Today after school the roomies and I were delivered a fruit basket from our landlord. We have been having a lot of electricity issues and she sent it as an apology.

So as a result of this LeeAnna tried her first banana (crazy, I know).

Then we went walking around and took pictures of the pretty fall leaves in our ghetto neighborhood.

The weather is so nice. Fall weather is here! But first we had winter weather...

Lee Lee jumping with fall colors!



This weekend is our first ministry weekend! I am on a team going to a place called Edson. We will mainly be working with youth but we will also be doing a Sunday morning service at a local church!

This is one of the skits/dramas we will be preforming this weekend! It is so powerful. In this skit I play humanity/main character. Of course, ours will be a lot better than this version I found but this will give you an idea.


Why are stamps from Canada to the US so freaking expensive?? A DOLLAR! I just spent a lot of money to mail my support letters for Asia.


PS, to anyone writing to me from the US... you have to use two stamps.



Last night a bunch of us, from Vanguard, went out to the legislative building in Edmonton (apparently a lot of people hang out there at night).
We played a game called purple city in which you stare into these giant lights illuminating the building for like a minute until your eyes become focused and then you run out to the side of the legislative building and look out over the city of Edmonton. Your eyes are so messed up by this time that all the city lights look purple!
We all had so much fun and I made a lot of new friends.




Today was the Phusioo cup. This is a traditional soccer game at Vanguard. Missions department vs. the Pastoral department. It was so much fun and randomly the nicest weather we have had in such a long time!

In the girls match I scored the first goal of two goals (busting out some of my old soccer skills... you may be laughing right about now).

We ate cotton candy, cheered on our teams, and just had an all around really great time.

I am contemplating joining the girl soccer team now with a friend!


The sink of three bible college students who have time for nothing except school related activities.
I am aware this is absolutely disgusting but you have to admit, a tad amusing.



On the third day it was raining so our four hour hike up a mountain got cancelled. So instead we drove to the hot springs to swim! And when we reached the top of the mountain to swim it was snowing! So we got to swim in the hot springs while it was snowing. It was so beautiful and amazing!!


On the second day of the retreat we woke up early to go white water rafting. Now don't get me wrong, this was so fun and SO beautiful... BUT it was freezing cold.

Almost too cold for me to really enjoy it.
After rafting we went to the falls to eat yummy pita sandwiches for lunch and to do some team building things. We built inukshuks... History lesson: Canadian Natives used to build rock people called inukshuks to scare the buffalos, or whatever was being hunted, back to them-- like a trap. So we had to build these in teams out the the giant rocks found on the shore of the natural clean water spring that was fed by the falls.

After this we went cliff jumping. I, alas, did not do it. It was way too cold. The water was fed by glaciers and it was already like heavy coat weather outside so I figured since I have done this already I would pass.
After this we went back to the campsite for a dinner of perogies and some great worship.


This was my memory verse for the week.


"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vein conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should not only look to your own interests but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus."


The missions program at school went on a retreat this weekend.

Friday morning we drove three and a half hours to Jasper, a place in the beautiful mountains. I was on a team of people who got to go early and help set up so I missed my Friday classes.

After set up we went into town and walked around. Then to the flats. The flats is a place in a river that is VERY shallow, you can walk all the way across it to the other side and it looks as if you are walking on water.

Once everyone else got there we proceeded to the camp site to eat a wonderful dinner.

After dinner was worship. We got to hear this family speak who had recently been missionaries in Thailand.

It was SO cold. The first night I slept terribly because I was SO cold. But I made lots of new friends and I have never been so in awe of God's creation when looking at these mountains.


Today we went to orientation at an all nations center. My missions class is going to work with Canadian immigrants and help teach English and work at a day care.


Today I realized that I am like my mother in the fact that is takes me an hour to type a text message out on my new phone.

Today I got more accustomed to Canadian vocabulary and accents.

Today I bought a space heater for my room, sat down right in front of it, and read.

I am currently cleaning and trying my best to decorate with barely any supplies. I have this thing where my room has to be clean before I actually get around to doing my homework... Sometimes this is a curse.

Tonight I am going to bed at nine.


Five things that make Vanguard College more like a high school than a college.

1. It has lockers.

2. It is in one building.

3. Everyone knows each other.

4. It goes mostly from 8-330.

5. On Tuesdays they serve lunch-- caf style.

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Today I had a class on Paul, a small group, and an overseas missions class.

We had to audition for dramas today in missions class, I proceeded to sing alone in front of people which I seldom do anymore but it was surprisingly painless and I received some good feedback.

I made some new friends today.

Oh, they refused to turn the heater on in the school building and it was brutal. I was dying from being frozen to death.

We walked through a cemetery today in small group... Why, you may ask? Because the point is "to begin with the end in mind." How do you want people to see you? A little over dramatic but I tend to dig that kind of stuff.

Tons and tons of homework.

School starts at 8 am... I have not had that happen since... Elementary.


Arrived in Canada yesterday. It has been a whirlwind of events. I have been introduced to Tim Horton's (coffee shopish place) and Swiss Chalet (Brianna's favorite restaurant). Ate at both twice. Went to Joe (Brianna's favorite store) also twice... Canadian overload. But I am liking it.


We went to bed at nine last night because I was so tired, stayed the night at Brianna's and went to church with her this morning.

My apartment is nicknamed "the dungeon"... please let your imagination wander. I am currently in my room-- freezing cold.

Oh yeah, I have yet to mention that it is like 50 degrees here... Fahrenheit that is. All I brought were sandals.. My boots are being shipped to me. I hope they get here soon!

I will post pictures of my house and everything soon... I am just too tired for now.

Everything is really pretty around here. Great skies and trees!

Welcome to Canada!





I feel it is appropriate to address the subject of time, as so many are currently doing so.

Time passes, I do not expect anything different, I do not blame time for doing its age old job. But what is time? The time it takes the earth to rotate around the sun, the hours in a day, the minutes in an hour... What makes time so defining? It effects everything we are. Our relationships, our character, maturity, even the way we look... So how, over time, do memories fade? If time is relative then why do things we think, or even how we think, change with its movement?

Some memories are forever with a person while others simply go with time. Some can be put away.. and then uncovered, the dust wiped away, and looked at again. Time affects memories. There is no question about that. But where do the memories go when they are gone? What creates these illnesses that erase memories and speed time?

It has been over a month since I returned to this place. God, over time, has changed me. He has changed my heart and my mind... with the use of time.

In going back to New York I saw what I was missing, what new memories could be made over time this coming year. But the Lord placed my feet on solid ground. Although I saw all of these things I would be missing in the future and these places that I had made such wonderful memories I knew that the time for me to be there had passed.

This past weekend was my grandmother's funeral.

While in small town Mississippi my family and I visited a house that used to belong to a cousin, or an aunt.. or something along those lines. My family still owns the place and I can remember going there as a child. Visiting this house this weekend made me very aware of time. How it has passed and how it will continue passing for the rest of my life.

The house was surrounded by trees and the ground that it stood upon was covered in blankets of Mississippi grass. The sun was setting and as I walked around the property I saw the occasional flower emerging from the grass, fire red against the green, as if the earth had decided to purge the most beautiful thing it could create and set it atop the grass. The air was thick and hot, pressing in on every inch of my body, covering my skin with a layer of moisture that reminded me of being a child splashing around in the creek beside my grandmother's house.

It was almost as if I could hear the house speaking to me, with all the stories it held inside its walls that had been brought by the passage of time, as if I could hear the front porch groaning under the weight of family gatherings and endless pitchers of sweet iced tea... I could hear the sound of little feet pattering up and down the halls and smell grits coming from the kitchen while the porch swing gently swayed in the southern breeze.

Time defines a place. Attachments are made and severed. Bonds are formed and broken. And so it is with people.

For some reason this house, in all its glory, made me very aware of the passage of time and how I am using my time here on this earth. I cannot be selfish with my time and I believe it inevitable that I will always wish for more. I cannot keep to myself the beautiful things I have seen, I must go forth using my time wisely and striving to live with no regrets. I must be a magnificent woman of the Lord just like my grandmother was. Because it is with the passage of time that I have realized that one thing never changes... He never wares or changes His feelings toward us... He never forgets us like fading memories. All God wants is for His children to love Him and to take His place in this world, among His people. So I know that the passage of time can take tolls on us as human beings, it can take people away from us and bring in new ones, but the most important thing we must do with this precious time we are given is love the Lord and love the people He has placed on this earth, because Jesus took our place so now, with the time we are given, we have to take His here.


I am in a boat. A small kayak type thing. I am being tossed and turned by the waves and almost ripped apart by the rocks at the bottom of the Haitian water. Brianna and I won't give up. No way, no how. We must both fit our bodies in this kayak and paddle all the way out to the ominous Red Cross boat that seems so close, much closer than it actually is.


Finally we are paddling with all we have to the boat. We are experiencing the "thrill of our lives."

We tip... Then flip.

With much effort we begin to swim back to the shore... Which takes much longer than it takes one to read this.

We arrive on a beach down the way, glass everywhere. Random Haitian man on his phone, asking us if we need help. We refuse help because we are explorers, dare devils...

And there is Del in the water outside the house making sure we are okay. Waiting for us to make it back.

We are explorers, daredevils, conquering the Haitian waters with our mad skills... Our swim suit clad bodies jerking every which way in an effort to keep our vessel afloat.

The thrill of our lives.



I am not leaving for Canada today.


I can't go until I get my visa.

So... Heres to waiting! And driving back to Norman with my mom tomorrow.

Just be praying that God works all this out for His will! I am just trusting Him.

Having a great time in Mississippi in memory of my Grammie.





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