Thursday, April 23, 2009
Prophecy, Does It Happen Today?
Yesterday Calgary got hit by the standard springtime blizzard. Mixed with the slightly warm weather, this snow soon turned into a skating rink. This morning, on my walk to work, the sidewalks can only be described in my mind as curling rinks, nicely pebbled and perfect for sliding. Now, to give a little history, every morning at work we read a passage out of the Bible then have a prayer request time. We have a prayer calendar which is set up about a month in advance, and we have one request on that calendar per day. And what was today's request? "Pray for all the guests who have slipped on the sidewalk, that they would have a speedy recovery." So, you tell me, does prophecy still happen?
Friday, April 10, 2009
Kenya Update
Only 3 months left!
Praise God for supplying us with $3,000 at the end of March!
We didn't quite reach our goal of $4,000 for that month but still waiting on God to provide.
Over the month of April our goal is $3,000 and May's financial goal will be $2,000.
I'm so grateful that God is in control of all of this and grateful that we have friends and family joining our team to invest in missionary kids lives this summer.
We had our first official team meeting last monday with 4 people from across the country in attendance over speaker phone. We officially have 13 people on our team! The details have almost been solidified now as we were given an itinerary of our week at the missionary conference. It will be about six six hour days of ministry to children, babies to teens. Our team will be split up to work with various age groups.
I (Melissa) am going to work with the baby to 2 year old age group and be the team lead.
Kevin is likely going to work with the elementary age group.
So the next few months include programming and organizing age appropriate activities. PLEASE feel free to send suggestions our way or resources we could use to work with the kids. We will also be doing some research on the countries these missionary's are coming from and suggested reading about bible translation...maybe learning some swahili as well!
During our second week there will likely be work projects like painting and such. Again, if you'd like to offer any resources like paintbrushes or rollers we will be in need of these. As well as visiting and assisting a translation project as we are able.
We're very honored to be able to go serve in this way in July and we hope that you'll join us.
Please keep us in your prayers as they are needed before the trip in details- visas, shots, travel, health , during- the work itself, team unity, safety, God to change lives! and after as we process what was experienced and share that with others.
Praise God for supplying us with $3,000 at the end of March!
We didn't quite reach our goal of $4,000 for that month but still waiting on God to provide.
Over the month of April our goal is $3,000 and May's financial goal will be $2,000.
I'm so grateful that God is in control of all of this and grateful that we have friends and family joining our team to invest in missionary kids lives this summer.
We had our first official team meeting last monday with 4 people from across the country in attendance over speaker phone. We officially have 13 people on our team! The details have almost been solidified now as we were given an itinerary of our week at the missionary conference. It will be about six six hour days of ministry to children, babies to teens. Our team will be split up to work with various age groups.
I (Melissa) am going to work with the baby to 2 year old age group and be the team lead.
Kevin is likely going to work with the elementary age group.
So the next few months include programming and organizing age appropriate activities. PLEASE feel free to send suggestions our way or resources we could use to work with the kids. We will also be doing some research on the countries these missionary's are coming from and suggested reading about bible translation...maybe learning some swahili as well!
During our second week there will likely be work projects like painting and such. Again, if you'd like to offer any resources like paintbrushes or rollers we will be in need of these. As well as visiting and assisting a translation project as we are able.
We're very honored to be able to go serve in this way in July and we hope that you'll join us.
Please keep us in your prayers as they are needed before the trip in details- visas, shots, travel, health , during- the work itself, team unity, safety, God to change lives! and after as we process what was experienced and share that with others.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
what am I up to now?(Melissa)
Since moving on from Alberta Bible College in the iddle of February I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off making new plans!
I was job hunting for a good month and on the last weekday on February I was offered a job at Montessori Childrens House Academy. Talk about trusting in Gods ability to give me what we need and when we need it!
I work Tuesday's and Thursday's now and am enjoying the new environment of sweet little children who multiple times a day tell me they love me...it melts your insides. On the other hand there are plenty of noisy, bad mannered children with whom I slowly but surely work to change their conduct and make preschool a better experience for all. I'm learning ALOT trying to figure out the in's and out's of Montessori materials and the classroom methods and expectations.
After a long and wierd process I have been accepted to Bow Valley College's online Early Learning and Child Care Certificate. On my days off I plan to work on becoming even more certified in order to work with children here in Calgary and eventually overseas.
Its been very neat to see God's hand over all of this. He's showing me over the years how much I love kids and yet can learn so much more. As well as how it is the type of job that is meaningful and rewarding yet its not something I can do in my own strength. I need God more than ever to make the most of these opportunities and serve these children and their families especially when it gets hard.
I was job hunting for a good month and on the last weekday on February I was offered a job at Montessori Childrens House Academy. Talk about trusting in Gods ability to give me what we need and when we need it!
I work Tuesday's and Thursday's now and am enjoying the new environment of sweet little children who multiple times a day tell me they love me...it melts your insides. On the other hand there are plenty of noisy, bad mannered children with whom I slowly but surely work to change their conduct and make preschool a better experience for all. I'm learning ALOT trying to figure out the in's and out's of Montessori materials and the classroom methods and expectations.
After a long and wierd process I have been accepted to Bow Valley College's online Early Learning and Child Care Certificate. On my days off I plan to work on becoming even more certified in order to work with children here in Calgary and eventually overseas.
Its been very neat to see God's hand over all of this. He's showing me over the years how much I love kids and yet can learn so much more. As well as how it is the type of job that is meaningful and rewarding yet its not something I can do in my own strength. I need God more than ever to make the most of these opportunities and serve these children and their families especially when it gets hard.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Kenya Fundraising
So, a little update here on how our Kenya plans are coming. Yesterday we went in to get our passports renewed. From what we had heard, even though my(Kevin) passport wasn't expired it would need to be replaced because my address had changed. As we found out last night, this was not the case, so we saved ourselves $87, and Melissa got her application in with little difficulty. Not too shaby. As for fundraising. We are currently on a deadline to raise a total of $4000 between Melissa and myself by the end of March. That is it for now. God bless!
Friday, March 6, 2009
A Lesson In Weakness
I was riding on the bus the other day as I headed home from work, and began thinking about some things people had said about me in a staff meeting. Nothing bad, but things like "he is patient," "he is calm when dealing with guests," and other stuff like that. Most people reading this will probably already know that I work at a ministry that seeks to help the homeless, and for those of you who have ever had the privilege of working with the homeless, you will know that it can be extremely taxing at times. In light of this, the passage 2 Corinthians 12:9(But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.") came to mind. This passage has caused me untold grief in the past as I have struggled to understand what "My power is made perfect in weakness" means. A bit of a revelation came to me as I rode home that day.
I have been asked many times how I get through the day, or how I can deal with the people that come through these doors that seem intent only on pushing other people's buttons, and everytime I get asked that, the only honest answer I can come up with is that it is God who gets me through the day. This, I think, is exactly what 2 Corinthians 12:9 is talking about. If we could do everything on our own, we would not, in our selfishness, give any of the credit to God. However, in actuality, we fall quite short, and because of this we cannot do anything without God. His power is made perfect in our weakness, because in our weakness we have no choice but to let His power work in us.
God Bless!
I have been asked many times how I get through the day, or how I can deal with the people that come through these doors that seem intent only on pushing other people's buttons, and everytime I get asked that, the only honest answer I can come up with is that it is God who gets me through the day. This, I think, is exactly what 2 Corinthians 12:9 is talking about. If we could do everything on our own, we would not, in our selfishness, give any of the credit to God. However, in actuality, we fall quite short, and because of this we cannot do anything without God. His power is made perfect in our weakness, because in our weakness we have no choice but to let His power work in us.
God Bless!
Monday, February 23, 2009
EMAIL ADDRESS
This is just a note to clear up any resulting confusion. The email address at the top of this page is not our actual email address. I had to make a new one because I could not make an account with our actual address. So, please continue to use kmderksen@gmail.com. Thank you!
Kenya
So, Melissa and I are headed off to Kenya this summer from July 6-25th. Many of you have probably already heard this. So, to keep everyone on board with what is going on in the processes leading up to this, I have started this blog, and hopefully it will also serve to keep people updated as to what is going on in our lives in general. Currently we are working on raising the $9600 for the trip($4800 each), as well as figuring out passport issues and getting shots and visas. We could use your prayers that the money needed would come in and that we would be able to get our passports, shots and visas without too much trouble.
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