E. Hastings

I've been here in Vancouver, downtown east side for a couple of days now, and I have definately had some interesting experiences.
Just to share a few moments with you...
Yesterday was our first full on day. It was a day full of firsts for me. We were walking through the alleys just to offer to pray for people and saying hi, buying coffee etc. As we were walking I knew that i was going to see some shocking things. It was the first time that I saw people smoking crack. Many, many people were. I saw people shooting up heroin as we were walking by. I saw a 16 year old girl strung out and crying and being comforted by an infamous predator... so sad.
In the evening there was this Native woman who was screaming at one of our guys so loudly. Her nose was pressed against his as she was shouting for us to leave downtown. We went by the water just to see the "sights" and there were two other people with me. We heard some screaming and went to check things out. Long story short I had to run to get the police and there was a man who had been beaten in the head with a rock by someone stealing his rock (crack). It was quite gruesome.

So yeah. That's all pretty heavy stuff. But there have also been so many amazing experiences. I got to to pray for this woman who is hooked on crack. I asked to put my hand on her shoulder as I was praying for her and she grasped it so tightly. I gave her a big hug. Despite the fact that I saw her doing drugs a few more times that day, I know that the message of Christ is being spread through all the darkness. I am surprised by all the people who say 'God bless you' to us. That was a big first. Someone shooting heroin into their arm praying a blessing over you... it blows my mind.

I have lots more to write but still processing all of it as well. God is good and faithful. I have never seen such despairity, yet I have never seen such a beautiful act of spreading the love of Christ.

To be continued...

Hitting the T-dot

I am here in Toronto, finishing off my training and heading off to Vancouver tomorrow (Monday) afternoon.
I am really looking forward to this summer and all the things that I will be able to see and experience. I am one of three members of Urban Salvos and we are pumped and ready to go.
I was able to hang out a little bit with Joel (big bro), which was awesome. He's the leader of Company 150 (check out the blog on the side panel). Two new things that this territory is doing for its youth. Something is stirring!

God is awesome and He is already showing me so many things in my own life. I will write more later. Blessings to everyone.

Tomorrow it begins

Just a quick note:
Tomorrow I take my final exam (a week early - eeks!)
I have to pack up my appartment and move my stuff into storage, catch a train, say my goodbyes and I am off to Toronto for my training. On Monday I fly out to Vancouver and begin my summer adventures.
It's a bit of a crazy time, but hopefully everything will go smoothly.

Kir xox

My Future

I just wrote this whole post and when I went to publish it, it got lost, so this will be shorter than I had originally intended. My bad.

Despite my efforts of keeping my plans for the fall on the down low, word has spread, and thus I thought I should clarify.

I have been praying since Christmas about where I should be in the fall (autumn, for my international readers). I had three options and now it's boiled down to two. Either Montreal, or Vancouver. I only told very few people that I was thinking about Vancouver, and applied to the War College withouth the intent of telling anyone until my decision was made. The reason was not to deceive anyone or because of a lack of trust. I just wanted to be able to know that it was God calling me and not the influence of others.

I have yet to make my final decision, and therefore my request is this: that you would lift this up in prayer before God. That I would go where HE is sending me to go. My prayer for this upcoming year has been "SURRENDER". Big word, I know. So if you would join my voice in praying for this, I would be grateful.

This morning in my devotions I kept singing a song that I think Achlai taught me a while back: "Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, yes he is good. Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, yes he is good. For he is WORTHY, WORTHY, for he is good, yes he is good. Oh yes, he's WORTHY, WORTHY, for he is good, yes he is good".
Amen.

Sometimes I wonder....

It's funny. Lately I have been wearing clothes that I know make me look fatter, and I haven't been wearing make-up. I think I am trying to worry less about what I think other people are thinking of me. So walking around knowing that I could look better (in my mind) will eventually make me more at ease and less self-conscious.

Does that even make sense?

Grand Prix in Montreal

This weekend was CRAZY here in Montreal with the Grand Prix. Since I live right downtown, I saw first hand, all the action that was taking place. The city was swarming with people. On Friday night, some of my friends and I went out to celebrate Mike's birthday, and even at 3am there were loads of people in the street.

One bonus was that there were also a lot of free give aways. Score.

I have been thinking a lot about many things. For a little while now I have felt as if I plateaued in my walk with God. Things weren't necessarily getting bad, they just didn't feel like they were growing. But I have recently made some mistakes, or realized where I have been at fault in my life, and so now I am back on track. I haven't really been demonstrating AGAPE love in my life. I have been searching to have my desires fulfilled (EROS love). Wanting to have secure friendships where I feel connected and secure, wanting to be "a part" of something. Longing to be in a relationship... In reading "Life Together" by Bonhoeffer, it has really been teaching me a lot. I have so many areas of my life where I fall short, but Praise the LORD that God is faithful. Amen.

Action packed devos

This morning I was reading Judges 1-5, and I must say I was really enjoying some of the action. I LOVE action movies, and in the time when Deborah was the judge of Israel, this woman Jael (I think that's right...don't have my bible with me) told the leader of the enemy camp who was trying to run away "oh, you can crash at my place, I got your back" and then, while he's sleeping, she drives and nail with a hammer through his temple! Oh my gosh. I love it.
I am not morbid or anything, I just like my action. Honestly, if reading your bible has a similar reaction in you as watching a great action sequence in Die Hard - awesome. Whatever gets you into the WORD.

Peace.

I just finished a CRAZY week at school, but there are so many things to be thankful for. I'll share a few :)
Some of you may know that I have been having trouble with this pesky little statistics course. To complete my major in psyc I need to do 2 stats courses, and the first stats course, I've failed twice (F, D - and yes, a D is a fail at McGill). So needless to say I was really bummed out. I went to see if I could register for the summer course - they said I was banned from taking it :o I went to see an academic advisor - they told me to do another major :o Things weren't looking good. To make a long story short, I wrote 4 letters to the Dean asking to let me take the final exam with the summer course (even though I wasn't aloud to register in that class) - I went to see a tutor twice a week, went and talked to 2 stats profs, and on the MORNING OF THE EXAM, found out that the dean has altered my D to a C, so I didn't have to write the exam - I passed stats 1!!!! PRAISE THE LORD! Sooooooo happy. I almost fell over in her office.

Another blessing - Sunday afternoons I always go to buy fresh fruit and veggies from Morelatos. I got this feeling that I should buy more fruit than usual, so I figured, hey, maybe God is telling me to prepare some fruit for church this evening - to bless the fellowship there. So I bought a heap of bananas amongst other things. As I was walking back to my place on St. Catherine's (a main street) in the BLAZING hot weather, I saw a man begging for money for food. I sat beside him on the street and asked him if he wanted some food. His eyes lit up and i gave him like 10 bananas. He kept saying thank you to me as I was leaving. I was so glad that I bought all that extra fruit!

Yet another blessing - I went in to get my final paycheck at work, and one of the managers was crying because she just found out her step mom was going to pass away either today or tomorrow. I was able to pray for her there in the office. I haven't been able to pray with any of my co-workers the whole time that I worked at Pekarna (2 years). Although the circumstances were obviously sad, it was a blessing that that was the way that I left. In prayer. Amen.

So many more things to say, but I will write again later. Blessings to you all.

Peace, Joy and LOVE, Kir xox