Volunteer Transitions

Spring is slowly making its way into Toronto bringing long-awaited change to our daily lives and our Volunteer Program is in transition. A couple of our Volunteers are reaching the end of their service with us, one has been added to our team, and one has had to return to Germany to attend to a family concern. Thanks for praying that the Lord will continue to bless us with great unity of purpose as we manage day-to-day affairs.

Andreas and Marcel, our volunteers at the Moffat Liebenzell Mission Centre have completed their service here in Canada and are presently on holiday for a few weeks before returning home to Germany. We appreciate the work they were able to accomplish at the Mission Centre-- chopping fire wood, felling trees, caring for the grounds and facilities. They were a key component in making our ministry to immigrant congregations an ongoing  success! The Mission Centre serves smaller church groups that need a place for retreats and personal get-aways.

We added Sara to our ranks in February! She has come to care for several children of our missionary candidates during the next five months. Sara has been able to integrate quickly despite some tough paperwork challenges that we are still working to resolve.Please pray with us as we work with Immigration to give them all the answers they are seeking.

Finally, one of our Volunteers serving UrbanPromise Toronto flew home urgently to attend to his father who suffered a serious heart attack. We continue to pray for Micha O, his father and his family. We hope and pray first that his father will make a full recovery, but then that Micha will be able to return to Canada and continue the great work he is doing with the after-school programs among at-risk kids in Toronto. We miss you, Micha! [Update: Moments after initially posting this we received news that Micha's father passed away. We are deeply saddened by this news. We take comfort in that his father was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and is now in the Lord's presence.]

In the next several weeks, we have a busy schedule. One of our Volunteers is off to Haiti with his church on a short-term mission trip. In April, all the volunteers will gather for a two-day retreat. After that, Spring will be fully upon us and we will be looking towards a great finish in June and July.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support of the work of Volunteer Year Toronto.

Arrival in Canada!

We have made it to Canada! We drove across the border at Lewiston, NY, just north of Niagara Falls. There was about a 30 minute wait to the crossing, then we had to report to the Immigration Office there at the border. The paperwork took about a half hour and the Canadian officials were very gracious in issuing a residence permit that allows us to stay through July, 2011.

From the border, we headed west along the southern shore of Lake Ontario in Canada for about 50 miles, then inland another 25 miles to the small village of Moffat. Here's where we are:


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Moffat is the location of the Liebenzell Mission Retreat Centre, our home for the next several weeks as we prepare for the arrival of the students. You can read more about the facility from my earlier post.

We were tired after our arrival, but we were gracious received by our hosts, Jeff and Ursi, who invited us up for donuts and coffee, with our directors and other Retreat Centre guests. We appreciated the nice housewarming gifts and our bed already prepared for us.

We have a day off on Monday and then begin with a staff meeting on Tuesday morning to learn all about the agenda before us in the coming days.