I Will Put My Trust In Him...

Support raising is definitely my least favourite part of ministry. This is when my shyness comes in full force. It's definitely about character building and not enjoyment. Trusting God with my finances was so hard last summer. I had no idea what He would provide, but He provided abundantly. It still bewilders me to why He would bless me so much, and not only financially, but also in prayers and encouragement. I was completely overwhelmed by it all.

And I here I go again... trust is all I can do... and as always He is providing for my every need. Strength to get through the day and week and the ever present homework insanity. And almost 3% of my support raised in one day! All I can do is praise Him for He has been truly good to me. This year has definitely been the hardest of my life in both good ways and bad ways... but He has been continually teaching me trust because He has plans to do something with my life that are bigger than my understanding right now... so I just have to wait and see what tomorrow holds and trust Him every minute.

♥ Ash

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What Does This Girl Actually Do?!?!?!

So apparently a lot of people don't know what I do with CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship of Ontario). And it's kind of hard to give an answer to that question... and it is not because I don't do anything. The truth is that I do so many different things that I can't really keep track of them all sometimes! :)

I'm going to try and give an answer to this very important question! ;) At least for the school year side of my role!

My main role with CEF is in the innercity ministry with Camp Good News. This includes attending monthly Slingshot Saturdays for the kids. There we just get to know the kids a bit better and provide Christian teaching and mentorship. We also have a lot of fun!! One of our most recent adventures was a photo scavenger hunt where the kids had a blast!


My second role is to mentor a small group out of these kids called LiTs or Leaders in Training. These are a group of older kids that we saw leadership potential in and so invited to a special camp week during the Jr. camp this summer. Recently we had an LiT retreat where we able to reconnect with them and dig deeper into God's Word to learn who we are in Him. I recently got to take a few of them to a teen's conference called Today's Teens, which was a blast and really challenged the girls in thinking about media, culture and dating.

I also help to run an LiT facebook group, which we post discussions and devos on. This just helps us to connect more and disciple and teach the girls because it's very difficult to connect with them any other way. They all live in different areas of Toronto and to get them together is almost impossible so this is the next best thing. Surprisingly, for a facebook group, I've had some pretty positive feedback so far!

My last role is the confusing one! haha. I do a lot of administration type work for the ministry as well. This includes birthday cards for all the camp kids, making flyers, posters and brochures and organizing events. Basically whatever comes up I do. lol. If that makes any sense at all...

I also do a lot of informal things like connecting with the kids frequently over MSN and Facebook. Basically just encouraging them and letting them know that I'm there if they ever need to talk or whatever. I get to know a lot of them better through this and have built some pretty amazing relationships with some of them over the past couple of years just by remaining in contact with them through the school year.

I'm sure that something else will come to me later...lol. But for now that's all... until summer at least. That's when the job description gets about 100x more complicated. And I'm not exaggerating even a little bit!! :)

♥ Ash

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Just Something To Ponder...

This is a quote that I've come back to often in the last year... and so I thought I would share it with you today. This is what I'm definitely feeling coming into ministry this summer.

"Ministry is giving when you feel like keeping,
praying for others when you need to be prayed for,
feeding others when your own soul is hungry,
living truth before people even when you cannot see the results,
hurting with other people even when your own hurt cannot be spoken,
keeping your word even when it is not convenient,
being faithful when your flesh wants to run."

♥ Ash

*40 days to go!

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Why The Change???

Some of you may be wondering why the change of layout.

The basic answer is that this layout is way easier to update and maintain compared to the old one. HTML is pretty tricky sometimes and I feel like we can have more information posted on this layout. Less time wasted on HTML = more productiveness and potentially more posts. PLUS you can now post comments and follow the blog! I think those are some pretty cool positives.

Everything from the old page is here... and actually some of it has been updated too! Thanks for following us! :)

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Just A Taste...

So today was one of those days when I got just enough of a taste of CEF that I can't wait for summer. It was the last day of March Break Camp, so what better to do then show up and surprise everyone! It was wonderful to see some of the kids that I haven't seen since camp last summer. They seriously do grow up so fast... I barely even recognize some of them.

The thing that I will never get over when they see me after all this time is the light that comes into their eyes and the smile that spreads across their face... that's when you truly know that you have made an impact in their life, even though it was small, but enough of an impact to be something special to them. There were a couple of them that almost had me in tears today with an unexpected hug. It makes me want to do more... to show more love... to be the hands and feet of Jesus even more to them.

It was also cool to surprise my LiT and just hang out with them and talk. Today I noticed something that I haven't seen in them very often. There was a passion in their voices as they talked about the skit (Everything by Lifehouse) and it was clear that God is doing something special in their hearts. It's been and still is a long process, but they are learning more and more each time I see them. They are such beautiful young women of God and I truly feel privileged to be able to mentor them and just be a friend to them. I can't wait for the day when they have a post-secondary education, are married and serving God with everything and can look back on right now and see just how God was working in every conversation and every moment... it's going to be awesome!

♥ Ash


These are my gorgeous ladies... and Ivhan too! haha

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COUNTDOWN!

48 more days... and we are EXCITED!!!!!

♥ Ash & Liz

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Way Back In The Day...

Last summer I realized that when I was a young tot... ok not quite that young!... I attended a 5-day club. This realization only came after a former staff member heard where I was from and informed me that she had done a club in Mount Forest when she was a teenager. Good thing I didn't know then that I would be leading a club not too far into the distant future. ;) I might have run in the opposite direction!

The crazy thing is that she actually started the ministry at Lakeshore and was part of forming Camp Good News. Now I have the privilege of working with the kids that she built relationships with and brought to camp. Pretty small world!

Who would have ever known that this is where God would have led us both today?

♥ Ash

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Hmmmm...

Could there be a member #3 added to the team? Stay tuned to find out! ;)

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Introducing...

Elizabeth Berthelet!

This is Liz's 3rd year with CEF, but first as an intern! The past two summers, Liz has been in Northwestern Ontario, the GTA, and Camp Good News as a summer missionary with CEFOntario. She is excited to be the summer co-ordinator this summer and experience ministry in a new way! :)


♥ Ash & Liz

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On A Roll!

So for the past couple of days I have been on a roll with getting caught up on CEF stuff. Yesterday I had a huge amount of inspiration for brainstorming for LiT and it was really cool. I haven't really had much time to really think through where I want to see the program go this summer until now. Plus I was able to catch up on some minor administrative updates for CGN.
Now today I will attempt to finish my application, a brochure for Camp Good News and my support letter!
Can it be done?!?!?! I hope so!

♥ Ash

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Pray

If there is one thing that I took away from last summer, it's the importance of having a team behind you supporting you in prayer. There were a lot of days when I truly was so tired that I just wanted to give up... take a break... rest. But having those prayer partners there praying, encouraging and supporting me definitely gave me strength. I can't even describe the joy you, my prayer partners, have given me! THANK YOU!!
And without any further comment... here's the prayer card for summer 2010! If you would like one, let me know and I'll make sure you get one once they are printed!
♥ Ash

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