Waging Love in Vancouver

Hello there! I'm Bethany and I am on my way to Vancouver, Canada to attend The Salvation Army War College in the 2012-13 session, The Bond Servants Session. Why you ask would I want to travel to the east end of Vancouver and live in the poorest part of Canada. Well I'll fill you in real quick. I had taken a semester (which turned into a year) off of school and in that time I was able to do two mission trips to Ecuador. One with the Salvation Army Service team for a week and another with a friend of mine for three months where we taught English and worked in a girls home. So for the past few months I have gotten the constant question from others of what I plan on doing in the Fall. Well I never intended on not going back to school so my go to answer was I would be going back to Georgia State University after the summer. There is just one little problem, I never reapplied and I wasn't sure what I would even go for because the only thing I see myself doing is serving God and loving his people. I had heard about the War College last year through a good friend who had been to the college a few years back. I thought it would be a good opportunity to serve God with a real life style of learning and had thought about applying before but I wasn't ready. It wasn't until about a month ago that God told me to apply. I couldn't shake the idea so I got online and started looking at everything that goes on up there in Vancouver. It was perfect, everything I loved about The Salvation Army. All the things we were founded on. I want to meet people where they are, to really reach out and meet their needs, to know them by name and not just as some can on some counter that I drop my pennies into so some man in some group can distribute it as he sees fit without me ever having to really do any work. I was made to do work. God made me strong and determined, and yes maybe a little stubborn. He also made me loving and gave me a heart for people and then broke that heart for the injustices they face. I can't live with a broken heart and not try to fix it. I can't live seeing broken people and not try to help them. Now I wanted to go, I was ready to take on my Judea and Samaria, that was until the Devil snaked his way in. He made me reconsider applying because that would mean I would be away from my family and friends for a whole year, and not just in another close city but in another country. My family has been through a lot lately with my dad's health problems and my brother having PTSD. What if something happened, what if they needed me? I couldn't just leave them, family comes first right? NOPE. God let me know that pretty quickly. The next week in church the scripture reading was Mathew 10:37-39 and there was no way I could try to pretend that God hadn't picked it out just for me. "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me... and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me, whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Alright God I'm all in. Now don't get me wrong... I know it is going to be tough but I am so excited to reach out to the poor, the homeless, distressed and forgotten. To love them like Jesus. Thanks for reading and thanks for helping. I can't do this without you and I am incredibly grateful for your financial support. The only other thing I ask is for your continual prayer support for me and for the other folks in my session. You will definitely be in my prayers while I am gone. Be blessed!