Day of Silence (On house boats - We landed our ships on shore and spent a good four to five hours on our own connecting with God)

Silence is a Holy thing. Some find it uncomfortable others soothing. That's what is so great about it. It's all about you and God. It's your personal one on one time. A time to reflect, ask questions, and just listen. It's a time to be free, real and open. At the shuswaps I heard God through the water rushing over the rocks, the sweet songs of the birds, and even the brushing of leaves of the trees surrounding. Everything around me is living proof he is here, and living through us and this world. Comfort and love seep into me at just the thought of this. What wonderful gifts. It's all around us, so lets stop being blind to this world and the people living in it. There is so much more to live for. Lets breathe in and open the eyes to our hearts. From silence you can hear so loud, lets hear until we understand.

Carmen Cooper

House boats

Before we went to Vancouver we stopped of in Shuswap for a three day vacation on the House Boats. The House Boats were fully equipped with TV, DVD, Stereo, Kitchen, Fireplace and little tiny bedrooms. We made our own meals (well basically Peter made our meals) and they were great! We swam in the frigid lake, and went into the way to hot, hot tubs. Quite possibly the best part of the entire three days was when the boys made us girls supper. It was amazing, they all dressed up and escorted us each over to their boat. They then served us fettecine alfredo and cheesecake. The evening was wrapped up with a dance party. Leaving the house boats was hard, especially since we knew we were going to the Ivanhoe.

Vancouver Nov. 3rd/2004

I had a great day on Commercial Drive in Vancouver. I went shopping, ate out, and shared laughs with some new friends. Sure, my purchase was a $4.00 wool hoodie and the mall was located under the sky train bridge, consisting of only two benches covered with knickknacks and random clothing articles (like roller skates and neck ties.) It was probably the only shopping center in all of BC without taxes!
Our fine dining included burgers, large fries, and Cokes at the busiest and most cramped McDonald's on The Drive. We had to weave our way through businessmen, tottering children, and swivel chairs to reach an empty table for six. No wait, here comes some more hungry people, word must have spread. Actually, make that seating for eight. How was the meal? Pretty first class for Duane, Joseph, and Alan ( later followed by Irene and Lionel, who were also hungry). It was Peter's idea to buy these guys lunch, and Irene and Lionel were only too eager to share in the restaurant experience once they discovered their buddies were getting cheeseburger meals.
As soon as the last fry was either consumed or picked up for a later meal, the gang invited Niki, Peter, and I back to their home. Unfortunately the alley behind the bridge was too far for us to trek to and back to the YWAM base in time, so they brought us to their dumpster flats hangout behind McD's. We shared a more meaningful and powerful fellowship with Alan, Joseph, Wesley, Irene, Lionel, and Duane than I've experienced with some of my Christian friends. These guys were bums, alcoholics, and drug addicts, yet they were so eager to pray! When it came time to leave, it took us about ten minutes to get away -- they all wanted to send us off with handfuls of hugs and good wishes. Yep, we were really blessed by some amazing people that day.

Janelle Kristine Robinson

Vancouver's Homeless

"God is good". It's easy for us to say this but for the homeless of Vancouver's downtown east side it's a different story. To them God often doesn't seem good. He seems cruel and condemning. Why would he put those people there? Or is it their own choice? I do believe some are there by choice but others have been forced there or have gotten into some kind of trouble and they turned to drugs, alcohol or prostetution. This has resulted in them living on the streets. They need our prayers. So would you please pray for all the people living in poverty on the Vancouver streets?

Peter Fehr

Today was the day in Vancouver set aside for our Peer mentoring Groups(PMG's).
We started out the day with an envelope that said not to open it until we were at the starbucks across from eh gastown steam clock. When we got there, we found 40 dollars and a note that gave us the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 and told us to use what we had learned this week and spend the day together.
We started out by buying chocolate bars and handed them out to homeless people on Hastings Street. We actually had one guy chase us down the street because he wanted a chocolate bar too.
We went to the Carnagie Center next, which is a center in downtown eastside Vancouver that provides all kinds of services for homeless people in the area. We asked if they knew of a women's center we could volunteer at. They sent us to the Downtown Eastside Women's Center where we met some very amazing women. We visited with the people in the center and then started our work by serving lunch and doing dishes, the rest of our day was spent taking to people both the women at the center, but more importantly the women who run it. I really believe God sent us there to be an encouragement to them and not so much a service to the street people.
We bought the staff flowers and card and left with hugs and kisses from all of them.
On the way to buy flowers we ran into Betty and bought her a coke, she also gave us a hug and a kiss.
When were done at the center we went back to the starbucks where we started and talked about our day and what we learned. We read the story in the he bible again and talked about how the meaning of it changed for us over the course of a day.
WHAT I LEARNED FROM PMG DAY:
*If you involve God in your plans to help people you will be able to accomplish more and serve people better than you, yourself could even imagine.
*Giving is receiving!
*Matthew 25:14-30 IS NOT ABOUT GOD GIVING YOU MORE MONEY if you use the money you already have. It is about using whatever God gave you, which could be money or other talents and gifts, to do things that are going to further God's kingdom. As I said before God will multiply your gifts and abilities when you use them properly.
Matthew 25:21 "His master replied, well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share in you masters happiness!"

Megan Leman

Girl/Guy Week

On the 21st of November 15 of us girls pilled into one of the vans and took of for Camp Sunnyside. We were greeted by Site 2 girls eager to spend the week together. The next morning we all met together in the classroom with our speakers Susanna Muntz and Dana. Together the two of them discussed girl issues and enlightened us with stories of their pasts. On Thursday Chad and Blayne came to talk to us, and answered all of the questions we had about boys! Thursday night a belly dancing instructor came and we all spent some quality girl time learning to belly dance. It was an awesome week of growing together, learning from each other and praying with each other. Although we miss the Site two girls very much, we were happy to see our boys Friday night.

Guy week was awextreme. Besides the exciting poker tournament, water park excursion, large evening .. place we went to and a bunch of more than manly movies (Braveheart, FightClub, Dumb and Dumber etc.) we learned more than we thought we would or could about the opposite sex. A few scraps broke out with so many guys being in a confined area, but they were all out of love. We also invented a new sport on the last day which I felt like calling 'Random Ball'. Is was a mix of volleyball, handball, basketball and mainly hackysack, involving a volleyball and awesomeness. We had many great talks and our classes felt like casual chats more than anything. It was a good time. nuf said.