love feast elves

last saturday of each quarter, ywam has a celebration called 'love feast' . it is your typical fancy dinner with a dress up theme and a talent show. we had ours last week, and the theme was 'white christmas' which was convenient because it sure did snow!

they had it at our other campus, 'eagle rock' which is up in the mountains.

the night was fun, but not overly eventful, except that some girlfriends and i had planned a secret dance involving a santa and 4 of his elves. we had kept it a secret for about 5 weeks, so we were dying to show everyone! we sewed little elf costumes and everything! it wasn't a particularly good dance, but it was funny! especially watching sarah trying to do it with her broken wrist!

here is a video we made of the dance:

it's NEGATIVE 27 degrees right now.

and my bedroom window has iced shut...

click here for the news report: (keep in mind, these details are FAHRENHEIT) 

when the snow is not so soft...

this past week has been a crazy week. we have had so many visitors in and out of our base. 

on monday we had a memorial service for those killed in the shootings exactly a year before. about 150 people came to the worship service and midnight candlelight memorial, where it snowed like crazy, just like it did on that night a year ago. 

the families of the victims and the gunman were there - and were united in their loss... never have i heard so many testimonies of how faithful God is, even in a time of utter tragedy. 

"for God works all things for the good of those who love him"

the night after that all the students went to a theatre to watch a documentary that had been filmed on the snowboarder's dts. we are praying that it gets released nationally, if not internationally. 

snowboarding

yesterday, we had our phase II snowboarding day - which was my first encounter with snow sports! and wow. snowboarding is harder than it looks. it took me 3.5 hours to complete one run... i know. it's embarrassing, but i spent 75% of that time on my butt. 

here is a video to give you a little taste of what i did for most of the time: 

"everything hurts!"

i woke up this morning, and muscles i didn't even know i had were aching , it is so hard to move! but despite all that, it was so so much fun, and i am so thankful that i didn't get seriously hurt (like my friend sarah here who broke her wrist when she tripped over a little boy)

winter time

in the past month i have been introduced to so many american traditions: ( i know i've already mentioned a few of these, but i thought i'd elaborate )

October 31st: Halloween

i have spoken to alot of christians about this holiday, which i think seems a strange thing to celebrate in the most 'christian' nation in the world. mostly the christians celebrate it as a 

'harvest festival' where they participate in the less creepy aspects of halloween, like dressing up and trick or treating. 

my friends insisted i go trick or treating, so on halloween night, we made a pathetic attempt to dress up like robots in cardboard boxes and aluminum foil! we then trekked out to the richest neighbourhoods with our pillowcases to collect all the lollies. i didn't think people would really give to a bunch of 20 something year olds, but they were impressed with our efforts and the fact that it was my first halloween ever...

November 20th: Thanksgiving

we had a 4 day weekend for this holiday, so that people had enough to fly home if they wanted to spend thanksgiving with their families. 

i and 4 other from the base were invited to my friend whitney's house, who lives here in denver. it felt alot like christmas to me - a big lunch on a ping-pong table that had been turned into a table with alot of autumn decorations around the place. 

i was informed that turkey was manditory for this meal and there was so much shock

 when i confessed that i had never tried pumpkin pie before. lucky i liked it, cause all eyes were on me when i was eating it! 

it snowed alot on thanksgiving day, which was so much fun! later that night, we tied sleds to the

 back of a friends truck and he pulled us around the church parking lot next to the base. i have never seen so much snow! 

November 21st: Black Friday

this day is similar to our boxing day, i guess. it is basically a public holiday where the shops sell everything at a ridiculous discount - and the crowds come out in their multitudes to find the best deals. 

a few of us lined up at some shops before opening time in the snow, and then fought through the crowds for all the 75% off bargains. i didn't really buy much, but it was fun to watch and be a part of. 

but, humans will be humans when it comes to this sort of thing - one shop attendant at a wallmart in denver was crushed and killed by the crowds when she opened the front door to let them in. crazy. 

anyway - i am really enjoying the winter weather. the snow in denver is sporadic which means you get a bought of it followed by a few days of warmer, beautiful weather - it means you never get sick of the cold or the snow. i love getting bundled up every time we go out (yes, it's still a novelty i guess) and i love the crunching sound that snow makes under your feet. i have had a couple of funny falls, but it's always a soft landing :) 

my close girlfriends and i love to go and sit on the swing sets when we have a free day - this is one of the things i'm really going to miss. 

phase II

Hello everyone! 

Yes, i know, it has been a while! 

At the moment i am half-way through my second school in back in Denver. It is called 'Phase II' and it is a leadership school that goes for three months. So far, it has been great. very different to DTS, but so so good! We have had teachings in topics like effective personal ministry, spiritual leadership, worldviews and public speaking. 

My favorite topic was this week's teaching on 'Peace under Pressure' which was a breakdown on the different areas of the christian life that we are tempted to compromise in... It has been very challenging and edifying. 

Other than teachings, we have had numerous projects to work on - two of them have been outreach projects designed to teach us how to lead outreaches and initiate new ministries on the mission field. There is alot of work, but it is all such quality stuff. 

My class has 19 people in my class - again we are a very versatile bunch, which makes for some interesting times of fellowship! 

us girls have bonded well and have done a lot of fun stuff together :) It is fall here right now, so we've had a lot of 'harvest celebrations' - things i've never done before!!

Next week is thanksgiving, and i'm going to spend the day at my friend Whitney's house - apparently i'm going to get the all-american experience! hahaha...

vancouver

i have just ended my time in vancouver. the last two weeks i have been staying with a girl from st. john's shaunessy who has been housesitting, so we've had a lovely big house to ourselves. 

i didn't have alot to do during the day, so i spent most of my time exploring the city, writing letters, studying for my next course at YWAM and baking. i made a few good friends from the church there - a couple of girls in particular. 

vancouver has been a lonely time for me - it is weird finding yourself in a place where you do not know anyone at all... but it was a blessing to have alot of 'down' time and to meet a couple of beautiful girls! 

border crossings

hello everyone! 

after a painfully long day of flying, i made my way toward can

ada from kansas, via atlanta and seattle. i stayed in seattle for a couple of nights (one of which i spent sleeping on a sidewalk... and no, i'm not joking...[i'm going for ambiguity to encourage people to comment on my blog... go on. do it!]) with one of my friends from DTS. 

after that, i've spent the last two weeks with my parents (yay!!) in the lovely vancouver, BC. well, kind of. we actually slept in a cottage just across the border in point roberts, washington, and made our way into canada everyday for all our sightseeing. as a result we have  become quite the border crossers!

for the first week, we saw all the sights around vancouver (stanley park, downtown, ferry trips to vancouver island) and travelled a little up to whistler and down to seattle. we were so lucky with the weather - it was absolutely beautiful! all these rumours of rain are lies! 

for our second week, we planned a 3 night trip to banff and back. sightseeing-wise, this trip has been the best i have taken all year! (and that is a big claim!). we saw alot of northern hemisphere animals like wolves, squirrels, chipmunks, elk, and a black bear that just waltzed across the highway in front of our car! but best of all, the scenery was absolutely breathtaking! here is the proof:

elk... we think. we aren't sure. but we ARE sure that they were about to charge...

oh, i'm going to miss those sights!

while we've been here, we have had alot to do with the anglican church here - st.john's shaunessy - because of dad's moore college friends who work here. i have been helping out with the youth group and music stuff, while attending all their regular gatherings. it is so much like our sydney anglican churches, so it has all felt very familiar and comfortable. 

mum and dad left on friday for a cruise through the alaskan islands, so i am now staying with a girl who also leads the youth group at church. it is such a blessing to have 2 weeks to be able to just relax, catch up on reading and writing letters and all that! traveling is so fun, but can be taxing after a while...

untill later, when i have more fun things to report.