Dogs, Footloose and Serving as Senders

Have you ever seen a dog during the first snowfall?  It's a pretty wonderful thing.  They run around in a frenzy, sniffing and snorting, so incredibly excited for the cold white stuff.  Noses are intermittently buried beneath the white powder in search of toys, and when they resurface, their faces are smattered with snow. 

I was recently over at my sister's place, and we spent some time outside playing with her dog Cody.  Cody is a year and a half old Chocolate Lab, who is a bundle of energy.  He loves playing outside, but he especially loves mittens!  He finds them a lot more interesting than his toys, and will constantly be biting at your hands in an effort to steal their source of warmth.  While we were playfighting in the snow, he got a good hold on my mitten and managed to pull it off my hand.  My sister and I spent the next while trying to corner and tackle him, to no avail.  We offered him various toys, but he would not budge.  He ran around the yard with the prized mitten hanging from his mouth, while my hand's temperature dropped.  Finally, we gave in.  My sister went inside to grab a treat, and this was enough to get the mitten back.  Ahh, my hand began to thaw again.  By the way, that's Cody in the picture below :)  Isn't he cute?



Cody

In mid November, I also had the opportunity to see my youth in the musical Footloose (see picture below).  It was an amazing show, and I was so proud of my youth!  There were quite a few of them in various parts in the musical, and they ALL did an excellent job!



Footloose

In this picture, the main character (Ren) and the rest of the teenagers are at a town council meeting, fighting to be allowed to have a dance.  Dances were outlawed a number of years earlier when some teenagers died in a car accident when coming back from a dance.

Well, those are a few highlights of the past while.  Another was the Games Night the youth had with the older adults in our church.  Both Jr & Sr Youth got together with the older adults (50+) for a night of testimonies (from youth & adults), singing (hymns & contemporary), games (all kinds!), food (mmmm!), and fellowship.  I think there were over 100 people there, and from what I could see, everyone had a great time!  It was so awesome for me to see the various generations mixing - a true picture of the body of Christ.  One senior asked afterward, "Are we doing this every month?"  Perhaps not, but we did have another suggestion of doing it twice a year.  So maybe we can arrange another one for later in spring.

Can you believe it's only 257 days until England?  Wow!  Well, it's not exactly that, but I have that figure from some date in later August 2011.  It's coming up fast, and there's still a lot to do.  Have you thought & prayed about joining my support team?  It's a great ministry opportunity, and an essential part of building God's kingdom.  I think sometimes people believe that praying for & otherwise supporting missionaries isn't that important, but that's simply not true!  It is incredibly important!  Neal Pirolo calls it, "Serving as Senders" (he wrote a book by the same name).  Not all of us can 'go,' but all of us can be senders of others.  Missionaries aren't soloists - they are one part of a choir.  Think and pray about what your involvement needs to be.

That's all I have for now.  Many thanks to those who read these blogs, pray, and/or have been supportive in some other way.  I appreciate you far more than you know.

Tami

here, there, everywhere!

If you're reading this, I apologize for not keeping this more up to date as I had hoped to do.  You may relate to the kind of life I've experienced for the past month and a half or so - somewhat hair-pulling busy as an airport on Christmas Eve when there's been a major snowstorm and all flights have been cancelled.  Well perhaps it has not been that extreme, but so it has felt at times.  I normally see myself as a quite organized person, but I have felt very scattered more often than I would like.  I usually don't forget things, but I've been forgetting things.

So I finally have a moment to update this and I'd really like to share something profound that I've learned through this past busy time.  I'd like to, but I can't.  The truth is, I'm not sure how well I've actually been handling everything.  On top of starting two new jobs and learning the ropes there (I'm still working on it...), there have been a lot of personal and family issues to deal with.  Stress is a bugger, but especially so when you don't feel you have time to deal with it properly.

You may ask, where has God been in all this?  I could give you the nice sounding answer - of course God has been there the whole time!  He has made every step clear and I have been at peace.  But again, to be honest, I cannot really say that.  It has been a struggle to say the least, and I'm trying to persevere through the "dark moments of the soul."  I want to be one of those people who comes out of something like this a better, stronger person, who has learned to trust God through anything.  Will that happen?  Hopefully....

Being so busy with everything else, I've wondered in between - where does this leave me with OM?  What is my next step in preparation for that?  In part, what I am doing now IS preparation - especially working with the youth at my church.  I've been learning so much and really enjoying this opportunity to put into practice what I have studied these past years.  I've come to the conclusion that school is so much easier than real life.  If you're in school, you might not believe that, but you will soon enough. 
Anyways, as for formal prep, I'm not sure.  I was excited to receive an email from OM Lifehope in England the other day saying that someone had signed up to join the Youth Track at the same time I'm planning to join, so God's already setting up people for me to work with.  To remind you, I will be working as a Youth Leader and Trainer in England (starting next summer).  See below for more info on the "youth track", the students I'll be working with more closely.  If you are a youth, you should think about joining yourself!! :)  It makes my stomach flip a bit to think of this new challenge, but I think anticipation wins over.

Anyways, after all this, I'd like to ask for your prayers in a couple areas.  First, if you could pray for the personal and family issues that are going on.  I can't share specifics, but I'd appreciate your prayers about it as God leads you.  Second, pray for wisdom - in my personal life, in my work with youth, for OM planning/prep.

Thanks for your support.  It means a lot to know that we're not alone.  As always, let me know how I can pray for you.

Tami

OM LIFEHOPE YOUTH TRACK

The Youth Track will equip you to be an effective and committed youth worker while gaining a formal UK qualification: The National Certificate in Christian Youth Work. You will receive high quality and relevant training and experience life in a church-based international team.
After an initial time of orientation and training, you will be placed in a Community Outreach Team where you have an unrivalled opportunity to get hands on involvement in evangelism in the UK and experience life in a diverse multicultural team.
Each week throughout the year you will study with Engage! our partner organization in this programme. It uses interactive training days together, distance learning materials, work with young people and help from a mentor to enable you to learn more about youth work and develop your own understanding and skills. OM Lifehope and Engage! together would set up a suitable youth work placement where you can practice and develop your youth work skills.

Who, me?!? A pastor?!?

Fearfully Excited

So, it's been about a month and I want to try and upate this blog at least once a month before I leave for England next summer.  Here's a little update...
Today after church they had a membership vote as to whether or not I would be hired as p/t interim youth director.  And, the vote was affirmative!  I start on Tuesday morning. 
This is the way I had felt God was leading, but it is still somewhat overwhelming now that it has actually been approved.  I'm quite excited for this opportunity to be involved at my home church, which hasn't been able to happen very much the past years due to school, working Sundays, living overseas, etc.  But at the same time, I would say that I have a healthy dose of fear.  I've said numerous times that it was easy to get an A+ in the classroom, but it's impossible to get an A+ in real life.  Can I actually do what I've studied hard to be able to do?  Can I overcome my struggles with unhealthy perfectionism and give & accept the grace I need to do this?  There are many different questions like that.  It's in times like these that I'm all too aware of my need to depend on God for everything!  I know that if I try and do this on my own it will be quite miserable.  And so this new journey begins....Your prayers are more than appreciated, they are absolutely essential!!

Alas, this week I start at my church, and then next week school starts!  I am a f/t Educational Assistant in the Self Directed Learning class at the high school.  So with both jobs then, I'll be working more than 50 hours a week.  I'll be busy :)

Besides work, one really exciting thing (at least to me!) is that I have found a place where I 'take' seminary-level courses for free.  Well, really I only get the lectures, but still. http://www.worldwide-classroom.com/courses/ is the website.  It is through Covenant Theological Seminary.  I'd really been missing school and sad that I couldn't go back in the fall.  I love listening to lectures and soaking up knowledge.  So I've downloaded a couple courses and can listen to all the lectures I want for free, whenever I want!  I think God really provided this at the right time.  He's pretty good like that.

Anyway, this has gotten pretty long and I need not write more.  I don't know how many people actually read this, but at least I am doing my part to keep everyone updated.  It'd be nice to hear from some of you how things are and if you have prayer requests.  Oh, here are some of mine!
PRAYER REQUESTS
1) Prioritizing - I will be busy and want to keep the main things, the main things.  Pray I'd keep God at the centre and be able to prioritize the rest of things.
2) Time management - Pray that I'd manage my time well, as I will have more than enough things to fill it with!  Also that I'd make sure to set aside time for my own relationship with God, as well as family and friends.
3) Prep for OM - In the midst of the busyness of the upcoming year, I still need to prepare to go back to England.  There's lots to do yet, so I'd appreciate your prayers for God's provision.  If you're reading this now, have you prayed about becoming a part of my support team?  You can through prayer and financial support.  Consider $10, $20, or $50 / month, because your heart matters more than the amount.  Let me know if you want more info!

Thanks for persevering through this long blog post and many blessings to you
Tami

God is Laughing!

Thank you to everyone who could make it out to my presentation in church on Sunday, July 11.  It was very encouraging to see you all there, and especially to talk to some of you before & after the service.  I am excited to partner with you in this mission, and I know that God will do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine.  Of course there is still a long way to go before my departure, so I look forward to see how God will provide for our needs!

I've been experiencing some divine humour lately.  It seems that every time I think I know what's going to happen, or what is going on, God laughs and says, "Oh, you think you know do you?  You don't.  I've got something else in mind.  Trust me, it's going to be good."  It throws some interesting twists into life, but definitely makes things more interesting - and challenging!  I'd appreciate your prayers for wisdom, guidance, contentment, and a true reliance on God for all things.  As always, I want to hear how I can pray for you too.

In Christ,
Tami

Hey everyone :)

I just wanted to let you know that I'll be presenting about going to England in my home church (Winkler EMMC) on JULY 11 at 10am.  I would love to see you there if you can make it!!  It is located at 600 Southview Drive, just East of Jr Walkof School.

Have a wonderful day :)

Tami

Prayer Letters

Hi everyone!

I hope you are all well and learning lots - I know I have been learning perhaps more than I think is possible, and I sure hope I remember everything.  I'm starting this blog with the intent to keep it updated with news of my time leading up to England, and also while I am there.  I would write more here explaining why I'm hoping to go to England, but rather I've attached my first prayer letter, and prayer card, which explain everything.  I hope it works to read it.  I'll be sending them out by email/mail soon, but I wanted to make it available here if possible.  Please read it and pray for this process.  There are prayer requests on the second page of the prayer letter.  Of course, if I can pray for you about something, please let me know.  Contact info is also on the second page of the prayer letter.

God Bless
Tami