we did this past week in saskatoon, SK. Once we started with the 7 in the morning car ride last friday, we were on a non stop adventure of fun, friends, Conversations (which included "Girl time"-Thanks Niki!), meeting new people, crazy, fun kids, learning and teaching, and most important-drawing closer to God through stories, people, lessons and fun!Saturday morning when we got there, we helped the managers of the complex around with sweeping, painting, picking up garbage, and other odd jobs around. I was sweeping around the garbage bins with another youth and i kept thinking how pointless this job was, I mean it was on stones, and would just get dirty again. Yet I kept having this thought in my head- no job is meaningless if you do it with a servent heart. It was like God was telling me that "Nikki you may find it pointless and boring, but not eveything in life will be fun and exciting when you serve me-its the little things like sweeping that really matter and test a servents heart and motives" It was quite something. Saturday afternoon we hung out with the kids-what an experience- I even got me hair braided abit. Kids had lot of energy! In the evening we attended the spanish mennonite church. We helped with music and then stayed for worship service. What a great time! The pastor told it in spanish, and the translator translated it. It was really good and the spanish music was awesome! We as a white community, have a lot to learn from our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. But having church at 7:30 saturday evening, really screwed the whole team up though!
Sunday morning, we got together with the spanish church and helped teach them english. That was an adventure. We covered everything from hi how are you, to phone cards, to debit to telling the guys to watch what they say around girls. It was quite the experience. Then played soccer with the spanish church people all evening. A few people on our team really really liked it. Wow, it was a good thing that we mixed teh teams, otherwise we would have gotten our Canadian butts royaled cooked! They were so good!! Just like our hockey. We were all very tired after that
MOnday morning, we caught the bus at 8:13 in the morning to head to OPen Door Society- a place where refugees learn english and way of life here. I worked in the day care each morning that we were there (Monday-Wednesday) and that was also quite someting. Sort of like working in a "K", excpet not. The kids were very high energy and actaulyl knew english really well! Monday afternoon we played a game as a team that was called the great race, where we had to run around the city, asking questions a refuegee would have to find out (library card, busses, drivers, banks etc)It was lots of fun and really good plus we ran in Rudy Krahn from town at Downtown Saskatoon!,
Then in the evening we met a man by the name of Joesph at the MCC building. HOw to describe Joesph... Fun, laughter, refugee from Rwanda... Here was a man who live through the 94 genocide in Rwanda (actaully he said that he was about 500 M from the hotel where that movie took place for those that have seen it Hotel Rwanda) He told so many stories, but one really stuck out. Prior to 94 he was a bus driver and one nigh in 93 he was coming back on the bus when he saw this lady on the side of the road. HIs faith to him is oh so real, so he often had conversatiosn with GOd, and on this night, he said "God I really dont want to stop and help." He said that he heard a voice that said, if something happens to her, her blood is on your hands. So like any other freaked out person he stopped and helped her-gave her a ride. Turns out that she is related to some sort of Embassy down there, a sister to someone or something like that, so fairly important. Anyways, a year later during the genocide, on one occassion-he somehow makes his way to this same embassy, and by the grace of God, this sister recongizes him as the man that helped him from a year a go, and helps him and his family out. There were at least two other stories that he told about how he escaped death or soliders. Seriously, he should have been dead 5 times over! He was such an amazing man. His main points were, if you have a chance to do go, just do it, and do any job, no matter how pointless/boorning, with a servent heart. At this point, wow was a feeling guilty from a few days earlier-yet now it makes sense why I had those thoughts running in my head.
Tuesday morning, OPen doors again-similar to yesterday. The afternoon, we hung out with the kids which was soooooooooo much fun! What amazing kids! In the evening we went to Saba's African Cuisine for Ethiopian coffee which she made right in front of us. I am not a coffee drinker, so i found it really strong. Just watching her make it was quite someting though and her and her husband teaching us a littel of their native tounge. Again it made us all appreciate english more and gave us an idea of the struggle these people go through.
Wedneday morning and afternoon were very similiar. In the evening we set up and had a kids carnival at 6:00. The kids were literally climbing the fence to get in (see pics if they are up) IT was nuts crazy and like normal there were a few youth who felt like being annoying youth. That wasnt fun, but the joy on the young kids faces were. So yah, thats my week in a nutshell. Hopefully it will work to put up more pics yet, I have lots. Overall it was really good, we grew as a team and as individuals. I thank God over and over for the experience, health, and safety in our adventure. Thank you to all of you who supported us finacially, and prayerfully, the pressence of God was felt!
God Bless
check out www.officehourthoughts.blogspot.com and www.thoughtsfromsecondstreet.blogspot.com and http://danabarrand.blogspot.com/ for updates and more on Chalo!
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