May News '06

Hello All,

"None of us knows what the next change is going to be, what unexpected opportunity is just around the corner, waiting a few months or a few years to change all the tenor of our lives.” -Kathleen Norris

Our Family
As a family we’ve recently had to make a rather big decision regarding life and ministry. As of August Nate’s contract with east2west and Runnymede Christian Fellowship is up. February was the month that we had to let them know if we were going to renew the contract, or not. After much prayer we made a very hard decision-to not renew Nate’s contract. It was a really tough choice to make as all of the youth clubs that Nate runs are a bit like his babies. The young people in the groups mean a lot to us and we’ve been through quite a bit with them. However, we really do feel that God is saying that it is time for us to move on. We made our decision public about a month and a half ago. Right now we are totally at peace with leaving, although at times it’s tough to think about, we know that we’re walking in God’s will for our lives. The plan right now is to go back to Regina and from there we’re just exploring some different options that are open to us. While we’re not totally sure what’s on the horizon, we’re excited about where God is leading us. We will be officially leaving England at the end of August.

Nate
Recently exodusonfire was asked to lead one of the Sunday services. Nate led the youth worship team- and it was awesome! The youth group wrote a hilarious skit based on the parable of the Good Samaritan. Then one of our young people did an excellent job at preaching a message on what it means to be a modern day Good Samaritan. The service was well liked and received by all!
Nate is currently quite busy with speaking engagements. The word that has been at the forefront of his mind lately is “legacy”. He is doing his best with all of the clubs and ministries that he’s involved in to leave behind a legacy that is both practical and spiritual.

Erika and Kelaiah
As you may remember, I used to teach Jo Jingles classes (music and movement classes for parents and children). While I’m not going to be going back to work, I have begun taking Kelaiah to Jo Jingles on Thursdays! She is loving it! The moment that the Good-Morning Song begins, she has a giant smile on her face!
We continue to attend our Mom’s coffee mornings, which is always fun.
Kelaiah continues to love conversation. She’s very good at saying “Dadadadad” and various other words that sound something like that! She is also very good at grabbing things (like hair, earrings, flowers, water jugs, anything she can get her hands on really) and not letting go! Kelaiah is laughing now, and believe me; she has a laugh to match her smile! It gets us giggling too! In the next couple of weeks she’ll be starting on solids and I think that she’ll be more than pleased as she seems to always want to eat what we’re eating. Our daughter is such a blessing and we enjoy her more and more everyday!

The NOISE
The Noise project that Nate organized in March was excellent. The police were so grateful for all of the work done to their station and they look forward to utilizing it soon. There was a really good turn out of volunteers, both young and old. Our Canadian Bible School team did a good performance at the B-B-Q and Nate shared the Gospel message. All in all the day was very successful! Thank you for all of your prayers!

Prayer Requests
*For God’s continued direction in our lives as we’re preparing to move back to Canada

*For continued financial blessing as Erika is not going back to work and we need a way back home!

*For health and protection as we’ll be doing quite a lot of traveling in the next few months.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Love and Blessings,
Erika, Nate and Kelaiah