Spring Has Sprung!
Welcome to my April Newsletter...
I think I say this every time I start a newsletter, but I really cannot believe how fast time is flying by. We are in April, people! The flowers have bloomed, the trees are budding, and birds are chirping away. The sun is shining and in some ways it feels like a breath of fresh air is coming with the life blooming all around. We have been busy little bees at The Dale doing lots of fun stuff. I can’t wait to fill you in!
We have always made it top priority at The Dale to spend intentional time together as a community. However, in the past year or so I think we’ve been trying even more to do fun things outside of our regular programming. We celebrated Shrove Tuesday (the start of Lent) with our dear friends at Christ Church St. James for their pancake supper. It is so nice to be invited to their church for this event, be served pancakes, listen to some songs and mark the start of the Easter season together. That same week we hosted another Open Stage event, where folks in our community can sign up to preform for each other. You can sing, play music, recite poetry, tell jokes… whatever your special talent is. Or you can just watch the show! Keep an eye on our social media for the next one so you can come - we try to have them seasonally! Besides some larger events, we also hosted smaller events like another movie (we watched Mamma Mia and sang the afternoon away).
Erinn got us a grant for this year to do more art together in the form of workshops. We hosted our first one in March with our friend Gil who works at Sanctuary Ministries of Toronto. He is an amazing artist and a lovely person. He taught a few members of The Dale how to make landscape portraits and we painted together for a couple of hours. We are going to be hosting more workshops throughout the year and then having an art show in November to show off what we made at a local gallery in Parkdale. Keep your eyes peeled!
Another exciting update is that The Dale got some new promotional signage LOL We recently purchased a flag, and some magnets for our outreach van! We use the flag on Mondays to mark the main entrance to our drop-in space at 245 Dunn Ave. When we pointed it out during the announcements before lunch people clapped for us! We loved the enthusiasm. We slapped The Dale logo magnets on our outreach van so people can spot us in the neighbourhood and again our folks noticed right away and said it was a great idea! We love looking professional and letting people know where we are - since we are a community on the move after all.
While we have experienced a lot of joy these past few months, there have also been some really heavy things that have happened. In the last two months, three of our precious community members died. Mark, Doug, and Jack each died within weeks of each other. We often say death comes in threes and unfortunately it did. We are reeling over these devastating losses, and grieving with each other. I am grateful that we can walk with each other when there is joy, and that we can hold grief together as well. It is in these moments we need each other so much, so we lean into each other and into the strength of the Lord.
Life at home is very busy these days. As I mentioned in my last newsletter we have to move out of our rental home and into an airbnb for about four weeks due to some renovations taking place. We are getting ready to move on May 4th so we have been busy packing and preparing. I won’t lie, this has been a stressful time. Having such a huge change at home while having hard things happening at The Dale has not been easy. I thank you for your prayers for our family.
I am also really needing to fundraise more if I want to maintain my hours here at The Dale. I am about $850 short of what I need to be fundraising monthly! If a handful of people donated $50-$100 a month (or less if that’s what you could manage!), that would help me so much. I am grateful for the support of you ALL and I would really ask that if you know any friends or church folks that are looking support a missionary (me!) that they get in touch. They can also visit here to donate. Thank you!
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26
Prayer Requests
Prayer for our family as we move for a month in May; prayer that the renovation goes as fast as possible so we can go home!
Prayer for The Dale as we grieve our friends Mark, Doug, and Jack and prepare to hold more funerals.
Prayer that I would be able to find new folks to share The Dale with that could help with fundraising.
This season has been really fun at times and joy-filled, and also really heavy and stressful. We are a people of Hope in the Lord and know that His promises endure forever. However when our friends die again and again, there is no doubt that we miss and grieve them a lot. Change is hard… the change of having someone you love gone forever, and the change of having to move when everyone in your family thrives on routine and the familiar. I am so grateful that I can write honestly in this space with you, and share what has been going on at The Dale and with me. You are all very precious to me, and I appreciate you! Peace to you in this Spring season. May you seek joy in the life that is blooming.