Canadian Summers

Canada has some of the best summers. We spent the summer being together as much as possible. We tried to go camping as many weekends as we could. One of the best beaches in the world I think is Grand Beach north of Winnipeg.
One of the things we also did this summer is to plan where we would go this winter. When we got an e-mail from Sarah in Costa Rica asking us if we would like to help her get a new mission off the ground in Costa Rica, we jumped at the chance. This was exactly the type of program that we had hoped to find when we started becoming interested in serving abroad with our kids. It is all about families serving others and how kids can make a huge impact on the world. The name of this program is KidzReach. It is about Kidz reaching across the nations. www.kidzreach.com
So that is what our plan is for this year. We will be flying out to Costa Rica and meeting Sarah and her family and busing it down to Panama with them. There we will boat out to a remote island where we will meet with a village of indigenous people. We will also help to build them a small church. It will be a challenging few weeks but we are all really looking forward to it. After Christmas on this island we will make our way back up to Costa Rica and work on the YWAM base that we worked on last year.

Worship at Soar

We experienced some very powerful worship times at Soar. The teens have so few barriers to worship compared to all the ideas that we were raised with. It was cool to see such exuberance. We had a very busy 10 days. We started with setting up and cleaning up the facility. Then the people arrived. All 200 of them. So we found places for everyone to sleep and arranged for everyone to have a place to sit at meals. We started the week with orientation and on Monday everyone left for their individual team service locations. So we thought for a few minutes that we would have a bit of a break till they returned, But then we noticed that we needed to clean up and restock toilet paper and hand towel paper and vacuum and have meetings and suddenly it was 4:00 and everyone started coming back and wanting to take showers and wow was it busy. Then after supper we had worship and team times and snack and then the process of getting 200 teens to bed. Well that in itself was interesting. But everyone was very mature and usually by 12pm or so it was quiet. So we could go to bed. Then the alarm went off one night and the other things that keep you up in a different place all happened and we got really tired. But it was so fun and the people were so great that I can't believe that we have never been to soar before and can't imagine not being involved every year from now on.

Soar Heartland

This year during spring break we will have a unique experience to go on missions. We are going to help out at Soar Heartland as Facility Coordinators. This is really exciting for us because it is totally using our gifts to their greatest potential and it is neat to be doing something this big so close to where we live. We will be working for 10 days (with Colton and Miranda) while staying at the facility so we will be immersed into the mission similarly to the way we would be when going to another country.
Soar is a mission that takes youth from around the province and brings them together in one location. Trains them and takes them out into inner city life to help the people who need it so badly. There are some who will work at building project,soup kitchens with kids on spring break with other churches and during the week there is a big carnival for all the kids. It can be a very spiritual journey for the participants and also the people they are helping. It will be interesting to see where Jesus shows up in all of this. Also to be a part of it and see what this experience will teach us about our neighbours. I will try to blog while we are there but again when in something like this it is hard to know what to expect. They are looking for all types of volunteers so if you would like to do something big during the break call me.

Mission 2008

We have been home for two weeks and are planning the trip for next year. Our dream as a family is to be able to share the love of missions abroad with other families. The first step we have done already. The plan has been put into place for Jan. 2008 for us to go back to the YWAM base with a group of families and help them build a new kitchen facility and/or a new cabin for staff or hosting missionaries. The base was were we stayed and helped build and work the first week in Costa Rica. We also have been asked to come back to the bible school next year and again help with their kids camp. We will need people to help build and people who love kids and people who like to cook and people who want to pray and people who want to travel.So if this is what God is calling you to do, give us a call. The people in Costa Rica would love to have you!
The picture here is of the little cabin that we stayed in at the YWAM base and is similar to what they would like to build more of. They have cut the lumber from the trees on the property and would like to use it to build other buildings that they really need.

Going Home

Our time in Costa Rica is slowly coming to an end. We have had such a great time. As I watch Colton and Miranda playing and interacting with one another I am amazed that they can play together all day without fighting, with no toys, just each other. If nothing else came from this trip but to be able to see the friendship between these two kids grow, that is enough for me. But neadless to say we saw and did and learned so much more. When I think how this trip started from a dream to travel, do missions and be together as a family in another country. I think it was sucessful. We became closer and saw new things and discovered a bit more about Gods world. It has been a great adventure. We also have alot more insight to hopefully bring a group of people back to this country next year. There are people here who are waiting for our return with open arms. We have also found a great place to have fun on the beach! We have been blessed by so many people that have helped to make this trip possible. If Dean`s dad wasn`t there working his but off and taking care of work we couldn`t have come. If Justina wasn`t looking after our house (and a dog in heat)I don`t know what we would have done. If the teachers and principle at school didn`t support us in this it would have been so much harder. We also have so many people who are praying every day for our safty and that we will make a difference here. We feel so loved and supported. WOW!

Surfing

Colton learned to surf today!!!

Fishing pictures