Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Flying to Seattle

Hello,
   The hardest part of our travel is now past us.  While it is always a journey, we all did clear customs in Houston with about 10 minutes to spare to catch our flight to Seattle.  The plane is set to land at 11:50 and I hope we will be on the road by 12:30.  This should put us at Unity at 3:30am.  I am sure by noon tomorrow, you will be able to hear some great stories:)

Thank you for all of your prayers.  Our travel was exceptionally smooth today.  For as unorganized as United was when we left Seattle last week, they were equally extremely organized today.

See you in 5.5 hours:)

MC

At the Airport

Hello,
   We didn't have wifi last night, so I apologize for the late post.  We are currently checking in a the Belize airport, preparing for our long journey home.

Yesterday was a fantastic day.  Students and chaperones alike loved the snorkelling and Cay Caulker adventure.  5 dolphins even greeted us as we took off by jet boat from the Ramada Hotel.  Although 1km out at sea, those dolphins seem to always be there.  I am assuming they are paid dolphins who work professionally for the tour groups.  An hour out into the Caribbean we were able to do our first snorkel.   Here, on the edge of the 2nd largest reef in the world, we were greeted by many Dories and Nemos once our masks went in the water.  We all snorkelled for about 45 minutes.  Upon arrival back to the boat, some students used the top deck as a diving board and jumped back in. I will upload a few great shots to my facebook when I have a moment.

We then boarded and went about another km to shallower water.  Here, we were greeted by dozens of sting rays and a half a dozen nurse sharks.  Those who braved the water were able to swim within inches of these wondrous creatures.    A couple sting rays played shy and buried themselves in the sand, but most were eager to hang out with our group (or maybe to eat the sardines we brought).  A few students and chaperones had the bonus view of a barracuda.

We then spent 2 hours on Cay Caulker.  This small sandspit in the middle of the ocean (not literally, but 10km from the mainland), is a great place to walk barefoot on the sandy roads.  Students had lunch, walked along the beach and shops, and then met at the Split.  The Split is a small ocean opening  hat cuts through the Island from a previous hurricane. It is the popular swimming spot.  A few student got creative and rented paddleboards to add to the experience.  We all had a great time.

We then reluctantly had to board our yacht and head back to Belize City.  Here, we took some time applying our make up and nicer attire at the hotel before boarding the bus and van to head back to a restaurant at Old Belize (the Belizian version of Fort Langley).    While their may not have been enough servers, the food was excellent as we ate at tables with the ocean below us.  We were at Old Belize for approximately 2.5 hours before our journey back to camp.

This morning, students said their goodbyes, some had a final dip in the river, and we cleaned up.

Since the last post, It is evident that God has been at work in a number of ways with both our students and our chaperones.  Many of our chaperones and our students have had clear moments where God has revealed himself in a new way.  The staff at the YWAM Camp, the students at the home and school, and the many leaders we met along the way all connected with our chaperones and students in amazing ways.  Each person's experience will be different, but I have seen some really cool things happen in the last couple of days.  Do take time to process with your child when they get home.

A special thank you to our chaperones as well, they have been amazing.  Each of them has provided great mentorship, encouragement, and prayer to every student.  I am so thankful for them.  This has been a transformational trip for them as well.  I have loved working with them and have some great new friends:)

Okay, all children are now through security in Belize.   I will try to send an update just before we take off in Houston.

See you in 12 hours:)

MC

Monday, March 16, 2015

Monday at Cayo Christian


Hello,
   It is hard to believe that we have already been away for 5 days.  We only have 1 more day left in Belize .  Today was a day spent serving at Cayo Christian Academy.  In the morning, a group of students and chaperones stayed at the camp to finish pouring concrete for a sidewalk.    The rest of the team headed down to Cayo Christian Academy.  Here, students washed walls, moved dirt, and setup tents for a science fair.  All of our students were keen to work for the 3 hours we spent there. 




For lunch, we ventured up to Spanish Lookout.  Spanish Lookout was built by Canadian Mennonites who moved to Belize decades ago because of a school act that mandated families to send their children to public school.     Spanish Lookout houses much of the industry in Belize, including water, oil, and dairy.   It is certainly the most developed area in Belize.  We had a pizza lunch at Western Dairy.  Students were also able to purchase ice cream products featuring flavours such as sour sop, craboo, and even more mysterious, vanilla.    

We then headed back in a rainstorm to Cayo Christian to lead a chapel.  Our students really stepped up to lead this.  Steven lead worship, Sydney and Matt performed a skit on the Lord’s Prayer, Andrea, Vivienne, and Alex read scripture, and Bri and Steven shared a small part of their testimony.  I was blessed to see our students lead with such heart.  They were amazing.  The chapel also included the Belizian national anthem, the Cayo Christian Academy song,  and the Belizian prayer.  The chapel closed with a local pastor thanking Unity for their work and gifts to Cayo.  We all raised our hands towards the shed that the construction team built and prayed together.  Before we left, we spent a final 30 minutes finishing up the projects from the morning.




Students then earned a nice long swim in the river. 

Tonight, we had our biannual camp fire.  The students are tired tonight. Typically, we sit around the fire for hours. Tonight, the fire crowd scattered faster as there was much activity around the camp.  Students are currently hanging out in smaller groups.  They are reflecting, praying, stargazing, and socializing with their peers.  It has been a great trip and the students need to find time to process and pray for all that they have seen and done.  Well this isn’t a missions trip, it is a trip where we are supporting many missionaries.   It is also a transformational time for our students.  God is pulling on each of our student’s hearts in different ways.  Keep praying for all of our students.


One story I forgot to mention from yesterday.    One of the boys rooms left their door to their room open.  A friendly bat decided to bunk with them.  When 1 of our chaperones went to the room, he caught many of our boys attempting to kill the bat on the ceiling by using machetes.  Matt Luteyn was able to take the bat down with his machete and was crowned “batslayer”.   It is quite the image to picture boys with machetes on the top of bunk beds trying to get a bat.  I will try my best to ensure it doesn’t happen againJ

Tomorrow we head out early for our beach day.  This is always such a great creation treat.  Our students will be tripled screened up before they plunge into the Caribbean Sea.  We will hopefully see some rays, sharks, and a cornucopia of fish.  It will be nice to spend the afternoon at Cay Caulker and to stop at Old Belize for dinner on the way home.   I may not post tomorrow, but will certainly update you on our travel plans for Wednesday.  Please do check my facebook page for pics as well:)

Blessings

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Church and Orphanage Day

Hello,
  Today was a day filled with many new experiences for our chaperones and students.  It started with our church service at Living Waters Fellowship Church.  We were all blown away from the singing and thoroughly entertained and challenged by the message from Pastor Frank.  Pastor Frank charismatically approaches his sermons with thought provoking ideas and with humor.   I have never seen anything like it.  His message on, "I am Church: We Need to be Different in How We Smell, Walk, Act, and Talk" was powerful.  To illustrate his points, pastor Frank walks, dances, imitates, bounces,and runs all over the room.  He sang "man in the mirror" by Michael Jackson and also referenced, Ghost Busters, Karate Kid, Jedi's, and much more.  At 1 point he was sticking his armpit in the congregations face and asking them how it smelt.   Many other things he talked about are impossible to write about, but please do ask your child.  3 of the scripture verses he chose are also grad verses from 1 of our 13 grad classes.  We all left the church feeling God's love and feeling challenged to be distinctly Christian in our walk with God.  It was truly a memorable 2 hours. 



After church, we walked back to camp and had a quick lunch of chicken fried rice.  I am certain that every traveller went for seconds.  We ate fast to try to maximize our time at the King's Children's Home.

We arrived the King's Childrens Home at 2:00pm.  Students were just eating lunch as we arrived so we had to wait about 10 minutes before we began interacting.  The children came out from lunch eager to play. However, at that time, a major storm blew over.  It rained as hard as I have ever seen and it became extremely windy.  Some students had fun in the deluge while others hid under shelter.  By 2:45, it was dry and we began really diving into playing and and working with the children from the home.


Most children from the home do have a living parent.   The home essentially is foster care for about 40 children from babies through to 18 years.  While many of the children do have a parent, many have also been at the home for years and see their parents on a limited basis (if at all).  


All of our students were fantastic in their interactions with the children.  The hugs, affection, and the children saying, "see you tomorrow" really pulls on all of our hearts.  The Childrens Home has moved to a new and nicer location.  The area does however confine us a bit more. However, all students were engaged. It is fun to see what age group each 1 of your children engage with.  Some students were immediately playing basketball with their peers from the home.  Some students we immediately holding sleeping babies.  Others would gravitate to those in the primary, intermediate, or middle years.  It is interesting to see how each 1 of our students is drawn/called to a certain age group.  It is a cool gift from God.  



On the way back from the home, we were able to watch the 2nd half of a soccer game in Belmopan that featured many of the boys that live at the YWAM Base.  Our students have really connected with their peers from the camp this trip.  The match looked just like a game at home.  The YWAM team has sharp orange jerseys, there were carded refs, and the game had a professional feel.  Our friends also were victorious 3-0.  The team appreciated our support.  Bryce even had us doing the "Wave".  

Devotions tonight were significant.  Team Thiessen lead us in prayer circles.  Tonight's devos were also a chance to reflect on a unique day.  Both the church service and the childrens home were as much a blessing to us as it was for those we visited/served.   Seeing a charismatic Church service in a developing country and being able to touch those at a foster home that have so much less than us both can be transformational times for our students.  It is important that we give our students a chance to process their emotions. Even as chaperones we spent nearly an hour reflecting on this special day that we can rejoice and be glad in it.

Some themes are emerging on this trip (every trip is different)  On the drive home from the caves yesterday afternoon, our students broke out into "10,000 reasons".  It was quite beautiful.  The 2nd song at the church today was 10,000 reasons.   It is quickly becoming the theme song of our journey as we worship His holy name in all we do.  God also continues to reveal himself through the power of prayer.  We have also seen God's grace first hand in several occasions, including the protection of our students.  I am thankful for the safety of all of our students, especially when they fall out of a tree:) 

Tomorrow is our last day of service.  We have 2 goals tomorrow to help us accomplish a main goal of the trip, supporting Christian education in a developing country.   In the morning, most of us (a small group will stay at the base to finish the concrete walkway) will go to Cayo to support Christian education with our hands.  We will be levelling their basketball field, helping them prepare for their upcoming science fair, and helping with odds and ends around the camp.  We will then have lunch at Spanish Lookout (all students and chaperones).  Following this, we will support Christian education with our words.  We will be running a chapel for the entire student body with the focus on prayer, surrender, and thanks.  Our chapel team and a handful of other students have really stepped up in their preparation for this opportunity to share with the students at Cayo.  I am excited to see everything come together.  

Blessings

MC

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Zip Line and Cave Tube Day

Hello,
     There is positive insanity around the camp right now.  About 25 of our students (and 2 chaperones) and 15 Belizian students are running around the camp in the dark playing capture the flag.  Racism is not an issue in Belize, and the Belizian students setup the teams the way they normally do: "blacks" vs "whites".   While this works in Belize, I will encourage the students not to try this at home:)

We got up a little later than normal today and had breakfast at 8:00.  Our journey to the zip line/cave tubing zone was cut in half because the road has recently been fixed and we did not have to go 5kms an  hour to navigate through craterish potholes.

When we arrived, students headed to the zipline.  I have pics of each of our "zippers".  I will post to my facebook page (some may be hard to see because of the shade).  Students ziplined all through the jungle, culminating in 2 zips over a river.

Students were filled with energy and excitement to the point of exuberance when we headed down the trail to the buffet lunch.  Students helped themselves to rice and beans, mixed vegetables, salads, and chicken as we sat in a covered area for about an hour.  Students were clearly eager to move into the tubing portion of the day and, by 1:00pm, we were heading on the trail with our tubes, headlights, lifejackets, and harpoons water shoes.

This is our 2nd year visiting this site.  The cave tubing really is amazing (as is the ziplining).  We hiked through the jungle for about 25 minutes before arriving at the entry point to the caves.  Students swam and cliff jumped (safe jumps) and then we hopped on our tubes and entered the cave system for about 1 hour.  I love this hour.  We see so much through a tiny head lamp.  Half way through the cave, a small sinkhole shines sunlight through.  A chaperone from a previous trip still calls this place "heaven".

Coming out of the cave and into the jungle gives us an amazing contrast of God's creation.  We go from black and grey, to a plethora of greens and blues.  We floated down the river for about another half an hour, laughing the entire way.

We headed out from our adventure and stopped at a local gift store on the way home.   Students were strongly encouraged to purchase valuable and extravagant gifts for their parents:)

We enjoyed hamburgers and queso for dinner and we are now playing capture the flag, cards, and visiting.  The students have done a fantastic job of connecting with the kids at the camp.  A Nigerian family is visiting that used to live at the camp.   Their children have great names.  Bryce is playing cards with Covenant, Kennedy and Lauren are playing "pretend" with hope, and Marvellous is having her hair braided.

Tomorrow will be a good day in the sunshine.  We head to church for a 10:30 service.  This is followed by a full afternoon at "Kings Childrens Home".  This will be a time where I am prayerful and confident  that God will be pulling on our students hearts.  Please do pray for this to be a transformational time as well,  both for the children at the home and for our students.  Tomorrow evening, a handful of our students are going to cheer on the local soccer team in a big match they have.  We will be cheering on our new friends Corey, Hugo, and Eddie.

The final pic is just after we gave the YWAM leader a bag full of soccer gear.

Blessings

MC

Friday, March 13, 2015

A Good Time Had by All at Cayo Christian Academy

Hello,
    We had a successful day building relationships and supporting Christian education at Cayo Christian Academy.   The students arrived just before 9:00am and immediately began setting up their sports camps.   By 9:10, all 300 high school students from Cayo were outside and rotating through the stations we had setup.  After about an hour, rotations turned into a bit if a free for all, but our students continued to dive into the fellowship and the controlled chaos of playing sports and hanging out with their Belizian peers.

Cayo Christian Academy has 300 students grade 8-12.  Much like Unity, the school has seen tremendous growth over the past couple of years.  Students pay 625 dollars per year tuition.  90% of the students are supported by American and Canadian donors.  Most students at the Christian school come from poor families.  Many of the students have never met their father.   The school is extremely missional for the region that they serve.   It is so important for our students to know the "story" of the students that we work with, yet recognize that the students are also so similar to them.  Today was a great day to be together in Christian education and, in Christ,  be in amazing fellowship.




Part of the day is spent preparing a hot dog feast for those at the school.  The students fundraising money goes towards purchasing hot dogs, drinks, and chips for all of the students and staff at Cayo.  Our students enjoyed the heavily doused in mayo, ketchup, and mustard hot dogs as well.   It is a nice part of the day.




After sports camp and lunch, we had a challenge from the soccer team of Cayo to play us in a match of 9 on 9.  We thought we may get worn out by the heat, and we do have a handful of rookies on our roster, but me managed to be only down 2-0 at the half.  Cayo's shortest player, a boy named "Subb", could not be contained. We showed determination, will, and pure sweatyness in the 2nd half.  In the 74th minute, I was able to put a trick behind the backshot (i.e. tried to pass and it accidentally went in) through bottom corner of the net, putting us only a goal down (Alex said I will never stop talking about it, so I better write about it:)  We then spent the final 13 minutes peppering the goalie.  Key saves were made on shots by Leiper and Herfst.  On the final play of the day, a corner kick was placed on the right foot of Collie, but he narrowly missed, sending the soccer ball deep into the jungle.  With the ball landing in the snake infested wilderness, the ref was given an opportune moment to blow the final whistle.  Unity fell 2-1, but they were on the hearts of all at the stadium.  Craig Haan was voted to the allstar team as goalie. 


We packed up at Cayo at 2:30pm and stopped in Belmopan at a grocery store for snacks and knock off Beats Head Phones (or real Beats that only cost 3 dollars).    We then came back to the camp and went down to the river for a swim.  Students were able to enjoy the small waterfalls and cool water after a busy 6 hours in the heat at Cayo Christian.



We had a nice dinner and devotion time.  Following this, the boys from the camp took some of our students and chaperones on a night time tarantula hunt.  Many students conquered a major fear of spiders by allowing our 4 inch tarantula frolic along the palm of their hand.  It was awesome.


Students are off to bed for the night.  Everyone worked hard today.  Thankfully, some cloud gave us a bit of a reprieve from the intense heat.  There are still some red faces and legs, but for the most part, we are in good shape.  Tomorrow is a "fun" day for the students.   We will sleep a little later and then head out for a fun day of ziplining, cave tubing, and buffet eating.  The students definitely earned these creation treats through their attitude and energy today.

1 change on this trip compared to others has been the increased visitations from insects.  A a collective, we have had more bug bites on this trip than any Belize trip I have been on.  My hypothesis is that this is because of the extra rain that has occurred recently.  On a lighter note, Steve Brouwer and Rob Lagemaat were chased by killer bees today.  Steve was only stung twice and Rob managed to escape unharmed.  Steve is not aptly named "killer bee".

The final pic of the night is from the iconic suspension bridge that we take to come and go from YWAM.


Thank you for your prayers and keep the messages coming.  Also, if you would like to congratulate me on my stellar goal, I am sure the kids would appreciate it (especially Alex:)

Blessings

MC

Thursday, March 12, 2015

A Great Day in Belize

Hello,
    Today was a great day!!  Currently, most students and chaperones are hanging out in the covered area at the base playing card games, joking, and laughing.  No children even appear to be slightly sick, which is quite amazing.

We started the day with a traditional breakfast of beans, oatmeal, and scrambled eggs.  Many of the students commented that, "the beans were quite tasty".  A handful of other students would not dream of even going near beans in the morning.   I am sure you know what side of the "bean" fence that your child is on.

At 7:30am, a group of 12 students headed towards Cayo Christian Academy.    Here, they started building the new shed and painted a flock of picnic tables.  Back at the YWAM Camp, chaperone leaders worked with their own teams on a variety of projects.  Students and their leaders painted, cleaned, dug, moved, and raked.  At 12:00pm, we headed out to pick up the Cayo crew and migrated towards the Mayan Ruins.

A highlight for all at about 11:00am was when an employee at YWAM found a baby viper, the 2nd most venomous snake in all of Belize.  Once terminated, students were able to hold the viper and snap pics with this little beauty.



We drove for 1.5 hours to get to the Mayan Archeological site. We learned today that it is now not politically correct to call them Mayan Ruins.  After crossing a river on a ferry (no triple-o burgers on this ferry), most students hiked the fully up-hill mile to the ruins.  There was no breeze, so we left a river of sweat in our wake.

As always, the ruins  site was spectacular.  Students climbed up the major structures at the site and were giddy running around the area.  Students learned about the violent sport of Maya Ball.  We were also able to see the Guatemalan military lurking along the border with their machine guns.   They weren't really up for a photo shoot with our students (we tried).

In 2013, we made a "U" with our students at the base of the largest building on the site.  This year we made an "N".  We added it up.  In 2021, our current grade 5s and 6s will complete Unity by making a "Y".  I am looking forward to that trip (and travelling with that group).

On the way down from the ruins, we came across a tree filled with a family of howler monkeys.  They entertained us with their climbing, swinging, and bathroom humor for nearly half an hour.




After the Mayan visit, we drove to San Ignacio for dinner at Hodes.  The dinner was fantastic.  All of us loved the setting and the meal.  We had a great time.  As students finished eating, they trekked around and opened coconuts, played basketball (Sam blocked a 9 year old with no shoes), and enjoyed the scenery around the restaurant.



We arrived back at the camp at about 7:30.  The devotion group lead us with a message based on Hebrews 6:10.    We then reflected on the day and are now getting ready to shut down for the day.  Tomorrow is a busy day running sports camps at the Cayo Christian Academy and students will be out in the sun for 5 hours.  We all look forward to swimming in the river tomorrow after our day at the school:)  Our SPF 200 sunscreen will be ready to go, but I sense we will see some uber-red faces in 24 hours from now:)  I child told me today that all burns turn to tans.  We are trying to shift that paradigm.

Blessings

MC


Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Safe and Sound in Belize

Hello,
   Great news, we are safe and sound in Belize.  Students are mostly off to bed (it is 1 hour later here), as they are spent.  It was a long 20 hours of travel, but the students remained positive and upbeat (and sleepy).    Going through the border was fairly simple.  United Airlines had a hard time getting organized on our ticketing, which caused some stress in getting to our gate on time.  We all made it though and our chaperones did a great job helping keep our students organized.

Going through customs in Belize was probably the easiest experience of my 5 trips getting through.  It was a breeze.

We boarded our busses and drove for about 1 hour to Cheers Restaurant.  Students and chaperones were able to relax and spend about 2 hours drinking coke and fanta from glass bottles and enjoying some classic Belizian meals such as Hamburgers and fries.  There was a nice breeze and our tired group was able to kick back and acclimatize to Belize. The below picture shows our students raising their glass coke bottles.



We then got back on our busses and made our way to the YWAM Camp in Banana Bank.  On the route home, the lights stopped working on our bus.  This is also an opportune time to point out that it is very dark at night in Belize.  The bus driver pulled over, but there was some light (pun intended) stress for our safety on a busy stretch of highway.  Instead of fretting, the Belizian driver stood up, asked all 50 people on the bus to bow their heads, and lead us in a very powerful prayer.  This was an impactful moment for our students.  The driver's prayer was so filled with faith and emotion that it enabled us to reflect that we should not hesitate to turn to our Father when we hit moments where we are lost or stressed.  When things were chaotic with United Airlines in the morning, we took on stress, but we did not quickly turn to prayer.   We all realized that prayer would have been a much better approach in dealing with the airline.  The tired and frustrated approach didn't get the same results.

As a footnote to this story, the lights on the bus came on about 15 seconds after the driver finished his prayer.  #awesome.

Most of our students have already gone to bed.  There is no wifi at the camp, so those that are still awake are all playing a shuffleboard/billiards game together.   This is a more than adequate replacement for "Trivia Crack".  Students will learn that there is a lot of fun, fellowship, and play that can occur in community without the need for smart phones and laptops.  This is a good lesson for all of us.  This is my current view of our students playing and laughing;) 

Tomorrow morning,  we will split into our teams and serve at both Cayo Christian Academy and at the YWAM Camp.  We will work until about noon.  For the afternoon, we will be heading to the Mayan Ruins at Xunantunich where we will get a group shot forming the letter "N" (last trip's group made a U).   The ruins are on the Guatemalan border.  This will be followed by dinner at Hodies in San Ignacio.  

Please do pray for our students and chaperones.  While no students are visibly sick, everyone is tired and groggy.  We also arrived at camp in the dark, so students are still getting acclimatized to Belize and the YWAM camp.  Pray that tomorrow will be a day of service and adventure in Him as well as a time to get acquainted with the Belizian lifestyle.  

Blessings 

MC

ps.  Send some messages our way:)

Landed in Houston

Hello,
   I am certain some of you have been anxiously awaiting this post.  We are safe and sound at the Houston Airport and will be boarding our plane for Belize in about 15 minutes.  The US border was a breeze.  United Airlines was somewhat unorganized in getting our kids ticketed, so that took some time.  We were 2.5 hour early to the airport and really didn't have any extra time.  All is good though, the kids are looking more awake than they did before we boarded and there is much excitement about getting to Belize:)

MC

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Flight Information for Tracking


Travel Details Date(s) From To Departure Arrival
UNITED AIRLINES
UA 1101
11MAR
WEDNESDAY
SEATTLE WA
SEATTLE TACOMA
HOUSTON TX
G.BUSH INTERCO
549A 1205P
CLASS: G ECONOMY AIRCRAFT: BOEING 737-800

UNITED AIRLINES
UA 1410
11MAR
WEDNESDAY
HOUSTON TX
G.BUSH INTERCO
BELIZE CITY
P.S.W. GOLDSON
114P 243P
CLASS: G ECONOMY AIRCRAFT: BOEING 737-800

UNITED AIRLINES
UA 1406
18MAR
WEDNESDAY
BELIZE CITY
P.S.W. GOLDSON
HOUSTON TX
G.BUSH INTERCO
405P 740P
CLASS: G ECONOMY AIRCRAFT: BOEING 737-800

UNITED AIRLINES
UA 1251
18MAR
WEDNESDAY
HOUSTON TX
G.BUSH INTERCO
SEATTLE WA
SEATTLE

The journey begins

All of the planning and hard work is about to pay off in what I am prayerful will be a tremendous experience for the students and chaperones.  All travellers are meeting at Unity tonight at 11:30 to load up for the first leg of our journey to Seattle.  We will be driving through the night and hope to arrive at the Seattle airport at 3:45am.  I will post at each terminal once I have wifi to update you on our progress.  Please do pray for a smooth transition across the border and through security.  In 24 hours, we will be in Belize (dv) and making our way towards a restaurant called Cheers.

I am able to receive incoming texts on my phone.  I am not able to send texts back unless it is an emergency or through imessage.  Please do text me any info that I can pass along to your child.  My cell is 604-845-8074.

Messages from parents, grandparents, and friends can also be posted in the comment section of this blog.  I will read them out at our nightly devotion time.

Blessings

Mike Campbell