Blessed Beyond Measure!

Thanking my heavenly Father for His amazing provision through His people!

Got to visit my home church congregation this afternoon and was so blessed and encouraged to see and hear the support and love that all these people have for me :)

I was overwhelmed and could not wipe the smile off of my face. 

Had the chance to talk to so many of these people that have impacted and continue to influence my life.

My friends, loved one and mentors.

Just feeling incredibly blessed at the moment that God has provided me with so much love and support on this earth.

Thunder and Lightening

Its an awesome night, currently sitting on the balcony enjoying a thunderstorm.

I love the rain especially on such hot, humid summer days. 

Went for run tonight and was very thankful for the cooler temperature compared to Monday evening.

I had a very interesting day today, part of it was very frustrating while other parts where incredibly uplifting.

Being that it is the third week of camp problems between team members are starting to arise as well was people getting tired and such which doesn't always help with united or working together so if you are reading this please prayer for unity for our team! 

Also it is the last week here for a handful of the interns, there will be 3 people leaving from my building at the beginning of next week which really sucks and will be a big adjustment for everyone!

As for good news i had an amazing experience today with one of my young ladies. Our theme for the week is forgiveness and this seems to be a big issue with alot of the girls i am working with. The verse from Matthew 6:14 i believe where is says that if we do not forgive other around us God will not forgive us, is really hard for them to understand and except

. I've heard alot of "its to hard" or "its not fair" or "but they....". 

Today during WordUp i was getting the to journal about how they can start to move towards forgiving some one. One of the girls asked me to help her and because of her change of attitude and body language i could tell she was really serious about what she was doing and was struggling with it. 

We had a really great conversation and i helped her to write out a prayer about her particular situation. It was a very amazing experience for me.....that God choose to use me in this way. 

I love the sky right now the way it is lighting up, it really shows the power of God and makes me watch in awe!

Praise is Awesome and Glorious Name!

Joy Filled!

Second week is done and gone and it went extremely quick!

We where blessed this week with a work team of volunteers that came all the way from Oklahoma to serve with Urban Promise this week, there where 60 people all together spread about the camps which was incredible. 

We had 5 wonderful young adults serving with my team which really was a blessing this week as we where short a few people.

I got to know them quickly and really hit it off with one of the girls, saying goodbye tonight was difficult.

Being the second week at camp everything was better for me, on Wednesday i continued my Passion Project with the kids and we started making paper mache planets for our solar system. 

Also continued my dancing lessons as the girls are attempting to teach me how to dance like a black girl, it is quite fun but i feel super white when i try to dance with them!!

Thursday was a day that we all could only describe as a day filled with joy, everything went so smooth as we went down town to Knox and had a visitor share is testimony which really impacted the kids, it was indeed an amazing day!

Today we went to a church where the work team put on a carnival for us.

This included face painting, games, and crafts and it ended with a gigantic water fight which left everyone soaked to the bone. 

I feel so blessed right now as i look back on the week, there where difficult times of discipline and frustrations but the good times of unity, fellowship and friendship building defiantly out weigh the bad.

The kids and i actually have a relationship now, they are starting to open up and share things with me as well as call my name when ever they need help with anything even if it is to tie a knot for on there bracelet.

My young teenager girls randomly walk over just for a hug, and if they are not smiling or happy i know just what to say to make them smile. I help the boys do sit ups and compete against them while playing basket ball and all of these things make me smile!1

Living in Toronto is also so great, way better then i ever thought it would be, there are parks to go running in and great paths for walking.

I have neighbor kids next door who randomly knock on my door just to say hi or to give me a hug.

I am very blessed and my life is filled with yes JOY!

Caving with the kids!

Week one is finished and we finished it will a bang. But before i go into that i just want to share alittle about how i am feeling about my first week.

I loved it, not ever second but most of them forsure. At the begining of the week i really struggled with having athority over the kids and enforcing things but i have been able to work past that.

Also these kids have won my heart, which really isn't that great of a surprise but still.

Over yesterday and today i really felt like alot of the kids became my friends and not just the kids. They come to camp every day wether they want to or not, it is a great form of child care for many parents even if the kids don't want it.

But i think even for the kids who first didn't want to be there they are now starting to enjoy it and want to be friends with us.

My camp name is Jello and its becoming pretty popular as today its all i heard on the bus. I like it, but it did take alittle bit to get used to.

So today we went on a day trip (like we do every friday). This week we took them to Peterborough to the Warsaw Caves.

It was a gorgeous day and the caves where amazing. I don't know if any of you have ever been in a real cave but it was awesome and to think that our God created it all!

Alot of the caves required alot of team work so that we would all be able to see where we are going so that no well fell. The caves where very intense at one point we {me, my co-leader and ur 6 girls} dropped a full bodies length down a hole. The walls where wet and dirty but it was such a great experience for our girls as they are scared of the tiniest spiders {which does actually really irritate me}.

One of the caves {there where multiple} was so tiny that you had to literally lie on your stomoch and shuffle through the cracks.

In another one it was so cold you could see your own breath which was just amazing since it was such a warm day above ground. It was a super long day but was so rewarding and a huge blessing to have that experience for the kids!

Camp Victory!!!

Wow.....second day of camp is over and i am tired. It started so incredably {thats my word for this week....incredable} yesterday....i couldn't believe how fast the day went! We have 25 kids in the YMAD {Youth Making A Difference} program and 6 girls in my small group.

First day went super well and i enjoyed it so much, my whole team was impressed with how well it went. I had a really kewl experience with one of the girls who has a very strong personality and was challenging me. I had previously discipled her and her challenege to basket ball was done as a dare.

Since i have never really played legit basket ball she had to teach to me her moves and i think it really build respected in us both for eachother.

Last night us Interns went to a worship service which was very encouraging.

Second day of camp also went super well....start with devotions just like every day.

We then bus {i skipped over this part but we do this every day} we bus from a church {where we meet} to a school where camp is held with the kids. We then have games and lunch, Word Up which is bible study time and then more games and snack and free time before we bus back to the church.

On Tuesdays we have Missions Impossible Theme day.

So all our games are based on a point system as well as good behaviour, and the kids lose points with bad behavour or disrespectfullness. That really helps with discipline issues.

Today was harder then yesterday, they kids are getting more comfortable and like to see how much "bad" behaiour they can get away with.

One girl in my game team really gave me a difficult time and i should have made her sit out of free time due to her behaviour but i still struggle with having the athority and being "mean". But talked to me team about it and they are going to encourage and back me up on it which is awesome.

I have a very close knitt and suportive team and i pray that we are able to stay this way even when we grow tired and exhausted because i'm sure we will. 9 hour days at camp make anyone tired.

Tonight we have an Intern night which means Jeremy {our intern director} comes over and makes us all dinner YAHHH! And then we have three hours of devotions and question and talking and all that kind of stuff. Just a real night of fellowship which i am looking forward to.



Second week!

Have been so blessed this past week. After a weekend spent with the many different Interns from all over the world and celebrating Canada day we {as in like 60 people} headed up to Barrie for a three day training retreat. The group was made up of 16 Interns, Programs Directors, Supervisors, and many Street Leaders.

Street leaders are young adults who have grown up in the communities that Urban Promise and reaching today and have gone through Urban Promise programs through out their lives. Once they have out grown the program Urban Promise actually hires them back in a paid position to be able to assist the interns, supervisors and directors in running the programs.

The most amazing part about this is that the kids who come to the programs really look up to the street leaders since they come from the same communities they do, they can relate to them.

So this week we had a three day training retreat in Barrie to prepare everyone in the final steps for Camp which starts on Monday morning.

It was a blessed time of becoming United, our theme this week was to be One Body and our leaders achieved this through lectures, games and challenges where we had to work together as One Body!

Encouraging one another was another major part of this week and i have been so blessed by hearing words of encourgament flowing from peoples lips from so many different culture and countrys building eachother up in the Lord.

We also spent an afternoon completely challenges, one camp competing against the others right up untill the end when we had to unite and work together to complete the last one.

It was alittle difficult as well since we where living in a church for three and a half days with 60 other people, it almost felt like camp the way things worked. I have to say its the first time i've ever had to go a community centre to have my daily shower along with 60 other people. God really provided amazing people to help feed us all and places like the community centre to let us come in every day and shower. One of the other highlights was our little training crew. There are alot of Interns who enjoy to run which is awesome so in our half hour of free time a dozen of us would go for a run and train together. The one night we got stuck in a down pour of rain but then enjoyed getting soaked and jumping in the huge puddles.

After training finished I was able to go home for a day which I am really enjoying to see my family and stuff, whats really cool though is that i was able to bring home with me the four girls that I live with. It is really neat to be able to show them where i am from and for them to meet my family. I am really looking forward to going back home tonight though....Toronto feels like home. Definently enjoying everything about this week so far and I am so excited to start camp on Monday for the next six weeks!! :)