A Christmas Blessing

Written by: Lincoln Li | Outreach Worker in Flemingdon Park

Lincoln Li currently works as an Outreach Worker in the Flemingdon Park community, alongside Nuri Lee. During the month of December, they had the opportunity to share about their ministry with the youth of Chinese Gospel Church Scarborough. 

Unbeknownst to them both, the church was fundraising money to be able to buy Christmas gifts for the families Lincoln and Nuri serve. Lincoln was blown away by the amount that was raised as it exceeded the church's initial goal and being able to experience the willingness and generosity of others was heartwarming. The youth leaders were also blown away by the amount raised and witnessed how God provided abundantly for their goal.

Lincoln and Nuri knew that their kids would be super excited to receive the gifts prepared by the youth group because there were tons of sweets and  containers of their favourite things! Accompanied with the gifts were also other gifts like gingerbread houses and devotionals gifted by various donors. Lincoln expressed how nice it was to witness in person how this partnership blessed not only the families of Flemingdon Park, but also the CGCS youth group in how God provided for them. This was a great reminder that partnerships should also bless and benefit the giver, not just the receiver. It is a way for us to respond and receive through our deepened relationship with God.

A Heart of Thankfulness

By: Lincoln Li | Outreach Worker in Flemingdon Park

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His love endures forever. This phrase can be found in worship songs and various books in the Bible as a theme or a paraphrase. A quick search would lead you to Psalm 107, Psalm 118, and Psalm 136. Personally, my attitude is not geared towards thankfulness, rather it is one of criticism and borderline pessimism. However, taking the time to journal and meditate on a Bible passage does help with aligning my heart towards a heart of thankfulness to God. It also brings me into a place of humility, surrender, and awe. 

If I were asked, “What is something you are thankful for this week?”  It would be easier to think about all the things that went wrong, as opposed to the good. Our hearts are so finicky that we have made a standard of what a good thing ought to be and ought to look like. Anything that falls short of what we imagined to be good defaults to a bad or overall dissatisfaction. It is also easy to miss God’s bigger picture while we focus on our tiny pixel. 

I am thankful for the relationships built at Flemingdon Park through the formal programs that take place there, and also through spending time with the kids and youth during our off times. If I would solely focus on the negatives, here are a few. Through each turnover of staff, there is the inevitable loss of relationships. Through the COVID transitions of lockdowns and going online resulted in further losing a few more relationships with children and families. Due to being online, there was a lack of community amongst the children and youth. Some were less engaged online and some chose not to show up. Lastly, sometimes I wonder how God can grow these kids and youth? 

However, God is good and gracious. He provided for us in terms of children. He has sustained the previous family relationships from previous outreach workers that carried over to us. Through lockdown, we have gotten to know the families a lot better and friendships were created. There were times we reconnected with children and youth that we have not seen in a long while. The children have created their own community when we met in person for day camp this year. Friendships and hanging out continued and now they are all friends with one another. Kids and youth want to come and hang out for after-school programs. Lastly, God has grown our kids and youth. There are a few who have displayed leadership qualities. There are some who have grown in patience and there are some who have grown in their capacity to be kind.  Sometimes, this verse comes to mind despite these situations not being “harmful” and such but just focus on the overall message. “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.’ Genesis 50:20. It’s a reminder of God’s Sovereignty in Joesph’s life, Joseph’s family, and the Israelites, despite the unfortunate circumstances of being sold, imprisonment, and famine. 

Through the big and the small, I am humbled to see God’s hand in each moment, and for that, I am thankful. It was once thankfulness based on results, but now it has changed to a thankfulness that stems from knowing God’s presence in every situation and being content in His Sovereignty.

Summer Highlights 2021

Summer 2021 has been a summer to remember! It’s been over a year since we’ve been able to have Sonshine Day Camp in person and what a treat it was to be with campers, TLC’s and staff! Even though camp days were shorter and there was a limited capacity, staff and campers alike enjoyed the time spent with one another. For 6 weeks, campers learned about God’s grace, forgiveness, love and His view on justice. Campers read about creation, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Jesus’ Death and Resurrection and Jacob and Esau’s reconciliation. Through praise and worship, bible time, games, and activities, campers built a better understanding and foundation of the Christian life. With proper PPE and physical distancing rules in place, relationships between staff and campers continued to build and flourish. Thanks to the generosity of Sparks, churches and families, campers had enough PPE and snacks to last them throughout camp! 

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Throughout the summer, we wanted you to get to know our campers more personally! We made a ‘This or That’ video so that you could learn about what they’d prefer. We also made a ‘Day in the Life of a Camper’ for you to see what it was like to be a Sonshine Day Camper! Check out the videos on our Youtube channel. 

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TCM Summer Interns are an essential part of Sonshine Day Camp. Not only do they plan, prepare and execute camp, but they also work together with staff and volunteers to provide a caring, safe, loving, and fun environment. An environment where they share the love of Christ Jesus through teaching the campers but also through everyday actions. Here’s a story from one of our interns, Gloria from Kingston-Galloway.

“On the first day I met this camper, I thought he was so silly and quite immature. He would constantly bother those around him and get them to chase him around the room. He would express his thoughts aloud and not care how these comments would affect other people. But after a few days/ a week, I saw that he was one of the most mature out of the entire group. Although he did take part in bothering other people, he was never the first to instigate this. And after having discussions with the leaders about his misbehavior, I saw that he really tried to correct his inappropriate actions or comments.

During bible time, he was drawn to the stories and began to ask questions that sometimes caught me off guard. Through him, I saw that God was using our activities to grow this camper’s curiosity towards Him. I was happy that the effort we placed in making the lessons fun and interesting helped him understand difficult concepts and understand God’s love for him/ all of us.

Throughout camp, this camper’s growth paralleled my personal growth as well. He helped me understand that although they are just kids, they still have a concept of justice, happiness, etc. and their misbehaviors are just ways of expressing their innermost needs. Although he was silly at times, I saw him as a leader who took initiative and cared for those around him. I can’t wait to see the person he becomes, or as he told me, a basketball player for the NBA!”

Praise God for all that He has done this summer! 

Rest and Spiritual Pathways

By: Lincoln Li, Flemingdon Park | Outreach worker

What does rest look like to you? Is it taking a day off to sleep in? To go on a nice vacation? Is it spending time with friends or loved ones? For me, I thought those were the things that would give me rest in preparation for me to go back into work afresh and renewed. However, I’d still feel exhausted after all that. I am physically rested, but why do I still feel so tired?

What about spiritual rest? Have you rested enough spiritually? 
Before I share about my experience, let’s talk about Spiritual Pathways really quickly. It’s the different ways you may be connecting with God. There are a total of 9 pathways. To find out which ones are yours, here’s a questionnaire to find out which pathways you use to connect with God! 

The month of September has been surprisingly busy. In the beginning, I thought it would be a straightforward month with the usual kids and youth hangouts. However, turns out there were many social gatherings from meeting different people, to church sharings on top of the afterschool programming. I felt exhausted. It was also not very helpful that the upcoming school year seemed everso daunting since everything was up in the air (no thanks to COVID). Before I knew it, I felt as though I was on autopilot -going through the motions without really being aware of God in the process. Things that once brought joy, brought distress. Meaningful interactions became a chore. Slowly, I felt as though I was burning out. I tried exercising more and sleeping more, but I felt empty. 

We have designated rest and reflection weeks at work, though for me, there was little time to rest due to a backlog of tasks that needed to be done. Still, at least I found peace and stillness during those 45 mins of doing the reflection exercises. God revealed to me the importance of rest. That it’s not just about the fun activities I get to do on a day off, but rather setting aside some quiet time to spend with Him. Whether it was continuing to venture through with the Old Testament reading, journaling, praying, or reading a Christian book (currently chipping away at Case for Faith), it was very peaceful and spirit filling. The reflection exercises also brought about the importance of continually setting aside time to rest in God as something that is part of your day, month, and year. How I interpreted this was carving out time (about an hour) daily, setting aside a day of rest (once a month), and planning a retreat once a year. This intentional aspect of resting also tied in with Spiritual Pathways -one’s most natural way of connecting with God. Mine just so happens to be reading, watching sermons, and listening to podcasts.

By resting in God, I can refocus on where He is in my life and ministry. By resting in God, I can receive His love and also give it more freely and intentionally in areas of ministry, relationships, etc.  As hectic seasons wind down and a new one begins, it is important for me to take time to rest in God’s presence because this year is full of unknowns, which can be emotionally, spiritually, and mentally draining. That is why rest, at least for me, is the thing to remember during this time of ministry.

If you are interested in learning more about resting and slowing down, here are two exercises that helped me.

Exercise #1- A time of reflection

1. What exhausts you or keeps you working past your limits?

2. When and where do you most deeply rest?  Who helps you rest?

3. What is it like for you to set aside time to play? How regular and inviolable is that time?

Action item: Write down what a perfect day of rest and recreation would look like to you.  Is it within the realm of possibility?  Plan when you can take this day or a version of it.

Note: Taken from Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by A.A. Calhoun

Exercise #2 - A time for application

• Watch this clip and download this Rule of Life worksheet (pg. 10 graphic organizer) 

• Fill in the Prayer box with things you can do during your carved out time with God - prayer postures, praying scripture, daily devotionals, Bible study, silence and solitude etc.

• Fill in the Rest box with what you can do to rest each day, each week, each month, and each year.

• Fill in the Work box with the commitments you have at work, church, and with family.

• Fill in the Relationship box with what time you want to carve out for the people in your life.

Crafts At Home!

By: Nuri Lee, Flemingdon Park | Outreach Worker

It’s difficult being at home all the time with nothing to do. I’ve been finding it really easy to just turn on YouTube in all of my spare time to relax and shut my brain off. But at the end of most days, I still feel drained because of the screen I’m always staring at! Maybe you’re also feeling this way. If you are, I’ve created this list of activities just for you so that you could find creative ways to spend your time without looking at screens all day. These crafts are made with simple materials you can find at home, so go take a look around your house, find your materials, and come back to do some crafts :D

Pop-up Cards / Book
Holidays are coming up soon, and if you like to make homemade cards for your loved ones, you can easily take some extra time to make your card look extra fancy. You can follow this tutorial, adding your own personal touches and pictures -- and if you stick a whole bunch of them together, it can even become a pop-up book!

Rock Painting / Colouring
Rocks are everywhere and already made so unique. Pick up some that you like and get painting! You can paint anything you could ever think of -- a creature you made up, your favourite animal, a character you like from a book, a quote you love, the options are endless. If you don’t have any paint at home, you can try using some crayons or coloured pencils. It’ll take some more time but it’ll be just as fun! Here’s a Harry Potter example my little sister made at home:

Leaf Animals
It’s Autumn season -- my personal favourite season. Look outside your door and see all the different shapes and colours of the leaves that fell off the trees. Find some that you like to use in this craft!

This website shows you how to make cute animals out of the different leaves you might find outside. If you can’t find the perfect shaped leaf, you can always use some safety scissors to cut the shape you want. Then, you can stick all your shapes onto a piece of paper to make an animal, or just a nice design! This can be as simple or as complicated as you’d like :)

Flip Book
If you don’t know what a flip book is, you’re missing out! The link below shares information about how to make your own and a video showing you what they are. If you don’t have a sticky note pad, you can always use regular paper that you cut and staple/tape together -- just make sure the paper you cut ends up being as similar in size as possible. With these, you can make any type of action happen on paper now like it’s a movie itself!

I hope you can find something that catches your attention here, and that you can spend the next while having some fun off-screen :) Stay safe!