Why Youth for Christ?

I just want to shed light on YFC and why we are involved with this organization.  

In 2008 I had just given birth to a baby boy (Kieran).  We had trouble conceiving and I had, had a miscarriage the year before.  I was feeling very blessed, I had two sons, Cameron who was 7, this beautiful baby, a wonderful husband, great job, life was good.  I was not a Christian but had grown up in the church and still believed in God and prayed.  God put a desire on my heart to help those in need.  I started looking into missions but most were advertising things like, "Come to Africa, go on Safari" and then almost as an after thought, "help orphans".  I was really turned off by this and feeling discouraged.  It was then that a family friend and pastor suggested I talk to a friend of hers that was going to Ghana, West Africa.  She made the arrangements and took me to meet Daryl and Hope Stogryn.  Daryl is the International Director of Youth For Christ.  He and his wife Hope have been taking mission teams all over the world for many years and they have a passion for Africa.  
  I met with then and did an interview it was then that they mentioned they had a large team but were lacking men.  I offered to bring my husband along.  I figured they couldn't say no to me if they needed him!  I was very excited when I left them.  I got home and told my husband that the two of us would be going to Ghana in 2009!  He was a little surprised but very excited. 
  We began meeting together as a team once a month for the 12 months leading up to our mission.  We participated in team building exercises, socialized, and started doing devotions.  It was in that time that my husband and I started attending church regularly.  We were growing in our faith.  Our missions was 5 weeks long and leaving my boys for that time was the hardest thing I've ever done even though I had a great sense of peace that they were well taken care of and that God was with them.  I still missed them terribly.  
 Ghana is a beautiful country.  The people are happy, beautiful, and friendly.  My experiences there changed me.  God used this time and many of those people to soften my heart and build my faith.  We accomplished a lot when we were there.  As a team we constructed the second floor of the YFC training center, we provided some local schools with soccer uniforms and equipment, and were able to help participate in a child vaccine and baby care session, and did a community clean up day.  We visited many churches and historical sights.  It was amazing,  We saw poverty that brought me to tears, faith that humbled me, and joy that was so beautiful.  When we left it felt like I was leaving home.  Don and I new in our hearts that we would be back.  God filled me with a love of Africa that I had never felt before and I knew I would be back, but I assumed it would be to Ghana.  Little did I know that God had other plans.
  In 2013 Don traveled to Liberia with Daryl Stogryn and a small team.  It was while he was away that God spoke to me and said Liberia is where I want you.  When Don stepped off the plan he hugged me so tight and said "Liberia is where we need to be".  I was not shocked or surprised, I just said yes.  I found out later that day that Daryl had asked Don to start taking teams to Liberia and work along side YFC Liberia on there school building project.  
  It's funny how things work together.  I love being able to see the intricacies of Gods work.  Its so humbling to see how God places people and situations in your path to help you grow and guide you to the path he wants you on.  God has taken these years since Ghana to build my faith.  I wanted to rush back to Africa as soon as possible but God new the timing and where I needed to grow first.  We were very upset when Ebola took hold of Liberia.  I just wanted to go and do what I could to help.  I need to remind myself that his timing is perfect and to keep following his direction.  What has happened in Liberia is horrible and it is hard to see God at work but he is there, he will never abandon his people.  In our humanism we think he should just swoop down and cure all, but we need to remember he has a plan.  He weeps with us.  We live in a fallen world. 
   

RESCHEDULE!!

Good morning!  Sorry everyone, but due to unforeseen circumstances (broken generator) we are rescheduling the toboggan hot chocolate fundraiser.  It will be held next Saturday same time and location.  In Africa we say TIA when plan change.  Nothing there is predictable and we just roll with it.  So TIC Canada, we just have  to roll with it!

Tobogganing for a cause!

So, February is coming to an end and it has been the coldest one since 1875!  That didn't stop us from hitting the local toboggan hills, selling hot chocolate, meeting great people, and support YFC Liberia's Ebola relief effort.  This Saturday is our last day, we will be at the Mary St. Hill, Picton.  Hope to see you all there!

This was a great week for Liberia!  The President announced that the boarders will be opened for trade.  This is critical for the financial healing of Liberia.  There were also only 2 new cases of Ebola reported this week!  Praise God!  There is still a huge need in the country, not only for those who are still sick, but for those whose have lost loved ones.  Please continue to pray for those in need.

Our YFC Liberia director, Augustine Fredricks, is well.  He is excited about the boarders being opened and he is very excited for us to get over there and start our work.   Augustine loves his country and its people and is such an encouragement to us.  Even during the midst of Ebola and all the death around him, he would call and ask how our family was doing and ask us what we needed prayer for.  I can't wait to be in his country and meet the people he loves.  With the news this week I am optimistic that we are growing closer and closer to that day!  As always, please keep Augustine and our family in your prayers.  

   

February Fundraisers

Hello all, well we are into February now, the Ebola outbreak is slowing down (praise the Lord) but the need is still great.  The Ebola outbreak has made orphans of many children, health authorities say about 2,000 have been accounted for.  There are many children who are living with other family members or simply alone on the streets.  In the capital, Monrovia, there are some of the worst slum communities in all of Africa.  Some with as many as 75,000 people living on a small parcel of land. That makes it very difficult to know the exact number of children in need.  YFC Liberia is working to find these orphans and place them in secure homes and orphanages.  That is why for the month of February YFC Quinte will be collecting toonies and loonies and popping up at local toboggan hill across the area.  We will be in Belleville this Saturday from 12-4 at zwicks park.  We are going to be selling Hot Chocolate to all you tobogganers and freezing our buns off in the process. Come on out and meet Don and I, ask us your questions, and support kids in need.  If your not a Hot Chocolate fan that's fine we will also be collecting donations.  Bring your kids out and have fun!

  

It's been far to long

Good morning all, I need to start today with an apology.  I have not written in a very long time and I'm sorry for that.  I find it hard to not get distracted with my North American life and my silly North American problems.  I have also been worn down and disheartened over the last month over the lack of interest in the third world.  When things like Ebola become "old news".  We can become so desensitized to the images on the news and our interested is so fleeting.  We want the next "best" thing or what ever is more graphic or horrific.  Some of us just want to ignore world problems all together and find happiness in our oblivion.  That is a first world problem, that is our epidemic.  It is the lack of true concern that fleeting moment of shock when you hear of a disaster.  I feel the same sometimes and shamefully, react the same.  I get caught up in the disease of North America.  My life can be so busy and full of things that to me are so important at the time, but in reality are not.  I think we sometimes build up the importance of the mundane to make us feel worthy or important.  Or, we are afraid of admitting the silliness of our less then trivial issues and actually looking at the world.  It is my prayer that our eyes are opened to the world, our ears hearing the suffering, and that we show the love of Jesus through our actions.