I have been counting down the days until I leave since I got my plane tickets, only 7 days left. However, it is just occuring to me how short a week really is and that I still have no idea where I am going to school in September. I have applied to three different institutions and have received conditional acceptance but I can not be accepted completely unitl my transcripts have been processed. The time frame I was told would take until the middle of June. Having gone to 2 different colleges before hand makes things difficult, especially since one was a bible college. I have been waiting (im)patiently for months to finalize this portion of my life, but find I am no closer than I was 3 months ago. My marks are such that I am sure they won't turn me down, but if I have to wait until I come back (first week of August) finding a place to live will be quite difficult. I want to go to the school that will accept the highest number of courses from other colleges to save time and money. I only have three business days left before I leave to get this organized, the sooner I know the better so I can go to Saskatoon or Edmonton to find a place before I take off.
Please pray that everything will come together before I go, or that I will be patient and trust that God will have everything sorted out for when I come back.

HAVEN'T EVEN LEFT CANADIAN SOIL YET

I've heard that in a lot of foreign countries men find white women attractive. I've never gone to far from Canada so I have never experienced this but it does scare me a little becuase I'm really pale.
Well the weirdest thing happened to me at work last night. I was just standing at my till talking to one of the janitors when this little Filipino (I think) man came in IGA. He came in the exit doors so he was behind the tills. He looked a little lost so I asked him if there was anything I could help him with. He asked me my name and told me his was Russell. I told him if he needed help to ask me and I went back to my till. He just kinda stood there for a while, I think he was looking at me, I never looked back at him but ya know when you can feel someone looking at you.
Then after a few minutes he came over and asked me how my night was, and if I liked working at IGA, etc. Then he asked me what I was looking for in a man.
"Uh, what?"
"What do you look for in a man?" he repeated
"I don't look, I'm to busy for boys." I replied.
Then he tells me he is doing a survey of what Canadian women are looking for in a man. So at this point I thought he was intoxicated. Whatever, I had nothing better to do so I played along. We talked for a bit, then he askes, "Are you sure you do not have any time for just a coffee."
"Sorry, no. I should really get back to work."
"Okay, thank you for your time." He said as he left.
Rather befuddled, I went back to the janitor who heard the whole thing. The janitor told me that Russell was watching me as he left, he was sure that Russell was sober and smitten with me.
Perfect, I haven't even left the country yet!
The weirdest thing though, was this guy didn't come in to buy anything, he didn't even look at any of the shelves. He just talked to me and left.

PIECE OF MY HEART

Well it's 2 o'clock in the morning and I am wide awake. This is when I would normally be working but I have the night off so here I am sitting all by my lonesome at the computer desk. In just 2 weeks my plane lands in Manila, 17 days and I will begin classes, 21 days and I will be doing my first outreach in a clinic. As the time draws closer people continue to ask me why I am doing this. The answer would take a novel to fully explain but I'll do my best here in as few words as possible.

The all encompassing answer is to be like Jesus. My Hero and Bestest Friend. While I am a long ways from being perfect and a far cry from loving people the way He did, this is just one of the many opportunities I have to allow Christs love to flow through me. From my heart, out of my mouth as I share the gospel and through my fingertips as I bandage wounds, pull teeth and offer other health care these people could never afford.

God is head over heels in love with these people just as he is with you and me. Sadly, many of these people don't know it yet, and they certainly haven't felt it. Well soon that will change. The team and I will be meeting people who are sufferring both spiritually and physically and we get to show them a God that cares for the whole person. He hurts when we hurt. As his child it is my joy and responsibility to act out His love for the people of this world. The world is full of owies and boo-boos, medical missions is God's way of bending down and kissing the world better.

BETER LUCK THIS TIME

In just two short weeks I will be on my way to Manila. Crazy! As I count down the days I remember that last time I left the country. It wasn't really a big deal. I went to California with my volleyball team a few years ago to play in a tournament. It was incredibly fun but a perfect example of how Murphy's Law haunts me.

I don't remember the exact order of the events but the sum was rather unfortunate. I do know the first thing that happened was that my ears popped so bad travelling that they bled for a couple of days. Then for whatever reason I suffered from chronic nosebleeds, at least one a day, sometimes two or three. I also had a terrible cold, which made it difficult to talk. At times the only sound that I could make was a goose-like honk. This turned out to be a lot of fun on the volleyball court. I also had an allergic reaction to the sunscreen that I used on my face and ended up with a beautiful rash. Then to top it off I got pink eye.

Despite all this I did have a lot of fun. However this was only a two week trip, and I am a little afraid of what may happen in eight weeks in the Philippines, especially since the climate and food are so different. If you think of it please pray for better luck this time. I don't want to scare people of with a scaling face and pussing eye.

PLEASE PRAY

I just heard that a typhoon has ripped through the northwestern part of the Philippines last week. The death tolls is around 40, and there are still many people missing. Over 40,000 people had to evacuate their homes as the storm triggered floods and landslides throughout the northern part of the country. Many of those are now homeless. Please pray for the people and the rescue workers. The typhoon also hit the area where we were going to be staying and studying. Please pray also for the leadership as they are deciding how to handle the situation.

And, as always, if you have any prayer requests I would love to hear them and pray for you. You can post them as comments, just click below this post on "comments" or you can email me at dawn14rose@yahoo.com.

I KNOW THIS LOOKS LONG BUT PLEASE READ

Hi everybody!
Sorry if you were looking for some humor, this isn't an emabrassing story. It's time to get a little serious, but a good kinda serious. Promise!

As a college student I have no money, I have negative dollars actually, but I have always wanted to go on a missions trip. I was planning a two week trip for this summer but after a series of date and schedule changes things didn't work out. Then a good friend of mine told me about Mercy Link and the Mini-Med School she is doing this summer. I went to their website and knew this was the thing for me. You know when you just know, it was that kinda a feeling. I was super excited about it, but it was a 7 week long course.

How would I find the time to earn money to go on this trip, and for my next year of college?

I got two full time jobs and have been working my butt off the last three weeks, we're talking 80 to 90 hour weeks, but finaces still worried me since I have a student loan. Despite this, I was gonna go on this trip, I knew this was the one.
My dad mentioned to a friend of his, Randy Vanderveen, that I was going on this trip. Then him and his wife had me over for supper, along with Darren and Christine Andres. They prayed for me, which was the hugest blessing ever, and they also supported me financially. They were both amazing answers to prayer. So Randy, Darren, if you guys are reading this, thank you so much. Whenever I think about your kindness I start to cry. And for anybody else reading this please pray for them. Darren as he works with the youth in his church and is working on getting his masters and his wife Christine. For Randy and his wife Cheryl as they plan a missions trip for the fall, as well as their daughters, Malory who is getting married and Amy who is just graduating from high school.

MMMM CHOCOLATE

I was out and about one day running errands. At my first stop I picked up a caramel Aero bar because I was pretty hungry and ate it on the way to my next stop. It was pretty tasty, I do recommend you try one. So I went to the mall, and to the college, and to a few other places. Along the way I had run into a few people I knew so I stopped to chat a couple of times, yada yada. The whole time I had been completely ignorant to the fact that I had a huge chunk of melted chocolate on my crotch, about the size of a credit card, and on my sleeve. Not only was there chocolate, but there was also some of the caramel. I walked around for a couple of hours in public with this smeared on my pants. I can't believe nobody told me. My pants still bear the scar.

DON'T YA JUST LOVE PUIPPIES!

The other day I was doing my rounds for Stats Canada, delivering census forms, and
I came to this house that had a bunch of dogs. There was this one little guy that was brand new, just a little fluff ball running around. So I picked it up and was playing around with it. Well this little guy was pretty excited and did not have much control over his bladder. I ended up wearing some of his urine.

NOT A FAN OF THE NIGHT SHIFT

Last night at work this guy came in to buy a few things. I rang through all his stuff and then he kinda whispered that he wanted something else too. He had a really raspy voice so I didn't quite catch what he said, so he repeated it. I didn't think I heard him right because I had no idea what he was talking about. So I asked him again.
"A pack of New York Rubbers" he said. I just kinda looked at him very confused. I was totally clueless. So he told me what they actually were, I'll let you guess, and I could feel my face turn bright red.
"Uh, mmm, uh... right over here." I choked out. They were behind the customer service desk, so I had to let him back there. He picked some up and then paid for them. Then he called down one of the aisles, "Com'on Smiley", and a girl in rather interesting attire followed him out.

A little later that night, another gentleman came in looking for the same product. So I took him behind the customer service desk, hoping he would just pick up a pack so I could get this over with. But no. He has the boldness to ask what kind I thought were the best, and what sizes they come in. As if I know. He spent like ten minutes looking at all the different kinds. I was very uncomfortable.
I can't wait till my next night shift.

KIDS, ASK AN ADULT FOR HELP

This happened a couple of years ago. Kim you might remember this, you were there.

I was at Bible college, and there was a big conference put on for high school kids, only a couple thousand or so. One of the things there was a prayer room, and I was helping put it together. I was asked to go and cut some pamphlets, so I did. I went to the library to use those big things where you pull down the lever to cut through big stack of paper. It should have been so much easier than cutting with scissors. It started out good, I got through most of the stacks, so I kept up the pace. I grabbed the next stack put it on the table and pulled down the lever. I picked up what was now two stacks of paper too put them aside when I received an unexpected blow to the mouth. I guess I hadn't pushed the spring loaded lever all the way to the stop position, so it flew up and got me right in the chops. And you know that, when something like that happens and there are other people around, somebody must have seen it. Not to mention the fat lip I got from the incident.

I'M SO AMAZING!

I was working (at IGA), and was going on my lunch break, so I grabbed this pizza calzone thing to eat. I go to the staff room, heat it up and start stuffing my face. Well, if you know me, you know how skilled I am. A big blob of sauce dropped on my shirt, a white shirt I might add, and I'm sure you can guess where it landed (I won't say because I'm to shy to write such words). I tried washing it off, but it was there to stay. I still had about 4 hours left on my shift, and as a cashier, you run into a lot of people. I couldn't hide it so I just went back to work. The rest of the night very few customers actually looked me in the face. I don't blame them, I wouldn't be able to look somebody in the face either without laughing. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. I just feel like I do alot more losing than winning.

ON A RELATED TOPIC

I just started working at IGA for the summer and my shift had just finished. My managar, who is about the same age as me, doesn't have a car. He lives near me so I offered to drive him home, which in and of itself was little awkward. Now, it was midnight thirty, the end of a 5 hour shift. This doesn't sound too bad, but I had already worked 8 hours at my other job, so I was tired and a little out of it.
So the manager, his name is Sean eh, was giving me directions to his appartment, and he tells me to turn left. Being as brilliant as I am, I turned right.
"This is great," I thought, "He's gonna think I'm an idiot," which he had every right to think.
No worries though, I got back on the right track. Then we hit this kinda funny residential intersection that had a strange median, which I was supposed to turn at. I turned in the correct direction this time, but on the wrong side of the median. He had to inform me to go around, otherwise I would have been in the oncomng traffic lane. It's not like it mattered there was no other traffic around anyway. So I finally get to his place and drop him off then I drive home. When I got home I went into the bathroom to wash my face before bed and I notice there is a huge boogie hang in my nose. There is no way Sean didn't see it, and who knows how long it had been there. Maybe some of the customers saw it.
I'm sure the manager thinks he hired a real winner!