Compassion Day

Hello again everyone!

We've just gotten back from "Compassion Day" where we've scattered across the city to observe and participate with various ministries. Some groups went to learn more about ministering to immigrants, others to women in need, others to homeless youth, others to see what it looks like to live missionally in a diverse and poor neighbourhood, and others to learn about ministering to the homeless through art. I haven't talked to everyone about their different experiences yet, but all the ones I talked to learned a lot and are beginning to see people with new eyes; with God's eyes. Please pray that we will all learn to look at people through God's eyes of love.

Our theme for the two weeks here is "Love God, Love Others" and we're already having opportunities to meet and love people who are very different than us, and maybe not as "easy" to love.

Our worship and teaching times have been really great. They're very intentional about being bilingual here, so everything is spoken in both French and English, and half the songs are English and the other half French. Sometimes we'll sing a song in both languages. It's so meaningful to sing in another language, because it gives us pause to contemplate what exactly we're singing. Sometimes when it's a familiar English song we may sing it without thinking about our words as deeply.

We've been learning a lot about Quebec culture and the history of Montreal. We're learning about the spiritual state of the people here, who are hungry for spirituality, but distrust the Church.

We are so impressed with all of the students! They are so respectful of each other, and us as leaders. They are getting along well and being very considerate. Please continue to pray for team unity, because we know that the enemy would love for there to be tension.

We've had a few little adventures already. The first day we were here, while we were in a meeting where they were just about to explain emergency procedures, the fire alarm went off because they were filming the French version of "Degrassi" and were using fake smoke machines which set off the alarm. We all filed out in an orderly fashion; I guess all those fire drills have paid off!

Yesterday, as Mike wrote earlier, we walked for 4+km, and today we conquered the metro, and some of us explored the "underground city" for a bit. The weather has been gorgeous!

Continue to pray for us as we prepare for our ministry with Westside Gathering church next week.