and it begins

I write this in a flurry of working, packing, cleaning and snow. The last was unexpected, until looking out the window this morning to white fluffy stuff falling from the sky! Since when does it snow in March? Maybe it would be better to say, since when does it snow out here in March?

Tomorrow after lunch, my Mission team leaves! We are heading over to Vancouver for our first week. As the hours quickly pass before we leave, I am becoming more and more excited and nervous. Staying with and helping Inner Hope Youth Ministries, we have the opportunity to help and love these people, through just spending time with the youth, work projects around the house, helping with an after-school program and with the local church. If you want to know about the house, you can check out their website at innerhope.ca . Could you please keep us in your prayers. Pray for strength, humility, energy and an open heart to love and learn from these people. Pray that we would be willing to let God to use us in whatever capacity He needs. And for us to be a blessing to the people we come in contact with. Could you also pray for us as we make final preparation and packing, especially as this weekend is one of my weekend helping at the camp and consequently have little time to prepare. (This semester, as part of our program we have one full weekend and one half weekend where we help the camp where ever needed; dishes, activities, maintenance, counselling, etc. This weekend I have the opportunity to be spending my days cooking in the kitchen.)

The previous week included our Gospels course. I regret not having time to tell you more about what happened and everything God revealed to me through the class. Let’s just say I have never been so challenged to think about what it means to follow Jesus. In the gospels, Jesus presents us with a choice to either follow, or not. Reading through the book of Luke in class, opened my eyes to the meaning behind Jesus’ call of ‘Come and follow me!’ As Walter Henrichsen makes clear, “Discipleship will cost us something. It will cost us our lives.” It is going to be hard, but the focus is not on losing our lives for no reason, but doing so as a consequence of embracing Jesus and the gospel.

So as I continue to prepare for the upcoming weeks, striving to truly follow Jesus and put into practice everything I learned last week, know that God will be watching over us and pray that we have faith to believe.

In Christ,
Kylie