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!!

MARCH 15 2008

Well we all got back from a one week outreach in a little town about 8 hours away called Nueva Guinea. We went there and ministered in a Baptist church, did stuff with youth and children as well as went out into some smaller communities and did eveangelism, and door to door stuff. I was not able to do a lot of talking so I did a lot of praying. For the people we were talking to as well as the people who were speaking. It was soooooo much fun!! And to think that the enemy tried so hard to get me to not want to go. I was sooooo scared to go for the longest time till I prayed about it and God spoke to me about staying and he told me about keeping me and that he wanted to show me the people there. So it was REALLY good!! I also got to draw closer to people on my team.....one in particular that I believe God has placed on my heart because of her gentleness and sweet spirit is a girl named Yusleydi. (Sounds like juice lady) She lives here in Diriamba, and this last week we just really connected. For all who read this please pray for her or if you can help in anyway please let me know, I will tell you a little of what I know of her from the limited talking that we do, because of language. She is 19 (only 11 days older than my sis, which is maybe another reason I connected with her!!) and she came here with some money for YWAM but has a little 12 year old cousin that has gotten sick and from what I understand it sounds like it could be something like sickle cell. And I am not 100 per cent sure but it is my friends mom who has been paying the hospital bills and has had to use Yusleydi's tuition. The first big step was for this little outreach that we did and it only cost 20$ american but here that is A LOT of money and she did not have it and God provided someone to give it. I have been trying to give a little extra when I can and paying for things for others when I can. But she still needs to get her passport for when we leave the country and perhaps a visa as well as the cost of the outreach for 3 months just like the rest of us, but she has just been on my heart and if people pray God will provide, I know that for a fact we have seen it so many times already so....yeah. Things have been going REALLY well for me and it is so great here. I cannot believe that I have been here for 2 months already.....time is going by so fast. Next week we will be getting taught on relationships, so hopefully I will learn something from that!! Well I gotta run for now, I am going to church in about an hour (evening church) Talk to again!!!

 February 25 2009

So yesterdays blog I was a little frustrated...hehe, sorry I feel like I was being a little self centered and selfish so I apologize for that. That is all I have to say =)!!

 FEBRUARY 24 2009

Now that I have decided to stay I am finding things more frustrating and just the last couple of days I am also finding that I am getting mad at the little things. Maybe I am just being silly but I think that for a group that prides itself on relationships, I first of all do not find them all that easy to approach. Second they (the staff) have so many meetings that I just find it a little weird. I understand having meetings, say in the morning before classes but it just seems like they are ALWAYS in meetings morning and evening and in the middle of the day. So I felt like there was no one that I could go and talk to about anything, we have small groups but if you know me at all I have a hard time sharing, but that issue was cleared up when someone from another base was here and he and I started talking. That was really great because I got to share things and talked to him more then I have talked to ANYONE here in the past 5 and half weeks!!! Just because he was willing and interesed in what I had to say .... my next vent is that I am having so many problems trying to listen in classes. Last week I felt like the teaching was majorly overdone, they talked and reiterated the EXACT same things the entire week till the last class on friday were they added something new, for me I did not learn ANYTHING. This week I have a problem with the teacher, I do not like how he teaches and I disagree with a lot of things he was saying and I do not feel confident enough in myself to raise those issues in class. I have been praying a lot about it and doing my best to take a few notes and praying that my mind would not wander, I want so much for this to be a life changing thing for me, but I do not know what more I can be doing. I wanted to leave today simply because of boredom, but I do KNOW that God has called me here and am doing my best to figure out what that is. I know and apologize for this one as it is not as nice or whatever as the other blogs but I am allowed to have one or two of these am I not? Well I think that is it for now, I will honestly keep going to see all that God has for me here....maybe it will not be in the classes, but that can not stop me from going!! Hehe! Well talk to you next time!

FEBRUARY 20 2009
Wow!! Time flies when your having fun!! I can not believe that it is almost the end of february already! We have an outreach coming up...on March 7. We will be going to the South Atlantic coast. We are travelling there by bus (an 8 ride) Talk about stepping out of your comfort zone!! I will be put up with people from the church so not really sure how that will go as far as my spanish goes. I have been only using words so far not to many sentences though I can understand for the most part what people are telling me.
I do have a few prayer requests...please pray that I will not be scared to use my spanish on this trip, I REALLY want to be able to step out of my comfort zone with out freezing up in terror, and for another issue that I am not sure how to deal with so far from home, but without going into details I am sure that I hurt a friend before I left and we got along well but I was was not able to talk things out before we went our seperate ways and now this specific realationship keeps coming back to mind and right now it is a bit of a distraction, or maybe it is something I have to deal with, ANWAYS all that to say please pray for that. I ave been doing really well health wise though. Thank the LORD for that!!
I guess another prayer request would be that sometimes I jusst get such a heavy and sad heart sometimes and I am not sure what to do about that, please pray that I would just TOTALLY rely on God to show me what my problem is!! =) Well I gues I will sign off for now, untill next time my friends!!

FEBRUARY 14 2009

This week has been the week that has gone by the fastest...at this rate I will be done in no time! I hope that is not the case I feel like I am learning soooo much and not to sure how to handle it all! This past week though was REALLY hard we a re reading a book (we have to read on every 2 weeks) called The Father Heart of God. I like it a lot though God has been speaking to me through it and there are some things that I do not want to have to face or deal with I guess. This week I was even looking into flights home....mind you that wasn't the only reason, I have a class of 15 in this DTS and other than the little family from Peru (3- Mom, Dad, and 9yr. girl) I am the oldest and the next oldest to me is a young married couple (23 and 25) and after that it is a 20yr old. So I am struggling to fit in because I just do not have that much in common with 20 and under as I have past that stage in life and REALLY do not want to go back there =) All that said I felt that this week God was telling me to not be like Jonah and run away from what I KNOW he asked me to do. Because if I had I would have had a storm and a 'whale' to deal with!! So I think that I need to hang out here for a while yet....though at the time I was willing to take on the storm and whale just cause I wanted to leave so badly. Please continue to pray for me, right now for strength and courage. So that I will press on with all that God has for me in this time, that I have set aside specifically to draw closer to him.

I got to go see the little girl that I sponsor here, Gabriela, it was an okay time I wish that I had had something more fun planned though we did go to a movie though it was not one that, if I had known, would have taken her to. I think she was bored but it was fun to hang out with her. I hope to do it at least one more time in April for her birthday!!

February 3 2009
So I have been asked about what a day in my lifelookslike right now so I though that I would post it for everyone to see waht is going to go on. There are a few things that are out of place like Monday wenesday and friday we have worship in the morning with the School of the Bibleclass that is also going on,and Tuesday and thursday we have small groups in the morning as well, But for the most part a day lookslike this for me. I wake up at about 6 30 for breakfast is at 7 then I have to clean up after braekfast which usually takes about an hour or so then at 9 am is when our classes start. We have class then till 12 30 when lunch is (we get a couple of breaks in there too) Then after lunchsome people have chores to dobut because I clean in the morning that is all I have to do so I have free time and devotions. Then we start class again at 2pm untill 4. That is then used for again chores for some people and free time for others till 6 when dinner is. After dinner sometimes we walk into town or just hang out, but bedtime and lights out is 10 30 but for the most part we are all usually in bed before or by then. That is my day. But as I write this I am thinking about some homework that I have to do so I am going to sign off for now. Talk to you all again soon!

January 29 2009
Here a just a few quotes that I wrote down that I have been learning. "Blessed are the flexible for they will not break"
God is not working for us, we are asked to do God's work.
And my favorite one, "There is nothing of value without cost!" We have just finshed our 3rd day of classes and though it is a lot like Bible School, I am learning bits and pieces that are new! Mostly words and phrases in spanish!! Haha! But so far it is going well, I am having a few doubts in my being here, not in Nicaragua.....I LOVE it here but just being in the YWAM. I am wondering if this was where I was supposed to be or if I was supposed to be in a different area or something else in Nicaragua. Maybe I just need to give myself a little more time. It is so neat to be here, I feel like it is a cross between Bible school and camp!! So far I have not had any HUGE issues with anything so I am hoping that it stays that way!! That is all for now but I am very thankful for all your prayers and feel free to email me if you get a chance!! alana.benson@gmail.com

January 21
Well here I am! I am doing well and loving it here. Though am starting to doubt myself being here and classes have not even started yet. I think I am just a little anxious to get going. I had such an amazing time with my friend and now to come to something totally different is a little scary =) But I am sure I will live. It is good to know that I do have a couple of friends that are close too!

I have met a few of the people here for the DTS. One from Honduras-she knows no english a girl from Tennesee and one from Quebec. There is also a young couple from Texas and a couple with a little girl from Peru. We are expecting 6 more people. 4 girls and 2 boys all from here in Nicaragua. I think it is a good mix of people!! Another friend of mine is letting me use her computer till I can get internet on mine, so I will be able to write a lot more often then what I thought I would be able to. I am needing to sing off for now, all the fun and excitement starts tonight at our orientation, I will let you all know how that goes.!!

January 18 2009

Well a nice warm hello from the southern hemisphere!! It is wonderfully warm and I have been wearing shorts/capris for the last 2 and a half days, and went to a beach yesterday all day!! Okay I will stop bragging now =) But I truley LOVE it and my heart is soo full right now that I do not even feel like I am away from home. I feel like I have come back home. My only frustration is that I can not communicate as well as I would like to and the little spanish that I know I am afraid to use!! Probably not for long though. My friend Scarlett has been taking me so many places and I went to church with her this morning, even though I knew NOTHING the pastor was saying!! It was neat to be there! It was also one of the projects, so got to see a ton of kids as well!! All is well with me so far and willwrite again when I get a chance! Love you and talk to you soon!!

 JANUARY 15

So I am on my way down tomorrow morning to Nicaragua! I have said my good byes to my friends and family in Sherwood Park and will say good bye to my friend here in Hamilton that I am staying with tomorrow as well. I really just do not have much feeling of anything right now, not really excited anymore yet, I am going to be glad to be out of this cold and I will be really happy to spend some time with my friend Scarlett that lives in Nicaragua. She is going to be taking me to a wedding on saturday! That should be interesting! I will have to write about it when I can! It seems like it has taken sooo long to get to this point and now that it is here I am not sure what to do with it. I went for lunch with some friends on wednesday and then for a little tour of the Compassion building in London, Ont. and I am not even kidding when I say I think that it was the best day that I have EVER had in my entire life up to this point! I just LOVE them all out there so much and that I got to talk to a few of them about their experiences with YWAM! Though at one point I had almost wanted to book a flight back to Alberta, but I know that I won't. I sure had a good time with them and will miss them A LOT!! Well it is late now and I have to be up early so I will have to sign off for now and I am not to sure when I will get back to this but will update when I can, so keep checking back! Talk to you all soon, from nice sunny and hot nicaragua!! =)