Thursday, December 18, 2008

Another Advent Devotional

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 11

In our current Western culture, we esteem men and women of accomplishment - athletes, actors, scientists, musicians and even businessmen. Individuals who achieve greatness in his/her field or discipline are showered with fame, fortune and power by our individual constant desire to have everything they seem to have. We erect statues, construct buildings, and even pave streets in the name of those to whom we direct our adoration. Sports halls of fame, celebrity walks of fame, award shows by the dozens - all evidence of a society’s feeble attempt at becoming something greater.

As followers of Christ, our only real source of inspiration, the object of our adoration, the author and finisher of our faith is to be the Lord Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 12:2) Our own Scripture has a hall of fame, or perhaps more appropriately a Hall of Faith. Each verse of Hebrews 11 reads like an inscription on a display case in God’s Hall of Faith. I can almost see the first glass window, verse 4 is the inscription below a photo of Abel and a shepherd’s staff. His testimony of faith living on for God’s glory.

Through this Advent season, let us remember just what it means to be a Christian. Things of this world will pass away, that includes the esteem of men. May we aspire to live a Christ-like life and hold a place in God’s Hall of Faith; that even after we’ve passed on from this world, we may leave a testimony of faith that points to Him.

Prayer
Dear Lord, may You be the object of our affections.
Help me to recognize every day that the attractive things
of this world will pass away. May it be my desire to
live a life that points to You. Amen.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Christmas Blessings

Greetings friends,

We are currently being blanketed with a healthy coating of snow, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to update everyone on how things are here.

It has been a very interesting month, the Lord has continued to bless us far beyond what we could have imagined. As you know I was layed off recently from the general labour and landscaping work that I'd been doing. I had thought that I'd found work doing insulation for a local company, but it seems that may not work out. I've worked one day with them so far, but have not had opportunity to again since, the work will be available in the coming weeks, but not in Windsor as I had been led to believe. I've found this time to have given me opportunity to practically learn what it means to depend on the Lord - and He has been so faithful. Our needs have been met and new opportunities are arising for employment while we continue to prepare to move to Cumberland Bay and work with the mission full time. These days have given me the chance to do some more of the things around the house that have needed done, so Lord willing we'll be listing the house with a realtor in the coming weeks.

We've had some difficulties with the car the past week or so as well, nothing too serious as it turned out, but again the Lord has it all well in hand. Elizabeth's brother is our very generous and skilled mechanic, he has us back on the roads safe and sound.

We are looking forward to a wonderful Christmas with family and a very exciting new year. This past year has certainly brought us to a place we would never have imagined, but we are so pleased to be standing at the edge of a new year in the palm of the Lord's hand. Thank you all so very much for your notes of encouragement, we hope to be able to visit with many of you in person over the coming months.

Merry Christmas and God Bless,
Grant & Liz

A view from our front stoop.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

The Great Adventure

Greetings Friends,

This is it - my last week of work for Just Perfect Solitude. I've always known that it was a temporary job, but I had no idea that it would be extended this far into the year - I've been with Bob for 4 months now. It has been a bit scary for me not knowing just what is around the bend - having had steady employ for a decade has given me an over inflated sense of self confidence. These few months have certainly been training me to put my trust in the Lord - and He has been providing for us in unexpected ways. As far as I know right now I will be starting work with an insulation company in the next week or so, this job should carry us through until we are prepared to move to Cumberland Bay and work full time with Kevin and Marcia!

I was talking to Kevin this past week, and they have begun thinking about next summers camps already. It's all very exciting and the Strouts have some awesome ideas for this years ministry. We plan to do some team building work with Kevin and Marcia in January and are looking very forward to that as well. Just now we have completed all of our booked speaking engagements, but are optimistic about opportunites that will arise in the new year. As a point of praise, our car is running well and we have been blessed with a new set of winter tires.

We look forward to visiting with family and friends over the Holidays, it's without a doubt my favourite time of year.

Blessings to you,
Grant

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Advent Devotional

At our church every Advent, the congregation takes part in writing an Advent devotional booklet to read during the season of Advent. I thought that I'd share with you the devotion that I wrote for Wednesday, December 10th.

Scripture Reading - Mark 12:28-31

Christmas is the season when most of us are given cause to remember to be charitable to those who are in need. Many of us give to the food banks, Operation Christmas Child, the telethon…there are many charitable organisations in need at this time of year. It's so very important that we do what we can for our neighbours around us, regardless of their needs. Many people would say that this is the true meaning of Christmas. We read in Mark that there are two commandments greater than all others: Love God, and Love your neighbour. By this, to love our neighbour is to love God, in that we are expressing the Love of God to them, and obeying Him by it. Truly, Christ is the reason for the season, but think carefully what that implies. We have a picture of the nativity that is warm and happy and safe, and we often forget how very great the sacrifice that has been made in the birth of baby Jesus. To be born a man, our Saviour came to live among us. This act alone was a great sacrifice, to culminate with the ultimate sacrifice of His death and resurrection. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ began at His birth, which we celebrate at Christmas.
So often we get caught up in the business of Christmas, in seeking desperately to achieve that warm fuzzy feeling. Christmas is a celebration of Christ and should serve as a reminder to each of us that we too, as followers of Christ, are to sacrifice every day to His glory. Loving our neighbours and selflessly seeking to share the light and love of Christ. Let's make this Christmas more about love and less about wrapping gifts. Don't miss out on the opportunity to share true Christmas Spirit.

Prayer
Dear Lord, this year help me to keep from getting caught up in the selfish Christmas of the world. May this be the Season of Christian love in Your name. Amen.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Windsor United Baptist Church

Howdy all,

It's been a busy week or two - Liz and I had the opportunity to share at our home church, Windsor Baptist, just yesterday. We have been very much looking forward to sharing with our friends and church family. It was very exciting for us to be able to finally answer everyone's questions about just what it is we're up to.

Liz had the opportunity to share with the kids during the childrens' story. She talked about what it means to be a missionary and how we can all be missionaries every day. When we spoke later in the service, we each shared our personal testimonies and talked about how the Lord shook us up and called us to attention of Him. We were able to spend a long time chatting with people after the service. People are excited about the ministry and that is exciting for us. We've been moved by the support and encouragement that we've received from our Church family.

And for those of you who have been on tender-hooks waiting for our next prayer letter... the second edition has just been put in the mail - so you should be receiving that in the next week or two. If you're not receiving our prayer letter and would like to - we'd be happy to send it along, just drop us a line.

We're both still busy working, anticipating the time when we will be able to move to Cumberland Bay and get settled in. I have a line on a possible new job - my current job will be ending on December 5th. This had been a great concern for me initially, but there is a strong possibility of a job doing insulating work for a few months over Christmas and possibly until we move. So Praise the Lord for his provision once again!!


Liz talked with the kids during the Children's Story about what it means to be a missionary.

We shared together for the message portion of the service... and may have run long by a few minutes... oops.

As our new partners in mission, our friends at WUBC
took the opportunity to commission us in prayer.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Fairview

Hi all, The journey continues :0)

This past Saturday evening Liz and I enjoyed sharing in Halifax with our friends Nick and Bev Philips and some of the believers at Fairview. It was a blessing for us to have the opportunity to give our testimonies and share about our call to ministry as well as to chat with some folks after the service. Later in the evening was youth group - and we were invited to hang out for a while... and for some reason there was an inordinate amount of surplus candy floating around...

For all those of you who receive our prayer letter, this week we will be preparing and sending out our next issue - you should receive that in the next couple of weeks. If you aren't receiving our prayer letter and would like to - just drop us a line - we'd love to add you to our mailing list.


Our brand new NCEM and Arrowhead materials table.


We had the opportunity to share some pictures and video from this past years summer camps.

Monday, October 27, 2008

October Update

Greetings friends,

I just wanted to take the opportunity to update you on the happenings in our home. We continue to work daily at our current jobs as we prepare for the ministry. The Lord has been providing for our needs in marvelous ways - we are always humbled when in times of need we lose hope and yet He is there to care and provide for us - as He always does!

In preparing the house to sell - I spent Saturday putting up some moulding in the living room, we have yet to paint the spare bedroom and do a small bit of dry-walling in the basement, otherwise it's ready to live in... we will just have to trust in the Lord to take care of finding a new family to live in our little house.

I found out recently that my job has been extended and I will have employment doing labour work until December 5th. Praise the Lord. We trust that by that time we will have our home on the market for sale and have enough support to go full time with NCEM.

We are preparing to speak this weekend at Fairview in Halifax. Please pray for us as we travel and share once again the outreach of this wonderful ministry that God has called us to.

I'll be working on a couple of brochures and a poster for Arrowhead this week as well - it's nice to be able to use my training as a designer whenever possible. We have a couple of exciting print projects that we'd like to do for Arrowhead over the next few months, so stay tuned. In the meantime, if anyone would like to have information about the camp or NCEM, just let us know and we'd be happy to pass it along.

We're looking forward to a progressive dinner tomorrow night with our Bible Study group, Carpenter's Hands. The fellowship and times of prayer and devotion that we have with our friends are a true blessing to us and we enjoy them a great deal. We'll be hosting the 'soup or salad' portion of the dinner at our place - so Liz is busily preparing some tasty smelling soups tonight... so perhaps I should go and see if I can get in the way...

Blessings for tonight,
Grant

Sunday, October 19, 2008

The People's Church

This morning Liz and I had the wonderful privilege of sharing about our new ministry with our friends at The People's Church in Truro. Liz and I attended People's Church six years ago when we lived in Truro - it was wonderful to be with them today to renew old friendships and meet new friends. It was indeed a real encouragement for us to be there on the closing day of their annual missions conference, and we were blessed to be cared for by the congregation in prayer.

During the service I shared a brief testimony of our life since leaving Truro and an update on our call to ministry, I also had the opportunity to show some pictures and video from this past summers camp ministries at Arrowhead.

We were also pleased to be asked to share with the kids during Junior Church. Elizabeth taught a lesson on sin with a wonderful object lesson for the kids illustrating how sin is separation from God and yet we can enjoy freedom through Jesus Christ.

We were excited to be able to use our new Arrowhead display and materials table for the first time today, many folks availed themselves of the various NCEM materials and stopped to chat with us about the ministry.

We did have an exciting start to the day and weren't sure if our car was going to co-operate with us today as it once again began to smoke as we neared Truro. But the smoking subsided and we arrived safe and sound - our return trip to Windsor was without incident - once again the Lord provided for us, for which we are very grateful.

This week promises to be a busy one, I am hoping to get a lot done on the house in preparing it for a realtor to look at, and we will be preparing our second newsletter update to send out in November.


Youth Pastor Bruce Steeves leading the Junior Church song time.


Elizabeth sharing her object lesson with the kids.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Thanks and Thanksgiving...

It has been a wonderful weekend - Elizabeth and I spent Thanksgiving with her family in Granville Beach, N.S. It is always great to be together with family, but there is something extra special about Thanksgiving. We truly have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and sharing with our family was a great reminder to us of that very fact.

The Lord has called us into active service for Him, and for that we are very grateful. We have been blessed in support of this ministry opportunity - the Lord has begun to put in place a
powerful prayer army on our behalf, and for that we are very thankful. He has also begun to build financial support so that we can go and begin this work more actively - our financial support has most recently been reported to us at about 20%, which is a tremendous blessing after just a month or so. For this we are very thankful. The Lord has begun to introduce us to new friends, some are new believers, some are faithful servants and some are desperately in need of the Lord - for these people we are very thankful.

I have been busily preparing our display table, as I have mentioned, we have a few opportunities to share over the coming weeks and are excited to go and do so. So I will be painting and gluing and making a good ol' mess this evening ... should be fun :0)

"Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done." ~I Chronicles 16:8

Blessings this Thanksgiving weekend,
Grant

This is a picture Liz took on Friday of a squash in our garden,
ripe for the harvest.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Lots of Travelling...

Elizabeth and I have been doing a fair bit of traveling this year, and will be doing more throughout the fall as we visit churches and friends and share our excitement with them about this ministry opportunity. Kevin and Marcia are also doing a lot of traveling this fall, visiting friends and family and sharing what the Lord has been doing through the work of NCEM and at Arrowhead. This weekend, Kevin is in Newfoundland visiting believers there and giving them an update on the work. I met he and James at the airport yesterday morning as Kevin was preparing to depart. James is hanging out with us this weekend and will return to Arrowhead with Kevin on Monday. Keep Kevin in prayer as he travels and shares this weekend.

Elizabeth and I will be traveling to Truro to share with the Peoples Church on October 19th at the close of ther missions conference. We're really looking forward to being in Truro again and having the opportunity to meet with some old friends. We will be in Halifax, sharing with believers there on November 1st and will be sharing at our home church in Windsor on November 9th. If your church would be interested in hearing about the work at Arrowhead Native Bible Center, Liz and I would be more than happy to come and share with your fellowship. Just let us know.


Kevin as we abandoned him at the Halifax Airport.

Friday, October 3, 2008

At Rainbows End

It was 6:00pm, time for registration. Marcia and I had everything ready, we even had time to sit down and have a cup of tea together! We anxiously awaited the first lady/ladies to arrive. Soon a vehicle came down the driveway, it was Linda Beebe(wife of Barry Beebe, the president of NBBI) the keynote speaker. Soon after she arrived Cathy Hill arrived, a missionary to the First Nations people. Along with her came Liz Genaille one of the guest musicians for the weekend. We sat around and chatted with them as well as their husbands(the kitchen help for the weekend) while we waited for more ladies to arrive. Then 7:00pm came, no one else. We were to have started our first meeting at that time, where was everyone? Is anyone going to come? What if it's just us? But then another vehicle came down the driveway, it's Venus and her carload, hooray we can start! Venus brought 3 ladies with her and along that same time Gracie Welch arrived and so we were ready to start our ladies weekend.

At Rainbows End was the name of theme for the ladies retreat. It was held at Camp Arrowhead in N.B. Friday night was a great evening of singing and Liz Genaille sharing her amazing testimony of how God has and is working in her life. We then spent the rest of the evening playing a few games, munching on some goodies and talking.

Saturday morning before B'fast Cathy Hill had a short devotional. Even more ladies arrived Sat morning. We then had a great B'fast and then awaited the arrival of our other musician, Brenda Geneau. Upon her arrival we started our morning session. Brenda shared with us in song and Linda Beebe shared with us in Word. It was a real blessing to hear each ones testimony and how God has been working in their lives. Sat afternoon we had a craft time then some free time to catch a few zzzzzz's or a game or two of scrabble. We then had another session with more great singing from Brenda as well as her amazing testimony. One thing that struck me when listening to Liz and Brenda's testimony especially, is that God can do amazing things in anybody's life no matter how down and out our lives may get. God can use anyone to do great things for Him! We are ALL sinners SAVED by GRACE!!

After supper we had an evening session where Linda Beebe spoke more on Gods promises and how we can claim them. She was a great speaker and I think each lady really appreciated her openess and her very relevent way of speaking.

Sat night was a night of many laughs! After we were finished our Bible session most of us opted for our pj's and played some pretty hilarious games. It was a great way to get to know each other and in some cases more than what we wanted to know!!=)

Sunday morning I gave a short devotional before B'fast then we had our final session.
We were a small crowd but we sure had a great time and I think each lady was blessed by being there and being able to spend time in God's Word and being able to fellowship with other ladies of like faith.

My take home message from the weekend was that there are so many promises that God has given to us that we just need to claim them. He wants the best for us so all we need to do is give our lives over to Him. He has promised to Love us and never forsake us. We need to do them same for Him, everyday.

Thanks for letting me share and maybe next year we'll see you there!

In Christ,
Elizabeth

Craft Time.

Worship Time.

Guest Speaker, Linda Beebe.

Special Music, Brenda Geneau.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

A Little Adventure.

This weekend is the ladies retreat at Arrowhead and Liz has been planning for some time to go and assist Marcia in any way that she can. It is so often brought to our attention that more often than not our plans are not God's plans. This week 'our' plans had been for me to drive Liz to Aulac, New Brunswick this evening where we would meet Marcia - Liz would travel the remainder of the way with her. Well the Lord saw the evening differently. Just after we passed by Sackville and turned onto the 102 the car began to sputter a little smoke from under the hood - it subsided. But several minutes later as we neared the Airport it began belching quite a lot of smoke - after some minutes on the phone with our personal mechanic (Lizs' brother Jonathan) we decided to return home... slowly and carefully. From that point on we didn't even see so much as a whisp of smoke. We returned home with no problems and I've been out to do errands with no problems again. So we're praying that perhaps it was something acute and benign.

This does however leave Liz here and not at the camp - so she's hopping on the bus in Falmouth, Nova Scotia in the morning and will be arriving at Young's Cove tomorrow evening after 7 - it's going to take over 8 hours to make a 4 hour journey. So please pray for Liz as she travels - that she'll have safety and patience.

Please pray also for the retreat - that the Lord will touch hearts and lives and refresh spirits.
Liz and I are continuing to learn what it means to truly rely 100% on the Lord to provide for our needs. As we go about raising support for our ministry work to begin, it is becoming more and more clear that we have to give everything over to God and rest in His perfect plans. The car He provided for us is His car and He will provide for whatever we need, the catch will be realizing that what we think we need and what God knows we need may be very different things.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

The Carving

This is a promotional short produced by NCEM - I thought it might be a good way to share with you what NCEM is about. In this video, the unique art of snow carving illustrates missions among Canada's First Peoples.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Habitation Baptist Church

Howdy all,

We had the opportunity to share at Habitation Baptist Church in Port Royal, Nova Scotia this past Sunday. It was a real blessing for us to be able to share our excitement in this new ministry with family and friends. We certainly appreciate their prayers as we continue to prepare to move to Cumberland Bay. It is a blessing to be able to share in this ministry opportunity with as many people as possible - the larger our team of supporters and prayer warriors the richer this ministry of the Lord will be.

Liz and I are still both working at our jobs - Liz will stay at the Pharmacy until we are ready to move to New Brunswick - my job is due to be completed at the end of October. We are prayerful and hopeful that our support will be sufficient so by that point we'll have our house on the market and I will be able to work full time with NCEM. We are both eager to get moved and get to work, but we are patiently waiting on the Lord - everything is in His good time.

Blessings,
Grant

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Arrowhead Promo Video

Well I've finally finished putting together a promo video for the camp for this year. It was a bit challenging, the video and photos come from numerous sources - but it will give you all a chance to see the camp and some of the kids!


Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Happy September!

Hey everyone! This is my blogging debut as Grant has been the one posting the messages. I'm going to try and be a more regular contributor to the blog postings - so here goes.
Here it is September already, where has the summer gone? Vacations are over for another summer and so back to the grind it is. Grants new job has been working out really well. He's enjoying the escape of the cubicle and being in the great outdoors.
We are starting to get bookings for Sundays and sharing our ministry opportunity. This Sunday we will be at Habitation Baptist Church in Port Royal. It is my home church so it will be really nice to share with the people that I've grown up with - what God has been calling us to. On Nov. 9th we are sharing at our church here in Windsor, Windsor United Baptist Church, we are looking forward to that as well.
This evening we shared with our Bible study group, Carpenters Hands. It is a real blessing to see others excited about camp Arrowhead and our opportunities of ministry there.
Thanks everyone for letting us share with you what God has been doing in our lives. It's been amazing to see how God has put this desire in our hearts to minister to the First Nations people and so we want to share it!
Take care and have a great day!
Elizabeth

Monday, September 1, 2008

Reflection...

The weekend that I first began to feel the Lords calling to this ministry with NCEM, we were visiting with Kevin and Marcia at their home. On a daily calendar in their home was a short verse that spoke directly to me. I was wrestling with the idea of ministry and what it might mean to Elizabeth and I. The truth of that single sentence has been revealed to me each day since we decided to follow the Lord's leading into ministry. I thought I'd share it with you tonight.

"Whatever God tells us to do, He also helps us to do." - Dora Greenwell

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Whirlwind Weekend!

This has been an amazing weekend. The Lord has done a lot of things and impacted our lives and the lives of our friends. We spent Saturday with family, Liz's brother, Jonathan is our mechanic (pressed into service against his will) and always takes great care of us - for which we are very grateful. He spent his Saturday afternoon preparing our 'new' vehicle for the road. Several weeks ago I went looking for a parts car for our Mazda. What found us was a real blessing - the car that I bought as a parts car turned out to be 10 times the vehicle we were trying to repair. The body in beautiful condition, which is a result of the faithful application of undercoated every year since it hit the road in 1996, it has 200,000 LESS kms on it than the one we have been driving. The new car is equipped with a car starter and came with a full tank of gas - the huge part of the blessing of this new vehicle is that it was just $200 - it's amazing to see God providing for us already as we prepare to go. Jonathan has been switching parts from the 'old' Mazda to the 'new' Mazda.

Saturday night we had the pleasure of meeting the new pastor and his wife of Habitation Baptist Church, we've been invited to share with Habitation on Sunday morning, September 14. We look forward to sharing our excitement and ministry with Elizabeth's home church - they have been so encouraging to us.

We returned home Saturday night and got to Windsor about 12:30am - it was a long and productive day. We were met with a phone message from our colleagues Kevin & Marcia. A new friend of ours, a new believer, needed support and encouragement - Kevin intended to travel to Prince Edward Island early Sunday morning to offer his support. I wanted very much to support both Kevin and our friend and so left at about 3:20am and headed to New Brunswick. I met Kevin at the New Brunswick border and we went to the Island together. I returned home just prior to noon. It was a whirlwind trip, but absolutely worth every second. I received an encouraging eMail this evening from a missionary friend of mine, at the bottom of his message were the following two lines - "A river touches places of which its source knows nothing. Our Father rarely allows a person to see how great a blessing he is." It's so important for us to strive to love one another always.

Our home church here in Windsor has shown great interest in our upcoming ministry and has been very supportive of us in our desire to follow the Lord's will. In today's bulletin was a very nice 'Call to Missions' update, sharing details of our ministry assignment and support needs. It is so encouraging for us to have the support and prayers of friends and family.

It's exciting to think what this upcoming week might hold!

Cheerio,
Grant

The 'new' wheels

Monday, August 25, 2008

A Cumberland Bay kinda weekend.

Hey y'all,

Well - it was going to be Family Camp at Arrowhead this weekend, but it was postponed. Since Liz and I had been planning to go up to New Brunswick to help Kevin and Marcia with hosting the camp, we decided to go anyway and help with winterizing some of the equipment. It was a great weekend - I picked Liz up at the Pharmasave after her shift and we hit the highway - we arrived at the Strouts place before 9:30pm.

Saturday morning, Kevin, James and I pulled in the docks and a couple of the canoes - Marcia and Liz prepared a picnic for all of us and we enjoyed a sunny lunch by Grand Lake. In the afternoon we took one last spin in the boat before it came out of the water. Saturday evening we got to meet another summer camp staffer from this year, our new friend Ben came up from NS to visit for the weekend.

It was a great weekend of work, fun and planning. It was good to have a chance to chat with Kevin and Marcia about our impending training, and planning for our arrival at the camp. They are eager for us to join them and get busy! Liz and Marcia did some planning for the upcoming ladies retreat as well - it sounds like it's going to be a great weekend if any ladies are interested in receiving information on attending, just let us know.

We used the old boat trailer to move the sections of dock out of the water.


They're heavier than they look (the docks...)


Little boat... Big lake.


Arrowhead directors Marcia and Kevin Strout.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

The New Job.

For those of you who may not know, I left my position as graphic designer at Holiday media in Halifax and have taken a labour job here in Windsor. Although the pay is less, I'll be saving in excess of $300 a month in travel expenses. I've been to my new job for two days now, and I have to say, it is such a pleasure to work with my hands again. It has been a long time since I've had the pleasure of being paid to work outdoors.

I'm working for a gentleman just outside of town who is preparing to build a home. There is a great deal of landscaping to do as well as carpentry and maintenance on his current building. I'm assisting him on various projects, everything from assembling scaffolding and installing rain gutter screens to weeding the gardens. I doubt very much that any two days will be the same. It is a real pleasure to work alongside my new boss, he is friendly and very easy to work with - and he seems to be a natural teacher. He takes the time to explain anything that we're doing, allowing me to learn new skills as we go.

I truly feel that this job is a blessing from the Lord, not only will it allow me the time I will need for deputation and to put the finishing touches on the house - but it will serve as some very practical training before I go to the camp and begin to assist with maintenance and upkeep. I've already been able to snag a couple of great ideas for shop organization, that I think might be very helpful at the camp. As much as I feel my final year or so at Holiday Media was training in perseverance, patience and respect, it really feels like this job is another module of training.

working away...
Grant

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Extra! Extra!

Liz and I have diligently been preparing a lot of our collateral material this week for mailing out with our premiere edition of the Just Mind The Gap prayer letter. I had a little trouble getting a printer in the house that worked, but with a little perseverance and several visits to Staples we're press ready! Prayer cards and letters are all ready to go in Mondays mail, so if you haven't sent us your mailing address and would like to be on our mailing list, just pop us an eMail (fawcetts@eastlink.ca) and we'll happily add you.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Camp Photo Album.

Fun on Grand Lake.


A grove of Cabins.


The Beach.


The main building.


The tuck shop at the corner of 'Waban-Aki Street'

Off our tracks?

Hey Friends! welcome to justmindthegap.com

As many of you may already be aware, we have recently applied and been accepted to work with the Northern Canada Evangelical Mission at Arrowhead Native Bible Center in Cumberland Bay, New Brunswick. It is a huge change for us, and some of you may think we're off our tracks, but after some very serious consideration, counsel and prayer we deeply feel that this is where the Lord wants us.

NCEM was founded in 1946 by Christian homesteaders with a deep burden for the Native peoples of Northern Canada. Missionaries are now working with First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples from coast to coast and into the far North. Arrowhead Native Bible Center is a Bible Camp and Conference Center in Central New Brunswick that ministers to people in the Atlantic Provinces. It may sound like a cliché, but the ministry needs are great and the workers are indeed few. We have felt strongly that we need to help keep people from slipping through the cracks. We have made it our personal mandate to help Mind the Gap and serve in whatever ways we can to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the First Nations people in our region.

As most of you know Liz is working as a Pharmacy Tech at the Pharmasave here in Windsor and Grant has been working as a graphic designer for a publishing company in Halifax. As of the spring of this year we never thought our lives would take this direction. Our first mistake was visiting Kevin and Marcia in the spring for what we thought was going to be just a great time visiting friends! They showed us around the camp and told us of ALL the finances, public relations, general maintenance, follow-up with kids on the reserves, etc. etc. Unbeknownst to one another we were each independently thinking, "Hey! I could do that, or... that might be something I could do". Marcia and Kevin have needed and prayed for another couple to join them and help with the work that has to be done. Then when Grant told Liz what he'd been thinking she quickly denied that she had been thinking the exact same thing. After coming home from our trip neither of us could get camp Arrowhead out of our heads. We started praying and talking and talking and praying. Finally we both came to the realization that perhaps this is what God has in mind for us and so we decided to pursue it. We went through the whole application process in the spring and then finally had our interview and were accepted last week.

Now we have the monumental task of getting our house ready to sell and raising support before we move. Since NCEM is a faith based mission we are required to raise our own financial support by finding sponsors, people that support the work that we will be doing. We are very excited about this new opportunity and would appreciate your prayers as we prepare to move.

This blog is intended to be our way of communicating with you on a more regular basis just what it is we're doing in our ministry. We hope to update this space as often as possible with pictures, updates and prayer requests - so stay tuned.

We will be sending out a prayer letter at the end of this week along with a prayer card. If you'd be interested in receiving one just pop us an eMail with your complete mailing address and we will happily send one along!

Thanks for allowing us to share and stay tuned!