Moving on...

The International Student Volunteer Programs continues to be a fantastic ministry of Liebenzell Mission of Canada! Donna and I have left the program in the wonderful and capable hands of new leadership that continue to infuse new ideas, energy and love to the Toronto Area. We thank you for following this blog. Please continue to pray for the work that Liebenzell Mission of Canada does to encourage and equip Christian ministries. Your financial gifts are critical for their ability to continue. You can use the links to the right to help. If you would like to hear what Donna and Gregg Hanchett are up to these days, check out our blog "Subestimado - Surprising Spain".

 Thanks and good-bye.

"Serve the Lord with gladness!"

And then there were none

Suddenly we looked up, and all of our volunteers were gone! After 11 months of intensive, unselfish, and Christ-like service, our volunteer team has finished their term in Canada and returned to Germany. The above scene at Toronto's Pearson International airport on July 18th is representative of the many good-byes we said that day. Dominic, Simon, and Uli (on the left) and Marisa (on the right) are saying good-bye to the family of Jeremy Reurich, the Intern Director of UrbanPromise of Toronto. Mixed feelings were the norm for the day. Their happy thoughts were turned towards seeing their families and friends back home in Germany. But they were also sad to be leaving Canada. A few are already planning their return to Canada in a few short months. It filled us with great joy to listen to each of their plans for the future. Some are off to Bible College. Some will go to a technical university to study engineering. Some have arranged on their own to return to Canada for another year of Christian service. As we prayed for each young person throughout the year we asked the Lord to guide them in their path for the future. God has answered those prayers abundantly!

Typical of the comments we received from supervisors about our volunteers was a statement we heard the morning of their departure. We were picking up Evert and Daniel from Ontario Pioneer Camp, north of Toronto and heard, "You are taking our two greatest guys!" The camp normally has multiple dozens of staff during the summer so it was a great testimony to the character and hard work of these guys during their year. Similar testimonies were heard during the days leading up to their departure. Another testimony to the quality and growth in their Christian walk came as we were loading up the van with their suitcases. Two of the Canadian staff approached the guys and asked for a final prayer time.

Not until after several minutes of prayer fellowship, were we able to finish loading and head to the airport. Good thing we had scheduled plenty of time into our day. There's no way we wanted to interrupt those kind of good-byes.

In all, twelve young people got on the plane that day. Six of our original 18 were already back home in Germany. Beginning Monday all of them will be gathered one more time in Germany for a week-long debrief session. Then on August 1, a NEW group of 18 begins their adventure of preparation for a year in Canada! They arrive here in Toronto on the 26th of August. Donna and I can't wait to welcome them to begin a life-changing year of ministry. Thanks for your participation during this past year. Your partnership and prayers had a huge impact for Christ and his church!

Blessings.

MissionPrep and the Preparation of Missionaries

Donna and I are serving this week and next in downtown Toronto helping prepare missionary candidates for the mission field. In a program run by MissionPrep called COPE, "Cultural Orientation for Personal Endurance and Enjoyment" , the missionaries are given intensive training in living "the paradox of the enjoyment/endurance challenge of cross-cultural experience". With a combination of experiential and formal instruction, the missionaries are taught the spiritual, personal, inter-personal, and cultural aspects of the mission experience.

It has been great to interact with these talented and gifted missionaries, sharing with them some of our experiences in Spain, and listening to their hopes and goals. While listening to the facilitators cover many important aspects of life on the mission field, we were reminded of the many cultural experiences we had during our years in Spain. It is great to know that the mission organizations of these missionaries hold these courses in high enough regard to require their attendance. It has been proven that missionary attrition rates-- drop out rates-- are significantly reduced when missionaries are properly trained about the stresses they will face when they reach the mission field. When you consider all the effort and preparation that goes into heeding Christ's call to reach the nations, it is a shame when missionaries leave the field before their time is complete.

With programs like MissionPrep's COPE, missionaries can more rapidly adapt to their new surroundings, withstand the pressures of culture, and endure much longer on the mission field. Agencies are realizing that the cost of such programs are well worth the investment and missionary supporters-- like you-- have been generous in understanding the importance of such expenses in the missionaries' support packages.

Donna is in charge of meal preparation and Gregg helps her occasionally or facilitates some of the sessions. We had an opportunity to share our testimony last Tuesday. Gregg shared a devotional "Thought for the Day" from 2Corinthians12 also on Tuesday. Donna will share a devotional thought this coming Thursday. Thanks for upholding these families and singles in your prayers as they prepare to enter the field phase of their missionary service.

By the way, another great missionary support organization that has had a big impact on our personal lives and on our ministry is Caring For Others based in the Mid-West USA. John and Janet are great leaders and wonderful listeners!

Do you have a favorite organization that serves missionaries and helps them be successful in their calling?

Teaching Basic Baking

This is reposted from Donna's cooking blog on allrecipes.com. It is a great picture of her volunteer ministry in Toronto. Enjoy!

Since moving to Toronto, one of my greatest joys has been volunteering at a nearby temporary residence for refugee claimants. Canada's immigration policy is such that over 100,000 refugees are admitted into the country each year to begin the process of gaining permanent residence. One of the residences for those who enter and declare refugee status upon their arrival into the country or soon thereafter, is called Adam House, and is just a few blocks from my house. I go there to work as a volunteer twice a week including the busiest day, which is Tuesday.

This past Tuesday I decided to teach a young immigrant woman to bake. She had been asking me how to bake a cake, and one day brought a boxed cake mix to me to try it out. She had never baked anything before, not having owned an oven in her home country. Although I rarely use a boxed cake mix for anything, I thought it would be a good way to get her started on the basics of preparation, such as pre-heating the oven and greasing the pan. Since we have no electric mixer at the residence, she used a large wooden spoon to stir the batter. To her delight, the cake turned out very well, and was quickly devoured by the other residents who happened to be in the house at the time.

But this past week, I remembered a cake recipe that a Spanish friend had given me years ago when he realized how much the church that we were attending in Bilbao depended upon my baking skills for their pot-luck suppers. I made the recipe many times over in Spain, where I found the ovens to be deficient for many other cake recipes. Normally, my cakes, and those of other Americans used to good ovens and excellent ingredients in the States, would rise well, and then fall. I always blamed the ingredients for this as well as the oven, too soft margarine, too moist flour, or whatever. Recipes that I used at home in Wisconsin, New Jersey, or New York, that always came out perfect, simply flopped in a Spanish kitchen. Among missionary wives, we had our own theories regarding this phenomenon, and our remedies which we frequently shared with one another, down to a science. Regardless, sometimes the best made plans, and cakes, fell after they came out of the oven. But with this recipe, handed to me by my Spanish friend, I always found success.

Looking for the recipe? You'll have to visit the blog!

Pioneer Camp's Long-Lasting Influence

A few weeks ago, during a visit with a friend we were talking about ministry in Ontario, Canada. As we described the volunteer ministry, my friend John was struck by something I said and paused for a moment. When I asked what he was thinking, he reflected back to a summer in his youth. He remembered spending time at a camp in Port Sydney, Ontario during his teen years. He asked me, "does InterVarsity Christian Fellowship still run a camp there?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact," I replied. "They are still going strong. They are called Ontario Pioneer Camp and several of our volunteers are there!"
"Oh, Yes!," John replied. "That's wonderful!"
Then over the next several minutes he shared with us the wonderful experience he had there as a youth and the impact his time there had on his Christian development.
That is no small impact.
John is a retired missionary who, along with his wife Margaret, have given their lives to serving others. He was brought up by strict, loving parents who immigrated to the USA from Germany, loved Jesus and took their faith seriously. Exposing John and his brothers to a Christian-based wilderness experience was a part of helping them develop in their faith. John recalls fondly the time spent at Pioneer camp many years ago. The survival skills he learned there served him later during his years in the Pacific island of Micronesia as a missionary with Liebenzell. He still remembers the positive, Christian influence his counselors had on his life as a young man.
As we spoke that afternoon together in his small living room, filled with missionary momentos, it was obvious that fond memories were being stirred up and spilling over into words. We were being blessed by him and the blessings were coming straight from God. The blessings came in the form of encouragement knowing that two volunteers we have placed this year at Ontario Pioneer Camp are having an influence for Christ on the young people that they see on a weekly basis. How many future missionaries are among those campers? Only God knows.
This is what ministry is all about. Building relationships, sharing the gospel through our words and actions, applying Biblical principles to everything that our hands find to do. You play a part in it too. In every small way that you read about this work, pray for its needs, give what you can, and encourage us through email and Facebook, you are expanding the influence of Christ into a needy world. Keep up the good work!
Thank you, John Thompson and Margaret, for your devotion to Christ in all your diverse ways, for your consistent words of encouragement to us and to our children, and for your unceasing prayer for everything that benefits God's Kingdom!
Have a blessed day!
Gregg