When in Rome!!

Hello faithful blog followers! Once again it is Bernadette and I am reporting to you from the BEST part of Canada.... THE EAST COAST! Our first day in the East brought us to my lovely home of Saint John, NB. Before getting there, I wasn't really sure what to expect but I am so pleased that it all turned out so well. My family loved my team. My team loved my family. What more could I ask for? WELL...our time out East began, what we like to call, Holy Spirit week. The Lord has just been doing really amazing things in our team. He has been calling all of us to holiness and He has been giving us all we need, and more, to do it. There has been a really wonderful transformation in our team and I just love Jesus! There is really not much more to say other than I can't wait to see what else He can in us.

Ministry has been going really well. Evening retreats were something our team had to get used to because, for the most part, everywhere else in Canada has us doing retreats during the school day but so far they have all been great and we expect them to continue being great. I have found that something really wonderful about this year is that even though we are the ones that go out to minister, it seems that more often, we are ministered to by the people we meet along the way. From the beginning of the year up until now, God has continually floored me with his generosity. People are so good to us and they treat us like we are family and they open up their homes, their hearts, and their faith to us and inspire us so much. Even though I don't deserve it, I am incredibly thankful.

Moving on.

You all know the saying "when in Rome, do as the Romans," right? Well, while we were in Sydney, we t0ok on this mentality. How could we possibly go to Nova Scotia and not have a LOBSTER BOIL!? We couldn't. The guys went and picked up the lobster while the girls started boiling the water and preparing everything else. When the guys came back, they had each named a lobster after themselves. Poor Patrick, our animal lover, couldn't stand the thought of killing/eating something named after him.. so he named his Andrew (Hamon). I'm sorry to break it to you Steinbach... Andrew didn't make it...

Our last two team days have been superb! When Pat and Meaghan came down for a supe visit, they took us to the Louisbourg Fortress. We got a tour of the whole Fortress, learned all of its history AND we even got to go geocaching. For those who have never heard of geocaching, its pretty much like a super intense scavenger hunt. You use a GPS and everything. I highly recommend it. More recently for a team day, we went to Peggy's Cove. I had never been there before, but let me tell you.. any doubts I may have had about the Martimes not being the best were smashed up against the rocks today, along with the insanely huge waves! HOLY MOLY! It is amazing. The day was pretty overcast and so when we got there, it was super windy and the waves were crazy! We were all pretty much soaked by the time we left because pretty much everywhere we went was a splash zone. It was completely worth it. I have never seen anything quite like it. I could have stayed there forever if they had let me; be assured that I will go back.

We head up to Newfoundland on the 8th. I hear it is lovely up there. You are all in our prayers; please keep us in yours!

Before I go.. I thought I should mention that I know this photo has nothing to do with anything that I have talked about tonight. But I am filling you in on the last month of our year we have definitely caught Bieber fever! hahaha.

God bless!

In Christ,

Bernadette Dobbelsteyn

Encounter Team Two