Who knew that a missions trip can be planned in three weeks? God did. This crazy adventure started with a phone call three weeks before November Break 2015. We had a week off of school and no plans. God had plans for us though. God worked so many things out and suddenly we were on the road to Behchoko, Northwest Territories, Canada.
While in Behchoko we saw God work in amazing ways. While there we ran Connect groups as well as Youth Alpha in the evenings. In the Connect groups youth signed up for activities that they wanted to participate in. We had five options, each led by a member of the team. These included Piano Lessons, Guitar Lessons, Improv, Art Classes as well as Photography. This time allowed for the team and the youth, as well as some adults from the community and the new youth leader, to get to know each other and build long-lasting relationships. After Connect groups we transitioned to Youth Alpha.
We started Alpha at around 7pm. A typical night looked like this: As kids entered conversations where started and it was a great time to just hangout and get to know each other. Then we would all gather into a wide game, led by one of the leaders. This was a great time to just gather as youth and have fun and build connections with each other. Then after wide-game we would head into worship. This was a time where we would all gather together, explain a bit about what it means to worship, and sing about 3 or 4 songs. The youth had a few favorite songs, which were repeated often throughout the week. It was neat to see the youth over the week get to know the songs and dive into worship, singing out about God's love for them. After worship we would do a minute to win it game, which always ended in many laughs. After this we would separate into our smaller groups, girls separated into 2 or 3 groups depending on the night's attendance, and guys typically gathered into one group. We would watch the Alpha videos, and discuss the questions posed in the videos. This time was an amazing time of conversation, as well as a time to answer their questions and explain some truths about God that they hadn't learnt before. Many questions and topics were brought up about God and His love that the kids hadn't really realized before. Many of them knew about God but didn't think that they were worthy to be loved by Him or to ask Him to come into their lives. It was a really neat thing to show them that God desires a relationship with them, no matter what they've done or the family life that they come from.
We would try to end Alpha around 9, but many nights kids would hang out until 11:00 or so. They would have stayed all night, but our team needed our sleep. It was really neat to see how much they loved to just stay and hang out in community. The way that having the Church open as a safe place for them was really neat. God worked through us being able to open up that safe place. These youth are growing up in broken, even unsafe homes, and to have a place for them to be that was safe and welcoming was huge.
Once all the kids went home our team would debrief before we all headed to bed. We sure learned a lot of things throughout the week, ways to change what we were doing to make it more positive, and to discuss new ideas and activities that would be helpful during the week. It was really a neat time to debrief and talk about all the amazing things that God was doing - in the hearts of the youth that came but also in the hearts of our team too.
The way that God worked everything out on our trip still leaves us in awe. We headed up not sure how our finances would balance out at the end, how the food would travel the 15 hour drive to Behchoko, or how well the program would be accepted by the youth there. But God worked everything out. God brought youth to the Church and we as a team were amazed at how He used us to further His kingdom and show His love. The relationships that we built while we were there are ongoing. A few of the girls that came to Connect & Alpha came down to Edmonton for a couple days. A few of our team members met up with them at West Edmonton Mall for their birthday party. Building relationships and building into them and their faith is why we went up there, and the fact that we still get to continue those relationships leaves us so excited.
While up there we also got to meet their new Youth Pastor, Nobilina. We left them with our Alpha resources in order for them to continue on with what we started. They are still meeting every Friday for youth at the church. God used us to kickstart their Youth program, and we are excited to see what else He does in that community.
Now that we're back from Behchoko we've realized that we can't just leave this tugging at our hearts for the people of the Northwest Territories alone. God has done some crazy amazing things, and here we are now - excited for what else He is going to do through our new adventure: North of 60 Ministries.
What we learnt through this whole experience of Behchoko 2015 is that our God really is an Unstoppable God.
We can't wait to keep following His lead - and are ready to go wherever and whenever He calls us.
Thanks so much for your support and prayers!