mum

you know...when im driving i always think of these great things to blog about. now that im at home and in blogging mode, ive forgotten what i thought was so great.

i guess ill just share that i get to see my mom in 6 hours. that is pretty amazing! i mean. how neat is it that you can be on one continent and then a few hours later and a thousand miles away you are on another one! i love it and i cant wait.

i know we will both be really tired the next few days, but man oh man is it worth it!?!?!

can you tell im excited! :)
ok gotta go. hopefully ill remember the things i was wanting to blog about. cheers!
-moi

germany

well today was the end of a long stint of busyness! wooohoo fewf we got through that.

i was in starnberg, germany from wed through friday. on friday stayed in munich until saturday night. im glad i didnt book flight out of munich on friday because the trains from starnberg into the city were LATE. germans area NEVER late. something big must had been up. we were at the train station in starnberg for over an hour waiting in the COLD for our train. some people were were with had to make their flights, plus we were waiting for quite some time. so we broke up and took 3 cabs to a different train station where we took the train to where we had to go.

that night (friday) i went out to eat with some work friends. i stayed the night with them at their appartment in munich. we got to sleep in! training was very tiring...mostly wednesday because i had only gotten 3hrs of sleep the night before and was in munich by 8:30 that morning. that whole day was one thing right after the other. all in all training was great.

the best part of the trip was experiencing the christmas market in munich! it was so neat to smell the mulled wine, the sweets, and the savory sausages, etc. it was absolutely beautiful! i had never been to a christmas market, so that was a nice experience for me. the only thing that wasn't the best (but didn't really bother me that much) was the fact that it felt like black friday!

so now im back in belgium. had a LONG meeting today to plan ski camp. wanted to blog for a few minutes and then im crashing. tomorrow ill be working in the office instead of it being my day off.

tchus

stay connected

if you know me...you know i take pictures of EVERYTHING! and I LOVE using my timer. hehehehehhe yes

(picture of our group minus Aurelie)

we have been having a bible study on sunday nights with guys and girls from this area age 20+. it has been really good! every sunday i wonder, man why did i commit to helping lead this? then once we get into the study i understand.

this is how we are with jesus too. we dont want to go to him. we thing its a drag. we're tired. we're busy. we're not worthy. we have no time. once we are at His feet we are filled and humbled. why do we get that initial feeling of blahhh? i think it has to do with the fact that we don't keep that relationship up with him. like a friend, like a family member. if we aren't getting the recent news on how things are going, we lose contact. we lose connection. we feel further and further away.

he has our best interests in mind. let's not forget that.

"seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well." matthew 6:33

STAY CONNECTED!

Christmas begins!

we put up our Christmas tree today (satuday)! it was so great!!!!! laure and i wanted to do it so that we didnt have to spend a lot of money. she doesnt want to stay in belgium and i dont know how long ill be here. we saw fake trees for like 60 and 90 euros. PRETTY RIDICULOUS!

today was the day we had time to spend looking for a tree and decorations. since there are no real trees available right now we decided to go with fake. (ive never had a real tree before...one day!)
we found a tree and ornaments for not so cheap! we ended up having a beautiful tree for under 75 euros. that is pretty unbelieveable granted all things here are outrageously priced.

we put on some Christmas music and had a great time sharing in this experience of putting together and decorating our tree!

i was also able to put up the nativity scene that used to be my grandfather's. he used to put it up every year! when he passed away in May, i asked my mom if i could have it. luckily no one else had requested it. so, now it is here in belgium! from brasil to the states (but not put up) to belgium!

its been a hard year, but i think i might do a resume of the year at the end of december. hope you are well. thanks for reading!!!

sunday

ugly sunday....went to church, had lunch, went to the gym for 20 min, oh and in between lunch and the gym i took a wonderful 1 hr nap. now im preparing for tonights study!

just wanted to ask for you to pray for me. i have a lot of work to finish for training and i dont want to be stressed right before. ive gotten a good head start, but now im slowing down and am no longer motivated.

thanks!

long time

hey there!

oh my goodness...i cant believe i havent blogged in a MONTH! that is so incredibly long. this month has been pretty awesome! of course it was busy, but busy isnt always bad.

i know that november will be quite busy as well because i have to prepare for my training. there is so much to get done. i will have to really work on managing my time.

tomorrow is technically my day off, but i know i will try to get a few things done for work. from tuesday through thursday i will be in holland for a regional meeting. im excited to see my collegues and friends!

ive signed up for twitter. ill be researching it a bit more before i get the word out, but if you read this and want to follow, please do!

a bientot!

back to blog!

well friends it has been 2 months since ive written anything here. while i was in the shower thinking about what to write or even just updating my blog, i thought...hmm no on ever mentioned "hey are you gonna get back on your blog." so im wondering who is really reading this.

in any case. i hope to get by in the swing of things with this. there is so much to tell.

for now i will just tell you that i will be going to my first Beglian funeral tomorrow. if you read this, please pray for my JV friend, marie, whose father passed away unexpectedly of a heart attack last wednesday. -will keep you posted

also, a girl i knew from McLean was murdered last week. all of this is very unreal to me. i have mixed feelings about both marie's father and gini, whom many of you probably knew. i just cant imagine all this. maybe it is better that i cant. that im in a way naive to all this and experience it from a far, even with marie's dad.

i dont know. well goodnight

la suisse

here we are, most of the leaders, however missing roselie and kiki. they stayed behind with the injured young'ens. this was right in front of one of the many BEAUtiful waterfallls. this group was excellent. we had/have a great team :)

back from camp

hi ya'll! well we are back from camp. its been a week. can you believe it?!?! we had a splendid time. i just got the DVD of almost all the photos from several cameras. ill be taking some time upload them on my picasa website. that will take quite some time as there are about 2500 photos or so. yeah! tell me about it.

today is a typical day in belgium. rainy and gloomy. as i was looking through the pics i became a little bummed. more than usual. i know that ive gained a lot of weight being here in belgium, but man...I CANT STAND IT ANYMORE! i feel completely stuck. i wish you really knew how i feel. on days like these (almost everyday) all i want to do is stay in my room and work or sleep. that is what i do. i dont have the motivation or energy to go work out or do anything. nor do i have the funds, but you have to have the will first.

anyway if you are reading this, please pray for me. id like to "get back to normal." to a point where i can appreciate myself and not feel that i have to hide myself all the time.

stories and pics to come later......

thanks for reading and not being critical of me when im being vulnerable. hugs all around wishing for some sun!

ONE WEEK!

hello! we have one week before camp!!! wow :)

this week will be busy with getting office stuff squared away and preparing for our american team to come visit. this will be a good good time for us all. i just know it. please be praying for camp and for our kids.

i went to two of my girls' baptism yesterday. it was excellent. how neat is it to hear teenagers talk about their faith and tell about how and why they decided to serve the Lord. there was a bbq after. i stayed for that then went to spend some time with noora. she was alone this weekend.

saturday night we went to play volleyball with some of the people from the big youth group in brussels. if you imagine a church with a youth group...this is like that...but....it is many little churches youth that get together on wednesday night. anyway, volleyball was nice. then we went into the city to grab a bite to eat. it was a nice time of getting to know some new people.

tomorrow is my french class picnic. we will all bring some food to share. i have no idea what ill take.

thats it for now!

memory

hi there!

its been a good few days. yesterday got together with roselie and malia to put rooms and teams together. it went very well!

last night i pulled out my video of the going away party my friends had for me. IT IS FANTASTIC! of course i decided to watch this at 12:30 last night. i havent watched the whole thing because i figured i should get some sleep. but that just leaves some fun for a later time.

thanks for all of you who came! it is so good to be able to watch it and hear what you have to say! especially now, a year later!

have a blessed day!!!!!!!!!!

PRAY PRAY PRAY for healing, etc.

please pray for elizabeth's (my sis in law) father. he is in the hospital from a stroke. i dont have anymore details.
thanks
j

May '08 Update

It's JUNE! Can you believe it?!?!

The month of May was quite difficult for me. For those of you who don't know, my mother's father passed away on 13 May. Luckily she was able to spend his last days with him. You may ask, "Jessica, how are you dealing with all this being so far away from everyone?" My answer to you is God's love, faithfulness, peace, comfort, strength, and so much more. All I can do is rely on the Lord. I've been studying Lamentations 3:22-23 which states "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." May you be engulfed by HIS unfailing love!

The Past:

Just before being really down, my little (or not so little anymore) cousin came to visit. She came to see what this ministry called JV is. We did so much! Between touring and "living a week in the life of Jessica," Lauren was able to participate in Study Camp 2008. It was very neat to see her naturally hanging out with all the Belgian kids! My bonus was spending precious time with family.

The Semi-Present:

We are finishing off our year with 2 more clubs then right off to summer camp! Things have been rather busy this spring. I just got back from my last training of this school year. It was held in Munich, where we were able to take a bike tour of the city. It was very fun!

The Future:

I am so sure this summer will fly by. For this month I'd like to ask for you to commit to pray for us.

Pray for:

• Good weather during camp 1 July to 8 July
• Safe travels to, from, and during camp
• Our US group that will be integrated with JV during summer camp
• Leaders' preparations; good ideas
• Volunteer leaders' exams (happening the entire month of June)
• Another van that we can borrow for the week or funds to rent another van
• Wisdom, courage, discernment, in speaking with kids
• Intentional relationship building time with kids
• Cohesion amongst the entire group
• Roselie's knee to heal
• The speaker, Nat Winston
• Good health for all, but especially for leaders and staff

Thanks for faithfully reading about my work in Belgium. I'm blessed to be here! To read an encouraging story about my newest friend Laurence check out my blog from 15 May. My cousin, Lauren took part in a Bible study with Perrine and Rebecca. That Thursday before Study Camp all 5 of us prayed for the kids at camp, specifically Laurence!!!

Until the next time!

Jessica

P.S. The picture is of Perrine and Lauren while we were waiting to go into the Corrie ten Boom house in Haarlem. Also, the kids have made another site where they post pictures. http://picasaweb.google.fr/Jeunesse.et.vie

ANSWER TO PRAYER

yes! if you read my newsletter one of my prayer requests was for another van!

guess what?!?!?!?! GOD IS SO GOOD! we have a van to use. can you believe it.

the power of prayer! thank you all and thank you lord!

passion paris was FANTASTIC!!! ill blog about it later. im pooped :) xoxox

may newsletter in june?

fyi

yes you may have noticed that my newsletter went out on the 3rd of june. it really is for the month of may. look out for the june edition at the end of june....the regularly scheduled time.

thanks for keeping up with this!

beauty of life

oww this one is incredibly adorable!! ahhhh i want to squish her cheekys.
look at veronica and her great grandmother! now that is cool :)

the rest of the month

its been a hard hard month.
so ill skip onto the things that are happy thoughts....
there is so much i could tell you.
recently got back from munich. was a great time. now finishing my french class.
going to see chris tomlin, david crowder band, etc. (passion) tomorrow in paris.
yeah i get to do another fun thing!
i received some fun pics from a memorial day BBQ at my brothers house.
here is a cute pic of dad and veronica!
ahhh i want to be there :)

when the going gets tough it gets tougher

i think ive figured out one of the millions of things God is teaching me.

tuesday night my mother's dad passed away. its really sad because with this grandfather i didnt get to say good-bye. i mean, i said "good-bye" the last time we saw each other in december 2006. although i didnt know when or if i would see him again, i was so sure that it would happen. its been really hard. with the passing of my father's dad exactly 2 months ago, not being around for my family, not saying good-bye, and actually mom and tia ana (my aunt) were supposed to be visiting me. that never happened. so things have really stunk around here. no pity...i mean, who said this life was easy? when the going gets tough it gets tougher.

so back to what God is teaching me. im being taught that He has me right where He wants me to be WHEN He wants me to be. in the midst of this sorrow i feel there is SO MUCH JOY. not regarding my grandfather or his death, but the life of a girl.

Laurence is a girl who was invited by Perrine to Club. one friday after school perrine and laurence came to my house and helped me prepare dinner before club. she came another time a few weeks after that. she has stopped by with perrine after school to say hello. this weekend we had study camp and laurence was there! i got to spend some time with here and get to know her. good good times. today perrine told me that laurence made a decision this weekend at study camp. she decided to follow Christ. i haven't gotten a chance to talk to her yet, but we are both super excited to see one another tomorrow. here is the best part....rebecca and perrine have this devotional book thing that they do every morning. apparently laurence texted rebecca asking her for one of those books!!!! she wants to use it and read the Bible!!!! i CANT tell you how much joy that brings me. not just about laurence, but to hear and see the girls talk about it. they are amazed! we had been praying for this and specifically the thursday before study camp we prayed specifically for laurence!!! praise God!!!

thank you thank you thank you for being a part of this! as i write this my eyes are no longer filled with tears of sorrow but with tears of joy.
pic of laurence at study camp (furthest left)

scream!

today is another down day :(

it really stinks...i hate to feel this way.

mom and tia ana are not coming anymore. they are with vovo. things are not going well AT ALL. luckily lauren is still coming. i hope that she will still have a good time visiting places. im sad that i cant show mom and tia ana around.

tomorrow is our bbq and i have a feeling ill still be in this bad mood. pray that it changes. really, i just feel like screaming. just too many things going on. God help!!!!!!

RAIN OR SHINE!?

this saturday marked my one year anniversary! cool huh?

laure (my roommate) and i had a BBQ on saturday in this woodsy/park area. it was really neat. we had around 25 people come. im glad my friends were able to come out to eat, drink, and hang out together. i really felt at home.

on sunday it was another GORGEOUS day!!! UNBELIEVABLE!! thank the Lord! i went to the phipps' house to hang out in the evening. when im at their house i always think im in the States. even when i talk i say..well here or "why did he/she come to the States?" hahahaha quite funny. they are great to hang out with and i really appreciate having them right up the road.

yesterday and today were back to typical belgium as it rained. unfortunately ive noticed some rain coming in from the roof. dunno how, but it does. luckily it is not a lot and hasn't ruined anything yet.

our leaders/committee BBQ is on thursday. it is supposed to rain, so it will probably happen in doors. whats new?!?!

even though things are going well, today i feel blahhh. i kinda just feel like being home. not wanting to do "this" today. oh wait...i dont have the choice ;) i cant pin-point it but its just a weird feeling. i know its a mix of a lot of things that are going on that i cant control. but if you are reading this, will you please pray for me? its crazy that in the highest of highs you can feel so low.
ok gotta run..the girls are gonna be here at 7 and i gotta prep. until the next time.

p.s. picture is of me, laure, and johanne (one of laure's friends) in a town right near to mine