Well, I’m kind of “borrowing” an internet connection from the church here in Terrace Bay… but considering how incredibly generous they’ve been (just giving us the keys to the building here), I’m not thinking it’s THAT big of a deal

It’s always a great feeling when you connect with some genuine christian hospitality, and the pastor of the church here has been so amazingly generous. We had a good sleep (not long enough!!!) and now we’re going to hit the Tim Horton’s before we push on home.

At a later time, I promise to post some pictures (there are great ones), but I’ve gotta tell you two great stories that happened between Winnipeg and Terrace Bay (not including the one about us taking 2 hours to actually LEAVE Winnipeg… let’s just say it’s a “loopy” city).

 Both of the stories, coincidentally, have to do with pee… so, uh, if you were looking for something a bit more “proper”, then read a different post

First, we stopped at some park on the side of the road in Northern Ontario for lunch yesterday. It had bathrooms. We had bagged lunches. Great. No problem. Except for poor Tara.

She was a bit “disgusted” with the conditions of the can, and opted to pee into a zip-lock bag instead (inside the bathroom, but then she wouldn’t have to “touch” anything in that awful place). Just as she was getting down to the task, doesn’t it just so happen that a lady chooses the ONLY of the four stalls that is occupied to barge in.

As we heard Tara’s scream from the washroom, we gathered around to find an embarassed girl emerging… followed soon after by a VERY embarassed woman in a purple shirt.

YES! Gotta love stories like that…. sorry the second one isn’t AS fun, but Pat had to pee really bad, so we let him go on the side of the road. Then Todd eased off the brake, and uh, let’s just say Pat was faced with a dilemma as he stood exposed to the road behind him. He opted for a deep woods experience instead, and emerged from the bush a few minutes later.

Anyways, we’re making good time…. we’re tired, ready for our own beds, our own families, and all that. Please continue to pray for our safety as we travel…. (last night at 10pm we were stopped on the roadside by a police roadblock to inform us, “Don’t pick up any hitchikers for the next 20km, there’s an escaped convict in the woods”…. I just love stories like that!) we’ll see you all tonight!

God Bless,

- Pastor Ryan

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Hey guys! You’re probably wondering about the title of this blog, but I assure you that you’ll find out when you read on

So two more intense days are now done… and sadly, so is our ministry in Winnipeg. As I write this, we’re showering at the YWAM house, and getting ready to go to our final banquet.

But before I get all “mushy” or something, let me tell you all about the amazing last two days!

Yesterday, we spent the day at Winnipeg Harvest, the food bank and food distribution center for over 100 other food banks and food programs in the city.

The volunteers and staff of Winnipeg Harvest service over 35,000 people a month, with more than 17,000 of those being children. Just walking around their MASSIVE warehouse, and seeing the work involved really inspired us, and showed us how important this work is (that’s a lot of mouths to feed!).

(Kristina, doing some presorting of donated food)

We got our start sorting food and packing bags of pasta, before a quick lunch break and a loooooong afternoon in the stifling heat.

Now, it just so happened that it was about 40 degrees Celsius when you factored in the humidity, and it wasn’t too long into the afternoon before we lost a few team members to some heat nausea and headaches (apparently the memo to drink the bottles of water that Winnipeg Harvest had supplied arrived just a LITTLE late…)

So while Morgan, Pat and Lindsay took a breather in the lunch room, the rest of us kept sorting, (I heard that separating good and rotten potatoes was really fun), and then began packing emergency food kits.

After we got home, nursed our sick back to health, we got a great surprise: our trip to the Juvenile Correctional Facility was actually more than we thought.

Todd asked Kim, “So what are we doing at the center?” … to which she replied, confused, “Running the service. Why?”

Well, it was 3:40, and we had to leave at 6:30, so we thought we’d better plan a service Melissa and Pat pulled some songs together, we got the laptop setup with powerpoint for my message, and we were off.

As we took some time to pray, we really sensed God’s peace fill our hearts, and we ended up having an amazing service. Our team was able to connect with the inmates through some great conversations, and they really responded to the message of seizing the future, and forgetting what is past.

Which brings us to the title of our blog. One of the great quotes of our trip came about in a conversation between one of the students in the correctional center, Lindsay, and Josh.

After explaining to Lindsay, brokenheartedly, that his car had become impounded, he also added that “It was because they found cocaine in it…” Josh (oh, sweet innocent little Josh), with his bambi-like gaze, asked, “Oh, did it have cocaine in it when you bought it?”

Well, Josh learned something about the correctional system, and we had a good laugh. Yes!

(The girls, enjoying their snacks!)

Once we got back to the church, a quick snack run to Sobey’s provided us the fuel we needed for a long and entertaining evening. Make sure you email Cassie to ask her, “What sound an Ambulance makes”… trust me. She’ll be glad you did. Since the girls decided to hord their ice-cream and other goodies in their room, us guys had some fun of our own… due mostly to a rousing round of BlackJack (gamble-free, of course ), and Todd entertained us with a dance.

(Todd getting his groove on) 

We really had a good night… which brings us to our time at Lazarus Housing today. Not too much to report, but we were really able to help out this organization that is providing thousands with a place to live.

(Pat moving some heavy furniture in the newly-organized storage room)

(Painting over graffiti)

We had a great time working together, but it’s a pretty sober mood around here. We’ve worked hard, we’ve made a difference, and although we miss our families, our beds, and familiarity, knowing we’re leaving tomorrow morning is kind of sad. We’ve made some great friends among the YWAM staffers - Autumn, Brenny, Stacie, Michelle… and even that Kangaroo-killing-Kim , they’ll all be missed.

We’re so thankful to God that we’ve had the opportunity to do this - we’ve all grown SOOO much and just seeing what God has done in us and in our neighbourhood is really exciting. Thanks so much for all of your support and prayers. We couldn’t have done this without you.

Please keep us in your prayers - we have a lot of driving ahead, starting tomorrow! We’ll talk to you soon…

- Pastor Ryan

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On Saturday, the teams geared up for a long afternoon in the Winnipeg sun. Our mission today – eat lunch and spend quality time with a homeless person, and, if you were brave enough, take a stab at pan-handling!

Heading off from the Vineyard Church in the North End, the multiple groups set out in search of an underprivileged person to share lunch with. For most of the teams, it took a while to actually find someone, but it was a great way to see the different social levels of the city, from dilapidated 1920 apartment buildings (some with original windows!) to ritzier neighborhoods.
Since I don’t know everyone’s experiences as well as I know my own, I will just share what my particular trip was like. We hadn’t been walking for more than 5 – 10 minutes when we came upon our first “shady” character. We were just walking down a street when a fellow (not seeming completely sober) started to walk towards us with his arms out in a hug position. We were a little weirded out, to be honest. Then he came up to me and said “Do you remember me?” and I was like “No, sorry, I don’t.” And he was like “You don’t remember me? You serious? You don’t remember me?” and again I said “Nope. Sorry.” Then he removed his sunglasses and said “It’s me, Brown Eyes, from last night.” That’s when Cassie whispered in my ear “Lindsay, let’s go!” And so I said “I’m sorry, I don’t remember you. Bye.” Then he called after me and yelled, rather embarrassingly, “But I still care about you!!!”.

After that freaky little fiasco, it took us about an hour and a half to finally find someone to share lunch with. In a park near Main St., we met Caroline and Oliver, a homeless couple. They seemed to be a little out of it, but when we mentioned lunch, Caroline perked right up (it took Oliver a little longer to warm up to us). After a few bites, we started to learn a bit about them. They’d been married for a while, and been through the ringer. Oliver was stabbed in the heart in a gang fight (his dad is a police officer), and honestly took about 15 pills at once for the pain. We believe they had a past of heroine abuse due to the track marks on their arms, and Caroline had obviously been through a tough emotional time dealing with her husband’s seven years in and out of the hospital and the loss of two children. Although both of them had family in Winnipeg, it seemed no-one really cared enough to lend them a helping hand. Even with their tough circumstances, they were so cute together and seemed to be relatively happy in each other. Oliver’s heart was hurting him, so we took our leave to let them rest a while. After meeting them, we walked some more to find a place to pan-handle. Melissa was the first to try her hand at it, but the general consensus was that she looked to ‘rich and white’ to be asking for money. A fellow completely flipped out on her, swearing at her and telling her to go to ‘Portage’ ( a street in the West end – we originally thought this was the prostitute hangout, but were a little relieved to learn that it was more a place with lots of pan-handlers)Melissa gave up after a few minutes, not earning any money. After Melissa, Cassie tried, too, but wasn’t able to get any money either. Then I took a stab at it. I sat at an intersection near a bus stop (prime location, really) and started asking for money. I sat there trying to look as disheveled and destitute as possible. In the seven minutes that I sat there, I was able to make a dollar (apparently, the younger you are the easier it is to get money – just ask Martha, who was able to make $5.73 in half an hour), but mostly I got dirty looks, comments about getting a job, snickers from youth and complete ignorance from most people. The experience gave me a little taste of what many people go through all day, everyday. I learned that it actually makes you feel better if people actually tell you “No, I don’t have money for you” than if they ignore you all together. They are people too, and you can never judge them by their situation. It was another amazing and stretching day for all of us.

Lots of love!

- Little Miss Sunshine (aka, Lindsay)

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Sorry it’s been a while! With two late nights in a row, and then some crazy internet problems, we’ve got a lot to update you on!

Where to even begin? As I mentioned in the “quick post”, we spent Friday afternoon picking up garbage in our adopted neighbourhood here on the West End. As you can see from the look on Lindsay’s face, she was right into it!

We hit the streets for the entire afternoon, and managed to hit EVERY street in the whole neighbourhood (Our group actually walked all the way to Maryland!), as I mentioned before, we picked up almost 20 HUGE bags of trash.

This simple act made an important statement to the people of this neighbourhood: We Care! Many of our team members had an opportunity to share the reason why we’d do such a dirty job with bewildered passers-by… and it enabled us all to take a sense of pride in this neglected part of the city.

I think this was extra important given what we undertook that evening. As the sun began to set, we settled again into our van for a long night. We were about to spend 3 hours circling these same streets (actually, Ellice & Sargent, from Ingersoll to Colony, but pretty much the same neighbourhood…), looking and praying for the girls who would be “working” tonight. The prostitutes in our neighbourhood aren’t much older than our team… it wasn’t uncommon for us to end up connecting with girls who looked about 15 or 16.

While I’ll let each teammate share their story, mine was difficult. Seeing a younger girl working the street, we pulled over to approach her. Martha and Bethany and I exited the van and began walking toward her, but were interrupted by a brand new Corvette that swooped in up to the curb. While we were still only 20 feet away, and blinded by the headlights of oncoming traffic, we watched the silhouette of this girl approach and lean into the passenger window. It didn’t take more than a few heartbeats for the terms of the deal to be settled, and this teenage prostitute left us standing there, rose in hand, as she entered the vehicle and disappeared into the night.

I can’t describe how broken my heart was as the car drove by. It felt like slow motion as I looked through the open window, examining the expression of total discomfort on the face of this girl before the car faded into the night traffic.

This encounter, unfortunately, wasn’t uncommon, and neither was it vindicated from our next encounter. I was barely out of the van, before a girl in her early twenties, face aged by the street beyond her years, was there to meet me. Hoping to make a good impression for a potential client, she introduced herself in a bubbly and friendly way, despite the van full of teens gazing through an open door 18 inches away.

As I spoke with Jane* (name has been changed), she changed her tone. She was genuinely surprised by a rose instead of a date, and paused to thank me for caring.

I can’t help but think how easy it is to label people in our culture. Prostitute. Dirty. Unloved. Unloveable. Demeaned. Yet that night, we all observed firsthand a sobering reminder that in the economy of God’s Kingdom, people are more than currency to be collected or spent - they carry intrinsic value, and they bear the fingerprint of their creator, no matter how dusty their exterior has become.

Saturday was another story altogether, although the same message seemed to be painfully birthing from between the cracks on the streets we walked. Spending the day much the same way a homeless man or woman would - wandering the streets of the North End - brought us into contact with a number of interesting people.

(An common sight along Main Street)

I hit the streets with Tara, Morgan, and Brandon. After touring the main strip, most of the residential neighbourhoods (including one VERY burned out house, still hosting it’s residents), we found ourselves sharing our lunches with Albert* (name changed) and Steve* (name changed) - two men we found sitting in a doorway on Main Street, starting their first of many magnum-sized cans of beer.

Albert* grew up on “the rez” a few hours from Winnipeg. Leaving the reserve because of intervention from Child and Family Services, he left his foster home when he was 15, without finishing school. We caught up to him 30 years later. Steve* proudly told us the story of his tattoos, of his mistakes and the time “in the joint” that it cost him, and carefully shared his opinions of life on the street.

This experience was echoed in each group that afternoon. As we shared our lunches, tried our hand and begging, and searched downtown for a publicly accessible bathroom, we discovered that life on the streets was much harder than we thought.

God really used this opportunity to prepare us for some of the things we’d be facing later on (like our second encounter with some of these same people earlier today, at the Union Gospel Mission).

Saturday night brought some much needed relaxing and practical accomplishments: we did laundry. Pat remarked afterward (and he’ll kill me for posting this) that, “Wow, that’s the first time I did my own laundry!” Shaping a generation… one life at a time

While I’d like to highlight that you haven’t TRULY bonded with anyone until you’ve folded your underwear beside them, I’d also like to point out that when I’m away from home, I’m highly efficient. You CAN wash all your colours TOGETHER if you do it in cold water. So there. Take that. I win.

Now, I need to pause here and let out my disappointment. We took some amazing photos on Sunday. We went down to the forks, and took pics there, went to the Riel pedestrian bridge, took pics there, dipped our feet in the Red River, took pics there… took a group pic in FRONT of the actual Forks marker… it was sweet.

And then we plugged the memory card into the laptop. NOTHING. Not one photo. Nada. The ENTIRE day, not recorded. I’m not exactly impressed. We have no idea what happened, but to see anything from these days, you’ll just have to wait until we develop the film in everyone’s disposable cameras.

We went to Soul Sanctuary on Sunday morning (BEFORE the amazing photo disappointment)… and had a great time. Gerry taught about the body of Christ, and what it means to fit together and work with one another’s gifts.

I’m going to stop here and mention Gerry and Soul Sanctuary, because “I told him I would” (sorry, that’s a Ray Aldred line). OK, my shameless promotion is done. If you want to know how the service went, ask your kids

And now here’s the really cool thing… we needed to blow off some steam on Sunday night, and we decided it’d be a good idea to make sure that Brandon and Josh didn’t kill each other…. so we gorilla-taped their pillows over their fists, and had a one-armed boxing extravaganza. We couldn’t have POSSIBLY expected what happened next. Half our team stood inline to fight the winners! We got 9 amazing matches on camera, and we’ll be releasing them when we get back to Kitchener… but just so you have a taste of the COMPLETE insanity that took place, here’s a quick preview… let’s just say I’d like to see the Mother-Daughter Grudge Rematch

And that FINALLY brings us to today! We went down to the Union Gospel Mission, and served the homeless on the North End of the city. To truly appreciate the diversity of our day, you’d have to read about it from our team. So the plan is to get them online in a few secs to post a couple of stories and thoughts. As for me, we spent the morning in the “Bag Room”, and consequently became delirious (don’t worry, we’ll release the documentary soon, online) and the afternoon moving clothes and bread around the mission. I finally ended up having an amazing conversation with Victoria* (name has been changed), a 19-year old who spent her life in the foster system after being taken by CSF from her home on the reservation (sound like a familiar story yet?).

(Our LOVELY kids, tormenting our YWAM staffer on their break…)

Victoria* is working to finish Grade 12, and her tenacity and commitment to leaving Siloam House (a residential mission) and getting on her feet amazed me. She plans on applying to the RCMP next fall, and in the meantime is job-searching and trying to survive in a place that gives her canned food with no stove to cook it on.

(Our Kitchen-Staff at the mission today… BEFORE they peeled, cut and processed 2 crates of raw garlic )

Spending time with these amazing people was such an incredible eye-opener for me, and it was a great experience for us as a team: we’re already thinking about what we can do to be a part of “the solution” at home.

As you can tell, it’s been an incredible weekend. It’s been busy and intense, but we’ve come away with an increased sense of why God has so much to say about social justice.

Tomorrow is the Winnipeg Harvest Food Bank and the Juvenile Detention Center - please keep us continually in your prayers as you have been.

We love you guys… thanks so much! (And thanks for your patience with our delayed posts here!!!)

Till next time…

- Pastor Ryan

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Hello everyone… this is Amber. Ryan has asked me to post a blurb for him. They have lost their internet connection but will hopefully be able to get connected within the next day or so. I just got off of the phone with Ryan and he said they had a great time at church this morning (Soul Sanctuary) followed by a trip downtown to the market and then a BBQ with other missions teams. It was a fun, relaxing day off….. one they really needed Ryan said. Tomorrow they will be up bright and early and will be working at the Union Gospel Mission.

Thank you for keeping them in your prayers and for following their blog. I know it means a lot to them to know they have a bunch of supporters back at home. Please continue to check the blog for updates. Ryan is hoping to have it fixed with pictures tomorrow evening.

Amber

General | 1 Comment »

First of all, let me apologize for failing to write last night. My thoughts were that since we were out until midnight reaching out to the prostitutes on our block, that I wouldn’t be able to post afterwards (we use the internet at the YWAM office, about 5-6 minutes drive from the church).

Right now, we’ve just finished doing our laundry at the “Soap Opera Laundry” - a laundromat on Sargent St., in the neighbourhood we’re staying in. Seeing as I only have about 3 minutes of battery life, I promise that tomorrow afternoon, I’ll take the time to post some pics and tell the story of some of the amazing things we’ve experienced in the last 2 days.

Here’s the “quick tour”…

Yesterday afternoon, we blessed our neighbourhood physically and spiritually. We began in the afternoon by cleaning up garbage throughout the 16 blocks or so between the church and some of the rougher areas in the West End. In teams of 3-4, we managed to collect over 15 extra large bags of garbage.

In the evening, we took part in the Roses to Prostitutes Outreach, and God really challenged our hearts and minds as we drove the streets, stopping to hand out roses to the young girls that, for some reason or another, are trapped on the streets. This was probably one of the most intense experiences of our lives, and I’m not sure there was a dry eye in the van by the end of the night. The sense of brokenness, and the reality of life for these girls is a lot to think about.

Today we spent 5 hours in the North End of Winnipeg, in the most destitute part of the city. While the West End is known for gangs and organized crime, the living conditions for its residents are more like Beverly Hills when you compare them to the slum-conditions on the North side of this city.

Each team of 3-4 students walked the streets, with only a quarter in our pocket, experiencing the reality of lonely streets, no money, and strange people, stuck pan-handling for drink money after our water-bottles were empty. Stopping to share our lunch with some of the homeless people, we were all challenged in an intensely personal way. It was a sobering afternoon, with some amazing stories to tell.

God is really stretching and using us as a team as we develop a heart for the beautiful people of this city. We’ll post some of the more intimate stories tomorrow, on our break, along with some photos.

Thanks for your comments and prayers - they mean so much to us, and they’re well needed. Please also pray for those spending tonight on the streets. They’re unforgiving after dark, and our hearts go out to everyone who is calling an alley or doorway home tonight.

God Bless,

- Pastor Ryan

General | 4 Comments »

Hey everyone. If you left a comment and it hasn’t showed up until now, I’m sorry! On the first comment you post, it has to be “moderated”, and we’ve been so rushed, it was all we could do to post. I’ve just “approved” all the comments, so you should see it, and we should be a bit better at keeping up in the future! Thanks! Keep commenting!

technical | 2 Comments »

So it’s been a busy and amazing past couple days. Wow! Hectic, would actually be a better word! Yesterday, after the post, we went on a prayer-tour of the city, stopping at some key places of influence around Winnipeg. As we drove around (from 1:30 - 5:00!), we really began to have a sense of who God is and what he’s up to in “the ‘Peg”.

We prayed for New Life Ministries, one of YWAM’s most important partners. We prayed at the University of Winnipeg, for their students, faculty and message. We prayed for the Province, as we sat outside the Provincial legislature. We prayed at the CBC Broadcasting center, that God would use their influence to make a positive difference in the city.

(Guys in front of the CBC Radio)

(Girls in front of the CBC)

We prayed at the Winnipeg Greyhound Station - the place that so many runaways begin. We prayed at the RCMP Headquarters, that God would protect and watch over the police that serve this city. We stopped and prayed in a poor neighbourhood, representative of so many people who find life on a day to day basis dangerous and bleak, with unmet needs along the way.

(The Greyhound Station)

(The RCMP Headquarters)

And we talked with James. James was sitting outside the 7-11 (we made a slurpee run after our trip), and asked us for money. Not having any change anyways, (and sure he’d be using it to add fuel the already worn needle-marks on his arms), I offered to buy him a slurpee too, and soon he was engaging our team with the story of his life.

I think this last experience in particular had a profound impact on many of our students… it’s one thing to pray for a city, it’s centers of influence, and it’s people…. it’s entirely another to offer a cold drink to one of these neglected children of God.

We returned to the church for debriefing and an opportunity to spend time with God: reflecting, thinking, and praying, followed by a time of commitment, as each team member took time to ask God where He was leading them.

For the first time in DAYS! We actually got early to bed… everyone was asleep BEFORE midnight, and it’s a good thing, because WE NEEDED IT!!!

(Some of our team at the Winnipeg Polar Bear… at the Manitoba Dept. of Transportation, across from the RCMP)

Today was our “Cultural Experience Day”… and what that means is, well, it was time for us to learn all sorts of things about our worldview and the contexts in which we’ll be ministering.

Jamie Arpin (Kim’s husband) took our first session, and shared his heart with us on this idea of “Culture and Diversity”. It was really eye-opening, and echoed some of the same things we spent time on as a team in our devotions. THEN came the mayhem.

We played this game… a “tribal” game. The point was to role-play how different cultures interact with each other. Our team (minus Pat and Cassie, who were “missionaries”, on a different team) became the “Alpha Tribe” - a matriarchal warrior tribe, with fierce customs and our own language (for real, we ACTUALLY did come up with a language and customs in just a few minutes… so let me just say a “Karumba! Swish-swish wawa Uwaga… Wasaga stomp stomp Uwaga!”)

Lindsay (aka Marmalade) became our Chieft, and her four elders were Tara (Lick & Shine) Martha (the Giant) Bethany (Sheldon) and Morgan (Bobbaaaaay!).

(Some of our girls, after the game)

After a healthy dose of face-paint and some cool bandanas, our tribe was ready to rock. For 2 hours, we defended our land from the Beta Tribe, some agrarian tree-huggers with a serious case of seagull-syndrome. The missionaries, tried desperately to figure us out… which found Cassie (aka Bits) in our jail.

The whole thing ended when I got into a brawl with the Beta tribe, (it was all Art… that guy has a death-grip!!!!), causing a massive 20-person pile up. The YWAMers voted that Art and I both died in the scuffle, and things eventually wound down from there.

We really learned a lot though, about cultural misunderstandings and relationships, and I know our team was really challenged. We ended up the night at “Taste of India” restaurant, to experience something completely out of our culture… Brandon (aka “Tiny Tank) decided he was only a “rice man”, but the rest of us had some of the best Tandoori Chicken, well, ever (although I’ve been burping up curry for the last hour).

It’s been an amazing couple days, and we’re pumped: tomorrow starts the outreach phase with Servant Evangelism and Roses to Prostitutes. We need your continued prayers, at this critical time in the trip:

- Pray for team unity, and wisdom for leaders
- Pray for safety as we “hit the streets”
- Pray that God would open the hearts and minds of those we reach out to
- Pray that God would use these experiences to make us into the people he’s called us to be.

We’re having a blast… it’s hard work, but we’re glad we’re here (although some of us might be getting homesick… ok, it’s actually only me, and I’m not so much homesick as “Amber and Kyleigh sick”…)

We’re looking forward to updating you on our progress tomorrow!

We love you - thanks for your continued support!

- Pastor Ryan

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Man oh man, what a crazy ride! Yesterday was TOTALLY DIFFERENT, so many ups and downs - one second, everyone was happy, the next second, everyone was like, “Pass the kleenex!”

(Art, a YWAM staffer, playing dead) 

So Martha ended up in a tent… we had to do a bunch of team-building games. Everything from crossing oceans made of acid to, well, putting up a tent while blindfolded (hence, Martha ended up inside a collapsed tent, blindfolded - thanks to Bethany).

On most of our games, the other team ended up doing better, because apparently we have trouble with “listening”… well, that and the people who are great at listening ended up with “non-speaking roles”. Great. But we learned a lot and the games helped us get so much closer as a team as we learned how we react to situations and saw each others strengths and weaknesses. There were so many good lessons like, we’ve got to use the WHOLE team, together, or we won’t complete the task.

The best (and worst) was the “untangle the human knot game”, where most of us ended up in each other’s armpits (Pastor Ryan said, “that’s the smell of team unity…”) - what a whiff… not sure what that odor was, but we all felt like skipping snack.

The evening session was about the crucifixion of Christ, and learning about purity. It was really intense and we could just really sense the peace of God in the sanctuary. It was the first time I (Bethany) really felt God’s presence, and it was so cool… we just stayed after and prayed together and just took it all in. I (Tara) think we really finally opened up with each other and just praying together was really good.

When we were praying after, we were all finally in the spot where we were like, “We’re in this together”, and nobody was afraid to pray outloud or anything. We had so much unity and all the “emotional issues” of Day 2 finally came to a close, and we were just… a team. It was kind of like our “spiritual kickoff” to what we’re here to do.

I (Tara) was really excited during our night team-time because we did this exercise where we passed around a piece of paper with our names on it and we wrote down the things that we could see God doing in the lives of that person. It was really cool, because it wasn’t fake, but it was just so encouraging.

We’re like one big family, and I think everyone had such a significant experience with God and with each other as a team last night… we’re so “tight” now.

Today we’re going to go on a prayer trip, and I (Tara) really think that this is so important, because it’s God that does the work, and taking the time to pray before we start our outreach is so important. I (Bethany) think that this trip isn’t only about us helping others, it’s God helping us.

General | 6 Comments »

Hey everyone in Kitchener!! We’ve been busy on our first 2 days in Winnipeg! After spending a luxurious night in the hotel, we went shopping! (Morgan, or “Bobby” as she has come to be known) found “skinny jeans”, and Tara and I found “boho shirts”, and now Pastor Ryan calls us “granola heads”.

When we got to the mall, we checked out the front grill on the van, and uh, it was gross. Todd was feeling a bit hungry, as you can see…

After a quick lunch and lots of shopping, we got some Starbucks, and we were asking Brandon what “VBF” stood for on our drinks, and he guessed, “Vanilla Boyfriend” (it was a good laugh)…

Once we got to the church, we unpacked all of our stuff, and the YWAM staff stole our luggage and hid it in our rooms and wouldn’t let us go in there… something about “surprises”…

(Brennan, Autumn, Stacie and Kim)

(Waiting to get started)

Then we met the other team, (as Martha said, “that’s all of them!?!?”). It didn’t take long for the fire-alarm to go off… (NOT from a real fire), and the fire department showed up. We were all kind of freaking out, but a lot of the girls thought they were dreamy

We finally went into our first session, which was a crime scene (cool!) and it was really good. We have a worship leader / speaker named Chris, who was really good and very funny. We found out the rules on this funny video (Hey! You! No!… but with an aussie accent), and then we showered / had team time… as we were dying of heat as the air conditioning got shut off accidentally (thank you Todd!)

After a 1am alarm sounding (thank you Melissa!), we got a LITTLE bit of sleep… and we’ve had a good day so far, looking forward to continuing to get to know people.

Keep praying for us, we miss you all and we’re having a great time… God is amazing, and doing good things in us.

UWAGA!!!!

- Elmo & Bobbaaaaaay (aka Jess & Morgan)

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