Heres my latest update. It's been edited a bit for security purposes, so if you would like to see original just let me know.
When we last joined our intrepid hero, Montreal Man, he was braving a freak snow storm in the normally steamy jungles of Montreal. Surviving only on poutine and a nutritional supplement made of ground up hockey pucks and maple syrup, our brave adventurer reflects on his year so far while waiting for the blizzard to pass...
Dear friends and family, (Montreal Man always starts his thoughts with this sentence)
It is hard to believe that we are already 2 months into the new year. I have seen many sights, explored many strange new places, and started to learn a few words and phrases of the local dialect. I fear my hockey stick has seen its last action for the winter, for the temperature has now risen to zero and above, and is expected to stay there for some time. I have now gone approximately 6 months and 10 days without playing an electric guitar. I have my acoustic guitar with me, which is good for some days, but there are others that really need that dose of heavy metal. Needless to say I am looking forward to being reunited with Lady and Grace, my two electrics.
It feels like we have done a lot already this year. In January we went to a IVCF staff retreat for people who had just come one staff. During spring break, Christina, Patrick and I drove to St. John, New Brunswick, Patrick's home town. We got to meet his friends and family, and see where he grew up. St. John has a very small town feel, and more than once we ran into people who recognized us from Patrick's letters back home.
The next couple of months will be extremely busy for me. Besides wrapping up the internship, I am in the process of preparing for a trip to China in May. We will be joining a group from BC, which has been accepted to be a part of a cultural exchange program with students in the town of Xining. A group went over there last year, and so we are hoping to continue building the relationships that were started then. We will be bringing 5 students from McGill university, and 2 from Concordia. The staff worker from McGill and I will also be going along. In all, about 30 staff and students will be going to China. We will each be paired up with a Chinese student. Each day we will be required to spend most of our time with that student, interacting and sharing our culture and language. There will also be group activities, games, music, and meals in which to interact.
We are each required to raise $3900 for trip costs and air-fare. I have been a student on cultural exchange trips before, but never a staff, and so this will be a new challenge for me. In the past I would feel the pressure to raise my own support, but now I am feeling a sort of sense of responsibility for my students as well. :) All I can really do though, as always, is trust God that He will provide, as He has done so faithfully for me in the past. I am excited for the chance to go to China with the students, because I know how much I grew as a student on cultural exchange trips, and I'm looking forward to sharing that experience with them as they go through it. I know that I will have plenty of chances to grow as well. Theres nothing like traveling across the world, to a country where you are the foreigner, to get you out of your comfort zone and force you to face your own issues whether you like it or not.
Please pray for us as we prepare to travel. Pray that:
-the team will be unified
-we would raise the necessary funds for the trip
-we would connect with the Chinese students, and build meaningful relationships
-we would have safe travel
Finally, I would ask that you consider partnering with us financially. Sometimes I wonder why God doesn't just magically give us the money for things like this, because really its such a great opportunity to grow, and so many good things come out of it, you would think that it was a high priority for Him to make sure that we go. The only conclusion that I can come to is that fundraising is yet another way that God uses to teach us how to rely on Him, both as a giver and as a receiver. The reality is that He really doesn't need anything that we could ever give Him, including our money, but He knows what it does to our heart to open a tightly clenched fist and offer Him back a small fraction of what He has given us. As I consider the posibility of working for Inter-Varsity in the future (more on this to come), I am becoming more and more aware of how much I would rather be independant and self-sufficient. But I'm starting to think that maybe God doesn't value these things as much as I do...
Thank-you so much for all your prayers and support. This year has been an amazing time of growth for me, and I know these next couple of months will continue that.
Your intrepid hero,
-Montreal Man
