Getting Excited

I am starting to get excited. 

November 5th I head home and I start my teaching practicum on November 6th. Being home means that I will be back at my home church regularly and being back at my home church regularly means that I will be able to get involved with one of my favourite groups: YOUTH! 

I really cannot wait to start leading some youth at RiverCross. I love ministering to youth both middle school and high school alike. I think my favourite thing about the youth at RiverCross is their hearts for Jesus. There seriously are some kids on fire for Christ and they just inspire me to be like that too. 

For the past few years I have been in and out with the RiverCross youth, mainly because I haven't been in Saint John full time since 2015. But I have still been around in the summers and for the odd winter camp and youth event. Getting back to being a leader weekly will hopefully be like going back to family. I'm excited to get updated on the lives of the youth I already know and I'm excited to meet and get to know new youth that I do not already know. 

I really have no expectations and that is one of my favourite parts. 

Two weeks ago I was home and I was able to snag a ticket to a concert that the high schoolers and young adults were going to. On the way there I was able to talk to Matt about the next month when I would be home to start helping out. We are not exactly which group I'll be going to, but to be honest I will be happy anywhere. 

I know this post is completely opposite from last weeks dark and dreary post, but the Lord has been stirring this excitement in my heart and I cannot wait to update you about it as I continue on this journey. 

Thanks for reading, 

Em

And We're Back

I'm back to the blogging scene and so much has changed since my last post. 

I graduated my undergrad (Bachelor of Arts), I started my third degree (Bachelor of Education) and I'm still in progress with my second degree (Bachelor of Theology). 

In the past few months, life has been really good at some times, life has been really bad at other times, but mostly life has been really busy at all times. 

Here's a little recap: 

Let's start in May. I went to Cuba with my family on vacation. It was an amazing time to relax and refresh and spend quality time with my parents and my sister. We arrived home from Cuba early Saturday morning (3:30am). This was the same Saturday of my graduation from Crandall. So we went back to my apartment for a few hours of sleep before getting up again to get ready for the big day. 

Graduation came and went, and then my summer job began. As soon as I started working the summer just kind of blurs together. The days went by quick and the weeks went by even quicker. By day I was working, by night I was on the field practicing rugby and the weekends was a combination of playing rugby, trying to get to my trailer for family time, and going to/working at the church. I can't tell you what happened on any specific day because, as I said, it went by in a blur and every day was blended together. 

I did get to preach one Sunday though! And I must say, that was definitely one of the highlights of my summer. 

It's funny because when I think of this past summer, I can easily think of three bad things that happened and it's harder to think of the good things. Of course being back playing rugby was AMAZING and as I said, preaching was awesome, but this summer - or at least the end of it was pretty hard. 

The brutal end to the summer along with the business - not really getting a summer vacation, and jumping into a university varsity sport and an EXTREMELY demanding Education program has put me on a slow start. 

I'm not trying to make excuses or anything, I'm just giving an update on my very hectic and chaotic life. 

So we're midway through August. My sister, dad, and I are in Fredericton for a rugby game when, just as the game was ending, my mom called us. My uncle, aunt, and little (14 years old) cousin were in a terrible accident. Their trailer blew up while the three of them were in it. They all received bad burns and two of the three of them were in the ICU. Now (Oct.) all three are alive and recovering - my little cousin, the last of the three, just got out of the hospital last week, but at the time it was scary for them, for family, and for friends. You can read a little more about their accident here. So that's number one. 

Number two, about a week later, my grandmother, who is 80 (and the mother of my uncle who was in the accident), calls my house, asking for my parents to take her to the hospital because she is feeling so sick and she is in a lot of pain. My parents go over to her house and call an ambulance while my sister and I stay home scared and wondering what is going to happen. It turns out that it was mostly from stress and exhaustion, and we are able to bring her back to my house that night to watch her and help her recover. This happened the night before my sermon. It is kind of interesting because the topic I was preaching on was worry, so there was a moment that night where I said "Emily, how can you preach about giving your worries to God if you are not willing to do that yourself?" so I prayed and instantly felt better because I knew my God was in control of the situation. 

Number three, my dog, who was my first and only dog, was about 12. We all loved her to death. She had slowed down a bit over the years, but she really didn't change that much. Until we noticed, near the end of August, that she was having trouble breathing. My dad took her to the vet for x-rays and it turns out her lungs were pushed up in her chest. The vet gave us steroids for her to take to see if it was fluid that was pushing on her lungs. So we started giving her steroids and her breathing got better, but she stopped eating. Meanwhile, my sister and I had to leave for Fredericton (two days after finishing our summer jobs) for rugby training camp. I went home to visit about a week later to see that my dog had lost so much weight. She was merely skin and bones. She held on for a little while longer for my sister and I to say goodbye, but then my parents made the difficult decision to put her down.

On top of all that I'm taking 9 courses a week, I have one 10 hour day, a 12 hour day, and three 6 hour days. Oh and I'm playing rugby for STU so the few hours spent on rugby and my devotional time before bed (which I only started back doing in the past few weeks - more on this in a later post), is the only time I really have to take a breath. 

Of course, I do not regret anything, every experience this summer and this semester is helping me to grow and learn more on God. I know that there is absolutely no way I can accomplish this and reach my goals without trusting Him. 

I am however, so looking forward to Christmas break when I will have three weeks of no school, relaxation, and family and friend time. 

Now to the ministry stuff. I am currently in classes at STU for my Ed degree. In November, I move back home to start my practicum (I can't wait!) and when I do that I will also be starting youth group (I also can't wait for that!). This past week I was super lucky to get my hands on an extra ticket to see my favourite worship band: Rend Collective. I went with my church - some of the youth and young adults. While on the way I was able to talk to Matt, my home church's NextGen Pastor about youth group. See I'm not picky, I just love working with youth. I'm happy with middle school (Transformers) or high school (J-Walkers) so he said he will be looking into where I'm needed most and will let me know, but most likely I'll be with the middle school group. 

I'm super excited to be getting back into leading youth group, it definitely is a joy that fills my heart! I will be updating this blog with more ministry and general life stuff as the year goes on. 

Thanks for reading and joining me on this wild ride.

Many blessings, 

Em