noVemBer uPdATe...

NOvEmbER UpdATe... 2009

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support. It has been an interesting couple of months...This fall I have been involved with our weekly Bible Study on Wednesday nights, outreach on Friday nights, and helping out with our church that meets on Saturday nights. My days also consist of keeping our community meals organized and coordinating our food donations that we receive. In between we've been preparing for our annual Source Banquet coming up and I've been spending time mentoring and meeting with and mentoring some of the girls living here.

Our Wednesdays usually consist of staff meetings, staff prayer, and our weekly meal and Bible Study. Friday nights we consistently have been doing outreach through our drum and easels at a local shelter, also hosting art openings, open mic nights, and having our clothes closet and free food available to those who need it during our set times of the week.

For our Bible study we've been going through the book Stomping Out the Darkness and having times to share and pray for another. We've had a combined men and women's Bible study just for the fall and have been able to invite several people who we've been building relationships with from a nearby shelter we visit in the city. An outreach night we had earlier in October we met two young men and a young woman that we invited back to our church service and Wednesday night Bible study. We've also been able to provide food and meals for them through our local food donations we receive. Through this provision they have continued to show up at our doors. It's been really neat because one of the guys is the firstborn of a Somali family, sharing a lot of his story how he's grown up with his beliefs and he has been very open to the God that we serve. We also met a young girl who is actually a believer who is attending college and living at a shelter. It was really encouraging to hear her story and her excitement to be following God despite her challenging circumstances. We've also had a traveling young man and woman in our transitional program that have interacted with Source on and off for the past 12 years. They've had no home for most of their lives, living on the streets and traveling from place to place. They have been involved in the program Bible studies, serving in the community, and working through some things, but have gotten to where we cannot give as much as they need and will sadly be moving back up to Canada. It has definitely been a growing experience and is bittersweet to see them go.

'Our banquet has also been keeping us busy (coming up November 21). It's a time where we share a recap of the year and share what God is doing within the ministry with volunteers, partners, and family-and we get to kind of dress up...something we don't always do around here:)

Along with these stories, we've also had some growing pains the past couple of months. Among the good things that are happening, it has also been very stretching for me to be here during this time. The ministry has been beginning to redefine some things and giving birth to a new church within the ministry of Source. I've also been involved in a small group praying for the direction God is leading our church that meets on Monday nights and has been an encouragement to me. The year has also proven to be struggling financially as a non-profit and having to function on a smaller budget. Some positions have had to be released, yet God has still been providing and calling me to stay. It has also been surprisingly more difficult to be in an environment of interns coming and going and being part of the small group that stays. I also believe God has been calling me to some things I didn't realize I would be doing at first, but I have been doing a lot of praying and encouraging with the staff here just as much as the homeless and traveling people that we see coming through our doors. God has also been stretching me in the voice he has given me and learning to speak more with confidence.

Thank you for your patience in reading through all of this and I just continue to ask for your prayers—I appreciate them very much...and I continue to ask and thank you for your financial support—it has allowed me to be here, and I continue to pray for provision to see me through the next year and a half.

Thank you so much!

p.s.-I will be coming through Columbia, SC December 12-19...please e-mail me if you'd like to get together!

Stacey.