Nate and Erika's Excellent Adventures

Our 2010

2010-12-23T10:05:00.000-08:00

Happy Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!
Our news is farther down, but first: a slide show for your viewing pleasure and some music for your ears!

(Roll over the Pictures if you'd like a description)

2010 has been somewhat of a whirlwind and has brought many changes here in the Polsfut home. We’re excited about what’s been going on and about what’s ahead!

Luther is our little mover and shaker! He is a very social little guy and loves to play with friends. He also loves cars, tools (specifically power ones), and all things Toy Story! Luther is always; on the move; climbing; opening things up/taking things apart; asking “wat dis? (what’s this?)” and trying out the new word. It’s hard to believe that a year ago he could really only say “mommy” and “daddy” and wasn’t even walking on his own. He’s certainly changed from our baby into our little boy!

Kelaiah began kindergarten this year! The transition was a little bumpy for the whole family, but we’re into a good routine now and Kelaiah is enjoying herself and doing well! She still loves to read and could settle down with a good book for a long while. The other day she sat on the sofa with a Winnie-the-Pooh novel and “read” to the three kids around her, who listened attentively to her story telling skills. This past year Kelaiah has really gained a heart for social justice and has, on her own, done some chores to make some money to buy an Easter meal at our local soup kitchen! She and Nate also volunteered there, which had a great impact on her. She is also very aware and concerned for other nations-our missionary in the making!

Nate spent a good chunk of this year renovating our kitchen, entryway and basement. There is still much work to be done- but our kitchen looks great and the rest is coming! Hopefully we’ll have a renter in the basement suite soon!
Nate joined Kelaiah and also began school this year! He has just finished up his first semester of his education degree and between his full course load (at which he’s getting great grades, I might add), working two jobs, renovating, and being an amazing dad- he is certainly welcoming the break! While he enjoyed all of his classes, Nate’s favourite this semester was “Cree”. We’ve all been practiced on and picked up a few words ourselves!

Erika has been keeping busy bussing kids around and working on several hobbies/business ventures including; refinishing cupboards for the kitchen; making and selling bath products; taking a doula course, attending births and working on her certification; and teaching 8 piano students. With Nate going back to school, Erika decided to baby-sit a couple of little ones on a regular part time basis. This number has now increase to four and so babysitting has become a full-time occupation once again!!! It’s not uncommon for Nate to come home to a house full of 6 kids running around playing. In spite of all the busyness, Erika had the opportunity to take the kids up to Fort Nelson B.C. over the summer holidays to visit her sister- a highlight of the year for sure!!!!

For this season of our family’s life, we’ve stepped back from many of our ministry responsibilities- we miss them dearly, but know that we’re in the right place for right now. We do still play on the family worship team-, which is always a lot of fun!

We serve an amazing King who came humbly to earth so many years ago to die that we may live. As we enter 2011, we pray that you would live life to the fullest and be blessed beyond measure!!!!

Much Love,
Erika, Nate, Kelaiah, and Luther

2009-12-16T13:59:00.000-08:00

Happy Christmas Family and Friends!!!

Here in the Polsfut household, the kids December birthdays are over and Christmas celebrations are in full swing- complete with Veggies Tales Christmas carols!

Nate: Nate is continuing to enjoy his job as an EA in a structured learning classroom as well as his work with the Autism Resource Centre. In fact, he is planning on going to university this fall to begin his degree in Education! This will certainly be a new adventure for the whole family. We’ve just laid the ground -work to begin renovating our basement into a suite. This will serve as extra income for us while Nate’s in school.

In February of this year, Nate got to take a short trip to Niagara on the Lake for a 24/7 Prayer Canada Meeting. Nate has now taken on the responsibility of being 24/7 Prayer Canada’s Saskatchewan rep. This could mean some extra travel and e-mail/phone communications for him, but as 24/7 is still taking off here, his role hasn’t been too busy.

Erika: Erika is enjoying being at home raising our two children! She is no longer running an in-home daycare, but is teaching piano lessons. She currently has 8 students and

is really enjoying teaching!

Erika is also keeping busy with sewing, knitting and other crafty projects.

Kelaiah: Kelaiah is enjoying pre-school two mornings a weeks and is learning so much, so very quickly! She’s really growing up fast! She is still a bookworm who loves to chat, sing and dance. Kelaiah took gymnastics this fall, and will take another class after Christmas- she thoroughly enjoys herself there!

She had another Princess birthday party this year and still loves dressing up in fancy princess dresses! She is such a joy!

Luther: Luther continues to be light in our lives and is such an answer to

prayer! He just had his first birthday and is crawling all over the place- he’s not far from walking. A typical boy, he’s often getting into mischief of some sort- but his cute smile when caught could melt anyone’s heart! He’s a bit shy and certainly a Mommy’s boy, but loves little “jokes” and likes to show off his tricks!

Ministry: We are still leading a couples cell/house church on Monday nights. We are currently doing the Growing Kids God’s Way program as a group and are totally enjoying it! Just before the summer we did the “Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage” Video series and would highly recommend it to any couple!

As mentioned above, Nate is the Saskatchewan rep for 24/7 Prayer and while it’s not kept him too busy it’s kept him in the prayer loop. He headed up another 40 days of non-stop prayer this past year, which was another huge success! He also put together the Regina gathering for Global Day of Prayer.

For those of you who know and are wondering: our dream for quite some time has been to open a coffee shop to use for both business and ministry purposes. We were hoping 2009 would be the year we’d see some things kick off with this. However,after seeking further advice and after observing several families who own businesses, esp those with families, we have decided to put this dream on the shelf indefinitely. Neither of us feel that the amount of time commitment and living life at the shop is something that we want for our family- so this dream we will forgo- at least until the kids are grown!

So for now, Nate will get his degree in Education, and we’ll see where God takes us from there!

Travels: This summer Nate was able to take his paternity leave and we went on a four week vacation! It was an amazing time of making memories! We drove out to Victoria B.C to visit Erika’s brother and sister-in-law Dan and Quinn. However, we took our time camping and visiting friends and family along the way. We were able to go on our first Ferry Ride; we also visited the Calgary Zoo, the Vancouver Aquarium (complete with baby beluga whale!), the beach in Kelowna, the Enchanted Forest, lots of play parks, Nate got to go surfing for the first time in Tofino etc!

One of our favourite stories from the summer though happened at Lake Minewanka, Banff. We took a trip up the road from out campsite to see the Lake. Before we left we prayed that God would surprise us that day (we prayed this nearly every day and we had many more surprises than just the one mentioned). It was breathtaking! Kelaiah and Nate had fun putting their feet in the icy glacier waters. We saw some docks on part of our walk and Kelaiah asked if we could go look at the boats- so we did. She then asked if we could ride on one of them. Seeing as the boat tours of the Lake were not budgeted and were $44 per person, we decided that we couldn’t do it. As we were walking away from the docks, the captain of the big boat came up to us and offered our family a free boat tour!!! Our God really does care about the desires of our hearts- even the little ones!

It was such an amazing holiday and we’re so thankful to all of our friends and family who helped us out b

y putting us up and feeding us while we weren’t camping! We’ve been talking about the trip ever since and will certainly do something similar again!

We are looking forward to all of the exciting new adventures God has for us in 2010. Please keep us posted on your lives too!

We wish you and your families a Wonderful and Prosperous 2010!!!!

Much Love,

Nate, Erika, Kelaiah and Luther

Merry Christmas '07

2007-12-19T13:32:00.000-08:00

Well it's certainly been a long while since we've blogged here! My Space and Facebook have taken over our blogging! (If you're on either though- please do add us! www.myspace.com/natenfamily and on facebook we're under the name Nate N Erika)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
What a wonderful time of the year! A time when we celebrate the coming of our Messiah. Our God who is all Powerful, Almighty, Completely Holy and to be Feared, came down to earth in the most humblest of circumstances to prepare a way for you and me to be able to spend eternity with Him! Wow! A love so great is beyond comprehension- it is truly Amazing!
A few weeks ago we were in Home Depot to buy a plant for my sister and brother-in-law's new house. Nate and Kelaiah went off and Kelaiah came back extatic! “Mommy come!” She said, grabbing my hand and pulling me, “Come Mommy! Oh! Christmas! Oh Christmas Tree! Mommy Come!” They had walked past the Christmas tree display and she was taken. Christmas has always been full of meaning, but Kelaiah has brought some of the warm fuzzies back again this year! Now she notices every pretty Christmas tree; she likes to look at Frosty -the- snow- man and lick candy canes; she will not sit near Santa nor will she believe that he will bring her prezzies (when a lady in the mall asked her a few days ago if Santa was going to bring her presents, she just shook her head and said “Not today.”!); Kelaiah is fascinated with snow and thinks that it's “so pretty” (she also thinks that it's blue!)! Our hearts are full of joy as she discovers so much during this season. Christmas is a Wonderful time of Year!

Our Highlights of 2007:
*The Global Impact Celebration our Church hosted where people from various nations put their culture and traditions on display- absolutely moving, and very exciting!
*Beginning to do some work on the Love Lives Here Bus- an old school bus that has been converted into a coffee shop on wheels. It goes out to the underprivileged areas in our city in the evening to offer love, support, prayer, a sandwich and a coffee to anyone and everyone from the ladies working the streets, to the children who just need a little attention, to the druggie who's hungry, to the teenagers who just want to say hi.
*Spending the night at a spa for our 5th anniversary-our first night without Kelaiah!
*Going on our week long camping trip/ vacation in the mountains of Montana!
*Taking on a new leadership role in the young adults ministry in our church
*Watching our house church grow and expand
*Nate got to go do some training in Edmonton for a new video series called “the Truth Project” he came back on fire and really changed by the Truth. (We will begin running this series in our house church in the New Year)
**And of course, watching Kelaiah grow and develop.

Looking forward to Change in 2008:
We're going into this year not really knowing what to expect. We've had a lot of plans over the last year and a bit that just haven't worked out the way we thought they would- and that's okay! So even though we go into 2008 with some plans, we're open to change! However, here are the plans at the moment; Life will run as per usual until the summer at which point in time Nate will pick up another job (as being a Teacher's Assistant doesn't pay for the months the kids aren't in school). In the autumn, Nate will begin university as a full time student! That's right, Nate is planning on going to uni for his teaching degree! This is very exciting and scary all at the same time! I will continue to baby-sit and have fun dabbling in some other home business opportunities. We'd love to make a trip to England at some point- sorry, no promises yet. And Hopefully before the end of the year baby number 2 will make it's arrival (no, we're not currently expecting).
God's got some great plans for us and we're excitedly and expectantly awaiting them!

We pray that 2008 is an awesome year for you and yours!
With Love, Erika, Nate and Kelaiah

May News '06

2006-05-30T15:37:00.000-07:00

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

March Update

2006-05-30T14:13:00.000-07:00

Ahoy, Ahoy Everyone!

(Oooops! We wrote this blog and then never posted it! Terribly sorry! We thought that we should post it anyways just to keep you updated and informed!)

Alas, time never does seem to slow down and we’ve had yet another jam packed month full of work, work, work, and of course, fun, fun, fun!

Nate
Nate has been especially busy this month with work/ministry. On top of his usual work load, he’s also had the opportunity to preach at church, take the church youth to The Big Story- a big youth worship event in Southampton, attend a day conference, take leadership of the youth worship team, plan and prepare for the Canadian Bible School team that comes in a weeks time, prepare for the NOISE (see below), and more…

Erika
I’m just keeping myself busy being a full time mom- and loving it! I aim to get at least one load of wash and one chore (besides the cooking and dishes) done a day- it doesn’t always happen, but I try! And between that, I’m just busy busy playing, feeding, changing diapers etc. I’m still helping out at exodusonfire on Friday nights. Friday mornings are always good fun as I meet with a group of mom’s for coffee and to talk more than just “goo goo gaa gaa”! I do like to get out with Kelaiah, so when it’s not raining we try to do something fun outside.

Kelaiah
Our little girl is growing up so quickly and getting bigger everyday! She’s getting really good at playing and enjoying little jokes- like funny faces. Kelaiah also likes it when we read to her. Her favorite books seem to be “The Farm” and “My Shining Bible” (I hope the latter remains her favorite, in different forms, throughout her life!). However, these days Kelaiah’s priority is “chatting”! She loves a riveting “conversation”, so long as she’s the one doing most of the talking! We are absolutely captivated by our little one and even though every parent thinks their child is the best- ours really is!!!!

The NOISE
The NOISE is a project that is all about letting our actions speak louder than our words- i.e. - living life loud. We put on this project in Englefield Green where Nate runs two of his youth clubs. The areas that we target are generally the poorer areas or public areas that no one else tends to. Projects usually include picking up rubbish, washing windows, clearing over run gardens/yards, cleaning public walk- ways, handing out lolly pops, etc. In addition to the things mentioned above, I believe that this year we may be cleaning up and painting a police station in the area that hasn’t been used in nearly 5 years due to its poor condition. The police would like to use it but haven’t the time to fix it up. Having the station open would be a huge benefit to the community.
All of these random acts of kindness are done to show the community that we care, and to share the love of Jesus with them. We always end the NOISE with a free b-b-q that’s open to everyone in the community to come and enjoy. At the b-b-q we usually have the Canadian Bible School team perform some dramas and share the gospel. In the past couple of years we’ve seen a few of the young people Nate works with give their lives to Jesus through having the Canadians with us. Although the Bible School team is a huge blessing, the NOISE now has such a good profile in the community we’re able to get more and more people helping us out. This year, another local church will be sending 10-20 of their members out to help. Several of the young people from Nate’s clubs came to help out last year, and it looks as though we’ll have an even better turn out this year! Nate’s been working with the local government to arrange all kinds of help from garbage pick up trucks, to road works signs and visibility vests. One of the councilors was able to get Domino’s Pizza to donate 20 large pizzas for the pre-NOISE kick-off party! He’s had all kinds of meetings in person and on the phone with police, church leaders, Tesco (a local grocery store) the press, etc, just to make this project happen. This year looks like it’ll be the biggest NOISE so far and we’re excited to see what God will do in the community!

Answers to Prayer
God is leading and directing us in the ministry that he’s put before us- more details to follow
Nate has had a huge amount of favour with the local government as he’s been planning the NOISE

Thanks to everyone for you continued support and prayers. We couldn’t do what we do without you!

Love and Blessings,
Erika and Nate & Kelaiah

Back in Business (at last)!

2006-02-08T08:13:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

Happy (Belated) New Year!
Well many apologies to those of you who have been eagerly awaiting an update! While we knew this next blog would be late, we certainly didn’t mean for it to be this late!

Our New Family Member
Yes, our Baby Girl Finally arrived! Kelaiah (kih-LAY-uh) Rae Polsfut was born Thursday, December 8th, 2005, at 3:37p.m., weighing 8 lbs. Erika’s labour was long, but good and the end result was more than worth it!
My girls came home the next afternoon, but sadly were readmitted four days later for Kelaiah to undergo phototherapy for her jaundice. I was very glad when they came home for good two long days later!
Kelaiah is lovely- I couldn’t have hoped for more! Nine weeks on she is progressing well; smiling, starting to giggle, really trying to hold her head up, enjoying looking at toys and pictures, “chatting” with us, etc. Kelaiah loves to eat (she’s now weighing over 11 lbs and has grown 2 inches!), go for walks in her stroller, rides in the car, and her favorite part of the day is bath time with daddy! Erika and I are enjoying her immensely and feel so privileged to be able to bring up this beautiful little girl!

New Grandparents
We were blessed to have some of our family around throughout all of December. Pixie (Erika’s mom) came to be with us at the beginning of the month and was such a big help to us as we were adjusting to parenthood. Two days after she left my parents arrived for Christmas and New Years. It was great to have them around and to be able to show them where we live and what I do. We were so thankful to have our parents around- we really appreciated their support!

Nate
After having a wonderful December off of work, I am now right back into the swing of things. Erika and I just got an internet connection at home (about time!), which means that I can now work from home two days a week. This is going really well. I enjoy being able to do what I do from the comfort of my own home. The extra bonus is that I can give my little girl a cuddle (or change her diaper) during my coffee breaks!

Erika
The first few weeks of January were especially hard for Erika as she was adjusting to motherhood without the (physical) support of our parents and with me back at work. However, things are getting much easier as Kelaiah is beginning to settle into a routine and as Erika is busying herself with mommy things, i.e. mom’s coffee mornings, post-natal classes, helping out a needy family with a baby on the way, etc. She is now totally loving being a mom!

Ministry
Impact on the Green: Just before Christmas I received a grant from the government for my Impact on the Green clubs! This was such a blessing as I was able to use it to purchase lots of new equipment that the young people wanted for the club- they are really enjoying it!
exodusonfire: My exodusonfire church youth are already planning their summer! So far we know that we’re going to Activate Youth Camp, and we also have plans for a missions trip to Mexico. Two weeks ago the youth held a successful bake sale at church to begin to raise money for the summer events!

Prayer Requests
*We have some rather major decisions coming up about our ministry here- please pray for God’s direction in our lives
*For continued success with Ignite (our youth service) and for continued unity that we have with the other youth group that comes
*For continued favour with the government as I make connections with them regarding a big clean-up project I put together every year called the Noise (more details to follow)
*For health and wisdom for us as a family

Thanks for your prayers and support!

Much Love and Many Blessings,
Nate and Erika & Kelaiah too

October News '05

2005-11-11T07:29:00.000-08:00

Hello All!

Terribly sorry that this month's blog is so late in coming out! We are still here, and here's what we've been up to...

Erika (and Baby): I’m now on part time maternity leave! I’ll be supervising Jo Jingles Classes one day a week and then doing some office hours one day a week until the end of November (or until the baby comes- whichever is first)! With so many free days, my plan is to get a head start on Christmas baking and cards as I think my hands will be full when our new baby arrives!
I’ve just started Ante-natal (pre-natal) classes at our local health clinic and Nate and I are doing some couples classes at the hospital as well. This makes having a baby more and more of a reality. Wow- just 3 weeks left!

Nate: Nate has always been into his music, and finally found a concert that wasn’t on a work night. We went to see one of his favourite bands, Explosions in the Sky, a couple of weeks ago and Nate thoroughly enjoyed himself.
He also loves dress up parties. So when he was asked to do a fundraiser for work, Nate decided to put on a Lord of the Rings dress up party. The party lasted around 12 hours as the participants watched the full Lord of the Rings extended trilogy!
Nate was given the opportunity to preach again this month. And again he delivered another heart-felt sermon, which I believe was straight from God’s heart. If you’re ever interested to know what it is that Nate preaches on, you can download his sermon off of our church website:
www.e-runnymede.co.uk

Ministry:

exodusonfire: Our church youth group is going well. Our young people are really growing in their faith. This past month at our youth service, Ignite, many of them got involved for the first time (i.e.: played on the worship team, read a scripture etc). It was really exciting to see them step out and do something new. Plus we had some youth from another local church come along and join in which is always encouraging for our young people and us.

Impact on the Green: Impact clubs are also going well. While numbers in the older club are at a bit of a stand still, Nate is seeing an increase in numbers for the younger club. Numbers aside, the young people really enjoy coming out, and we’ve been able to have some deep and meaningful conversations with several of them. That of course is the whole aim of these clubs, to let the kids know that God loves and cares for them- and so do we!

If you want any more info on what Nate does for east2west, you can check out their website www.e2w.org.uk

Answered Prayer:
*We’ve been able to cover the major financial costs this past month! Thank you Jesus! And thank you to every one else who gave so generously!
*Nate has been promised a laptop! It will hopefully be delivered into his hands within the next week!

Prayer Requests:
*For the safe arrival of Erika’s Mom Dec. 1st, and that God would look after the rest of her family as they are with out Pixie for 3 weeks!
*For the safe arrival of our little baby sometime within the next few weeks!
*For God’s peace and wisdom as we embark on this new adventure of parenthood!

Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support! We appreciate you all very much!

Lots of Love,
Erika and Nate

Please Note: Next month’s blog may be a little late in coming out as well, as we’re going to wait until the baby is born! Watch this space!

Pictures: Nate and I, an awesome work of art done by one of our young people for Ignite

September News '05

2005-10-04T09:03:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and Family!

Here we are again at the end (well more like beginning) of yet another month! 2005 is flying by!

Us
Granada, Spain- Yes! We did actually make it away on a little holiday! Nate and I found an excellent deal for 5 days and 4 nights in Granada, Spain. Granada is on the Southern coast of Spain and was the last area in Spain to be taken over by the Spanish. So there is still a large Moorish population there. We had lost of fun touring around the Alhambra (a large castle/kingdom that was built by the Moors), taking in the (original) Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, looking around all kinds of interesting Moorish markets, tasting Spanish cuisine etc. Nate was a bit disappointed that he didn’t get to see a bull fight, but he excelled in his Spanish speaking. Our hotel had a lovely swimming pool on the terrace, which overlooked the city. We took advantage this commodity, and the sun, during the siesta hours of the afternoon! We came home feeling truly refreshed, relaxed, tanned, and totally blessed by the awesome deals that we were able to get on that trip!

Erika- I started back to work this past month. While I’ve been thoroughly enjoying teaching, I have to say that I’ve found it much more tiring than I remember! Perhaps it’s the big belly! I have only two and a half more weeks of teaching left and then I’ll be supervising classes one day a week and doing admin one day a week. I officially start maternity leave at the end of November (unless the baby comes before then)!

Ministry/ Nate- All of Nate’s clubs are up and running once again. Over the next term he’s trial running both of his Impact clubs on the same night. This means that on a Wednesday his day starts at 8:30 am and he doesn’t get home until 10:30 pm at the earliest! While it’s a big day, he’s hoping that freeing up one of his evenings will give him more time to spend with his new baby come December! I am currently still helping out at one of the clubs on a Wednesday, but probably not for too much longer.
Two weeks ago Nate was involved in taking all of the new year (grade) 7 young people from Magna Carta High School on away days. Basically they went off school grounds and had lots of fun getting to know each other. Every day two out of the eight classes got to go on a day trip out. Nate met lots of new faces and was able to do some “recruiting” for his younger Impact on the Green club.
exodusonfire our church youth group is going strong. Our numbers have increased yet again from 12 – 16, which is very encouraging! A couple of Sundays ago we had our first Ignite service, which is our church’s service run by the youth. We tried some new ideas that would have been rather foreign to the average church-goer, but most of our young people and all of our guests really enjoyed it!
Nate has also had the opportunity to do some preaching at church. As well as becoming an excellent preacher, Nate is someone who is really hearing the voice of God and bringing timely messages to our church!

Answered Prayer:
*We got to go on a very refreshing and much needed holiday!
*God has been giving us some awesome ideas for our youth clubs/group

Please Pray For:
*We have a couple of yearly financial costs coming up to do with our vehicle as well as increased costs around our baby. Please pray that God provides miraculously this month!

*Nate’s laptop recently broke down and he is in need of a new (or used) one as it’s vital to the work/ministry he’s involved in. Please pray that God opens up the doors for him to get a new laptop soon.

*Please pray for increased and continued vision for the young people, clubs, and services that we’re involved in.

Thank you so much for all of your love, prayers and support!

Love and Blessings,

Erika and Nate

Pictures: Nate and Erika on a big bus tour in Granada, A typical Moorish Market, and the Alhambra, Us at a 'Churros con chocolate' cafe

August'05 News

2005-08-25T02:21:00.000-07:00

Hello All!
Wow! It's already nearly the end of August! Loads has happened since our last blog so please do read on....

US

Baby's Room- Nate had a week off this month (yeah!) in which I put him to work! We finally painted our stairwell and hallway, which means that all of the work we wanted to get done in our house is now done. We also tackled a room that we didn’t ever intend to do anything with- the “office” room. After ripping out an old mantle and poorly patched up fireplace (and re-patching it quite nicely), we painted and re-carpeted that little room making it the nicest room in our house- perfect for our little one!

Camping- We also took some time to go on a three-day camping trip in the Wye Valley, close to the Welsh border. The trip was organized by some friends from a church in our area and was open to young adults. In total there were about 15 of us that went camping. On the second day we embarked on a 13-mile canoe trip, which was absolutely beautiful. The only thing that would have made the day better is if it hadn’t poured most of the day- oh well! We still had fun and got to know some of the young adults and young married couples in our area much better!

Trip into Europe- Nate will have one more week off before our autumn term begins. During that week we’re hoping to get away into mainland Europe, although we’ve not yet chosen our final destination!

MINISTRY

exodusonfire- As mentioned before, Nate and I had the opportunity to take 10 of our young people to Bible Camp this summer. What an awesome week! From day one right through to day seven, God was challenging and moving in the hearts of each and every one of them. Nate and I were able to see some of them move into a new level of faith that we’d been waiting for them to move into for a long time. We also saw all of them grow in their faith (one of our young people even became a Christian!) and God did above and beyond what Nate or myself could have hoped for that week!

Baptisms- Last week our church held a baptismal service at which four of our young people, three boys and one girl, were baptised by Nate and Dave (our pastor here). It was a very powerful time. Listening to the testimonies that each of them shared as to why they wanted to be water baptised was emotional for us as we were able to see that God does actually use us, then he goes beyond us and does things in our kid’s lives that we could never accomplish! Thank You Lord!

Impact on the Green- This week, Nate has been helping to run lots of day camps for our young people who don’t attend church. So far they’ve had loads of fun swimming, doing a high ropes course (which even challenged Nate to put on a brave face for the sake of the kids!), visiting an oceanairium, having game times, getting a chance to hear about God etc. The week is still in progress, so there are still many fun activities, and a few more God chats ahead.

THANKS FOR PRAYING:
*Activate Youth Camp was excellent and God went above and beyond our expectations!
*Impact on the Green day camps are going well. The young people are able to hear about God in a real and tangible way. Not all of our young people have been able to make it as it’s holiday season, but thank the Lord for the ones who have!
*Nate and I were issued our visas! And the correct ones at that!! Nate’s visa is now stamped “Minister of Religion” (haha!!) and I’m his dependant. Not only were we issued the correct visas; we were also given 2 years- hmmm! Thank You Jesus!

PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR US:
*For God to continue the work that he began in our young people at both camps
*For Nate and I to have a great holiday break, to be refreshed and ready to start the autumn term
*Vision for all of our youth clubs/groups for the upcoming year- we want to do what God wants us to do

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support!

Much Love,
Nate and Erika

Support:
Interested in supporting us financially?

If you’re a Canadian and would like a tax deductible receipt, please send a cheque, made payable to Harvest City Church (in the memo or on a separate sheet of paper, please state that it is for Nate and Erika Polsfut), to

Harvest City Church
2202 8th Ave N
Regina, Sask
S4R 7T9

If you are not from Canada, you can support us by sending a cheque/money order made payable to Nate or Erika Polsfut, to

Nate Polsfut
East2West
10 Fairfield Ave
Staines, Middex
TW18 4AB
England

Thank You So Much!!!!!

Our First Newsletter Online!!!

2005-07-15T06:46:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and Family!

Well here it is, finally and at last, a newsletter via the internet! Yeah! We’ve been promising this for like two years now and I think that some of you had probably just completely given up on us, however, we’ve done it! And now, we will try to keep our blog updated on a monthly basis (try….). We’ll also throw some pictures on here and try to keep things interesting.

So what’s new?

Nate

School here doesn’t end for the summer until July 22nd. So summer holidays are about to begin! Not really for Nate though. Currently, he’s keeping very busy getting his clubs and youth group wrapped up for the summer. He’s also been making his few last trips into the local high school Magna Carta to hang out with the kids and build relationship with them. Just before Easter he had the opportunity to teach some Religious Education classes there and has made more young “friends” as a result. (Many of the young people who attend Magna really look up to Nate and even go out of their way to say hi to him in shopping centres.) On top of that, Nate is getting ready to take a group of young people to Bible camp, preparing for some day camps later on in August and hoping to get some well-earned time off!

Erika (and Baby)

I’m doing very well. For the past 10 months I’ve been teaching, part time, parent/toddler music and movement classes for a company called Jo Jingles. As of yesterday, my summer holidays began and I’m off until the second week of September! Yeah! However, my schedule is still looking quite busy. I’m still sitting on the leadership team for the West London Boiler Room and currently helping put together a prayer school. Of course I’m helping Nate get things ready for Bible Camp and just getting my hands stuck in wherever I can.
Our baby seems to be doing well and, every time we’ve been for an appointment, seems to be moving around quite a bit. I’m currently 20 weeks pregnant and loving it. The best part is that I’ve just started feeling the baby once in a while which is great! I now have ladies coming up to me asking me when I’m due (December 3rd by the way), so my bump is protruding quite nicely!

Other News

Nate and I are in the process once again of applying for visas. It seems as though we were issued the wrong kind last year, a kind that you can’t renew! Ah! So we’re trying to have them issue us the correct one this year so that if need be, we could renew with out all this hassle. Please pray that we get the visa we need!

We were back in Canada for a couple of weeks from the end of April to beginning of May for my brother’s wedding. We had such a wonderful time! The only problem was that it didn’t feel long enough! We did enjoy getting to see many of you though, which was great!

As Nate does get a few weeks off during the summer, we’re hoping to get away and do some camping. We’d also like to see if we can get into Italy for a week for one last holiday before kids!

Ministry

As mentioned above, our Impact on the Green clubs and exodusonfire youth group are stopping over the summer holidays, ministry however, does not.

In November, Impact on the Green successfully split into 2 clubs per week and we’ve been continually building relationship with those young people. East2West is running some summer day camps for their non-church youth clubs, which will include Impact on the Green. Nate will be helping out and we’re hoping that many of our young people turn out and get yet another chance to hear about Jesus.

exodusonfire has grown in numbers as well as spiritually over the past year. At the beginning of June we took a group of four young people on a four-day missions trip to Dublin! The trip went very well and the kids were really excited about all that they got to do and about what God did through them!
Last year at this time we took three of our young people to Activate Bible Camp, this year we’re taking 10! We’re praying for all of them to meet with God in a new way. In August of last year, Nate had the opportunity to baptize three young people and this year he’ll be baptizing some more! So it’s all very exciting!

Prayer Requests

For all of the young people who attend Impact on the Green to be able to make it to at least one day camp. That they’d stay until the evening meeting so that they can learn more about who Jesus can be to them.
For all of the exodusonfire youth that we’re taking to Activate to meet with God in a new and deeper way. That they’d leave camp changed and impacted (for the better)
For Nate and myself to be issued the correct visas quickly and easily
For a little more financial support this month (we’d like to go on holiday and our extras have gone towards the Dublin Mission trip and Camp)

Thank you to everyone who supports us either prayerfully or financially (or both)! We couldn't do what we do without you!

You are very much appreciated!

Pictures: 1)Nate and Erika, 2) The Dublin Missions Team