Swiss Air

Well it's official. I have filled out all of my forms and the such and now I am accepted as a short term missions worker with Janz team ministries. I am going to Switzerland for a couple weeks at the end of July to work at a camp. My role will be that of counsellor, which means I will be leading a group of young boys between the ages of...well, I'm sure I was told at some point, but I can't remember and it seems to have been missed on every email I've ever gotten on the subject. Suffice it to say that it is regular camp age kids, 10-15 years old or somewhere in that range. The purpose of the camp ostensibly is to teach the kids English, but there is much more to it than that. The man organising everything (Dan Bartholomew if you curious) said it best when he sent the following list of reasons for this camp:
-To encourage the faith of young people.
-To encourage the Faith in France and Switzerland, promoting the Gospel, good citizenship and international fraternity between the nations and the international Church (think of the future generations especially, since we are dealing with kids)
-To bring a fantastic Camp experience to kids.
-To do something worthwhile and lasting in a different part of the world
-To love some frenchies for a week! (I am a frenchie, so it is okay for me to say dat, (born in Quebec))
-To have a ball with kids God and each other
-To use the different cooking, organisational, leadership, relational, preaching, adminstrative, technological, dramatic, linguistic, artistic, musical, gifts that God has given us.
-To enjoy another part of the world that God has made for us.
-To be in a French part of the world and use your french skills or acquire more
-To get a taste for missions
-To LOVE PEOPLE
-To teach kids English
-To meet Christians from another part of the world and serve them
-To enjoy life

So it sounds like my summer is going to be pretty exciting. At this point I need prayer for a few different things: That the money would become available. I have to buy the plane ticket ASAP, and that's about $2000, so that's going to be pricey, plus it's another $500 for costs while I'm there. I will be sending out a prayer letter/fundraising letter soon. For tax decuctable receipts you will send money to Janz Team Ministries (2121 Henderson HWY Winnipeg MB R2G 1P8), making sure to designate the money for me, however you want to do that (maybe include a little note or letter or something). If you don't care about that, just send the money to me directly and I will be very grateful.
I also need prayer for preparing myself mentally and spiritually (I'm an amazing phsysical specimen already, so I'm good there...). It is no small responsibility I am taking on, and I have a tendency to take things much lighter than I should, and that could be very bad. This is going to be a difficult couple of weeks in that we are dealing with French speaking children and my French is a little rusty (je suis un ananas vert?), so there will be challenges there. Also, as most of you know I'm not a huge camp sort of person. I enjoy camping when I can just sit back and chill around a fire, maybe get a round or two of golf in or something, but formally working in a camp like that is a bit of a stretch for me. So I need prayer that I can prepare myself and be ready to show those kids a real Christ that goes across borders.
We also need prayer that a few more cooks are found so that we can feed the children.
But there is some praise - specifically that the camp is full kids-wise. The number of kids we were going for (25) is the number we have registered, and it's not even quite April yet. This is pretty amazing because this is the first year a camp like this is being held in Switzerland and people weren't sure how many kids we would get willing to commit to a camp. Praise God for that!
I think I forgot to mention what exact dates I'll be gone. The plan at the moment is to leave on July 15th and return July 31st (though I may be persuaded to spend another day or two just to chill and see at least something in Europe before I return, maybe find a hostel to stay at for a night or something), which means I'll be gone for my birthday (July 21) and my older brother's birthday (July 28, and he isn't allowed to have candles on his cake).
I'm excited!

Dangeresque

Right now at work we are doing some drywalling to a garage, specifically the ceiling. Now, the sheets of drywall are big and heavy, but there is a drywall lift that you can use to put them into place, and it's pretty easy to screw them in, so that's not a big deal. Later, when we paint it, that won't be too much of a problem either. It could be a little awkward, but I've painted ceilings before, and it's not too bad, really. Plus, there has been talk of spraying it instead of the normal brush and roller method of painting, so that's real easy.
Right now, though we are doing the taping and mudding, which is a big pain. Trying to get the mud on smoothly so when you paint it you can't tell where there is mud is tough, plus I'm working above my head, so my arms and shoulders get sore (though less sore than they used to. I'm either gaining muscle or getting nerve damage. Either way, less pain), and my back is really sore. Today I spent the entire day sanding down the second coat of mud so that we could put a third coat on. Tomorrow we finish that and start the fourth and (theoretically) final coat before painting. The fun thing about drywall mud is that it is basically dust held together by force of will, and when you sand it, it loses all will to stay together. By the end of the day I had so much dust covering my face and arms that I seriously looked like an albino, except where the dust mask had been. That was normal coloured, so a kind of pasty white. Seriously folks, I wish I had a camera. But I didn't. Ah well, whatcha gonna do. At least they're paying me.
Go Colorado!

Burning Down The House!

Apparently I like weird music. At least that's what people have told me. Right now I'm really in to a group called Talking Heads. They were around in the 70s and 80s, and they are a bit odd, but I really enjoy them. I don't really have much more to say right now.

May 4, 2007

I'm so excited!

I hope you had the time of your life...

Here's something odd that I do. Whenever I leave my house, as I'm walking towards my car I pull out my keys and I grab the door key so that I can unlock the door of my car. Almost every time I end up grabbing my house key first (they are all on the same keyring) and then I have to figure out which is my car door key. But when I'm heading into the house I almost always grab my car door key first when I want to open my house door. Earlier tonight I actually started to try and put my house key into my car door. I don't know why this happens, I don't try to make it happen, and I never really think about it until after I've already done it. It's weird.

The cycle begins anew

The knees on my pants were only just sewn
The scabs on my legs still tender and sore
This dirt and mud road all that I have known
I don't even care 'bout the pain anymore

My bottle of pain is only cracked on one end
If I push really hard I can make some more fit
I try to be stalwart, I won't break or bend
As long as I don't take one more hit

I slump in the ditch, I'm too tired to feel
The journey too hard to finish alone
The pain I've inflicted too fresh to heal
The thoughts in my head to weary to roam

I pick myself up to try try again
But trip and fall as soon as I start out
My stumbling stones stubbornly remain
I wallow in self-pity and doubt

I shiver in cold, in the sun I bake
I lay on the road in utter despair
Picking myself up gets too hard to take
Try one more time? I don't dare

Where is my champion, my defender of faith
Where is the yoke he said was so light
All I see is a dark ugly wraith
With weariness I rise up to fight

The taunting I'm faced with is too much too bear
All of my sins are laid out for the world
The lies and accusations of foul warfare
Are flaming arrows accurately hurled

I sit in the mud, just wanting to cry
Perchance I may be daring to dream
As I take a deep breath and wait only to die
Do I hear the trumpets of the calvary?

I walk the line

This morning I went to butter my toast, and when I grabbed the butter out of the fridge I nearly threw it across the room because it was almost empty when I thought it was right full. I puzzled about that for a minute until I realised that I had merely dreamt that the butter was full. I hadn't thought of this until right now, but why am I dreaming about my butter container? Anyway, the point I'm driving at here is that the line between my dreamworld and the real world is rather fuzzy for me sometimes. I will regularly bring up conversations with people that only happened in my dream because in my mind it actually happened. There are times where I'm completely thrown for a loop because something that I thought had happened turns out to have been a dream and nothing more. It's a little disconcerting at times. On the other hand, I have really cool dreams. I wish I could record them as they were happening. That'd be awesome.

Maybe they'll give me one of their knives...

I'm a travellin' man. At least, I will be this summer for a couple weeks. I saw a...I started typing this sentence, got that far before I was momentarily distracted, and now I have no idea what I was saying. So I will just carry on like nothing happened.
For the first time in my life, I'm going on a missions trip, specifically to Switzerland. While there, I will be leading some young Swiss boys as a camp counsellor. To those of you who are now scratching your heads because you know that I'm not a big fan of camps in general I say, sigh. I didn't know it was a camp when I signed up. I figured we'd be doing a VBS, or a construction thing or something like that. And then I find out it was a camp, and I seriously almost pulled out. But frankly, this was an opportunity I didn't want to pass up. Going to another country, across the sea, is something I've always wanted to do. And before you accuse me of having improper motives for doing this, let me assure you that I am equally excited to be showing these people Jesus. I'm not a huge camp person, it's true, but I do enjoy kids (they'll be between 8 and 16, I think. Definitely in there somewhere). Doing a camp every once in a while isn't something that I'm completely against. I just don't want to do it all summer every summer. So I don't.
Really, I'm both excited and nervous. I'm sure as it draws closer, I'll really start to doubt that I have anything to say to these kids, but at the same time, I'm excited to see how God is going to work across international and language borders. The camp is for French speaking Swiss children (apparently there are alot of them)(I actually thought Switzerland was mostly German speaking, but really I don't know much about the country). We will be teaching them English, as well as playing games, and having messages in the evening and stuff, much like a regular camp.
Of course, as with any missions trip, there is a cost involved, one that I won't be able to cover on my own. At least not completely. So we come to the part where I ask for donations. If you want a tax receipt for a donation, let me know and I'll tell you where to send it (I don't have the info in front of me and I don't want to find it right now). If you don't, then just send it to me personally.
Also key - prayer. This is a step out of my comfort zone, so if I try to do this without prayer, then I'm toast. So pray for me, and if you think of it, remind me to pray as well, because that is something that I'm not always the best at doing.
So there you go, news from me to you.

Reducks

I feel that I need to clarify a bit of my last posting. In said post, I mentioned that I find it irritating to get sympathy. That does not mean I don't appreciate it and that I'm not grateful for it. In fact, I am very appreciative and grateful, which is why I have such a dilemna over such feelings. It's nice knowing that people care, and that is one way that they show it. That's good. I guess what it comes down to is a personality thing. I'm laid back and very easygoing. Things don't tend to bother me, and I spend most of my life in the middle ground - neither too happy nor too sad. So when these things happen, I'm not terribly upset, and I don't really understand why other people would be. I may know why in my head, but the deep down fabric of my being I'm completely baffled by it. And like I said last time, I'm not comfortable when people make a big deal of me and my situation, so when something like this happens and people carry on for some time about it, then I feel uncomfortable, and thus a little irritated.
But there's a reason I haven't really mentioned this ever before. I know that it's kind of silly and that it would be easy for people to take it the wrong way. So I'll reiterate: I'm grateful for the sympathy, and thankful that people care about me. I'm just not comfortable with it. Who knows, maybe there are deep seeded issues in my own head that push me in that direction. Maybe I'm just crazy. I couldn't say for sure. Either way, just thought I'd try to clear that up. I also don't like being misunderstood, I'm always afraid someone will get mad at me simply because I wasn't clear, which would also suck. Ah well, watcha gonna do, eh?

The Return

I tried to get away, but I just couldn't do it. No matter how far I run, how stealthily I move, how cleverly I hide, I'm found yet again.
Yes, it's true. Raymond has struck again. For those of you who who are joining this BLOG late, Raymond is the name of the person who keeps stealing my stuff. Also, he vandalises my vehicles. He's egged my car many times, and broke a few windows.
This time, it's my CDs. I turned my back for a minute, and suddenly *POOF*, they're gone. Apparently an unlocked car is not the best place to keep CDs.
To be honest, though, it's not a big deal, as is evidenced by the fact that I haven't really said much about it until recently. It happened over a month ago, but I think I only told a couple people before now. I wish it hadn't happened cuz I like my music, but it's only music, so who really cares. If I ever meet Raymond, though, he is totally getting a glare. I might even shake my head at him.
Oddly enough, part of the reason that I didn't tell anyone is because I don't like getting sympathy when it's not a huge deal for me, and I know that when I tell people they will all sympathize with me and I will be irritated.
It's not the sympathy itself that I mind. It's the ongoing and disproportionate sympathy that gets to me. Ideally, all people would say would be "gee, that sucks," or something similarily low key. When my DVDs were stolen people were way over the top about it. "Oh man, that totally sucks. I'm so sorry to hear that. Did you check the pawn shops, maybe they tried to sell them there. Seriously, that's totally terrible." In my mind, it's annoying, and that's about it. That much going on makes me feel uncomfortable and slightly irritated. I don't like people making a big deal about me when something serious has happened, or I have done something big or important. To make a few stolen movies or CDs out to be such a huge deal is just baffling to me, and unnecessary. It's just stuff. No one was hurt, nothing was broken. I know a few places where I can get new ones. Heck, my movies were stolen about 18 months ago and I still have some people who will comment on it. I don't care, and at this point I think it's kind of funny. Same with the CDs.
And it's not that I don't like that people are sympathyzing with me. Hey, people care! That's great! In that way I don't mind. But it really isn't a big deal, so I guess I just don't want people to overdo it. Save the big sympathy for those who really need it. I'm cool.
You know, that is a weird sore point to have. Some days I wonder what exactly is wrong with me. And then I get something to eat and I'm better.
By the way, there is a hidden(ish) link in this posting. Mwa ha ha ha.