Updates

I haven't posted in awhile - not because I haven't had anything to say, but because I've been incredibly busy with work, church, ministry, friends, family, social life, etc. Blogging tends to take a back seat when I'm in full gear, so for those of you who check into this blog for prayer requests and updates on the UBC ministry, I do apologize for the lack of updates. I'll try to write on a more regular basis from here on out.

So much has happened since September. From September through to December I worked 9 to 5 at my "day job" and spent my evenings participating in small groups (aka Bible studies or discipleship groups), meeting students for coffee, organizing Friday night girls' group events on campus and building relationships. I was busy and my schedule was completely booked every single night of the week.

In October, Born for More partnered with Origin Church to host a huge Thanksgiving meal on campus. Students, staff, faculty and others living in the UBC community were invited to attend. Unfortunately, I can no longer remember the exact number but a whole lotta people showed up! I baked pie and helped with the turkeys -and yes, that is turkeys plural ... we served 3! My mother had been planning to fly out to celebrate Thanksgiving with my sister and I but had to cancel her plans at the last minute due to a family emergency. I was really disappointed and worried how I'd cope spending my first holiday alone, without ANY family members. (My sister had to work so we postponed our celebration plans to the following week). Let me just say that God totally proved Himself faithful, as always. Celebrating Thanksgiving with the students and my fellow ministry workers was such a blessing - we laughed, we joked around, we ate, we celebrated, we were thankful. It was a powerful reminder that the church really is one big family and I am never, ever alone.

About a week later, one of the students I had become particularly close friends with made the life-changing decision to become a Christian. She had grown up in a traditional Buddhist home and had begun attending our girls' group and Bible study meetings out of curiosity and a genuine desire to understand what Christians believe. When she told me about her decision she said, "I began praying and I just started bawling my eyes out because I finally knew without a doubt that this [the Gospel message of Jesus Christ] was all true" ... WOW. I'll save her testimony and the story of how she came to this decision for another post but trust me when I say that God has been doing incredible things in her life ever since. She is even hosting her own Bible study group this semester and has invited her roommates and co-workers to attend .... amazing!

Later that same week, I got a phone call from a friend of mine asking if we could hang out. I invited her over for dinner and a movie, and the second she walked through my door I realized that her heart was broken. She proceeded to tell me that she had "hooked up" with a guy, gotten pregnant, had an abortion and then gotten fired from her job the very next day. She told me she had no idea what to do with her life. There was silence between us for a moment, and then I said the only thing I could think of to say - "you do not have to live like this, you know. You might not believe in Him, but trust me that God loves you and He has created you for more than this." I really, truly believe that those words came directly from the Holy Spirit and that God gave me the guts to speak them. She wept, and I cried with her. Please keep her in your prayers as she is not a believer (yet!) and is still struggling with the emotional after-effects of her abortion, loss of employment and toxic relationships.

In November, the Born for More group attended the Passion conference held at Rogers Arena (formerly GM Place where the Olympic hockey games took place). 10,900 students showed up. Students literally lined up around the block to get in - I have photos, I can prove it! As we stood in line, a group of people passed by us and one of the women said "what are all these people waiting for? Is there a game tonight?" .... Nope. Just 10,900 students here to worship Jesus on a Friday night. Passion was out of this world amazing. There truly are no words to describe it. Chris Tomlin, Christy Nockels, David Crowder Band, Matt Redman and Louie Giglio - what an anointed combination! I wouldn't lie, my eyes filled with tears when we ended the night by singing God of this City. It is SUCH a powerful thing to hear 10,900 university students singing "greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city". People say that today's youth have no convictions, no values, no beliefs, no morals, no God. If they had been there to hear those voices joined in unison, to hear the chanting of "JESUS! JESUS!" as the show came to an end ... I do believe they would retract their assumptions.

December was filled with holiday preparations and Christmas parties. Many of the students left in mid-December to head back to their hometowns, so Born for More activities came to a close until the new year. I flew back to Montreal on the 23rd and spent ten glorious days with my Mom and Dad. I loved every single minute I spent in Montreal but was definitely ready to come home to Vancouver by the time I boarded the plane. I miss my family a lot, but Vancouver is where my heart belongs. Praise God for bringing me here!

During my holiday break, I made the difficult decision to withdraw from some of the Born for More activities and groups I had been a part of last term. This term (meaning January to June) I will spend much less time on campus hosting group events and more time doing one-on-one things with the students I've already established relationships with. I think this shift will be better for me in terms of having a schedule that isn't quite so overwhelming and crazy. I also feel that God is calling me to invest more time, energy and love into my friendships and relationships. When you're constantly on the run, it is so easy to maintain superficial connections that consist of little more than "hey, how are you?" .. "good, and you?" ... "good, thanks!". I really feel God is calling me to dig deeper, plant roots and invest in building authentic life-long relationships with students, co-workers, church members and my neighbors.

So that's where I am in terms of updates. I am so privileged to get to do the ministry work I do and am looking forward to all that the Lord has in store for me in 2011.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for lifting me up in prayer and keeping me in your thoughts. Your emails have been an incredible source of encouragement to me.

love in Christ,

xo Stephanie

Simple Things

"If so many are lonely as seem to be lonely, then it's inexcusably selfish to be lonely alone." - Tennessee Williams

One of the things I get to do as an intern with Born for More is to be a shoulder for students to cry on when they're feeling homesick, overwhelmed, lonely or all of the above. I don't want to brag, but this comes SUPER easily to me because my own feelings of homesickness are still so fresh. When I give a student a hug and say "I know how you're feeling", I really mean it. A few months ago, I was feeling exactly the same way.

Tonight, I got to spend some quality time with a student who was missing her family very much. She is from Beijing and today is Mid-Autumn Festival, a special holiday in Chinese culture. She had nobody to celebrate with and was feeling very lonely. When I offered to come up to campus and spend the evening with her, she quickly accepted. My boss had given me some moon cakes (a traditional Chinese dessert served during Mid-Autumn Festival) earlier that day, so I grabbed them and hopped on a bus. We spent the evening sitting on her bed in her dorm room, munching on moon cakes and talking about life. By the time I left, she was in much better spirits and she kept saying "Oh Steph, I was so lonely. Thank you so much for coming!" ... I was so touched by her genuine appreciation and was reminded that it really is the little things in life that make a big difference.

Tonight, my heart is thinking of all the students (at UBC and campuses all over the world) who are feeling lonely and homesick and have no one they can phone who is willing or able to come sit in their dorm room and spend an evening eating desserts. I pray that God will bring wonderful mentors and supporters into their lives. Nobody should have to be lonely alone.

Shaped for This

Confession - when I first felt that God was calling me to move to Vancouver, I was sure I was mistaken. I just couldn't wrap my mind around the whole scenario. Why in the world would He take a fluently bilingual Christian out of Quebec - the least evangelized area in all of North America - and move her across the country to British Columbia which has some of the best Christian schools and some of the largest churches in the country? It didn't make any sense to me. Even once I moved here and settled into my Vancouver life, I still couldn't figure it out and I even felt a little bit guilty about having moved out of Quebec. As crazy as it sounds, I felt like I had somehow betrayed the church there and had moved to an "easier" place to serve and minister. I felt a lot of shame about leaving a place so desperate for missionaries.

But last night, I was reading a blog post by a friend of mine who lives in Montreal. She was born and raised in Ontario, and moved to Quebec after college to pursue campus ministry. Her blog post was about how much she has fallen in love with Quebec - the people, the culture, the work, the ministry - and how she now can't imagine living and serving anywhere else. As I read her post, I realized that God has uniquely crafted each one of us for a specific task, a specific outreach, a specific ministry ... a specific place. Emily was made for Montreal. I was made for Vancouver. We are both right where we are meant to be.

Long before I was ever born, God knew that He was going to move me to Vancouver. The experiences I encountered, the people I met, the work I did, the stuff I studied - all of it was carefully molded and blended together by Him to prepare me for the task of serving Him here on the west coast. Years before I made the decision to board an airplane with a one-way ticket to YVR Airport, God was working in my heart, carefully shaping it so that I would fall head over heels in love with the people and culture of Vancouver. The Bible says: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD." (Jeremiah 29:11) ... Isn't that an incredible thought?

Day of Prayer for UBC

On September 7th, thousands of students will arrive at the University of British Columbia campus for orientation week. Please set some time aside to pray for UBC - for the students, the staff, the community and all of the missionaries who will be serving on campus this year.

Please pray for the Born for More leadership team - me (Stephanie), Bojana, Tim, Suzanne, Rich and Craig - and for all the students, new and returning, who will join in the Born for More events and gatherings.

"The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

- James 5:16

meetings.

I have had so many meetings this week. On Monday, I met with Suzanne to go over publicity pamphlets, posters, etc for the table that our ministry (Born for More) will have at UBC's Student Welcome Week next Thursday. We laughed and joked around as we sipped tea and huddled by the computer, and we managed to get quite a bit accomplished. Tonight, I had my first orientation/training session for all interns involved in ministry on campus. I have a few more meetings scheduled for this weekend as we put the finishing touches on our welcome week projects and get things finalized and organized for the upcoming semester, which begins on September 7th.

It's all very exciting but it's also really hard work. I'm feeling really, really tired. Exhausted, actually. I'm SO excited to get started working with students and can't wait to hit the ground running, but I'm realizing that working a 9-5 job AND putting in lots of hours on campus is going to be tough. And with that realization comes uncertainty and nerves and second-guessing ... am I ready for this? Am I a "good enough" Christian to be a missionary on campus? What if I can't connect with the students? What if they don't respond to me? What if I say the wrong things or do the wrong things or make a complete fool of myself? What if this is all just one big mistake?

When thoughts like that begin to consume me, I just have to take a moment to pause and take some deep breaths. YES, by God's grace, I'm ready for this. I will never be "good enough" but God is GREAT enough and that's all that matters. Connections will happen as they are meant to. If I let Him ... God will speak through me, transforming lives and changing hearts. And, last but not least, God doesn't make mistakes.

Please pray that God will bless me with strength and perseverance this week, and that I'll be able to find some time to enjoy quality rest before welcome week kicks off!