One of the biggest events in Winnipeg in recent months was the 2017 Canada Summer Games. From July 28 to Aug. 13, 2017, 4,000 young athletes from across the country competed in a variety of sports. It was the 50th anniversary of the Games, and drew an estimated 20,000 visitors to the city. Canadian Mennonite spoke with three young people from Winnipeg about their involvement.
Sarah Moesker, front row right, and her fellow companions share the daily rhythm of the sisters’ life. (Photo courtesy of the Sisterhood of St. John the Divine)
Sarah Moesker spent the first half of the Companions on the Way program working in the convent’s kitchen. (Photo courtesy of the Sisterhood of St. John the Divine)
One of the biggest highlights for Sarah Moesker, front row second from left, was living a prayerful, contemplative life with others. (Photo courtesy of the Sisterhood of St. John the Divine)
Sarah Moesker describes her time living in an Anglican convent as ‘good and hard.’ (Photo courtesy of Sarah Moesker)
When Sarah Moesker began asking herself how she could deepen her faith, living in an Anglican convent for almost a year was the answer.
Next month, those gathered at Mennonite Church Canada’s special delegate assembly will make major decisions about the structure of the church based on proposals from the Future Directions Task Force.
With that in mind, Canadian Mennonite asked young adults from across Canada: What are your hopes and dreams for MC Canada in the next 10 years?
Members of the Emerging Voices Initiative (EVI) are hoping that financial assistance and special events aimed specifically at high school students will encourage youth to attend Mennonite Church Canada’s special delegate assembly next month.
The first thought that struck me when I arrived in China’s Sichuan province was how green it was.
A relationship between a Winnipeg church and a community in northern Manitoba has resulted in a special friendship between two young women.
While living in Cambodia, Jaymie Friesen, centre, coordinated a therapeutic photography course for women exiting the sex trade (Photo courtesy of Jaymie Friesen)
For Jaymie Friesen, responding to abuse and preventing it in communities of faith is a personal calling. As the abuse response and prevention coordinator at Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Manitoba, Friesen supports churches and individuals, and works to raise awareness of abuse and trauma.
When Jonas Cornelsen tells people he spent the last year living with, and caring for, his grandfather in Vancouver, they often praise him.
While Jonas appreciated his time with his grandfather, the praise makes him uncomfortable.
Abby Heinrichs speaks at a rally in Ottawa, where the pilgrimage ended. (Photo by Kathy Moorhead Thiessen)
Abby Heinrichs was one of the youngest participants on the pilgrimage. (Photo by Aaron Epp)
Abby Heinrichs, left, is pictured with her father, Steve Heinrichs, right, and Idle No More co-founder Sylvia McAdam, centre. (Photo by Chris Harrison)
This past spring, while her Grade 6 peers were in class writing spelling tests and working on their multiplication tables, Abby Heinrichs was doing something completely different: walking 600 kilometres in support of indigenous rights.
Computer programming is a language foreign to most, but not to David Dyck. The 17-year-old Winnipegger is passionate about computers and knowing how they operate.
Over the past 10 years as youth pastor at Douglas Mennonite Church in Winnipeg, Paul Loewen, front right, has led 500 youth events, 25 retreats and 25 multi-day service trips, including this 2015 retreat for Grade 12 students. (Photo courtesy of Paul Loewen)
Paul Loewen has been the youth pastor at Douglas Mennonite Church in Winnipeg since 2008. (Photo by Aaron Epp)
Paul Loewen is wrapping up his time as youth pastor at Douglas Mennonite Church and he’s given the youth he currently works with a unique gift. He wrote and self-published a book entitled Before I Go: Nine Ideas You Should Know and presented each youth group member with a personal copy last month.
Whenever she tells her faith story, Carrie Lehn always mentions her paternal grandmother, who, she says, is a key example of gentleness and love. She always has other people on her radar, Lehn says, writing them letters or cards, bringing them dessert or giving them thoughtful gifts.
For Darren Creech, who holds a master of music degree in piano performance from the Université de Montreal, being a classical pianist is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream that dates back to when he was five years old. (Photo by Chloe Squance)
Toronto-based classical pianist Darren Creech is looking forward to performing with the Counterpoint Community Orchestra. (Photo by Anthony Chung)
The Counterpoint Community Orchestra is an inclusive LGBTQ orchestra founded in 1984. (Tom@TomLegrady.com photo)
When a Toronto-based LGBTQ orchestra approached queer classical pianist Darren Creech about performing Victor Davies’ “Mennonite Piano Concerto” with it in concert, it didn’t realize what a perfect fit he would be.
Unbeknownst to the Counterpoint Community Orchestra at the time, Creech is Mennonite and he grew up listening to the piece.
Danielle Raimbault’s first day of work as the chaplain at a residence for the elderly was a memorable one that quickly shattered her expectations.
When the 24-year-old arrived at Chartwell Elmira Long Term Care Residence in Elmira, Ont., a year ago, she sat down beside a resident and introduced herself.
“Did your mom give you permission to come here today?” the resident asked.
Julia Klassen was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa when she was 14 years old. (Photo by Aaron Epp)
Music has played an important part throughout Julia Klassen’s journey with anorexia. She began writing songs around the time she was first diagnosed. (Photo by Aaron Epp)
Julia Klassen with her husband Ryan, and their eight-month-old son, August. (Photo by Aaron Epp)
When she was admitted to hospital at the age of 14, it didn’t take long for doctors to diagnose Julia Klassen with anorexia nervosa. She displayed all the classic symptoms: a fear of gaining weight and a strong desire to be thin. She was malnourished, the result of restricting her eating for three months.
Students at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, B.C., have a unique opportunity to de-stress before exams: puppy therapy.
For the past two school years, the Student Counselling Centre has brought puppies to campus for one day at the end of each semester. Students sign up for a 15- to 20-minute slot so that they can play with the puppies.
It was while she was in Bethlehem, spray painting a black heart onto the Israeli West Bank barrier, that the reality of the Israel-Palestine conflict truly began to sink in for high-school student Jaymi Fast. “I found it was easier to understand [the political situation] when I was there,” she says.
Canadian Mennonite spoke with the 2017 valedictorians from the three Canadian post-secondary institutions affiliated with Mennonite Church Canada, to find out who they are, what their undergraduate experience has been like, and what wisdom they hope to impart on their peers.
For the last two years in February, I have been on a pilgrim journey to different regions of the world in need of peace and justice, and I will be doing the same for the next several years. This year, I made my way to the hot, complex and beautiful country of Nigeria.
If it were not for the time she spent studying at Rosthern (Sask.) Junior College (RJC), Crystal Lau might not be making a difference on campus at the University of Saskatchewan (U. of S.) the way she is now.
“Fear[full]: We shall [not] be consumed” was the theme at this year’s Mennofolk, an annual event that celebrates art and music made by people associated with the Mennonite community in southern Manitoba.
More than 30 artists submitted artwork to the event, held on March 25, 2017, at X-Cues, a café and lounge in Winnipeg’s West End. Local bands Rosebud and Darling Twig performed.
For Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) student Erin Froese, taking a break from studying in the classroom has allowed her to pursue her interest in healing broken relationships between indigenous and settler peoples.
Joshua Enns goes through less than two kilograms of flour each week baking bread for himself and his wife Laura. By comparison, the original inhabitants of the house they live in went through 45 kilos.
Legendary rock ‘n’ roll drummers Keith Moon and Neil Peart inspired Matt Schellenberg to get into percussion, but it’s Bach and Beethoven that he will be playing when he performs next month.
Kalynn Spain’s interest in agriculture led her to visit 130 small farms throughout Manitoba. (Photo courtesy of Kalynn Spain)
Jedidiah Morton has worked on a dairy farm for the past eight-and-a-half years. (Photo courtesy of Jedidiah Morton)
‘I'm a dairyman, and that's never gonna change,’ Jedidiah Morton says. (Photo courtesy of Jedidiah Morton)
Kalynn Spain spent a summer raising pigs at Camp Assiniboia. (Photo courtesy of Kalynn Spain)
Owning a farm is a dream come true for Nathan Klassen. (Courtesy of Nathan Klassen)
What are the risks and rewards for people who choose a life on the farm? Young Voices spoke with three young Canadian Mennonites who work in agriculture to find out.
Jedidiah Morton, 23
Didsbury, Alta.
