Postcards From Week 1
Over the next 4 weeks I will be sharing photos and bits of news from our 7 Day Camp Teams who are now spread out across 4 Provinces. We hope you will enjoy these “Postcards” from Week 1 😊 You might want to check in again during the week, since all the Teams have not yet sent in photos!
Team 1-Team 1 spent its first week at JOY Church, an urban Filipino church which meets in a small commercial building in Montreal. The “Quebec” Team, as sometimes happens, will be tag-team this summer. Week 1 has been led by Jessica, who, tomorrow, will pass off to Janice. Team Members, Bryce and Aaron are both newbies but we feel confident that they can best blossom under the 3 experienced young women who have been chosen as their Leaders.Just over 20 Campers came to JOY Church this week and by all accounts they had a super time, along with a solid group of Local Helpers, one of whom we hope to snatch up next year for Travelling Team.
Team 2-
Early last Sunday morning, Team 2 headed off on the MegaBus to Toronto for their first camp at The Church of the Transfiguration. They were blessed to be starting out with a stellar Coordinator in Brenda (former Team Leader, Training Leader, Committee Member and most recently on staff for part of the Training Retreat). Needless to say, everything had been expertly prepared so that first time Leader Chelsea and her extremely able “Man Friday” Kelvin have enjoyed a super week. Today they re off sightseeing in TO and will end the day with a trip to the Aquarium. They also had roughly 20 Campers and ,like Team 1, will be holding Closing Worship Service, tomorrow morning. I will be anxious to hear how that goes!!
Team 3-
Was off to a bit of a rocky start right from the get-go as we had heard, while still at the Retreat, that their first Day Camp could not go ahead as originally planned as several difficulties had arisen at Shoal Lake. Instead Plan B was to lead a Day Camp at a small inner-city church in Prince Albert.
Sadly, with no advance publicity, they ended up with only 3 Campers but I’m so proud that they have made the best of it and all week I have been praying against a spirit of discouragement. Team Leader, Christopher, sent in an email report ast evening, here is a snippet…
“In terms of mid-week updating, we had two children on Tuesday, three on Wednesday, and three again on Thursday, for a total of 5 different campers so far (three of whom are indigenous). Today we actually did the morning, at least virtually as in the manual. The children all seem to be enjoying the program, and Miriam and Mercy Jade are both doing really well.”
Team 4-
Team 4 spent their first week in the village of Pense. The church is linked to St. Luke’s ,Regina where they will be going as of tomorrow and so for both weeks they have the same Clergy and Coordinator,
which makes for great communication and planning. This is our second year there, although we have been several times to St. Luke’s. Team Leader, Joshua and Member, Lauren, seem to be working well together as their gifts and talents are well balanced. Lauren has sent in some great
photos too!
Team 5-
Started out at Gordon’s First Nation, the first of three Reserve Communities Pastored by Rev. Vicki who, with her husband John, billets the Team every year for ALL THREE CAMPS!!! Rev. Vicki has announced that she will be retiring after this summer, we will all miss her so much, she is an amazing woman who has blessed our Teams for many years. Gordon’s is always a big Day Camp and this year has been no exception with over 60 Campers each Day! Emmanuel, Elysha and Miguel have done a fine job and when Emmanuel called in yesterday they were all busy cleaning up the Gymnasium after holding a Friday Closing Gathering. Emmanuel is returning for a second year in these three communities. Last year there had been some tragedies just prior to the Team’s arrival and Emmanuel worked with the campers so well to bring them a safe a happy week that we felt it would be important to have him come back and show them he cares about them not for just one week, but for always 😊.
Team 6-
Flew out to Calgary to begin their Alberta adventures. Their first church was St. Frances of Assisi and they too had approx.. 20 campers. Apart from Team Leader, Annie, losing her voice on Thursday, they have had smooth sailing, with a very well prepared Coordinator and good local support. They are off to visit Banff today after holding a Friday Closing, and will be dropped off in their next Parish this evening.
Team 7-
Like Team 1, Team 7 spent their first week at a Filipino Church, here in Montreal, although this church is in the suburbs, west of the city centre. Team 7, is the only Team composed completely of “first-timers” Brian, Maynard and KC, so it was good that this Day Camp was at a church that had our Program last year and also that the Coordinator is the Mum of Elysha (Team member from Team 5) and so knows quite a lot about how we do things. Again, there were roughly 20 Campers and quite a few local helpers. Some of the helpers were reluctant to participate but, thankfully, a couple of former Team Members were available to visit and bring encouragement and support to this young Team.
So that is Week 1!! On the home front there has been tonnes of catch up work to do, plus, on Thursday an excellent Retreat Week Staff wrap-up meeting. The phone and Wifi have both been in constant use from early morning to late evening as texts, calls and emails fly back and forth helping to keep our now far-flung Teams, closer together through the sharing of adventures and prayer concerns. Please pray for these brave young adults as they serve their missions across Canada
this summer.
I guess even if these are “postcard posts” several readers will still expect a recipe 😊
It started out cold and rainy today so I decided to make a batch of Summertime Chili. Of course by the time I ate dinner it was hot and sunny, but I still enjoyed a big bowl of it out on the porch!
Summertime Chili
- 1 each large red and yellow peppers, diced
- 1 large sweet onion, diced
- 2 garlic scapes, chopped
- 2 links of hot Italian Sausage, sliced
- 1 1/2 tsps. ground Chipotle
- 1 Tbsp. ground cumin2 Tbsps. vegetable oil
- 4 cups cooked kidney beans (or 2 cans)
- 1 28oz. can whole Italian tomatoes
Sauté the onions, peppers, garlic scapes, and sausage for 10 minutes, or until softened. Add the spices and cook, scraping up any brown bits, for another few minutes. Add the can of tomatoes, plus the same amount of water and the kidney beans. Stir well and bring to a boil.Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally , for 2 1/2 hours or until thick and fragrant. Serve with grated cheddar and blue corm chips. Serves 4-6.
