Week 2

Hey everyone,

We've had another fun week with our new Outtatown family, this time staying at Camp Arnes in southern Manitoba! We started off the week with a free afternoon in the nearby town of Gimli, doing some exploring, shopping and grabbing all the wifi we could at the local Tim Hortons.

Throughout the semester as we visit different locations there will be various speakers who come to teach us on different subjects regarding our Christian leadership program. This week, our first instructor was Janessa Nayler-Giesbresche, who gave us an introduction to Christian theology. She was very interactive and really helped me to deeper understand how to unfold learning about God and what he asks of us.

On Friday we had a service day, which means helping out our host in various activities. Although it poured down rain, we helped the maintenance staff at Camp Arnes do odd jobs such as clean the pool, washrooms, move office boxes, move a big tarp, do barn chores and much more! As you would expect, I was super willing to help out at the barn. A few of us cleaned out paddocks and reorganized their tack room, with me sneaking in a few horse kisses here and there.

On Saturday we took a day trip into Winnipeg to partake in a blanket exercise at Living Word Temple. In case you're asking what that is, a blanket exercise is an interactive activity that visually explains the indigenous history in Canada. The lady leading this exercise, Kathrine, shared with us her empowering story. She said her favourite childhood memories only lasted until the age of seven, as after this she was taken away and placed in a residential school. Katherine, among many others, experienced many horrific things that no child should ever have to go through. Although she is paying the price for the trauma she endured, she is able to see past the hurt and pain those years caused her and find strength in her walk with God. She faces each obstacle in life knowing that God is taking care of her, and shared with us that the suffering that we endure in this life is no match for the peace and wonder we will experience one day when we get to stand in His presence.

This morning we went to a church in the nearby town of Gimli where everyone welcomed us with open arms. After the service we went back to Camp Arnes to finish packing our things and headed to our next destination; Roseau River Bible Camp. In the coming week we will be going to the Roseau River Reservation and I will leave next week's blog to talk about the details on that!

Bye for now,

Kiera & Noah

P.S. Update about pictures... still no wifi and signal is very poor! Sorry but hopefully next week I will have something for you guys!!