M o n t r e a l 2 0 0 6

Meet the team!

Voici le Montreal Project 2006 team! 14 students, 2 staff interns and 6 staff. I wonder if I would have been less inclined to come had I known beforehand that our group was so small? (I’m glad God made sure I didn’t!) I’m really enjoying the team here – we’ve had a chance to get to know each other and build up our *team* here this weekend as we share in learning in our sessions, being stretched in our French, taking personality tests for they way we work in a group, food shopping (and grocery-carrying-home-ing!) together, cooking together, eating together, exploring the city together… the picture here is at the top of Mont Royal after a scenic hike up the mountain.

At the top of the hill we had a time of worship and vision-casting for our time here in Montreal. I think that my time in Vancouver before arriving was so rushed with getting things done and ready to go that I really wasn’t really ready spiritually for this project. In some ways, like being away, and being supported and supporting new friends in Christ, being ready to share the gospel with a place that really “needs it”, yes… but being moved by compassion and grieving as God does over a place that has blatantly rejected Him… no. And I still don’t think I’m quite there yet, though I’m not sure why. As we were standing at the top of the hill praying for the city… whose culture is “le bonheur" … to run after happiness, pleasure and satisfaction… I could see the need with my head but not so much with my heart. I feel a bit like Jonah when he was called by God to “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” For Jonah, he “ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish”, another city, before getting on a boat, being thrown overboard, swallowed up by a whale and deciding to obey God… while for me it’s like I’m one step ahead, I’m already here! HAHA!!! But my heart’s been left behind somewhere else… pursuing friendships, looking to find a good job experience for the summer, having a good ol’ time on project… not why God has called me to spend the next 8 weeks in Montreal. And going through the motions isn’t meaningful, to me nor to God. Do pray for me this week that God would bring to light whatever in my heart is keeping me from His, and that the things that break His heart… would also break mine.

Many thanks for your prayers and encouragement! Very tired and off to bed for now, but will be in touch again soon! =)

Ps. I’m also beginning my job search tomorrow… I have one contact with Serving in Missions’ Intercultural Ministries with a lady who does “race relations” (not sure what exactly that is yet!), but will be trying to scout out what else I can invest my time in this summer. Do join me in prayer for a good investment of my time in a job, paid or not, related to my International Development studies, that I might be able to get a glimpse of something I might want to do in the future, or give me some sort of direction or next step for what I want to pursue!

posted by Rainbow Choi =) @ 9:09 PM