Surrey isn't all bad..

So this past weekend was the Youth Rally at Sunshine Hills in Surrey. We all piled into the van (plus two in the car along with luggage) at about 3 o'clock on friday and headed for Nanaimo. The ferry ride was..well..a ferry ride :P We went up on the deck and had fun with all the wind. The drive to the church seemed so long, but finally we were there..late..but we were there. The worship was great and so was the sermon (Pastor Dan is AMAZING). The best part tho was seeing camp people again, especially Tayler!! It all seemed to go by too fast, and before we knew it, we were the only ones left. Us girls (me being the only leader, and then 8 students) got the portable, which was really nice actually! The guys got the church. Everything seemed to be going fine..we were listening to music and laughing and just having fun..then all of a sudden there was a bunch of pounding on the back door and yelling. The girls started screaming and everyone ran to the door (no idea why!). While me and Marika were yelling at everyone to stop screaming, Steph was yelling "We're all gonna die!!" and Chelsea "I'm not screaming!!" Then someone said something about him having an axe..which really didn't help the situation! Finally we got everyone to be quiet and go back to the couches. The pounding had stopped so I called Jay and he said all the guys were there and (get this) most of them were sleeping. Being in the state of mind I was in, I believed him. A few minutes later he called me and told me it was all a joke and that it had been Cody. I hung up on him. He called me back to apologize. And has been apologizing over and over again since! :P I guess when he was trying to call me, his phone died. So he had to run around the room trying to find a plug in to turn his phone back on, and then Kelsey called, but he ignored her call to call me back. The thing that scared me the most about this was that I was the ONLY leader, so I was responsible for these girls. Jay said he didn't think of that until after, and if he had, then he wouldn't have let the guys do it. Looking back on the event now, I laugh. But other than that, the trip was lots of fun. Randy got me Starbucks in the morning so I was quite content :) The trip home didn't seem as long. Although we did have to wait awhile cause we were really early for our ferry. But there is definitly good stories and memories coming out of this trip and I can't wait for the next trip.
Well I think I've written enough.. :P
Later Gators!!

17 DAYS TILL CONSUMED!!

Did you know that lime jello gives off the same brain waves as adult males?

So a friend informed me that I haven't blogged in a bit..so I decided that as I sit here in the library during my spare, I would blog. I'll just recap my week and week to come.

Last night was the Jazz Cabaret at my school. Six groups performed, including our Jazz Band and Vocal Jazz, Vanier's Jazz Band and Vocal Jazz, Isfeld's Jazz Band and a special treat, a choir from Wales. Everyone performed really well. Our teachers kept saying it wasn't a competition, but if it was, we totally won. Just putting that out there :P I had a solo in Jazz Band and played it perfectly. I was very happy and got many compliments afterwards, a few even from the Wales choir! The highlight of the night, however, was when my teacher came up the steps to the stage to conduct, she tripped on the last step and just about fell on the front row of saxaphones. She landed on her knees and sorta caught herself on a stand. It was quite hilarious. She's fine though..a little bruise on the knee I believe. The only thing that sucked about the concert last night, was that I missed Cadres, but there will be more.

Andrea is coming today!!! If you don't know, she is my BEST friend and has been since grade 6. She moved to Surrey at the end of grade 10, which really sucks. But she's coming to visit. Sadly, I don't actually get to see her till friday, because of Youth Group and work. But we're going out for breakfast and then probably go shopping for a bit on friday.

FRIDAY!! OMIGOSH so excited! Even though its only one night, Youth Rally is gonna be SA-WEET! I'm just so stoked to see camp people again. And I love traveling places..even short distances :P. I wanted to go to the Ladies Conference, but I don't have the moola right now..and I have work too and could only book off so much time. But that's alright..it'll still be good.

So I think thats all I have to say right now. That's pretty much my life in the last week in a nutshell.

Later Gators!!*

*That's "Later Gators!!" in Webdings :)

Flow

Yesterday at church Pastor Scott continued our series called Flow. The point of the sermon was Whoever holds our heart determines our future, so we must not follow our heart, we must lead our heart. Matthew 6:19-24 talked about not storing our treasures on earth because they will overtake our hearts. If you allow earthly treasures to hold your heart, they will start to control your emotions and the way you percieve things. We need to let God hold our hearts.
Every sermon I hear affects me in some way. They always do..but this one really hit hard. I have been guilty of telling people to "follow your heart" and I too have listened to this "advice". 1 Peter 5:7 says "Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you." Looking at my life and the way I lead my heart, at times I see I have not been doing the best I can. I have sometimes feared that He will do something I don't like...but that's not true. I now see that I need to completely and fully put my heart in God's hands, because He will always be there to teach me how to lead my own heart and He will never do anything with it to hurt me. I am learning how to lead my heart and I am happy with the way things are going right now. I have an amazing family, friends, boyfriend, job, schooling...life. I'd say I'm doing pretty good! But i know that if I ever struggle (and I know I will!) that when I turn around, no matter how far I get, God will always be there, heart in hand, waiting to catch me if ever I fall.

Thanksgiving Poem

Beauty as far as the eye can see
Only one as great as you
Could create such wonders
So many times we turn away
But you never leave our side
We boast to those around
The love of the Lord Almighty
We wear the Belt of Truth
And the Shield of Faith
And we give our all to you
No more holding back
No more fear
Thanking you for all you've done
We humble ourselves and praise

Lead.

Last night at Youth is was so amazing. We were a little small in numbers, but that didn't matter because God was still there in great abundance. Pastor Matt spoke and it was AWESOME!! He talked about not letting your emotions control you, but not to be completely emotionless. It was good. Then after he was done, we had a time of prayer where students could pray by themselves or with a leader. I prayed for a few girls and I just felt SO proud of them so stepping up and saying they wanted to Lead. I also felt touched that they trusted me with things they told me. I'm liking this series on Leading because its something I do and love to do. It great to be able to learn more about how I can lead further and not just lead others, but lead myself.
I am so so so SOOOO stoked for Consumed!! I don't even know exactly whats happening yet, but just knowing that its coming is getting me syked! I am also excited for this Sunday. The service is gonna be AMAZING and then I get to go to Nanaimo and see a bunch of family. It's gonna be great.
Going kayaking tomorrow morning, so I should wrap it up and head to bed soon.

Later Gators!!

Woot Woot!

So today I got my new phone :D :D :D I'm pretty stoked on it. Not really a lot to say...its better than my old one. A big thank you to Russ for helping pay for it :)
Message/call/comment on this and leave your number so i can add it again. My number is the same.

Later Gators

She's BAAACCKKK

Alrighty..wow so much to say now. Where to start?? Homewood. Good place to start. So even though I was only there for 2 1/2 days, it was so much fun! We got there and did the whole tour thing and then got our rooms. My room had 11 people in it, and the other rooms had 2-6 in each :P Then we did our "get to know you" games. They included one called "Do you like your neighbours" and another called "Human Bingo". Last years Syrup mishap was definitly brought up in that game..and many other times on the trip. All the staff that wasn't there last year (pretty much everyone) was filled in pretty quick. If you don't know what happened, long story short, i poured boiling hot pancake syrup BY ACCIDENT on my hand and burnt it. It was pretty embarassing. The whole trip was pretty fun, but there was one incident that, in the end, wasn't very fun at all. We were sailing, and seeing how far we could tip the boat over. Roper (the staff guy, real name John) got me to get on the beam that the sail is on that swings around the boat. So I wrapped my arms and legs around it and he tipped the boat. My head was about 3 inches away from the water. Then he went to do it again, but one guy was leaning on my leg, so I moved it just as Roper tipped the boat. I slid around the beam, hanging upside down. My head and shoulders went under water, and since the boat was moving, the current dragged me under. It was kinda funny, until I got back on the boat and my friend was like "Don't you have your phone in your pocket?" I was in shock..I was pretty upset. So yeah..salt water and phones don't go good together..my phone is done.
It was sad to leave homewood on friday, but now i can't wait for our youth retreat. A few of the staff members are stoked too cause not only am i going back, but some of my jazz friends want to come on the retreat too, so thats awesome.
Can't really think of anything else to say at the moment..plus I'm getting kicked off the computer. So I will add more another time.

Later Gators!!