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Starting in Brazil and making a stop in Edmonton, Alta. before coming to Winnipeg, Elton DaSilva has had a long journey in ministry and his latest stop is Camp Arnes.
While DaSilva took over the Executive Director role in March 2025, he has always been a part of missions. "My parents were both missionaries in Bolivia, and then they were sent to Canada as missionaries," DaSilva said. "I was born in Brazil and close to the Amazon, and dad was a part of a very large church in Brazil and they sent us as missionaries to Portuguese-speaking people in Edmonton."
Eventually coming to Winnipeg, DaSilva said he was called into vocational ministry, despite trying to pursue other opportunities. "I pursued business and economics, but God has a way of calling and pulling people. He did that as He invited me to plant the church in the Elmwood area of Winnipeg."
Uprooting his life, as a 17-year-old coming to Canada from South America, was very difficult for DaSilva, who ultimately clung to his faith. "Being a missionary kid, you can go one or two ways. One, you can completely revolt against God and think why would you take me from my comfort and lead me to places unknown? Or you can actually learn to trust. I think I took the second road, the road where you say, 'If this is God, then He has a plan and if He has a plan I should trust, and if I should trust I should calm myself and come to Him with that.' That was the growing experience inside of me, learning to trust God for my next steps."
"I did not know how to speak English at all. The only word I knew was thank you. And so whenever somebody smiled or said something, that was a response I would give. Observing my parents' hard work and their faithfulness to God and their calling imprinted something."
Before joining the team at Camp Arnes, DaSilva's experience abroad came in handy. "I was the Global Director for the MB Conference of Churches. A group of churches that have a presence in several countries around the world."
Travelling around the world was a highlight, but eventually DaSilva wanted to be at home. "When that came to an end in October last year, I wanted to look for something that was local, something that was I could stick around, be with family and still invest in people and lift people up to be what God wants them to be and help them discover that."
At Camp Arnes, DaSilva has the opportunity to invest in campers as young as eight years old, up until seniors. "We do ministry from a very young age. I think the youngest campers that we have are around eight years old. Beyond campers, we have a summer staff of close to 50 people and most of them are young adults. We want to continue to invest in seniors and pastors."
The passion at camp goes beyond DaSilva, every day, the staff's passion inspires the Executive Director. "They have a joy as they do it so and that kind of attitude makes me happy. It has really made the place a good place to work."
Looking ahead, DaSilva is excited for the sounds of children playing to fill the camp again through a busy summer season. "The first time they get harnessed at the zip line and they just scream all the way down. There's a fear that they are not going to be able to do it, but they do it at once and they want to keep doing it the whole week long. If you think from the spiritual metaphor, that's much like who we are. God sometimes invited us to places where it's scary and He says 'Take a leap now, I got you. I put a harness on you. You're not going to fall.'"