July 15 from Andrew - Canada Update Tuesday & Wednesday

90% of this update was written by Bethany Reeves.. She did a great job!!

TUESDAY NIGHT

After a quick trip to "The Real Canadian Superstore," the group walked over to Art and Ruby's house for dinner. Art and Ruby are such a blessing to our group! They have helped out at BDC everyday and then prepared and served 40 teens and adults a Mexican dinner tonight. They are true servants!

Four of the girls in the youth group at Fennell Ave also came over to eat and hang out with us tonight. It was really neat to get to know them and a little about how life is as a Canadian!

After our delicious meal, we headed back over to the school. Everyone made a big circle in the common area for a game of fruit basket turnover! If you're not familiar with the game, it is where one person stands in the middle of the circle and says something like, "anyone who is wearing red" and those who are trade chairs while trying not to end up in the middle. It was so much fun!

One thing I noticed was some people singling out someone ("if your name is Jeff"). The siblings would also pick on each other by saying "if you are my brother or sister, switch chairs." Sowards mentioned how cool it is we are all brothers and sisters in Christ and how we will be spending eternity together! Our connection in Christ is so much deeper than a brother/sister bond!

After the game we spent some time singing together. The singing was so amazing I think we could have kept going all night! I was talking to the Fennell Ave girls afterward and they told me how awesome it is to worship with 40 other Christians. I can't imagine being in a youth group with only four girls. I guess in a youth group of 70 kids, we sometimes take for granted how precious our worship time can be. Just think of how much dedication it would take to come to church and live your life without much support from your peers. It was really encouraging to me to get to share our voices to the Lord with them!

When we wrapped up our devotional, we gave all our Canadian brothers and sisters a huge cinnamon hug! When we asked what they though of it, they said, "well, I've never experienced anything like it before...and I probably won't again!"

WEDNESDAY

We are all pretty drained, but we can still feel the power of Christ moving through us and filling us with enough energy to get through the day. We had 43 kids from the community come to BDC today!! its amazing how the number of kids have more than doubled in just three days! It is such an amazing feeling sharing the Good News with the kids and showing them how He can change their life!

This afternoon we'll go back to Great Lakes and get cleaned up and ready for the close tonight. It's going to be difficult to leave all the kids tonight. We can only pray that seeds were planted and that Christ was glorified.

The rest of our schedule includes a trip to Naigra Falls and Cedar Point.. This teens are exciting and we deserved!! We'll be home Saturday afternoon! Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.. Love Ya, Andrew

July 14 from Andrew - Canada Update for Monday & Tuesday:

Monday
WOW, what a busy couple of days. Bible Day Camp (that's what they call VBS here) is going great!! Yesterday we had 27 kids show up and our teens did a wonderful job teaching, playing, performing skits and puppets, painting faces and interacting with the kids and their families. Chuck and Greg let us borrow one of their Moon Bounces and it's been a great draw for the community kids to come.

BDC runs from 9am to 3pm, Monday thru Wednesday and we'll wrap things up Wednesday night at 7pm. We're finding that 6 hours with the kids can be both challenging and rewarding. Pray for the teens patience and wisdom as there are a few kids that are particularly difficult.

In addition to our BDC we also have a service group that is working on a few different projects. Yesterday the group worked at Great Lakes Christian High School (where we're staying). While there they painted several areas in their school including two hallway areas and some areas in their preschool. Their facilities director, Wayne said he was pleasingly surprised at how hard the teens worked and all they we're able to accomplish in a short amount of time.

Last night after BDC our group went back to Great Lakes, clean up, ate, and then went to Port DalHousie - it was beautiful!! Port DalHousie is on Lake Ontario and includes some light houses, a long pier, and a sandy beach area. The weather was perfect! Our group enjoyed walking out on the pier and the beach. We ended the night singing on the beach watching the sunset on the lake. You could also see Toronto across the lake. God's power was in plain view!!

God's presence was even more clear as we left the Port area and went back to the church. The teens on my van were so inspired by what they just experienced they sang the entire van ride back to the school.

Tuesday
Today our BDC really recieved a boost as our numbers jumped up to 39 kids!! I could tell that the teens we're excited to see so many kids! Yesterday was a little challenging but today was much better. We made some schedule adjustments to the day that made all the difference. All the kids participating in BDC are having a great time and the teens are amazing. Their attitudes are great and their always looking for an area to serve.

Our work crew served at a local community center today building community garden boxes and painting pictures on the community center windows. This is a great service to the community as members of the community will be able to use the planter boxes to grow vegetables.

Tonight we are going over to Art and Ruby's house for dinner and a devotional time. A few of the Fennell Ave. teens will be joining us for the evening.

I hope this update finds everyone doing well...

Better get back to the kids, eh..

Love Ya, Andrew

July 13- Update from Andrew:
The teens are having a great time in Canada... Yesterday (Sunday) we left Port Huron, Michigan at 7:15 am and arrived at the Fennell Avenue congregation about 10:30am..

The day was whirlwind to say the least!! We worshiped with the congregation at 11am and almost doubled their attendance! You could see the excitement on the faces of the Fennell members as they welcomed our group and especially as we sang together.

After worship the Fennell family had prepared a potluck for our group which was such a blessing to our group to see this small congregation serving us in full force.

Following lunch we hit the streets around the building passing our fliers and encouraging neighborhood kids to attend our VBS kickoff last night! The kick off was from 5 to 7 pm and we ended up with about 17 kids from the community and a lot of their parents. The night consisted of singing, skits, food, a moon bounce, face painting, and shaved ice!! One dad who came with his two boys said to me, "I've lived in this community all my life and this church has never done anything like this - this is really cool."

The teens are doing awesome!! It was great to see many of them spread out yesterday and talk with kids and families, and to see their willingness to jump in and serve wherever needed.

After VBS wrapped up last night we headed back to Great Lakes High School to rest for the night. What a blessing the school is to host our group. The teens are staying in dormitory style rooms with two beds per room and two rooms connected by a bathroom. There's also a great common area where we had some singing time as a group last night which was amazing. I would have to say it was some of the best devotional sing I've been apart of with the youth group.

I'll send another update tomorrow (Tuesday) about today (Monday)..

God is Good, Andrew

Phone contact is going to be difficult. No one in our group has cell phone coverage. In case of emergency please call one of the following numbers:

905-385-5775 (church phone number)
289-260-1467 (Art Ford's cell phone - He's the minister at the church)

To participate in this trip, you must turn in the three forms (links above) including the Registration Form, the Travel Permission Form, and the Medical & Liability Form in addtion to a copy of your passport.  Please fill out all three forms and make a copy of your passport, then turn them in to the ASM deposit box with your deposit by May 10 to ensure your spot.

ASAP Copy of your Passport/Passport Card

4/19/09 Trip Meeting
4/20/09 Apply for Passport/Passport Card
5/2/09 Golf Tournament (signup for a time to help
5/10/09 $50 Deposit/Registration/All Forms Due
6/7/09 $75 Balance Due
6/14/09 IMPORTANT MEETING - 4 to 6 p.m. - Trip Prep
6/28/09 6 to 7 p.m. - Trip Prep
7/5/09 6 to 7 p.m. - Trip Prep
7/11/09 7am - Leave for Canada
7/18/09 7pm - Return to Antioch