To all the readers of the Voice of EBC; your mission should you choose to accept- wait a minute, wrong message. Hey everyone! Welcome to the second last week of classes. I suppose there are some people who are happy about this and others such as me who are a bit sad about it. I can’t lie to you; it’s strange to think that after this semester, I’m halfway done my education here at Emmanuel Bible College. I’m sure some of the graduates are having the same kinds of feelings; happiness and sadness about finishing. For anyone in their first year, trust me your time at EBC flies by faster than you’d expect!

This is the part where I write about something totally unrelated to the newspaper…

A week or two ago I was walking down the street on the way back from the gym when I encountered an intersection with traffic lights. As soon as I was going to step out onto the road, the light changed to yellow, then green and I knew I couldn’t have crossed the road; I had to wait. Such a setback usually doesn’t bother me, however every bone and muscle in my body was aching, the wind was blowing my wet, matted hair and I was ready to pass out in the middle of the sidewalk and take a small nap in between traffic lights. Instead though, my mind began to wander (scary thought) and I began to think about my life. I thought to myself there are so many intersections I’m caught in on a daily basis in terms of time management, when to do homework exc. that sometimes I walk blindly into traffic because I’m not paying attention to what I should be doing. God places traffic lights in my life to tell me when it’s safe to cross the path, when to stop and go and when the right timing is for all things. All I have to do is look to the light. Despite pain, fatigue or circumstance God will provide a way that is good and that will give us peace in His timing.

Christmas Production 2009: Jamie Clelland and movie by Christopher Shiels
Wildcats with Brooms Fall ‘09: Wesley Hague
Ethiopian Service: David Gillies
Website Review: Jesse Goulet
Tea Off: James Fretz
When Trusting God is a Handful: James Fretz
Things We Lost in the Fire: Anonymous
Voice on the Street: James Fretz

Christie Heemskerk: Publications Editor

When I was first asked to participate in this year’s school Christmas production “Home for Christmas,” I was given the position of usher. Marjorie had rightly assumed that I would be attending the production anyway since my girlfriend Donna was one of the actors, and I suppose she figured that if I was going to be there, I might as well be useful. Ushering did not seem too difficult; standing at the entranceway looking good and handing out programs is a gravy job, not to mention the fact that I would get to play with fire at the end of each production, as it is a yearly tradition for the members of the audience to each have a candle to light during the singing of the last song, with the ushers getting to light the candles of those on the end of each row. Best of all, ushers do not have to attend any of the practices; they simply show up at each show and do their job, making them the envy of all involved in the production.
After a discussion with Tech Assistant Chris Shiels however, it was decided that they would need extra help and I was, depending on your point of view, promoted or demoted to the position of visuals. That’s right; my job was to push the right arrow key, keeping the song lyrics flowing from the PowerPoint and onto the screen. Oh yeah, the visuals person also has to attend practices; meaning that I got to sit through a 6 hour practice to ensure that I could master the art of pressing the button. Not that I minded, as I had my Greek textbook to keep me company (Sarcasm? Perhaps) as well as a gassy tech head to keep me amused. Running over to City Pizza was a nice break from the hot chapel, and running around to try and locate a certain performer who was MIA and shall not be named kept me on my toes. What am I writing about again? Oh yeah, the Christmas production.

The production took place on Friday and Saturday night (Nov 27 & 28) and drew approximately 100 audience members each night. This year’s production contained various Christmas memories and stories of EBC staff and faculty as acted out by this year’s cast of David Dunn, Marilyn Girimonte, Kristy Rinzema, Donna Welch, Matthew Whyte, and Julie Anne Wideman. It also contained the lighting of Advent Candles, congregational songs; including a catchy version of “Go Tell it on the Mountain” as led by Tim Chester and his orchestra, and choir songs; including a chilling rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus. A half-time speech was delivered by the Acting Dean of Student Life Marjorie Hopkins in which members of the audience were encouraged to donate to the school or face the wrath of usher Michael Beams on their way out the door (Okay, I made that last part up. But it did make you read it twice, didn’t it?). After the final performance the majority of those involved in the production stayed for over an hour to clean up and enjoy some well earned Twice the Deal Pizza.

Overall the production was a huge success, and although it involved much work, various members helped to keep the mood light; whether it was Matthew Houle dressed up as a candy cane, Chris Shiels forgetting his bike seat for a Zehrs run, or Marjorie giving tips on the art of showing off one’s legs, fun was had by all. Okay, that last part was more scary than fun, but I had to include it somewhere. Perhaps the best part from a tech point of view was getting to see how the performers did in comparison to each practice; amazed at how some can recover from mistakes so that the audience doesn’t notice, or excited when someone nails a part that they had been struggling with. Nobody was 100% perfect and yet it didn’t matter; a great show was put on for the audience and the Christmas story went forth. Well, there was one perfect part, but enough about me and my button pushing.

Many individuals have come together to make this year’s production possible. Here are this year’s participants as listed in the program; apologies to anyone who I forgot to list.
Michael Beams, Erinn Buick, Braeden Burrows, Heather Capeling, Sarah Capeling, Tim Chester, Jamie Clelland, Daniel Dorsey, David Dunn, Jason and Tabitha Edgar, Sara Erb, Marilyn Girimonte, Jessie Golem, Emmalee Grove, Christie Heemskerk, Dan Hines, Marjorie Hopkins, Matthew Houle, Jesse Klassen, Tiffany Martin, Tina Moore, Robbie Oleniuk, Nathan Reimer, Kristy Rinzema, Chris Shiels, Brittany Simpson, Mat Snyder, Stephanie Van Spronsen, Stephanie Vincent, Emily Vos, Daniel Weber, Donna Welch, Matthew Whyte, Julie Anne Wideman, Rebecca Wiens, and the staff and faculty of EBC who shared their Christmas memories, stories, and traditions.

By Jamie Clelland

Check out the Christmas production video by Christopher Shiels:
http://opher.ca/EBC/thevoice/vid/christmas/

This year for curling only 16 curlers hit the ice, and most of these curlers were alumni or staff. Regardless of the small number, one thing is for sure; this small group still managed to rock the house.

Curling was off to a doubtful start with fewer numbers. At one point it looked like we were not even getting into the building, but soon enough the building was open, the ice was ready, and rocks would start curling down the ice. There were four teams. The first team’s name was Skipped by Tim Grace. Players included: Wesley Hague, Jeff Hopkins, and Emmalee Grove. The second was Jason Edgar, Mark Limont, Tasha Johnson (Mark’s Friend), and Carol Blake. The third team was Scot Denison, Tim Chester, Jordan Vetro, and Andrew Walin. Last but not least there was Katelyn Unger, Stephanie Vincent, Jenn Sills and Sarah Capeling.

All of us (except Tasha Johnson) had been curling before so we took to the ice with some of us occasionally hollering out “Do Less Worse”. Well actually, there was only one team did, but regardless, there were rocks, houses, ice and people slipping on that ice.

All in all it was a great time, and we will be curling again in second semester. Even if you have no clue of why you would want to slide down with a broom, come anyway and be part of the event that can only be described as Wildcats with Brooms.

By Wesley Hague