A look at 2009

2009 was one of the best years of my life (maybe because I wasn't in school??). Here's where God took me this past year!

January: (Nova Scotia, Las Vegas)

What a long month January felt like! The end of the month couldn’t have come any faster. The day after I had my last day of high school I got onto a plane to head to Las Vegas to join Youth With A Mission (YWAM) to do a 5 month school; Discipleship Training School (DTS).

February: (Las Vegas)

My first full month in Las Vegas! As most of my friends were back home in high school, I was studying missions and God, getting ready to leave for Turkey for 2 months. This month I really got to know my DTS mates and develop friendships that would go beyond the school.

March: (Las Vegas)

The beginning of March, my DTS helped lead a Mission Adventures week for Scottsdale Christian Academy. This was my first hands on experience with MA, aside from March 2008 when I was a MA student for a week. I would have never guessed that I would be on full time staff later with the MA program.

April: (Las Vegas, Turkey)

Half of April was spent in Las Vegas, gearing up for 2 months in Turkey. I still don’t think it really hit any of us that we were going to be in Turkey for 2 months until we landed in Istanbul. The Turkish culture was a shock to most of us, something that we were going to have to adapt to.

May: (Turkey)

A full month of being in Turkey. For most of the month, each week we travelled to different towns/cities. We got to see tons of different places, and God used us in amazing ways. I can't wait to go back to Turkey and explore even more!

June: (Turkey, Las Vegas)

The first half of the month was spent in Turkey, getting ready to head back to Las Vegas for our last week together as a DTS. I stayed in Las Vegas for the summer as short term staff for Mission Adventures. It was hard to see all my DTS mates leave; the people who I had spent the last 5 months growing and learning with were all of a sudden gone.

July: (Las Vegas)

A full month of being on Mission Adventures summer staff, leading teams. It was during this time that I realized that God wanted me to be in Las Vegas, full time, with the MA program. July was VERY hot out!!

August: (Las Vegas, Nova Scotia)

I arrived home for the first time since January. Most of the month was spent resting (a lot of this!) and catching up with family and friends. It was a great break from the business of the past 6-7 months; a much needed break!

September: (Nova Scotia, Las Vegas)

My last month at home. I spent more of the month working at my old job at the drug store, and getting things ready for going back to Las Vegas on full time staff. At the end of the month, I returned back to Las Vegas … later than I had planned (Visa issues … no surprise there).

October: (Las Vegas)

It was a good but difficult month. It was great to be back in Las Vegas and get things started for Mission Adventures. But also hard because most of our time was spent in promotion, making tons of phone calls to churches which tends to be discouraging.

November: (Las Vegas)

Birthday month, I turned 19! I got to spend Thanksgiving in San Francisco with my friend Peter and his family, who went to Turkey with me. It was a much needed break and it was great to see him and my DTS mate Kristen. Most of November was spent doing promotion, and some program planning.

December: (Las Vegas)

Things started to pick up with the Mission Adventures program. Teams began to start the application process, and as staff we started to look at the schedule and plan things out for the teams that are going to be coming to Las Vegas in 2010. The later half of the month, I was on vacation for 2 weeks. What a relaxing and great break it was. Although I was not in Calgary as planned, it was a much needed break ... again. And Mya was born, I'm an auntie! :)