THE OCTOBER RECAP The Fall Review Winter is coming! I hope this isn't a shocking revelation; in fact just this morning I was walking to work in a slight bit of snow. What's more, it isn't the first time I've walked to work in snow! Winter is coming. However, in an effort to hold winter back just a little bit, let's takes some time to celebrate some of what happened this past summer at camp and a few things God has done throughout the Fall season.      I am often asked what my job looks like throughout the year and every time I take the question as an opportunity to speak of how Cedarwood is in fact a complete year round ministry! Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but we do camp all year long!      Well to be honest, things do look a lot different from the sun, fun and activities of summer camp, but it is no less impactful in the lives of the teens we minister to. Around the Cedarwood community we call this season 'follow up'. Others may use the term discipleship, but that seems to assume that we are focusing exclusively on the teens who made a faith commitment over the summer. Discipleship is in fact something we take very seriously, and already in the past few months we have seen many campers begin attending churches (Grant Memorial, Nassau Street Church, The Meeting Place, North Kildonan MB and Awaken Church just to name a few). Yet to focus exclusively on these campers would neglect the scores of campers who left Cedarwood still not ready to make a faith commitment. For these campers we offer genuine friendship, mentorship and an authentic community through weekly events, one on one conversation and giant retreats back out to camp! At Cedarwood we are committed to ongoing, long term relationship with our campers and to live this out we need to be there for them throughout the entire year. The summer staff get this and passionately live it out even in the midst of their busy university lives.     To date we have hosted 6 weeks of events and one mega Fall Retreat and we're just getting warmed up. Just this past Monday we were at the Youth for Christ building with about 35 teens hanging out, doing crafts, playing video games and shooting some pool. What was cool about this was that we had some campers out who we haven't seen in a very long time. I recognize that to some, playing video games may not seem like ministry. Yet connecting with a camper who we haven't seen in over 4 months and having conversation about how life has been going for them, is ministry.      Please pray for us as we continue to meet with our campers over coffee, video games, volleyball games and craft tables. Please pray for us while we listen to them, pray for them and with them. Please pray for them as some begin to explore what church community can look like for them.     Here is one story we showed at the recent Youth for Christ Banquet. This is Ryan Murray and his story of how the follow up ministry of Cedarwood has impacted him. Click here to watch Ryan's story THE FAMILY Rhonda and the kids are in full swing with school now. Caden and Annabelle are in piano with Ben Sellick; all three are in dance classes at Masterworks Dance Studio and the older two are in a children's choir. Just the other day Rhonda told me that she had wanted to read some books to Coralise while the others were working on their assignments. She held up a library book and asked Coralise if she wanted to read it with her. Coralise replied that Caden had already read it to her! Rhonda held up another and got the same response. Then another, and another! It just blew both of us away that the kids were doing this on their own! It certainly isn't smooth sailing all the time, but the kids are learning so much so fast (I think it's because their teacher is so amazing ;)  A special thank you to the folks who joined us just last week at the Youth for Christ Fundraising banquet. This yearly event can be a wonderful way to celebrate the work God is doing through YFC. If you're interested in coming next year just drop me an email and we'll make it happen! PRAYER ITEMS Please pray that campers would continue to open up the to the follow up staff and volunteers, embracing the good news of Christ. Please pray for continued wisdom for our team as we begin planning ahead for upcoming events and summer 2015 Please pray for our family as we balance our life and ministry on multiple levels. That we would find joy in each and lead our kids to love Jesus. Praise God!!!! Just take a few minutes to praise Him, because He is really, really, REALLY GOOD!  THE FALL RETREAT The major Cedarwood event in October is our Fall Retreat. Registrations for the retreat this year poured in faster than we had ever seen before. We had been averaging about 65-75 campers, but this year we were blessed with 106!!!!!! This meant that we had the opportunity to meet and reconnect with a huge pile of our campers while having fun, loving life and learning about God! The theme for our retreat was 1 Corinthians 13:13, "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." Each day we tackled a different element of the verse and pointed things back to how Christ offers us hope for our lives here and into the unknown future. Campers responded with the heartfelt affirmation that these are themes which matter to them... right now! We had dozens of campers stay back after the Saturday and Sunday evening programs finished and pray with staff. Some of these campers had never even been to camp before or heard the message of the gospel! Praise the Lord! Watch the Fall Retreat Video FINANCIAL UPDATE Since sending out my last letter in September I received several specific questions regarding the state of our financial support. Let me say that Rhonda and I deeply appreciate each of you who have been our ministry partners through prayer, encouragement and / or financial support. The response to our September update was encouraging with a few people committing to increasing their monthly contributions and for this we can not say thank you enough. The flip side of this though is that we are still short on what we require every month.     When I started at YFC we had only 2 kids who were both under 2 years old. Now we have 4 kids and all the expenses that go along with a bigger family. Yet we have not received a raise of any kind in all my time at YFC because our monthly support is still below what we require. I'm not writing this to garnish your pity, just to merely answer the question many of you had been asking. Thank you for your care, concern and prayerful compassion in this. Our goal is to meet our monthly salary requirement at YFC by the end of 2014 and you can partner with us in this! We are looking for some you of you to commit to $100 a month, at least another 10 people to commit to $50 a month and several to commit to $25 a month.  If you feel like this or another amount is on your heart and within your means you can: Give YFC a call to sign up. 204-669-4205 Mail a cheque or void cheque for monthly contributions to 333 King St. Wpg. MB. R3B 0N1 (Just include my name in the memo) Click below to donate through Canada Helps DONATE ONLINE HERE Thanks for all your prayers & support!!! (And thanks for taking the time to read this CRAZY LONG EMAIL!) THANKS FOR READING!!!! CHECK OUT MORE CEDARWOOD PICS AND VIDS ON FACEBOOK! Next issue: CHRISTMAS with the Cattani 6!

September Update

I woke early just the other day and was out the door by 6:30. The plan was to bring a thermos of hot water and my coffee press to the docks at the forks, make some delicious dark roast and watch the sun come lazily up over the river with a few close friends. While the plan was great, it turned out that the part I had assumed was that it was still nice out! Apparently it is fall and summer is quickly becoming a memory. 

Yet I firmly believe that some of the best memories are the ones we retell, when the memory is transformed into story. And the story begins to take on a life of it's own through repetition, telling it over again, telling it to friends, this honours the memory.

God did some incredible things at Cedarwood this summer and I couldn't bear to allow these divine encounters to simply slip into memory and then be lost. Over the next few months it is my hope to send you periodic reminders of the work God did through the ministry of Cedarwood during the summer as well as some updates on how He is currently at work.

Summer 2014: Episode 1

There was a camper who arrived for one of our senior high weeks this summer with a chip on his shoulder. I remembered him from 2013, I remembered being on the boat with him and the rest of his cabin. They had an amazing time loaded with smiles, laughs and excitement. Yet I felt there was something different about him when I greeted him at the door and received no smile in response to my "hello!". 

As the first and second days went by, most of the guys on staff were able to see that this fella was note a happy camper (literally!). One evening, I got a knock on my cabin door as we were putting the kids to bed. It was my Program Director. He told me that this camper was headed to the highway with his backpack. The two of us took off and caught up with him just up the Cedarwood road. We tried talking to him but we could tell from the colourful responses we got back that he was not interested in conversation. 

As we got closer to him I called his Mom and put her on speaker phone to see if she could at least get him to turn around and come back to camp. This succeeded, but only after about 1/2 an hour and 1/2 a mile of walking along the edge of the highway. She told him to just go back to the lodge, chill and wait for her to come pick him up, she would be there in about 2 hours.

The whole incident showed clearly that this camper had challenges digesting things rationally and I thought that his Mom was probably the only one who would be able to calm him down.

We arrived back at the campsite and he went right to his room. All the other campers were out playing a field game so he had the place to himself, some quiet to help him cool off. Alex, who had been with us the whole time, asked me if he could give this camper a book before he had to leave. I thought that it wouldn't be well received, but if he wanted to, then giddy up! 

He walked into the camper’s room and put a book down beside him saying that it was for him. The camper asked what the book was about and Alex took the opportunity to begin reading over the table of contents. It went something like... Chapter 1: Who is Jesus; Chapter 2: How He Loves You; Chapter 3: How He Demonstrated His Love for You; etc.

Well the camper was in tears when Alex looked down. He told Alex that his life is a mess, that he knows that he needs Jesus and that he wanted to apologize to me. 

When they found me we went and sat on the front steps. He begged me to allow him to stay, he just wanted the chance to re-encounter Christ before he left camp. He also asked me to call his Mom and see if there was any way she would consider letting him stay. I said an instant YES to both, his Mom said yes (apprehensively), but I assured her that I had faith that this was a legitimate turning point and that the rest of the week would be very different.

That's the crazy thing about grace. We can spend a lifetime in a full out, deeply exhausting sprint away from Christ...but every time we stop, we realize that he is right there ready to embrace us and welcome us back. Sometime we don't even turn around and take the step back to him, we just collapse out of exhaustion and all we can muster is a pitiful whimper "....help...." 

God used Cedarwood as that breaking point for countless  campers and so many staff this past summer. 

Thank you for your prayers and support.

The Cattanis

2014 was a very full summer for us as a family. We had Caden's buddy Ryan, from Orlando, stay with us for 2 energy infused weeks. The kids and I did some serious fishing with Rick Reimer and his gang. And Jonny, oh Jonny. Jonny is such a non-stop go-er. He got into absolutely everything, including the hearts of the staff. It brings so much joy to Rhonda and I to see the staff embrace our family and not just tolerate these crazy kids running around. 

Rhonda is incredible. Mom, superior administrative supervisor, mentor to the female staff, planner extraordinaire, and on top of all that she is my best friend. Every summer, Cedarwood has a way of reminding us exactly what we love about each other. Thank you for keeping our family in your prayers this summer. 

SPECIAL FIRSTS

Caden played magic bricks for the first time (a life long goal accomplished for him), perfected his pop-a-wheely, learned to run power point for a worship service and caught some giant jack fish!

Annabelle lost her front tooth, learned to ride a two wheeler, caught her first fish and also caught her first snake!

Coralise made friends with everyone, jumped off the dock into the lake on her own for the first time and climbed the to the top of the big rock on her own for the first time!

Jonny did everything for the first time! Vacuuming, eating dirt, chasing giant bubbles, swimming in a lake, destroying the program office (and main office, and my office, and the our cabin, and the maintenance room, and the main lounge and the boat house, and…..)

PARTNERS NEEDED!

If you have felt yourself connecting with anything in this update, please consider coming on as a monthly partner. We are currently looking for several people to commit to partnering with us in our ministry at Cedarwood for either $25, $50 or more a month. We have a monthly need of about $1500 to meet the financial goal set for us by Youth For Christ. It is humbling to admit that our support has dwindled over the last two years. It is even more humbling to admit that it is due in part to my lack of ministry updates for many of you. Please forgive this. Please partner with us for the first time or renew your partnership and be a part of the front line, evangelistic ministry of Cedarwood.

If you would like to contribute please just give Youth For Christ a call at 204-669-4205 or log on to our giving page at Canada Helps. 

CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE CATTANI 6!

PRAYER  AND PRAISE

• Praise God for an unbelievable summer!
• Praise God that we were full of campers...98% full to be exact!
• Please pray for the 4 people who will be coming on staff with Cedarwood for the year. For their energy, vision and financial support to be full and overflowing all year long!
• Please pray for Rhonda and the kids, getting back into the hectic fall school schedule. 
• Please pray for more people to partner with us financially!

JANUARY UPDATE

 

3 monkeys Swimming with daddy in florida & the little guy hanging with Mommy and again with Papa Cattani.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Welcome to 2014! It is always an exciting thing to start a new year, filled with possibilities and fresh adventures. We have absolutely no idea what this year will hold for us. Sure I have plans and certainly I have set some goals (realistic ones, not the flaky resolution type), but there is still no way to have a written guarantee that any of it will actually come to pass. Each of these hopes and dreams rests fully on the providence of God, His grace and mercy. At the same time, I have to be realistic in honoring him for holding back from our lives some of the unspeakable pain of the world. This last year was one of incredible blessing for us and we praise God every breath he gave us to enjoy it!

Also, a massive thank you to everyone who has been praying for us and partnering with us financially over the last few months. We are incredibly grateful for each of you while we hold you up in prayers of thankfulness!

Story time at home with Coralise - Mommy and the Monkeys - Jonny's 1st Christmas

WHAT A SEMESTER!

Since September I have been on an educational sabbatical, taking 5 courses in my Masters of Divinity program while also interning a day a week at Nassau Street Church. The class work was heavy, but it was deeply fulfilling. With courses focused on Christian Ethics, Romans, ministering to those in the midst of suffering, Christian spirituality and a robust course in Pentateuch theology it was a full semester. 

LIFE AT HOME

Rhonda and the kids were busy with school for most of the semester, yet even with this schedule we still tried to set Fridays aside as a dedicated family time. What good is a sabbatical if you can’t spend a bit more time with your family? Our fourth baby, Jonny, is now 9 months old, crawling and constantly hamming it up for the camera. The other three monkeys LOVE making him laugh with silly faces or making him jealous with all their running and chasing. You can see the need for speed flickering in his eyes!

EPIC ROAD TRIP

One of the highlights for us this semester was the opportunity to head down to Orlando, Florida for me to take a course through Reformed Theological Seminary.  Rhonda summed it up beautifully with her Facebook status after the trip... “7 days of driving + 5 days of school + 4 days of sight-seeing family time + 3 days of Disney + oodles of play, sun and swim = the most EPIC Cattani road trip yet!!! (And yes, there WILL be more) 

Rhonda planned so many different things for the kids to do along the way. The drive was fun with the monkeys taking care of school, colouring, playing and every few stops they would dip into the grab bag for a new little surprise!

WEDDINGS

The kids were involved in two wonderful weddings this fall. Annabelle is now a professional flower girl, while coralise and caden took a little more to warm up to their roles. Annabelle had them practice with her many times at home before the big days. Congrats to the beautiful new couples, Jon and Jenna & Brad and Michelle! Thank you guys for letting our little ones be involved!

DISNEY

Our second week in florida was set aside for some r&r. We had not had any down time after camp this summer, and we thought that a bit of fun was in order. so... we did disney. it was such a great experience to meet my dad down in orlando and tour the parks together. every few days coralise will still talk about meeting all the princesses!

Friends in Florida - Coralise the beach model

EXCITED FOR MINISTRY!

Some Items for Prayer

1. Please pray for our follow-up crew as they continue to disciple campers from last summer
2. Please pray for the upcoming Feb. retreat, that it would be a time of gospel rejuvenation
3. Praise God for a wonderful sabbatical this last semester!
4. Please pray for our monthly financial support to be filled up by the end of this year.

As for ministry, now that I am back in the office full time (with a bit of school still on the side) there are two solid challenges which we need your participation in if we are to overcome them. 

The first thing is our camper numbers. For the last few summers we, along with many other camps in Canada, have been experiencing a decline in camper numbers. Last summer we had close to 100 open spaces. We would like to ask for you participation through prayer. Please pray that the Lord would continue to send us campers this summer who need to hear the gospel message. Please pray that we would have heavenly wisdom in recruiting campers from many unlikely places and new groups. We would love to see more of Winnipeg’s immigrant population sending their kids to camp through some of the funding options available to them. As a summer staff, we will be fasting lunches on Mondays and spending that time in prayer for our summer numbers. Please feel free if you would like to join us in this from where you are!

If you would like to sponsor a camper this summer, please click the link below and we will make sure that one more spot is filled with a camper who otherwise would not be able to afford it. As of right now, we are only able so sponsor about 3 campers, it would be wonderful to fill an entire week of 100 campers who are sponsored. 

Click to send a camper to Cedarwood!

The second challenge Rhonda and I would love for you to get involved with is our personal ministry support. I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but my salary is utterly dependent on the contributions of individuals. We have been running a deficit in our support account for the last year because monthly contributions coming in only cover about 1/3 of our need. Basically, we are looking for numerous individuals to sign on to support us for $20-$50 a month, for a year. We ask that you would prayerfully consider how you can be a part of the Cedarwood ministry in this way. If you feel called to contribute, please click the link below; each gift is eligible for a donation receipt. 

Click here to support the Cattani 6!

Thank you so much for prayerfully considering involvement in these areas. We will do our best to keep you informed of how things are going over the months leading up to summer. As always, if you have any questions just shoot me an email or feel free to call... 204-669-4205 ex. 217.

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