July, Vacation, Moving, and Planning

Good Afternoon Friends, Family, and Internet Wanderers,

July has been amazing, and has felt so short. It is hard to believe that the slower summer season is already half over, I am not yet ready for September. In July I have started doing a bit of gardening in our church community garden, and most notable the ministry schedule has slowed down a fair bit, to allow for some much needed breaks.

Thanksgiving

As many of you know over the past 8 or so years of full time work I have not had much in the way of vacation. Usually the company would pay out a bit on the cheque and when I did take time off it was regularly for Mission trips with the youth group and the like. So for the first time maybe ever I took some time off the past 2 weeks to rest. This was a much needed break and I was so thankful that the church offers me 3 weeks a year. I was able to take the past two weeks to take in a good portion of Winnipegs Fringe Festival, and see about ten different plays. It was a lot of fun, especially the improv events.

However I did not spend all of my time over two weeks taking in shows, I was also able to MOVE! While not strictly vacation, I was able to take most of last week to slowly move out of my previous house into a knew place, which is much better in almost every way. With the extra time I was able to come every morning from the place where I am house sitting, to take a car load of my stuff from my old place and move it to my new place. This could not have been done without copious amounts of prayer. Most specifically I was able to get access to my new place a week early which allowed me to move all of the small things. And secondly was the availability of family and a few friends to help me move the bigger things on the Friday. This whole process which is often an incredibly stressful one, has been possibly the most positive moving experience of my life. Thanks be to God who has been looking out for me in this, and to all of you for your help and prayers.

One other thing stands out in July and that has to do with my finances. As you know I have a fundraising goal of 10,000 a year to both serve and go to school. In July I hit my goal for this year, and am fully fund-raised (and then some) until past December. I am so grateful for your support in this way, and I have been regularly told by the church treasurer just how amazingly faithful my supporters are. Now any extra donations this year, will transfer over to lower my fundraising goal next year, making that even more manageable.

Thank you so much

Prayer Requests

So as you know I have been house sitting for a couple from my church for the past month. Well about a week or so ago, when I was out at a Fringe show, a car tore through the front yard of the place I was staying. According to the neighbours a car was driving down the street faster than it should have, and a small child darted in front of the car, which swerved up on the curb and through two yards to avoid hitting the child. Both the child and the driver were unharmed, but a good portion of the yard is wrecked. So please pray for the couple I am house sitting for as they get back in a few days from vacation and now have to deal with this big frustration.

Please also pray for me in my new place. This is the first time I have ever lived alone for any length of time, as such there are things which I have always depended on roommates to provide that I need to acquire. Most of it is fairly in-expensive with the exception of some living room furniture. I have previously had more furniture but got rid of some of it when I move and now find myself in need of some solid and affordable furniture, so I can host and invite people over.

Finally with summer half over I still have a lot of planning to do and ministry decisions to make. As with every year the groups will change and new challenges will arise. It is looking like this year our small group will already be a bit smaller and while it is my hope to encourage growth, I want to be mindful of what God is doing and join with it, instead of trying to steer the ship on my own. Please pray for wisdom and direction as I lead the youth and young adults, please also pray for growth both in numbers and in the faith journey's of all who attend.

Thanks and God Bless
- Stefan Klassen