please pray

hey everyone. as you probably know i am having a hard time being here .. i feel like i confused gods calling with my own desires to come to ireland. and i am not at peace being here. a couple days ago the girls here though ti was demon possed and was being attacked and needed to have major prayer to get the demons out of me.. well i can tell you i am not demon possed. and the fact they say that just makes it harder being away.. sometimes i wish i was back home. please pray that it gets better cause this will be the hardest time if i am constantly feeling like i shouldnt be here and wanting to come home.. thanks.

i uploaded pictures on my facebook.. feel free to take a look. lov eyou all. miss you very much.

love brooke

just a quick note

hey everyone .. Ireland is amazing.. i had a good flight.. had 3 seats to myself so i claimed them and tried to sleep. i am doing good.i miss home quite a bit.. but i know god is gonna do amazing things. we did some orientation today and will be doing that fro the next 3 days then we start lectures and stuff so it will be good. sorry this note had to be short because i have so many emails to reply to.. thanks for all your support. i cant wait to tell you all about whats god has going on.. love you talk to you soon;)
p.s i have amazing dts students with me.. and the landscape here is amazing. .. really pretty..

leaving. . . for real.

these past few weeks have been a blur.. i dont know how it went from being 47 days .. to 32 days.. to 12 days till i leave. its crazy. seems like it was only a couple days ago i was filling out the application and praying to be accepted. .

well, naturally, i am nervous... scared.. for sure i have thought over my decision to go,.. contemplating if i am making the right choice.. leaving my family. boyfriend and every thing i know and love for 7 months.. where i will have to meet and make friends with new people, be under the care of people i have only known threw brief email conversations. . but most of all put my whole life in God's hands and completely trust him. . And after many tears, prayer and talks i have decided this is something i need to do.. i am so excited to see what God has in store for me.

this will probably be the last blog i write until i am actually over in ireland... and when i am over there i dont know how often i will get to write. . but please continue to pray for me.. for my safety, that i will connect well with my leaders and team mates . .

i remember when i was going on my trip to colombia our team had to memorize a few verses from James.. and now that i look back on these verses i think they work well for my time in ireland.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. ⁶But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

the scariest thing is realizing that i am leaving .. for real . ..

And here come the nerves

32 days.. 32 days.. 32 days.. its coming so fast. a couple days ago i picked up my visa from the post office.. i was happy to hear that i had not been rejected and that i am now legal to be in the UK until September 11 2010. As soon as i got my visa and dad got home from work we hopped online and checked out ticket prices.. they were pretty good and soon i had received an email from British Airways confirming my flight.. January 19 2010 at 815 pm. . arriving in London England January 20 2010 around noon.. after a 3 hour lay over in London i will board a plane headed for Belfast North Ireland where will be picked up by members from YWAM North Ireland.

Its been a few days since i booked my ticked and its sinking in... soon i will be leaving everything i know. and traveling .. by myself.. to a country i know very little about. I am excited and nervous.. very nervous. i have never been over seas without anyone i know.. i have never been away from my family for more than a month .. and during that time i have been able to call frequently.. when i am in ireland everything will be different. i wont be able to call home regularly, i wont be around anyone that i know. I am leaving my family, my boyfriend and my friends.. and i am scared.

I know God has amazing plans for me over in Ireland.. and i am excited to see what he has planned for me..

please continue to pray for me as i prepare to go.. i am extremely nervous . .

thanks for the support.

47 days

ahh the count down begins.. 47 days till i leave my beautiful country and venture out into the unknown.. .. I just got word that my visa has been accepted or issued.. and is on its way to me from ottawa.. fingers crossed and it should get here in 3 days. after which i can hopefully book my flight.. hoping to fly out January 18.. but praying that another student. . one who i might be traveling with.. gets accpeted in time for us to book flights together. would be really nice for us to be able to travel together.. as we are both a bit nervous about flying by ourselves..

On a different note.. i had a good chat with a lady my mom met while she was in Winnepeg.. Her name is Claire and she is from ireland.. she actually lives outside of Belfast the city that i will be staying in.. pretty cool. She and i had a good talk and she told me lots that i actually never knew about ireland.

North Ireland.. the country i will be going to... is completely separate from the Republic of Ireland.. North Ireland is under the UK and under the rule of the Queen.. their national anthem is God save the Queen and they use all British currency. Most of the North Ireland people.. according to claire... are prodistant.. (although there is a growing catholic population) and therefore alot of the people in North Ireland dont celebrate st. Patrick's day because it is traditionally a catholic holiday.. and there is still a pretty big separation between the two religions. .

The republic of Ireland on the other hand.. is not under the british rule.. they have their own currency.. and their own national anthem. and their own President.. they really have nothign to do with the UK. . and there is still quite a bit of turmoil in the Republic of Ireland because irish people hold grudges pretty hard.

for those who would like to pray for me.. there is a few specific things that i can use prayer for.. ..
that my funds would all fall into place.. that my nerves would be calmed as i prepare to head out.. and also you could pray for the girl i would be traveling with. that she gets everythign together in time for us to book a flight together..

thanks for your prayers.. love you all.

Getting Ready..

Still a few months away from going to ireland, my nerves are starting to kick in.. i am pretty nervous about flying over.. hopefully my travel buddy works out. . and being over there alone scares me . i am just praying that God calms my nerves. i know that once i am over there it will be the most amazing experience. . am really looking forward to seeing another part of the world. i still have alot of stuff i need to prepare and get before actually heading over. one major thing is my visa. ireland finally figured out how to get them to us and will be sending us some visa number soon.. if all goes well. . . . which doesnt seem to be a pattern with ywam. oh well i guess it will all work out.