here we GO ...

So while you read this please keep in mind that these stories are so much better when actually told orally ... I'm doing my best to replicate what I would be saying, but its just not the same. So you are by all means invited to not read this at all and Skype me instead :) Here goes ... 

I just realized I'm sitting at a table when I could be curled up on a comfy couch. A very comfy couch actually. It's where I sleep and its amazing. And Anna's lent me the longest pillow you have ever seen. It's crazy. I just don't understand. But anyways, now that that is out of the way I can start. Finally. And before I go off on another tangent, I'm starting with the mission because I can't explain bootcamp over the internet. You will have to call me if you want those stories. 

And I'm starting at the end of the mission. Sorry to those of you who have already heard this story. 

wow. Just got distracted. For a long time. Oh facebook how I detest thee. Okey, but I'm back. And focused. So on the last night of the mission the team leadership was doing evaluations and stuff ... basically just boring paperwork. When we had had enough of that we started talking abotu what all needed to be covered that night at the last team meeting. One of those items we had to go over was what on earth we were going to do at the Praise Party. Wendell (our team leader) said he felt I should share. I wasn't so sure but I figured if he felt I was supposed to then I was probably supposed to. So I said sure. Not that I knew what I was going to say. The next day we arrived at the Praise Party, had worship and teams started sharing and I still had no idea what I was going to say. The only other person on our team had no idea what she was going to say either. So lets just say I was getting worried. I like to be prepared when I share, I like to know what I'm going to say, perhaps even have notes. Definitely have  a first sentence down pat. So I put my head in my hands and started to pray. Jenelle, who was both on my team and sitting next to me, leaned over and started to pray for me. Though she had no idea what was going on she just started asking that I would not be afraid and to trust that God would give me the words to say. So that was really reassuring. We were in the last group of teams to be called up to share, and as we were walking up to the front I realized I was going to talk about the first Sunday of the mission, so here are a few of the stories I told from that day ...

The day started off with church and the pastor just gave us the service, told us we could do whatever we liked and take as long as we liked (the church was VERY informal ... as I'm sure you can tell) so we did some dramas and dances, I shared my testimony. I think it was more of a blessing to me to share it than to them to hear it! There are some things you just don't realize until you speak them out. I guess I sort of realized the "message" in my testimony (apart from the message of God's grace and love of course!). Anyways, after the service we decided it was time to do some laundry. So we jumped in the van and headed out to the laundromat. We threw our laundry in the machines and then decided to go out in small groups and do some street ministry while we waited for it to be done. I went out with two first time Street Invaders who had never done street ministry before. Now, I'm not very good at street ministry. I have no confidence and find it really hard to get the conversation to the point where I want it. But these two had never done it before so I was the leader/model in the group. And they told me as much, thanks for relieving the pressure guys! So we're walking around, sharing our testimonies with each other and sort of avoiding approaching people ... not that there are many people to approach. So we walk past this bench where two younger guys are sitting eating McDonalds. And one of them calls out to me, hey nice hair! So I'm like woohoo, opportunity. So the three of us head over to the bench and start talking to these guys. And we were carrying our bibles with us so the guys told us that they were Christians (or at least had a Christian upbringing ... we got the impression it was sort of a been there done that type thing with the one guy). So the conversation goes:

guy: I have a Christian question thats been bothering me for awhile.

us: Well ask away, we'll see if we can help ... 

guy: I did something really stupid a few weeks ago. I got really drunk and was lying outside in the grass just looking at the sky and I told God  he didn't exist. That I didn't believe in him anymore. (pause) Will he forgive me? 

Well, God just threw a huge opportunity on our lap right? So we got to tell hime how God loves us always and forgives all sins and we just need to pray and ask forgiveness. And we didn't pray with the guy, but we got to talk a bit with him and yeah, it was good. And we didn't have to do anything. They called us over, they started the "god talk" and they said "nice talking to you" when they were done with us. It was good. 

So we headed back to the laundromat pretty pumped about that. And when we go there we had to put our stuff in the dryer, so we started talking to other people in the laundromat. And there were two french couples there. It turns out one of the couples was perfectly bilingual, but the others didn't speak a word of english! So I sat down and started talking to them in french. They told me they'd been travelling across Canada for almost a month. But it was fairly lonely because if they didn't meet anyone who spoke french they could only speak with this other couple. So I told them about Street Invaders and what we were doing and why and stuff. The rest of the team were talking to various other people in the laundromat. And then we got the idea to do a drama in the laundromat. So we did. I translated for the french folk and we did a play. Unfortunately, the key word to the play was sin ... and I didn't know it in french! (Neither did the bilingual guy so I don't feel bad at all!) But I got to just bless with conversation and love. It was good. And the play in the laundromat ... just one of those great memories eh? Anywho, thats all for today my fingers hurt. But two posts in one day ... congratulate me! :)

 

... shame ...

Shame because its been a long long time. I'm sorry guys. Well, yeah I am. I've just been so caught up living my life I haven't been documenting it. But whatever. I say that a lot these days. Anyways, so I have a tonne of amazing stories from Street Invaders, but this one is actually from after Street Invaders, like the final bit of the trip for me. I'll share the rest of the stories later, but its now 12:30 and I have yet to get dressed and generally start my day. But I was typing this story for an email, so I figured I might as well save myself the time and post it here as well. 

So the final event at Street Invaders is the Praise Party, as I'm sure you all know. It was held in Regina this year and since that's closer to BC than Manitoba, I figured I would just head straight to BC from there, you know, save some money. So I had it arranged that I would take a van from Regina to Calgary with a bunch of other Street Invaders and then catch a bus to Vancouver. I had organized a place to volunteer for the week, but I was still working on a place to stay. I had tried one friend who I was sure would be able to have me, but it turns out she wasn't. By the time I found that out it was Friday. So I emailed my school for a host family, but knew they wouldn't be able to get back to me till Monday. (don't mind the terrible typing etiquette from this point on ... this is copied from facebook :D ) So the day after the praise party i got in a 15 seater van with a bunch of calgarians. our air conditioning didn't work and the van was full ... so we were a nasty looking and smelling bunch by the time the ride was over! anyways, basically as soon as we arrived in Calgary I got dropped off at the bus depot along with Laura, another Street Invader, who happened to be on the same bus as I was (but only for the first nine hours). so we were there a few hours early so I opened my laptop and tried to get email to see if my school had found me a place to sleep yet (it was Monday ... duh). but the internet didn't work, I mean it was a bus depot. so whatever I still didn't know where I was gonna stay but there was not much I could do about it. i get on the bus. i fall asleep right away. oh no! first I made a friend in the bus depot. a little girl called April who thought I was "pretty cool" ... at least thats what she told her mum! anyways, thats random. so we're on the bus and I'm getting more and more anxious about where I'm going to stay once I get to Vancouver. so it's night and we're driving through the mountains and I'm getting worried about where I'm going to stay. all of a sudden we start driving through this lightening storm. there's no rain, just lightening. there's no thunder, just lightening. sometimes its behind the mountains and lights them up, other times its in front. because its dark the only time you can see the mountains is when the lightening goes off. so I'm sitting there just marveling at the beauty of it all and God brings up the "where I'm going to sleep" issue. and all of a sudden this wave of trust just sweeps over me. honestly guys, I can't describe it but at that moment every cell in my body, my entire heart and mind trusted God. it was so overwhelming. he was just like "trust me". and I did. entirely and completely. and it was him. He made me trust, because there is no way I could trust like that. it absolutely engulfed me. so whatever, theres still hours (and hours and hours) left in my bus ride (lets just say it was 16 hours total). I finally pull into Vancouver at 3:00. And lo and behold, I actually know where I am! There's only like two streets I know in Vancouver, and the bus station happens to be on one of them. So thats cool. So I take my tonnes of luggage, including the suitcase with the broken wheels and handle, and start hobbling out of the bus station. honestly, I look ridiculous. I have this broken suitcase, my bass guitar which is huge, my camping backpack which is also huge and then I have my trombone strapped to the bottom of it, which means that I can't go through doors straight, so I keep turning sideways to fit through doors. so after much confusion I get to this little pizza place which has wireless internet. so I order pizza, sit down and get onto my email. guess what? the school doesn't have a place for me to stay. so ... I start panicking a little. I send an email to a classmate of mine who lives in Vancouver ... but obviously I'm not going to get a reply within the next hour right. so I email Anna (my Street Invaders leader from last year), but same deal, I'll have to wait a few hours until she even gets the email. so I'm sitting in this pizza place with my tonnes of luggage, definitely a rough section of town, the owner of the place is yelling through the bathroom door at two people who went in together (yes, sketchy) and won't come out ... and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. I have nowhere to stay. ridiculous amounts of luggage. and its getting later and later. so I'm on facebook, because what else am I supposed to do right, I'm still vainly hoping that I'll get an email back within the next two hours and I'm willing to stay there until I do ... or until the place closes. so Erin Leinberger starts talking to me. I tell her I'm in Vancouver and don't have a place to stay. there's a pause and all of a sudden a set of instruction comes up on the page. "get the sky train to here, then get this bus, then walk to this shopper's drugmart and he'll meet you there." I'm sort of like .. uh .... what? Adri and Billy live there and Erin called them and got it all set up for me to stay there the night. Our God is so good. so I start heading off across the city to meet these people who are opening their house to me for the night. of course I still have tonnes of luggage, but random people keep stopping and helping me, going out of their way to walk me to the next bus or up the flight of stairs. It was amazing. 

thats the bulk of the story. later that night I get an email from Anna saying I can stay there for the rest of the week. So thats where I am now. But guys, our God is so big, so lovely and so faithful. Trust in him. With everything. I believe, think about the power behind those two words. I believe. yeeah, anyways, thats my story. it's changed my whole faith. honestly, God is so good. Anywho, not I will start my day. Ta.