Nov 28

i am so thankful for the Sabbath day. unfortunately it wont be much of a rest day this week. this evening we had a concert in Lytten, which meant that our after noon was cut very short. i dont like it when a person does not have enough time to get ready for the Sabbath. in Ex. 19, when God is telling the people to get ready to meet Him He tells them to sanctify them self's and to wash their clothes. i dont know of any place where sanctification is referring to something out ward. it always has to do with the heart.
after lunch Ryan, Ceri and I worked on decorating the tree in front of the school building. i was putting the lights on but i ran out about four feet shy of the top. so it all looks wonderful as long as you dont look up :) as soon as we can get some more we will make it look all nice and pretty. its got little golden bells and red bows. its very pretty.
i am looking forward to the up coming CA tour. its going to be a long one :) i am going to see if some of my friends will be able to make it to some of the concerts. it will be a good experience for them. i am not sure why, but i cant think of too many of them that are actually solid Christians. i dont know why i ever hung out with them. we really never had much in common. i guess God want to use me to reach them. so i will do my best.
well, its going to be a busy day tomorrow. we leave at 3 for another concert. o joy. thankfully i am not singing any more. i can just sit back and listen to the heavenly music (accompanied by the occasional cough).

Nov 27

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Americans. living among Canadians some times makes it hard to remember the holidays of our home land. thankfully the Canadians around here are nice and accommodating to our special needs. the cafe prepared some wonderful delicacies to satisfy our picky palates. they made all the classic thanksgiving classics, some really good gluten which, although quite satisfying, still does not surpass that made by mom :) speaking of which, the rest of my family were together today at my older brothers place and had dinner there. they called me and passed the phone around. it was very nice to know that they hadn't forgotten about me. i am glad i will be able to see them soon.
well, since Craig has decided that he is going to go back home and spend time with his family and start a new life we have hired a new guy's dean to come in and help us in the dorm. he came over tonight to get acquainted with how things run. i think he is going to fit in really well. i am encouraged.
there is a native lady in town who is a single mother of two, a 10 year old boy and a 7 year old girl. she is doing her best to raise them, and i think she is doing a wonderful job, but she feels that it would be nice to have some help with her children, especially with her boy. so Mrs. Roque and i went into town this after noon to meet with them. the meeting went very well. as we were talking the boy and his sister were playing tag. after a while he came over and tagged me. well, that started a full blown game. i found out the hard way they both have lots of energy. it all went very well, i think i am really going to enjoy working with them. at the end the little girl reminded me that next time we play i am it first :)
i would like to end by saying how thankful i am to God for His guidance in my life. He has lead me all over the world, and now He is taking care of me here in Canada. i would truly be lost if it wasn't for His guiding Providence. and second, for the friends i work with. i could not ask for a friendlier, more forgiving, more Christ centered group of people to work with. i praise God for them every day.

Nov 23

just got back from a wonderful weekend of camping! i took nine guys up Rough creek canyon until the road ended. thankfully there was a little stream not far from where we parked the van. we got there about an hour before sundown. we madly and wildly dashed about getting ready for the cold night. (at least most of the guys did, some... i am not sure what they were doing :) six of us were in one large shelter while the other four paired off and made their own. about sundown it started to snow, so we quickened our pace. about three hours after starting we were able to hunkier down and make some supper before we headed to bead. with six of us crammed into one shelter we were actually quite warm. thankfully it didn't snow all night, only a nice dusting. for Sabbath we all just split up and explored nature on our own. i saw a ton of tracks, including squire, rabbet, and even bobcat. also saw a wood pecker. great time. sunday night was about the same, warm and cramped :) the thermometer on the van said -6 C in the morning. drove the van down the mountain a ways and went on another hike, then made lunch before heading back in the after noon. it was cold but well worth it. and the view was spectacular!!!!!

Nov 21

well, we are leaving to go camping in 15 min. the weather down here is pretty cold. i wonder what it will be like 1300 m higher? lets just say its going to be cold. we will be building shelters and all that good stuff to keep us toasty warm :) i hope every one has a great time, i am looking foward to it. hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Andrew, great talking to you today. i pray for your family every day. God bless.

Nov 18

i love tuesdays! i got to sleep in till 7:30, and had and hour to read my Bible and have prayer. i have been reading through the new testament and now i am Revelation. God is so good!

went and "got pine bows" for the dorms in the morning. i know its work, but i had a fun time any way :) then in the after noon i went down to the shop and worked on a few things. all and all it was a great day. my new camera got here today. i was thinking how i could show you what it looked like and i came up with a great idea. take a picture of a mirror ;) its got 6x optical zoom and it runs on AA. it will be nice for back packing. speaking of back packing, i get to go camping this weekend!! i am so excited. it will be cold. but i want to teach some of the guys a few survival techniques. shoudl be fun. and here are some close ups of some of the fun things i have been working on.

Nov 16

i usually get half of sunday off, but for the last couple of weeks i have taken a few guys and cut up fire wood for JC and Burt. i started at Burt's today at 9 and worked with three crews until 4:30. a hour and a half off for lunch means six hours of chain saw and loading wood in to the truck. and let me tell you, they were not light rounds. my arms are so sore!! but it is a good feeling :) it was nice to get some of the guys out side and working. two of the guys really didn't want to help at all. they just wanted a lazy day, but i wouldn't let them. to their great amazement they had a wonderful time and actually enjoyed them selves :) that was a great encouragement for me. it was like pulling hens teeth to get them to come.
last night for family night we all went over to Ewa's and had supper together. we played mexican dominoes. quite a fun game if you ask me. and Craig's birthday is coming up, so we all said a little something that we appreciate about him.
now we are headed into a new week. i have class tomorrow and i haven't studied any thing about it yet :) thankfully my class is second period. plenty of time to study for it ;)

Nov 14

what a wonderful day. even though Fridays are busy i really tend to enjoy them. mostly because i know Sabbath is coming next :) we had worship at sundown, and just as it was starting i looked outside. it was awesome!!! there was a wonderful yellow glow in the light. it wasn't just the clouds, the whole air seemed golden. i haven't see anything like it. the clouds were just grand. i can just imagine what heaven is going to look like in the golden city illuminated by the glory of God!!! our vespers this evening was about the Sabbath and how God wants to spend time with us. the more i study and pray the more i see how important it is to have an actual relationship with Jesus. its not about a simple formula you can just follow, like paganism, its all about a relationship.

i have had some Birch bark laying around my room for a few weeks and decided to do something with it yesterday. so i tore some into strips and made some baskets. they were a little difficult to make, but well worth the time. Mrs. Roque thinks i should sell them. we will see ;) i also set up my Christmas tree. i like it. nice and small, with lots of randomness :)

Nov 12

we have been with out Internet for the last few days and it finally came back on today!! there was great rejoicing all over campus :) we all forgot what it was like before our whole lives depended on this "vital" connection to the world around us. but i will admit, i am very thankful it is back on:)
yesterday on my day off i spent most of my time down at the shop. last time i was up at the Stryen i got a chunk of Ceder. i split it off into thin shakes. i sanded some of them down and made one small box and a large one (about 7X12X3). just some fun stuff. i am really starting to enjoy wood working. i could really get into it. but for now i think i will just dabble. i also have been trying to tan some hides. i have that one form a few weeks ago and some old beaver hides from a few years ago. the beaver hides are doing well. i hope the other guy will too.
Bible class is going well. we just finished learning about the lamp stand. check this out. Jesus said "ye are the light of the world." in the Tabernacle the lamp stand was the only form of light. so when Jesus says that we are the light, He means just that, you are his light to the world. in Revelation the 7 candle sticks represent the 7 churches, who are God's lights to the world. we can't expect someone else to do the work God has designed for us to do. exciting, eh?
well, time for bed. God bless.

Nov 7

dont ask why i am up so late. its a long story. i just wanted to post some pics of some cool things. the first thing is something i made today. its basically a wooden bike lock. it works exactly the same way. when the key is inserted you turn the four middle circles and it locks it in. to unlock it all you need to do is line up the notches and it opens up. it will take a bit to polish it up, but i think its pretty cool :) the second thing is the fire piston which i talked about earlyer. so ya. i think i am going to go to sleep now.

Nov 5

and yet another busy day. i got up at 3 to get a shower and get every one else up so we could leave to find some snow for the video recording. the bus pulled up to the dorm at 4 but every one was so slow (which happens all the time) that we didn't leave until 5. we traveled for 3 hours! we recorded at two different locations. i was really impressed with most of the students because the pitched in and helped set things up and stayed in order during the recording. there were a few that "stepped out of line," but that's to be expected. they are kids after all. i kept warning them that they were going to get cold and wet, but they wouldn't believe me until they were cold and wet. we had a fun time trying to get lunch prepared on time. i tell you what, a persons true self really comes out when food is involved. you would think some of them were dieing of starvation:) but all is well.
i am glad its all over. now i am going to get a good nights sleep.

Nov 4

well, we got a new president today. very interesting. o well.
other then that i had a great day off. i was able to catch up with some friends on chat this morning. that was very nice. i was able to get a ride into town and cash my checks, which is always a nice thing to do. and i finished my wood carving projects i was working on, and finished up my froe. i will take some pics of what i have been doing and post them soon. i just really enjoy working with my hands :)
my mom got me a leatherman for my birthday, and that just got here. so i am pretty happy about that.
we are doing some recording for the new dvd tomorrow. joy of joys :) we are laving at 4 am, so i had better get some sleep.