MAY
June 1, 2022
The month of May was very full but at the same time it had a very relaxing ending for me. Because the weather was really good I had some fun afternoons and evenings with the kids. Also I had some nice visits with some of the teens, some young adults and a family. The students in the mission school continued to open up more and more which is very nice to see. One thing I'm really excited about was that through development of a relationship I had the opportunity to share the Gospel with one of the teens who never knew what Jesus was all about. Karen and me were involved in a Road Clean Up which was fun for me because it was nice weather and we walked a lot. The money was for the teens that wanted to go to NYC (Native Youth Conference at Camp Nakamun) but weren't part of the Sunchild Band Office. It was a nice day and I had the opportunity to talk with one of the teens who usually doesn't talk too much. Otherwise most of May was full with either Alpha or NYC. Alpha went for 10 days and we met every day, had a meal together, sang some songs and had conversations about faith. It was a special time of getting together - almost every evening different people were there. My personal two highlights were one night were teens attended and one night were we separated men and women and we women made pillows as a craft together. The MacDormands did an amazing job and we're really thankful to the CrossRoads Church in Red Deer for providing the food. To me the NYC weekend was very special and beautiful. There was a lot of program full of devotions, worship, boat rides, paintball, sport activities, making bracelets, etc. I personally had a fun time, especially getting to know some girls I didn't know before. My two highlights were one of the guys I got to know who wasn’t from the Sunchild reserve gave his heart to the Lord and I still have contact with him and he always asks for Bible verses or good songs. The other highlight was the last evening where a lot of the Sunchild teens wanted to have someone pray for them and they went to the front. The last week of May was very sunny so I could spend a lot of time in the sun. There was one challenging situation with a young women who was on drugs but God helped us with it. Also we started weekly Youth Nights again on Thursday Nights with playing Basketball together, having a short topic and then spending time at the bonfire together. One of my last projects for my time here is to paint the cupboard in the Sunday School room, so I started that and also got a little bit of help from some teens.
To summarize everything that happened, I have some pictures gathered together from pretty much all the topics I talked about in this month.
APRIL
May 1, 2022
This month was a very beautiful month and I've really developed a wonderful relationship with a teenager from the little mission school here and another great one with one of the young women in our Ladies Group. I got to go on a lot of little trips, I was invited to make Indian Tacos (!! best thing I've eaten in a while !!) and I had a lot of great walks outside. I really get excited about the development of this one teenager in the mission school because since we had a day in the beginning of April with just us two and she saw how much she could actually achieve, she has been motivated to come and do more and at the same time has been opening up to me more and more. I see so much potential and I really hope she will continue her education here! With the other woman I started having devotions together every day and that is such a blessing for me, too! We have a lot of fun together and really enjoy each others company.
Of course Easter was a very big event for us. In total we had around 70 people walking in and out of the Coyote Creek Chapel on this day! We had wonderful music played for us by a family that's part of the Singing Hills, great food and great company. Here's a little video I made of our Easter Day.
FEBRUARY - MARCH
April 4, 2022
What I've been doing here so far is quite a big range and I've enjoyed pretty much every part of it because I have a variety of things to do and I can switch between them (almost) as I like. A big part is the little Mission School where I help Karen with 3 young women from Monday-Wednesday with their education, helping out in Sunday School and another big part are the kids who will just come and visit and I must say I've really grown fond of them. Especially one little girl who will always tell others that I'm her favorite (that is really special for me since I'm used to kids not liking me - so this really widened my heart). Visiting people on the reserve is very important so I really enjoy when we do that once or twice a week. We really had great conversations during our visits and we always end them with prayer. We have even experienced healing during one of our visits. God is working even though we often don't see it and that is so encouraging. I also really love the women in the Ladies Meeting, we have so much fun together and I enjoy having all kinds of different talks with them. The creative side of me has had the room to really try out lots of things. So far I've painted the stairs of the church, started to work with a scroll saw to make letters for some crosses for the graveyard which some people here requested and I also paint every now and then with either our students, ladies or men (in the men's group). Since I've been playing the piano for almost 15 years I also have some piano lessons and especially one woman really flourishes in that and I found my original love for this instrument which is really a gift from God. I started going to Beading Classes at the Band Office and am working on Mocassins while getting to know some of the local ladies here. They are all really nice (especially after I surprised everyone including myself with my beading skills).
Yes, there are a lot of crazy things going on in this reserve and I got some little insights on that but I must really say that my experience so far has been more positive and I know that this mission is a light for the community and that is a fact. We started praying for revival more intensely, a men's group started (after 20 years of praying) and the ladies from Ladies Meeting love to come which is great to see. The teenagers are a part where my heart is divided because I really have a heart for teenagers (already in Germany) but also for me it is one of the hardest groups of people to work with. Every now and then I can see someone opening up and God opening a door and then suddenly it feels like everything goes 10 steps back. I would be thankful if anyone reading this could pray for that. We had a sleepover but I didn't feel that there was a right time to connect on a deeper level. With 1 on 1 it works better and I'm thankful that there were a handful of experiences like that - I know the devil will not just let us do God's work here.
I will keep you updated on what is happening here but I really think that pictures say more than 1000 words so here are some of my visual insights since February.
About Me
Hi, I'm Zofia from Germany and I've been here on the Sunchild / O'Chiese Reserve since mid February! I will stay until the end of June and I have the honor to include you into my experiences here.