Thursday - the To Do list

I've made great headway into the To Do list.  I had Rachel and children and Kristen and girls over this afternoon.  We did a bit of an in-service of ideas for teaching language arts and math for homeschooling.  I did a bit of a demonstration lesson, gave a few ideas of other strategies to try, and had some activities for the children to do.  I think it went pretty well.  Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves anyway.  That was something that I have really been wanting to do for some time, so am happy that I was able to get it done.

I've also been working on another prayer walk.  Each summer, as a part of Mission 6:10, I've made up a prayer walk for the participants.  It usually has about six locations on it - all carefully chosen to be within walking distance of each other.  For each location I give a picture (usually taken from Google Maps), a short explanation about the location, and some suggestions for prayers.  However Kevin V. has been organizing a Hope for North Central prayer walk for December 8 and 9, with the plan to walk the perimeter, surrounding North Central with prayer.  He asked me to make up a booklet for it.  Well, this is sort of what I've done in the summer, only much more - it ended up having over 30 different locations on it - put on a sheet of paper in landscape format, four per page, it works out to eight pages, or four double-sided pages for the booklet.  It was a lot of work.  I've worked on it for parts of three days now, and it feels good to be finished.

I've put the link for the booklet here; so if you're not able to come but still want to participate in prayer you can.  I've put the cover for the booklet below.  In case you want to know, I live just off the corner of 4th and Lewvan - Lewvan is the street that forms the western border of North Central.

Anyway, if you're interested in coming out for the prayer walk; it's going to be in several legs:
Sat Dec 8

•  11:00 am – meet at McDonald’s at Albert & Dewdney, walk west
•  1:00 pm – meet at Pasqua Hospital, Robin’s donuts in the entry, walk north.  Finish approximately 2:30 at Wascana School.

  Sun Dec 9

• 1:30 pm – meet at Margaret Akachuk’s, 1071 King St, apt 2, walk east
• 3:30 pm – meet at Tim Hortons, 4^th & Albert, walk south
• 5:00 pm – meet at McDonalds at Albert & Dewdney, finish 

North Central – bordered by Lewvan on the West, Albert on the East, McKinley on the north, and the railroad tracks to the south.  Regina’s largest inner-city area, it has very small lots (25’ wide), approximately 10,500 people live here – 6% of Regina’s population but 18% of Regina’s crime.  30% of the population are of aboriginal descent.

VBS

Last week was Mission 6:10.  I helped with it, did a bit of cooking, drafted out the Prayer Walk brochure, and helped with Northwest's VBS.  We have had a VBS for the past three years as part of Mission 6:10, and have held it each year in the park at the corner of 7th and Pasqua.  This puts us at the mercy of the elements - if it rains, it will be cancelled.  However, the Lord, as always, provides.

We always start each VBS with a carnival on the Sunday evening - an opportunity to play with the kids and meet with the parents and let everyone know that we will be having the VBS this week.  We had a good turnout for the carnival, but we don't really do attendance for that.  Monday, we had 75 kids!  That's a new record for us.  Tuesday was cold and although it had been rainy all day, it cleared up by 4 - so when we had the VBS that evening, we had a good turnout.  Wednesday and Thursday we worked at building numbers again.

I don't do much for the VBS - it's planned by the Greenville Oaks team who comes up from Texas each year.  I purchase the snacks and transport all the supplies - and consult on most of everything else.  Usually I do the attendance as well but this year we had a parent from the community who did that most nights for me.

I always find the VBS a lot of fun - and exhausting!  I was kidding with one of the other adults who was helping that the best thing about a four-day VBS was that it isn't five days.

Now I need to find the time to do the follow-up.  I took pictures of most of the kids and told them I'd try to mail them their pictures if they gave me their address.  I wanted their addresses so that I could invite them to The Party which will resume again in the fall.  I plan to mail out their photos this week and then the week before The Party starts to send them out a postcard to invite them.  (I'm also looking to find someone to pay the costs of the two mail outs and the printing of the photos - hint, hint).

Mission 6:10

It is the week for Mission 6:10. It has been extremely hot - 33 yesterday and Monday, and although it's cooled down to 21 today, it's still extremely humid. This has hampered things a little, but things have been going well.

There is a group up from Greenville Oaks church from Allen, TX up for it; joined by a smaller group from Canada, and a few from Arlington, TX. This year we are running three VBS's - one at Glen Elm, one in North Central in the park at 7th and Pasqua, and a middle school group running in the city core. I'm the coordinator for the VBS in the park - but all the planning, etc. was done by the group from Greenville Oaks. Monday night was our first night, and we had 65 kids! Last night the number was down to 42 - however with the extreme heat, we're still thankful for all the kids who attended.

In addition to the VBS, there are several other projects on the go. There's a group painting a mural on the side of the Jolly Roger (the notorious bar in North Central) - this is preventing it from being a site for graffiti - and creating a positive presence in the community. In addition, there's another group doing construction and fixing up of several homes in the community for residents who needed some assistance. The teens are painting dumpsters, going on a prayer walk, meeting kids in the community and helping in a community garden for their service projects. It's all been very hectic, quite inspiring, and way too hot out.

Tomorrow is the last day. It's hard to think that it will end so soon, but it has been and continues to be a great time for all of us.