BRUBACHER, JENN (Listowel, YFC) PRAISE: It's been a gift to build relationships with my senior girls' volleyball team. During the week of December 5th alone, I spent 20 hours with the team. That's 20 hours of coaching, conversations and relationship-building. Please pray for these 12 girls that they will experience the life and hope and grace of Jesus. I'm thankful for the relationships I'm building with staff and teachers at the high school. This is an answer to prayer, especially as more doors open for me to serve there. PRAY: This month was full of brutally heavy conversations with students. Stand with me in the gap as we pray for 'Georgia,' who is wrestling with identity, self-harm and an eating disorder. And for 'Owen' who is wrestling with identity, loneliness and depression. Lord, hear our prayers. Be King over it all.
Trevor & Hannah Martin - Power to Change
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
Robert & Susan Martin - Kingston Prison Ministry
“This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.”
1 John 4:9
How wonderful that we can know God's presence through his Son, the One who did not despise us, weak and weary in our sin, but drew near to us because He first loved us.
Dear friends,
Since July of this year, access into the six federal Institutions has slowly been “normalizing”. We thank God for these opportunities to again have direct interaction with inmates. At present we are able to:
Conduct monthly chapel services in three institutions
I have resumed my weekly one on one visits in four institutions
Alpha is once again in full swing at one
This week we began escorting inmates to our Sunday services on the street
In August I met L. with the goal of assisting his reintegration into the community by accompanying him for Escorted Temporary Absences outside the institution. In the few weeks I knew him he shared with me his faith in Jesus Christ and we had meaningful conversations. Sadly, L. passed away Nov, 28th at the age of 75, having served 51 years in prison. His faith displayed to me the truth of Colossians 1:27, “Christ in us, the hope of glory”. And isn't this a truth each of us as God's children can treasure?
Please pray with us that we will be able to resume facilitating the Alpha course again in the Assessment Unit. It is here the men are new to the prison system and where we have found they are more open to discussion and spiritual interest. These first introductory conversations are often the beginning of a relationship as we follow them to their next institution where they will serve the majority of their sentence.
Thank you for your prayers and partnership as we strive to fulfill the calling the Lord has placed on this ministry. It is our desire to be alert to every opportunity to reach these men with the light of God’s truth and the hope of heaven.
We pray that Christmas will allow you times of extra worship and devotion to our Saviour as you celebrate His birth.
Blessings,
Robert and Susan
Our mailing address is:
Prison Minstry, Kingston
PO Box 20051
Kingston, ON K7P 2T6
Gord Martin - Vision Ministries
Greetings to our brothers and sisters at Wallenstein,
Thank you for the gifet of $250 received by our vmc office this month.
I am very grateful for developments in Ottawa. The weekend before last, Heather and I went there to spend some time with our son Chad and his family. While I was there I also spoke at 3 churches and visited a group of pastors on Saturday morning. Two of the churches I spoke at were Chin churches (a tribal group) from Burma/Myanmar. It's so hard for them to live freely here and know that their family and relatives back home are still in a state of war. It's a war that's been going on for 75 years.
I also had the opportunity of speaking to our new Persian Church there. It's small, and all of the members are from Muslim background. They are meeting at a free Methodist Church. Prior to them agreeing to provide the space for the Persian group I met with the board of the Methodist Church by Zoom. It turns out that two of the board members had a connection with Lakeshore Bible Chapel. One attended Lakeshore as a student and another had a brother who attended Lakeshore as a student!
Last Saturday I met with six immigrant church planters/pastors in KW. We spoke about the challenges faced by immigrant Church Planters and also more explicitly about our diverse cultures. We had a great time together!
Yesterday I spoke to an Eritrean church in Toronto.
These newcomers to Canada have a vibrant faith and are a joy to work with.
Gord Martin
265 Parkmount Dr
Waterloo, ON
519-501-5933
Raul & Jessenia Espinoza - Hope of Bastion School videos
Hope of Bastion School - Sponsorship Zoom Gathering on Saturday, November 26, 2022
Link to the Zoom recording: https://youtu.be/z4DDieinUBg
Individual Videos on YouTube are linked below:
Independence of Guayaquil Festival at HOB: https://youtu.be/xxEa0ERskx0
A day in the life of S---: https://youtu.be/OGmOI9Rqnbg
Junior High Student letter in English: https://youtu.be/zGpRFZFyjAc
The Greatest is Love and Intzy Wintzy Spider: https://youtu.be/6zrSPoVCcT0
Thank You from the School: https://youtu.be/f3_hK4EuSnM
