{Power}

  I've been back at camp for two weeks now, and I'm breathing in the fresh air, the space and the joy of being back. I love my mainland home with all my heart, but right now this is home to me, where I am discovering more than I could have ever dreamed and learning more things than I could have imagined. Maybe it's the freedom, maybe it's being challenged by my peers, just maybe I have finally taken a hold and discovered my faith on my own accord. Whatever it is, I am loving it here.
   Already we have completed a class, organized and ran a youth event and are currently packing for our upcoming ski/snowboarding trip (There seems to be a certain pattern with me and procrastinating with packing...oh well!). Our first class back from the holidays as a 2nd year course concerning the Pauline Epistles. I was really looking forward to this class as I have always wanted to learn more about the man who was Paul and his books. However, though this class was enjoyable because the teacher was fairly funny, it wasn't what any of us had expected. It was not really a fair comparison, but I guess we unconsciously compared this teacher, Carl with that of our Gospels teacher, Wes (who had a masters degree in the gospel of Matthew, so we learned so much from him). When we realized that all we were doing in class was reading the Bible out loud (we absolutely love reading the Good Book, don't misunderstand me, but it's something that we can do on our own time) we became a little frustrated and quite bored (a little ashamed to say so, but that's the truth) - it was hard to be in that class and it was even harder to produce any motivation for the papers that were due afterwards. But we got it done and I'm looking very much forward to the next class: Theology of Mission which is at the end of the month and where I am going to get a taste of the what might lay ahead at Briercrest in September (I haven't decided what program I'm getting in to quite yet and currently the choice rests between early childhood education and global studies).
   The next thing that happened on our schedule was the youth night. This was quite fun! We were in charge of certain parts of camp for one night and ran a night filled with worship, games, snacks and fun. I had the opportunity to work in registration and mug up (which is the camp lingo for night snack) which was a ton of fun with the people that I got to work with. Because I was a part of the kitchen staff for most of the night, I didn't really get the chance to see how the night went in its completion, but I have heard some awesome things from people who attended so I guess that I can dub it a success!!
   Currently we are preparing for a week long trip to Mt. Washington for some awesome times of fun and bonding (it's hard to think that we could get any closer, but apparently we can!). I got to snowboard for the very first time this winter (thanks Elliot for being an awesome teacher!) and so I am actually looking forward to this trip rather than dreading it, though I am expecting a few bumps and bruises and for sure a sore, sore body.
 
   There have been so many things that have been going on since I've been back, but the one thing that I have found is that it is so much easier to be me here. It was really good before the break, but the first 4 months was filled with trying to get to know everyone unlike this 2nd semester. It's just like a family of 21 people, brothers bugging the sisters and the sisters getting the brothers in trouble (Not that I have anything to do with that...), so there's so much here that I am truly thankful for and praise God completely with. There are some tough times, but because of that relationship we know that there is a deep love for one another to see each other being built up rather than being torn down.
   God has been so gracious to me in the times where I stumble, in the times where I'm confused and frustrated and just plain naive. Even during the Pauline Epistles, when I thought I wouldn't really learn anything I have learned one of the profound things that I think that I have learned thus far in the program.
    Acts 9:10-19 (Might want to read it before continuing) talks about a disciple named Ananias who was asked by God to lay hands upon Saul - a man who was persecuting Christianity, which was the exact faith in which Ananias followed. What struck me the most firstly was Ananias' response, like it's an everyday thing that God calls on him, "Here I am". That's something in which I need to do, even if it's only one time that God calls me to do something - "Here I am, send me" (Isaiah 6:8)
   What hit me next was even more profound. You see, Ananias probably prayed for Paul with the hope that the persecution would stop - yet it never occurred to him that maybe God would use him to answer that prayer. It was this very man who was never heard of before, or since, that brought Paul's sight back and baptized him...it was Ananias who laid hands on the murderer of his friends and called him brother.
 
   Recently I got a taste of what this is like though I didn't lay hands on a murderer. But rather I had the chance to be the answer to a prayer that was being prayed with an earnest heart. I have never felt so connected to the grace of God than that moment when I knew that I was 100% a part of God's Will for someone else. GOD IS SO GOOD! His power is more than what I have ever comprehended in my entire life, and it's slowly unfolding in front of my very eyes. I don't think that I have ever been so in love in my entire life! 

Yet there is always, always room for prayer, there's kind of been a little bit of spiritual warfare going on though I have not yet really had a full on attack. There have been some reoccurring nightmares (nightmares themselves are rare for me in general, let alone reoccurring) that I have been experiencing and they've been very gruesome and graphic, so that's kind of been a little frightening. So please be in prayer for me and the whole group, that no matter where we are, that God's protection be on our hearts and minds and that we don't rely on our own flesh to take on this battle, but rather on the power of the Living God.
  Also, another prayer is for my summer. I've had an offer of a full-time summer position here at camp in a leadership position and right now I'm not hearing anything concerning which path to take - whether to stay at camp for 4 more months (which means more fundraising and a possibility of a loan for Briercrest), or to go back to the mainland and work there. My desire is to follow what God's Will is, and I have had first hand experience that He will provide when the time comes - I just need to hear His voice so that I can respond with, "Here I am, send me"

I guess it's time to get back to packing!!

Love, Marissa