Land of the Lucid

2008-10-23T02:18:00.002-05:00

I took this picture from our front yard today. The contrast of the blue sky with the yellow and orange leaves was so beautiful, I thought I would attempt to capture it on my camera.

As you may have noticed, there hasn't really been any updates for about a year now. Thankfully that's not because nothing has happened in my life. Hmm, that's a double negative. I think. Anyway, I will do my best not to neglect it this year. The summer could potentially see me gone for a while again, but that's a ways away yet, so we won't worry about that for now. In the meantime, enjoy this beautiful display of creative genius otherwise known as nature, and try not to stalk me now that you know what street I live on.

2008-10-16T17:59:00.008-05:00

Here's a few pics from my summer.

Zambian Art Exhibit

Impala

Zambian Sunset

Baboon

Zambezi River

Artsy Shot #1

Artsy Shot #2

Zambian Bug (on wall)

Zambian Students

Zambian Lizard

Zambian Cactus

Josh, General Secretary of ZAFES

Victoria Falls (Livingstone, Zambia)

Zambian Flour Fight. Just kidding, this is Boys Camp

Vancouver Whitecaps game with co-workers

Me doing my best impersonation of glasses guy.

Mmm... beef in a bag. We ate it eventually.

Zambian Breakfast

2008-10-16T17:44:00.001-05:00

Here's my latest update letter.
TR Update Oct 08 - Upload a Document to Scribd

We're jammin', and I hope you like jammin' too...

2007-08-21T03:58:00.001-05:00

This...

Is necessary for this...

15 jars of homemade blackberry jam. The blackberry season is at it's peak right now. I made a little trip to the edge of town this afternoon and picked for a couple of hours. 3 ice cream pails made this much jam with two cookie sheet trays left over. I already picked a couple of times last week, and have about 20 pie's worth in the freezer. After all, blackberries only ripen once a year...
Incidentally, theres also over 2 kg of sugar in these little jars. However, my philosophy when it comes to sweets is: either make it so it tastes good, or make it so its healthy, but don't go for both, because then you end up with neither.

2007-08-01T04:05:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm happy to announce, I am once again mobile. I insured my bike a couple of weeks ago, and have been loving every minute of it. She has a new playmate too. Well, more like a new organ donor. I went to a shop to get a couple of cheap tires so I could sell my bike, because so many things were going wrong with it, and I was tired of spending money. But wouldn't you know, they had a bike the same year and model as mine. So for the paltry sum of $450, I got myself a parts bike that should last me for years. The engine alone is worth $500 if it runs, which I confirmed a couple of nights ago after swapping the gas tanks and spark plugs, hooking it up to a car battery so I wouldn't fry the starter, and shorting the starter solenoid with screw-driver to turn over the engine.
But I digress. Where was I... oh yes, the parts bike has easily over $1000 worth of parts if I were to buy them individually.
I even had a buddy give me some actual riding boots (thanks Jay!). They're actually waterproof. Such luxury is almost too wonderful to comprehend. The thought of dry feet in the rain.... ahhhhh......
Let the good times roll.

2007-07-11T01:30:00.000-05:00

This is Chante. I'm not really sure how to actually spell her name, but I was told very firmly that its pronounced "Shan-Tay". She lives on the Ahousat First-Nation's Reserve. I met her there on the Canada day weekend. I was part of a team from Maple Ridge lead by my buddy Oscar that has gone up there the last four years to support the people there. Oscar's father is the hereditary chief of the band.
Every year they have a sports day, and they have events for people from every age bracket. Chante came and asked me my name and how old I was, and so I asked her the same questions. After she had told me she was 7 years old and corrected me for pronouncing her name wrong, she pointed to the sky and said, "my dad's up there". As my brain raced to come up with a response appropriate for a 2nd-grader who just let me know her father had passed away, she proceeded to volunteer even more information. "Want to know what happened?" Again I'm left without any real response, but she doesn't really seem to be waiting for me to talk at this point. "He got drunk and hung himself".

* * * * *
When my brain started working again, one of my first thoughts was, "how is a 7 year old child supposed to find the emotional capacity to deal with something like this?"
The thing that made this incident so tragic is that it is not an isolated case. I had more conversations with other people, some kids, some older, and suicide, from what I've seen, has affected every single person in this band somehow. The unemployment rate is in the high ninety percentile, and domestic abuse, drugs, and alcohol are rampant. There are many who feel ashamed of their native heritage. There is a sense of hopelessness, especially in the youth.

Despite all the darkness, I saw positive change that weekend as well. We were not the only visitors to Ahousat that weekend. The North American First Nations Chief, Lynda Prince, came and spoke about the message of Jesus, which was reconciliation and hope. She also talked about how she had been sent to a residential school as a child, and had had to learn to overcome her bitterness.
Our team was able to pray for a number of the Ahousat band members, and all weekend people did crafts and played games with the children. The kids soaked up every drop of love we had to offer. I saw people experience healing as they came back to visit the community that they had once lived in but had run away from, and a number of fathers who publicly apologized to their families for the hurt they had caused by not being around and by drinking.

I think for me right now, the biggest evidence for a God that is alive and at work in the world right now is the healing and reconciliation that I have seen people go through during things like last weekend's trip. Jesus is in the business of healing people, including myself, especially myself, of our brokenness, our past, our failures, our weakness, our crushed dreams, our dirty secrets, and our mangled messed up lives. He takes our wounds that we wear like knife marks, and he soothes each one in a way that only a physician that understands our soul can.
Sometimes I don't let Him fix me right away, it hurts too bad, I don't want anybody to touch it, but then its like a bone that doesn't set properly, and you have to break it again to make it grow right. But He is always ready to continue that healing process if I am willing.

Around the world and back: the latest greatest update about my life

2007-06-26T15:51:00.000-05:00

Well, for those of you who wondered whether I had fallen off the face of the earth, I probably would have, had it not been for the fact that the world is actually round (more on the China trip in a bit). It has been a long time since I have written you all, and for that I apologize. It has been an eventful few months, and I will attempt to recap in a compact yet thorough manner. I have added headings for those of you who wish to skim. :)

End of the Internship
April saw the internship come to a close. When all was said and done, there were many misty eyes, as well as a whole host of great memories from the past school year. It was a good year, though not always an easy one, and I know that I grew a lot because of it. It was a good chance to get a taste of what an Inter-Varsity Staff worker's life is like, experience a new culture and a new city, and learn a bit more about what living in community is really about.

China GP (Global Partnership)
I got home to BC at the end of April, and had just enough time to stash my stuff at my parents place in Abbotsford and get rid of the jet lag before heading to Vancouver for a week of prep for our China trip. We flew out of Vancouver to Beijing, spent a few days again shedding jet lag, and then hopped on a train for 26 hours to the North-Western city of Xining in Qinghai province. There we stayed at a local university. We were each assigned a Chinese partner to spend the next 3 weeks with. Our dorm rooms were located in the foreign students hostel, and therefore had western style toilets instead of the traditional "squatty-potties". We also had hot showers and access to a laundry machine, things that we were told to expect little or no access to.
Our days consisted of language and culture classes in the morning, and group activities or free time in the afternoons and evenings. On weekends we would often go on field trips to surrounding areas. A couple of highlights include: visiting the night markets and a Tibetan hand-made carpet factory, eating ridiculous amounts of wonderful-tasting-yet-extremely-cheap food (a huge meal can be purchased for a few dollars), playing lots of Chinese poker with our roommates, and buying yummy chocolate ice-cream bars for the equivalent of 30 cents Canadian.
There were a lot of good conversations and discussions about values and religion, even though religion and politics are usually a taboo topic in China. My partner was a enthusiastic member of the communist party, and had just finished serving with the army a year before. His English was not that strong, and so we weren't able to have too many deep conversations. We got to do a lot of activities together though, and I think that the team as a whole was able to continue to develop good relationships with the students and the University. We were able to continue on the good work that has been going on there for a while, and there is a good chance that a team will be able to go back next year.

Whats Next for Montreal Man
Leaving on the China trip, I had pretty much decided to apply for engineering positions once I got back to Canada. For the last 6 months I wrestled with the question of what to do after my internship in Montreal. I had been anxious to pay of my student loans, and was tired of not knowing what to do next, so I figured I may as well work in the electronics industry for a while. Going on the China trip made me rethink that decision though. A number of BC Inter-Varsity staff came along on the trip, and I was reminded how much I enjoyed working with these people. I had a chance to go on the BC IV staff retreat at Pioneer Pacific on Thetis Island, and it was a good time to think, pray, and talk with the IV staff about what to do. As a result, I have decided to come on staff with Inter-Varsity in Vancouver. This has not been an easy decision, but at this point I feel like I have a opportunity to work with people I love, in a community setting that gives me a chance to grow spiritually and continue to develop leadership skills. There will also be an internship program running out of Vancouver this year, which I will likely be helping with as well.
My summer will consist mostly of fund-raising my salary and other expenses. As part of Inter-Varsity Policy, I have to raise a years worth of pledges, and 2 month's worth of salary in in the bank before I can officially come on staff. My goal is to finish fund-raising as close to the beginning of the school year as possible, but it may take the rest of the year. We will be moving into the intern house at the beginning of September. Once my funds have been raised, I will be assigned a campus position, possibly at UBC or SFU.

Prayer Requests (feel free to pray as you read!)
-Pray for the people in Xining, China who follow-up with our student partners
-Pray for the interns and I as we fund-raise for this coming year
-Thank God for providing us with ideal housing (I'll be sharing more about this in the next letter)

Thanks for all your prayers and support, and I'm looking forward to reconnecting with my BC family and friends once again! (Montrealers, I'm hoping to make it out there in the fall to visit, stay tuned for details!)

China GP '07 pictures

2007-06-26T13:49:00.001-05:00

Heres a few photos for y'all...

Chinese guy just chillin

The sun from the train window

The aforementioned train

The "Temple of Heaven"

My Chinese language partner Max

Little girl dressed in a traditional Chinese outfit

Mmmm.... mutton on a stick. There's nothing better

This is what went on in our dorm a lot

Max showing off his hat from when he was in the People's Army of China

I think they meant to say "don't go here"

The classroom where we had lectures

The bunks we slept in. I think I was one of the only people who didn't mind the 1" thick mattress

2007-04-23T01:51:00.000-05:00

Well, tonight is the last night in the friendly home. I fly back to Abbotsford, BC tomorrow at 2:05pm. I will be writing a year end wrap-up soon, so stay tuned.

To everyone in Montreal, you have made a lasting impact on me that I will never forget. I will miss all the friendships that I have developed over this last year. It has definitely been a year of growth and learning for me, and I am sad to see the end of it.

2007-04-06T11:40:00.000-05:00

Well, my new baby is here. I had to wait most of the internship to get it, but it was worth it.
This is the Canon Powershot S2 IS. For those of you who care, it takes 30fps video at 640x480, and has 12x optical zoom. It also has a swiveling back display.
I'm definitely a beginner when it comes to photography, but here are a few of my favorite shots so far.

Who ever thought extension cords could look this good.

My buddies at the metro.Some April "showers".A prize to the first person not from montreal that can guess what this is.Only the best sandwich of all time.

2007-03-21T23:23:00.000-05:00

Well, looks like we won't be defending our title as indoor intermural soccer champions. They made us play two games tonight, and we won the first one 4-0, but the guys were pretty tired by the second game, in which we were playing a fresh team. Oh well, I still have the mug from last year's win.

2007-03-19T22:46:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-10T02:11:00.000-05:00

Andrew is a nice man. He likes to brush his teeth. He brushes them nicely.

Silly Andrew. You forgot your bicuspids.

Andrew wishes he hadn't forgotten his bicuspids.

2007-03-10T01:21:00.000-05:00

Man oh man... Its been a long time since I've posted. I'm very ashamed...
So I will include some pictures to distract you.
A couple of weeks ago for reading week we went to visit Patrick's home town of St. John New Brunswick. Patrick's dad arranged for us to get a free tug boat harbor tour. We even got to try driving.

My buddy David Longschamps and I comparing our little white boxes.

IVCF staff retreat. We sure did bond.

Late night skating with some Montreal friends.

2007-01-23T00:50:00.000-05:00

So I got fed up with the lack of ice and snow the other day and decided to play in my front yard on the fish pond...
Up until a week or two ago, this was as good as hockey got here in Montreal. But thanks to a little of the white stuff and some decent cold weather, I have been able to play at the outdoor rink down the road twice in as many days! Happy Happy Joy Joy...

2007-01-17T00:55:00.000-05:00

Well, all is right with the world.
We have received almost a foot of snow in the last couple of days.
I went to see the Habs play the Canucks, and the Canucks SPANKED the Habs 4-0 (sorry Gil, these games never seem to be close)
It is now -21 C and dropping, and I am in my warm bed.

And now, for your reading pleasure, I present to you my Christmas letter. If for some reason you are not receiving it via email and would like to (I have close to a 100 people on the list, so please forgive me if I've missed you) or...
if you would prefer to read updates on my blog instead of receiving emails, feel free to leave a comment, and I will put you on/off the email list.

******

Dear friends and family,
It is time for me to update you on my exciting adventures in the steamy jungles of Montreal once more. I am actually starting to wonder if we are in fact a little closer to the tropical regions of the world than I once thought. We experienced a brown Christmas for only the 13th time on record here in Montreal. This, combined with the fact that BC has had lots of snow, has led me to believe that there is a global conspiracy to keep me from getting my full winter enjoyment. They haven't even been able to build outdoor rinks yet. I even roller-bladed to church this morning. On January 7. In Montreal. Bah.
In other news, we have just returned from a massive missions conference put on by Intervarsity in St. Louis called Urbana. Over 22,000 students came down for a week of speakers and seminars on a wide variety of mission topics. People from every state and province, as well as many other countries came together for an amazing time. The speakers were top-notch, and there was great music, drama, videos, and artistic presentations. Most of the sessions were recorded, and can be viewed at www.urbana.org. I was challenged in many ways, including the world AIDs crises, as well as our North American mindset towards missions, and how we need to receive from churches in other countries as well as give.
I was the bus coordinator for Quebec, and was responsible for getting about 90 people to St. Louis and back. It was an interesting learning experience, but a very stressful one as well. We were informed fairly late in the game that the drop off point in St. Louis for the buses was not capable of handling everybody, and we would therefore have to get people to their hotels ourself. I then discovered that the people in my buses were staying at a total of 12 different hotels. This made for some interesting planning sessions, and I got to know the computer programs google earth and google maps quite intimately (you can plug in an address, and it will come up with a satellite image of the location. Very handy, and also kind of freaky when you look up your own house). Anyway, everybody ended up getting there and back, but it was an adventure. The bus ride was about 23 hours, and I purposely rode back with them, which I'm glad I did. We ended up having quite the sharing and prayer time, I'm sure our bus driver hadn't seen anything quite like it.
My family flew to Montreal for Christmas, which was very nice. I unfortunately had to ditch them a couple of times to get the bus planning in order, but we were able to spend most nights together. It was definitely a memorable Christmas, because most of the things that we usually have around us (our decorations, music, and friends) were not here. We had a good time exploring the city, eating rabbit stew (yes, they sell rabbit meat here), and making a Christmas tree out of newspaper. It was also very good to have them here, because I had to fly out to Urbana a day earlier than the buses left, and so they were able to stay and help with collecting bus fares and registration.
Once I was actually in St. Louis, I was in charge of a small group made up of people from the University of Victoria. It was really good to see my friends from Victoria again, and we had a great time studying Ephesians together, waiting in ridiculous lineups to get food at lunch, and praying together. I am so grateful for the people that God has given IVCF at UVic, and the way they have blessed me.
Looking back on this year, I have been stretched in a lot of ways. The internship with IVCF has been everything I hoped it would be so far. I have developed good relationships with a lot of the students, and have enjoyed hanging out doing any number of things from intramural soccer, guys nights playing world-domination-type board games, student dinners, going out for dinner at one of the countless restaurants downtown, movie nights, prayer meetings, and many other activities. There have been a lot of good times, as well as a lot of difficult ones. One of the interns was asked not to come back, and so our team will look a lot different in terms of group dynamics. Also, as we experience growth here in Quebec, I expect to see more spiritual opposition and attack, in a number of possible ways.
I have been asked to consider returning next fall to help with next year's internship program. I am definitely considering it, although I am still finding it hard to wrap my head around the idea of not doing an engineering job when I have just spent almost 6 years working towards that goal.

Things to pray for:
-a possible missions trip to *a certain country I will not mention here* in April with students
-direction for the summer and fall
-team unity, continued growth an renewal in Quebec
-more staff workers for the schools of Quebec

Again I would ask that if nothing else, you at least pray for these things right now so that they at least get prayed for once. Please and thank-you. : )

I thank you all again for your support and prayers. I'm looking forward to the last 4 months of the internship, and seeing God work in the students and my life.
And what do you know... its actually snowing outside.

Grace and peace.

2006-12-17T03:35:00.000-05:00

Nothing like a good old vanity shot.

2006-12-15T02:37:00.001-05:00

So, everybody has gone home for Christmas. Except me. But before we start handing out the tissues and sympathy cards, let me remind you that my family is coming to Montreal for Christmas. They are not here yet though, which means that I have most of the house to myself. People will start coming for the holidays on Saturday, so I made the most of today by staying in bed late, playing computer games, and in general being very unproductive. It was glorious. I managed to confuse today with tomorow, and made Gillian and her sister Jen come out to the movie night at my house a day early (sorry guys). We ate leftovers, took a quick tour of the house, and then I drove them home.

It is utterly un-white here. No snow. If we don't get a white Christmas I think I'm going to snap. Its not even below zero. Bah....

2006-12-15T02:30:00.000-05:00

This is the story of Bonnie and Clyde. They were happy little lobsters. One day a mean boy named Tim came and gave them a bath in hot water. They were so mad they turned red. Then the mean boy ate them. The end.

So we got some money donated to make a good meal. So we did. Lobster and swordfish. And nice cheeses. Mmmmmmm.....

2006-12-04T01:47:00.000-05:00

Whats that you say? Two posts in one day? Such a flurry of activity has never been seen in the history of this blog. Nor is it likely to happen again any time soon. So enjoy it while it lasts.

The subject of this entry: Advent's Calenders.

I have just received in the mail my Mother's annual pre-Christmas gift, presents for an advent's calender. Here they are, all neatly wrapped and labled from 1 to 18. I get to unwrap one each day from December 1st until Christmas day. (Note: #1 is missing, because I ate it. #19-#24 are not included because my family is flying to Montreal on the 18th to spend Christmas here. #25 is not included because you don't get an advent's calender present on Christmas day silly)

2006-12-04T01:30:00.000-05:00

We are officially the Concordia Indoor Soccer Recreation Division Champions of Fall 2006. I was the goalie, and I must say our team came together very nicely. I have been on a lot of intramural teams, and this is the first time I've actually won, so I'm feeling pretty proud myself. Hopefully we can get most of the guys back in the spring to defend our title.

2006-11-28T02:54:00.000-05:00

Well, there are not many times that I can honestly say that I've been homesick, but I'd say this comes pretty darn close. I think the BC mountains are one of the things I miss the most. The rockies are in my blood. I spent a couple of hours tonight pasting together panorama shots like the one above from hikes I've gone on with my good buddy Markus. Looking through my camping photos is probably the next best thing to actually being there. Its certainly not the same though.
I always did feel more at home in the wild than in the city.
Yup, God knew what He was doing when He made mountains.

2006-11-27T01:22:00.000-05:00

So its not fair. While I live in BC, I get brown Christmas after brown Christmas. Now, the second that I move away, it starts dumping snow. I bet the ponds will even freeze over and people will be able to play hockey on them. Not here in Montreal though. I hardly even need a jacket today. I'm just a little bitter about all this. I know snow will come here eventually, but its the principle of it all. We should be getting snow first, then BC. Not the other way around. Its not right I tell you.

2006-11-03T01:52:00.000-05:00

It would seem that I am doomed to remain faithful to my name (Keeper Of Night). Here I am yet again at 2:00am in the morning, wondering how I ended up staying up 2 hours later than I intended. The answer, of course, is relatively simple. I wasn't tired 2 hours ago. Or 1 hour ago for that matter. I probably will be at 8:30am tomorow though. sigh.....

So I miss my baby...
We've actually had some really nice weather here at times. She would have enjoyed it here. But we needed some time apart. I think she was breaking down this summer just so I would spend more time with her.

Anyway, I need to go to bed before this entry goes completely off the deep end.

2006-11-01T02:25:00.000-05:00

Hey folks, its your friendly neighborhood intern here once again. Just thought I'd check in and see how everyone's doing. We had trick or eat tonight, which is when us big kids dress up and pretend that we're collecting food for the food bank so that people will think we are nice and give us candy.
In other news, life is busy, but otherwise going well. Part of the intern program involves joining the local Toastmaster's club. Toastmasters is a public speaking club where you get to practice making speeches, and people evaluate you. Anyway, I did my first speech last night. I think it went pretty well. I practiced it 6 or 7 times, so I think that helped. Apparently my volume goes way down when I'm doing a speech. And I always thought I had a loud voice.
Finally, to wrap up this uncharacteristically short entry, I have been designated charter bus coordinator for Quebec for urbana. It will be very interesting, because I will need to stay very organized, something which is not one of my stronger areas. So ya, lots of character development going on here, joy of joys.

Greetings from the east

2006-10-25T02:58:00.000-05:00

Heres my latest update letter. If for some reason I missed you from the email list, I'm very sorry. Just let me know, and I will include you on the next one.

Dear Friends and Family,
51 days have now passed since I boarded a plane for the exotic jungles of Montreal. Our mosquito nets did not arrive until the 2nd week, and so unfortunately we have lost a couple of people to malaria. The mail plane broke down and is not expected to arrive for another 5 weeks, but spirits remain high, especially with the monsoon season almost over...
Ok, so maybe things aren't so bad here. While there are some distinct cultural differences here in Montreal, the transition has been a relatively smooth one. (there does seem to be a lot of idol worship here though, mainly centered around a certain hockey team with... ahem... red jerseys... it's quite appalling). Despite repeated warnings from various people about winter, I have actually been forced to take off my jacket a number of times due to the heat and humidity so far. And I have actually had very little chance to pick up french, due to the fact that virtually everyone, at least in this side of the city, speaks english. As a matter of fact, I have only run into one person that could only speak french.
We live in a house called the Friendly Home, a part-time counseling center that rents out apartments. It is a very large, and has multiple living rooms and offices. I share a bedroom with two other interns, Jason Dresler from Chillowack, BC, and Patrick Maloney from St. John, New Brunswick. Returning from last year's internship program is Christina Singh from Toronto, ON, and our supervisor Ruth Lewis, who has been working with IVCF for 26 years (and raising her own salary for most of that time). Jason has been assigned to McGill university as an assistant to Peter Benjamin, the McGill staff worker, while Patrick and I are working with Christina at Concordia University.
McGill is largely comprised of students from outside of the province, while Concordia is made up almost entirely of commuters. An interesting result of this is that our student suppers on Saturday nights that we run tend to bring in mostly Concordia students, due to the fact that many Mcgill students hardly every step outside a 5km radius of McGill.
Concordia has an incredible mix of different ethnicities and cultural backgrounds. One can hear an amazing amount of languages just by walking down the streets of downtown montreal. At our first student dinner of the semester, we had people from China, India, Pakistan, Africa and the Middle East.
I also know of at least one muslim student who has come out to almost every event that we've had so far. It has been great to see God bringing people together in a place that on the outside does not seem to foster any sort of community.
My schedule involves prep. time on Monday and Thursday mornings, and leadership training sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. In the afternoons I either man the Concordia Christian Fellowship office, or help with various bible studies. Concordia has a satellite campus called Loyola, and we are currently in the process of organizing a small group to meet there. Concordia has very few Christian groups or activies at its main campus, and even less at Loyola, so pray that we would be able to start something there.
Mondays evenings we go to the local toastmaster's club meetings, where we get to practice our public speaking. Wednesday nights Patrick and I have joined the indoor soccer intramurals in hopes of connecting with more students (and getting a little exercise in the process). Thursday night is reserved for family night, so that we have at least one night a week where everybody is home for supper together. We usually do something as a group, like play a game. Friday nights is when both McGill Christian Fellowship and Concordia Christian Fellowship get together at their respective campuses, and usually have a speaker, some music, maybe some snacks, etc.
As most of you probably know, a terrible tragedy occurred on September 13 at Dawson College here in Montreal. A lone gunman entered the school and shot at students, killing one girl and wounding numerous others before finally shooting himself. I was only a couple of blocks away at the time at Concordia. I didn't hear any shots or sirens, but I saw a helicopter flying around above us, and people holding signs telling Dawson students to go to Concordia, where they set up an emergency shelter and counseling center. In the week that followed the IVCF staff team from Montreal came and helped out at the college, providing counseling and any other help that we could provide. I was put in charge of manning a table with books for the students to sign in support of the Dawson student community. I also made a large number of pink ribbons which students wore to show support the family if the girl that was killed. It was quite a week, but I'm glad that we were able to help, even if just in a small way. Things have returned mostly to normal now, but as a result of the whole ordeal I managed to make friends with the director of student affairs, who has actually called us back to help with other school activities. Pray that this connection will make the school more open to having Christian groups and activities on campus.
We had a training/planning this past weekend for the Concordia student executive committee, and had a great time getting to know the students better through bible studies, games, worship, and other random activities such as elastic band shooting competitions. We also had a thanksgiving dinner for 20+ people a couple of weeks ago. We were expecting 30+ people, and ended up having a lot of leftovers (we cooked 2 turkeys and two hams!). One can never have too many turkey sandwiches though...
As for how I'm doing personally, I would have to say that I am really enjoying Montreal. I did not know anybody when I moved here, and I already feel like I've known the staff team for a long time. We have been studying a book called A Resilient Life by Gordon MacDonald. I would highly recommend it. One thing that has stuck out to me is the idea of being in a leadership position because its where I need to be to grow right now, and not so much because other people need me to lead them.
Fundraising has been going pretty well so far, I'm currently up to about $8000. This was the original target, however we found out that we had to incorporate air-fare's as well, and so the total cost now is $9400. God has been incredibly faithful so far though, and I have been so blessed by all the people who have made donations and said they would pray for me. I know that God will provide the rest.
Some things to pray for:
-the concordia christian fellowship students and exec., that they would grow as a group and as individuals in their relationship with God
-me that I would continue to be stretched and challenged in many areas, and that God would use this time both to bring me closer to Him as well as to give me a sense of where my calling/future lies
-the students and staff of Dawson college where the shootings occurred, that they would continue to heal and find comfort in the source of all comfort, Jesus
-the city of montreal, and the many students that live here. For many people, possibly even the majority, religion is considered a thing of the past, and merely a tool that was used to control people. People need to see Jesus for who he really is, and not what certain people or leaders have tried to present him as in the past.

Please pray for these things at least as you read them, that way even if you forget they get prayed for at least once. : )
Thanks again so much for your prayer and support. It means a lot to have my friends and family behind me. Please let me know if there are things that I can pray for you as well.

A visual presentation

2006-09-26T23:49:00.000-05:00

So no camera yet (been looking hard at the Canon S2 IS, but I'm not sure how much duty would be to buy it from the US, if anybody knows about such things and would like to enlighten me I would be much obliged), but nevertheless I will attempt to give you a small glimpse into my world for the last 3 weeks.

Me breaking into our house the first day because we locked our key inside.

Me practicing my spider man skills after successfully gaining entry

Saturday night student dinner

Dinner with the fam

One slightly well done tortilla

Some cool art downtown

Camping trip fun in the rain

A cool picture of the campground

My hair, chopped off as of today

I was originally planning to grow my hair out till Christmas. However, I realized very quickly that I really do not enjoy spending a lot of time doing my hair, and therefore needed to cut it off. The funky color effect is one of the built in photo effects for the camera in my computer.

By the way, for anyone considering buying a macbook in the near future, I would recommend waiting a bit. I bought my in June, and have already had a major repair done. Thousands of people are experiencing random shutdowns. The fix for this is to replace the logic board and heat-sink. However, now my computer doesn't always boot up properly. Intel macs are great, but if you can hold off making a purchase for another 6 months so that apple can work out a few more of the bugs, you'll probably save yourself a lot of grief.

2006-09-19T22:18:00.001-05:00

(My apologies for the faulty link in the previous post, it is now fixed)

Today we went into Dawson College. At staff meeting last friday morning, we brainstormed ways that we could help the students cope and readjust with last week's shootings. It was decided that we would offer to operate a drop-in room where students could come in, hang out, talk, and just process things in their own way. The local chapter of IVCF has an office in the college, so we hung out there for the morning. One of the first people to come in was this girl.
She wouldn't even walk through the atrium, the main eating area where the shootings occured. I came accross her picture while looking at the CBC gallery tonight, and realized that it was the same girl. We had a chance to talk and pray with her, which was really good.

Later that day I met the director of student development, and was recruited to help run a number of tables where students could write personal messages to the student body, and also thank-you cards for the police. We also had bottled water and cookies that someone had donated to give away, as well as pink bows which have become the symbol of support for the girl that was killed, Anastasia.

Most students actually came back to school yesterday, and were greeted with loud applause from the staff as they entered the building. As the applause faded away, the echo apparently reminded some of the students of the gunfire they had heard only a few days before.

I was at the table today for about 6 hours, and got to see a lot of students come through. There were very few tears, at least in the busy area that I was in. I suspect there was more of that yesteray, but still, most students seemed to be doing relatively well. A lot of them sat in groups and traded stories about where they were when everything happened. Some were ready to write things in the notebook at the table, others fealt like they needed more time.

It was nice to be able to do something tangible for the school and students. The funeral was today, and there will be a non-religious service tomorow as well. We will be going in every day this week, so if you could continue to pray for the team and the students that would be awesome. Also pray that through this situation IVCF's relationship with the school would be strengthened, and that we would find favour with the administration.

Thank you for all your prayers.

2006-09-14T01:27:00.000-05:00

Well, as many of you have probably already heard, there was a shooting today at a college a few blocks away from Concordia University. I was actually at Concordia when it happened. I didn't hear any sirens or shots or anything, but word kind of spread throughout the school fairly quickly, and everybody was on their cell phone talking to parents or friends about it. The actually brought the students to Concordia for the counselling right after. There were people all over the place with signs directing Dawson students to the university, and I could see a helicopter circling overhead.
Its all still very sureal right now. As interns, we don't deal with the people from Dawson directly, but I know the two IVCF staff workers that do fairly well. They will definitely need our prayers. I think that this will have a long term impact on a lot of what we are doing here too, and so you can pray that God would give us wisdom, and somehow make something good out of all this. One of the names of God is the Redeemer. He is very good at taking something very bad, and turning it into something amazing. He does that with us as sinful humans everyday.

2006-09-12T22:19:00.000-05:00

So, here are some random first impressions of Montreal...

Amazing architecture
-A lot of old buildings are still around, especially churches. Most have been transformed into other things such as schools and museums. One was actually jacked up (we're talking a giant stone building here) and a shopping mall was put underneath. I still haven't gotten a camera yet, but hopefully soon.

Suprisingly easy to communicate in
-One of the questions that I could count on people asking me at home when I told them I was moving to Montreal was "How's your french?". Since I have moved here, I have had one or two experiences where language was a barrier. For the most part, everyone is bilingual here.

Not interested in the church
-Virtually all swear words in french have some religious significance. The Catholic church was once very strong here, but since the quiet revolution in the 1960's, Francaphone pride is the new religion.

24-hour bagel stores
-As a lot of you may know by now, I tend to stay up late sometimes. Well now, I can go and buy bagels. ANYTIME I want. And we're talking real bagels, not those pansy little bread circles that they sell at safeway. These suckers are cooked on a wood fire (but only after they're boiled first of course, as all true bagels are).

Crazy Drivers
-Cars will not stop for you. Pedestrians come second.

Multicultural
-McGill is still pretty white, but Concordia University has an amazing mix of people from Africa, Asia, Central America, and all over. Sometimes it almost feels like I'm the minority as a white person.

Hab's crazy
-If you think that Vancouver is obsessed with the Canucks, or even hockey, Montreal will blow your mind. Its the freaking summer, and the sports page is covered with Montreal Canadiens stories. One of the other interns, Patrick, its a Habs fan. We have decided to take it upon ourselves to re-educate him. On a completely unrelated note, the sports page of the newspaper doesn't seem to always arrive here anymore. Strange.

So those are a few first impressions I've had. I'm still getting to know the people and the students I'm working with, so I'm sure that my ideas will change somewhat over time (except about the Canadiens of course).

Today I went and visited the satellite campus of Concordia called Layola. I brought a soccer ball along, and ended up getting to meet a number of people just by kicking the ball around for a bit. It looks likeI will be helping lead a bible study there this fall. I don't know of any other christian groups that operate there right now, so please pray for me that God will give me direction, and also send students my way.

In other news, it appears as if my graduation will be delayed until the spring. I was unable to get the forms I needed signed by my work in time (I ended with a coop this summer). It was very stressful trying to get things done in time, especially seeing as I'm accross the country, and its rather disapointing not to get it finished and done with, but on the other hand I'm just relieved that I don't have to deal with deadline anymore. I fealt in a lot of ways like I was still only partially here, at least mentally anyway. Now I feel like I can fully focus all of my energy on the Internship at last.

I suppose it would be easier to write shorter posts, and just do them more frequently, but oh well.

Things to pray for:
-Direction in terms of how I approach the Layola campus
-That God would bring me the students at Layola that He wants me to get to know
-Inspiration for bible study topics, that I would have insight into what students need to talk about

Again I would ask that even if you don't remember to pray for these later, that you would at least pray for them now while you're reading this. Thanks so much!

And so it begins

2006-09-05T21:10:00.001-05:00

Well, Montreal is now my home. I arrived on Wednesday, August 30, and life has been a whirlwind ever since. We had about a day and a half to unpack, and then we were off to the first retreat of the year. Student leaders from a number of different schools including Concordia and McGill Universities traveled by bus to a little town called Dunham where we stayed at a YWAM base there. All the speaker sessions were translated into French and English, so it was an interesting experience. On the bus ride there I got one student to help me read the French version of the waiver form. I would like to learn as much French as I can while I'm here, but unfortunately Montreal is a very bilingual city, and almost everyone speaks English. Some people have lived here for 50 years and never really learned French. I will just have to make the most of the opportunities I get I guess.

I just got my UVic email account up and running yesterday afternoon, only to find out that a coop coordinator had sent me an email saying that my final coop report was due today. So with the help of copious amounts of Jasmine green tea that I found in the kitchen downstairs, I managed to finish it by 4:00am last night. Needless to say I am looking forward to a good sleep tonight.

My to do list is still ridiculously long, but I am slowly chipping away at it, and now that my coop report is done, I feel like a lot of weight is off my shoulders. I still have a few forms that I'll probably need to fax to Victoria, but the hard part is done. It feels strange not having to organize myself for classes after having done school for so long.

Support seems to be coming along, although I'm not entirely sure where I'm at right now because I'm still waiting for a lot of stuff to get mailed and processed. God is good though, and I have no doubt that He will provide what I need. It has been very humbling to see all the people that have donated so far, and it continues to amaze me how God provides in ways that we don't expect.

Things are in a bit of a lull right now as all the students get their classes organized, but we will be meeting with the Concordia IVCF exec tomorrow to do some initial planning. It looks like I will be helping lead some small groups, and perhaps start up some stuff at one of the satellite campuses for Concordia, called Loyola.

We got to meet most of the exec group at the retreat on the weekend, and they're a really fun group. Definitely a lot smaller than UVic's group of 30+ however. It will be a big switch from working with such a large group. There is also a lot more cultural diversity in the group. It will be an interesting year. I am looking forward to the challenge though.

Anyway, I've covered a whole lot of topics here, but hopefully you've gotten a taste of what my week has been like. Please pray for me, even if only right now as you read this. Pray that God will give us wisdom in how to develop a strategy for reaching the campus, and that we will be able to develop lots of good relationships with the students. Also pray that God would go before us on the campus and open up doors. There is a lot of mistrust towards the church in general here.

PS
I will be getting a digital camera soon, so hopefully I will have some pictures for you shortly. If anyone has suggestions for what to get, my budget is roughly $300.

Bonjour

2006-06-28T22:05:00.000-05:00

Hello from Montreal! It is with great pleasure that I briefly resurface to greet you all from this wonderful city. I am in fact leaving on friday to return to Victoria, but I shall return in the not too distant future... just over two months to be somewhat vague.

As some of you may know, I will be working as an intern for Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship at the campus of Concordia University this coming school year. This week I got to meet some of the other people that I will be working with. Ruth Lewis will be our supervisor/mentor. Jason (standing beside Ruth) is from Lethbridge/Chillowack, and Patrick (far right) is from New Brunswick. We will be living in this awesome house, which is as amazing on the inside as it is on the outside. It has a huge kitchen,

huge living room, huge basement, and huge dinning room. The living quarters themselves aren't so big, as me and the guys will be sharing a room for sleeping, but there are enough other rooms that I think we will be ok when we need space to be alone.
Patrick and I will be working at Concordia, while Jason will be working at McGill. We will be working under staff workers, and doing things like meeting one on one with students, helping organize student activities, running student dinners, organizing bible studies, and just trying to build community in whatever way we can. Inter-Varsity was huge in my life as a student in helping me with my relationship with God, and want to help inspire the next generation of students to look at their time in school as more than just the 4 or 5 years in which you give up sleep and money to get your degree.
The last couple of years have very much been a balancing act between school, extracurricular activities, and church. I am really looking forward to being able to concentrate on working with students alone. Well, I will have one other job, and that is fundraising. As interns we are required to raise $1000 a month each, for a total of $8000 each for the year. This means that I will be doing a lot of meeting with people, letting them know what I will be doing in the coming year, and asking for support. Not something that little old self sufficient me is comfortable doing, but necessary nonetheless. One thing that I am learning more and more is that in God's economy, there are no hermits. We are meant to depend on eachother and on God, and try and make it on our own is not a biblical concept, though this flies in the face of our North-American culture. And so, while my pride may take a hit, I will be in fact gaining many partners in this work to build relationships with students, and to expose God's love to the academic world of Quebec. Time and time again I have heard stories of people recieving funding from the people they least expect, and I have no doubt that God will use many suprising ways to provide for my financial needs.
My parents have been behind me from the beggining, and this has been so encouraging. I could write probably an entry in itself in how they have supported me over the years, and I know that without them it would have been difficult if not impossible to get through school.
Anyways, I am hoping to start doing more blog entries in the near future, especially once I move to Montreal in a couple of months. In the mean time, hopefully this will keep you read-a-holics satisfied. Peace out.

Title indeed

2006-04-17T02:01:00.000-05:00

Well, the day has finally come for Tim to make a blog. Now before you get your hopes up, this will likely be only be updated when I have nothing better to do, or am really avoiding doing something. Like now for instance. I should be working on a project. But instead I am creating a blog.
Likely the only way you will find this is if you read a comment that I make somewhere else. But that is how I discovered most of my friend's blogs too. Unless you are a stalker, and have been googleing my life history (its a great way to learn interesting things about people, like their chess rank in BC). So enjoy, and prepare to be disapointed next time you check for updates.