Oh the month of May reminds me of rebirth! The world just gets a face lift as the flowers are blooming and everything turns green again! Summer is almost here and THAT is a glorious thought!
God has been busy in the town of Bradford! I don't know why or how I'm still surprised when He answers prayer; I think it's because I can't get over how HUGE He is and yet He answers even our smallest requests. Glory to God that the "size" of our request doesn't matter because it's ALL tiny compared to His greatness. Amen!?
Here are just a few things I am stoked to share with you!
- The amount of donations and volunteers continues to increase for our " 411 Missions Week" in August! This event will kick off a new ministry arm for CrossTrainers called "411". The vision for this arm of the ministry is just getting people connected in the community to meet needs. We are beyond excited for this! I mentioned in my April update that we will be working on Bradford Manor, a housing complex next to the youth centre, whose residents all have either a physical or mental disability. Many of the residents come into the Connection Centre and we have been blessed to get to know them and share Jesus with them! A youth group from Boston wanted to come up and do a missions project in Bradford and that is where we felt the Lord was leading! So we will be painting the inside and outside, planting gardens, putting in new flooring, putting in a new industrial dishwasher, and supplying some new furniture. All of this is getting donated from generous businesses and individuals! God is using people all over to help with this project! We are SO excited. Even the food for volunteers is being donated!
- A new resident moved into Mercy House yesterday. She is a 16-year-old girl that has a past most of us wouldn't even dare to think of. Pray that this would be a place she would be renewed and find Jesus in a personal way! Pray for wisdom for staff in knowing what ways to love and support her.
- The Hub (Youth Centre) continues to be my second home. One of the youth has showed increasing interest in learning more about God, so one of our staff members started a Bible study with him! It's cool to see more kids join around the table for that. Pray it would grow with more kids hungry for God! A new summer intern will be starting soon after I leave for camp. She is such a sweet young woman that loves kids and loves Jesus! Tonight we are doing a picnic with the kids from Supper Club. Supper Club is so unique to me. There is something about sitting around the table eating a meal with these kids that makes us all feel like a big family! And I have grown to love a lot of them like family. It's going to be hard to leave them for the summer!
- I will be leaving to start camp ministry with the girls (Jodi, Patti, Kelsey) for the summer on June 7th! Our theme for most of the camps is going to be "Go West" - encouraging campers to take hold of the promised land God has for them! I hope to send an update to you all in June of how our travels are going. Pray for Jodi as she will be speaking, our van to make it cross-country and back, and for those kids whose lives will be changed for Jesus this summer! Pray for our team's health and energy and also for wisdom as we counsel and encourage campers.
I can't wait to see what the next couple months have in store! I am ecstatic to be a part of what Jesus is doing here in Bradford, and a part of what He's going to do as we "take the show on the road", so to speak. :)
May you have a blessed month of May and enjoy the start of summer! Thank you for your support in so many ways! Jesus is listening to those prayers. :) Love you all!
God bless,
Alicia
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