There's a First for Everything

Bonjour!

Just over a week ago, I had the opportunity to do something that I have never done in my life.  Every time that this simple concept has been brought to my attention, excitement has risen within me, but I just never had the line to go through with it.  So, after much anticipation, I finally had the opportunity to hang my clothes outside on a line, using the great power of the wind to dry them!

"This is how it is done, rookie."

People in St. Johns, as well as in many other places, i'm sure, seem to be a lot more conscious of the environment than were I'm from.  Whether it is composting tea bags and banana peals, using electric lawnmowers,  or sending out the recyclables ever two weeks to be picked up, these people are in touch with how their actions affect the world around them.  To use a dryer up here is known as wasteful, so my host family tells me.  If it is not raining outside, "why would we expend all of the energy to dry clothes in the dryer when they can be dried outside." Touchè Mr. Ford, Touchè.

Hanging up some the wool socks.  Lovin' it!

Anyways, this past week has been a stressful one to say the least.  I am currently taking this international marketing class, which is founded on amazing ideas, but the teacher is just so intimidating.  I try not to let him get to me, but its a bit hard when everyone in the class is talking about how he makes people cry during presentations.  I'm not the biggest fan of presentations.  However, with presentations aside, I am enjoying the class.  Our groups goal is basically to understand Argentina enough to try and sell a product there, which means loads and loads of research on everything Argentina; this is great preparation for understanding how much work is involved in marketing a product to a different country, which I will hopefully be doing in the future.

Unrelated to hanging clothes, this is some of a tree that fell in the back yard during the tropical storm.

Grandparent's making their way to St. John's, Newfoundland.  Looking great on the clothes line!

All is well,

Benjamin

      

The Best Blueberries in the World

Good Morning,

 

Immediately upon arriving in St. John's, there was talk about the blueberries being ready to get picked.  "Where do you pick them," I would ask.  "Anywhere," said the first person who told me about this unique aspect of Newfoundland.  I was a bit skeptical that these berries could be picked and found so easily, but nevertheless, I believed them and desperately wanted to get my hands on some wild blueberries. 

Shortly after arriving at my host families house for the first time, I was looking through the fridge and saw a big container of blueberries.  I took the container out of the fridge and looked at them.  They looked smaller than normal.  "They must be wild," I thought to myself.  I went to ask Dwight (one of the host parents) what the deal was with the blueberries, and he told me that they picked them.  "Now is a great time to pick the blueberries," he told me, along with many other people in town.  He mentioned to me that the wild blueberries have higher antioxidant levels than any of the usual cultivated blueberries.

 Fast forward about a week, and here I am hiking on the east coast trail which I blogged about a couple of entry's ago, and I didn't notice any blueberries.  "Where are they?" I asked my friend Jon.  He tells me, "I'm not sure.  We saw a lot of them last week when we were hiking over by Signal Hill."  I knew that they must be around, so I got down to ground level and looked with some determination.  HA!  They were everywhere!  The wild blueberries are what they call "lowbush" blueberries--meaning that they basically grow on the ground, unlike the highbush blueberries that we see so often in south eastern United States.

From this point on out, I would just lean over while hiking and pick blueberries whenever I felt the urge to eat a blueberry or 10.  These blueberries grow like weeds once you get out of the city.  It is very special.  Not only can wild blueberries be found in abundance, but partridgeberries, blackberries and crowberries can also be found.  While driving out to Eilis and Dwights cabin in the woods, we saw someone parked on the side of the road with a bucket in his hand.  He then began to walk up the mountain to go pick some fruit!  In the peak of the blueberry picking season, supposedly loads and loads of people are out doing the same thing. 

This morning I will be putting some wild blueberry jam on my toast.  YUM!

Sincerly,

Benjamin

Is this a Dream?

Bonjour à nouveau,

As the sun began to fall closer to the horizon, we all sat in the bus, anxiously, to arrive at this place that we had never seen before.  We sat in our suits and dresses, in awe, looking out the window at all of the stone mansions with green, beautifully kept yards.  We passed house after house that nearly shouted excellence.  We were in the district were many government officials reside.

As we kept passing more mansions, we began to slow down, and eventually stop, at the most beautiful gate that we had seen thus far.  On one of the stone pillars on the right side of the gate, there was the seal of the United States.  We had arrived.

While we waited to enter in the soon to be open gates, security checked the bus.  At this point, all of us on the bus realized what an opportunity it was to be able to enter on to the property of the U.S. Ambassador to Canada.  After a couple of minutes, the gate doors swung open, and we entered onto the most valued diplomatic residence in Ottawa.  Beautiful flowers and well groomed bushes lined the road as we traveled the property to the house.  Then, to our left, we saw the house.  Wow.

Excited and nervous at the same time, we all exited the bus and walked up to the front steps of the Ambassador's home with our invitations and photo I.D. in hand.  Just before exiting the bus, I thought to myself, "Is this a dream?  How did I get here?  What put me in this situation that I am currently experiencing?"  I, along with many others, were dumbfounded at the idea of being in a place that so few people get to be at.  We all waited our turn, shook David Jacobson's hand, and walked into his house!

As I walked in, a fellow Killam recipient walked by with a glass of wine.  "They are serving drinks in this room and that room, but the room to the left has less of a line," she said.  I walked over to get a water with a lemon in it, while many others drank all of the fine liquor and wines that were offered.  Then, we began to explore the house.  While walking over to one of the many living rooms, butlers offered us the most mouth watering h'orderves that I've ever had.  Pictures lined the walls of past presidents, as well as the current president of the united states.  We were in the ambassador's house, looking through his book collection and using his bathroom.  I never would have thought that I would be in this place.

What was this weekend with all of the Fulbright Scholars and Killam Fellows like?

This past weekend was one of the more special weekends of my life.  We got treated like Kings and Queens for the three days that we were together.  We got to listen to arguably one of the most interesting and intelligent professors of today, see and tour the amazing Parliament building, play ice hockey, and attend multiple, very special events that honored us as Scholarship recipients.

Even better than all of that, I was able to meet over 40 of the most inspiring and amazing people that I have ever met.  Every Fellow and Scholar that I talked to inspired me.  Every one of them shared one thing, and that is determination.  Beyond the determination, and the thing that brought us all so close together, is that we were all experiencing the same thing together.  All of us had worked hard for our grades; all of us had been told that we had a chance to go to Canada/US on scholarship; all of us had made a decision to apply for that scholarship; all of us received the scholarship; all of us made a risk to be put in an unknown place apart from all of our friends; and a good many of us where experiencing Ottawa and Canada for the first time.  We became so close in those few days.  I have been missing all of the great people that I met, and wish that us meeting up in Washington D.C. in the Spring would be here a lot sooner.

I can't really explain how close we all got as a group in those three days.  I also can't explain the seemingly divine nature of why I met and connected so strongly with some of the people there.  A good deal of the many people that I became so close with on this trip strongly reminded me of other people that I have known in my past.  I have not counted all of the circumstances in which a person at the orientation reminded me so much of someone that I already know/knew, but there were well over five people.  I am having trouble putting this idea into words.  One person in particular is a story that I am not going to explain on here, because it is almost too special to talk about.  I honestly thought that I was talking to the same friend that I haven't talked to for a couple of years.

To put this long blog to an end, this weekend was amazing.  Sorry that I did not take any pictures.  I plan to upload some soon that other people took.  The city of Ottawa was very beautiful with all of it's Gothic architecture style, and old English feel.  Again, the people are what made this trip.  I have never been around such inspiring and accomplished people in my life.  I hope to be around groups like this more in the future, and inspire those that lack the determination to get there.

Love,

Benjamin

Storms of Opportunity

Salutations,

School was cancelled on Tuesday.  The island of Newfoundland couldn't stop thinking about the Hurricane that was about to make landfall.  As I lye in bed on Monday night, the gusts of wind beating up against the window and house kept me up.  I kept thinking that a tree was going to fall on the room that I am staying in, or that some kind of flying object was going to fly through the window.

As I woke on Tuesday morning, the then tropical storm Michael was in full force.  There was no rain, and the sun was even out during a lot of the storm, but the winds were out as well.  Every time a big gust would come, I felt the house shake and felt as though that gust would be the one to knock some trees down.  While we all paced around in the house looking out various windows, a large tree fell onto the deck of the house and the branches smashed up against the windows; nothing was broken, thankfully.

They say the winds were traveling at up to 140 km/hour.  I can sense how close the people on the island of Newfoundland really are when something like this happens.  Weather is something that is talked about a lot here, so when storm comes off of the coast like that, everyone is thinking that same thing and willing to do whatever is necessary for each other.

Tomorrow morning I am headed out to Ottawa for an orientation that is put together by Fulbright Canada, which is the name of the foundation that administers the Killam Fellowship Program--the reason I am up in Canada.  This event will take place from Thursday to Sunday, and is pretty well jam-packed full of events.  I am really excited, despite a little exhaustion, to attend this orientation and meet some very accomplished people.

We will be doing things such as attending the 10th Annual Elizabeth Killam Rodgers and Constance Killam Distinguished Public Lecture, wearing suits (and looking formal!), eating fancy dinners such as the 10th Anniversary Gala Dinner, attending administrative meetings (whatever that might be...), doing service projects around Ottawa, going to a reception hosted by the United States Emabassy at the home of the U.S. Ambassador to Canada (!), taking part in discussions regarding important policy questions relating to Canada and the United States today, and playing Hockey!

That is just some of the important things that we will be doing.  We are also going to individually be getting interviewed, which I am looking forward to.  With all of that said, it will be a very busy weekend, and also a weekend of great connections and networking.  Hopefully the ambassador and all of these government officials like the long-hair and beard look that I've got going on!

Representing America well,

Benjamin   

Breath of Life

Hallo wieder,

I went on the most beautiful hike that I have ever been on yesterday.  One of my German friends, Jan, and I went for a hike on a trail called the East Coast Trail.  This trail goes all along the coast of Newfoundland, and is known as one of the best hikes that you can do in this area.  We hiked for about 5 hours, all of which was covered by breathtaking views.

I plan to upload a compiled video later of the hike, but for now, I think that I will just post some pictures :)

This was my favorite spot.  Huge rock walls on each side, with waves crashing through the middle!

The Fox in the picture above was less than 10 feet from us.  It came out of nowhere and just sat on this rock where the sun peeked through the trees.  We had to basically walk right up to it to get it to move, and even then, it would only run like 10 feet away and stop again.  To see a fox that close was surreal.  It was like a little dog/cat stretching and bathing in the sun.

 

This place is amazing.  I feel like I need some better words to describe this experience, like breathtaking, mind blowing, or awe inspiring, but truth be told, words can only explain so much.  To add on  top of the beauty of this place, the people, which I have slightly touched on before, are so incredibly friendly.  As Jan and I got closer to the end of the hike, we found out that getting a cab from the parking lot that the trail crossed through at the end of our hike would not be easy.  Thankfully, we ran into two girls that we had passed and been passed by throughout the entire hike.  We ran into them right as the fox jumped out into the trail.  Next thing you know, they offered to give us a ride without us even asking.  Jan says he might move here after college, and I know a bunch of the other international students feel the same way.

I haven't been able to talk much about my host family yet, but I will in a later post.  They have been great.  Today we went out to their cabin about an hour away from St. John's.  It was very peaceful.  We had to go make sure all of the items in the yard and on the porch were inside or anchored down because of the hurricane that is hitting here tonight and tomorrow.  I'm not sure if people in America are aware that we are about to get hit.  I know whenever I was back home, I never even thought about the hurricanes that were too far out east to hit us.  Meanwhile, Newfoundland completely sticks out off of the east coast.  Next time I am home and I see a hurricane is well off our coast and headed north, I will be paying attention to its direction as it heads north.

Embracing the wind and rain,

Benjamin 

Tour of St. Johns

Bonjour,

I don't know how I have it in me to do a blog right now, but I feel that I must.  Today has been one of the most intense days that I can remember for a long time.  As I stated in the last blog, nearly all of the international students got together and went on a tour of the city today.

The scenery in Newfoundland is breathtaking.

A lighthouse on Cape Spear--THE EASTERNMOST POINT IN NORTH AMERICA!

Here I am.  Truly at the Edge of America.

One of the best things about today is that I got to meet so many people from all over the world.  I really enjoy things like this.  I'm not sure how to explain everything that happened today, and I do not plan on it for the sake of time, but let me just say that people and places can never be contained in the box that we put them in.

I met two guys from Norway today!  This is one of countries that I have wanted to go to badly for quite some time.  Both of the guys were studying engineering that is concentrated in the oil industry.  One of them lives in a town of 70,000 people at the northern tip of Norway.  In the winter there, the sun is only out for 30 minutes, and in the summer, the sun is out all day!  It was so awesome to meet someone living in an area like this.  The town is primarily centered around oil, so he was pretty knowledgeable and passionate about the subject of oil, which I don't give too much thought too.

The Titanic crashed 375 miles from St. Johns

I met a bunch of guys from Germany today as well.  All of the German's that I have met are leaders.  I really like them.  I will be going on a hike with one of my German friends tomorrow (Sunday).  We will be hiking this trail that hugs the rocky eastern coast of Newfoundland.

I met some amazing girls from Sweden and Finland at the event today as well, and hung out with them the rest of the day after meeting them.  A friend from Germany and I went out on the town with them tonight and ate at this fairly nice restaurant called The Sprout in the downtown area of St. Johns.  We all had such a great time and learned a lot about each other and each others country.  Mainly, I learned a lot about Sweden, Finland, and America.  I feel that people from other countries know more about America than I do, especially when it comes to politics and our over consumption of goods.

Words can't describe this place

This is a good place to call it a night.  I am so thankful to be in the position that I am at where I can meet people from all over the world and share some of the same experiences with them.  I don't think that there will be many other chances in life when I can become so close with so many people from all over the world in such a short period of time.  What an opportunity to network across the globe!

Scandinavia--here I come,

Benjamin

The view from St. John's harbor before dinner.

    

A Place to Call Home

Hi again,

Today has been such a great day thus far.  I have some exciting news!  I was able to meet up with the host family today!  The director of the Home Share program drove me over to my new home around 2:00 today.  I was a bit nervous before meeting them, but after walking in the door of my family away from home's house, I was greeted with so much love. Upon walking in the door, we all sat down in the family room and talked while I sipped on a cup of Colombian coffee with them, along with some treats.

Their names are Eilisa and Dwight.  They are 61 and 63, and both play the piano and enjoy gardening.  They also play golf every now and again.  They have 5 children that have all moved out of the house.  Both of them are very energetic and lively, and very very nice.  When they were showing me around the house, and my new room, Eilisa was talking to me and said "Here is your room Benjamin--do you like to be called Ben or Benjamin?"  "Either one works," I said.  She answered back "Okay, then I will call you sweetheart."  They are so sweet and I am really excited to get to know them better.

I wore a a very bright sky blue shirt to their house today, and they both had on almost exactly the same color shirt.  If that's not a sign, i don't know what is!  I was happy to see that they have adopted a child through world vision, just like my parents, and they also have a guitar in the house that is not being used.  I am excited to see what happens through this new relationship.

This is where I stayed for two nights

Because I now have a place to stay, last night was my last night sleeping on a couch at my kind friends home.  Last night I walked around with Nicole and she showed me some spots around the main streets of the city.  She pointed out some places that I might like to go to see live music, drink good beer, and shop for some things.  We then walked back into the home, and I stayed up fairly late talking to Hannah.  I got to share some of my beliefs with her which was awesome.  We talked about life for a while, in which a lot of Truth was able to be spoken where it hadn't been spoken in a long time.  We got to talk a lot more this morning about some more things.

The Couch!

I am leaving their home with such a thankful heart.  It's not everyday when you stay with a stranger and are able to connect and see the purpose of your being in that place like I have been able to.  They have been so hospitable to me.  I will always remember what they did for me, and hope to do the same for other people some day.

Tonight I will be heading to an event hosted by Chi Alpha Campus Church!  We have one of these at Clemson, so it was pretty refreshing to see that Memorial University also has one.  I'm excited to meet everyone and fellowship with them.  Tomorrow, a bunch of the international students will be taking a tour of the city of St. John's.  I'm just so excited for all that is going on!

Blessed,

Benjamin

        

It Was Always in His Hands

Hi!

I'm glad to say that I didn't end up sleeping on the streets last night!  Yesterday morning, while I was waiting for the bus, I ran into a girl and told her the situation that I was in (not having a place to stay), and she told me that I was welcome to stay with her.  I wasn't sure about the offer at first, but once the time came around to sleep, I decided that the offer that she gave me was a must take. 

I jumped off of the bus around 9:00 last night and headed to the hostel to check on some people and see some others.  I hung out with the roommates that I had in there for the three days that we lived together, we said our goodbyes, and I walked about 100 yards to my new place for the night. Once I arrived at the door, I knocked, she answered, and the rest is history.  It's pretty unbelievable that someone would welcome me into their home just like that. This is the place that God has me for now, and He has me their for a purpose.  It didn't take long for me to realize why I was there, but that is for God and I to know, not everyone on the internet.

After a fairly restful night on the couch, I began the day excited to forward the home search process in an interview with the Home Share program coordinator.  This Home Share program has been what I've been holding out for all this time.  If I was not waiting on this program, I would have been in an apartment directly after arriving.

For this program, I must get interviewed, along with the families, and then we decide on who matches best with who.  Andrew, the coordinator, arrived today already having interviewed everyone yesterday, so things are well on their way.  After he interviewed me, he began to tell me, one by one, what the interviews where like with the possible hosts.  Before he got to the last host, I was a bit unsure as to who I should choose to live with.  I didn't have much of a lead.  I knew that God called me to live with a family while here, so I was kind of wandering why no application jumped out at me...but then, Andrew read the last application!

Ahh, there they are.  I won't speak much more about it, but I will say that I am super excited to hopefully meet them tomorrow, and possibly be in a home by tomorrow night!  No more homeless Ben lol.

So thankful,

Benjamin

Just Trust.

Hi,

Today was the first day of class!  As I have said before, and will probably feel like saying for a while, so much happened today.  So much happens every day when you step out of your comfort zone and experience something new.  Almost every waking moment that I have been in St. Johns, I have learned something that I have not known before.  The people here continue to amaze me and show me how unique the individual is.  Everyone is different and special in there own way.

While there is a lot that i would like to talk about, such as the hard-to-wrap-your-mind-around kindness of the people here, or how they all seem to know more about America--and its politics, than I do, that will have to wait for a later date.  I am going to talk about something that I have never experienced, and that is not knowing where I will be sleeping tonight.

Before I arrived in St. Johns, I was told by the university to come two days early, stay in temporary housing for two or so nights while looking for an apartment, and then leave temporary housing to stay in the apartment that I found.  Well, I got an email about this program that the university just started, called a HomeShare.  The idea behind this is that I would live with a family while in St. John's and help to serve them in their home any way possible.  Rent will be cheaper.  Food will be better.  Bonds will be tighter.

Gosh, I wish I would have known that this program was just getting started.  I go in for an interview tomorrow, which will help me get matched with the best family; I won't get matched with the family until the following week.  I was unaware of any of this before arriving here.  I was a bit nervous that I had not heard more from them before arriving, but I was hopeful and thought that it would all get set up within the first two days of arriving.  I booked the hostel room for 2 days.  Luckily they let me stay a third.

Now, upon getting kicked out of the hostel do to other people booking a spot probably weeks ago, I am homeless.  I don't know where I will be staying tonight, or the rest of the nights leading up to the time in which I get placed with a host family.  Guess what, though?  I trust God.  He has put so many options out there for me since I became without a place to stay.  I have ran into so many people, and all of them have been hospitable and helpful.  For the last couple of days, I feel like there have been so many divine encounters.  It's like I keep running into the people that I need to run into, and that I am always at the place that I need to be at.  It's crazy.

My last class today is from 7:00 to 9:30.  When I get out of class, I will be off to wherever it is that I need to go.  I am not sure of this yet.  I trust God will reveal to me the best option for tonight.  I trust that He will always provide for me, no matter where I am.

Don't worry about tomorrow,

Benjamin 

Stirring up the Waters

Hi,

So much happened today.  With that said, I feel I need to find a little more direction with this blog.  I use it kind of like a journal, but I am also aware that some people read it, so many of the things that I find exciting might not be the same for the readers.  Hmm...Maybe I will just journal my thoughts out anyway.  I will try not too write too much :)

The 2nd floor window to the left is the room

First, let me start with the place in which I am staying at: City Hostel.  Beautiful isn't it?  Every home in St. John's is painted in vibrant colors like this.  I can't even imagine how my mom would react if she came up here.  (I don't think she would want to leave.  The cold is worth enduring :) )    All of the homes are so adorable and represent all colors imaginable, with some homes being multiple colors.  I plan to have a picture post one day, and show you just how beautiful the layout of the homes are around here.  It's truly a sight to see.  This place is rainbow row on steroids.


Okay, so I started off the morning with the sound of seagulls making noise outside of the hostel window.  As I was tossing in my sleep, I thought to myself, "Are those Seagulls I hear?  Wow. Yes it is. I am a two minute walk from the ocean.  I am living at the beach!"  One thing led to another, and I was outside taking in the brisk morning air.

I walked about 50 feet to this little, cozy coffee shop called Coffee Matters.  Ahh, eating breakfast in this place was magical.  As I sat in the coffee shop, nicely placed on a corner lot, I breathed in the aromas of freshly roasted coffee and sweet smelling pastries.  The brisk, fall morning air blew through the wide open door, and the opened windows.  I watched a couple sip morning coffee together, a man read the morning paper, and a group of girl friends come in to grab some breakfast.  A peaceful and relaxing morning in beautiful St. John's. 

This is where things get emotional, powerful, and very spiritual. Although a ton happened today, including 6 hours of orientation and meeting tons of people, this next and last idea that I write about will be the last topic for today, and one to remember and pray into.  Here it is.  After deciding I would walk to campus (a 45 minute walk), I left the coffee shop and began to give thank to God.  I walked about 30 seconds, and I noticed a tall wooden church, painted blue, called the St. Thomas Anglican Church.  I stopped for about a minute or two and gave thanks.  I started on my way again to the school, and then, I ran into another absolutely magnificent church; the most beautiful church I have ever seen in person.  I stopped and thought some more.  "I am in the city of St. John's", I thought to myself. 

Hope will be restored!

I kept walking, just giving thanks to God for having me in a place like this.  Then, as I rounded the corner of a downward sloping hill, I got struck by a world of emotions.  A huge graveyard was in front of me.  This is when I became aware of the town that I am in.  The city of St. John's is the oldest English founded city in North America.  I believe that people came over to this country completely fulfilled by the love and power of God.  They were excited to have found new land, and they were to dedicate it to the Creator.  All I saw when I saw the graveyard was cross after cross after cross.  Sacrifice after Sacrifice.  Hope after Hope.  Love, Love, and infinite Love.  This city was united in God at one point, but they have fallen to false idols.

I am so thankful that God is merciful.  He is so patient.  His heart cries out to the city of St. John's.  He has showed me where they once where, and how the goodness of Him will fill the streets of St. John's again.  People here are beginning to remember where they came from.  This place has desperately wanted God's presence in the city for a long time, they just didn't really know it.  I can see it in their eyes.  The soil is ready.  He is so patient, and He is so kind.   

With a thankful heart,

Benjamin









  

Such Beauty

Hello,

Before I start writing, let me put a little disclaimer out there--if I write something that makes no sense, or has some intense grammatical errors, please forgive me.  It has been such a long, and adventurous day; my mind is worn out!

As of now, I am sitting in a hostel in St. Johns.  I am on the top bunk, while a guy from Bangladesh is below me.  On the other bunk, a guy from Ghana is sleeping on the bottom and a guy from Pakistan is just above him.  They are very nice people and in the same boat that I am in, which is being in a new, unknown environment.  I am glad that they are here with me.

Dad and I before departing Charleston. 

Gosh, today has been such a long day.  It all started at around five in the morning.  My parents dropped me off this morning, along with my 85 pound luggage bag (haha it looked and felt ridiculous), at a little before 6 o'clock.  Between then and arriving in St. Johns at 7:30 at night, I went through layovers in Chicago, and in Toronto.  Everything went fairly smoothly, except for when I nearly missed the flight from Toronto to St. Johns lol.  I felt like I was in one of those movies where the guy is running through the airport to try and catch a loved one before she boards her plane.  Granted, I made it there 20 minutes before the plane left, but still, the call to board had already occurred which is cutting it a little close for me.

I feel bad that I am saying this again, like I said on the last blog, but I am about to pass out.  Before I do, let me just say that as we got closer to the town of St. Johns, and where flying over Newfoundland, I was in awe.  The views were like nothing that I have ever seen before!  As I looked down from above, I saw multiple masses of land, completely surrounded by ocean, with waves crashing up against the mountainous, rocky shores.  On the islands (we passed about 4 nice sized islands/peninsulas), there were green rolling hills, with these quaint cities spread out amongst the islands.  Not only where these towns surrounded by ocean, but they seem to be covered almost 25 percent by various lakes.  The towns are literally surrounded by water.  Such beauty!  I tried to take some pictures from the plane, but it didn't turn out as great as it looked in person, so I don't think that I will show them.  I will possibly upload them later, or just try to get better ones when I am coming back from Ottawa in a couple of weeks.

Sincerely,

Benjamin

Great Expectations

 Hello again,

I should probably be in bed, fast asleep.  Tomorrow morning, hours before the sunrise, I will be leaving the beautiful home that I live in with my family to head off to St. Johns, Newfoundland.  I can honestly say that I do not know what to expect on this journey, but I can say that I am believing for more than I could ever ask or imagine.

I'm not going to make this blog long.  I felt I should keep up with my word on the last blog, which was that I would update whoever is reading this blog before I fly to Canada.

I am so exhausted, but I am at peace.  As I sit here and type type on this page, it is very evident to me that I do not know where I will be living when I arrive in the windy city of St. Johns.  Guess what?  God knows exactly where I will be living!  He has already seen me in that place, which He has prepared for me.  I can hardly wait to see what is to come.  I will update later on the great place that I end up living in for the next four months!

I am ending the blog here.  It is time to go to bed.  Let me just say one quick, interesting fact about St. Johns.   According to Wikipedia (which I consider a fairly credible source), "of major Canadian cities, St. John's is the foggiest (124 days), snowiest (359 cm (141 in)), wettest (1,514 mm (59.6 in)), windiest (24.3 km/h (15.1 mph) average speed), and most cloudy (1,497 hours of sunshine).  LOL!  I also found out that with the windchill factor, the average temperatures are going to be a lot lower than what the thermometer says.  How does an average of -24.6 degrees celcius in November?  I can hardly wait! 

Next time you hear from me, I will be in beautiful St. Johns, Newfoundland!  Just wait 'till you see this place.

Sincerely,

Benjamin