What a great summer...

Hey everyone, I guess it’s blogging season now that there’s time after a fun adventure filled summer. Thanks to everyone for posting recently. It still amazes me that even 2 full years later there are still posts and people checking it so regularly.

Well, I’ve just completed another summer at Winkler Bible Camp and it was fantastic! I was the program director (so I planned everything) at one of the 3 WBC sites called Mission Point. This site is actually in Ontario about 3 hours from Winkler (cue Rob’s giggle) and it’s on a boat access only peninsula. It was a crazy amazing and stretching summer and I am grateful to have been given that opportunity. I have to say that last week was the best week of the summer, it was our teens week and involved things like the Refined/Undignified dance team from Briercrest coming out for the week, playing glow-in-the-dark night games, bucket ball in a legit mud pit, and having RU perform a full length show on Thursday night followed by an amazing time of P&W with God’s freedom and joy reigning in that place!

I’m now only 18 days away from launching the 4th funmester of Kids Zone in Winkler and am super excited for that, but wow there is a lot of work to do before then!

NY boys, I so badly want to come visit again, hopefully it works out yet. Briercrest boys, I hope to come by this fall! Everyone else…I’ll see you when I see you, and I hope it’s soon! Thank you for being such a valuable part of my life and for continuing to serve God with all your hearts, keep it up!

Oh, and CONGRATS Michelle!!!!!


God Bless,
Revolutionary Steve

I Miss You All!

Hello friends!

First things first- I am truly sorry I haven't posted on this blog in over a year! I have been reading it consistently and your posts make me miss each of you even more. :)

Ellie- It makes me happy to hear of your and Lewis' life! I know he will make an amazing teacher. Continue to lean on Christ, my sweet friend, ok?

And Jon- thanks for the update. It's so exciting hearing the work that He is doing at your camp. On another note- you should be made aware that if you finish this year at B-Crest without coming to visit us in Calgary, there will be severe and painful consequences. Relay that message to the others, ok? (And I'm sure Al, Dan, Jay, and Mark are in full support of this threat.) :)

Anyway- I guess I should give a little update, eh? Well- as most of you know, I was living in Calgary this past year going to Ambrose, which was great. I came home for the summer but am heading back to Calgs again on Wednesday. I worked at a coffee shop all summer, which was good, but also challenging. The three women I work with are all very broken and are living lives that they resent. Each of them have a lot of pain involved in their families- I have been doing my best to lean on Christ as I listen and try to love them like Him.

More positively- Dan and I have been helping out with Young Life again this summer, and were able to go to camp with the kids. It was incredible- I had the privilege to gain three new sisters in Christ. Two of the girls that made a decision are moving to Calgary this fall, so I'm hoping to walk with them as they embark on this exciting adventure! Woohoo!

While at camp (as I'm sure many of you have seen on Facebook), Dan broke his nose playing some wide games. We still don't know if he needs surgery to realign it, but it's healing up pretty good. On the topic of ol' Danny boy- he will be attending Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) in Calgary this fall for Information Technology- Computer Systems. So he is getting REALLY excited about that, as he starts this week! Things are going great with us- he takes such good care of me and is so patient. We are learning more and more all the time about each other and what it looks like to grow in Christ individually and as a team, which has been really good.

Jay and I are living together again (yay!), so know that all of you have a place to stay whenever you're in Calgary!

Love and miss all of you!

-Katie :)

heyy!
it's been a long time since i have written, not as long as some other guys at briercrest but still long.
i write this as i continue to delay the packing process to go back to briercrest tomorrow morning for the final year. i have some really cool opportunities this year in the dorm and with profs and there are some really sweet classes offered which will be really good.
this summer has been unbelievable. i don't know if i wrote back in the fall about this summer or not but because of everything He was teaching me and continues to teach me about His fatherhood, I felt him inviting me to pursue a role at camp this summer as the section head for the 10-11 year old boys. there was a hope in me of having my heart and the counselors hearts in my section softened so that we would be gentle, loving, constant, forgiving, father figures for these kids. one of the sweetest things about the job is having some counselors in your section for the entire summer and getting to journey with them throughout the summer in good times and really difficult times. there was this one time or one session (two weeks) where we had one chalet where every kid was convinced he was the victim of bullying and yet was quite okay with bullying every other kid in the cabin. this summer i also didn't want to doubt His work in the lives of younger kids and so we asked Him daily to redeem this chalet and give them some sort of love for each other or for some of their hearts to be changed. after just about two weeks, i entered the prayer chapel on the final night dreading the closing camp fire and quite frustrated at the Lord's absence it seemed throughout the session in this chalet. one of the stories i got pretty excited about this summer was Abraham and Isaac and how it points to the cross in so many ways, and so we did the fire and I told that story and then gave opportunity for kids to stick around. everyone scattered back to their cabins except for this one kid in that chalet. one of our leadership team members got a chance to pray with that camper that night through tears, questions and concerns, to follow Jesus. not only was this kid's live changed, but his counsellor tasted God's faithfulness in this incredible way. there were moments like this throughout the summer where He let us taste His faithfulness, it was amazing.

alsso, not as exciting as michelle, but i've been dating a girl named caitlynn for about 4 1/2 months now. it has shattered all of my thoughts on dating and relationships and it has been one of the coolest things ever to work through difficult things and see difficult sides of each other and to really understand grace in a new light and what this idea of biblical love really is. it's one of the sweetest things ever and something i've never known, to walk together and pursue Him together. and i know its just a meesley old 4 1/2 months, but dang, He's doing something good, He's doing some really good things in my mind and calling me to fear no more and to trust Him. she is an incredible girl, like she really wants to know Him, she wants those whom the world has marginalized to know Him. it certainly is a gift in its truest meaning and i can't wait for you guys to meet her.

so this is an update on my life, nervous for this year, and yet continually amazed that He who calls is really is faithful and He will do it. He has been so faithful to take my fragile and wavering mind and continue to transform me, He's good, He really is.
michelle, i'm so excited for you and so sorry us b-crest brothers can't make it.
"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you."
Is 26:3
a wise wise man referred this verse to me once, this verse is freedom.

hi everybody!

so after a lot, a LOT, too much, postponement, I am getting baptized this Sunday! It's at 8am at McAdam Park in Duncan, let me know if you will be around and want directions.

You might remember me posting like eons ago that I was planning on this, but long story short, my request got lost in the shuffle so that delayed things about a year... then like a week after I finally met with my pastor about it and then discussed dates... the ground caved in underneath me and the grief I had to face in losing dad was just way too much.

So it's time.

In other news, life is happening... Lewis and I are living in a really cute little house in Crofton with super cheap rent and love it (we've been here for a while)! We got a dog about 2 months ago, and let me tell you he is a handful! He's a Dutch Shepherd (like a german shepherd but a bit different) which is a breed typically trained for police work/search and rescue/protection but our little guy can be shy sometimes so he is just our baby. He actually got hit by a car the other night and ran away until the next morning... praise the Lord he is okay. His name is Riko and he would love to meet you guys if you are around these parts (he told me). :)

We also have another housemate.... some of you guys know Lauren Villines from camp... well yeah she's living with us! It's so good to have another girl around.

Plans for fall... Lewis is going back to school to become a teacher! (Note: I may not have ever posted on here that RCMP stuff didn't work out... not the right timing). It will be a few years until he's done obviously, but a super cool adventure and Lew is so excited to not be working with BRICKS anymore... bricks bricks bricks

I feel like I'm going through a weird stage of grief... just feeling kind of numb most of the time. I would try to describe more of what I'm feeling on this front but I just don't feel like I can. Maybe sometime soon.

Who is all going to Meesha's marriage day?

Well I have to get going... I deleted my facebook a couple months ago so if you guys are looking to write to me please email!!!
lewisandellie@gmail.com

Ellie