192. life to the fullest

For once in my life, i am so content with where i am.

let me tell you why.

this past weekend we had our very first "encounter leaders retreat" up in squamish. So, the whole week before i was getting super pumped cuz well, everyone that i know and Love were coming up with me. i knew that going into this i wanted my life to be changed. SO anyways i head up there with the best crew ever. Taelor and Alex, and Melissa and then Becca and Nicky, so u know that this is gonna be a gongshow. So we're driving up listening to Cd's that i labeled "Legit 1, Legit 2 and Legit 3" and to say the least, they were actually legit. We're having a party in the car on the way up. It was swell. Then i get a text from Gabbi saying that we have the best room ever. 3 of my best friends. Gabbi, Nicky,Taelor and myself. Can u say GONGSHOW. Like holy, can this day get any better.
So anyways we finally get there, and its beautiful. breathtaking to say the least. We check in and walk into our room and boom. A king sized bed, 2 TV's a whole kitchen a laundry machine and dryer, a dishwasher a balcony and even a table. It was stocked with everything u could potentially want in your own house. I could literally live there. Then i got so excited. This in my head was gonna be the best day ever. So we go up the elevator to meet up with the rest of our crew, and it was sweet. had a meeting then chilled. Then everyone wanted to grab some food so we all decided on sushi. Jesse threw me his car keys and told me to drive up to sushi, cuz he wanted to go in edmonds buggy. I dont have a license people. but my head was saying no and my mouth was saying yes, so alas. driving in jesse's car up the street. gongshow. haha
OH YEAH the best part ever... NOT. a rumor started that both me and sylvain were dating eachother. woot. best rumor ever.
So we are at sushi and sylvain is sitting beside me and people are just fueling that rumor. its getting me angry, but alas whatever. then we head to the store and buy stuff to make chocolate chip cookies, and ice cream. The guys are jealous and its gonna be great.

then we just chill for a bit and head up to the conference room for whats gonna be an epic night of worship and a sweet word from Koby. When i say epic, its an understatement of the awesomeness that it was. I got to see everyone be vunerable. Even the grade 12's stepped it up. I got to see Matt (nicky's bro) step it up and give God his all in worship. mind blowing. I got to see Braeden and brendyn and sylvain and Becca just feel how much God loves them. It was so cool to just be in that room with 25 of the raddest people i know. Then Koby had his msg time and at the end he got some leaders to pray with us about everything and anything. Thats where i decided that it was time to just give it to God. I went up to Jenna and just told her that i wanted to forgive my dad and just move on. Then she told me something that just blew me away. I personally know that i am called to be a pastor. I know my heart is in ministry, so Jenna told me that she was praying for me during worship and God told her that i would be in ministry. BOOM. REASSURANCE. right then and there i was broken in an awesome way. so i get prayed for and life goes on, and i turn around and see becca WEEPING. i have never seen her in that state before, but i knew i needed to pray for her so i did, and in that moment i felt like her life just changed. it was so awesome.

hmmm then after that we went and worked out in their gym, as a joke, and everyone went swimming and it was fun. Then taelor and i decided to go back and bake cookies, and turns out we had the most hilarious party ever in our room by ourselves. You people would have peed urselves if u saw us dancing haha. we threw in everything from the lawnmower to the sprinkler. SO FUN. then i figured out that i have no idea how to bake, so i just wung it. it was swell. those cookies were awesome and all the boys had one haha. then the real party happened. every girl came into our room and we just chilled. so funny. Nicky then baked 2 HUGE cookies and we put icecream on them and ate it.BEST EVER. just imagine, one giant cookie and 10 girls.

then people decided to go to bed which left the dudes playing man hunt outside and the girls chillin in my room for a bit. Then once nicky cleaned she peaced to go stargaze and brendyn and Jesse came to have some ice cream and we watched Sister Act 2 for a bit then they peaced and me gabs and taelor watched it for another bit and gabs decided to go to bed, so i went and hung out with paul and just chatted for a while. then as i was going to bed a get a msg from sylvain saying he's outside my door, and yea i had to go say night. it was swell haha.

then the next morning we all woke up and me and taelor and alex snuck out to grab some starbucks. It was a good time. Then we had another meeting and yeah from then on it was home time. we checked out, said peace to some peeps, me jesse matt and joel went in one car, braeden brendyn and jonny in another, yaisa and edmond in his buggy, joe raelene and melissa in the last car and we headed down to vancouver. it was fun times we got lost for like an hour but in the end the food was pretty worth it. then we split from matt braeden jonny raelene joe and melissa, and the rest of us went to h&m. it was awesome. then edmond had to peace so me yaisa jesse joel and brendyn hit up metrotown. SO FUN. shopped for a really long time, had some awesome times in the arcade, it was an overall awesome day.

so anyways the next day we had 5 night. legit the best night ever.

but now back to why i am so content where i am. I finally found a peace with my life, i have the best friends in the whole world. Ive seen everyone open up and accept Jesus for all he's gonna do in their lives, ive felt a stirring in my heart for ministry, ive grown closer to people i wouldnt have before, and overall, i am more in love with Jesus than ever before.
oh and i got a secret bf. ;) haha

191.I LOVE NICKY BROUGHTON!

NICKY BROUGHTON IS THE BESTEST IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD.She is the best friend anyone could ever ask for.
There is no one else I would want for my a best friend.

There is this girl named Nicky
She really isn't picky
This is why she is grand
Makes me wants to start a band.
I would never betray her,
Of this I am sure.

Her face is as pretty as the stars,

For her I would fly to Mars.

I would catch a Grenade for her

Throw my hands on a blade for her

I'd jump in front of a train for her

I would do anything for her

Because she is a Firework

She can be your Hero

Baby

You know if one day you wake up and you're missing her

And your heart starts to wonder where on this earth she can be

Thinking maybe you'll go back there to the place where you met

You will see her waiting for you on the corner of the street

Cause she's not moving

No She's not moving

If you could see, she's the one that understands me

She's been here all along, so why can't I see

She is be best friend ever

Imma tell you one time

And I was like Nicky Nicky nicky oh

Like Nicky Nicky Nicky yes

Like Nicky Nicky Nicky oh

I thought that she would always be mine

I LOVE NICKY

SHE IS THE BESTEST

190.boat.beach.legends.park

so this past week has been one of the best weeks of my life. I loved every second of it so im gonna fill you guys in on what the haps was.

my awesome friend marnie invited me and about 12 other of our really close friends onto her yacht to help her celebrate her birthday. At this point im pumped cuz i have never really been on an adventure such as this before. SO finally friday approaches and i was so excited. i kept going up to yaisa and saying "Hey yaisa we get to go on a boat today!!" and she kept telling me to calm down haha. typical. But anyways we meet up with the awesome Gabbi and then head to the church where we are greeted by some awesome peeps. Then Sam and Dan roll around wearing nothing less of the same outfit, which was the perfect thing to make fun of them for. Good times haha but anyways then we start heading out blasting what i would like to call "a paula mix" in marnies car as we trecked all the way to ladner. It was so funny because as soon as we hit ladner there was this roundabout and marnie decided to be funny and have everyone follow her around the roundabout and didnt look up as we almost got hit by a car. haha that made us laugh even more. But alas we get to the boat and as soon as i see it i start cracking up because it is called nothing other then "Marnie-J" sheer brilliance.

Then we get on and i break into "im on a boat." Mario wasnt impressed but whatever haha. So we chilled for a long time, had some sweet chats, tanned a bit and then docked at this awesome place. We then had this awesome pizza from the cutest little shop. Oh and then we square danced and that was so fun! after that we hit up this awesome music shop with like a bazillion cd's. Then we headed back onto the boat and went on mini rides in the little boat. we hit waves like it was no ones business and i have a huge bruise to prove it. that lasted for a couple of hours. It was really fun. good times that day.

within the next few days i had the opportunity of going to the beach with leanna and having a blast. Paul joined us later on and we had ice cream together and paul tried to catch little fish. It was just a chill time. I love hanging with 2 of my best friends. pretty sure im close to being black. yup thats how tan i apparently am. woot.

then the day after both Edmond and I hosted another Combined Life Group where there were 19 of us hanging out and eating and chatting. Then we all went to the park right outside the Wrayz house and played a little bit of soccer and football and grounders. It was an awesome hangout time. We had Myself Sterling Edmond Paul Leanna and Nicky just chillin and hanging out with a whole bunch of world changers. Then we got Brittani a cake and well i caked her face. it was awesome haha. Then we just sat on their back deck and made up songs, and tristan and sterling were trying to pass out. haha it was interesting to sya the least. BUT i LOVE life group.

THEN the day after that both Leanna and I went on an adventure where we hit up a park and took some pics, to later find out it's actually a dog park. It was so fun though.

it was one of the best weeks of my life.

189.composure

so my last blog was a little rant with not that much detail in it at all, and thats the way i wanna keep it. Anyways i always go thru stuff and learn something from it. This time it was something that i was used to but shouldnt be used to. Last time i lost a friend because of this. I CANT handle having that happen to me again. ever. soo theres gonna be a little chat where i lay everything on the table. im actually looking forward to it. it shall be so good to get this stuff off my chest.

188. rant rant rant rant rant

heyy there. if u dont wanna read it dont. i dont give a crap.
im just frustrated and i have NO reason to be. this is the place where i reveal all the things i want to. today was a crap day. stuff was said, tears were shed, and im hiding behind my smile one more time. life.

187. planted like a tree

I was about 5 when I started attending Relate Church. I’m 19 now and ever since the first day I walked into those doors, I never looked back. I ran into those doors just waiting to want to leave because the first church I went to was all Spanish and was so boring for me, but my first experience there was nothing short of perfect. I was welcomed into the class with open arms, and made friends really quickly. I remember meeting Terrence and Sterling who basically knew each other since birth, and even though I was a little girl, they included me in whatever they did. We played games and it was heaps of fun. That was the first real time that I knew I belonged.



They say that belonging comes naturally, but I think that it takes people and a grounded place to belong. I know that without being planted, my life wouldn’t be where it is today. I have had so many highs in the church, and also so many lows. I’ve been raised not only by my parents, but by so many other people. I feel as though I belong to a community of parents and people willing to invest in my life. I know that if my mom isn’t present when I make a mistake, that there are other people that will be there to stick by my side. It’s a home where I can go without having the worry of belonging. There is no judgement, only love.



So, this is why I stay. I have found a love. A love of people, community, and of course, Jesus. The people in my life that have invested and continue investing in it, are people that I have grown to love and cherish with all I have. They have been there in my crappy times, and in my awesome times. They’ve been there when I needed someone to listen and when I needed to listen to someone. They don’t hold back on telling me if I am ever wrong and I love that. I am confident that the people I have now like, Gabbi, Nicky, Paul and Edmond, are people that will stay in my life for a lifetime. If I’m willing to invest in them, I know that they are willing to invest in me.



So I am thankful for all I have been given and all the things I have received from Relate, the people-teachings-pastors-friends-family-life groups-youth and most importantly, my relationship with Jesus. I stay because I want to invest, and be an example. I’m sure that other churches are just as awesome as ours, but it doesn’t matter because this is where I am planted, and where Jesus wanted to plant me. I am willing to do whatever it takes to grow the kingdom of Jesus, and I pray that you are willing too.

186. willing

so our church gave us the awesome chance to have an hour of prayer. This hour was meant to teach us how to pray and stretch us in our prayer lives while also praying for our new church building. i went in there thinking that i was just gonna pray and then it would be done. BUT the outcome was just overwhelming.

At first Monica and I walked in and did communion together. It was a little awkward at first but then we decided to just hit up the "nations" side. This is where i balled. i wept thru this whole thing. There was a interactive thing where you picked one red pin to place on a map where it showed ur heritage, and then there was a green pin to place on the map where u think God has called you. My green pin went straight to SPAIN. Ive known for a while that i needed to be in ministry, and ive also been given the revelation that i need to hit up spain, but ive always just been "iffy" about it. I have felt for a long time that i needed a sign.

anyways, this was a challenging thing for me cuz i know that there is a lot that i still need to learn, but i kept praying and writing things that were on my heart, and "be willing" was just that. Words to live by. inspiring words to live by for that matter. so awesome. I am always so continually blessed by the words given to me.

i loved it.