<Journal of an onSiter in Quebec City>

dimanche, mai 18, 2008

Final updates and links to the new onSiter blogs

Well, it has been about a month since I blogged. Convocation was on April 26th @ First Alliance.

This is where I got the parchment with my degree inside....

Where they put the hood over my head...

....Yeah I know it is a little crooked....

and of course I got a nice picture with my family...

...and the extended family who were able to come to Calgary...

....Of course a few people from my home church came as well...

All the pictures can be access through my facebook account.

Yesterday, I dreamt that I was ordering breakfast in a restaurant completely in French! I know that is is a bit surprising after 3 months away from Quebec, but it is cool to know that I still think in French sometimes.

My life kinda goes like this right now: I am working at Sportchek selling shoes and doing other various random tasks. Later this summer, I will also be teaching Sunday school to children in grades 4-6 and preaching in the English congregation of my home church. I am returning to Ambrose Seminary in the Fall for my Master of Divinity.

Now, enough about me. My onsite and my journey to completing my undergrad is finished.

This year, at my school we have 17 onSiters! If any of you are still reading this blog I hope that you will occasionally remember and pray for this new group of people who will be in various different parts of the world.

I have included a link to those who will be keeping a blog of their onSite journeys:

Lindsey Indonesia

Natasha China

Amanda Philippines

Becky & Charlie Spain

Eleah Sweden

Duc Cambodia

Hung Cambodia

Leah Quebec City

(Yes if you are reading this from Facebook you will to visit my actual site if you want to see the pictures.)

jeudi, avril 17, 2008

The Next Generation

I know the title is from some sci fi tv show, but it is also relevant in my life because I am moving on. I have a week before graduating from Ambrose. I am coming back to the seminary for my Master of Divinity. Please Pray for funds and housing as I do not know exactly where I will be staying.

In addition, The Next Generation also refers to this new group of onSiters who are going to many different places all over the world. Please remember this new group of people as they go out to be God's Ambassadors wherever they are. I will update the links to include their blogs (if they have one).

samedi, mars 01, 2008

Addendum.

Hey everyone,
Apparently, some of you may have issues with the youtube player, so here are the links to youtube:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okN5u1uOWTs&feature=user
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PtHUbcRVzg&feature=user
Youtube requires flash, so if you do not have that, then these videos are not going to work.
In such case, if you want to hear it, just send me an email.

Ready. Set. Hear my testimony.

Hey everyone,

Well after a few days with Windows Media Maker, I finally finished all the translating of my testimony into English. If you are wondering about how I felt that night go here. In the testimony, I realized after hearing it again how bad my Anglophone accent is! Thus, I know that God enable these people to understand what I said that night.

Currently, I am still finishing up my degree @ Ambrose. I will graduate in April of this year and I am not exactly sure where I will go for seminary in September. Please continue to pray that I will have a clear direction as to which seminary I should go to. Once again, thank you for your continued support.

My Testimony Part 2

Here is the testimony that I shared with Café Recontre on Jan 25 08. (Part 2)

My Testimony Part 1

Here is the testimony that I shared with Café Recontre on Jan 25 08. (Part 1)

mercredi, février 27, 2008

Mon témoignage est ici!

Hey Everyone, I have received my testimony now! It will be up on this site very shortly!

UPDATE: There will be some minor editing because the clip is about 12 mins long and youtube has a max of 10mins per clip. Therefore, I will be cuting my testimony in 2 for youtube and I will also give it subtitles so all of you can understand what I said. (This might take a few days) Be sure to come back next week!

lundi, février 25, 2008

Last week of Feb

Hey everyone,

Some of you may be wondering when I am going to post up my testimony on this blog. Let me tell you that I really do want to post up my testimony, but I still have not received the file yet. When I do, it will be on here ASAP.

Not much has been going on since I got back. Writing lots of papers, meeting tons of people and adjusting back to Calgary life. Last week, I was in a modular class at the school. As I walked out of the last class on Saturday, I realized that this is the last class I had for my undergrad degree. While I still have papers and I am doing a direct study, it was the last time I will be meeting with other students in a lecture setting.

samedi, février 09, 2008

In the Mirror

It is a time of reflection in my life now after my onSite. This is where I get to look back and see what God has done in my life, what I have learnt and what is changed as a result of this cross-cultural experience. So what are some things that I have learnt? So here are 3 important changes that I have learned during my onSite.

Patience

Language learning is the hardest part of my onSite. When I came to Quebec City, I only knew 5 words in French (Bonjour, oui, non, merci and au revoir). At first I learned how to repeat random phrases like je ne sais pas ( I don't know) or Quelle heure est-il? (What time is it?) and even memorizing these words took more than a couple of weeks for me to remember how to say these phrases. After I was in Quebec for about 6 months, I was starting to be comfortable using my French in normal situations. But boy, did it take so long before my French was an integrated part of my life.

Taking initiative

It really does take courage to talk to others in French. First of all, I am not someone who really does up to random people in Calgary or Edmonton and say hi. And in Quebec, it is much harder because of the language barrier. It is a challenge for me to go up to random French people and say Bonjour, if that is the only thing I can say to them. Through the course of the 7 months that I have been there, I have gradually learned and forced myself to start a conversations in French.

Messy Ministry

It is always easier to say to tell other people to step out of your comfort zones to tell non-Believers about Christ. It is harder to go out there and actually be the person that goes and tells other people about Him. I was working in a soup kitchen (Café Recontre). It was totally uncomfortable to be working with homeless people because I have never really worked with homeless people before. I mean I volunteered at Salvation Army and at rez we have past out sandwichs, but never something more than once or twice. The people there were friendly and many of them could speak English. In fact, many of them came from Alberta! It was quite interesting to know some of these people and how they got there to Quebec City. It was messy in that I had to come out of my comfort zones to talk to them, serve them food and clean after they left.

All of what I have learned tied in with each other as well. I could not have conversations with the soup kitchen people unless I applied what I've learned in French and took the initiative to go to other people to say Bonjour or hi. This is not all that I have learned, but these are the top 3 that I have been learning and I know that this is a continuous process.

Who gives me this ability to learn these things? God. It really is all about Phil 4:13 "I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

dimanche, février 03, 2008

Retrospect

Many thanks

I just want to say a big thank you to all of you who have been reading this blog. I got a chance to talk to many of you today at church. Thank you for your support, it has been a really big blessing and encouragement to know that you were praying for me.

This week, I will be posting a series on what I have learned on onSite. This might be limited to 1 post per week, but please do check this blog every week.

So what am I doing right now?

I know that this is the question that many of you asked me. I am currently back at Ambrose finishing up my degree (Bachelor of Theology with intercultural studies concentration). When I graduate, I will be attending a seminary to get my Master of Divinity. I am still not exactly sure which seminary I am going to.

Random French Learning Fact

During my time at Quebec City, one of the ways that I learned the language was having conversations in French. Here was my conversational partner:

I was able to learn more French by just simply talking with someone else in French. There are words that I would have never learned just by going to class, so this was a huge blessing for me to have a conversational partner. It was even better because my conversation partner went to one of the churches here. It was great because we could pray for each other and I managed to share my fellow onSiters Jon and Kristen's visa situation to my partner in French and we prayed for them afterwards. This picture was actually the last time we met before I had to come back. Usually we would meet at this place:

If you can't read it, it is a Starbucks! Some of you who were with me in Quebec City might find this location very familiar. That is because this used to be a video rental place, but as you see coffee is much more important.

Anyhow that is all that I have for now, but come back a few days from now and hopefully there will be a new post. I am also still tracking down that recording of my testimony. When I get it, I'll post it here.

"I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Phil 4:13