Trevor & Hannah Martin

Join us this Sunday, April 24 at either 8:00PM Eastern or 8:00PM Pacific for a special online live broadcast. Our theme is “Carrying Hope” and there will be stories of God bringing hope on campuses across Canada. Celebrate with us and be encouraged as we see how students and staff are carrying the hope of Jesus and sharing it with others.

Online Evangelism

Toward the end of last year, I (Trevor) was reflecting one evening on how I’m not engaged in direct evangelism like I was when I was ministering on campus for a number of years. I began thinking about how maybe I should pursue sharing my faith through online means.The very next morning, the first thing I saw when I started my work day was a post sharing a need for online mentors. So, I expressed my interest in this opportunity and am now in the final steps of becoming on online mentor. I will continue in my role as National Campus Strategies Administrator, but plan to devote a few hours towards this opportunity each week, and see how it goes from there! More details and updates to come!

Family Snapshots

Thank you for your support in helping students to discover Jesus!

Charlotte Martin: "There is a season for everything"

One Chapter Closing, 

Wallenstein, last week I was reminded of the well known verses from Ecclesiastes -"For everything there is a season. . . A time to plant and a time to harvest. . . . A time to grieve and a time to dance" (Ecclesiastes 3:1,2,4).

Recently we shared with the P2C staff that after much waiting, praying and discerning the decision was made by sending partners and local East Asia (EA) leadership to close the current chapter of our EA partnership.

Our EA staff originally left EA for a mid-year conference in January 2020. The emerging COVID situation at the time never allowed them to return and subsequent border closures/restrictions have prevented them from getting back to EA for two years.

The closing of this chapter is bittersweet as we mourn the end of a rich 20+ year partnership. Over the years we sent many mission trips, STINT teams, and long term staff to EA. I myself have been on three mission trips and one care trip to EA (the pictures above are from each of my trips - 2005, 2009, 2010, 2018).

Along with the mourning we also celebrate, because we see signposts that God has been preparing the way for this transition as the EA ministry has been experiencing a deepening indigenization.

Another Beginning,

Although the chapter of our EA partnership is closing for now, our Desert Rain (DR) partnership seems to be starting a new chapter.

This past month in DR, a group of 20 students from 7 different cities gathered for a training retreat. The goals for the retreat were community, spiritual formation and training. Some of the highlights were:

• Students who were isolated meeting other believers, even discovering others who are in the same city as them!

• Seeing nationals organizing the retreat and casting vision for reaching their world with the gospel.

• Students practicing sharing their testimonies and sharing the gospel with one another. One student exclaimed: "Now I know how to share my faith!"

In a place where sometimes we'd go years without seeing much fruit, it seems like a new season of harvesting when we can bring believers together for community, encouragement and training and then send them out eager to share their faith.

MISSION TRIP UPDATES:

• Currently we have 2 international (Desert Rain and Vietnam) and 2 national (Edmonton and Guelph) mission trips planned for the month of May.

• Pray for the approximately 33 students and 22 staff as they raise funds and prepare to go.

Josh & Deanna Blight - Graphite Bible Camp

Blight Family Update

March 2022

We’d love to hear from you! 
Josh (613) 553-4402
Deanna (519) 588-5298
deannab21@gmail.com

These words have been on our hearts to share for months and finally taking time to put on paper!

Past 2 ¾ years

July 2019 to March 2020 were full! Moving and starting a new life here and throwing ourselves into nonstop camp life during summer and into retreats etc.. Looking back, we don’t think we could have kept balancing family with camp life; prioritizing our own kids and wanting time with family at home as well as memory making while Jorden was still with us. If there was ever a free weekend at camp we were usually gone. It couldn’t have been sustainable. 

As the world slowed, so did we a little in some areas. Josh has kept working through it all, and was able to get more projects done on grounds.  The kids and I kept busy with school, growing seedlings for the new garden, and normal daily living. Oftentimes we did wonder if we were actually supposed to be here? It sure looked different than we imagined! 

During Covid, we’ve participated in clothing swaps, several youth events, takeout nights, modified activities, some retreats, kids club, and handing out food to families in addition to camp this past summer!

Summer

500 kids! Truth was spoken through the Word being shared, songs, summer staff, and daily memory verses which they can carry for life. The staff are also fed the truth  and deepen relationships with other Christian friends. This is an encouraging part in their journeys. It was a joy to see firsthand. I think summer is equally about the kids as it is about the staff. Whether they come from solid Christian homes or don’t have that environment, they have been so thankful to be at camp. 

Another highlight was seeing 8 youth baptized on 3 occasions during  the summer(consisting of campers and staff), one being our daughter Sophia. We had a celebration of life for Jorden on the Saturday and the next day was Sophia's baptism.  What a busy, but special weekend. We are so thankful for the church family,  as well as immediate family and friends that shared both of those days with us.

More Recent

Before Christmas the camp along with those from local churches prepared an outdoor Christmas experience to share with the community. It was picturesque and  a great way to share the message of hope during these times when we all need it more than ever and feel so much more limited in what we can do.  It was a blessing to come together  and see people so willing to use their time & gifts and just getting to know one another better along the way. As a family, our kids dressed up and were acting in the marketplace,  while Josh shared the message at the last stop and I got to meet each group after for a  hot drink. We saw 300 people come through!

We’ve also had a unique opportunity to deliver food that our camp cook prepared  to people in the community. We thanked God for the  connection to camp or else we don’t think it would be received so eagerly! 

Josh was able to finish his bus training this fall that was paused during covid and has been driving most weeks since; taking on short-term routes while drivers are off. There've been a lot of familiar faces from camp and a good way to keep connections going and make new ones. He’s also been speaking once a month at different churches. It’s been a nice way to meet people!

Earlier this year the director at camp resigned so things have looked different once again. We are planning for the summer season and trusting God to provide who and what is needed to fill in the gaps. 

Thanks so very much for your generous gift last month and showing love and support to our family during what has been a year of so much joy, but grieving and growing for our family as well. God is GOOD, faithful and always working. Sometimes it just takes more faith to believe.  And may we continue to look around and encourage each other during every season of life. “So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.” Found in Galatians 6:10 (read ch. 5 and previous verses in ch. 6 to see how we can live by the spirit and not just get tired striving in our own strength)

 To God be the GLORY, great things He has done and IS doing. 

Praise

-500 kids through day camps, and 300 at Christmas for the Walk of Hope

-Times of reflection and refreshment have been so helpful … covid slowed life down a bit and we are grateful for the time to be able to connect better in our new community and church family. As crazy as that sounds, because covid has also made it harder in ways. But just being able to go to church each week and not be tied up most weekends has helped in that area. 

-Our kids are thankful for many good friends at school and church. 

-Although many things don’t go as planned we have been able to see God’s control many times and know He made us and knows what’s best! 

Prayer

-Camp planning, keeping connected with summer staff year round. Being faithful where we are. 

-Community Relationships

-Wisdom in what to invest time in

From Deanna on behalf of Josh & our family

Trevor & Hannah - April 2022

MARTIN, TREVOR & HANNAH (Waterloo, ON; Power to Change) PRAISE: That our little 3.5 month baby Avery has been healthy and sleeping pretty well! For a student named Sadie from the University of Calgary who came to Christ recently and has been growing! PRAY: For Hannah's teeth as she had to have a root canal done recently and needs to have it filled. For a national scholarship program that our ministry is offering, with 43 scholarships available. Pray for many students to apply and for this process to encourage incoming students to grow in their faith and get connected into Christian community.

Russ & Meredith - April 2022

MARTIN, RUSS & MEREDITH (Singapore; Power to Change / Lausanne Movement) PRAISE: Wyatt recovered from a mild bout of COVID. Meaningful progress during Bangkok planning meetings for our global hackathon in October. The kids got off the island for the first time in three years during school break for a short holiday. PRAY: For Gwenyth and Heath to adjust well to a new school, starting April 4. For wisdom in making the right hires for 2 key roles on Russ' team. For Russ to make strategic partnerships at the Misional Artificial Intelligence conference April 6-7 in Dallas.