Returning for More

Sophomores Drawn to Rae

Steven Duong - Allo! A large part of why I went this year was that I could build upon relationships made last year. However, that was not the direction I went. This year's mission focused much more on the community rather than individual relationships. I believe the biggest impact we made this year (for the guys anyways) was in the Sport's Ministry/Guys' Night. We knew from last year's mission trip that Rae was predominantly a soccer/baseball community. With that in mind, we focused on playing soccer for these 2 ministries. Last year, we might have had 7 people come to play with us. This year, numbers that came ranged from 25 to maybe even 40 people a night! It was amazing to see how receptive this community (especially those from elementary to high school) was to us. It was amazing to see how they desired to bond with us through this sport. God definitely opened a door for us to reach them.

My highlight of the mission trip was our first Guys' Night. We played exhibition soccer matches for the first half of the night. Then, we took a break and gathered everyone for Pastor Dennis' sharing. We watched a clip from Facing the Giants. Afterwards, Pastor D shared to the guys that the guys on that football team surpassed their own expectations of themselves. He shared that they had something special inside of them. Something that can rocket them pass their potentials. This something was Jesus and that if they had Jesus in them, they wouldn't have to turn to drugs, partying, or alcohol (which is a major temptation for people in Rae) to give them fulfillment. It seemed that it inspired some of them. Hopefully, it gave them hope for a path separate from drugs and alcohol. Other than tummy aches, I believe this year's mission trip was a two-thumbs-up! Hurrah!

Daniel Leung - Going up to Rae this year was no different than going last year. This year, we did V.B.S. (known as kids camp up there) but for preschoolers and kindergarteners under the age of 6. They had a blast learning about "Noah and the ark" and doing fun activities. We also did sports night, art night, boy's and girl's night, cooking classes, and adult bible study. Sure it was 32 hours worth of driving to Rae and back to Edmonton, 9 days of hard work but in the end it was well worth it knowing that the people up there were having fun learning about Jesus, and that I was growing spiritually too, not to mention the fun day in Yellowknife!

A couple new people I met in Rae are Ryan, Terrance, and Lawson. Ryan is a great soccer player who is in grade 10, I met him during sports night and boy's night. Terrance is my friend Tristan's friend who also plays a lot of soccer. He's a great guy that is very responsible. Lawson is a guy that I met at Tlicho Christian Fellowship. He enjoys leg and arm wrestling too. I met lots of other people up in Rae too. Rae has been a great mission trip for me and hopefully you can go on a mission trip too!