Equalization!!

So I managed to get through Tuesday in one piece. Tuesday is our busiest day of the week, we start off with class, then go to our MP's office, and then have Rob's class in the evening. Our morning class taught on how to interpret Parables correctly, and how not to. Richard taught us that the closest thing we have to a parable is a joke, for both of them have a punch line or point. The afternoon I went to Lynn's office and was finally able to meet her. She is a very busy woman and is straight to the point, I also found out that she is Parliamentary Secretary for Human Resources. (No wonder she is so busy!!!) Rob's class on intercession touched the topic of warfare in intercession. His three main points were: Our Authority, Keeping Alert, A Protective Barrier. I took lots of notes, but to extensive to include in one blog entry. Another interesting thing I wanted to tell you all about is that the Justice committee held a meeting to look a raising the sexual consent age, back up to 16. (it is at 14 currently) The team that has been staying here, went to the meeting to pray and one of the key leaders here in Ottawa was able to share for 10 minutes. It's not to be voted on yet, but in Parliament everything is a process. So today (Wednesday) Ken came in, and if I had to pick one of my favorite points that he said it would be this..."With the fall came curses, but also blessings." For example, death was a curse, but to live in sin for eternity would be worse, childbearing was a curse- but most women will agree that it is also a blessing. That statement seemed so profound to me and will be one I remember. (We were discussing the heart of mankind) I also went to Question Period today, everyone seemed very obnoxious, and were yelling almost steady. The opposition accuses the government of breaking its promise to Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Saskatchewan by putting a cap on equalization payments. (I cannot explain all of this in depth in one entry but I do have information to email you if you are interested...especially those from home) Even Saskatchewan's premier Lorne Calvert bashed the government's new budget. (email me at ricky_rayth_@hotmail.com) By the way the budget was passed, the Bloc sided with the Conservative government, it is rumored however, that threats of an election will be far greater once the House comes back from Easter holidays. (of course this is murmurings between different MP's) I went and played basketball tonight, but I played terrible so there is nothing to mention, other than the fact that I feel so sore now. I hope you have an amazing night and talk to you all tomorrow.

Erica

p.s. Robin L. you are the rockin'est personI know and now I am cooler than Amanda cuz I mentioned you in my blog!!!!

Song writing

Unfortunately, today I have nothing to write about. We made beds this morning and the team from Manitoba arrived this afternoon. We went to the House of Commons, but it was soo full we weren't able to get in. (Luckily Jill and Mark were able to) So Amanda and I came home and wrote a song that we will sing at the church in Toronto. We tried to write from the perspective of Ruth, Esther, and Mary, as well as include our feeling in it. These are the words:

For months I've prayed
I'd find favor in your eyes
As I struggled to prepare
For a life time of love with you
I lay at your feet the fragrance of my purity
I lay at your feet all I am and all that I will be

I don't understand
why you brought me here
I'm scared and want to run
But wherever you go I will go
I lay at your feet the fragrance of my destiny
I lay at your feet all I am and all that I will be

I ran to the room
your forgiveness brings me to my knees
unbridled tears at you feet
I dry them with my hair
I lay at your feet the fragrance of my worship
I lay at your feet all I am and all that I will be
Chorus:
I pour out my life as a perfume to you
Cuz I'm bringing all I am
To my Jesus......the one I love
my Jesus......the one I follow
my Jesus.....my Saviour and Friend

So we spent the night practicing the song and getting ready for Toronto. That was my Monday. Nothing to spectacular today. Have a great night everyone and I will talk to you all tomorrow.


Erica

Thursday and Friday!

Hello Everyone! Once again I apologize for not leaving an entry for Thursday. With the teams coming in now, it will be very hard to write everyday, so it may become every second day. So on Thursday we had class, and we discussed the prophetic gift in the church, and the difference between being a prophet and prophesying. In the Bible God calls us all to prophesy, but that does not mean that we were all called to be prophets. We also talked about how to hear the voice of God, in order to know when he is speaking to us. Although this is a topic everyone teaches and quite often we are all suppose to "know" how to improve, I was really struck once again. I know pastors, and teachers tell us this all the time but it really hit home this time, if we want to be able to hear God's voice more in our life, it requires the sacrifice of our time. Just like we can't know each other without time, God is no different. Then in the afternoon we made hamburgers for the mission, and I was officially taught how to barbecue. (I know embarrassing) For supper we had pizza and cake to celebrate Amanda's birthday, then they took us to the art museum. That was so amazing, we didn't have time to look at all the art, but it is a real art museum. You see, those of you who read this and aren't from Saskatchewan, we only have local artists in our art museums, not famous people. As you can all imagine, I was in total shock and excitement when I saw 2 MONET PAINTINGS!!! Real ones, not prints, it was a highlight for my LIFE! ahhaha Anyways it was a blast. Friday started with our Civics class, and we looked at each other's papers (we wrote on Prime Ministers in history) it was really neat, if you like history, to learn about the different men. (for curiosity sake, McKenzie, is a really interesting man, spiritually. Take time to read about him and the seances he had) Then we went to the East Block Chapel to pray and when we got home, Mark showed up!!!(Jill's friend) So that was exciting and a new face to torment with our jokes! This weekend will be a homework weekend because next weekend we are heading off to Toronto. So I hope you all have an amazing weekend and I will talk to you all Monday. Blessings.
Erica

Tuesday/Wednesday-sorry its late

So once again, my Internet has been having problems and I wasn't able to post an entry for last night. So Tuesday we went to our MP's offices, this afternoon was better than the last one, but I still found very little work to do. I did however get to sit with a man who was watching Question period, and he was able to explain a lot of the things that were going on. The opposition has really been using Ralph Goodale, to attack the government for its budget ideas for Saskatchewan. The thing that is really disappointing is that most people from Saskatchewan don't like Ralph, yet he is doing a lot of the speaking for the Liberal side. If you are curious what is said in the House of Commons, there is a really good sight that types up all the notes, it is the http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm/cmhansrd.htm it record everything. So after the House of Commons we came home and got ready for Rob's class. He taught on Fear versus Faith based Intercession. His main point was that in order to combat fear based intercession we need to be in the Word and know the Word, because it shows us the character of God. "Without faith it is impossible to please God." So that was Tuesday. Wednesday, we had Ken's class and he really challenged me in a particular area. He stated that, we always picture God as someone who has unconditionally love for everyone. Although He loves everyone, if He were to love everyone unconditionally we would all go to Heaven. It's an confusing topic and one that will probably offend a few people, and I am probably not explaining it very well, but if it makes you think then that is good. (another thing to chew on is, in the Bible it says God loved Jacob and hated Esau.) Yes, God is love but he is first of all light. Even in 1 John where it says that God is love, it first says that He is light and in him there is no darkness. Anyways that was a neat topic to process. We went to Question period again this afternoon and they were still debating the budget, and asking the Prime Minister to fire his Defense Minister (Gordon O'Conner) for the inaccurate comments he made. (I explained this on Monday) In the end the Prime Minister stood up and sad that Gordon had apologized and had told the House that he made the statement in good faith with the previous information he had received, so he said that he was a great minister and doing an amazing job as the Defense Minister. Then Wednesday night I went and played basketball again, except this time I scored twice!!! I hope it just keeps going up. I also got fouled and all the boys started booing the guy that fouled me, it was really funny. At least they are all really nice and keep an eye out for me. All in all, it was a great game, and a great two days. Once again I am sorry this entry is so late. Goodnight.
Erica

Monday/Lundi

Well we are back in the swing of things this week! A team just arrived from Calgary and they will be with us till Thursday morning, so this week will be a full one. The weekend went really well but I did not attend the conference, which turned out to be a total intervention. Yuanita got pneumonia while she was here and wasn't able to speak on Friday or Saturday, so the organizers were rushed in trying to come up with a back-up plan; so had I attended I think I would have been disappointed in not having the opportunity to hear her speak. We went to Parliament Hill for the first time in 2 weeks, and boy was it good to be back! I made sure I greeted all the guards that I knew (Claude is always there, he's my favorite) and we settled in to hear the debates. Today questions really targeted Gordon O'Connor (the defense minister) because he had presented information in the House of Commons that was not accurate and he apologized to the House for those comments, but they did not let up on drilling him about the mistake. As most of you know, the budget was released today and we were not able to get in unless we had special invitations. By the sounds of things, it was a good budget. There was funding available for minority groups, childcare, and newly weds. (married couples have to pay the same amount of taxes as a single person, because the government would like to honor the marriage commitment Canadians take) There was only 10 minutes for debate and it sounds like the opposition is not happy with the lack of aboriginal funding, but it won't be until Wednesday that we really get to see what has the different parties upset, so I will keep you all posted. As far as tonight was concerned, we had the opportunity to meet the team, tell them a little about ourselves and then head off to bed early for our busy day tomorrow. I hope that you all had an amazing week, and I can't wait to see you all at home again.
Erica

thursday and friday a blurr

Sorry this entry is sooo late, but last night we had a youth group spending the night and then this morning the Internet was down. Yesterday was really good, we made sandwiches in the morning, toured the Governor General's house in the afternoon, and worship with the youth at night. The group was from B.C. and they are on a missions trip with their Christian school. It was really nice to have them here because a lot of them are close to my age, and because I was raised in a small christian school too, we all really clicked and had a blast. We jammed together (worship music) and then talked about life, they also had the opportunity to ask us questions about NHOP. So that was Thursday. Today we had class this morning, Christian Ethics, and we learned that working is a way of expressing creativity and how God desires us to work. We also said goodbye to the team and got ready for the lunch with Yuanita Bynum. The good news is that many ambassadors came (Jamaica, Malaysia, etc) the bad news is that Yuanita wasn't able to make it dew to a miscommunication. So it was really hard that the guest of honor wasn't there, but God still showed up in a powerful way and blessed everyone that was there. Tonight I am going to stay home and go to bed early because I feel soo tired after this week and need to get ready for next weeks team. So I hope you all have an amazing weekend, tomorrow I am going to the conference but I will write about it on Monday. Bless ya'll!
Erica

Wednesday-BBALL!!!

Ken is back so we had another wonderful class time. He really challenged me on some of my own doctrines, and although it sucks because you have to rethink them, he really causes you to develop a strong theology to why you believe what you do. (He challenged me on the subject of healing, and how we claim that healing) I am still confused partly, you see Ken uses such majestic words that I sometimes get lost, but he has made me think, and I will have it figured out soon. So this afternoon we were suppose to go for a prayer walk but it is raining. YES I SAID RAINING!!! It is soooo beautiful out today, it's really cloudy but the humidity is like....Florida, if you have been to Florida its that real think musty, warm air. I loved it! Light jackets and almost all the snow is gone and it has only been 2 days. (For those of you who don't know, Saskatchewan stays super cold for a long time, and is always really really dry, we never have humidity, thus my excitement) So instead of a walk we did databases for NHOP. Then tonight I played basketball again. This game I played so much better, and I actually scored!!! I even scored over a big tall black guy and when the ball went in all 30 guys stopped talking, cheered, clapped, and then laughed in total unbelief. They were such good sports, they all shook my hand and congratulated me. Who knows, by the end of the 3 months, I could be running, jumping, and shooting like a black guy. That would be soo amazing if I could learn that. There is this one guy there, he's got to be 6'6" and when he lifts his arms he can touch the rim, anyways I am always on his team. (I think its because I am the shortest) So I believe his name is Abu, or something like that, and he can't speak English, but he is sooo sweet. I think he communicates to me more that all the rest. He is always motioning at me, giving me a high-five, or catching my eye when he wants me to do something. The only word he seems to know is SHOOT!! he is always yelling at me to shoot. So it was a really fun night, I just love basketball, and every week will get better. You all have a good night, and for those of you back home, wear lots of blankies because I know how cold it is there. hahaha

Erica