Vaaaancouver…where to being? I guess ill pretty much give ya’ll a play by play of what went down. So we headed off at around 9:00am to catch the 10:00 ferry into Horseshoe bay. We arrived to the entrance of the building where Jenny (runs the safe house “Inner Hope” along with Carla) picked us up and brought us back to the house. She gave us a run down of the week and it was looking pretty promising and exciting. We arrived to the house where we were warmly greeted by some of the aboriginal young adults that lived in the house. Mercedes, Ericka, and Gage are their names. During the six days that we were there, we did a lot of random jobs around the house like shovel the driveway, clean the garage (like nobody’s business), do a lot of painting in the entrance way, hall way, and in a bedroom, and organize under the stairs. It certainly kept us busy which I’m glad. It brought us great conversation and constantly benefited the group dynamics…We got to know each other a lot more which was so amazing. I couldn’t of asked for a better group.

The next day, Jenny explained to us that we would be hosting a chapel at the UGM on East Hastings street for the homeless. Now UGM, which stands for Union Gospel Missions, is an organization that helps drug addicts and people who deal with alcohol get off the streets of Vancouver. They provide services for the people that encourage them to change their lives for the better, with the mentality of seeking Christ throughout that process. They have two services a day that fill about 150 men and women and they are usually half an hour each. After the service the people are welcomed to a hot meal in the kitchen. UGM also provides woman’s shelter and services as well. The whole organization takes up about a block of East Hastings Street itself. So on Monday, we put together an interactive game for the people and they could win prizes for answering the right question about the sermon that was talked about. We spoke about John 10:1-18 “The Good Shepherd and His Sheep.” The prizes went anywhere from laundry soap to chess board sets and note pads. It was a fun variety and they really loved it.
There is a program called “Say Yes” which I believe is connected with a church called New Beginnings in the downtown area. The program is run by a pastor and his wife. They run it from Tuesday to Thursday every week. It is a tutoring program for kids usually ages 8-12 where they learn about the bible, get a fed a good meal which they may not get at home, take them to the park, help them with their school studies and usually do a craft to end off the day. It was really cool to watch the kids immediately connect and cling to us after the first day. One of the girls named Arlain told me I was the “cool girl leader” so she asked me to come hangout with her and her friends haha. We went into a separate room from the rest of the kids and the girls let lose (conversation wise). I got to hear a lot about their lives. I learned that none of them, not a single one grew up with a father. It was either “my father lives in another province”, “my Dad left us for drugs”, or “my dad is dead.” It was so hard hearing this, but I eagerly wanted to know more. They are either living with their single mom that is off and on with boyfriends, or living with a grandmother or aunt. A lot of them are living in the First Nations apartment buildings in the downtown area (off Commercial Street). Hearing them tell me all this really broke my heart. They have grown up in such a broken home and depressing lifestyle. The way they spoke and acted you could tell that they don’t know what love is. It is a foreign feeling and concept to them. The only time they hear about it is at this program. Byron and Diane are doing an excellent job of teaching them manners, and showing them the love through that of Christ Jesus. The kids really do not know how to behave because they have no discipline at home. The parents are either never around or they could care less about what their kids are doing. Those three days really made me mull over how recognizing Jesus’ presence is just as important as being his presence to other people. It was my duty to show those kids Christ’s love as best I could. God works in SUCH mysterious ways, and I only hope that I made just that much of difference in those kid’s lives for Jesus to keep working in. God has created that space in which something can happen that you hadn’t planed or counted on.

Something that was really cool is that camp Qwanoes is connected with the New Beginnings church and so a lot of the kids that we worked with have been to camp already and are continuing that this summer. God has such big plans for their lives; I just hope that they grasp that chance to become something bigger and better than what there parents were.
The last day we were in Vancouver (which was the Friday) we had another opportunity to lead another chapel for UGM which we did on our own. Now I must say, we had A LOT of time to brain storm idea’s throughout the week. We were actually set on doing a Drama to Music for the service, but we changed it last minute. So we had like not even an hour before we left to prepare a half hour sermon…awesome…. Deb and I were frantically scrambling for a topic. I happened to come across this devotion online that was to do with God using problem in our lives and how it affects us in the aspect of character building and enhancing your relationship with God, or depending on how you look at it, it can destroy you and tare you apart. The five topics were how God directs you, inspects you, corrects you, protects you and perfects you. These were very significant and brought forth a lot of questions. So we printed off the devotion and ran out the door. Still feeling really unprepared, we all needed to contribute somehow to this talk. Again, we thought that it would be cool to hear from the people and what there perspectives were on the specific topic, but we knew that we needed to be flexible so we made sure we came up with some of our own stories incase the guys didn’t feel like sharing. We asked them if they would like to share any personal experiences that they felt were appropriately suited for whichever issue they wanted. Of course, not really wanting to share and feel vulnerable, they say to us “We’re not really into sharing with the group ladies.” Feeling a little awkward about the comment, Deb totally ripped it up with giving them examples where God had significantly worked in her life which was so great.
Being up on stage you see the faces staring directly at you, glued to your face. Of course there are the occasional (well mainly the majority) drunk or perma-drunk guys in the crowd, and the half asleep guys, or the guys that are so out of it because they just shot up minutes before walking into the building. But the guys that are attentive and anxciously participating is so great and that is why we were there. We concluded the service with singing hymns. A lot of them don’t know the modern worship songs, but they love the hymns. There was a little extra time left at the end and so one of the guys in the crowd says “Sing more songs! We love it.” So we sang until all the men were out of the chapel, so that was pretty cool to hear.

As the men are eating their meals in the dining hall, we made our way to the exit door in the back of the building where we usually would greet them and thank them for coming. We saw a lot of the same guys that were there on the Monday, so they came up to us and were chatting a bit, cracking jokes and what not. After about 15 minutes passing by a guy named Kenny addressed us with striking eyes that were glued to us as he walked out of the building. “Ladies, I just want to let you know that I wanted to say something while you guys were talking. I could have talked for hours on your sermon.” He wanted to let us know how much of a “kick in this face” our sermon was today. I think God really shocked or surprised him. Just that day he had lost his job and was feelings really beaten up about it. He lives in the slummy Government buildings just down off Hastings. He is getting a second divorce and has not spoken or seen his kids in about 4 years. So hearing what he heard really opened his eyes and he started to wonder, “Is God telling me something through these problems of mine.” He went on to tell us what an encouragement it was to hear this and asked if he could have our devotion paper that we printed off. Man..i just remember thinking as I was up on stage, “wow, I hate this right now. Nothing is making sense, these people are going to boo us off stage or throw things at us. We are so not prepared enough for this.” I so desperately wanted that half hour to end for some reason. But God was so evident up there speaking through us to those people. And even if just one person got something out of it, that is all that matters. That is why we are here. As I was standing and listening to Kenny speak It made me think about discipline. Discipline means the effort to create space in which God can act. Discipline means to prevent everything in your life from being filled up. To create that space in which something can happen that you hadn’t planed or counted on. I need to make that choice to be actively present while working with these people, and giving God that open range to work freely through me. I want Jesus to invade my whole life…wow. God sent his Son to be among us, and we were given that command to plant seeds in the lives of non-believers. Being among the people means being in their midst, not outside. It means being with them. It means not looking away from their agony or humiliation, but beholding it and having the courage to be also wounded by their pain. I need to learn how to truly be among the people to whom I am sent, as Jesus was among us.


As we drove along the street of East Hasting, we saw the same people that we were speaking to only moments before, seeing them out back into the world going by and doing there daily routines. The street itself made me think of my Dad. He did not live on the streets himself, but he hungout with those people. They were his friends. He lived in very low-income housing (I think a hotel actually) and did odd jobs whenever he could. His life consisted of being absolutely consumed by alcohol and that is why he lived the way he did. Reflecting back on that and looking at the same people as we drove by brought me to tears. God was really placing these people on my heart. Not because I thought they were pathetic or felt sorry for them, but because I saw my Dad in those people. In there faces, and smiles and personalities. Recently, this year has been a process of healing and reconciling with my Dad. The relationship my Father and I had was one that consisted of phone calls and short letters every now and then. I didn’t have a Father in my life that was never fully present in body or in mind. As hard as it was thinking about this, I think God really gave me a blessing. Those specific experiences really helped me to connect with the “say yes” kids and the people on the streets. I think that is why I have such a heart for them. Like I said, I am so drawn to these people, and my father has a huge part of that. SO!...Vancouver was a beautiful healing process for me. Thank you Lord. God is sending me out of the little world I have constructed around me, where everything that reassures me is within easy reach and it is hard to get out of that “I am at the center of it all” mentality. Being sent from a comfortable, supportive environment-middle class- Christian family and church- into a street culture of violence, poverty, drugs, and prostitution is at first frightening and uncomfortable, but if it wasn’t where would the challenge be? “Being present the way Jesus was means that I have to abandon my own power. And seeing him in others teaches me the power of abandonment.”

I made great relationships with the youth kids. Toni, Corey and Leslie were three girls that really connected with us. The church is doing big things for them and I am so glad to see that they are being persistent in pursing after Christ’s own heart. They have big dreams and I pray that they continue to follow them.

After six days of being in Vancouver we headed back to camp Qwanoes for the night. We had the chance to repack and do laundry and whatever else that needed to be done. Early morning we drove three hours to a small fishing town called Ucluelet (just near Tofino). We worked with a guy named Aaron and his wife Julie for the ten days that we were there. We organized a Spring Break camp event for the First Nations kids on the reserve near Ucluelet (camp ran from mon-fri). There were about 8 kids on average that showed up on a daily basis. I must say, the kids were SO much different from the inner city Vancouver kids. They were well reserved, pleasant, polite and really respected us and listened well. As different as they were from the Van. kids, they as well came from really broken homes where abuse, violence, drugs and alcohol are involved. A lot of them lived with Grandparents and Aunts. There was one girl that I just completely fell in love with. Her name was Randi-Lee. She talked about anything and everything. She was just great and she loved learning about the bible talks that our leader Aaron put on for the group. We went through the Old Testament and concluded with Jesus dyeing for us. Every day she would come up and say “what are we going to be talking about today?” ha- so that was really encouraging see this little girl (around 8) so eager to know about the bible.

Deb and I were in charge of running the games there, and every 2-3 minutes it was like, “Okay kids NEW GAME.” Haha, they just had so much energy and would eventually get bored of the games so we had to switch up quite often. It rained almost every day while we were there so we played a lot of in door games, and then when it was nice out we played on the playground. I think what I really learned during that time was what the term “flexibility” meant. It became embedded into my brain. When we planned things, they usually wouldn’t turn out how we wanted it to, so being extremely open minded was a key factor basically throughout the entire trip.

The last four days of the mission’s trip was in Copper Island, which is a summer camp for First Nations kids. It is in a very secluded area via getting there by boat. SO we were there for four days taking on the tasks of some good hard labor ,working in the saw mill, getting our hands dirty in the kitchen, and working with electricians for the new chapel building that was being built. Our crew and 3 other guys met us there. There names were Bob, Rod, and Gerry. They were such awesome guys. Very easy going and loved to bug girls and tease them and prank them! Ohhh boy, haha. We had some good laughs and great fellowship with them. They are very Godly men that have so much integrity and love for the Lord. It was really encouraging to hear them share about their struggles and perspectives.

Me, being one that is not really a fan of sea food…we sure at A LOT of it. Pretty much everyday haha. It was cool fishing for the fish and trapping the crabs, and prawns, but not really that delightful eating it. However the crab was really good, just a little creepy seeing it alive earlier in the day and then ripping them apart to get the meat out of their legs…ew..
Being in such a secluded island and free of distractions, I had a lot of time to myself to think and reflect on my time in Vancouver and Ucluelet, and examine my relationship with God. I thought about the joy I had when I was with the kids and the homeless. I thought about how I know in the past I would run away from those situations. I know now that God is telling me that, that is where I need to be. So what does that mean for me in the future? Well working with Young Life is a great start (which I plan on doing). I am also looking into ways I can help the homeless community in Edmonton this year as well. I know one thing; there is no vacation from being a believer in Christ. I need to learn to wear Jesus like a coat, carry him consciously in my heart, and look for him everywhere.

I would never change this experience for the world. The challenges were worth while. The struggles were worth experiencing. I thank God so much for presenting me with this opportunity because I know now that I was supposed to be there.
AND OH MY WORD…this blog is gone on too long. Reading this over I feel like I have touched on everything that has been put on my heart to share. I would like to share a few names with you so you can be praying for them. One thing that Jim Badke told us on the Friday we got to share our stories with the group was “Now that you have started a relationship with these people, it is now your duty to pray for them. God have given you this responsibility to be persistant in prayer.” I am now upholding that commitment and it will be a challenge, but I never want to forget these people. I don’t want this experience to be something that slowly starts fading from my mind. So I hope that you can also make that commitment with me by praying for these people to come to know the Lord and long for it.

Kenny, Arlain, Raven, Tuconni, Dakota, Evan, Randi-lee, Waylan, Leslie, Toni, Nygel, Buddy, Maria, Madison, Jennifer-May, Ericka.

Please pray for the staff at New Beginnings church to keep loving the kids they have coming out to youth

Pray for the homeless, that God will become so evident in their lives that there will be no way to deny him.

Pray for Jenny and Carla for their amazing sacrifice they are giving in order to run their Inner Hope Safe house.

Pray for UGM that God will keep using them to speak into the lives of the less fortunate.

Thank you SO much for getting through this long blog until the end. I hope that his somehow encourages you in any way possible. Thank you so much for your prayers and all that you have done supporting me throughout this year.

Until next week, GOD BLESS YOU

Malayne

P.S; I was planning on doing a slide show to show you all of our amazing photo's but it is a very long process so hopefully next week i can have it uploaded.