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!

 I am coming back to Canada in the next couple of days. My Grandma died and so I am coming back to be with my family and attend the funeral. I will be home for a month and then come back for stage 3 in October. I am really excited to come home and see everyone and I am going to trust God to provide everything I need in the next few weeks. He has always come through and I believe he will continue to be faithful. He knew this was going to happen and He is with us in our grieving and He has even given me peace and a joy that can only come from Him. I am so thankful for all the support I've received here. Please pray for my family. Please also pray for me so that I can be a blessing to them when I come home.


Here are some of the pictures from my baptism. It was a really special time.

I'm getting baptised on Tuesday! I should have done this a long time ago but I kept putting it off. Also I was scared to be baptised into a specific denomination. Now I just want because that's what Jesus tells us to do. I'm really excited. Please pray for me.

I went to London last weekend with my friend Tina and stayed with her lovely family there. I learnt how to eat African food with my hands and what threading is. On monday I bought a travel card and toured around London by myself and I only got lost once! I saw St. Pauls cathedral, the Parliament buildings, and Big Ben. I also did a little bit of christmas shopping. This weekend I'm going away again to stay with another friend but she doesn't live too far away this time. It's really good to get away from Pierrepont every once in a while. Not that I don't like being here but it's good to be reminded that there's a real world out there sometimes. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do on the next break. I will need to be careful on how much I spend because I was looking at my finances the other day and realised I'm about £1000 short for stage 3! I will be praying a lot and ask that you pray for me as well. I totally believe that the Lord will provide for me because I feel like I am meant to do stage 3 but I will ask for prayer anyways. Thank you!

 

Here are some of the fun things I've been doing since stage 2 started

 Durring creativity week we did messy painting. I smeared most of this with my hands. Fun!






This interesting device was on a kids playground. It was very fast and made me sick but now I know...

 This has become a regular routine in the evenings. Quite often we will jam after dinner untill late at night just worshiping God and enjoying eachothers company and skills. I've been getting better at guitar and even had one lesson on the piano.

 Riding Harry the horse. My roommate was laughing because of the nervous sounds I was making.


Pyramid-ing...
Everyone seemed really small from up there

 Birthday dinner at an indian restaurant for our indian friend. Most things were very spicy and we had alot of rice and naan bread. He ate with his fingers.

France 2012

I've lost the cable for my camera so I don't have any pictures from France for now but they will be up eventually. We've been back on stage 2 for a few weeks already and so far it's been quite good. We had a creativity unit where we just made stuff. I painted a big butterfly with my fingers and made a cool collage of a tree and decorated a lot of cupcakes then ate them. We also did another ministry workshop (which I stubbornly refused to minister in or receive ministry). I'm struggling with prayer ministry at the moment. I've also made a lot of new friends who are new on stage 2 and they are all very lovely. I'm enjoying the different kinds of people still and starting to pick up on the similarities of personalities related to the different nations. I have the same room and roommates from last term which I'm happy about. Also the swimming pool is open now so I've really been enjoying that. I will update again soon when I have pictures! Bless you.