Some Thoughts

This time of year always makes me so sentimental and introspective. It seems to be when I analyze and really take to heart and start processing everything that has happened in the last year. Part of that is probably because of the New Year ahead, and because of Christmas. Christmas seems to bring out the sentimental side in most people. Also since highschool I have been doing this thing where every Christmas holiday I sit down and write out the main things I have learned over the last year and the goals or things I hope to learn or grow in for the next year. It has always helped me to really see how much I have grown (or stopped growing) and to see and understand more about who I am, who God is and where it is that my next step of life should or could take me.

I wanted to share some of the things I have been learning through my time with Anchored Warriors! We have been doing so much in the last month that it will be hard to go into detail about everything (at least it would be hard to keep the attention of people for that long I think haha).

So, since Septemeber, it has been a whirlwind! We have travelled around to so many different communities and had the opportunity to meet with so many different amazing people! We have had the chance to share our vision and heart about Anchored Warriors and where it is that we feel God is calling us through it all. It has been such an encouragement in each situation where we have been, with each person we have talked to because every person I have met has been genuinely excited and interested in what we are doing! I have found support from people that I didn't expect to find support in and encouragement from complete strangers. During our time at Miller College of the Bible we had two seperate groups of complete strangers come up to me and Kim and ask if they could pray for us. That was such a special experience for me. It was so encouraging because here were people, my own age, who were complete strangers, and yet they wanted to take time from their day to talk to God about us and our ministry. I have really been encouraged by the goodness and generousity of all the people we have come into contact with.

Another thing that has been an amazing experience for me has been getting to know and build relationships with Aboriginal youth. I have some amazing youth in my life that I love with all of my heart! It has been so cool to see relationships building over the last few months. Some have been very slow, and others have been quick, but they have all been very meaningful to me! I am so excited to be able to be a part of these youth's lives and all the ups and downs they face in their lives. I used to be more worried about how a youth would view me, what they would think of me and if I was being cool enough or relevant enough, and I have just realized that it isn't about how cool I am, it's about how I show my love for them and how I express the Love of God for them through our relationship! I am myself with them and I don't have a certain agenda of what I want to teach them about God or what I want to teach them about themselves or anything like that, my agenda is to love them, be there for them and talk to them about the questions and things they have going on in their lives. I want them to see and experience hope and love and empowerment through the love of God. And by loving them genuinely and honestly with no strings or anything attached, I have been able to learn more about God and about myself!

It has been an amazing journey so far being a part of Anchored Warriors. It has made me feel so full that I don't know what to do with myself or who to talk to about it! It has also made me feel frustrated and sad and angry at how horrible the state of the world is in, because of us and our own human race! I have felt pain and joy for the people I love and have been building relationships with, and more than anything else it has caused me to pray. It has caused me to realize that no matter how perfect of a program, or how much I try to figure it out, it isn't going to work without God behind it all. It isn't going to work without love, and unity between all of us as humans.

No matter where we all come from, or what our story begins with, it should always end with love, and be filled with as much love as it can. We need each other, no matter where we come from, what we do or don't know about each other, or our backgrounds, cultures, pains, joys; it doesn't matter, we need each other. This world has alot of hurt and pain in it, but we each have a role to play in changing that. We each have the chance to change those things because we are each capable of loving other people, and that's where this all begins and ends. It isn't about what we should or shouldn't do, it's about loving God and loving others. It's about God and us and our story together. I am so glad that Kim, Tristan, Lesley and myself have had the amazing privilage of having so many people in this journey together with us! You are such an important an valuble part of what we are doing, even if you don't realize it. So thank you all so much for being a part of the journey this far and I am so excited to see where the next year takes us and Anchored Warriors!

Indian Life Article by Kim Kakakaway!



This is the article Kim wrote for Indian Life Newspaper! Check out their ministry
http://www.indianlife.org/



Time Warp!

Does anyone else feel like time is going WAY too fast? Or that we skipped a couple months somewhere this past fall? I’m pretty sure there was time warp happening because my last blog I wrote was in September and it doesn’t feel like it was THAT long ago?! Crazy!! First of all, thanks for reading our blogs, we will hopefully try keep you up to date as much as possible. Amy is great at it! lol. Also, I would like to introduce you to a couple that is on board with us in Anchored Warriors. Tristan and Leslie Lefthand and there lil’ cute baby Illiana. They are awesome to have on our team and bring so much to this Ministry. I’m excited!

I’m sure they will write on the blog sometime and can tell you more about themselves and where they’re coming from, etc… So stay tuned! J

I have learned a lot about myself these last couple months. Our Anchored Warriors (AW) team has had a couple meetings doing team building, spiritual gifts, team role activities and such. I highly recommend everyone do something like this because it’s really neat. I’ve done it before in College, but it’s always good to do it again since you learn something new every time. I have learned that I am ALL people oriented and no TASK oriented. Hmm, that can explain my ‘love’ that I struggle with in writing consistently on the blog. About a month ago we started working on leadership/youth manuals for our leadership retreat that’s taking place in January. I had a grand picture in my head of what these binders would look like: filled with resources, useful information, bible studies, game ideas, items to encourage, back to basics of how to read the bible, what is a personal relationship with Christ mean?, etc… and that it would be a piece-of-cake putting them together (keep in mind there are tons of youth ministry resources out there but nothing that applies to Aboriginal youth…which is very different). Amy and I sat down and went back and forth of ideas of what to put in the binder, started a content page and tried to bring all our resources together (our house was a DISASTER of papers everywhere!) It’s a challenge because we don’t want too much information because that’s overwhelming, but we don’t want too little that it’s not useful. The overwhelming load of these leadership manuals all of a sudden paralyzed me! The task to get this done and to even think of it made me want to either cry or go in to a little hole in hopes it comes together on it’s own. So – all that to say, once I realized that I was not necessarily task-oriented but more about people and building relationships, it made sense to my stressful overwhelming days of trying to figure out these binders and how it felt impossible to pull it together. Thanks to the encouragement of those that knew what was going on with me! Through this it was an eye opener and blessing to see how God brought our AW team together. As we did the team roles activities with Dan Woodard (who’s so awesome in leading us through all of this!) we realized,as a team with Amy, Tristan, Leslie and myself, that we totally balance each other out and cover all the ‘basis’ in our individual strengths and what we have to bring to the table. We got together to work on the binders and it was a BREEZE doing it together, each bringing in our ideas and thoughts and moving forward. I all of a sudden had movement and was no longer paralyzed. Lol…I may seem like I’m making it a big deal, but that’s seriously how it felt! Big lessons learned through that little journey and a taste of Ministry in the things you face…big or small. The binders are not even close to being finished, actually they are barely started, but we have made progress and know exactly what we are doing…. So we think right now?!

We are going to another community, Piikani, which is down south by Pincher Creek. Also known as Brocket. We are meeting with the Local pastor and church there in a few weeks in hopes that Anchored Warriors can start mentoring young leaders in that community and get a youth program started. When we initially talked to a leader in that community about AW coming and meeting he said “I’ve been waiting for you all to say that!” He was hoping Anchored Warriors would come to his community but he didn’t want to ask or push it because he knew God would bring us there sometime. God opened that door for us to head that way, so it’s exciting to see what God will use through Anchored Warriors and the community leaders!

Kikino has the big community kick off at the end of the month. Please pray for this event. It will be taking place on Friday and Saturday (Nov. 26 – 27) There will be music, speaker, games, food, floor hockey, etc. They will also be telling the community about their bible studies and youth nights that they lead. Pray that many of the community will come out to the event and that they would find interest in the youth night and bible studies. We will be meeting with the christian leaders and the potential youth leaders to talk more about mentoring and to encourage them on Saturday afternoon.

The leaders are so great. They are well organized, have big hearts for Christ, love their youth, and are taking this head on! They usually bring one of the biggest groups to the Native Youth Conference, so this is a perfect opportunity to build relationships with the youth and get the more active in their community with the youth nights and bible studies.

We continue planning for the leadership retreat happening January 21-23, 2011. I’m SO excited for this… it’s going to be awesome for the leaders and potential youth leaders in challenging them on their rez and in their community, but also encouraging them in their personal relationship with Christ. I don’t want to say too much yet! Just pray for the planning process, speakers, music, the right resources (PS: If you know of great resources, videos, books, etc for youth and leaders that might be useful – let us know! J) and for those that will attend. We have max capacity of 70 people that includes the AW team.

Please pray for us as we continue to build relationships with people in each of these communities. Pray for all the planning (we are also planning a fundraiser early march). Pray for each of us as we are all raising our own support to do Anchored Warriors. Pray for us as we speak at various events and churches in regards to youth ministry and Anchored Warriors. Pray for our own accountability and personal walks with Christ. Pray against the enemy as he tries in small and big ways to bring us down. Pray for the hearts of the Aboriginal youth that are searching for something more, that feel they don’t have HOPE, and for those that are trying to take a stand in their community but face many trials. Pray for the community leaders as they are trying to take a stand as well and find time, amongst their busy schedules, to have programs for youth and invest in them personally.

Thank you for your encouragement and support – I couldn’t imagine doing it without!

What We've Been Up To!!



This game called "poison" was a big hit with the youth!
We played about four or five rounds and I'm pretty sure we
all had sore wrists and arms after that game!



Well - we haven't updated our blog in awhile! So here are some pictures and a few updates as to what we've been up to the last few weeks!

The best part of the last few weeks is that we have been having alot of FUN and making new friendships with different youth and leaders in a few different places! We did a youth night out at Eden Valley about a week ago that was super fun! We had about 15 people including youth and leaders, we played games, ate good snacks and shared our testimonies.  We plan on continuing to go out to Eden Valley about two times a month to invest in the youth and help the leaders develop a youth ministry in the community.

   

Giving kids a ride back to their homes after youth, or as

Kim says "Indian squeeze". (Eden Valley)



Eden Valley is a smaller First Nations community about 1 1/2 hours south west of Calgary. They are Stoney Nation, and their language is an important part of their community. It is still taught in their school and can be heard spoken between young and old.

We also got to spend a whole weekend at Gift Lake which is a Metis Settlement about four hours north of Edmonton. It was such a fun weekend filled with LOTS of laughing, LOTS of great food (Frybread, moose meat, fish and lots of snacks inbetween), and LOTS of great people! We had an awesome time getting to know the key leaders up there, as well as a bunch of the youth at a youth night we put on. We had about 22 youth show up. We played games, had snacks and talked about the story of Joseph (or as we called him "Joe").    





Playing a game of "Snort".
You had to look to the person beside
you and make a snorting noise, if the person laughed or smiled they
were out, but if they stayed strong then they snorted to the next
person! Soooo funny!



We were also asked to share our testimonies and about Anchored Warriors in the Gift Lake church. It was great experience to be able to be a part of their Sunday morning, and to be able to build relationships and get advice and wisdom from the leaders in that community.

The Gift Lake community is a Cree speaking community, and while we were there it was very common to hear the language being spoken among everyone. It is taught in school and seemed to be a very important part of their community.

We will be continuing our relationship building with Gift Lake and continue to encourage and pray for the youth and young adults and the church of Gift Lake. We anticipate seeing about 6-8 of them at our leadership retreat in January!

Both of these communities need continued prayer! They have so many amazing youth, vibrant youth full of potential and a desire to change their communities from the inside out! God is obviously at work in both these places in the hearts of the youth, the church and the leaders! Even within the community leaders who are not Christians, there is a passion for the youth of their communities, they are the next generation!

We are excited about all of the awesome relationships we are building and the potential of each and every person we encounter! We are so blessed to be a part of this ministry and to be able to see God working in the hearts of these youth and of these communities! God is doing amazing things already and we are trusting in Him to continue the work He is starting in all of these places and people.





Hope Video Project - in the works!

I am super excited to tell you all about a new project in the works with Anchored Warriors! We are doing a media arts project thanks to Interact Ministries (http://www.interactministries.org/). They presented us with the donation we needed to do our first video in what we hope to be a series of videos specific for First Nations youth ministry!

So here's what the premise of the video is about : HOPE. It is based on Anchored Warriors theme verse: Hebrews 6:19a - We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.

First I need to introduce you to two awesome people!



Curtis Lefthand



Curtis Lefthand is the star of this first video sharing his heart and his own experiences of what hope is to him and the meaning of "hope as an anchor". Curtis is from Eden Valley which is a Stoney Nation reserve south west of Calgary.  He is currently a youth worker at his home reserve.

Curtis has been involved in the local music scene of Calgary and has gone on tour with different bands across Canada. Music has been a huge part of his life and is a big part of this video as he shared his story of music and God and hope.

Curtis is also always a big help at Native Youth Conference every year, and he's also just alot of fun to hang out with! Oh, and if you ever want to play a game of crib he's the first guy you should call up!



Levi Mayerle

This is Levi Mayerle. He is our video filmer, producer and editor, and all around awesome artist! We are so lucky to have him on board for not only Anchored Warriors stuff, but also Native Youth Conference. Levi has filmed and edited all of our promo videos for NYC every year for the last several years. He has also done a photo shoot of me and Kim for Anchored Warriors which we will be showing off soon.

Levi is currently attending ACAD (Alberta College of Art and Design) and does video editing and photography for different organizations, as well as having a photography business. http://www.sonsanddaughtersphoto.com/

He is super talented and we are so blessed to have him working with us on all these different projects! He is also good to call up for a game of crib.


So this last Sunday we spent the whole day driving around and doing the main shoot for this video around Eden Valley. It was the perfect day for a video shoot, and this fall has been so bright and colorful, it made it even more beautiful and perfect!

There are more pictures up on our Facebook page if you wanna check them out!

I have big dreams for this video project! It would be awesome to have a whole series of these videos that are relevant for First Nations youth, that can help youth leaders in the communities have conversation starters and a way to study God's word together. We are going to have a "conversation guide" with this video so that leaders can treat it as a bible study type of tool to talk about deeper issues surrounding hope and their own experiences/situations and then tying the Bible into it all. I think it's really important to meet youth where they're at and allow converstaion and relationship to happen, that's the best way to have an open and honest conversation about life and faith and anything else that comes up. I see these videos as a tool to open up those doors with the youth.

Anyways, thanks so much for all your prayers and support! This ministry is alot of work, but it is also so exciting and exaclty what I am supposed to be doing right now. We couldn't do this without all your prayers/encouragement/support!

Kim's first attempt at the blog...come join the journey!

So it’s time I write on the Blog and try write down my hearts passion and experiences. I’m going to be straight up front and honest…blogs aren’t my thing. I don’t know what it is in trying to put my experiences and thoughts down in writing … I’m more of a ‘talker’ than a ‘writer’ (also, grammar is NOT my strength). So wanna go for Coffee anyone? Haha. I promise to continually update as best I can, as I want to include YOU in on this journey of Anchored Warriors that Amy and I are on!

There has been a lot of change and transition the last couple weeks as Amy mentioned below. I officially quit my job at Billy Graham Evangelistic Assoc. (aka BG) and am attempting to go full time with Anchored Warriors. My experience at BG was great and I wouldn’t change anything about it. I believe it really equipped me in many areas to start Anchored Warriors. Prior to BG I never knew administrative work was my thing or organizational skills – little did I know I enjoyed it at BG! The support and encouragement I received from my co-workers was more than I could ask for…I’ll be forever grateful! Thank you BG/SP!

I really can’t believe this has actually started! I’ve been excited, nervous, and scared all at the same time. Excited to actually pursue my passion in this… it’s funny how God works. I never ever thought I would live in Canada – or Calgary at that! I seriously thought I would live overseas or stay put in the USA doing relief work or some type of ministry that helped people. After moving back home from Chicago, I figured it would only be temporary as I started looking at opportunities outside Canada. After months of every door being shut I felt ‘stuck’ and in a crisis of what I’m doing in life!

Little by little my heart started to change and I started to see the need of my own Aboriginal people. I love my culture, I love the people, I love the relationships and everything else – wow, it’s really what I’m passionate about! My desire to go far away overseas was no longer there and doors started opening up in Canada. Native Youth Conference has become my absolute passion and that’s where Anchored Warriors was developed. Follow up ministry, building leaders, starting youth programs/ministry in communities across Canada :) that is my dream and hope from this. God has opened doors beyond our control; it’s neat to see things come together. I’m nervous and scared about this because the future is unknown in where Anchored Warriors will go… Being scared and nervous = faith and trust in Christ knowing that I can only take one step at a time and fully rely on God as he leads the way.

With that, every day is a learning curve. Adjusting to the life of working from home (very challenging!), being disciplined, traveling to communities, building relationships, and most important is not getting caught in the ‘busyness’ of life but continuing to grow in my personal relationship with Christ. He needs to be my centre all the time and I have to learn over and over that He’s in Control…not me.

Amy and I have had many meetings and have many more to go. We met with our first community and had a great time with the leaders! They are an awesome group of believers and have big hearts. I’m excited to see what God is going to do through them in developing something for the youth in their community. Please continue to pray for us as we move forward. Pray for all the leaders in these communities. Pray for the youth. Thank you for taking the time to read our blog and for your support.

Moving Forward

Well things are almost completely in full swing now! Kim is officially done her job at BG and as soon as she gets back from her vacation/visit with her family on the res we will be doing this Anchored Warriors thing 100%. It is so crazy how all of this is happening so fast, and how so many great opportunities and connections have been happening. These opportunities and connections are such a blessing too because they are all coming from different people in our lives that are wanting to support us in this new ministry, which is so awesome.

For example, just on Friday I met with two awesome guys (Phil and Karl) from the Impact Society that work with the "Heros" program. (www.impactsociety.com - check them out!) We had lunch together and talked about Anchored Warriors and Heros and the importance of First Nations people and especially the youth and how we could partner together. Then one of the awesome guys, Phil, mentioned that he was speaking at Harvest Hills Alliance Church at their kick off because they were launching a new theme for the year about having an outside impact on the world around them. He was inviting different ministries from around the city to come and set up a booth and interact with the church family there and he asked if I wanted to come. I said yes, even though we had nothing for a booth really. lol.

Anyways, I pulled some stuff together getting help from some of my Calgary family (the Mayerles) and was at the church for both services. It was really a great time and I got to meet a lot of different people and connected with some of the other organizations. Phil gave a really powerful message that gave me a punch in the face too. He reminded all of us that it doesn't matter who we are, what skills we have or how much money we have, if we have a skill or something we love to do, we can use it to help other people. The pastor gave this equation: If you know of a need + you have the means to meet that need = a call. 

So this is my call, among other ones. I am excited to see what the next couple weeks has to bring. And I am so blessed and encouraged by ALL of the support everyone has been showing. Even just "liking" our page on Facebook or seeing how many people have been checking out our blog, or having different people give me pieces of their wisdom and experience to help us as we start out, it's so amazing!  We are not meant to do things alone, and I know that we aren't and won't be because me and Kim both have an awesome group of people we can call our family and friends that love and support us! So thanks :)

The Beginning

This is where it all started - Native Youth Conference. It is exactly what it sounds like - a gathering of First Nations youth and leaders ages 13-30 from all over western Canada. This next year will be the 18th year of NYC running. It is amazing to see so many youth come and have so much fun and at the same time be so changed from the inside out by the power of the Hope and Love of Jesus. This year we had just under 60 youth (and even some leaders) come forward to make a new commitment to live out their faith and follow Jesus. It was very overwhelming to see and be a part of as a prayer counsellor.
Anchored Warriors’ heart is for the next step for these youth and leaders. Every year I am able to meet new youth and leaders and catch up with others from the previous years, and every time the conference is over and everyone leaves, all I want to do is go out and continue to encourage and build up these leaders and youth. I have seen so many youth and young adults attend and be involved in NYC with such huge potential for leadership and for bringing change and hope to their own communities yet when they go home they don’t always have a place to do that. And so it was NYC that really was and is the beginning place for Anchored Warriors! God has been opening so many doors to make this project happen this year and we are so excited to have the support and prayers of so many family, friends and new friends behind us in this journey.
And if any of you youth and leaders are reading this - this Anchored Warriors project is for you. It’s because we see you and we see the beautiful person that God has made and gifted and we want to see you reach that full potential!
SO this is the beginning of our journey. Tuesday is my last day at one of my part time jobs, and then I will begin being a part time project coordinator of Anchored Warriors, and I could not be more excited! And Kim is officially done her job at Billy Graham Foundation Sept.10. Please pray for us as we transition to this new and amazing job, and for our finances as we are still seeking funding for this ministry. We know that God will provide as He has already been providing in so many ways! Thanks so much for your support and prayers already!
John 15:16,17 - You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.