Christmas in July!

I apologize to anyone who HAS been trying to follow this blog for my delinquency in posting. I've been very lazy and it has affected a lot of things that I SHOULD have been doing but haven't.

So this past Saturday we had a huge Christmas in July party. It was quite amazing, we had a turkey dinner (complete with smashed potatoes, stuffing, brussel sprouts, pumpkin pie, etc), as well as reading the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke and having a gift exchange (which was quite fun... getting presents in the middle of July was definately awesome).

A big part of the night was trying to be intentional in talking with people about Christmas. Why was it even called that? What's so important about Christmas anyway? We haven't had the time to properly sit down and debrief the night, so I dunno what happened with other people, but on my end, I know that it was really a good night to remember just why Christ DID come to earth and the eternal gift of salvation that he offers to all if they will only accept it.

I learned a lot about planning events through this as well. Officially speaking, I was the coordinator for the night, but after delegation of tasks and what not, I had very little stressing me out (thanks to the competency of everyone that took jobs and thanks to the fact that no problems arose through the night). I wish that all events that I was in charge of would be like this.

I'm stoked indeed to head back to campus. Last year was a really bad year for me in terms of motivation to do school work and ministry things, but this summer has really served to put me back on track in terms of my life. Although a lot of goals I set about setting certain good habits have not actually been met, this summer has been great in laying a foundation for that to begin, just by slowly breaking down the old habits, and readjusting my attitude in terms of my walk with Christ.

Project is almost over, and so when I have a little bit more time to sit and think about things, I'll probably post a summation of what happened, what I learned, and what I expect to do with this life experience. Because I refuse to allow it to be shelved and become just another memory.. but I will allow it to change how I do things from now on.

Moving Day

This past Saturday was moving day here in montreal. Apparently the large majority of leases turnover on July 1st, and people do the crazy thing and just move 5 houses down the street. So as an outreach, we decided to go out and help people move.

Jessica Li, quite the artsy student here, made up some crazy T-Shirts for us to wear (i'd post pics if I had a camera...) that had the Campus for Christ logo on the front and said Moving Crew on the back.

It was strange, the majority of people that we met were pretty much set, but there were a few people that we helped out that were convinced we were sent by God/karma (funny coincidence eh, seeing as we're here with Campus for CHRIST) because they were pretty down trying to figure out how they were going to move their stuff. The big part of today was not about verbal sharing but about service and showing them that we wanted to demonstrate God's love for people in a more tangible way. I really enjoyed doing this.

It's interesting, being the evangelism coordinator here in Montreal, because right now, we're just trying to plan out the rest of the summer, and both Hannah (the other evangelism coordinator) and I are so busy most of the time, we haven't had time to really sit down. So things are starting to look last minute (which I was really hoping to fix this summer.)

I guess prayer request would be that I would just prioritize my time and really sit down and do a good job with this. Because after all, God wants the best from us that we can give, and my best is much more than what I have been doing thus far.

DaVinci Code Outreach

So yesterday we went out to movie theatres with a survey to exit poll people who watched the DaVinci Code, have them take a survey, and give them more information on the truth about the DaVinci Code, directing them to the site www.discussdavinci.com. The hope is that through this, people will go to the website, seek to find out more about who Jesus said he was and what the Bible says, and then be able to present these people with the Gospel.

We started at around 2:30 and stayed out until 5:00 standing in the cold and rain (let no one say we are not determined) passing out surveys, magazines, and little business cards with the website. In terms of prayer, if you all could pray for the people that took the magazines and the cards to read and really think about the TRUE message of what Jesus proclaimed.

Also, we managed to get the contact information for about 30-35 people, and we plan on following up on that information, so if you could pray that the people would be receptive and desire to meet up with us to find out more about what Jesus claims about being the only way to God.

Thank you for praying for me as I stay here in Montreal, and I hope that God continues to bless you all as well.

End of Week One

Week One of Montreal Project is over and God has been good and faithful as he always is.

The highest priority of this week was to find a job, and God actually provided me with two! On Monday, I called a personnel agency (i.e. temp agency) and I was able to get a job right away. Unfortunately, the manual labour started to kill my knee and chest, so I started looking for another job, and just last Friday, God provided me with ANOTHER job. It was absolutely amazing and it's something I'll definately think back to and remind myself of when I begin to doubt God's ability to provide. Thank you all for praying for me in this regard. The Spirit is moving all the more powerfully because of your prayers.

As we move into the second week of Montreal Project, we begin some new training and more evangelism, pray that hearts would be open wherever we go to hear the Gospel and pray that the seed that we sow would land on fertile soil to really multiply a hundredfold. What's the point of praying if we don't pray big right? I have faith that God will move powerfully through our time here this summer to sow the seeds for some major revival here in Montreal and throughout Quebec.

I want to thank you all for your support and encourage you that God will bless your faithfulness. Thank you for serving alongside me by your bedsides and on your knees, for without your prayers and support, there is no power in what we do.

May God bless you and continually remind you that he is there for you.

Background and initial prayer requests

It recently occurred to me that the best way to get out my information to as many people as possible with prayer requests and what's happening would be to make a blog out of it. So here we are.

As you all know, (and for those of you that don't know) I am currently in Montreal serving with Campus Crusade for Christ on a summer project. Here I will be training in evangelism methods (in English and in French) as well as getting leadership training so that when I come back home I will be better equipped to help grow the Campus Crusade for Christ movement back at my home campuses as well as better equipped to serve in my church as well.

To that extent, we will be receiving theoretical (in the form of training nights and workshops and talks and such) as well as practical (in the form of evangelistic outreaches on campuses and personal initative evangelism in the workplace) training on evangelism and discipling.

So far, God has been good to provide me with a job to cover the expenses of the groceries and getting started, but it's a graveyard shift job with some seriously heavy manual labour (somethign I'm not entirely used to) so I'm still looking for a job during the day. That would be my first prayer request, because if I'm worrying about finances, it'll be difficult to concentrate on the true reason that I'm here in Montreal; that is to spread and share the Gospel with Quebeccers in Montreal.

We've also made contact with the students here in the residence that I'm staying in (Solin Hall, a McGill offcampus residence) and hope to build relationships with the students and share the Gospel with them as well. So please pray for that.

Our team is 14 strong, so pray that God would give us wisdom, courage, and strength as we fight to retake Quebec as a stronghold of the Lord. Quebec is strategically placed in Canada to really reach the Francophone world in Africa and Europe, as there are many international students from French-speaking countries such as Cameroon, Gaybon, Senegal, Morocco, and Tunisia (just to name a few). If we can reach these students with the Gospel, they can return home as a witness to their own people in these nations, some of which are actually extremely closed to the Gospel.

That's all I have so far, but I will keep you all updated as time goes by. Thank you for praying for me and supporting me, and I hope that God blesses you in return.