It’s July 10th Already
Yes, it’s July 10th, 2009.
Here’s an update on Jess-life in bullet points:
The Pais Project chapter of my life is over. The Pais year ended June 13th with a pleasant grad ceremony, I said goodbye to the friends who have returned home and have consequently had quite a lazy month since. The year ended brilliantly as we had a whole bunch of students from the school come join us at our youth nights (hip hop abs or dodgeball!), we love to see students having fun!
I have decided to stay in Canada until further notice. I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet, but I hope to volunteer at the local school and maybe run a film class in my spare time. We ended up building a great relationship with Cariboo Hill Secondary School, and the principle is open for more fun stuff to happen.
I also have the thought in my mind about doing a TESL/TEFL course to teach English as a second language. I really want to do that in Germany, but we’ll see what happens here first.
As of today, I am officially a Starbucks employee. I have given in my SIN, and can receive my free cup of coffee when I turn up on Monday, July 20th for my first day. I’m moving back to the westside of Vancouver where I lived last year, the Starbucks is up on Dunbar @ 29th.
Tomorrow I am going on a true Canadian experience and I can’t wait….!! I’m going to camp. Oh yes, I’m going to spend the next week up at Anvil Island (Up Howe Sound – which is up the coast a little from West Vancouver) I’m helping out with the work crew which should be fun.
I’ve been reading Yes Man by Danny Wallace and it’s so funny. It’s a must read for any british people who are living away from home, it reminds me of home and the british ways and makes me laugh so much! I do love being British!! Ah man…now I want some fish and chips. I’ve also been reading Prayer by Philip Yancey – it’s interesting, it’s making me think about what I really believe especially in regards to prayer….does it make a difference??
Ok people, I think that’ll do for now.
Back to the Beginning
It’s official. I am terrible at keeping this thing updated. But I have not given up on myself just yet, as I wish to start again… today.
Here goes.
It’s 2009 already!
So, the new year has come and I thought it was about time that I sent out an update to all. I’ve been so blessed by the support shown to me over the year, and I hope that you know that (between random emails) I love you and appreciate you an awful lot! So, THANKS!! You know who you are 
And so, onto the meat….
Vancouver, this winter, has had the most abnormal weather – I’ve heard rumours that it hasn’t been like this since the 40’s!! (or since 40 yrs ago…either??) Anyways…..and so we’ve been covered in at least a foot of snow for about a month!!! It’s slowly melting away now…although this week it got down to -5C and snowed today!!..aaggh!!
Here’s a picture of my car and me scraping off the snow one day in Dec…
scraping away the icy and snow
Me in the snow!
Haha…ok….so you’ve got the picture by now!!
By the way, so that is my team car up there – it’s an Oldsmobile Cutlass 1990. We’ve called it Opa or Opi or Oldi (basically Grandpa) It’s such an old man car, it’s funny. The only problem is that it is quite the gas guzzler – it’s costing us more to fuel it than money we have in our account, so we have a wee problem. We need a new car or more money – so please pray for that, or if you want to donate to the cause then email me!!
So, this week I got a new team member – welcome David Lancaster, from England – the Brits now out number the Germans!! He’s a funny one, and I think will settle in well to the team – he’s out at a school basketball game at the moment with Ben (our youth pastor). It was sad to say goodbye to Sophie before Christmas, but she is safely back in Germany…which has meant that Sarah is the only German on the team now! She’s coping well with all the sarcasm so far!!
I have been badgering two local schools this week, trying to get meetings – Burnaby Mountain and Cariboo Hill Secondary Schools. We have quite a few students in our church youth group who go to Cariboo Hill, so it’d be amazing to get involved there and meet their friends and make new ones – get them involved with the church.
Our youth program at the church is taking a change, starting Feb 1. We’re starting new small groups (called Clutch) and fun events and a new service centered night called Crew Nights (that’ll start later though). We’re really excited to connect more with the girls in our group, we have some awesome Grade 8’s who we really want to see grow in their faith and in reaching out to their friends in their schools.
Here are some names you can pray for – Sarah, Shawna, Rachel, Hana, Jessica, Stefanie, Katrina… they’re all super cool girls who we want to see grow in their relationship with God, their relationships with each other and to see them share that with the world!!
What else…??
The Flying Buzzard set sail at the beginning of December, they are currently around the Canary Islands….what’s more exciting is that her and Mike got engaged!!! My mom’s getting married!!!!!
Ok….so I think that’ll do for now. This is a new season and I’m super excited!!!
Please email me with comments, or questions, or just to say hi, or to tell me that you’re praying, or to tell me how you’re supporting me….all’s good! I really appreciate it all. Thank you.
Be Blessed, love Jess
Happy Turkey
So…it’s been 2 months since Pais 08/09 started and this weekend is Thanksgiving weekend a.k.a Happy Turkey. I get to spend Sunday with some of my favourite people and then get Monday off work too…which is great!
Ok, update on life thus far….
I got back from England and had a beautiful few weeks in the sunshine of Vancouver, I went to Vancouver Island and visited some family friends, I went down to Portland, OR to visit a long-time friend and got to see Seattle, WA too – the weather was amazing and it was wonderful seeing my friend Jennica again too (it’s been 4 yrs). From there I flew to Fort Worth, TX for 2 weeks of Pais Foundational Training.
Pais Training:TEXAS
My role as Team Leader kicked in as I met the first member of my new Pais team – Sophie is 23 and from Germany. My other team member is Sarah, she’s 20 and from Germany as well – she wasn’t able to get to the training in Texas until the last day because she had problems with her visa. The training was an intense 2 weeks of seminars and teaching – it was good but crazy busy. I was staying with the most AMAZING host family though – they had a swimming pool, hot tub, boat, jetski….it was amazing and the couple were the kindest, most loveliest people EVER!! I felt so blessed to have met them and live with them for two weeks.
Pais Canada::VANCOUVER!!!
Back in Vancouver and It’s never felt more like home – I’m so glad to be back after being in Texas!! Vancouver is a sweet place to live. Seriously.
So, being back in Vancouver now, I have moved churches. I know work at a church called Cariboo Christian Fellowship Church, which is in the city east of Vancouver called Burnaby. Because of this, I have had to move house too – so I spent my first week living with a Filipino family in Surrey. The family were so lovely but Surrey is so far away! I was driving for nearly 2hrs each morning to get to devotions in Vancouver, as I had to pick up the girls in my team from Port Moody (which is also far far away!). I moved after a week to near where the girls were living to another city called Coquitlam – where I live at the moment with a lovely couple called Bob and Sara.
My team life has been challenging – trying to hold onto the vision of creating a media team, but not having anything turn out how I expected it (not just things I wanted to happen not happening, but things I didn’t want to happen happening!) So, I’m learning to be faithful with what I have and to hold on to my dream. I have the most amazing people around me and I love my new church – my new youth pastor is called Ben and he’s awesome. I just don’t like being so far out in the suburbs. I miss my old host family and being in the Westside…but I keep visiting.
And now it’s been 2 months and things are plodding along….it’s not bad but it’s not great. But I do have tons to be thankful for….and now it’s Thanksgiving and I’m so thankful, I’m happy and feel so loved. I feel at home in this temporary home for the year…..that sounds weird, but it’s all ok!!
Some photos:
Germany – fotos von deutschland
I had the privilege of visiting 2 awesome friends (and seeing 2 more) in Germany – just an hour flight from England, and I landed in Frankfurt Hahn Airport. I arrived on the Wednesday and spent the first few days with Lotte and then Robin picked me up on Saturday and we drove down near to Stuttgart…or rather to Moensheim! hehe.
Joni came on Monday and we made the trip to Bodensee, where you can get phone signal from Switzerland because it’s right across the lake. We got wet, as it was raining but it was great fun and we got to see Tabi.
Robin likes to do a million and one things, and so he showed us his Paragliding stuff…we played mini-golf, twice…we went for bike rides…shot air rifles…drank lots of Becks with Lemon…and many more things – like meet Robin’s twin, Heiko!!! haha.
I really loved Germany
Englandtown
How lucky am I?! I got to go back to England and see all my wonderful friends and family that I haven’t seen in a year. It was such a strange feeling as I arrived in London Gatwick, for the first time in nearly a year, I wasn’t the one with the accent! Suddenly, it felt like my life in Canada was only a dream as everyone drove on the left, spoke all posh and drank Tea everywhere.
I spent my first week in Cheltenham, the town where I spent 3 years at University. It was wonderful being back and seeing so many of my friends! It was like I’d never left….conversations picked right back up again, especially as I had to catch up on all the goss. I realised here how much I miss England, and that I prefer small towns to giant cities (like Vancouver). It’s a place that feels comfortable – it’s home. And so I had a crazy week of seeing a million people over lunches, dinners and cups of tea!
Second week…I made the trek up to Cumbria, where my Mum lives in a small coastal town called Maryport. It was great seeing the family again, and to see how far the boat has improved in a year. This week was a lot more relaxed – reading, walking the dog, and not much else. We drove up to Scotland for the day and I got to stand on Hadrian’s Wall – oh the fun!
I then went to my Gran’s over near Hull. That was nice. I then made my way back south towards Birmingham and then Stansted Airport – to go to Germany (see above post).
Back in England after a week in Deutschland, I stayed in Birmingham with my Aunt’s family. I video’d Sebrina and Steve Miller’s wedding which was a lovely day – still working on the video! I then went and saw Rosie…..before leaving back to Canada!
a happy friday
The weather is not worth talking about. I got back to Vancouver expecting sun, and well…summer, but so far I’m still waiting.
But today there was no stopping me as I trudged through the Westside rain clouds, I found myself at my destination: Cheap Skates on Dunbar, AND . . . bought a bike!! for $59. It’s sweet. It’s white and says ‘Made in Canada’ on it. And…well…I don’t know much about bikes, but it works!! 
And now I’ve just finished baking some Chunky Monkeys 
I actually enjoy baking (even though I rarely do it)…and as I was using a British recipe it meant I had to convert grams to cups. So my brain got a little mental arithmetic workout at the same time.
yum
ps…You might like to know that my black eye is almost back to normal. I’m impressed with it’s quick healing – usually bruises last forever on me, but this one has pretty much gone in 5 days!!
Welcome back *punch*
After spending a month in Europe (I’ll update you on that later), I am back safely in Vancouver……however, maybe ’safely’ isn’t the right word to describe being back………
Becca and I went for a bike ride, we were nearly home (around Blenheim and 41st) when I felt like I was going to faint. Which I did. And landed nicely on the bike, on my eye. Which resulted in this: 
fun fun!!
Quick Update
Here’s what I’m up to until September…
w/c 9th June – LAST WEEK OF PAIS YEAR 1!!!
w/c 16th June – Week off….nice break in Vancouver, I hope it’s sunny. I fly outta here at the end of the week. Will be sad saying some goodbyes.
w/c 23rd June – I’m in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England!! I can’t wait to see my people here
w/c 30th June – Up north in Maryport, Cumbria, visiting the family…seeing the Flying Buzzard once again. I can’t wait to see my mum and the Lake District. Then over to Hull, Yorkshire to see my Gran.
w/c 7th July – I’m going to Germany this week, seeing Robin and the girls I’ve been working with this year on Pais. I’m excited for this trip and trying out my German speaking skills on new German people…haha.
w/c 14th July – Still in l’allemagne (that’s Germany in french) until the 16th, then back to Birmingham. It’s Sebrina and Steve’s wedding on the 19th!!! I’m doing some video-ing work for them, should be sweet. They are friends from Pais:USA.
w/c 20th July – Visiting Rosie in Northampton, she’ll be taking me to the airport on the 22nd July… I’ll be back in Vancouver before I know it.
w/c 28th July (3 weeks) I HAVE NO IDEA YET!!…..hopefully taking advantage of living in British Columbia, which is stunning! Vancouver Island would be a fun place to go…if anyone’s interested in joining me then let me know.
w/c 18th Aug – (2 weeks) TEXAS, USA. Pais Foundational Training ‘08. I’ll be meeting my new team and having lots of training in the hot, hot place of TX…hopefully I wont melt.
w/c 1st Sept – Back to the True North – living in Burnaby, starting at my new church (Cariboo Road Christian Fellowship), leading my fab team…..living the crazy life again for another 10 months!!
….and breathe…..
a commonplace life
A commonplace life, we say and we sigh,
But why should we sigh as we say?
The commonplace sun and the commonplace sky
Makes up the commonplace day.
The moon and the stars are commonplace things,
And the flower that blooms and the bird that sings;
But dark were the world and sad our lot,
If the flowers failed and the sun shone not.
And God who studies each separate soul
Out of the commonplace lives makes His beautiful whole.
—Anonymous
