Epic Mission: The story of the past weeks

Where to start? As I process everything that happened these past weeks, my fingers are unable to keep up with the rapid pace of thoughts and stories running through my mind. I wish each of you could spend a few minutes inside my head to hear and revisit everything I saw and experienced. It would be so much easier, but since that is not possible, I will do my best to give you some of my favourite stories and experiences. God has been so good and evident, teaching and stretching me in so many unexpected ways.

Vancouver
I might as well start at the beginning...my mission trip (Aaron, Malayne, Deb and I) headed to Vancouver for a week. Living with and helping Inner Hope, a safe-house for young adults trying to escape from the drinking, drugs and addiction found in the area. The week was filled with helping both the house and local ministries in a variety of different ways. On Monday and Friday afternoon, we headed to UGM (Union Gospel Mission) on East Hastings Street in downtown Vancouver; leading a chapel for the homeless. The mission has many feedings, but the participants are required to sit through a half hour chapel before they can receive food. At first the thought of leading a chapel scared me so much! I had no idea how we could relate to these people. Once we were there, I was filled with such peace, knowing that God would take care of it. And he did! Big shock there :) The services went incredibly well. After the services we would stand outside the doors saying goodbye to the people, and on Friday, we talked with many amazing people who were so thankful for the words spoken. One man in particular, Kenny from Trinidad, talked with us for upwards of 30 minutes about his life and how much the service had impacted him, encouraging him to press on! We were so encouraged by his words, knowing that God had worked through us; that our efforts, even if it only affected one person, were worthwhile. As he was leaving, he asked for our notes so he could read them later. Very cool!

Our mornings were filled with painting various rooms in the house and cleaning and organizing the garage. One morning, Deb and I had the opportunity to visit one woman’s house and clean her kitchen. This woman was trying to finish high school, looking after her two children and taking care of her house was low on the priority list. It took over two hours to clean only parts of the kitchen. It was quite the experience and eye opener to the way many people live.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoon found us helping the pastor and his wife from New Beginnings Church with the after school program they lead for the native kids in their church. We prepared food, played in the park, helped with homework, played games, presented skits and hung out with the kids. My favourite part was talking with the kids and learning about their lives. It broke my heart hearing about their homes and the situations they go home to after the program. For most of them, the only married people they know are the pastor and his wife who lead the program. Drinking and drugs are not uncommon and neither is abuse. It was extremely hard leaving on the Thursday knowing I would probably never see them again. Yet, hoping God would have used me in some way to support and be an example to them in the short time we were there.

In addition to these scheduled events, the rest of our time was spent hanging out with the youth living at the house, building relationships with them. Often we would play ‘Rock Band’ together, bake cookies and one night they took us downtown on the sky train. God placed on my heart one youth in particular who I was able to spend a lot of time with. I hope and pray that this will be able to continue into the future. As she put it in a letter to me as I left, “I have a feeling we are going to be life friends”. I truly pray that is the case.

Ucluelet

Our second week of the trip took us to the beautiful west coast of Vancouver Island, to a little town near Tofino called Ucluelet. Under the leadership of Aaron and Julie (a couple are missionaries living in the town), this week was spend helping lead a Spring Break Day Camp for the Native community across the peninsula from Ucluelet. We were in charge of the games, songs and craft while Aaron took care of the bible stories. At first there were only a few children who came but throughout the week we had quite the variety of different faces show up. Even with the lower numbers, it was amazing seeing the kids grow in relationship with each other and with us. Hearing them remember details from the stories and wanting to know more encouraged me so much. One day, one of the little girls was not wanting to participate in any of the games or songs, but as soon as Aaron started sharing the story of the day I watched as she slowly moved to the tables, then to the circle of chairs and then to sitting directly in front of Aaron, eyes glued on his face. After that point, she participated in all the activities for the rest of the day. Seeing her face and the way the bible story impacted her made all our efforts worth it!

Starting the previous week, I began having flue like symptoms. There were many days where I was unable to give out 100% and other days where I could do nothing at all, spending my time in bed. As many of you know, I am a doer. It brings me so much joy being able to help and serve others. Before the trip started, I was praying that God would teach me something, challenging me in a way I would not expect. He definitely answered my prayers! And in a way I did not imagine; although I probably should have seen something like this coming. Because I was unable to ‘do’ many things, I had to let the others on my team step up and lead. Letting them do things I desperately wanted to be able to do while I sat back and watched. I often even had to rely on them to take care of me. Although I’m still trying to work through what God was trying to teach me, a big thing I have learned is that I cannot do things on my own. I need to be able to rely on others and most importantly trust in God to work things out. I am only human; he is almighty God!

Copper Island
Our final 5 days were spent on Copper Island, about an hour’s boat ride away from Ucluelet. Copper Island is a camp where Aaron works. Their mission is to be a place where native youth can come to a safe place, having fun and learning more about God. Our day spent on the Island included Deb and I helping Bob, another man who works at the camp, cutting logs for the new chapel. We were using a huge band saw to cut huge logs. I was even able to run the massive machine for a little bit! We stacked the planks in different piles, stacked the unwanted pieces, sweeping the sawdust, shovelling the sawdust and just all-round working hard. After our long days of work, the evenings were filled with good food, fellowship and laughter around the stove.


There is so much more I could share with you. So many more experiences and stories that impacted me in some way both little and big. Another thing I learned from this trip was to see and delight in the small things. The big things of life are always going to be evident and easy to see, but the small things that are often hard to see can teach us just as much. Sunsets, smiles, handshakes, eagles, conversations, sawdust, crabs, tears, babies, rain, the list could go on and on. I was able to find joy in many small things from this trip! From the business of the city, to the quietness of the wilderness, God has been SO GOOD! Thanks for all the prays. They have meant so much to everyne!

Now as my fingers are quite sore, I hope this has given you a little picture of what the last weeks incorporated. Please continue to pray as there are so many things still needing to be learned from and processed. As Jim said during our sharing session the other day, “We need to do something with these stories. We cannot leave them in the past. How are they going to affect you in the future?” Pray that I will not leave these stories in the past, but continue to learn from them!

Much love
Kylie

Epic Mission continues.

Here are a few photo's from the first half of our trip;

Playing in the park with children from an after school program we helped with
More park fun...

Work projects around the Inner hope house, mainly painting and organiazing.

More park fun...

Our team! Epic Mission

In about 30 minutes we leave on our second adventure to Ucluelet and Copper Island; helping with a day camp for a week and then spending a few days on a secluded island preparing for their summer camps with cleanup and what ever else they need. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we are beginning to feel a little tired and as I have been sick with a cough and flue symptoms for the past few days. Pray for health. Also please pray for servant hearts and patience as we seek to be a blessing to the people we come in contact with, whether through the day camp or just from living in the community for the time we are there. Pray also for flexibility as they say that is the key when working with native communities.

Thanks for all the prayers, they mean so much to all of us, especially as we seek to follow God in this aspect!

Much love,

Kylie

and it begins

I write this in a flurry of working, packing, cleaning and snow. The last was unexpected, until looking out the window this morning to white fluffy stuff falling from the sky! Since when does it snow in March? Maybe it would be better to say, since when does it snow out here in March?

Tomorrow after lunch, my Mission team leaves! We are heading over to Vancouver for our first week. As the hours quickly pass before we leave, I am becoming more and more excited and nervous. Staying with and helping Inner Hope Youth Ministries, we have the opportunity to help and love these people, through just spending time with the youth, work projects around the house, helping with an after-school program and with the local church. If you want to know about the house, you can check out their website at innerhope.ca . Could you please keep us in your prayers. Pray for strength, humility, energy and an open heart to love and learn from these people. Pray that we would be willing to let God to use us in whatever capacity He needs. And for us to be a blessing to the people we come in contact with. Could you also pray for us as we make final preparation and packing, especially as this weekend is one of my weekend helping at the camp and consequently have little time to prepare. (This semester, as part of our program we have one full weekend and one half weekend where we help the camp where ever needed; dishes, activities, maintenance, counselling, etc. This weekend I have the opportunity to be spending my days cooking in the kitchen.)

The previous week included our Gospels course. I regret not having time to tell you more about what happened and everything God revealed to me through the class. Let’s just say I have never been so challenged to think about what it means to follow Jesus. In the gospels, Jesus presents us with a choice to either follow, or not. Reading through the book of Luke in class, opened my eyes to the meaning behind Jesus’ call of ‘Come and follow me!’ As Walter Henrichsen makes clear, “Discipleship will cost us something. It will cost us our lives.” It is going to be hard, but the focus is not on losing our lives for no reason, but doing so as a consequence of embracing Jesus and the gospel.

So as I continue to prepare for the upcoming weeks, striving to truly follow Jesus and put into practice everything I learned last week, know that God will be watching over us and pray that we have faith to believe.

In Christ,
Kylie

Holiness.

What is holiness? I’ve heard the word often, used in church, at home, in conversations, but what does it actually mean? That is the question I have been faced with this past week while working through a paper for our theology class. Isaiah 6:1-8 is a very interesting passage of scripture, one that raised this question.

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3b)

What does it mean that God is holy? Here are some insights I encountered:
- The Hebrew root word for holiness means set apart, separateness, apartness, sacred and of God.
- God’s separateness encompasses His uniqueness. There is no other creation like Him. He is completely separate from everything else in heaven and on earth. Exodus 15:11 presents this truth, “Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you-majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonder?”
- His separateness also incorporates His perfect freedom from sin. As 1 John 1:5 reiterates, “God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.” Sin is the very opposite of the moral goodness which is the essence of God’s character, the governing purpose in his creation. Therefore, He is bound to be against it. The self-consistency of his character demands it.
- Absolute holiness belongs only to God. No other creature can attain God’s level of holiness.
- The moment we catch a glimpse of the Holy God, the instant we measured ourselves by the ultimate perfect standard of God, we are exposed beneath God’s holiness.
- Our personal holiness is dependent upon our relationship with the holy God. Only through knowing God can we truly understand holiness. God’s holiness is His nature, His very selfhood by which all people identify Him as God.

As Joseph Caryl articulates, “Perfect holiness is the aim of the saints on earth, and it is the reward of the saints in Heaven.” Our goal on earth is to seek after God’s holiness and our reward in heaven, is seeing the face of God in all His glory.


In addition to the many papers and days of class throughout the week, this Friday night we had a youth sleepover. To be honest, going into the night I was dreading the thought of spending a whole night with kids, barely getting any sleep and then waking up early the next morning to again, write papers. Nevertheless, God is good and faithful, opening my eyes to see the opportunities and fun right before me. I had so much fun! We caught up on each other’s weeks, played a running game in the dark (always the best!), had a snack, participated in a great devotion where Jake, Ryan and I all shared our testimonies for the group, had an amazingly huge pillow fight, played cranium and watched a movie. All in all, even with the tiredness experienced on Saturday morning, it was a night to remember.

This coming week we have our Gospels class and then after church on Sunday, we leave on our mission trips! Wow, they have crept up on me so quickly. I do not think my heart is ready for what is going to take place in the weeks to come. Could you please pray for me and the rest of my group as we continue to prepare for this trip. Pray that God would prepare us for what lies ahead. That we would be willing and open to learn and to give. Thanks again for all the prayers. They mean a lot, especially in the weeks to come as we are preparing and heading out.

Much love,
Kylie