A Week of Surprises!

Hey,
Well I don't know if it is being older that makes this past week so hard to remember but I really hope the reason is that I was having just too much fun that I didn't notice how fast time flies. This past week has been quite the eventful one. It started out with our Old Testament final on Monday then on Tuesday we had a Theology class. On Wednesday was my birthday and it was such a great day! I'll start my story on Tuesday night. Well on Tuesday I had a India meeting (we've had at least 1 every day this week) and while I was in this meeting my roommate Kristy, was in our room decorating. So when we finished I went up to find my roommates jumping out at me saying surprise with my mirror all decorated with "Happy Birthday Daneille!" and with streamers, balloons, and presents wrapped in the middle of the floor circled with non-chocolate junk food and sparkling apple juice (that stupid New Years Resolution!) It was awesome! We had a good time chatting and then one of the girls brought out her computer for a game of Truth or Dare. Earlier on that day I had mentioned how I wanted to do something crazy but didn't know what so we ended up playing it. Some of the dares resulted with me in seran-wrap break dancing to Fergalicious and with some of my roommates sporting a toilet paper hat and doing ballet. It was so much fun to hang out with them. Looking at how the rooms were all pieced together definitely screams out God orchestrated. As the year goes by I continue to gain even greater appreciation for each one of my roommates, it is unexplainably perfect how we were put in a room together. It has been so sweet to have three other amazing sisters. Then after we finished our game I went downstairs at 12 with my friend Erin and she led me into the bathroom where the rest of the students were hiding and they jumped out with sparklers and sang happy birthday. Funny part is because of my New Years Resolution they had a huge bag of my favorite assorted sours from Superstore instead of a cake so it was pretty much amazing. It was such a good birthday though, my roommates definitely made turning 20 actually enjoyable. I will admit that this is the first year I haven't cried before or after my birthday since I turned 18 haha. As for the rest of Wednesday, I had chapel then QFX which is where you go alongside a staff member for a day and help out where needed. So I was with Matt who is in charge of activities and so we moved some bike boxes and cleaned out a shed and played ping-pong (pretty sweet as that was for my Field Education course). On Thursday we had chapel in the morning and then in the afternoon we did a India workout then at 7 all of us girls got together for our girls night. This was our 3rd girls night and for it we went over to the guest house which is this beautiful house that is quite old and elegant. We got there and had a little dance party then played some games and ate food. Then to end out pj party we each had a sheet of paper where we put our names then we passed it around and we were supposed to write a word of encouragement for each other. We then went to bed, (well most of us except 4 who decided to go prank the boys who were sleeping in a huge fort they made downstairs in the Pacific Woods Lodge where our dorms are). For the next morning we all got ready and hopped into the vans and surprisngly enough we found ourselves at White Spot and surprise, the boys were there too so the 4 girls who went out and pranked were quite nervous. For the rest of Friday we basically hung out then in the evening we had youth at Lake Cowichan. This time for youth though we were asked to plan it so we had a few games that I led and then Leila did a devotional. She shared her story about Missions Fest. As when we were there, Leila had her camera bag filled with about $3,000 worth of stuff stolen. We were all praying for the return of this bag and for the person who stole it and surprise, a week or so later Leila recieves her wallet, Bible, and some other stuff back with a letter from the thief who stole her bag. Unfortunately she never got back her 2 cameras and ipod but the letter was so sincere and you could tell that the thief was so confused about her sudden conviction and so sorry about what happened. It was a huge answer to prayer, even though the lady didn't return all the stuff Leila lost it was so awesome to see how God turned that terrible situation for the good and for his glory. (Please continue to keep this lady in your prayers that God would continue to touch her heart!). So that was really sweet, it was good to be able to lead youth for a change and feel as though we were able to somehow contribute instead of just showing up and playing games. Then, on Saturday as everyone knows, it was Valentines Day which was yet again surprisingly good. Usually Valentines Days are bad luck days for me but I made it through this time. We had a amazing Valentines Brunch which was so beautifully decorated, then in the afternoon (here's the only bad part), our India team went to go get vaccinations. This brings me to the most exciting thing about my week. My roommate Shannon's boyfriend named Jon came down and sent her on a treasure hunt. So for the whole day Shannon had been on this massive treasure hunt game where she went to different places to do different things like go to the spa for a manicure, go for sushi, go bungee jumping, etc and then in the afternoon she also went to go get shots. After this she was picked up in a limo and taken back to camp where she got ready to go for dinner and well...why am I telling you all this? haha...well I'll shorten the story and just say, MY ROOMMATE IS ENGAGED! At the end of this day of different clues, she ended up at the dock at camp with Jon with lots of candles and after each clue was a puzzle piece and there she was given the last one "Shannon will you marry me?" It was so exciting as we all knew it was coming and all throughout the day she would come in and look for a clue or she would be needing to change and get ready for dinner etc, so it was just such a blessing to see her throughout the day and watch her excitement. The best part was in the evening when she came into the lodge to where me and three other friends were and she told us the big news. I felt so privileged to be the first to know, it was perfect! We had been listening Love Story by Taylor Swift all week and we were all wondering when Shannon's time would be because her boyfriend and her had been talking about it for quite some time. It was amazing! What a way to end off a perfect week! Well, today was church so we went and I played piano then for offertory Jon and I did a instrumental of "Here I am to Worship" which is the first new song they will introduce since "Be Thou my Vision" (slight exaggeration). I'm really getting used to playing with a organ now and I have been starting to enjoy it. Then this afternoon we celebrated Jon's 20th birthday (even though he's a valentines baby) and then I had to hit the books as work has been definitely piling up! So that was my week full of wonderful surprises! This upcoming week we have our last theology class and then I'm going to Youth Quake in Saskatchewan for part of my reading break. So a couple of prayer requests for this week are: if you could pray for me and studies. I know that sounds stupid but I have so much to do and feel so overloaded with stuff, so if you could pray that God would give me wisdom as I'm doing these assignments and that he would teach me through them. Also if you could pray for safety for this upcoming weekends 24 hour bus ride coming our way, that would also be amazing! Thank you so much for your prayers and support!