Winter Newsletter!!!

Friends and Family,

Most of you are probably thinking that its a little late for a Winter Newsletter. That would be true in the vast majority of the world, but not up here in Thompson! The snow won't be gone until the end of May. There are signs like the one above on every highway as you leave town, because no matter which direction you are going, if your car breaks down, you have AT LEAST a day's walk to the nearest gas station. Fortunately, though, there is a lot of traffic, so you don't really have to worry about getting stuck in the cold.

We're really sorry that we haven't sent a newsletter since November. It seems like we haven't had a moment to rest since November, and we just haven't found the time to send out emails. But, we're remedying that right now! So here is a little info about what we've been doing:

The Short Version:

• In December, Leah, some of our youth, and I performed the "Behold the Lamb of God" concert by Andrew Peterson.


• We got the chance to spend about three weeks in the Carolinas visiting family and friends.


• In January, we went to a pastor's retreat in southern Manitoba.


• In February, we took a few of our youth to Winnipeg for a mission trip. We also had a youth fundraiser.


• At the end of Fenruary, I had the chance to go to Vancouver and connect with some of the people in our denomination.


• In March, we took our youth to a retreat in Saskatchewan.


• We also were visited by some friends from NGU, who are now living in Minnesota.


• We've had the chance to build some relationships with some other college and career aged people, but unfortunately, they all have plans to leave town in the near future.


• Pray that we'll find some ways to build more bridges with other people in town who are our age.


• April and May will probably be as busy as the past few months, if not more so.


• Make sure you look at the pictures at the bottom!

The Long Version:

In December, Leah, some of our youth, and I performed the "Behold the Lamb of God" concert by Andrew Peterson. It was a lot of fun working with the youth. We introduced some good music to our church and community and used the opportunity to deepen our relationships with some of the youth.

We got the chance to spend about three weeks in the Carolinas visiting family and friends. It was really great to get to see so many of the people we love and care about. The only unfortunate thing is that there are always a few people that we don't get to spend any time with. This is NOT because you aren't important to us, its just because time is short and we only have so much of it and so many to see. We are especially thankful that we got the chance to hang out with Bryan and Elise McClelland and to be there on the day of their little boy Asher's birth. Leah was one of the few people who got the chance to hold him on his birthday. This was really special because they are really special to us. Thanks to all of our friends and family who spent time with us. Thanks to Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters for letting us be a part of their house church while we were there, and thank you for the gift. You have no idea how encouraged we were after spending time with you guys. We really love all of you!

We are going to be in Ohio for our friend Zack's wedding in June, and we are hoping to get to see Leah's parents at that point, they are planning to drive up to meet us for the wedding. And then my (Brandon's) mom is going to visit us up here in August. Other than that, unless any of you want to come visit us (which you are invited to do), we won't see any one else until Christmas. This is why things like email, regular mail, the telephone and Skype are such great things.

As soon as we got back to Thompson from visiting home, we went to a pastor's retreat in southern Manitoba. This was a great chance for us to make some connections with other pastors in the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada, which is the denomination that our church is part of it. I also got to continue some of these connections in February when I went to Vancouver. This denomination is focused on equipping the churches to be missionally focused communities that are extremely intentional with the gospel. We are hundreds of miles away from the next closest Baptist church, so traditionally our church has been very disconnected to the denomination, but we are trying to forge a stronger connection so that our church can make use of some of the resources that they provide.

In February, we took a few of our youth to Winnipeg for a mission trip. Booth College, a small liberal arts college run by the Salvation Army, offered to let us stay in their extra dorm rooms for very cheap. We went down and used their facilities and got the chance to work at some inner-city ministries. We organized food at Winnipeg Harvest, an organization that distributes food to thousands of families in Winnipeg. We toured Siloam Mission, one of the biggest emergency shelters in Winnipeg. We also helped out at Union Gospel Mission, by cleaning up some of their facilities. It was really great to see our youth get excited about serving people less fortunate.This was also a really great relationship building and strengthening weekend. We basically got to run around a college and our little group were the only people there. They loved it, we loved it!

In March, we took our youth to a retreat in Saskatchewan at Nipawin Bible College. And then right after we got back, we were visited by Abel and Jennifer Odom. When they were here, we had one of the coldest nights of the year. It got down to about -60 degrees Fahrenheit. Instead of staying inside where it was warm, we drove them out onto a small lake to try to see the northern lights. We didn't see the lights and nearly froze to death, but we had a lot of fun. It was really great and encouraging to spend time with them.

There are a couple of things that we are trying to do in our ministry that we would appreciate it if you would pray about. First, we are trying to foster a deeper faith in all of our youth. Much like many Christian teenagers, they tend to have a somewhat shallow faith that makes little difference in their life. We trying to deepen their understanding and appreciation of God's word and of the Christian faith as a whole. A lot of times this can feel like an uphill battle. Pray that God would move in their hearts and lives so that the things we are teaching them will take hold.

Second, between the four conservative, evangelical congregations in town, there are about ten twenty somethings. But in the town as a whole, there are tons of young adults. God has impressed an idea on Leah's heart that involves a coffee house, open-mic ministry. Pray that God would help us as we implement this and talk to our church about getting it going. Also we are trying to "convince" our church that there is a need for some changes within the church such as, making the stage more conducive for musicians as it is really hard to hear anything while leading worship. Another thing is to make the worship ministry more consistent. This is something that God has really given Leah a passion for, in fact she recently decided to pursue a masters in worship ministry, and the current ministry in our church is in dire need of revival. Lastly our church is lacking in the area of community, we are trying to get a community-building Bible study in the homes of the members (we would go to people's houses every week) just to make it social, and build community but also give the adults in our church another opportunity to dig into God's Word. Currently all we have is an adult sunday school class (which very few come to), a men's Bible study and our Sunday morning service. It is rare to see church people out side of Sunday morning unless there is an intentional invite or we run into them. Please pray with us and for us about these things as we feel God has impressed us with them.

April and May prove to be as busy as the past few months have been, so pray that we are able to keep up with ourselves. We have services with the other evangelical churches in town every night during the week leading to Easter, and we are greatly involved. We are also going to be visited (hopefully) by a dear friend and then at the end of April we are heading up to Banff, Alberta (google it, it's beautiful) for the General Assembly for our denomination. We really miss the Carolinas, but we are loving it up here.

Thanks,
Brandon and Leah

328 Thompson Drive
Thompson, MB R8N 0C4

204-677-2767

themilans@gmail.com

This is us and Leah's family at Dollywood on Leah's birthday.

This is a picture of Pisew Falls that Abel and Jennifer took when they were visiting. It's behind the big mound of snow, I promise.

This is the river a few hundred feet below the waterfall.

This sign is about 25 minutes north of town. I'm sure most of you have never seen a "Caribou Crossing" sign before...



I drove out on a small lake north of town. Yes, that is a crack in the ice running up towards my car. There is probably about 4 feet of ice, though, so it was perfectly safe. Maybe I'll take another picture in a few weeks when there isn't much snow left on top of the ice.