Greetings From Camp Qwanoes!

Here at Qwanoes we have finished a rather busy season of life with our students.  For the past few weeks we had entered Missions Month, filled with classes, conventions and seminars about missions, all topped off with missions trips to both inner city Vancouver and Mexico. 

We Attended Missions Fest

Earlier this month, we made a trip to downtown Vancouver to attend an event called Missions Fest.  This is an annual event that takes place in the Vancouver Conventions Centre which hosts a variety of exhibits, seminars and rallies to promote and bring awareness to various missions and ministries around the world. Our students had a great time browsing exhibits and attending seminars, and it was a great way to kick off their month of missions!

Also during our trip, we took the time to tour other parts of Vancouver such as Stanley park (where we had a sand castle building contest) and Granville Island.  Additionally, we served at Mountainview church on sunday, running Sunday school and worship!

Students Took a Class on Missions

The following week after missions fest, students begun their class on Perspectives in Mission with Tim Stabel.  While it was a full class with still much work to prepare for their missions trips, students benefited with preparing their minds and hearts for missions through studying with Tim about this subject.

We Ventured Out Into the Mission Field

As many of you know, students and leaders were split into two teams.  One team was headed to serve in the inner city of downtown Vancouver and the other to serve in El Papalote, Mexico.  While both teams faced quite different dynamics within their respective trips, the purpose was the same: bringing Jesus to people through acts of service and relationships.  

Mexico Team

For myself, serving on the Mexico missions team is where God had called me.  While in Mexico we were tasked with several events for local churches in the area of El Papalote.  This included children's and youth events, School feedings, volunteering at a day care centre, feeding people at the dump and beach BBQ’s.  During most of these events students had the opportunity to perform dramas, lead worship and share testimonies of how God has worked in their lives.  We also spent time beginning a construction project for a local church, preparing and laying a foundation for a new building.  We were delighted to see such hard work from our students and the amazing relationships that they made during the two weeks in Mexico!

Vancouver Team

While I was on missions in Mexico my co-intern, Melanie Ventura, was leading our missions team in downtown Vancouver.  So I have asked her to share about their experience…

“On our Vancouver Missions Trip we served half and half at New Beginnings Church and Potters Place Mission. A majority of what we spent our time doing is coming alongside the areas where they already do their ministry and helping them out as best as we could. At New Beginnings, we had the opportunity to learn about aboriginal culture. We helped run different after school programs at the church as well as evening events too. We also got to serve them by helping with construction and cleaning around the church. At Potter’s we learned about life on the Eastside and Spiritual warfare. We helped run daily services and had opportunities to lead a half hour time of worship, share our stories and share gospel messages. As well, we also had the chance to go out onto the streets of Vancouver and pray for people.”

Student Experience

We were so happy to hear the countless stories of how God worked in the lives of people in Vancouver and Mexico, as well as the lives of the students themselves.  While we can't fit in all of their stories, here are a few notable experiences…

“God taught me a lot about prayer while I was on the Vancouver mission trip. We were surrounded by brokenness; broken people, broken families, broken situations. Yet in the midst of addiction and devastation God was showing me that He is still sovereign. I learnt that we need to pray, constantly lifting up every situation and person to God, believing that He can and will act for His glory.”

          -Alex MacKay (Vancouver team)

"One of the ways that God worked during our trip was within the fellowship between us and the Mexican people.  Despite our language barrier, we were able to share Christly love and worship together because the Holy Spirit unites us as the body of Christ.  In times of joy hardships, and praise, we were able to relate to one another even with our broken english and spanish.  We miss the people in El Papalote because the relationships that were created were special, and only possible through the Holy Spirit and Christ's love."

          -Shin Yoon (Mexico Team)

"Reaching out to the people was very impactful.  It showed the immense importance of a constant prayer life.  Through this, we as a team, could see the Holy Spirit do great things in our lives and the lives of those around us."

          -Tyler Knight (Vancouver Team)

"Going to Mexico was an incredible experience. One thing that stands out is the unity in Christ that was so prevalent. I saw it in the way that Christians from different churches invested in each other through time, encouragement, service and giving of possessions. I experienced it in the worship services. Many of their songs have the same tune as ours but have Spanish words instead. Often I could hear the Canadians singing in English and the Mexicans singing in Spanish. It was a very humbling moment as God made it real to me that his church is bigger than just Canada. "

          -Sabrina Thiessen (Mexico Team)

"Overall, the Vancouver missions trip was tiring and challenging but good nonetheless.  We saw God working in both the people we ministered to and our team itself.  Despite the brokenness of the inner-city, God displayed his love and hope, and we were blessed to be a part of it."
          -Rebekah Sheppard (Vancouver Team)

"Going away from my missions trip in Mexico, I have gained a desire to lead short-term missions, as God has placed this desire on my heart.  I have also gained a much greater capacity and strength to not worry about anything.  We had a lot of set-backs during the trip that the devil was using to try and prevent God's work and disable us.  But God carried us through.  Right from the start this gave me a great opportunity and blessing to trust God amidst these trials!"

          -Wesley Brown (Mexico Team)

Thanks and Prayers

Students of the Kaléo Program, as well as Camp Qwanoes, would like to thank everyone for their support and prayers throughout these trips.  It was truly evident that God was at work these past two weeks, and will no doubt continue to work in the lives of people reached, as well as our students.  We would ask that you would be in prayer for those who have heard and come to know God, and that His work would continue to ripple throughout these missions fields.

In Him,

Dustin Smith

Kaléo Program Intern, Camp Qwanoes