L’Arche Kapiti: Weekly Wave (29 October- 11 November, 2015)

IMPORTANT DATES

For Prayer:

Please pray for our good friend, Stephen Williams, as he’s still recovering at Wellington Hospital. Our prayers are with you Corporal! Please pray for Jan Stewart who’s recovering from a hip replacement operation resulting from a fracture, and some recent complications. Please pray for Father Roderick Milne, who missed our Annual Retreat due to a fall by Waikanae River on Saturday morning. 16 stitches later, he’s as good as new, but needs to stay off his feet. Please pray for our friends at Marralomeda who lost a former member on Monday morning, Helen, who lived in the community from 1998-2012.

We’re With You Stephen. We Love You!

Many of you know that our good friend and community member, Stephen Williams, has been fighting for his life in the ICU since Sunday due to a complication after hip surgery. Amazingly, and against all odds, Stephen recently woke-up and is

now able to speak, smile, give hugs and kiss his nieces. Please say a prayer of thanks with us for his life, and for how many people Stephen’s touched, even through sickness. Please pray for a full-recovery in the months of rehabilitation ahead, and that Stephen knows how much he’s loved by God, his family, friends and L’Arche. For those wanting to visit, please

notify the office first, as we need to help control the number of visitors so that Stephen can rest.

LOOKING AHEAD

Saturday November 14th, 2015: Sister Judith’s 70th birthday! Peter Spijkerman’s birthday as well. Party details to be announced soon. Note that party itself will be after the 14th. Tuesday November 17th, 2015: 9:30 am: Office Prayer (all are welcome) 11:00 am: Community Council (office) Wednesday November 18th, 2015: 10:00am-12:00 pm: Desert Day at Val Roberts house 1:00: Team Meetings 5:00: Candice has Core Member Forum and dinner with Core Members (Assistants have dinner Together as a group). Location for Forum to be determined. Saturday November 21, 2015: Trish McQueen has dance show at 1:00 at Southward Car Museum. $15 a ticket. Tickets sold out, but give Trish a call to wish her good-luck. Sunday November 22nd, 2015 (2-4:00): Laura Buist’s baby shower (ladies only and children). By invitation. A “words of wisdom” book for parenting will be passed around, so please think about some good parenting advice for Laura and Blair. There will also be a time of prayer for the baby and family. Address: 2 Hinemoa Street, Paraparaumu. Tuesday November 24th, 2013 3:00pm: Board Meeting at office Saturday December 12, 2015 (2-4:00): Christmas Party at Coast Community Church Come join us for our annual Christmas Party and Pageant on December 12th at 2:00. Please bring a plate if you’re able to for afternoon tea. Like last year, we’ll have a time for laying presents for a child in need at the feet of Baby Jesus.

Special Comments Over the Past Few Days During Stephen’s Sickness

Sister Judith McGinley: “I feel as if I have been watching Jesus lay hands on Stephen and lift him up, as he did in so many Gospel stories. Through the grace of these last few days Jesus has also laid hands on all of us.” Kristi Nugent (recent Riwai Assistant): “There are people all over the world praying for him, and so many close by his side in New Zealand supporting him and being angels for him. To me, this seems like a miracle brought about by prayer. I just think it is so cool that I get this news on Nov. 11th, the day World War 1 ended. As you know, everyone is wearing a poppy and now this will not only remind me of those who have fought for our country's freedom, but also of dear Corporal's army of gentle-ness he has inspired and will continue to.”

Annual L’Arche Kapiti Retreat (7-8 November, Forest Lakes, Otaki)

Clockwise from Top Right: Andrew Foster from Faith and Light loved a music session with Ryan; Leighanne with a big smile; parachute games as ice-breakers were a big hit; our musicians (Ryan, Genevieve and Rachel) did a great job over the weekend.

We had a great time together throughout Saturday night and Sunday.

Some highlights were watching the L’Arche video, “Love and Belonging,”

washing each other’s feet and sharing in communion together. We had a

great session on Sunday involving the history of L’Arche (including an

ambitious people timeline!), and we also cut out and decorated apples

with our hopes and dreams written on them. The apples were hung on a

sapling apple tree that will be planted next to the buried “kitty” on the

new L’Arche land at Tongariro Street.

After the footwashing, it’s tradition for the person who’s feet were just

washed to put their hands on the head of the one who washed their feet

and offer a blessing. (Top left): After the timeline exercise, we all took our

memories of L’Arche—both good and bad—and poured them in the form

of water into a large basin. It was this “memory water” that was then

used to water our apple tree later in the day.

Happy Halloween! (31 October Party at Rangimarie)

This year’s Halloween Party included lots of fun and games, including a mummy-wrap contest and bobbing for apples.

Article about L’Arche Al Safina (L’Arche Syria)—from L’Arche International website:

However “normal” this crisis has become for Al Safina (L’Arche Syria), they shall never get used to it. Faced with fuel and food shortages, lengthy power and water cuts, unsafe conditions, the deafening noise of planes and shooting, and the threat of rockets, the challenge is to find ways of coping: • One is organizing retreats and courses, such as “First Aid” or “Self-Control and Adaptability”. • Another is remaining faithful to the people in the house and workshop – 28 live-out members still turn up for work each day. • Another is working with Caritas Damascus to support displaced families in distress, e.g. visiting shelters in order to work with disabled people and their families. Lastly, there is welcoming new life. Imad Boutros, who is 20 and from Damascus, is now part of Al-Safina community. When his foster parents died, he was in urgent need of a new home, and the day he first visited Al Safina, his shy smile revealed that this was where he wanted to stay, among friends.

Team Building: Adrenalin Forest (Wednesday October 28th, Porirua)

Imad Boutros

Saturday November 14th: Sister Judith turns 70! Peter Spijkerman turns 53 (chocolate cake is coming Peter!)

Happy 3 month Anniversary Eva Balich Happy 11th Anniversary Julie (2004) Happy 14th Anniversary Stephen (2001)

Federation Update: L’Arche at UN

As of July 2015, L’Arche International has been granted Special Consultative status at ECOSOC, the branch of the UN that promotes Social and Economic development. One advantage is that from now on, L’Arche will be consulted on all issues to do with disability, a priority area for the UN since the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities in 2006. Official recognition by the UN opens other doors as well, and L’Arche is likely to seek new ways of collabo-rating more closely with other NGO’s working with disability issues: our specific role will be to raise the profile of people with an intellectual disability, whose exceptional, yet often hidden, talents L’Arche has been en-couraging for the last 50+ years, through shared life in community. L’Arche is very grateful to the UN for recognizing our rare expertise, and looks forward to a constructive working relationship to the benefit of many gifted people, who, in spite of great progress in many countries, are often counted among the most dis-advantaged on the planet. -Source (L’Arche International website)

In Need of Driftwood: For all those beach goers, if you see small, nice pieces of driftwood that would be good to make a small cross and give out at our Christmas party, please drop them off at the office. Each piece shouldn’t be longer than two finger-lengths. Thank you.