The whole month of July included Tristan and Lesley being at Camp Gladstone as the assistant summer directors, and Kim travelling to Missouri and back with a group of youth to go to the Warrior Leadership Summit. I also was able to travel a little bit as I went to Saskatchewan to run the youth program at the First Nations Alliance Church familycamp. Me and Kim were able to go visit and help put the spotlight on some of the youth that were planning to attend the outreach in Eden Valley by going to Gift Lake family camp and Kikino family camp. It was a great time to catch up with old friends, make new friends and talk about what Anchored Warriors is all about and how awesome the youth from those communities are!
EDEN VALLEY
After our two long drives up north we had a solid week of running around and preparing for our first ever local outreach. It was such a great learning opportunity as leaders for how much food to buy to feed 14 hungry youth/young adults, as well as planning, organizing and praying!
A few of our youth from Kikino and Lethbridge arrived on the Saturday night before the first day of outreach. Sunday morning we were blessed by Dan and Bev having us over for brunch along with a great prayer/church service held at their house by the house church that D&B, Tristan and Lesley and I (Amy) attend. It was so encouraging to have and know that we had people supporting us in prayer for that week ahead.
That evening we drove down to Millerville Church where we were blessed to be able to make our home for the week! We met up with the rest of the team there that night as many of them were coming in from just having finished up working as counsellors at Camp Gladstone and two others were coming in from Winnipeg! We unpacked, got settled, got to know each other, talked about our plans for the upcoming week, prayed together and hung out!
Overall the week at Eden Valley was beyond amazing. God showed up in so many ways, and by the end of it our team was family. The week included lots of prayer and planning, a prayer walk, handing out flyers, lots of murderball (it's not as horrible as it sounds!), basketball, volleyball, facepainting, hiking in the mountains (with great packed lunches donated from Longview Church!), swimming in the river and making new friends! We had a great evening bonfire with the youth, eating marshmallows and chips, singing songs and some of the youth on our team were able to share their stories of who God was to them and how He has and is working in their lives. We also had an art focus during the week that was led by Josiah! It was a great opportunity for youth to show their creativity.Anothe big focus of the week, which was a huge success thanks to all the prayers and donations and food and volunteers, was the community feast! We fed approximately 150 people from the community! We had many donations from Varisty Bible Church (as well as some awesome volunteers), as well as many food donations from Millerville (and more great volunteers) and then lots of help from our Calgary friends/family. We could not have had that evening work out in such an amazing way without all the support, encouragement, donations and prayers that came our way that night! We had two of our team members share their stories as well as one of our youth sing a song for the community. Then after everyone ate and had their coffee and great dessert, there was lots of volleyball and visiting. We heard lots of positive feedback about the evening from members of the community and those who helped us organize and run it. We are very thankful to all of you who were involved in any way!
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| Anchored Warriors Team! |
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| Song/Testimony/Gospel @ Community Feast |
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| Off we go! |
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| More youth games |
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| Youth Art Project |
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| Youth Games - "Buck Buck" |
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| Kids Day :) |
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| The Community Feast |
The last day was a short visit at the rez as most of the youth were gone to a culture camp. And then we packed up at the church and prepared to head back to Calgary the next day. We had a fun day at Calaway Park and then the next day everyone headed home and back to their own adventures.
We as a team have all been so encouraged by the amazing way God has been working in the lives of not only the youth/young adults we have been connected with this year through our different events, but also through the way God is working THROUGH these youth. They are the ones that will change and make a difference in their home communities, and we can already see this happening. We are so proud of all of them because they are facing their own fears and struggles and in that process they are also showing other Aboriginal youth that they can make a difference and that their lives do matter! They are being the example to not only the youth in their communities but also the the adults and elders. It is so amazing to see God work and encourage them in that way! We love you guys! :)
THE REST OF THE SUMMER
After the outreach event I (Amy) was blessed to be the main speaker at the Jr.High Camp (2) at Camp Nakamun. It was a great opportunity to practice my teaching/speaking skills and get to catch up with old friends and make some new ones. It also was a week that reminded me that God uses people of all ages and He believes in the next generation!
We all wrapped up the summer this past weekend as we all attended the Southern Alberta family camp at Camp Gladstone. It was a good, relaxing way to end the summer and enjoy the company of people we love.
YEAR TWO
This is officially the beginning of year two for Anchored Warriors. It is so crazy to think that a whole year has gone by already and that God is allowing us another year with this project. We have not recieved any grant funding for this year and so we have been working at raising our funds with lots of help and advice from Interact Ministries. Kim is going to be starting a part time job next week as her funding through the last grant has ended, and I will continue my part time work as a nanny. Tristan and Leslie are waiting to hear back about some potential jobs and are in transition right now. Please be praying for all of us as we figure out how this next year is going to work. We are trusting in God for doors to be opened and closed where they need to be so that everything will work even better then we can imagine for this next year full of adventures. Please pray for us as we are taking steps of faith. Also pray for us and the people that are helping Anchored Warriors (like Josiah and many people in Interact that are helping us get our footings with this ministry). We already have some new roads to walk down and new people that are interested in working with Anchored Warriors.
We appreciate all your support and prayers and encouragement so much. I know I've said that alot, but I really don't think we would be where we are today without it! So thank you for being a part of our team as we continue seeking and serving God through loving and building up solid Aboriginal leaders!
We will try and keep you all updated as much as possible! Keep checking our facebook page and this blog. Also keep posted because we will be having a website up and running sometime in the next couple months!
