(I got halfway through writing this thought, was interrupted and saved the entry to finish and post at a later date. Here is as far as I got... a new update will be up soon.)

Thanks to those of you who have been writing comments and emails - knowing people at home are thinking of me/us and praying for me/us is really encouraging. Life in the Halibubble (Halifax bubble!) is going well. The honeymoon phase is starting wear off, as we all knew it inevitably would, but there are a lot of really solid people here and so most conflicts seem to be resolved fairly quickly. If you could keep the unity of the team and personality clashes in your prayers though, I know that would be appreciated by everyone here.

Since starting work, I've been thinking a lot about God and what it means to be here, how I got here, and what the rest of this summer is going to look like. When I was in Scotland and realized that I had to go to Halifax, I didn't really ask questions (which was totally the opposite from when I realized that I had to go to Scotland... live and learn!). I applied, prayed (prayed a lot) and waited. When I was accepted, I admit that I expected to get all of my support in immediately, thinking I was an 'old pro' at raising support. Duh, God's doing the real raising, and of course he wants to challenge me in my faith. And God provided (and them some), and I did grow in faith. Even getting a job, which required due effort on my part, was relatively 'easy', all thanks going to God. As we prepared to leave for Halifax, I couldn't help but wonder how I got off so easy. My little 'push' came to a lot of 'shove' in most of the situations I encountered. God is a great provider, for sure, and all he requires is faith. Thinking about it a bit more though, and as I mentioned earlier, I wondered what that meant for the rest of my summer, how work would actually be and what would it be like to spend 3 months living in the Halibubble. I realized that God hadn't made things 'easy' for me, but had been preparing me and my stubborn heart, just as I'd been praying. My biggest challenge wasn't going to be getting here, it was going to be being here. Breaking new ground in a new workplace with a much rougher set of coworkers, being in an environment that I admit presents a huge temptation on many levels - many of my coworkers are my age or slightly older and male, and conversations frequently circle around drinking, sex, and other worldly things. My challenge is to love these people where they're at. To not not act above them (ie look down upon them) or drop to their level, but meet them where they're at. Frightening, if you're me, who is most of the time 'loveably awkward' in conversation, or quietly focused. The only one I can rely on is God, and I'm seeing that more and more. I love God so much, and I'm so thankful for the person he's forming me into.

I got a chance to share my testimony with a few of my teammates last night, which was a bit shocking for one of them considering the 'graphic' nature of some parts. I'm a very honest person, I'll say that much. It was so encouraging for all of us though, especially (and oddly enough), me. I haven't given my full testimony in a while, and as I did give it, I had much clearer picture of God and my own womanhood. It was exhilerating. I 'celebrated' 9 months of walking with God last Sunday, a number whose significance isn't lost on me.

I'm a little sad that I didn't continue on with my last thought, but I've sort of forgotten where I was going with that. 9 months seems significant I suppose in that it takes 9 months for a human child to come to full term and then is born into the world. I know we are reborn as children of God in an instant, really. Within a breath or two your whole life can change. Thinking further on the analogy, if you think about the way we recreate, I think we can see into God's mind a bit deeper. In a few breathless moments, a child can be conceived, but it takes time for that child to go from conception to birth, and from birth into a full grown human. Our spiritual growth seem to trend in a similar way. Milk, then solid food (in reference to 1 Corinthians, haha - anyone here in the Halibubble reading this blog will get it, and for the rest of you, it's what we're studying currently) . Anyways, that's all I can conclude about that thought... I'll get into more recent news in a new post.