Tales of a Saskatchewan Pirate

I made it!!

2007-08-15T15:04:00.000-07:00

tip of australia here i am * about...2 weeks ago but thats beside the point*
today was a day where i stopped and thought....what the heck am i even doing here??

also more pictures up on my flickr
www.flickr.com/photos/saskatchewanpirate

modified email to allyce

2007-08-08T05:29:00.000-07:00

Hey so sorry i havent been able to update you at all. iv pretty much been in the boonies since iv got here haha but i have the net for 2 weeks up here. so yay.

leave the computer and find a map. ok, ..... iv been to ingham, cairns, hopevale, bamaga, injinoo, new mapoon, umagico, sesia, and now im in weipa and arakun. haha which is all in northern australia.

so far iv, snorkeld at the great barrier reef,
seen many wild kangaroos ( and hit one with the OKA, oops)
seen red dirt and stray horses, and dogs with gross diseases,
iv been 4wheel driving on the most famous track in australia,
did a few river crossings which i have vidoes of.
swam in eliotte falls,
swam in the jardine river which has ALOT of crocs cause one guy go taken last year. but the area we swam in apparantly by the words of a local " oh most crocs live down stream." haha. so comforting. most.
iv been crocodile "hunting" and by that i mean...looking for them.
iv seen 2 sharks in the wild,
iv eaten turtle ( which tastes like lamb thats been living in the ocean ) and bush goose,
been to the very very tip of australia ( theres even a sign )
and took a small boat up to thursday island which was scary cause i was in open ocean so it was SOOOOO rough,
iv been spear fishing,
normal fishing,
and seen the colored sands.
iv swam in the ocean and travelled in a great big ferry to the reef.
iv been invited into communities most cant get into because they are aborigonal ones and you need an invite to get in and the town im going to tommorow is a closed community and its basically a 3rd world town.
iv been leading worship ( yes, im playing guitar for people )
\im public speaking,
and im in charge of taking pictures for marketing for reef to outback,

sorry that was an ADD post. wow. hahah but no words can explain how much fun iv had. nothing can explain the feeling of kids with snot and scabs all over there harms touch your hair. but you not really caring because the kids are so beautiful and need so much love, i know it sounds crazy but im in love with this place haha, but i miss you all so much though. i miss everyone soooo much. im so excited to be home soon. im ready to leave but it will be hard. sept 5th im back in good ol canada. i hope to see you soon

Outreach.

2007-07-20T04:00:00.000-07:00

way too much to tell on this short rationed time on the internet. im in the boonies in a place called Hopevale. weve traded palm trees and park benches for red dirt and stray dogs.
But its beautiful. the kids here are absolutly beautiful. "miss! miss! spin me around again! carry me carry me!" dispite the runny noses snotty hands and gaping sores. i love them
hopevale has around 500 people. weve been invited in so nicely which is suprising for this kind of town. you have to be personally invited or else your not allowed in and by the grace of God weve gotten permission from the elders here.
since being here its pretty random. we went from serving in Ingham and Cairns to being served here in Hopevale. i mean theyre taking us EVERYwhere. the beaches. the colored sands. everyones farms for BBQs, being served left and right.
Today we did our first full day of ministry in the schools helping out the teachers. i taught kids how to play guitar and how to do math. all the while looking after the "bad kids" who were climbing on the roof. literally.
busy busy day. but thats ok. I love every minute of it and even though im exhausted stinky and dirty. its been fabulous.

Leaving in T minus 2 hours

2007-06-27T23:13:00.000-07:00

Yep its true. were leaving on outreach in 2 hours. its going to be heaps of fun. In about 3 hours we will be in Ingham, we spent all afternoon and morning cleaning our flats and packing up the trailer and now its time to say our goodbyes and have some down time to ourselves.
its kind of a bitter sweet day, iv made some amazing friends here and its going to suck to say goodbye today, so iv been moping around for most of it but inside im really really excited for outreach. its going to be such an amazing experince and adventure. i dont think ill be excited until i hop aboard the OKA and we take off.
Its pretty surreal though. i just realized we will be working as carnies for the first week so thats kind of funny.
but anyways. i hope you all have a fantastic time at home in canada. and i might have some internet access up until cairns so i might try to update at least a few times when im there.
God bless!

Outreach in 4 days!

2007-06-23T19:06:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, its been a while since my last real post.
Well this friday was our last day of lectures. a bitter sweet moment but it was well welcomed. We leave for outreach this thursday and we will be doing prep all week. im in charge of worship so that should be intresting. we leave for inhgam thursday evening and get there an hour or so slater in time to help with the fair in town for a week. and then its up the cape! yay!

This last saturday was my last youthstreet with the kids here so that was pretty sad for me, im gonna miss them alot.

But this last friday was a thing called parents night itis a night where all the youthstreet kids invite there parents and each team ( dance music skate and sport ) does a preformance and our team did our dance we have been making for the last 3 months and pulled it together pretty well. i got it on video for those who are intrested when i get back home.
but yeah thats my quick update ill probably say more later.

ps. 4 days ago it was recorded the coldest temperature EVER in townsville and its been raining for the past 2 or 3 weeks. YAY tropical weather!...not. this is totally supposed to be the dry season.

to my fellow students

2007-06-17T21:30:00.000-07:00

you know you have studied in australia when..

Tim tams have become a new food group

Vegemite - try it once, maybe never again

You are seriously impressed with the selection of M&Ms

You use "oi" correctly in a sentence and smile

You have more than 2 hours of class a day and complain

You coordinate your weekend outings around buying just one day pass for the bus

Reese's cups have the trading value of black market kidneys

McCafe - enough said

You have travelled more across Australia than your home country

You have never lined dried your laundry but do now just to save a $1 coin

Peanut butter becomes your life, you hoard it and dinner time gets violent if it's in limited supply

At first, the tropical birds waking you up at 6am were cool, tropical even. Now, you wish you brought your BB gun on the plane...

You have encountered spiders larger than a small dinner plate - and lived to tell the tale

You live for Thursdays - pasta night and taco day

You move from being poor, to being broke, to being in debt in a few short weeks

HEAPS

You are more commited to state of origin events than most sporting games back home

im sorry this is pretty much for my fellow students haha most of this probably is very very forgien to you...and it should be. haha

If anyone ever wonderd...

2007-06-13T05:04:00.000-07:00

what my whole DTS would look like combined...wonder no longer

compliments of marci rasmussen. you are my hero.

Camping!! the after effect

2007-06-09T22:11:00.000-07:00

Who knew Australia could get to 6 degrees?? not me. camping was cold. but incredible.
There were cows roaming around and we camped on top of a mountain.
the stars were closer than ever and i saw new constilations
there was no lake to be seen but there was a beautiful creek nearby where you could see platypus's. (but i didnt, because you can only see them at sunrise)
it was diffrent being woken up by kukaburras. beautiful noises
im exhausted but refreshed. the air up there was so clean
everything i own smells like campfire but i kinda like it
there was an old man and his dogs who walked to our campsite and visited with us every morning , i couldnt understand him though because he had a THICK accent
4 lizards crawled up my leg ( on top of my pants ) and one sat on my hood for half an hour
cold showers in the morning

bon fires at night
canned food for all our meals
banana boats ( my suggestion) and north american smores ( could you belive australia doesnt have graham crackers!?)
girl guides actually coming in handy
svein the fire king
getting to know everyone in a way only some would see
sleeping in wet tents and afraid of falling asleep because of a fear of freezing to death haha
starting out the week with our own tents but slowly buddying up because we missed sleeping together
almost breaking my finger cause ryan threw a football at me.and my knuckle is still huge
camping was good heres pictures to prove it

This spider was as big as my hand. the thing hes on is the wide part of a 2x4 in our bathroom. i sat RIGHT beside it and didnt notice

woo hoo!!! camping!!!

2007-05-23T23:35:00.000-07:00

Yeah! well. so none of you guys wont be hearing from me for 2 weeks starting this sunday because our DTS is going on a camping trip down to a place called hidden valley! which is just out of townsville in the aussie bush.
We will be tenting out there for the full 2 weeks ( still doing lectures ) with just our DTS ( although some of the staff might come up on the weekend )

But yeah. lectures have been really good lately. this week dave cole is here speaking on the father heart of God. he has some really intresting things to say. too much to really type here cause im trying to make this quick. weve been pretty swamped with homework and preparing for camping.

Youth street has been going really well. we recently had a talent shown where kids could do anything from singing to dancing to telling jokes. it went over really well. we have some really talented kids here!

we ( the dance crew ) have also been preparing our dance for parents night, its been coming together really well and the girls are having some input in the dance and kinda making it their own.

and last weekend we went to this thing called hope reloaded. it was just a bunch of youth from diffrent youth groups and stuff coming together to see a band play, a beat box competition, dancers and listen to a speaker. 120 kids made a decision to follow Jesus that night and 12 were from youthstreet!
so that was really exciting to see.

But anyways its about supper time. and i still have some packing to do. we have to move out of the flats today because the other DTS is coming back and graduating so they need a place to stay, its kind of weird it feels like we just settled in and we have to move out our stuff already. then after 2 weeks we have 3 more weeks of lectures and we have to pack up again and go on outreach. weeeird

Oh one more thing. we know a few of the places we are going on outreach. the places are in cape york and the "cities" ( i say cities like that because they are more like our towns ) are named cooktown, ingham, weipa and bamaga ( thats RIGHT at the tip ) were mostly playing it by ear at the moment because we are re pioneering an area we havent been to in almost 10 years so our contacts are limited.

but on that note, its dinner time. blessings!

me and some aussie animals!

2007-05-13T05:05:00.000-07:00

The quest of the inpenetrable coconut

2007-05-03T02:32:00.000-07:00

ALAS! brittney and me have found a co - co - nut. b ut now....how oh how do we get to the sweet sweet innards

naturally. i resort to primitive methods first. failing miserably.

we call forth one of our DTS leaders ( Who is an authentic aussie so naturally we thought it wouldnt be that hard for him ) we both got worried looks as he takes us down into the matinence room and puts a screwdriver in a vice... who knew there was an art to coconut cracking?

Ryan calls upon the infamous Bart. I think ,How many people does it take to open a coconut!? apparantly 2. ones not even australian. how dissapointing

halarity ensues....

And out comes bart weilding the machetti, AH!

Mmmm alas. the sweet sweet flesh of the succulent coconut! pretty dang good for a coconut found on the side of the road

Until next time....

Youthstreet / Backstage

2007-04-28T18:33:00.000-07:00

a kid who reminds me of david

Kids registering for there crews ( dance, skate, music, sport )

Kids on the deck

on the bus on the way to the strand

by the strand

EVERY country should invest in a McCafe

Dance crew at Mackas

Playing whonu? and Mackas

Walking to the strand to go to the BBQ

Jennys BBQ face

Sebastien ( sebbys ) BBQ face

Elizas Im standing around and being lazy face

Balloon Launch

Me and Britt

Playing Footy

Me and Reese during Backstage

Bo and i forget her name at backstage

180 hour ( basically a youthgroup thing. a person gets up and speaks. and they show videos and play music and stuff )

So this is an idea kind of what we do at youthstreet on saturdays, help?

Dinner on top of castle hill

2007-04-25T03:39:00.000-07:00

Every wensday the whole base gets together and has dinner together and its called "family night" a guy named sebastien usually plans it and since this week alot of people were away at a confrence we took the staff/DTS on top of castle hill and had a lovely dinner.
heres some pictures

Jenny on the bus ride over.

an island.

Jenny, Jen, Charity and asher

Jenny and Jen

Asher probably hijacking Stephen and Brittany

WHAT IS THAT!?

Food! who doesnt love food?

I bet shes suprised because she cant see anything out of it because she didnt pay

Night time over Townsville

UPDATE!

2007-04-23T23:38:00.000-07:00

Wow its been quite a while no? Oops im sorry.
Well these last few weeks have been really busy. we got a new student from edmonton alberta his names Donnie.
We have had 2 full weeks of lectures now ( including orientation ) and were almost halfway through our 3rd.
Tommorow is Anzac's day which is basically a rememberance day/memorial thing and our DTS is going down to help veterans out of there cars and stuff. helping out in the community.
On weekends we do this thing called Youthstreet, which is bacially an all day youth group. the first half being the "fun" time where kids can just come and hang out. they are placed on either the dance team. skate team. sports team or music team and yep you guessed it! im placed on the DANCE team! haha...its actually not that bad. were learning hip hop and breakdancing and i even designed a tshirt for us.
Our group gets along pretty well with each other and the staff so weve had a lot of days of just hanging out at the beach. going to the sunday markets and watching movies. and playing water ultimate frisbee. its been pretty good.

Im plannign on getting a tattoo mom. Haha. im not telling you what it is/how big it is/where until i get home ( if i come home that is *wink* ) haha im just joking mom, i mean im getting a tattoo but im coming home.

Im actually considering coming back here and working with youth ministries or something after i come home. we'll see.
over all i love it here.
keep checking my flickr page i have tons of photos up there. although i cant upload more for a couple days because my account wont let me. iv put up too many apparantly haha.

But no worries

Anyways Blessings to all of you. i miss home. but im having a great time here

BEACH!

2007-04-23T22:32:00.000-07:00

first day

2007-04-08T03:48:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of orientation and it was awwwwwwesome.
We had a group BBQ and pool party then had a sunset worship service with one of the most gifted worship ministry workers iv ever heard. He has a serious gift, and i cant stop smiling.
This DTS is going to be great.

Ill introduce you to my group right now.
Pictures to come soon.
Brittany - shes 19 and from Georgia
Svien - hes 28 and from norway
Bowie - hes 18 and from Australia
Marcie - shes 22 and from Las Vegas
Chris - hes 20 and also from Las Vegas
Charity - shes 21 and from grand prairie Alberta!

and again. go to my flickr page

Sunburn

2007-04-04T17:17:00.000-07:00

So iv been doing alot of touring around lately. if you go to my photo page youll see what i mean.
But iv been going to the shopping malls around here. taking long walks and going down to the beach
im already a "healthy" red. haha.
Im meeting tons of new people and getting the feel for the base at the moment, one of my fellow april DTSers finally made it here yesterday so im not all alone. I think more are coming today and the rest on friday.
It seems really amazing here. I already feel at home and im best friends with the entire student body. they are so friendly here I think im going to do just fine.
On monday I start my actual classes. So that should be intresting. Ill let you know more when theres more to know. as for right now all im doing is checking out the town and unpacking

Photos!

2007-04-02T03:37:00.000-07:00

go to my flickr site to see photos from yesterday and the flight here. I dont have much of an update at the moment. im just kind of bumming around the base these days and making a bunch of new friends!

FINALLY here

2007-03-30T19:10:00.000-07:00

So i arrived here in townsville yesterday ( the 30th) at 430
my flights were long and i sat beside someone who spoke french almost the whole way
but im here and its gorgeous!
Im living in a house with 5 other girls 2 blocks away from the base for the time being. only until the other DTS goes out on outreach. which is like a week.
it was +30 today and yesterday so im PRETTY warm but its alright. im sure ill get used to it.
I dont know. ill update more later i have to go.
be blessed

Photos for all!

2007-03-26T10:57:00.000-07:00

Oh right, i forgot to tell you.
www.flickr.com/photos/saskatchewanpirate

is where ill be posting all my pictures from my trip, i might occassionally put one on here but most will be there

2 days!!!

2007-03-26T09:22:00.000-07:00

So at the moment im laying here sick in bed. which isnt too fun. So i hope its one of those few hour type things or its just from nervousness. either way its not too cool.

But some good news for you faithful blog readers who rarely get a new post.
Im pretty much all packed and all my funds are pretty much all in! Its been such a huge blessing these last 2 weeks to see how much support i really have and to see how faithful God is. its insane. . Id like to thank EVERYONE whos donated money or taken time out of their day to pray for me. it hasnt gone unnoticed.

well i leave in T minus 2 days so more intresting posts will be coming in a matter of time.

Be blessed

17 days!

2007-03-11T20:01:00.000-07:00

Wellity. Australia is definatly fast approaching. There have been some major updates and im sorry for not posting. I promise ill post more when im there. and more thouroughly.

My origonal intents were to leave April 5th but now its been bumped to March 28th, Its the latest plane ticket they had avalibal and im kind of panic stricken about it but its totally ok. I have to stay a night in syndey and take a train from cairns to townsville which will be cool
Im finalizing all of that tommorow and ill have the tickets and im applying for my student visa tommorow which im super excited for.
So its finally happening. im gonna be there in a little over 2 weeks!

Sorry thats about as much update as i can muster. Ill post more later ok?

48 days and counting

2007-02-16T21:54:00.000-08:00

Alright. So I finally spoke in church 2 weeks ago and I think it went well enough. Funds are coming in steady and I really think its actually going to happen this time!

Iv also met a girl ( her name is stephanie even, haha ) who will be doing the same DTS as me . She has lived in Townsville and goes to the youth programs they put on there and now is finally being a student!
Me and her get along really well so far and shes been able to tell me alot of the stuff that will be going on there and it sounds sooooo exciting! Shes even let me in on a little secret of where we might be going on outreach! haha. But ill release that information later....maybe. haha
Im very excited to get to meet her and the rest of the staff there.
Its nice to get to know someone before hand so I dont go in there and be really nervous and alone and such. haha

Iv also gone to a couple travel agents and found out a general flight plan and cost.
Iv applyd for my passport and as soon as that comes back ( start of march ) ill apply for my passport!

So things have been coming together really well these last couple weeks. I no longer need to put away lots of money for gas because I got a new job running Kathy McCoulloughs daycare while her husband is in the hospital with brain cancer. The fire station called me and offerd me the job and they are raising money to pay me.
So please keep this family in your prayers as doug isnt expected to last much longer.

Thats all for today though.
Thanks for everyones prayers and support. I really appreciate it

Finally an update

2007-01-30T22:56:00.000-08:00

Sorry for those of you who were patiently waiting for an update

Well tonight I officially had sent in enough to apply for my student visa.
Reef to outback sent me the COE form which is a form needed to apply for my student visa . As soon as I get my passport taken care of then Im on my way to applying for that!

With the recent crowds of people going to get passports because of the whole " you need a passport if your 4 to go into the United States" its been hard to find a time for me to go with me working and all. So hopefully Ill be able to do that on thursday or preferably tommorow.

Well Ill let you all know iv been working very hard at the comfort inn doing housekeeping to get funds for this trip and its finally "paying off" this time around.

So id like to thank you all for your prayers and support. Very very much.

update shmupdate

2006-12-06T10:26:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a short post.

Things are coming together quite nicely. I had an interview at Boston Pizza yesterday that I think went well and I recieved some money in the mail from family so now I have enough to apply for my student visa!
I also got my criminal record check back from the police so I will be faxing that off right away to apply for my blue card.

Im getting things done alot faster than before.

Change of plans

2006-12-01T14:31:00.000-08:00

Iv thought it through and gave it alot of prayerful consideration, Iv decided to wait until April to go on my DTS.
I went and talked with Pastor Denis for a while today and he , the missions board, and rick all agree that it is in my best intrest to wait.
So if you all could pray that I find a better paying job so I can raise most of this money myself that would be awesome.
Thanks for all your support. Ill still keep you informed.

Maybe minor changes.

2006-11-30T14:36:00.000-08:00

Well ok, Maybe not minor. A little more on the major side.

So I went to go to book my flights today and it turns out theres basically nothing left for seats.
The seat that I got was the last one and it was $2,500. I booked it and all but it has to be paid in full by tommorow....And I dont have the money to do that.
The seats are only going to be getting more expensive as the days go on and the availability diminishes...
Im talking to my aunt and uncle about cosigning tonight and if that doesnt work. well im planning to postpone my trip until April.
And im ok with that. I have a peace about it and besides. If it ends up like that. Ill have more time to fundraise/get everything together. I wont be as rushed

THIS time i wont wait until the last minute.

So prayer about this decision of mine would help ALOT.
Thanks in advance

52 days!

2006-11-23T10:07:00.000-08:00

Well finally an update. Except no one really knows about this blog right now so im sure your not all very upset.

Anyways. Financial update!
I was talking to the bank for the past while and my brother and both of my grandmas arent able to cosign for the loan im applying for. But im shortly asking my Auntie and hopefully that will all work out.

Money is slowly but shurly coming in for me since Iv been working, So im finally making progress in that area and by the middle of the week I should have all my finances in to get my visa application. Yay!

Thats all I have to say for today. Hopefully Ill be updating more soon.

59 days and counting

2006-11-16T15:15:00.000-08:00

If any of you didnt know I have been accepted to do a DTS ( discipleship training school ) with the Reef to Outback YWAM base in Townsville (Queensland) Australia!!
Its located on the edge of both the Great Barrier Reef and the Australian Outback!

But, Basically I made this blog just so I can let family/ friends/ random lurkers know how im doing both while im still here in Canada and when im off in Australia.

My course starts on January 14th , I dont really know when im leaving on the plane yet because I havent booked my flight but thats on the agenda to do right away.

This is how im doing for the process of getting there. you know. money, papers, visas....the fun stuff.

Financially im not doing so hot, so that has forced me to take out a loan from the bank. Im going down tommorow to figure that all out. So ill let you all know how that goes.
Im also going to the post office to get an application for my passport because I didnt get one when I went to Philidelphia ( kind of wish I did now, but what are you gonna do? )
and I am getting my criminal record check tommorow so I can apply for a "Blue card" that I need because im working with people under 18.
I am sending away most of my paycheck this week to be able to apply for a student visa.
oh yah, Im working at Comfort Inn right now to raise as much as I can.

so thats pretty much the haps' with all that stuff. Kind of vauge but I will go into more detail as they come.

If you guys want. there is a site which explains a LOT better than I ever could about what the schools all about and whats gonna be going on " down under" ( haha ok that was bad )

I also have a personal page that lets people donate towards my schooling so thats kind of cool
but the site is

www.reeftooutback.com