The Mission Field

I have been serving the missionary field in Quebec for the last two years and now my work there has come to a close. I am now moved back into my family home in California. I have been here for two weeks now, some of the longest yet fastest two weeks of my life. My thoughts and emotions have been up and down and all over the place for the last month. I can hardly describe what it is like being back "home" in California. One of my good friends recently explained these feelings in a way that I don't think I could. Her post is here if you would like to read it. I recommend you do.

As I reflect over the last two years, I am overwhelmed: overwhelmed with memories of camping trips in the winter and in the summer; memories of parties for birthdays, new apartments, new years, graduation, etc; memories of friendships, people that I got to know better, or even people that I drifted away from; memories of so many coffee dates or walks or girl's nights, or bible studies; and the memories of so many beautiful faces come to my mind. I gave so much of myself, my time, and my life to the people of Quebec and I received so much in return. I almost don't know what to do next but to keep giving.

My pastor in Quebec taught me so much about what being a "missionary" really is. It basically comes down to what Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-39, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" When we first learn to love God with all our being (heart, soul, mind, strength, etc.) we learn what love is. John sums it up very well in 1 John 4:10-11, "In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." And Jesus himself summed it up in John 13:34, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." 

I have learned that the mission work is to love one another. When we understand God's love for us, we want to share that love, we want the whole world to experience that type of love: a love so great that we can hardly imagine that it is true. But it is true! God sent his own Son to die for us, to be the sacrifice and payment for our sins so that we can live a life glorifying God. How amazing is that! Doesn't that make you want to shout it from the rooftops?!

Most people believe that missionary work is mostly going out and evangelizing (in a way, shouting from the rooftops) and sharing the gospel to everyone you meet. And there is a part of that in the mission field, of course there is, but another part of it is showing love to our fellow neighbors. I am talking about the small acts of love in talking to a person, listening to them, sharing coffee or tea with a friend, and offering services of any kind (that could be anywhere from babysitting to cleaning bathrooms to just hanging out and listening to them and anything else in between). Small acts of love to a stranger or even a friend can make a difference.

This summer, during English for Kids camps, we heard about a child who went home and told his parents "They love me at that camp." He recognized a different kind of love at that camp. I believe that was God's love being shown to him by the team members of that camp.

If showing that kind of love is a large part of the mission field, then it can be done anywhere. I was reminded by my pastor that the mission field is not just in Quebec, or across borders, or across seas, but it is wherever we are. Our mission field is our families, neighborhoods, schools, and churches. We can still show God's love to one another in the church and encourage each other in that way. We can also show God's love to the unbelievers who live around us everyday.

So today, I feel torn and a little heartbroken for having to leave Quebec. It almost feels like I have left my life behind me. But I have come to learn more about the love of God and am still learning to rely on Him. It may be a while before I can truly feel at peace for leaving Quebec, but for now I can relater to what my friend Mary said:
"Prague [Quebec] is not something God is taking away from me. It is something He has given me, which I should be delighted to return to him to make room for the new plans He has for me whatever or wherever they may be."

I know that I will see those people again one day. I am sure I will go back to visit Quebec, but until then I will try my best to serve His mission field here in San Diego. I want you to be encouraged, know that you don't have to go across the globe to share His good news. All you need to do it step outside and say "Hi" to your neighbor.

So I am bringing this blog to a close. I want to thank each and everyone of your for reading my posts, for encouraging me throughout the years. Your comments and prayers have been such a blessing and an encouragement for me. THANK YOU.

I know that the Lord is with me in this period of my life, His love is steadfast and He will never leave nor forsake us. May you be encouraged to share His love and be missionaries in your homes.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and nor for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11

"And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:20b

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace." Numbers 6:24-26

In Christ's love,

Jennifer

My friend Ashley

Over the last year, the Lord blessed me with a very special friendship in my friend Ashley Maclean. She and I met in June 2015 over ice cream. A mutual friend had said that we should be friends, he wanted her to have more anglophone (people whose first language is English) friends. We hit it off right away and had a lot of fun. I got to spend a few days with her over the summer before I went home in August for a long visit. I remember thinking that she was special, her faith and love for the Lord was contagious! I wanted to get to know her better, to know more about her relationship with God and to possibly learn from her how I could grow closer to God as well. So I asked her if we could start a Bible study together and from there the friendship blossomed. We grew in so many ways, in friendship with each other, in our faith, and in our personal relationships with the Lord.

I watched as the Lord brought a man into her life when she wasn't expecting it. Over the next few months their relationship grew and I could see how her faith and love for the Lord was growing as well. She would share with me a lot about the things she had been learning with him, and what she had been learning on her own. She was growing in so many ways and I was blessed to be one of her close friends to see this. Both of them put God first in their relationship, and that was refreshing to see in today's culture. Through it all she was still a great friend and example to me.

I was very honored to be a part of her wedding this last week and to have spent the last week with her and her friends before the wedding. I spent the week with Ashley, showing her friend from Saskatchewan around the city. We had such a fun and event-filled week doing touring and getting ready for the wedding. Then Thursday we spent the day honoring Ashley with a relaxing day for her and a beautiful shower in the evening. We spent the day Friday decorating the church and the reception and doing the rehearsal. And then Saturday, the big day came and went by so fast. It all seemed like a blur because it all went so smoothly and so quickly.

It was hard to say goodbye. This day was quite possibly the last day I will see Ashley again for a long time. The Lord was so good to me in bringing her into my life, and now we are both moving onto different stages in our lives. I know that she has a very godly husband who will take care of her in all ways, financially, physically, and spiritually. I am so thankful for this man that is in her life. I cannot wait to see where the Lord takes them!

Thank you Ashley for being a wonderful encouragement to me over the last year. Thank you for showing me your love for the Lord and for sharing that love and knowledge with me. Thank you for the example you have set of a godly relationship. You two are a light in a spiritually dark place, and I pray that the Lord will use you both in wonderful ways over the years. I love you and look forward to seeing you again, whenever that may be.

E4K camps are starting

Just a quick update. My life has been super busy the last few weeks. I just moved to a basement apartment on Wednesday, and the rest of this week has been full or preparing for camp and doing a little bit of touring. I have barely had time to unpack my things and get somewhat settled into the new place.

We have already had a few hitches since the first team arrived yesterday, but Praise the Lord that everything is alright. We were afraid that some girls were going to be deported back to the states because of bad paperwork. But thankfully it has all been settled and they are able to stay with us.

Please pray for me. I am already tired and exhausted, and the first week of camps hasn't even begun!! Please pray for energy for me, that I will know how to solve small problems and that the stress of the job wouldn't be too much.

Please pray for the teams. We are so thankful that we have three full teams coming each week to help us. Please pray for them in their efforts every week. Pray that the Lord will use them to thoroughly teach English and also teach the children what it is like to be a Christian.

Please pray also for the kids who will be coming to the camps. Pray that the Lord will open their hearts to the gospel and that these families will be intrigued with the gospel.

I will most likely not be able to give you an update for another 3 weeks. Lord willingly, I hope to give you all a good report after all the chaos.

Have a good day, God bless you all!

11 weeks and counting

Things are starting to come to a close here. The reality that I am leaving Québec soon is starting to hit me. I looked at the calendar this week and realized that I will be leaving in exactly 11 weeks. In just a little over two months to the day, I will be in a car driving back to California. My heart breaks thinking about it.

Things are really coming to a close. I had my last Kids' Day event last Saturday, and I had my last English Conversation group last night. We had small gatherings for both events, but there were some encouraging things. Even though we only had 7-8 kids on Saturday, each of those kids is signed up for the camps this summer. I was thankful knowing I would see these kids again, but thankful that they are looking forward to the camps. They want to learn English! An though some of them will most likely have already heard the stories, they want to come anyway! The smiles on these kids faces from just one short three hour event, makes me feel encouraged about the weeks of camp to come. I pray that the Lord will touch each child and family that will be coming this summer.

We had a small group of four people come to the last English Conversation last night. But I was very glad to see that these people were regulars, or had been regulars a few months ago and came back for this last event. I will miss this group a lot. I made several friendships with the people in the groups and it has been a blessing to encourage them along in their English. Someone told me last night that I will be missed, but I know I will be missing them as well. I pray that the Lord will use the work I have done, and the testimonies I have given, to turn their hearts towards Him.

Even though some of my work here is done, I know that I still have a lot left to continue. I keep reminding myself that I still have two more months full of opportunities to serve Him here in Québec, and after that, my whole life to serve Him elsewhere. I do not know where the Lord will take me next, but until then, "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:14) For I know that Christ is my end goal (Romans 10:4) and that by serving Him and others, I will reach that goal.

Fear and Faith and Love

I just recently finished a book called "Fear and Faith: Finding the peace your heart craves." by Trillia J. Newbell. A friend recommended it to me after I had shared with her my fears and worries about the future. It is a very good book, and I would recommend it to anyone struggling with daily fears.

The book is written for women and concentrates on many different types of fears we have. It talks about different fears such as fear  of man, the future, tragedy, not measuring up, etc, and with each topic the author brings stories from her experiences or other women's experiences. She points out several times that these stories are shared so that we know we are not alone in these struggles and that as we can see how God worked in their lives, we can be encouraged that God will work in our lives as well. The author brings each fear back to God and at the end of the book, she concentrates on the fear of the Lord. God wants us to fear Him, but not entirely in a terrifying fear, but a fear of respect and love. God wants us to bring to Him all our fears, to lay them at His feet. (Psalm 55:22, Matthew 11:28)

A recurring theme that keeps coming back to me is God's love. God's love is astounding (Romans 5:6-9) and He waits for us ever so patiently. We may have fears that come and go, or fears that stay for a long long time, but God is faithful to not leave us. We can be strong in facing our fears knowing that God has not forsaken us.

"But this I call to mind,

and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end; 

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul,

'therefore I will hope in him.'"

Lamentations 3:21-24

I started re-reading a series a few weeks ago. It is a historical fiction series written by Francine Rivers call "The Mark of the Lion."(I highly recommend this series as well) It is set in the Roman Empire after the fall of Jerusalem. The story mostly follows a young woman who is a Christian Jew. She goes through many struggles and trials  physically and spiritually. At the beginning of the first book, she is weak in her faith and afraid of everything. But the only thing she really has to hold onto is her faith. And so we see her grow in her faith and by the end of the book, she overcomes her fears. The author points out that her fears are still there, that the temptation and memories of that fear are still there, but she no longer gives into them because she knows that God is with her. God has given her the strength to remain strong and fearless.  She sees where God has taken her and sees the steadfast love of the Lord. 

"What then shall we say to these things? if God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died- more than that, who was raised- who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

As it is written,

'For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.'

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:31-39

How amazing is that!?!!! God promises to give us all we need. God promises to love us. God promises to be with us. We have been told again and again that nothing can come between God and the love He has for his bride, us the church. How truly wonderful and amazing is that!!!

So I just wanted to share with you this joy that I have been reminded of. I hope you have this same joy in your hearts. May you know that God is always with us and we have nothing to fear when God is on our side!

My Month of New Experiences

My month has been extremely busy. I have had something happening every weekend along with lots of work in between for the camps. Not only has this month been successful with work, but I have been seeing so many new things. The Lord has blessed me with new experiences almost every week this past month. 

At the beginning of this month, I got to go to New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. I got to see Philadelphia, Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and the beautiful countryside of PA and NJ. I got to go to New York City where I saw the Statue of Liberty, 9/11 Memorial, Times Square, The Met Museum, Carnegie Hall, Rockefeller Center, and Central Park. That week was indeed full of wonderful new sights for me to see, and I am sure I barely saw enough. But what made that week special wasn't all the sights, but the people I got to spend that time with.

The time I spent in PA and NJ was with some friends I had met last summer. I had only spent one week with these people, but had been able to connect with them last summer and connected again this month. I was truly blessed by their hospitality and how they encouraged me by showing how they lived their faith in their lives. I had a wonderful time with those dear people, I pray that the Lord will allow me to see them again soon. 

The rest of that week was spent in New York City with my family. My younger cousin was performing with her school choir at Carnegie Hall with other schools from around the country. So when she and my aunt where coming out with my grandparents for the performance, it was arranged so that I could meet them and spend the weekend with them. I had a wonderful time with them. It was great for me to see my extended family again. I was able to laugh freely again at old jokes my grandpa makes, to laugh and joke with my aunt about getting lost in the big city, to spend time with my cousin who is becoming a teenager and growing into a young woman. The whole week was a nice breather from the French language and it was great catching up with my family and a friend that I met up with there. 

The following weekend, I went to a Cabane à Sucre, or a Sugar Cabin where they make maple syrup. I went with my friend Edîth from my English Conversation group who had me over for Christmas this year. (I wrote about her here.) She invited me to go with her and her family and a few friends to this classic sugar cabin. It was truly a Québecois experience with a lunch of potatoes, baked beans, meat pie, sausage, ham, eggs, and crêpes with lots of syrup throughout it all! It was a nice warm day for it too. We watched a video on how the syrup was made, petted the animals at the farm, and had Tire d'Érable (It is a lot like a lollipop made of maple syrup). It was such a fun time and a blessing to spend with my dear friend and her family.

The following week, I went with some friends from Québec to Boston for a Christian conference. Technically we stayed in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, we didn't get to see much of Boston, though we did drive through it, twice. What struck me about this trip, was again the people. I met so many new and different people in less than 24 hours but I felt so welcomed. These people hosted us, fed us, and showed us their beach, which they have most likely seen enough of. Their Christian love was so warming, we laughed the night away with them and by the time we left, we had so offers for a place to stay the next time we come back. The Californian in me enjoyed watching the sunset over the water (don't ask me how that happened!) and I got my "beach fix" that will hold me over the next few months. I was greatly encouraged by the faith of these people and their promises to keep in touch and pray for me. I hope to make it back to Massachusetts, and not just so I can really see the city of Boston, but so that I can see these people again. 

The Lord has indeed blessed me with old friends and new friends here in Québec and now on the East Coast. Life is different for each person, especially when you live in big or small cities or in the mountains, but I have seen wonderful connections made because of our mutual connection in Christ. I am so thankful for His love for me and these people. I am so thankful for the people He has put into my life, to be with me at this moment in my life. I hope to never take friendships and relationships, old or new, for granted and that I will be always thanking Him for each one of them.

"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,

 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some,

 but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

Hebrews 10:24-25

Trust and Patience

Trust and patience have been a huge factor in my life recently. The questions of what I will do when I go back to California have already begun to come up. I still don't know what I will do, or even what I want to do. Trusting that God has a plan for me is a given. Albeit, that has been a theme in my life for several years and it has taken me several years of personal struggles to realize that and to truly believe it. But waiting for that plan to happen has never been a strong suit for me. I still struggle with patience and not knowing what will happen in the next year, or even next few months. But God showed me this weekend, through the testimony of a new friend, that God will take His time and our job is to rest confidently in Him and to be patient. God is faithful to us and will keep His promises to us.  I found a quote online that I will share, I don't know where it comes from though : "God has perfect timing; never early, never late. It takes a lot of patience and a lot of faith. But it's always worth it in the end." The testimony I heard confirmed that. She went through the last 10+ years trying to find the perfect job that she believed was God's will and plan for her: translation missionary ministries. She found a good translation job with the government, but never found the perfect job to serve in the mission field, until recently. But until she found that job, she was faithful to God and trusted Him and His will for her. Her testimony encouraged me to continue trusting God and trust His timing.

"A man's steps are from the Lord; how then can man understand his way?" Proverbs 20:24

Again this weekend, God reminded me to trust Him in everything, especially when I am feeling overwhelmed. These last few weeks I have been feeling a little overwhelmed dealing with the problems that arise in organizing a huge camp this summer. My thoughts have been concentrated on finding a house or houses to accommodate our teams, finding a team for our teens camping trip, and also on my Kid's Day event. Yes, I had another Kid's Day last Saturday. I went in expecting to have around 15 kids total for the day, but ended up with 29! I had my moments of panic when I realized I didn't have enough papers for all the kids, when I didn't think our snack would be enough, and when the kids wouldn't sit still during the lesson or even during the craft time. I had to chase kids down from tables and bookshelves several times throughout the day. I had 17 kids in my younger class with only one other helper. There were times I didn't think we would make it. I just prayed so hard that God would get me through it and that no one would get hurt. Other than an incident where one kid was throwing crayons at another kid, no one got hurt. And guess what? God got me through the day!

Since then, I have heard more news about the housing situation for our teams. We still don't have a real confirmation yet, but it is looking hopeful with possibly another backup house in case the first one doesn't work. And even though looking for team members for the teenagers is still up and down, we have finally found a week that works for most of our teens. We still have several possibilities for team members, so things are hopeful and looking up. When I was sharing some of this with a friend today, I was reminded of a song from my childhood that seems to fit perfectly with this theme I keep struggling with. It goes something like this:

"God is bigger than the Boogie Man, He's bigger than Godzilla or the monsters on TV. Oh God is bigger than the Boogie Man and He's watching out for you and me!" Veggie Tales

Why yes, I did just quote a song sung by a cute little asparagus! But there is truth to this song! God is bigger than anything we can imagine. He is bigger than the monsters that are out in this world, but He is also bigger than the monsters in our hearts. He helps us overcome our fears of the future, our stresses over the little things in life, and He gives us strength to do it. Why does He do that? Because He loves us with an unimaginable love.

"For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

I will never be able to truly grasp the entirety of God's love for us, but I know that because of this love we have been saved through His Son Jesus. And through Jesus we can have a personal relationship with God, one where we learn to trust Him in everything. And we trust Him because we know He has a plan for us. We just need to wait patiently and trust in His faithfulness towards us.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you  a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord." Jeremiah 29:11-14a.