Well just wanting to update you all on this time up north to St. Lawrence island.
we got in to the first village called savoonga on the 30th of september, me and 2 other YWAM alaska staff. We came with no real agenda, no programs, no set schedule. most of the places we intended to do our "out outreach" never ended up being open, young adults usually have to main hangouts, the gym(they have open gym during the nights normally but due to some major vandalism problems gym was not open) and the teen center ( a teen hangout that sometimes is open, i think run by parents or the suicide prevention team) was also closed. so we ended up keeping our time there pretty low key. Kids will flock to the church at the sound of a open door, and we got to pour into a solid group of more of the "outcasts" the kids mostly from the old housing who werent into sports. it hurts me to see some of these kids with as deep of pain as they have. i dont even like to mention the "sexual abuse rate" partly because i dont know how accurate it is and partly because it hurts my heart but the number that was on the poster was 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 5 boys and 88% arent reported. savoonga is where i heard the story of how the island once had a population estimated at 10 000 (which i find hard to believe) to 300 in one year and the power of what one man can have( hopefully my version is somewhat right). one fur trader sailed around the coast of the island trading alcohol for the first time to the siberian yupik eskimos and lots of it so much that they men were out of commission for long enough to fail to hunt in the ever crucial period right before winter. famine and having sold most of the furs proved a deadly combination.
our time in savoonga with the younger adults was very interesting, different from anything before. staying up until 5 in the morning starting worship sessions at 3 in the morning, praying for people, building friendships, calling people towards living Jesus centered lives. there were 3 funerals in the 2 weeks that we were there one young girl 1 and a half years old and a young boy 5 years old and a older man. so being there to pray and even feebly try to comfort not that i gave pat answers, but being there for a few of the family members whom i was friends with previously.
then we went to gambell which is the other village on the island and we have had a great time here so far, we added some maturity and some immaturity haha onto our team a married couple and their 2 young kids and have been more scheduled but in a good way. almost all the people we have come in contact with have seemed really hungry for God there are only a few houses that people did not want prayer at and the youth are asking for prayer, they are asking to worship, they are asking about what happens when we do bad things. there has been alot of opportunities to speak truth. we had a youth group last night where we shared a few testimonies, worshiped and watched a movie called "to save a life" and discussed it. had many meaningful conversations and moments with kids and teens of all ages because we got bombarded with 10 year olds at like midnight, they have until friday off of school and so it has been weird having people show up right as we are trying to wrap things up and quickly changing our game plan to be open to ministering in any way almost anytime. for the most part i have been impressed with the respect youth and kids have for us even though things are shifting towards children being loud and out of control. keep these villages in your prayers and Kevin Smith the pastor of the baptist church in savoonga whom we got to spend some time with and all the other people who serve so faithfully in and out of the church.
our team is doing pretty good, some minor tensions.
and i am doing good, it is a interesting feeling to have your heart broken and yet mended almost at the same time in some situations. we are in a battle, there is so much that i could share ontop of this.
God is good.
chad
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
St. Lawrence Island
well today i start my journey back up to St. Lawrence Island on a outreach trip. the first and only time i was up there was about a year and a half ago and thats what broke my heart for missions and for the native people of north america.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=st.+lawrence+island&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=30.130288,86.572266&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=St+Lawrence+Island&z=5
this marks the 4th anniversary of the first YWAM trip up there, in which time alot of seeds and alot of relationships have grown, we are seeing fruit. Not to say that things are going to be easy or fun all the time, I plan on having my heart broken for these people, i plan on crying, i plan on laughing and experiencing joy too but i will intercede in sorrow with God. God has been so faithful to us and we are looking forward to seeing breakthrough on this island. there are beautiful people with value and they need to understand Gods love through that as much as i need to understand that.
we are going to be there for 5 weeks and there are a total of 5 adults and 2 children on our team, but we always look forward to seeing who in the community partners up with our ministries because we always seem to be facilitating that. We tend to focus more on relationships outside and also inside the church walls, going to the teen center, the gym, dances, to homes, basketball courts really striving to be with the people, and on top of that to build up the church as a encouraging non judgmental place of refugee. this is really vague description of our ministry here, but our ministry has looked so different at times. we have run bible study, kids church, worship nights, church services, youth group, pretty much anything "church related" at times, we have gone into the school and help with tutoring, we have done dramas in the school with a suicide prevention message. and ther is so much more. we have open doors to do alot of stuff and so be in prayer for us, we want to be obedient to God in doing what Hes wanting accomplished.
sorry i have to go without giving much more information but we are leaving to go to anchorage right now haha
pray for us ill give you a update soon hopefully
chad
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=st.+lawrence+island&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=30.130288,86.572266&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=St+Lawrence+Island&z=5
this marks the 4th anniversary of the first YWAM trip up there, in which time alot of seeds and alot of relationships have grown, we are seeing fruit. Not to say that things are going to be easy or fun all the time, I plan on having my heart broken for these people, i plan on crying, i plan on laughing and experiencing joy too but i will intercede in sorrow with God. God has been so faithful to us and we are looking forward to seeing breakthrough on this island. there are beautiful people with value and they need to understand Gods love through that as much as i need to understand that.
we are going to be there for 5 weeks and there are a total of 5 adults and 2 children on our team, but we always look forward to seeing who in the community partners up with our ministries because we always seem to be facilitating that. We tend to focus more on relationships outside and also inside the church walls, going to the teen center, the gym, dances, to homes, basketball courts really striving to be with the people, and on top of that to build up the church as a encouraging non judgmental place of refugee. this is really vague description of our ministry here, but our ministry has looked so different at times. we have run bible study, kids church, worship nights, church services, youth group, pretty much anything "church related" at times, we have gone into the school and help with tutoring, we have done dramas in the school with a suicide prevention message. and ther is so much more. we have open doors to do alot of stuff and so be in prayer for us, we want to be obedient to God in doing what Hes wanting accomplished.
sorry i have to go without giving much more information but we are leaving to go to anchorage right now haha
pray for us ill give you a update soon hopefully
chad
Sunday, September 19, 2010
influence
So I'm sorry I'm such a bad blogger.
So I am back in Homer, Alaska after a simply awesome trip back home sitting in what used to be called " the dungeon" but now is our quite lovely hangout area. I'm here because I don't get internet here and I really want to just sit and not be distracted by various "social networks".
But there are some ideas that have been on my heart recently to put down on paper, to speak out, to express. These ideas have to do with the principles of influence, the cold hard truth of our effect on our surroundings. its been told to me that every thought/ action has a consequence(consequence doesn't necessarily mean bad but just cause and effect) and the importance of a biblical world view/ how you view yourself grows exponentially with that statement.
what do we let influence us?
Funny story that's going around town is this: its about a family that has been in homer since the early days so a few generations. So there is this young lady who is hosting a dinner party, she has prepared it all from scratch and the smell of ham wafts through the house, the finished ham completes the table as the guests are seated the lid comes off and there is the ham with both ends chopped off. one guest ponders out loud what the rest of them are thinking " why are the ends chopped off?" the host responds "I don't know, its the way my Mom did it" so later she calls her mom and asks "why do we cut the ends off of our hams?" her Mom responds " I don't know, its the way my mom did it" so she calls her Mom with the same question and she responds " we only had one pan and it wasn't big enough for the whole ham". Now in the grand scheme of things that little tradition of cutting the ends off of the ham wasn't life threatening. Truth is that there are a lot of influences other than our parents but our parents/ family teach us a lot about how to relate to each other, our society, and God.
What goes in must come out is a statement that I've been wrestling with, it seems like in most cases you do what you have been taught, what you have seen. If your environment is full of sex, booze, drugs, despair, darkness, hopelessness, abuse, etc. that's what gets passed on to you. Dont for a second think this only applies to the north end, or to places far away from you. Gods has power that can protect kids from such hopelessness but believe me its not easy, even ministering to this next generation of kids I believe needs to be done multi generational, if we can get whole households to cling to the light then we have that family dynamic that God so desperately wants.
*sorry little soapbox but im tired of purity being traded for a laugh*
what are you influenced by: tv shows, music, the word of God. now this is where i have to try to not be legalistic in my heart, for i know that it is what comes out of a mans heart that determines many things but what shows do you watch and enjoy, what has our simple ignorance allowed in. two and a half men? a show where we laugh at a sex addict and his negative influence on his nephew. how many of the shows( i could make a long list of sex driven shows) we watch today are complete filth but oh hey they make me laugh. dont get me wrong, Jesus loves the sex addict, but numbing ourselves to such low standards of finding humour in it doesnt exactly transform us into being Christ like.
so to be transform and to help those around me seek the same transformation i need to be rooted in love, self discipline, and power. we can be a influence to this generation, we can start by choosing life over death, by choosing eternal love over temporary pleasure. things seem to always go back to basic love God with everything! and love your neighbor as yourself. i still cringe when i hear the word everything, what does achieving that look like, all i can hope is that im being peeled away into this full time everything mode, Holy Spirit have your way. Love your neighbor as yourself doesnt work as well when you dont see yourself the way God see's you(which brings you back to the consequences of our thoughts), you are to value others with intense passion but it is important to embrace the way of patience and timing.
who is my neighbor? who can i influence?
I am telling you there is a big world out there, with many people. Do not be ignorant to the need of the gospel in all nations. We need to start in our homes, most of the time we need to seek forgiveness with our family members, we need to move on, lay down our pride, work on our personal places. But if you want to be passionate, there are many "issues" that are crying out for passionate people, what are you willing to sacrifice to reach out. if you want people to pray for there are alot of them, i want you to think of the sex trade slaves, the inner city, the reserves, the addicts, the orphan children, the child soldiers, the persecuted church, your neighbor down the street to your neighbor across the world.
who can you influence, be faithful in the small. when i started thinking of facebook as a tool to reach out(believe me im still trying to learn how to not make everything about me) I started seeing fruit. I have up to 40 friends online at the same time, all with different life stories, from different places. sometimes someone just needs a little bit of encouragement to not drown in a bottle tonight, a friend needs to know that im praying for her, a old friend sees something different in me and asks me what it is, reconciliation to someone who i had been a jerk to in grade 6. encouragement, prayer, and the power of testimony go a long way.
this past week i was across the bay in a village named Seldovia population 307, we were a part of a school assembly, 2 workshops (suicide prevention) (bullying prevention), and a evening assembly. this was a awesome experience for me to get to be a part of someones ministry even when the school time was pretty tame in not using the name Jesus, most of the students came back for the evening to hear the word of hope that is that God has a plan for your life, Jesus died to give you eternity. but at the same time the school assembly had alot of power, one of the illustrations that his me was 20 dollar bill, bill took the bill and threw it on the ground, told the bill it was no good not worth anything, stomped on it, spit on it, put it in his armpit and asked the kids how much it was worth.
let that influence you, in your view of yourself and of others.
every moment is a opportunity
carpe diem
Let God transform you
So I am back in Homer, Alaska after a simply awesome trip back home sitting in what used to be called " the dungeon" but now is our quite lovely hangout area. I'm here because I don't get internet here and I really want to just sit and not be distracted by various "social networks".
But there are some ideas that have been on my heart recently to put down on paper, to speak out, to express. These ideas have to do with the principles of influence, the cold hard truth of our effect on our surroundings. its been told to me that every thought/ action has a consequence(consequence doesn't necessarily mean bad but just cause and effect) and the importance of a biblical world view/ how you view yourself grows exponentially with that statement.
what do we let influence us?
Funny story that's going around town is this: its about a family that has been in homer since the early days so a few generations. So there is this young lady who is hosting a dinner party, she has prepared it all from scratch and the smell of ham wafts through the house, the finished ham completes the table as the guests are seated the lid comes off and there is the ham with both ends chopped off. one guest ponders out loud what the rest of them are thinking " why are the ends chopped off?" the host responds "I don't know, its the way my Mom did it" so later she calls her mom and asks "why do we cut the ends off of our hams?" her Mom responds " I don't know, its the way my mom did it" so she calls her Mom with the same question and she responds " we only had one pan and it wasn't big enough for the whole ham". Now in the grand scheme of things that little tradition of cutting the ends off of the ham wasn't life threatening. Truth is that there are a lot of influences other than our parents but our parents/ family teach us a lot about how to relate to each other, our society, and God.
What goes in must come out is a statement that I've been wrestling with, it seems like in most cases you do what you have been taught, what you have seen. If your environment is full of sex, booze, drugs, despair, darkness, hopelessness, abuse, etc. that's what gets passed on to you. Dont for a second think this only applies to the north end, or to places far away from you. Gods has power that can protect kids from such hopelessness but believe me its not easy, even ministering to this next generation of kids I believe needs to be done multi generational, if we can get whole households to cling to the light then we have that family dynamic that God so desperately wants.
*sorry little soapbox but im tired of purity being traded for a laugh*
what are you influenced by: tv shows, music, the word of God. now this is where i have to try to not be legalistic in my heart, for i know that it is what comes out of a mans heart that determines many things but what shows do you watch and enjoy, what has our simple ignorance allowed in. two and a half men? a show where we laugh at a sex addict and his negative influence on his nephew. how many of the shows( i could make a long list of sex driven shows) we watch today are complete filth but oh hey they make me laugh. dont get me wrong, Jesus loves the sex addict, but numbing ourselves to such low standards of finding humour in it doesnt exactly transform us into being Christ like.
so to be transform and to help those around me seek the same transformation i need to be rooted in love, self discipline, and power. we can be a influence to this generation, we can start by choosing life over death, by choosing eternal love over temporary pleasure. things seem to always go back to basic love God with everything! and love your neighbor as yourself. i still cringe when i hear the word everything, what does achieving that look like, all i can hope is that im being peeled away into this full time everything mode, Holy Spirit have your way. Love your neighbor as yourself doesnt work as well when you dont see yourself the way God see's you(which brings you back to the consequences of our thoughts), you are to value others with intense passion but it is important to embrace the way of patience and timing.
who is my neighbor? who can i influence?
I am telling you there is a big world out there, with many people. Do not be ignorant to the need of the gospel in all nations. We need to start in our homes, most of the time we need to seek forgiveness with our family members, we need to move on, lay down our pride, work on our personal places. But if you want to be passionate, there are many "issues" that are crying out for passionate people, what are you willing to sacrifice to reach out. if you want people to pray for there are alot of them, i want you to think of the sex trade slaves, the inner city, the reserves, the addicts, the orphan children, the child soldiers, the persecuted church, your neighbor down the street to your neighbor across the world.
who can you influence, be faithful in the small. when i started thinking of facebook as a tool to reach out(believe me im still trying to learn how to not make everything about me) I started seeing fruit. I have up to 40 friends online at the same time, all with different life stories, from different places. sometimes someone just needs a little bit of encouragement to not drown in a bottle tonight, a friend needs to know that im praying for her, a old friend sees something different in me and asks me what it is, reconciliation to someone who i had been a jerk to in grade 6. encouragement, prayer, and the power of testimony go a long way.
this past week i was across the bay in a village named Seldovia population 307, we were a part of a school assembly, 2 workshops (suicide prevention) (bullying prevention), and a evening assembly. this was a awesome experience for me to get to be a part of someones ministry even when the school time was pretty tame in not using the name Jesus, most of the students came back for the evening to hear the word of hope that is that God has a plan for your life, Jesus died to give you eternity. but at the same time the school assembly had alot of power, one of the illustrations that his me was 20 dollar bill, bill took the bill and threw it on the ground, told the bill it was no good not worth anything, stomped on it, spit on it, put it in his armpit and asked the kids how much it was worth.
let that influence you, in your view of yourself and of others.
every moment is a opportunity
carpe diem
Let God transform you
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
coming home with the summer
Chad Reimer - YWAM Arctic Mercy- Homer, AK-
as the fire weed grows 2/8/10
Well time seems to be moving faster than normal, I cant believe I've been out of Winnipeg for 7 months already but I guess only a slim majority of that time has been here in Homer, as I did a fair amount of traveling. The fire weed is blooming here telling us that summer is on its way out(not that we really had a summer anyways), it also tells me that I'm going to be home soon. I am arriving in Winnipeg on August 22nd until the 31st and then I am back up in Alaska until late November when I'll have to renew my “visa”. I again want to thank you for all your support and prayers through these hard but good months.
as the fire weed grows 2/8/10
Well time seems to be moving faster than normal, I cant believe I've been out of Winnipeg for 7 months already but I guess only a slim majority of that time has been here in Homer, as I did a fair amount of traveling. The fire weed is blooming here telling us that summer is on its way out(not that we really had a summer anyways), it also tells me that I'm going to be home soon. I am arriving in Winnipeg on August 22nd until the 31st and then I am back up in Alaska until late November when I'll have to renew my “visa”. I again want to thank you for all your support and prayers through these hard but good months.
From July 10th to July 24th me and a team of 6 others the first week and 14 including 5 kids the second week we were in Ouzinkie, Alaska at a mission house owned by Kodiak Baptist Mission that YWAM Arctic Mercy is partnering to reestablish as a base of village ministry. The house was built in 1938 served at a orphanage, preschool, clinic, church, most of all I think it served as a place to build relationships. The first week was a really intense work week, we put up about 96 sheets of drywall the first 4 days, while doing a little demolition. We muded and taped the next couple days into all hours of the night usually after losing time due to a villager insisting on sharing a meal or fellowship with us, it was all welcome. From listening to a elder talk about how Jesus had met him and his family time and time again, to hearing a young teenage girl cry out in her frustration we experienced many deep heart wrenching conversations. The second week we installed 11 windows, continued with muding and taping, textured primed and painted the kitchen, installed cabinets and counter tops, and finished off some electrical work, installed counter tops at the house of a woman who just lost her brother( he was going to install them but he passed away suddenly). There is something about a old house, something about a weathered community that has put a spark in my heart.
I think this YWAM experience has taught me something about the body of Christ and how it is working. Vancouver during the Olympics, Haiti after such a disaster, even here in Homer in the face of church splits I am finding people willing to humble themselves to their brothers and sisters in the name of Christ. I ask myself why cant this be the normal church, it seems like in the face of disaster or when Christians know the spotlight is on them they can rise up above such pride and be the hands and feet and eyes and mouth etc they were made to be. Its kinda fun looking at different denominations and the different strengths they have, in Haiti I saw this with the 200 plus people from all over the world. Its cool to hear other peoples opinions on Mennonites too, we are notoriously hardworking and steadfast servants.
This past month has been really busy, I have often been working on stuff until the sun was going down which is around 11pm here now. The “projects” on my plate while in Homer have been doing the groundwork for our hockey camp this fall: advertising, website work, researching event sponsorship. Helping pioneer an Adventure DTS slated for spring-summer 2011: researching cost, seeking out the vision, making a promo video, trying to get to a place where we can get a website up. Lately I've been heavily involved with staffing a mini DTS which is a 3 week version of our 3 month lecture phase which has been good, and we just had 30 youth drop in for a couple days who were part of a different missions group called teen mania.
Colossians 3:1-17 have really been my life verses recently, I'm realizing how God doesn't want us to just avoid sin but to actually clothe ourselves with His own qualities.
Thank you,
Chad Reimer
3838 Bartlett st., 99607, AK
http://withgracealone.blogspot.com chad.reimer@gmail.com
Thursday, August 5, 2010
ouzinkie blurb
From July 10th to July 24th me and a team of 6 others the first week and 14 including 5 kids the second week we were in Ouzinkie, Alaska at a mission house owned by Kodiak Baptist Mission that YWAM Arctic Mercy is partnering to reestablish as a base of village ministry. The house was built in 1938 served at a orphanage, preschool, clinic, church, most of all I think it served as a place to build relationships. The first week was a really intense work week, we put up about 96 sheets of drywall the first 4 days, while doing a little demolition. We muded and taped the next couple days into all hours of the night usually after losing time due to a villager insisting on sharing a meal or fellowship with us, it was all welcome. From listening to a elder talk about how Jesus had met him and his family time and time again, to hearing a young teenage girl cry out in her frustration we experienced many deep heart wrenching conversations. The second week we installed 11 windows, continued with muding and taping, textured primed and painted the kitchen, installed cabinets and counter tops, and finished off some electrical work, installed counter tops at the house of a woman who just lost her brother( he was going to install them but he passed away suddenly). There is something about a old house, something about a weathered community that has put a spark in my heart.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
old house
july 14th 2010
Here I am sitting in a 70 year old house in a small Alaskan village, sipping 35 year old tea, reading white fang while the sun dips just beyond reproach at 11pm. Another day is eloquently coming to a end another day, i just think of all the days that this house has seen. Earthquakes, funerals, weddings, raising up kids while raising up the village's children teaching them to read teaching them to learn, one rooms inscription reads joyce's office/ examination room, wonder what wounds have been stitched, if anybody has died in this house. A house is such a simple thing wood, nails, glass, and various other materials but what makes a house more than just a house, is it simply the age of this house that makes it seems so fascinating to me, or was it the 50 summers, autumns, winters and springs that were lovingly endured in the wild of it all. I ask myself who am I to tear down a 50 year old wall, what right do I have to demolish the past. I try my hardest to soak the house in, but its not really the house that speaks to my searching heart, its the life that was so dedicated to serving a community, so dedicated to Jesus to the nails in his hands and feet, to anointing Jesus's feet with tears and perfume, with a lifetime of service. If you asked me today if i ever wanted to leave this house, i would say “no, never”. I keep on seeing this trip as a perspective changer, maybe ill have afresh way of looking at things, if anything i think it might shift my heart to be completely committed to where I am The people here are different than ive ever experienced before, we arrive at the pier with no plan on loading our gear, our material to bring them to the house, we get a truck and a driver willing to drive for us right aways, guess he didnt have much other road ahead of him as the village only has 3 miles of road. We leave the light on, so if your in the neighbourhood wed love you to come for a visit. Ill have fresh tea on, 30 years old but fresh nonetheless.
just some thoughts
chad
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)