My Beautiful Youth Groups
I have been so blessed to be a part of two wonderful youth groups this past year. I am a leader with the gr. 10 girls in the sr. high youth group, and a leader with the gr. 7 girls in the jr. high youth group. Both groups of girls are so smart and funny and great, and I love spending my tuesday and wednesday nights with them!
The great thing about volunteering your time to help other people is that you don't do it to be benefitted yourself, but you do it instead to be a part of something greater than yourself. And in the end, you are impacted as much as the people you help. It's a beautiful situation (granted, there are times when volunteering can be hard, but when you lean on God to get you through the hard times, often he has greater riches in store for you than you expected!)
I have been showered with prayer each time I go to the youth groups, and I am so blessed!!
Thank you guys for being a part of my life. I am privileged to know you!
Peace,
Sierra
The great thing about volunteering your time to help other people is that you don't do it to be benefitted yourself, but you do it instead to be a part of something greater than yourself. And in the end, you are impacted as much as the people you help. It's a beautiful situation (granted, there are times when volunteering can be hard, but when you lean on God to get you through the hard times, often he has greater riches in store for you than you expected!)
I have been showered with prayer each time I go to the youth groups, and I am so blessed!!
These are some of the beautiful grade seven girls that I volunteer with. At first, they seemed like a handful, and I thought I wasn't going to last the year, but I can honestly say that we've become great friends and I am honoured to know them!
And these are the grade 10 girls. Not only have these girls been a huge support to my trip, but my other leaders (Jess, Alyssa and Lindsay) have just been so excited for me! I love my church!
Thank you guys for being a part of my life. I am privileged to know you!
Peace,
Sierra
More Interviews & More Pictures
So, as you know, I got interviewed by the Barrie Examiner, but I also got interviewed by the Barrie Advance this afternoon! Super exciting, not gonna lie.
Also, my friend Allie Spencer was kind enough to take some pictures of my fundraiser, which I will now show to you all. (Allie is an amazing photographer! You should check out her photo blog here for more beautiful things.)
Also, my friend Allie Spencer was kind enough to take some pictures of my fundraiser, which I will now show to you all. (Allie is an amazing photographer! You should check out her photo blog here for more beautiful things.)
(Allie is the beautiful girl on the left!)
(Side note here, my Nana was amazing enough to bake 95% of the delicious baking we had that night, and I forgot to mention her in the original post. So, here's your shout out Nana! You are an amazing baker, and an amazing Nana! Thank you so much for supporting me for this trip!)
Sometimes, I really love the City of Barrie
My workplace can be so awesome sometimes. Yeah, its a job just like the rest of them with stupid things that go wrong, and early shifts and superheated pool decks and freezing water (okay, maybe those last two are job specific) BUT the people are the best.
I mean, the people I work with on Saturday mornings make it so worth while to come in early and work for only a few hours!
In the past, people have snuck in at night and decorated the pool office with balloons for someone's birthday, and we made our own fireplace with personalized stockings for Christmas! I really love it there. Anyways, the Saturday crew made me this beautiful card with so many wonderful things in it. And I've been asked by so many people where I'm going and what I'm going to do there.
As you know, I'm teaching swimming lessons when I get to Nigeria, and obviously the people that I work with at the pool think that's an awesome idea! Thank you everyone for your great support and excitement for me as I leave in 9 days!
I mean, the people I work with on Saturday mornings make it so worth while to come in early and work for only a few hours!
As you know, I'm teaching swimming lessons when I get to Nigeria, and obviously the people that I work with at the pool think that's an awesome idea! Thank you everyone for your great support and excitement for me as I leave in 9 days!
Interviews with Newspapers
I'm even going to have a newspaper photo shoot with them!!
The Fundraiser
Sooooo, I had my fundraiser on Friday night. And it was incredible. I'm going to have a hard time conveying how great it was in words because it truly was the greatest support I have ever felt from my church family!
It was the final proof that this was exactly where God wants me to be. And I'm so excited to be here! It's thrilling, to say the least.
Close to one hundred people came and joined in the night of worship, and although it was a little hectic at first and I am glad it's over, it was a truly wonderful time of fellowship with friends and family.
And then I shared about my trip, and Mr. Dayo Idowu shared about the mission and goals of CHIPROMS.
It was the final proof that this was exactly where God wants me to be. And I'm so excited to be here! It's thrilling, to say the least.
Close to one hundred people came and joined in the night of worship, and although it was a little hectic at first and I am glad it's over, it was a truly wonderful time of fellowship with friends and family.
It didn't go smoothly the entire time though. I originally had four "musical acts" done by friends and family of mine slotted to be at the beginning and two of those girls got extremely sick and had to cancel. It was stressful and awful, and I'm not gonna lie, I fell to my knees in frustration (I can be a little dramatic, so bear with me). I texted my other friends to see if they could scrounge together another song just to fill in time, and they said they would ask their brother to see if he would sing. And he did, and what a blessing! Although we had such last minute cancellations, God still got the glory from this night and that is all that matters in the end!
First up, we had my mom singing and playing piano.
She is the best mom everrrr. I mean, she helped me plan this concert/worship night, she made a ton of beautiful jewelry to sell for the craft show, and she was the opening act of the night even though she would have preferred to sing in the audience.
Be prepared for me to get a little sentimental here.
Mom, you have been the biggest blessing in my life and especially in these last few months as we plan for my trip. I wouldn't be going if I didn't have your hard work, love and support. Every single day, I realise more and more that you are willing to help me accomplish my dreams and and God's dreams for my life. You are a beautiful, wise woman, and I am so proud to be your daughter.
Then we had Josh and Sam Gray.
These guys are golden. I mean, I asked Sam if he could do a song 15 minutes before hand, and he was willing to help me out! It was such a huge blessing to have these guys supporting me with their music and time, and for them to be so willing to help me last minute. Thankyou!!
Then we had Alyssa Fleming and Josh Gray (with Josh Goodman on the drum).
Alyssa and Josh were gracious enough to sing two beautiful songs, as well as encourage a time of prayer for my upcoming trip and for the preparation of my heart and the hearts of those in Africa. They are just lovely, godly people.
The craft show was great too.
My sister and her friends helped run the tables, and it went really well! Also (not pictured) we had a silent auction table where some handcrafted items that had been donated were there for sale.
After the coffee break, we had a wonderful worship time with my mom, Jake Beerman, Josh Goodman and Ben van Arragon. (Thank you guys soo much! The music was beautiful.) It was really a great time of collective worship to God, and I had a lot of people come and tell me that they would love to do this every Friday night!
I am just overwhelmed at the support both financially and spiritually that people have given to me! I am doubly blessed to have such an amazing church family!
Peace,
Sierra
Peace,
Sierra
Fundraiser night
This trip is going to cost me a lot of money. And of course it will! I'm flying across the world.
To combat the possibility of using all my college savings on a three month trip, I'm having a fundraiser night at my church (Emmanuel Baptist Church, Barrie) on the 24th of February. It's going to be a night of music, worship and delicious treats. There's also going to be a small craft show where donated items will be sold and the proceeds will go to my trip.
I'm also going to be presenting my trip as well as having the president of CHIPROMS (Dayo Idowu) speak about his ministry. It's shaping up to be a really great night!
I hope to see you there, and I look forward to sharing more about my trip with you!
Peace,
Sierra
To combat the possibility of using all my college savings on a three month trip, I'm having a fundraiser night at my church (Emmanuel Baptist Church, Barrie) on the 24th of February. It's going to be a night of music, worship and delicious treats. There's also going to be a small craft show where donated items will be sold and the proceeds will go to my trip.
I'm also going to be presenting my trip as well as having the president of CHIPROMS (Dayo Idowu) speak about his ministry. It's shaping up to be a really great night!
I hope to see you there, and I look forward to sharing more about my trip with you!
Peace,
Sierra
CRAZINESS
Hey.
So, recently, I bought my plane ticket (and now know I am leaving March 15th, and returning June 6th) and also realized that I needed to figure out how to get a tourist visa for Nigeria.
And apparently, that is not an easy thing to do. The travel agency that I bought my ticket through explained that they usually are able to get the visa for the client without a problem, and do that free of charge...
except for Nigerian visas. Because they are the most work to try and get.. AWESOME.
I'm supposed to send my passport to the Nigerian High Commission in Ottawa, along with passport pictures and an extremely long and confusing application form so they can get my visa started.
The thing is, if there is one little thing wrong with your application, they won't process your application, and they won't call you to tell you it hasn't been processed.
You really need to monitor every little thing in this process.
I have also applied for a credit card so that if I am ever in extreme peril (which I trust will not be the case), I can use that to get me out of the sticky situation. And that is going to take another two weeks.
So many things to do, and so little time.
All of this (that both my parents and I have had to deal with) is making things a little stressful. But the way I see it, with all the positive signs that this is the right place for me to go, I trust that God has got everything under control.
It's scary to hand the control over, but in these situations, there's nothing else I can do!
Peace,
Sierra
So, recently, I bought my plane ticket (and now know I am leaving March 15th, and returning June 6th) and also realized that I needed to figure out how to get a tourist visa for Nigeria.
And apparently, that is not an easy thing to do. The travel agency that I bought my ticket through explained that they usually are able to get the visa for the client without a problem, and do that free of charge...
except for Nigerian visas. Because they are the most work to try and get.. AWESOME.
I'm supposed to send my passport to the Nigerian High Commission in Ottawa, along with passport pictures and an extremely long and confusing application form so they can get my visa started.
The thing is, if there is one little thing wrong with your application, they won't process your application, and they won't call you to tell you it hasn't been processed.
You really need to monitor every little thing in this process.
I have also applied for a credit card so that if I am ever in extreme peril (which I trust will not be the case), I can use that to get me out of the sticky situation. And that is going to take another two weeks.
So many things to do, and so little time.
All of this (that both my parents and I have had to deal with) is making things a little stressful. But the way I see it, with all the positive signs that this is the right place for me to go, I trust that God has got everything under control.
It's scary to hand the control over, but in these situations, there's nothing else I can do!
Peace,
Sierra
Shots!
So, yesterday I went to the travel clinic, and I got shots and prescriptions for all the things I need to be covered for in Africa. The thing is, Nigeria is literally the breeding ground for everything. Meningites, Rabies, Cholera, Polio, Yellow Fever, Typhoid, Malaria.. you name it, they've got it.
But you know what? I'm not worried about it. What good does worrying do anyone anyways?
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."(Matthew 6:34)
Yeah, it's a bit unnerving that I'm living in Africa for three months, but at the same time, it's extremely exciting! I would like to believe that it's a healthy mix. :)
Peace,
Sierra
But you know what? I'm not worried about it. What good does worrying do anyone anyways?
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."(Matthew 6:34)
Yeah, it's a bit unnerving that I'm living in Africa for three months, but at the same time, it's extremely exciting! I would like to believe that it's a healthy mix. :)
Peace,
Sierra
Send me to Nigeria, please
So here I am, starting a blog to update everyone about my life.
Please forgive me if I'm doing it wrong, as this is new for me!
Basically this blog is going to be a tool to update people about the mission trip I am going on. Which leads me to my trip!
I am travelling to Children of Promise Ministries in Ibadan, Nigeria in early March and living there for three months. I will be returning sometime mid-June.
I would ask that you would pray for me, and for the people I am going to serve. This is exciting and daunting at the same time. I have a lot I need to do before hand, during and after the trip is over, and there is no way that it will all get done without the Lord's help. Please pray for me!
I will continue to update this blog so that you can stay connected. Thanks for reading! :)
Peace,
Sierra
Please forgive me if I'm doing it wrong, as this is new for me!
Basically this blog is going to be a tool to update people about the mission trip I am going on. Which leads me to my trip!
I am travelling to Children of Promise Ministries in Ibadan, Nigeria in early March and living there for three months. I will be returning sometime mid-June.
I would ask that you would pray for me, and for the people I am going to serve. This is exciting and daunting at the same time. I have a lot I need to do before hand, during and after the trip is over, and there is no way that it will all get done without the Lord's help. Please pray for me!
I will continue to update this blog so that you can stay connected. Thanks for reading! :)
Peace,
Sierra