$2 Bills

So it turns out that bringing up a bunch of $2 bills from the States was a good thing.  I've been giving some as gifts, but I decided to try to sell some at a coin shop at the Market.  They only offered me $32 Canadian for the 13 US $2 bills (one of which I paid $5 for).  I declined this because the amount they offered me was less than they were worth (when you use the exchange rate).  So not thinking they'd sell, I decide to try to have a little fun and post them on Kijiji (basically a Canadian Craigslist) for a very high rate (relatively).   Within in a couple days someone made me an offer and I sold them. The thirteen bills, which cost me about $29 ($38 CAD), I sold for $45.50 ($60 CAD).   This worked out a ton better than I expected.  Thank you Lord for the extra cash.  So I asked my mom to send up the rest of my $2 bills back in the states so I can attempt to sell those too. This is fun!

Vision

For those of you who don't know, I have been wrestling with a really big decision recently.  What to do next year?  That's the gist of it, but there's an even bigger question that's been on my mind a lot: Should I move to Canada.  At first it seemed ridiculous, and it was out of the question, but recently God had kept resurfacing it in my mind.  I keep asking God to give me wisdom on making the decision.  Whether I am thinking on it or not, almost every time I ask God to give me wisdom on what to do next year, the word "Canada" pops into my head.  I've been questioning it on "is this just my mind or is it the Holy Spirit speaking to me?"   Now, after my experience this morning, I am pretty sure it was/is the Holy Spirit speaking to me.  I woke up this morning for class only to find out that it was canceled, so I went back to bed and from there is where God spoke to me.  I have never had such an experience, nor have I ever thought I would have the experience.  God spoke to me in the form of a dream; a vision.  

In the dream I was in a church, up front with to two other guys.  We started singing "Great I Am" and felt God's presence.  It lead us into a Holy Spirit moment.  All three of us were then laying on the steps of the platform or small stage of this church with our faces down on the ground and arms stretched out. I then had a vision (in this dream): I was all of a sudden in a room by my self.  The other two guys weren't there. The room was a whitish-grayish color.  I couldn't see very far, but I could see huge white and blue pillars in the distance.  I then turned around and saw a few stairs in front of me (I assume there were only 5-10 stairs), they looked kind of like marble.  At the top of the stairs was The Great Throne, God’s Throne.  Upon the Great Throne was a being so white and bright I couldn’t tell who or what it was – I could make out nothing.  But I knew in my heart that It was God.   I was overwhelmed, I fell down before Him worshiping Him and listening.  He called me by name, “Joshua,” I replied, “Yes, Lord.”  He said, “I know you have been hurting…” At that instant in the back of my head a thought crossed my mind, where was He going with this?  Jesus continued, “…about moving to Canada.”  This really hit me.  He was actually addressing this.  I felt His presence more than ever, In the back of my head I felt that He was standing in front of me smiling and looking down at me with His arms outstretched. He continued, “Remember that I have called you to leave your mother and father to a new country, for me.”  I started to cry, understanding what He meant, that He directly answered my prayer.  Then things started to fade, I knew I was crying, and everything around me faded to the grayish-white.  I was no longer in that room with Jesus, but nor was I in the Church with the other two guys.  This all happened in an instant. Then I woke up.  I wasn’t crying, but I had the realization that God had just spoken to me.
 

I don’t know if I have ever had God speak so directly to me, nor has He ever spoken to me through a dream.  The one thing I do know is, though, that He wants me to be here in Canada.  To me, that was a direct answer to prayer!

I’m not entirely sure what I will do in Canada next year, but I am trusting God to lead me.  I am applying to SLI year 2 (SLI Interns) which was just introduced in the past few weeks.   I also might apply to the University of Waterloo (though I don’t know for what) and then let God swing doors wide open or slam them shut.  If I go to Waterloo, I will need to find a job.  For either SLI or Waterloo (or something else), I will need to get a visa, a different car, insurance, and a number of other things.  So please pray that God will provide.  God is doing great things.   For this to all work out many things will have to fall into place, which I’m praying that God will line things up for things to fall into place.  

Reader's Note

I forgot to mention this earlier.  In my past posts about the Missions Trip that didn't have pictures because my SD card reader was broken, most of them now have pictures. I will continually be updating pictures over the next week or so, it'll just depend on when I get time to go through all the pictures.  

Thursday

Today the girls were to be in Divine Weekly and us guys were to continue the Careforce Lifekeys series Valiant Man (also by Allan Meyers), and our Book Report was due along with a discussion time about the book with Oto.  However something different happened.  We had an "Ice Day".   Class was canceled (which rarely happens) due to the weather.  We had a big Ice/snow/freezing rain storm last night (and are suppose to get another chunk of it tonight.   We only got about a centimeter (if even) of snow, but we had at least that much Ice as well.   Parts of my car had ever nearly half an inch of ice. It took me nearly half an hour to scrape off all the windows (even after I had the defrost on for 5-10 minutes, plus during scraping it off).  There was a ton of ice, which explains why class was canceled.   Though I really hope the storm that is coming this afternoon and tonight wont cause the Good Friday service to be canceled.

Wednesday Night

Wednesday Night we had Life Groups.  I am still helping lead The Shift (boys) which is boys grade 5-8.    I had made Cinnamon Rolls for our snack.  The other helpers in the class are Nathan Bondy and Alax Barnes; the group leader is Jeff Collard.  So we were waiting for Jeff and then found out that he was unable to make it for the evening, so we did the night on our own.  This wasn't so bad, since Alax was doing the main lesson anyways.  We had a lot of fun, and to be honest, I enjoyed it more than any other week.  I think it was partly because it's after the Missions Trip, where God showed me my love for kids, so I also had more confidence.    Praise God!   All went well.

Tuesday & Wednesday

On Tuesday, and continued on Wednesday, we started Search For Intimacy, a Careforce Lifekeys series by Allan Meyers.  It has been really great. Allan challenges, teaches and opens up lots of things.  It has really got me thinking in different ways and has continued to help in walking pure with God.   It's great to be in a group where were open and willing to express our lives with each other, especially on a topic like this.   We are only half way through the series and are going to finish it next week.

Tuesday

Tuesday Morning several of us SLI's met at the church at 7:00 am for our weekly (voluntary) prayer meeting.  It is such a great time to spend 30-60 minutes worshiping and praying together to start off our day.  We added a new thing just for this week though, we had breakfast after the prayer.  Some people brought in eggs and bacon and I made some of the Cinnamon Rolls that I brought up from the States.   It was great, and a lot of fun - a perfect way to start the day.  I also had gone out on Monday and got a bunch of food for our class to share as well. So we now also had/have fruits, vegetables and frozen waffles (buttermilk and blueberry).  Plus over the past few days other people have brought in food (mostly chips and stuff) and a ton of soda just appeared in our fridge.  Plus we also have lots of leftover bread from the Breakfast.  So our room is now more stocked than it has ever been.

Ending Spring/March Break

I have to admit that I am really looking forward to returning to Canada.  Though most of my family is here, I haven't felt like I've been home.  I guess that being in Canada for so long, it now feels like home to me.  I have enjoyed my time here in the States though.  Between spending time with family to visiting past teachers to driving around the area, I have enjoyed it.  I got the privilege to be a photographer at First Robotic's Central Illinois Regional (CIR), and for the third year in a row, I've been asked to do the regional recap video!  Though the video takes a bit of work and time, it's still fun.  I've also got to do some work for my mom (made a little money) and got to continue the ongoing Rummy games with my dad!  My dad, and Jonathan, helped me completely redo my budgeting.  My budget was a mess: it wasn't working, it wasn't "real", It didn't even calculate out right.  Praise God too that we worked on it when we did, I had just gotten some money from doing some work and I was considering spending it, until I realized I couldn't. My budget told me that I would  be over budget more than $300 by the time SLI ended.  After reviewing how I've spent my money over the past seven months, I found that I had followed my budget almost perfectly (about $3-4 off per month - and I think they were the credit card fees and such).  However I miscalculated my spending ability by about $300 back in September when I made my original budget. Now I am having to pay the consequences.  Though it was a lot of work, my dad and I were able to re-straighten my budget, thank goodness for the money I made and tax returns (they made a Huge difference).  

Tomorrow I fly out of Bloomington, Illinois around 10:00am and fly to Chicago where I have nearly and 8-hour layover before heading back up to Waterloo, Ontario.  I will be landing in Waterloo about 10:00pm local time.   So from the time I leave Tremont till the time I get to Crosshill will be about  16-17 hours: Sunday is going to be one long, full day.   Though I am okay (a bit) with the 8-hour layover, because it will give me some time to read my book and work on my book report.  

SLI Class

I am finding that after spending nearly 2 weeks non-stop with my classmates and now being completely away from them is really hard.  I knew that they were close friends and that they meant a lot to me, but not this much.  I miss my classmates, I miss the leaders, I miss the environment that SLI gives.  Missing all y'all a lot, thank you for being my friends!  

Prayer Request

I have a friend who has a friend that is need of prayer, her name is Jennifer.  Jennifer is wavering on the edge of christianity.  She has a boyfriend who is Muslim, and she is considering converting to Muslim.  Please pray that God will do mighty works in both of their lives.  That He will reveal Himself to them and show them His love! That they might see who the real God is, who the real protector is, who the Almighty one is!

Lord put people in Jennifer's life who will have a Godly influence on her.  Steer her back on to the narrow path which you lead.  Put people in her life that will show her your true love, the Love of God, the Love of someone who cares, the Love of a Father, Lord pour out you love on her. Your Love is Stronger! Your love is greater! Your love is THE love!   Lord, God of heaven, pour out your blessing on Jennifer.  Her boyfriend may be a bad influence on her life right now, but I thank you for him.  You see the master plan, you will work his involvement in her life for good.  To you be the Glory!   Blessed be your name!

I feel an urgency to pray for Jennifer.  Please pray for her continually.  A life is at risk, a child of God has strayed away, we must not let the wolves find her.  We, as followers of Christ, are Prayer Warriors!!! The armies of God Himself can be unleashed if God wills it, and much of what He wills is waiting to be release by us asking.  So Ask that God will release His armies to fight off the darkness in Jennifer's life, that Jennifer may yet see light once again.That her life may be full of life again, that she will be a beacon of your light to others.  Praise God! Thank you LORD!!!!

Emotions

Since returning from Central America I have been very emotional.  I guess that seeing so many hurting, so many crying, so many praying, so much need, that it has all of a sudden hit me.  I feel lots more emotion.  I hurt a lot more, I cry easier – the plane ride home I cried watching Lord of the Rings (I’ve seen this movie 30+ times and have never cried, yet things are touching me in new ways), and the last Hunger Games (I don’t remember ever crying so much in a movie, the hurt in the movie hit me in a new way, a way that I don’t think I can explain to well).  I hurt with those hurting.   I’ve also had the weight of needs and hurts in certain villages we visited, on my heart.   While there, we ‘cried’ with them and prayed with them: we listened to them and embraced them – it was so touching and powerful.  Now I am continuing to cry and pray for them as though I am with them.  I don’t know how to describe these emotions, except to say that God is doing something in me.  I’ve heard that some people close off their emotions so that they don’t get hurt.  But when they do that they also can’t feel God’s full love.  From what I’ve heard (which I believe) when God opens their emotions up, they get very emotional about very little things for a while.  That getting back into emotions is an emotional process.  I think that is what is happening to me. I think I, unknowingly, shut my emotions off and left them that way.  Now that God has reopened my emotions, I am very emotional at little things, and it is going to take some time to full see all of it.  Plus, with open emotions I am now more likely to get hurt (likely), I am also able to feel God’s true love for me and other’s true love for me. 

Spring/March Break

The Day after returning from Honduras, I left for America.   After class Friday morning, Daniel and Amanda dropped me off at the Airport in Kitchener and there was a two hour flight to Chicago.  Now there was a four hour layover in Chicago before I got on a plane (40 minutes) to take me to Bloomington where my mom picked me up.   However when I looked at my tickets before hand I got the flight lengths mixed up. I thought it said the 40 minute flight was going to be from Kitchener to Chicago and the next one was going to be the 2 hour flight.  With this thinking I thought, "I have a book to read (for SLI) but I am a bit tired.  I will sleep on the first shorter flight and read on the longer one."  Well, I ended up sleeping for nearly the whole 2 hours before realizing my misunderstanding of flight lengths.  All was well though, during the layover in Chicago I started the book.  I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not, but I was only able to get one chapter in the book since God kept showing me things, many dealing with Guatemala and Honduras. 

Leaving Honduras

This morning I got up at 3:00 am.  By 4:45 am we were walking out of the door.  When we got to the airport the lady who gave us the departure declaration cards got on to us for being late.  Our flight left at 6:20, boarding starts 5:20, and we were suppose to be there two hours before (we had arrived around 5:00 am because our host had previously asked the airport and was told the airport opens at 5:00 am. However the lady insisted that we need to be there two hours before the plane leaves), so we were late. We got in line and got our checked bags checked and got our tickets. 

As our group was waiting for everyone to get their ticket, an attendant came up to us and asked for Sierra.  She said that airport security wanted to search her bag.  As the assistant took Sierra and Bryan into a back room, we were all trying to guess what it was that airport security wanted.  We were thinking that it could be the knives that she bought, or the plastic gun she had in her bag (a prop for a skit – she was the prop holder), or who knows what.  As Sierra was returning the assistant asked for me to come back because airport security wanted to search my bag as well.  So Bryan went back with me to the back room.  I was figuring that the machine had seen either my knives that I bought or all the Honduran drinks I had packed in there.  Though, praise God, I was not worried, nervous or scared.   God has told me over and over again that He will protect me, and that I have nothing to fear.  When we got to the back room, full of several machines with bags going through them, Bryan greeted the man (again, since he was just back there with Sierra).  A man put on some gloves and we opened my bag, and he started digging, pulling stuff out, searching it.  Bryan talked a little bit to the guy; he was friendly and nice.  I helped him find my bag of liquids and helped him pull some stuff out. He kept searching.  He came across the Honduran drinks, and that wasn’t what he was looking for.  He found some of my knives, and put them with all the other stuff he had pulled out, commenting, “neat knives.”  He tore almost everything out of my bag, making a huge mess – which was alright since my bag was already a huge mess.  When he couldn’t find anything he zipped up the bag (with most of the stuff still out of it, and he put it thru he machine again. Upon looking at the screen of my bag, he pulled out my bag and started digging through it again.  When he couldn’t find anything, he joked that it was one of  my pairs of pants that he was looking for (one almost matching his).  We put everything back in the back and he said we were good.  I don’t know what he saw, but I’m glad that I didn’t have to loose anything.  Sierra lost some bug spray because it could have been explosive. So we went on with the security process.  I was quite surprised that they let my water bottle through security. Yes, it was way less than 100ml but normally they won’t let you take it through if there is any at all. 

We a puddle jumper plane do the 40 minute jump from Honduras to San Salvador.   When our plane landed in San Salvador, our plane to Toronto was already 20 minutes into boarding.  All was well though, and there was no trouble time wise. 

Our Airliner was Avianca.  They treated us amazingly!  On the 40 minute flight they gave us a fancy-ish box containing a sandwich and a small cinnamon roll.  On the 4-5 hour flight they gave us breakfast (eggs, beans, plantain, some kind of cheese, a fruit dish with pineapple and papaya chucks, a bun with butter and jam and a drink) followed my a round of water and coffee, and a round of ham & cheese sandwiches and drinks. 

Honduras Day 5 - Missions Trip day 12 - Final Day

Our Final day in Central America was split into two parts:  Ministry fun and Non-Ministry fun.  

Ministry Fun:

We went to a small-ish school in the mountains again and did a program similar to yesterday in each of the classes.  We did the lesson of one of Jesus’ parables, Flamingo Warrior (game), The Cha Cha Slide (dance), prayer, Open the Eyes of My Heart (song: in Spanish) and a few of us talking here and there.   Some of the kids really got into each of the pieces, which was very rewarding to see.  They got excited, engaged and energized from just us being there.  God is Good!   So we did one of these programs in one class, then the school had recess.  It was so much fun just being able to spend time with the kids (we are only the second group to ever be brought to this school).  They got all excited, tackled me. We had tickle wars and piggyback rides; they rode on my shoulders and had huge smiles on their faces.  They seemed to be just begging for attention, since they may not get it at home.  These kids are in need, and I was thrilled to be used by God to help plant a seed of fulfilling that need, even if it was only for a short period of time.  We then went ahead and did 5 more programs.  One of the six we just had time for a song and the Cha Cha Slide, and another (the oldest class I think (grade 6)) we had time to do Sin Chair (skit) and Colored Shirts (Gospel Message in Five Colors).   Two of the classes (the two oldest I believe) we had time for a testimony by Jasmine. I have to say doing the Cha Cha Slide and Open the Eyes of My Hear (chorus only – ending with doing it really fast) six times in a period of only a few hours, just after spending a half-an-hour using every bit of energy playing with kids, is very tiring – but worth it!  God placed us were we are for a reason, and we have to do all we can to do what He calls us to do within each circumstance He gives us.  So after all six programs we had lunch, and then got about another ten minutes to play with the kids.  It was sooooo sad to leave them, they touched my heart in a whole new way, and knowing that we won’t be going to any more schools to be with kids before we leave Honduras was very disappointing.  But I suppose that God gave me this short period of time to show me my love for kids, so I can come back to my life here in upper North America and use my gifts here.  It’s funny how God works like that! 

Non-Ministry Fun:

After leaving the school, our hosts took us to the top of a mountain.  We did a bit of hiking and it was very enjoyable!  It took us to a neat lookout over the Honduras’ Capital City – which is surrounded by mountains – it was breathtaking!  They had a “Mayan Pyramid” there (in quotations because it was actually built in 1948).  It was really cool. But not as cool as what came next.  Across from the pyramid was Honduras’ “Jesus Statue”.  It was pretty cool to see. I have no idea how tall and huge it was, but it was big.   We then went and walked around some cool gardens, got Ice cream, and walked through a house of mirrors (or the “house of laughter”).  Upon returning home some of us walked down the street to a corner shop to use up the rest of our Honduras currency.  Shortly after coming back, we had a wonderful meal prepared for us: chimichangas! Then the hosts presented each of us with a little “paper plate award” (mine was the “Busten a Move” award – I think).  They also did a really cool, creative song about our missions trip that they sang to us.  Then we celebrated Ben’s Birthday (Ben is the son of two of our hosts).  One of the two cakes we had was a Honduras traditional cake (or something like that) that consisted of 3 or 4 different kinds of milk – It was like a milk cake. It was very interesting and very tasty. It was a solid, as all cake is, but when it’s in your mouth it’s basically a liquid – it was…. different.   Afterwards we moved some stuff around and continued some of our “talent show” that has been here and there throughout our Honduras journey.   It was a great yet sad ending to our Central America Adventure. 

Pictures from the day:

The overlook of Tegucigalpa on the way to the Jesus Statue.     

Ariel photographing the view. 

Liz.

Bryan.

Daniel and Oto.

Carolyn and Dale Ruttan (our hosts).

One of the Myan Pyramid (look-alike: built in the 40's).

The Jesus Statue.

Dana, Janette, Jasmine and Brooke.

Dana, Janette, Jasmine, Brooke and Ariel.

The view from the Jesus Statue.

Victor and Bryan.

Victor and Dannyel.

Our class with Tegucigalpa as a background.  

Liz and Oto.

Communion time, at the feet of Jesus (statue).
Victor doing the message.

Bryan overlooking the city.

The House of Mirrors.

Nap time for Oto and Victor, again.

Liz and Oto.

Amanda