Christmas Party Volunteers

We are praising the Lord for the 5 Christmas Parties that were held in the public schools in Orillia, plus the Christmas Party at our Good News Club. 8 children made confessions of salvation. It was so exciting because these children all clearly knew that they wanted to have their sins forgiven! Some of the volunteers are pictured here.

CYIA Retreat

It was neat to join the 19 young people that gathered from Friday to Sunday for the "CYIA" (Christian Youth in Action) Retreat. Once again I was so impressed and encouraged by the desire of these young people to love the Lord and praise Him even when it is tough.

One of the fun things that happened was a time of drama exercises. Some of them were quite hilarious. The picture shows a restaurant scene. They also acted out the Christmas story. It was really neat to see them get involved in personalizing it.

Montreal!

Arret (stop) sign to prove it was Quebec! It was so neat to be in the midst of a French speaking "country within a country". Although most of our time was spent in meetings, we did get to have fun and see a few things over the five days. The sad part was that David had to stay back at home to keep all the work going there, while Debbie and I got to represent Ontario.

Overview from Mont Royal over Montreal.

Sarah and Naomi (from Manitoba) sharing a dessert.

Summer Planning Meetings with 11 CEF workers from British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.

Poppies

Something I'm still getting use to about Canadians is that in November they all start wearing poppies in honor of Remembrance Day that's November 11. That's why the American girl (me) thought a boy in our Sunday School class said he "got a puppy" and began asking about it. Thankfully, David (the Canadian) could whisper to me "He said he got a poppy not a puppy"! As I then noticed the 5 year old with a red flower straight pinned to his shirt.

I've discovered it's actually quite a neat thing as the poppy is in remembrance of those that have died in war. Everywhere you go, everyone has the red flowers pinned to their coat or shirt, or a box sitting on the counter of a store to sell them.

I tried pasting in the poem about Flander's Field that inspired all this, but it's not working for me. It's proudly placed on the back of the $10 bill. It was written by a Canadian Doctor in the Canadian Medical Army Corps in Belguim in 1915.

IOT 2

This was our class of six with our three instructors who taught the two week course on teaching teachers to disciple kids. This is the last official level of training in CEF that I can take.

Can you figure out who are the students and who are the teachers???

American Musings

While we were in New York I made a list of the things that I noticed after "returning to the motherland". I guess it shows how shallow I can be.

There is:
-Yoplait Yogurt (yummm!!)
-Cartoned Milk
-We could use the top numbers on our spedmeter, that was wierd to use mph again...the speed limits are actually a bit faster than in Canada
-the sizes are HUGE, a small drink in the US is about a large in Canada
-things seemed much sweeter, like actually too sweet, I couldn't believe it
-way more drug and medical commercials
-Bic Black Pens, my favorite, trusty and cheap pens
-Plan-Ahead Day Planners, the kind I like and can't find the same format in Canada and it's cheaper too
-they sell Bibles, good Bibles in Wal-mart, I forgot about that!
-Nabisco brand rather than Mr. Christy (yes, Oreos etc. are made by somebody else here, so wierd)
-Gas is much cheaper!
-Paper Towel in Washrooms rather than blow dryers

Housing

Here is a view of our outside view along with the entrance into the house where we live. (Our entrance is through the garage on the left.) The outside was very nice in the summer! Please pray with us about our housing as it is very difficult to live and work in a basement apartment. The neat thing is that our landlords offered that we can come upstairs and work some days when they are gone. We are planning on looking at property to build on as our search for a house over the last year has turned up nothing. Eveything is overpriced and falling apart. We want to do what would be the wisest thing and know that building would require a lot of time from David this spring, breaking for summer and then beginning in the fall again. Having a house would really help in our establishing ministry here, though.We really need the Lord's wisdom in this whole thing!

Only 3 more days...

In 3 days David and I will finally get to go home together! He has been at home working the past week and a half since vacation, while I have been staying with co-workers/friends, Ivhan and Charlene Rusli and their 2 1/2 year old son, Brandon, who live in Markham (part of the Greater Toronto Area "GTA"). Ivhan and I are both taking the course "Instructor of Teachers Level 2", along with four other students. It's been hard to go back and be a full time student for 2 weeks, yet in some ways I rather enjoy it. It's good to be reminded of how scary it is to do an evaluated Bible lesson practicum, yet invigorating to have excellent teaching to learn from and to learn ways to expand my teaching style and keep working to become a better teacher.

The funny thing about this whole "IOT" thing is that David is just now old enough to be able to begin the process to start his training and evaluatons etc. for IOT level 1 in February, so we'll have to go through this seperation thing again, most likely! So for now, we live one day at a time and enjoy or phone chats at night like we did in our dating days.

Cold Stone Creamery

We were able to go on vacation to New York for a week and I enjoyed many things about returning to the U.S. like Yoplait yogurt, black Bic Pens, Plan-Ahead Day planners and COLD STONE ICE CREAM!!!! (Yay for David's birthday and the free coupon!) We had lots of fun exploring the Adirondack Mountains. We are so thankful for the chance to be able to take a bit of well needed rest and fun!

Leanne and Daniel's Wedding

Congratulations to Leanne (David's sister) and Daniel (his friend) who were married September 12! Here's the current family group (Sarah, Melissa, Karen (mom), Leanne, Daniel, John (dad), Matthew, David).

HEALTH CARD!!!!

September 12 was a very exciting day! Not only did David's sister Leanne get married (which is wonderful in itself!) but I now officially have Ontario Health Coverage and can flash my very own health card! After 15 months of waiting it's finally arrived! Yahoo!

Strangest Summer Picture

If we were to vote on our pictures, I would have to say that this is the funniest picture of our summer missionaries from this summer. It could be told like this:

"See Greg get wet in the river.

Greg is sad and soggy.

Greg wants to dry his pants (without using the dryer offered).

See Greg (try) to dry his pants over a fire."

I guess it's what happens when a Toronto boy goes north!

Sickness but God is Good!

The last few weeks seem to be one battle with sickness after another! I've had a very annoying and consist ant cough for 5 weeks that still is fighting. It made it a big struggle to be at camp and try to talk with kids or to teach. I thought I was starting to get better just in time for David to get hit with a nasty cold last week, so I was able to do more of the teaching. I thought I might end up teaching most of it by myself. Instead, David started to get better and on Wednesday I was hit with a horrible sore throat that knocked me out, barely able to speak or swallow...so David was actually the one that had to teach two days of VBS by himself last week! I wish I could have seen him do the skit with Sheriff Do-Right and Cowboy Oops when he had to switch back and forth and do both parts! =]

Since my health card doesn't come until September 12th (so I don't have health coverage yet), I didn't want to go to the doctor. However, it was to the point that something had to be done! David took me into a walk-in clinic where you are required to pay $60+ to see the doctor if you don't have a health card. We explained the situation and were told that was the only option we had. After a 15 min wait (yahoo! not 1-3 hours like the ER!) I was seen by the doctor who gave me antibiotics after he told me my tonsils were "impressive". The really cool thing was that without my even asking, he asked about my situation and said we didn't have to pay! So, we're praising God for his care and provision! Yeah for a positive first time experience with the Canadian health care system!

So, day 4 on the drugs I'm slowly get better from strep throat/tonsillitis. The knives in the back of throat have shrunk from machetes to table knives and will hopefully be all gone soon!

North Family

Here is the "after" picture with our kids (thanks Greg for the idea!) It is definitely true that they like slightly more enthusiastic to be together after 6 weeks! =]

Every other area had a "team" while we ended up as the "North Family". The girls left a box of their summer memories and random items for us because they thought it was the safest place. I guess they really are our kids...they leave their stuff with us even after they move away! =] They all came up with a guess of what everyone will be doing in 10 years...we'll see how close they are! They've also been talking about planning a "family reunion" at our place sometime this year, which would be a blast! Across Ontario 3109 children were reached with 128 confessions of salvation through 127 clubs. In the north there were around 400 children reached with 19 decisions for Christ! Praise the Lord!

Summer

(Girls paddle boating at camp)

It's hard to believe that stores are putting out fall decorations already when it feels like summer weather has FINALLY come to Ontario! It actually got to be 80*F! Imagine that! =] We had beautiful weather for Camp Good News last week, while Monarch Bible Camp was a bit on the cool and rainy side. Okay, enough of my complaining and talk about the weather!

( Monarch Bible Camp)

Although our role was much different this year as supervisors for several weeks rather than directly teaching the kids, the weeks we have/are teaching kids are definite highlights despite my fighting a horribly hacking cough. We did enjoy working with our Northern Team/Family and seeing the incredible growth in each one over the past six weeks. I can't even describe the joy, struggles, boost in confidence and spiritual growth that has taken place in "our kids". As we saw the 41 CEF summer missionaries reunite for "Welcome Home" and heard their testimonies, the power of God was unmistakable. To God be the glory for the 3100 kids reached in Ontario and over 100 making decisions for Christ!


This week David and I are teaching a VBS in Severn Bridge. 11 kids came today (plus an older sister). One seven year old boy said it was the first time he's ever been in a church. One little girl referred to the lay pastor as "the manager". We are excited to see what God is going to do this week and praying the kids will stay connected with this church! David is quite sick right now, so I'm hoping he gets better so I don't have to tell all the stories the whole week. =]

Noah's Ark

This is a grainy video of the first performance of the Noah's Ark magic trick at a Vacation Bible Camp in Bracebridge. David did a 30 min. "special feature" show with a message. This was the grand finale. The kids (and adults) loved it! David loved that they couldn't figure it out too!

Even more exciting than that, one of the girls that attended our Good News Club accepted Jesus as her Saviour today at the Vacation Bible Camp!

Cabin Inspection Notes

David and I became the cabin inspectors at camp. It's quite a fun job...especially when the students get creative and leave notes along with candy bribes! We were sharing with all the staff because we got so much loot! The importance of tidyness can not be overlooked as part of training, however, as the students will spend the next 6 weeks in host homes where they need to act like civilized guests!

(These notes are from 2 girls' cabins.)


(This is from a guys' cabin.)
"We're not much for words
Us cabin four
But we vigourously cleaned our floor
For your lovely reward

We put into action
For your satisfaction
We put away our toys
To bring your face joy

Some may call it soda
Some may call it pop
But it will surely make your mouth drop

We know you'll enjoy our chocolate and candy
Because our room is looking so dandy
You can also have some gum
For this room ain't a dump

Only time will tell
If our room's the most swell
But until then,
We hope you hear our wishes
Please don't make us do dishes

We love you David and Sarah

Our Kids!

Meet the Northern Ontario team for CEF 2009!

(Left to Right) Sarah "Mom" from U.S., Ashley L. from Simcoe area, Ashley B. from Thunder Bay and is Ojibway, Greg from Toronto area with family from Taiwan, Daniel from Toronto area with family from Sri Lanka, and "Dad" David.

We are blessed to be mentoring and working with these four teens! They've claimed this as their family and started calling us mom and dad! =] Please pray for them as they continue teaching their first week of clubs. Please pray that children will come to all of the clubs this summer and God will work in their lives!

It's SOOOO exciting to see the transformation that has already been taking place in these students lives from the time they began the two week "Summer Training Institute". All 62 students were a joy to get to know and work with! How exciting to think of what God is going to do in and through their lives!

Getting in Gear

Tomorrow we will drive off to Summer Training Institute for two weeks. Thankfully this is only a prop car for one of the lessons we are teaching and not what we'll be driving (except that just today our real car did decide to act up by shining it's "low oil light" at me and flattened a tire...all of which David kindly fixed or helped me to fix).

Please pray for the 62 summer missionaries coming to training from all over Ontario. Many will be coming out with CEF for the summer to teach 5-Day Clubs and Vacation Bible Schools while some will return to their home church to serve or a camp. It's an exciting, life-changing time to be apart of!

Please Pray:

-God will prepare the hearts of the students and help them work diligently

-God will give us as staff to know how to best help the students to learn to teach and to grow in the Lord

-for health and rest

-unity and excitement for reaching the children

-Many children will come to know Christ personally and grow in Him as a result of these students' obedience

-our car will stay in working order

It's official!

As of Friday, June 12, I am legally a "Permanent Resident" of Canada! After a long process of many headaches, I am delighted that I can stay in this trillium filled (note flower to left) and maple leaf flag country. I would guess it's a similar feeling like parents with two children - it's not that you love your first one any less, you just have more love to give. I do have to say that for all the horror stories I was fed as an American child, I have not seen any of them be true (yet)! Immigration was David's project since December 2007 when we got engaged, while I planned the wedding. I think I had the nicer one between those two projects!

In the year of time that I've been living in Canada I have had to adjust to some changes/quirks of a new country some consciously and others without my knowledge...

-I'm told by American friends and family that I now "speak like a Canadian" something I can't notice in myself until it's pointed out!

-Learning that the "Collector Lane" does not mean there's a toll booth , it's just where all the traffic collects in a multi lane highway in the Toronto area

-Money can be determined by the color, without even looking at the number on it!

-Hockey is a nationally loved sport (I love that!)

-Tim Horton's is the "all Canadian coffee shop" which I would miss, but there's a lot of days that I definitely miss places like Caribou Coffee, Target, Cub, Kohl's etc... yet somehow I've been brainwashed in this year and am starting to forget what other stores exist outside of the Canadian chains

-Free Health Care is certainly going to be a perk for living here (once I get it in 3 months)

-Over all the biggest thing that I miss living in Canada is my family and friends, yet I've had to realize they live their lives with or without me and now if we ever move from where we are, I would miss the David's family and the friendships that we are forming. I've really come understand in a deeper way why the apostle Paul talks about this world not being our home but that we are foreigners awaiting our true home in Heaven...then we'll all get to party together- those from the U.S., Burkina Faso, Canada, all together with our Lord!

Teaching Children Effectively

The 30 hour course on teaching children finished last weekend. Please pray that the students will use the things they learned and that many children will be reached through these 15 students!

One Year Anniversary

One year ago, we vowed to love, honor and respect each other FOREVER! Although many things have changed within just one short year, we realize that commitment to our Lord and each other is the thing that will last!

May 24, 2008-May 24, 2009:
-Sarah moved from the USA with David to Canada June 10
-We began working with CEF Ontario full-time
-Spent our first three months of married teaching children in a different city nearly every week
-Moved to Port Sydney, Ontario in September
-Found a great church- Harvest Bible Chapel Muskoka (in Port Sydney!!) in September
-Submitted the paperwork for Sarah to become a "Permanent Resident" and tried to wait patiently for the verdict (which means no border crossing)
-Sarah unknowingly began to "talk like a Canadian"
-We both have been stretched in our relationship with the Lord in new ways and the more we get to know Him the more we realize we want to know more!

Minden Good News Club

It has been exciting to see the children continue to come out to the Good News Club each week in Minden, with new children coming every few weeks! We only have 3 weeks left for this school year. Please pray for these kids! There are quite a few discipline issues that we need wisdom in working with the kids on. We are focusing on a series on "Living God's Way". Something we each need His strength to do!

David's sister, Melissa returned last week from working with CEF in Guyana for seven months. It was great to have her come and share as David interviewed her. The flag of Guyana was even hung in the front for the special day. The kid's couldn't believe that she'd found a huge frog in her toliet one morning!

From a GNC Girl

Last week David taught the Bible lesson about Naboth's Vineyard and being content with the things we have. He gave a challenge to the kids at both of our Good News Clubs to give something to someone that week, either something they bought with their own money or already had. (He also told the kids if he didn't do it, they would get to "stone" him with soft balls...which they didn't get to do, since he bought a Gerber plant for me!)

Nearly all the kids came back having put the lesson into action! One of the little girls from each club gave David and I something. The picture shows the card, Birthday banner and old pencil that Sydney gave us. =]

The First Picnic of 2009!

After church we decided to walk down to Mary Lake and bring our lunch for a lovely change of scenery! It's SOOOOOOOOOOOO exciting to be able to get out of "the dungeon" (our apartment) now! It's fun to run in to people we know as we are outside now...it's feeling like home! (We tried to walk to church this morning but some friends stopped and picked us up! We did successfully walk all the way home though, all 10-15 minutes. =])

Our little girl

On a random note:

We were given tickets at the last minute to the Fundraising Auction at Muskoka Christian School (where we hold one of our Good News Clubs). We hadn't even known what we were actualyl going to until I looked at the tickets while we were driving there.

Neither of us had ever been to a real "live" auction, so found the whole thing quite fascinating. After a delicious dessert buffet with crazy fancy desserts (I guess the fact that it was held at a Resort had something to do with that!) we watched in fascination as people willingly bid on great items, paying prices we would only laugh at. I had noticed an adorable picture while viewing the items before, but didn't think David would be willing to bid on it. He bravely fought to get the picture for me at a reasonable rate...and was successful! We are now the proud owners of the first picture we have ever bought! It's called "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" also known as our first little girl. =] We were glad to be able to help support an excellent Christian school too!

72 KIDS????!!!!

Yesterday the 4th Easter Party was held at a public school in Orillia (Uptergrove). A club hadn't been held at this school for the last several years, so we didn't really expect that many kids. However....we ended up with 72 kids from grades 1-4 (out of a school of around 300 kids K-8!) David completely lost his voice for the rest of the day after the party, as that many kids can just about border craziness even with 8 adults. There was a stream of kids (10-20) that came back to ask me questions after the Bible lesson about the Road to Emmaus; questions from "How did Jesus come back to life?" to "What is the Bible?"

• Please pray that these kids will remember the truth they heard and will come to know and serve God!
• Please pray that we will be able to get a church to adopt the school so that a weekly club could be established next fall.

What's ahead?

In case you're wondering about things to pray about here's a few:

• David's preaching at Port Sydney Bible Chapel March 29 and we're doing music
• Weekly Good News Clubs that began in Utterson and Minden: one is mainly churched kids while the other is about 50/50
• Two more Easter Parties in Orillia
• Planning for Summer Ministry in the "north"- recruiting teens to do ministry and scheduling churches or invidiuals wanting to hold an outreach to kid's in their area through a VBS (at a church for 3 hours to a whole day) or 5-Day Club (at a home for 1 1/2 hours)
• Health and Safety for David's sister, Melissa in Guyana and direction from God

Ministry to Kids

Over March Break we had the joy of seeing 15 different kids come out over 3 days for the "Rescue 9-1-1" event. We had a blast and it seemed the kids had almost as much fun as we did. =] David "the magician" did a few tricks each day relating to the lesson.

The picture shows him doing one of his current favourites "try to copy me to make a knot in the rope without letting go." It's a great illustration of our need to rely on God.

We also went to Cannington Baptist on Friday to play floor hockey with kids and share the Gospel. We will return there in April for the AWANA Awards Sunday. It was exciting to see the outreach that the church has, even in a community where you wouldn't expect a lot of kids to be hanging around.

Jayda the Horse

We were able to visit David's sister, Leanne's horse a few weeks ago. Leanne is in the process of breaking this huge Clydesdale in...Jayda (the horse) is still supposed to grow more. She's going to be HUGE! Leanne sat on her for the first time that day and then let me sit on her and "ponied" me around! It was fun!!!

Even more exciting was that we were able to wish Leanne and Daniel congratulations on their engagement that weekend! It seems that the Guyatt family has a thing for marrying their siblings' friends (as in I married Melissa's brother and Leanne is marrying David's friend.) At least we know we all get along this way. =]

Mouse in the House

They say every new home owner must have their first experience with a mouse in the house. While we are only renting right now, the mice decided to train us in a bit.

My Super-Brave-Hero-Wonderperson, David, rescued me (and our dishes, canned food and everything else in our bottom cupboards) from the nasty little varmints that decided to leave their trail everywhere. After he caught 2 mice, we had the privilege of removing everything from our cupboards and washing it down. (Not the choice way of spending a Sunday evening, but a necessity.)

I guess this should cure me for a bit of longing to be back in Burkina Faso, Africa (except it would be lizards there) or with David's sister, Melissa, in Guyana, South America (with mice and frogs).

Winterlude in Ottawa

Since we weren't able to go to Minnesota for Christmas, we had decided to go to Ottawa as something special to do also I'd never been there. We waited until February so we could skate on the Rideau Canal, "the world's largest skating rink" (7.8 km long also known as 4.8 miles x 2 = fun but tired!). There were several stops along the way on the ice with hundreds and hundreds of others joining in on the fun of skating! There was even an "art gallery under a bridge" (craziness!)

We had an absolutely fabulous weekend! We were able to do many, many fun things, especially since the winter carnival was going on so saw ice sculptures and snow sculptures and rode on snow slides...all for FREE!

We also went to visit the Parliament Buildings, toured inside and learned lots of neat things. One of the guides described the Canadian government system as a parts of the American and British mixed together. We also went to the top of Peace Tower (what I'm standing in front of).

Random Bit: there was always the remnants of a "Welcome Obama" poster from his visit on Thursday...I realized it will probably be the closest to personally seeing the President of my country I'll come!

On Sunday we went to the Notre Dame Cathedral for church, it was quite the experience. Neither of us had actually gone to a service in a church that reminds you of the awesomeness of God in it's structure! When a little girl sitting next to us (in the back row), asked us where the place for the kids was, David pulled out a Gospel flipper-flapper and quickly told her the basics and gave it to her. =]

One of my favorite things was that we went for dinner in Quebec (I hadn't been there before, but since it's just across the border, we thought we'd be up for a cultural experience). It really is like stepping in to another country once you cross the bridge- although we don't speak French, everyone was gracious enough to speak English to us while speaking French to everyone else!

Valentine's Extravaganza!

I wasn't sure what to expect for our first Valentine's Day as a married couple and after a discussion about how Valentine's Day is over-hyped, I was trying to not have expectations for what David would do.

However, David totally blew me away! Since we'd be away for the actual "Day", he started with a card at 8:00 am on Friday and said I would get a card every hour! Each one was amazing, with thought-filled words, all throughout the day!

Then, he spent over 3 hours preparing a culinary masterpiece of dinner and dessert (all out of a Williams Sonoma cookbook)! A ragu sauce, a sweet pepper and bean salad and stuffed cherry tomatoes was on the menu, though the official names are much harder to decipher. And just for fun, we got all fancied up too.

I had no doubt that I was loved before, but now I have incredible memories as a reminder (along with 11 cards to reread and a few leftovers)!

Rescue 911

We are in the process of planning and preparing for a March Break Outreach Event in the Huntsville area. It is planned for 3 days Tuesday-Thursday, March 17-19 from 1-4 pm. Our biggest problem in planning was the lack of a location to hold it...but (Praise God!) Muskoka Bible Conference has offered to host the event in their gym. They did a 1 day event last year, but due to lack of staff are not able to do it this year, so were thrilled to partner with us!

It will be somewhat similar to a mini Vacation Bible School and we'll get to use last summer's VBS material "Rescue 911" - using the things we really liked and worked well. Please pray for many children to come! We also need to be sure there are enough teen/adult helpers! We really want the Lord's leading in this whole thing and for Him to be glorified!

Completed Desk

Mom, you wanted to see the completed desk, so here it is!

David did an amazing job making the shelf and inscribing both sides! It's now the nicest piece of furniture that we own! The desk John and Karen gave me for Christmas works perfectly too and is so beautiful!

I'm SOOO glad to finally have my own desk after working off the kitchen table for the past 5 months! We can actually keep our table for eating now. Imagine that!

I can stay in Canada!!!

My visitor extension came today! I can officially stay in Canada at least until January 2010! I had been waiting for it since December 10. I was beginning to wonder when or if it was coming, since I only had until March 10 or I would have to leave the country. As it is, the visitor extension doesn't allow for leaving Canada and re-entering...so I'm "stuck" here until my permanent residency comes (hopefully within the year). I told my family that they're not allowed to do anything exciting back in Minnesota for at least a year!

At CEF Staff Meeting last week, we shared our concern about the visa extension and several people prayed. I found it amazing that on the extension it said it was issued the very next day!

I never realized how hard it can be to depend on the Lord for something that's out of your hands, like being able to stay in the country you're living in!