A Great Week!

"Feed the baby"














This week really was a great week… We had 10 girls at girls group on Wednesday which is the perfect number. As you know, this week we were talking about how God is like a mom and it was really neat to watch how the girls connected with the topic. We had them look up five different verses that talked about how God is like a mother (He comforts us, protects us, delights in us, etc.) and then I asked them to share which verse touched them the most and why.

“For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” (Zephaniah 3:17) We talked about how God delights in us just like a new mother delights in her new baby, even though all that baby does is eat and sleep. One of our Muslim girls in particular was very touched by the fact that God delights in her just because she is His daughter, she doesn’t have to do anything to earn it. There was one comment that nearly brought me to tears though… There is one girl in our group who lives with her aunt as her mother was abusive. When it came time for her to share which verse touched her the most she read Isaiah 49:15 – “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” Praise God that He never fails and that He can fill the voids in these girls’ lives.

On Thursday I took four girls to Pointe Claire Village for some Wild Willy’s ice cream and a little window shopping. The highlight for me was going to Ten Thousand Villages (a store that sells crafts, etc. made in low-income countries where the profits go back to the people who made them). The employees working there were so great with the girls, letting them taste and touch and play and even helping them find things from their countries – I think we were in there nearly an hour!

Next week: God is like a Guide – He can help you make good decisions and you can look to Him for help when you feel lost. Please pray that this week’s lesson would challenge the girls to go a step further in their relationship with God and that they would truly begin to look to Him for guidance in their lives.

To each one of you out there who are praying, thank you so much. You are a playing a key role in the work that God is doing in these girls lives this summer!

Putting Flexibility to the Test!

Well, we had 16 girls at girls’ group this week… Needless to say, that’s a few more than the five we had last week and things were a little chaotic. Nevertheless, nothing catches our God off guard and we saw Him working through the details making things manageable. There’s a day camp going on at La Corde for the summer and the reason we had so many girls this week is because the girls from the day camp decided to stay. So, it looks like we’re either going to have 5 girls or 16 as they seem to stick together – if one decides to stay, they all stay and vice versa. It makes planning a little difficult but I’ve been known to say that flexibility is one of the most important qualities you can have in ministry so I guess this’ll be putting mine to the test...

This week we’re talking about how God is like Mom – He protects, comforts and loves just like a good mother does. Please pray that God would bring out the girls He wants to be there (be that 5 or 16), that we would have wisdom and patience in dealing with whatever may arise and that each would be touched personally by the love, care and delight that God has for them.

Summer Girls' Group

Alright, so, back to Cloverdale… Last Wednesday marked the beginning of my summer ministry with the girls. Each Wednesday we are meeting from 1:00-4:00 to eat lunch together, play games and have discussion. The theme of our discussion time for the summer is “Who is God” and each week we will be looking at a different characteristic of God. Last week we talked about how God is like a best friend and it was exciting to watch the girls begin to grasp just how awesome it is that the God of the universe would call each one of them His friend.
There are a lot of day camps, etc. going on in Cloverdale throughout the summer and as a result we only had 5 girls last week but it actually was good as each one of them was able to really participate in the discussion. Some of the other girls may be joining us if they choose to forgo their camp activities for the day but either way, I am excited for the opportunity to really pour into these girls in a more intimate setting.
I am thrilled to have a summer intern (Helene) as well as a volunteer student (Stephanie) helping me out with girls’ group on Wednesdays. Helene has been helping me all year with our sleepovers. She has a real love for these girls, a passion for sharing the gospel and is such a blessing to me. Stephanie is a girl that Helene has been mentoring for several years who just graduated from high school, is interested in ministry and is sort of “shadowing” Helene for the summer. She has a great heart for God and I am excited to have her on board as well.
On Fridays I am doing small group outings (no more than 4 kids) with the girls. Last week we went swimming and as there were only three of them, it was a great opportunity to really connect and have fun with them. I’m also taking time during the week to spend some time with the girls one-on-one, taking them for ice cream, etc. Once again, this is a great opportunity to connect and go deeper with them.

So, that’s what’s happening with me and the girls this summer – I would love your prayers. Specifically, would you take some time on Wednesday mornings while you’re getting ready for work, etc. and lift us up before God? Pray that God would bring out the girls that He wants to be there, that they would be ready and open for what He wants to do in their lives and that Helene, Stephanie and I would be attentive to His Spirit as we teach and connect with these girls. Tomorrow… “God is like a Dreamer – He has good plans for your life”; please pray that the girls’ eyes and hearts would be opened to and excited by the great things God has in store for them.

Thanks so much for reading… I’ll be updating every week so please keep checking back!

Back from Jamaica

Hi everyone! Sorry it’s taken me so long to update my blog. I’ve been back from Jamaica for a week now but it’s amazing how fast I’ve gotten caught up in daily life. Anyway, I am anxious to tell you about my trip…

First, let me say that it is HOT over there! With temperatures averaging at about 35 degrees (not taking into account the humidity) it was definitely a bit of a shock to our bodies. Despite the heat however, we managed to get a good amount of work done (we learned quickly and started our days at 5:00 a.m. in order to beat the heat). Our work projects consisted mostly of painting the inside and outside of the church’s preschool as well as several other buildings within the church compound and a couple of classrooms at a government-run school just down the road. The two men on our team worked especially hard and were also able to put in door locks and security bars over several windows at the church as well as install some solar panels for a couple of local families without electricity. Without a doubt however, the highlight of the trip for me was our VBS program. We started off our first day with about 50 kids and peaked towards the end of the week at about 100. The kids come from harsh environments and it certainly wasn’t easy but God showed His faithfulness to us in so many ways, bringing a tangible peace over our camp and ensuring that His message came across loud and clear. There is so much I could say about the kids, the culture, etc. but I wouldn’t even know where to begin. Instead, I would like to introduce you to one little boy who has stolen all of our hearts forever:

This is Kemar – he just turned eight years old. Kemar’s father is long gone and, in some twisted attempt to get back at his dad, his mother wants nothing to do with him. When we met him, Kemar was, for the most part, living with his grandmother however, for whatever reason she was unable to take very good care of him. Kemar is ostracised by his whole community; his teachers throw rocks at him, men in the streets taunt him, the women shout curses at him and the other children pick on him. By the end of our two weeks in Jamaica some local drug-addicted thieves had taken advantage of Kemar’s vulnerability and he was living with and working for them. It’s hard to hear Kemar’s story and feel any amount of hope for his future but the theme of our VBS, the message we shared all week with the children, is just as true for Kemar as it is for any one of us: God has good plans for Kemar. God’s good plans for Kemar were evidenced in his strength and resilience, in his smile and moments of pure sweetness. They were evidenced by the fact that even though he has faced unbelievable hardships, the following words were still uttered from his lips: “God loves me”, “God is my Father”, “God has good plans for me!”…

Kemar will forever be etched on my heart but sadly, his story is not that unique. There are millions more children all around the world just like Kemar. Unwanted, unloved. Thrown away and forgotten by the rest of society but not by their Heavenly Father. Would join me in rising up to pray, not only for Kemar but for every child around the world just like him? These are God’s sons and daughters and, no matter what anyone else may say or do, no matter how much we may struggle to see or believe it, He has good plans for them.

Jamaica

So, I am leaving for Jamaica on Saturday… I can’t believe it’s here already! The last month has been a flurry of prayer and preparation as I have tried to discern what God would have us share with the children who will be attending our VBS. In the end, the theme of our VBS is going to be “God has good plans for you – you can trust in Him”. Most of these kids are coming from broken and abusive homes with little hope for their future yet I believe that God does indeed have good plans for these children and I am excited to share this powerful, life-changing message with them.
Please pray for our team over the next few weeks. We will be leaving on Saturday, June 20th and returning Friday, July 3rd.

Some specific prayer requests are:
- For safe and smooth travel both there and back (no missed connections, etc.) and for health and safety while we’re there.
- For unity within our team – that there would be unity among the s, among the students and among the team as a whole and that our team would be able to be a reflection of Jesus to those around us.
- For the students on our team – that they would see God use them in awesome ways in the lives of those we’re working with, that they would be open to the work that He wants to do in their own lives, and that they would experience God in a more real, more intimate way than they ever have before.
- For the VBS which will be taking place during the first week, from June 22-26; Pray that God would bring out the kids that He wants to be there and that their hearts would be open and ready to hear what He has to say to them. Pray that we would be guided by the Holy Spirit as we teach these kids and that lives would be changed by the power of His word.
- That we would be open to whatever opportunities God gives us to serve / minister over there and that we would be a blessing to those whom we come in contact with.

Our Last Sleepover...

It went really well. We had our biggest number yet with 14 girls and it was a lot of fun. Like I mentioned in my last post, we had a lot of fun activities planned. One of those activities was wall climbing. The girls have been staring longingly at the climbing wall at Terra Nova since our first sleepover back in October and this time they finally got a chance to try it out. They had a great time and I was really impressed with how well they did…

As you know, my goal for this sleepover was simply to love these girls and to celebrate all that we have experienced together over the past year and I think we were successful in accomplishing that. We were able to have a bit of a heart to heart about their behaviour recently and I noticed a huge difference in their attitudes both towards me and towards each other. One girl in particular is definitely the leader of the group and usually the hardest to deal with but she and I were able to connect over the course of this sleepover and I was amazed at the shift in her attitude and so proud of how she stepped up and led the other girls in such a positive way. Finally, during our discussion time we did a brief look back on all that we have discussed over the course of the year and I was amazed at the specific details the girls remembered and at the things that clearly impacted them and have stayed with them over the past months.

Praise God for all He has accomplished in the lives of these girls over the last year, for the impact that has been made and for the many seeds that have been sown! Please continue to pray for these girls and for me as we carry on through the summer; may God continue the work that He has begun in their hearts.

Sleepover This Weekend...

On Friday we are going to be having our final sleepover of the school year and I would really appreciate your prayers… If I’m going to be honest I have to say that the girls have been very difficult to manage lately. The mother’s day dinner was great but the two most recent girls’ group events before that were trying to say the least. As the girls get more comfortable with me they are displaying more and more attitude and disrespect and discipline is becoming a real issue. I want to be both firm and loving at the same time yet it is hard to find the balance. My goal for this sleepover is just to love them. We have a lot of fun activities planned and I am looking forward to celebrating all that we have experienced in the past year. Please just pray that God would give me an unending amount of patience, that He would fill me to overflowing with His love for these girls, that I would have wisdom to deal with whatever issues come up and that we would just be able to enjoy one another and make the most of this last opportunity we have to be together in this capacity.

Thank you – I so appreciate your prayers.