February Adventures!

Hello again everyone!

I'll begin with saying "I'm Sorry" to those of you in Eastern Canada, I understand a giant snowstorm has hit or is coming. But this does provides me with an opportunity to show what a BC winter can look like.

We currently are in 8 degree weather with the sun shining and the students studying outside. For those of you debating whether you should come out here to study, look closely at this picture, and then look outside. We're pretty blessed!

I'll get into what we've been up to! Those of you who read last week's post know that the students are currently in the middle of "Missions Month." The students were lucky to get to have Prof. Tim Stabell come out from Briercrest to teach History of Missions. I've heard some good reports back and it seems like the class was really able to better learn the theology behind why Christians do missions work. We're excited now to get out and serve people!

Prof Stabell also joined us for another adventure as we turned Pacific Woods lodge into a battlefield. We obtained a number of nerf guns and set out for battle. The two teams played a number of games against each other. We used all three floors and turned the night into quite the competition. As you can see, we also dressed the part, although I've heard some looked more intimidating than others (you be the judge!)

This Tuesday, we also took the students curling. It was amazing to see the difference between those that had curled before and those of us who had maybe seen it once on t.v. One of the nice things about curling I learned though, was that as long as you don't show where the rock goes after you throw it, everyone looks like a professional! I'll let you debate who has done this before, and who hasn't.

This will be the last blog post before we set out on our missions trips. Please pray for us! Between the trips to Vancouver and Mexico, we have prepared but really have no idea exactly what to expect as we serve the people in these places. I have been so impressed with the students willingness and excitement to serve in this way. Please pray that God will be able to take our servant hearts and use them for His glory in the places we are heading to! I'm excited already to get to report what God will do in each of these places. Stay tuned!

Also, thanks so much for everyone who supported the students with fundraising, both teams raised more than we needed and we are so blessed by everyone's generosity and care! Thanks!

Derek

Missions Month Kickoff!

Hey Everyone!

What a weekend! This past weekend the students kicked off their “Missions Month” with a special visit to Vancouver and Missionsfest. We arrived in Vancouver on Thursday afternoon and decided to spend some time doing something that every tourist must do in while they are in the city – bike around Stanley Park. We all rented tandem bikes and spent some time pedaling our way around the park and the seawall. We had so much fun with the mix of sight-seeing and adventure. It was a great time of spending quality time together and a few even decided to get into the Pacific Ocean! (It’s warm enough here to still do that!) We then loaded up our vans and went to our accommodations for the weekend – Ruth Morton Baptist Church. We really enjoyed our time there, it was a lot of fun to play games together and spend some times in small groups.

The next day brought even more events and we started our day at the World famous Granville Island. It was a lot of fun to walk amongst the market and different stores there. It really is an amazing gem of a place in Vancouver and you can even see it in many Hollywood movies. The different areas there really were enjoyable, from the giant toy store to the fresh market, and from the professional glass blowers to the world music store, all the students found something to keep them entertained during our time there.

 From there we went to Missionsfest in Vancouver. Missionsfest is an amazing missions conference that started in Vancouver 30 years ago. They really seek to bring incredible speakers in to encourage missions work. Camp Qwanoes has had a booth there for a number of years, so it was only natural to bring the students to experience something that we find so rewarding here. There are a number of big-name speakers that speak in the main sessions, and there are also seminars that they can attend that are more specialized to what people may enjoy on a more personal level. Our first main session together brought us to see Luis Palau speak, and we were all deeply encouraged by his message.

 We spent all day Saturday at the conference as well It was incredible to meet so many other believers there and see the booths of all of the organizations that attended. It really made it feel like God was doing amazing stuff around the world and we were so lucky to be a part of it. We also had a special stop on Saturday. There were no showers in the church, so we went to a local pool to get a little cleaner. While the sessions were phenomenal, we were so happy to spend some time in a shower and pool as well

 On Sunday, we were able to bless the church we stayed at and help with both the children’s/youth programs and the main service. It was great to see the students leading worship and playing games with those in the church.

 This week we have been blessed to have Tim Stabell come out from Briercrest to teach our Missions class for the week. I know the students have really been challenged to understand the purpose of missions and what that should mean to them as they work through the Great Commission. We also had a special event last night that I will profile next week!

We are so grateful to be in this time of missions focus, and we ask that you please continue to pray for us as we are getting much closer to leaving for our missions trips!

Thanks for all your support!

Derek