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!