The People Continue to Pray

Tonight a group from Clearbrook MB invited us to their monthly prayer meeting. They meet at their church and they pray through the prayer guide that MBMSI puts out and they were also praying for us. Luke gave an overview on Trek and then a couple girls nervously gave their testimonies. One lady asked if we could say where we are all from so we stood up, one by one, and ran through what has become a normal routine for us… “My name is Laura Adams, I’m from California, and I’m going to Peru”. But in the middle of my introduction I see a familiar face, a friendly smile, and a beautiful woman waving at me: it was Elizabeth! The dear sweet woman who is praying for me was at the prayer meeting tonight!

We split into groups and divided up the prayer guide but I didn’t get to be in the same group as Elizabeth. I did, however, get to be in the same group as a neighbor of hers. When it was my turn to introduce myself to the small group a woman named Margaret said, “Oh! You’re the one that my neighbor, Elizabeth, is praying for. She has told me so much about you and she is so excited to be praying for you.” Wow… I’m incredibly blessed by a sweet woman who I hardly know.

After the formal prayer time ended I went straight over to talk with Elizabeth. We chatted for a while and I wrote down her address and phone number so that I will be able to keep in touch with her while I’m gone. She is the most marvelous 87 year old woman I have ever met. She loves and trusts Jesus, she has faith for every day and is quick to pray for everything. I’m so blessed to have such a prayer warrior on my side. She told me that she was praying about which trekker to adopt and when she saw me after the service last night she knew I was the one. She has a deep love for me that I don’t really understand. She shared with me how her family came over from Russia when she was quite young and also that she doesn’t have much family around her but she feels so close to me like I could be her daughter. I’m excited to have such a saint praying for me and I’m even more excited to be praying for her.

The People Are Praying

Tonight we spent the evening at Clearbrook MB for a commissioning service. This is a church of the elderly and those who are persistent in prayer. We sang some hymns, Luke explained Trek, we introduced ourselves, and John gave a sermon. Near the end of the service the congregation was given an opportunity to give us scripture and words of wisdom. We were given:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Phil 4:6-7

A woman who served in Mexico for 25 years and then short term in Peru gave us, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Prov 3:5-6

A man named William Thiessen told us that “Your faith will be tried, that is sure but God will be with you.” He also left us with “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.”
Ps 32:8

William has committed to praying for me while I am away on Trek and so has another woman named Elizabeth. Let me tell you, Elizabeth is quite the character. She is 87 years old and more in love with Jesus than just about anyone that I’ve ever met. She proudly proclaimed Jesus has always been her teacher because her formal education ended at grade 6. She went on to bible school and had the opportunity to memorize a lot of scripture that she still keeps with her to this day. She also told me that she would be praying for me to find a husband because she thinks that is really important.

Tonight was such a testament to how the people of God pray. Tomorrow night we’re going to their prayer meeting and we get to be blessed more by their ministry.

When Worlds Come Together

Beautiful faces, a fantastic poster, wonderful hugs and great conversations. Tonight we got to connect with this year’s Ministry Quest group. So many charming young men and women from all over the place who I haven’t seen since I was with them back in August and all the marvelous staff who I haven’t seen since before I left.

I often forget the power of people in my life. They so often speak God to me through their words, hugs, prayers, and just simply standing by my side. I can’t even express how fantastic it was to see so many people that I love all in one room. I feel so refreshed after feeling so alive.

Tonight was like a little taste of home and a huge taste of so much more. Seeing people from home has really set my heart at a whole new level of peace. Seeing someone and being able to give and receive hugs is so incredibly valuable when you’re far from home. There are definitely days when I miss home and days that I wonder what I’m doing here but there are so many more that I’m here and loving where I am and learning so much about community, my world and my God.

LOVE!

Life is so much bigger than we could ever imagine. I never fail to marvel at how big life is.

Today on what could be a totally self-indulgent and inwardly focused day we got to do a lot of serving. This morning we went to a place called Gleaners. This ministry is partnering with grocery stores and farmers all over Abbotsford and the surrounding areas to reduce food waste and feed the hungry around the world. What a marvelous concept! Since we, as consumers, are really picky the food that is slightly blemished doesn’t even make it to market and just gets dumped in a land fill, Gleaners is trying to make use of what used to be waste. They dry the vegetables to make bags of dried soup and then partner with other ministries in distributing the soup all around the world. We had a huge production line: there were thirteen people doing a job that they commonly have more than thirty people doing. We added scoops of barley, carrots, onions, tomoatos, peppers, lentils, green beans and numerous other ingredients to help create a healthy meal for people who may only have one meal the whole day. Each bag of soup is 100 servings and we put together 56 bags of soup in about an hour.

Later in the afternoon we came down to the great room and Amy was set with ribbon, cards, candy, and roses. We had hundreds of boxes of candy hearts and dozens of roses. We laughed and joked while we tied ribbons and cards around these gifts… and even told our first kiss stories, it is after all, Valentines Day. But after we finished we piled into vehichicles and headed to an area of town called Five Corners (it’s called this because five streets all come together at one intersection, so confusing!). But this is an area of town that has higher rates of poverty, drug use, and homelessness than we have previously seen in this beautiful town. We made our “home base” at a place called Jubilee Park, grabbed handfuls of roses and candy and spread out to bless people. We ran across people who shouted out of their car windows asking us to be their valentine, people turning us away, and people accepting us warmly. There is something so beautiful about giving a woman a rose, there is something inside of her that just lights up: my marvelous roommate Jenn suggested that it’s the idea of giving life. What a beautiful image! We had quite a few women say that the rose we gave them was more than they would get from their husbands. We had other people ask us if we were selling them and we got to gladly hand one over for free. It was interesting to watch people’s reactions when they weren’t so open to receiving a free gift. Our society doesn’t do anything with “no strings attached” and we’ve been taught not to even make eye contact with people we cross on the streets… what a shame. One man that I got to talk to seemed quite skeptical of us at first when we offered him a box of candy hearts and asked us something about a funeral since we were carrying so many flowers. We assured him that we were not taking part in a funeral and so he asked what we were doing. I got to tell him that we were just showing God’s love in a very practical way and with that I got the first of many hugs I would receive from strangers. We got to tell him about Trek and where we were from (when I told him I’m from California and I’m going to Peru he laughed, put his hand on my forehead and said, “you’re going north to go south!”). He told us a little bit about the neighborhood we were in since we didn’t know much about it and really affirmed what we were doing saying that the neighborhood needed more things like this. We got to bless people in a rather silly way, share the love of my Lord in a rather unobtrusive way, and see people smile as a result. Some of the girls got talking to a homeless man in the park and he shared with them his life story and also his insight that Jubilee park is usually teeming with people but when we came people scattered because the darkness hides from the light.

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

Matthew 5:14-16

The Incredible Trek

Have you ever had one of those days where you look back on it and think, “what on earth just happened?”

When midnight came and Saturday started, my roommates and I were eagerly scheming how we could prank the interns when they came to wake us up at an atrocious hour… We unscrewed the light bulbs outside of our door to ensure some darkness, taped the light switches down so you couldn’t turn them on, put squares of tin foil covered in honey just inside of our door, and then strung yarn from Lisa’s bunk-bed to a towel rack. We knew we were going to get woken up so we thought we’d make things a little more interesting. Darlene, one of the girls next door, also joined us for this adventure. We pushed the two twin beds together and all four of us slept there hoping that when one of interns came to wake us up they wouldn’t be able to get the lights on, step in honey and then clothesline herself instead of jumping on our bed… we purposefully left our door unlocked.

After less than four hours of sleep I heard a car door in the parking lot and I knew everything was about to start. 5am strikes and Amy is pounding on our door telling us that it was time to rise and shine. When no one moved from our room she came in and firmly announced “Girls, it is 5am, The Fest has started! You have 7 minutes to be dressed and downstairs!” Of course she said this between chuckles as she was trying not to laugh out loud at our creativity.

I end up downstairs with my teeth hardly brushed, shoes and sweatshirt still in my hands and of course, it’s raining. We did a memory game, Japan team won and got a ten minute head start. Our first challenge was to find six bandanas (in the dark and rain) that had been placed around mark Centre property. Peru team came back to win this one, then we blasted through the 6am brain-teasers only to be told that we needed to count the number of squares in a roll of toilet paper and then tear each square in half. When we realized that we somehow had too many triangles, Breanne took one for the team and ate a couple. We later found out that our toilet paper challenge was only because we were so quick on everything and our van drivers hadn’t arrived yet.

We were sent to places to get a cup a chai, and then to the airport for our next clue and then it was breakfast time. We followed the clue to the apartment of someone on Trek staff. For breakfast they served us white rice, a can of sardines, and a two-liter of coke. We had to eat everything before we could go on and if anyone threw up there would be time penalty. Our team choked it all down and before we left we were told this had been an actual breakfast that a Trek team had been served.

We got more clues that led us to find a needle in a hay stack (literally), go on a photo scavenger hunt, find a car in the mall parking lot (all we were given was the license plate number) and at this point our driver left us. We had no warning that we were going to be on foot from here so when we had found our next clue some of us were frantically looking for the van. A man who say us running around started lecturing Sarah on needing to remember where she had parked. We ran and walked through the rain until we got to the fire station and from there we played a game of bocce ball (Lisa and I dominated).

Our next clue was a string of numbers. We tried calling it but it didn’t work. Then Roxy figured out that the phone number was backwards. We called it and got a recording that said something to the effect of “Mathew, Mark, Luke, or John, go to Rotary Stadium and go fishing for something other than men”. We take off running because at this point we’re about 15 minutes behind the Japan team. We get there, we find Mark, a bowl of pudding and a bowl of rice krispys. We had to fish in the bowl of pudding for a gummy worm and then fish in the rice krispy bowl. My team looked lovely! I was exempt because of the chocolate.

From there we sprinted to Luke and Greg’s apartment so we could wait. We got there, changed into dry clothes and waited. We had somehow gotten almost 45 minutes ahead of the other team so we waited for them before we got the next clue. When they got there we still waited some more until Luke pulls dried squids from his oven… gross! None of us wanted to eat anything we still weren’t feeling well from breakfast. We all downed the squid and the Peru team ended up 5 minutes behind the Japan team.

We sprint into the college library and find the book we need only to be lectured by the librarian about being quiet. We had been quiet but the Japan team had already ticked her off. We talked about the librarian during debrief and realized she was probably the only Christian woman we met all day and she was also the rudest person that we had encountered. But the clue we found in the library was in a foreign language that none of us regognized. After feeling stuck and hopeless we were told it was Punjab and we asked someone at an Indian market if they would translate for us. The clue sent us to the Seik temple for lunch… great, more food. So we covered our heads and took off our shoes and ate the Indian food, some people slower than others.

After our meal our next clue led us to break a block of ice, then play skee ball to get tickets to by candy for our driver, then we had to make up a love song and sing it to a “mysterious woman on a balcony”. She turned out to be a he who did Trek last year. When he handed us the next clue, none of us were exactly excited. We were told we had to go to a town called Surrey (it’s about half an hour away) and catch the Sky Train (it’s an above ground subway kind of thing). Our hearts sank when we saw this because we knew the day was far from over because if they were sending us to Surrey they were going to send us to Vancouver.

We hop on the train and Breanne navigates like a pro! The only thing was that both teams went to the wrong station. If we had made it to the right station a lady would have asked for our help and if we helped her we would have gotten a “good Samaritan clue” that would have fast tracked us to the end. But we made it to Vancouver, met Luke at a gelato shop, and then sprinted back to the station to get on a Sea Bus. The Japan team had made the boat right before us so we knew they had made it first but we thought we still had the advantage from waiting at Luke and Greg’s. We decided that we were going to finish strong and hard. So we all sprinted to our final destination and the Japan team and all the staff were cheering the entire time. We felt like we were ending a marathon. We finished but we didn’t win. Apparently the game started over at the squid and the Japan team crossed the finish line about ten minutes before us.

The entire game took about 15 hours and we were beat. Everyone was sore, exhausted and a bit queasy from the amount of unfamiliar food in our stomachs. We did it, as a team. We had no tears, no arguments, and we got to see everyone rise up and lead out of their giftings.

Silence is Golden

Today we ended out 48 hours of silence; I feel refreshed, to say the least.

When we were first “released” into our silence, I made myself a nest of blankets and pillows, figuring that I would spend most of my time in my room since it’s so cold and there was rain forecasted for days on end. We were told not to fight being tired… so I didn’t. The first thing I did was take a nap. I slept comfortably for a couple hours and woke up just in time for dinner. But the marvelous part was that I woke up humming a line from a song, “you’re my safe place” and the truth of the matter is that God is my safe place!

I got a ton of sleep the past two days. After about ten hours of sleep I woke up right in time for breakfast (are you noticing a theme of waking up right in time for meals?). But Thankfully, it was sunny! God does hear the cry of my heart! I went for a walk down at the park wondering what God had for me there. I was wondering and I took a couple little trails that I had always overlooked on my other visits. It was wonderful to see what was off the beaten path and see all the hidden benches and charming resting places. I stopped and watched a pair of ducks for a while. I named them Mr. and Mrs. Duck (real original… I know). I watched them swim and dive under water and one would always follow the other. They would swim until they bumped into a piece of ice that was floating and then they would hop up on top and walk on the water, I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself and think “Jesus ducks”.

Backtracking a couple of weeks to another walk down at Fishtrap Park, the other girls showed me how much fun it was to throw rocks through the frozen lake. During my silent walk I could feel that God was tugging on my heart to symbolically give something back to him by throwing a rock through the ice. I wandered until I found a good, solid, frozen spot and a spot that had rocks near it (it’s been above freezing the past couple days so most if the ice was pretty thin). I found the biggest rock I could (granted it was only about half the size of my fist) and I chucked that sucker at the ice as hard as I could. But to my surprise the rock didn’t break through the ice but it just skidded to a stop on the other side of the lake. I stood there completely dumbfounded. Then I realized that it was a melting process. I had expected to watch the rock disappear but instead I just watched it sit there. I know that in the spring the ice will melt and my rock will sink to the bottom but as long as that rock is no longer in my reach then everything will be ok. My spring may come sooner or later than actual spring, or it may never come at all but the fact of the matter is that the rock is no longer mine to hold.

I had come into this retreat hoping that God would just break my heart and that I would be able to cry for some things that I have never really mourned. I spent the evening in the tree house with candles lit just thinking about things and looking through my bible. I was overcome by the word “Hosanna”: it’s the Hebrew word of praise meaning “save”. I was overcome by the feeling that I had come to God in a spirit that was longing to mourn and cry but God wanted a time of peace and celebration with me. God wanted me to sing praise songs and talk walks in the sunshine. He gave me the sunshine so that I could rejoice and be glad, He heard even the trivial cry of my heart.

“Your father knows what you need before you ask him” Matthew 6:8b.

Jazz is Love

This weekend has been blissfully restful. Friday was a sleep in day, Saturday was completely free, and today we had minimal events.

The weather was beautiful yesterday so we took a long walk down to the MCC Thrift Store and I picked up a couple Spanish books so that I could start working language skills. The other treasure that I found was Scattergories… it had all of the pieces and I got it for a dollar!

Tonight has been one of my favorite evenings in quite a while. We basically had live jazz in our living room. Steve Klassen, who runs the Mark Centre, plays in a marvelous jazz band called the Mennonite Jazz Committee. It was wonderful to turn the great room into a coffee shop atmosphere, drinking chai, eating hazelnut cake, and hearing live jazz. There is nothing quite like a candle lit room, live music, a warm drink and being surrounded by friends. When the band took a break I spent quite a while talking with the bassist about how he began playing, about his double bass, and playing in a community orchestra. He told me that he had been playing the bass for over thirty year… I hope I still want to be playing my viola in thirty years. It was also just wonderful to have other people around. It was a bit like having guests in our home. We decorated, set out desserts and even rearranged the furniture. Tonight was a beautiful way to end the weekend and start a new week.

People are blessings, music is a blessing, jazz is love.

Mennonite Jazz Committee's Myspace