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

A "petit" (little) update!

So first of all, thanks so much for your emails… in response to my thoughts, promises for prayer, or just to say hi… they have been really encouraging and always brighten up my day!! =) And secondly, I’m sorry I haven’t been updating as much as I’d really like to… I feel like I’m always playing catch-up with sharing about all that’s been going on here!

At the moment, I’m full and happy after a chocolate fondue party evening in our rez. Wednesday nights have been really fun, because it’s the night we just do something social in our hall with everyone else in the building that wants to hang out. Tonight me and Jessica made a giant pot of fondue with TWO POUNDS of chocolate… and a whole bunch of us hung out and chatted and laughed the night away! =) It’s been really awesome getting to know the people we share our hall with.

One of our prayer goals that we are committing to God is that everyone living in Solin Hall this summer would be able to have a conversation with one of us about spirituality. We’ve gotten to know some of the other students quite well… one girl in particular I’ve gotten to know, Shalu, is just AWESOME… she is hilarious… a couple weeks ago we were interrupted our Tuesday night prayer meeting by her voice ringing out “RAINBOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!” in the hall! Yet while FUN is always on the agenda… we’ve also become a group of people that the students really are able to ask about spiritual things. At a potluck dinner one night, Shalu just asked, “so, do you guys believe in the Old Testament or the New Testament? What’s the difference?” As a discussion about the Bible started, another guy Alex piped up “Oh hey, me and some guys were just talking about this the other night… I’ll see if I can find them!” Other times, our religiously skeptical next-door-neighbour RJ would just wander into our rooms and ask questions about our faith – sometimes snarky questions but also real, honest questions as well. Do pray that we would continue to demonstrate and reflect God's love here in Solin Hall and be available and open that people can really seek answers and explore their spiritual journey with us this summer. It really is a journey, and we all take such different paths... but may all of us take a step closer to God!

I haven’t heard from Julia yet about her grandma, but I am continuing to pray for her. I trust that God has the situation in His hands. I’ve also really enjoyed getting to know some of the other girls at SJC. I’ve shared with a few of them why I’m here in Montreal, and also with one girl briefly about my own journey of becoming a follower of Jesus, and about my time in Tanzania. I’ve invited them all out to our Thursday night coffee house tomorrow… we’re having a lady that works at Ten Thousand Villages come in as our speaker tomorrow night, so it’s right up our alley as global social justice people. Pray that my coworkers will be drawn to come tomorrow night, and also that they will be drawn to Jesus.

Something to pray for: As the staff are preparing to leave the project in 2 weeks, we’ve been assigned to “roles” for the rest of the project this summer. The staff have really prayerfully chosen these roles… we trust that it is really where God would have us! Pray that each of us would take these roles and seek to grow in leadership alongside humility, and to do and go beyond our duties and responsibilities in love and desire to serve each other and the people in various areas we are ministering to.

I’d really like to share more, I 'll also let you know what each of our roles is, so you can pray more specifically! but I will have to leave it until tomorrow or early this weekend, cuz I have to get some sleep before tomorrow. SJC is putting on a PROTEST downtown tomorrow for debt relief by the Inter-American Development Bank for impoverished countries in Latin America. The IDB’s president will be in Montreal tomorrow for a conference, so we are having a rally outside… I’ve never been to a protest like this before… it should be fun, and hopefully effective! Do pray for this event, for the IDB, for us, and for the weather (rainy again!!) even though its not directly “spiritual” but it IS something that I believe God cares deeply about, and that affects the livelihoods of many many people in Latin America.

The poster I made… now in Solin Hall and all over the streets of downtown Montreal!

Thanks again for reading… and I’ll be in touch again soon! =)

posted by Rainbow Choi =) @ 9:01 PM