Testimony Time!

So, today was church. Bussing takes forever. I left around 8:35, shortly after meeting MM's family. (so funny) I got to church at 9:24. CW, my roommate had left half an hour after me and got there before me. I'll bike next week. I had bussed for a reason. I had work immediately after church, like ASAP, so I needed a drive from someone the second it finished. If I had biked I'd have to leave my bike there...

Anyways, I was in a really really bad mood this morning.

Sunday school was cancelled because KK forgot the cheese, T(?) was playing piano and JS was in Hongcouver with his girlfriend, so we hung out for a bit and then went to Starbucks. Talking with JW, I got a free Caramel Macchiato cause they made it wrong for a woman who ordered it.

We got back, set up some chairs, then service started. Guest speaker. Prodigal son. Worship. Still in a bad mood.

I knew I needed to just give it up and ask God to give me a better attitude, but I wasn't...

I was kinda forced to humble myself though, I mean I had to give a testimony. I had written a page, but that was two days ago and it was 11pm when I wrote it, and I'm not good at presenting things, especially testimonies, so I needed the Spirit to help me.

I think it went pretty well. It helped having a translator interrupt me and give me time to think. xP

So, I was thinking, 'dang, I want to share this testimony... I'll have to type it up... >.> Oh! I typed it to begin with! (out of D.Fa character.)'.

Herewith:

"Hey everyone! My name is Dylan and I’m in second year biochemistry at Carleton now and I was blessed to be a part of this year’s VBS to Charis EFree in Scarborough this August. I had just returned to Ottawa for the second time this summer and just a week later I was gone again. I was definitely planning that week as a break, as a relaxing time to refresh and refocus again. I wanted to spend time with my family and friends and I wasn’t preparing nearly as much as I could have. You see, since we were doing the same VBS material as last year when OCBC went to Brooklyn, I had assumed it would be easy, but I was given the role of telling the Bible Stories. I do not normally consider myself someone who can tell good stories, teach people things, clearly explain things and it was a lot to memorize too, so I really did need work. The entire week I spent hours each day working on how to tell gospel centered Bible stories. I still did not feel prepared.

Aside from the preparation before VBS, we also sat down and talked about what our goals in this week were. Our main mission was broken down into a three-letter acronym, UPI. Understand, Provide, and Inspire. Help the children come to an understanding of the gospel, of God’s love and the gift of eternal life through Jesus death and resurrection. Provide each child with their own copy of the Bible. And inspire each child to share what they’ve learned with others. We prayed that God would really use us to accomplish this and to be an encouragement to the church.

Throughout the preparation and the week we saw God answer prayer. I saw God answer prayer in placing me outside my comfort zone and growing me in an area of weakness. I saw God bring the 10 children we were praying for to the VBS this year whether they were church going children, or not, or even if it was their first time in the church, God gathered His children and answered our prayers on Sunday. We saw Him delay the storms Wednesday so we could go to the park and be a light in the community. We saw the children and youth come to a greater understanding of the gospel. We saw every child receive a New Testament. And I only found this out this week, but one of the mothers of a child at the VBS was exposed to the gospel for the first time through conversations she had with him. Also, the youth grew so much that the church even got a new youth worker for them.

Even though we weren’t fully prepared, even though we aren’t there to do follow-up or see what is happening right now, even though we aren’t perfect, God chose to use us, God uses his Spirit in our lives to speak his truths to others, God did so much more than we could have asked or imagined and He is still doing so much.

So, ya, I have been really encouraged by what I have seen happen in the lives of the children, in my life and just everything He is doing through the steps we take in faith. I’m really glad I got to experience this this year and if the opportunity comes up again, I would be really excited to go again.

Thank you for supporting us in prayer and sending us out!

D.Fa
"

And that's a rough copy of it, but ya. God is awesome. He really helped shift my attitude and when I went to work I was ready to glorify God. I worked super hard until 6:30 then I went home for supper, went back to work, came home for pie and now I'm at my house with a large pile of leftovers. lol.

Ttyl.

D.Fa

First Frosh Finale

Hey guys!

Super crazy week this one has been!

Saturday 8am-5pm

We were on campus moving half of the students into residence. It was a really great time of getting to interact more with my team and getting to work together with the other facilitators. The main thing that made me think was just how much of a great service it is having all the facils helping move people into res. You pull up in a minivan packed to the egdes with bags, boxes, clothes, books, etc. with just you, and your parents. The task of moving in might take a while. 5 minutes later you are done. How? The 20 facils that grabbed a box moved it all in one trip! All of them with smiles and a desire to help welcome you and give a hand. I really enjoyed this day and just getting to see all the excited first year students got me really pumped!

Sunday 8am-1am

Repeat of yesterday. I wore different shoes because I got blisters from my converses. lol. By the end of the day everyone starts getting really tired. There was a meal for off campus frosh and we got to meet them for a bit although a bunch didn't end up participating in most of the week. At 7 or something Ravenpalooza happened. It was like a pep rally and there was also Second City doing improv and sketch comedy. After that was the much video dance! I got to meet a couple frosh and patrolled around the room. The dance was really fun. We also walked people home, either to res or their cars or a little further. Safety precautions. I was dead tired when I got home. I got a drive home which is awesome because it started pouring. lol

Monday 8am-2am

Roundup the frosh by pounding on their doors and chanting Slinky cheers! We got to meet and talk to our frosh for the first time. Asian guy with super British accent, what?! It doesn't work in my head. I think he's impersonating a Beatle. >.> Umm. A workshop and a play. Also at the same time we were scrambling to move in the last 500 students into the new incomplete res building. Then we all went off to the canal and had canal games! Fun carnival style games pitting team against team. Always included a cheer off and then we'd switch stations and do it again. Games included inflatable obstacle courses, a dunk tank, a real life battleship game. Then we prepared for the team dance competition. LOL. E(?) was so stressing out about our choreography. At the end of the dance was a cheer and they all did really well. All 17 teams used a different song! Except for 'Teach me how to Douggy'. >.> Then dinner time. Afterwards was CU@Night! Two dances, BINGO!, Trevor Boris, and Karaoke. It was a lot of fun too. Afterwards me and AL walked a couple engineer students most of the way home. They live a little further than me, so we walked together to my house then split ways. So tired. lol.

Tuesday 8am-11pm

Wake up! Then we all went off to that grassy area by the uncovered teepee and had a 'Spirit Roundup' where every team did a lot of cheering and there were two competitions (I think) the Burp-Off and Pudding Eating contests. Either way, afterwards we all walked along the canal down to the beaches! It was beach day! The main events were sand castle building and cheer competition, volleyball, and dodgeball. There was free redbull and other stuff too. We spent a lot of time working on our castle. We got to work right away and made an amazing sandcastle! (Ours was the only castle!!!) All the others were really good too. Umm. After we went back and had dinner. Then we rounded up the frosh and went to the concert!! Stereokid and Down with Webster! 'Whoa!' It was a lot of fun. I was in the middle of the crowd with NC and JC (same last name. lol) great concert, but Stereokid may have been better musicians.



Wednesday 6pm-11pm

Ok. Wednesday I woke up at 8 and got to work. I had to prepare for school. I hadn't bought any books or even knew where my classes were yet. I got a lot done. I went to the bookstore and I don't really remember a lot of it. lol. Then I had dinner with JC and one of his friends. Also a trombone player! Then I had to go roundup the Slinkys to go to the Expo! What is the Expo? It is where pretty much all the organizations, clubs, Societies, and campus groups get together and show the frosh what they are, give out free things and have contests. It was pretty wild. So many people in such a small space. I didn't get very much free stuff, but I got to see a bit about Foot Patrol and a number of other groups. After that was a (really bad) talent show of a couple groups from Carleton. The South Asian Alliance Dance group was okay. They won 500$ for their club. Last of the night was 'MTV's The Buried Life'. Reading this on the schedule I thought 'Oh no... MTV. This is going to be bad.' They are really cool four guys who in their own circumstances came to think about their lives and what they wanted to do before they died. They wrote a list of 100 things and started getting to work completing them. It started as a two week trip, but it got extended over and over. They also along the way decided they should help others achieve their dreams. They have helped a lot of people with a number of really cool projects. One of the things on their list was to have a television show. Eventually they signed on to MTV when they were approached, but they told them that they'd be in control of the episodes and filming and everything. So it's still a good show, just on MTV. lol.

Thursday 10am-1:30am

First day of classes! I had one lecture in the morning. Organic Chemistry with my prof is going to be awesome. No textbooks. Just the lecture slides and schedules all printed and bound into an 80$ book of things we actually need. He's a really cool prof too. I got to help JS with the current C4C outreach contest '$1000 in Change' campaign by handing out short surveys and talking to people a bit for a couple hours. Later I went to get more books. The bookstore's lines were sooooo long. Then I went home to see my mom. She has been back since Sunday morning and she is much better. She is having a bit of a vision problem, but she is mobile and eating and feeling much better. She had been off her feet for a long time though, so she's getting readjusted to walking. This is a chance to start over. She's lost a lot of weight, lost a lot of pills, is eating better. Keep praying for her. Then I got a drive to school for some follow-up training for the campaign. Then I had Stats at 6. It ended early and there was no lab that night. Then roundup for the Ravens basketball game against California. There were so many frosh that the facils were kicked out of the stands. I read the Un.Cover magazine which speaks about our cravings and how they can point to there being a source of these cravings and something that can satisfy them. We won the game! Then we went off to Alumni Park on campus to watch ToyStory3! I ended up talking with two of the frosh most of the time though even after the movie was done. One of them is from Iqaluit and has a lot of crazy stories. They both like curling and theyb talked about that for way too long. >.>



Friday 7am-11pm

First up, pancake breakfast! It was really good. I kinda slept in a bit, so I didn't do any round up. After it was time to Shine! Friday was Shine day. You see, every year Carleton University donates a large amount to Shinearama, a foundation that does Cystic Fibrosis research. Today's schedule was empty except for shining, meaning going and collecting spare change donations from people all over the city. I had chem class at 10 though, so I went to that. KG is in my phys chem class. We went to Haven to get some books. 'They are upstairs and there is no room on the shelves right now until these books are sold. Come back next week.' Kinda annoying, but the design book I was reading in the check-out line was interesting. Then I was caught by another slinky who was shining, so I helped her for a couple hours. When another slinky came and took her place I left too and did some homework. Then C4C had their first weekly meeting! I thought I was excited for the frosh I had met so far, but it was super exciting getting to meet frosh who already are ready to do ministry and join C4C in helping other students discover Jesus. Summit is at the end of the month and I really want to go! Lastly was the Closing Ceremony. There was a Shine Auction. Things were stolen from Vice-Heads and sold back to them for Shinearama donations. lol. A bunch of awards, three bands and a lot of stuff. Tympanic was really good. A latin feel, good vocals and good playing, a SAXOPHONE! They were really good. And that was it.

I got NY and AM's cell numbers. I still need to get S(?), M(?), T(?), S(?) and R(?)'s cell numbers. I have a very irrational idea that if I don't get some contact info from the frosh I met, that I will never see them again. I know they are in Prescott, but I can't just walk in. Also I feel that my schedule is hard to work with. It seems I have 8 labs every two weeks instead of the 3 from last year. >.> It's gonna be an experience, but God will be doing so much this year! I can't wait!

This was my first frosh week and it was so good. I can't wait to do it again! (if I can) I'm pretty stoked at how much God has changed me since this summer started. But now it's fall and it's time to keep changing. lol.

Ttyl.

D.Fa

The Leaves Win!!!

So, hey.

Today was cool.

I had church this morning then we went 'leafing', in other words we raked leaves for some people who live by the church.

I may be too much of a perfectionist sometimes and possibly also too mechanical when I do things. So JS, RL, R(?), AL, DZ and JC are working on the front yards of two houses. I worked on this one house's back / side yards. I made like 10 piles of leaves. We didn't have enough bags for it.... xP It took like 3 bags for most of it...

There were like 7 bags of leaves for that one house. (She probably needs 2 more. xP So fun.)

We had pizza before leafing.

When I got home I was gonna do some homework, but there was lots of time and I was almost done a book, so I decided to read it. Around 4:30, 3 guys walk into my house. None of them were my housemates, which just happened to not be home, so I had to fend off a gang of beatniks which were searching to swipe a free meal off some sucker who forgot to lock their front door. I used my super ninja skills that I learned from my former teenage genius slash secret agent friend JB and pwn'd them all.

They had called for back-up, so it ended up being 8:15 when I was done with them all. RL just walked in the door completely unaware of the gangster war that had happened in our house moments ago.

Anyways, if you are unknowledgeable about sarcasm or wild stories, there is a blog you should read entitled "Sometimes Logic Eludes Me" located here: http://juliebainard.blogspot.com/. It is written by JB and I am almost done reading all the old posts. I only habe 10 more posts until I get to the current posts. A number of posts deal with the unimaginable happening to a seemingly average Carleton student and her wild McDonald, Smartfood, Coke and nap-taking addictions.

Speaking of naps... After I had finished reading that book, which I finished reading in my room because the piles of unconcious gangsters all over the first level were in the way, I kinda fell asleep by accident. I awoke an hour and a half later and could no longer hear anyone downstairs, so it turned out really well, until I fell asleep before going downstairs... In the end, I woke up 4 hours after I fell asleep... I kinda have some stuff due Tuesday.......

Me and RL are gonna watch OP at 9, so I havn't watched any anime yet today. I increased the anime toll to 4 chapters per episode because three chapters was getting to be too easy now that I only have 4.5 series that I am watching, so I only have to read like 2 chapters a day to watch 3 of them and I always read at least 1 chapter so it's not that bad. At the same time anime is no longer taking over my life, so I don't think increasing it any further would really accomplish more change. It would just stop anime altogether and I wouldn't be reading any more than one chapter anymore.

So, ya. I've had a lot of candy in the last couple days. xP...

I'll ttyl.

D.Fa

PS. I really thought Singapore was somewhere near Italy for a really long time and I will still say it even though I know it isn't. In other words, Singapore is so cool no matter where it is on a map!

Personal Testimony

So, hey.

I really should not be posting now, but I've been meaning to post about what happened this week.

So, like, I shared on Wednesday. So scared, but God made it seem easier by making it someone I already knew.

On the way home that day RM called me and asked if I could share a testimony at the C4C meeting on Friday. The first thing I thought about was like "My thesis is: 'Random' Evangelism and my misconceptions of C4C sharing". I thought for a while about it, but never really wrote it down until Friday at like 2. When I was on the 117 headed back to school (I had forgotten to pack my lunch in a hurry that morning, so I went home after my CHEM tutorial thinking I had 3.5 hours between 12:30 and 3. >.> Anyways...) I was scribbling my testimony onto a few sheets of lined paper because I was supposed to meet with SS at 3 to go over it and he said I should write it down before hand... xP

Anyways, I got there early, he got there late (minimally) and I read him my testimony. He said that it was fine just the way it was. That it was really good for a first-year student. We also discussed some other stuff and he said some stuff about goal setting and what I am going to do at Carleton in my four years. What do I want to do in my four years at Carleton..?

So, ya.

After my meeting with SS, we went to the prayer meeting and, ya, that was cool.

After that was the C4C meeting. I was shaking with fear. I seriously hate public speaking ever since grade 1 when I was chosen as the best story teller and so I had to tell a story in front of the whole school....... I choked on stage. I couldn't say a word. I remember recess soon afterwards. "Hey aren't you that kid that ___" I don't exactly remember what he said, but it was about me being on stage and not telling a story... He definately laughed / mocked me afterwards..? So, ya. After that I pretty much avoided story telling / public speaking at all costs.... In grade 4 I pretty much refused to give a speech. It was worth a large portion of our marks, so I kinda had to in the end...........

So, ya. This was my first real testimony and you can't tell people that you will give a testimony and then not do it... especially if someone went over it with you.

So, ya. After the testimonies of the last couple weeks of sharing we went around to a few floors and gave out free pizza. many people were skeptical about the pizza's freeness, thinking that there was some sort of catch or something..... but some people came out. We just kinda chilled in the tv lounge talking which eventually led to discussions of faith, which was the purpose of the outreach night.

So, ya....

I will post my testimony after I'm done these lab reports that I am supposed to be working on right now / 6 hours ago......... I've been watching movies all day... >.> So good though! Juno and Shrek the Third and How to Train Your Dragon. So good!

More later I suppose.

I just realized, or rather, I just saw that it actually is a fact, that this blog has definately made me a faster typer. That whole thing didn't take like 10 minutes maximum. xP

Ttyl.

D.Fa

P.S. Hi Iraq / Slovenia!!! =D

Free Stuff!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!? ..?!?!?

Okay, so.

I just had chemistry class and now I am in the atrium (>.>) with YA studying for Bio.

Some guy just walked up, gave us free DanActives and a PIN to possibly win something and walked away. Whoa! Free stuff!!!

My opinion of the attrium is slowly changing... >.> This is both unfourtunate and fourtunate. It is unfourtunately furthering the stereotype that the attrium is amazing, while it is at the same time very fourtunate that I just got free yogurt, so I am conflicted.

Anyways...

Ttyl.

D.Fa

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Well, you know how it is. Just walking around. Wasting time in a strange environment for the purpose of aclimatizing yourself. That's what I was doing the other day. Just walking around after Chemistry.

"FOOT FETISH"

*double take* "What did that say..?" but I kept going because I did have to get to Physics (have to..? that's up to debate.)

Anyways, a couple days later I have the same morning schedule, so I went the same way and stopped to read the poster. The poster consisting of a picture of feet with the words "FOOT FETISH" in bold, large, centered letters was actually about the CU foot patrol. There wasn't much info on the poster except that if you volunteer so many hours you would get a free t-shirt, so I was interested in discovering more about this "foot patrol".

So, today I went online, googled "Carleton foot patrol", and found their website. The foot patrol is a "student-run, volunteer based campus safe-walk and patrol service." So, even though the add is rather sketchy... hehe. The actual organization is a good thing. xP [I kinda really want to volunteer for them. xP]

So, ya. I didn't blog yesterday. Why not..? Oh, right. Work until 10 and honestly I need more sleep, so I really need to try going to sleep early on days like that, and tuesdays... xP.... stupid schedule... >.>

Yesterday I sat beside two asians. One kept speaking Chinese to her friends behind her, so I didn't really meet her at all, and the other was nice. She is in integrated sciences and likes physics... ewwww. xP... She got a 70 in summer school calc apparently. Not that I'm making any conclusions from that. xP I also met her friend who is taking russian. o.0

Today I met another couple asians. xP In my group for bio labs there is an asian who has the same name as KC. lol. Another K! xP KC thinks they might have the same last name too. xP He apparently facebook searched for himself and found another few, one which also was in ottawa.

So, ya. In my bio group, there are like 6 people. I was sitting beside two. One white guy and one asian guy. I was very happy that there was an asian in my group. xP I was actually kinda ignoring the other guy... >.> The way he was talking reminded me of someone I couldn't really stand talking to. I thought he reminded me of JA, but I suppose he's more like SS-W, but not really. He actually seems nice... I was just kinda ignoring him...

So, we were all supposed to sign up for a Science Student Success Center mentoring session. I signed up online for one at 3. It said my mentor was Bruce I think. I thought "awwww.... i don't think he's asian..." I got to the SSSC 20 minutes early, so they just chose one of the people already there. Asian. Yuss. But the mentoring session was so boring. Really it is more for people who don't know what they are doing, so he told me to come back if I needed anything.

I got free pizza later because I went to another workshop. I actually didn't register this time... xP

Anyways.... I got to FILM half an hour ealry this time. It didn't fill up as quickly as i thought it would have. I hear there are lots of 2nd and 3rd year students in it for an easy A. xP... Today we watched Casablanca.

So, ya...

D.Fa