Today is Friday, July 11. We have a different schedule today. Able to allow people to sleep in a bit longer and then get some work accomplished.
Keeping to a simple breakfast (e.g., cereal, oatmeal, fruits) and French Toast! that was a nice addition - although I think we used 20 eggs for that batch!
Today we were to do some work around the Cove. Tasks to be done included
- Staining of the deck of the 2nd house to protect the wood
- Waterfront clean up - making sure it is clean and safe for kids
- Weeding and plating around the main house
- Weed-whacking around the property
- Planning games for play days
It was actually quite a warm and hot day today! That can drain a lot out of you when working in the sun. It was good to do some work that was just activity based. Helping to maintain the property is important for the long run. This allows Bera and Bonita to focus on the work of supporting the people. Our support helps them focus there. They will have campers or clients up to the Cove and this is a part of their ministry. When cleaning the beach front, there was a lot of goose poop (A family of geese decided to nest there at first, and we saw them during our time here.) As well, there were some deck screws in the sand due to previous construction. Wanted to make the beach safe for kids!
They often do trail and yard work by weed whacking, but Gabe noticed they had a tractor and a mower. They were trying to get the machinery up and running so that this task would be easier in the future. They managed to get it out of the weeds, but still could not quite figure out how to get it to work. Hopefully Jon and figure this out in the near future (Bonita’s son in law)
Alison and Sandra got to work on the weeding of the area around the house and pulled out a full wheel barrow full of weeds! And that will make it easier to finally plant some nicer plants in the near future.
And the deck is painted (all the spindles and rails, and half the deck itself)
Bethany and Eve worked on getting some more play day games ready for design and building. That was a very productive morning!
We often say that on mission trips we need to be flexible. Guess what… pivot! Another team that was coming up to Thunder Bay Area , with a different missionary, contacted NorthWind. Apparently the community they were coming in to serve at was being evacuated due to the forest fires in Northern Ontario. We can tell there are fires nearby as the air is hazy, and the sun and moon appear reddish. So this team is unable to go up to the community. They will now be working with Northwind. This team is from Kitchener area (Mapleview church). They were due to come in tonight (although will instead come in Sat morning). They will use the other two cabins - we swept and checked that they were ready for them. We will live with shared spaces like the dining hall for a day. As we leave Sunday this will not be a huge issue.
After lunch we took some down time by allowing people to use the lake and water craft (canoes, kayak) or swim and have some free time. It was nice to just enjoy the nature and the Cove. We headed in around 4pm to join with the NorthWind Staff a final appreciation dinner. We ordered in Shawarma and it was a big hit! Enjoy for 50!! We are so appreciative of the staff there and allowing us to come into their space for the week. We have learned so much from them and hope to continue the partnership.
Final task was adult street outreach that evening. A team off 7 adults went out in two groups with staff and volunteers to serve the people on the street. The youth were brought back to the camp to just relax and also begin packing and cleaning. The team returned around 10pm. They met many on the street; seems that there are many more people on the street who are using drugs, addicted to various things, or in prostitution. It is so unfortunate to see people who have to do these things - many times it is to cope with the traumas in their lives. It is unfortunate but Jesus did say we would always have the poor. We can live our lives to help and support as much as possible.
Tomorrow we will take some time to see the area of Thunder Bay. Last day - always hard to say good bye.
We leave Sunday morning for the 2 day drive back home.
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