Summer Fun

The summer continues to speed past! I only have 9 days left here in Calgary. I can't believe it's almost over!

I'm still busy with many of the same activities - practicing English with new immigrants, helping out with ESL class and children's Sunday school at the churches, taking care of the children during the weekly ESL Bible study down town:

Each week, though, I have some things that are "out of the ordinary." For example, the week of the Calgary Stampede, I hosted 5 girls for a sleepover the night before the big Stampede Parade so that we could all get up really early and go to it together. The same day of the parade, I went to a horse show with a college age girl named Betty, who became a Christian the following Sunday! Exciting stuff! The day after the parade, I went to the Stampede itself and stayed there for about 14 hours:
It was a really fun but really busy week!

Another fun thing I did was get together with two middle school girls and tie dye clothes:
We had a lot of fun going crazy with the dye and chatting about lots of different topics.

One week, the missionary here and I had the crazy idea to take 8 children (aged 4 to 6 years old) to a farm to pet the animals. Thankfully, we were able to enlist the help of two volunteers, giving us a 4 adult to 8 children ratio! The trip went really well, and the parents were extremely grateful that their kids got the opportunity to ride a pony, milk a goat, and pet lots of animals for the first time (and be out of the parents' hair for the day :) ).
Perhaps the best thing I've done this summer was join 8 teenagers and 1 other adult from Truth Baptist Church at the Summer Youth Celebration camp. The camp lasted from Monday evening to Saturday morning, and I'll tell you, I was EXHAUSTED when I got back! Every day included worship, Bible studies, workshops, recreation, more worship, night games, campfires, and staying up ridiculously late. But, it was all worth it, because two of the boys from Truth became Christians! Praise God!
While all of those things have been fun, the most meaningful things happen during the daily "routine" things. Here are some examples:

Erica and Edward are new to Calgary. They have had lots of hardships since arriving here, ranging from giving up prestigious jobs to living on welfare and donations to Erica's mom dying. I visit them weekly, if not more often, to help them practice English for job interviews or to learn how to cook Chinese food or to just hang out with them. At first, Edward was a little leery of my visits, telling me up front that, if he decided to become a Christian, he wanted it to be because he believed in God, not because Christians are so nice. I was being really careful to not force conversations about God or anything spiritual, when one day, out of the blue, Edward began to ask questions about God. Deep, serious questions, like "What does the Bible say about how to treat people who are mean to you?" and "How do you know that Christianity is the only way to God?" I answer their questions to the best of my ability, and leave the rest up to God, because, as Edward told me, "Your job is to sow the seeds, but it's between God and me to decide whether those seeds grow." I'll tell you, these are the most mature non Christians I've ever met! They've already told me that they plan to never stop going to church, because they don't want to be the kind of people who commit to something then don't see it through. And they acknowledge how God has worked in their lives and arranged so many events. And, they probably pray more than me and have faith that God will answer their prayers. It's been amazing to get to know this family!

Another example is Helen, who asked me one day while I was visiting her, "What do I have to do to become a Christian? And what responsibilities would I have?" She doesn't feel like she knows enough about Christianity to believe in God yet (which is probably true, given that she just heard the story of Jesus for the first time a couple of weeks ago and that's pretty much all she knows at this point), but she has expressed interest in learning much, much more.

Yet another example is Christy's mom. She is a devout Buddhist, but she has noticed that her husband, Mark, has changed a lot since he started coming to church and Bible study. She told us that she wants Mark and Christy to become Christians and to never miss church, even though she herself still clings to her Buddhism and has no intention of giving it up.

One more example is Michael's dad, Frank. I kind of thought Michael's family was a losing battle, and continued to tutor Michael out of mercy and because I had committed to helping him throughout the summer, not because I expected to see anything come from that relationship. But, to my surprise, Michael's dad, Frank, attended last Saturday's Bible study for the first time. Just goes to show that you never can tell what God is doing!

Join me in praying for these families, and please pray that God will continue to move in amazing ways during my last week here in Calgary.