There were was only about a week in between the time we got back from the mission trip and when it was time to go back to Canada for good. During that time I ministered on another healing retreat and got an opportunity to share about our mission trip and about my entire time at Pierrepont in front of all the staff and NETS trainees there. I feel a lot more confident with public speaking than I did before the teaching practices and opportunities that I got in Hungary. I am now back in BC and I am excited about the future. I have no idea where God is going to take me or how he is going to use what he taught me while I was away but I trust that it wasn't all for nothing. I feel a lot different and a lot more confident in what I believe. Thank you for reading my blog and for praying for me while I was away. I know I am so blessed with many friends and family members who have supported me all the way through this adventure. I will continue to share what God is doing in my life over the next little while because I am still getting settled in to life back home. I just got offered a position at Stream in Chilliwack as a support professional. I know it sounds really official but it's actually just answering phones and answering questions. I am also back into being a youth leader at Eden, my church and getting to know all the new girls who have come into my group. They are very fun and they think I'm the best at hide and seek. On sunday I will be sharing about some of my experiences in England and I will see if I can post a recording on here. If not, I will basically be saying what I've already written... Just in an interview instead. So that's what's next for me!

The mission trip was very exciting. In Romania we got a lot of chances to minister on healing retreats and we even got plenty of opportunities to get off the base and see local markets and coffee shops. We had an opportunity to visit a children's home nearby the base. It was actually an orphanage but with a better name. I had a lot of fun playing with the kids there but none of them spoke any English so we just communicated with the toys and the kids had so much fun playing with the flash on my camera. It was very new to them. At the end each of us were given a child to pray for and the little girl I prayed for didn't know what I was saying but she bowed her head and closed her eyes anyways and when I finished I said "Amen" and she corrected me because it was supposed to be "Amin".

In Hungary we toured around Budapest the first day and got to see castle hill and all the parliament buildings. In the photo on the right is a palace guard but he was really scary because he had a gun and that was as close as I was going to get. We also went to a big market which basically sold a lot of fruit and meat and then the christmas market which was really cool because it was at night and there was a lot of christmas lights and a giant tree in the middle of it all lit up. There people would set up booths to sell their own home made food, clothes, toys, tools... you name it. It was really neat to see the skill and work put into some of the things people were selling for only a few thousand forint! 
We also did more ministry at the Ellel Hungary base but mostly people came to us to get ministry so there wasn't much outreach in the city itself which I probably would have liked more of. Durring our stay in Hungary I got very sick was in bed for most of an evening and the entire next day. Thankfully everyone was praying for me and I got better quickly. It must have been something I ate...

On Thursday our stage 3 group are leaving for Hungary. We are going to be driving down to Romania first and staying there for about four days and then driving back to Hungary for the rest of the two weeks. There are about two healing retreats on this trip and a few conferences. I am going to be teaching on forgiveness at a youth conference in Hungary and I am so excited!!! The challenging part about that though, will be that I will have a translator and will have to remember to speak slowly and clearly for them. It is going to be colder there than it has been here in England, which I'm not looking forward and I'm wondering how I am going to fit a whole bunch of sweaters into a small suitcase. We are traveling with an airline called Wizz.... which sounds kinda sketch to me but we will just pray to have a safe flight. 

So there will be alot of traveling and ministering and spontaneous last minute things too, but the leaders gave us an information book on the trip and it says in large bold letters "BLESSED ARE THE FLEXIBLE" so I just really hope this group will be able to lift each other up and encourage each other rather than drive each other crazy. Please pray for unity in our team, warm places, and an understanding from the people because most of them don't speak English.

I did a teaching today on the foundations of our christian faith. I spoke for 20 minutes and I had a lot of fun doing it. I have discovered that I have a very unique teaching style that makes people laugh. My reviews have mostly all been "You are quite random" and "You would be really good at teaching a group of young people" so I suppose that is good because I work with youth at home anyways. I never would have thought I could speak for so long and actually feel comfortable being in front of a group of people. Normally my body and my voice would be shaking but today I had a weird amount of confidence. It is so exciting because I really want to teach. Not just in a youth or church setting but I think it would be really cool to actually look at that as my career. God has got some good stuff in store for me!

I did my first ten minute teaching on thursday. It actually only ended up being about 8 minutes but I really enjoyed it. I talked about the parable of a dog that ate a rabbit and then threw it up all over my youth pastors living room floor. I had to give a health and safety warning before i started for those who have weak stomachs but it just made everyone laugh which I loved. On wednesday we have another ten minute teaching but this time it's supposed to be on a healing retreat topic which is alot less exciting. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet.
I've also discovered the joys of Settlers of Catan and Monopoly Deal with my new friends. It feels like a whole different Pierrepont with the new stage starting. I guess that's another reason why they call it Never Ever The Same.

I like stage 3 way better than the other two stages. We have been doing a lot of interactive activities like team building and sharing in front of the class. We've only done one minute sharing so far but on thursday we all have to give a ten minute talk and in a couple weeks we have to teach for twenty minutes on one of the healing retreat topics. I haven't decided which one I will do yet... probably an easy one like forgiveness or acceptance and belonging. I'm only a little bit nervous but I'm more excited because I think my comfort zone levels have been gradually stretching over time and I feel more confident to speak to a group of people. 

I'm in a dormitory now instead of a room and there are five of us girls with three empty beds for whenever we have something happening on the weekend and the guests need somewhere to sleep. My roommates are from England, Italy, and Syria. We all get along really well. I have been so blessed to have easy going roommates so far. There are quite a few young people in the new group of stage one folk and I like them a lot. It's going to be a very good next nine weeks I think

This break at home has been so refreshing! I got really excited as soon as i saw the rocky mountains from the air plane on my way here and it was like a breath of fresh air when i saw the rivers and drank Chilliwack water again. My family greeted me at the airport with lots of hugs and flowers from my brothers girlfriend. The first thing Alma said to me was "Lise, you don't smell very good" It was good to be home. My grandmas funeral was really lovely and I think everyone did a good job of telling people about what kind of a person she was. It was even recorded so we can watch it later (http://www.dignityabbotsford.com/ Doris Marie Pearce) 
As sad as this whole thing has been, it was good timing because there was a three week break between stages 2 and 3 anyways and it was time for my family to go on our annual vacation to Seaside Oregon! I'm very proud of my grandpa to take on that first family tradition so soon after her death. He did very well though I could tell it was hard for him. Everyone had a really nice time. The weather was fantastic and we stayed at a house right on the ocean. Beautiful! I spent alot of time with my siblings and my cousins running around on the beach, chasing waves and seagulls. My sister found a jelly fish washed up on shore! 
I was struggling to pay for stage three again this month. I was about $1000 short but lots of opportunities came up for me to earn money and more people sponsored me again so I was able to get enough money and then some! God is so good :)

Thanks for the prayers and support!