a peace of mind

final words. the end has only begun.

2006-05-29T21:59:00.000-07:00

greetings from wetaskiwin, alberta, one of my beloved homes here in canada. i am about 45 minutes south of edmonton at the moment. my time here has been great and it has been really nice to see dear friends again that i stayed with over christmas when i was out here. i captured a great experience in the picture you can see. i took this huge john deer tractor for a ride today, you don't find tractors that size in germany because they aren't streetlegal.

i am looking forward to being back home though. i don't know if i mentioned it here but i know that i sprea the message that i would be home at the end of may. well the end of may has arrived and i am not home yet. for you all who are at home in germany, i just wanted you to know that i will see you in june.
i can't wait to share with you about my time here in canada. i couldn't even start putting some sentences together here to summarize it all.
well, i guess this might be the end of this blog. it wasn't always up to date, i know, but i think it did supply some nice information and give a glimpse of what my time here has been like and most of all displayed the work of jesus christ in my life.
amen.

after long silence.

2006-05-16T00:17:00.000-07:00

dear friends,

you have not heard from me in a while. a lot has happened in these past 3 months.... 12 weeks..... 90 days.... wow... it has been long indeed.
i went to seattle for 2 weeks during spring break in march, my birthday was last month and i turned 21, i had a full last month of school in april with lots of exciting lectures and projects and finally.... mai arrived like i didn't ask for it to come and school ended mai 4th. we had a wonderful commencement ceremony with the most beautiful weather and a baptism. the same day we already started saying our goodbyes and then the next day everyone left. i did not leave thetis island, my beautiful home for the past nearly 9 months. a great opportunity opened up for my friend chanel and me.
we are going to kuper island every day by ferry, the island right next to thetis which is an indian reserve. for the past years god has slowly been opening the doors to kuper island and students from bible school have been going there once a week to help in the school. chanel built relationships there and i have had a penpal there ever since school started who i have been writing to every week. we are supporting a family of 4 and at the same time reaching out to many other people in the community because they are all very connected and the family ties in the indian community are very close despite great issues like alcohol abuse and broken families. it is amazing to go there and learn about their culture and their way of life. things are very different there. we see a lot of pain but at the same time we see how god is allowing us to step in to their lives and share his life with them. there already are some people on the island that have got to know jesus christ as their life. it is by his grace alone that we are able to go there every day and be part of the transformation of kuper island that is full of darkness. but we know that a little light overwhelms all darkness. in that confidence we are able to go there and share about the light, who is jesus christ living in us.
i have a few pictures to give you a little impression of things over there.

chanel and me with mistaya, the baby of a 17 year old girl whose family we are supporting

that is me in an indian canoe. it is quite tricky to stay balanced...

oysters cooked on open fire taste really good.

the dusty roads on kuper.

children playing in the forsaken church building.

little gus and his mom

escape to parksville

2006-02-12T22:39:00.000-08:00

on thursday we all headed out for our 2nd mid-term break. tara, chad, savannah, sarah and i went to stay with karin, another student from school, in parksville on vancouver island! it is only about an hour away from school, so it was nice not having to travel so much as we did not have to go across to the mainland.
these past days the weather has been amazing. nearly everyday was sunny with blue sky and so we went to the beach on friday and had a lunch picnic there. it was still quite cold but it was just so nice outside and it is very rare to have a complete day with good weather here.

this weekend has been great and quite relaxing too with a lot of sleep, good movies, lots of ice cream! tomorrow we go back to school and continue to watch the time go by as fast as it has never done. in march i will be going to seattle for a missions-trip with a group of 22 students from school. we will be involved in a mothers-shelter, a youth reach-out center and a mens-shelter. we had our first meeting with the whole group last week and it all sounds very exciting and challenging. i will try and keep you updated on that!

home is where the heart is.

2006-01-03T02:27:00.000-08:00

right now my heart is on thetis island, BC. why? because that is where god wants me to be for the most part of these 9 months of being away! and that is where i will be heading back to in about 3 1/2 hours. i will be back home to school and i am really looking forward to it! these 4 weeks of christmas-break have been an amazing. i hope that when i am at school again, i can look back to this time an be reminded of what jesus has been showing me and be encouraged by the new friendships i made during these past weeks.

i'm driving back with darren and arron, the same guys i drove out with! our journey from edmonton, alberta to thetis island, british columbia begins at 6 am! we are hoping to catch the ferry from vancouver at 7 pm to then arrive in nanaimo where we will stay over night at arron's sister, candice! then it is only a 30 minute drive to the final ferry ride taking us back to capernwray harbour!
i don't know when you will hear from me next. these next weeks are going to be be very busy, that is all i know!
don't forget to look at my pictures. recently i have uploaded quite a few!

new year

2006-01-03T00:05:00.000-08:00

i very much enjoyed the way i celebrated the new year this time. it was definitely very different.
after dallas and i arrived at arron's place we later on drove some stuff to the frozen river that we had been iceskating on a few weeks ago. the spot was floodlit and there were colourful christmas lights at the side! on one side of our spots some of the guys then started a fire on the ice! so we then put some chairs around the fire and put our iceskates on! it was just perfect! we were kept warm even though we were on ice (!!!), had hot dogs and smores and the funnest thing of the evening, the quad! so while some people played icehockey, others let themselves be pulled on the river by the quad either on skates or on a sledge.

afterwards we went back to the hundebys house and enjoyed good food, some games and good fellowship until it was time for the countdown on TV. basically, watching an unimpressive football-size glass ball dropping to the ground in times square, NY!
then we went outside for a little firework and continued our time together inside by watching the movie "elf". i hadn't seen it yet and was surprised how funny it was!
looking back, i think this was my first new years celebration without making a big deal of the whole "new year"-thing with new years resolutions and everyone hugging eachother wishing eachother a "happy new year". i really liked that. i always thought it was all a bit overdone. really, what is the big deal with a new year? i just hope i can enjoy every day as a day that the lord has made for me to glorify his name with my life! not an easy thing, but i like it, even though i fail a lot at letting HIM be my life. but that's okay. welcome in 2006!

between edmonton and calgary

2005-12-31T00:30:00.000-08:00

so here i am again trying to put some words down for you to let you know what i have been up to. it always is a challenge for me. first of all to get onto this thing and actually start writing, then having to think what to write and how detailled... and what pictures to use and.... and.... you get the point....
okay well christmas is over now and let me just tell you that it was wonderful! i will stop right there for now and tell you about my christmasbreak so far. as you might have noticed by checking out my photos in my album you know that i spent the first days with arron and darren. i stayed at darren's place in st. albert (edmonton) for the first few days. we had great times just hanging out, watching movies (after months of not really watching any!) and meeting his friends! a lot of them came to the same bibleschool in past years and so it was really good to be able to talk about experiences and hear some of the things past students got up to! we had steak twice which was amazing! and i mean real steak! oh how i missed a real big piece of meat of that quality! okay i have to move on, my mouth is watering....mhmmm steak!
after being at darren's, arron and his brother kevin picked me up and i went to stay at their house just outside of edmonton in a place called wetaskiwin! basically, 90% of the people living there are farmers! arron's dad is a grainfarmer. it was great to be there and see all the stuff and just be outside in the wide open space of the prairies. there was a little snow which made it look pretty and it also was fairly cold at times but, as i was told, not close to what it could get! coldest was around 20 degrees (celcius) below zero! to see what we got up to just check out my pictures! iceskating on the river definitely was a highlight!
last week monday the 19th, arron and i drove to calgary to see dallas. arron left the next day to head back home and i stayed here. so here i am at the johnstons and i'm having a great time. having spent christmas here makes it special in a different way, especially this being the first time not being at home for christmas, considering that christmas is one of the few dates of the year that my whole family is together! from the 23rd to the 25th there was something going on every night. a christmas/birthday party on the 23rd, a secret-santa party with lots of lovely and interesting people of all ages on the 24th and then of course the 25th, christmas day! the day started by dallas waking me up very early in excitement about our stockings! so up we went to the fireplace and even i had my own stocking filled with lots of goodness. then then we sat round the christmas tree as a family and enjoyed giving and receiving some very nice presents! it was very much like we would do things at home with my family! then we spent the day getting things prepared for the christmas-turkey-meal! it was delicious!
thinking about this time, i must say, in a way i feel like we have been quite busy but in a way we have also had lots of relaxing times and just good times in conversation!
one day dallas and i drove out to banff national park! it is beautiful! the city is nice even though it is crouded with tourists. we had enough time to walk on one of the hiking trails for about 1 1/2 hours. it went along a river which still was partly frozen! the views out there in the midst of the rocky mountains was amazing! go and see my pictures for that!
well, i just realized that it will be the last day of the year when most of you will be reading this or you might already find yourself reading this in 2006! interesting. i did not even intend to post this on this specific day.
i hope you all have a great time tonight as you celebrate with friends or family! i will be heading back to wetaskiwin to spend new years at arron's place! school starts again on the 4th of january and so darren, arron and i will be heading back to british columbia on the 2nd! it is strange to think that this time is already over. it went by so fast and so much happened in these nearly four weeks! it definitely has been a time of growth in the lord and he has been revealing himself to me in new ways and showing me is faithfulness over and over again! i am excited to take all these experiences back to school with me as i spend time talking to friends there and continue to believe in christ and share his life!
in HIM,
philip

christmas already?

2005-12-22T04:45:00.000-08:00

greetings from calgary, alberta!

i guess you have noticed a slight change in the appearance of my blog. i hope you like it! it just is a bit more stuctured now and, as i think, nicer to look at too!
also i added a new feature. you now can leave me messages without being a registered member. look to the the left and you will find a link to my new guestbook. i am looking forward to your messages and to see your response.
just to let you know, i am doing very well and am having a great christmas break but you will read more from me very soon and i will fill you in on what's been happening and show you some new pictures.
until then, please be patient :) !

love,
phil

seasons changing fast.

2005-12-02T16:42:00.000-08:00

dear friends at home and at other places,

you haven't heard from me here in quite a long time. it's not that there wasn't anything to report about but i just have been kept quite busy here these past weeks.
we have some great weeks of lectures and a lot of work to do for that at the same time. and if you're like me then it can happen that this work sums up until you realize that there is quite a bit of stuff to get done. so right now i am in the middle of getting that work done and i hope that i can get in time so that i have time to get ready for christmas – break next week! we had a christmas light up a few weeks ago and so now all building around this place a beautifully lit up making it look all christmassy. now that it is getting colder and the first snow arrived two days ago i for the first time realized that this is winter arriving and again was surpised to think about how long i have been here now! it's my first time being away from home during christmas so it will be interesting to see what it feels like when i will be spending christmas with other people than my family at home. now that something like this is coming up i definitely do long to be at home sometimes but at the same time i am excited to experience this time somewhere else with new friends. and thinking about it... how young and insignificant are all our christmas – traditions compared to the actual subject of our celebrations, jesus christ who can be celebrated across the whole world, regardless of location and culture. next thursday, dec. 8th all of us students head out for christmas – break until january 4th. i am driving to alberta with 2 friends by car. i think it is a drive of about 10 hours. there i first will stay at darren (one of my cabin mates) and arron (also a student here) in the edmonton area and from there i will travel on to calgary with arron and stay at dallas (she's a 2nd year student here) for christmas. hopefully i also will be able to see som other friends that i know from england. we will see. it will be great time i am sure.
i hope you all have a wonderful christmas.
sorry to cut you off here but i have to go.
a group of students have been invited for a christmas dinner by a couple (he's canadian and she's german) who attended bible school together. they invited all students who won't be at home for christmas to enjoy an evening at their house with a good meal. so we will be a group of german, english, american, dutch and costa rican students having a great time tonight.
hopefully i will find some more time during christmas break to be in contact with some of you!
until then, lots of love,
philip

outside of the island bubble.

2005-10-31T00:22:00.000-08:00

_A290427
Originally uploaded by quietriot.

dear friends, greetings from abbotsford! yes, this is the same place i stayed at just after i arrived in canada, but this time i am spending my time here with friends from school. as i told you we headed out for 4-day midterm break on thursday. we (that is joe, tim and myself) had a great time together staying at jeremy's house (the young lady on the picture)!
it was nice to have some more time to socialize in different places and get back into the "real world". it was joe's birthday on saturday, he turned 19 and that makes him an adult in british columbia!

(f.l.t.r. - tim, joe, jeremy, me)

jeremy's sister took us to an english shop and teahouse which was really nice! we sat down there and enjoyed a good pot of yorkshire gold tea, that was a big treat for joe and me... - the tea that is served at school just can't keep up with the good english one that we're used to from home sweet home!

otherwise we just relaxed, watched some movies, enjoyed really good food prepared by jeremy's mom... it's been great! oh, just remembered... we went to a pumpkin farm and picked pumpkins and carved them!

(that is joe presenting my pumpkin....and yes, his fingernail is painted pink...!)

tomorrow morning we'll start our journey back which, as nice as this time out was, i am looking really forward to! also i am excited about the new series of classes starting tomorrow on the books of "genesis" and "deuteronomy" taught by a guest lecturer called richard dahlstrom. i am going back to victoria for my outreach at the "mustard seed street church" again this coming weekend. looking forward to growing closer with the team and being able to share christ's life with whoever we meet.
i have updated my photos with some impressions from this long weekend, i hope you enjoy them!
for now this shall be enough :)! i am looking forward to hearing from you. i am able to receive and write emails from school through my usual email address (philip@arhelger.com), get in touch if you haven't yet but are reading this! i can't promise that i always will keep up with emailing, as i have lots of things to do which sometimes are more important!

lots of love, in christ,
phil.

it's been 6 weeks now!

2005-10-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

hello everyone,
just to let you know what's been going on lately, here's a quick update.
classes have been great! very, very interesting! last week we had a jewish rabbi who got to know jesus and he taught us the life of jesus from a jewish perspective! so many things that i never could have known, because it just was so deeply rooted in jewish culture! otherwise i have been ill for the past 2 1/2 weeks and i am still overcoming that... it started to be just a harmless cough but turned out to be a bronchial infection after i had my lungs x-rayed, so now i am recovering quite well with some good medicine! next week on thurday all students leave school for four days! it is our mid-term break and i will be going to abbotsford for that time with some friends! looking forward to getting away for some time!
but, oh well, i have to go now to catch the ferry back to the island!
you will hear from me soon!

in christ,
philip

let's get you all updated!

2005-10-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

hello everyone,
at last i found some time to leave the island to come to the tea house on the mainland in which i can use my laptop with wireless internet!! i know that a lot of you have been waiting for photos and i had posted a few already but now i put a whole lot more up on my photo album! mostly they are pictures of my venture that i went on the first weekend after school started! we hiked up mt.albert edward on vancouver island! it was an amazing weekend! if you look at the photos you will see in what beautiful creation i was! it definetly was hard, especially the first day with all the luggage in our hiking-packs but everytime i had the chance to look at the scenery i just was amazed and knew that i chose the right trip to go on!

the reason why it took me so long to get you updated is that i had quite a busy week, altogether i've been busy in these first weeks! yesterday we had to hand in our first "journal", a book review on "the saving life of christ" by major ian thomas! read it!! whatever your view on christianity or rather faith in jesus is, i can only tell you to read it! even though i enjoyed the book i noticed that it was quite a challenge to get the journal done! in the coming week i will be working on the journals for the other classes that we have had so far! "the character of god", "person & works of the holy spirit", "book of acts" and "1. & 2. Corinthians"! the lectures are brilliant! sometimes quite long, but the challenge that i find is not having to listen for a long time but rather that i start questioning a lot and am amazed by the things that i am being taught! a lot of stuff that i already knew, things about jesus that i always took for granted, my identity in him.... sometimes i felt like i just wanted to leave class because the truth was hitting me so hard! otherwise i have been enjoying the studies on the old testament! i have discovered that there is much more to it! i would love to go into detail here but that would take far too long!

all in all i have settled in really well! it is not always easy to share a cottage with 6 other guys but even through such experiences i see that god is showing me alot! i have found lots of nice friends here! i even have difficulties to decide where i shall go for my christmas break which lasts for just over 3 weeks! :) all these things are blessings from god! it is beautiful here and i wish you could get a bigger picture of what i am experiencing here!
i am looking forward to hearing from you!

yours in christ,
phil.

everything is good...

2005-09-27T17:26:00.000-07:00

... but i am in a hurry!
so all i can tell you here now is that i settled in fine and that bible school started very well!
sorry that i haven't got any pictures here for you yet! this is the first time that i am on the internet since i arrived at school!
you will hear from me soon!
i am really having an amazing time... more information to come soon though!
have to go!
love,
philip

the journey begins.

2005-09-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

good morning everyone,

i have not much time but i didn't want to leave without letting you know what's happening!
well, i'm packed and ready to go to bibleschool! soon i will be collected and taken to the vancouver ferry terminal. so that is how my lovely time here in abbotsford will come to an end!

it is quite a journey until i finally reach thetis island where the school is. i first have to take the ferry from vancouver to vancouver island, then take a bus to chemainus ferry terminal and then catch a ferry that takes me to thetis island! all in all i guess it will take about 5 hours!
i haven't been on a ferry for a while since there are all these cheap flights to england, so i am quite excited about that! :)
sorry i haven't put up any new pictures yet! hopefully some will soon follow.
okay i should be going now!

in christ,
phil.

greetings from canada.

2005-09-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

P1010866
Originally uploaded by quietriot.

so here's my first message to you from from canada! i arrived here safely yesterday after a good 10 hour flight! the time went by really quickly, it seemed like 4 hours and i got some good sleep too! i had 2 seats for myself and could put my guitar on the empty seat behind me! i was sitting right st the front just behind "1st class", it was nice and quiet and not many people sitting there. just right!

this was my view onto greenland!!!

at vancouver airport everything went well too! i got my study permit until september 2006.
then i was collected by sandy and crystal who i didn't know beforehand and we then went into vancouver, got some lunch and walked by the sea! vancouver's BEAUTIFUL! it was sunny and mild. i love the climate here, especially being right by the sea!

now i am at vanessa's house in abbotsford, just an hour away from vancouver. it is really nice here too!
but this is just my first morning, so there is not much more to say, except for that everything is really nice here and i am enjoying myself!

until next time, dear friends!

in christ,
phil.

goodbye.

2005-09-10T12:11:00.000-07:00

so here i am spending my last evening at home. it is a strange thought to know that i will be leaving tomorrow for a whole year. i will have to see myself in the plane or rather in vancouver to fully understand this!
oh, for everyone who might be looking here for the fist time and don't quite know what i am getting up to: i will start a one-year-program at a bible school in canada. my new home for the next 9 months is called "capernwray harbour" on thetis island. go to http://www.capernwray.ca for more information on my course and the location of my school!

well... all i can say is that i am excited and looking forward to all the new things that will come up in the next days and weeks. i am excited about meeting lots of new people at bible school and growing into a community with fellow believers while we study god's word together but also i am excited to live in and get to know a new country!
i got this blog to be able to share my impressions with you best possible every now and again. sometimes you will find some pictures or just some thoughts or even both at once! :)

just to let you know, my flight is tomorrow morning (sunday september 11th). when i arrive in vancouver i will be staying at a friend's house for 5 days until i start bible school friday, the 16th! it will be good to spend some time in the area before starting off school.

okay, i guess that is all for now! if you have any questions about anything - just ask!
i will get back here as soon as possible when i am over in canada to let you know how everything started for me!

in christ,
philip

"since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me. "
psalm 31:3

back home and ready to move on.

2005-09-03T08:49:00.000-07:00

i got back home from spain after a 33h journey - long story... - spanish police officers are difficult people!

i have another 8 days at home, here in germany before i fly to canada a week on sunday, september 11! and no... don't ask - i don't mind flying on that date! actually, i believe it is the safest day of all! :)

i will keep you updated.

so long - in christ,

phil.

calpe.

2005-08-18T03:13:00.000-07:00

spain is waiting for me. tomorrow morning i am off to calpe for two weeks with some friends. sun. hot weather. sea. beautiful scenery - lovely!!! :)

visual updates

2005-08-17T03:41:00.000-07:00

dear friends,
i will try and keep you updated by posting some of my photographs every now and again with a little note. but the bulk of my visuals that i think you should be seeing will be here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/quietriot/

mind you... - it's mine.

2005-08-15T14:21:00.000-07:00

P1010089
Originally uploaded by quietriot.

but i am willing to share with you.
over the next months you will find some thoughts, but mainly pictures that i think i should be sharing with you here. hope you enjoy!