Tuesday, December 21, 2010

hola from cartagena!

well i thought i would update quick. the team made it safe and sound to cartagena last evening. its so amazing here. we are staying in a small city that is apparently just a 10 minute walk from the beach. i have a bed, shower, and toilet so im feeling pretty content right about now haha. I am very excited to be spending the next 2 weeks in the city though. i`m already enjoying the culture and all that goes with it. so these next few weeks will be amazing.
so thats all for now i suppose.  sorry for the shortness of the update but internet cafe time is running out
thanks for the prayers
hasta luego!

Monday, December 13, 2010

God is good.

So it's about time i update again just because if i put it off longer that means this post will just get much longer. Lots happened this past week so i shall begin with our teaching we had this week. For this week we had some of the staff speak. These teachings were geared towards the area of missions. It was a great week of teaching and i got A LOT out of it all. I feel like it was God's way of showing me that i can really do this whole missions thing. But one day stood out in particular and that day was wednesday. That day a guy from the arvada base came up and talked to us about the Holy spirit's role in giving. Then he had us apply it in a very practical way. He dismissed us to go pray and see if God was asking us to give anything away to our fellow students and staff. God told me pretty much right away what he wanted me to give. He wanted me to give the students who still had outreach money due some money for their outreach. This was hard for me. God has been challenging in that area for some time and I felt like this was an area that i just needed to give over. After i made up my mind to finally listen to God (always a smart thing to do) i was filled with peace. It was a great feeling. So finally the time came for everyone to present our gifts to the people. It was a blessing just to be able to witness all the sacrifice and giving that went on. God showed his faithfulness and goodness to so many people that day. Even me. My one roommate blessed the socks off of me with her snowboard. This spoke volumes to me. It wasn't just a snowboard but it was God's way of showing me that he was really faithful and good. Other people gave rings that had huge sentimental value, clothes, laptops, ipods, a car, and the list goes on. I can guarantee you that there was no dry eye in the room. It was so awesome to see people give up something that meant a lot to them and then turn around and receive something just as precious. Again this just showed God's goodness. It was a powerful week and one i really won't forget.

So then came the weekend. Usually a weekend for me involves a lot of relaxing and just laying around. But this weekend we had our love feast, which is basically a christmas party. Everyone dressed up all nice and pretty. Yes that does mean i, janelle dienner, dressed up too. Hope i didn't shock you all too bad :) It was a great night despite it all tho. Each of the rooms had a little performance thing that they presented to the school. Lots of laughs needless to say. So then sunday night most of the dts went to carrabas  italian restaurant for some yummy food. It was an amazing final weekend. This past weekend was the last weekend we had to spend together as a whole school. This friday the colombian team (the team i'm in) will go down to the arvada base for the weekend. Then we leave from there on sunday for the airport. I know time flies. It's hard to believe that next week this time i will be in colombia. While its very sad to leave the other half of the school that will be going to thailand, i am very excited for outreach and all the adventures we are sure to have. I mean our trip starts off with and 18 hour adventure in the miami airport, we are lucky enough to have that lengthy of a layover their. And from the sounds of things, we might be spending christmas at the beach in Cartegena. How fun! I am sad to inform you all that i won't be able to update my blog very often while there. I'm not sure how often i will have internet access but i will do my best.

Well i've got to run now. Hope you all are enjoying the funness of the holidays that are fast approaching. I know i am. still very sad about the fact that i won't be home for christmas though mom. even though they aren't setting up a christmas tree :(
Anyway. so long. thanks for the thoughts and prayers :) i am very very very grateful for all my support i get from home. You guys rock. k bye now.

Friday, December 3, 2010

snowboarding, thanksgiving vacation, bible study

So that basically sums up my last few weeks. I apologize for the lack of posting thats been going on as of late. It's getting pretty busy around here with prepping for colombia and such.
So last week i was lucky enough to get to go home and spend thanksgiving with family. It was so nice to come home and see my much missed parents and brother and friends. Of course i had my share plus some of food. Not just over thanksgiving day but i had to stock up on some family cupboard food while i was at it. I forgot how good the food at home is. I am very glad i came home for the holidays. It would have been a long 5 months without seeing everyone if i didn't. So even though it was a short 4 day break, i filled it up with lots of catching up  with people at home. Even though i was sad to leave it was good to come back here. The people here have become like family to me. It really is amazing how close we have gotten over such a short amount of time. The only way i can explain how this happens is God. I just love the pure fellowship we share here and it only comes from all of us seeking God together.
So this weeks topic was biblical study. It was a pretty awesome week of teaching. It felt like i was back at lwa sitting in bible class again. It was so encouraging to hear all the things i had forgotten about bible study. This week showed me just how truly living and active the Bible is. No matter how much i study a passage I can ALWAYS learn something new. Its so awesome. Then to end this week it was topped off with a snowboarding trip to breckenridge. This was my second time ever snowboarding and i'm hooked already :) It's so unfortunate that it costs so much money to go boarding. I guess that means i just have to work a little harder when i get home to make up for it haha. Here are a few pics i took while on the mountain hope u enjoy
This was the beautiful sunrise that morning (yes i was up early enough to see the sunrise 5:45 to be exact)

This would be the amazing view from the top of the mountain

Me and Jeannine getting ready to head down

Me and my awesome roomie Karly :)
So  i know the pictures are few but it was a great day of boarding. No injuries so i'd say it was quite the successful day. Thats all for now. 
Just kidding. I forgot to add thatI leave in about 2 weeks for outreach by the way. Prayers are appreciated for the two teams heading out. There's lots of nerves and excitement. We are gunna have some awesome times in both countries.
Ok for real now. Goodnight all :)