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

MERRY CHRISTMAS :)

Lots of Love this Holiday Season from "The Three C's" :) Jesus is the reason for the Season!

Nov. 21 till Now!!

Sorry to all you blog followers! It has been a busy couple of weeks and I have yet to have time to blog. Now... I get to blog from the comfort of my own home! I am excited to report that us Encore ladies are on holidays until January 9th, 2011! It was just last year that we left for India and spent the Christmas season in a different culture. It was challenging and really eye opening but at the same time we are all glad to be able to see friends and family this Christmas!

But before I completely go on break I will give you a slight update an the past 3 weeks events!

First after we finsihed tour we took a few days at the lodge and also worked in the office we then went to Glenmore Chirstian Acadmy, Bethal EMC(near Cremona), Brant Christian School, West Zion Church(near Carstairs), Cremona Christian Fellowship, Wycliff Cafe and Carstairs Church of God. Even though we were "done" our 3 week tour.. we were busy!

In between this travelling madness we managed to find some time to just have fun together making cookies that look like our staff members,
taking Helmuth out on a triple date for his birthday and going to the Airdrie festival of Lights!

We also created a new drama with the help of Jamie Popoff, the awesome drama genius we worked with for the first one Encore 17 drama. His insight, passion for the Lord and teachings have been so much appreciated and we were able to finish our program in 3 days!! This program is called "What is Love?". It touches on the real meaning of love and our key text is 1 John 4:7-11... GOD IS LOVE! It is a powerful program full of humor, thinking and a new realization about what love truly involves and the ideas us as humans have about love. I may be a bit bias, but I really like the program, and sometimes I wish I could just watch!

Some of you may be thinking..
What's next for Encore.. Well.. touring.. touring.. office.. office.. touring.. and more touring.. we are doing a lot of promoting VTI, encouraging and inspiring others at Bible Colleges, Chruches, Schools. We are heading out to Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, hopefully Montana and maybe BC! If you would like us to come to your hometown, just call or e-mail and ask for Carmen! I would be happy to try to fit you in Lord Willing!!!

But we would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

We will talk to you all in 2011!! Boy how time flies!

Take Care and God Bless,

Carmen :)

TOUR: Nov. 10-21

Well here is my second attempt at blogging.  Don't you just love it when all your hard work gets deleted?  ...and it almost always happens when you are almost finished!  Sigh, here we go again...

Well we've had an exciting and full tour over the last 3 weeks.  Sorry I've got a little behind on blogging, but I'll try and pick up where Cayla left off.  :)

Our next stop on our travels was Camrose, AB, where we met up with Jill Hagen, who is under the Artist In Residence program through VTI, and her band (Nathan and Jordan).  Linnea Salte also joined our touring extravaganza, as we continued northward to Peace River, Grimshaw, High Level, and La Crete (Cayla's hometown).  It was really exciting to be able to tour with Jill and Linnea.  They are both very talented people with big hearts for God and for sharing their stories and music.  I've added their web sites, so please check them out!  :)

I think Grimshaw was a highlight for all of us.  We had an amazing time of worship and also got to enjoyed the company of some familiar faces.  Kyle and Alena, two of our team mates from last year, were there to welcome us.  (They are both doing internships through the church there.) 

In High Level we were able to do two programs, one for a youth group and the other for the Christian school.  We were also blessed to be able to get to know some of Cayla's friends who live in the area, and seeing as High Level was the furthest north most of us have ever been, decided to commemorate the moment with a picture!  :)

Up in La Crete we were able to present at Cayla's home church, which was pretty amazing as well.  By then we had already been on the road for a couple weeks, and most of us were pretty tired and drained, but despite our exhaustion God worked through us.  So often I'm so amazed at how He works despite our many weaknesses.  We had a wonderful time with Cayla's family, though it was short, before our long drive back down to Camrose.  We spent just under a week with Jill, Linnea and band, but we made many memories and had many laughs!

From Camrose we (Encore) headed over to Drayton Valley, where we were privileged to share with the Christian school as well as a local youth group.  Then we headed over to Wetaskawin where we shared at a mission focus program and finally to Leduc for a Sunday morning service. 

That's just a "quick" summary of our tour, there are many other stories that could be told, but I'll have to leave that for another time.  In closing I will say that we have been thoroughly blessed throughout our travels, and have seen God use us even when we felt we didn't have anything to offer.  Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Two Weeks Come and Gone...

Wow, it's hard to believe that it's been over two weeks since our last post. A sincere apology to all who are faithfully following our blog - I am not as good at keeping y'all up to date as my teammates are! But I will try my best...

We had the privilege of going to Okotoks Evangelical Free church and presenting our

performance to their youth group on Friday the 29th. Dan and Cheryl - the youth pastor and his

wife - were such blessings to us. They encouraged us greatly in what we were doing, and we helped to fill their house with some happy noise. :) We did our performance Friday evening, and then taught the jr. and sr. high students a bit about missions during Sunday school the following Sunday.

On Tuesday (Nov. 3) we left for Nipawin and on the way we stayed the night at Osler, SK where Carmen hails from. We reached Nipawin on Wednesday, and we shared with the Nipawin Alliance youth in the evening. While there we got to connect with our old friends James & Karina and Rhys & Janelle, former VTIers themselves. As crazy as it sounds, we did not take a picture with them. What can I say - we are a little bit lame. Thursday evening was spent with the Neuanlage youth (and some brave adults). They had a wonderful youth group, and we especially enjoyed the youth pastor's two little boys from Ethiopia. Friday morning we presented to the high school students at Valley Christian Academy in Osler, and then we drove to Nipawin Bible College for their missions conference. The staff, students, and missions reps at the college were so friendly and welcoming, and the Lord spoke to some students through us. We had quite a few people who were interested in doing ministry with VTI, so please pray that God would be guiding the right people to VTI for next year's teams. Sunday evening we were able to present at Carmen's home church in Osler, and then hang out with her College and Career group. On Tuesday we went to Glaslyn where Cara's friend Laura is interning as a youth/children's pastor. We had the privilege of playing with the kids and sharing our performance with them, and God worked it out so that our performance related to last week's Bible story. Our God is so good! Last night (Thursday) we performed with Jill Hagen and Linnea Salte at the Prince of Peace Lutheran church. I'm writing this from our wonderful host's house, so hopefully we get a picture so we can show you! :)

Here's a quick outline of our coming week:

Friday: Youth program at Mile Zero Church in Grimshaw, AB

Saturday: Program at High Level Evangelical Free Church

Sunday: Program at La Crete Christian Fellowship Church (MY CHURCH! WOO HOO!!!)

Monday: Program at High Level Christian Academy

Tuesday: Travel to Edmonton, AB

Wednesday: Programs at Drayton Christian School and Calvary Baptist Church in Drayton Valley

Hopefully that's enough information to keep you updated for a while. May God bless you all as you pray for our ministry, and may you be challenged and grown in your walk with Christ.

Blessings! :)

Cayla