A series of Fortunate events...

2006-08-27T23:43:00.000-03:00

Summer Wrap up-->Our last week of summer placement!

The last week of summer placement, has been good! A little slow,... but over all it has been good!

We did another out reach in Kings sqare, and for me it was the one i have felt the most comfortable doing! I did some face painting again! (there was a day care group there so they all swarmed me after it was announced that there was free face painting) and i kinda got intimidated because there wasn't a lot of things i knew how do do, since i am just learning. One of the day care workers can do alot with face painting! :S but all in all the face painting went good! And I was actually able to hand out tracts, without feeling like i was tiny tiny, or without wanting to hide! Our lemonaid went over well,...that is until the nozzle poped off rocetman and there was a large fountian of lemonaid flying out, which was entertaining! We had the chance to do two drama's which was good! i realized that day how much i related to my charecter in the heart drama (the song FIX YOU by coldplay), and i was going to say something, like a testamony, but i never! :P

Then we went to Renues which was acording to the chaplin the best service he has seen from Taylor College since they have been comming to help! So that was good, and encouraging to hear! Being at the prision was interesting for me! I was not at all nervous, was excited to go back, and i enjoyed getting to talk to the prisoners afterwards! We had alot of extra time so kevin took us on a little tour of some of the different areas and i got to learn a little more about the prision system which was good! part of me still wants to work in the prison system, ministering to them, but that is something i will have to surender to God, cause if it is not HIS will for my life then i ultamently don't want it!

We also did a BBQ at Highmedow appartments, which went well! It went from four to six, and by five we had a bunch of people! :D it was great! it wazsn't just kids we had but adults came out as well! :D it was nice to start to build relationships in that area and for the parents to have some time talking and catching up or getting to know each other!

Finally we ended with the BBQ at Stone yesterday which was great! I loved it! it was great to see everyone, catch up with everyone and then just to help out in anyway, as well as doing some more facepainting and all of out skits! i hope i can keep up the relationships I have built there over the summer!

OVER ALL, the summer was great! i GREW alot, and learned alot! I did things i never thought I would do, and i enjoyed them! it got me thinking alot about the end of next year! But knowing what I have to do is to leave my hopes my dreams and desires in the hands of Jesus, surender everthing to him, and he will show me!

2006-08-18T12:46:00.000-03:00

Well...since our last post we were in Fredricton/Woodstock. You see...Rob and I (christian) went to Woodstock and Rachel and Susan went to Fredricton to do our Vacation BIble club, "A series of fortunate events". Yep, we were split up!!! BUt we made it through and DUH DUH DUUUUUUUUUH...thus ends our endeavors in the Vacation Bible School world. IT was a blast!!! With the many vacation bible clubs along the way each of us have effectively memorized the story lines and memory verses, gotten sick of some of the songs that we've sung over and over, and probably managed to do the crafts with one hand tied behind our backs- most importantly- we LOVED every minute of it. I guess the BEST Thing is that we are not sick of each other!!! GOtta love that!

(IN MEMORY OF THE "SERIES OF FORTUNATE EVENTS TOUR",...may you rest in peace)

This BLURB is to go on the headstone...

IF you haven't heard of the Bernadette children, then you should know, before we go on, that Viola, Claude and Sunny are kind-hearted, and quick-witted and that there lives are filled with a series of most fortunate events. All the stories of these Children are both happy and blessed and todays story is probably one of the happiest...

Fun times.

2006-08-06T15:16:00.000-03:00

This past week we were in Moncton!!!!! Along with our vacation bible club we dived deep into volunteering at soup kitchens, park ministry with Children,a Dorchester Penn. visit with the inmates,(Reed Flemming, our supervisor for the summer, has a little blurb on his blogspot about this visit on www.reedeemed.blogspot.com), and stop by a couple of senior homes as well. We'd like to give a shout out to Chris VanBuskirk, the pastor at St. George anglican in moncton and say that you are an amazing man. It's nice to see a pastor who has a passion for the area and is willing to get down and dirty!! Whether it's on the floor of the church basement playing games with the kids, or stoping to talk with the people who have come to eat their meals at the soup kitchen, he was there and willing to lay down his time so he may build more relationships for the kingdom!! Thank you so much for your humble heart Chris, you were a blessing to all four of us!

2006-07-29T12:42:00.000-03:00

One great thing about moving from Community to community, from one environment to another environment, is the range of people we get to meet. Well...Meet these people; All the way from New Denmark, with a love for their Danish Background, may I introduce to you the Jensen Crew (Yes...that includes you Micheal, you have Jensen in your middle name).

We had a blast. Thank for the fun, the food, the laughter, and the love!!!

2006-07-20T11:27:00.000-03:00

A POST BY CHRISTIAN

Wow... what an amazing weekend we had. National Church Army conference was such a blessing. I have been deeply encouraged as I have met many new (or at least new to met), and passionate church army faces. Getting into conversations and worshipping together as a community was so revitalizing. God was definately at work during the conference and his spirit DID move among us. Powerful.

If you don't know, Vacation Bible Schools are exhausting..haha. Nevertheless, what's more exhausting than that?? Two in one day. ON the other hand, what's even MORE exhausting is the travelling in between. The first two weeks of our VBC have been great but i think I can speak on behalf of the group and say we were starting to feel the stain. I'm glad to say that we are resting up physically, and yes- I can definately speak for myself that God has been "filling up my cup" spiritually as well. MORE LIVING WATER JESUS!!!

All I can say is that church army has been a blessing in my life as I was discipled and encouraged by many officers throughout my christian walk. You know who you are. I thank you and speak an annointing over you as you continue to ministry. I cannot wait to press on as a disciple of Jesus, through the power of His Holy Spirit, as we continue to spread the Gospel via Vacation Bible School. COntinue to pray for us please!! Thank You so much...

Your friend in Christ
...trying to be a Christly Friend

Christian Gowan

2006-07-14T19:33:00.000-03:00

So, we've gone from Millidgeville to Cambridge Narrows to Sussex. Millidgeville was our trial week and it went great!!! Cambridge Narrows and Sussex Cornerwas our Vacation Bible Club (x2) as we went to the Narrows in the morning, and the Corner in the afternoon. Billets were beautiful and yes, all four of us, Rachel, Christian, Rob, and Susan, are sooo thankful for the generous hospitality. I'm happy to say that 6 new kids have accepted Jesus into their hearts!! PRAISE GOD!

Sunny (our puppet travelling around with us) says "HI!!" and Violia, Claude and Sunny (the kind hearted and quick- witted characters in our story time) say "Hello" as they Assiduously...and by that I mean persistantly make their way back to the way back machine.

With all the beautiful sushine the last two weeks we are sooo thankful for swimming pools and lakes...but as we continue to press forth in the name of Jesus doing these vacation bible schools, Let us look to Jesus as our LIVING water in whom we draw our strength from.

"If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."John 4:10

2006-06-26T10:03:00.000-03:00

Well...were off to St. Martins having a weekend at Ken's, our psycology teacher at taylor college. The place were going to is called "In the stillness"....sounds relaxing doesn't it??? Well...we'll see because there's a good chance we will be putting our work gloves on this week.

I'll keep you updated when we get back!!!! I'm really excited about this...a whole summer that has been "a series of fortunate events"; soon time to add another knotch in it's belt.

Ba Bye.

The Taylor College crew

2006-06-19T10:14:00.000-03:00

Last Friday, on the 16th, the "crew" of Rachel, Christian, Rob and Susan went to Kings Square for our first evangelistic endeavour. We got rocket man out (See corny picture on right) and served lemonade. We past out tracts (the tract I posted earlier on in this blog) and did object lessons as well as testimonys. I would say we got a good response and know that the love of Christ was down in Kings Square that day. Amen!!

2006-06-08T12:32:00.000-03:00

This is a poem we will be performing in places such as seniors homes, as well as open-air evangelism. Enjoy.

"Touch of the Master's Hand" by Myra Welsh

Thought it scarcely worth his while

To waste much time on the old violin,

But held it up with a smile.

T'was battered and scarred, and the auctioneer

"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,

"Who'll start the bidding for me?"

"A dollar, a dollar," then, two! Only two?

"Two dollars, and who'll make it three?

"Three dollars, once; three dollars, twice;

Going for three . . . "But no,

From the room, far back, a grey haired man

Came forward and picked up the bow;

Then, wiping the dust from the old violin,

And tightening the loose strings,

He played a melody pure and sweet

As a caroling angel sings.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer,

With a voice that was quiet and low,

Said: "What am I bid for the old violin?"

And he held it up with the bow.

"A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two?

Two thousand! And who'll make it three?

Three thousand, once; three thousand, twice;

And going and gone," said he.

The people cheered, but some of them cried,

"We do not quite understand

What changed its worth?" Swift came the reply:

"The touch of a master's hand."

And many a man with life out of tune,

And battered and scarred with sin,

Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd,

Much like the old violin.

A "mess of potage," a glass of wine;

A game , and he travels on.

He is "going" once, and "going" twice,

He's "going" and almost "gone."

But the Master comes and the foolish crowd

Never can quite understand

The worth of a soul and the change that's wrought

By the touch of the Master's hand.

2006-06-06T11:47:00.000-03:00

Along with the VBC (Vacation Bible Club), our team will be taking part in Evangelistic Endeavors. This posting is the text of a Gospel tract we will be using on the street. A GOSPEL tract would naturally be "a brief treatise on the subject of the GOSPEL MESSAGE; published in the form of a booklet". Here's what Rob and Christian came up with.

2006-06-06T11:25:00.000-03:00

FOUR SIMPLE FACTS

You may choose not to believe them, nevertheless there are four facts which have eternal consequences.

First God is Holy, which means He is perfect and everything He does is good. He desires us to be Holy and even says “Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.” (Lev. 19:2)

The Problem, however, is the second fact! We, humans on this earth, are not Holy. In fact, we often do what is wrong, the opposite of being holy. This “wrong” is called sin. However, there is nothing we can do to fix this on our own. We fall short of the Glory of God which is His Holiness, and cannot enter His presence because of the wrongness in our lives. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23)

The Third fact is Good News! Even though you cannot fix the problem of sin and come to God on your own, God came to earth in the form of Jesus who lived a perfect life. A perfect life without any sin. He choose to die on the Cross so you can be forgiven of your sins and can come into the presence of God, having eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son(Jesus), that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

The fourth and final fact is that God loves us and gives us a choice whether to follow Jesus or not. God honours this choice we make in this life and in the life to come. There is a promise about the choice we make: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16: 31) or choose not to believe and continue to go your own way. God will honour the choice you make.

For More information on following Jesus contact:
1-888-316-8169 or email at info@churcharmy.com

2006-06-02T14:30:00.000-03:00

In the midst of all the mayhem throughout the summer, in the midst of all the chaotic pressure to get many things done under the sun, in the midst of the business that we call "Taylor College Placement"let me introduce to you the blogspot of Rob, Christian, Rachel, Susan's summer tour. A summer tour of VBC'S (vacation bible clubs), Evangelistic Endeavors, Ministry and, hopefully a bountiful amount of laughs. Our theme?: A series of Fortunate events, based on the book "A Series of Unfortunate Events" by lemony Snicket. This site acts as a type of TIME CAPSULE of sorts- storing details that have been caught sporadically throughout the air. We aim to show YOU some "sporadic catches", as WE share and spread the love of Christ from ages 9 to 99. No...maybe even younger and older...we'll try! Oh...and one other thing we aim to do... is to have fun in the process.

We're busy little beavers right now, working hard and fast throughout the young hours of the day preparing for our flight. We are prepping in the month of June and going "on tour" in the month of July and August. Lots of places lined up...lots of things to do! With that being said...on top of it all, we were asked (again, that's Rob, Rachel, Susan and Christian) to do a type of "Character analysis" throughout our many weeks. Each person was assigned a old testament character , devoting themselves to this "ONE" for the following three months. Christian has DAVID, Susan has Elisha/Elijah (Both), Rob has Ezra/Nehemiah, and Rachel has Moses.

Anyways- that's long enough for now. I'll keep ya posted!

HASTA LA VISTA!