Dear Family & Friends,
That sure was a long winter! We were relieved to see the snow melt...although we were once again met with water in our cellar basement. We are hoping to address that once and for all in a few weeks with some much needed landscaping/waterproofing. (The original part of our house was built in 1887!) Nonetheless even in the bleak winter months, the Lord has been so good to us! We see him at work all around us.
Grateful for:
- TRAUMA SEMINAR - As planned, MORE hosted a seminar in January - "An Introduction to Cross-Cultural Trauma Care". What wasn't planned was the snow storm that day! We quickly moved everything online, as it was not feasible for anyone, including the Professor/Trauma Counsellor who was teaching, to travel. But all went well and 32 participants from 14 different organizations attended this much-needed training. Not only was it an opportunity to learn, but member care workers had the opportunity to ask specific questions and receive very practical help. And because we moved it online, we also recorded it. That recording will now be offered as a resource at a Member Care Conference in Greece for healthcare workers serving overseas - with over 600 participants! Our team's theme this year is "immeasurably more", and of course the Lord does exactly that!
- DEBRIEFING 101 - Last Fall, MORE hosted a two-day in-person workshop in Calgary, Alberta - training member care workers to provide debriefing. In April, MORE hosted the same workshop in St. Catherines, Ontario - this time both in-person (12) and online (22), with participants coming from 12 different organizations. We enjoyed hosting the facilitators in our home for a night, who travelled from out west. It was a learning curve to manage all aspects of the workshop, as both the in-person and online participants spent time in small group discussions and also practicing in pairs by debriefing each other. But we prayed for a "full house" and we got it! It was a highly interactive workshop with practical tips, normalizing the emotions attached to transition and grief. And while the participants came to learn, some even began to process their own difficult experiences for the first time.
"When a person tells her story and is truly heard and understood, both she and the listener undergo actual changes in their brain circuitry. They feel a greater sense of emotional and relational connection, decreased anxiety, and greater awareness and compassion for others' suffering."
- Dr. Curt Thompson, "The Anatomy of the Soul"
Praying for:
- Praying for Canada - MORE hosts an online prayer meeting once a month to pray for Canada. We are looking for more prayer warriors! If you are interested in joining, please let us know. The next one will be Thursday, May 7 at 4:00 pm EST.
- Outreach Canada - Next week, OC will host its annual staff retreat in Chilliwack, BC, where all 9 teams gather to meet, brainstorm, discuss logistics, worship together, and encourage each other. Outreach Canada is also pioneering an initiative called "Gospel Alive Day" - an invitation for churches from coast to coast to share testimonies and intentionally celebrate what God is doing across Canada, all on the same day. June 28 will be the first! You can check it out at Gospel Alive Day.
- Tanner - While we have overcome some of Tanner's obstacles, there are many more...including figuring out why he has kept his left arm bent with his hand on his face for the last year and a half. His sensory system has calmed quite a bit, he is slowly understanding more and more, and his interactions continue to gradually develop, for which we are deeply grateful. But the progress he made a while back in saying words has been almost completely lost, for the second time. He still has some (less severe) gut issues, circulation issues, major motor skill limitations, and trouble sleeping. We continue to pour into him daily through exercises, supplements, much therapy, and many appointments. More than anything though, we are still praying that the Lord would heal him.
Thanks for reading and thank you for joining us in prayer!
