Christy and Ryan {Wedding} Part 2

I met up with Christy, her mom and sister at the salon the morning of the wedding and spent the hours before the ceremony helping the girls get ready and capturing some of it in photos.

Christy and Ryan {Wedding} Part 1

Weddings are always special occasions and times of celebration, but there is something different when it is a close friend or family member.  To be invited into the process of the getting ready and day-of festivities is a huge honour, and I was so blessed to be a part of my cousin Christy's beautiful day.  I had so much fun being around Christy and Ryan as they prepared for the wedding and to see them walk into the rest of their lives together.  I'll share the photos in three parts.
Thanks Christy and Ryan for allowing me to be a part of your beautiful day.  God bless and keep you.

The church was set up for the rehearsal and the costume-made pillars and canopy was made by Christy's Dad.

Whitewater Canoeing at MPC

Here is a glimpse at one of the canoe trips from MPC this summer.  This program is called "Boys Camp Challenge," a three week camp, where they spend two weeks on a river shooting rapids.  All the credit to Troy Dearborn on this one for the video!  This is so awesome and it makes me want to be on the river shooting rapids right now!

Summer 2010 Newsletter

With the size of this newsletter and the lack of internet availability, I decided to post my final camp newsletter here on my blog.

A special thank you to all who have supported me over the years of working with Manitoba Pioneer Camp and Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship.  It has been a wonderful journey to partner with so many, through financial giving and prayer, to see this powerful ministry happen for hundreds of children and young adults each year.  I have been incredibly transformed and impacted and have witnessed the transforming power of God time and time again as this generation encounters a loving Father though the ministry of Camp.  Thank you

Enjoy!

 Summer 2010 Newsletter

glimpses of summer - my favs

Going out with Joy

The last full day of Girls 3 Camp.
The last full day of Girls Camp for me...maybe forever.

My heart wells up constantly the last couple of days - it's so full, and the tears come easily.

I think I will look back on this time of being at camp, particularly Girls camp, and always think, "Oh, how sweet it was!"  Hard, yes, but so sweet and precious.  Challenging, yes, but rich and life-giving.  What a divine privilege to be shaped in this place and to witness the transformation of hearts!

I will miss this, as much as I gladly, willingly and passionately embrace how God is leading me forward and into the future, I will miss this - this season of hidden-ness, of wilderness time, of fun, play, shaping, forming, creativity, challenge, laughter, grace and love.  My heart is full.

You shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace.  
The mountains and hills will breakforth before you.
There will be shouts of joy and all the trees of the field
will clap, will clap their hands.

("Nup-Nup" and "Fopra" during the Girls 3 cruise night.  It has been one of the biggest blessings to direct camps with Caitlin over the last three years.)

Woman caught in adultery

Girls Camp is already half way through the first session of the summer and I'm reminded everyday why I love this job so much!  God uses summer camps to powerfully encounter and transform kids and young adults!

Every morning after breakfast we do something with the whole camp called "Table Talks," which are like a short Bible Study.  The theme that we are looking at in Girls Camp is "Encounter Jesus and be Transformed," so we look at a different Biblical character whose life was turned upside-down because of an encounter with Jesus.  Stephanie Goertzen and I have written monologues to go along with these stories that help to paint the picture of what might have been going on in the hearts and minds of these people as their lives changed radically.  Initially I thought to use some of the best known characters for these monologues, but I quickly changed my mind to focus on some of the unlikely people and decided to not shy away from issues that they might bring up like Nicodemus, Zaccheaus, the Samaritan woman, and Martha.

This is the poetic monologue I wrote for the story of the woman caught in adultery (John 8):

I am a woman

No longer with prominence

Without honor

A woman whose reputation cannot be recovered

My choices now stand trial

And my fate lies in the hands of these men

This crowd who hold the choice of life or death

Who already know the law

And how it will end

I cannot go back

It is too late now

I know I was wrong

I was foolish and arrogant to think

My sin wouldn’t be found out

To live innocent with a

Secret lurking in the shadows

You wouldn’t know by my face

But my heart betrayed me every time

To be with a man not my husband

To pretend and escape

This false-reality I created

Would one day be undone

Unraveled

Deserted

Exposed

A mistake

I cannot go back

It is too late now

For the weight of regret and shame 

Is death itself

Though the stones have not yet been thrown

I am sentenced in their eyes

My life and heart lie broken

Shattered in pieces

The deed already done

I had seen you before

For it’s hard not to recognize you

The country is abuzz with the sound of your name

Wondering at all You say You are

A healer

A Judge

Priest

Messiah

King?

But what will you say of me?

As acting judge to this crowd

Do you side with them and the law they represent?

Who will cast the first stone; You or them?

You bend down and I shrink away

And brace for the rock to hit

From my place in the dirt time moves on

And I lift my face to watch yours

Your lips move but no words are heard

Your hands move in the soil and words emerge

“Who is without sin and condemns her now?”

These words echoing with power to the core of hearts

From their sandaled feet the wise leave first

And the young slowly follow

Without lifting my head I know only you remain

From the dust

Your words breathe Life

I cannot go back 

It is too late now

To alter the past or erase the stains

But I can go forward

And leave the sin behind

Choosing life and truth

From now on living differently

Not the same but changed

Fully loved

Fully free

Not condemned but redeemed

Not struck down but esteemed

Not disgraced but clean

Living new in Him

Clinging to His words

Seeing and believing like never before

“I condemn you not.

Go. And sin no more.”

This woman's story has struck a chord in my heart and has been resounding like an echo in all that I have done this week.  I'm not sure exactly what God is speaking to me about, but I'm glad we get to tell her story to this generation of young woman this summer.