Exhausted yet Refreshed

Wow, Breakforth is over now and boy was it an awesome weekend. I must say, I believe I may have enjoyed Breakforth over YC, though that might be because I was volunteering instead of attending.

Let see, I started this day by sleeping through my alarm, hehe, so instead of waking up at 7, I woke up at 9. Luckily, my first shift didn't start till 12:15pm. :) However, I did miss my ride at 8:15 to go to church. So I ended up going straight to Breakforth and joining the 2nd Morning Worship Service, which was really awesome. Worship was led by Lianna Klassen, whom I have never heard of before, and her songs are more celtic (spelling?) in nature, but nonetheless, it was a really awesome worship session. And the speaker for that morning was Philip Yancey, whom I also have also never heard of before today, but he too was excellent. I somehow misplaced or lost my pen today, so I ended up using my cellphone notepad to take notes, hehe.

After the morning session, I went on shift and set up for the Main Assembly. My ushering position today was much easier than the one last night, though the position last night had a better location in the concert hall. Last night, I was ushering at the VIP reserved seating, so I spent a good two hours or more saying "No, sorry you can't sit here, these seats are reserved" and other such comments. And saying no to people repetitively all night is really tiring, cause it makes you seem so mean. But today, I was ushering at the very back, well... right in front of the bleachers. So the only thing I had to do was collect the offering. But today's main assembly was yet another awesome one, as Robin Mark led worship and David Nasser was the speaker. So many awesome speakers and worship leaders this weekend, just phenomenal. Brian Doerkson, Paul Baloche, Lianna Klassen, Robin Mark, Joyce Meyer, K.P. Yohannan, David Nasser. And not to mention the concerts by Starfield, Rock and Roll Worship Circus and to end it all off, the Newsboys.

So, after the morning session, we had to kick everybody out of the main hall immediately so that the Newsboys could do their sound checks and everything. And it seems that we had some people that refused to leave when the ushers and even security approached them to. But they left after security threatened to call the police in... and it seems that they had actually snuck in. Tsk tsk tsk. So, I volunteered to stay on shift after my 4 hour shift during the main assembly... so I ended up doing a straight 9 hours on shift today. :) But man did we need all the ushers on shift for setting up the Newsboys concert, cause there had to be at least 1000 or more people that came just for the concert. this being OVER the 6000 or so people that was already registered for the concert through the conference itself. So we had security and ushers positioned pratically everywhere in the shaw conference center, and it was packed... and unfortunately, we even had to pack everybody like sardines in order to fit everybody that showed up. And guess who got chosen to ask all the ticket holders (the people that did not attend the conference but was just coming to attend the Newsboys concert) to bunch up like sardines... ofcourse, me. Again, I had to be mean, but I think I made up for it by laughing and joking with everybody that I was in contact with. But when the doors finally were opened, it took us a good 40 minutes just to get everybody into the concert hall itself. But once we all were in and the Newsboys took the stage. WOW, just awesome. And a worship/music concert in a straight concert hall is so much better than around a stadium like at YC. Oh, and the Newsboys were giving away a free book on the Principles of Christianity or something like that... but I think we weren't given enough to give out or something, cause at least half the people did not receive one, which caused a lot of fuss. But oh well... I didn't even get one...

But alas, Breakforth is now over. And I can not wear my beautiful yellow t-shirt everyday anymore, hehe. I must say, it has been a wonderful weekend, even though I am physically and mentally exhausted, I am spiritually renewed. My feet, ankles and legs are so sore. My throat is hoarse and my neck hurts (probably because I passed out once I went to bed last night and I don't think I was in the correct position), but I would do it all over again if I could. :)

Hmm... so I calculated that I was on shift for roughly 26 hours this weekend. Isn't that awesome?? hehe. Some people would argue that I was crazy instead, asking for more work instead of taking my breaks. But I think it was awesome, cause I was only on for 11 hours at the beginning of the conference, and I complained, yes I admit, I complained (not to a supervisor) and I kept wanting and asking, and I got more hours. 4 hours came from finding out that my schedule was missing a shift, another 8 hours for volunteering to help usher for evening concerts and 2 more hours for helping with equipment and take-down. Overall, a very blessed weekend. Even for me, and for those of you who wonder why I can think this was such a blessing when all I did was work? Well, my spiritual gift has always been in Serving, and I enjoy it best when I am in a position to serve. :) Wow, I've written so much over the past 4 days... but I think it will start to die down again in frequency of my blogs. Oh, and breakforth pictures are up at my http://www.flickr.com/photos/g_mahfia/ page for all those who wish to see those pictures and/or all my other pictures I have taken with my d-cam over the past month.

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

Well, the second day of Breakforth has just gone by and it was really really long, but really enjoyable as well. Started off the day as a room host for 700 guests and I even got to introduce Jill Briscoe with her elective on 'The Renewing of the Holy Spirit'. It was really difficult trying to talk over 700 people without a mic, but it worked out in the end, though I accidently introduced her as Dr. Jill Briscoe... and she went up and said that she wasn't a doctor. :) whoops. After that, I quickly bought and eat lunch before heading off to host another elective. The second elective was a Jazz in Worship course by Matt Day, in which Jon Wong was attending as well. :) However, I didn't understand anything that was being said, as I am not musically inclined, so I think I accidently dozed off for a couple minutes at the back of the room. Whoops. :)

So... my schedule stated that I was done for the day after hosting those two seminars. But since it was still relatively early and me being bored, I went around asking supervisors if they needed extra help. Lo and behold, I ended up joining the equipment team at the Crowne Plaza in taking down some equipment. However, strangely... I got a call from Tommy saying that my name had been called for being an usher at that evening's general assembly, so I had to rush back to the Shaw Conference center to figure out what was going on. And what I figured out was that somebody forgot to type in one of my shifts on my schedule... and I was actually supposed to be ushering that night. Hmmm, I actually havn't even eaten dinner yet cause that shift took over my dinner time... oh well...

But you know what?? I kept wanting and asking for more to do at this conference instead of the 11 hours that I was originally scheduled for. And I think by the end of tomorrow night, I'll have logged over 20 hours, as I stayed on an extra 4 hours after my 4 hour shift for the general assembly. So, you know what?? Ask and you shall receive with abundance. :)

I guess the hi-light of the day was the evening general assembly with Paul Baloche, who led an AWESOME worship concert. But to follow up on the awesome worship was K.P. Yohannan, and anybody who has ever heard him speak will agree with me that he is one of the BEST speakers ever. And he did not dissappoint, his sermon touched the entire congregation and brought me and probably the majority to tears with just a sense of renewal in the Holy Spirit and a reconnection with our Lord and Saviour. Dr. KP was so good that we even gave him a standing ovation to end off his time. Then we had an alter call for all those who wanted to take that extra step to show their total commitment to follow Jesus wherever He leads them, which then led to a call to prayer, where hundreds went to the prayer rooms. Overall, the evening service was just terrific. And to end it off, the Rock and Roll Worship Concert was there for the late-night concert. They were good, but not exactly my type, so I didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoyed Starfield (tsk did I actually say that?? haha...) And they were really, really loud, so I think a lot of people left because of that. But it was one teriffic day, but man am I going to be exhausted tomorrow... and even more exhausted on Monday for school...

Overflow

Well, the first night of Breakforth just went by, and I must say it was good and somewhat confusing as well. I was an overflow usher tonight, so I was to usher at the overflow room where all the off-shift volunteers were supposed to watch the general assembly. However, seems most of the volunteers didn't understand that concept and just went directly up to the main assembly, but that was okay. The confusing part was... showing up to my shift and having no supervisor or anybody around... so me and my usher partner had NO IDEA what we were supposed to do. We even ended up having to control the sound system and the lights in the overflow room along with ushering. The sad thing was, when the call came that there was enough room left over at the main hall for the volunteers, we weren't told anything. So everybody just got up and left, and we were left standing there alone. Strange. And nobody came to replace us... so we ended up extending our shift a half-hour to an hour. But I guess that's normal, cause most of my friends who are volunteers as well wasn't informed on what to do, or had to work longer shifts because of poor scheduling. So that part was extremely confusing.

Brian Doerkson led worship, so that was really good. However, it was really dead in the overflow room, so it wasn't as great as it could have been. Joyce Meyer was the speaker and it was really good, long by an extra half-hour, but it was good. She spoke on going deeper in our relationship with Jesus. :)

However Erwin McManus was unable to show up, so we missed out on a great speaker, and Chris Rice was also delayed, so his concert was canceled as well. Though, I didn't plan on going to see Chris Rice anyways. However, Starfield DID show up and the Starfield concert was really good. And I got some pictures of them, so I'll post those up whenever I have the time.

Anyways, need to sleep now, cause I have to wake up early to go back tomorrow. My legs are sooo tired and I think I might have shin splints... or whatever that's called, so painful...

Breakforth and Photos

Well, Breakforth 2005 is this weekend. Which means I'll be going to breakforth training tonight. I am going to be an usher and a room host, so that should be pretty cool. This is going to be my first time ever at breakforth, either as a volunteer or as an atendee, so it should be pretty cool. Hopefully I don't do anything stupid or mess up somehow. :)

For those of you who have asked or even wondered why I didn't post any of the pictures I took with my new digital camera online yet... well... I have now. You can view them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/g_mahfia/. One of the cooler features of this site is that if you press the "g_mahfia's tags" link on the right hand side, you can choose to view certain pictures by clicking on their tags. (You can even mix and match tags to find a more specific picture). The larger the tag (in size) means that there is a greater amount of pictures with which that tag has been attached.
However, I don't know where I can post the videos I have taken with my D-cam. So... yeah, if anybody wants to see the videos, or wants a copy of the videos. Just e-mail me or tell me over msn and I can send them to you. Of if anybody knows where I can post videos, let me know. :)

Net Problems

Well... my internet has been kinda crazy over the past few weeks and apparently I posted 15 Fresh Starts because it kept on reporting that it didn't work... but I guess it did. Anyways, being lazy is really bad, cause I figured that this internet problem would go away by itself, but it didn't and I finally got fed up and did something about it, hehe... and me and my friend found that I had about 8 spy and adwares on my computer... so once those got removed... it has been smooth sailings so far. YES!!

Lots of birthdays happening this month on my floor... we already celebrated two birthdays last weekend, and there will be two more this weekend, and two more the weekend afterwards. Too bad I won't be around for either week as I'll be in Vancouver this weekend and volunteering at Breakforth the week after. But oh well... Vancouver should be good, get to see my grandparents and uncles and cousins... and ofcourse, my sister and my parents. And I'm really looking forward to Breakforth, as it will be my first time at Breakforth, and my first as a volunteer as well. Hopefully it isn't too hard, and I don't screw up, hehe, and hopefully I can catch some Sound workshops and learn something. :)

Fresh Start

Well, I'm back in Edmonton... and gone through almost the entire first week of the new semester. So far, so good... I seem to be creating some good habits... I'm sleeping early (relatively) though I havn't been able to get any good quality sleep yet. But I'm waking up on time, and going to my classes, even though it's minus 30 outside... brrr...

But yup, seems I'm going to have a Psyco overload this semester as I have 4 Psych classes and one Stat class. Hopefully I understand everything and continue to be motivated to do well. And hopefully, God willing, I actually do well. And if God wants me to stay in University, then if I give my all to Him, it will happen. However, if I'm not meant to be in University any longer, than I'll still give Him my all and He will take care of the rest. Either way, I need to work hard this semester and go to every class and all that jazz.

One cool thing is... I'm in a class with Crystal. Should be interesting... and since that class is the earliest one I have this entire semester, hopefully she can make me show up everyday, hehe. But yeah, other than school... nothing much else is happening I guess. Trying to stay warm, hehe... which isn't really working... cause it's just SOOO cold out. Luckily, I live so close to school. :)