Just wanted to send out a quick Thank You! Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support. On the ride home I heard one youth say "I think this missions trip was the best trip we've done in the past few years; I learned so much!". I think the Lord really worked through our group and in our hearts. Please continue to pray that the work that has began in us will be brought to completion!
Andy
Monday, April 07, 2014
Thursday, April 03, 2014
Kid City!
Hey! Hopefully everything is going well back on the home front!
We woke up this morning, just like every morning, rushed to Church, ate some breakfast. Then we had a session this morning in which we talked the how the spirit is often willing but the flesh is weak. Lloyd suggested we should train ourselves in the easy times, on the nice flat "plains" per say, than in the hard times, when we are climbing the mountains or trying to get through the low valleys.
After session we headed out to ICYA once again. Once there we had a pretty chill morning playing bump, making sandwiches (we were also informed by Dorian that we should have sore knees by the end of the day if we really gave it our all playing with the kids) until the kids started to arrive at 12 again. The kids started arriving, and we played basketball and tag with them until one. Then we jumped on a bus, the kids ate and we headed down to Kid City.
At Kid City we got very tired, but it was completely worth it. The kids enjoyed it so much, there was a lot of piggy back rides, and some crawling through the narrow passages with the children still riding us. So... there were a lot of sore knees at the end of the day. But it was so worth it, and there are so many stories to tell about the kids today. One of my experiences was a little girl styling my hair all the way home from Kid City with a comb... with her insisting that Hilary take pictures of each new hair style. Then of course when we got back to ICYA there were walk homes and then cleaning. After we were finished cleaning, we had a quick meeting then swiftly returned to NKMB (the church where we eat and have sessions). After showers and Timmies, we had a delicious meal with probably the most food yet due to extra leftovers from yesterday. Then we had some free time (during which some of us fell asleep) until the evening session... In the evening session we had a great worship service, then we had communion along with a message about praying for Winnipeg, other communities and other peoples or places God has put on our hearts.
After the session we went to McDonalds (don't worry, most of us still had the supplied bedtime fruit snack) . We got take out though because we were in a hurry to get back for team time. The roads were quite slippery and we missed our turn off for Douglas Mennonite Church with the fifteen passenger van (where we sleep), however we did a u turn and came back... this time making the turn.
We had a great team time in which all the youth were encouraged by their Mission Trip Small Group leaders, and we closed with prayer.
All the best
Yours Truly,
Reilly
We woke up this morning, just like every morning, rushed to Church, ate some breakfast. Then we had a session this morning in which we talked the how the spirit is often willing but the flesh is weak. Lloyd suggested we should train ourselves in the easy times, on the nice flat "plains" per say, than in the hard times, when we are climbing the mountains or trying to get through the low valleys.
After session we headed out to ICYA once again. Once there we had a pretty chill morning playing bump, making sandwiches (we were also informed by Dorian that we should have sore knees by the end of the day if we really gave it our all playing with the kids) until the kids started to arrive at 12 again. The kids started arriving, and we played basketball and tag with them until one. Then we jumped on a bus, the kids ate and we headed down to Kid City.
At Kid City we got very tired, but it was completely worth it. The kids enjoyed it so much, there was a lot of piggy back rides, and some crawling through the narrow passages with the children still riding us. So... there were a lot of sore knees at the end of the day. But it was so worth it, and there are so many stories to tell about the kids today. One of my experiences was a little girl styling my hair all the way home from Kid City with a comb... with her insisting that Hilary take pictures of each new hair style. Then of course when we got back to ICYA there were walk homes and then cleaning. After we were finished cleaning, we had a quick meeting then swiftly returned to NKMB (the church where we eat and have sessions). After showers and Timmies, we had a delicious meal with probably the most food yet due to extra leftovers from yesterday. Then we had some free time (during which some of us fell asleep) until the evening session... In the evening session we had a great worship service, then we had communion along with a message about praying for Winnipeg, other communities and other peoples or places God has put on our hearts.
After the session we went to McDonalds (don't worry, most of us still had the supplied bedtime fruit snack) . We got take out though because we were in a hurry to get back for team time. The roads were quite slippery and we missed our turn off for Douglas Mennonite Church with the fifteen passenger van (where we sleep), however we did a u turn and came back... this time making the turn.
We had a great team time in which all the youth were encouraged by their Mission Trip Small Group leaders, and we closed with prayer.
All the best
Yours Truly,
Reilly
Wednesday, April 02, 2014
CARNIVAL DAY!
The day is over and it was great! God is Great! Today started out with our usual morning session, David was speaking. He spoke about Peter and how the people greeted Jesus with celebrations of great joy and welcomed him. But then a few days later they were shouting crucify him.
Then we played some intense games of bump at ICYA with Dorian. I made the best sandwiches. Then after eating with the kids we walked to the carnival. It was a blast and we saw God's work in so many of the simpler things. We split up into groups and each leader got 2 kids to spend the day with. It helped us pick out 2 kids we wanted to connect with the most and hopefully to solidify a bond with. Lots of good stories came out of today. Like Andy Neufeld tripping and dropping a kid off his shoulders onto to the ground. You can ask him about that lol.
After that we achieved our goal of getting to the front of the supper food line today. Then had a 3 hour break before our next session and it was leaders night out so us youth were alone and had lots of fun ;). The last session was just sharing and an hour worship session, which was fantastic.
Sincerely,
'The Dream Team'
consisting of Dom and Madi :D
Then we played some intense games of bump at ICYA with Dorian. I made the best sandwiches. Then after eating with the kids we walked to the carnival. It was a blast and we saw God's work in so many of the simpler things. We split up into groups and each leader got 2 kids to spend the day with. It helped us pick out 2 kids we wanted to connect with the most and hopefully to solidify a bond with. Lots of good stories came out of today. Like Andy Neufeld tripping and dropping a kid off his shoulders onto to the ground. You can ask him about that lol.
After that we achieved our goal of getting to the front of the supper food line today. Then had a 3 hour break before our next session and it was leaders night out so us youth were alone and had lots of fun ;). The last session was just sharing and an hour worship session, which was fantastic.
Sincerely,
'The Dream Team'
consisting of Dom and Madi :D
VBS day 2! Encouraged
Hello all,
Andy Neufeld here... Late at night and the kids are sleeping... and I am quickly updating the body of Christ. Today was pretty sweet! Were starting to get into a routine now so that feels a lot better as the weekend was very busy with training and sessions. Today we changed a lot of our strategies and I will say yesterday was quite a surprise for a lot of the youth. The kids from the north end of winnipeg were slightly different I think than they were imagining. It can be discouraging at first. We had a really good team time as a group last night where we talked about the day and what we thought well and not so good. We adjusted some of our strategies and tried to place people where the gifting was stronger and I think the Lord blessed our efforts. One quote I heard from Robyn today that I feel really summed up the mood of the day was: "today I feel like the chaos left and that I could actually rest and simply love the kids and enjoy them". I think a lot of the youth showed a lot of leadership in stepping up and discipling some of the kids when they needed to, but also giving piggy back rides and loving kids as well. Our VBS brought out about 35 kids the first day and I think today there was about the same amount. Today we went around the circle in sharing time and most of the group shared that they felt encouraged and the blessed by the day. That was really good to hear. We also had a session about spiritual gifts and what we felt our giftings were in the body of Christ. It was really cool to talk and debrief with them where they felt their spiritual gifts were and to be able to encourage and affirm them from real life situations that we witnessed throughout the day. Also, I was blessed today to talk to Don Harms (John Harms other son) and was just neat to make the connection. (He's currently working at ICYA)
Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Today, probably more than any other day it felt like the Lord really blessed our team with strength and courage. I was reminded Jesus' words in Matthew 10:14 when he tells his disciples to be as shrewd as serpents (sometimes that means harsh discipline when a kid is distracting the whole group by coming up to the puppet show and dragging down the curtain), but as innocent as doves (sometimes that means just simply showing relentless love that refuses to show anger, and yell at the kid, but love these kids that are just craving attention and will do anything to get it).
Thank you so much for your support. Tomorrow we have a Carnival to look forward to. It is similar to a "kids club carnival" but its outside in a church parking lot with a lot of kids! Looking forward to it. Pray for nice weather :)
Andy
Andy Neufeld here... Late at night and the kids are sleeping... and I am quickly updating the body of Christ. Today was pretty sweet! Were starting to get into a routine now so that feels a lot better as the weekend was very busy with training and sessions. Today we changed a lot of our strategies and I will say yesterday was quite a surprise for a lot of the youth. The kids from the north end of winnipeg were slightly different I think than they were imagining. It can be discouraging at first. We had a really good team time as a group last night where we talked about the day and what we thought well and not so good. We adjusted some of our strategies and tried to place people where the gifting was stronger and I think the Lord blessed our efforts. One quote I heard from Robyn today that I feel really summed up the mood of the day was: "today I feel like the chaos left and that I could actually rest and simply love the kids and enjoy them". I think a lot of the youth showed a lot of leadership in stepping up and discipling some of the kids when they needed to, but also giving piggy back rides and loving kids as well. Our VBS brought out about 35 kids the first day and I think today there was about the same amount. Today we went around the circle in sharing time and most of the group shared that they felt encouraged and the blessed by the day. That was really good to hear. We also had a session about spiritual gifts and what we felt our giftings were in the body of Christ. It was really cool to talk and debrief with them where they felt their spiritual gifts were and to be able to encourage and affirm them from real life situations that we witnessed throughout the day. Also, I was blessed today to talk to Don Harms (John Harms other son) and was just neat to make the connection. (He's currently working at ICYA)
Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Today, probably more than any other day it felt like the Lord really blessed our team with strength and courage. I was reminded Jesus' words in Matthew 10:14 when he tells his disciples to be as shrewd as serpents (sometimes that means harsh discipline when a kid is distracting the whole group by coming up to the puppet show and dragging down the curtain), but as innocent as doves (sometimes that means just simply showing relentless love that refuses to show anger, and yell at the kid, but love these kids that are just craving attention and will do anything to get it).
Thank you so much for your support. Tomorrow we have a Carnival to look forward to. It is similar to a "kids club carnival" but its outside in a church parking lot with a lot of kids! Looking forward to it. Pray for nice weather :)
Andy
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