canada day.

today was a very exciting day for me! i woke up and headed to breakfast, and had a chance to talk a little bit to one of the housekeepers, sharing a little bit about what our team is doing here. then the rest of the team got up, all super excited about canada day, we packed up a cooler of 32 water bottles, and headed out to the big city of mississauga for excitement. we sat at the sheridan bus stop for about 45 minutes before out bus arrived, and we realized that because of canada day the bus system was different. but it was all good. once we arrived in mississauga, we met up with aubrey, nishika, and them (pronounced tim), our friends from the sanctuary, to hand out water bottles and stickers.

we ended up running out of waters in like 5 minutes. so..them and carson went in search of an open store to get more while the rest of us continued to hand out stickers. the stickers were gone in about 20 minutes, but thankfully we had more water by then. we had to make 2 trips to get more waters. overall we gave out about 300 bottles of water and 400 stickers. we didn't really plant many seeds, but i truly believe the Lord blessed our work today.

while we were waiting for carson and them, i saw some people signing and decided to strike up a conversation. so 2 of the people were actually deaf, and then the other was hearing. but it was amazing! i felt such a connection with these deaf people. i explained to them that my father is deaf and that i am from the states. we continued talking for a good 5-10 minutes. they asked what i was doing in toronto, and i had the opportunity to share with them about the sanctuary and my work this summer. i asked about the deaf population in the area, and they shared that they think there are probably about 50 deaf in the area we were at today (square one). i'm sure there are more than just 50 in mississauga. but my heart broke for these people. i started wondering what kind of deaf ministries are even in this area, if there are any. i gave them a card from the sanctuary, but completely forgot to ask their names. it was such an encouragement, though, to make a connection with them! and i know daddy is proud that i made contact with some deaf. :) if they were to come to church, which would be amazing, i will be here for the next several weeks and could interpret if need be. so that was exciting for me.

after passing out the waters and stickers, aubrey and nishika invited us over for dinner. it was SO encouraging to spend time with them. they shared with us their whole story. basically, they are both from india, and both grew up in catholic homes. they told us how they met in catholic choir, and aubrey was in alot of bands, living in the world, drugs, alcohol and so forth. then he met a guy that took him to a church that met in a mall. the church accepted him and his long hair, and the Holy Spirit began working in his life. he and nishika dated for about 7 years, and most of it was in secret, especially after aubrey started going to a non-catholic church. basically, aubrey accepted Christ, and nishika was very hestitant, but eventually accepted Christ as well when she saw aubrey's life being transformed. aubrey's family has radically been changed since aubrey became a christian, but nishika's family is slow to accept the gospel..but i believe God is working through this very sweet couple.

they shared with us all that God has been doing in and through them since they got married in november. they plan on going to seminary to become missionaries, which is very exciting! sitting and listening to their story brought so much joy to my heart. it is so encouraging to see a newlywed couple, brought together only by Jesus, despite the persecution from family and friends, and their heart for the lost. they are so precious to me, and i can only imagine what the Lord is going to do through them!

we just got home about an hour ago, and the 3 of us went to the lobby to have our bible study. we've decided to start having our team bible study in the lobby, so maybe we can have more of an impact on the sheridan staff. the bible study went well, and then we debriefed on the day. at first we were a little unsure about whether or not just handing out the free stuff was exactly what God wanted us to do for the day, then alyssa shared the scripture that says 'i was hungry and you fed me, i was thirsty and you gave me something to drink' and we decided that the day was good. :) sometimes, a cool drink on a hot day says more than words. i don't know if we really planted any seeds, but i do believe that God was honored by our service today. and that makes me smile.

for me, i really felt blessed by the day's events. it was nice to get outside. meet some new people. have some great fellowship and encouragement from people of a completely different culture, but passionate about the most important thing: Jesus. i think maybe today was for me. from the Lord. just an encouragement day. a reminder that He is here with us. and loves us. and thats enough for me!