Memorial Weekend

In Canada we're used to celebrating the May long weekend in association with Victoria Day, which occurs a week before its US equivalent: Memorial Day.

The drive to Hampton Beach on Saturday morning was one of the shortest we've ever taken, as it is a coast town about an hour and a half east of New London. It was a relief to go a different way than the usual toward Massachusetts, as we're all just about sick of driving on I-93 every trip.

Hampton Beach is definitely a village geared towards youth. Most of the houses are small and older, and the street adjacent to the beach (Ocean Boulevard) is laden with local businesses. The atmosphere and culture was completely different to what we've been used to; obviously people walking around wearing very little has some to do with it, but there was more to it than that.

Taking a break on Hampton Beach

Outreach leader Anthony Acevedo (Richmond, VA) instructed us to go along the walking path just off the beach and survey people about dreams. Basically the questions were "Do you dream?", "How often do you dream?", "Do you feel they have any meaning?" and "Can we interpret one for you right now?". I was grouped with Jessica Hamlet (Richmond, VA), Emily Phelps (Virginia) and their visiting friend Brittany Gray (Virginia). We were kinda unsure about what to expect, but that left after we surveyed our first two people. They were uncertain at first as to whether or not we were psychics, and then they later revealed that they were from North Carolina and had been to Morning Star Ministries, a group in conjunction with Streams. They even knew who John Paul Jackson was when we asked them! We were really encouraged that God would show up so quickly to encourage us that way.

By the time we got back to the beach for our break, we were pooped from all the walking! We got to just lie on the beach and enjoy the scenery. Me personally, I just power napped for an hour.

Ocean Boulevard at night

At dinner we all took turns relating stories about the people who had been positively impacted by our ministry to them, but particularly those who had their dreams interpreted. Brandon Crummer (Cody, WY) and Anton Luse (New Jersey) told us they got to pray for a woman in a wheelchair who wanted to be able to walk for her granddaughter's wedding in the fall, and Emily shared about how we interpreted a dream a woman had about dancing with a man whose face she couldn't see (the Lord wanting to "dance" with her). The evening was wrapped up with some music on the beach, and then we went off to David Carpentier's house in Rowley, MA to spend the night.

We attended the North Shore Bridge (worship leader Josh Young's home church) Sunday morning, where David's dad gave me words of knowledge about part of my calling (to youth). That in combination with the worship totally overwhelmed me and brought me to tears. I have been scared of the idea of working with youth in my own insecurity, but that doesn't stop God from expressing what He wants of us. I'm looking forward to seeing how God plays that out in my life.

Jessica and Emily playing frisbee

After church we drove out to Gloucester Beach in Massachusetts to have an afternoon to ourselves and enjoy the weather. The beach was far less commercial than Hampton Beach had been; the sand was almost white and there was a significantly smaller number of people around. I quickly noticed that there was a small island just slightly offshore and my adventurer spirit kicked in. The tide was low enough that I'd only have to walk through water waist-deep at most to get to the island. I went with Jessica Hamlet and Sharayah Quinn (Lindenhurst, NY) over to the island, but only Jessica wanted to climb up. There was no defined path, just different rocks, clefts and ground previously trodden on to refer to. I got whisked back to this childlike place of being an adventurer, imagining finding a new world as I went up. At the top, we just took some time to admire the view and creation all around us. However, my curiosity quickly took back over and I wanted to go explore the rest of the island. Jessica went back down as I explored further through the bushes, trees atop the grassland and quarries on the island's top. In one particular quarry the seagulls were all flying a mere several feet above my head! They were flying back and forth, diving down and coasting up, making me think they were going to lunge at me, oh fearless explorer that I am!

We spent Memorial Day back in New London, mostly just enjoying the great weather and relaxing. In the evening Brandon Bower (Airdrie, AB) was in charge of cooking the burgers and hot dogs for our picnic while the rest of us played volleyball in the yard. Jody Demske (Michigan), one of the oldest people here (mid 40s) is actually our resident expert on volleyball and she can play a pretty mean game herself!

This week we have all the mornings off to just relax and rest, which is definitely something we all need. Oh how I love sleeping in...