Wow, it's been a long time! Sorry about that. The last few weeks have been a little bit nuts though, so I can make myself believe I have a good excuse.
The last weekend in October (29-30) was our LYFE youth retreat. The week leading up to it was absolutely crazy for several reasons--first, just all the prep and everything that still had to be done to get ready for the weekend made it busy for everyone. Second, it was crazy for me personally. The Friday before youth retreat, we had an awesome prayer meeting during chapel, in which we prayed for healing for Sean Gurnsey (one of our staff members, who is basically in charge of youth retreat)'s knees. They had both given out on him, and he was basically to the point of being in a wheelchair. We all recognized that this was a spiritual battle we were fighting, and began to pray for victory in that element. Sean recognized right away that his knees were beginning to be healed.
I was also struggling with some stuff in my personal life, so after the prayer meeting almost all of my dorm girls pounced on me, and really prayed for and encouraged me. That was amazing, and I love them all so much!
The following Monday, Sean came and talked to me, and told me that he felt my prayer for him had had the direct result of him gaining victory over the devil. So that was really cool and really encouraging, because I have often struggled with wondering whether or not my prayers are actually being answered.
Youth retreat came very quickly, and it was an amazing weekend. Saturday night was absolutely incredible, with God's presence being felt very strongly through worship. People were on their knees weeping and worshiping. I was really touched by that service.
Afterwards Sean was talking with one of the youth, and quickly realized that she struggled with the exact same spiritual issue that he had just gained victory over. So, with a bit of a smug, triumphant grin on his face he called me over and told me to pray for her. He was like, "There! We'll be hitting two birds with one stone. You can win over Satan, and Alicia will see that her prayers actually do make a difference." He was so excited about how God had worked this out. And I have to admit that it was pretty cool.
So after youth retreat we had Monday and Tuesday off, and then Wednesday we left for an outreach tour to Calgary. That was a very stretching but totally amazing experience. We volunteered at The Mustard Seed (a Christian homeless shelter) on Wednesday night, which was really cool. Thursday we were at the DI (a secular, government-run homeless shelter--the largest in North America), sorting clothing donations all day. It was actually really fun, and the staff member who was supervising us said that she had never had a group before that was so much fun. It was neat to be able to be a testimony to her. We also had some fun with trying on some really outdated, hideous-looking outfits...or let's just say, the guys had fun. It was interesting. :)
Friday we split into two groups, and mine went to help another small church in the city--just to clean up the grounds and the church and just bless the pastor. When we finished we had a vanload of garbage to take to the dump. No big deal, right? No, except that we couldn't find the dump, and ended up driving around the streets of Calgary for probably an hour and a half, including getting stuck at a train crossing for probably 15-20 min. Yeah.
When we finally got out of that, we went to a pool to go swimming and then SHOWER!!!!! The church we stayed at for the week was wonderful, but kind of didn't have any showers. So this was the one chance we had all week. You can use your imaginations... :)
Friday night all of us first-year students, plus a few others and a few of the leaders, helped out with a ministry the church has--handing out baking and sweets donated by a high-end bakery to the homeless. We basically drove around to different stops and handed out baking and coffee. That was a really good experience, except for having this somewhat creepy 50-year-old man try to ask me out. That was interesting, to say the least...
Then Saturday. Saturday involved probably one of the scariest things I have ever done. We were all split into teams of three (making sure there was at least one guy on each team) and then told to go out on the streets and talk to people. Start conversations, and tell them about God. Now, anyone who knows me knows that this had me completely freaked out of my mind. I was put on a team with Kerry and Phil, and we went out.
First we talked to this imigrant man from Bosnia who owned a tiny little pizza shop. He and his son ran it together. Thankfully Kerry isn't shy, and he was able to keep up a bit of a conversation. They told us in broken English that their business was really struggling. Kerry ordered a donair from the restaurant (just for something to do, and to keep them from kicking us out) and then asked whether we could pray for God to bless their business. It was so funny to watch the son's response! He was like, "No no, I don't think so. That would take up too much of our time, and we have things to do, and there might be customers coming." Kerry assured him that he would make the prayer very short, so finally he was like, "Okay, you can, but make it short, and if anyone comes in, I'll stop you!" So we prayed for maybe 30 seconds, much to the man's amazement. And then as soon as we were finished, a customer walked in! So that was really cool.
We left the restaurant and went on to a park, where Kerry and Phil went to talk to a group playing with Nerf guns (soon found out they were lesbians. That would have been interesting!) I went to the playground, and sat down beside a grandmother on a bench who was there with her four grandkids. I just started a casual conversation, and we talked for quite a while. I told her I was going to Bible college, and that opened a bit of a door, though not much. I soon realized that the guys were waiting for me, and I would have to end this. But I wanted to leave her with something. So I asked whether there was anything I could pray for her about. She just kind of smiled and said "No, not really. Well...there is my hip." Okay! I found out she was waiting for an MRI on her hip, so I asked whether she would mind if I prayed for her really quickly right then. She somewhat reluctantly let me. So I just prayed really quickly, and that was that. But walking away I asked myself over and over how on earth I had just managed to do that!
The last person we talked to was by far the hardest. Kerry went up to her first and just asked how she was doing, and she almost bit his head off! We soon found out that she was a prostitute, I'm guessing around 50 years old, and totally distrusting of anyone, especially men. So I went and sat beside her on the bench, thinking maybe it would help to have a woman there. I think it did, but not much. She literally talked at us for close to an hour, and we could hardly get a word in edgewise. She was so bitter, so hurt, and so angry, and would not hear anything about Jesus. We tried to tell her that He loved her and cared for her, but she interrupted us right away, and kept babbling on about how He was a liar, how He had sinned just like everyone else, and on and on. There was no talking to her, and it completely broke my heart. We finally had to walk away while she was still talking, because she wouldn't stop. She wouldn't even tell us her name. But I will never forget her. It's going to take an absolute miracle to ever open that heart.
We went back to the church for a debrief, and I was just broken. On top of the chiseling God was doing in my own life (which hurt), I was now carrying pain from another life. It hurt.
Sunday was amazing. We went to the morning service, and then were in charge of doing a youth service in the afternoon. That was incredible. Caleb preached a message totally different from the one he had planned--literally speaking as the Holy Spirit was downloading into him. It was amazing. The worship was amazing, and then Charis and Lance did a skit called God's chisel. Talk about appropriate! Yes, I cried again...
At the end of the service, the youth leader got our leaders and some of his to come forward, and then everyone else to file by them. And every one of us was to get a two-second prayer from every one of them. It was amazing.
So yeah, that's an update on my life. God has definitely been changing my heart a lot, and pushing me to grow. It's not easy, but I'm so thankful for it. And I know that He will finish the work He has started in me.
