Going to Town in Portadown

Tonight myself and at least 3 others from the church are driving up North to Portadown to attend a conference for Christian childrens' workers (or something like that!). Basically its on how to teach God's grace to children/teens in a way that they will understand, I'm sure it will be helpful to myself as well. Those that went last year (it was on a different topic) say that its really good.
We will arrive at the B&B around midnight tonight, and then the conference will take up all of tomorrow, and then we're driving back, so I'm afraid I won't have much daylight to take pictures...its really too bad we have our priorities straight :P

I Have Succumbed!!!

I cruelly left you in suspense of my mysterious "second item"!
Well yesterday I gave in and bought it...
And quite truthfully I only got it because its necessary for my work here...
Sigh.
Yes, I now own a cell phone (or "mobile" as they call them..but maybe Canadian people do to, and I just live under a rock, which is entirely possible).
It is my first cell phone ever, and I've put it off as long as I could.
I have always professed a great hatred for the cell phone.
Ok, well maybe not really the phone itself. More the culture around it.
I fully realize its convenience and practicality, which is the reason I have one now. But I absolutely despise the phone that has some poor soul sucked into its orbit; where the fingers are glued to the buttons, constantly texting, playing games, downloading...whatever.
If you want to know one way to really, really, really get under my skin, and is quite possibly one of my biggest pet peeves EVER, just text someone in the middle of your conversation with me! Maybe that sounds selfish, but I hate it when someone is so attached to their phone that they tune out the rest of the world.
(I have a similar beef with iPods, you might recall...)
So while I will enjoy the convenience of my phone, I will be very strict with myself about all the gimmicks and stuff. I might allow myself a funny ringtone, but it shall remain a dutiful "strictly business" phone.
And I won't care that it takes me 10 minutes to text a short sentence.
I will wear that as a badge of honor... :P



ps. On a side note-- I went and replied to each of your comments...

Sunday (As It Is Over Here)

I attended my first Sunday service at Fermoy Fellowship today.

As I mentioned before, it is a tiny little stone building, on the corner of "Allen's Walk" (I have a picture for later...when I figure out how to get it on here). It is surrounded by a little black iron fence and creaky gate, with a flagstone walkway and bright purple arched door. The foyer is just a tiny little windowed room, with two doors into the auditoriom (is that the right word??). Inside there is a sort of boxed podium to the right and the two rows of chairs are against the opposite wall with a NIV Bible and a songbook on each. At the very end of the room are two steps up to the kitchen doors. The kitchen is TINY and very cute, and very much made of stone! The washroom is tucked into a corner, and there is no lock on the door!!! To the right of the kitchen is another door to outside, where there is a little portable building used for Sunday School.

The service starts at 10AM (that would be about 2-3AM your time I think!). One man in the church alternates between playing keyboard and acoustic guitar (not during the same song though :P) during the worship, and we sing from songbooks and I don't know hardly any of the songs...they are quite slow and mellow. Not all hymns though. I think "I Will Worship" was probably the most lively! That will be quite an adjusment for me who likes a good rousing worship service. (Though Mark, the guy who does the music, did talk to me about playing keyboard somtimes...maybe I will lead a revolution :D)

I did "The Reading", and the sermon was quite structured, which was different for me because a lot of the preaching I have heard is more conversational and rabbit-trail-y (which I do enjoy), but it was good.

We also took communion today which was an experience in itself. After reading the bit about the last supper in the Bible, and praying over the emblems, Sam offered each person a cube of bread individually, which you then ate right away. Once everyone had taken one, he took around the single goblet of...port*...I think it was!!! Yowzers! It was a good thing I had been warned beforehand, because I probably would have choked on it if I wasn't prepared! It burned down my throat.

After you take a sip, he would wipe the rim with a little cloth and pass it to the next person. So that was definitely not quite the communion service I am used to!

Afterwards there was another prayer and song, and then everyone was dismissed, and Sam left to lead another service in a little town nearby called Cahir (pronounced "Care").

Nearly both rows of seats were filled and apparently that is a good turnout but I wouldn't be able to say how many people were there...maybe 40? Maybe less. (I met a lot of them, but I probably won't remember all their names :S)

I would be inclined not to think much of that, because in Kamloops there are plenty of smaller church plants. Different denominations maybe, but most believe in the basic foundations of Christianity...

Here, I'm learning, is a bit different.

This isn't one "Protestant" church of many...this is the only church in the area that really teaches salvation through Grace.

There are plenty of elaborate Catholic churches around, and a big fancy Church of Ireland just down the road here. But from what I hear its very much "religion", and all about doing the right things to earn your salvation...if they believe in salvation at all.
Catholicism is huge here...most of the schools are Catholic, and there are Catholic pilgrimage things (can't remember what they are called...whoops :S), and there are bells that toll at 12 & 6 PM to call the Catholics to prayer.
What I would be inclined to think of as basic Christian principles is all relatively new to people here.
So that is pretty weird for me.
Back in Kamloops I've always been immersed in Christianity. Christian family, Christian friends, Christian...things. You know. Pretty much everyone I knew believed in the same thing my family and I do.
Here, most of the teens in the youth group aren't Believers...socially, that is a totally new scenario for me.
Which is cool with me. It'll be a challenge I think. And it will also help me to really think out my own faith, which is all too easy to take for granted when you are surrounded in a secure Christian enviroment.
I have met one Christian girl around my age, a little older, who comes to help out with the youth now and then, that lives in the area. She seems pretty awesome, so hopefully we will get to hang out sometimes. But I expect that most of the people I meet my age will not be what I am used to! On one hand that is exciting to me, on the other I am totally freaked out!!!
So if you think of it, please pray for me while I am entering this Zone of the Unknown!



*for the record, that is the first taste of alchoholic beverage I have tried since landing in Ireland!

Girls' Night!!!

The Bath Bombs that Wouldn't Be

Last night us girls from the C&C had a Girl's Only night ...and it was SO MUCH FUN! Seriously, it is totally different when the females are all alone! I'm pretty sure we giggled ourselves silly over the littlest things. There would be an explosion of laughter followed by a small siiiiiigh ("Good times...")....and then I would start laughing again and everyone wouldn't be able to help themselves....it was a vicious cycle! By the end of the night our cheeks were hurting from laughing so much. Carissa showed us some expert cheek stretches, which basically makes you look like a fish...
Yeah it was a good time!
We started off by making Spa Bath Cookies...recipe shown below.
I showed off my baking expertise by immediately confusing the teaspoon and tablespoon.

The first time we mixed it, it was too crumbly to mold, so we added another egg.
Which might perhaps have been the biggest mistake ever.

But the extra egg made it stickier, that's for sure.

Seija put them in for 10 minutes, while we did our Bible study.

This is probably my favorite picture of all time!!!!
Carissa was smelling them.
They did smell more like cookies than bath bombs...

And they were awfully hard to get off the pans...

In the end, they didn't fizzle in water like they were supposed to....BUT....they did provide many a belly laugh, so it was all worth it in the end! We even almost got Dave to eat one when he got home, but when he reached for it the room went quiet and we all stared (hopefully), and I think that probably tipped him off....
Too bad!
Maybe Dana succeeded in getting Kurtus to eat some....
heh heh heh....

Milestones

Today is a day of Milestones for me!

First of all, this is PJ's 100th post! Though is has taken an extremely long time to reach the third digit, I like to think it is because I prefer quality over quantity :S
Secondly, today is the fourth and that means I've been here for precisely five months!!! I can't believe how fast the time flew. One more month to go!

Lastly...today I have received an email which may strongly direct and influence the next few months of my life, and bring me closer to my goal of many years: travelling to Ireland.

Its a long story...I'll abbreviate it as best as I can.
I was looking for a way to experience Ireland without being a tourist...I wanted to do something meaningful while I was there. I mentioned that in passing to a friend I met as a kid, who now lives in Afghanistan with her missionary parents.
Well her pastor there used to pastor a big church in Ireland, so she asked him if he knew of anything and then emailed me back and said, "Hey Look, I've got you a contact in Ireland!"
So through a friend, of a friend, of a friend, I was put in contact with someone in Fermoy (A little place in Southern Ireland...I looked it up. Its situated almost exactly there I wanted to be!) who I emailed a few days ago.

The whole process has just seemed to ridiculously random and coincidental that I felt it couldn't be just luck!!! (Even if we are talking Ireland)

I've been nervously awaiting a reply since then, and finally received it just a few minutes ago!

The email begins:

"Jill,
It has been a real blessing to hear from you. All of us in the Fermoy Fellowship have been praying for such a long time for someone like you to volunteer to work alongside us for a season so I guess we are all hoping that you are an answer to prayer."

And I am hoping they are an answer to mine!

Though as I read on, I became more and more nervous. What they are looking for is someone young like me to come and work with the kids and young teens in their little church. I won't be a youth pastor by any means, but as Harry (the guy I'm in touch with) says, all the leaders are 45-50 years old and they want a "young person" so come be an example to their kids!

SCARY? I THINK SO!

Firstly, I love kids, but I've never been a "kid person"...but I really felt a change in me after this last week of counselling at Woodsman. And I feel a sort of peace about the whole thing.

I'm not about to make any rash decisions guys, but I think I want to do it! (Which is really weird for me...)
So...I'm going to pray, pray, pray! And if you want to join me in that, go right ahead!

Last Weekend at Home

The last few days have been a lot of fun, which of course includes a lot of pain.
On Saturday I went up to Sun Peaks with some friends to learn how to Snowboard!
A few years ago there was a sort of "free day" where I tried snowboarding for the first time, officially. I only remember going down one run which seemed to go on FOREVER and by the time I made it down, I was too exhausted to do any more, so I was done for the day. The next morning I could hardly move! Lots of pain.
Needless to say, I was a little nervous about trying it out again, especially since I had to dish out the cash this time. For that kind of money you need to go down more than one run!
It turned out really good, and I actually made it down Three Whole Runs in a half-day...that's right folks, Three Whole Runs. One of them was even a BLUE. I know...I'm very daring. Heh heh...
It came a lot easier this time around, but it was still very, very tiring. The best part of course was the embarassing face-plants that conveniently take place under the chair-lifts or at the bottom of the hill where everyone has a good view of your wipe-out. It would be a shame to let those less graceful moments be wasted at any other time, when there is no one around.
ANYWAY...it was a very fun day, and the pain was well worth it. Yes, hobbling up and down the stairs is worth it. Not being able to lift my arms above my head is worth it. I'll try it again next season.
Sunday was a very exciting day! My friend Liz invited me to go out for lunch after church, but ended up luring me right into a suprise farewell party! No one has ever thrown me a surprise party before. Tear, tear. There was lots of food, and competitive games, and best of all, a Ju Jube war! Of course an innocent pack of ju jubes cannot simply be eaten at our party. They must become weapons of mass destruction. I learned just how dangerous a simple blob of ju jube can be when thrown at terrifying speeds. In fact I found a pretty nice bruise on my arm this morning from one shot. One candy was even embedded in the wall of the youth room. Wow.
You can find pictures of the party here.
To top it all off, I went to my last Sunday Night College & Careers meeting, and it was completely A.D.D. and marvelous! I will miss you guys tons!
Overall it was a very satisfactory last weekend at home!

Snow Camp 2007!

Last weekend the youth group went to Gardom Lake Bible Camp for the annual Snow Camp. And this year we had LOTS AND LOTS of snow!!! It was glorious! This meant that we spent a lot of time on their fantastic tube hill. Yes, Snow Camp is much more than tubing alone...but that was my favorite part! Above you can see the hill, it doesn't look so steep in the picture but it is quite scary when you're there.

We went whipping down that hill so fast! Here Angela is holding the remnants of the tube she was riding....AFTER they hit the tree! (no one died, so don't fuss)

Here you can see the classic beginning-of-the-end. The beginning of the hill was quite steep, so the top person would often slide off and consequently be squashed by everyone else as they took their turn (I was that person more often than not).Preparing to launch!!!

The Ultimate Face Wash.

Aftermath.

After a particularly painful wipe-out, I was sure I was bleeding somewhere. And my ear really hurt. When I returned to the lodge, I found out I had broken the stick of my earring (below) and it had scraped my earlobe badly (its scabbed over now, thanks for asking). Luckily, the earring was the only casualty of the weekend (besides the one tube).

WARNING!!! BLOOD!

Don't worry he was fine, just a little scratched up from a stick that was living quite peacefully until it was nastily disturbed by some rowdy children on a tube.

The All Nighter Experience- Part 5

Pancake Breakfast, 8:00 AM
It seemed we had hardly finished cleaning up after the pizzas and muffins and we began on the pancake breakfast! Busy Morning! We added some leftover blueberries and chocolate chips so make the pancakes extra special :)











Andrew passes out on the home stretch.


Watching Saturday morning Looney Tunes! Boy did that bring back memories!
This is the hole in the wall made during the deadly dodgeball game!!!
Overall, what a great night! We had so much fun!

The All Nighter Experience- Part 4

Muffin Baking!

At around 4:30 AM we started baking our "10 dozen" muffins that are going to be sold as a fund-raiser for the church missionaries. We picked out two (what we thought were fool-proof!) recipes for the kids: Banana Chocolate Chip, and Blueberry. It didn't take long for Kelsey and I to start panicking as the situation went out of control! Kids hyped on sugar and caffeine that early in the morning aren't too concerned with the quality of their projects, we learned...looking back it was really funny! They were wild!

For the most part, their muffins were ok, but one group forgot about a key ingredient: baking powder! We had some banana chocolate chip pound cake on our hands!

Kelsey, Carissa and I took over during round 2, and managed a few batches that actually rose! We ended up with about 6 doz that were sell-able...not bad, not bad....next time we'll be more specific in the recipes!!!

The All Nighter Experience- Part 3

The Midnight Pizza Making Competition!

Earlier this week Kelsey, Carissa, and I went shopping for the all-nighter, and in the process picked up all the ingredients we needed for the pizza-making competition! Ryan the (crazy and endlessly engergetic!) youth leader told us to pick out some really crazy, weird, wild, and gross things for it, so we did!
Among some of the more daring options were hot banana peppers, scrambled eggs, sardines, sweet pickled onions, been sprouts, and cinnamon. And of course a few less original items: feta cheese, green, orange and red peppers, black olives, mushrooms...there was a lot to choose from.


We started with a simple pre-made crust, and they began creating their "Master Sauce".

Finishing touches.

Some very interesting pizzas...

Kelsey reveals the Magnum Opus.

The boys enjoy the fruit of their labour.

Carissa made a few safe and "normal" pizzas for us, so we didn't starve. They were delish!

Ryan eats a sardine! GROSS!

The All Nighter Experience- Part 2

70's Theme Cosmic Bowling!
Who can say no to that?
(well apparently I said no to the bowling part...but ANYWAY...)

Me and Carissa

Kelsey felt so self-conscious!

Josh didn't.

Angela! Funny girl...

Peace out Andrew!

The All-Nighter Experience- Part 1

I helped out with the Youth Group All-Nighter this Friday/Saturday...it was an experience for sure! I've done a few all-nighters in my time, but they're always a struggle with the eyelids! I like my sleep! However we were kept so busy with activities and games and baking that I hardly had any trouble at all! I have plenty of pictures on the way!

Here is my all-nighter schedule:
-so busy doing stuff and running around, it hits 11 PM and I've hardly noticed.
-12 AM comes and goes.
-2 AM....really?!
-Time to grab a cup of coffee at 3 AM
-Things settle down around 4:30 AM
-Eyelids are feeling kind of heavy at 5 AM, while watching a movie.
-7 AM rolls around and I'm squinting at the faint light coming through the windows. Yawns are coming fast and furious.
-Itching for bed at 8 AM
-9 AM we head home.
-11 AM is coming up, I plan to be asleep.
Picture: note the unfocused gaze, the wearing of the glasses (contacts would shrivel my eyes through the wee hours of the morning), Haphazard hair, and bizarre smile. This is definitely me late at night or early morning.