Our first week on campus:
Now, I'm not sure how you reading this feel about random evangelism, but from my understanding random is not 'random' at all, nor is it a a 'Gospel and go' type of evangelism. I like to think that 'random evangelism' is actually, "Let's go make new friends with a desire in our hearts to take the opportunities to share the Gospel or talk about Spirituality wherever God presents them". We do this either by walking up to people and asking if they would like to engage in a conversation about spirituality, with a questionnaire about spirituality or with games that have spiritual themes- or well, in any way that you want! There is no formula. We only initiate conversations and by the power of the Holy Spirit continue them if the other person expresses interest.
Anyways, after we had done some praying, Agatha (the student) and I got up and walked to the first person that we saw: Jessica. We asked if she had some time and if she wouldn't mind filling out a questionnaire that we had on Quebec and spirituality. She was down for it. As we worked through the questions it was clear that she had had a history with the church and with God, but no positive ones. Over the course of a very lengthy conversation we got to talk about tattoos, food we love, Quebec attractions, the government here and most importantly, we learned of her own personal views on spirituality and her experience with God. It turns out that she'd lost her younger sister to SIDS when her sister was only 1 year old. She concluded after that there could not be a God, or if there was, he was not loving. Also, she expressed distrust in organized religion because of the history that Quebec shares with it being used to manipulate people. She also shared that she was a lesbian. I think that when she told us she was expecting us to run away and/or say something judgmental. But thankfully the Holy Spirit has produced in both Agatha and I a love for all people and a desire for everyone (since everyone has fallen short of the holiness of God) to hear the good news of Christ and so, we continued talking and developing a friendship. We actually talked for so long about a ton of different topics including parts of the Gospel AND we made plans to hang out again! She wanted to take Agatha and I to the part of Montreal where her and her girlfriend really enjoy going. I am very excited about the opportunity to continue to share with her and possibly her girlfriend as well about the good news of Jesus!
There were several other great conversations that day and throughout the week, but it would take a long time to write about them all! We talked with a bookstore clerk, a woman named Miller and had a movie outreach in our apartment building. We showed the movie "The Adjustment Bureau," with Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, since it has a lot of spiritual themes that are great for initiating discussion. We had a couple people come from within the building and some come that had been met through campus evangelism. So great!
One thing that I've been challenged with so far on project is worship. I volunteered to help with worship but little did I know that when I volunteered, I was actually volunteering to be the worship leader and coordinator. I've never worship lead, let alone organized it. During the first couple of days we had no musicians and so we weren't able to do worship. Thankfully, after a couple of days and once we got to know the students better and were able to learn that some of them play interments, we challenged some of them to join the band! So far we have keys, drums and then me singing! I think that God is using this to help me become less self-aware during worship. When you're in front of everyone you become painfully aware of how aware you are of the world around you. It's been a cool growing experience to really seek to sing only to God while leading others in that as well. Also, I'm finding myself really enjoying it and becoming more confident in the gifts that God has given me in music.
The second week on campus:
We merged the english teams from Concordia and McGill in order to encourage team unity and allow for people to go sharing with different people. This week I had a particularly amazing conversation after I had done some discipleship with one of the students (Rachele). We had wandered around for a while with a game that we wanted to play with someone, but had no clear direction where to go or who to talk to. We ended up talking to the Red Cross worker on the street corner on our way to the business building but then got distracted and headed into the engineering one. Once inside, Rachele suggested we talk to a girl sitting down on her phone and when she said this I thought that she was talking about another person who I then walked up to. These may seem like small little details but I just think that it speaks to the sovereignty of God in this situation. Amidst the confusion he had lead us to Kim. We approached her and asked her if she wanted to play a game that had some spiritual themes. She was so friendly and down to play! What follows was totally of God. We talked for 3 hours about everything. Rachele and I both got to share our testimonies, we talked about the Gospel, evolution, creation, the meaning of life, legalism/religion, homosexuality, movies, art, music, food, and pretty much everything in the world that people talk about. It was SO cool. During the conversation she would be like "Is it okay if I ask you these questions?" (referring to spiritual questions) and she invited us to ask her as many questions as we wanted. Eventually we were talking about China town and this specific restaurant that she loves. We then made plans to go! We exchanged phone numbers, added each other on facebook and parted ways! SO EXCITING. God totally lead us to her and it was so amazing to just hear her openness and see those wheels in her head turning when we asked the "hard" questions.
The campus teams and the team in general has continued to bond together and grow in community. It is exciting to see the students growing in their love for evangelism and being inspired to step out in faith more and more. I feel like I've also grown a lot since being here. Being outreach coordinator has really challenged me to grow as a leader and in my administrative abilities. One thing that I am finding quite challenging; however, is just navigating through the logistics of planning some of the events. It seems that with a certain few that I am in the process of planning there are constantly road blocks being put up for us.
Also, being an intern, discipling 2 other women and being discipled by a really awesome staff has helped me to grow in my relationship with God and my leadership abilities.
It's crazy to think that after this weekend we will be half way done our time in Montreal, crazy!! After this we will be moving to Quebec city for 2 weeks before the project ends!
Also, major life news has happened for me during these last two weeks. I was accepted to medical school in Calgary, Toronto and at Western. I really don't know where I'll end up but I am so thankful for the opportunity to go!!
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| Celebrating the medical acceptance with my lovely fellow intern ladies at Juliet et Chocolat! |
Pray as you read Prayer Requests:
1. For Jessica and Kim- that we would actually end up meeting up and continuing our conversations about Jesus. Please pray for these women to come to discover a relationship with Christ.
2. The roadblocks that seem to constantly be placed in my way in terms of planning events (logistics of the locations, the advertising etc)
3. For discipline in my walk with Christ. With the extreme busyness of the days, it can be easy to let the day slip by without having a really solid quiet time. NOT GOOD. I really desire to just seek the Lord for every aspect of my life, every day. Especially right now I am making some major life decisions and need His guidance. Please pray specifically that He will reveal to me where He wants me to be next year. I am really unclear at this point and need His guidance.
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