A Life Changing Flight
A UK echange student named Clay got involved in our community at UBCO (University of British Columbia - Okanagan) this past semester. Even though he said wasn't that interested in faith at first, the more he got involved, the more intrigued he became. And he enjoyed the community so much that he was sad his exchange was only six weeks. He was also dissappointed that he was going to miss Summit (our annual fall retreat), which was taking place a week after his flight home. Not wanting to miss out, he decided to fly from the UK back to Kelowna the next week so that he could partake in Summit. He could have flown to Vancouver, which would have been closer to the retreat location, but he wanted to ride together with the other students from UBCO. To cap this all off, at Summit, Clay made a decision to follow Jesus! Please pray for him to keep growing in his faith and get connected to a local church in the UK. Trevor has done some background work for our ministry at UBCO and for the BC summit, so it was exciting to hear this story from the front lines!
Thank You and Updates
THANK YOU for playing your part in helping students like Clay to discover Jesus. Without your prayers, giving and encouragement we couldn't do what we do. We are sincerely grateful for your partnership. Hannah has finished her maternity leave and will be returning to campus ministry with the Waterloo team in January. She will likely be focusing on helping the Laurier ministry and discipling women. Trevor continues to support our campus ministries nation-wide administratively.
A few months ago, we asked for your prayers for our daughter Amelia's emotional health. She was having frequent (daily) meltdowns and some were quite extreme. So, in the last couple of months, she has been getting some help from an occupational therapist. These sessions have helped her and us as parents to have common language for the challenges and emotional phases/zones (i.e. red/yellow/green) that Amelia experiences. The sessions have also helped to suggest coping mechanisms that Amelia can use for sensory challenges. (i.e Amelia is very noise sensitive). There are still meltdowns, but they have been less frequent, so we thank God for her improvement and for those of you who have been praying for us. Merry Christmas and enjoy the below pictures! Please send us a picture or an update from your world if you can!
2022 in Pictures
Avery
Amelia
Family
TOP: A picture from our Martin family photo shoot this summer
ML: Enjoying some sushi which Amelia realized is one of her favourite foods
MR: Hannah's parents visited a few times this year and helped with baby Avery
BL: Our Martin family vacation at a cottage in Ontario's cottage country
BR: One of our last visits with Trevor's Grandma who passed away in July