Prayer requests!
Hey.
Super fast post to ask for your prayers. We're doing a
The Da Vinci Code outreach this afternoon, basically doing surveys and asking people what they think about the movie and the book. Our results will be sent back to headquarters in Langley where they will be tabulated for another press release. There was an article in
The Globe and Mail yesterday in which they interviewed one of our Montreal staff, John Bellingham. I was impressed...although the article didn't really say anything worth reading about, it didn't misinterpret Crusade's stance of using the movie to incite spiritual discussion rather than boycotting either. I can't say that much for the comments left on the
Globe website though. The first time I read the article, there were 16 comments, when I went back there were 32, and seconds later when I refreshed the page there were 64. Doubling...exponentially...most of them quite negative.
Anyways, I will ask that you pray for our group as we head out to four movie theatres (three English, one French) to collect people's opinion...that we will have wisdom and discernment when we answer any questions. I also anicipate that my roommates and I will be at the French theatre since we seem to be among the most adept in the language...and so please pray as well that we won't end up saying something when we meant to be saying something else on account of language differences. One last thing, please pray for good weather! It's been wet and rainy this past week, some say that it's the fact that so many of us are from BC and we brought the rain with us...but I beg to differ. The rain is actually harder than Vancouver rain, so...yeah. But anyways, I think we will be standing outside the theatres, so good weather would be good!
I'll finish by directing you to
www.discussdavinci.com, Crusade's website that gives background resources on the historical data etc. that the book (and movie) are based on. I watched the movie yesterday afternoon, and I know that without this background information, one can get pretty confused by what they'll see.
Waiting
The interview went okay I guess. She was supposed to call me back today because she makes the schedules on Thursdays and she said she'd call me before she makes the new schedule. Hm. Maybe she meant next Thursday. Someone did call and leave a message today when I was making dinner (my voice mail actually works now!) but the message was just the sound of hanging up. Hm. I didn't recognize the number though so I don't think it was her.
Anyways, tomorrow I'm going to go to this thing at Laura Secord in a nearby mall...they're having some sort of hiring event in the afternoon. Yup.
Today there was a big potluck for people in the residence. Apparently people went knocking on every door this morning inviting everyone who opened their door to one of our apartments (our apartment meaning apartment inhabited by project people) for dinner. That was pretty cool. Good to meet people in the residence...one of our "target groups." There are a lot more people living here than the number that showed up though...I think a lot of people were out when the knocking happened. They were testing the fire alarm and sprinkler systems and stuff today, so I guess people left. I know I did. I went to the Atwater market to have lunch at the
Sushi Shop. I actually applied to work at their Monkland location.... Monkland is actually a pretty neat area...reminds me of the Glebe.
One week later....
Ok. I just remembered that it's my turn to cook dinner today, so this is gonna be a super fast post. First things first: I applied to quite a few places for jobs, and I have my first interview on Tuesday at
moozoo. Please pray for me!
Thursday was our first weekly coffeehouse meeting. Oh, Karina (a girl from my church in Ottawa whom I haven't actually seen in a few years) is living in the same building as us! How cool is that? She came Thursday night and she might be coming a few more times before she finishes her internship and goes back to Ottawa for the rest of the summer.
Today was our first outreach day. One person made a decision for Christ! Yay! Lots of people ran into Chinese people who were really eager to know more about God. Encouraging. I'll write more on today's stuff later.
Yesterday was our social night..."The Incredible Race." Yup. And we won. Yay! I'll post pictures later too.
Now I have to think of what to cook for dinner....
Sunday's adventures....
Yesterday was pretty fun. Church was really interesting...it was like, a Chinese church's contemporary English service in a huge old-style church complete with stained glass windows and all. The sermon was good too...about deconstructing the
Da Vinci Code. It seems to be that it's part of a series, and this time the pastor preached on the sources Dan Brown uses as historical references and their canonicity (is that a word?) and reliability, both of which are extremely questionable. I haven't read the book myself, so I don't really know what it's about...I've wanted to read it, but never got around to it partly because I lacked time and partly because I was a little apprehensive about its contents. It does seem like an interesting read though.
After church, a group of us went to this restaurant on Sainte-Catherine called
3 Amigos for 49 cent taco day. Heh. They were pretty good, but I am most definitely not an authority on Mexican food. In fact the last time I had tacos was at the Crusade retreat in February, and the last time before that was at the Crusade retreat the year before. I can't even remember the last time before that. Anyways, they were really cheap and that makes them good too.
Last night was a really good time of worship and prayer up on Mont Royal. It was really encouraging to see that we all have the same burden to reach the Quebecois. This is a very lost province in great need of hearing the gospel. I could go through all the history of Duplessis and the Quiet Revolution to explain, but you can look that up for yourselves. As a result of all that history, the people have rejected Christianity and religion in general. They search continually for
la bonheur without realizing that true joy is found only in a relationship with Jesus. Please pray for these people and pray that God will do something huge to bring this province back to Him.
view of Montreal from Mont Royal
a big stone building on top of the mountain
girls...
...just...
...wanna...
...have fun!
(Selene, Stephanie, Emily, Rainbow, Jessica)
worship and prayer at the foot of the cross on Mont Royal
Anyways, my throat is doing much better today, but I'm staying home and looking for jobs online rather than hitting the streets. I think I'm not used to the air here...Vancouver air is too clean!
Bienvenue de Montréal!
Hey all!
Thanks for all your prayers of support. :) I've arrived in Montreal and I'm settled in nicely. One of my roommates and I went grocery shopping today and that has got to have been the most stuff I've ever bought all at once at a grocery store. The cart was completely full and the receipt was over a foot long...at least that means we won't have to go shopping as often--I hope. It was also quite interesting getting all those groceries up to the fourth floor....
Anyways, I will be getting a new phone number soon...I'll send that and my mailing address in my update email which I hope to have out by tomorrow evening. Feel free to leave a comment saying whether you'd like to be on my update email list or not. And by the way, tomorrow morning I'll be attending Montreal Chinese Alliance Church. I'll probably be visiting several other churches as well at first, so if any of you know of other churches here, please let me know.
That's all I can think of to write now...it's kind of late and I'm a bit tired. Oh, actually I've developed a bit of a sore throat, so if you guys could pray that I would get over it quickly, that'd be greatly appreciated. I plan on using my voice for future job interviews...and although I know that it's not essential for praising God and spreading the Gospel, I have a little hunch that being able to vocalise would be a great asset. :)
