So this is goodbye.

So just minutes ago I said goodbye to a lot of my friends. I had a goodbye party tonight and while it was great to see everyone and I had crazy amounts of fun, it's really weird to think that I won't see these people until next May and that they could be living elsewhere, be married, and be doing lots of crazy and amazing things. It was a great time and I'm really glad that I could see everybody!
The picture here was taken on my way to the Ukraine in March. I was never particularly fearful on that trip because everything was extremely planned or else we just moved as our lovely friends asked us to do odd things. However, it was amazing, God taught me a lot, and I loved it.

In like, just under four days I'll be stepping onto a plane into a realm that is completely unknown to me. I've traveled only in Canada by myself, and only as far as Ontario. This is traveling first to London, then to Accra, Ghana, and after overnighting there, to Monrovia, Liberia. From there after several hours of driving I will arrive at a big boat this is potentially going to be my 'home'? I haven't really sat down too too much and thought about what I'm doing because all in all I feel God calling me to go. I think I just need to trust. It really is just that simple!

I'm going to miss moments of being crazy with my friends. I'm going to miss being able to call up the people that matter and say hi. I'm going to miss being able to crawl into my Mom's bed and just talk late at night and sit on her lap even though I'm 18 and really that should have been over years ago. I'm going to miss knowing that neither of my parents really slept until I got home and that I always noticed the unlocked door and light still on. I'm going to miss calling my sister just to tell her that I got a new sweatshirt and reminding my brother that he misses me. I'm going to miss talking to my nieces and nephew and hugging over the phone. I'm going to miss all the excitement of life in Abbotsford, and I do mean that seriously. I love home. This place is where I've grown up and while it ain't much, it's all I've ever really known. I'm going to miss going to church every week and being constantly filled with words from God. I'm going to miss leading worship at church and youth and camp and everywhere!! I'm going to miss playing my guitar and piano, and I just pray that God will continue to give me words to write in songs because if not I don't know how I'll possibly express myself! I'm going to miss climbing into my big bed and being able to have space. I'm going to be living in a room with 5 other ladies! I will need a lot of help from God to handle that. I'm such a space person. I love people, but I need need need my time alone to function and to be able to continuously love everybody!

2 Corinthians 12:8-10 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.


Phillippians 4:5-7 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I think that the thing that God taught me the most this summer was to constantly love without ceasing. Reading in Matthew 14 God told me a lot. John is basically like ultra-buddy with Jesus. I would say that they are very tight. John gets beheaded because of a princess asking her father for his head and so Jesus has just found out about this. He slips off to mourn, but the crowds follow him. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. (14:14) God told me that while in Africa I will be stretched to no end. I will have to talk with people who I probably won't get along with, and I will have to live in a small space cramped with others and eat food that might not be particularly amazing, however; God will be there. Also, Jesus had compassion on them and healed their sick. Jesus had the full right to be sad, take time for himself, and let the crowds be, but that was not the plan of God. God wants me to be willing to be used by Him at every single moment. That is my prayer. To be the hands of feet of Jesus to every person that I meet with my heart filled with joy.
Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (Colossians 4:5-7).

Another huge thing that God taught me through lots of experiences this summer is that I cannot survive without Him. I was oppressed by the Devil this summer and only through prayers from my own weary heart and the mouths of others around me, I made it through. One day I had my Bible in my pocket all day because I needed the strength that only came from above. I would enter my cabin and pray aloud because that was how I felt peace. There is no way that I could have survived that week without God.


Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. ---Ephesians 6:10-18---


Only through Christ have I lived each day.
Only through Christ do I live each day.
Only through Christ will I live each day.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire. ---Hebrews 12: 1-3, 28-29---

As a P.S.
I went to Whistler with the family for a nice little vacation before I left so here's some pictures from there!