I'm terribly sorry that I haven't written anything on this blog lately, but Capernwray life has gotten really busy! Things are really starting to pick up now… with study project preparations, lecturers, and just having personal devotions. It's really starting to feel like reading God's Word is all I ever do! Which isn't a bad thing at all. I could get used to this kind of lifestyle (:
I just can't get over this dream I had last night. It's so weird, yet so cool. I dreamed that I went to heaven. I was waiting in a line of lots of people to go into this building to get judged by God. When I got into this building, there was God and two doors. One door said "heaven" above it, and the other said "hell" above it. I went up to God and He read out to me EVERYTHING I'd done in my life, good and bad, excellent and evil. Then He told me I was good to go and pointed me towards the "heaven" door. Now the rest of the dream is kind of a blur. Basically, heaven was just like earth in my dream, except better. But it essentially looked the same. And I remember my good friend Elijah was in heaven with me. But there's this one part that totally stuck out to me: I was hanging out with Jesus, looking down at the people on earth, and you know, watching them. Then someone on earth said, "oh my word" (in replacement for 'oh my god' or likewise), and Jesus said, "there they go. Talking about my Bible again." Now, the reason why this stuck out to me so much was because I often say that as a replacement for 'oh my god' or 'oh my gosh' or likewise. It's like God was convicting me in my sleep! Anyway, something to ponder for me. It was really strange, but kinda cool at the same time.
What's been going on at Capernwray, you might be wondering? Well, since I last wrote, we've had three full weeks. The week of October 24-29, we had Bill Hall come teach us on Joshua. That was pretty great. He has lots of interesting stories and whatnot about how God's provided in his life. I have to admit though that he wasn't my favourite speaker. Then the week of October 31-November 4, we had Lawrence Jensen from Capernwray Harbour come teach us on the first half of Acts (just Peter & the other apostle's ministry). We'll be getting the second half (Paul's ministry stuff) later in the year. Lawrence has been my favourite speaker so far this year. He did a whole class on baptism and what it really is and what it really means to be saved. It was really cool and reassuring. This past week, our very own Steve Thiessen started teaching us on 1 Corinthians, which was also super cool. Steve is definitely one of my favourites, and it's not because I'm biased, he's just that good (:
Last weekend, November 4-6, Capernwray shipped us out to volunteer at Missions Globales! Now, I wasn't very excited about this because my French is incredibly lacking! I was at the Info Center all evening on the Friday. Thankfully, I had another woman with me who spoke French and a little bit of English. Smart, because I speak English and a little bit of French. We complimented each other! She took care of the French people and I took care of the English people. And seeing as it's in Montreal, I sat there most of the time with simply a smile on my face!
There were lots of interesting kiosks and stuff set up there. There were actually 3 kiosks from Manitoban organizations. I only recognized one of them though… Canadian Mennonite University! They were advertising their Outtatown program. One of my friends is actually doing that program this year. So I thought that was kinda cool. The lady at that kiosk was actually the same lady that came to the SR on Options Day to talk about CMU. Funny to see a familiar face in a foreign province!
I'm quite looking forward to this week in classes because Wayne Lee is coming to teach! My brother says that he's the best. And everyone else I've talked to always talks super positive about him. Many lecturers just stay in their room the whole week, except for some meals and while teaching, but apparently Wayne Lee's the kinda guy that will pick up a tea towel and dry dishes with you! I think that's pretty great!
I suppose that's it for this blog entry. It's less than a month until I come home for Christmas. I'm really looking forward to being in Manitoba with everyone I love so dearly again! For those wondering, I'll be flying home on December 8th. And for those EFCers: I will be in church that Sunday, the 11th!
Love,
Janessa (:
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Ste Agathe des Monts
Oh my lanta, what to say? Well, Capernwray life has been really crazy this past week! I'm not even sure if I'll cover a majority of what's been going on.
Tuesday, October 18:
Outreach Ministries! Me and Katia (one of the staff members here) went and planted a whole bunch of plants in Pierre's garden (another staff member). We had SO much fun. We also got really really dirty. It started to rain in the middle of our gardening, but we kept on going. The rest of the team was at someone's house raking leaves, again (it seems like that's all we ever do here haha). Eric (the other community help staff) said we looked like we went rolling in the mud. My clothes are still dirty!
Wednesday, October 19 - Sunday, October 23:
Off to Ste Agathe des Monts! All of the 17 students this year got billeted out into local peoples homes. We then had classes every day on evangelism at this pastor's house (where I actually stayed). His name is Michael Gagnon. He taught us what evangelism really is. I think it's pretty important to know what it actually is, seeing as I come from an evangelical Christian background (:
On Friday, we were given a mission: to go out into the town of Ste Agathe des Monts and discover things about the town. Where there's spiritual needs; the things to do around the town; what kinds of people live there; what the youth do; what types of shops there are; the history of the town; the geography of the town, etc. Stuff like that. Because when you're going into a place to evangelize, it's really good to actually know the place you're going into. From experiment I learned: I really don't know Steinbach, my hometown, that well. I don't know what the spiritual needs are. Everyone is trying to evangelize in Steinbach, but no one really knows what kinds of things they should be doing. Who they should be reaching out to.
So this is my idea. When I get home at Christmas, I'm thinking about taking the time and some people (because it's more fun with more than one person) and walking around Steinbach, getting to know the place I call home. So that, one day, I can evangelize in my hometown. I think it's important to actually take the time to discover what needs we have in the town and just going out and talking to people! Evangelism can be as simple as just taking the time to talk to people around the town.
Simple ways to connect with people:
1) Instead of going to the ATM, go to the bank teller and actually have a conversation.
2) Doing the above at the grocery store, instead of going to the self-checkout in Superstore!
3) Talking to the person beside you on the airplane. You're with each other for quite a while, might as well spend the time getting to know them.
4) Strike up a conversation with someone who's sitting by themselves at a restaurant or coffee shop.
Someone once said (I don't know who, but I'm gonna quote them anyway, haha)... "Jesus did most of His ministry, on His way to doing ministry". Why can't we? Why can't we do ministry while grocery shopping? Why can't we do ministry while running errands? Why can't we do ministry while sitting down to have a coffee or a bite to eat? At our workplace? In our homes? In our schools? Also, ministry does not limit itself to the non-believers. We can minister to believers as well, by encouraging them in their walk and actually taking the time to walk with them on their journey towards God. As they do with you as well...
I'd just like to end off this blog entry by thanking some people. I'm sorry if I miss some people (because there's lots!), but just consider yourself included in this list if you're reading this blog entry. My parents, Abby, Missy, Mo & Karen, Melissa, Joylyn, Maddy, Amanda, Justin, Cynthia, Elya, Kaitlyn, Bobbi-Jo, Nat, and tons more! I just wanted to say THANK YOU for caring enough about me to not let me walk this journey of faith on my own. Thank you for always teaching me new things and guiding me along the way. Thank you for coming alongside of me in my walk with God. And I hope that I can do the same for you guys someday.
Love,
Janessa
Tuesday, October 18:
Outreach Ministries! Me and Katia (one of the staff members here) went and planted a whole bunch of plants in Pierre's garden (another staff member). We had SO much fun. We also got really really dirty. It started to rain in the middle of our gardening, but we kept on going. The rest of the team was at someone's house raking leaves, again (it seems like that's all we ever do here haha). Eric (the other community help staff) said we looked like we went rolling in the mud. My clothes are still dirty!
Wednesday, October 19 - Sunday, October 23:
Off to Ste Agathe des Monts! All of the 17 students this year got billeted out into local peoples homes. We then had classes every day on evangelism at this pastor's house (where I actually stayed). His name is Michael Gagnon. He taught us what evangelism really is. I think it's pretty important to know what it actually is, seeing as I come from an evangelical Christian background (:
On Friday, we were given a mission: to go out into the town of Ste Agathe des Monts and discover things about the town. Where there's spiritual needs; the things to do around the town; what kinds of people live there; what the youth do; what types of shops there are; the history of the town; the geography of the town, etc. Stuff like that. Because when you're going into a place to evangelize, it's really good to actually know the place you're going into. From experiment I learned: I really don't know Steinbach, my hometown, that well. I don't know what the spiritual needs are. Everyone is trying to evangelize in Steinbach, but no one really knows what kinds of things they should be doing. Who they should be reaching out to.
So this is my idea. When I get home at Christmas, I'm thinking about taking the time and some people (because it's more fun with more than one person) and walking around Steinbach, getting to know the place I call home. So that, one day, I can evangelize in my hometown. I think it's important to actually take the time to discover what needs we have in the town and just going out and talking to people! Evangelism can be as simple as just taking the time to talk to people around the town.
Simple ways to connect with people:
1) Instead of going to the ATM, go to the bank teller and actually have a conversation.
2) Doing the above at the grocery store, instead of going to the self-checkout in Superstore!
3) Talking to the person beside you on the airplane. You're with each other for quite a while, might as well spend the time getting to know them.
4) Strike up a conversation with someone who's sitting by themselves at a restaurant or coffee shop.
Someone once said (I don't know who, but I'm gonna quote them anyway, haha)... "Jesus did most of His ministry, on His way to doing ministry". Why can't we? Why can't we do ministry while grocery shopping? Why can't we do ministry while running errands? Why can't we do ministry while sitting down to have a coffee or a bite to eat? At our workplace? In our homes? In our schools? Also, ministry does not limit itself to the non-believers. We can minister to believers as well, by encouraging them in their walk and actually taking the time to walk with them on their journey towards God. As they do with you as well...
I'd just like to end off this blog entry by thanking some people. I'm sorry if I miss some people (because there's lots!), but just consider yourself included in this list if you're reading this blog entry. My parents, Abby, Missy, Mo & Karen, Melissa, Joylyn, Maddy, Amanda, Justin, Cynthia, Elya, Kaitlyn, Bobbi-Jo, Nat, and tons more! I just wanted to say THANK YOU for caring enough about me to not let me walk this journey of faith on my own. Thank you for always teaching me new things and guiding me along the way. Thank you for coming alongside of me in my walk with God. And I hope that I can do the same for you guys someday.
Love,
Janessa
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