15 minute read
STROKES OF GENIUS
GOOD SENSE PAINTING TIPS
Simple, easy, obvious for some of us may not be so for others. Our interest and knowledge bases are different, our brains work differently. What some of us accept to be common sense or established best practice may not be ready knowledge for others. At the same time, if we’re preoccupied, overwhelmed or rushed, we might forget to apply or resist applying, all of our good sense. The staff at Janzen’s Paint and Decorating Ltd. hope that one or more of the following tips will serve to light up your latest painting project.
BE REALISTIC. Think it through before you take on a big or small project before an event or holiday.
EDUCATE yourself. What will you need? Why? How much will you spend? Where will you get supplies?
SCHEDULE your time. Break your project down into steps. How long will the project take? How much working time is estimated for each step? How much drying and curing time is required? Will you be doing the project over an extended period, such as over weekends?
ORGANIZE tools needed for the project. Keeping tools clean and organized when not in use makes future projects less daunting. You will also save money by reusing washable tools and by being able to keep track of what you have.
CLEAN your space, whether it’s a room or a work table. Move extraneous objects out of the way. This will enhance your work experience and help to keep yourself and your belongings safe and clean.
INVEST wisely in the best tools and finishes that you can afford for your purpose. Premium finishes are usually easier to work with, provide better results more easily and in addition to the above, investment tools are ultimately more economical in the long run when cared for and reused. Benjamin Moore's Aura™ provides unsurpassed coverage with minimal rolling. Good products at lower prices are also available. Benjamin Moore's Ben™ is a sensible choice for painting low wear or frequently repainted spaces.
PREPARE surfaces to be painted. If necessary, clean, sand, remove dust and prime. Sanding between all coats of primer (K046-00 Benjamin Moore's Fresh Start™ is a superior multi-purpose primer) and wiping the dust with a tack cloth promotes a smoother final result.
ASSEMBLE components to be painted. If you’re painting cabinet doors with Benjamin Moore’s Advance™ remove hardware and lay them out in assembly line fashion. If you’re working on a model kit or making seasonal decorations, an assembly line promotes speed and uniformity.
REPURPOSE leftover paint. Before you recycle, use leftover paint on craft or art projects. Exterior paints such as Benjamin Moore's Aura exterior™ work well on outdoor pieces such as birdhouses or accent chairs.
REST between steps by going for a walk, doing another task, or dreaming up your next project!
Strokes
of Genius
Presented by
For more detailed information and answers to any related questions you may have, contact Janzen's Paint & Decorating Ltd. @ 204-325-8387 • Winkler
GET a Gr p
WINTER TIRES
On the road, your most precious cargo is held by thousands of pounds all while riding on 4 rubber circles. That’s why it is imperative that those rubber tires of yours perform with excellence every time you leave your driveway. Just like we change what we wear depending on the season, we also need to change our tires for the cold winter months. Studies show that winter tires provide up to 30% shorter stopping distance than all-season tires. With these bitter Manitoba winters, your all-season tires become rigid and lose traction.
Once the temperature dips below 7 degrees Celsius, that is your cue to book your appointment. It’s not just about the snow, the temperature also affects how well your tires are functioning. Tread rubber compounds of winter tires are designed to remain flexible, allowing the tire to grip the road better.
When it comes to winter driving, there are many options – so many options in fact, that it can become overwhelming. A tire sales representative will be able to ask you the right questions in order to find the perfect treads for your needs.
All-Season tires should really be called ‘three-seasons’ because they are designed for warm, dry and wet conditions generally above 7 degrees Celsius. The finer tread of all-seasons are not fit for snow and slush but the hard rubber compound will last longer in warm temperatures.
All-Weather tires are perfect for mild winter conditions including heavy rain and snow. The blocky-style tread is designed to push away slush and provide stability along with sensitive handling for warmer conditions. The rubber is flexible in temperatures above and below 7C
Winter tires are the ultimate choice for harsh Manitoban winters. The blocky tread with added siping (fine slits in the tread) grips snow and pushes away slush. The rubber compound of winter tires are made to stay soft in colder temperatures for better grip. If you do a lot of rural driving, you may want to consider studded tires. They can provide better handling in challenging road conditions. In Manitoba, studded tires are allowed from October 1st until April 30th.
Winter tires just make sense - making driving safer and easier. Be prepared for the worst, so that you can enjoy the best moments of the season. Take advantage of mail-in rebates until the end of December. For help in choosing the right tires for your vehicle this winter, visit us at Sunvalley Tire in Winkler or Altona.
Winkler 204.325.4331 Altona 204.324.9898 1.844.325.8473(TIRE) sunvalleytire.ca
CHILDREN’S CAMPS INTERNATIONAL
Almost 20 years ago, Ray Wieler was working as the director of the Winkler Bible Camp, a wooded property off Highway 3 between Morden and Winkler.
WBC had everything you might expect of a small camp; a climbing wall, a lazy creek bed trickling its way through the forest, dozens of cabins with names like ‘Honour’ and ‘Courage’ emblazoned by the door, an old chapel that vibrated with hundreds of stomping feet every night, a cafeteria that had mastered the art of slinging sloppy joes en masse, and the unbridled energy of young teenage camp counselors that would become young campers’ heroes.
Little did Wieler know, the relatively simple model of camping ministry plus the heart of a young man from India, would spark a movement that would touch every corner of the globe.
In 2003, Antony Samy was sent out from his church in India to North America to gain some ministry experience.
It was at Winkler Bible Camp that Wieler’s newest counselor caught a vision for how camping ministry could change his home nation.
That same fire kindled a flame in Wieler’s heart as well.
The DNA of what would become Children’s Camps International is very, very simple, Wieler explains. They partner with the indigenous churches, working with the pastor to train their young people to reach the children within a 4-5 block area of where the church is planted, so the children can come back for follow-up all year. Samy notes, the follow-up programming is actually even more important to them, and to the 2,000 churches they now partner with, than the initial week of camp.
It’s during the year of follow-up with their local church that children receive important discipleship and many go on to join the church and even become camp counselors themselves.
So it was in 2003 that CCI started in India with the model camp ministry. There wasn’t a climbing wall or a petting zoo, but they did invite children to take part in games, singing, and the Gospel message, all built on the discipleship model of the camp counselor.
They quickly found it worked just as well in a village in India as it did at the Bible camp just off Highway 3 between Morden and Winkler. And they would soon find it works in every other village and nation you can imagine.
In the first year in India, 500 kids were able to attend, many of them coming to know Christ as their personal savior.
As of this summer, over 2.7 million children have attended CCI camps in India.
Since the first camp in 2003, the North American arm of CCI continues to act as a support to launch camps around the world in partnership with local church leaders. While that support from CCI headquarters continues, local leaders take complete ownership of the ministry, raising local dollars to fund the majority of their costs.
It currently costs $5 to send a child to camp, churches have seen the importance of reaching children and taken on funding 85% of the costs themselves. That includes funding the year of follow-up programming with every camper.
“So we help kickstart the programming and they run with it,” VP of Operations, Dave Thiessen explains. The impact radius of a child attending a camp is explosive as well. Each child brings the Gospel message home to their family and friends and reverberates over the decades. One of the first kids to ever attend a CCI camp in India in 2003 grew up to become a counsellor and now with a family of his own, they share the Gospel with their whole neighbourhood.
Trying to imagine the ripple effect of nearly 3 million children is almost impossible to comprehend.
And there are many more kids waiting to be reached, they even have leaders in place ready to run programs, they’re just waiting on the necessary funding.
“I lose sleep thinking that today we could reach two million kids. Today we could reach those kids but it just comes down to the dollars… but you know every little contribution makes a difference,” Thiessen says.
The generosity of the Pembina Valley and beyond continues to reap eternal dividends as CCI has been able to launch camps across the globe.
And that funding comes from everything from lemonade stands run by local kids in the Pembina Valley, or the $25 cheque from a local donor, to the large-scale partnership of a corporation.
“Whatever it is, it’s about using the gifts you have for a purpose. And that’s probably my biggest push right now, is what has God entrusted you with? He’s giving each and every one of us gifts and abilities, use what you have… we’re on this Earth for a purpose,” Thiessen says.
One of their most well-known fundraising events was the World Record harvest event in 2018 in Winkler. In total people in 59 countries watched as 306 combines broke a world record.
Since then, they’ve built on their relationship with the agricultural community under the theme, Farming with a Purpose. Farmers grow and harvest crops as a way to raise funds. Another initiative is the sale of hail insurance for farmers. While it’s the same product you’d buy elsewhere, buying through CCI means your money is supporting camping ministry in developing countries. Last year alone they raised $68,000 through the initiative.
“If you’re going to buy insurance, now the only difference is those dollars have a Kingdom focus,” Thiessen explains.
They’ve also partnered with more companies to sell other agricultural products like grain bags, that will send more kids to camp.
Under the Build it For Kids banner, in Kelowna, a major building project aims to send one million kids to camp. In total, 57 houses have been built in Manitoba, Ontario, and Saskatchewan in support of CCI.
Thiessen says they’re doing all of this because they’re seeing an incredible opportunity right now around the world, in part spurred on by Covid.
In the midst of the global turmoil, Wieler says Children’s Camps International is giving hope to
children and their families in situations that some would consider hopeless.
“The response has been absolutely incredible, they’re finding their hope in Jesus Christ,” Wieler says.
“We’re seeing a desire around the world to know who God is,” Thiessen adds.
In India alone, there are millions of regional gods. In these times of crisis, Thiessen says many people are looking to a god to believe in, “but they’re asking, “Which one?” and “who is God?” Our ministry has seen an incredible explosion due to the fact that people are searching.”
When Covid hit, Thiessen was in India with a ministry team. They flew home just as the world was closing down.
However, like many, it was also an opportunity to slow down and take stock of everything they were doing and make adjustments.
“It was good for us as a ministry,” he says, adding it’s like in farming when it’s harvest time you’re not researching new equipment, you’re too busy. But it’s during the off-season that you have the space to breathe and look at what you can do differently next season to increase yield or look into equipment that could save you time and energy.
Implementing digital camp programming has allowed them to reach even more kids, seeing a 250% growth last year alone.
Now, they’re reaching half a million kids every year.
“I believe… we truly serve an awesome God, a God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,” Wieler says.
In Brazil, they had already been developing an online training program that included three years of the curriculum.
When the country shut down due to Covid everybody was at home and the online ministry just exploded. In early 2020 they were operating in one state in Brazil, this summer they were in every single state, reaching an entire nation.
Portugal is now using the material and they’ve had requests to have the curriculum translated into more languages.
“God is moving in incredible ways,” Thiessen says.
Wieler shares a testimony from a pastor they’ve
partnered with in India.
The pastor had gotten into trouble with the law and had been sentenced to a correctional institution. But it was there he heard the Gospel message, and he felt a calling to reach the children in his community. Using CCI training and materials, he began to see his church flourish, with other parents eagerly sending their kids to avoid the same mistakes the pastor made in his youth. He has since started six churches, with over 100 camp counsellors.
Looking to the future, Wieler’s vision is to seed and grow the ministry in the U.S, “that is a high priority as we see a tremendous opportunity for funding there.”
His other priority is to find creative ways to help churches become fully self-sufficient. In the end, how we respond to God’s calling, and the gifts he’s given us is up to us. “We were created to honour Him and glorify Him. So, whatever you do, God is calling you to use it for His purpose, and have fun doing it,” Thiessen says. “I always say it’s so much fun when you can be part of it, seeing Him change lives.”
That doesn’t mean every day is easy, in fact, Thiessen says there are challenges and a lot of hard work. But it’s always worth it.
To partner with CCI, visit ccicamps.com.
