...a little more House Famous retreat-related ridiculousness...

Them Changes

Hello. Sorry for the delay in posting but we've been rather busy here at HF headquarters. On September 1st we expanded (once again!) to an apartment 2 blocks away on 22 Vine Street, which we now affectionately refer to as the "22 Side". And then things got better. Last weekend we went on a retreat, this time to a very lovely cottage outside of Sydenham. We had an amazing time while there...perfect weather, camp fires, tomfoolery. You know, the usual retreat bidness. We now leave you with a little taste of our escape to the wilderness...

MAKE!

This week four House Famous members will be deeply entrenched at an arts camp called "make" at Rustle Church. Please be praying for us and the kids who have to put up with us! It would be nice if Jesus and His Spirit paid us a visit.

24 Hour Prayer @ House Famous

From 9:00 pm Sunday (August 2nd) to 9:00pm Monday (August 3rd) we're going to be praying. This little event will be taking place in the living room on the 49 side, feel free to stop by and pray with us if you'd like. You can stay as little or as long as you want! Also, feel free to leave prayer requests in the comment section below and we'll do our best to send them up.

We stumbled upon 24-hour prayer this past winter and seem to have only scratched the surface of this very long tradition, hopefully this weekend will be another step forward towards a deeper conversation with God. You can read this to learn more.

Baby Update

Here is a photographic update of how the baby is getting bigger:
BAM!
2 months and 2 weeks to go.
THAT IS SO SOON!!!!!!


Please donate freely to the "ChelseaStretchMarkRecoveryFund".

love
"Baby Oven" Stelmach

The Little Flowers of Winnipeg

Chelsea and I just returned from a cross country tour to see my brother's family, especially our new niece, Keziah. We were very pleased. He has a beautiful family that really refreshed us as we drove through our vast country.

On our travels we decided to connect with another New Monastic community in Winnipeg called the Little Flowers. Again, another refreshing time. I was immediately impressed by the diversity of their neighbourhood. Everyone seemed to be either of Asian or First Nations descent. It had an inner city energy that we don't experience much out here in the little Loyalist town of Kingston.

This community had much in common with ours. They, like us, are still in the formative stages of the community. They, like us, have an early 30's couple living with a bunch of folk in their early 20's. They also arose out of another organisation (YWAM Winnipeg), where we have our roots in Camp IAWAH. We were able to share some mutual joys and frustrations and forged out a the beginnings of a friendship I hope will last. We'll likely need each other down the road.

Jamie, the pastor of our their community is looking for a couple to join their work in the inner city of Winnipeg. You can find them at http://www.littleflowers.ca/

Freedom Sold!!!

Yet another successful freedom sale was had at the House Famous this weekend. Despite rain cutting our yard sale short, we were able to raise $505.05 for the new Joseph Street Supportive Housing Complex (final product envisioned above). This will help furnish One and a half units of the 24 unit building, which is great, but work still needs to be done.

NeXt Church will be collecting donations over the next few weeks to attempt to raise funds for a few more units. So... if you're interested in investing in a program that actually helps people get off the streets and stay housed, think about giving to this project!