camp

pray for us/me. i will be camping for the next 2 weeks with teenagers... pray for hearts, health, fun, safety, salvation... all that.. thanks guys.. talk to you in 2 weeks.

london and prayers

hey. just got back from a week in london. was.. interesting. not my favourite of places, but ive seen it now and can say ive been there, and can just chalk it up to another experience/adventure...

i have just a little bit over 4 weeks left now, which is just so crazy. the staff and team here had a goodbye bbq for me and a big thank you nite for me last nite.. and in just a little over a week, i will be headed off to 2 weeks worth of camp with kids aged 7-14. it will be sleeping outside, (or not sleeping, more realistically), and going 24/7 until i have to come home. i have a couple of days to somehow say goodbyes to all the families and people i have been involved with over the last year, and then just a wee bit of time to pack and come home.. its going to fly be.. be exhausting and a great way to finish off. heres just a couple pics of my trip to london, more of camp and stuff will be coming.

God has done so many things in me, thru me and around me this year, that to blog half of the things would be impossible.. all i can say is my life is changed... again.. and i am in the palm of His hand and am actually looking forward to coming home this time. its time. i have so much peace about it. i look back at one of the most difficult and stretching years i have ever had, 8 countries later, and having experienced every emotion you can possibly have in a day, every day here.. and i thank God for the experience.. and look forward to finishing off well.. thanking you for all the prayers and asking for continued ones.. as i am not finished yet..

its a good feeling to not be sad to come home, and to have a healthy balance of emotions leaving. i will miss it, but life goes on, life happens wherever i am.. and God is at work wherever i will end up, and i have learned that wherever i go and wherever i am, i can love, serve and be. so, thank you for your faithful prayers, i wish i could tell you how much they have been as vital as air to me, but just trust that God has been listening and answering.

please pray for my health, as i wont be getting much sleep this next month, and will be using energy i dont have, with kids that need love and need to experience the gospel thru my actions to them. pray for endurance, patience, love, that i would find times to meet with God regularly, and that my heart, mind and emotions would be guarded in Christ.. satan tends to kick us while were down, or will find ways to try and distract, or pry in and make things seem extra bad when im tired or whatever.. so pray God gives me everything i need, in the moments i need them.. i need Him, every moment.. pray for my emotions. pray for clarity of mind. pray for the energy that i will need.. for health and for God to prepare me for coming back home and for saying goodbye.. pray for my future as i come home... i have no clue what ill be doing when i get back.. but know God has got it sorted.. just pray for me. cover me in prayer this next month.. i need it. thanks again.. will be on again shortly. God bless.

shawnda

broken neck in one more second

so, every day is full of adventure here at the mission, and yesterday in everyway lived true to that.. another monday.. or so one would think. since sunday morning we havent had water in the whole mission, something is wrong with the tanks.. meaning, no showers, no laundry.. no boiling water, drinking water, having tea.. cooking.. brushing teeth.. etc... something you just deal with, i guess, when you live in a building that is hundreds of years old.. a wierd start to the weekend, but we manage..

to get ourselves in better moods, anni, leisel and i had a lovely, amazing breakfast on our roof, in the 70 degree weather.. looking over all of dublin.. a great start so far. after that, we realised that there was a huge outdoor market and festival happening in town, so we headed out on the town.. and it was fabulous... bagpipe players, men walking around in kilts, homemade food from all over the world, pirate ships on the liffey. it was a beautiful morning, out with friends, enjoying some of dublins finest culture, music and outdoors shops.. was great.. reminded me of home, and that was really cool.

after our long, hot day of being out, we arrived home, each go to our own apartments.. i start watching some tv, open all the windows and am enjoying the relaxing.. until i hear a noise.. a strange noise i couldnt quite put my finger on, so i went to investigate.. i walk thru the kitchen, into the hallway, that is covered in water that is pouring down our staircase, and so i open the bathroom door to a flood. now, you have to understand that i live on the second story of a building that has a huge metal door with numerous, necessary locks to get in.. but to get down to, you must go down two flights of stairs.. all the windows have very necessary bars on them that are unremovable.. so our only fire escape/exit in case of an emergency, is a ladder that is bolted into our shower that leads us onto the roof, in which case we would need to archaically jump to the apartments next to our building about 4 feet away.. not a great system..

so, as i open the bathroom door.. the water tank situated above our shower is completly overflowing and pouring thru every crack in the wall, and there is, at this point, about 3 inches of water on the floor, filling the tub, sink, toilet.. and running into every room of our house.. i immediately call leisel from upstairs.. she comes to help me turn the mains off.. and has to climb the ladder in our shower to get up to it and finally reaches it and turns the water off.. she gets scared of heights, cuz she is about 15 feet up on our wee, unstable ladder.. so i volunteer to go up, cuz we needed to open the rooftop exit, and im not afraid of heights.. so i begin to climb, were both soaking wet at this point, she goes into the kitchen to get me the scissors.. i secure the ladder and begin my journey up.. well, at that point, the two parts of the ladder my legs and feet were on give out, and start to unravel, as such, and you just hear, clank, clank, clank, bang, bang.. me screaming.. cuz im dangling about 14 feet over a soaking, ceramic tub, and as im screaming, leisels carefully runs in, but cant get there too fast, cuz of the wet tiles and slippery floors, and within about 20 seconds, the ladder gave out, and im dangling and flailing on the top rungs, for dear life with a grip that was the only thing falling to break all my bones and a concussion.

she comes on, grabs my legs, im banging against everything and finally we get me down, the ladder comes crashing to the ground, were on the soaking floor, unable to believe what just happened.. what a day!!!! by the grace of God, somehow i didnt plunge to a very bad outcome, and we just laughed and laughed and laughed, from the adrenaline of it all and then we freaked out when reality hit..

it was insane! my ankles a bit bruised, i have a touch of whiplash, but all and all, with some muscle relaxers and rest, im ok.. thank God!.. so we continued to mop up the apartment.. get everything dry, and walked downstairs, only to realise that the water has flooded the downstairs and gone into our circuit breakers and everything electric that runs our building and it was all soaked. at this point, we had to unplug everything, i had to stay the night up at her flat, in case something shorted.. and ya.. its just been a crazy weekend..

at this point, you can be praying, cuz we have no water on all 4 stories of our building.. 5 people will be staying in our building this week, and none of us can shower, or do laundry.. and to cook or drink it, we have to buy it.. which isnt so handy when you walk everywhere.. you can also just pray and thank God for having His protection over me.. it was so close to a very bad thing.. so thank you for your prayers.. your continued ones even for safety and protection.. God bless you guys, im off to london in two days for a week.. more adventureous stories to come.

oh, and after the whole ordeal, we went to the biggest park in europe.. right in the middle of dublin.. we climbed trees, saw deer, and had amazing time being in such an amazing place. what a day.. phew!

wow, its been awhile

how do i catch up a month of stuff, when everyday here is packed with so much that it feels like a month?!

ok.. so, ill do my best to breifly update you all and then write properly next time.

in the last month, things have been crazy busy, and amazing. God has answered so many prayers and i have been blessed with more oppurtunities to see this world.

the last couple of months were pretty tough going, as you all may or may not be aware of.. becuz of the nature of ppl that i work with, and the amount of gang and drug activity around me 24/7.. the area i work in was under major spiritual attack, and the darkness and oppression were so thick.. the last year has been crazy.. i have been threatened, and assaulted, and around so much violence and it was tough.. there were a couple of my teens who were so out of control that it was really difficult to just make it thru a day here at times.. BUT GOD is so faithful.. and answers prayer.. love actually does cover a multitude of sins, and darkness must flee when we persist in prayer and perservere as children of the light in faith that God is working and moving even when we see not and feel not. the teens that we continued to love, despite their behaviour and violence.. are now seeing Gods love in a way they have never before.. have apologised profusely and are slowly coming to us now for love and support.. one of the girls who attacked me actually asked, in front of our whole group, how come i still loved her? and how could i still give her hugs and give her a chance after everything that she had done to me?.. and it was amazing being able to tell them all.. that God loved them.. and had plans for their lives.. and that we saw something in them of so much value that they can not see.. all they are told is that they are good for nothing, going no where and are just a bunch of drug addicts and dealers who have no future but prison or death.. being able to sit there, and have all their attention and respect, and tell them what God said about them, was so amazing.. it was a moment, that made the whole year of them being violent, altered and destructive, that made everything seem so worth it.. this is why i am here... perservering in love, when everything tells you the opposite.. pays off.. God has a huge plan.. and just being a part of it.. is amazing.. so praise God.. so many other things.. like, being on the big red bus with my 10-12 year old girls, and being stuck in traffic for an hour.. and them asking me questions about heaven and if hell is real and who the devil is, and if he actually exists.. and then asking me about the Bible and to tell them stories.. they didnt know any!! so i went onto tell them Bible stories and they were captivated!! this month has just been time and time again of God answering prayer and giving me oppurtunities to love and share Him.. its been amazing..

plus, i got to go to venice, italy with a girl i live with and that was amazing.. (on the way home, we were flying over the alps and looking out the window, and all of a sudden, something struck the wing that we just happened to be sitting by.. and there was this huge jolt... then explosion and fire and the loudest sound ever, on the wing.. and it was pretty much the scrariest thing ever!! ppl were freaking out, my roomate started sobbing.. i am not afraid to fly but was terrified, we were not sure what was going on.. and the captain came on the intercom and said that we had just been struck by lightening and that everything seemed to be ok and that they were going to continue on.. and we didnt sleep the rest of the way.. scariest thing ever!!).. but over all, the trip was amazing.. so right out of a movie.. everything that you imagine... was there.. everything that you think of when you think of italy.. was there, just more amazing, though.. so here are some pics of that..

lets see.. in 3 weeks, i will be going camping for the rest of my year.. dcm does 9 weeks of 9 separate camps with the kids and families that we work with.. so you can be praying about that. its a huge oppurtunity to share the gospel and Christ and love and to have amazing conversations with these ppl.. so pray for my health.. my time there, and getting no sleep for a couple weeks straight and that God would sustain and use me and help me to finish well.. and then i come home on the 16th of july!!

time is flying. God is doing amazing things.. i am excited to come home, but also am excited to finish this year well.. He has taught me more than i could ever relay to anyone.. my life has changed.. again.. and everything is very good.. im not sad to leave, im not happy to leave.. life is what it is, and i have done it enough now, to where i am realising that each season of my life is different.. good.. and so different.. each moment i have, is not my own.. and i have learned that whether i am here, there or somewhere else.. that God is good.. God is there.. God is the same.. God has plans and that i just go with it, in contentment.. finally!! im learning, slowly, but surely.. that wherever i am, He is.. so im good wherever.. its awesome..

oh ya, and i got to go to belfast this last weekend and i got to spend time with andy, my old roomate from when i lived in northern ireland for the year.. im sure you all remember the crazy stories i have from those days.. but i havent seen him in 4 years!!! and it was soooo good to spend time with him and reminisce about our crazy days.. it was good..

this next week ill be in london for a week.. should be good.. have never been.. and then, before you know it.. ill be home!! craziness. sorry this blog is so all over the place.. just alot to catch up on!! ill write again sooner than later.. lots of love to you all. God bless.