Well hello blogees, glad to see that you are interested in the trip that I will be taking overseas, and that you wish to find out more by reading this blog.
By clicking the link it will take you to the website of the course that I am undertaking. It will tell you what the course is about, why it is being done, and what it hopes to acheive. It doesn't actually tell you what I will be doing on the course. So what follows is some the speech I gave at my fundraiser. It goes into detail about everything that will be happening on the course. Please don't be discouraged about the length.
When is it?
I shall be getting on a plane for Regina, Saskatchewan on the 19th of January. I will be picked up from the airport by the guys running the course and shall be driven to where we are staying in Herbert – a town north east of Regina in central Canada.
So what is happening in Canada?
Canada is where myself, and the other six guys undertaking this course will be trained and equipped for work in Kenya. We will be sharing a house together and living there for the following three months. There will be work in various ministries and disciplines so I will come away trained and equipped. This includes daily sessions and adventure trips.
The Daily sessions include immersing ourselves in the Bible which we must read in the following five months. We will focus on the inward, outward and corporate disciplines.
The inward are:
§ Meditation
§ Prayer
§ Fasting
§ Study
The outward are:
§ Simplicity
§ Solitude
§ Submission
§ Service
The corporate are:
§ Confession
§ Worship
§ Guidance
§ Celebration
As we work through those things we will be going through topics covered in various books including things on leadership, how to go about reading the Bible in order to get the most out of it, the Holy Spirit, and the Kingdom of God.
Reading the Bible in five months is going to change and grow my self-discipline. I will grow vastly in knowledge and wisdom as well as falling more in love with God as he reveals so much to me through His Word.
This in conjunction with the books that will be read my head knowledge will be ever greatly expanded. This of course is no use unless this is also matched with heart growth and action. These things will be addressed through the general challenge of adapting to a very new environment where I will be sharing a room with a couple other guys and sharing a house with nine guys all of which are between the age of 17 and 21. You can feel the testosterone already!!! That of course is a minor challenge in comparison to what this course is also offering – I will get to these other aspects of the course in a moment. The Daily sessions also include much prayer time among the group and many bible studies. These things will create unity among the group where we will learn to support each other in the challenges we face, as well as learning to become attuned to the needs of other people. The group will also spend time with the father of the two men running the course who is the pastor of their local church. This time will be spent to help guide the group during our training time and focus us in what we are trying to achieve and get out of the course and the time we are spending there.
What I have just outlined is the day-to-day activities of the group. This will become our routine, and what each day will generally involve.
The next thing to address is the adventure aspect of the course.
The Weekly Adventures will include but are not limited to:
- Snowboarding
- Paintball
- Hiking Trips
- Day Hikes/Camping
- Boldering
- Ice Fishing
- Sledding
- Bow hunting
- Night hunting
- Night Hikes
- Survival camping
- Night Hawk training adventures (that is surprise training sessions)
We will also go on Adventure trips. There will be three of those. These will be:
- Snow Boarding In the Rocky Mountains
- Hiking In the Rocky Mountains
- Snow Camping in Northern Saskatchewan
There will be two main adventure trips. These trips include traveling somewhere a distance from the base for a more extensive adventure. One of these will be a trip to Banff which is located in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta Canada. This trip will take place in mid January as a break from the intensive training as a team building time. The group will be staying in a family Cabin located in Banff. Most of the time there will be spent snowboarding and hiking.
The other main adventure trip will be a trip to Northern Saskatchewan for a snow camping expedition. The group will be outfitted with gear from Steve Maier who is a certified wilderness and mountain guide. We will be staying in wall tents with wood stoves. The group will be camping up in the bush of the rugged country of Northern Sask. This trip will take place in February; and even if it is cold it is still on…. That is; cold for a Canadian winter; ie around -30 degrees Celsius.
The weekly adventures aim to provide opportunity for team building and to experience new things in the outdoors as well as having fun. Some of the weekly adventures will include trips to places a few hours drive away where others will take place closer to the base.
In Canada there will also be times of ministry to various communities in Canada. There will be a ministry trip to Northern Saskatchewan to minister to the indigenous people in Pelican Narrows. This trip will take place later on in the course in the month of February. This will be a long week end trip, as it is an eight hour drive up to this part of Sask. The ministry will involve outreach to the First Nations young people in the area. Outreach will be done on a real practical level building relationship with the local youth, Drama, and music.
We will be ministering to these people due to this area suffering from alcohol abuse and high suicide rates, and many abusive homes and dysfunctional families. There is a lot of opportunity to bring the Kingdom of God into their lives, and the guys really believe that the Lord is moving among the First Nations people. The trip to minister on a reserve will be a completely different experience and life changing time.
There will also be ministry opportunity to inner-city Regina a city that is a two hour drive from Herbert. One of the opportunities in Regina is to serve on the Love lives here Bus, which is a bus that goes out at night to serve the homeless and Prostitutes in the inner-city. There will also be opportunity to do street evangelisms, which I am really looking forward to due the simple matter of having such a great opportunity to bring the love and grace of God into their lives.
We also hope to do some prison ministry, which would involve speaking to the prison inmates and doing music, drama and building relationship. Many prisons are set up for Christian organizations to come in and be able to speak with the inmates. This would be a great opportunity to reach out to the lost and provide opportunity to minister and be changed.
So what is happening in Kenya?
The trip to Kenya will begin in London when we board the plane to Nairobi Kenya. The Soul Edge team will travel together. We will arrive in Nairobi where we will meet up with the arranged transport. The main contact in Kenya is Daniel and Marlies Hoogteyling who are running an orphanage outside of Nairobi. Daniel and Marlies formerly led Soul Survivor Holland and have been in Kenya for a few years now.
Much of the work and the things we will be involved with will coincide with the needs of Daniel and Marlies; serving them in any way that we can. As they have been working in Kenya and know the local people our contacts will come primarily through them.
Projects will include, local ministry to the community we are staying in; clean up projects, music and drama. There will also most likely be some building projects and possible renovations and painting. Much of the details of the projects have yet to be planned as we are working with Missionaries. More details will follow as we work that out with the Hoogteylings.
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