July 10 2009

2 days back and what a culture shock to be home. I feel like I am not really here and that I am going to wake up any time now from my dream and that I will be back in Nicaragua. I am okay with being home though I miss being there (in Nicaragua) so VERY much. I have made an AMAZING friend there and miss her soooo much already because she and I were prety much inseperable for about 4 of the 6 months. It is hard now to not be with someone all the time when that is what I got used to. She wants to come and visit Canada so I am going to try and get her up here for a couple of weeks.... she wants to come when there is snow though!!! Haha, she is in for a cold surprise!! That is all I can write right now.

JUNE 23 2009
So our time is drawing to a close....only one more week here in Colombia then one more in Nicaragua. Things are cool here, I am really enjoying Cali, though if you could keep us in your prayers, we are living beside a house that have witches living in it. The one talks to us all the time but always wants to know when we are leaving. We have been in a bit of a spiritual battle I feel just even in some of the small things like getting easily upset with each other and last night was a big thing. One of the girls in the room I was sleeping in, was whimpering in her sleep then started all out crying and we could not wake her up. I went to get our leader, and we started praying for her. This morning she does not remember us trying to wake her. Thanks, I gotta run for now.....

June 15
I am sooooooo sorry for those of you who read this!! I honestly forgot that I was keeping this, these last 2 months have been so busy and have not had a lot of time on the computer and when I did I ALWAYS forgot to update here. So I am writting this now form Cali, Colombia, the 3rd largest city in Colombia. It is BEAUTIFUL and the weather is great!! It is warm and a little humid but not to far off a Canadian summer, so I am enjoying it a lot. At night it gets cool and I need a sweater but that is okay. I really like it here. The last few weeks we were in many different places in Nicaragua, and our final destination was Bluefields which was EXTREMELY hot and humid and it was just not really all that fun. We worked a lot doing a bit of evengelism, childrens and youth programs and quite a bit of casual labour. It was all good but we were all thankful that we got to go back to Diriamba for a week before we split into 2 groups and off to our prayed about countries, Guatemala and Colombia. I have a TON of stories of how God worked even within that week in Diriamba!! Well we have 2 more weeks here in Cali then we return to Diriamba on the 1st of July (YEAH CANADA DAY!!) and the 3rd is our graduation. I will hopefully be home shortly after that! Well that is all for now I can not wait to share things and pictures with you all talk to you soon.

MAY 4 2009
We are on on way inabout an hour for our 1st month away. (I thought we were going to leave yesterday but I am gladwe had the extra day!) I am a little excited and a little nervous all at the same time. I am excited that God provided the money for me for this first month!! Istill have a lot more to raise for my second month as we are supposed tobe flying to Colombia and that is an expensive flight from here.Please continue to pray for me as well, many trials may come up as we are travelling with a group of 20 of us and it is hard to get along sometimes when you are around each other 24 7 and if you would like to support me financially please contact my Dad (John) at 780 417 2988 as soon as possible, that would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you to you who have helped me financially this far I LOVE you and cannot thank you enough!! I am excited about all that God has for us on this outreach ministry phase. Thanks for your prayers, can ot WAIT to tell you all about it when I return! LOVE YOU ALL!!

April 25 2009

So my last week here at the base before we take a 2 month adventure with 14 team members and a GOD who I am sure can hardly wait to teach us new things!! I am a little nervous but REALLY excited....below I have posted my prayer letter too. I have no expectations going into this because I have found that if I have to many expectations for a place I am usually disappointed. Here is our itinerary so far, and though it could change this is what we know so far. May 3rd (I think, whatever the sunday is) we drive to Managua and spend a week there. Then we drive to a place getting close to the central part of Nicaragua called Boaco and spend a week ministering there, then our final 2 weeks of May will be spent on the far south eastern part of the country in a place called Bluefields. I am SUPER excited to travel, it will be great to have a change of scenery for a while. Then our month of June is supposed to spent in Columbia in 2 different areas, but it will depend on a LOT of things, finances is a big one but the prayer of our hearts right now is that the Nicaraguans will be able to get a visa, because of political reasons (mainly the presidents do not like each other) it is SUPER hard for them to get visas. We do not really want to break up our team either so those of us who it is not hard to get a visa for, do not really want to go if the nicaraguans on our team can not get in. Then our plans are to either go to Guatamala or we may just stay on the east coast of Nicaragua. I would like that but I am pretty open to whatever =) So our last week of classes is on Evangelism and it will be a full week as we have dramas and choreographys that we will be practising during that time as well as we have to get finances in order before we leave and we also need to pack EVERYTHING for when we leave. We will be bringing just necessities then the rest has to go into storage until we get back as there are other teams that come and stay at the base while we are gone too. I think I will finish this for now, I hope to put up another blog before I leave but it will be a SUPER busy week, so I will not promise =)

April 25 2009
My dear and wonderful friends!! As Paul greets in his letters; May God our father and the LORD Jesus Christ give you grace and peace!

First let me say that God is doing some cool things here in Nicaragua and I have been blessed to be a part of it! We have a fairly young group (out of 15 only 5 are over 20, the youngest being 16) and I can only wish that I had been learning the things in class, at that same age. Beside that the faith, love, and selflessness that these kids already have is AMAZING and humbling, and for any of you who have been to anywhere in latin america you know what I am talking about. I think that even though I am learning in the classes it is the people I am learning from the most. God is blessing me with some really cool friendships as well, I know it will not be easy to part!!

I am coming to you today in humility to ask for your help. As you may know (or you may not) but I am not being paid for this and my schooling is paid for ($1000USD) and now we have an outreach that we have been praying about and have found that God is leading us to Columbia. We start our outreach here in Nicaragua and are going to the other side stopping at one place on the way over to Bluefields. Then we return to Managua to fly out to a place called Cali which is the west coast close to Bogota (the capital) then God willing we will be flying to a jungle village on the very southern tip of Colombia and boarders Peru and Brazil. Our trip starts on the 3rd of May and each of us have to raise about $1500 USD each.... as I head into this next phase of ministry I would ask if you would be willing to support me financially.... if that is not possible for you I would ask that you be continuing to pray for me as I KNOW you are, maybe giving us ideas on how to raise support as well, we did have one little garage sale on the base here, we gave any clothes that we did not want any more and made food and stuff like that....it was fun, but took A LOT of work! We need to be spending the next 2 weeks getting prepared to leave as well as we still have classes.

Thank you so much for considering this and for praying!!! I will be doing what I can to keep you updated as I am not sure what kind of internet access I will have. Thank you again soooooo much and many blessings on you all!!

If you would like to contribute....please contact my Dad (JOHN) @ 780 417 2988

ALANA <><

APRIL 7 2009
Okay so I know I have not written here in a while and I am sorry but please be patient with me as there is A TON of stuff happening and it is hard to find time to get to a computer to have the time to spend writting. I usually just check my email and am on to the next thing. Which is like right now but did not want to leave every one hanging!! Haha! Well I think we have all come to the conclusion that God is leading us to Colombia, though not to sure where as there is more than one YWAM base there and that is most likely where we will be staying. Please continue to pray for the Nicaraguas that have to get their passports AND visas for that country and because of political issues it is EXTREMELY hard for Nicaraguans to get visas for Colombia. I will be writting a letter soon talking about some of things that could be possibly be happening in Colombia as well as support raising, if you want to help and can think and pray about it that would be great....I will know a little better how much I will need a little later, and will make sure it is in the letter. But I am going to be asking that you call my Dad so that he can asctually put it in my account and I can go online and move money around so that I can get it here. His number is 780 417 2988. More to come again Please be patient with me!! Love you all!!

ALANA

MARCH 21 2009

So here is a photo of my friend Yusleydi that I was talking about in my last blog. She is just a few days older than my sis and God has placed this special blessing in my life right now. She is so sweet and is so encouraging to me.

One thing before I get started.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAUREL!!!!

My time here is so great, though I have had a couple of times where I miss home and friends, it more about the selfish things like all the comforts and pleasures of home. Life here is so hard for the people, well maybe not hard maybe it is just that we as N.Americans have just become lazy. I am not sure I could live like this with out a few adjustments to life to make it more comfortable. Like a washing machine and warm, RUNNING water. But the weather I can FOR SURE live with, I do not miss the cold or even the snow at all!! I LOVE to look outside and see a palm tree with a TON of coconuts hanging from it, or to walk by a neibours yard with banana trees.

We are still waiting on God to hear where He would like us to go on our outreach. I do not think that we will be staying here in Nicaragua but I am praying that I will be okay with that because I would like to travel outside of the country. I guess that is all for now!!