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!