From Ontario to Cross Lake

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	The East Zorra group The whole group (click to enlarge) Comforter knotting Crafts In the Cross Lake church.

On August 6 th, 2007 a group of eight adults, and six children from East Zorra Mennonite Church, Ontario, traveled to Cross Lake, Manitoba for a week.  The purpose of the trip was to run a Vacation Bible School (VBS) at the Living Word Church for the children of the community.

The VBS ran from Monday – Friday in the afternoons.  There were approximately 50 children each day.  The theme for the week was “Be Bold! God is With You.”  Each day began with a worship time with singing, dramatic stories, and memory work.  The children learned lots of new songs including “Be Bold! Be Strong!”, “Fear Not” and “Trading My Sorrows” along with old favorites. 

After the worship time, the children were split into three classes; Ages 6 and under, ages 7 – 9, and ages 10 and up.  During this time the children did a variety of activities related to the Be Bold! theme.  The two older groups also participated in “Courage Connections” where they made crafts, and did an assortment other activities.

Some highlights from the week were Comforter Knotting, where they children learned how to knot comforters and heard stories of the people that needed blankets.  Another activity that all the children participated in was tie dying bandanas which the children were able to take home with them.  A favorite for a lot of the children was playing different games with the entire group.

The week went by very quickly, and the group for East Zorra made many good relationships with the children as well as our contact from the Living Word Church, Florence.  The Living Word Church was grateful to have a VBS at their church, and as a group the East Zorra people were grateful to have gone to such a wonderful community.

Submitted by Twilla Schumm, East Zorra Mennonite Church, Ontario

More than 100 youth and adults spent time in northern communities working with local congregations to offer VBS and camp ministries in Manitoba.

• The youth group from Steinbach Mennonite Church spent a week in Manigotagan under the leadership of youth pastor Randy Hildebrand.
• Riverton Fellowship Circle hosted a youth group from Douglas Mennonite Church.
• Fred and Helen Peters from the Grace Mennonite Church in Winkler lead the VBS program in Pine Dock.
• John and Margaret Klassen from the Grunthal Bergthaler Mennonite Church gave leadership to the VBS program at Matheson Island.
• Kyle and Ashley Penner from the Springfield Heights Mennonite Church lead their youth group in a week of camp at Matheson Island.
• Henry and Elna Neufled, former Native Ministry staff gave leadership to a week of VBS in Pauingassi.
• A youth group from East Zorra, in Tavistock Ontario worked in Cross Lake.

There are several goals for these initiatives including,

• Learning from Aboriginal Christians about the joys and challenges of ministry in their communities
• Encouraging local Christians as we serve together,
• Summer programming for children in Aboriginal communities.

Maybe the most important result is simply the growth of relationships across cultures that provide us with perspectives on God and faithfulness. In the process God forms into all we were created to be, as individuals and communities.

If you are interested in participating in this exciting adventure, please contact Norm Voth at 1-204-896-1616 or nvoth@mennochurch.mb.ca.

…an initiative of MCM Evangelism and Service Ministries.

If you have comments or ideas for a story, please contact Norm Voth, Director of Evangelism and Service Ministries.