ALSO Calgary, Saskatoon, and Prince Albert

Friday April 26, 2013

Students at RJC today continued to prepare for their service week which will begin in earnest on Monday, April 29.  Part of today's events included attending a Habitat for Humanity Key Dedication Ceremony.  We were invited because of our volunteerism during the beginning stages of the house during last year's ALSO.  It was inspiring to see the new home owners receive their keys.  As it turns out, the houses still need some finishing work and our students this year will be part of that process!

 -Saskatoon Mayor Don Atchison addresses the crowd with the home owners beside him-

Students ended the day with an ALSO commissioning service in the chapel where different scripture was read including James 1:19-27 which reminded us of the importance of putting our words into action.  The preparation is complete.  Let's put our beliefs in action!                                          

-ALSO Calgary, Saskatoon, and Prince Albert Commissioning Service-

ALSO Calgary/Saskatoon/Prince Albert Prepare for Service Week

Thursday April 25, 2013

Students at school today continued with class work and ALSO preparation.  A highlight from the day was an extended chapel led by Craig Neufeldt, pastor of Rosthern Mennonite Church.  Craig spoke on the topic of 'Tensions in Service Learning' and shared about stretching experiences that he has had on service trips, both as a youth and as a leader.  Craig encouraged the students to embrace the challenging opportunities during the week as acts of spiritual discipline, and to look beyond themselves when they feel the week is not going the way they thought it would.  Tomorrow students will attend a Habitat For Humanity key ceremony in Saskatoon.

 

Guatemala 2013, Day 2

Hola. We woke up this morning as rested as we are going to get. The guys woke up at 6:00 inbstead of 7:00 because Nathan's iPod was wrong. Lucky us. We woke to a delicious breakfast of bacon, eggs, griddle cakes, beans and toast.It was quite tasty. After that Nancy and Raoul (probably spelt wrong) picked us up and drove us to the MCC office where we had our orientation and our spanish lesson. Then we drove to the Guatemala cemetary and did a scavenger hunt to find the tomb given to us to find. We then learned a bit about some of the tombs there. It was very interesting. After that we walked to the side of the dump where we watched people scavenging the dump and laying claim to trucks as they arrived. It was dumbfounding to see the tents of people who live right at the dump. Larry estimated that there was about 1000 people scavenging the dump. about 20000 tons of garbage is brought there everyday. It was a very long but exciting day. We leave tomorrow for El Salvador and will not be able to blog for the next 4 days. We will blog all about our adventures when we4 get back to La Semilla.

Guatemala 2013, Day 1

We its day 1 and we have made it to Semilla, our home base. We awoke at 3:30am for ou 6:30 flight, at least the guys did. The girls really didn't sleep. We flew from Saskatoon to Denver, then to Houston, and then to Guatemala City. The flights were good for everyone except Larry who left his jacket on the FIRST flight and spilt coffee on his ALSO shirt in Houston. We are looking forward to sleeping. Tomorrow we have orientation and a much needed SPANISH LESSON!! We are all looking forward to what is going to come. Thanks for the prayers for safe travel.

Sorry for the lack of pictures but the computers here are too slow to upload one.

Guatemala T-1 Day and Counting

Hi this is Nathan, I am part of the Guatemala 2013 ALSO trip. We are leaving tomorrow at 6:30 am. We have been anticipating this trip for awhile and are all very excited. I will be making blog entries whenever possible, which may not be alot. Please pray for safe travels and nice weather. Thank you.

Our sending chapel.

ALSO 2013 begins this week

The ALSO 2013 tshirts were distributed in chapel today, and a full
"team" picture was taken.

Guatemala leaves on Wednesday, Alabama/Gulf Coast on Thursday, and
Prince Albert/Saskatoon/Calgary begins next week Monday.

Watch this blog for entries!

ALSO 2013 Blog Reactivated

This week the Guatemala and Alabama groups depart for their ALSO
assignments. Next week the full ALSO program gets underway with groups
in Prince Albert, Saskatoon and Calgary.

Watch this blog for daily updates!