LOVE

Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or does not display itself haughtily.

It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].

It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.

Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. (The Bible)

Jesus, help me to love like this, without you I can't do it.

Here are some summer pics of Stratford.... including a black swan! Didn't know
they had black ones!




Last Monday night we had a leaving party for Jamie
(the girl on the left) who has been here since February.
She works for the theatre in Stratford designing the costumes
for the productions. All the costumes are finished now, so she
is going back home to Nanaimo, British Columbia.
Jamie loves Tofu, so we had Italian Tofu. I had never had it before - it
was quite nice!


I recently decided to take Glory-Anna (the youngest of the children
I have been babysitting) to the River Avon to feed the
swans. We had some corn - I should tell all you swan lovers
that bread is not good for them! (We have signs at the river telling
us not to give them bread, but corn and greens.)
We had a lovely time - and I took some photos.
However......just after this photo, the swan started to attack me!!
It came at me with its big orange beak and started biting my leg!
They are huge when they straighten those big long necks.......
It was quite scary - I wasn't hurt though.
And I have forgiven the swan!


Last week we had a mini tornado with lots of thunder and lightening.
It came on so suddenly! One minute it was really sunny and bright, and the
next there was a major storm. We got all the kids in, closed the windows,
brought all the garden furniture inside and watched the storm outside from the
comfort of our own living room. The photo does not do it justice though........
This is outside the front door of the house where I am living right now.

This is a newsletter from the church Patricia visited in Amsterdam last week.........

Testimonies from the School of Prophetic Evangelism with Patricia Bootsma and team

(May 3rd-5^th, 2007; Amsterdam, Netherlands)

Introduction
We want to share a few of the things that happened during School of Prophetic Evangelism which was held in Amsterdam on May 3^rd-5^th, 2007 in order to give God glory for what He’s done. The School was organized by God’s Embassy Amsterdam and RED (a new interchurch youth movement launched by Sander Vos, one of the leaders of God’s Embassy). Patricia Bootsma from Canada was the speaker.

Testimonies
20 people gave their lives to Christ during the 2 afternoons and the one evening of outreach we held in the city! Among these were 4 prostitutes. The teams who visited the women reported the women were very open for contact and for the gospel. One woman even needed to be held up by the team members while they prayed for her because the power of God was so strong in the cubicle in which she worked.

The music teams that went out to sing prophetic songs over the people in the Vondel Park and in the Red Light District reported a strong presence of the Lord on the streets as they sang. In situations where there were language barriers between the team members and those they had contact with, several teams noticed that the presence of God was so strong that people wept and held onto them tightly as prophetic songs were sung even though they couldn’t understand the words. One young prostitute from the Czech Republic just kept repeating the words “so much love” as she wept over the women team members who had just sung for her. One man was so touched by the words of the song that God had given the team for him that he asked Christ into his heart right there on a bridge in the Red Light District. During this conference we learned a new term; “Presence Evangelism.” Time and time again we saw that the tangible presence of God made people open to hearing about the love that God has for them even more than the words that were spoken out over them.
3 people were also healed from various physical ailments on the streets.

This is Bales and Nathan. Nathan is on the right. I really want to honour this guy. He has what he calls a night ministry where he is out on the streets of Stratford until 3-4am every night. He has trained his body to only need a few hours sleep each night! He is in the bars and nightclubs and just about every social event that is on in Stratford building relationships with people. He loves to see people coming to know Jesus like he does. He knows nearly everyone in Stratford, and is always trying to connect people. He had me at a Baha'i dance event a few weeks ago because there was a girl from Northern Ireland that he wanted me to connect with. There are a lot of Baha'is in Stratford.
I got a message from him a few nights ago asking if I had any contacts in Poland that he could pass on to a friend of his!!
Everyone knows Nathan - in the church and out. He is unique!
Bless you Nathan! You rock!!

The past few months on the internship..........

This is Patricia Bootsma who runs the intern program. She has lived a lifestyle of radical abandonment to God for many years, and her ministry flows out of an intimate relationship with Jesus. She inspires me to press into God for the same!
Her and her husband are pastors of Jubilee Christian Fellowship, Stratford.
John has an amazing pastoral heart - he reminds me so much of my Dad!
They have 6 children from 3 -16 years old.
Over the past 3 months I have been getting settled into Stratford and finding my place here.
It is a really lovely place - now that everything has defrosted! It was a really cold winter with snow showers up until the middle of April.
There are now 12 interns on the program - 8 girls and 4 guys. (6 of us girlies living together)
We all have commitments during the week;
My week looks a bit like this.......
MONDAY
House of Prayer - 2 hours (rest of day is off)
TUESDAY
Guitar lesson
Intern cell with Patricia
Teaching (variety of teachers) Lessons have included; a 3 week teaching on intercession, prayer and worship, the fear of the Lord & the different names of God.
House of Prayer - 2 hours
WEDNESDAY
House of Prayer - 2 hours
Equipping Night at church - I had the opportunity to teach a few weeks ago!
Patricia asked us all to prepare a 10 minute talk which we had to give at intern cell. She then wanted someone to teach at Equipping night, so I offered. I really want to be stretched in this area. I was so scared initially, I could not do it!! I taught on the battle of the mind.
Worship after Equipping Night - the interns lead worship for this session.
THURSDAY
Office (morning)
House of Prayer - 2 hours
Kids Connect (evening)
The church is right next to a low income housing area. Kids Connect is an
outreach into this area. There are around 25 kids that come each week!
Worship with interns & Patricia - Patricia meets with us on a Thursday night between 9 - 11pm and we all worship together at the House of Prayer. We play instruments, sing and read the Bible.
FRIDAY
On Call day for House of Prayer - Myself and one of the other interns (Marta) have the job of making sure that the House of Prayer has people covering the shifts from 8am Friday morning to 8am Saturday morning. We have to cover any gaps to ensure that there is someone there 24/7.
Healing Rooms - every Friday I help with Healing Rooms at the House of Prayer. We pray for the sick knowing that Jesus died so that we can be healed.
Youth - I can only go to Youth if I have cover for the House of Prayer. When I can go, it runs between 7pm and 11pm. The Youth Pastors have just finished a course on sexual purity with the young people.
SATURDAY
House of Prayer for 2 hours
SUNDAY - on a rota basis:
Nursery
Prophetic ministry
Worship team (singing)
Setting up and taking down communion (which we have every week at Jubilee)
Setting up tea and coffee for after the service

Other things I do/have been doing..........
- The interns are responsible for organising 2 outreaches each month - it is totally up to us to decide what to do. The photos below are of an outreach that one of the guys; Rob arranged.
It was on a Saturday afternoon outside the house of prayer.
We set up a table outside offering free prayer and dream interpretation. A couple of the interns did worship (piano and guitar). Some of us went around Stratford, praying for God to lead us to people who needed encouragement, and asking God what He wanted to say to them.
One man was healed of neck pain! And a girl who came - she wanted prayer for her mum who had breast cancer decided to give her life to Jesus!!


- Myself and Sarah (below with Gabe and Aquila) organised a lunch for 80 people a few weeks ago. We made Shephards Pie. I have never cooked for quite so many people!
I really enjoyed it. This is us starting out!!

- I also helped co-ordinate a pot bless lunch in the church last Sunday.

- I helped to organise another visit to Spruce Lodge Nursing Home.
Myself and 2 other interns did a church service with hymns and a short message -
very short because it was me giving it!!

- I had a 2000 word assignment to do on the Tabernacle of David which was a lot of work for me! Anyone who knows me knows the amount of work I put into my assignments! I worked my wee tail off!

- All the interns have the opportunity to travel with Patricia. She is an itinerant speaker and travels. We went to Cambridge, Ontario at the end of March with her. We went as worship and prayer team. As the team were praying, Jesus healed a lady of scolosis of the spine which she had had since she was 12 years old!! Patricia received an e-mail the next day. That was exciting!
Since then Patricia has been a few places, but I have not been able to go.
She is just back from Holland, where she was teaching in a church. The church then organised teams to go into the Red Light District.
They gave out roses to the prostitutes, and prayed with some of them, wanting them to know that God loved them. The team were really impacted by the trip.
On Thursday, Patricia was at TACF (where I was at Bible College) so myself and another intern went with her. I was so glad I went because 6 of my friends were there!!! Jim & Margaret Todd, Richard & Margaret McBurney, Julie & Ivan Roberts. It was sooooooo nice to see them. It was such a surprise. I had a good chat with them at the end of the meeting.

- I am living with the Bootsma's for a few weeks helping them look after the 3 youngest children.
I have been really enjoying it. They are amazing kids! I am here until 10th June (staying while Marta who normally lives with them is on holiday).

So that is what has been happening with me!!

Random stuff...................
I had my first swim in the lake a few Sunday's ago! It was sooooo cold. This is Rebekah and Becky - we are all just about to take the plunge.


I found a Samy stand-in! (I have a dog called Samy back in Ireland - a Samoyed. This is Chinook a husky who belongs to my friend Bev. He is so cute!)


In the intern house, we had a squirrel family living in the attic. They were chewing our
electrical wires and had to go! This is Al Langis who put a trap in the attic and
caught them. He drove them to the country and released them!
With 6 girls in the house, what do you expect! We all wanted the squirels to be
alive - just not in our attic!

BIRTHDAY!!
Tuesday 24th April was my birthday!!
I was meant to be leaving for Toronto to go to my old Bible College (TACF) because
Patricia was teaching there for the week, but I had a bit of a stomach bug and ended up spending most of the day in bed! I was well recovered by the afternoon, so
I went to the House of Prayer to spend some time with Jesus.
I was able to get a ride to Toronto the next day so a car-load of us set off
at 6.15am. I had arranged to meet Amy - it just happened that she was leaving her
employer to the airport - perfect! It was sooooo good to see her - I had not seen her since
I left Grafton in February.

Patricia was teaching in the morning, and we (the interns) were
helping until around 12.30pm. Then we headed out to Montana's for a birthday lunch.
Rebekah & Sarah (2 of the interns who I live with - the girl in the black is Rebekah, and Sarah is in green) had decorated the table with lots of balloons!! I share a room with Sarah - she is awesome! She is from England. Rebekah is from California, and the other girl in the picture is Sarah-Ann, who is Canadian and also lives in the intern house.

Patricia treated me to my lunch - we had Mexican fahita's - one of my favourites!
Paticia is in the right hand photo, third from the right.
Amy had secretly arranged to meet John & Evelyn at TACF - I was so surprised!!
They then took me out for a birthday dinner. I ate SO much!! They bought 2 desserts and we had them as birthday cake!


A typical Amy photo!!!

SEDER PASSOVER
On Sunday 25th March, Jubilee hosted a Seder Passover meal with
Return Ministries.

Return Ministries is an organisation in which Jews and Christians work
together to fulfill God's plans and purposes for Israel and the nations
according to the Word of God.

Little explanation of Passover..........
The Festival of Passover

Passover is the oldest and most important religious festival in Judaism,
commemorating God’s deliverance of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt
around 1440BC. The term Passover refers to the 10^th and final plague
(the death of the firstborn) which came upon Egypt when Pharoh refused
to release the Israelites from slavery.
God’s instructions were that if the blood of a lamb was placed on a house-hold
door post, He would ‘pass over’ and the first born would be safe.
Today’s festival is based on this historical event and the things which
happened leading up to it.
The focal point of Passover is a communal meal, called the Seder which
is a time of celebration of the above.
Passover is a way the Jews express their faith in the One (God) who
acted on their behalf in history, and expresses the hope that He will
continue to act in bringing deliverance to all people everywhere.
As Christian’s we also can celebrate the Passover remembering our
Jewish heritage.....which is what we did at Jubilee!
More importantly it is a picture of Jesus - who was our passover lamb,
and we can celebrate what He has done for us

Below is the plate with all the emblems.

On the SEDER plate there is:

• Hard boiled egg - symbolising new life
  
• Roasted shankbone of lamb - reminds them there had to be blood sacrificed to save their lives.
• Bitter herbs - horseradish - reminds them they were servants to slavery.
• Greens - parsley, celery - symbol of coming of Spring which brings hope.
• Salt water - reminds them of the tears they cried in Egypt.
• Haroset - nut, apple, cinnamon, wine mixture which has the appearance of straw in remembrance of the mortar used to build the Treasure Cities for Pharaoh. It is symbolic of the hope of freedom that enabled their ancestors to withstand the bitterness of slavery.
• Matzah - the unleavened bread that reminds them of the haste with which they left Egypt.
  

This was really interesting - I had never done anything like this at all!
Exploring the Jewish roots of my faith - after all Jesus was Jewish.....