Kathy's Adventures

Coast to Coast in a year

Posted on May 6, 2018 by kmizen

I never imagined that I would have traveled Canada coast to coast in less than a year.

canada_map

Last summer, I was able to go to Newfoundland for the first time, to visit churches and share about Schools of Hope and missions. Right now, I write to you from British Columbia, as I prepare to go into a conference, missions retreat and missions training, all back to back. I feel like I have traveled more since going to Honduras than ever before. I have definitely lived out of suitcase more than I ever dreamt.

Now for some of you this may seem crazy, but it is all a part of my new world. I never imagined going to Honduras would open doors for me to travel coast to coast, promoting and sharing about what I do. I see these as great opportunities for our ministry and I get to have some fun adventures along the way!

Pray for me this week – I am at General Conference for the PAOC and a Global Missions Retreat, both on Vancouver Island. PAOC is celebrating the 100th year of missions so all of us Global Workers/Missionaries are to be in attendance at both of these events. I then go into a week of missions training, called Segue. I attended this before I went to Honduras and will now be taking tier two next week. I look forward to connecting with pastor friends and fellow missionaries over the next few weeks.

An Opportunity To Succeed

Posted on April 14, 2018 by kmizen

Confidence and boosting self-esteem – that is my heart behind our new tutoring program.

I always struggled with math when I was a kid. I hated when our class would do that math game ‘Around the World’ – where 2 students competed to solve a math problem. In high school, I continued to struggle and had one amazing teacher, Mr. Allen, who graciously helped me in Grade 9 math. At the end of the year, after struggling to barely pass the class, he asked me to step down to general math, instead of advanced. I was so embarrassed but knew that I needed to follow his advice. The following year was basically a repeat of the previous year and I ended up getting it the second time around and aced the class!!!

Most of us are embarrassed to ask for help or admit that we struggle. We were noticing that some of our sponsor children were failing grades in school. In talking with the Principals of the schools, they shared that many children struggle specifically in Math and Spanish. I want every child to succeed. Not all of us are math geniuses or scholars, but every child deserves an opportunity to succeed. That is my heart behind our tutoring program.

We are running a pilot project right now with only the Grade 5 & 6 students in 2 schools where our sponsor children are. Our hope is to expand to any children who need it, not just our sponsor children. We also want to help our high school students, as they have been asking for computer and English classes.

One step at a time. I have to keep reminding myself of this. One step at a time.

If you would like to help fund this program CLICK HERE and choose to sponsor a classroom.

Categories: ChildCARE Plus sponsorships, missions, schools, Schools of Hope | 1 Comment

Jesus Loves Me

Posted on April 4, 2018 by kmizen

One of the first songs I remember learning as a child was ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so’. Over Easter week (Semana Santa for us in Honduras), I was listening to this song by Chris Tomlin and these thoughts came to me.

Chris Tomlin – Jesus Loves Me

The most basic truth of Christianity is this – Jesus loves me.
A simple phrase with much truth.
A concept that is taught to children from birth. No wonder Jesus told us that we needed to become like little children (Matthew 18:3). If we could only grasp this simple truth. Even as an adult, there are times I forget this and sometimes I fail to believe it.

Why would God do that? Why children? They are young. They have little understanding and cannot grasp deep concepts of faith and theology. Maybe that’s exactly it! ‘Jesus loves me’ is not supposed to be a difficult concept to understand. And yet… for some reason we make it complicated.

Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.” — Matthew 11:25

As a child, I knew that my parents loved me. I believed it without questioning. I believed that Jesus loved me and had no doubt. I hope that you too will not forget this basic truth. Jesus loves you. In times when I question God’s love for me, I am thankful for this reminder.