APRIL 2011

This is my very first newsletter since up and joining staff here with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) Urban Ministries Winnipeg (I know, I know, its a very long name). When I meet new people here and they

eventually find out that I am originally from California, they all ask me the same question with the same shocked face, “Why?!?” I simply say that I love Winnipeg, and that it is a truly wonderful city. What I don’t normally tell

them is that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. In this newsletter you’ll find out more about my life and just what it is that I find myself doing here! I hope you enjoy it!

Greetings from Winnipeg!

My family came and visited me for a weekend! (sister Sierra, me, sister Heidi, and my mom!)

Fun in the Sun(a DTS student and me) I love Winnipeg! Outreach team in Mexico

KATHRYN’S NEWSLETTER

Justice Discipleship Training School 2010

From September 2010 to February 2011 I have been staffing my very first JDTS. This was an amazing experience for all involved. We had six students show up from all different parts of the world. Canada, the United States, Australia, Tunisia, and South Korea were all represented! It was an amazing time of spiritual growth and formation. After 3 months of speakers, and a couple of weeks of volunteering in the community, the group headed out for our Outreach portion of the JDTS. We were originally planning on heading down to Haiti, but unfortunately due to the political unrest (and all around danger) we changed our outreach location to Tijuana, Mexico. After a month of playing with children, painting, digging, and more painting we left Mexico and all the friends we had made behind and headed to Winnipeg for the last week of the school. It was an incredible school to be a part of, and I am looking forward to seeing what happens next for all of the students! I’m very excited to see what God has in store for our next JDTS, which begins in September 2011. Until then we will be getting everything ready for the school, and also gearing up for our summer program.

Little Flowers Community

Little Flowers is my community here in Winnipeg. I suppose that doesn’t really tell you much. Little Flowers is a Mennonite church plant that meets in the YWAM house. We meet on Sunday nights, and we begin the evening in a very natural way, with a potluck. After we share a meal together we have a time of learning together. I first started attending Little Flowers in September of 2009 when I was in Winnipeg for my own DTS. It has only been since I have officially moved here that I have been more involved. I have started attending our small group as well as join the

Chiara House is a missional initiative of Little Flowers Community. At the moment it is a very beaten down apartment building that we are in the middle of renovating. What it will do is provide a place for people to live in an intentional, Christian community in the West End of Winnipeg. I can’t tell you how great I think this project is. We have a lot of work to do, but I can hardly wait to see the finished product or the community that it will evolve into! If you would like more information please visit www.chiarahouse.ca

A Story from MexicoDuring my time in Mexico I spent a week in a Migrant camp. When I was living along with these people in desperate poverty, I was continually blessed by their generosity. One little girl took me to her one-room house and introduced my friend and I to her family. The little boy in this picture is her younger brother. He and I had lots of fun together. We played lots of chase that ended in lots of tickling and laugher. My fondest memory of my time in Mexico was a night when I held this little boy and we gazed at the stars together. He would point to the stars and just talk and talk. It was just such a

wonderful moment. My hope for this boy is that he was able to see the Father’s incredible love for him.

Other Things...Something that is extremely important to me is community. It is a huge part of who I am. In an attempt to get to know my own community here in Winnipeg I have been volunteering at a few different places. I help out at a youth group at a church in my neighborhood, and I also volunteer at an after-school program run by a neighborhood association. Both offer a very unique view of my neighborhood, and they also provide a way for me to connect with those around me. At times it can be tough, but it can also be full of incredible relationships and great joy. I’m a fan.

leadership team. At times it can be very challenging. We are such a new community and have so much to figure out, it can seem really daunting to be a part of. At the same time its also very exciting.

Mission Adventures

During the summer, and spring too, we host short-term teams in a program we run called (can you guess it?) Mission Adventures. This program has seen a fair amount of participants pass through it with lives changed in the process. It offers a look at urban missions in the city of Winnipeg. One very impacting ministry that we run is called ‘Roses to Prostitutes’ in which we give roses to prostitutes and remind them that God loves them. Often the participants leave our program seeing the world through a different lens. This summer’s program will be seeing some change that we are quite beside

ourselves with. The previous director (Kim) has passed on her role to one of my fellow staff members (Brenden). With this change of leadership has come a re-imagining of the program. It will take a lot of work, but I’m very excited to see how this re-imagining will improve the program!

I can’t say that I’ve ever felt this alive and passionate and blessed before in my life. In closing off this newsletter I really want to leave you with knowing and believing that. God has been with me every step of the way, and I feel as if he has just been showering me with all things good as we walk together. So I thank you for journeying with me as I try and navigate this thing that we call “life”. Thank you and God bless (seriously)!

Working in Chiara House

Justice DTS 2010

YWAM Urban Ministries Winnipeg Staff(Brenden, me, Jamie, Kim, Lindsey, and Michelle)

If you are interested in financially supporting me please make all payments to YWAM, without 'Kathryn' anywhere on the check.  Please attach a note with my name on it.  Send support or questions to YWAM, PO Box 3000, Garden Valley, TX 75771-3000.

OR if you would like to get ahold of me for any reason or just because: (204) 774-7072 hope.hodge@gmail.com

443 Furby St.Winnipeg, MB R3B 2V7Canada

Blanca, another neighbor from the migrant camp