From Denita

I was not that affected by the video on prostitution and by the trip to Winnipeg regarding homelessness. That's because my father is a pastor in the inner city. I often go to his church and see many homeless people and prostitutes. My father has told me about their stories, which are shocking and devastating. What affected me, however was the video about prisons. I was especially shocked at how the prisoners were treated by the guards and by fellow prisoners. I think it must be very lonely for these people in prison, especially if they cannot see their families. It must be especially hard to be labeled a criminal if you did not do the crime.

Denita

This Ugly World

Looking at this week, someone could say we just learned more about how this ugly world operates, but as a Christian, I learned more and more fully about why dying on the cross as God's Son was the only thing that was going to save this dark world and why we aren't already in heaven; this world needs Jesus and we're the only ones that know Him. The prisoners, prostitutes, widows, orphans, victims of violence, and everyone else that are trapped and hurting need love, but more importantly ultimate love, the agape love, the kind I experience everyday. So why is it so hard to love like that? Because it's inconvenient. Being a Christian is inconvenient. It means I represent Christ, shoes too big to fill on my own, but thanks to Jesus I don't have to because when I'm human, forgiveness is right there and grace and mercy are easily mine. Being like Christ also means my heart, hands and feet have to be in it. The end of Matthew 25 kept coming to mind. Where helping the sick, hungry, naked, imprisoned, etc. is more a commandment than an option. The concept of compartmentalizing came up this week as well. Where I can't compartmentalize my life. Where I'll have sleep time, eating time, relaxing time, work time and then ministry/Christian time. Christ is in all parts of life.
I will never be able to shop the same way again. After spending some time in the mall just looking at the people around me as human beings, too, all who have families and problems, too, I won't ever be able to buy a t-shirt without wondering who made it or seeing the people outside the store and wondering how long they've been sitting there.
Having Hannah Newlin speak to us about where she's been and what she's passionate about was a huge blessing. She reminded me that there is hope. Hope amidst all the disaster.

Our week with Hannah Newlin

Wow!!! I have to say that God really used Hannah to open my eyes to many things in society that i didn't know existed until recently!

First of all, Hannah is such an amazing young woman! She is fun, compassionate, and loves God! She also has a sweet Texan accent! I think she really conected with most of us here at Cross Current because this morning after class we were all like "Hannah don't leave us! u have to come back and teach us for another week!" She said she would if she could but didn't think her boss would let her! but i guess it is the thought that counts! She is also super flexible and easy going when it comes to scheduling cuz some of the stuff that was supposed to happen didn't actually happen due to difficulties.

Anyways, God used Hannah to help me realize all the needy people around me this week! One of the things we talked about this week was human traffiking. To be honest, untill i watched the movie "Taken" i had never known this was happening around me all over the world! It got me thinking and on Monday we watched a movie called "Trade" which was kind of like "Taken" except from the girls point of view instead of the parent's point of view! On Tuesday we watched a documentary on Human traffiking in India with actual footage from the "Red light District" (the name for the prostitution areas). After this I was thinking,"Wow, this could be me!" I was also thinking about how i could help all of these girls because 73.7% of the girls need to be rescued if they are ever going to get away from that life! It just makes me so mad that the government officials know exactly where everything is in this industry but do absolutely nothing to stop the people in charge!

On Wednesday, we talked about prison. I don't know anybody that has ever been to jail so i have never given it any thought before. Prison is hard! Sometimes the guards will beat a prisoner till they die! I just don't understand how they can get away with that and why the government is ok with that! I feel like going to the government or the jail guards and saying,"Hello! Prisoners are people too just like everyone else in this world!" I wish there was no need for prisons/jails!

Yesterday we went into Winnipeg and did two things. First we went to Portage Place to look for homeless people to talk to and give things to if they would accept our gifts! Up until 2 years ago at a youth retreat i had never seen a homeless person up close so i really had no idea what to look for! It was hard because of this and i didn't want to stereotype anybody into being homeless when really they just didn't care about how they looked! I think that maybe if we would be more involved with the street ministry we would've had more luck finding people to talk to yesterday! I hope we can volunteer at UGM or Siloam Mission sometime soon because I really want to learn more about homelessness! The second thing we did was go the head office of Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS). I am familiar with their work because there are men from my Church who have worked with MDS before but i didn't know what exactly they did. I learned that they are still working in communities in the southern states that were devastated by huricanne Katrina! That was 5 years ago when that hit! I also learned that MDS only works in Canada and the United States! The two ladies that talked to us yesterday both had worked for MDS for about 3.5 years now but i think i would've gotten more out of the presentation if they would've been more passionate about their work!

All in all, i learned a lot this week about the needs of people around me and that it is better to help sooner rather than later! I also had a lot of fun! I feel the need to help but i don't know how!

God is moving in this place

He is talking and sometimes we listen, sometimes we don't. This week God was speaking through Hannah Newlin, (our guest mentor for the week). We discussed and touched upon some important , and very controversial topics, such as Human Trafficking, the homeless the jailed the lost and often hard to love. I did a lot of thinking... realizing that as Christians we don't have the luxury of indifference or ignorance toward these things. This week was very uncomfortable, I often at times just wanted to not think about the topic, because it is far easier.
I don't think God wants me to have a easy life. where we take everything we have for-granted.
I believe that my God is calling me to greater things than living the North American life of selfishness. I naturally struggle with this.
This week showed me that my heart was hard, and there is no place for that in the Kingdom of God. I feel challenged and blessed, and am thankful.

God's People

So this week Hannah Newlin came to us from Dallas Texas. She really has a heart for human traffiking, the orphaned, the widow, and for uniting the church. The first day we talked about human traffiking a lot and watched a movie called Trade to help us better understand how it actually works. Now most people might think that I don't have a lot to say about this subject because I didn't say a lot dring the classes. But truth is, I"m just not always super comfortable saying my own opinion in larger groups. The sex trade has actaully been on my mind a lot during my life and I've always wanted to know more about it. It really confuses me. I've always wondered how there can be such perverted people in the world who would allow themselves to take these girls and to do whatever they want with them. I just don't understand that world and how they could have ever come to such a place. I know that in Canada there are not nearly as many girls being traffiked than in other places in the world, but it is still going on around here. It actaully scares me. I've always wondered, what if I was one of them? What if it was me? Would my family still want me back after something like that? Would I want out if it was the only thing that I had ever known? It struck me soo hard to know that about I think it was 80% of the girls who get rescued just go right back into it because they know nothing else and have been soo psycologically and emotionally damaged. This week though also caused me to stop and to think about the pimps who are involved. Not just to hurt for the girls but also to feel for the men who are caught up in this and might have their own reasons for being in something like this and not knowing where else to turn. It also caused me to think that God sees all sin as equal. Raping someone and stealing are equal in God's books. I don't even know how to comprehend that thought but it just really caused me to stop and to change my adjust my attitude towards saved pimps. They deserve forgiveness from us and we can't judge them forever for a past sin that they have committed and repented of. It was really encouraging for me though to hear of all the things that are going on to help get girls out of the sex traffiking. And also to see what they are doing for the grils after they get out and helping them get back on their feet and to develope skills and things like that. It was just really cool for me to hear about a topic that I am passionate about, and what I can do and we as the curch an do to be a light to the world in this situation
On Thursday we then were talking more about reaching out to homeless people and the prisoner, etc. We headed into the city where we went to Portage Place and were able to talk with homeless people there. Me, Nick, and Denita talked to a guy in the mall. We ended up finding out that he was a Christian and well which was extremely cool a well! He told us some things about him life. He wasn't homeless but he was jobless and it was just realy neat to see his faith in how things would work out for him. He wasn't really concerned about finding a job. He was just saying that if it was God's will he would get the job. We had an opportunity to pray for him and I was also able to give him a scarf which would go to either his gilfriend or his girlfriends daughter. They are not Christians so it's just super exciting to know somehow I am showing God's love to people that I don't really know and to people that I will never meet. One passage that we went over a fair number of times is Matthew 25:31-46. It says that "I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something t drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in..." How when we did one of those things for someone we were doing it to God. It's just a really sweet metal image for me. To see that everything we do for one of his people is how we're treating Christ in that moment.
I really enjoyed this week and all the new things that I learned about God's world. The one thing that I think we all need to remember is that even though the problems of this world seem soo overwhelming we need to respond to them as the church. We don't have to go in it alone but think of it as, what can WE do? Something that Hannah said today really hit me and that was something like, we might feel really insignificant as we try to change the world with out little group of people, but frankly, that's the only thing that ever has. I just pray that we wouldn't forget that God is in ultimate control and that he knows what's going on in the world and knows these people's hearts. He's the only one who can truly change them. God just uses us to help complete his plan.

for those of you who are wondering

i didn't take a break cause i was mad, i didn't take a break cause i was sick of you guys, i didn't take a break because i want to punch reese's face in, i didn't take a break for any other reason then i have to rethink why i am attending cross current. am i going for fun? am i going to learn? am i going to serve? am i going because i don't think there is anything else to do? that is why i took a break so i could think outside of the camp about these things and hopefully have answers! and who knows maybe i should stay! maybe i shouldn't. only God knows and i will try my best to hear it.
please pray for me.

Chris

hehe

about the homeless

The first part of this week was really hard to get into. I don't normally like getting out of my comfort zone and going to talk to strangers so I was already sorta stressed out about it. We watched movies and talked about the issues of Human Trafficking and I started to sympathize for other people. But what really made it feel like it was a real issue was our trip to Winnipeg. Going to Portage Place mall made me able to look at what a fricken small bubble that I live in most of the time. Until you go out and see REAL people living their lives, it just feels like another subject that we're talking about. Going out and seeing other people in Portage Place actually made me feel really crappy about how little I do to help these people. I just want everyone to get up off their rich freaking butts and go out and start helping out people that are forced to live in these conditions. I can't believe that we just let people just live with only one meal a day, or no place to sleep at night, or other crappy conditions. We need to change.

This Week

Since Monday of this week we have had Hannah Newlin, a marketing consultant from Dallas, Texas join us as a guest mentor for the Cross Current Discipleship Program that I am currently enrolled in. The center of discussion has been around the passage Matthew 25:31-46 when Jesus describes judgment day as separating the sheep and the goats. Jesus will say to the sheep,

"Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me." Matthew 25:34-36

We have been discussing socially isolated groups that are in need of food, drink, cloths, care and company. As Christians it is our responsibility to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We need to be reaching out to the people that are imprisoned, starving and being persecuted.

During one of our classes we watched a movie that left a deep impression on me. We watched the film "Trade". It was about a two girls, one from Poland and one from Mexico, that were kidnapped by men how sold women as sexual property in the United States. It was an eye opener because human trafficking goes on in North America. We live in North America! It's going on around us! It really makes you wake up and say to yourself, "why the heck am I not doing anything?!" It's a call to action; to be living like we represent Christ on a daily basis.

this fine week at good ole crosscurrent(s)

well... this week was unique in its own way thats for sure! first off a lot of people were snowed in at home till tuesday so we had quite a shortage of students here. That definitely had its pros and cons. I have nothing against any of the missing cross current students but having less was definitely amazing for those 2 days. We watched a lot of movies this week, and for me it was a good refresher of human injustices which I had already forgotten about. Thursday afternoon was a amazing change of pace as we journeyed into the fabulous city of winterpeg. While in winnipeg we did a number of things, including bulk food shopping, pet shopping, starting conversations with homeless people or just random people sitting somewhere in portage place mall. We also watched a video at Mennonite Disaster Service base in the city. It was good to see the their are a lot of different "ministries" that seem to have their heart in the right place. so this week was really good in my opinion because it had some change in pace, we did some service outside of our bubble called winkler bible camp AND we even had a young lady from texas come and hang out for the week with us! her name was hannah

What are we willing to lay down?

This week I learned more information about Human Trafficking, what happens in jails and more stuff about the Homeless. I was reminded about how every life is so important, and how us the church should be caring for everyone and every situation.
It was really hard to learn more about Human trafficking. It was very frustrating and it just bugged me so much with how people can just do such bad things to one another. It made me sick. During this time I thought about the women in these situations, but I thought the most about the men. I thought what kind of situations made them do this to innocent girls? What things have gone on in their lives? Do they have people who love them and care for them, or are they not getting any love? It really bothered me when in the movie “Trade” the police were involved with the Human Trafficking. How can we stop this horrible thing if authority is involved in it? We also heard about how the government when they know information will not just go to those places where they know sex trade is happening, but they will wait for more information and the right time. A life is a life! What do we have to wait for? It’s such a horrible thing for both sides, no good comes from it. My heart breaks for the girls though. I could never imagine being in their situation, taken from the world that they were living. When I think about this situation, I think about how much these people need to loved, and be shown God’s love!We are the church. We need to be praying constantly for the government, the pimps, and the girls. This is such a huge topic, and it’s hard to think about what else I can do here in Canada, but I’m going to start off with prayer.

Another thing which really bothered me this week was hearing about what happens to convicts in jail. There is so much injustice which goes on there. The prisoners made a mistake in their lives which made them end up in jail; that doesn’t mean God doesn’t love them. We all sin, and God loves each of us so much. Why can’t the guards understand that? It was frustrating seeing how the guards would just beat the prisoners and it didn’t really make a difference if one person died, they got their point across to the other prisoners that they mean business. It was just another hard topic to watch, but made me really think.

This whole week has just made me really think about how I treat people. It also made me think about what if I was in the situation of the jailer, prisoner, sex trade victim or homeless. How would I react in those situations? God has given us, the church, the job of caring for people and loving them, just as Christ loves us. I could say are we up to that challenge? But I don’t believe that is the right question, because loving people shouldn’t be a challenge. I believe the right question is, what are we willing to lay down for these people?

this is it!

we watch a movie about trafficking, i think that movie make just really mad and sad at the same time, i felt like i can do nothing about it.
i didn't like the fact that even the authority is involve in it, that there is no way for us to help any of those people.
its insane what is happening to the woman.
we were talking almos all week about this subject, which is not very fun but frustrating and hard to think about.
on the otter side of the coin we have the homeless people, witch also is interesting and more visible for us.
its kind of cool that we get to spend some time in the city of Winnipeg Manitoba looking for this people.
also we try to help giving some articles that they can use, and obviously we take some time to introduce Jesus and talk about Him.
we pray with them and also if there was an opportunity eat with them and share our food.
it was really cool, even if we didn't have enough time but it works well, it was really nice when we pray for them i really like to do this and i hope we get to do this more often with more time.

This week...

This week we’ve been discussing a few heavy topics; our main focus is how to love people. On Tuesday our topic was Human Trafficking, and today we talked about people in prison. After watching the movie Shawshank Redemption I realized how unfairly people can be treated in prison, although they may have done horrible things in their past they still need love. If Christians don’t step into this role will they ever receive love and knowledge of the Saviour? As we dug deeper into these two topics, I became more frustrated about the situations these people live in. I was especially frustrated with the situations of women and young girls who are being sold into sex trafficking. Nobody should have to live through the horror these women and girls experience every day. Why are we not doing more to end this? As I learnt more about the situation I felt less hopeful, but I realized that I am not alone, rather I am one of many members of the church. So why are we not educating the church about issues such as trafficking? Maybe if more people recognized what was going on in this world, rather than pushing away the facts, we as a church body could make a difference! In Matthew 25:35, 36 it says; “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” Jesus is laying out some of the things He will say to us in the end when He will judge us. I know I need to make more of an effort when it comes to loving others as it describes in this passage. Learning about trafficking and prison has opened my eyes and made me ask myself the question, “How can I help?”

this week...

This week we have been talking about frustrating topics. So far we have been discussing the sex trade and prison life. I find the sex trade so frustrating because I feel like there is not much that I can do, because the problem is so big! It hurts me to see what those girls are going through, but it seems like there is no way that it can ever be solved. However watching the videos helped me see that if people work together it can be gradually improved, even if its not immediately solved. Talking about life for prisoners was interesting because I realized how little I think about prisoners. Jesus asks us to visit prisoners, and not only have I never done it, I've never even really considered it. This week has been pretty powerful so far, I hope to learn even more as it continues.

The week with: Hannah Newlin

Some weeks we have topics that push the way we think and our view of the world more than others. This week we have talked about such heart wrentching things as the sex trade and prison life.
This problem when looked at as an individual seems huge and overwhelming. It leaves you with the feeling that it can never be stoped. You think "what can one person like me do about such a huge international problem like the traficing of young girls for sexual explotaion." Really there isnt much one single individual can do about this problem but because were christians we are never alone. There are millions of people around the world that have the same call to stop the abuse like we do. So if we all do a little to stop such actions there will be a big change.

This week we've been talking a lot about what it means to love people. People like prisoners, people involved in the sex trade, widows, orphans... people that Jesus calls us to love as Christians (Matt. 25). We watched a video on Monday about human trafficking. The whole issue just made me feel really angry and helpless. It's sick how girls in that trade are treated, and even worse how people see it happening and turn away. If you don't know girls being taken, or have emotional connections with them, it's so easy to distance yourself from the whole issue. And that's exactly what's happening. People don't see faces of girls being raped and sold into slavery. They don't hear names of girls involved in these horror stories. So people just ignore this issue even if it happens all around them. And what really ticks me off is how the government knows this is happening, and even knows locations and people that are selling children. yet they don't do much. The government doesn't have enough people to go in and take down the traffickers. so they just let this continue to happen. It's more important for them to work on the issue as a whole, then save individual girls. i understand that, but what about the girls that are being taken right now and being raped and sold? Shouldn't we risk everything to help even just one girl? Jesus talks about a shepherd leaving his flock to look for just one sheep.. so why aren't we as christians going after these people? As angry as it makes me, i realized this week that i'm one of those people who distances myself. i don't know people involved in the sex trade, i don't see faces or know names of girls that are stolen or sold, so it's easy for me to be angry at the issue, but not really get involved. it doesn't seem that close to home for me. But that's not how it should be. i shouldn't just ignore what's going on in the world. another thing that struck me this week is how it's easy to love the victims in the sex trade... but very hard to love the people involved in selling, kidnapping and raping them. But really, i'm called to love them as well. Even if their sin seems a lot worse... i'm no better. Thinking about eveything we've seen and talked about this week has really pushed me to think about where i can get involved. There's hurt even in the communities around me here. maybe girls aren't being taken and sold, but there's prostitution, people in prison, homeless people, widows... what am i doing to reach out to these people? why don't i take the time to build relationships with them and just love them?

A few insights from Lloyd Letkeman

Chrispy : Ezekiel 11:19, 36:26. Like Timothy you have a head and a heart. That is, you speak truth in love. The teacher in you loves to research, be curious and play with thoughts. Your heart is soft and you have the capacity for compassion. These two gifts together are very complementary. You can speak to the mind and heart and help others grasp the transformation Jesus has for them. (sometimes teachers are harsh and compassionate people spend their life wounded. Your dual gift will keep you strong for others as you abide in Christ.)

Chris : Romans 12:6, Jeremiah 33:3, I Corinthians 14:3. I see you like a secret service bodyguard. You have an earpiece connected to the control centre. God gifts with you with moment-by-moment strategy. Your role is to strengthen, encourage and comfort others as you listen to God.

Riley & Jeremy: Judges 13, Numbers 6:1-21. Like Samson, I see you as a Nazirite, making a vow to God. Others look to you for a moral compass. Listen and walk in humility. Samson totally screwed up his Nazirite calling. However, if you put the needs of the community before your own, you will fulfill this calling. Nazarites were to demonstrate repentance and be people of peace.

Dave: Proverbs 9:4-6, Ezekiel 2:8. I sense God wants to feed you. There is a connection between your mouth and listening to the voice of God in the scriptures. Maybe it is time to fill-up on the Word, to read, to study and get to know the Bible. The more scripture you know, the greater your capacity to hear the voice of God.