.Mission Week.

We've been so busy the past few days! We have a lot to catch you all up on.

On Sunday we all spread out to 4 different house churches with Westside Gathering. All of us had a great time connecting with the people at our separate homes, and are very much looking forward to next Sunday again with them.

Some of us had a little adventure along the way, too. When we arrived at our house church, Josiah noticed that the front passenger tire was looking quite flat. After church, we were directed to a gas station nearby to fill it up. Josiah, Allison and I were filling up the tire (yes, apparently it took all 3 of us) and Josiah noticed air spewing out the back, and quite the bubble back there too. We let the guy next to us use the rest of the air we'd bought, and took the car to a parking lot next door, next to a Mr. Lube. I decided this would be a great opportunity to teach Josiah and Allison to change a tire. Only the Sequoia did not have a jack inside. So I asked the guys at the Mr. Lube if they'd be able to change a tire, and they said no problem, they'd be able to in about 15 minutes. I pulled the car up, and our pastor, Dave, came to communicate a bit more clearly with the tire guys. Apparently they only change 2 or 4 tires, our vehicle was too big for their lifts, and they could not do this for us. However, he sweet talked them into an under-the-table deal. It took 4 men to get the rusted spare tire (thankfully, a full tire, not just a donut) off the car and on. They told us that if we had gone over a speedbump or pothole then it would have exploded and we would have been on rim. We spent a lot of time thanking God for how this situation all turned out!!!

On Monday we met with our church and did planning and prep for some of our projects this week. We've got an amazing team to work with at Westside and they've got lots of energy and vision for helping their community. We painted, sewed, planned, and got to know each other. In the evening we went to some parks and soccer games and handed out postcards about an upcoming BBQ.

On Tuesday we had a few hours in the prayer room together. All of our students have asked if we can go back for more; it was such a sacred space that was conducive to all sorts of prayers, without distractions. There were guides to pray for the city of Montreal, for various upcoming events, for confession/forgiveness, for personal reflection, for alone time, for artistic creative prayers, etc. We ended our time there having team communion, which was so special.
For our work project we gardened at a housing co-op. The garden beds were FULL of weeds, and it was so satisfying to see all we accomplished by the end of the day. We were tired, but were still able to get some laundry done just before bed.

Today we had a change of plans due to rain, so instead of gardening again/having a carwash, we joined Welcome Home Mission downtown. It's such a cool ministry, and it was nice to have a bit of "down-time" just labeling books for them. They said we got the most work done of any group they've ever had in! After that, we did a bit more planning and preparation for an upcoming park day.

Prayer Requests:
We are a very clumsy team! It seems like everyone has gotten injured in some minor way (cuts and scrapes), and a few people have been feeling sick. Please pray for physical healing and that we stop hurting ourselves (or falling)!
Our team has repeatedly impressed us with their maturity in handling conflict. God is really at work unifying us and making us a stronger team to be used for his glory.
Pray for our upcoming ministry days; we'll be doing some park ministry, serving the elderly, a carwash, spontaneous ministry by the water, etc. (we're pretty flexible because some of these things are based on weather). Please pray that we'll make meaningful connections with people, raise questions with them that cause them to want to search for answers, and to make further connections with Westside Gathering.

Stay tuned for pictures!