Estevan from above...

In the beginning...

The trip began at 6:00 a.m. with a full day of driving ahead of us. We were blessed to have lunch with Vernice's family in Bismark, ND at Bethel Lutheran Church (Yes, it is Missouri Synod). It was a great start to our trip!

Next stop, Estevan, Saskatchewan where Pastor Bob Schultz met our group and gave us the arrangements for our billets. Billeting is the Canadian way to say hosting a family. Eh? Our team traveled in three vehicles and each went to a different location. We are grateful for the hospitality shared with us.

Day two started with an amazing experience. Initially when we all signed up for LAMP we wanted to do a fly in mission trip. Due to the size of our group and the needs of LAMP, we were assigned to a location which requires driving to. In our case, it was Southend which is a 23 hour drive. To our suprise, we were able to experience an unexpected blessing from God. Three of our hosts were pilots and we all got to ride in a Cessna 182. It's a four seater aircraft which was piloted by Nat. He even allowed some of us to fly the plane. It was amazing to see Estevan from above!

Six more hours of driving brought us to Prince Albert. When we arrived, our dinner was graciously provided by new friends at Redeemer Lutheran Church. The food and company were wonderful.

We ended our day at a hotel with a pool so the kids could release their energy.

This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

We are grateful to all the people God has provided along our journey so far (Thanks for all you did!).

~Linda, Sandy, and Vernice~

Packing Up!

The trailer is loaded and we're ready to go! Vernice, Dominique, Angela, Beth, Deb and Gerard came over to help load the trailer, share a meal, read from Scripture and pray with us. Beth read from Psalm 96: "Sing to the LORD a new song, sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, praise His Name; proclaim His salvation day after day. Declare His glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples." That is our prayer and we are blessed to share His story! ~ Sandy

Prayer Requests

First of all, our team has been so amazed at the generosity of our Messiah congregation and our families and friends in their support of our VBS in Southend! We are very grateful for their contributions of supplies and funding and praise God for them! Would you please join us and pray that our words will be the LORD's and not our own, that He would use our hands and feet for His Kingdom purposes and that all Glory will be given to Him? Please pray for the establishment of trusting and loving relationships between our team and the people of Southend and that every child and adult would be overwhelmed by the amazing love of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Additionally, please pray for safe travel and for the well-being and safety of family members who are staying behind. ~Sandy

Fun Facts About Father Mark

Father Mark is an artist, above is his painting of the Trinity....

Fr Mark (left) preaching with fish and (at right) with a 37 pound trout.

Father Mark Blom is the Priest in Southend at the Catholic Church. He is the one who approached the LAMP Ministries (Lutheran) looking for a team to come and work with the youth of the community. It is not about Catholics or Lutherans....it is about God's will for us to spread His word. Father Mark will be our host in Southend and the communications we have had with him during the pre-trip planning have us excited to spend time with him. Here are some "Fun Facts" about Fr Mark:

• He was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.
• At the age of 21, he left home to work as a meat cutter. He also was a volunteer fireman. During that time he was lonely and considered making a commitment to God.
• He decided to commit to God and became a Seminary student at the age of 25
• He was ordained a priest in 2003 and became a leading preacher in Youth Ministries for the Oblate Fathers. The mission of the Oblates is making God's word seem meaningful for everybody.
• He is famous for his homilies in which he uses objects, symbols and art to explain complex theological matters (pictured above with his artwork and preaching with a fish).
• He draws and paints most of the arts he uses in his preaching. He has sold CD's with his homilies to raise funds for the ministry.
• His emphasis is on proclaiming God's word and believes that transforming people's minds, and attitudes is just as important as transforming the bread and wine.
• He has been in the community of Southend for about 2.5 years and is making a difference!
• From the pictures we have seen we can tell he enjoys the great outdoors...

Fr Mark is busy preparing the community and his home for our visit, just as we are busy preparing for our time there. I know that more "Fun Facts" about Fr Mark will surface while we are there. We are looking forward to fun, fellowship, and friendship with him.

~Vernice~

Getting Ready!

Today we got a lot done at Kate's house! First we cut paper for the memory work Bibles. Then we decorated the verses for the first 3 days. After that we ate lunch! yumm! It was Mac 'n cheese and turkey wraps! After lunch we went outside! We played volleyball!woohoo! Then when we came in, we decorated hats and tote bags! We used fabric markers! Then we made our blanket for Father Mark! It was a tie blanket which was really fun to make! Now we're been blogging! Later we're going to eat icecream sandwiches! Since 10 'o clock A.M. we've been learning all of the music! Now we are going to practice our skits!

More later....Dominique, Angela and Kate.

Cultural Training

Our team met with Sue Folger on July 13th for cultural training. Sue has been a missionary with LAMP for 26 years and is a great source of information and encouragement for our team. We learned much from her about the children we will be working with and how to adjust our Vacation Bible School to suit them and their learning styles/needs. Some of the things we learned are that the people are quiet and soft spoken and require additional time to process questions and formulate responses and that we need to be patient and offer plenty of "wait time." The people teach and learn by storytelling. They will not tell you openly if you've done something wrong but will model correct behavior by telling a story while demonstrating how something is done (such as tying a hook on a line..."My Uncle taught me how to tie a hook this way a long time ago"). The adults are likely to let children learn from their mistakes and figure things out on their own rather than correcting them. They may "lip point" to indicate direction/location rather than pointing with their fingers. We also learned how to structure our day with the children to accommodate their need for activity and how to teach in a way that is meaningful to them. Our team is very grateful to Sue! She eased our uncertainty about our upcoming trip and we look forward to the day when we will share her experience and knowledge. Until then...only 19 more sleeps until we depart! May God continue to guide and direct our preparations and be glorified in all we do and may the love of Christ flow freely! ~Sandy