We did "Olive" it.

Picture: The Olive Branch Bookstore
Another weekend, another amazing outreach! This past Saturday we were at the Olive Branch bookstore in Massachusetts, we all had a great time, we got there just before lunch time, we had some time to look around a bit then we formed teams and did dream interpretation and gave out prophetic words. John Thomas, pastor of the Metrowest Bridge, gave three one-hour workshops on dream interpretation for anybody that showed up.

Picture: Noah(New York), Jesse S(Michigan) and Jesse M(Alberta) on a team
It was awesome, we had quite a few people come, especially after John Thomas would speak, then we would have a whole bunch of people line up. I wasn't sure what to expect, some of the interns had been at that bookstore a previous weekend, but apparently we had much more people show up this time. I was on a team for about 2 hours and saw around 5 people, and we had I think 4-5 teams set-up, so we saw a good number of people that afternoon. Primarily Christians, as it was a Christian bookstore after all, but everyone that came was ministered to.

Picture: Annalee(Massachusetts) and Jessica(Virginia) hosting!
I always find it so encouraging when you do a dream interpretation and the people are just blown away that God would speak to them in that way, it opens up a entirely new realm of possibilities for them, totally broadens their perspective. It was also really cool for me because I had seen some of the people the previous weekend, they were youth leaders at the Vineyard Youth Retreat we were at, so it's always more fun when you kind of already know them a bit!

When we finished up at the bookstore, we went to Annalee's house for one of the most amazing dinners I've ever had, her parents are amazing cooks, we had broccoli and cheese soup appetizer, then I think it was chicken-fried beef(kind of like veiner schnitzle...) and mashed potatoes and cooked carrots. It was de-lightful.

Picture: Kulbir(England), Jon(Massachusetts) and Myself just being holy.

After dinner we all headed over to the Metrowest Bridge where we joined John Thomas and some of his youth group and some other youth for an evening of worship and impartation, it was a really refreshing night of worship and hearing the Lord for me. We all got a whole lot out of it!

That night the guys slept at the church while the girls went back to Annalee's house where they had cheese cake and smoothies (I'm sure I wouldn't have wanted any dessert anyways...) while us guys went straight to bed with no dessert or nothing!

Picture: Ali (Connecticut), Myself (British Columbia) and Caleb(Alberta)

The next morning came a little too early as we had to get our stuff packed up before they came for church so I found myself at Starbucks hanging out with the guys for a while before church. Church was really good too, ended up having a really long worship session but it was so good and welcome! It's really refreshing to be at a church where they just listen to what the Holy Spirit wants to do and if church goes longer, then it goes longer, they don't have to worry about cutting into another service or anything.

Picture: Anton doing some browsing
So that brings me to now, we got home safely, only got lost once, but only briefly, and it did result into a stop to get donuts, so I really have nothing to complain about. Tonight is monastic monday, so that means close to silence during dinner, while we just reflect on the Lord while we eat. We also don't have any refined sugars, meats, processed foods for dinner on mondays. That usually means alot of rice, which is A-OK with me, I'm a big rice fan so our monastic meals go over very well with me.


Speaking of monastic, did you know that Monks were generally allowed to drink beer on a fast? It was considered acceptable. Not only that, but pretzels were invented by monks as a fasting food. So there you have it, the monks had the best of both worlds, spent a lot of time with the Lord and still got to enjoy some beer and pretzels after a hard day in the garden. I think I'll become a monk.