Brantford and City Wide Prayer in Canada

I rolled into Brantford (aka The City of God) yesterday afternoon. I had to relearn how to drive on busy city highways again, merging from the 400-401-QEW felt foreign to me after the past couple weeks of beautiful scenery.

I’m staying with Dave, Krissy and their 3 really cute children. Dave is our regional team leader for Ontario (and the creator of my blog!) so it’s great to be spending more time with him, his family and community. Their church, Freedom House, is actually in a mall right downtown and this week their running a full week of 24-7 Prayer, it has been awesome so far! I find discipline hard while I travel so my 6-8am shift this morning was well needed. They have their store-front church open from 10am-4pm this week as a trial to see if they’ll be able to keep it open as a donation based coffee shop, I was there this afternoon, it was great.

There are actually three city churches praying this week in Canada: This one in Brantford, Regina has been praying 24-7 for 40 days before Easter and a church in Edmonton is also praying 24-7 this week. As Nate, our Saskatchewan regional team leader, said this week in a facebook message, “It’s a hot week in the heavenlies” here in Canada! It’s exciting to be part of it all.

An Eagle's Cry- Sky and Angie

Finally, I need to tell you more about Sky and Angle from Thunder Bay… I randomly met Sky at Calico’s, him and his wife have a ministry to Natives- remember that story? This is a bit more on who they are, what they do and what I learned. It might be a little long, but it’s an amazing story!
I have a copy of Sky’s testimony that was in the Indian Life Newspaper, I’ll quote parts of it as well as tell you what he taught me and what Brad and I experienced when we went to visit (everything italicized is taken from his testimony):

‘Yeah, okay, I’ll quit,’ I just said the words so she would stay. But I knew deep down that I couldn’t quit. Not on my own. I’d been drinking and into drugs for far too long – since I was a young child.
I’m Saulteaus and was adopted at the age of two by a non-native family. Though well cared for by my adopted parents, I always hated who I was. You see, I wanted to be white.
I got drunk for the first time when I was just five years old after breaking into a neighbor trailer and stealing a six-pack. When I was seven, I set fire to my dad’s barn and watched it burn down.
Never fitting in with other kids filled me with pain and anger. How could the kids in grade there call me drunken Indian when they didn’t know me? From then on I got into lots of fights with other kids.
By the time I was 13, I was into hard liquor. In grade nine I was smoking pot
Needless to say, high school was a total haze. I tried sports but never felt I fit in. I built myself up to being a scrapper and fighter. There was a lot of hate inside me.
I got hooked on chemicals real bad in grade 12- acid and mushrooms. Starting cocaine in my late teens, I soon found it was a habit I couldn’t afford. But it helped me mask a lot of pain. I lived from day to day, couch surfing, unable to hold on to a job..
...My adopted family were Christians and I’d always had the attitude that I’d accept Jesus at the last minute. I also realized that wasn’t such a cool attitude to have.
During one of my drug excursions, I had an out-of-body experience where I saw myself being carried out in a body bag by paramedics.
I’d walk down the street and beat up anybody because I was so full of hate…
Sky met Angie while working in Ottawa and they were married 6 months later. He did everything he could to sober up while they were dating, but couldn’t. He got home one day and she was packing her bags… that was when she gave him the choice: the bottle or her. He said he would quit not thinking he actually could.
I’ll tell you, just waking up sober for the next few days and with a clear head was amazing. I didn’t know it at the time but it was the Lord who set me free.
A few years later, in 1994, Sky met Angel Valentine, a Puerto Rican pastor who had been a gang leader in NYC.
In many ways, he was a lot like me – full of hate and anger- before he became a Christian. I was on the same track, involved in drugs and everything else. I could relate to everything he said, especially the part about him being Puerto Rican and of a different culture than the mainstream. I knew what that was like being a First Nations man… This was at a time when my life was getting better. I had a job and quit drinking. I had my wife Angie and a son at home. Life was basically good but I didn’t have peace until I accepted the Lord sitting around that table at that men’s breakfast.
Sky and Angie drifted along in their religious faith for a few years until one day God called them to ‘Wake UP!’ In 2000 he went to The Gathering of the Nations in Ottawa and was healed of his broken identity,
God told me, “I’m proud of you, my son, I created you to be a First Nations man. Be proud of who you are.
Before I knew it doors were flying open. People in Native ministry would look at me and say, “The Lord is calling you.”
Within six months, Angie and I were enrolled in Bible college in Minnesota. It was while we were there that I first thought of the name “Eagle’s Cry” as the name of our new ministry. It was like a wind in my head. The eagle is the Creator’s messenger and that’s what we are. God cries with the cry of our people.
I’d been making a lot of money with benefits, living in a nice suburban neighborhood with two cars. But the Lord called us out of it… After two years I had come to visit friends in Thunder Bay, Ontario. I saw kids on the streets in the cold October rain. I saw the oppressive looks, the woundedness, and it pierced my heart. I went back and told my wife. She was in agreement. The Lord also gave her peace about it.
Sky, Angie and their 2 kids moved to Thunder Bay in 2004 not knowing anybody. They spent their first few years just ministering on the streets and getting to know the people that God so strongly gave them a heart for.
I feel called to be a voice for the unheard. I like to see the living conditions of the people so I go and meet people where they’re at, in the streets and alleys – mainly the untouchables. I hang out with the people that Jesus would hang out with. Six years ago, my pride wouldn’t have let me do that.
Now, Sky and Angie have this amazing space where they’re able to welcome families from the neighborhood. It started with only 5 tables and a section for clothing. Now they have 30 tables, a kids play corner, a room to cut hair, a free clothing store, a secret food pantry (because they know the way people play the system as they were once there), some staff/office/prayer space- It’s amazing! They’ve also been talking about starting a prayer room!!
Brad and I went on a quiet Tuesday morning and there were at least 40 people hanging out. There was hot coffee/tea and volunteers serving cake, music playing, kids running around… Some people were just in and out but most people stay, it’s where they find community. They showed a video on the prodigal son and then Sky preached for a good 10-15 minutes and surprisingly, everyone was totally paying attention. Sky spoke on Romans 6, focusing on no longer being a slave to sin but a slave to righteousness. He spoke from personal experience on how it’s so easy to get caught up in quick fixes and addictions – but that Christ is the real deal. It was amazing! Something I loved about Sky and Angie’s approach to ministry was their obvious ability to shelter, feed, cloth, and love people but also the open and honest way they communicate our need for Christ and pray with people. I wanted to take a picture of their family before I left but we couldn’t find Angie. We eventually found her down on her knee’s speaking into a woman’s life and praying with her… that’s just the type of people they are.
Sky told us that there have already been 7 deaths in their community this year. They recently found an addict they knew frozen to death by the lake.

This is a small part of an article I read in the Toronto Star recently:
The new census data shows that across Canada, 72.1 per cent of the country’s off-reserve aboriginal population lives in urban centres, compared to only 26.3 per cent who live on reserves. The number of aboriginals living off reserve since the last census was taken in 2001 has increased by 3.0 per cent.
Canada’s aboriginal population tends to gravitate toward cities in search of jobs and a better life. However, they often find it difficult to access the services they need to prosper. Off-reserve, they can no longer access the federally funded services once available to them and provincial governments are often unwilling to take financial responsibility, leaving those in need in a vacuum.

Around 30% of Thunder Bay’s population is Native, and they say that pretty soon it will be closer to 50%.

Sky ends off his testimony with these challenging words:
Walls of organized religion have hurt our First Nations people. I don’t shove religion down their throats but mainly I sit and listen to them because they’ve got some amazing stories to tell.
My heart is to see a healing in the culture- to see restoration of families through the heart of the Creator- Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
My name “Sky”, is short for Skyler which means ‘a place of shelter.’ My heart is for the people from the north who are coming into Thunder Bay. We want to be a ‘safety net’ for them. We’re looking at setting up a healing center here, a place where people can get some dignity back into their lives.
I remember back to when I sobered up. A week later I got a job. That first paycheck and the thrill of buying groceries with it – boy, there’s dignity in that.
We can sit here all our lives and blame people. We’ve got to stand up and make a difference. That’s what I want to do.

Keep being the change in Thunder Bay Sky and Angie.

Leaving Thunder Bay

My car is all packed and ready to go! I’m pretty sad to be leaving Thunder Bay, it was an awesome week. It was totally different than what I expected but so good.

These were the highlights:
-Staying with Jenn, Claire and Heidi… and hanging out a lot with Brad and Nick.
-Meeting Sky and Angie from An Eagles Cry (I REALLY need to write a blog about that this weekend- amazing story!)
-Great times at Calico’s Café
-Seeing Tyler and Veronica, a couple I went to Tyndale with in 03-04.
-Random adventures: The Thunder Bay Restaurant, off roading up Mount McKay with Nick in his rented truck, visiting the Terry Fox monument, climbing with Brad (it still hurts), Madhouse pub- really good sweet potato fried with great people, seeing the Great Lake Swimmers at the University…
-Meeting all kinds of new people – I’m a little sad to be leaving them all…

Now I’m on my way back down to Sault Ste. Marie to stay with Dan and Laura (an 8hr drive), then to North Bay on Saturday (about 6hrs), then Huntsville Sunday (1.5hrs) to see Granny, then down to Brantford on Monday. Freedom house in Brantford is starting a week of prayer on Sunday so I’ll spend the week with them and connecting with people from the GTA.

Thunder Bay: Divine Appointments

I week before I drove here I questioned if I should come, “God, do you have something for me up there or do I just want to go up because I’ve always wanted to visit Tbay and my friends up there?” I really questioned my motives and purpose and wondered if it would be more beneficial to go to Saskatchewan. I told Chris and we prayed about it for 2 days and in the end we both felt the same, I should go to Thunder Bay.

I drove up on Saturday knowing there was a purpose but didn’t know what it was. Every city/town I had visited up until this point I knew what I was doing and who I was meeting with before I went. All I knew this time was that I had 3 friends there: Nick Cotter (from Montreal),Brad Farrish (from Summit College), Brad Doff (a friend I met in Israel a few years ago) and that they found me a place to stay in a house with 3 other girls. On the 8hr drive up I really felt that God was to make the way for me in Thunder Bay, not me… I really didn’t want to start contacting churches and introducing myself to tell people about 24-7 Prayer- there is just something so un-relational and un-natural about that approach and I really wasn’t feeling it… I just felt I needed to show up and see what God had for me and who he wanted me to meet.
I love Starbucks and when I’m in Montreal I spend a good 25hrs a week working from there so I was pretty pleased by the 2 Starbucks in Thunder Bay… BUT I found an even better local coffee shop where I’ve ended up spending most of my time, called Calico’s. Nick and Brad randomly stop in to visit me between classes to hang out, they have free wireless and serve fair-trade organic coffee and lose tea, it’s great!

On Monday Nick came to visit me at the same time that this guy named Sky walked in, so Nick introduced me. Nick hasn’t seen Sky in almost 2 years. Sky and his wife lead an amazing ministry called An Eagles Cry; they reach out to the poor oppressed and abused people of Thunder Bay. Also those bound by drugs, alcohol and prostitution. Sky is Native and most of their ministry is to the Natives. As soon as I met him I heard the Lord say, “give him the copy of Red Moon Rising on the table”… I thought that was a little strange at first, since I just met him, but after a few minutes of hearing what he does and chatting it made sense and was easy. He invited me to come to the centre so I went yesterday for a couple hours with Brad, it blew my mind. I’ll write a blog on that next.

Yesterday, after visiting An Eagles Cry, I went back to Calico’s and sat on the big couch in front of the fire. I was trying to get organized so I had all kinds of stuff sprawled out on the coffee table and couch. There are two chairs creating a U around the fireplace, a guy came and sat down shortly after I got there on one of the chairs. Nick texted me to say he was coming by with some of his favorite Maltese sandwiches for us. He showed up about an hour after I got there and said hi to the guy sitting next to me first… Turns out this guy was Pete, the Pastor of Student Ministries at his church! Nick again introduced me and we all hung out for about an hour. I got to hear what’s been going on at their church and shared a bit about what I’m doing, we exchanged contact info to keep in touch and so that I can send him some prayer resources…

It’s just so amazing because the biggest thing I heard from God when I was coming here was to just let him orchestrate everything… So I’ve just been learning to trust him in that and not try to orchestrate anything on my own… He is totally leading me to meet the people he wants me to meet. Love it! Louise in Sudbury, after praying for me, told me to be discerning with how I spend my time. I understand now more than ever before that God will make my way and open the right doors as I listen to Him.

Also, the 3 girls I’m staying with have been wonderful and so refreshing. I could probably write a whole blog on them too. I think my time with them was also in God’s heart…

I sit here amazing at how God works as we listen to Him and just trust.

Thunder Bay

Sooo I've sucked at updating my blog the past few days.... I promise to have something up for tomorrow. It was a beautiful drive up, wow, I highly recommend the drive around the lake.
I have connected with some really amazing people totally by accident- some cool stories are coming!
I'm staying with 3 girls and even have my own room and bed, these girls are great and so hospitable.... I'm on my way home to cook some salmon for them as a small way to say thanks for being so great... they have been realllly great. I love community.
More soon!

Sault Ste. Marie - With Dan and Laura

It’s past 1am and I have a pretty long 8hr drive a head of me tomorrow but this is all too fresh on my heart to not write right now…

I got to Sault Ste. Marie at around 5pm tonight and went straight to Dan and Laura’s church. Dan was my intern at Summit (my first year of college) and then we worked together all summer doing a skills and leadership training program with teens. We were pretty good friends for that year but in the past 5 years have totally drifted apart. He heard I was driving through and invited me to come stay with them in ‘the Soo’. They have a really cute 7 month old boy named Jaxon and Dan is the youth pastor at Bethany Baptist Church.

So we had a fun night hanging with the kids and I spoke a little on prayer. When we got home they showed me the scrap book that Laura made of their daughter, Mya, who only survived 30hrs. Wow… I had no idea they went through this and totally didn’t expect to break out in water works tonight… I truly couldn’t even fathom as I looked at the pictures of this beautiful 8lb5oz girl who looked completely healthy. Then I saw the little white casket at her funeral………… They did a beautiful job of capturing the 30hrs of her life through photo’s and writing but I couldn’t help to think, WHY GOD, WHYYY???? It’s one of those things that I guess will only be understood in heaven.

The faith that Laura and Dan have is incredible… like way beyond my understanding. At the funeral they sang the song “Blessed be your name” as a reminder that God gives and takes away (even first born babies… ouch) and they have totally given God the glory for giving them the strength to get through the past couple years… and I’m sure they know God far more deeply because of all this….

So I’m just sitting here, at almost 1:30am feeling sad and pondering faith and the weird and unfathomable ways that God works even through the most difficult of times...

Sudbury

I LOOOOVED Sudbury! WOW, amazing people I got to spent time with...

I left North Bay very early to make it to CJTK radio station for an 8:40am interview. It was my first time on the radio so I was pretty nervous but a great experience nontheless. This radio station was a dream come true for Curtis and his wife Shelly about 12 years ago, now there are 4 stations in northern Ontario. There is some amazing stuff happening through this station, they actually even have a 24hr prayer line with people praying many hours a day in their basement.

Shelly, Claire and Tilly prayed for me and then took me for breakfast after my interview- what an encouragement. Claire is a very gentle, soft spoken but wise and amazing woman. Her husband is a pastor in town and her and Shelly actually get together regularly to pray for the wives of pastors as they’ve been seeing the spiritual attack on them. It’s so true, I keep hearing of seemingly solid Christian women leaving their husbands, often pastors… sad. Tilly is this fiery little, older woman with wild passion for prayer, God’s Kingdom, Sudbury and Canada. Apparently she’s the prayer warrior of Sudbury. She was so wild I asked her to join me on the journey but the radio station wouldn’t let her leave and I don’t blame them!

I spent my afternoon at Laurentian University. Barb is on staff there and also volunteers with IVCF and the Spiritual Life Centre at the school. She did her undergrad and graduate degree there and has now worked there for about 11 years- so she knows and has a real heart for the school. She coordinated for me to meet a bunch of students through out the day, a youth pastor from the community and then I did a bible study from 5-6pm. It was a group of about 6 students who were totally refreshing to speak with, such honest and sincere hearts. They were dreaming about doing some 24-7 Prayer in the teepee in the courtyard of the school- I don’t think that’s ever been done before- Go Laurentian!!

I spent the evening with Louise and Peter Edmonds (Bernie’s parents). Louise was the one that actually made the contacts for me to meet all these wonderful people. I had a great night catching up with them. They actually live on a lake so this morning Louise and I went on a beautiful walk around the lake and then prayed together before I left. As tiring as Sudbury was, it was amazing and in less than 30hrs I feel I got a sense of what’s going on in the city. Something really cool about the radio station is that it really brings unity among the churches because it seems to be something that most Christians will listen to and work together to support. I loved the sense of unity in the churches. Ohh, and apparently there’s a guy named Steve who read Red Moon Rising and encouraged a bunch of youth pastors to read it so that they could start a prayer room in the city but I still haven’t met him! I want to meet you Steve!

Nipissing University

Just got home from an awesome night at Nipissing University, they have quite the group, tonights study was with about 15 students. Someone led a study on courtesy/the good Samaritan and then I spoke about prayer for about 45minutes... we also watched the Campus America video (http://www.campusamerica.org/). Really fun night. Keep on Nipissing!

COMING UP NEXT...

Someone suggested I post my schedule a few days prior so that they could pray for me… so that’s what I’ll start doing. (feel free to send me suggestions if you have any.)

Tonight, March 18th
I’m joining in on the NCCF (Nipissing Canadore Christian Fellowship) group to talk about prayer.

March 19th (big day)
6:45am- Leave North Bay for Sudbury (1hr40minutes)
8:40am- I’ll be live on CJTK Christian Radio then having breakfast with them.
12:00pm- Meeting with students at Laurentian University
2:00pm- Meeting with local youth pastors (?? Still to be determined)
4:30pm- Leading a study with students at Laurentian University
6:00pm-Home to have dinner with the Edmonds. Their son Bernie has been one of my best friends since I was 11 and his parents moved to Sudbury a while back so I’ll be staying with them for the evening.

March 20th
Spend time with Louise (Bernie’s mom)
12:00pm-ish Head to Sault Ste. Marie (about a 4hr drive)
7:00pm- Hang out with the Bethany Baptist Youth Group. My friend Dan (from college) is the youth pastor there so I’ll stay with him, his wife and baby son.

March 21st
Drive to Thunder Bay (about an 8 hr drive)
Thanks for joining me on this journey. I’ll continue to keep you posted…

Being Still.

Being still is often pretty hard for me. It’s a discipline.

Last night Kayla showed me one of her favorite Nooma video’s and I couldn’t even concentrate for long enough to get what it was saying- that’s when it hit me, “Daria, you need to chill out!” I’m an intense person and can easily get lost in something or just being busy. I think Kayla was ready to throw me in a bath with some lavender and take my constantly buzzing blackberry away, that’s what good friends do after all.

I think and talk about how we need to live our life in proper rhythm, breathing in and out… So today, for the first time in a while, I finally turned my blackberry off and hid it from my sight for a good 3 hours, shut my computer down and I was still. I read a little but then I was just still… And right now I feel like a new person.

I’ll post my schedule for the next few days tomorrow. Goodnight.

Heading north...

I left Huntsville early this morning for North Bay. Other than the dead deer I saw on the side of the road it was a beautiful, sunny drive. People keep asking me if I’m travelling alone and they’re normally surprised when I tell them I am. Every place I get to I know someone so I’m not really alone, but my drives are and I LOVE IT… It’s like my quite alone time… there is something so refreshing about blasting your music and driving down a traffic-less highway for a few hours.

I’m staying with one of my best friends, Kayla. I met her my second year of college and it was an instant connection. There was a prayer group of 5 girls who would pray every night after dinner so we grew pretty close during that time. We try to visit each other about twice a year and talk and pray on the phone about once a week… She’s just one of those really refreshing, deeply spiritual and authentic people we all need in our life. She’s studying art at Nipissing University so she connected me with a few really awesome people here. I met Kathleen this morning, a vibrant 19 year old girl who will be leading the prayer ministry at Nipissing next year. We talked, dreamt about what could happen and prayed for a good couple hours. Wednesday night I’ll be attending the University bible study. More soon!

Huntsville- March 15

I wanted to write last night but the only wireless connection at Grandma’s is on her balcony and it was a little too cold, sorry! I had an amazing day and was exhausted by the end… I wonder how my grandmother must have felt, she’s a trooper and spent the whole day with me. She has to be one of the most amazing women I know. I fought some major tears saying bye to her this morning.

Ohh, we’ve decided on Thunder Bay, Saskatchewan will be a little later. I’m really looking forward to finally making it up there.

I started my day yesterday at the 9:30 Harvest Bible Chapel Muskoka service. The pastor, Kaj, started and was the director of Summit College, an awesome outdoor adventure sport bible college I attended from 17-19. It was great to see him and a few other Summit students again. A year or two after I left they started doing 24-7 Prayer rooms so Kaj was 1 of the 4-5 people in the community who had heard about 24-7. They’re a community of about 100. I made an announcement about 24-7 as they’ll be doing a prayer week leading up to Easter. Kaj had a great message, I’ll be reflecting on in the next few days.

I also met a guy named Ryan. Him, his wife Teresa, and 1.5 children (she’s pregnant) are moving to Manitoba next month with YFC and has a heart for youth and city wide prayer. I forget the city; it’s about half an hour north of Winnipeg. So if you’re from that area and want to meet him please let me know. .. I’m sure he would love to connect with you too.

My grandma and I then rushed to the 11am service at Riverside Baptist Church and got there a good 30 minutes late. We went back for 6:30 where I got to share the service with a couple who just got back from a one month mission to Papua New Guinea. In a recent letter from Pete Greig he wrote that Papua New Guinea was the latest and 91st country to register a prayer room. Amazing! Their prayer room is actually “a hut specially constructed from baboo and old tyres, with hibiscus and flowers and a cross made from palm leaves adorning the door.” Wow. I had 15 minutes to share with about 60 people who had never heard of 24-7 Prayer… but being older, well educated Baptists, most of them knew the history of Zinzindorf and the Moravians. Its Sunday night tradition to head to Tim Horton’s after the service so a group of about 7 of us continued chatting there.

It was through my grandparents and the VBS at Riverside that I first heard about Jesus… I went home on July 15, 1993, after a fun day at VBS and told my grandma that I believed in Jesus too and wanted God to be a part of my life. She tucked me in and prayed with me. .. So Riverside still holds a special place in my heart.

A little introduction...

Hello from Huntsville!

The 3 month travelling adventure has officially begun! Thanks for joining me on my blog. My plan is to write something everyday, as long as I can find a wireless connection, to keep you posted on what’s happening across our nation, who I’m meeting and what I’m learning as I travel through many different cities.

For the past 7 months I’ve been emailing and connecting with people from across Canada online so now I’m finally setting out to meet you in person. If you’ve ever been involved in 24-7 or want to get involved, please contact me. This week I’ll be in Huntsville, North Bay, Sudbury and then either Thunder Bay or Saskatchewan… I’m feeling pretty torn between the two… Thunder Bay was the original plan as I have a few friends up there but there is soooo much happening in Saskatchewan right now which is making me think I should head there sooner rather than later (nothing personal Tbay friends). Regina just started their 13th of 40 days of non-stop prayer before Easter, Weyburn is doing something similar with a big prayer focus and Eston College is praying next weekend, 24-7, during their ‘Encounter 2009’ weekend. Any thoughts on where you think I should go? Please send them to help me decide! I’ll be in Brantford (the city of God!) for their week of prayer at the beginning of April and in the Toronto Area until just after Easter. I’ll probably drive out east at the end of April and fly out west toward the end of May… So please email me if you want to connect, I would love to meet you and hear about what’s happening in your city/community/life...

Tomorrow I’ll be at Harvest Bible Chapel Muskoka in the morning and Riverside Baptist church in the evening. More then!

THANKS DAVE!

Dave just created me this awesome new blog for my journey... didn't he do a great job?!

THANK YOU Dave. :)

Back to packing.
More soon,
Daria