July 13 “The heavens declare the glory of God”

What a day! Let me begin by saying that before when I have been saying “we” it has been Janie, Alyssa, Matthew and I, now when I say “we” it will be my team from North Carolina and I because that is who I am with for the next week.

Anyhow, I am going through Psalms in my quiet times in the mornings. I read Psalm 16-20.  Pslam 19:1 really stuck out to me this morning though, ”The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” I have seen a lot of beautiful things these past weeks and seeing that verse just put it all in perspective.  Then, my group and I went to A&W for breakfast and morning devotion. During our morning devotions we are reading Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ by John Piper. Here is the beginning of chapter 1, 

“The created universe is all about glory. The deepest longing

of the human heart and the deepest meaning of

heaven and earth are summed up in this: the glory of God.

The universe was made to show it, and we were made to see

it and savor it. Nothing less will do. Which is why the world

is as disordered and as dysfunctional as it is. We have

exchanged the glory of God for other things (Romans 1:23).

“The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1).

That is why all the universe exists. It’s all about glory.”

Not only was that the verse that had stuck out to me, but while the Reg (a little old man in his 60s probably) was reading it he began to tear up and could barely even get these words out. Of course, I’m a softy so I was definitely tearing up as well. It was beautiful!

Then we go to church at Calvary, I just love it there! It really is a mix of Third Baptist Church (my church) and Hillview Baptist Church (the church I pretty much grew up in and that my family still attends). There was this one song that really got to me but for the life of me I don’t know what it is. All I know is that I had never heard it before that day. Gary Stewart, the pastor, gave an incredible message on Galatians.

After church, we get lunch and drive to Signal Hill. And hopefully you guys have gotten a chance to see the pictures of there because Psalm 19:1 really fits in there. We come down off the hill (MOUNTAIN!) and go walk in downtown St. John’s. I would like to spend some more time down there to meet people, hopefully I will get that chance. Then we meet back up to go to Cape Spear. Saturday, Janie, Alyssa, Matthew, and Sheena went to Cape Spear while I went with my new team to dinner. I was a little upset about that, well until I got there Sunday. OH MY GOODNESS! It is absolutely beautiful!!! I cannot describe to you how amazing it is! I love it. THE HEAVENS ARE DECLARING THE GLORY OF GOD AND THE SKY ABOVE PROCLAIMS HIS HANDIWORK! I saw some whales and they were amazing!!! We spent hours up there! No one wanted to come down. When we finally did come down, we stopped for dinner at Mary Brown’s Chicken. It was ok chicken. Then we went back to MUN. We got back and a few of us wanted to walk around some more so we walked around this pond near campus called Long Pond. It was beautiful!

We came back and I went to my room, chatted with Matthew and packed up my things for Bellevue Beach. 

I will not be updating as frequently this week because I don’t think I’ll have access to internet, but I don’t really know

More pictures to come but I have to go eat breakfast with my team (Its Monday as I’m writing this by the way)

 

July 11th-12th

One of my friends told me that my writing is “stream of consciousness” so I apologize if you have difficulty following along, BUT I did warn you that writing is not my cup of tea when I began this blog. 

July 11th

Janie, Alyssa, and I met up with Tanya for lunch at the University Center.  Tanya is a Chinese student at MUN that attends the Bible Study that New Life Newfoundland has on campus.  Matthew came up and met us about halfway through our lunch. Tanya had class at 1 so she left us around 12:40ish. After Tanya got up, another guy that we had met at church on Sunday came and sat down with us.  He doesn’t normally attend Calvary, however, his friend Daniel was preaching so he came to hear him.  We talked to him for probably 45 min or so about his faith (Salvation Army Church) and it was a very interesting conversation. The Salvation Army Church considers themselves to be evangelical but they do not do the Lord’s Supper or baptisms. That is a weird thought to me. He actually said that he’s never met anyone who has been baptized. I’m not sure how accurate that statement is because we have a few mutual friends and I’m pretty sure they’ve been baptized.

After lunch, we went back to the room and chilled out for a bit. Alyssa needed to finish up some flyers for an event and Matthew went and played basketball with some guys right outside our dorm.  I didn’t want to just sit and the dorm and do nothing, so I went out to watch the basketball. It was there that I met Kelly. She is a part of facilities management on campus (in other words, she cleans around campus). She told me she was getting married today (Saturday) but the crazy part of the story is that she’d been with the guy for 19 years and they’ve already had two kids. I’m learning that there is no high view of marriage here.

After the basketball game, it was about dinner time so we walked to eat because we have grown tired of peanut butter and jelly. Then we walked back to the gym to meet Yasser and Faisal. Matthew and I played badminton with these guys until the sport they were really at the gym for began, volleyball. I did not play volleyball because, well, it just looked too intense for me AND I would’ve been the only girl.

After the guys got done playing volleyball, Steve, Matthew, Faisal, Yasser, Janie, Alyssa, and I went up to Signal Hill to hang out with a team from Texas that was leaving soon. They had been camping all week while doing some scouting. Signal Hill at night was more beautiful than I expected. Looking down at the city of St. John’s was amazing! (pictures to come) After Signal Hill, we dropped Faisal and Yasser off then went to Wal-Mart.  This was the highlight of our evening because WE FINALLY GOT A REFRIGERATOR. We have been here two weeks and been getting ice fro a cooler this whole time to keep our milk cold, but NO MORE! It was very exciting!

July 12th

Steve picked us up to hand out flyers for a softball camp around 10:30. We did that all morning and had lunch at McDonald’s. Then, Steve dropped us back off at campus where we had a little free time. I got to talk to some people back home and it was very good to hear their voices. Adam came and picked us up around 3:30 to pick up a team coming in from North Carolina. This will be my team for the week. We came back to the dorm and got them all settled in and had a brief orientation (which is impressive because Adam is a talker…haha). Then, I went with this team to eat dinner. We ended up at Boston Pizza which I’m sure was the Lord’s provision because I had the same server as the last time I was there with a large group. She just went on and on about how nice we were. Of course, I didn’t think of it till after the fact, but that would’ve been a good way to share the Gospel with her. I’ll just have to go back to Boston Pizza and see her. God is in control! Then, the team and I came back to MUN only to walk to Churchhill Square to check out some times so we could eat breakfast in the morning. We’re going to meet to eat at A&W at 8am! I haven’t been up that early since before I got here!!!

Please pray for me this week as I serve this team from North Carolina.

 

July 10th

We started out the day at the Dorsey’s of course cause that’s where we slept. Then we went to Topsail Beach where was this fun community event. I tried talking to this one lady but she was in no mood for a conversation. Alyssa and Janie got to meet two students from MUN. They were at a booth giving away sunscreen for the Canadian Cancer Society. Anyhow, they spent at least 15 or 20 min talking to them and eventually, they were able to share the Gospel with them. I got to hear bits and pieces of the conversation and was really encouraged by it.  One was more interested than the other but it is only our job to present the Gospel; the response is not in our hands. THANK YOU JESUS! 

After Topsail Beach, we went out to eat with the Dorsey’s. We ended up at this hole-in-the-wall type eating/video rental place. The food was pretty good but what made it an enjoyable trip was the fact that it was a family owned restaurant. It was there we met Kris, a kid that just graduated high school, and we learned all about him and his love for hockey. However, he can’t play anymore because he broke his femur. Anyway, we really reached out to him and Adam got his contact info so hopefully there will be a new friendship established there.

After lunch, we packed up at the Dorsey’s and headed for the Grissom’s. We wanted to give Adam, Christi, Steve, and Sheena a night out without the kids. We kept Sierra, Hershael, Shelby, and Jacob. Sadie had to go with her mom because she is breast-fed. It was lots of fun and a blessing to be able to serve the missionaries in this way.

We finally got to sleep in our own beds tonight but, because heat rises AND we’re on the top (5th) floor it is super hot in our rooms. Oh well!

 

“Before the Cross”

Before the Cross

by Jon Payne (Sovereign Grace Music)

My Savior’s sacrifice paid for all my sin

So in my suffering I look to the cross again

No need, no want, no trial nor pain

Can compare to this

The wrath of God, once meant for me

Was all spent on Him

Before the Cross, I humbly bow

I place my trust in the Savior

Your finished work captures my gaze

You bore the wrath, I know the grace

In my darkest, Your presence is my peace

In my days of joy, Your grace carries me

Jesus, my Great High Priest

The One who pleads for me

My heart is filled with faith in You

Here at Calvary, on my knees

Chorus

 

Look and meditate on the words of this song. They are amazing! Be encouraged by the work of the cross. No work that we do will ever be good enough to enter into God’s presence, but God made a way through His Son so that we may have life!

 

July 9th (My birthday)

We spent the night at Dorsey’s the night before. (I couldn’t remember if I mentioned that yesterday.) Anyhow, Christi made us chocolate chip pancakes and bacon for breakfast. OH…MY…GOODNESS! They were incredible. Every bite had tons of chocolate in it. The rest of the day was really just a relaxing day. It was a much needed day of rest. We hung out at the Dorsey’s while Adam got some work done and Alyssa made some flyers for things coming up this summer. We left for bible study at Sobey’s (a grocery store with a community room) a little early so we went to The Rooms. Its a museum in town that is free on Wednesday nights. We saw this really weird art exhibit. I don’t really know how to describe it accurately. http://www.therooms.ca/artgallery/

Then we went to bible study where Adam and Steve are doing something called Worldview Wednesday. It is where they bring in some sort of article dealing with worldview and discuss it based on scripture. Its really awesome idea. This week we didn’t actually look at a newspaper article with an opposing worldview but we looked an article that Al Mohler wrote about some crazy lady that tried to give an inheritance to her dogs. (http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=1180)  We had some good discussion about this topic. OH, I almost forgot to mention that Steve brought me Oreos and milk for my birthday. What a present!

We went back to MUN to get a few things from the room and to talk to housing to see how much we owe. Then we came back to the Dorsey’s had dinner and Oreos. We played Nertz til 1am then went to bed.

I started the day off with chocolate chip pancakes and ended it with Oreos and milk. Not a bad birthday…

Sorry to all of you who tried to call, my phone was dead all day and I didn’t get my charger until we went back to MUN. Thanks to all who left me voicemails!

 

July 8th

We ate breakfast in the University Center. It was here that I had my first touton experience. I didn’t have it with molasses like a normal Newfoundlander, I just had it with syrup. After breakfast we all went our separate ways to spend some time with the Lord. I went beside burket’s pond on campus. It was beautiful. A girl named Amanda came and sat near me. I decided to go to talk to her. She didn’t really seem interested in church at all. I told her about the bible study at MUN anyway. After this, Christi came and picked us up to go to Conception Bay South where they live. We handed out flyers throughout the community for the bible study that they have every Tuesday night. Later that night, we went to that bible study. The normal kids were there but one little girl came because of a flyer that was left on her door. HOW AWESOME!!! We came back to the Dorsey’s for dinner then we watched Luther and went to bed.

 

July 7th

We got up, ate breakfast, and prayed together as a team. Then, we went out to explore campus. We couldn’t really decide the best way to do that but we knew that Steve wanted us to go check out the Campus Ministries office and see what was going on for the summer. We went up there and met David the Pentecostal chaplain. He was an interesting man. I am still trying to digest that whole conversation.  We were there for at least an hour so by the time we were through talking to him, it was lunch time. It was there we saw Yasser, our Islamic friend that we met on Canada Day. We had lunch with him and sat with him until he had to go to class at 2pm. After that we split into two groups, Alyssa and Janie went to the music building to hang out then to get us some groceries. Matthew and I went to the gym to play basketball/badminton.  At the gym, Matthew and I played horse (I beat him by the way) for a little while then he gathered up some people to play 3 on 3. Thankfully, Yasser came in and he was able to take my spot in this game so I just watched. After that game was over, Matthew, Yasser and I played badminton. I am so thankful I took that class in college. haha.  Then our team regrouped and had dinner and rested a bit. After dinner, we prayer-walked the campus. When we started out our adventure we met a woman named CarrieAnn. She had hitch-hiked here from, well I can’t really remember where, I think it was somewhere in Nova Scotia. Anyhow, she said she has lived all over the world. We continued to ask her why she was hitch hiking (she said she’s been doing it for 16 years) but she really didn’t give us a straight answer. We took her to the University Center for food then we continued on our way. We finished up prayer-walking and met with Steve. After that meeting, we watched an episode of The Office called “Safety Training” 

Then bed time.

 

July 6th

Today we went to church at Calvary Baptist Church. This is where the Dorseys and the Grissoms go to church for fellowship and to be edified as believers. They are not a Southern Baptist Church, but they pretty much are. Haha. I mean their pastor went to Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY. After lunch, the Dorseys, Elden and Mary (I mentioned them earlier) and Dwight and his wife. Dwight is from the CCSB and is, from what I understand, pretty much Adam and Steve’s boss. After lunch, we went to the international Bible Study at MUN where Adam taught on John 10. 

After Bible Study, we met as a team with Adam and Steve to discuss plans for the week.  I told them that I’d like to get to know campus some so we get to spend some time doing that tomorrow. After that meeting, we probably sat around and discussed theology for 2 or 3 hours. It was amazing!

Then just the 4 of us ate dinner and had our evening debriefing and prayer time.

 

Week 1 Overview

Remember, I don’t write well but here goes…

I want to introduce you to some people mention here before I get started:

Steve Grissom-Co-Pastor of NewLife Newfoundland. He is married to Sheena and they have 4 kids named Sierra, Herschel, Shelby, and Sadie. He is pretty much our supervisor along with Adam.

Adam Dorsey-Co-Pastor of NewLife Newfoundland. He is married to Christi and they have one son named Jacob. Adam and Christi both graduated from MTSU.

Matthew Moore-He is from North Carolina. He was here last summer and is pretty much the team leader of the student summer missionaries. He will attend Southeastern Seminary in the fall. He is four days older than me. Haha

Alyssa Bugg- She is from Austin, TX. She is 20 years old and goes to Texas State University studying music. We have matching black MacBooks.

Janie Oswalt- She is from Hartselle, AL. She is 19 years old and goes to the University of Alabama. She was a camper at Centrifuge the year that I worked camp. We have a lot of other random similarities. 

Saturday, June 28th

I was supposed to leave out of Nashville to Newark, NJ at 12:25. I get to the airport with my parents around 10am to get checked in and get through security. Upon arrival to the airport, I was informed that my flight had been canceled but I had been put on another flight that left at either 1:55 or 2:55 (I can’t remember). I was to arrive in Newark at 5:35 to catch my flight from Newark to St. John’s at 6. Well the flight from Nashville kept getting delayed causing me not to be able to catch my flight in Newark. As I was talking to the people at the Continental desk about my flight not working out, I met this other lady who was having the same problem that I was. She was trying to get to St. John’s too. I thought to myself “How could there be anyone else traveling to St. John’s, Newfoundland?” Not only was she traveling there, her sister was as well.  They were doing some sort of Field Guide tour. Anyhow, it probably took 30-45 min to get our new flight plans worked out. Turns out we had to fly to Atlanta, and then to Toronto to spend the night with these random sisters that I met. Yes, I shared a hotel room with two strangers! 

Sunday, June 29th

I wake up in a hotel room in Toronto with two strangers. I think I forgot to mention this earlier, but one is a professor at Auburn and the other a doctor at Vanderbilt. Anyway, we hurry to the airport so we can be sure to get settled in and make sure everything is good with the flight. Praise GOD everything worked out well and we made it on the airplane to St. John’s Newfoundland.  Adam Dorsey (one of the missionaries here) and the rest of my team met me at the airport when I arrived. We went and had lunch on campus. It was there that I met Steve Grissom (the other missionary here) and his wife Sheena and their 4 kids (Sierra, Herchel, Shelby, and Sadie) along with Adam’s wife, Christi and their son, Jacob.  After lunch, we had a short orientation before the Bible study that New Life Newfoundland does at MUN (Memorial University at Newfoundland).  After that Bible study, we went to Ferryland for another Bible study. It is about an hour outside of St. John’s. There were 3 people there outside the student missionaries and the missionaries and their families. I met the sweetest people there though (Mary and Elden). They are the ones who have a heart to see their community come to know Christ. After that Bible study, we went back to MUN (that’s where we are staying by the way).

Monday, June 30th (the coldest day of the week)

We started out the day by going to the Scotiabank to exchange our money. Then we went grocery shopping. After grocery shopping, we went to another grocery store in Conception Bay South (where Adam lives) that was giving out free hot dogs. Adam was hoping that there would be people there because they were giving out free stuff but it was just your normal grocery crowd. After that, we met with Adam about scouting (the practice of meeting people intentionally to share the Gospel with them). He then took us to Topsail Beach, but we didn’t last long because it was so cold. We went to his house for a bit to talk theology (that is a common thing to do when Adam is around and I’m loving it!) After that we went to a restaurant called Jungle Jim’s. Adam warned us that the service in Newfoundland is a little slower than we were used to in the States and he was right! Anyhow, after we ate we came back to our dorm and had our nightly  debriefing and prayer time.

Tuesday, July 1st (Canada Day)

We started out the day at the Confederation building for a Canada Day celebration. I’m not really sure what the Confederation building is but that’s where we went. It was there that we met Faisal and Yasser, two Islamic student from Saudi Arabia. We talked to them for a bit then Janie and I walked back to MUN. Steve picked us up there and brought us to the Conception Bay Bible Study. Conception Bay is where Adam and Christi live. They started a bible study in their home but it was then moved to another family’s house. At this bible study there are 9 kids on a regular basis therefore the children’s ministry is pretty big. After this we picked up Janie’s luggage! WOO HOO! Then we watched some fireworks at Quidi Vidi Lake. I met a lady name Kelly that just moved here from Ontario and she is looking for a place for her daughter to go to church. We got her e-mail address and passed it on to Steve. After this we walked back to MUN and went to sleep.

Wednesday, July 2nd

Our team went with Steve to Signal Hill. It was beautiful! We saw some whales there. Then Matthew and I met up with Lucas and Star in downtown St. John’s. They are some contacts that Matthew and made last summer and he wanted to keep up with them this summer. Anyhow, we went to gym to play basketball. All the basketballs were in use so we pretty much just sat around for a while. We finally decided to go to the mall to play at the arcade. After that, Lucas and Star took us to Steve’s to meet up with the rest of the crew. We ate dinner then went to pick up Jerry for the bible study at downtown St. John’s. There weren’t many people at this study this week so we had a prayer time then went to Tim Horton’s. I’m not really sure what happened afterwards. I’m sure we debriefed as a team and went to bed.

Thursday, July 3rd

We went to Mount Pearl to pass out flyers. It pretty much took all day to do this. I met Lisa this day. She called her self the street mom because all the kids hung out at her house. She was very helpful but also very set in her Catholic ways. I would like to go visit her again because she was so hospitable and asked me to come back.  Then, we drove to Bellvue Beach. Here we met Annabelle. She is an amazing woman of God that has a heart for her community. There was also a lady named Joy. I could barely understand her, but my favorite moment of that bible study was singing Amazing Grace. She sang very loud and very off key! It was beautiful!! Then we went back to MUN to debrief, pray, and go to bed.

Friday, July 4th

This was supposed to be our day off, well we had to move from one dorm to another, so we really didn’t get to rest. After that the girls and I went to Church hill Square and had quite the adventure. Adam and Christi came and picked us up for a Fourth of July party. I was officially eaten by mosquitos. This was a very patriotic party. There was tons of patriotic music and American flags everywhere. It was cracking me up the whole time because I am in CANADA! Anyhow, we watched some fireworks then went back to MUN.

Saturday, July 5th (Matthew’s Birthday)

Steve came and picked us up and dropped us off at Wal-Mart. After Wal-Mart we went to eat at Boston Pizza with a team from Texas that is here doing some exploring. We went back to MUN to drop Janie off because she wasn’t feeling well and the rest of us caught a bus to the Hindu temple to prayer walk there. We came back and ate dinner. After dinner I dominated at Phase 10 and then we debriefed, prayed, and went to sleep.

 

Pictures! (updated)

for all the pictures visit these sites

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2149868&l=206bc&id=38412373

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2149877&l=6f261&id=38412373

I promise a real update is coming soon!