Week 5

Everyone is buzzing around here at MDP! Wilderness trails leave tomorrow, Friday, instead of Saturday, and urban trails is trying to get to where they need to be in order to experience the urban setting. And then there's us. The girls and I are just watching all this happen, helping Roy pack and wondering how we're going to fill our days. We have a meeting tomorrow afternoon to try to plan a couple things, but with 4 of the 6 six kids and sometimes 5 of the 6 kids taking naps in the afternoon, long adventures are out. We hope to do a sleep-over next week on 1 night and other than that we'll fill our days with activities.

Class this week has been on the indigenous church and what that may look like. Our instructor made us take a look at our own church experience and what we thought church should be like to help us learn our pre-conceived notions about church before we get to the field and start trying to get people to get together. He didn't give us a formula for what an indigenous church looks like, it will look different from place to place and with different people. Tonight, Thursday, we have class from 3pm on depending upon when our instructor arrives. So it should be interesting. We'll keep you all posted.

Karina learned to ride her bike without training wheel this past week, and she learned it rather quickly. She is enjoying her freedom alot. Eden likes to walk to where she wants to go and sometimes rides her bike. She is becoming more vocal, and states her opinion when you least expect it. And Roy and Richard have decided to give the cooks a break on Wednesday mornings, so they get up an hour before everyone else and make us egg sandwiches. They enjoy it, and the cooks enjoy being able to sleep in.

Week 3 and Week 4

So here we are at the end of May already. For some reason the blog update I did last week didn't get posted so here we are a week later and with a whole lot of new information.

Last week was full of morning and afternoon classes which wore us all out including the kids. We talked about SYIS-Sharpening Your Interpersonal Skills. Some of the issues we discussed were loving listening, drawing people out, confronting well, building trust, and living in community. We have to go back through the notebook to keep our refreshed on the skills we learned.

This week Roy is studying different techniques on learning a different language. I have been attending different sessions this week. Those sessions have been on FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome), sexual abuse, and suicide. It's been a heavy week for me to learn about all the terrible things that can happen and that do happen frequently to people.

The girls have learned about Jericho this week and are now learning about Jonah and how he ended up in the belly of the big fish because he didn't listen to God. Eden is sleeping through the night consistently. She likes to ride her tricycle everywhere she goes, and Karina decided today that she wanted her training wheels off of her bike. Now she'd like them back on after falling quite a few times, but with practice and perseverence I think she'll be riding without the training wheels before we leave. That's all for now.

Week Two MDP!

Your child isn't going to sleep. He keeps on yelling from the bedroom that there is a monster under the bed. What do you do? Does it change in another culture? Would it change for the people of another culture?

One of the things we learned this week was about the Spiritual Beliefs of Native people. Though there are a variety of differances accross Canada most are based in a belief that there is a spirit in everything. One spends time trying to apease or manipulate the spirits. To the native the monster under the bed is a siritual matter and the first thing they would do is much prayer. So how would you deal with this matter?

This is a small part of what we are learning about the basic belief system of native people. If we understand what peoples beliefs, feeling and values are, that which their behaviour comes out of, then we will start to understand how to effectively communicate the Gospel to them.

Individuals have incredible worth and value to God and He desires to work in us and heal us. First Nation People were created in the Image of God and God can and has transformed many by Christ's Work on the Cross. Just imagine a nation changed from within, within the Hearts of the First Nation People. Imagine what that could do to a village, to a tribe or a nation. Please pray that God will work in the lives of these people who are looking for spiritual truth. Please pray that people will reach out to them in the name of Christ. If God so desires Please pray that we too may go and Declare this Spiritual Truth. That God will line everything up for us so that we can leave In July.

Laura broke a crown on her tooth this week, so we made an emergancy trip to town (Prince Albert 1.5 hours) All is well.

God continues to be faithful.

We have morning and afternoon classes this week. We are learning to strengthen our interpersonal skills. Seems very practical and very good.

The Kids are well and miss you all. Pray for them this week especially as we are very busy and will not be able to spend much time with them.

Mt. Rushmore on the

way out!

Playing on the playground here at MDP!

MDP Week 1!

Week one of MDP has come and gone and we are now into our second week. The girls really enjoy going to class. They are together with one other boy, so they are getting some real one on one time with the teachers. Karina has also been enjoying the craft room. It just happens to be in the basement of our lodge, so she is always scoping out her next project. Eden is doing well, she is taking long naps in the afternoons, and still getting up once a night but we're getting there.



Last week we figured out what our spiritual gifts are and our personality types. We're still trying to figure out how our personality traits are going to fit into our ministry. One of the most important things that we learned last week was to go to our new places as a learner of the culture and people. Culture is all the learned ways to relate to people around us. Our world view is all the assumptions of life itself. It's the deepest heart of what people believe. Then we were asked how much power does culture and world view have? And I'll tell you a story to explain. In a Native culture in British Columbia a Native father rushed to the missionary's house because he needed help. His son had swallowed poison. When the missionary opened the door and saw the man there he knew something was on his mind because of his mannerisms and what he had learned about the culture. The Native man started talking to the missionary about the weather, his horses, and all other sorts of things that come up during small talk. This went on for 15 minutes, then the Native man continued to talk and tell stories until almost 25 minutes had passed. Remember the real reason for him coming there? After 25 minutes the Native man finally asked for a ride to the hospital because his son had swallowed poison. I would have put my son in the car before I had even asked for a ride, but that's because my culture and world view are different. This Native gentleman had to fulfill his cultural obligations of small talk, and feeling the missionary out before asking for a ride.



We are learning so much, I hope the little blog will give you just a little taste of what we are learning. We're all healthy and doing well. Thanks for your prayers.