The Good the Great and the Gathering

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...

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..

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

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

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.