. Plans to surprise people back home fell through as the flight got booked up! Thanks for the offer of the lift Sam, I am upset I cant take you up on it :( however my little brother dom might be coming out, and skiving school wooop :) watch this space in the next half and hour. maybe he'll bring gifts of baked beans and branston pickle.. hint hint

3.5. I recieved a belated present from Laura, which is rocking woo I can get my hair cut! I also got a 'daddy pack' with dan's address, i got some very nice cats notelets - they look posh they have wrapping stuff thing to protect them lol - a dib dap (the only edible thing left), jelly beans, wine gums, tolberone and i think that it. I then got my new bank card yesterday and he sent me $20 to go buy a burger for me and rose so i will spend it on her dinner tongight :) arent I blessed by my insane random family.

4. Im team leading again this week, and poor Denai is sick again! Its rather annoying bless her, so please pray for her healing.

5. Youth's pretty awesome, they are cool really. Sam, Kyle, Ken and Holly helped lead UTown in worship on sunday, I was uber impressed, the best worship since coming to vancouver I think... well in a church service for definate. Tom's off to england so we are taking them to a mall on friday, wont that be fun, i do wonder what havoc they will cause and how quickly! Oooo Tom becomes a canadian on thrusday how exciting.. History Maker stuff is starting to get arranged and the beining stages of a mission trip to mexico are in the pipeline, if you could be praying for this that would be great. heres a note from tanis:
This August I will be taking a handful of youth down to the Baja in Mexico to build houses for the Indigenous people in that area.

What is this about?
I NEED YOU HELP.

we need to book flights from Vancouver to San diego:

- Do you know anyone in the airline industry i could speak to to propose deals/discount/sponsorship for cheaper flights?

Funds for the trip and the cost of building the house;

- Do you feel called to donate money towards this event?
- Do you know a company or work for a company that might want to sponsor/donate towards this?

Food;

- Do you know someone in the 'food industry' that might want to donate food for the group of youth on the trip - to save costs that way for them.

Clothing? Toys?

- if you have good clothing that you want to donate, or toys for the children in the area - we would love to take them down there for you...

Anything else?

Any other way you might feel inspired to help with this trip - ideas on fundraising, please message me and let me know.

6. next year... we have a meeting tomorrow to find out more, but I will be Area Leader for the Westside. Rose, Ali, Jenna and Rebekka are staying, wont that be sweet.

7. schools.. whats happening.. after spring break we do a sex ed session in Eric Hamber, and we move the games mini at Uhill over the youth room at Uchapel, we are also looking to start a group in a basement for the Christians at Kitts, this depends on the interest from the students. Things are pretty exciting, we have seen students from Uhill attend the friday night cafe at Uchapel :)

8. we had a training session on reaching asian students, and then we went out for beef noodle soup, its was pretty yummy and seems to be the new westside team pet fave!

yet again I've been thinking about my role and who God's called me to be, this time Vision keeps coming up, what is my vision and where am I going in that, what places/things has he placed on my heart and why? (countries or minstries), how does this determine how I live now? And where does this fit with the Pais vision (which it does lol). What do I see myself doing, and is that God's plan or my plan.. And what about summer, how do I mould and shape it in such a way that I get the practial things done as well as living in my vision constantly. what about when I get rubbed up the wrong way? or treat family wrong, because I fall back into the mindset of home.. ermmm

thanks..

2007-03-02T21:03:00.000-08:00

....for all your prayers and support, it means a lot to me. my decision has been made....

so if your canadian i feel sorry for and if your english your lucky...!

... Im staying in Canada for another year!

now im off to sleep because im ill.. which means i cant go snowtubing tomorrow, so im slightly annoyed.. i do have to go to the post office over the road to collect some silly letter, honestly could be sent that needs signing for.. i havent got a clue im not expecting anything.. best be worth it lol!

options, options, options...

2007-02-23T23:09:00.000-08:00

...or choices, choices, choices

ok so this next week is going to be pretty big for me, i'd really appreicate your thoughts and prayers.

i have decided about to do next year:

* do i stay i as feel i should, with no way of funding my self, just trusting in God, and therefore going against my parents wishes

OR

* do i go back to england and go to uni, which i dont really want to do, but my parents and tom (sorry i had to name you) think is the option what would make sense, cos of degree n stuff

now normally id go straight with what i feel called to do (and to be honest thats proberly what i will do) but i know how my parents feel and it feels slightly wrong! i guess we can agrue you it out tomorrow.

so whats God being doing recently:
*defining who He is in me and through me
*expanding my calling - which im pretty stoked about btw!
*making me think hugely.

so whats purity and intergity? what do they really honestly mean...how i can live a God filled life all the time, living up the calling in places such as Romans 12, James, Ephesians etc. the high standards of moral living, and what is a high standard of moral living in todays standards, so much has changed, that it makes this calling all the more important to live up to, and set the standard for. what we called 'good' today would have been considered totally wrong back in the day. so i guess that meta ethics for you, what do words actually mean...

i know God's calling me to be different, to stand out, stand up and to go against the flow, but what does that look like, and how do i pick myself back up when i fail and fall so short of the standard God has placed in my life. Ive been set apart for a purpose but do i fulfill that to my ful potential or am i just getting by? how do i increase my capcity..

Purity - FREEDOM from adulation or contamination, freedom from immortality especially of a sexual nature.

Pure: wholesome. authentic bright, classic, clear, complete, fair, flawless, natural, neat, perfect, plain, real, simple, straight, total, transparent, true, twenty-four carat*, unadulterated, unalloyed, unclouded, undiluted, unmingled, unmixed, unpolluted, unsoiled, unspotted, unstained, unsullied, untainted, untarnished,
blessed, blameless, celibate, chaste, cherry, clean, continent, decent, exemplary, fresh, good, honest, immaculate, inculpable, innocent, inviolate, irreproachable, kid, lily white*, maidenly, modest, righteous, sinless, spotless, stainless, true, unblemished, unblighted, uncorrupted, undefiled, unprofaned, unspotted, unstained, unsullied, upright, virgin, virtuous, wide-eyed

Purity in relationships stems from having a pure heart, and should automatically be a consequence of having a pure heart = the two should go hand in hand. But purity is a lifestyle not just one part of our life.

-Psalm 51v 6-7 - purify means? do we fully understand the signficance...
-Psalm 86 v 11 - pure heart, are we honouring God?
-Psalm 119 v 9 - obey
-Matthew 5v8 - pure heart = seeing God
-Colossians 3 v 5-17 - change in the way we live
-Ephesians 5 v 3 - are we living up to God's standard? (read around this oen too)
-Galatians 5 v19 –26 - To have self control is to have purity – because you guard your heart. You will not inherit the kingdom of God if you are impure.
-1 Timothy 4:11-13 - called to set the example
-Psalm 119 v 1-3 - blessed with joy when you have intergrity

Gods calling for us to be pure in everything we do. Once we have pure minds and pure hearts he can work fully through us, and use us to advance his kingdom. A pure heart, means integrity in all areas of our lives, guarding our minds, tongues, actions, be careful about the company we keep, the music we listen to, the things we watch.

Intergity is purity across the board in all areas of our lifes, where am i slipping up? what areas have lowers standards then other areas? would i want people to follow my example and go my path?

so what does this mean for me? i guess making all areas of my life have the same high standard that im trying to reach. relationship wise:
*treating family and friends how they deserve to be treated, being open and honest and caring for them
*lads - well i cant date woop, but what signals am i giving out regardless. i have some amazing friendships with lads that people might seem to precieve as odd, well im sorry contiune to precieve it as odd, i do honestly with my whole heart feel God has placed me with these people for a reason, and we bond cos we are meant to, and yeah i will continue to speak into their lifes and love the pieces, christian or non-christian.
mindest wise:
*telling girls they are beauitful etc etc you know good old youth group stuff, but then not actually believing it for myself causes a huge issue, even if i do honestly think they are beauitful etc etc. so where do i go from here.. theres a tons of issues to deal with, one step at a time i say!
*prayer, worship and word - to keep it up no matter how busy, i have had some of the most amazing prayer times this week, because i created space out of the busyness from a pressing on my heart, yet when im not so busy they dont seem to go down as well.. funny that huh! so yeah thats got to be kept up.
* im sure ill think of more when its not midnight! so keep your eyes peeled on this section..

God keeps making me read and re-read proverbs 1,2 and 3
proverbs 1 v 20 - 25 says
'Wisdom shouts in the streets.
She cries out in the public square.
She calls to the crowds along
the main street,
to those gathered in front of the
city gate:
''How long, you simpletons,
will you insist on being simpleminded?
How long will you mockers relish
your mocking?
How long will you fools hate
knowledge?
Come and listen to my counsel.
I'll share my heart with you
and make you wise.
I called you so often, but
you wouldnt come.
I reached out to you, but you paid
no attention.
You ignored my advice
and rejected and correction I offered.'

feb...

2007-02-13T10:46:00.000-08:00

a lot has happend this month even though its only the 13th day!

1) I had to shift my scheudle and time with Tom around because denai and amy need me now on a wednesday lunch time, so i started helping out at the lunch club and also we started to help out at the games mini on a friday afternoon which is awesome. we are allowed to openly advertise a cafe at uchapel on a friday night. last friday the cafe started up and we had 4 students from uhill which is pretty amazing! Please thank God for this and pray that the start to really connect with the youth at uchapel and bring their friends.

2) Lawrance the senior pastor of PGCC annouced hes going somewhere up north that i cant spell, in march. he will be missed, but im sure him and roseanne will be blessed greatly up in that place i cant spell! Please pray for them and for the church as we transition.

3) The weeked that started on friday the 2nd feb was a busy one. we had a youth ice cream cake - for my birthday - and they got me a cupcake - loads of icing- and a bag of carrots! my repuation goes before me! on saturday i went snowtubing with Ali, Rose, Scot and Brent - who showed up 4 hrs late due to lack of telling us about the dentist; he was having his teeth cleaned for 1hr 30 mins. we then had noodles in a box..photos to follow.. we loved tubing and want to go again.. anyone up for taking us?? we ate a cupcake with tons of icing on it with candles on it - in the car on the mountain minus Brent who then complained!
'brent you've got something in your teeth' ... followed by mad rush to scotts left wing mirror to check his teeth followed by 'no i havent i havent eaten anything yet'... On my birthday anne and dennis took me to dim sum and then to a place with 218 ice cream flavours after church.. i am now old - 19. arghh! i got so cool pressies:
*english chocolate of Brent and Ali - they brought it when i was there teeeeeheee
*sunday times newspaper and more english chocolate and a sweet necklace off anne and dennis
*sweet tee-shirt - animal- from becky. and i assume colin..?
*mini photo holder and nail files from rhiannon
*luggage tag off dom
*money - it more then doubles into dollars wooop, writing paper, bag, bracelet, necklace of mum n dad
*money from grandpa ware n auntie alice
*switchfoot ticket from an amazing youth
*galaxy and glow sticks then i choose from tom, liz, joel and ollie :)
cheeers everyone!

4) last week i lead the team, although denai was sick :( it was cool! i enjoyed it wooop. rebekka came to help us on friday so that was fun!

5) a strange lad called brad came to stay lol, he will prob be coming more often cos he works downtown but lives somewhere crazy and hes anne and dennis nephew. its not uber exciting but if i ever talk about him thats who he is lol

6) i attended bc student forum this weekend and got to hang out with christian business men and women! it was amazing and on clarity in busyness! extremly helpful, would deffiently go again! i had to dress up smart to go to the vancouver club ha ha

Please Pray for..
*finances - i need to know if i can stay on a second year by the end of feb, and thats dependant on finacing. i feel i am not meant to return home, but please pray for clarification and peace over the next few weeks.
*intergation and intentional relationships with students n youth
*my mum, lucy, dom and rhiannon are in uganda for 10 days - protection, revelation etc they can be a help to janet, rich and jac, and eyes will be opened
*becky n colin as they prepare to get married and have to attend church every week.
*laura and paul as they embark on the marriage do dah but for longer time.. a year in july
*dan as hes in taiwan
*dad as he flys to american for business, and plans to travel to new zealand and canada in march

i think thats all

best place ever.. isnt it beautiful...

heres what me and rose where up to in dec/jan..
Despite lack of blogs the roses havent withered and died, they are infact blooming. we have been very busy due to the up and coming event somepeople call valentine's day; roses this time of year are very much in demand, but we would love to tell that we are expanding into new areas such as a gmail account and a card company called one short designs. This hints at the busy lifestyle we have been leading, however you will be surprised at the amount of things we have managed to fit in.

December...
*pais christmas party.. rebecca b pulled all stops and spent more the the $5/$1 dollar allowed for gifts, creating some stress while playing swap the dollar gift.. but we all love rebecca so we forgive her
*we where painfully seperated across the big bad blue wet thing for 2 whole weeks

Jan...
*OneLife...www.onelifeyouth.com. amazing, got to see and spend time with Brent and Chad
*walked over Burrad bridge in a hurry to get to the cinema to see James Bond with Mr. Brent White. We where late due to one of the roses lack of navigation skills, but we made it in the end. James however looked distorted. One lucky clone was paid for.
*MissionsFest... come to my reeecccuuuusssseeeee.... im so excited.... reunited....bum bum tish tish. we got to hang out with Brent, Chad, Scot and Adam - from texas pais :) we added to our canadian friendship circle with Scot, who's pretty neat but wipes his bottom on his sleeve when tree planting.
*Fresh... Paul Gibbs and Adam blessed with their presence and made sure we hadnt burnt down Canada. Paul seemed amused at the joint blog and e-mail account... i wonder what he thinks now we have 2 and a company...

jan...

2007-02-12T13:46:00.000-08:00

So guys I am uber sorry - please blame Sam C for the use of this word hes inflicted it upon me - for the lack of updates for the past few weeks, so im sorry if this takes a logn time to read and theres suddenly loads of posts from me!

Jan..

Jan started well with the meeting with the Well as you should know! It was amazing month, very busy, but im glad that everything happened and it worked that way! It was pretty awesome to be honest.

We had the privilege of Paul Gibbs and Adam (from texas) coming to spend a week with us. Adam spent a day with the Westside team, which was fun even though he cheats at card games! I was glad to have him however as he carried the coffee pump from the well.. slightly ironic i had help both times when i had to carry a single pump, now we get two, and i havent had any :( )

While Paul and Adam where here Missions fest happened, and we helped with the youth rallies and the young adults one, its was pretty neat and lots of fun, however some annoying band called rescue got stuck in the paisers heads not that they are talented but you can only take so much.. come to my reessscccuuussseeeeee, im so exicted..reunited... so missions fest was early mornings and late nights because guess who turned up, yep thats right brent (hes like a bad smell in a good way i guess) and when pais and him get together theres normally some late night meal at the end! so we went out both nights with him and scot, the first night rebecca, rebekka, ali, rose, scot, brent and i went to martini's and the second night, brent, scot, rose, ali and i went to dennys on the NORTH shore! cos brent wanted to drive through stanely park.. i guess we cant complain huh!

Paul came to talk at Utown on the sunday which was awesome, Tim Horman loved it! and maddie, kyle and sam got to play in the worship band. People where interested in the vision and in Pais and ive had lots of loverly comments since then! Paul, Tom and I then went out for lunch,.,. could Paul start marty.... ermmm...

We then one and half days of intense training from Paul, Rebecca and Adam mostly on post-modernism and how that fits with Pais, and lots of exciting changes that are going to happen! wooop!! watch pais' space!

Dennis created so amusment this month as he found youtube and posted a video of chloe! why i dont know, ask him, if you want to see it search for chloe dog hockey... its not that interesting to be honest, i would prefer to put up a video of them west coast swing dancing but they seem to practise when im out and attend dances when im busy :(

Jan was a busy month for the youth leadership team - well kris and i and tanis on the night. i had the crazy idea of doing a 'posh' 3 course meal to get the youth in the church talking to the leaders... we didnt expect 40 people to show up! yep! it was a sucess! we hope! so me and kris had a busy end to jan, leaving all the shopping - trip to costo, baking/cooking and setting up of the church until the day of the event! however i think we pulled it off with minum stress and we had tons of comments about how nice the meal was! soo i guess that works huh! we searved salad and posh bread with olive oil and balsmic vin. for starters, then a roast beefer with mash, peas, carrots, trees and cauliflower for main and then lemon tarts (we cheated and brought already done bases and packet lemon filling - we did have to mix stuff to make that tho!) and ice cream for pudding. then griffians anvil played! wooop!!!!!!

over and out and on to feb...

(pic of my house in england)

AMAZING

2007-01-22T17:49:00.000-08:00

Amy, Denai and I had a meeting with Peter the owener of The Well cafes at Regent and Dunbar! http://www.thewellcafe.ca/

Man it was amazing! to cut the sotry short he offered:

*30% discount cards to us
*free coffee for Lord Byng on Thrusdays
*he want sot help finacally
*wants to link with Lord Byng Christian Union

WOOOOOP

then a girl from Eric Hambar and I caught the same bus and se was askign really deep questions. today has been AMAZING!! I love it!!!

p.s. 24's on tonight double woops!

so..

2007-01-20T19:52:00.000-08:00

I've had a busy week since OneLife. Rose and I met up on saturday and went to see Casino Royale with Brent, it was a bit of an adventure as we went to the wrong cinema meaning we had to walk across Burrard bridge, but we managed ot get there not to late and luckliy despite a pay phone that didnt want us to contect with Brent we managed to get hold of him. Then it was off to Amys for food and a movie - a long movie lol!

Church on sunday was good, we got to talk about OneLife, and Greg spoke on James 3. Last one of the series tomorrow which is a shame because I love James!

On monday we turned up at Eric Hambar but it was a pro d day, worst luck lol! we've had an intresting work week, on tuesday we took the grade 7's at Simon Fraser out to some local food points for lunch and then on Thrusday the cafe at Lord Byng didnt really work, as we got drenched and didnt managed to get the stuff for various reasons but we contected with Micheal just as we where about to leave. Thrusdya night consited of home group and then off to amys to sleep over, after a late start on friday we looked over the last terms reports wooop what fun! During the week i managed to arrnage a meeting with The Well Cafe, in which hopefully we will be able to partner with them to be able to provide free coffee at Lord Byng.

In feb i have the chance to go to BC student forum http://www.bcstudentforum.com/ with most of it paid for! it will be an amazing opperunity and im extermly glad i have this chance. As I'm interested in Busines hopefully this will be my main focus.

youth groups pretty cool, on friday night we has a full band with Maddie, Sam and Brandon, helping Tom and then Sam and Mike talked about OneLife and Campus fire, so it was a pretty easy night for us, but pretty amazing and an awesome step towards whats to come. it slotted perfectly between OneLife and Missions Fest which is this weekend - which i go to as a Pais worker. and then Paul Gibbs is talking at Utown next sunday, so with that and a youth meeting tomorrow and FRESH - 2 days training my lifes to be pretty busy, especially seeing as i lead the team the week of FRESH and I have to lead department devotions on the thrusday, but we are proberly going to do a team social on the friday - 2rd feb- cos my birthdays on the sunday and on sat 3rd feb i hope to go snow tubing with the pais guys and Brent. so it shud be pretty sweet!

Anne and Dennis brought me 2 more big bags of costco carrots wooooooooop!

prayer points:
*meeting with the Well on monday at 10am
*youth group
*missions fest and FRESH - go smoothly learn loads
*im feeling slightly spiritually burnout, so for fresh passion, vision etc and someone i can be accountable to over here im really feeling that!

One Life

2007-01-13T01:08:00.000-08:00

So I just got back - its 1.09am - from an amazing event called One Life. Check it out at www.onelifeyouth.com.

First things first, this morning started off bright and early, it was pretty chilly at 7.30am! the Westside team headed over to the north shore to watch the north shore/eastside team do any assembly! woop!! i got to see rose.

And this evening Amy and I started on an adventure and walked down this massive hill with ice everywhere - without slipping down i might add... and at the bottom was the church where One Life was being held!

Man was it good! The worship - a youth band - was awesome and the place was jammed with young people - high school students, sitting on the floor, standing on the sidelines! it was pretty crazy! but so awe inspiring and so great to see! but as a white person you stood out! we have a thing or too to learn from the asian young people in this city! ~One Life is an event by the youth for youth and there is so amazing people behind it!

And then Rebecca B, Chad, Brent and I went for a meal which was pretty funny! including the drive there... erm brent theres cars there, and a red light! so yeah a prefect end to an awesome night!!!!

watch this space! i hoewp to chat more to the youth that came a post some stories cos it would be neat for you to hear them!

updates coming soon:
*feb - an awesome oppertunity
*schools - whats going on
*life
* youth group

wooooooop

i get to see Rose tomorrow which is pretty awesome!!! more about that tomorrow or today i guess!!

Home

2007-01-07T15:30:00.000-08:00

whats home? well i dont know, im slightly confused!

I went back to england for christmas and it felt like id never been goen, yet so much had changed and i felt a little outta place, yet people assumed i was home.

yet when i arrived back in canada to be greeted by liz and ollie then tom and joel - cheers guys, it felt like i was back home, especially when i got home and got huge hugs off anne and dennis! so yeah tom, home is where the heart is :P

to people in england my home is back there, but to me right here and right now, my home is vancouver. sorry guys!

so yeah i went bakc to england and had an busy tim, with christmas, family visits and dress fittings, as well as fitting in being ill! which meant i didnt have time to see everyone and hang out with people from church as much as i would have liked. sorry guys! andy and alex, im really bummed i couldnt see you. gemma get better soon sweetie!. mush - frankie and bennies, high tea, old skool... sam - get a life and stop sleeping! jen, est, kate - pub!! woooop, jen - mcd's.

Laura cheers for having me to stay im sorry i was sick, but the short time was worth it! becky doing wedding stuff was fun i enjoyed it and exploring north hallterton - or however you spell it.

Jim your amazing, you remember me, and your the bets cat ever and i love you to pieces dont miss me too much,.

Rhiannon, Dom, Lucy, Mum and Dad your smelly! Dan your crazy, follow your heart!
.
AND today!! well..

... 1st service was pretty normal, loved greg's semorn on james looking fwd to hearing the rest.. BUT the 2nd service worship was awesome, blew me away, different to normal, seemed to go with the flow which was sweet. yep pretty damn cool.

oooh

YOUTH rock!! rule!! awesome!! amazing!! we got $146.62 with the pennie drive! to all who contributed including the family cheers, thanks! providing socks through union gosepl mission!

well im excited about the term ahead, espeically as on the thrusday before school broke up we had people attened the after school hang out at lord byng which hasnt happened before and we wherent expecting! God was laughing at us im sure!!! sooo yeah! contuine to pray guys! cheers

over and out for now!

p.s. happy 21st sam :)

three three and more 3's

2006-12-19T07:50:00.000-08:00

so its;

3: more sleeps until i board a plane
3: days travelling untill i arrive home; friday, saturday and sunday
34: the age that first came out of a students mouth! woop lol! its ok he though denai was older too.

well i cant wait to home, and catch up, but most importantly see, cuddle and kiss the most amazing boy ever: JIM you rock and I love you tons! for those that may feel left out, im looking forward to christmas eve, bridesmaid dress fittings - if u pay me enough :P only for the quality time with becky, waxing sams legs, excusrions, gigs. church and seeing what the heck my famoly have done to the house! oh and driving but that doesnt involve anyone.

if people would like to donate food - thanks mush's gran we are looking forawrd to tea- and provide me with much needed english staple goodness; baked beans, sasuages, bacon, shepards pie, roast dinner with yorkshirs and NO salad, apple crumble/apple pie n custard, fish n chips, all the chrisps you cnat buy over here, english chocolate - basically anything feel free to donate to the keep Rosie alive fund! as a speacial treat she will eat it in front of you and provide conversation and intresting stories! sound good?

sweet

2006-12-06T08:19:00.000-08:00

well i just e-mailed Chester about rejecting my application and Dot who runs the coruse see's no problem with it, remembers who I am and asks me loads of questions which is neat!

also we had a sweet 1st time at simon fraser with the grade 7, really interactive and wild which is ace! really exiciting, cant wait to see where it leads us!

Jim

p.s. my computer charger is playing up, so sometimes i might have battery sometimes i might not! but im getting a new one when i go home... for those intrested i get home on the 24th dec and fly bk out on the 6th jan

parcel!!

2006-11-28T16:39:00.000-08:00

woooo!!!

when i got home 30 mins ago there was post for anne and dennis but nothing for me, when anne came in about a minute there was a red n blue air pack for me.. from my daddy! :)

in it was:
*the shortest note ever - but hes a man we forgive him!
*lindt extra creamy milk chocolate 100g
* 2 x dairy milk (like normal size) bars
* mini toblerone
* n the weirdest thing yet..4 marshmellows in a toblerone packet...erm

more snow!

2006-11-27T13:31:00.000-08:00

today!!

2006-11-26T17:21:00.000-08:00

meet the view from room! although not always as pretty!

not only did i have a great time with the snowball fight at church but guess what i just did??
thats right, I brought in snow in a tub and heated some maple syrup and made candy!! :)

then I went outside and man a huge snowman - with a top hat and all! in the middle anne came to take pictures and dennis, anne and I had some fun chucking snowballs around! I then finished the snowman! all in all it was a good day!! (partly because I got to see joel - d'oh im in trouble that little guy has won my heart!)

(ps met anne and chole - i think anne might not be happy! i will take a photo she like soon! buts its a snow day soo what can i do! i am not impressed with mine either!!)

p.p.s since i took these photos and made my snowman - whose head has now gone! while we where eatying dinner, the only thing that shows we made a mess of the yard is the snowman!! the rest is covered again!! woooop

News!!

2006-11-26T14:18:00.000-08:00

I tried to e-mial this out, but it never left :(

Hello!

Attached are 2 separate updates; one from me and one written on behalf of the team!

Thanks for all your support, prayers and encouragement. I love being here, but knowing that you guys are rooting for me back home makes all the difference, I really appreciate it.

God bless

Rosie

From ME:

Dear Friends,

Things have been going great since I last wrote to you! Lots of great things have been happening again with both youth work and with Pais.

I was thrilled to see the KLC website up and running, its great to be able to hear what is happening back home, and be able to listen to some familiar voices.

Below is a schedule of what my Pais week looks like (check out the post):

The schools work is going really well. On Monday and Wednesdays we get the chance to help students at Eric Hambur with their homework, and we are already starting to build relationships with the students! We start a lunch time club in Simon Fraser on Tuesday lunch, and we start in Lord Byng on Thursday after school with a café which is exciting. So far I haven’t been into U-Hill yet, because on a Wednesday I do youth work with Tom and we don’t start on Friday lunchtimes until the New Year.

I have started attending a pastorate every other Tuesday, and home group on the Thursdays that im not at pastorate. Im looking forward, to being able to have the chance to, grow and develop spiritually in these. Its also a great chance to get to know people, as the pastorate is part of Utown and the home group in part of PGCC.

Youth at PGCC is really flowing; we are starting to bring up real practical issues and having some good debates. I can already see growth, in the short time I’ve been here, and im looking forward to doing some childcare duties with some of the girls tomorrow night at the CD release party. On Friday night Tanis, Kris and I shared our testimonies and it was a really special time; I loved watching God work as we spoke! Tanis is organising a penny drive for the youth, so we can do something practical in the community, and its great to see how the youth are getting on board, and hopefully as we get the church involved too, it will highlight the youth and how we can unite with the church body to have an impact on the society around us.

Last week on Wednesday we had a lot of rain, so we woke up on Thursday there was a water advisory and water a dirt brown. The water is still cloudy and the advisory still in place so we are still drinking bottled water. When we boiled filtered water yesterday the bottom of the pan had a thick layer on it, so its looking like it will be in place for a while.

Im getting on really well with Anne and Dennis, and we have some great laughs about the food – they have salad with everything; and by salad I mean lettuce, honey, goats cheese and cranberries! I’ve heard some weird stories about marshmallow, jelly and pine nut salad with turkey, which they eat at Christmas, so im glad to be coming home!

Im looking forward to returning at Christmas, although it looks like im going to be busy, it’s going to be great to catch up. When I return back to Canada in January and Paul Gibbs the director comes up, we will be discussing about who’s staying for the next year on Pais, and jobs will be offered. I’ve been thinking and praying about this, and im strongly feeling that I will return to Canada for another year on Pais.

Prayer Points:
• More favour with the students and the schools
• Denai (she keeps getting sick)
• Youth group as we journey together.

God bless

Rosie Honeywell

From the TEAM:

Good morning!!

I wanted to send out another email to update you all on what has been happening here for us on the Westside.

Before I say anything else too....we just wanted to recognise that all these amazing things and opportunities that have been coming our way have been from the Lord and His building of His Kingdom. It is so so exciting for us to be a part of what is happening here! There are so many things coming our way, and its totally because of Him and what He is doing.

So on Monday saw us at Lord Byng High School for our final planning meeting, and we discussed a start date for our Café. Ms Taddei felt that a lunch club would be another club too many for the students to attend, so she suggested that we shift it to an after school café that runs for just over an hour. The aim of the club is to have a place for students to connect with each other and the outside of the community, which fulfils a part of the schools new growth plan. They want to see more connections with the outside community, and the Principle said that what we were discussing with her to do was perfect. We start Thursday the 30th of November, and our advertising in the school starts this coming Monday.

We had a meeting with Simon Fraser and the Grade 7 Students to find out what it is they want us to do with them on a lunch time. We had many a comical answer, including one that went ‘well not one of us is fundamentally the same, so the diversity means that we cannot find one common ground’ most of the students giggled, and I suggested that he could help co-ordinate the club with us………so we shall wait and see how that one turns out. Some kids suggested skiing, and kicking a can around, but on the whole we should be seeing activities such as hip-hop dancing (anyone know any grooves?) and possibly some movie watching (although I think its quite hard to find decent movies that are suitable anymore….) And a chance for students to get off campus for an hour to have some time to themselves to hang out. We are looking to start next Tuesday lunchtime.

Yesterday was our first homework club at University Hill, and we had a total amount of 0 students. This is a new thing for U Hill to start, and with a turn out like that, Ms Heines, the sponser teacher, suggested we just stick to our games club on a Wednesday and starting a games ‘mini’ in January to get to know the students and then we can go from there in terms of getting the students to a homework class. She also said that there may well be no scope for it at all because the kids generally just want to get out of school, and some go home to a tutor. Their main need may just be some positive role models in their lives.

The mini that starts in January is another afternoon hour of games, the aim being to get to know the students, and in the words of Ms Heines herself shift them over to your place. The teachers and Principle, when they asked us about our social programs we have at Church, loved our Friday Night Café and expressed an interest in inviting their students. They also suggested that we hold the mini in our youth area after getting to know the students well. Which is really quite exciting…………………

Eric Hamber is going really well. We had a cancellation last week due to power failure at the school, but Mondays’ after school session started with a large group of Bio 12 students learning about Cell Structure. And I got down to work with solving some algebraic equations. I was also lent a Math 9 textbook to brush up on my skills…….which I really enjoyed!! And yes, I did spend an hour that evening doing algebra, and I actually loved it. Hehehe…

Anyway. That is where we are at for now. If you would like to join us in prayer, here are a few things we are praying for at the moment:

-Relationship with schools to continue to grow. I’d love to see really good friendships forming with both students and teachers.
-Our team as we desire to continue to grow closer and become more and more united. Unity is so powerful and such a witness to others about God’s love and character….
-For our personal eternal perspectives as we really start getting to know students and have opportunities to speak into their lives.

If you want to talk more about anything, feel free to call or email anytime.
Bless you all so much

Amy, Denai and Rosie.

snow!!!

2006-11-25T16:10:00.003-08:00

well its snowing and its sticking and its perfect for snowballs, snowmen..... wooooooop

nice evening in with dennis and anne; pizza, movie, wine and snow :)

well it snowd through the night n we now have 5-10cm! during the break between the church services i had a snowball fight with: joel, tom, jen - toms aunt, whos pretty sweet-, kris, cal and some otheres pretty good fun:)

I know...

2006-11-25T13:28:00.000-08:00

...

why I'm called to do youth work!!

when I was helping out with the childcare last night during the PGCC and Utown cd release party - www.pgcc.org/homecd - which by the way is pretty awesome, you should check it out! In which Tom performed a song he wrote with Liz, its very country n very not Tom, but surprisingly good, even thought he caused me and emma to be in fits of laughter.. Tom dont worry we still love n respect you :)

so I had a room full of kids, with the wonderful helpers emma, angela and brianne. I thought stick the dvd cars on and sit back and relax. OH HOW WRONG!!!

most of the kids that didnt want to watch it where fine, we got some toys out at the back of the room. but when the wanted mummy, or we had to check their nappies, or they tried to ecaspe or just where plain annoying! and me and emma never got to relax or see cars!

erm yes, I am VERY glad, happy, overjoyed etc.. that Im called to Youth Work.

(although donna has roped me in to help with sunday school on the 3rd dec n the 17th arghghghghghghghghgh)

erm

2006-11-23T18:41:00.000-08:00

i have to post again!!

my other sister laura is now also getting married... who will be next lol

congratulations big sister!!

schedule

2006-11-23T14:11:00.000-08:00

Heres the rough guide of what will be doing everyweek, so you can see what schools we are in and when!

wet wet

2006-11-15T16:27:00.002-08:00

Vancouver is getting the brunt of some weather fronts which means it is quite erm wet! But other then that its an amazing place to be. I moved back to Kitsilano this weekend, and I am now staying with an amazing couple Dennis and Anne, who are wonderful; really welcoming, plus its great to finally have my own space and a permanent address. They also have the cutest dog, who's slightly mad! They are a 2 second walk from the beach and tons of great shops and a 5 minute bus ride from the church, so its an awesome location!

Pais, is going from strength to strength, we have 2 school clubs on a wednesday, 1 lunch time club with students from Uhill (the teachers asked for it to be in the church and are looking for us to integrate the students into Uchapel’s Friday night youth programme, which is way more then we expected) we then have Eric Hambur’s HOST programme from 3.15pm-4.15pm on a Monday and Wednesday. We then have a meeting with Lord Byng on Monday to arrange a start date, so that pretty awesome too. We get our Pais uniforms tomorrow, so its out off the smart wear and into jeans! woo!

Youth group! wow! again its like where do I start! Tom was off last week, due to the safe arrival of Tom Oliver Matthew (or oliver), so Youth Group was run by Tanis, Kris and Me! What an amazing team effort and what fruit did we see! On Wednesday Kris and I ran CATCH, and when worshiping to a cd wasnt the same as worshiping with Tom, I decided we would worship in silence - the effect, wow, immedtiatly there was quiet and later on I put some hard hitting songs on lightly in the background. From there we looked a few deep verses, and gave them a chance to have a say in what social they would like to on the Friday (the church was being decorated for a wedding).

On Friday we headed out to DQ - diary queen for you british people-, for a pretty amazing time of eating icecream and just hanging out with each other, and then we headed over to someone basement. Tanis, Kris and I had prepared nothing to do, although we had looked over a few verses and chatted a bit about the plan for the next few weeks before hand. Yet on the walk between DQ and the house we decided we needed to highlight something that had occured and apply some things. we ended up chatting for 30-40 mins and when it came to 9pm we couldnt believe it. The youth where amazing, silence, input when needed etc, and you could see what we where saying hit home and the cogs ticking! The evening just totally flowed with all of us - Kris, Tanis and I bouncing of each other. We'rent sure how they would respond to us, doing some stuff as it was advertised as a social, yet man!!! Tanis, Kris and I then had a cool chat afterwards about application and where we need to go and things that we can do to help the youth!

Its all pretty sweet stuff!! so yeah watch this space too!

(happy birthday pove! teehee your getting old...keep away from the grannie with zimmer frames :p)

p.s exciting news..everyday so far while ive been with anne and dennis i have recieved a letter or parcel...(dunno about today yet) so i had a letter with stuff in from mum when i arrived, an awesome box from my brilliant sister Laura on Monday with all sorts of goodies all wrapped nicely! and yesterday i recieved some galaxay and green and black chocolate. yummy!! cheers guys!! and keep them coming :P i really should get some paper so I can start writing letters home... now its a thought.. maybe soon it wil be fruitful,..

guess what?...

2006-11-03T09:59:00.000-08:00

...

Eric Hamber here we come!

We start on monday, helping out with the HOST program from 3.15-4.15 :) we've been asked to also do wednesdays but as me and denai are with our youth pastors amy will have to go alone possibly unless we juggle some things around! fun!

we also had a phone call off Uhill yesterday on the way to Eric Hamber and Amy looked extermly happy, and sounds dead excited. I think we are going to be providing after school/lunch time clubs...

well its wet and rainy, but im nice and snug inside my apartment :) I had marmite on toast for breakfast yum yum good old english resources!

check out my joint blog for details on a brocklewell breakfast...

lettter home 2

2006-10-27T11:12:00.000-07:00

26th October 2006

Dear All,

Amazing stuff is happening in Canada, especially within the youth group at PGCC. I don’t know where to start! I’m not going to apologise for the long update, as I need to create a full picture and Tom and I are thinking that because such amazing stuff is going to happen the devil will try and stop it, so you would love you to pray for strength for the youth and leaders.

On Friday 13th October, we had the most amazing youth group. Tom and I had planned a session on Jesus the Leader, but God scraped those plans! And came down in the most totally amazing way. Tom wrote an update on the youth blog which will make more sense then if I tried to tell you so here’s the link: http://utownchurch.com/youthblog/ Since then we have had some amazing times in Gods presence at CATCH, just allowing God to move. The youth are starting to really get it, and I’m amazed at how their prayers have changed and their increased sensitivity to the Spirit. Here’s an example of how they’ve blown me away; I received a e-mail last week asking if the youth could pray for Tom to bless and encourage him, they then went a step further and during the Campus Fire weekend, brought him cards, a cake and biscuits and set it all out!

Some of the youth attended Campus Fire; Sam, Holly, Emma, Kjell, Ken, Hannah, Simi, Cal, Milo (Saturday), with Tanis and Tom, with Kris attending on the Saturday with Joel and Liz. I was happy to see that they ‘adopted’ John Lunn – Youth Pastor of Marine View Chapel, and Jason and Ellis. The weekend was amazing, from what I can gather and in the short chats I’ve had with them, they seem to be wanting to go to the next level, so we just need ot work out how we can equip and help them in this.

I did attended Campus Fire, but I was working for the weekend, as Pais helped to run the conference. This meant I couldn’t sit in on any of the sessions or really join the worship, but let me tell every time I needed to go into the main session for work, now matter how short a time span, I came out buzzing! Something great was happening it there! I had an awesome weekend, manning the Pais stand, sorting out odd jobs and helping with hospitality – we had a huge number of well know speakers, and 2 bands that needed to be looked after. It was great to be able to serve, and we where privileged to have some amazing volunteers.

Liz is due to have her baby this weekend, so Tom’s been busy making sure I have all the youth information and access to the church. Quite scary, as I will be making sure that youth group happens etc! But really cool and important, that we can bless Tom and Liz in this time and give them family time.

Pais has been going brilliantly J Im loving it, and cant believe I’ve been here for such a short time. I feel really at home, with the team and church.

Answered prayers:
• We’ve been given some finances as a team, so we’ve been able to purchase a printer and some office supplies.
• The schools are really opening up.

We’ve had meeting with four schools and will be doing a wide range of activities. We’ve had amazing favour and the schools seem to be really on board with what we are doing.

1. Lord Byng – we’ve been asked to help set up a café area for the students to hang out at lunch times, with the aim of releasing students into leadership and running leadership workshops
2. Simon Fraser – we will be providing a lunch club for grades 6 & 7, creating a safe environment and a sense of ownership. We are going to have a meeting with the grades 6 & 7 to discuss what they would like us to provide.
3. Eric Hamber – would like us to become learning assistants as part of the volunteer programme already in place.
4. University Hill (Uhill) – we will be helping with ESL.

We have training on a Thursday morning, and so far we have covered topics such as the trinity and the 10 commandments. Here’s a interesting snippet from yesterday talk on the 10 commandments, about the misuse of God’s name. God used to be called YHWH.

YHWH – only name is 10 top words used in the OT – the rest are words like and, it etc
- appears 6,879 times

The Jews stopped using it! They avoided risk by not saying it- they where so afraid of using it wrongly that they stopped using it – they’d say adonai. They took vowels for adonai and put into YHWH which made Yahowah – Jenovah. Jenovah is nonsense! Its not Gods name, when you see LORD in your bible it should be YHWH

I’ve moved in with Kelsey, and its pretty cool! Living downtown is pretty awesome although I haven’t had much chance to maximise it, with staying in white rock for Campus Fire and my family being here this weekend. It’s a sweet apartment with some amazing views – when its not foggy! And I have access to a cinema style rooms, gym, sauna, hot tub, swimming pool etc!

Prayer points:
• Youth group – continual anointing, protection
• Tom and Liz
• Pais:Thailand – the directors flew out this week and the team follows in January.
• Amy, Denai and I
• Schools
• Where next? By January when Paul Gibbs comes out, we need to have thought and decided about staying on a second year or not. Its obliviously not a quick decision, as all sorts of things need to be though of; finances, flights etc and of course if God’s telling me to stay here,

Thanks for everying!

God bless

Rosie Honeywell
Intern
Pais::Canada
Westside team

sorry

2006-10-23T15:56:00.000-07:00

sorry for the fact that its been ages since i posted!

Ive been really busy with one thing after another; showing tom vancouver/hanging out and then helping run campus fire - a conference- this weekend, i havent ha dmuch chance to update, especailyl as kelesys doesnt have wirelss internet and you all know how i am on pcs. also my family arrive in vancouver on thurs so...

short update:

* youth group on the friday 13th was awesome! God totally changed our plans and we had an awesome time, we over ran for over an hr and yeah check out the youth blog.. linked off www.pgcc.org

* campus fire was amazing, my youth group attended and tom's being getting e-mails from parents! they kids wanted to bless tom and did so in the way of a cake, biscuts and a card! totally awesome moment! i cant waited to be updated fully on all that happened, as i was involved in the running of the conference. i met some awesome people at the conference, speakers and and the like but also we had soem pretty cool volunteers.

* doors are opening like crazy into schools and amazing meetings are happening. watch this space we will soon be on campus!

* tom came over for a week, so we got to hang out, meet rose, see my youth group and a fairly typical church service. He also managed to serve the pais team in the form of spray painting signs for Campus Fire and freeing up me and Rose to do other tasks - which wherent handed out :( lol

* ive got to hang out with kelesy - i moved while tom was here, last sunday to a condo on the 15th floor, in an amazing postition with awesome views on david lam park. i have access to a gym, pool, squash courts, 2 cinema style rooms, hot tub, sauna. rose needs to come visit pretty soon! im only here for a few weeks, so really should make the most of it. its pretty cool being with soemone young and weve had some pretty cool chats.

its getting cooler here but its ok :)

Jim

2006-10-10T21:31:00.000-07:00

spot the random people from back home and look out in future blogs for updates and different people!

It was an exciting weekend because i got to speak to Jim on webcam!! How awesome is that!! However I will now start at the start of a beautiful long lazy thanksgiving weekend!

Bits of news I've accidently missed out through being to busy!!
* I had dinner with the Colby's - lovely family, whose cat is adorable. Cal's awesome and goes to youth group. I also babysat them, and had fun playing games.
* I lead a bible study in purity which was pretty cool
* A black and white cat jumped out of the bushes at me on the way to PGCC and gave me a look, an then started following me then stopped and watched me walk to church!
* I attened worship invasion which was pretty cool and an awesome time of intercessory prayer also

Rhiannon and Dom; cool ickle brother and sister who send sweet messages! They make me chuckle and this photo captures them at their best! The photo was taken by Becky my oldest sister.. whose soon to make the family bigger.. Welcome Colin!! more on them other time. Anyhows i look forward to showing these ickle 2 (and the rest of the crew) around my new home, when they come to visit, they will love it, almost as much as I do, and I bet Rhiannon cant wait to meet Joel.
* Ive been having awesome awesome prayer sessions!! so cool
* We nearly have our Pais uniform.. bring on jeans.
* Where On Earth - Sam, Johnny, Tom and Luke 'released' their music to the world.. sssh I already had it lol! They are some of the most amazing friends ever, and Im blessed to have these guys in my life! Their music is rocking so check out www.whereonearth.net or www.myspace.com/whereonearthband and listen to some of the tunes!

On Friday we had youth group, where I did a little bit on worship and then we worshiped in various ways - singing, building blocks, arts and crafts, brainstorming. We had some really cool stuff, check out the PGCC and Utown youth blog..http://utownchurch.com/youthblog/

Saturday started off okay because I got a lie-in, however they first thing i did was listen to the Saints lose! Not impresses, but then Tim and Melissa came round for pancakes so I cheered up slightly! I then went to metro-town with ROSE!! and we investigated sim cards - it costs a ton to activate the stupid things!! I then went to Rose's where we mad some canadian potato things and had a bit of online fun - you'll know when you become a recipent of certain e-mails possibly that youve caught me and rose together! I had my first ever canadian dinner (well... ill come to that later) of sasuages, pasta, courgettes and salad. We then ate sweets while watching a dodgy film... not bad dodgy just no plot and rather boring! We then saw a racoon - check out our joint blog.

Heres a pic of my gorgeous amazing Jen!! I miss her tons!! She is truly inspiring and going to lead such an amazing life! She really rocks this world, and I dont know where I would be without her smiling cheery face and amazing hugs!! Keep going gal I love you!!

Sunday started with Tom telling me my hair was fine, but me finding out when I got to Utown that it was infact a mess. Utown was cool, and we did 'youth' where we sat in a hallway and discussed highs, lows and random facts then prayed. I then had Swiss Chalet Thanskgiving dinner and got to chill with the youth and play some card games which was cool. After the youth section Tom said to the youth that he had been silly and forgotten to arrange for me to have a thanksgiving dinner so if anyone had a spare place could they invite me lol. so Sam went to his dad (which is another awesome fact, sam goes to youth and attends a different church, but helped lead Utown on worship on his bass on sunday!) and said can we have rosie over for dinner, when his dad had been feeling all service like he should invite me other, so of course I acepted the invite. Then Tom came bounding over and he had gotten me another invite but it was all cool because Liz, Joel and Tom went and had yummy food.

Sam is an amazing buddy who can me laugh and cry all in one go! I wouldnt be where I am today without him, and for that I am extermely grateful. Yeah Sam, your one rocking, amazing, awe inpsiring, beautiful, funny, ambitious lad. Cheers for the great years of friendship, I hope there are many more. My life wouldnt be the same without you.

On Monday I had a nice lie in, and got to speak to Jim (n Mum and Dad and Luce) over webcam before heading over to Sam, Mike, Darlene and Peter's for thanksgiving. They had a cat!! We had turkey, cranberry sauce, yams, some potato things that where yummy, cabbage rolls, beans, and yummy pumpkin pie and apple pie goodness(such a rose word!).

the truly amazing mush!! She is such an awesome buddy, remember her in your prayers!! Mush is the coolest Christian of the school lot and my awesome faith camp buddy! I love you tons :)

Today was campus fire day and it was mad!! I spray painted signs, and made name badges and did all sorts of funny things!!

Tomorrow I go to my first ever PGCC and Utown staff meeting with Tom, which should be cool.

At the end of the week, I move in with Kelesy, which although Im sure is going to be awesome, I am actually feeling quite sad about leaving the Sopwiths, who have been amazing. And I will really miss Joel, Kipper, Bob, Bath time and playing cars! I will have to take him to the park and to the sea to bop! Liz and Tom have been superstars in putting up with me, and I will really miss them, especially the laughs... if only we had pictures of us all on the floor with icecream buckets on our heads thanks to Joel! truely amusing.. but I reckon you had to be there! Yeah here at the Sopwiths feels like home :)

letter home

2006-10-07T13:01:00.000-07:00

ok i wrote this before the news about the schoools but still:

28th September 2006

Dear Friends.

As you know I am in Vancouver, Canada, working with the PAIS (www.paisproject.com) for a year, while also working with Point Grey Community Church -PGCC- (www.pgcc.org) and their church plant Utown.

As you know I went to Dallas, Texas, for my Pais training, where we trained with the USA teams also. We covered topics such as ministry essentials and kingdom principles. I was truly bless by the family I was staying with and while in Texas, I know God really worked in my life. After two weeks training in Texas the Canadian department flew to Vancouver to do an extra weeks cultural training.

Pais’ aim is ‘missionaries making missionaries’ and to build bridge between the schools and the churches. I am part of a pioneer team to the Westside, which means that we haven’t gone into school yet unlike the other two teams in Vancouver. My team leader Amy and team member Denai, are great to work with and im really excited about what we can offer to schools. At the moment we have had a little trouble getting in contact with the schools, as the people we need to talk to are busy. We managed to get in contact with one school – University hill, however they have no space for us to help them with after-school clubs, but they are interested in the team tutoring the young people.

Pais goes into the schools offering a variety of different resources each school can tap into; assemblies on moral standards, healthy lifestyles, CAPP, and self confidence. We also provide things like sports clubs, workshops, lunch clubs, tutoring, homework classes, mentoring and anything the school would like us to get involved in.

As a pioneer team, we have no resources and no money, so we are relying on donations, if and when they come in. This means we have no office supplies – paper, pens, cardboard, paints, printer -, and basically are in need of money to buy the resources so we can be professional when we go into schools. We would also love regular support, of even small amounts per month, manage our money and be able to be consistent in what we are providing.

If you feel you would like to support what my Pais team and I are doing this year, please contact me and let me know. This can be through finances, or prayer support. If you would like to support the team in prayer, let me know your e-mail address and I can send you prayer requests and updates.

Pais is helping organise a conference called Campus Fire, and it is aimed at equipping high school student to effectively minister to their peers, through leading lunchtime clubs. It’s a great chance to explore different areas that arise when arranging an event, and im also looking forward to being a PA to some guest speaker during the weekend.

At PGCC everyone has been really welcoming and I can’t wait to be part of what God has to do it the church over the year. Im working in Tom Sopwith, the youth pastor, and he’s an amazing British man, who’s had lots of involvement in Soul Survivor before coming to Canada. Tanis and Kris, help run the youth group with Tom and myself, and together I think we can do a great job in moving the young people on. Having Tanis and Kris means that we can spilt the children into groups and have bible study aimed at their level, then get them to tell the rest of the group what they found out, giving the kids more confidence in speaking in front of their peers. We have three youth events throughout the week:
• CATCH – Christ At The Centre Here-, which is aimed at the young people who really want to seek God and debate in-depth on the topics covered. This is from 5.30pm-7pm on a Wednesday night.
• ENJOY – 7pm – 9.30pm on a Wednesday night. The church is open for young people to come and use the facilities available, for example a band comes to practise (some of the members are in youth group, others are non-Christians), the xbox comes out, and people use the internet, make web pages, play board games and basically do what they want to do. The young people also know that it is a safe environment to bring non-Christian friends.
• OTT – On These Two – is like a ‘normal’ youth group. The young people have time to play basketball across the street, play xbox, eat food and play board games, before we have bible study, worship and prayer. OTT happens on a Friday night between 6.45pm and 9.15pm.

I have had some issues with accommodation, as what Tom had planned fell through for various reasons. So I am staying with Tom and Liz (the youth pastor and his wife), on a sofa bed in Joel’s play room. I love living there as it has help me and tom get to know each other and Tom and Liz are really hospitable. Joel is nearly two, so I have lots of fun playing with him and I made his birthday cake into Bob the Builder. However Liz is heavily pregnant and is due to give birth on Joel’s birthday in late October. Thanks to all those who have been praying about my accommodation, your prayers have been answered! On Tuesday night I found out that I have a place to live for the year, with a couple called Ann and Dennis. I will move in after I have spent nearly a month living downtown with a young woman called Kelsey in a condo. (I go to Kelsey’s on the 15th October)

I have made good friends with Rose, a girl on PAIS but on a different team, and we try and spend some time together socialising during the week, although at the moment we live quite far from each other, so it can be difficult.

The weather here has been amazing, we have only had a little rain, and I’ve managed to get some wonderful, beautiful, awe-inspiring looks at the city and the mountains surrounding, which has helped enlarge the vision God has given me and increase the love for the area in which I live.

I have managed to fit in some sightseeing things such as lynn valley, deep cove, whistler, grouse mountain and gas town. Although I hope to do more of that as I become more settled and when the family comes out to visit in October we hope to go whale watching.

Prayer requests:
• Team finances
• Schools
• Youth group
• Campus Fire www.campusfire.com

God bless

Rosie Honeywell

P.S If you would like to follow my year in Vancouver, with more regular weekly updates and photos please look at: www.jimsrosie.blogspot.com
P.S.S if you would like to receive prayer updates please contact me at: rosiehoneywell@hotmail.com

UPDATE!!!

2006-10-06T17:12:00.000-07:00

wooo!!

today has been ace! a quick update on the schools front:

* Amy and Jade have a meeting at 1pm on wed 11th oct at Eric Hamber!
* Amy and Tom have a meeting with Lord Byng in 2 weeks!!

How awesome is that!!! :)

Good News!!

2006-10-06T12:30:00.000-07:00

Good News on the Schools front:

* Eric Hamber High School - would like us to mentor their Christian students, working with YFC - Youth For Christ
* Uhill High School - recieved an information pack, then phoned wanting to know more and will phone hopefully next week to arrnage a meeting.
* Simon Fraser Elementary - recieved a information pack and seemed really exicted, and they think we have a lot to offer them.
* Lord Byng High School - as I am writting this my team leader is on the phone, trying to establish a connection and hopefully arranging to send out a schools pack.

Please countine to pray for increased opportunities to get into schools and provide a service, and finances for the team.

Thank you

God bless

busy busy

2006-09-24T21:15:00.000-07:00

Hi

Last week was very busy, starting on saturday when I decorated Joels birthday cake into a big Bob the Builder! Rose came over and made bricks! and then we made a joint blog. check it out: www.couldtheybecloned.blogspot.com or e-mail us at couldtheybecloned@hotmail.com we would love to hear from you! :)

and then of course sunday was mad, a day without stopping, first off to PGCC so tom can do accounments (and he was meant to pray for two friends who flew to oz today but ger turned up late), then a quick dash using the car across to Utown, where i got introduced to the church. We then stayed for the BBQ and managed to get a lift back to PGCC (Liz and Joel left Utown early for Joels nap), for the newcomers lunch! and then a quick trip home to load the car then back down to PGCC to set up for Joels birthday party! It seemed like the day would never end!

On monday, i cant remember what we did! ohhh yeah. Denai was ill, so Amy and me did devotions and planned devotions, and then we went to Amy's house where I had a menoring session, then it was back to 10th, for some student thing they have, as Rebecca was speaking and we has to man a stand! monday was extremly tiring!

On tuesday, we all planned campusfire at Bethel, I spent the morning typing job descriptions for the volunteers - which i still need to check over! then in the afternoon, because I had been working on the job descriptions and andy the department coordinator for site management works for his church on tues, i got given the task of sorting all the site management stuff out, so i need to sort sercuity out - get walkie-talkies, tee-shirts, rotas inplace and do various others tasks! im sure it will be an awesome learning curve, when i get my head round what im meant to be doing! During the campusfire weekend i will be a PA to up to 3 guest speakers which will be good!

On Wed, Denai and I where alone in the office, so I lead a devotion and then we brainstormed different aspects of mintrsy and what we as a team can offer. We then went to the 10th staff meeting, where we got introduced, it was then time for us to do the work our youth pastors set for us, so i headed back to tom and liz's where tom cooked me, lunch and we planned friday night. we then had CATCH - Christ at the centre here - where the kids started to open up, then ENJOY and the band came to practise and I got to chill out with some kids.

On thurs, I went to a PAOC meeting - pentecostal assemblies of canada - with senior pastors from the churches in the vancouver district. Rose came as well, and as well as having a loverly meal cooked by a chef - wonderful cheesecake - which Rose couldnt eat, we got to meet some amazing people and have some good chats as well as hear David Wells speak.

On friday, Amy tried to get in-touch with the schools and failed! so please pray that next time we try the headteachers/people we need to get in touch with will be avaiable to speak to us! I wrote a workshop on business, and we prayed and listened to a seminar. In Denai's devotion I learnt my divine appointment - message me if you want to know -. we then had OTT and sam help tom lead us in worship! we did about the kingdom of God and had some good discussions, brendon was the focus person and tom managed to get hold of a tee-shirt that had special meaning to him and he had lost which was awesome!

I had a few pictures/visions for vancouver this week but i will share them in another post!

Also today during the service this morning I felt God increase my vision and reveal to me part of the biggert picture! its scray stuff and when i have refined in more i will post!

Grouse Mountain

2006-09-24T20:53:00.000-07:00

Today, I went to church in the morning, and then dad picked me up and we drove to grouse mountain, which overlooks vancouver city.

We then got a cable car to the top, where we saw bears and stunning views. It was very warm, and i felt sorry for the people taking party in the grouse mountain grind, a race up the mountain!

My dad left in the afternoon so since then ive been chilling out and shopping for Liz - who is illergic to wasp stings and managed to get stung on her stomach when she is pregant, however she has reall reaction which is amazing,

I then went to the sunday evening worship service and meet some new loverly people! tee-hee they are stuck with me!

Whistler

2006-09-24T20:39:00.002-07:00

Oh thursday my dad came to visit, bring english chocolate with him! wooo

So on Saturday we drove up to Whistler, it was a beautiful drive passed some snow-topped (just) mountains, and with some loverly views, beautiful lakes and waterfalls.

But first off all dad picked me up at 8am and we went back to his bed and breakfast for an amazing breakest; cranberry and chocolate muffins, thai black sticky rice with peaches, spianch something i cant spell with walnut bread!! very yummy.

On Saturday night we went to the seasons bistro in queen elizabeth park to have dinner with Rose. The food was brilliant, and we had a few good laughs! Me and Rose shared a delicous starter of tomato's, mozarella and balsmic vinger, i then a steak (most expesnive thing on menu go me) and the we all shared a beautiful cheesecake! I think i will get dad to take me back next time hes in town... i need to dine in style once in a while!

Team

2006-09-16T13:33:00.000-07:00

Hey

Pais goes into the schools offering a varity of different resources each school can tap into; assemblies on moral standards, healthly lifestyles, CAPP, and self confidence. We also provide things like psorts clubs, workshops, lunch clubs, tutoring, homework classes, mentoring and anything the school would like us to get involved in.

As a pioneer team, we have no resources and no money, so we are relying on donations, if and when they come in. This means we have no office supplies, and bascially are in need of money to buy the resources so we can be professional when we go into schools (which Amy will hopefully phone on monday).

If you feel you would like to support what I and my Pais team are doing this year, please contact me and let me know. This can be through finances, or prayer support. If you would like to support the team in prayer, let mw know your e-mail address and i can send you prayer requests and updates.

Thanks

God bless

Rosie <><

www.paisproject.com

Vision

2006-09-09T21:15:00.002-07:00

Well, I have had a busy week - although it started with a bank holiday which was cool.

Vision Week
On tuesday we spent the day dicussing our own visions for the year and future, listen to an awesome seminar and then went to sit in a park to give each other our testimonies which was awesome.

Wednesday, i managed to get a lie in as we went to a prayer lunch, where pastors across Vancouver gathered to pray for the city, which was great! Then Amy, Denai and I went scavenger hunting - we manged to get a free manicure, $50 off subway, 2 x vintage 1930's suitcases, a crib, a fake blackberry and 3 fake mobile phones which is awesome as we can use them through out the year, we also got promise of some goods from a travel shops and possibly some manquins.

Thurs, I led a devotion in the importance of prayer, we then did a prayer walk, and ended up in a park on swings. then we brainstormed vision andf what we wanted to see in the school, churches and own lives.

Friday, Denai led a devotion in a Harvest, we made some cards - all artsy crafty which isnt my style, we then had lunch with Jade (Denai's Youth Pastor), then brainstormed promotion, listened to another seminar, then prayed and went for coffee.

Friday night, we had youth group which was cool. but before that could happen Joel got stung by a wasp - bless his little cotton socks. It was good to meet the youth, and it was more of a social event.

Today i got up to listen to the Saints at 6am (we lost), but i couldnt hear the second half, so i went back to bed, and when i got up, Tom has made pancakes for me which was awesome. I then went to Metro town, the 2nd largest mall in canada, with Rose, Denai and Rebekka, and brought some awesome straightners. I planned Joel's birthday cake - and hopefully it will work out, as loads of people will be there.

Tomorrow, Tom will introduce me to the church and next week to Utown, which is cool.

God bless x

2006-09-03T21:54:00.000-07:00

hey

2006-09-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

Hey

Well I arrived in Vancouver, Canada, just under a week ago, and im loving it!

Ive been to Lynn Valley, Deep Cove, Spanish Banks, Stanley park and downtown to areas such as Gas Town, and driven through - in a limo- China town and various places. On my first night in Vancouver the Pais:Canada crew met up for a social and we had a limo take us around vancouver for an hour which was cool!

Im really excited to be here and cant wait to see what God's brought me here to do in reality with the youth at Point Grey Community Church (PGCC) and Utown (the church plant) and in the schools! I know im going to grow and be stretched tons, but yet have such a time of influence in these kids lives.

Pais:Canada Westside, is made up of the lovely Amy Hicks (team leader), wonderful Denai Barker and myself. Other names you might hear mentioned in the next 10 months are:
North Shore: Andrew Poxon, Mel Easton and Jenna
Vancouver: Ali, Rose and Rebekka (not sure on that spelling)
along with Rebecca Bailey the Canadian director, Paul Gibbs, founder of Pais, Ben Woodman pais chaplain guy, Lawerance Senior pastor of PGCC and yeah people lol!

Here are some photos of the lovely Pais:Canada crew, Tom (the youth pastor at PGCC), Liz, his wife and Joel their son and of course some sights!

God Bless

Rosie & Jim

p.s hopefully this will be updated regularly so you guys can keep updated on my year if you would like and see whats going on! if not sorry im just too busy!