Sad Goodbyes, New Beginnings and One Amazing Father!!!

"The Definition of True Love is Sacrifice" - Jason Ma

A quote from Encore's "What Is Love" Drama

Well, faithful blog followers.. our Encore year is officially done. I can't express enough how good our God is.. the places we have been, the people we have met and the opportunities to share our stories has been remarkable.

To answer some of your burning questions about whether VTI is closing/shutting down/ ending..posted below is a statement from the Board of Directors at VTI describing in detail the decisions that have been made in turn resulting in our recruitment team no longer being needed. Here is the letter;

Dear faithful co-workers, friends and supporters of Venture Teams International,

God has done great things for HIS glory through the 32 years of mission and ministry of Venture Teams International. From the ranks of these teams many have continued on foreign fields and on native land, in full time career missions. Many more continue to build into the Kingdom both here and abroad, in their respective workplaces, grounded and in their faith and witness, as the fruit of their time with VTI!

God has brought "thousands" to repentance and faith through the years of VTI’s service, and many more through through the mentoring of the second and third generations of believers and disciple makers.

In the recent years, recruitment and applications for teams have dwindled. Churches are recognizing their unique role of mentoring and discipling their own body members, dozens if not hundreds of organizations are doing what VTI does, and the special niche that VTI filled as a vehicle for facilitating and mobilizing teams has been eroded. The opportunity for Bible college interns to receive college recognized credits for training and practicum's are more widely available.

Given the small organization, smaller teams and maintenance of properties, operational costs have become prohibitive. Multitasking and extraordinary sacrificial service by staff have led to burn out among members of the organization.

The VTI board is concerned about the critical cash flow situation of the organization. To move forward in integrity requires immediate action. In light of this, the board is considering our options and is currently in dialogue with viable established ministries and mission organizations, including those who share the vision of VTI, to come together in some yet to be defined relationship, to address these issues. The goal is to exercise wise stewardship of the present ministry and assets entrusted to VTI, and to deal with the organization’s present financial indebtedness.

Steps have been taken to reduce all costs including staff and the closing of our Calgary office for the immediate consolidation of operations to the VTI training facility in Water Valley. We are limiting our activities until we have a clear direction for the future. We are also considering the future of our training centre in Water Valley. We will update you further as decisions are made and we are able to share these.

We recognize the call and gifting of our staff and would like to release them and bless them to God’s ongoing purpose and plan for their lives. In the financial realities and the uncertainties that are posed in times of transition, the board would value your prayers, that staff members, their families and the faithful supporters that have shared in their, and VTI's ministry over so many years, may know God’s guidance and peace throughout these challenging times.

Signed,

Brian Rushton

Board Chair

On behalf of the board of Venture Teams International

So..I have been asked a few times now.. what does that mean for your last year? Has your labour gone in vain? All those long hours of promoting, doing programs, standing at booths... Well.. my answer after much prayer and seeking the Lord for answers is.... NO WAY!!! The reason why I have been serving and I know Cayla and Cara would say the same thing is that first and foremost for the LORD! He is in control even if we don't understand what He has up His sleeve.. we trust Him so much and as we have said our goodbyes and are now heading our separate directions, we are at peace knowing we reside in His hands and know that He will take us to where He wants us and where we can Glorify His name the most in the days, weeks, months and years to come.

So what's next for each of us? Well.. plans as of right now for each of us are;

-Cayla is currently looking for a summer job and attending an Internship at Mile 0 Church in Grimshaw AB in September.

-Cara is currently looking for a summer job as well and is in the application process to attend Peace River Bible Institute in Sexsmith AB in September.

-And myself, Carmen.. I am currently applying for jobs and planning on attending Briercrest College in Caronport SK in September.

So Lastly, if you could pray for us as we step into the season of change and especially for those involved in the big changes going on with VTI that would be so much appreciated!

You have been great and I have loved every moment of sharing our amazing stories of what God is doing with you. We love you all so much!

God Bless you in your journey's ahead!

Signing out for the last time as Primary Liaison of Encore 17,

Carmen Pahl

Ps. Here are the last officialy Encore pictures :)

Our wonderful host IRENE! :)

Movie Night with Irene!

Cara's last Encore Chalk Art

Cayla and Ed!

Encore with Mike and Michelle.

I fell asleep in yet another movie...

Encore with Mark and Cheryl

Oh the places we have been!

First I must confess that this is not "soon" as I promised, and for that I apologize. I'm not sure that I can summarize everything that we've been doing these past weeks, so I'll just try to hit the highlights, and maybe Carmen and Cara can help me out by adding some other blog entries or something. Here goes...

On Sunday, March 27th, we began our jaunt down to Montana by heading down to Vauxhall, where some of Carmen's extended family lives. We were able to stay with her Grandpa following the Sunday evening program at the church her uncle pastors, and also had a day off at his house on the following Monday. My oh my how wonderful her Grandpa is! :)

Tuesday began our journey into the states. The Jill Hagen band met us at Vauxhall, we loaded the trailer and van with our stuff, and off we went to Elliston, MT! Here's a list of the programs we did around the Helena area (and at Jordan - the guitar player's - church) :

March 30th - Encore & Jill Hagen Band at Lincoln Community Center

April 1st - Encore & Carrolls at skate park in Helena

April 3rd - Encore at Elliston, Avon (morning), and Townshend (evening) Churches

April 5th - Encore & Jill Hagen Band at Deerlodge

April 6th - Encore & Jill Hagen Band at Hannaford Street Bible Church in Helena

April 7th - Encore & Jill Hagen Band at Montana Wilderness School of the Bible

April 8th - Encore & Jill Hagen Band at Great Falls

April 10th - Encore & Jill Hagen Band at a church in Frontier, SK

One of the definite highlights of being in Montana was ministering with the Carrolls - it was so awesome being able to stay with them, and just feel totally comfortable in their home. Another aspect of our Montana tour that we loved was the excitement of the people there, as some people even drove 3.5 hours just for the program/concert!! And those that came really appreciated what we presented. A personal highlight for me was getting to talk to a young man who could really relate to my testimony, and to encourage him and pray for him. If you could remember him in your prayers, too, that would be amazing. :)

Another highlight of our tour was simply being able to hang out and minister with the band. It was really refreshing, getting to tour and minister with other people. Us girls especially had some really great talks, and I know that we were all encouraged by one another. Ministry is tiring, but God has blessed us with one another so that we can pray for and encourage one another to press on toward the goal.

Here are some pictures of our past few weeks:

Well, I'd have to say that's it for now! I hope you enjoyed the pictures of us girls at Wal-Mart, with Carmen's Grandpa, us and Elena Carroll, The Jill Hagen Band performing, Encore doing our "What Is Love?" program, and Encore with the Jill Hagen Band and Dave and Lisa Carroll.

God bless you so much in your ministry, and thank-you so much for your prayers!

Cayla :)

A note of things yet to come...

There are so many things I could write about that it's pretty overwhelming! Therefore I shall just say that we have many stories to tell... that is all. Ha okay maybe not, but I honestly don't have too terribly much time right now (it's late and we haven't really been having early nights lately) so I will simply promise to write as soon as I can! Just wanted to leave you faithful blog readers with a note saying this:

We have not forgotten you, we have many stories to tell, and you will hear from us (me in particular) soon.

That, my friends, really is all. God bless till I tell you about the rest!

Cayla :)

Two weeks and beyond

Well the last couple weeks have had their ups and downs.  Like I had briefly mentioned, my Mom has been diagnosed with cancer.  We still don't have a lot of information, but she now has an appointment with a specialist on the 24 of March (today), and then from there a surgery date will most likely be chosen.  She is doing pretty well so far, but the waiting game is never an easy one.  Your prayers are definitely appreciated.

Seeing as we only had a 2 programs booked between March 8-20th (which is highly unusual, we normally have about 5 a week!), the girls decided to send me home for a bit.  So I got to spend a couple weeks at home in Winnipeg, doing odd things around the house and just relaxing with my family, which was a real blessing.

I arrived back in Calgary Sunday morning, and we got back into the swing of things pretty quickly.

The evening was spent doing our missions program at Bonavista Evangelical Missionary Church, here in Calgary.  We really enjoyed having the opportunity to share with the youth again and see some of our VTI alumni friends there.

Monday and Tuesday were spent catching up on things and hanging out together (Cayla, Carmen, and myself!), and exchanging stories from our time apart.

Wednesday...are you ready for this one...we had an early drive out to Olds, AB where we had 3 programs before 3 pm!  It was an exciting morning, a bit tiring, but good none the less.  The big relief, however, was that we only had a minimal amount of equipment to set up, since one of the schools was very small (only 14 students!) and the other one allowed us to plug into their sound system.  It's always nice when we don't have to haul out and set up our entire sound system, though we're definitely getting quite proficient at it! We were also blessed to visit Ron & Taya (VTI Staff) and their three kids and join them for a delicious dinner, before heading back to Calgary.

This morning (Thursday) was spent at Rocky Mountain College doing a program and sitting in on one of their music recitals and later today we'll be heading out to Carstairs for a youth program.  And lastly starting tomorrow we have a two day breather, before we hit the road again and start heading south (no need to get jealous though, cause we're only going as far as Montana!).

'til next time,
Cara R

Spring?! :S

Well.. the first day of Spring hit pretty nicely this year! Snowing like crazy, half frozen, half melted roads..

Anyways.. A lot has happened over the past 2 and a half weeks. As you may have read about Cara's personal prayer request about her Mom. So she was off to spend time with her family in Winnipeg.

In the meantime, Cayla and I stuck around Calgary for a few days... then her and I ended up heading out to Saskatchewan to hang out at my house and unexpectedly stayed there for a week. During this time we were able to hang out with our former team mates, Jake and Ryan, at Briercrest College, watch Refineded Undignified's "Secrets" Dance, visit my family :) and attend church at my home church, Osler Mission Chapel, along with attending a Family Feud College and Career night Sunday evening. In the meantime we got a lot of work done, e-mails, practice.. more practice.. more e-mails, calling.. the list goes on.. But it was great to just relax in the evenings and take time to just hang out (We don't usually get to "hang out" so it was a good change!)

Yesterday morning Cayla and I attended C3 Church in Calgary and picked up Cara from the airport around 11:45, we had a youth program at a church here in Calgary at 6PM and were able to pick up some groceries! :)

So what's up this week? Here is the list of events;

Today was: An Office Day
Tuesday:Another Work/Office Day
Wednesday: 3 programs;

1) 9:20AM, Olds Koininia Christian School Jr. High Chapel

2) 11:30AM, Olds Koininia Christian School, High School Chapel

3) 2PM Olds Mountain View Christian School
Thursday: 2 programs;

1) 11AM Rocky Mountain College Chapel

2) 6:30PM Program @ Carstairs Youth Club
Friday & Satuday: Days off
Sunday: 7PM Program in Vauxhall AB
Monday March 28th to April 9th: Montana Tour with the Jill Hagen Band :) woohoo!

Well, that's all for now. I hope you are all doing great!
Until the Next Time,
Carmen Pahl =]

Here we go 'round in Edmonton, Edmonton, Edmonton... (and surrounding area)

Where has Encore been these past few weeks?! Why haven't they written on the blog (other than the recent prayer request, of course)? Are they still ALIVE?! If you are asking these questions (or any others), do not fret - you are not alone. I myself have been wondering these same things...

Following the Feb. 17th post (thanks to Carmen, weren't the pics great?!) we did two programs: a morning chapel at Prarie BIble Institute, and an evening youth program at Highland Mennonite Brethren Church. Each program seemed to go well, but unfortunately we weren't bright enough to take pictures... just try to imagine what they may have looked like. :o)

Saturday morning we began our 5-day break! Carmen was able to go home, Cara stayed with our wonderful landlady Irene, and I was able to visit the Sorells! It was a very needed break following our month-long tour, and God really used it to refresh us.

After our break we began our Edmonton and area tour, which brought us back to the Shaw Conference Center for the Alberta Missions Fest. There we were able to once again connect with the other missions reps we've been developing friendships with, so that was great. Each of us had some pretty significant conversations with other people, so we pray that we were an encouragement to all we spoke with during that weekend and that God inspired especially the youth and young adults through us. I know I was especially blessed by the Sunday morning worship service wherein the Pastor didn't preach, but rather had us minister to one another in groups of three. Two gentlemen prayed for myself and my family, and God really spoke to me through them.

One thing that WASN'T so awesome was the fact that Cara's car acquired a flat tire during the missions fest! Fortunately God provided a few helpful men who were willing to help us change

it in the blowing cold (and one without a jacket... yipe!). Praise the Lord for compassionate men, and that the tire was easily fixed... for free! :D Cara's cousin was generous enough to help us out with the tire issue, and all was resolved. I was also able to visit my little sister Celsey and my two adopted bros Mike and Matt at Grant MacEwan one evening, and it was a wonderful goot time. (Pictured above with me)

Monday was spent at West Edmonton Mall for a team day off! We shopped for a while, ate "The Kitchen Sink" at Jungle Jim's, and watched a movie in 3D. If I read my teammates correctly, they enjoyed it as much as I did! I'm looking forward to our next team day off... :)

Tuesday to Thursday was spent traveling to and

doing programs at: Concordia High School, Cornertsone Christian Academy in Kingman, Barrhead Alliance Church in Barrhead, and Strathcona Christian Academy in Sherwood Park. We then attended the Global Connections

Conference at PBI as missions reps.

One of the highlights of representing Christ and VTI at PBI was getting to know a fellow missions rep’s children: Glenna and Josiah. They were such a delight to be with during the conference! We were also privileged enough to stay with Nic and Linda Weins once again. We enjoyed fellowshipping with them over SUPER good food! :D

As Cara wrote, these next two weeks don’t hold a lot of programs for Encore, but we are still working “behind the scenes” in different ways. God knew we needed a bit of a break from traveling to and doing programs at a bunch of different places, so Cara is at home and Carmen and I get to visit her home in Osler this weekend! Please pray for spiritual and physical renewal for the whole team, so that we might represent Christ by loving as He does – unconditionally.

God bless you as you seek Him in your daily lives and strive to share the grace He’s given you with those around you.

Respectfully Yours,
Cayla :)

New Arts Internships Logos!! :D

Prayer Request

We got back up to Calgary yesterday...and I phoned my parents in the evening. I knew my mom was going in for some more tests soon, but I didn't realize that they had already happened on Friday while I was away. The news wasn't good. She has cancer again. They don't have much information so far. It's a bit of a waiting game for now, but she'll most likely be heading in for surgery within the next month or so, depending on the doctors' availability.

It just worked out (God's doing I'm sure) that we only had 2 programs booked for the next two weeks, so the girls (Carmen and Cayla) and staff decided that I should take that time to spend at home. So they sent me on a flight home early this morning. They are such a blessing!

Like I said, the future is still unclear, but Mom is on a lot of vitamins and other alternatives for the time being and we are praying and trusting God.

Your prayers would be appreciated for wisdom, guidance, and strength.  As well as for the ability to trust Him with all of this.
Thanks,
Cara R

Jan/Feb tour is finished! What's next for the 3 C's??

Another tour come and gone! I think I say this every time I write on the blog, but man does time ever go fast! Yesterday was our final day of tour and we arrived to a nice crisp, cold, and frosty Calgary. But before I let you all in on what's happening next for Encore I will just do a quick re cap on our lives for the past 2 weeks!
We started off heading to Providence for the Missio Dei Conference. This was really eventful. Once we arrived we found out we forgot our promotional banner in the back in Calgary, AND the heat in our building was not working and it was minus 30ish! What a crazy start to Manitoba! Yet through everything we had quick solutions to our mad arrival to Winterpeg area. Cara quickly put together a Chalk Art showcasing VTI and we used this for the rest of our time in the area as our promotional banner, as for the cold night, blankets, blankets and more blankets! :) Here we were able to present and do some henna for the students too!

Following Providence was Steinbach. Then came Manitoba Missions Fest, here we met so many great people and met some new friends along the way too, and so many fellow VTIer's; even our booth buddies, Curt and Chryselle!


The next week that followed we went to so many great places, SBC for a chapel, LBE, West Park School, City Church, and Cara's home church ACC. And during this time Miss Cayla Schlamp turned the BIG 21(Feb 9th)!

We had the privilege of celebrating her birthday on three separate occasions, first with GILLIAN at Montana's! If you remember back in October Gillian is our former team mate who got into a big accident, well God is so good and she is WALKING! Praise the Lord!! It was so great to see her and celebrate Cayla's 21st year. Secondly a wonderful singing of Happy Birthday at SBC and thirdly wearing a crazy hat at LBE. We wish her a wonderful year ahead, God has great things for her to glorify HIS son and I can't wait to see how God will use my fellow team mate and sister in Christ for HIS glory. Exciting :) So with that being said Winnipeg flew by and we will miss seeing Cara's parents, Brian and Anne along Cayla and I's hosts the Guille's and their daugther Cheryl!

Our forth "C" for the past two weeks! And finally we concluded tour with a wonderful program at Millar College of the Bible.

Overall God has been so great over this whole tour. We met some amazing people, built great relationships, learnt a ton, and were challenged in many different areas! We really learnt that no matter what happens, HE is faithful and provides what we need to accomplish the work He has lain out for our team, and despite constant personality differences, technology failing, bad driving conditions, forgetting lines and objects and personal struggles we know that the Lord is hold us each up with His righteous right hand and ultimately He loves us! And along with that we know that all things work together for those who love God. We love God and He surely loves us! After all He is the definition of true love right? :)

Thanks again for sticking with us!! My hope for you is that you will constantly be reminded of the fact the God loves you with a crazy love that blows my mind every time I think about it! Nothing you do or say or think can ever make him not love you. He sent His son to die for us.. that's how much He loves us..Unconditionally! In return all He desires is for us to follow Him with all of our hearts and be set apart for Him. That people would see His love through our actions. And I myself and challenged with this everyday I get up, how can people see Christ in me today? What can I do to for others to see Christ in me? God sent His son for me! How crazy is that? Wow..

So as promised, tomorrow we have two programs, one early at Prairie Bible Institute and following at 7pm in the evening, Highland MB Church in Calgary. We then have a 5 day break followed by a week long tour to Edmonton from Feb 25th to March 6th. Then, touring, touring and more touring. Encore will be heading to Montana, all over Alberta and eventually out to Ontario in May.. so stay tuned, we will update you before we head out again. You can also find our tour schedule at www.vti.ca.
Before I close there is just three things I can think of that our team would ask prayer for;
1) For contacts for our upcoming tours
2) Unity as a team
3) Guidance for each of us in the future after Encore
Well, I think I covered most everything, hopefully looking at the length of the e-mail! Wowwy!!
Take Care and God Bless! :)
Until the Next Time!
Carmen Pahl

Manitoba Schedule!

Just to update you on our whereabouts...After our weekend at Break Forth (Edmonton), we spent a quick night in Calgary before hitting the road once again, this time for my home town of Winnipeg, MB. We had good roads most of the way, and arrived in Winnipeg this afternoon (Feb 1^st). For those of you in the Winnipeg area, we would love to see you at one of our programs.

February 2-3 Providence College and Seminary Mission Conference, Otterburne, MB (Look back drama on the 3^rd)

February 4 Steinbach Bible College morning missions chapel (no drama)

February 4-6  Mission Fest Manitoba(Winnipeg)

February 9 (11:30-12 noon) Steinbach Bible College morning chapel (Look back drama)

February 9 (7-8:30pm) Living Bible Explorers youth program (Winnipeg)(What is love drama and music)

February 10 (10-11am) West Park School (Portage la Prairie, MB) morning missions chapel (Look back drama and music)

February 11 (7-9:30 pm) City Church youth program (Winnipeg)(What is love drama and music)

February 13 (10:45-12 noon) Assiniboia-Charleswood Community Church (ACC) morning service (Winnipeg) (Look back drama) and (7:30-9:30pm) L.I.G.H.T. Worship night at ACC (What is love drama)

If you have any questions about locations, times or anything, just drop us an email at: encore@vti.ca

Blessings!
Cara R

Life on the road...

Hello dear friends!

Well we've only been on the road about a week and a half, but it's been a full tour so far!

The C's with Michael Ross Watson

We started off January 20^th for Millar college of the Bible, where we took part in their Missions Conference. The trip there did send us on a bit of an adventure. We ended up getting stuck in some pretty deep snow after being misguided by our GPS and hitting some bad drifts, but with the help of “Pops” (our wonderful driver) and an “angel” in a blue 4x4 truck we managed to arrive safely. Amazingly only about 15 minutes late!

The conference was great! We had a wonderful time getting to know the students and were truly blessed by the speaker, a missionary by the name of Michael Ross Watson. What an amazing testimony! We were also privileged to share one of our dramas (Encore: A creative look back on a year with VTI), and I must admit that it was probably one of my favourite programs so far this year.

From Millar we headed up to Osler, SK (just north of Saskatoon), where we were blessed to stayed with Carmen's family. On the 24^th we presented at Bethany Bible School. It was quite a rough performance, dues to mic issues and odd other glitches, but we were reminded once again that God is fully capable to use us, even when we mess up! And are we sure thankful for that! If it wasn't for God's saving grace, none of us would be where we are today, that's for sure!

From Bethany we drove to Briercrest, where we were privileged to share with some of the students in the huge Hildebrand chapel and for once were were actually trying to spread out our staging instead of minimizing it! It was quite remarkable especially since some bright person decided to do some jack hammering just outside the building. It was a new experience at least, and gave for a good laugh afterward! Jack hammering aside though, we were able to talk with a number of the students as well as even spend some time with Ryan and Jake, two of our former team mates, and Carmen's brother and friend. It's always nice to see some familiar faces in our travels!

Friday made for an early and stressful drive up to Edmonton for Break Forth, because of a “wonderful” thing called freezing rain! Yuck! The Lord was with us all the way though, and we arrived safe and sound, though slightly rushed. The weekend was spent chatting with conference goers, explaining what VTI is about, and enjoying the company of some ol' friends. Unfortunately we weren't able to get in on the sessions, but Carmen and I were able to attend a worship concert featuring Paul Baloche, Brian Doerkson and a few others, which was pretty sweet, and Cayla was able to spend some time with her sister!

Over the last week, we saw quite a bit of interest in VTI, which is super exciting, but also means a lot of follow up, so we'll most likely will be holing up in an internet cafe' sometime over the next couple weeks! :)

Well that's about it for now! Sorry to have kept you all waiting for a while, but spare time is sometimes hard to find on tour.

Blessings,

Cara R

Hi ho, hi ho, it's back to work we go...

Greetings to all of our faithful blog followers! Thank-you for sticking it out during the Christmas lull where you received very little info on the adventures of the III C's. And now, back to our regular programming...

Each of us was so very blessed to have been able to spend an entire month with loved ones over the Christmas season. :) We all feel very refreshed and renewed thanks to some down time and God's Spirit, and are (slowly) getting back into the swing of full-time ministry.

For the short time that we've been back, God has been providing in amazing ways. I found the photos I need for the promo video I'm making, Carmen and Cara have people calling back regarding host schools and churches for our tours, and... (drumroll please)...

WE HAVE A HOME! A very wonderful, generous lady has offered to let all three of us live inher basement during our Calgary/office times. It is such a God provision for both herself and us, as she no longer had a roommate, and we were looking for a place for all three of us to live. Praise the Lord that He arranged this before we were even born! :D

So, what's next? Well, we're in the

office working on our touring schedule and other tour details this week. Though it may not sound that exciting, we're actually quite enjoying it, and I really believe this time is needed before we get into the whirlwind lifestyle of long driving/ministry days and short nights! We've also very recently started to have a Bible study every morning (we've each picked a book of the Bible to lead studies on), and already I can see the difference it's made in our day.

In closing, all I can say is that our God is so good, and He loves us enough to give us good gifts, never mind His only Son! Doesn't that just blow your mind? It sure blows mine. :)

Pressing on in Christ's name,
Cayla for Encore