A Summer Celebration of Miracles

Last Sunday, under sunny skies and a cool breeze, board, staff, supporters and graduates of Mercy Ministries gathered to celebrate and thank God for everything that He has done over the last year. After enjoying delicious barbequed delicacies and cool drinks, supporters settled in to hear ministry updates from Executive Director Nicola Bartel.

Supporters enjoy a delicious barbecue and each other’s company

Of course the biggest reasons to celebrate are the lives that have been transformed and the hope that has been restored, to broken lives. 8 young women rededicated their lives to God and 7 were water baptized in the last year alone. Graduates (one who came from Edmonton for the occasion!)  and current residents stood to applause for their courage.

Graduates and residents look on in support as Jenn shares her story

2012 graduate Jenn DuLong shared her moving story of freedom, from sexual promiscuity, and an eating disorder through the counseling, care and biblical teaching at Mercy Ministries.  Then she told of a miracle God performed in her life as part of her journey, just as she was beginning to blossom within the security of the Mercy home:

“At 17, I had started having severe panic attacks, and I developed obsessive-compulsive disorder. I was so afraid of germs that I would wash my hands until they would literally bleed; I would never touch doorknobs; I would never shake hands; and if someone at my mother’s house got sick I would go stay with my dad for a couple of weeks until the sickness was out of the house. When I first came to Mercy I had to wear gloves in order to participate in meals and wouldn’t shake hands.”

The Christmas after I came to Mercy Ministries, someone anonymously donated a plane ticket to me so I could visit my family in Nova Scotia for Christmas – I don’t know who they are but thank you if you’re here. At first, I was really concerned about being away from Mercy; however, God surprised me with a very special Christmas present. While I was home, God randomly took away my obsessive-compulsive disorder. Out of no where, I was able to eat without washing my hands, shake others’ hands, and take communion for the first time in over 10 years! I was initially in shock; all I could do was cry and worship God for the two weeks I was home.  Imagine Mercy staff surprise when I came back after Christmas and had a bite of an apple without washing it!”

“The fact that this happened while Jenn was away from the Mercy home is a reminder that, it is God who does the work, not us.”said Nicola after the testimony that followed her report  to supporters. Nicola reported on the many ways God had provided  and worked through Mercy Ministries since the first anniversary celebration last August. Some of the highlights include:

Nicola Bartel Shares highlights from the last year of ministry

• The family of Ed Spence, an enthusiastic supporter of Mercy ministries who passed  away suddenly from a heart attack,  donated money to construct an external building to be used for counselling  and transitional care.
• Mercy Ministries Canada became the first Mercy home to have a doctor who makes weekly house visits.
• A generous businessman donated a second van and paid for the first year’s insurance. Giving us enough transportation to fill the home to its capacity of 20 girls!
• In 2011 Mercy Ministries of Canada miraculously met budget for the first time in its history.

A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. (psalm 11:25)

Thank you for the refreshing you’ve brought into the lives of young women who need Mercy!

Doing the “Impossible” to be her Sister’s Keeper

On Monday June 18th,  Jodi Reimer will join  Pastor John Burns of Relate Church  on his “impossible” 100 hole golf-a-thon to raise money and awareness  for Mercy Ministries of Canada.  This is the third year  she is taking on the challenge, and last year – after she had helped raise $100,000 for Mercy Ministries – Jodi spoke with Idelette McVicker of She Loves Magazine about why she did it.  Idelette describes Jodi as having a grandé heart, and we excerpt her inspiring article below:

Jodi’s grandé heart has now expanded to carry the Hope of restoration and freedom for a whole crowd of young women up and down hills,  determinedly blazing a trail, all the while carrying her own 20-pound load of story.

In her hand

Jodi took over 500 swings of her golf club to raise money for Mercy Ministries last year

Here’s the thing: Jodi is a professional golfer. During a very late night Skype chat Saturday night, Jodi reminds me that this is something she can do. It’s what’s in her hand. “I can golf and I can run,” she says. So, saying yes was a no-brainer when Pastor John Burns asked her to join the second annual golf-a-thon last year.

But since our human inclination is not to jump at the idea of any suffering, even if it’s for a great cause, I asked her: “So what’s the heart connection? Why do you do this?”

Her twenty pounds of story has been heavy, but she doesn’t sidestep the answer. Maybe it’s because we’ve crisscrossed the world together or maybe because it’s simply time to share more of her story, but she moves into it:

“It’s almost like my life has been a series of little Mercy stories,” she says.

She carries a story of abuse as a little girl and then trying to cope through her teenage years. There’s a story of choosing the wrong crowd, hardcore drug abuse and addiction. There’s also a story of friends and a high school counselor who loved her enough to intervene.

“All my little Mercy stories are independent and yet together they form who I am. I can’t help but see girls who are going through difficult and vulnerable situations and think: Thank God there are some people who are going to benefit from a place like Mercy.”

“God’s been gracious to take me along and bit by bit show me His hand through my life,” says Jodi. “I can see on all the different stages of my life how His hand of mercy has been there.”

Then she says: “If you ask me where my heart is and what that heart connection is, I can’t even describe how important a place like Mercy can be to a young girl.”

The 2011 Golf-a-thon team Jodi Reimer, John Burns and Ryan Schwartz

…Back to the big question of why she’s doing it. “It was an opportunity … I’m doing it for the young girls in my world, to know that they’re loved and valued,” says Jodi. “I feel a very heavy sense of responsibility of the whole Sister’s Keeper piece. We are our sister’s keeper. I’m not OK just sitting back and waiting and watching for someone else to step in.

Inspired? 

You can read the complete article and the poem it inspired at SheLoves Magazine,

Wondering what YOU can do?

You can help Jodi and Pastor John by sponsoring their effort. One inspired supporter has offered to match every sponsorship dollar, giving Jodi and Pastor John the opportunity to raise $200.000  for Mercy Ministries this year.

They are receiving sponsorships at www.relatechurch.ca

Here are the Run for Mercy final numbers!

Mercy Ministries of Canada feels like a big, wonderful family for us, and so it’s always a joy to gather together, to catch up on what God is doing in the lives of the Mercy graduates and residents, tell stories, hug each other in real life, and, of course, to run or walk for Mercy!

This year’s Run for Mercy was amazing! Congratulations to all of you!

We’ll have a few stories about the day to share over the next few weeks but we know you’re most interested to hear the numbers right now. We do NOT have final times for all runners yet, only our winners. As soon as we have the final times and all of the photos, we’ll post the link here and on our Facebook page so check back.

Total raised by the end of the day on Saturday: $48,700

Top fundraising team: Congratulations to the Jericho Joggers $6,535

Top Individual Fundraiser Patricia Pearce $5000 – we’ll even have a post from Patricia this week!

Congratulations to all our runners, walkers and joggers and especially to our winners

10k Top Runners

Male

1^st Ian Smith  in a time of 38.55 minutes 

2nd  David Yakishiro

3^rd Glen Murray

Female

1^st Stephanie Musgrove in a time of time 52.01 minutes

2^nd Lauren Doubroff

3^rd Kristin Brown

5k Top Runners

Male

1^st Willy Phiri

2^nd Jason Alcott

3^rd Jordan Elenko

Female

1^st Veronica Fox

2^nd Glenda Lush

3^rd Jade Candle

There aren’t enough exclamation point to express how THANKFUL we are right now! (Well, thankful and TIRED!) Thank you to every one that showed up to run, walk, wheel, and cheer on Saturday. Thank you to our tireless, cheerful, hard working volunteers! Thank you to our staff for organizing such an incredible event. Thank you to our sponsors! Thank you to our donors! Thank you to each one of you that followed along and cheered the Run from afar. What an amazing day.

Donations towards the Run for Mercy will be accepted online until this Friday May 18th at www.runformercy.org/canada2012.

Generosity Lives On

By Nicola Bartel

Nicola Bartel remembers a faithful supporter

Sometimes individuals cross your path that not only have an impact on your life but they inspire you to go above and beyond! Ed Spence is one of those individuals whom I had the privilege of knowing.

Ed Spence was one of Mercy Ministries’ biggest cheerleaders. He first heard of Mercy through  a presentation at his church. Ed was generous and began donating funds  from his personal ministry, collecting bottles and cans and giving to a variety of charities and individuals who were in need. Ed received a copy of “Echos of Mercy” and was so moved, and inspired, we soon became one of the  greatest recipients of his generosity.

The biggest gift to Mercy was Ed’s choice to regularly buy multiple copies of Echos and pass them on to people in his world of influence.  On several occasions, he sent flowers to the girls and staff to cheer them on, and regularly showed up to our events along with his family!

Sadly, Ed passed away suddenly this past December. He has left an amazing legacy behind and a challenge to us all to do what we can to help others. If I can think of a verse to describe Ed it would be John 15:13, “Greater love has no one, than this, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Ed’s extended family has generously donated $10,000 so that we can renovate a small on-site building to be used as our Intake Department.

Ed Spence, with his wife Joanne and mom Connie at the 2010 Mercy Walk

We will have a plaque on the building in  memory of Ed Spence with a scripture chosen by his wife and daughter.  Any left over funds will go towards the building of a gazebo in the back yard for the beautiful residents to use as a shelter from the sun and rain.

Our residents love to read and do their assignments outside in our peaceful back yard. A gazebo would make it  possible for them to do that more often. The men’s group at Riverside Community Church, where Ed attended, has volunteered their time and expertise to build this and to help raise funds to complete a gazebo.

I invite each and every one of you to consider making a contribution on behalf of Ed to ensure we will be able to complete this project, doing our part to give life to John 15:3 by laying down our lives for our friends!

Click here to make a donation today. Request “Gazebo fund” or “on behalf of Ed Spence” to help finish the gazebo for our residents

God-Directed: Director of Counseling, Katy Kaseburg

“I never dreamed I would work somewhere I liked as much as Mercy, but God kept closing doors in my life until I ended up on their doorstep.”

Mercy Ministries’ new Director of Counseling, Katy Kaseburg is still excited about her role at Mercy, three months after filling the vacant position, where she does weekly one-on-one counseling with residents in the Mercy Ministries Home.

Katy’s role is key to helping young women at Mercy break free from the life-controlling issues that bring them here.  She enjoys the individual counseling sessions with Mercy Ministries’ residents, and the opportunity to watch the ongoing changes in their lives as they respond to God through the program.

She remembers one particularly God-inspiring moment as she observed the fruit of transformation in a young woman:

“We had asked one of the soon-to-be grads to choose the songs for the daily worship time. It was a rocking, amazingly blessed time of worship.  At the end, one staff member often closes in prayer, but instead this resident jumped right in, out of our worship, and into prayer over us as a group; asking for God’s blessing over us and thanking him for his unfailing love.

To see her blossom in this small way without any prompting from me was an inspiring reminder that God is doing deep works at every moment that I don’t see.  Makes me grateful that breakthrough and growth come, not from my meagre efforts, but from a perfect healer!”

Executive Director, Nicola Bartel, sums up what Katy’s brings to Mercy Ministries in this way:

“Katy is a woman of patience and grace with a calming presence to residents and staff. She is an incredibly intelligent and elegant young woman which she combines with a playful and warm sense of humour.”

Katy (third from the right) with residents and recent graduates

Katy is originally from Seattle, Washington.  She moved to British Columbia in 2003 to study at Trinity Western University where she has earned both  Bachelor and Masters’ Degrees in Counseling Psychology. Outside of her work at Mercy Ministries, she enjoys hiking and reading.

An Amazing Space!

Its not just the beautifully decorated space that strikes visitors to the Mercy Ministries home.

There is definitely much more to the atmosphere here  than the  modern and thoughtful detail that makes the home so inviting. What makes the home inviting is the Spirit behind every detail.

Nancy Alcorn Spoke about the home and the atmosphere created here in her first visit after it was completed.

The Spirit of Excellence: The home represents a desire to serve women well, to give them the best of what God and His church have to offer. Never serving carelessly or callously; not just the best in terms of furnishings and living environment, but the best in standards, staff and support.

The Spirit of Comfort: The home brings comfort to women who have been uncomfortable with themselves for a long time. The comfortable environment reminds them that they are God’s treasures and that He alone can provide relief and comfort from the pain that they have endured.

The Spirit of Care: The care that went into designing the home and that goes into maintaining the home reflects the care for the young women who come through the doors. Just as much care and more is poured into each young woman’s life. She is carefully looked after and given every opportunity to experience the transforming power of God’s love.

The Spirit of Perseverance: Perseverance is what has turned the vision given to Nancy Alcorn into reality and eventually brought that vision to Canada. That perseverance continues in the vision to see each girl live her life to its full potential. No matter how far from God’s will a young woman has drifted, or how much pain has distorted her life, the staff at Mercy Ministries encourage here to pursue her healing and will persevere with her.

Our first week

We welcomed our first residents last week and let me tell you – it’s been an incredible ride! We can’t wait to tell you more about it. Thank you for your prayers as we reached this key milestone.

When our first residents arrived, it felt like a holy and sacred moment. The tears were close for all of us. Some of the girls cried when they arrived, so thankful to finally be at a place of refuge and safety, eager to cast off the chains that have held them prisoner. They couldn’t get over the real sense of love and peace that just radiates from the home and staff.

It was a busy week though! We were checking in two residents a day, all week-long. Our Household Manager (we affectionately call her the Household Mama) handled it all beautifully. It was overwhelming – not just for the girls arriving but even for us, as a staff. It’s a bit surreal. After 7 years of praying and planning, fundraising and telling the story to ANYONE who would listen, now HERE WE ARE. We’re having supper together, we’re living life together, we’re going to church, counselling sessions have begun. So many emotions, so many details.

But we’ve hit our stride, thanks to your prayers and the support of the Mercy Ministries International team. The program is phenomenal – top-notch counsellors and excellent house staff. But, we don’t know what we would have done without Margaret from MMI who has flown up here from the States several times.  She has 17 years of experience! Not only did she help with staff training and all of the details of running the program but her spiritual guidance and wisdom is phenomenal. She’s a true woman of God with great insight.  Man, that woman can pray! Truthfully, the more I get to know our staff, the more I realise that we have mighty men and women of God working here.

Everyone is feeling settled in, quickly finding their routine and engaging well with their counsellors and leaders.

I almost had to pinch myself when I was sitting in my office, working away, and suddenly in the Classroom down the hall, I could hear all of the girls singing praises, lifting their voices in worship. It was one of the sweetest sounds I’ve ever heard in my life. It gave me chills – there is such power in worship.  Everyone I spoke with has talked about how much they love our community Bible reading times. We gather together to read the Word, discuss it and, as a home, proclaim the promises of God. In so many of the girls, they are learning for the first time that God LOVES them and has a plan and purpose for their life!

The girls have such a hunger for the Word, such a hunger to be set free and they are turning to Jesus more and more. It’s these moments, when the girls are starting to see themselves as God sees them, when they get a glimpse of freedom, when a breakthrough – no matter how seemingly small or inconsequential – happens, that we realise afresh that seeds are being sown here that will bloom for generations.

The Mercy girls are so precious. I wish I could communicate with you how much we love them – how unique and lovely each one of them are to us. We know that God has brought them here, for such a time as this, and our primary emotion so far is gratitude. We’re so thankful that this is really happening, that the girls are settling in so well, that things are going so smoothly. We’re thankful for all of our friends, supporters and Treasure Builders that are making this miracle possible.

Is there anything that you would like to know about our first week? Have you been praying for our first week?  Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Grace and peace,

Sarah