The Heart of Change is Love: 2013

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy (almost) Valentines day!

Like many people, I’ve had some good Valentine’s Days, and… some not so good ones. Being the unmarried gal that I am, the days leading up to Valentines day have often in the past left me feeling downright anxious or glum about the 14th of February. However as the day approaches I feel as though I have been given a new perspective this year and I cannot help but feel excited…

I have begun to realize that Valentine’s Day is about much more than champagne and chocolate (though those things are nice too!) or even being in a relationship (cue: gasp!). It is a day in our busy lives when we officially get to celebrate love… I’m not just talking romantic love, like card companies would have us believe, I’m talking about the amazing day to day stuff that makes the world go round. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!

I googled Love and it came up that while “Love is an emotion of a strong affection and personal attachment”, it is also “a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection —”the unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another”. Love may describe compassionate and affectionate actions towards other humans, one’s self or creation.” I am convinced that in spite of all our crazy different personalities and preferences that we have all been created to be loved and to love in some capacity… So despite what our relationship status is on facebook I say we use February 14, 2012 to celebrate our love with well… the world….

So this Valentine’s Day, I vote we put the characteristic VDay anxiety or exclusivity aside and celebrate by giving of ourselves… our time, our heart, our money — to people we know, and people we don’t. I vote we share our love in small ways and big with all we meet. And best of all, be generous. Instead of wishing it away or making it about us let’s use today to love a little on the world… let’s pick up garbage and buy starbucks for the person in the lineup behind us, let’s give chocolate to the checkout lady at the grocery store and bake heartshaped cookies and sit down and eat them with homeless friends, let’s bring groceries or meals to single moms and let’s start campaigns to change the world or go skiing and put quarters in jars for schools in Africa (ask me if you want to know more)… let’s give and give and give… because when you do that Mother Theresa (the world’s leading expert on love!) says “If you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love”… because LOVE WORKS period… and if there was ever a way to celebrate the day of love I think this is it… so let’s get out there and put our love to work on the world until it hurts, because if we do that something beautiful is going to happen, it will cease to hurt to hurt and there will only be more love!!!…

… So happy vday yall! I hope you feel the incredible love I’m sending you, and I hope that as you give love away that you experience more joy tomorrow than any VDAY you’ve had yet! Tons of Love! HAPPY VALENTINES! (If you need some help getting started go to https://www.facebook.com/helpcreatechange)

TOP 5!!!!!

HEY FRIEND! So i know i just posted but I am pretty excited about what we accomplished in 2012 and I'm even more excited about what's coming up in 2013.... Thank you so much for choosing to be part of this, and if you are not yet involved this is my official invitation to JUMP ON BOARD... it's a wild ride, but O SO MUCH ADVENTURE-PACKED UPSIDE-DOWN LOVE-FILLED FUN! Lots of Love H

Ready for it... DRUMROLL PLEASE...

TOP 5 FROM 2012

1. Reached- between 10-15 000 students through speaking engagements

at conferences, retreats, assemblies, and other events. (I wish it had been at the same time that woulda made a really fun dance party!)

2. Broke a world record - the campaign World Record for Change run by three

students in Alberta broke the record of longest RPG (Role Playing Game) Game

Session at 44.2 hours, and raised almost $1000 for economic empowerment.

(Clearly i had no part in this other than clearly as some of my highschool friends can testify... the last time i played a game like this they started calling me scraps, as in "we killed her partner lets go clean up the scraps!")

3. Grew our team - with the hiring of two full time and one part time staff

member. As well as an eight-month intern, and a volunteer Creative Director... and then there were 6!

4. Travelled to Burundi - with a team of twenty five, to work with Harvest for Christ

our partner on the ground, and build houses with the Batwa people in the village

of Busiga. (check out our VIDEO! )

5. Worked with Strathcona Secondary School - as they raised $100 000.00

for clean water. (SHUT THE FRONT DOOR... THAT IS AWESOME!)

TOP 5 FOR 2013 ( I CAN'T WAIT... IT'S GONNA BE CRAZY FUN!!!)

1. Caleb’s Ride - this July, Caleb and his friends will be long boarding and

unicycling their way across Alberta to raise funds and awareness for the village

of Busiga in Burundi⎯Caleb was a part of the team that travelled with us to

Burundi last summer.

2. The Love Effect - our first annual Loveworks event, will be on March 9 in Edmonton

3. Touring with Legacy One Dance Crew - with our partner Legacy One we will be

launching a new show this fall that will be touring in schools across Canada.

4. Building in Burundi - we are excited to be taking a team to Burundi again

this summer to continue building houses and relationships with the people of

Busiga.

5. New partnerships - we are in the process of establishing new partnerships

with organizations that are doing incredible work in other parts of the world, and

can’t wait to begin supporting what they do.

Details to make a donation: (All contributions above $20 receive a tax-deductible

receipt). Make all cheques payable to “Youth For Christ”, since as an associate of

loveworks they handle all donations. Send Cheques to Box 42051 Millbourne RPO.

Edmonton, AB T6K 4C4,

Donate online at www.ourloveworks.com/#!donate - specifying it’s monthly for

Heather Davies.

THANKS GUYS!!!!! HOPE YOU ARE STOKED ABOUT YOUR 2013 TOO!

2012 Christmas Update!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

- (and a Happy New Year!) -

Dearest Friends & Family,

Another year has come to an end, and as we enter the season of celebration of the birth of Jesus I cannot help but be thankful not only for his incredible act of love 2000 years ago, but for the fact God is very much alive and continues to bless us with so many gifts today. For me personally, when I look back on this year I am overwhelmed and humbled at how God is working in incredible ways to bring hope, empowerment, and a better future for people both in our own community and across the world. This year God has enabled Loveworks to help a whole village in Burundi, Africa to build homes, started an economic initiative to further empower the woman of the Batwa tribe (a marginalized people group) of Burundi and partnered with many other organizations around the world to help create global change. In our own backyard we have also helped a number of young people across Canada to discover meaning in their lives as they used their gifts, talents and abilities to help create change. So much of what I have seen and heard as I have travelled throughout Canada and Africa and met young people struggling to find meaning and communities struggling to find the means to live has left my heart bursting with excitement about what lies ahead for us. To this end, there are a few stories I am so excited to share with you:

A Short-term Trip – A Lifetime Transformation.

This summer I had the pleasure to help lead a trip to Africa with the Loveworks team. We took 20 young people to spend time with one of the poorest and most forgotten people groups (or castes) in the world, the Batwa, in the poorest country in the world, Burundi. The Batwa are a desperately poor caste of people with few rights due to their “inferior” position in Burundi, they are literally the poorest of the poor. While we were there we formed many amazing relationships with the Batwa and saw some incredible things happen. Perhaps one of the most poignant stories happened near the end of our trip though.

During our trip many Hutu and Tutsi’s (who are the other people groups in Burundi) came to watch us work alongside the Batwa because they could not believe anyone would want to associate with the Batwa let alone a bunch of “Masungu’s” (white people!) from Canada who hold a high status in their culture. Near the end of our time one such individual, a man who had been watching us for a few days approached us and asked us many questions about what we were doing there and why we would have anything to do with these people everyone else looked down on. We had the chance to explain that we believed the Batwa are our brothers and sisters and we wanted to show them the world has not forgotten them by loving them in practical ways. As the man listened his eyes begin to tear up, when we asked what he was thinking, he responded, “ I am convicted and I am so ashamed. You see, I am a pastor from a nearby Hutu village. All my life I have known these Batwa, and seen their poverty but I have forgotten them, so God had to bring you with much money and much time from across the world to do the work he has called us to do in our own country but we have ignored. I know now that Burundi must help Burundians and I must love my neighbor.” This conversation was one of the beautiful and powerful parts of our trip, because although we love the Batwa and we will continue to help them from Canada it is only when local people step up to help their neighbour that real change will occur. This realization also challenged so many of the young people on our trip to go home and start changing their world through loving those who are hurting, broken and forgotten in their own communities.

A Life Transformed… Ladies & Gentlemen I would love to introduce you to one of our friends!

One of the young men who joined us on our trip to Burundi this summer was a student named John* ( name changed for confidentiality). During his time in Burundi John says he was absolutely “wrecked” by the amazing people he met and the terrible conditions they were living in. John has not been able to stop talking about what he saw in Burundi, his worldview was totally shifted and he discovered that he wanted to use his life for a greater purpose and to help others discover there is a greater purpose for their lives as well.

John asked Loveworks to help him discover how he can make a difference and help his new friends in Burundi. To this end we helped John put together a longboarding campaign to raise funds for his friends in Burundi. This summer John will be longboarding across Alberta to raise funds for the Batwa people. Through sharing his story John has also recruited a number of other young longboarders to join him and shown them that they too can use their passion to longboard in a meaningful way that helps people find the means to live! When I asked him to describe his experience working with Loveworks John answered, “I am just a 17 year old and thought I really could not do much to impact the world around me, but Loveworks has shown me that that is wrong, and that I can make a lasting difference… I have had the chance to raise money by doing what I love to do, and then Loveworks is able to facilitate that and send those funds somewhere to make a difference. By doing something to impact the world around me I have been able to inspire people to become better than what they are and dream bigger. Loveworks has inspired and helped kids like me who want to make a difference in his world by showing me (and them!) that I can actually make a difference on a bigger scale than what I could have done just myself. It has totally changed my life and I’m super exciting for my next project; longboarding across Alberta! Loveworks has helped me realize that no matter what I do with my life, job or school etc. I can still use my gifts, talents & abilities to change the world so that’s exactly what I am going to do!”

Me, You, US= INCREDIBLE CHANGE

We are exceedingly grateful to have people like you who are working with us to create a better world!

Also a last note about my finances – over the last month my support has more than doubled from $300 to $600 a month, and I am so grateful for the prayers and the partners who have helped this to happen, I am so encouraged & humbled that God is using so many of you in such a practical way to help me… without you none of these things could have been done! However, I still have a ways to go to earn enough money to live off of and i am looking for 50 people to consider committing to supporting me for $40-50 a month… these thus if you are interested in partnering with me financially or in prayer in this holiday season for the next year I would be so grateful. Please contact me for more details or use the info below to donate online.

Loveworks could not have had the impact it has had on John’s life, on the lives of so many other young people, or the lives of the Batwa and other impoverished people groups around the world without YOUR prayers and YOUR financial partnership, so many lives have truly been changed because of you and others like you, so thank you so much for believing in me and helping me to empower young people like John and communities like the Batwa. Together I believe we can impact many others like him and help create change in the world. Please keep John in your prayers as we help him to achieve his dream of longboarding Alberta to make a difference, and please keep the Batwa people in your prayers, as we walk alongside them helping them build a new future full of hope.

Merry Christmas! May this season and year be full of great joy, love and thing to be grateful for as you and your family as you celebrate the giving of the greatest gift of all, the birth of our Lord… God bless you. Thank you for being the source of so many blessings this year to my family, Loveworks, and I!

Many Blessings and Much Gratitude!

Heather Davies

daviesheather@hotmail.com

Cell: 778-239-3258