Just can't catch a break, story of my life.

So here we are kids. I have been talking to this totally awesome girl from GP. She is funny, feisty, ( I apologize in advance for the cheesy alliteration that is about to take place, it just sorta happened) faith filled, fun, End even though she is sorta a freak it's in a good way. It really awesome talking with her, she is super real and fun at the same time. But Like I said she is in GP. Sure God has a sense of humor it just seems to be a little cruel right now. The GP thing is not a deal breaker by any means it just makes things kinda hard… and slow. Slow is probably a good thing takes time to get to know someone and the more talkin’ you do the better, so they say anyway. But there is only so much you can get to know on the phone. Does she have crazy road rage? What is it like to just chill out and not necessarily have to talk all night? We did have coffee and it was pretty sweet. And I did find out she handles very embarrassing situations with grace. It s just frustrating is all. I know, I know, "have patience" bla bla bla!!! Patience is for sissies!! I want some action… ok not "action" so get your minds out of the gutter already. Anyway it’s midnight or almost anyway, and it’s been a long day I’m gona go find sleep. As my friends TFK would put it "Peace kid, hope you learn!"
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Fantastic!!!

Sorry for the late update guys, and huge thanks to everyone who prayed. Speaking at the school was awesome! It was a Christian school in Red Deer so I was speaking for chapel. Coming into he school was pretty sweet. It had the big city school yard deal going on, all cement with clusters of kids here and there some playing basket ball, some jumping rope, the tough kids off to the corner smoking with a stern teacher walking towards them, it was pretty funny. I was nervous like crazy. I felt God was leading me to talk about how the Easter Story applies to our lives everyday not just at Easter. So I brought out the Hermit Crabs (props to Sarah). They were a huge hit, the kids loved them. I talked about how hermit crabs bury themselves for a few days, shed their old skin and come up all shiny and pink. Related that to Jesus Obviously, then told them how he does the same for them, by taking their old skin (sin) away and giving them now lives in him. I had a picture of Johnny and said how Jesus is like our best friend and knows us better than any one and even though he knows all the evil thoughts in our head he loves us none the less and offers us that forgiveness. The final thing was Jenga I related how putting your trust in something other than Jesus is makes your life unstable because only Jesus can know you completely and offer complete love and forgiveness. Other things will let you down and allow for chunks to be removed from your heart and sense of self until you have a precariously tipsy tower that can crumble easily. Because He knows us so well and assured us of love and forgiveness He can help us to hold that tower strong if we put all our trust in Him. Anyway that is a lame summary, obviously it was the Holy Spirit speaking because it went awesome the kids were attentive I had a few kids come up and talk afterwards it was awesome. The younger kids were in love with the Crabs and I visited a couple classes afterward to let them hold them and all that kind a thing. It was so great. Praise be to God. Thanks for praying guys! I am off to our bottle-drive now, tons o’ fun! Actually it is pretty fun the kids are great to hang with we always have a good time. So anyway till next time kids!
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Maybe pray again?

Pray for me please guys, I am speaking at a school in Red Deer today (Thursday) at 9:00AM. I just found out that there are going to be like six hundred kids there (Thats alot of kids!). Anyway pray that I speak Jesus message well and that I do not choke on my words, or stutter lots, but that the kids hear about how much He loves them and what that means in their lives. Thanks yo! Peace
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He Has Risen Indeed!!!

Easter was good, but I am somewhat happy it is over. Like Christmas it just gets too busy around here, we get so preoccupied with programming that it is hard to take time to kick back and reflect. Marina said that in Mongolia Easter is just another day, no one really pays attention. In some ways that would be nice you know, to have no hype and circumstance. I really do love the Good Friday service and Easter Sunday service. My favorite thing to do all year is to greet people with "He has risen indeed!" What can I say I am kinda a Lutheran dork. Anyway the weekend turned out fine. The youth put on Easter Sunday breakfast for the church. Just a continental deal, lots of fruit, buns, colored eggs and such. I know it doesn’t sound like it but that was a lot of work. Some ladies on Sunday were asking us if we were cooking pancakes and such. That would have been a gong show, doable for sure, but what a mess.
Sunday afternoon the Dolsky Clan got together at Granny’s. Good times! It was a little weird at first seems like that side of the family doesn’t really know how to talk to each other. But after supper the coffee and cards came out and we had a grand ol’ time. That’s Dolskys for you; get our bellies full, give us some caffeine and set us around a card table we’ll have a good time with anybody.
I should really get back to work (yes I am working on a Monday, I am not pleased with myself either). I am speaking at a Christian elementary school on Wednesday. I have nothing prepared, but I am feeling led to talk about Who we are in Jesus. How are you supposed to make that applicable and still interesting to young kids? I really just need to sit down and get into it but just can’t seem to get the groove on you know. Maybe I just need to come back tonight at midnight and do it the old fashioned way as an all-nighter. We’ll see how it goes. Anyway kids, that’s me for now. Take it easy.
Peace
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The end of a busy week.

I am taking a break from work now. Hopefully anyway, there are a few loose ends to tie up from the weekend and more things to get done are popping up all the time but I will do my best to stay away from the church and other work related areas for a day or so anyway.
I prepared the message for church today and I think went really well. I was actually rather calm about the whole thing, and because I tried to make it as conversational as possible (as opposed to delivering the doctrinal dissertation that can sometimes crop up during the preliminary preparation times) I was not too worried about making sure I got all the big words out right.
I was visiting my brother Dave tonight who is in the middle of preparing a big paper on blessings and curses and prosperity and such for a seminary Old Testament class. It was pretty intense. Sometimes I really feel inadequate in a Pastor role because I do not have a lot of book learning so if I were to ever write a paper like that I would probably embarrass myself. I do not even know what APA format means. I feel like if I am going to be interpreting scripture and helping people to see and hear God I should really have a more refined knowledge of His book. But at the same time I know that God has lead me into this ministry for a reason, and that he is going to use my talents, personality quirks, and different experiences to speak his word effectively. I can get hung up on formal titles and the want for impressive papers on the wall but God usually uses heart knowledge, humble words, and a willing spirit, just as effectively whether the vessel has book learning or not. I guess I just have to trust in His plan and forget my pride.
The rest of the service was awesome. The choir came in with the Sunday school waving the palm branches and singing, it was pretty cool. The kids were definitely more concerned about whacking each other and swinging the palms as violently as possible than with making sure they were singing the right song, which definitely helped us from taking ourselves too seriously, but it was still a very powerful time of worship. My favorite part was that I was sitting beside a two year old who is very enamored with his new ability to make his voice heard whether he is actually speaking words or not, and he was very enthusiastic about "singing" along. I probably made as much sense as he did since I was laughing more than I was singing but between to the two of us we definitely made a joyful noise to the Lord.
Palm Sunday starts off my three most favorite services of the year with Good Friday and Easter Sunday to follow. I just love the range of emotion and brutal honesty that always seems to come from these services. I think a lot of the year we try and make sure we "have things right" but this time of year we are brought face to face with why we have church at all.
I think tomorrow I will go and try to find some fun trails to wander around in. Apparently there is something like Saskatoon Island (a cool park with lots of trails through the bush, for all those non-GP residents) somewhere around here, though I think the average Ponoka resident has a different idea of what "bush" is than I do, even if Saskatoon Island is not exactly extreme bush to begin with.
Oh yeah! Battle of the bands went awesome. God really did some cool stuff. Friday was a bit of a crazy stress ball. But we got all the volunteers to pull it off nicely and with as little gong show as possible. Tons of kids showed up, we sold just about every last ticket. The Battle bands were really amazing it was hard to pick a winner. Steriotrap (the headline band) was awesome, even if they did not show up until half an hour before the event only adding to the pre-game stress attack. All in all it was way beyond a successful event God is awesome!
Take it easy guys.
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Please pray

We (collective youth people in Ponoka) are putting on a battle of the bands. Everything is going swell but we really need to get a lot of kids coming out tonight. So please pray for a great show, that everyone would have a blast, that kids would be reached and that all the little details just fall into place. This is not an evangelism night per say, but everything we do we do to the glory of God and we are hoping to open some doors. Doors open (not the type of doors I was just talking about) at six thirty concert at seven thirty hope to be done around midnight. Right now I am just freaking out a little but it is all good!
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Update...

Well I’m a slacker, Get used to it! So what’s new? I met a pretty cool girl. She’s a friend of a friend which is sometimes weird but for the most part no big deal. The thing is she lives in Grande Prairie, a fine town no doubt, but kinda a jaunt to drive. One of these people who gives a lot of information about themselves that some people may see as too much but it sure cracks me up. So that’s a bit of an adventure.
I also got three new hermit crabs from my sister for my birthday. Those guys are loads of fun! It always concerns me though being in charge of living creatures. I know as a youth leader I should really be used to that, and crabs should really be no big deal. But I really do not hold the balance of life or death for most of my kids which considering the circumstances is probably a good thing.
My job is still great! We have a ton of events coming up the most pressing is a Battle of the bands we are holding this Friday. We are hoping for three hundred kids but ticket sales are not going overly fantastic so we are praying for a ton of kids to buy tickets at the door Friday night. We have faith but it is still a little stressful. Not to mention we are still short on volunteers so if anyone is going to be around Ponoka Friday night and wants to lend a hand give us a shout hey.
We are also planning dry grad for the comp here as well. It’s somewhat unfortunate that if falls to the youth workers to do this but such is life I suppose. I take great pride in the fact I think we are probably the only church in Ponoka that really has no problem with alcohol for the most part (there may be one or two others I’m not entirely sure). Yet safe grad seems quite ridicules. I mean in GP it was bad enough that they shipped us off to some field to get plastered its amazing that no one drinks themselves to death. But in Ponoka they actually provide the alcohol then put no limit on it, it’s absolutely crazy! But anyway Dry Grad looks fantastic, going with a Casino theme this year. There will be games and activities coming out the wazzoo it should be fantastic.
Anyway that’s it for now I know it is not much of an update but I am tired I will write more latter.
Peace kids!
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