Greetings to all of you who will be following yet another Special Needs SERVE being held here at Calvin CRC in Ottawa.
This will be our 7th SERVE, with a year going to Winnipeg in-between our 3rd and 4th times. Time flies. Some day I'll have to go back and read over past SERVE experiences. Feel free to do the same if you'd like. : )
We on the planning team are very excited to once again be hosting. Lots of preparation and prayer has once again gone into the planning of this ministry, beginning back in January, 2015.
And today is finally the day things all come together and we begin. We begin by having our Mentors arrive and begin the process of forging relationships with each other so we can serve our participants to the utmost. And this is what our first Blog entry will be about.
Some things to note before I begin commenting on the pictures below:
1. This year we have many new Mentors, for which we are thankful. We have a youth group from the Eastern side of Ottawa with us this week. They bring us 12 Mentors and their youth pastor Kaleb from Redeemer Alliance church.
We have some new Mentors from Calvin as well, and several returning Mentors from Calvin and other parts of the province.
2. We have several new Participants too, for which we are thankful. They come from all over Ontario, and one from California, yet again. : )
3. Tomorrow you will get to meet our planning team and Mentors and Participants. So stay tuned.
4. This year I have delegated the video and picture taking to others (yes, I'm slowly learning that this is a GOOD idea : ) ). So, Lisa will be our photographer for the week, and Olivia our videographer. You need to know that this is not easy for me, in that I love to take pictures and like certain kinds of pictures (food, food, food, : ) ) , but I'm letting go, and letting Lisa see SERVE from her perspective this year. As you will see from the selection of pictures (minus the high ropes which I did take) she has a flair for this and you should enjoy the week in word and in picture form.
5. You should also know that this allows me the freedom to comment on the kinds of pictures she selected, and I probably won't be able to resist those comments, so I apologize in advance Lisa. : )
So here we goooooooo.......
Our day began actually before this picture. Several Mentors arrived on Thursday evening and stayed overnight in the church so I took them out to breakfast.
At 10 a.m. several of us on the planning team took time to pray about/over SERVE.
As we were doing that, others socialized as Mentors slowly arrived.
Our name tags, lovingly made by Harold once again.
Our theme this year has to do with "The Other 51" meaning how do we act in service to God after a week of mission work, the other 51 weeks. What tools does God give us for that work. So above Braidon's head you see the tools set up.
This is Lisa, though I'm not sure how we got this picture of her in here, seeing as how she has the camera with the SD card in it.....care to answer that in the comment section sometime Lisa ?????????
Braidon likes to play the piano.
We began preparing the stage area with tools and other great props. A full picture will come tomorrow when things are completed ( I hope :) )
Members of the Redeemer Alliance group getting settled in. I will get to know their names soon, but at the moment, I don't know who these two are. I'll take a stab though...I think on the right is Christie, and the left is Lysanne. They'll tell me if I got it wrong or not. : )
As Mentors arrived, I had them hand in their forms and funds and people began to socialize.
Mark (left), our speaker once again for SERVE, getting to know Justin, I think. : )
Olivia (middle) will be our videographer, and Sarah (right) will be helping, and both will be handling the setting up and monitoring of our Warm Fuzzy area ( which you will see tomorrow). They are getting reacquainted with Kaitlyn, a returning Mentor.
Once everyone arrived, we had a quick lunch, and then packed into vehicles and headed to a high ropes course in Quebec.
Here's the group getting their harnesses on.
Looks like a military post, but necessary to keep 32 people in order.
Hmmmmm, looks like that helmet isn't fitting so well, eh!
Once registered, and suited up, we took a hike into the woods to the beginning of the course. It's a 3 hour course, consisting of 3 different high ropes courses, each getting progressively higher and more difficult. Some training time was needed before everyone entered the course, but before you knew it, they were in the trees and having a blast.
I did not participate this year, so that Lisa could do the course and not have to take pictures, but I HAVE done it several times before, even though I do have a fear of heights. Just so you know. : )
3 to a platform, 2 on the course, and only 1 allowed on a zip line at a time. It took a bit, but eventually they all got the idea.
Pastor Kaleb showing off. Apparently this is normal for him...I'm going to like him, I just know it. : )
Mark getting the hang of the course.
Olivia didn't enjoy it at the beginning, but began to like it as things moved on.
Some of the course had very wobbly sections. All designed to make you a wee bit uneasy and frightened.
I think it worked. :)
Course #1 completed. Waiting for the next set of zip lines.
This was a shorter zip line. A good test before the larger ones. Heather seems to be enjoying herself.
I took pictures of pretty much everyone doing this Zip line, but decided not to put up pictures of everyone. So here's a snapshot of some people. Olivia...hey, you in another picture?
Her sister Nicolette looks a bit scared.
Megan looks happy.
Ella enjoying herself.
We who were not on the course could only go a certain distance, and then had to turn back.
So while we waited for the group back at the chalet, someone got hold of the camera with the long lens and started taking pictures....hmmmmm
Joy completed the first course and then decided that was enough for her. Sometimes that happens.
Kaitlyn decided heights are not her thing.
Sometimes that happens too. : )
This sign warned of danger, thin ice.....
I'm glad Joanna and Kaitlyn took that advice seriously and didn't walk on water.
The final part of the course was traversing these rocks.
Looks like Nathaniel had a great time.
The final zip line over the water. Came pretty close to the water as well. I think that's my daughter, Sarah in this picture.
Lisa.
She got a break from picture taking...but only for a time. : )
Heather almost there.
Becca just LOVED the course...but what doesn't Becca like.
Hey there Sarah.
My other daughter, Katrina.
A first time Mentor this year.
She was hesitant to do the high ropes course, but loved it in the end.
Gives you and idea of how close you come to the water.
Christine made it through too.
Way to go.
Alexa.
Slow and steady wins the race.
Braidon just relaxin on the zip line!
So why have the group do this for their first thing together. Well, it does a couple of things.
1. It allows them to face some fears head on. Like heights, or will the harness hold me, or will I slip.
2. It allows them to encourage each other as they struggle.
3. It allows them to see that struggle isn't easy, but it is rewarding in the end when you finish the course.
4. It's a small picture of what SERVE will be like for them this week. A struggle at times, facing some fears, needing encouragement, and in the end, celebrating all that as they complete the week.
Some down time once we returned back to the church.
Time for supper, and a prayer.
Yes, Lisa knows I like food shots. : )
And once again, the food is amazing.
Our kitchen crew that made supper. We have some new coordinators this year, in addition to Anne and Annet. Ruth and Kitty are figuring out the ropes now. Thanks for helping us out.
Hah! An eating shot.
I like Lisa's style.
After a good supper it was time to head to the youth room for some training.
Caralynn waits patiently for us to begin
Braidon and Heather waiting too.
Nicolette is usually laughing about something.
Christie and Mackenzie (right?) chillin'
Everyone settling down and getting comfortable.
And then we begin.
Some opening comments by me....
And then Mark giving us the big picture for the week.
Already the towels are up to dry out. : )
After some discussion about many different things I had the group do a get to know you thingy involving asking questions of someone they didn't know and introducing their new friend to us. With so many new people, it's important that we start to gel.
So they took some time to ask questions of each other.
And it seemed like they all had lots of fun.
I don't think Mark is telling Megan the whole truth in these questions.... : )
Carissa and Heather becoming new friends.
It was great to hear the answers to the questions by everyone.
People are now in bed and I'm about to do the same.
Day 1 is in the books and it was a good day.
Tomorrow we do some more training in the morning, get the church ready, and then await our Participants.
We will wait and see what God has in store for us over the next days.
I hope you will come back and be able to witness that with us. Feel free to comment at the end of each entry if you would like. We'd love to hear from you.
Have a blessed time, until my next entry.....
1 comment:
You got all the names BANG on. That Pastor K is a handful though (as noted lovingly by his wife :) )
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