Steve Dykstra

Things I love about Thunder Bay

2007-07-14T15:19:00.000-07:00

People here never drive more than 10 km above the speed limit (except for Southern ON) drivers passing through on the 11/17

Even the kids doing drugs late at night in a corner of the school courtyard where you reside leave politely when you approach them.

The ethnic restaurants: Two Finnish pancake houses and one single Indian/Thai restaurant (are of which are delicious).

The Habitat for Humanity Re:Store, the way it's been totally changed around by YouthWorks volunteers.

The Dutch people who all go to church way out in the country surrounding Thunder Bay, but sho seem to show up everywhere we minister in the city.

The Thunder Bay International Airport--its one terminal, and about three dozen employees; one of whom played Marco Polo with us while we were looking for our Site Director.

The absolutely overwhelming atmosphere of love that resides in The Rock ministry on Simpson St... God lives there, and God is alive there.

Shelter House, and the way they run hard, day after day, to meet every conceivable need of the homeless in Thunder Bay.

Mount McKay, and the abandoned wigwams with char marks at the tops of the logs.

The collection of furs at Fort William Historical Park (esp. the Lynx, bear cub, and wolverine). Also, Basille the tour guide.

Brian at Superior Bowl-A-Drome. Disco bowling parties.

Shirley at Elim CCC -- her batches of cookies, encouragement, and tears of thanks.

Experiencing all these things as part of a team that follows the vision: Jesus also loves this city and desires to redeem and transform every part of this city--every person, street, and neighbourhood.

God be with you, Thunder Bay.

My last 6 months.

2007-06-08T21:03:00.000-07:00

Well, Since it's been since December that I posted, due to some prompting, I thought I'd give an update on... So my last six months, they've gone something like this:

January:
got FaceBook; stopped blogging.
went to a conference on Internation Development at Calvin College.

February:
It was cold, I guess
Had a reading break. Read a lot of books.
Ravi Zacharias! Went to MissionFest; ditched missionsfest, had the sweet time ever in ChinaTown, Toronto.
Started to sit 'strategically' in Byzantine History and World Religion class'

March:
Got a big snowstorm.
Built a big snow-wall.
(Man, I love dorm 13)
Started to 'strategically' attend Out of the Cold, a church dinner program for the community.
Met an amazing man from Japan--please, ask me about him sometime.
Ate some delicious Indian food
Bought some trendy new clothes
Played TONNES of Settlers of Catan
(March 31st... late at night... 'strategic' walk in the park)

April:
FaceBook update: 'strategic' change in relationship status.
Final Exams. Last exam of my undergraduate: ART 103

May:
Live with Timmy.
Clean dorms.
Fall in love with Timmy
Decide that in the fall Steve and Timmy would move in together.
Go home.
Road Trip to Cornwall

....YouthWorks time!
Go to Denver for training.
Go to Toronto.
Go to Hamilton.*
graduate.
now I have a Bachelor of Arts.
see my mom and dad. eat food.
go to Thunder Bay.

Today: Terry Fox museum, and buying a week of groceries for 50 youth.

Now that this update is complete, I am free to post more relevant information.... Or re-post next Christmas.

peace and love.

*apparently, two flights came from Denver to Toronto at exactly 6:40, both operated by Air Canada. One was 90 minutes late. My flight was not. However, when my ride saw that 'Air Canada from Denver to Toronto leaving at 6:40' was late, Tim Hortons coffee (obviously) seemed in order.
This allowed for a taxi ride downtown with a man from Islamabad, and the late night GO bus to Hamilton (which stops at Clarksdale, Bronte, Oakville, Appleby, Burlington, and Aldershott before arriving in Hamilton). Great times...

I Am coming Videos

2006-12-18T18:55:00.000-08:00

video 1

video 2

Video 3

I Am Coming

2006-12-11T14:18:00.000-08:00

IamComing is a very recent advocacy group that has its beginnings in Hamilton but is making huge waves in awareness about the underground human sex trafficking trade. Their plan, as well as raising the profile of agencies who are currently actively involved in fighting the trade overseas, is to go to the U.N. and demand that the sentence for sex traffickers be a mandatory 20 years minimum. Check out their site, watch the short videos, and spread the word. Benefit and awareness event to come in the new year, check the site for continual updates

kicked out

2006-11-24T16:20:00.000-08:00

so, anyways...
long story short --
the power went out at Redemer last night -- then, when the power went back on, the carbon monoxide detectors were going nuts in every dorm... so, they boarded us all up n busses, and we're chillin out the the Mariot hotel...

hot tubs, swimming pool, hotel rooms... freakin' right!

the problem might be resolved tonight, but we might not be out of here for a couple of days...

Copernicus

2006-11-19T20:40:00.001-08:00

one more...

Copernicus

in formless shattered unity
mindful thoughts struggle through restitution

And then there were three
what was shattered is won

I may see your other
if thoughts weren't so cloudy
but what now is made known
has been made known soundly
and I know, and I know, and I know

and, as impossible as it might sound
I know, and I know, and I know

But it's pretentious, indescribable
that a convict's sets you free

Copernican resolution
The moon, stars, and son align in their proper orbits

and it's cloudy; quite cloudy
as thoughtful minds contemplate this conclusion

Prolegomena

2006-11-19T20:20:00.000-08:00

...some poetry I've written for creative writing class.

Prolegomena

when this thing shows, makes known, his frightful' powers
The crowds discuss him 'til he's caged, frustrated
Through Paper Walls, and stale indecriptive discussion
he's left to pace--prolegomena--diluted, dilated

'be free', strained voices cackle on busy streets
my voice among squals of a turgid and murderous hoarde
a flock of ransomed traders, a deafening mass
buy, sell, repeat; we earn our rewards

'Be Free', whispers starving, broken hearts and mouths,
the refuse, hobbling stoned on city streets
the unloved lover, the bald and starving child
To these he says, 'be free; comes in, and eat'

But as of yet, he knocks, and looks to me
I look to prolegomena, diluting, dilating...

I strain, He whipers--'be free'

Fear

2006-11-04T16:39:00.000-08:00

I’ve been reflecting a little bit lately upon just how much of life is controlled by fear. This isn’t some post about some Michael Moore-esque state of the nation, but rather how fear subtly plays a role in my life, in the decisions I make. For example, I’ll be honest, I’m a little afraid of the fact that lots more people might read this because I joined onto FaceBook yesterday and re-connected with literally dozens of old friends in the past 30 or so hours. Fear is why I put on my coolest picture for my profile, and, maybe, the fear of being forgotten is a small part of why I’ve spent the last while searching through lists for people I know (the other reason being obviously that it’s freaking fun)…

But here I sit, about ready to roll to Tom and Sarah’s stag and doe, and I’m a little… fearful, I guess, and I’m struggling through the reasons why.

As point to illustrate, I had a really rather important conversation with an old friend the other night. After a conversation about emotional baggage from 3 years of growing up in school, we made case and point of it by addressing really directly the stuff that’d arisen between us. And as we asked for forgiveness from each other, there was lifting of a real tension, an subtle but real awkwardness that (at least in my mind) had existed between us.

It would have been possible (and possibly far safer) to have lived on without redressing this particular episode in my life, and it would be possible to continue to exist without thinking about past mis-incidences or awkwardness or things of that matter. I hear so many people say ‘live for the moment’, or ‘do what feels right’ – I think that’s bullshit. The moment is made up of a billion pasts that have brought us here, and feelings are the result both of a heart being treated a certain way, and decisions, well, in my life, have been brought on my fear.

Thus, my revelation and resolution: treat people and live a life entirely out of love.
And my resolve? I dunno, I’m kind of scared to do it. I take comfort in this, though:

1 John 16 -- God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love….21And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother[/sister].

BATTER my heart

2006-10-24T08:57:00.000-07:00

While studying for Creative Writing I came across this section of a poem.

John Donne Sonnet 74:

BATTER my heart, three person'd God; for, you
As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow mee,'and bend
Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new.

Who the heck goes out and begs God to batter him? I mean, who really asks for God to come in, and beat the crap out of you? I mean, I'm confortable right now. I'm going to Ottawa tomorrow, I'm sitting in my dorm at my computer after watching some Star Wars and studying meter/versification in poetry?
But these works ache at me. I've watched TestaMovies, seen lectures, and read blogs this week that have affirmed again and again that God moves so powerfully through weakness. I've seen in so many personalities (I can think of four this week specifically) who are incredible leaders, that have had the shit kicked out of them by God. (*cough... I mean, whom God has brought through really hard, tough, crappy times that have fostered incredible growth and inspiring words).
And here I am. Going to Ottawa tomorrow. Sitting at my computer. After watching Star Wars, and studying poetry. (and then blogging about it... what the heck?)... And I don't feel like it's right for me to be masochistic, to beg for some sort of tragedy for me to grow through--I mean, life is really, really hard for some people, and to wish awful things on myself for God to 'grow' me seems entirely insulting, disrespectful to those around me... And while I try to be compassionate (passion = suffer, com = with) for my dorm, my friends, my home church, my school, Milwaukee, Nigeria, Sudan, I still sit here, in overwhelming comfort, wanting to pray this terrifying prayer, while clinging to this good life that I have

Honestly, I need to be broken
Honestly, I need to fall down
Go ahead and shake my foundations
'cuz honestly I'm figuring out
That of all that I have
All that I need is you
Honestly.

Elias Dummer, Honestly

2006-10-15T22:43:00.000-07:00

The label on the plastic wrap of a moist towelette from the Hard Rock Café

To heat:
Microwave for 5 seconds
on low heat.
To chill:
Store in refrigerator

Steve Needs.

2006-10-13T19:05:00.000-07:00

In line with good friends Willem and Katrina, Here is the Steve Dykstra edition of 'Steve needs'

(what to do -- go to Google, type in "[your name] needs", and type in the first ten appropriate responses)

1. Steve needs a doctor ... in the water that brought Sir George up from the depths, here is a little drop of the fetid ooze posted by Steve. ... (That's probably untrue)
2. Steve needs to find a squirrel hitman. Possibly someone with the nickname Squirrel Zipper or Squirrel Burger. (Whatever, I probably have Dan Brinkman is I really need him)
3. Steve needs a new v8-pack function (doesn't everyone?)
4. Steve needs lovin too! Steve needs lovin too! Copyright ©2004, jenna Risinger. (thanks Jenna)
5. Steve needs a good woman -- Google Video (Jenna?)
6. Steve Needs some love.... (whoa... kind of a common theme here; sad for Steve's of the world)
7. Steve needs cannabis to live, even misdemeanor probation would leave him vulnerable to another illegal raid, and he would have no recourse is charged with a violation of probation (Wow... follow the story here)
8. Steve needs a little help here (no kidding... [see above])
9. STEVE needs a JOB, 34 years old, Male, STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK, US, Whose scruffy lookin? (See 4, 5, 6)
10. URGENT: Steve needs the 2 Unit Evals! (If by 2 unit evals you mean an essay, one act play, midterm and presentation finished by Thursday, then you're absolutely right)

...Summer memories

2006-10-11T06:30:00.001-07:00

'Friday's Freedom'

The Chesterville punk scene

2006-10-07T21:27:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm home for the weekend. I left Redeemer (and Thursday night's creative writing class) to drive home with some good friends, and pulled into town at about 12:30 am on Friday. Although it's been wierd to have vegetables and mashed potatoes at a dinner table in the dorm and go home to eating chicken wings and pizza while watching the hockey game on television at home, I do love the time I get to spend with my family.

On Friday night, My brother Dave's band (www.purevolume.com/bananafish) played a show (actually, his lead man put on the show) at the Hall upstairs at the Chesterville Library, in Chesterville Ontario. I decided to go to this show, and it was, well... at once a home-town and foreign cultural experience to me.

(1) I borrowe a squeeze of my bro's cologne, put on my coolest shirt. Although aware I'll only be there for his set (30 minutes) and won't really see anyone I know, I somehow still feel the need to look/smell/be cool in front of these high school-ers. I mean, frig. I'm Dave Dykstra's older brother; I gotta represent.

(while this is all happening, I realize I'm running late... I look at my bright blue/yellow PacMan shirt, realize that everyone else will be wearing black/angry clothes, throw a zipper-hoody overtop, leave my green tea at home, drive quickly to Chesterville...

(2) Three minutes out of town, the 'no gas in the tank' light comes on. Shit. Mentally curse Dave for being so irresponsible, fantasize that when I was in high school I always filled the tank up, ... whatever.

(3) Fill up the tank in Morewood. Two older people are beside me; one is commenting about the 'new-fangled bicycle' his son bought for $2700. They talk in wonder about why he'd want to pay that much and then drive it down a ski slope in Gatineau...

(4) 20 bucks (not even half the tank) later, I'm on my way to Chesterville. Make one wrong turn, then find the grey building surrounded by 14-17 year-olds. Every One of Them... is wearing black. I see a few of Dave's friends (one guy, Duncan, that I treeplanted with)... Pay five bucks at the door. Upstairs there is a kid that I've never seen before, wearing my mother's crossing guard vest and holding my mother's crossing guard STOP sign. This is so surreal... I buy a Pepsi from the 8 year old girl behind the counter, and lean against the wall, zipping the sweater over my blue and yellow PacMan shirt.

(5) It's okay that I was late... I still waited another 40 minutes before they started playing. They call everyone to the front, and there was really nothing seperating the crowd from the band. They start playing, half the crowd listens, the other half just runs around, buzzed by the music (and maybe, whatever some of them may have put in their drinks). The music is pretty good--the drummer has a distinct jazz influence, Dean is great on guitar and unique (but mostly on-key) in vocals, and Dave provides a solid bassline. They're all wearing matching green shirts, and sometime during the set, Dave pulls out a gas mask and wears it (for about 30 seconds, I guess he decided it was too hot). After literally EVERY song, Dean re-tunes his guitar and laments into the mic about how many screw-ups they just did.

(6) Now, I've seen a lot of these punk scene kids around (town, school, with Dave), but I've never seen most of them smile, or really look like they're enjoying themselves. I guess that they do this only at the punk shows. There were a few kids 'skanking' (ska-dancing), and girls were running around finding boys to sign their t-shirts. I just stood around, and really tried to get into the music. For their last song, in true Chesterville fashion, Dean brought out an acoustic guitar (on which he put 6 high 'e' strings tuned all differently); Dave and Des got tamborines, and they sang some strange sort of alternative hillbilly country song. A bunch of these kids, dressed in black anti-authority/pro-anarchy shirts, started hootin' and hollerin', and linking arms and dancing around in circles -- the rest of the crowd was clapping along to the music, loving their country roots.

(7) the show over, I went to congratulate Dave and the band--everyone was in a great mood, laughing and joking around... There were four bands left, all of them punk and heavy metal.

I went home to babysit.

2006-10-04T21:12:00.000-07:00

So, my cool cool friend/personal hair stylist/site director for Thunder Bay last year, April Iguidez (left side, by the wicked blonde spikes) is doing a year-long internship in Milwaukee's North End... She's working with a Health Centre to help transition people form being dependant on social security into getting some employment and housing... She's living in the community for until May; the staff at Milwaukee have got a blog up right here -- check it out, and keep her in your prayers.

white and nerdy

2006-09-26T14:21:00.001-07:00

Awesome!

2006-09-20T06:11:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I went to a rally for Save Darfur -- it was to encoruage the UN (and Canada) to send troops to Sudan to stop the genocide. Romeo DeLaire spoke, and his message was essentially that what's happening in Darfur right now is unfolding to become a 'carbon copy' of what's happened in Rwanda. A Sudanese refugee came up and spoke, too. One of her requests, which I found shocking at all, was that troops from other African nations that some in as peace keepers be tested for HIV/AIDS, so that (and I quote her), "if they accidentally rape some of our women then nothing bad will happen".

Justin Trudeau MC-ed the event, and a few others spoke. To end the afternoon, Bedouin SoundClash played a small set, a really great way to end an awesome afternoon.

Matt Brandsma asked a really perceptive question on the pick-up truck ride home--we were just talking about, well, people at the event, and he basically said, that many of these people are the same as those who are opposed to Canadian troops in Afghanistan; they're the ones that are kicking and screaming, (yesterday on the front of the Spec), saying that since 37 soldiers have died in Afghanistan then we have no right to be there. Well, the last time I checked, Afghanistan was struggling with some pretty significant human rights abuses too. And, kudos to Stevie H., he wants to ensure stability before getting out of there, which we'd all like to see.

2006-09-16T09:23:00.000-07:00

So, last night I went to one of those Redeemer bands nights: Guilty, Good Evening Empire, Reily, and MakeShift Policy were playing-really awesome show, good stuff guys...

2006-09-05T23:25:00.000-07:00

A clip from an email I just wrote that really sums up my night:

So life is good, I feel really great right now. There was about 30 people singing worship jams on a porch so I sang along and played bongos -- later on I smoked 2 cigars tonight (very bad, I know), and my former room-mate Jay came over. We all chilled on the porch and talked about Iraq/Crusades/Bible/pluralism/hitchiking/being broke/life... It was one of those really great moments, really surreal times that just leave you smiling.

Escaping Playboy spirituality

2006-09-02T21:15:00.000-07:00

A gutsy title, but actually a really engaging discussion about our culture of instant gratification in our spiritual lives:

check it out here -- published online by frwy.ca/hive

here are some choice quotes:

Escaping Playboy Spirituality
Written by Nathan Colquhoun
I remember the first time I got 'saved'. I was four or five years old and my parents walked me through the four steps... and then they ordered pizza for me to celebrate. I also remember getting saved about two hundred more times after that initial conversion. Every time I was either re-dedicating my life to Jesus or making sure that it worked. I became gradually more sincere and progressively more sold out each time. I kept getting asked, so I kept answering that I wanted to be saved. I figured that since the desire to be saved was still there that I still could go further and be saved more, or saved better each time.My first pornography experience was equally exciting except I don't recall there being any pizza. It was new and electrifying. I was young, oblivious and went with what seemed right...The desire kept returning[,] so I figured that maybe if I did it just one more time then I would satisfy myself better or feel more complete each time.The further I journeyed into my spirituality, the more I realized that it was almost a direct reflection of what pornography was like. It wasn't until I realized the parallels that I realized that my spiritual walk wasn't as healthy as I thought. Slowly I have been trying to strip away what I saw damaging to my Christian faith and trying to replace it with what I see Jesus doing.

...Spirituality is not a fantasy world that we jump in and out of once a week, it is something we are married to and are part of every day. We can't continue to waver and expect it to last; fulfillment comes with time, energy and consistency with the people we love and in relationship with God. Jesus spent a long time with the disciples.

Escaping Playboy spirituality means practicing discipline and self-control. It means that we no longer will be seduced by the temporal gratifying things of life but will look only to that which lasts forever. It means that we will look to Jesus for water that will never have us thirsting again, instead of the water that leaves us with seven husbands and still unsatisfied.

quoted from http://frwy.ca/hive/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12

currently...

2006-08-30T20:18:00.000-07:00

Again, blown away by Annie Ling's photography -- looking at the Grimsby and Europe pics while listening to 'Everything' by Lifehouse literally took my breath away.

love and faithfulness...

2006-08-30T18:19:00.000-07:00

So yah... I was reading Psalm 85 this week, and there was a verse, verse 10, that keeps striking me, that's really fascinating to me--I've quoted it like, four times in conversation today...

Love and faithfulness meet together,
righteousness and faith kiss each other

I feel like I understand the first part, that (obviously), when you love something you're faithful to it. Whether that is a sport, a hobby, a spouse, a family, God; you're drawn to things that you love, and you come to love things by making an intentional effort to return to them.

And then, in parallel form, being righteous and having faith kiss each other. The Message rephrases it as:

10Love and Truth meet in the street,
Right Living and Whole Living embrace and kiss!

I love this idea, that living 'rightly', properly, the way God planned it will give you the best, fullest possible life. This makes me wonder two things:
1) howcome people that do the stupidest things are always considered to have the best/most exciting/'fullest' life?
2)howcome the stereotypical moral Christian is, well, kinda dull sounding?

does this reflect a false priority of values in popular society and culture, or is it a failure of Christians, who, in an effort to be moral, end up being afraid of really living?

(Even as I write this I find myself disagreeing with this... whatever, I look forward to a comment or two)

currently...

2006-08-29T17:45:00.000-07:00

eating teriyaki experience asian noodles in LimeRidge Mall, Hamilton.
ate entire plate of noodles (except last bite) with chopsticks only.

currently....

2006-08-27T13:26:00.001-07:00

Baking oatmeal cookies in Peterborough, Ontario

currently...

2006-08-24T14:15:00.000-07:00

playing street fighter downtown Ottawa.

so cool

CrossCulture

2006-08-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

where?

Hamilton Place Studio Theatre, Redeemer U/C

when?

September 23rd, 2006; 9 am - 7 pm

what?

worship through service, service through worship.

Crossculture was born out of a few individuals who were challenged by God to really think big in making a difference in their community. The vision was to have a full day of service in the Hamilton community in order to bless the city in which we live, and to give visible and tangible expression to Christ's love for the city. Last April 1st, this vision culminated in 103 students giving up their day to worship and serve the community.

Check out the Cross Culture MySpace, including the CH News video clip filmed last April.

This is an event not to be missed: for sign-up or more information, contact Matt Pamplin at mpampli@redeemer.on.ca, or (905) 648-2131 ext. 4289

Back from camp....

2006-08-19T19:32:00.000-07:00

<--- not a picture of Camp... I wish....

So, I've returned from another summer of counselling at Camp Adonai, the Christian camp run by some incredible people out of the CRC's in eastern Ontario... (My pride was inflated a bit when I was told that whenever 'Camp Adonai' is searched on Google it comes up with my former blog third and fourth on the list)

I had a lot of great bonding time with my younger brother; especially since I've left for university (and my various other summer expeditions), that I haven't had too many really good bonding times with him. Usually I'm either crazy-tired from being at school or work or so sick of being
pleasant to everyone around me, that our friendship isn't what it could have been. However, in a manner far more gracious than I deserve he decided to be a camp counsellor for a week with me.

It was so cool. We were both in the worship band (I played guitar/he played bass), we co-led the campfire songs at night, and we counselled in the same lodge (with the most high-energy ten-year-olds ever)...

Anyways, he's so cool. We jigged together in worship, went completely nuts at campfire (you can't ride my little red wagon...), and worked hard to do Bible studies and get all those kids to bed. His Olympics team came first in camp, this band was the tightest-sounding group I'd ever been part of, and he was invited back to stay for the second week if he wanted to. Let me just say, it was an honour working and serving together with him.

YW in the news...

2006-08-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

During week two, a group of from Chicago came to Thunder Bay and worked with ANC (Action for Neighbourhood Change), planting flowers in the Simpson-Ogden area... (also, Tom's Kid's Club ad)
Students ran a complete spa day (manicures, pedicures, back massages, everything) for anyone who wanted to drop by. The outreach was targetted to homeless women and prostitutes; in total over 50 women showed up.

the homecoming...

2006-08-10T19:30:00.000-07:00

I love my family.

I recieved the best welcome possible. I was awoken at 8:25 in the basement of a United Church in Toronto by my younger brother jumping on me. My dad, brother, and cousin Faith left Ottawa at 3:30 in the morning to pick me up. We returned to my cousin's place, where my entire extended family had been camping the whole weekend. They graced me time enough to give a hug to half the people and take my shirt, wallet, shoes and watch off before throwing me into the pool.

I am home. For the first time in quite a while, I'm at home physically, emotionally, spiritually. And after so long away, nothing feels better than this.
...........
.........
.......
.....
...
.
I leave for camp on Sunday. This time, my brother comes with me.

I will miss you

2006-08-10T19:26:00.000-07:00

To my good friends April Iguidez, Tom Deelstra, Cheryl Johnson, and Kristin Franken. Being a partner in service with you to the City of Thunder Bay has been both an honour and a pleasure... thank you.

in retrospect...

2006-08-10T18:52:00.000-07:00

Dinner Theatre Jazz Night....
Super Bill...
Sunset -- taken by Cheryl

biography: my friend Alazar

2006-08-02T07:01:00.000-07:00

So, throughout my time in the city I've made friends with this awesome guy named Alazar. Alazar is an immigrant from Ethiopia, graduate from University of Toronto, and has been present, for whatever reason, at a local homeless shelter for this past summer in Thunder Bay. However, this guy was more helpful at the site than most of the staff at the shelter. Each morning we were there, this guy would either meet us at the door or in the parking lot (often jokingly demanding passports from the Americans), or he'd be in the kitchen soon after we were, helping us cook the meals. He was really encouraging to all the youth, especialy to our Colorado crew.

I haven't heard nearly as much of his story as I would have liked to... during the course of the summer, he's managed to find a job (ironically, at the 5-pin bowling place that we've bowled at all summer), and get an apartment. His plan is (like every young man in Canada), to eventually head out to Calgary or the west coast and find work down there.

We've invited him out to our regular Wednesday night activities tonight; hopefully he shows up, I'd love to see that guy one more time before we take off....

A little more about what goes on here

2006-07-22T11:33:00.000-07:00

Every Tuesday Night we play a game called the 'Trading Game' -- it's my favourite activity of the week. the Youth are divided into three sections; the chairs are all set out and people's seats (and then their status) are determined completely by chance.

The game runs as follows: each person is given five coloured chips--different colours are of different value--and have to trade with the other participants to get the highest possible score. There are extra points for chip combinations (3, 4, 5 of a kind), and people aren't allowed to trade chips of equal point value. Furthermore, when a pair decides to trade, they must make a trade before they can move on; they can't decide they'd rather not do anything. After the first round, the points are tallied, and, based on how many points you earned, you were moved into a different seat bracket. After the first round each player recieves a sticker that shows how well they placed in the game.... They trade again, and, after the second round of trading, the top few players are invited to leave the room... there, they are allowed to make three new rules to the game, to which everyone has to follow -- the others can suggest new rules, but they have to pss by the highest point-value group for them to be accepted.

The catch of the game is that the chips for different groups come from different bags, and it's very rare that anyone moves up a section, especially when they're labelled with a sticker colour.

The new rules that are enforced by the highest group 'the blues' are the often really outrageous and unfair, and have to do with them carrying up to ten chips, their points being worth double, being able to refuse any trade

Groups react so different when they're introduced to the new rules... this past week all of the lower class 'the yellows and greens' sat down and refused to play the final round. Later on they stole my chip bag and ran away with it. Another week a group banded together in a circle, refusing to trade with anyone. A short 12 year old from blue wanted some of their chips--they threw this guy, one of the most popular guys on the trip, into the circle and started kicking him (he wasn't hurt or kicked hard at all, we were watching it unfold) and not allowing him to leave. Another time we 'arrested' and adult leader for breaking the rules, and people started throwing their chips up in the air in despair. Some people just give up playing, and sit there.

I love this game so much because it's a microcosm of a lot of things that happen in society. Obviously it's exagerated and over-done, but we talk a lot about the truths that are evident in this game. I talk about this homeless guy that I blogged about who was arrested for loitering in a bus station when I was doing basically the same thing. We talk about group mentality, how people react when they're oppressed, why none of them could move out of their 'social group', why the colour groups stuck together.

Then we contrast it with a Bible story found in Matthew -- about workers who are being paid the same despite doing very different work. We talk about how Jesus, instead of looking at what people have earned or what they deserve, looks at what they need -- and the answer to that is their daily bread, a roof over their head, a chance to provide for their loved ones. We talk about what that kind of justice looks like in social structures at school and in their family, what that means for North Americans dealing with poverty in our own cities, what it means globally, the problems inherent with that.

There's never really a solution presented; people leave, some bored with the game, some who've really enjoyed, solme kind of stunned at what just happened. I feel like I really contribute something when this game is played.

bravery...

2006-07-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

There have been some incredible stories of bravery on this trip. The group which came, their worship leader at home just had a little baby girl in the hospital who was having heart surgery as the groups. Our days were spotted with phone calls, website check-ups, and prayer circles for this little girl.

A youth who became a good firned of mine came to Thunder Bay even though his dad was going through chemotherapy and his sister needed surgery as well... His dad was love by everyone in the church, and was going to be one of the adults on the trip before he was diagnosed with cancer. He quietly painted our basement on site for most of the week; he later told me he came because his dad taught him to serve and nothold back, and his dad wouldn't have wanted him to miss this.

A group of our youth, aged 13-16, went to The Rock Worship Centre on Tuesday and Wednesday... they hosted a free spa day for the underpriveleged in Thunder Bay; they spent all day Wednesday washing feet and painting nails of the homeless and prostitutes, a luxury few there have ever afforded. As they left, every one of them was given a rose, and were told that this rose symbolized that they were beautiful, and should never forget that.

a new post...

2006-07-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

Blogs that only update every two weeks are lame-sauce
My blog only updates every two weeks
...
..
.
lame-sauce.

I've had some exhausting jobs in summers past.

Two summers ago I worked at a summer camp for youth from Mexico; we led large groups of them on evening activities every single night and slept on the same dorm floors as them to supervise.

In second year at school I was did Kids Club, H.A., Student Senate, Hammer 05 mission trip, H2O, and Greek class

Last summer I simultaneously did landscaping, soccer refereeing and taught guitar lessons.

In retrospect, all of this was simply preparation for YouthWorks.

Anyways, this is quite literally the first block of time in the last 14 days where I've ben doing something other than working or sleeping. Instead of going out last night, I went to bed at 9:30 to crash for a full 12 hours, and only wake up because of an alarm clock. Today's supposed to be my Sabbath, my day off, because we need to spend Sundays preparing for the group that is to come...

Although the summer is really almost over, we're in the middle of a lot of things right now... We're right in between our two largest groups (69 and 65 respectively), and we're two weeks through our final block of four groups (we had 2 groups before, interrupted by soccer camp... by the way, I saw my star soccer player, Colin, at the grocery store yesterday).

All things considered though, this is an incredible experience. The group last week and the week before were incredibly high-energy, loved to sing and laugh and were ready to work their tails off all around the city. I love this job

2006-07-08T18:07:00.001-07:00

Soccer Camp:

This past week we had no youth attending for YouthWorks, so we volunteered at a soccer camp in a small (town? community? patch of houses?) called Slate River. The pastor there was named Gil, a former teacher at Chatham Christian High, and former coach of my former dorm-mate, Asher Dreise... Small world. The camp was for ages 4 to 11; each group had a country that they represented; my team was Mexico... we were... a lot of things. Goal scorers... is not one of those things. We had a total of one goal for in the week, and many goals against, rounding out the season at an even O and 5... There was one kid on our team, Justin, that everyone loved; he had a quote I won't forget... he said "We're not weally known foe our winning, gowl scoring, or soccer skills.... but we are known for sportmanship!"

Right on, Justin... He inspired our team to be positive right until the very end...

The ending, however, is a story in itself. After being down a few goals, both teams decided to put all the players on at once and have the coached in net, so at least no more goals would be scored. Some kids from Team Germany were making Mexico feel down, so I thought we'd have a waterfight at the end. So, after the game, we gathered the team in, Justin and I said some inspiring words, and we yelled our team cheer as loudly as we possibly could... the intensity was building, everyone was psyched, so I pulled out the water bottle and started spraying kids! Eeryone was laughing, getting their own bottles, yelling... This all lasted about 2 seconds. One guy on my team got really excited, and swung his arm backwards, whaling a girl girl in the teeth. Little girl immediately begins an ear-piercing scream, as blood pours out of her mouth. I start to bring her to the nurse, the team is supposed to shake hands, the kid who accidently hit her's parents were there, they whisked their kids away quickly to avoid their kids being embarrassed, I don't get to say goodbye to about half my team, and it all ends in a pandemonical confusion.

It's Saturday night now, which means another team is coming tomorrow.... we've got junior high in attendance from North Carolina and Colorado.

Oh yah, that reminds me. After soccer camp we drove around and found the Eric Staal's old house, the family sod farm. I would have wanted to go in and ask if the Stanley Cup was there, but there were no cars in the drive-way...

Much love

Steve

good times...

2006-07-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

My team on Canada Day - July 1st, 2006

Last weekend my team went up to Joy (a girl from church)'s cabin on Canada Day. Everyone who owned a cabin on the lake and all of their friends got together for an all-day barbeque/party/time of fireworks. April (2nd from left) and I paddleboated to an island and found an abandoned tackle box and fishing rod... we sat on the rocks, and after casting (and immediately snagging) twice, we realized why it was abandoned. There was a sauna at the cabin, and the lake was cool and refreshing. It was an incredible time... While we were leaving a huge thunderstorm started and it we drove like, 50 km/h the whole way home... awesome times...

pictures

2006-07-05T12:03:00.002-07:00

My dear, dear friend Annie Ling has just posted some choice pictures of her semester at Oxford, England, and her subsequent travels around Europe. This is some incredible photography, and everyone should see it

...an excerpt from an email I sent

2006-07-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

well, we've just finished two weeks of ministry in Thunder Bay. This week there were twice as many kids as the last, and they were much younger than any other group we'd had, so the ministry we ran was, well, different. Some stuff that we'd done exceptionally well in the past drew some complaints, and a few evening activities had a different feel to them. It was still a lot of fun though, man, and after I took my nap I could tell that God really worked in this place.

Thankfully, we've got a whole week off to recover before the next week started. To be very honest, after a full three weeks of this in a row, I feel burnt out and attacked, both physically and spiritually. There were two nights in a row where I woke up randomly every single hour the entire night through, and three times I got random nosebleeds, all of them at really integral parts of the week. (once before the final club and footwashing service , once during a meeting with my boss, another time I think before club again). I was caught being cranky and short; that really frustrated me when the week ended, feeling like I'd given my all but knowing that I ran out of steam too early and that having minor negative consequences.... but after I took my 4 hour nap on Friday I put things into perspective and recognized that there was both good and bad involved and that it wasn't all disastrous.

There were four different groups that came; one group came from the Christian Reformed Church--I felt at home telling predesination jokes that people laughed at and informing them that Abraham Kuyper and I share the same birthday. I will be good to rest up for a day--it's cloudy and rainy here, which isn't really congruent to our 'Canada Day celebration at Joy's cottage' plans. We might rent a movie and watch it in our Freestar (which is the only DVD player we have). I slept for about 16 of the past 24 hours, which is about equal to all the sleep I'd gotten from Tuesday to Friday combined... Life is again at peace...

priceless...

2006-06-21T06:45:00.000-07:00

23 youth
7 adult leaders
300 miles
2 fake french accents (steve and cheryl)
1 broken van
7 hours late
1 false alarm
2 officers responding to false alarm
70 gallons of old paint
3 teens with axes and one broken sledgehammer
2 balls thrown on the roof
1 broken window
______________________

the first 24 hours of YouthWorks Thunder Bay, 2006.

with all of this, everyone has been incredible, relaxed, and we have been on schedule the entire time.
Yah Who?
Yah God!

2006-06-21T06:38:00.000-07:00

--here is a copy of an email that I wrote a about a week ago: I spoke again about justice last night, and it was really awesome--we do this justice simulation game where people are making 'trades' of chips with different point values; some people start of with really low chip values; eventually people are labeled with name tags that show how may points they have... later on, the players with the most points are asked to make up a few of the rules; the game always ends in this glorious chaos, with some people really upset, some people giving up... there was a huge protest, and we kicked a few people out.... LAter on we brought everyone back into the club room and talked about parellels between this and real life... we contrasted it to Jesus' parable of the workers in the field, and how Jesus didn't look at what people did, but what people need, and how this is an entire priority shift for the world...

so yah, this is about frustrations at social inequality rthat I experienced in Winnipeg:
------------------------------------------------
guess where i am now?
i've been living in a church in downtown winnipeg since last friday afternoon... we finally got some youth groups that came for us to work with.... its been a lot of fun; afer 1 week of taining and 2 weks of prep work, i was very ready to start ong what i actualy signed up to do.... there's a group fromminnesota ad another group from iowa; their ages are from between 12 nd 19; they're all great kids, and i'm going to miss them

ive spent the last two mornings in homeless shelters, they've been really inense experiences; i've gotten to reflect a lot aot injustice in the world; se of this stuf makes me so frustrated (allow me to rant a little bit)

i met a kid amed damon yesterday; for hs 18h b-day he got icked ut of his house; he grew up with parents who shot up, left him for up to a week at a time, left needles lying around; he was abused by his dad, rejected by his mom and grandma and stepmom--he's 18, drinks, smokes up cuz it's his ony comfort; he's living on the streets with no freinds or anyone that he knows in winnipeg--he neds a high shool degree to get a job, needs a permanent address to go to school, and needs a job to get a permanent address.
Im realizing how important family is--i should probably hug my parents more

i met a guy today named bradley; he's ben in winnipeg for 35 years; in 94 he was hit by a car and was paralyzed--the driver got out, looked at him, and (maybe cuz he was native?) drove away and left himon the street... he's been in a wheelchair ever since.

this stuff has been hard to unerstand, how i got a good enouh deal to go to university paid for my parents and these be rejected by family, the system, everything... it's really frustrating...

Many days later...

2006-06-13T21:01:00.000-07:00

so i apoloize fr the long lack of blg and for the many typoes that wil be pesent in this email... i'm currently at broadway united church in winnipeg half-way through y first week of youthworks with high school youth. i'm usingthe soundguy's computer and typing on a rubber keboard... serously, this is so wierd, i can fold this thing in half and like, wobble it around and everything... it's not very resonssive though, so i'mhaving a few issues typing...

there's groups here frm minnesota and from iowa; some realy col teenagers... i was at a homeless shelter today ; all that i did was drink coffee and talk to people i'd otherwise never ever meet... I felt really empowered todat ; i've always been abit apprehensive a homless shelters, but i decided that if anyone made me frightened or nervous at first galnce, i'd sit down and talk to them and listen to their story.... i heard some incedible things, things that made me really upset. I spoke with a few aboriginals who grew up on reservations, a german guy who helped fix the statue that's on top of the Manitoba legislation building... too many things to write, a lot of it far too personal for blogging times...

both groups are incredible; the grop from MN is made entirely of 12-15 year olds,mos of them from a small town or a suburb. it's themost fulfilling thing to see their ees open to the problems of the inner city, and to empower them to make a real difference in the community... they're re-oganizing the huge upstairs of a shelter, and they're so excited about geting the job finished. they're done 1 1/2 out of 4 rooms upstairs, and they've unanimously volunteered on their own to stay an extra 3 or 4 hours tomorow to get the job done... crazy inspiring.

i led a justice talk/siulation game today to sho hw poverty is a really hard cycle to break out of. i think it was my first time speaking formally to a group that size (60 pp) ....(other than like, public speaking in grade 8).... it went really well, I eel like the message really presented itself well in the game. Somekids were really into it...

that's all or now; we're driving back to thunder bay Thursday morning; it'll be hard leaving the team before the wek has really come to a conclusion, but i'm looking forward to starting the work that i signed up to do in the palce i signed up to do it..

In A Flash...

2006-06-12T14:28:00.000-07:00

2006-06-04T19:22:00.000-07:00

pictures are posted:

http://tbyouthworks.blogspot.com

The mood is set

2006-06-04T14:03:00.000-07:00

It's challenging to write accurate updates online about what my experience in Thunder Bay is like... some of it is really mundane, and a lot of things I just can't write about because of the nature of them...

Being in Thunder Bay is at once overwhelming and empowering at the same time. There's so much work to be done--as much as we prepare for it it's really hard to envision what running a whole trip for 60 youth that I've never met will look like. I've run two mission trips before, both to Hamilton, but that was with 10-15 fellow university students, and it was really flexible and laid back. As much training and preparation as we've been given, it still feels like there's a big mystery awaiting two weeks from now. Sometime I'm just tired of waiting and feel like they could show up today and I'll be ready, other times I'm stunned by the amount of prep that lays ahead.

My team is incredible--my roomate, Tom Deelstra, I knew from Redeemer. The rest of them are April Iguidez, Kristin Franken, and Sybil Mosley. The atmosphere's been really chill; for better and for worse, everyone's really relaxed about everything; no-one feels like there's any rush to get anything done; our work days may be interupted by a 90 minute back massage line, or a walk to the creek, or just chats. The start of the week was rough, but we've all bonded a lot over the past 9 days...

Last weekend we out to Janssen's farm to visit the treeplanters--it was the strangest thing, driving down a road I've never been in a city i've never been 19 hours away from anywhere I've ever been... to walk into a house and already know every single person in the entire room. It was a really good time; we watched Edmonton beat Anaheim to move on to the finals, and I got to catch up with my good friend Annie Ling, whom I hadn't seen since January (on account of her travels to England).

(There is no Thunder Bay accent. Only a whole city full of people who are trying to talk like Marie Janssens)

The other night we went out to Boston Pizza, and then we drve up to Mount McKay look-out. We climbed from the lookout to the peak... Apparently there's two trails, an easy one that goes around back, anda really steep path with rock faces and steep hills. We only knew of the latter; it was a bit intense for a while (watch for falling rocks!), but at the top we could see the entire city, from the airport to the Sleeping Giant. The sun dropped lower and lower, from a bright yellow in the sky to almost purple as we were halfway back down the muontain again.

Last night we set up the club room, our nightly meeting place... we've got Christmas lights, lava lamps, a charred wooden cross, and some rad red lights; it's perfect. When it was all set up, we slow danced to Amos Lee, took some pictures, and then we jammed out to nineties pop tunes on my guitar, until late into the evening.

The church where we're staying is super friendly. I've never attended a Pentecostal church regularly; it's really, really different from my home church, but it's not something I'm uncomfortable with. There's about 40 to 60 people there every weekend; the few young adults there are especially cool; they're always inviting us to chill out.

This next week will be more focused; we're going to different ministry sites every day, working on a club every night, and on Friday we're driving out to Winnipeg to visit the YouthWorks site out there. We trained with all of them in Toronto, so it should be a really great time.

Toronto

2006-06-04T13:56:00.000-07:00

Being locked inside this church/school all week, I feel like I have no idea what's going on in the world. I got a phone call from Cheryl, our Area Director, who's in Toronto right now... She told me about the terrorists who were caught with tonnes of explosives--they've spent the last few days talking to the American adult leaders of the mission trip kids, talking through whether it's safe to send their kids to Toronto...

In training, when we talked about planning for terrorist threats, the whole Canadian leaders group had a great big laugh because it was so random and unlikely...

I'm just caught off guard by it--they were planning to start this week (today, actually) but I'm not sure if the groups backed out or not

Team Work

2006-05-29T16:42:00.000-07:00

...is challenging.
Tom is way better at it than I am

X-Men

2006-05-29T16:31:00.000-07:00

So here I am, in Thunder Bay again. I've spent the day planning talks, working with ugly carpet, throwing a football around, prank calling both Toronto AND Vancouver YouthWorks sites in the same day (is your refrigerator running? Then you'd better go catch it!)... it was my new roomie Tom Deelstra's birthday yesterday, so we went to East Side Mario's, then went to see X-Men 3 -- I liked it way better than the reviews.

In my mind there's a greyhound station, where I set my thoughts to far-off destinations

2006-05-25T12:12:00.002-07:00

My bus ride was generally uneventful... other than watching two ridiculous movies without any sound (Just Married, Sky High), my bus arrived at about 2:05, 20 minutes before it was supposed to... I still hadn't had any words with the YouthWorks staff, so I looked up the church with the address of 214 Wright avenue in the yellow pages (exhausting), and calkled the church... there was no answer, I still didn't know how I was getting to the church... I called the 1800 number for YouthWorks Canada -- my good friend Melissa Van Dyke answered the phone, and I told her my predicament, that I was in the Greyhound arrivals station, and there was no-one to pick me up (by now it was 2:45ish)... she gave me a few cellphone numbers, and i got a hold of Cheryl, who pronised me that someone was on their way...
so i took out my guitar, and started jamming in the arrivals section, just killing some time. Some security guards patrolled through, and they smiled at me; the older guy hummed 'tears in heaven' to me, and we chuckled a bit... A few minutes into some Dispatch, a homeless man came into the station, looked at me, and sat down across from me... He seemed to pass in and out of consciousness, but his foot tapped a bit to the tune... I tried to greet him, but he gave me a disgusted look and zoned out again. I smiled and kept playing; there were only one or two others in arrivals, and they probably thought that we were both crazy.
I walked around to see if anyone was looking for me (I later find out his name is Brady, now a good friend of mine)... I came back for my stuff (i left it with a decent guy) when i didn't find him. The same security guards were talking to this homeless guy, here is their dialogue:
"buddy, get up"
"get up, or get out"
"listen, man... it's either get out or go to jail. You wanna go to jail? huh?"
*they force him to his feet, he trudges forward... I saw them trying to get him out the doorm and i went to look for Brady again. When I came back, the youngest security guard was holding the homeless mans arms behind his back (cuffing them?), and informing him he was about to be 'federally fucked'... They then proceeded to bring him behind this glass wall, charge him, read him his rights... I assume the original charge was intoxication, but I overheard something about drug solicitation too.
This man obviously did not understand what was happening (whether he was stoned, drunk, or had mental disabilities i don't know [but i can imagine all three may have been true]) -- but i mean, he was treated like total crap by the cops. He was only sitting there waiting, as was I; he caused no-one any trouble. And for his lack of understanding he got sent where? to jail, to be released after a few days.

This is the stuff that I'll be dealing with the next two monthsm trying to communicate that there's real injustice and discrimation in a land with some of the most advanced social care in the world. Furthermore, explain it to suburban kids from the 'land of the free and the home of the brave', where this injustice is perpetrated on a very similar level...

I read somewhere that like, 60% (I don't know, a really significant number) believe that the saying "God helps those who help themselves" is a straight quote from the Bible. I know i'm overgeneralizing, but I think it's a really prevalent attitude in so many churches; we've made our money, why can't they?

(it's 12:45 am -- the car leaves to the airport (for Thunder Bay) at 7 tomorrow morning.

in Toronto

2006-05-25T12:05:00.000-07:00

I've been in Toronto since Monday afternoon now, and I'm flying out to Thudner Bay at 7:00 tomorrow... our site doesn't start for three weeks until after today, so we have two weeks of preparation at our site (trust me, we'll need it)... then for our third week since wqe don't have anyone we're going out to Winnipeg for a week of observation -- then FINALLY after that we will start getting youth at our site... I didn't realize what a huge job this actually is...

I'm at a computer library in Toronto on Roncesville, in the west end of town. We're staying at a United Church. it's very different than what I'm used to -- very liberal... there are like, Yoga classes, massage, spiritual healing centres that also use the building all day... other than being annoyed that we have to stay quiet, I'm not alone in feeling that it has a really eastern/mystical feel to it... When I was reading the little United Church monthly magazine, there was an article about the huge blessing that inter-faith marriages are to our world, because it promotes diversity... I don't know much about the United church (and I certainly don't want to start some vicious rants about it online), but I was feeling some deep reservations about it.

the humble beginning

2006-05-21T20:52:00.000-07:00

Ummm....
my bags are packed and I'm ready to go, I guess. I dunno, what do you write on these travel experience blogs?
I got a phone call tonight that they didn't recieve my travel info. (i'm taking a bus at 9:30, to arrive in Toronto at 2:25, Greyhound bus 662... something. 8, maybe?)
So if no-one's at the bus station, then I have to...find my own way to a suburban church tomorrow.
(*mental note -- get church address)

k, found it -- it's "214 Wright Ave., TOronto"

what, wait a second... check out MapQuest there's totally two different 214 Wright Avenues -- one's close to Lawrence, and the other one is close to the Gardiner ExpressWay...

whatever... I'll figure it out. I emailed like, 3 different people that should be at Toronto telling them when I'm coming into town... hopefully someone'll be there to pick me up...

Great beginnings...

Like a Pheonix

2006-05-19T20:41:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving for Thunder Bay on Monday at 9:30; I'm taking the bus to Toronto, and beginning training at YouthWorks.

For the first while, anyways, this will be the channel to talk about the experience and the dail life of Thunder Bay, ON.

more to come...

God bless, thanks for visiting

Steve Dykstra