Phil and Geniève Anderson

Christmas News Letter on the way

2009-12-08T11:27:00.002-04:00

Hey Gang,

Genieve and I just finished our Christmas letter and we're sending them out today. Here's a teaser:

Ice Cream with Jesus... though he may be invisible

2009-09-12T09:29:00.003-03:00

Some of you may ask yourselves "Ice Cream?" and other may wonder "with Jesus?" well let me explain. For you "ice cream?" head tilters; yo uwere probably expecting "corn Boil" because that's want we've done on campus for our kick off event for the past few years but we switched because the campus student union hosted a corn boil (in which we participated) and we thought it would be redundant to do another one so be thought of ice cream. I don't regret at all... Ice cream doesn't get stuck in your teeth.
"And with Jesus?" well Jesus said "Wherever two or three are together in my name, there I am" We saved him a bowl.

Numbers were a bit low but man do we have some keen students ready to learn, serve, grow and have fun... so we did with games and the like

Here are a few playing wacky ball (newly named "Amish golf"). Thanks dad for helping me build it; we've enjoyed it now for 4 years now.

And here I am single-handedly beating 4 guys at foosball

*I'll add some other pics when I get my hands on our official photographer's cam.

Oh ya, did I mention they were musical? And I'm not talking "shine Jesus shine" guitar stuming monkeys? We got some real talent.

After it got cold, we moved it in for some Foosball, ping pong and wii action but when a few got their hands on guitars and drums we were jamming to tunes of the likes of Jon Foreman, Jack Johnson, The Frames, Radiohead. I've been wanting to do some type of musical thing (like a song writer's circle) for a while now to connect more with non-christians through music. This could be the year! I know a few of us our planning on doing some free busking during the Harvest Jazz and Blues festival here next week. That should be fun. But a regular jam session where students can bring there original stuff and bounce ideas off one another would be sweet.

Anyhow, I feel like I've ranted too much about music stuff. It's probably because that's what's really on my heart. Music takes people to a certain level (and that may scare some) but I want to welcome Jesus there to take over hearts.

Quote of the day: "There is nothing in the world so much like prayer as music is." (William P. Merrill)

Amen to that, Bill.

Amen

Phil's 1st post

2009-08-23T17:59:00.003-03:00

We've had this blog going for a few years, and I haven't posted once.

So let's get this road on the show!

We're almost through August and if you've ever worked with students then you probably know what I'm going through... craziness?

Actually not really. Oddly enough, I'm feeling quite at peace in the midst of some big things coming up: finishing off major home renovations, arrival of students, and the arrival of our first child (who happens to be kicking his/her mother right now as I right this post). Kids these days... no respect.

Our new place will also offer some new opportunities being one block from campus with some sweet amenities like a firepit, foosball table, hammock and ping pong table (we may have a hard time getting students out of our place LOL). Props to the man upstairs for the sweet spot!

Though in the middle of planning & positioning, we must desire to see God's will be done... in my life, in my family, on the UNB & STU campus and the whole world.

"The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps." Proverbs 16:9

Let's work together on this one, God. Sound good?

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-19T11:18:00.003-04:00

Merry Christmas everyone!

Tonight we are going to my work's Christmas party followed by a drive to Moncton so Phil can go to his brother Nathanael's bachelor party. He is getting married on January 3rd! We have a lot of family that we are looking forward to seeing soon for Christmas and the wedding.

Phil's parents and his sister and nieces are already in Moncton, so we'll be spending this weekend with them as well as see my parents and brothers :-D My brother who recently moved to Ottawa will be arriving on Saturday.

Students are done with their exams (I think the last day of exams was yesterday) and heading home for the Holidays. We did enjoy going to our first Ugly Christmas Sweater Party on Wednesday. Phil won third ugliest sweater! hahaha.... We forgot to bring our camera, but hope to get some pictures soon from others who were there.

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and that you would grow closer to God during this time.

A New Post!

2008-11-10T20:01:00.003-04:00

Forgive us for not keeping up with this blog. We are still alive and well here in Fredericton.

I (Genieve) am now working full time at the software company that I started at in April and I am really enjoying it. I now work in customer support which is more fun than doing paper work all day (for me anyway). So, since I am in front of a computer screen pretty much all day long, I have definitely slacked off with blogging.

We are in full speed of campus ministry at UNB and STU for our 3rd year here. Can you believe it's been that long already!?! We have different things happening this year. One thing that we changed is that instead of having weekly Bible studies for students, we have created "Triads". These are groups of 3 who meet together for about an hour every week to pray together, encourage each other, read the Bible together, etc. Phil and the 2 interns for the year helped with matching up the students in each group, keeping guys and gals seperate and mixing up age groups.

We also now have weekly large group meetings. Here we take the time to have a teaching time one week and a fun fellowship time the following week. Our teaching times are based on a "How to..." series. We've had a "How to get an A and still have a life" teaching; "How to have a meaningful relationship with God"; "How to date and not screw it up" etc. Phil and I had a fun time doing the dating talk. That talk seemed to have impacted especially the guys who were in a dating relationship. That night they approached Phil to see if they could meet one on one to talk.

God is doing some good things on campus, in students' lives and in our lives as well. Keep praying for us and the students who are in our lives. I am also making some meaningful relationships at work and beacuse Phil and I joined the staff Ultimate Frisbee team this past Summer, Phil has gotten to know a lot of people that I work with (we are a small company).

Tomorrow, since it is Rememberance day here in Canada, we are having a few people over to watch The Gospel of John movie to remember our greatest soldier, Jesus.

Have a blessed week!

Eastern Summit

2008-04-29T09:49:00.002-03:00

Hey all,

Sorry we haven't posted in a while. We have both been quite busy. I have just started a new part time job as the administrative assistant of a software company. After 8 months at the daycare, I needed a break from the daycare world. This job is much less stressful and it is quite flexible with my hours, so that frees me up to do Nav stuff :-)

Phil has been very busy organising a Montreal trip for students. They will be going to work with a local Church (like last year) and ministering to the community... especially the multi-cultural community... the Nations are coming to Canada!!! There's also another trip happening in Toronto at the same time (like last year) with the same kind of focus. There are about 20 students in each group and a few staff. Both groups will be meeting in Montreal for a 4 day weekend to get some teaching and fellowship time, then they will be sent off. They leave for Montreal this Thursday! I won't be going this year, so please pray that I won't feel too lonely while Phil is gone for 11 days.

We thank God for wonderful partners to serve with in Montreal and Toronto, a great turnout of students from all over Eastern Canada, and the forecast for good weather next week.

I'll try to update if I hear from Phil during the trip. And remember to keep these students in your prayers as well as the staff who will be working hard.

Good Friday

2008-03-21T19:35:00.001-03:00

Phil and I have spent half of the day on Good Friday contemplating the cross. We went through a book with that exact title. Every 2 hours we would go through one chapter, and it takes an hour at least, to get through a chapter. This has been really good to just focus on want Jesus went through before and during the crucifixion. We have never done anything like this for Good Friday before, but it probably won't be the last. Jesus went through so much... it makes us think how can we complain about anything?

We took a break for supper. We ate fish ;-) Cranberry salmon to be exact, accompanied with wild rice (a first for us) and asparagus.

Phil's plate with bread.

Genieve's plate.

Did I mention that we did this all in our PJ's???

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend. We finished our reading yesterday by reading the final chapter on resurrection.

He is Risen!

Update

2008-03-10T21:13:00.006-03:00

The 21 days of Prayer and Fasting is over. Phil skipped breakfast and lunch along with a student and I skipped blogging/fun computer time. It was good to take those 21 days and focus more on God and pray for revival on these campuses. The fast has been over for a few days and I think that Phil's body really got accustomed to it since he forgets to eat lunch every so often... He did it again today! We had some students over for the last break fast (i.e. a wonderful slow roast supper on Thursday) and on Friday morning we had a big breakfast with pancakes, whipped cream, eggs and bacon, fruit, etc. Phil really missed not having breakfast foods. He actually made some pancakes one night for a snack he missed it so much :)

This Thursday Ragnar is doing another talk on campus on the reliability of the Bible. So we're inviting students to come out and putting posters up on campus like this one:

Please pray for this event. We won't be able to go this time because we are leaving early Wednesday morning for Alberta for a few days. Phil's brother Eric is getting married in Banff in an outdoor wedding. It should be really nice. Here is a picture of Eric and his fiancée Erin:

The kids in the picture are our nieces Molly and Sarah (Chantal's daughters). We are very excited that we'll be seeing them as well at the wedding. We haven't seen them since May of last year, so they'll be much bigger than then. The whole family will be there. We should have a great time together.

Be blessed.

Hebrews Bible Study

2008-02-17T21:54:00.003-04:00

This past Saturday we had a couple of students over to study a book of the Bible together. We decided to do Hebrews. So we read through the whole book out loud together, had a lunch break, then dug deeper. Here is an outline of what we took out of this study:

Outline

Chapters /Theme

1-3 Greatness of Jesus!

3:7 – 4:13 Final rest is yet to come

4:14 – 5:10 & 6:13 – 10:18 The old covenant a shadow of the new

11 By faith… they endured

12 Let’s endure

13 Final Remarks

Warnings and Exhortations

2:1-3 Pay attention to signs of the past

3:7 – 4:2 Warning of not believing God

4:12-13 God sees all and we will have to give an account

5:11 – 6:12 Do not fall away; stand firm

10:19-39 The LORD will judge… so obey

12:14-17 Don’t be like Esau

12:25 Listen to God

Images of Jesus

1:3 The radiance of God’s glory

1:2, 1:5, 3:6, 5:5 The Son of God

1:3, 10:12, 12:2 Sitting at God’s right hand

1:4 Higher than the angels

2:9, 2:14 Human

3:1, 4:14, 5:6, 7:16, 8:1, 9:11 Priest, High Priest, Eternal High Priest

3:1 Apostle

13:12, 7:27, 9:12, 9:14, 9:28 Sacrifice

9:15 Mediator of new Covenant

12:2 Author and perfector of our faith

9:28, 10:37 Returning, the bringer of salvation

13:8 Unchanging

13:20 Shepherd

It was really good to study the Word with others like this for half a day. We are doing 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting again this year. Please pray for revival on the campuses of UNB and STU with us and other students.

Student Winter Retreat

2008-02-01T12:37:00.001-04:00

We had our annual Winter retreat a couple of weekends ago at Green Hill Lake Camp. The theme of the weekend was "Into the Bible so the Bible gets into you". We divided everyone into 3 groups and each group got to read 1 book of the Bible together and then spend some time studying and discussing. It was a really good weekend. We had a special guest speak on hermeneutics and exegesis; it was very interesting. I missed being part of a group since I was busy cooking up a storm in the kitchen with a Church friend Leesa.

Here's Phil making some announcements.

And we also had a great time playing games on Saturday evening.

Now we are getting ready for the week long Spring programs. You can look at what will be available this Spring and Summer for students here. Phil is responsible for planning the Montreal part of the Eastern Summit. We went to Montreal recently to meet with our contacts there and things seem to be really rolling as far activities and serving opportunities are coming for our students. Please pray for this.

Getting Ready for Christmas

2007-12-14T10:21:00.000-04:00

So classes and exams are done for the semester.Wow, semesters go by so fast... Phil has been away for the past couple days to meet with the regional team and I had to stay here since I have to work at the daycare.

We start our Christmas vacation in a week, this coming Friday. We'll be going home to Moncton and Cap-Pele for the Holidays and spending it at my parents' new house (we are very excited to see it!). For those of you who will be in Moncton too during this time, we hope to see you. We are singing at our old Church on January 30th, so we might see you then :)

On Friday we'll be going to a wedding. A girl I went to university with just became a Christian along with her boyfriend. So they planned a wedding in like 2 months and will be getting married in a week! It is so exciting to hear about people in your past that are now believers. She emails me once in a while with questions or prayer requests, it's really neat.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

It's Been a While

2007-11-22T10:36:00.000-04:00

I see we haven't posted in a while, sorry for those of you who check fairly regularly.

Lots of exciting things are happening this year on campus. We have 4 studies going on using the book Acts 29 and they are all happening on Wednesday nights. Acts 29 was put together by a fellow Navigators' staff and it's about relational evangelism. It's a great study for students. There are also 2 investigative Bible studies for non-believers happening. This is very exciting since some hearts are being softened to the gospel through these studies.

Next Thursday, Ragnar will be presenting another one of his talks on campus. This one is on "Do all/any religions lead to God?". Please pray for this presentation and that students will come out.
This is the picture we used to make the posters and hand outs.

This is a short post, but I'll have to tell Phil to post sometime to keep you informed since he sees more of what's happening on campus.

God bless you.

FIS Bonfire

2007-09-30T15:21:00.000-03:00

Last night, we went to a bonfire with a group called Friends of International Students. There were over 30 people that showed up from Canada and all over the world. It was quite interesting meeting all of these people.

Phil and I were even there to witness somebody trying their first marshmallow. It was a guy from Indonesia and he thought marshmallows were fruit that grew on trees :-) He was quite hesitant when he took his first nibble, then he looked at us and said "this is really good, it's sweet!", and scarfed it down. Another guy from India would roast 4 marshmallows at a time and offer them to every one (I think he ate quite a bit too).

We had a really fun time singing, roasting marshmallows, hot dogs and some people even tried roasting apples (they told us it was really good)! We forgot our camera, so no pictures this time.

Have a blessed day!

Camp Tulakadik

2007-09-25T23:03:00.000-03:00

This past weekend, a bunch of students went to Camp Tulakadik, around the Sussex area in New Brunswick, for our annual Navigators retreat. We had about 60 people come out. Our guest speaker was Luch DelMonte and his son Mike. I (Genieve) missed most of the talks they gave 'cause I had to make sure the food was done, but I was able to sneak out of the kitchen a few times to listen. Luch is a very passionate speaker and I'm sure the students were very encouraged after his talks (I know I was). One video that he showed us was this. Please check it out, it is such an inspiring story and a great illustration on how God (our Father) is behind us.

I really enjoyed my time in the kitchen. I had lots of help from students and Sue, Ragnar's wife, before every meal. And Phil helped serve during most meals. It was a pretty exhausting job, I definitely felt it on Sunday, especially since I was coming down with a cold; but all went well.

Thank you for your prayers.

I leave you with pictures of the weekend, courtesy of a STFX student, Judith.

Our Group.

The Lake

Cool shot of the Lake

Fall Retreat

2007-09-18T20:58:00.000-03:00

Our annual Fall retreat is this weekend! This is a time when students from the Maritime campuses come together for a time of fellowship and learning.
Please pray for these students (some are believers and some aren't).
Our guest speaker this year is a fellow Nav staff, Luch DelMonte and he is bringing his son Mike. They will be talking on the theme of running to win. It should be quite interesting. Pray for them both, that they would be sensitive to God's leading.
Pray for the leadership (Phil and myself included).
Pray for me (the cook!) and the kitchen helper(s).

This is a facility that's new to us, so we really hope that it will be a great place for a weekend retreat. Here's a part of our brochure. I tried adding it in as a picture, but it didn't work.

RUN TO WIN
The Navigators’
annual fall retreat!!
Sept 21-23 2007

The theme of this year's retreat is on running
life’s race with excellence and inspiring
others to do the same by passing on the
baton of sincere faith and love.
Hey, God wants you in HIS hall of fame
among people who have lived well and made
a lasting impact in many others. Come for ...
-A weekend at Camp Tulakadik on the shores
of beautiful Lake Cassidy, NB.
-Team building activities, sports, teaching,
small group discussion, and prayer.
-Opportunities to meet other students who are
interested in discovering and developing their
passion, faith and purpose so they can attack
their life and calling.
-Engaging teaching by Luch and Mike
DelMonte: Luch is both a Navigator and has
coached three sons through university, one of
whom is Mike (who runs track at UWO). They
are passionate about seeing university
students reach their full potential in loving God
and people.
If you are new to the Navs or thinking about
getting involved with the Navs this year, it’s vital
that you come out.

The New 2007 School Year!

2007-09-11T21:47:00.000-03:00

So we have started our new adventure at UNB this year. It started off with a farewell party for our friend and coworker Sam Jess. We had a BBQ style get together at Odell Park with a bunch of Fredericton friends. Sam is off to Acadia University to study. He will be greatly missed here.

This past Sunday we had a prayer day with our student leadership team to start the year off. We had a great time of just spending time in prayer together at a cottage an hour out of town. We have a good team of students who want to see God work in marvellous ways on campus this year. Please pray for all of them (7 in all).

Then last night was our Kick off event of the year: A Corn Boil! We had a great time meeting new people. There was probably about 60 people out in Ragnar's backyard eating corn and hotdogs, and of course, Karen's baked goods (Karen is a student who always bakes for Nav events). Here are some students shucking some corn before everyone else showed up.

After everyone got to eat a bit, we got the guys and girls divided up and we played Finger Fencing!

Phil shared his testimony and we gave away a few CD's from our local Christian radio station.

I (Genieve) was on campus for the first time since classes started today and already I saw a bunch of familiar faces. I told Phil that I used to feel like I don't belong here and everyone knows it, but that's no longer the case. Right now we are getting our schedules worked out with when to have Bible studies and prayer times and all that, but all seems to be going well. We are also preparing for our Fall retreat which will be happening on the weekend of September 21st. Please pray for this weekend where students from campuses from all over the Maritimes are going to gather for fellowship, worship, teaching and food... I'm the cook ;-).

We hope you are all doing well and we would love to hear from you. Be blessed,

Phil and Genieve <')))><

Nav Conference in Winnipeg

2007-08-25T13:13:00.000-03:00

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Winnipeg at the National conference "Muddy Waters". We had a great time of fun and learning.

This is our guest speaker John Ridgway and his wife Ruth. We gave them Canadian hats to remember us by. He is from Australia and she is from the states. He spoke a lot about being an insider. His sessions were very interesting.

Taking a break between the talks. This is Roger a Nav staff in Winnipeg.

Our national director giving a small speech after winning this cup (I can't remember what they called it). He won it after falling asleep during a session. We all had a good laugh about it :-P

We got to go to Folklarama and be entertained by different shows from different cultures, this is the Greek pavillion. They were really good!

We got to visit a bit of the city while on a mission. My team had to interview folks on the street for a local radio station. We had to ask them "what makes a great neighbour?" and "If God were your neighbour, what would God be like?". We visited 2 streets. In Little Italy, people wanted neighbors to be friendly and there for you, but on one of the Main streets with lots of restaurants and tattoo parlours, people seemed to prefer having neighbours who were quiet and minded their own business. Very different from one street to the other.

Off to Winnipeg!

2007-08-05T19:22:00.000-03:00

We are leaving for Winnipeg at 6:30 am tomorrow morning. We will be there for The Navigators' National staff conference, our first! Please pray for safe travels for everyone to get there. And also pray for the workshops to be very helpful for the Nav staff.
We'll be getting back on Friday and we'll spend a few days in Moncton with family; Phil's parents will be down for a bit. Phil will be helping to chop some wood with his father and brother.

We hope to upload some pictures when we get back :-)

Happy Birthday to Me and Update

2007-07-27T10:56:00.000-03:00

Yesterday was my (Genieve) 24th birthday. I had a good day, meeting up with friends and talking to family on the phone :) The best part of my day though, was when I realised that it is better to give than to receive even on your birthday ;-) As I was walking downtown after meeting a friend for lunch, I saw a homeless man sitting on the sidewalk and without thinking twice, I gave him the rest of my lunch (it still had half of a club sandwich and half of my fries). It was a really cool experience, especially to see him look me in the eye, give me a big smile and say "Thank you so much".

I had a birthday supper with my family (parents, 2 brothers, BIL Nathanael, Phil and brother's GF Jen) last week at Pizza Hut. Phil and I were in Moncton for the weekend (I was actually there for the week) and so we went out for pizza and dessert pizza. It was good to be home for a few days. Phil preached at our Church in Moncton, Saint Andrew's Presbyterian Church, on Sunday morning. He did a great job! He talked about investing in a few. If I can get a copy and figure out how to put it on the computer, I'll put it up on this blog for you to hear. Here's a picture of Phil and I eating lunch with my mother and grandmother in Moncton last weekend.

Phil has been working as an English teacher for the month of July and today is his last day. They were having a small graduation ceremony today for the students and then they are all leaving this afternoon. We've been having a good Summer here in Fredericton. On Mondays we have a few people that come over to read the Bible together. We started by reading about Elijah and we are now well in II Kings. On Tuesdays, there has been a guys' Bible study happening on campus and then on the weekends, often people would go do some evangelism downtown.

In August we'll be preparing for this upcoming year. It's very exciting that we are staying here at least one more year as full time Navigator staff. It's a little scary to know that our co-worker and good friend Sam will be away this year, but we are confident that God will provide for us and help us to minister to the UNB and STU students.

I'll be starting a part time job at the end of August at a French daycare for the after school kids. That way we can start paying off our student loan debts, and since I am only working part time, I'll still be available to do Nav stuff.

Please keep praying for us as we get ready for this year and as the year starts. You can also pray for the Navigators' staff conference coming up in Winnipeg. We'll be there between August 6th and 10th. We'll then be spending a bit of time in Moncton before returning to Fredericton to get the year started. Thank you all for your support.

God bless :)

Homemade Goodness

2007-06-28T21:58:00.000-03:00

At the end of last Summer, my mother in law taught me how to sew on the sewing machine. Phil and I had just bought one, but I didn't know how to use one yet. She had the idea of giving me a sewing project: matching lounging pants for Phil and I. So we started working on them, but never finished them, until the other day when the urge to sew hit me. I was reminded that I never finished those pants. So I got everything I needed out and finished Phil's pair. When he got home that evening, he had a brand new pair of pants! I haven't started my pair yet, I'll save that for another sewing urge...hehehe.

So here is the final result:

I've been trying out some new recipes lately and one that I tried just yesterday was this:

Home made Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce. It was so rich and good. Here is the recipe if some of you would like to try it out:
8 ounces Cream cheese -- cut in bits
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese -- grated
1/2 cup Butter or margarine
1/2 cup Milk
8 ounces Fettuccine; cook -- drain
In large saucepan combine cream cheese, Parmesan, butter and milk, stirring constantly until smooth at low heat. Toss pasta lightly with sauce, coating well. Leftovers freeze well.

I also tried some homemade biscuits lat week. This is a recipe I got as part of a wedding present. We got a bunch of recipes in an album from friends and family. This one is from a woman at our Church in Moncton. They were sooo yummy. So I made another batch today and guess what we used them for....

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKES!!!!!!

This is one of my favourite things about Summer. I LOVE this dessert. We got some strawberries and whipping cream today at the grocery store and I couldn't help but make these for dessert tonight. The one above is Phil's and the mountain of a shortcake on the bottome here is mine :-)

Just thought we would share some of our homemade goodies with you all. Have a great day!

Pictures from Iowa

2007-06-20T12:39:00.000-03:00

So we showed you some pictures of our time in BC with our nieces, but we ahven't shown you any from our time in the States. So here are a few from Iowa, where we were for Justin and Jaime's wedding.

We stayed at a hotel the night before the wedding where a lot of the guests were staying. So, here we are having breakfats with Great Aunt Ruth. Phil's brother Nathanael joined us in Iowa too.

The wedding party at the reception. The lovely bride and groom are Jaime and Justin, and you can see at the far right, Justin's brothers Adam and Ivan. These are Judie's twin sister's boys. It was a very nice wedding.

At the house, Ivan was teaching Phil how to slack line, kinda like tight rope walking. He was able to keep his balance very well.

Visiting Great Aunt Ethel in Pontiac, Illinois. She is past 100 years old and still very much alive and well. We played cards with her. I won, of course ;-) and she came in 2nd place :-)

More pictures from our trip

2007-06-20T12:24:00.000-03:00

In Illinois at Duane (Judie's brother) and Jane's. We stayed there 2 nights on our way back from the wedding. This is the house where Judie grew up.

While in Dwight, Illinois, we visited the cemetery where Judie's parents are burried and put sme flowers in front of their grave.

We stopped in Kankakee, Illinois to put flowers on Ken's father's grave. There were a lot of flowers there because it was the day after Memorial day.

Here we are at Mike and Kathleen's (Ken's sister) in Rochester, New York. We stayed here for a night and got to see their beautiful garden in the morning.

Change

2007-06-12T20:09:00.000-03:00

So as you can see, our blog looks quite different. I thought it was time to change the look of this blog after almost a year on the net. Let us know what you think by commenting. Comments are always appreciated :-)

Pictures

2007-06-12T18:39:00.000-03:00

Here are a few of our favorite pictures of us with our nieces from our trip last month:

Phil and Sarah

Genieve and Molly on a swing

Story time with Phil's 2 favorite nieces

Genieve and Sarah in Victoria

More...

2007-06-12T18:36:00.000-03:00

Sarah and her uncle Phil

Genieve and Molly by the lake

All 4 of us on the ferry

What?

The wedding

2007-05-27T21:41:00.000-03:00

Justin and Jaime are now one! What a beautiful ceremony, totally focused on God. I don't have any wedding pictures right now, but here is a picture of them before they got married.

We had a great time at the wedding and visiting with all the family that came down. Most of them I had met before, but there were a few new faces for me to meet.

So we are still in Iowa City visiting with the Longs (Judie's twin sister's family). Since being here I have had the priviledge to experience, for the first time ever, a cream puff... so good :-p I also went to eat at Chilli's restaurant today, that was a first. Joyce asked me after Church where I would like to go for lunch and I said "any American restaurant that we don't have in Canada". So that's where we went. Tomorrow we will be off to Illinois to visit Judie's brother on the farm where they grew up. But before we head off we will visit an Amish town in Iowa. I am so excited! I have always wanted to visit an Amish area.

We will be back in New Brunswick this weekend. :-)

BC

2007-05-21T20:32:00.000-03:00

Well, it feels like I haven't updated in a while. We are really enjoying our time in BC with Chantal, Jeremy and the girls. We spent a week and a half in Powell River enjoying the unusually nice weather. We went on a couple hikes, diferent adventures and spent time with the family and their friends. Here we are with girls on a hike we did up Valentine Mountain.

On Saturday we woke up early and caught the early ferry to Vancouver Island and drove to Victoria stopping to hike up a few trails along the way. So we are now staying at Jeremy's mother's house and spending some time with her and also Eric, Phil's brother. Today we went on his boat for a ride... very fun! I took lots of picures of our trip, so I'll have to post some up when we get back in Fredericton at the beginning of June.

We head out on Wednesday morning for Chicago where Mom and Dad Anderson will pick us up to go to Justin's wedding. We are really enjoying this trip together; especially after spending more than a week apart!

And I did get Montreal stories from Phil and just to clarify things, he is not the one who lead a guy to the LORD during the trip, it was another Phil... hehehe.

Blessings.

And they're off...

2007-05-06T09:12:00.000-03:00

I woke up at 6am this morning to prepare breakfast for everyone who was leaving. They were all planning on leaving for 7am, but most people only got up around 6:45... So they left a little late and it was a bit sad to say goodbye to everyone after spending more than a week together. It has been such a joy to serve with these students. People have grown a lot this week and have really enjoyed ministering together.

Yesterday we did some street side evangelism downtown on Yonge street. We had paint boards set up and Sam, Chris and Josh each preached the message of the gospel one after the other. I saw one girl respond by taking a tract at the end of Chris' presentation... please keep her in your prayers. I missed Sam's preaching because not far from where we were set up, some Muslims had set up a table and were giving free pamphlets and Qu'rans. Myself and a student named Amanda went up to one of the guys and we ended up having a really long conversation about God. He shared with us first and then we asked him if we could share with him. It was very interesting and though he wasn't really open to understand the message of the gospel, this experience really made me realise that I know more than I thought about how to share with others. I have always been hesitant about sharing from the Bible because I am not always sure where certain verses are etc. But yesterday I did remember; not everything, but I felt that God was really helping me to know what I could share with this young man. It was a stretching experience for me since I had never shared my faith with a Muslim person before. I can't remember his name, but I will keep him in my prayers and feel free to join me in praying for him.
Then, we all went to help serve at a Sri Lankan youth group which was really fun. When we got back, we celebrated Chul's birthday and hung out together one last time. I will be going to a Korean Church this morning with Mindy and another student, Josh... it should be interesting.
And then I am off to Anise's place and we will patiently wait for Phil's arrival :-)

The Montreal group is going to the Church with whom they have been serving all week and staying at. They will be giving a report of how things went. I'm sure it will be a blessing to the Church to hear of all the experiences they have had. I heard that when Phil was doing some door to door stuff, he lead a guy to the LORD! Praise God! I am anxious to hear the full story when I see him.
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support for the Montreal and Toronto trips. We have really felt God moving here.

Now we can't wait to get to BC and visit Chantal, Jer and the girls on Tuesday!

Approaching the end of our trips

2007-05-04T16:20:00.000-03:00

We are now Friday, the last official ministry day of the Toronto and Montreal trips.

This trip to Toronto has been a really fun trip as well as a learning and growing experience for all of us. This morning and yesterday I got the opportunity to have a Bible study with an older Chinese couple at a university residence. They were so sweet and very eager to learn more about the Bible. The husband was a new believer but the wife had not made a decision yet. One of our international students came with me and helped out during the study. Anoher young man came today to join this study and he was also very interested in knowing more about the Bible. The student who came with me asked him at the end of the study if he was a believer and he said: "No, actually I am an atheist". We were both surprised at this answer since he was so interested and seemed to understand the gospel message. Please pray for this young Chinese man and the older couple as well.

What the students seem to be enjoying the most out of this trip are the visits to Somali homes. They are really building friendships with both the kids whom they are tutoring and the parents. I've also heard good comments on the Somalian tea... very sweet.

We got the opprtunity to go to a Church downtown during their drop-in time. The guys went on Wednesday and the girls went yesterday. It was very interesting and stretching for some to sit down and eat with a lot of homeless people and prostitutes. The students had good conversations with the people there and we had a good time.

I had a really good visit with my cousin Anise on Wednesday. We went out for coffee and had a long chat and then she came to help out with the supper preparations. Phil and I will be staying at her place in Misissauga on Sunday and Monday evenings before we fly out to BC!

Tomorrow we will be helping out at a Sri Lankan youth group which should really be fun. Our students will be helping out in leading small group Bible studies, ice breaker games and worship.
I think the Montreal group will be doing something touristy tomorrow, but I'm not sure what. I heard that at least one person has come to Christ through the Montreal trip. Praise God!

Only 2 more days until Phil and I get to see each other again :-D

Montreal Update

2007-05-01T14:42:00.002-03:00

I got to talk to Phil this morning and he said that things are going well in Montreal. They have been learning a lot of evangelism skills, so this might be a little overwhelming for some of the students. Please pray that the students can learn and apply these skills well and not become overwhelmed by the amount of things they are learning right now.
Yesterday, they did some rope tricks that explain the gospel (in English) while Phil translated into French. Only some of the students can speak French, so that's another thing we can pray about... that there wouldn't be too many language barriers. They are ministering to a very multicultural area, so there could be quite a bit of people who speak English.
They haven't done any door to door things yet, but I think they will be starting that today. So please pray for boldness and really great encounters with people.
:-)

Greetings from Toronto!

2007-04-30T19:00:00.000-03:00

Hi All! Well our group made it to Toronto on Friday and we have been having a good time getting to know eachother. We spent the weekend visiting Toronto, learning about the Somali people and learning evangelism skills. Yesterday we had fun at a Blue Jays game and some people got to practice their tract and rope trick skills.

Today was the first official day doing ministry work. Most of the girls went to help out at an ESL class in the morning, the other girls and myself lead a Bible study for Chinese women. We only had one Chinese woman show up and one Japanese woman. One of the students is Japanese, so they had a great time discussing the Bible together.
The guys spent some time doing surveys on campus and helping out at a homework club in an elementary school.
As I am writing this, the rest of the group is out visiting some Somali families ion their homes and tutoring the kids with their homework.
This is pretty much what the rest of the week will look like, plus some teaching times and debriefing. So please keep praying for us.
The meals have been a hit so far... We are having enough food for everyone, even having a bit of leftovers :-)
I haven't heard from Phil since he's arrived in Montreal (yesterday), but I am hoping to talk to him tonight and get an update on how things are going there.
Thank you for partnering up with us on this trip.
We love you and may God bless you,
Genieve :-)

Leaving today!

2007-04-26T09:51:00.000-03:00

I leave today in about 2 hours for TO! Phil will be home alone for a couple of days and then he will leave on Sunday to get to Montreal.
I don't think we mentioned that after these trips, we will be traveling some more. First, Phil will join me in Toronto and we will fly out to BC to visit Chantal (Phil's sister) and her family. We'll stay there for 2 weeks! After that, we are heading down to Iowa to attend Phil's cousin's wedding and visit some family. We are also hoping to stay in Boston for a few days with Mom and Dad Anderson. We'll then take a bus from Boston to Fredericton.
So, we won't be home for over a month, but we will have a couple people staying at our apartment and making sure our plant gets water. This should be a fun trip!
God bless :-)

Global Gateways

2007-04-20T12:43:00.000-03:00

In a week, Phil and I , along with students and other Nav staff, will be going to missions trips in Canada.
I (Genieve) will be going to Toronto with fellow UNB/STU Nav staff Sam, Ontario staff Chris and around 15 students for 9 days. It will be very similar to last year's trip that we had gone to (picture at right). We will be doing surveys on campus, leading Bible studies, helping to teach English as a second language to immigrants from all over the world, doing cold contact evangelism, tutoring Somali children with their homework and more. We will all be staying at a house in Etobicoke doing some urban camping. I am responsible for all the meals, so I guess I'll be spending lots of time in the kitchen. I will also be involved in leading a Chinese Bible study for women.

At the same time, Phil will be going to Montreal with fellow Nav staff Ragnar (UNB & Maritime campuses) and Ron (SMU Halifax) along with 10 students. They will be partnering up with a local Church, Eglise Baptiste de Rosemont, in doing a Church plant in a very multi-cultural neighborhood. They will be doing a lot of knocking on doors and approaching people to invite them to a Church breakfast at the end of the week. Most of the students who are going know at least some French, but since they will be witnessing in a very multi-cultural area, many people will know English or might not even be able to communicate in English or French. There is a student who speaks Arabic and one who speaks Vietnamese, so they might have the opportunity to share in those languages. They will all be staying at the church also doing some urban camping.

Things you can pray for:

Final preparations this week
Safe travels for everyone (most of us will be traveling by car, some by bus)
Students to really bond during the week
Great weather (since we will be outdoors sharing with people quite a bit)
God to show up in amazing ways
Fears of talking to strangers and sharing the gospel to be overcome
That God would prepare the hearts of those we will be ministering to
That we would be able to see God's hand at work in Toronto and Montreal
For many people to come out to the Church breakfast in Montreal
For the staff to be sensitive to what students are experiencing (good debriefing times)
For the family we will be staying with in Toronto, the Parks. They have 2 children.
And please pray that Phil and I won't miss each other too much. This will be the longest time we will have been apart.

Please let us know if you would like to pray for us. We would love to have people praying during the whole week that we are away. The Toronto Global Gateway will be from April 27th to May 6th. Montreal is from April 29th to May 6th. We will try to keep this blog updated during the week, but no promises. So check back once in a while for prayer requests and how the trips are going. Here is another picture from last year's trip, most of the participants are in this photo.

May God bless you.

Phil's Birthday!

2007-04-11T15:24:00.000-03:00

On Wednesday, March 28, Phil hit the quarter of a century mark! He requested to have his favorite meal for supper, Shepherd's Pie, or as we call it Pâté Chinois. I made him one of his favorite cakes, wacky cake with a chocolate mint frosting, yum... The kitchen was a little smoky after he blew out all of those candles!

After supper, we played some Mario Kart on the Nintendo that we borrowed from my parents. I let him win one race ;-)

And one present that Phil really wanted for his birthday was LEGO. So I found some Legos and we had fun experimenting with them. Here is the little guitar player that we made together.

Then on Saturday, a bunch of people came over to celebrate! Our friend Karen made this wonderful chocolate cake with cheesecake pieces inside. It was fabulous.

When they saw the Legos, everyone wanted to play with them!!! We also played a bit of Nintendo together and ended up playing UNO for a couple hours. We had balloons everywhere! It was a really fun birthday party. One of our friends said that she felt like she was at a 12 year old's birthday party... she had a blast! We all did!

Phil's birthday

2007-03-28T14:40:00.001-03:00

HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY PHILIPPE!!!

Gardner Webb Missions Trip to UNB/STU

2007-03-15T12:04:00.000-03:00

After a relaxing March Break (where Phil was down with the flu most of the time) we got right back on campus with some new faces. A small group of students from Gardner Webb, a Christian university in North Carolina, came to Fredericton to minister to students on the UNB and STU campuses. We got to give them a tour of the campus, pray with them and help them to approach students while they were here. We had a great 3 days with them and we had to say goodbye yesterday. It is so neat that we can meet these total strangers and just start praying with them; that because of Jesus we have brothers and sisters all over the world.
Sam taught the team how to do the 5 question survey and they tried it out and did a great job!

Here are a few pictures from yesterday at lunch time:

Myself, Anna, Kara and Heidi (a STU student)

Tyler (a STU student) Rachel, Noelle and Sam

Walking together after doing a few surveys.

Back from the Farm

2007-03-05T13:50:00.000-04:00

The snow was starting to get heavier when we left on Friday to go to PEI and we weren't sure if we were going to make it. 3 people backed out because of the weather, so instead of driving up with 3 cars, we were able to squeeze everyone in 2. We decided to drive up to the highway and see how the road conditions were. Once we got there, it wasn't too bad, so we went for it.

We all got to the farm safe and sound, but a bit later than we were expecting. The Passion movie was on the schedule for that evening, but it was pretty late to do that, so we had a snack, visited a bit and went to bed. Saturday we started the meditations on the cross. It went really well. We had debriefing times after each session (a girls group and a guys group). After doing 2 sessions we went outside to visit the farm.

The lambs were the biggest hit. The pigs on the other hand... not so much. This lamb seemed to really like Phil's touch.

We really had a good time together singing hymns, eating, meditating, chatting and praying. Phil got sick though. He had a bit of a fever, sore throat and cough. So I took up the leadership yesterday for the debriefing time in his place.

When we left, the driveway was quite muddy and our car had a bit of trouble getting up the hill, but she made it :-)

We got back to Fredericton last night. So March break is here and it will be a good week to relax and for Phil to get better.

Stations of the Cross

2007-03-02T10:33:00.000-04:00

March break starts today and so we are bringing a few students to PEI at The Shepherd's Farm for a weekend retreat. Phil came up with the curriculum of the weekend: meditating on the stations of the cross. This is a catholic tradition and we think it will be good for us and the students to focus on what Jesus went through on his last day on earth. As it is the Lent season and all, we thought it would be a good way to prepare our hearts for Easter weekend too.

We do have one concern right now and that is that there is a storm coming our way, so we are praying that we will be able to get out of Fredericton and stay safe on the road. Please pray for safe travels and for everyone to be able to get into meditation mode once we get there.

So next week, Phil and I will have a good relaxing week. We only have one commitment and that is the Alpha course on Tuesday evening, so we are thinking of maybe going away for a day or 2 somewhere (not sure where yet though).
We'll update on the weekend when we get back :-)

You did WHAT in our living room?

2007-03-01T10:42:00.000-04:00

Last week, we went to Church in the morning and bumped into Tim Cross, a guy that we met on a couple retreats a few years ago. He and Phil had really connected in the past and so they were very happy to see each other. He is studying at Acadia University and was in Fredericton for the beginning of his March break. He just ended up coming to our Church not knowing that we go there.

Anyway, we invited him and his girlfriend Kathryn to come over for supper at our place. They did and we had a lovely evening with them. Phil and I unfortunately had to leave early to go to a Church meeting, so we told them that they could stay at our place for a while until we got back home, or until Tim's sister got back from her movie (they were going to see her after us).
Our meeting ran a bit late and when we got home, they were already gone :-(

But, when we got home, we found this (click on the picture to enlarge it if you want to read it) :

They had left us a note and some washed dishes :-) In the note, they thanked us for a lovely evening and they had a PS saying that they got engaged in our living room while we were gone. WHAT??? That's right folks, Tim proposed to Kathryn in our living room!!! How hilarious is that?

Anyway, we really don't know any more details about that evening, but we found out that they are getting married in May; however, we can't make it out because we are already going to Phil's cousin Justin's wedding the day before in Iowa. But we will try to see them before Tim goes to New Zealand (hopefully with Kathryn) to work in a gold mine... pretty cool Summer job eh?

Congratulations Tim and Kathryn. We are so happy for you.

What a cute couple.

DAL Retreat

2007-02-16T15:23:00.000-04:00

Phil and I got the privilege to attend a student retreat that wasn't our own on the first weekend of February. We were supposed to go to Halifax on Wednesday and hang out there for a while, but we had car troubles and weren't able to get the car started in order to go. So we ended up renting a car for the trip and we left on Thursday. On our way down there, we got off an exit to get a snack for the road and look what we bumped into. A huge blueberry!!!

We had a nice visit with Kevin and his family (where we stayed). Kevin is the NAV staff who was organizing this retreat for the DAL students. Phil and I were both going to be small group facilitators. We also got to visit the Abarbanels in Halifax.
The retreat was being held at a convent/retreat center in Pictou, NS. It was really nice. The whole weekend was about getting into the Bible. So there were 3 groups to choose from: the life of David, Ecclesiastes and Hebrews. I was leading the life of David with another student. We spent almost all day Saturday reading 1/2 of I Samuel and all of II Samuel and then talking about it. Phil lead the Ecclesiastes group, which went really well. No one in the group had ever read Ecclesiastes before.

On Saturday evening, we let loose and played "The Game" which led to lots of water being spilled on the floor and some crazy dance moves. We all had fun. Here I am trying to get my water into Caleb's cup (Kevin's son). We weren't allowed to touch the cup with our hands...

And the dance moves...

I think Kevin's daughter Abby is trying to get my hair color or something...

I got to read her 2 bedtime stories on Thursday evening and put her to bed. :-)

The whole group. What a fun weekend.

Congrats Adam and Angie!

2007-02-15T15:00:00.000-04:00

Phil's cousin Adam got married a few weeks ago (January 26) in beautiful Colorado.
We weren't able to go, but the rest of the family did get to go. Here is everyone with the lovely couple.

We sure wish we could have been there, but we had ministry obligations here in Canada. We did get a DVD of the wedding ceremony and part of the reception hand delivered the next day by Phil's brother Nathanael who stayed with us for the first time in Fredericton. We had a good visit with him and even got a phone call from Mom and Dad and the groom still in Colorado. Adam was quite impressed that we were already seeing his wedding on TV just 24 hours after the event.

Molly even got to have a second birthday celebration. This time with more family. She turned 2 in January. We got to speak to her on the phone on that day. I think she was speaking at us more than to us :-)

And Sarah got to meet the extended family. Look how gorgeous she is.

People went out skiing during their trip there. The mountains just look so beautiful. I think Mom and Dad took that opportunity to take care of their granddaughters.

Adam's brother Justin is getting married in May and we are really looking forward to going to that one. We won't have campus ministry obligations by then, 'cause school will be over :-)
Hope to see everyone there.

21 Days of Prayer and Fasting

2007-01-26T12:42:00.000-04:00

Since last Monday, we have been praying and fasting for revival on our campus. We are doing this along with a few students. A bunch of people are doing this for their own campuses at the same time. There is a prayer guide and everything brought together by SMV2 (Student Volunteer Movement 2). Each of us has decided what kind of fasting we will do. Some are fasting during the day time, others are skipping one meal a day or taking out a certain type of food in their diet (meat, caffeine, sweets, etc.). I think we also have one student who's doing a media fast.
I am finding this time of prayer and fasting to be very good and it is totally strengthening my relationship with God and the others whom I'm praying with when we get the chance to get together.
During this fast, Phil shaved his head to mourn... just kidding. Well, he did shave his head, the length was actually an accident. He forgot to adjust the length on the razor after his friend Micah got his hair cut with it. I like it though :-)
So please pray for this time of prayer and fasting... we are only on day 5 of 21. This ends on February 12th. So pray that we would all be able to make it 'til the end and that our hearts would be unified and that we would follow God's leading for the work on this campus.

A New Semester!

2007-01-25T14:26:00.000-04:00

So the second semester of our internship has begun and we are trying to finalize our ministry schedules. A girl from a local Church wanted to lead a video series called H2O in one of the girls' residences and so I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to meet some of the girls there and get in the residence. The first night we got 6 girls who came, but the next 2 weeks, no one showed up. It was disappointing that it didn't work out, but I at least got to meet 6 girls that I could bump into on campus and strike up a conversation with. So we are still going to watch the video in the res and if no one shows up, then we can get to know each other (there are 4 of us who want to do this). So we'll do that on Sunday afternoons right before Phil and Sam go play basketball at the STU gym.
Here is the rest of our schedule for now (Please pray for these different events):
On Monday evenings I will lead the girls' Bible study again. There are a few new girls who are planning on joining our group, so that's exciting! There is also a potential Bible study that will be happening in the afternoon geared towards seekers and young believers.
Tuesday evenings, Phil and I are leading a small group in the Alpha course. This is happening at a couples' house from Church who live down our street. One of our student leaders is leading a prayer time in the afternoon on campus. There is also a guys study happening in the evening.
On Wednesdays, we are hosting our regular radio show at 9:30 in the morning and at 10:45, I am leading a prayer time where we will be praying for different nations every week. Yesterday was our first meeting and it went really well. In the afternoon there is a time of "Talking with strangers about God" and then in the evening, Phil is helping out with a Bible study with an evangelistic approach in a residence with one of our student leaders.
On Thursdays, we have early morning prayer at 7:00 am... it is quite early, but we do have a few people out every week. There is a Chinese Bible study led by Sam that happens in the evening as well as other ministries having meetings like the University Alpha and Intervarsity where we can always drop in.
Every other Friday evening we have a big group event normally at Sue and Ragnar's house. This weekend we will be having 2 speakers who will speak on the Word. We are trying to go through the different parts of the wheel illustration.
Every other Saturday, we have our student leadership team meeting. And every week, the boys meet for breakfast at a local restaurant...they call it "Grease with God and the guys".

So that pretty much sums up our set schedules, I hope I didn't forget anything... On top of that we have our Navigator meetings twice a week with Ragnar and Sam (and sometimes Charlie), plus meeting with students individually (either for lunch or a one on one Bible study), and reading books that are a part of our curriculum. It looks like we'll be pretty busy, but not too much. Please continue to pray for us and this ministry; prayer is much needed for this campus and campuses all over the world.

We got a snow storm last Friday... Here we are taking a walk after the big snow fall.

Video

2007-01-08T13:50:00.000-04:00

Watch this video that Phil took over the Holidays. The video shows my father and my cousin playing the Nintendo Wii... You can hear the rest of us playing Mad Gab in the background.

Christmas

2007-01-07T20:36:00.000-04:00

What a fun time we had this Christmas!
We left for Moncton only 2 days after arriving from the Prayer Summit in Ontario. We went down with some friends, Sam, Adam and his sisters Julie and Emily. Myself and the girls spent a day at the mall when we got to Moncton. They had some Christmas shopping to do and I tagged along while the boys went to visit their good friend Nick who was back from Alberta. In the evening we went to visit our good friend renée who is expecting a baby in May :-)
Here is a picture of the boys at Reneé's house.

We also had the priviledge of spending some time with our good friends Micah and Katie. We all went out to eat at Montana's (thanks to gift certificate $). Micah's parents also hosted an International Family Fun Day (I think that's what they called it...) in Saint-John, so we went out to that and had a great time.

On Christmas eve, we went at my parents' place in Cap-Pelé where I grew up. Phil's parents came up from boston to join us there. Phil's brother and our friend Devin came too. We had a great turkey dinner and opened our presents there. We had a blast playing games like Mad Gab and trying out the new Nintendo Wii that someone brought.
Here are the "kids" eating their Christmas dinner.

We spent Christmas day in Moncton at the Anderson house. It was a pretty relaxed day. In the evening we went to visit my grandmother, which was good 'cause I hadn't seen her in a while. Here we are after our first game of Travel Scrabble.

My Cousin Evar got married during the holidays, but I was sick with a flu...so I only got to go to the reception. I'm still feeling a bit under the weather, but gaining more and more strength every day. We had some friends come over to the house in Moncton to play some games on New Year's eve... We had a good time... and I lost my voice that night... That's what happens when you try to force yourself to talk when you have a sore throat I guess.

Phil's parents got to spend 2 nights with us in our apartment. They hadn't seen it yet, so that was pretty special. :-)

Back From Ontario

2006-12-18T21:58:00.000-04:00

So we have made it back from our road trip to Ontario. Our week was really great. It was really cool to meet around 60 Navigator staff at the Prayer Summit.

We are arriving in the Province of Quebec in this picture...notice the snow. So Phil and Sam took turns driving and I would switch from the front to the back seat. We listened to some audio books and we brought a bunch of CD's to listen to as well, like the soundtrack for The Village, the soundtrack for Fiddler On The Roof (a favourite of Sam's), Johnny Cash and much more...

We stayed at my Aunt Lisette's place in Montreal on the way there and had a wonderful evening with my uncle's relatives. Sunday morning we went to a Church that will be hosting us during the Montreal Global Gateway in May. It was a great Church and we got to go out to lunch with one of the elders in training. His name is Amen, what a great name! We had a great time with him. We then stayed in Toronto at The Parks (this is where we stayed last May for Global Gateway).

The Prayer Summit was a great experience. We just prayed for 5 days, no other agenda. It was really neat, I believe it brought some unity among the group. We were staying at a beautiful spot in Ontario in Jackson's Point. It was a Salvation Army conference centre. It was pretty much a hotel that served you every meal. Check out the nice lounge area.

After the summit, we were on the road again. Us maritimers aren't very used to this kind of city traffic, but God protected us on the busy streets and highways. Notice, no more snow...

We made a couple stops before heading home. We stayed in Toronto again and got to visit my cousin Anise, who had just gotten engaged the night before!!! If you look closely at this picture, you can see the ring.

We then stayed in Quebec city with the Gretillats before our long treck to Fredericton. It feels good to be back, but we are going on a shorter road trip tomorrow... Destination: Moncton!
We are going home for the Holidays! We'll be celebrating with both families this year. My parents are just outside of Moncton and Phil's parents are coming up from Boston. It's so exciting!

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Leaving for Ontario on Saturday

2006-12-07T21:42:00.000-04:00

So early Saturday morning, Phil, Sam and I are going on a road trip!!! We are going to Ontario for a Prayer summit. It should be a good week. We'll be stopping by my aunt's place in Montreal and we'll visit a few other friends on the way... I'm very excited, I love road trips. And the facilities where we are going look really cool. A lot of the Canadian Navigator staff workers will be there. So it will be neat to be there with all those people who work in ministry. We'll also be getting in touch with a Church who will be hosting us in May for our Global Gateway student program. Global Gateway is a week of missions in a city. Last year we did it in Toronto for the first time, and it went so well that this year we are having 2 Global Gateways, one in To again and one in Montreal. Of course Phil and I will be going to Montreal because we both fluently speak French.
Anyway, gotta start packing up. I just made some homemade pumpkin muffins for the trip :-)

We've Got Curtains!

2006-12-01T16:59:00.000-04:00

The air is getting colder here in Fredericton and our apartment is starting to feel it, so we decided to put some plastic on our windows to stop cold air from coming in. But... What about our blinds? They are going to touch the plastic and be in the way. Solution: Curtains. But curtains are so expensive (even at Zellers) so we decided to put our sewing skills to the test and make some homemade curtains. We found some fabric at the local Fabricville and in total it cost us $20 for 6 windows worth of fabric. Not bad considering that the cheapest curtains at Zellers were $20 per window.

We needed a lot of team work to get these done. We were working together on the ironing board to get a nice pleat. I got on the sewing machine first (I just learned how to use it this past summer...Thanks Mom A). I had a bit of a hard time keeping a straight line though.

So Phil tried and he was very good at it. So that became his job. I ironed the curtains and he sewed.

And voila! We got 2 brown colored curtains for the living room, 2 green ones for the kitchen, 1 brown one for the bedroom and a blue one for the blue bathroom.

Done, now all we have to do is put that plastic up...

In Moncton

2006-11-24T18:23:00.000-04:00

We got the opportunity to go back to Moncton and be a part of an all day music day at Church. We both sang with the praise team first thing in the morning and then Phil and I played together in the afternoon.

There were lots of different bands and different musical styles. It was a fun filled day! We got to spend some time with family and friends and catch up with people from our Church back home. It was great. And thanks to Micah and Katie for letting us stay over at their place. It was great to spend some time with you.

And don't be shy to comment. I see from the counter that we are very close to getting One Thousand hits to this blog. We know people are visiting this page. Let us know what you think. May God bless you.

Halifax

2006-11-10T16:59:00.000-04:00

We went to Saint Mary's University in Halifax a couple weeks ago for another one of Ragnar's presentations of The Divine Conspiracy. Our job for the couple days leading to the presentation was to meet students and invite them out. We did surveys with them and even had a video camera to capture their responses to our questions about what they thought of the Bible and spiritual things. Here are 2 students that helped us out with the video interviews.

Phil even did a dramatic skit with another student Victor. They got the attention of everyone in the cafeteria. They had a (pretend) fight about the Bible and at the end they announced the presentation. Students laughed as they realised the whole thing was set up. One guy told Phil that he was a really good actor, because he was ready to punch him for being so rude...sheesh.

The presentation went well as Ragnar explained how the Bible came to us and why it can be reliable.

Driving back home on Thursday evening, we stopped by Mount A in Sackville again to eat supper with some students we know there and their friends. Ragnar presented the bridge illustration to them. It was a fun time.
Thank you to the Abarbanels and their neighbors for your hospitality during our time in Halifax. We had a great time with the kids.

We have a new niece!

2006-10-29T13:28:00.000-04:00

Sarah Lillian Prouse was born yesterday morning at 4:45 to Jeremy and Chantal (Phil's sister). This is their second child; Molly will be turning 2 in January. We are very excited to have another niece. Welcome to the world Sarah!

We have our own Radio Show!!!

2006-10-17T20:36:00.000-03:00

We did our on air demo today at the campus radio station and we found out that our show proposal got accepted. Our time slot will be on Wednesday mornings from 9:30 to 10:30. We start tomorrow!
You can listen to it live online at http://www.unb.ca/chsr/home.html
We'll be playing mostly Christian music, but music that doesn't get a lot of exposure on radio stations. We'll play stuff like Keith Green, Steve Bell, Johnny Cash, local christian bands and more. Listen if you get the chance. Hope you'll enjoy it.
:-)

Men's/Women's Bible Study Night

2006-10-16T21:45:00.000-03:00

Phil and I both lead Bible studies on Monday nights. He leads the women's study and I lead the men's... Okay maybe not... I stick with the women and he sticks with the men, I think it's probably better that way :-)
It's good to have a night with women who want to grow in their faith. I'm sure Phil feels the same way about his guys' study. In the women's group, we are studying different women of the Bible every week. That wasn't the case tonight though, we just ended up talking about what was going on in our lives. It was really good. I saw that you don't need to follow a Bible study plan to get people to open up and be honest. Sometimes we don't need to follow a structure, not that structure is bad, it's just not always necessary. If people are willing to open up and share what is going on in their lives, we need to create an atmosphere for that and bring an opportunity for it. Anyway, all that to say that I had a really good evening with the girls. Phil isn't home yet, so I don't know how it went for him... I should get him to blog soon ;-)
We are both learning a lot about ministry here in Fredericton. Learnng about leading, serving, praying, studying... Everything about full time ministry work. It is a challenge at times, but it is a great experience... and it's still only begun. We've only been here for a month and a half, but the term is already half way through... time is going by oh so fast.
So this thursday, I believe we are going to another campus to do The Divine Conspiracy Presentation. We will be in Sackville, NB at Mount Allison University. Hopefully we'll be going by Moncton and maybe drop in to see some friends.

Oh, and tomorrow, we are doing our first On Air radio show. It's just a demo, our show hasn't been approved yet, but we get to practice doing a live show. I believe you can listen to it on the Internet. Look up CHSR 97.9 FM on google and you might hear us between 3 and 4 pm tomorrow.
Please keep praying for us, that God will use us as He wills and that this would be an experience of growth for both Phil and I.
Sorry, no pictures in this post... I think this is actually the first post that we have put up without any pictures. Oh well. We can't get pictures of everything eh?
Love.

Steve Bell

2006-10-11T15:04:00.000-03:00

We have had the priviledge to go see Steve Bell in concert 2 weeks ago at a local church in right outside of Fredericton. When we got there, we saw a couple of familiar faces and we got to sit with them :-)
This is the second time that we have seen him live and he is so good. If you don't know him, he's a Christian singer/song writer/guitarist from Manitoba. Both concerts that we went to felt very intimate. Steve tells a lot of stories that are associated with his songs and he'll often perform in small buildings; this totally gives an intimate feel to the show. The first time we saw him was 4 years ago at ABU in Moncton with my parents. We have been listening to his music a lot lately and we will definately be playing his music on our (potential) radio show with the university station (we'll keep you posted on that...).
So, if you like acoustic guitar and pretty mellow music, you'll probably like Steve Bell, we sure do.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2006-10-08T20:43:00.000-03:00

What a great visit we just had with our family (Genieve's side). My parents, my 2 brothers, a friend from home and a student at STU all came over for a Thanksgiving meal. It is Thanksgiving here in Canada this weekend and I had the opportunity to cook my very first turkey dinner. I was very excited about this, so I decided to do a lot of home made cooking, like cranberry sauce. Mmmm...

The meal was great: Turkey, carrots, potatoes, squash, brocoli, asparagus, cranberry sauce, gravy, cheese sauce and of course, a home made dessert: pumpkin roll (a real hit). Most of the recipes I followed come from a great recipe website called recipe zaar.

After the meal, the boys decided to go in the living room and play some music with Phil's numerous musical instruments.

After the table was cleared, we had a fun time playing a game of Apples to Apples. It was really great to have family over at our apartment. Only my mother had seen our place when we first moved in. We miss having family near by and we really enjoy hosting people, so this was really special for us.

Happy thanksgiving y'all. We are very thankful for the many things that the Lord has blessed us with.

Back from PEI

2006-10-07T21:13:00.000-03:00

The student retreat in PEI was really great. Thank you for your prayers. The whole weekend was a time of learning, reflexion and fun. We learned on the subject of world missions and on what it means to be a disciple: someone who is totally sold out for God. We had students from Fredericton, Halifax and Sackville, NB come out for this event.

Here we are playing a game of Ultimate Frisbee. Sam and Phil seem to be fighting for the disk.

Renee and her husband Harry were our cooks for the weekend. They also had help from students to prepare a few meals and to clean up afterwards. Here they are busy preparing supper for Saturday evening.

We always like taking group pictures at retreats, so here we are: students, staff and campus questers (us). We had really great weather the whole time, except when driving up, it was quite rainy. God really worked in the lives of some of the students during this weekend, it was really great to see.
Phil and I stayed in PEI until Tuesday with 2 staff. We had a presentation on Monday at UPEI on The Divine Conspiracy, a presentation on the validity of the Bible. We spent all day on Monday telling students about it on campus. We also got to spend some time on the Shepherd's Farm. We really enjoy being at the farm; Phil actually lived there for one whole summer about 4 years ago.

We had really nice views to admire God's creation as we drove on the island to go back home.

The Mouk Story

2006-10-04T19:15:00.000-03:00

Check out this awesome video at http://video.google.ca/videosearch?q=mouk+story
It's about how "the Mouk tribe of Papua New Guinea respond dramatically to the Gospel. You will be captivated by some of the most up-to-date missions methods in use today -- the chronological Bible teaching. This is a powerful story of the Mouk people's journey from murderous sorcery and deceit to a life-changing understanding of what God did for them."
Click on the link and you'll find a 2 minute video and a 10 minute video. The 2 minute video speaks oh how the Mouk people were reached, but you'll see in the 10 minute version how they were reached, then went off to spread the news to neighboring villages. What an awesome story!

PEI Retreat this weekend!

2006-09-28T16:39:00.000-03:00

Tomorrow we leave for a weekend retreat for students in PEI. It should be quite exciting. One whole weekend next to the ocean is going to be great. Here is where we will be. This is a picture of last year's Fall retreat.

Please pray that many students will come out and experience God there. We will be having talks, workshops, free time, games, great food prepared by Renee and Harry (with baby Stam on the way!), lots of stuff. I will be leading a workshop on living simply and Phil will be leading one on how to be an insider. It should be quite interesting...we're still working on them. I'm learning a lot just planning this workshop.
Phil and I will be staying in PEI a few days longer at The Shpherd's Farm with Raganr and Charlie (our Navigator leaders in Fredericton). Ragnar will be doing a presentation at UPEI on The Divine Conspiracy. He did it last week at UNB with a pretty good turn out. So we'll be helping out for that. You can get more info on it at: http://navscanada.gospelcom.net/info_detail.php?SessionID=&id=67
Hope you have a great weekend.

A Tour of our Apartment

2006-09-22T22:22:00.000-03:00

So you've seen our kitchen in our last post, so now we will show you the rest of our apartment. An important part of a house: The Bathroom. Small but very nice.

Our colorful bedroom, also small but nice and cozy. I love how the walls in our apartment aren't plain white, we've got all sorts of colors. :-)

Our living room, pretty messy at the moment. You'll notice our new garage sale find: 25$ for a futon! We have great big windows in our living room and our kitchen, it's great!

And a little corner in our big kitchen: our office and linen storage area.

So if you're ever in the area, please stop by our place for a visit. We would love to have you over. Then you can get the real feel of our place. Love.

Moving Day!

2006-09-21T22:30:00.000-03:00

We moved to Fredericton on the first weekend of September. Phil went to get a U-Haul truck early Friday morning, and came back with something way bigger than we had expected. Almost twice the size we had ordered. You can see the front end of the truck in this picture of Phil playing one last time with our next door neighbor Max. They played Wacky Ball!

Finally we made it to Fredericton on Saturday and when we got there we had a friend waiting at our apartment to help us move. Thanks, Karen! The boys (Phil, Sam and Phill) unpacked the truck and the girls (Myself, my mom, and Karen) would find a spot for it inside. Once the boys were done unpacking, we brought the U-Haul back. Here you can see Phil driving away, and see how big it was. Way bigger than what we needed, but the place had run out of the size we wanted, so they just gave us this one at the same rate. My mom, stayed over night with us for our first night there. She helped us out a lot with organising the apartment and cleaning dishes and stuff. We got to open a bunch of wedding presents that we hadn't used back in Moncton yet. It was great to finally be able to use our own stuff, like dishes.

Once we got pretty much settled in, Phil decided he needed a project: change the fridge handles to the other side of the fridge! Here he is hard at work with his tools.

And voila! Our new kitchen with the fridge handles on the right side. I have to admit it is less of a hassle to get something out of the fridge now that Phil changed the handles.

Our New Blog!

2006-09-19T15:57:00.000-03:00

Welcome to our new blog! This is our first blog together. I (Genieve) have had a blog for a couple years at www.genevason.blogspot.com, but we wanted to create a blog where people could get updates on us and our ministry at UNB/STU with the Navigators. We moved to Fredericton in early September and will be staying here for at least one year being trained in Campus ministry through The Navigators.
We hope you enjoy our blog and please feel free to comment so that we can stay in touch with you. Lots of love,
Genieve and Phil