Devo: Joseph's Bones

Have you ever really thought about the bones of Joseph?

Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob and was sold into slavery by his brothers. You may have heard the story before, if not then you can read it in your bible in Genesis 37 - 42 or online here. When Joseph died, he left instruction with his family to take his bones to Israel, the land of his fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The process of getting his bones to Israel was a little difficult however and involved 400 years of slavery before Joseph's descendants were able to leave Egypt. If you don't know that story, you can find it in the beginning of Exodus... and then watch this movie because it is wonderful, it is beautiful and it has the most amazing soundtrack that you will ever hear!

Anyway! Back to Joseph's bones. It's not really the bones that are important, but what they represent. When the Israelites left Egypt, they spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness because of their disobedience, before they were allowed into the Promised Land. 

These events are a great picture of the Christian Life! Before we accept Christ, we are enslaved by our sins (Jhn 8:34), but after we believe in Him, we are released from bondage (Jhn 8:36). 

However, there is a downside!

Once you are saved, you enter into the Kingdom of God (Jhn 3:5-8) and then you have to wait for His eternal reign (Jas 5:7-8). God gives us something to do while we're waiting (share His words with others Mat 28:18-20), but it doesn't always make it easy. Just like the Israelites had to wait 40 years in the wilderness to enter into their Promised Land, we have to wait in our wilderness to enter into our Promised Land (Heaven). 

Have you ever had that feeling? Like you don't quite belong? Could it perchance be the sense of eternity in your heart? We're not there yet, and we know it deep down! We get fed what we need to get by, like the Israelites were fed their manna and quail every day (Ex 16), but there's that sense that something more is missing, that there's an excitement we don't have yet. We want to taste that milk, honey (Ex 3:8) and those giant grapes and pomegranates (Num 13:23)!

But Laura, wait, weren't you going on about Joseph's bones earlier?

Well, yes! The Israelite people were carrying Joseph's bones with them all throughout the wilderness. The bones were carried in a coffin... an ark in other words (I got this part from Beth Moore's Patriarchs study, and then double checked it on BibleGateway.org to make sure). 

Actually, the Hebrew word for ark and coffin is the same, it is arown.

Prep: Chinatown Adventure

A couple weeks ago, those of us going to Asia had a small in-town retreat and went on a "Chinatown Adventure"

We started our morning off with a good old breakfast, Hong Kong style! Some dim sum at a pretty authntic restaurant called Urban China.

Yes, that is a chicken's foot. I ate one of those and two pieces of tripe! Other students who have been on the trip before say that near the end of the meal with Dim Sum overseas they start negotiating who will eat what, as it is rude to leave any food left on the table.

From there we began a scavenger hunt! Our team won in the end :)

  On a hunt to find the "wierdest" food!

 Because we wanted something a little less expensive (and guessed that at some point during the day someone would have to consume what we brought back), we chose two beverages.

 

Testimony: Everything

One of the dramas we perform is called the "Everything" drama. In the drama, Jesus created a girl and they had a close relationship with each other, they were happy just being together. But then people came into her life who were using things to try to distract her from Jesus: lust, money, drunkeness, vanity and suicide. As her life reaches a dark point, she decides to run back to Jesus, but has to struggle against the baggage now in her life. Jesus shields her from the baggage tormenting her and defeats them. She and Jesus are then happy together again.

 (If the video does not work, you can view it by clicking here)

Our HMS crew performed this drama at one of the youth groups in Edmonton last night. It has been one of my favorites for a while!

When I was in Jr. High I saw this drama performed by Vanguard at a Bible Quizzing Tournament. At the time I was struggling a bit with my faith because I didn't feel that I had a very close relationship with God. This drama helped me to remember the way I used to talk with Him as a child, with no doubt that He could hear me and that He would speak to me. 


I began to realize that there was hope, that I would be able to have that relationship restored, and began my struggle back to Jesus. Like in the drama, I realized that I needed to let Jesus take on my emotional baggage in order to become closer with Him. There wasn't anything I could do to restore myself to Him, I just needed to surrender and trust Him to do the work Himself.

Now He is my Everything!  

 

 Isaiah 53:5-6 

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed. 

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all. 

Prep: Heat, Humidity and Hair

As I begin thinking more about this trip, one thing keeps coming to mind... The extreme heat our team be living in! The hottest months in Thailand are April and May, which is when I will be there. Coming from Northern Edmonton's winter, this is going to be quite the climate shock. Not only will it be hot, but it will also be quite humid. This come into play when deciding what to pack. 

What will I do with my hair?

Any suggestions? Currently these are my top decisions:

1. Keep it back in a bun/ponytail/headband

2. Cut it short so it's off my shoulders but long enough to put in a small ponytail

3. Cut it so short that it won't bother my neck at all!

Let me know what you think, what you would do and what you have done in the heat and humidity before. I'd love to hear your opinions :)

Pray: March

If you are the type of prayer warrior who marks your calendar, I would specifically like to request prayer from you on these days:

March 20-23

March 27-30

These days will be the first few days adjusting to new places where we will be teaching and I will definitely require prayer to help me through them! 

The first location we will be teaching in a community that is known for disruptive classrooms, and we may be teaching alone. One girl on my team had a cockroach thrown at her last year while she was teaching! I'm told that this place can be very rewarding, but can also be difficult, especially the first few days! 

Please pray for: 

• My patience
• My strength
• The students' obedience 
• The students' good behaviour.

The second location we are teaching again, but in a much more formal setting. These will be very long days, and often by ourselves. There is a fairly strict dress code and the classrooms are often very reserved and hard to get to know well. 

Please pray for:

• My strength
• My energy
• The students' engagement
• That relationships will be built quickly

Thank you so much, your prayers are greatly appreciated! Please give me a call if you'd like more details on these places or the others I will be visiting.

Also, if you are feeling inclined to give financially to this trip, please click the link below for instruction. If you cannot figure out the instructions, the link doesn't work or you simply are too lazy and would still like to give, please give me a call and I can fill it out for you with your information :) 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7ROtmX3JwUnNlpyX2VsRWlvN0E/view

Prep: Where in SE Asia will Laura be?

I've gotten a list of the potential places I'll be visiting in Asia! These may change, but here is the potential itinerary:

Phase 1

Hong Kong

 

This phase will be spent at an all-girls school, mostly teaching English. Hong Kong has the highest density of people on all of planet Earth! Picture the crowds at Calgary Stampede after the grandstand show is over, but with even more people! And this is all times of day! Even though I'm not the biggest fan of crowds, I'm sure I'll get used to it pretty quickly, and I am very excited to see this place and build relationships with some of the millions of people in this place!

Phase 2 & 3

China

 

Clean air is something we often take for granted in Canada! Our crisp and clear winter air is uncommon in many countries, and I'm sure I will experience first-hand some major air pollution. Another thing I'm sure I will experience is what it's like to be a minority! I've walked into T&T Market before or downtown in "China Town" but going to China is a whole other ballgame. Strangers stare at you everywhere and will even take your picture wherever you go! For phase 2 we will be teaching English to students during the day and building relationships with people in the evenings. Phase 3 will be similar as we travel through China a bit, teaching more and learning a bit more of the Chinese culture.

Phase 4

Vietnam

 

Phase 4 are team days, where all of our groups will be back together. We will be in Vietnam, where the true lovers of motorcycles live! As seen is the picture above, it is one of the major modes of transportation there. I have always loved Vietnamese Coffee, but am looking forward to learning much more about the Vietnamese culture than that!

Phase 5

Thailand

 

The final leg of my journey will be in Thailand, where I will be spending over two weeks! We will be doing some after-school care and work with university students with an organization that has been established in Thailand since the 2004 Tsunami. In fact, it is the only one that has remained with the Thai people since that disaster.


And yes... I MIGHT be able to ride an elephant!


As I said previously, this itinerary is just a rough draft, and may change at the drop of a hat! If you would like more information on any of the places feel free to shoot me a text at (403) 918-9229 or send me an email at refinedcanines@gmail.com. Again, thank you so much for your support!

Fundraising Goal

Finally I figured out how to include a graph on this blog! It's just an image file but I will manually be able to update it as funding comes in... 

Speaking of which, I could use your help! I know times are hard, especially after Christmas but I would appreciate any amount you can scrape together for this trip. The deadline for fundraising is February 8th and I have raised 52% so far. Thank you so much if you have donated already! I am enormously grateful for your generosity. 

Nobody likes asking people for money, so that is all I will say on the subject. Well, after I say that if you are not in a position to give right now, your prayers are also very much needed and appreciated! Thank you again!

For more information on how to donate, simply click the link below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7ROtmX3JwUnNlpyX2VsRWlvN0E/view

Or you can always contact me at refinedcanines@gmail.com if you have any questions about any of the process. 

Devo: Overcoming Fear

I have been purposefully choosing to not let fear be a main factor in my life's decision making for the past year. However life for a global worker can be completely fraught with fear if you're not careful. This is the short list of potential fears!

• Eating chickens feet
• Offending someone's culture
• Finances
• Safety
• Getting lost
• Losing your passport
• Persecution
• Language barriers
• Lack of comfort
• Packing all that stuff into one backpack!

With so many things to fear, how do you possibly control it? Here are my thoughts on fear, and controlling it:

Why?

Well, the main reason is... God commands us not to fear!

The Beginning

Hello All!

Welcome to my new Missions blog! This year has been the first at Vanguard College in the Mission program, my training ground for overseas work.

This Fall I jumped into a mini van full of some awesome teammates to go on my first short-term mission trip to the Downtown East Side of Vancouver. We had the opportunity to see how different non-for-profit organizations are run as well as looking at different approaches to ministry. Beyond seeing all the behind-the-scenes of the way things function, we also got to interact in the heart of the DTES and speak into people's lives. God did some amazing work on the trip, as our team spent ten days on the streets, with some crazy stories to tell after!

My favorite moment was as I was waiting alone for my team to pick me up at Carnegie Hall I started chatting with a man who sat down. He was sober, but it was fairly obvious that he had gone through severe alcohol and/or drug addiction. We began speaking about God's word and he told me he'd been attending a weekly bible study in the area. We both pulled out our bibles and he shared what he'd been learning in the Word recently and I shared a few verses with him. It was a short and very unconventional bible study, but amazing to see how God wasn't only carrying out His work through the organizations on the Downtown East Side, but through the people who live there!

This semester I am gearing up for the Spring trip to Southeast Asia. I will be visiting Thailand, Vietnam, China and Hong Kong and in preparation I have begun this blog! I hope it can serve these multiple purposes:

• Keep you in the loop on my trip preparations
• Updates during the trip
• Giving specific prayer requests 
• Tracking fundraising processes
• Detailed stories and ideas when I come home

If you would like more information on this trip, Vancouver, future trips planned or my life in general, please shoot me an email at refinedcanines@gmail.com