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.
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.
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