So Jacqui is home! It's so fun having her home, and so good having my Vancouver 'sister' back here to talk to.
It's been a really good week actually. Well, aside from a few not great days I have already enlightened you about.
I have realised today how much I love Vancouver. Iknow that I (and many around me) tend to throw the word 'love' around a lot, but I really mean it. I was walking down the street coming home today after work, and I looked up at the mountains, and they were all dark green and beautiful. And it was about 6.20, so the sun was setting, and there were beautiful pink and orange clouds sitting all soft and fluffy all around the top. And I felt so peaceful. It was quiet and beautiful and crisp and it's so strange, but I feel so at home here. There have been hard days, but at the same time, there are hard days whereever you go, and I think I'm beginning to really know that I can face those hard days here, just as well as I did at home. Before this was home. Circular, I know, but good.
the DTS is going really well. It's been amazing, in the last few days especially, as i've seen (to my great privilege) God do, say and make amazing things happen, through and in our students, and our staff, including me. This 'job' of mine is sweet.
Will post again this weekend, then will ahve a bit of break for next week while we are awy at Go conference. It's gonna be sweeeeeeeet.
Love
hill

Prayer stuff
-Safe travels and good learning at Go Conference. Also, good connecting times with other YWAM friends from other bases for the week.
-Good rest this weekend, before we go
-Safe travels and good vehicle safety for our VERY OLD 15 passenger van, and the 5 hours there and back that we will be doing over the week.

So I cried today
My dad messaged me on the computer and told me my dog died. On October 4th. From a night of seizures and subsequent heart failure.
I didn't htink I would cry, but yeah, I did.
It's strange, cuz I know she's not a person or anything, and over the last 18 months I have had to deal with hearing about people I know dying while I've been in Canada and unable to be there with the people that are grieving. It's weird how just being away makes the emotions so different. In my head I can see the empty kichen and living room now and a part of me is glad that I'm not there realising that she isnt' there anymore, but at the same time I'm so sad that even as I write this, noone is even there, cuz I'm here, Alec is in Japan, Mum is in Singapore and Dad is in China, and I can't be with them either.
Sigh
But you knwo what? It's still a good day.
Had a really good one on one today, and I think that helped when Dad told me what happened, cuz really, it may seem heartless, but it gives a good big chunk of perspective, realising why I'm here and that really God's got everythign under control. I can be sad without it being a huge drama.
Though, that is aparently something I have to realise about myself. A development on the old "drama queen" statements that I used to get a lot, yesterday I was described as a "pan full of flour" While some people are pans full of slate, that when a big rock lands in the middle they are disturbed, but not all over the place. However, pans of flour, such as myself, get a rock to the gut and the dust cloud goes up and everythign turns into a gong show for the first day or so until the dust settles. Is this a good hting? a bad thing? or just me? I think for now, either way, here's to a bit of balance, and landing somewhere in between the two.
Jessa has promised htough, in hearing about my late-dog that she will refrain from calling me hill-dawg for at least a day or two. Thanks Jessa.
love and pineapple lumps
Hill

So it's another day in paradise
No really it's been a good day.
Have been tackling some interesting kinda thoughts right now
Nothing bad, just enough to chew on
Had our first outreach prep time today wiht out students all divided up into their teams, so though I'd post a pic of our lovely outreach team. Adam, Myself and Laura, ready to lead and rock Malaysia!!! YAY!

Am so excited for outreach but at the same time a little sad as none of my one on ones are coming with us, they are all going to the other location. sigh.
Had an interesting thought today too. But now I can't remember what it was. Got distracted.
This week is a really great lecture week. I love that after two really emo weeks, now I am being really challenged intellectually, so that the changes you feel like you want to institute in heart and spirit can be bolstered by commited decisions and thorough processes of hte mind.
HAve a lot to think about htough. And while tha'ts a good hting it means that I am really tired right now.
So it's short post tonight.
Will post prayer stuff below.
Love you lots
Hill


Prayer points
-Continued strength and unity for our leadership team as we weather the storms of a lot of busyness, tiredness, weariness, and all the other ness-es you cna think of that fit. We all love each other and we need to remember that on a daily basis!
-Continued wisdom and guidance about my one on ones and how to work with each of them in what they are going through
-Continuing relationship building that is going on here now that I am settling well and sorting things out a bit more.

So
This is a short post
But I'm on the island having a much needed weekend off
It's been great, Jessa nd I came over on the ferry this morning and have spent a whole bunch of time with Layne and her amazing family
Will post more later, but for now, just some pictures and a quick hi and hello from my weekend holiday :)
Love you lots
Hillary

So, welcome to the gong show that is my life.
The last two days have been hilarious. In a crying, panicked, kind of way of describing hilarious
You know.
Well ok you probably don't. Apparently when I am stressed or emo (emotional!) then I cope by being funny. Thus, when I am upset and try to confide in people, whom I have joked about the situation with, then they in turn joke with me thinking I don't care, and my feelings get hurt that they are laughing with me and not reading my mind and instantly understanding that i'm actually upset. Gong show indeed. But a good learning curve and a relationship builder for sure. I'm sorry if you know what I'm talking about right now, and I apologise. Though I already did that in person.
Sigh
Emo indeed. On the upside I have some really good soap, thanks to JahJireh family soapworks (aka good old YWAM enterprise!! If you need some soap I'll hook you up!)

So here's some food for thought. did an excercise in class last night, exploring the Father heart of God. The excercise started out to look at our names and the meaning of our names. Then after praying for a while and remembering back thinking of the names that we were called as kids. the hurtful painful names that stuck like burrs on our hearts, and weighted us down. We wrote them on sticky notes and stuck them on our shirts, then introduced ourselves to eachother using that name instead of our real name. It hurt, and there were a lot of tears as people realised what they had been carrying around with them. Then we pulled them off, and burned them. Then prayed, over night to ask God, our Father, for what HE calls us. What HIS name for us is. How HE sees us. I really really like my new name. Hillary isn't going anywhere, and I think for now, I'm just gonna meditate a bit more on this new name. But it's comforting that in the Gong show, God sees me. And He whispers to me. And He knows MY name.

So yeah, I think that a little emotional turmoil makes you stronger. Makes you hurt, but you know you are alive. And besides, things are actually, and objectively, going really well. Have attached a couple of pics below, and will make sure I have some fresh ones for the October newsletter. I love our students and I'm so excited for the next five months. I am also stoked to be going away this weekend with Jessa to visit my friend Layne on Vancouver Island. Blissful rest :) Aaaaand, tomorrow night we are all going as a school to Glenn and Lorrain's for a BBQ and then to a Vancouver Giants Hockey game. This is one of the teams that they draft the NHL from so it's gonna be awesome!!! plus Glen and Lorrain do AWESOME BBQ and BROWNIES!!!!

Anyways, it's bedtime, need to be at work for the homeless breakfast ministry at 6.30 so will love you and leave you with my pics of the day.

Will post something that is hopefully much lighter and cheerier sooner rather than later. With love and emo
Hill



Introducing the Small Group Dream team!
My girls, left to right, Rene, Aubrey and Laura. She really is that tall!




Welcome to Lecture break, 15 minutes of stretching and Goldfish eating!
left to right: Robert, Crystal, Rene, Aubrey, Jamie, Jenn, and my other two lovely co-staffers Jessa and Laura

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
It's a good day. A day off work, and good sleep in, a new haircut, pavlova and TURKEY
oooooo and do NOT forget pumpkin pie.
Plus it's October and it's SUNNY outside in Vancovuer!
Like I said, it's a good day.
So I went to Old Navy yesterday, and faced my fear of horizontal stripes. I'm pretty happy i did too, green and pink and yellow and brown and all crazy mixes of stripes are fun!
So yeah, just thought I would post and say Happy Thanksgiving, because I realise as I sit here and type there is a lot I have to be thnakful for. I knwo that sounds horribly cheesy but really, there is so much blessing in my life, and so many amazing people that have been a part of it. So thanks...
Lots of love
Hillary

So I can't really even begin to explain or document the last few days.
It's been hilarious
And random
And intense
And well *shrug* here goes.
So have been keeping on keeping on with classes and one on ones and everythign else that has been goign on. It's been very exciting and after a whole two weeks now, things seem to really be picking up speed.
Outreach teams have been decided now, and I will be working with Adam and Laura heading up a team of 6 students. More details for that will follow in email and the October newsletter.
Friday was so great, and even though I was up at the break of dawn (actually nope, it was dark out) it was totally worth it. Part of this DTS is that staff are involved in the local outreaches, so Jessa, myself, and four of our awesome wonderful students help out at a breakfast for homeless people in our area. It was a really great opportunity to help out a really great ministry, and learning from Pastor Joe and the other guys in the ministry. Also got to talk to a really talented girl from the First nations youthgroup they ahve there, who has been having some trouble lately here. Reminds me of me when I was 14, so hopefully will be able to get to know her more and speak more with her.
I am having the night off tongiht, watching 'Legally blonde' and (believe it or not) about to do my nails! tehehe. How girly can you get huh
So for those of you who were interested in the "experiment" I got given a pack of pastry, so I decided to get a batch of mince and cheese pies going. It's so far the beginning of something, cuz the pastry wasn't ideal, and I havne't got the gravy quite right, but otehrwise, the pie was goooood. A 'not quite perfect but pretty nice' taste of home. Gave one to Ralph (who as an English guy, of course gets it) and Stefan enjoyed one too as a 'cultural experience' tehehe. It was a really fun night actually, Stuart and I set up camp at his place with pies, icecream and he had a suprise for me for the night.........Footrot flats on DVD!!!! It was soooo fun, and i loved being able to have company enjoying south pacific goodness!!!!! Soooo great, thanks Stuart!
Today was an entirely different, yet equally entertaining story. Last week I won tickets through one of the local newspapers for "The Magic Flute" Stefan and I got quite excited about it, and so planned to go on the train and bus out to Surrey (about an hour travelling)
However, after all of it, it turned out to be a really weird show, an ADAPTATION of The Magic Flute, re-written and re-told for children and from a Canadian First Nations perspective. It was good for what it was, but definately a *ahem* little outside of what we expected.
Oh well, it was a fun day hanging out with Stefan, and I really enjoyed it.
I am also on a quest to get my haircut. Hmmm
Oh and how's this for great. Got a new bankaccount with no fees for 100 transactions per month. Not a big deal normally, but HUGE for me, thanks God! ATM and no feeeees :)
Anwyays
The plan for the next week is all mixed up because of Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday. I'm excited to have my second Thanksgiving in Canada, and will be enjoying it relaxing at home with the Parizeau family, Stefan, Stuart, Henri, Pam and Craig and Jamie. I am bringing Pavlova!!!!! mmmmmm Am so excited. Turkey is the coolest thing. Turkey everything............
I think there is definatley turkey in heaven....
Ok
this post is long now
hopefully not too boring
i'm kinda sleepy
Will make sure I take some really good pictures for the October newsletter.
Love you all lots
Hillary

So the saga of the bike chain
Don't get me wrong, please I beg of you, but if my bike chain falls off one more time while i'm grinding up some lovely Vancouver steep bit I'm gonna have a wobbly. Sigh
Though the look of grease stains on my hands and the inside cuff of my jeans makes me feel positively handy. As if I actually knew something about bike chains.....
It's alright though, I think I am going to have to suck it up and take my bike into the shop tomorrow during lunch. oh well.
Things are going really well, the first week panic attack stress moments are definately lessening, and it's been good to kind of get into a groove, and find a bit of normalcy as the routine begins to sink slowly in. It's crazy busy still, but at the same time, it's nice to know that I'm working really really hard, and on days like to day being able to see just a tiny glimpse of how God is already at work both in us and in our students. Had my first one on one today and after the dramas, uncertainty,tears and prayers to work out who would be in whose groups, she told me that all the girls had all talked about who they wanted most for their one on ones, and it turns out that what they hoped for was exactly matched with what ended up happening. Yay for listening to God's voice!
Am having a really good dinner while i sit here typing this, haven't had couscous in months, so it's nice to be back in that too :) Simple pleasures right?
So has anyone heard that song "From the Inside out" by Hillsong United? Froml the United We Stand album. Soooooo good, good album. totally awesome worship song, have been singing it a lot at church, and managed to get it off Stuart, so have been rocking it at home too. So great to start and finish a long day with some good worship times.
Am also in the middle of a Kiwi experiment. It's going to be great (well at least I hope so!) so will post picutres if i am successful......(yup i know that was vague, I don't know who could be reading this....!
Anyways, time to jet, so look below for some prayer points and I'll post again soon.
Love ya
Hill


Prayer points for praying people
-Outreach decisions are coming again, between the two Southeast Asian places (let me know if you want more details) and so the teams, and the leaders (i.e. me and the other staff) are praying about where to go, and where to get the money to go. Everyone needs $400 by Friday to pay deposits for tickets, and one or two students don't have that yet. So it's going to be an interesting time!
-One on ones and journals and general discipleship wisdom for me as I get to know my three girls better.
-Continued energy and health as the momentum of the schedule picks up and the weather gets colder


LATER TODAY - UPDATE

The experiment completely worked, it was a wonderful amazing success. Pictures coming soon.

So, today, on a lovely Vancouver Sunday I would like to share with you my musical inspiration of the day. I normally don't do blogs like this, but after being touched so deeply, (and laughing til I thought I was going to cry or wet myself) I figured I needed to share this with you.
This is my tribute to Wing. I heart Wing

Wing moved to New Zealand about 10 years ago from HongKong, and after some set backs with a far too rigid and narrow minded CD industry there, she decided to launch out, and put herself into the public light with her own money, and fulfill her obligation to share her god given voice with the world to bring enlightenment and joy and happiness.
My personal favourite would have to be "Wing sings ABBA" Who can beat that Dancing Queen.......
listen to free Wing clips on www.wingmusic.co.nz
Especially for you Nic and Ryan and Wade if you are reading, please listen to Highway to Hell, from the "Wing sings AC/DC" collection. It inspired me......(to run and hide)

So, after this whole crazy crazy first week, it's all official that DTS is well and truly all on. As if we could have believed otherwise. This first week had been a rollercoaster, with fun, laughter, tears, angry-ness and general mayhem and chaos, but a lot of goodtimes.
I'm back at my house now, feeling a weird mix of exhausted and empty and way too full of emo and thoughts and such so i think after posting this i will shower, pajama, and watch some Scrubs! yup, sounds like an excellent prescription.
Just wanted to sign on and let you knwo that it's been going well, and to post one or two pics to give you guys a bit of illustration to the name sthat you will probably see me mentioning over the next 5 months or so. It's soooo grea tot finally meet these studnets we've been praying for for so long and it was more than great to live in the hosue with them for a few days.
We took them on a bit of an excursion today around Downtown, an Amazing race set up if you will, and i thin kthey all had a good time. Pair that with the great corn bread and chilli dinner that the Davenports hosted for us, and it was a great Saturday.
Am defiantely looking forward to church tomorrow too, some of the students are gonna come with so that will be good
anwyasy
bed time so here's the pics. and all you phantom readers out there, how bout some comments eh
love yo uall lots
me




Our Amazing Race team at General Motors place (Ice Hockey home in Vancouver)


Crystal and I kissing a moose/mountie?!?!


The Starbucks checkpoint where we had to find "The Australian"


The lovely 7 girl students

So I have a new cell phone number here in vancouver
but thanks to nathan's good advice i'm not gonna put it here on my blog. Apparnetly that's a bad idea
My new number should have gone out in email but if you didnt' get it, email me
or leave me a comment
love you lots
will post more about DTS later
hill

So this is a bit of a weird post. And it will be short cuz it's nearly half eleven and time I was in bed!
I'm exhausted, but thanks for the prayers, I'm sleeping really well now! Exhasuted mostly cuz we've been busy! DTS is officially underway and as was to be expected, nothing has been quite as we expected! (how's that for something)
It's been sooooo great to meet our 13 studnets and the first 2 days have been great, beginning to build relationships and see these fresh faced students so excited about what God is going to do, and us even more so!
It's hard to belive that today was the one year anniversary of me starting my DTS, and now here I am as a staff member. weird.
On a not good note, I'm very sad to say that my friend Dawn had an accident on Monday, and broke her hand really badly. She is having some R&R time at my house, being taken care of by Randy and Rita, but as she was meant to be staying in the girls house with the girl DTS students, I am now staying here.
It's kinda crazy how it all panned out and now I am here albeit for only a week or so, but I'm pretty stoked about it, getting to know the girls and such, but at the same time it's uber tiring and there is a little part of me that misses my crazy high bunk bed!
But it's all good, and I am loving this so much.
Thank you to all of you who have prayed and thought and cared and called and emailed and hav been a part of me getting to this spot for this here and this now.
So, it's bed time.
Love you
will post again soon hopefully with some pictures!!!!

so, it's been a crazy week
I actually can't remember what/when/why i last posted. hang on a tic.
ah, ok, i remember now
So yeah, training is all finished, and so this week has been flat out working, between cleaning the houses ready for students to live in, making welcome baskets and cards, and, very very very exciting, getting my BC drivers license!!!! woooot!
so as of this week i am now a road user on any side of the street. Bring it on!!! tehehe
it's going to be good and my first YWAM driving testing practice duty will be doing bread run on sunday night. For those of you who dont know the YWAMese, Bread run is a things we do every sunday night, where we drive to a bakery in Kerrisdale, and they give us all the bread they have at the end fo the day
so awesome.
so yeah, it's about a 20 minute drive, so it'll be a good trial run. i think i'll be sweet, cuz i aced the theory test, and have been biking a lot on the right hand side of the street, so my head is fairly well wrapped around it. we'll see though :)
Had a super exciting thing today, got to meet the first of the DTS students, who came in early with her parents and so got to bike over and give her the tour of the house and everything
was sooooo exciting, it's all real!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
anwyays, i gtg and get ready for JEn's birthday party tonihgt, will post again soon.
Also, I officially sent off my first real newsletter this week, so if you didnt' get it and you want it, let me know
it has useful things like contact details and ufn things like pictures! :)
Love you lots
hill

so here's a thought on leadership
we had our DTS training today and we were talking a lot about leadership and authority and respect and we did a bible study to give us a bit of biblical context on the whole thing. So we studied the relationship between Paul and Timothy and the mentoring rrelationship etc. And then we went through a bunch of different scriptures looking at who had influenced paul and timothy, and then how they in turn influenced others who went on to influence others again and so on and so forth.
Then Adam had a great idea of getting us all to write our names on the white board and then writing who has influenced us and how we then have to realise we have no idea who we have really influenced, or who has influenced the people who have influenced us. also totally connected to the sermon at church on sunday (guest speaker john bevere) when he was talking about how when Christians fulfill what God has called them to do, beit as an accountant or an evangelist, the knock on effect can't be measured, we never see how many lives we really effect until we're in heaven.
It made me homesick to be honest to write so many kiwi names on the board, as well as a lot of canadians, aussies and americans and other internationals, but it was really good to see all those names written down and be able to thinmk and pray about how you are all involved with the work that i am doing here. all of this is partly due to you and your words and work. pretty huge huh. So thanks.
we had a great dinner tonight, the DTS staff hosted Sara Fay, and did the good old pot luck thing. yay for american bbq chicken, rice, twice baked potatoes, veges and HOT BROWNIE AND BUTTERSCOTCH RIPPLE ICECREAM!
lol
anyways
it's sleep time now. need to gather my strength for biking to work tomorrow on the first rainy morning :( sigh
much love and pineapple lumps
hillary

So I figured that the hiking trip deserved a post all of it's own. Also, that makes it easier to include the pictures.
It was a really good time away, and now for the big reveal.....we went to Vancouver Island, near Nanaimo and Qualicum to be precise, and went for a three day hike in the Strathcona national park, guided by Layne's dad, Everette and their friend Alex. It was pretty intense, but really great to be working and walking together and encouraging each other and trying our best not to break limbs or dehydrate or any of those other fun things :)




We camped the two nights at an amazing spot called Lake Kwai, and it was really fun getting used to all the North American type bush safety things that are never really a concern when camping in New Zealand. I seem to remember the scariest thing in the NZ forest being a wild pig, and the most tent threatening thing to be avoided was a nikau palm branch full of water that might crash at anytime dousing you with water. Never had I considered the possiblity of bears and cougars and the need to carry "bear spray" or keep all our food, and toothpaste and other similarly scented things in a steel box 100m or so from the tents!
This is where we got to eat dinner though.......




The goal on the second day was Mount Albert Edwards, and unfortunately Stefan, Mark and I didn't make it all the way to the summit, but instead enjoyed some recoup time halfway up from one of the amazing rock shelves while the others powered up to the top. I can think of worst places to sit for a while though.....



also great was getting to spend time with Layne, albeit briefly,and her family being so hospitable and amazing and fun and taking care of us. Looking forward to going back to the island to hang out with them for sure!

So yeah, now it's back to reality and noise here in Vancouver, and I'm excited to say that I am going out now to IKEA with Stefan and Pam, so that should be fun.

Keep praying for us and for more students for the fall school!
lots of love, hillary

So it's a lovely grey Vancouver saturday morning. Peaceful, still, and still mostly warm despite the rain.
This will be a short post cuz I still have to brush my teeth and put my laundry on before heading out to IKEA with Stefan and Pam.
My muscles feel much better now, and I am enjoying the fact that i didn't have to be out of bed until 9 today. Also bonus was that we scored a free pack of bacon, so jacqui and I had baon and eggs for breakfast, an excellent weekend breakfast treat if I do say so myself.
Had my first day of bike commute yesterday, and even though my muscles were pretty angry at me, the saved time made it all worth while. Thank you so much for the emails and prayers, it's been great, and for your viewing pleasure.......



Also, quick update and praise, we have a location to run the DTS! a church that has been connected with our base for quite a while has agreed to let us use their buildings for the school! fully equipped industrial kitchen and everything, including accomodation for the male students. Thank you God! and thanks to you for your prayers.

Am back in Vancouver
Tired, and aching a whole lot
Will post more tomorrow.
Lots of love

So it's getting late, and my laptop is running low on power, so here's to keeping things brief.
Last night was hilarious, I'm glad to say that my roommate Jacqui has successfully passed through the BroTown kiwiana initiation, watching two full episodes of BroTown with me last night. Needless to say there was some explaining to be done, but all in all, I'm very pleased with her progress tehehe. We need to get the aussies roudn too cuz I know they will appreciate it, especially when Dad sends me a copy of Sione's wedding! (thanks dad!!!!!)
I won't be posting for the next few days as we head off bright and early tomorrow morning for a wilderness adventure (aka group bonding in the mountains!)
The DTS fall staff are all going to a mystery location to climb a mountain for 2 1/2 days with a mystery guide. very exciting. So will try and take some pictures and avoid getting eaten by any bears or cougars so i can live to blog again.
I'm sitting on my couch right now, rubbing some anti-flamme into my right wrist which is a bit stiff after today's epic adventure.
Last year living here i was always a convenient maximum of about 20 minutes walk/bus/train away from just about everything. Since moving back here now, though i love my new place, it's now about an hour walk away from anything.
So, today, after much deliberation over pictures and emails from craig's list (vancouver's trademe/trading post second hand website) jacqui and i made the trek on the bus out to kitsilano beach (1st and balsam for those with google earth) and bought a pair of bikes for $110 each. pretty mint mountain bikes in fairly good nick, and so we put them through the ultimate test of value for money by biking an epic 1 1/2 hours home (via the local Canadian Tire to buy very flash and useful bike helmets).
So yeah, feeling pretty chuffed, pretty fit, and pretty pleased with our endeavours all round.
So as I sleep now, there is though a definate feeling of the calm before the storm, as we head into a super busy period of work pre DTS with a full week of training, moving day at the base, the hiking trip, and a much anticipated trip to IKEA (either you get that one or you don't!)
but yeah, will post pics of my lovely bike (any suggestions for a name for the bike?) and will be back on friday-ish
Pray for safety for us too, between bears and injuries, we jsut wanna have a good time!
Love and pineapple lumps
hill

And here is some general hilarity

Some of the guys made this and they get money if you watch the video. Brilliant


And it is as crazy as you think, that does say 'Patio surfing'

So I forgot to post pics from our epic adventure
Here goes for some

Stuart and a Tim Horton's Canadian Maple donut. Best donut, EVER


Me and either Ari or Noah!?! Hanging in Winnipeg catchin gup with Dave and Heather at the Winnipeg base


Leigh driving! (funny that on a a road trip)


The cosy back seat team, Ange, me and Stefan