In The Stillness...

2008-05-02T23:45:00.008-04:00

I happened to stumble upon this site: www.you-are-beautiful.com, literally actually, thanks to the 'stumble' button on Firefox, and I found it to be quite interesting. They are a group of people who are trying to make a difference with one phrase: "You are beautiful" and this is their statement:

You Are Beautiful is a simple, powerful statement which is incorporated into the over absorption of mass media and lifestyles that are wrapped in consumer culture.

The intention behind this project is to reach beyond ourselves as individuals to make a difference by creating moments of positive self realization. We're just attempting to make the world a little better.

Intention is the most important aspect of the You Are Beautiful project in its idea of purity. Nothing is sacred. Everything that has a perceived value becomes commodified. We work extremely hard that this message is received as a simple act of kindness, and nothing more.

Advertising elicits a response to buy, where this project elicits a response to do something. The attempt with You Are Beautiful is to create activism instead of consumerism.

You Are Beautiful uses the medium of advertising and commercialization to spread a positive message.
Projects like these make a difference in the world by catching us in the midst of daily life and creating moments of positive self realization.

I have heard of people doing things like this before, and so I thought I would share this one with you all. I don't know about you but it make me smile every time I that phrase. Many people have sent in pictures of the phrase, either in sticker form, written form, or in some artistic expression. These are just a few of my favourite photo's that people have submitted.

In any way it's put, it speaks the truth to whomever reads those words.

If you send in a letter asking for free stickers they will send you some, all you have to do is send a self addressed envelope with stamp inside of the letter to get the stamps. Make sense? Good. Just send it to this address: You Are Beautiful PO Box # 220175 Chicago, IL 60622 USA

Something's a little nutty here...

2008-03-11T16:32:00.007-04:00

So today was very exciting and adrenalin pumping, we had, er have, squirrels that live in the ceiling above the kitchen. Well, one of the panels is really loose, and today when we got home after class the loose panel was laying on the floor of the kitchen.

So Lucy and I concluded that the squirrel was now loose in the house somewhere, about two minutes later Jess Mott comes down stairs exclaiming that she has rodent poop on her bed (she is now roommates with Abby). So Lucy and i get very excited and run upstairs examine the poop and run all around upstairs trying to find where the squirrel could have gone. With no luck we come back down stairs and proceed to Tell Matthew Howard and Mummert about the squirrel now in the house, when suddenly both Lucy and I see the squirrel just chillin' in the middle of the big room. I yelled "there he is!"
We all ran into the room, and shut the glass doors behind us to keep the little red squirrel contained, and opened the door to outside to provide and escape for the little critter. So Lucy and I, each armed with a broom run around trying to scare the little Squirrel, whom I found out to be one of the squirrels that Jess Mott and I had name Alfred.

He looks like this squirrel, but alas, this is not him

My is he quick little fellow! We got him close to the door once with out him going out, instead he ran right in front of the opening and across the other side of the room, farther away from the door. Then finally after managing to scare him closer to the doorway and from out behind the piano then the other fridge to finally the great outdoors. Alfred was so afraid that he jumped from the very top of the stairs down to the ground below, leaving a nice body imprint in the snow, and then bounded up into a nearby tree.

Take off Pad

Another image of the beautiful landing job.

Streams II

2008-01-10T22:47:00.000-05:00

Seeing as I haven't posted since last year thought I would fill you in on what has been going on in my life this year. In December I went home for Christmas break, saw family, friends and David. Now it's back to New Hampshire for the second half. Even before I got to New Hampshire God started to teach me and stretch me.

I got to the Vancouver on the 3rd airport around 6:30pm and found out that my plane was delayed two hours due to deicing on the runway, which meant that I had missed my connecting flights due to the delay. I had two options laid out before me by the ticket agent: one I go home and return the next evening and catch the same flights at the same times and arrive a day and a half later, or fly out that night land in Portland and spend the night in a hotel paid for by the airline which included dinner and breakfast vouchers, then leave in the morning and fly to Newark NJ, and then to Boston. I didn't really want to go home and fly out the next night, but I didn't really want to spend the night in Portland -for that was another whole thing to be alone in a hotel. Well my ticket agent ended up deciding for me, he got off the phone and announced that he had decided for me and booked me into the hotel. I was unsure, but God knew, and He had a plan.

I was to call mom when I got through customs to let her it was time to stop worrying for that part of the trip. I ended up getting put into Secondary Inspection at customs, I could tell I was going to be there for awhile after sitting there a good ten minutes with none of the other two people ahead of me getting called in. As I was sitting there I was praying for God's peace and favour to be upon me. A few minutes later I saw my ticket agent looking through the window, once he spotted me he disappeared, and a few minutes later I was called back out in to the main customs area and questioned by another guard, all the while my ticket agent standing there smiling. I made it to all my flights on time, the hotel people were really nice and helped me a lot, it was all going good until I landed in Boston.

Boston view from above, leaving to go home

Two hours was all I had left to travel, then I would be back at the green house in New Hampshire, and my bus was scheduled to leave at 9:30pm, or so I thought. When I looked at the bus schedule I looked at the wrong airport, thinking it was the one I was at, unfortunatly, when I realized that I was at the Logan airport, not the Boston airport, it was too late, my bus had already left at 8:55. That was it for me, I cried, I was tired and worn out from over 24hrs of traveling and I just wanted to be done, and to go to bed. So I called home and my loving daddy answered, it's kinda of hard to say nothing is wrong when your crying, after calming down a bit I managed to tell him that I missed my bus and that it was the last one going to New London NH for the night, the next one left at 7:55 am on the 5th. My dad, being the awesome dad that he is, knew that I had had enough and that it was time for him to step in and take care of me, even though he was so far away. I ended up taking a taxi that night all the way to the girls green house. It was such a relief to be back, to have finally reach my destination, to be able to sleep.

Through my earthly father my heavenly father showed me how much He cares for me and how much He loves me, just through that one experience. God pushed me to new limits, He knew how far I could go, He knew what I could do even though I didn't think I could. He knew when I had reached then end and that I had done all that I could do, which was more than I though. He used my dad to show me that He knows all, to show me that my dad knows me and knows my limits, for he has a father's heart and cares greatly for his children.

Candle Calamity

2007-11-17T12:01:00.000-05:00

I like having candles in my room, it is quite pleasant having the glow of a candle near by with the soft vanilla scent floating by while reading or doing other various activities. Just don't leave the candle unattended, which is inadvertently and precisely what I did. In some cases a fire may be the cause of leaving the candle all alone, or a nice waxy mess to clean up. The good news is that the latter happened to me.

What is shown in the image only reveals part of the mess; what continued from the overflow dripped off and down onto the floor splattering everywhere. I have to admit, the candle wax did make a really cool flowing design.

In other news, it snowed for the first time here yesterday! Sadly I didn't take any pictures and now all the snow has melted. This morning there was some nice white frost on the ground, making the grass sparkle and shimmer like polished diamonds; and I didn't get a picture of that either. But I did go out for breakfast with Dustin, which was special treat, we were able to catch up on a few things. For things around here can get quite busy which does not always allow for us to have time to talk for longer than a few moments.

Well I better blow out my candles before I leave, or I will have double the mess.

The ABC's Of God

2007-11-06T22:33:00.000-05:00

So,this is the ABC's of God, just listing off how awesomely cool God is with words or sentences.

Here we go!

A ~ Alluring, Astonishing, All seeing, Adonai.
B ~ Breathtaking, Boastful over His creation, Belt of truth, Breast plate of righteousness, Breath of life.
C ~ Courageous, Caring, Compassionate, Covering, Creator, Cloak of humility.
D ~ Daring, Dancer, Deliverer.
E ~ Eloquent, Emanuel, Elohim, Enrapturing, Eye-opening, Extraordinary.
F ~ Fiery, Fierce, Fascinating, Flourishing with life and love, Footpath, Faithful.
G ~ Glorious, Go-getter, Gallant, Gushing with joy, Gospel of peace, Gentle
H ~ Holy, Heartfelt, Helper, Handsome, Helmet of salvation.
I ~ Irresistible, Incredible, Inspiring.
J ~ Joyous, Justice, Jehovah-Raffa, Jubilee.
K ~ King of Kings, Kind, Know er of everything.
L ~ Lover of my soul, Life, Love, Light, Lion of Judah, Lord of Lords.
M ~ Maker of heaven and earth, Majesty, Mustard seed, Mountain.
N ~ Nourishment, New-beginnings, Nice, Near, Noble, Necessity, New wine.
O ~ Over all the earth, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent.
P ~ Prince of Peace, Power, Plentiful, Precious.
Q ~ Queer, Quiet, Quizzical, Quenching, Quick, Quiver full of arrows, Quest of majestic wonders.
R ~ Redeemer, Rock of ages, Rejected, Revival.
S ~ Sword of the Spirit, Swift, Shoes of peace, Savior, Shield of faith, Salvation.
T ~ Trusting, Truth, Thirst Quencher.
U ~ Understanding, Unforgettable, Unanimous, Universal.
V ~ Visionary, Victorious, Valiant.
W ~ Wine, the Way, Wellspring of Wisdom, Wealth, Witty.
X ~ eXuberant, eXact.
Y ~ Yeshua, Yours and mine, Yearning for us, Yahweh.
Z ~ Zealous, Zany, Zoo keeper :P .

Jess Leman on Pinnacle Mountain

I hope you are all encouraged by this. Blessings!

Peanut Butter

2007-11-02T00:14:00.000-04:00

So, a few days ago, God showed me how my emotions and I are like natural peanut butter, yes natural peanut butter.

I am the type of person who doesn't always know how they feel, or know the right words to express how they feel, especially when people really want to know how I am doing, a quick answer is not always easy to give.

Back to the peanut butter, it has to be natural peanut butter because other brands of PB stay mixed together and don't separate, and natural PB separates into layers.

First layer: The oily layer on top is easy to access with little time taken to reach it. May not be completely satisfactory but one still gets something with the short amount of time taken. It's like the surface layer of my emotions, easy to see and get to, but may not be what I really feel at the moment. For people who don't want to take the time to dig deeper, that is all they get.

Second layer: The soft, still somewhat oily layer is not as accessible as the first but still easy enough to delve into and come out with more than just oil. It tastes much better than just the oil and more satisfying. People have to take the time to dig a little deeper than the first layer to get more than just oil, and if people really want to know how I am doing then they have to take some time to dig a little deeper past the surface emotions. For taking time to dig deeper they also show that they care more, allowing me to share more.

Third layer: The hard thick layer down at the very bottom is by far the hardest layer to reach and get for consumption. But this layer is really rich compared to the rest of the peanut butter in the jar, and is hard to eat alone. It also takes a lot more time to dig all the way down to the bottom, one has to be patient and willing to take more time to get to the bottom. If one is sincere and interested in really finding out how I am doing, they will be patient, take time and dig. Dig all the way to the bottom to find the emotions buried deep down, past the surface that all can see to a layer that not many get to see.

All three layers consumed alone does not give complete satisfaction to the person eating the peanut butter. One layer is really oily without a lot of flavour, the second more flavour but still a little too oily; whereas the third layer is chalk full of flavour but too hard. As is the same with me and my emotions, the surface emotions don't give a person the true flavour of who I am, the second reveals more but the third can be too overbearing alone.

"So what do you do then?" you might ask, well I 'll tell you. You mix it all up. Once the peanut butter is mixed thoroughly, all of the layers have what they once lacked and now the true peanutty goodness flavour can dazzle those taste buds like never before! Back to the emotional side of things, when a person takes the time to push, prod, and dig for the true emotions in me they will be rewarded, but those who take the extra time to mix it all together and to keep it mixed are truly rewarded with the real me.

I am not the only one like natural peanut butter, God is also the same way the more time we spend digging and going further in God the more satisfied we will be. The less time we take and just grab some oil, we leave still feeling empty and hungry. When we take the time to go deeper and mix everything together we not only get the full picture, but get fed and completely satisfied. But we have to keep the peanut butter mixed or else it will separate into layers once more, and the more we have to do to mix it all again, rather than keeping it up.

There you have it, the moral of the story is: keep your peanut butter mixed!

The Good the Great and the Gathering

2007-10-23T10:18:00.000-04:00

This past weekend all the interns and leaders went on an outreach to the Haunted Happenings in Salem Massachusetts to give spiritual readings to the people attending the event. Haunted Happenings is an annual event that starts somewhere in mid October near the end and runs until the 31st. Our group is going back to Salem this weekend and then again for the day on the 31st.

Our group waiting to start in the morning in Salem, our white tents to the left.

On Saturday I did some hosting of the tent, which comprised of asking people if they wanted a spiritual reading or a dream interpretation and then writing there name down if there was a wait. Also to check on the teams to see how they were doing, if they needed more prayer, a team member needed a break or if they needed anything else. Later when I was done my shift of hosting I was on my first team with team leader Sharon Felder and another intern to give 'spiritual readings' ( a non-christianese title for prophetic words). After giving a some words to a few different people that had come into out tent and left happy, a lady and her friend came in for a dream interpretation, she told us her reoccurring dream and was hoping we could make it stop from coming back again. Our team tried to interpret the dream but the lady didn't seem to be very open to receive anything we said, after she left I was feeling very discouraged for I was having a hard time hearing God clearly. When on a team for a while it tends to drain you for you are always giving and not receiving, so we took a break and I was able to get refreshed by God through prayer. Also I was feeling a burden to pray for our group while we were there, so I felt a bit more emotionally vulnerable.

Jesse Matthews (Kelowna BC) Tom Schwabe (Los Angeles CA,) and Diane Armenio (Boston MAS,) Resting after finishing a shift.

Later that night I was on another team with another intern, Matthew Howard (England), and John, another fellow from The Gathering, Matthew was leading and this time the words that God gave me seemed effortless. After people had come and gone and I was feeling much more encouraged for they were receiving what we had to give them, I ended up leading our team for the last few people. When the night was over I soooo encouraged and happy for God lifted my spirits by giving us people who received everything we had for them, and some how we also ended up with a few dreams to interpret even though non of us are really trained to interpret dreams, but from what we knew the people were totally blessed.

Everyone left Salem a different person than when they came, for God showed up in so many different ways and never ceased to amaze us in how He wanted to use us for His purposes. So many lives were touched and changed just because a group of people were obedient to what He asked, including us.

That is just one of my stories, every single intern and leader has so many more stories of their own of how God changed people's lives through them. It was one amazing weekend and we are going to be heading out for another this weekend.

New Beginnings...

2007-10-10T18:36:00.000-04:00

So a week ago God was trying to tell me something because I kept on seeing the same thing multiple times, and I was even able to hold one of the events in my hands. It was pretty cool because I haven't really seen them before in Canada and then I saw them multiple times over a short period of time. So the object of which I am talking about is a Monarch butterfly.

The Monarch and my thumb

The first one I saw was around the girls house, which I thought was pretty cool already, then I saw one about two days later at the offices, then again at home when Ali was cutting back the huge shrubbery. That one I was able to hold for we were not sure if it was dieing, or just a young one or what, but it didn't have much energy and never flew so I was able to hold it. I probably blinded the poor thing with all the pictures I took of it. A few days later I had a dream where I was walking in a garden and a some people on a bench said to me as I passed them "did you know that that butterfly has been following you for ten minutes?" It was so real I thought it had happened and not just dreamt it. Then the next sighting was at the Claremont Chili cook-off which was the second week of this month. I was talking to a person then saw a monarch flying by and continued my sentence with " ...and there's a monarch butterfly!" then went back to talking to what I was talking about before.

Interns in Claremont waiting for the event to start

Hmmm... maybe this is a sign or something... maybe God is trying to tell me something.... Well Butterflies mean 'new beginnings' and the place I am in is a 'new' environment, and what God is teaching me is 'new' and I am making 'new' friends and God is taking me to 'new' heights and stretching me to 'new' limits. Maybe this has to do with why I am here! Oh wait! This is a new beginning for me! So God was just reminding me that I was in a new place and that things would be hard but that He is here with me in all things, and that He didn't expect it to be easy for me, but to stretch me in 'new' ways. Also that this is a new beginning for me, for I have never been away from home this long before.

My new home, the Green house

Summary of events so far..

2007-10-05T16:20:00.001-04:00

Okay yeah... so I haven't posted for a few days... or a week... or two... but I am now! Lets see what I have done so far:

-Hiked up Mt. Kearsarge
-Went to Wal-Mart in Lebanon and received a Siamese fighting fish for my birthday from Jess Mott (England) and Jessie Holden (Mass.), his name is Gabriel- after the archangel .---->

-Swam in lake Pleasant

-Gone to Salem for training and to Gloucester

The "Friendship of Salem"

A sign in Salem

Boats in Gloucester

Interns together for dinner

-Celebrated my 20th birthday on October 2nd
-and in between all those events have had amazing encounters with God

... ... ... ... ...

So Wednesday night for me was quite amazing, we had staff impartations, God revealed to me how I have been always giving of my self to others in various ways, but now it is my time to receive and not give. Also to just be myself and be who God created me to be without carrying the burdens of others, to let my self go in Him and just receive everything He has for me.

A Painting and a Visa

2007-09-22T00:03:00.000-04:00

So, throughout the whole ordeal of trying to get my visa and getting all the right information for the boarder guards, a painting was produced. It is a painting about my journey and struggle to get my visa, but showing God's hand all the way through the whole process.

I have always enjoyed painting, artistically speaking, even though I am a painter through employment does not mean I have always enjoyed it, I have learned to like it. Painting a picture is different than painting the walls of a house. I haven't always had a lot of time to put my creative skills and God's inspiration to work on a canvas, but seeing as I was stuck at home with not much else to do, there was now the time to paint -artistically.

So I started with a fairly small canvas, finished it quickly and then started on to the big one. I used colours that God told me to use, and painted them where I felt Him guide my hand. It was so much fun, I used my fingers as my main brushes. When the painting was done I had a strong impression to put a metallic hand print on my painting, but it was to be three prints, not just one. As others looked upon my painting they saw different things, one person saw the green as me growing and new growth, pushing the darkness away. Another saw the yellow as hundreds of thousands of seeds being released, unable to be held by the darkness. Yet still another saw the hand of God upon the scene, guiding the green to grow and push and breakthrough the darkness. While another saw the green and the light as a 'green light'.

I finished my painting the night before I left, and what every single person said was right, in my time of waiting I was growing more with new growth, reaching and pushing and fighting to break through the darkness -the battle over my visa. With the hand prints a sign of God's plans and help through this time, and the 'green light' as a go ahead to cross the boarder.

Even before I tried to attempt to cross the boarder the first time, I knew deep down that I was going to get my visa. I did get my visa, just not the way I expected to get it.

I did get my visa on the second try, even though we were detained for about an hour and a half.

So here are a few pictures for you to enjoy, documenting most of my trip.

Seattle as we drove through...

mother and I after getting my visa, both feeling relieved.

................................................

Mother and I feeling sleepy after driving and getting the visa

Mother and I trying to stay and look awake...

Me after I landed in Boston waiting for my bus with my luggage

Waiting and Learning

2007-09-15T21:32:00.000-04:00

In this little corner of the world wide web one can find the thoughts and events of Elisa Zupancic's life recorded here purely for one's entertainment and enlightenment. Or it is here so other's can keep an eye on me while I have two on you (<- refer to image on left)? Yeah yeah I know it was a bad joke you don't have to get all huffy puffy about it, or maybe you didn't because you didn't recognize my poor attempt at a joke when I don't know what to write for a first post.

So I am trying to make my way to New London, New Hampshire to attend the internship by Streams ministries, but at the moment I am stuck at home here in Canada. Stuck because my visa application was refused when I tried to get one at the boarder. I ended up getting my fingerprints copied by a cool laser machine that copied them when I rolled my tips across a glass pad. It was pretty neat seeing my prints the size of a 5x7 on the computer monitor, I have never seen my fingerprints that big before. Then I was red flagged, and sent back home, denied my visa but not denied to the country. Oh America... how secure you are....

Throughout this whole process God has taught me a lot, and given me such peace through the whole ordeal. When we (mom, dad, David and I) were sitting waiting for the guards to come and tell us if my visa was to be accepted or rejected, I was getting a little tired after waiting an hour and half. So I asked God for the guards to come within the next ten minutes and let us know something about the visa. At the very end of ten minutes a guard came and told us that they were not going to give me a visa and so forth. I thought it was pretty cool that God would answer a small prayer like that. Somehow I had got this mindset that it was easier to believe that God would answer prayers for something big like a healing, but not for the small things or the personal things. Well He proved me wrong.

I know that my visa will come for I know that God wants me to go to New Hampshire, but my visa is not going to come the way I expected, it's going to come the way that God expected and planned.

Another big thing I learned was that I let others take control of my life because it was easier, then I didn't have to think about making big important decisions and live with the consequence if it was the wrong one. I realized how much I depended on my parents to make the decisions for me rather than asking God myself. This, I all learned in one fantastic night, all because my visa was denied. In a way I am almost glad that my visa didn't come through, other wise I might not have learned all that I did, but I am still disappointed that it didn't come through for I would love to be in New Hampshire at this very moment.