Winterpeg is here!!

Last Saturday, we explored an unexcavated (to us) area of Winnipeg. We headed across the river to Osborne, which is full of little shops and restaurants. It was SUPER expensive, but still cute and fun. I bought a bead for 12 cents. Big spender! I have one hideable dreadlock on my head (depending upon whether or not Mike wants to do the upkeep - dreads are high maintenance!) and now it has a pretty little bead on it : )






Every Sunday, we get to choose which church we go to. This week I went to Elmwood Christian Fellowship with Carolyn and her friend, Mark. It's mostly Caribbean - so cool! I was immediately embraced by the congregation. Countless old ladies came up to hug and kiss me with a "God bless you" at the end. Wow. That's how church should be - open, welcoming, inclusive. I felt like I belonged there. The music was awesome. My favorite part of that had to be Mark's mom wailing next to me. Praise God! Now that brought me joy.

(Mark, Carolyn, and me after church on Sunday - eating peanut soup!)

On Monday, we played... sardines!! It was so fun! For those of you who've never played, it's pretty much hide and seek, but backwards. One person hides and if you find them, you have to hide with them. The last person to find the pile of people is it. Sardines is the perfect name - the time I hid I ended up in the bottom of a closet under pillows and people. Oof!

This week was staff teaching week, so it was pretty relaxed and laid back, which I think is what I needed. Thursday, we did a bunch of team building games, but they were VERY intense and made us realize some things - such as not all of us are heard equally. Really hard stuff to face, but good to understand. One of the games we played involved being together in a dark basement, some people not being able to move or speak (or both!), and one person controlling it all. Intense!

At the end of the week, we did the Myer-Briggs Type Indicator. We filled out a bunch of questions on what we would do in certain situations - our reactions or emotions. The results are expressed in four letters - I'm an INFJ. Introverted - not meaning antisocial or anything, but that I get my energy from being alone. I love being around people, but recharge with alone time. iNtuition - I take in information with my intuition as opposed to only my senses. Feeling - I make decisions through what I value and feel, not necessarily on facts. Judging - I like things to be organized, regulated. I'm sensitive about time. This isn't to put me in a box, make excuses for myself, or make myself predictable. Only to understand myself better.

This week, we also did something called Angels and Mortals. It's kind of like secret santa, but everyday of the week! Woohoo!! My angel was amazing. Monday, they made my bed and gave me a note with a Reese's (mmm my favorite). Tuesday, I got chai tea delivered to me at dinner (we eat at a restaurant every week night - http://www.ellicetheatre.com/). Wednesday, I had to do a treasure hunt! I couldn't find clue 3 for the longest time, but it was still a lot of fun. I know now that my angel's intention for me to have to go up and down and up and down the stairs. Ha. Jerk. Thursday, I got a Jone's Soda and a gift certificate for breakfast with them. And Friday (the revealing day!), Jasmin revealed herself with a CD and card. We always sing Enrique Iglesias' "Hero" to each other - if we can hold a straight face, that is - so Jas wrote a song about Angel week:

Angel, by Jasmin Biddell

"Would you laugh, if I made your bed? Would you smile, if I sent you chai tea?

Would you search, till you found clue three? Would you go out for breakfast with me?

Would you tremble, if I grabbed your lip [referring to my flutter lip]? Would you burp, oh please tell me this?!

Now would you listen to the CD I made... Thanks for being my mortal this week.

I can be your angel baby... I can send you notes all week...

I won't stop just cause it's Friday... you can take my glue any day."

Ha! I hope you laughed as hard as I did.

Each week, we do an outreach prep night. This time around, we watched the Invisible Children video. It's a documentary three American guys put together after going to Uganda to learn about the Lord's Resistance Army (the LRA), a rebel group against the Ugandan government. Since few will fight with them (pssh, I sure wouldn't), they kipnap children and brainwash them into hostile soldiers. They're taught to kill and they're traumatized by violence and grusome killings of their peers.

Every night, some children in Uganda (and Sudan, Congo) leave their homes in order to sleep in the cities - bus stations, hostiles, or anywhere else they can find to hide away from being abducted.

Here's a chunk of the video. The whole thing is on YouTube (highly encourage), but this part is goooood (and devastating).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ped11Culq0&feature=related

This has been going on since 1987 - before I was born.

All of us [minus Crystal : ( ]

L to R: Devon, Jasmin, Carolyn, Mike