Shout to the North

Mission team members give a shout from Rae

Steven July 25 - The night before, we smashed most of the misquitos in the house that we're living in. So, sleep was much more peaceful this time. We spent the day planning for the upcoming activities like the carnival that we're doing tomorrow. We posted up posters around Rae advertising for the carnival in the evening so I'm hoping word will spread about the carnival. We're doing that tomorrow at 3. The carnival's going to be the advertising springboard for the rest of the ministries, so it's important that the carnival goes well. There's word of black bears around Rae probably because we threw a fish and some meat out by the church. Anyway, not much else to say. Everyone's really kind here. We got running water for showers everyday!

Maddie July 28 - Yesterday I flew into Yellow Knife on an air plane; my flight was 1 and 1/2 hours. My first day here in Rae was and I learned some Chinese but I was very afraid of the bugs! I almost didn't get out of the car because of the giant flys and very many mosquitos. I am teaching Chester better English and he is teaching me some Chinese so far I know two words i can say instant noodles and pimples. Kind of strange words to learn but at least I'm learning! The carnival went very well there were a lot of kids wanting balloons and face paintings. Tomorrow we will be doing sports night and art classes! We are all enjoying teaching and sharing the gospel!

Steven July 30 - Today was a cool day. Some super secret thing happened today that shall remain untold till the mission's team return. Anyways, we had VBS in the afternoon which went well. The people who would usually do community projects during VBS time stayed to help out. Things weren't as chaotic. Nathan led the Bible story about Noah's Ark today and he did The Funky Chicken and some other cool songs. It was funny. We're really busy during ministry time so there's not going to be as mnay photo-taking as last year. VBS went really well overall. The community seems very accepting of us too. Although we can't just go out and capture kids to VBS anymore (complaints), there's still just as many kids that want to come. We've limited VBS to ages 3 - something and about 40 kids only. The highlight for me, however, is the Boys Night. Since everyone loves and plays soccer here, we had a soccer tournament at their elementary school gym. There were 4 teams and Nathan and Peter's team won 1st. During half time, Pastor D showed everyone a scene from Facing the Giants. It was the deathcrawl scene. Afterwards, he gave a message that all of them could go beyond their own expectations. Don't let anyone put you down. To do this, you need Jesus in your life. It seems simple but I thought it was pretty inspirational. All the boys (unusually) quiet and listening intently. So, I think it really hit them too. Time to sleep now. Keep praying for us yo. Good night fellow people.

Nathan July 31 - We started off with Steven dragging me out of bed to wake me up, than off we went to church. As soon as we arrived, the rest of the team showed up and we had food. Then we did our devotions and took cat naps. VBS preparations were done, and we started kidnapping kids. Daniel, Brendan, Nate, Peter, and Dung were the group leaders. (Dung has a BIG suprise for everyone when he gets back). After VBS, we grabbed some dinner, and we (the boys) went to sports night.