Last summer thoughts...
Hello dear friend! I’m back in Vancouver and I have to admit that I’ve been delaying the writing of this letter since I’ve come back because it means I have to come to terms with the end of an amazing summer. I named this summer My Summer of a Million Experiences 2006… because in everyway, it really was! I saw so much, lived so much in such different contexts, experienced so much and learned so much. And for that, I thank you sincerely so much for supporting and sharing this summer with me. I hope as I share these ‘final’ thoughts, you’ll be able to have a small glimpse into what God has blessed me with this summer.
MONTREAL PROJECT
Final stats…
262 Spiritual Conversations
347 Articles about Christ given out
55 Gospel presentations
3 New brothers in Christ
Stats are sometimes exciting, knowing that we did bring a little light of Christ into the city of Montreal this summer. But our Project was so much more than just numbers…our Project had two objectives – outreach and leadership training, and both definitely happened. We had Monday night training sessions on a whole range of topics to build the foundations of our faith, ministry and leadership. Tuesday nights we had Discipleship Groups small-group Bible studies where we dug into 1 Peter to learn life lessons of hope, holiness, submission and joyful suffering. Wednesday personal ministry nights when we had potlucks, fondue parties, French cafes and found other creative ways to know and communicate our faith with our friends at Solin Hall and our workplaces. Thursday nights we had coffee houses with music and speakers and the opportunity for each of us to share our testimony. Friday nights we had team socials and grew in true and fun fellowship. Saturdays, we had outreaches ranging from Da Vinci Code movie surveys, to giving out JESUS Films at subway stations, to cleaning apartments at our residence. And last but not least, we had Sunday Sabbath rests! All of this on top of the full-time jobs that we had! It was an intense schedule, and even more so after our staff left after the first 6 weeks, leaving us not only to fend for ourselves, but to step up to leadership, initiative and responsibility. Yet by God’s grace, all of us “Projectiles” (nickname for students on Project) walked away with a true sense of loving and serving God through the reality of the craziness of life.
TROIS-PISTOLES
I left our Project a little early in early July, to go north and study French in a tiny Francophone town on the St. Lawrence River, where God had yet more new and completely different experiences waiting for me.
The change-of-pace from the “spiritual greenhouse” of Project to the secular setting of French program was almost funny. But 8 weeks of Project prepared me well to be well-grounded enough to take the initiative to be a witness in really spiritually stretching situations without becoming drained. Living and really sharing life with new “family” and friends, I had the opportunity to really share my faith and my God… and weave my way through jokes, beer, sex, and other smokescreens and say through my life that “This… God… is love.”
It was also God’s grace that put me and five other Christian girls together in the same “atelier”, our afternoon cultural workshops. I met one of the girls, Vivien, the first day of our atelier and found that she was also a Jesus-loving, God-serving Christian. During that week, God laid it on my heart to pray, really pray for the town and the program… when I talked to Vivien about it, it turned out she’d also been thinking the same thing. So we began to meet and pray together everyday… soon to be joined by the other girls in our atelier and several other students. Our prayer group met together to serve together and be equipped, spiritually and mentally to branch out and serve together… on our own, in our own situations, but united in spirit and in prayer – it was awesome! Through leading that prayer group, God also unexpectedly taught me a lot more about discipleship - how to care genuinely about the other girls, how to walk alongside them through the struggles and challenges they were going through. I also finally understood the importance, effectiveness and joy of sharing in ministry together… I already see how these things are going to equip me to better serve God on my campus at UBC this year, and in whatever ministry – corporate or personal – for the rest of my life.
Almost as a bonus… I also picked up the skills to communicate in French… a huge joy for me … and potential for later where God might lead!
* * *
There were many, many, many lessons learned this summer, and God is still continuing to open my eyes to see more of what He has shown me. Here’s just a few of the bigger things….
Wherever I am, to be all there. Being always “on the run”, it’s hard for me not to be restless where I am, even if I am where I thought I was running to… and especially so when I don’t quite know what God is doing and what my role is. But if I always did know, there would be no need for faith. But with faith that God is trustworthy, I commit myself – body, heart and mind to being where I am and look with expectation for what God has for me and how I can serve Him fully there.
To be humbled… by my inadequacy to share Jesus with my own efforts and being asked to serve in less-than-glamorous and less-than-evident ways. I had more than a few spiritual conversations and outreach opportunities in French… where I could do little more than redirect to another Projectile’s more advanced French abilities or ask questions while I never did understand the other person’s end of the conversation – in times like these, I am forced to be reminded that sharing Christ has nothing to do with how good we are at it! God is everything… and asks only that we be available. Furthermore, I didn’t find a job with a big-name international development agency in Montreal like I was expecting… rather, I worked at a small grassroots organization called the Social Justice Committee with some wonderful girls my age. I also cleaned shelves, scrubbed floors, and met some honest, kind people more humble than me at a homeless drop-in shelter I originally had thought was a refugee centre. In everything I was stripped of any pursuit of my own glory, and was reminded of who my life is daily meant to glorify.
God is indeed working… when I can’t see the visible fruits of it. Sometimes He gives shows us what He’s doing quite evidently, so that we can praise and give Him the glory for it. Other times, we are stretched to have faith that He is all-good and all-powerful, and He continues to be glorified when we choose to live out living by faith and not by sight. It takes our own measures of success and purpose of our efforts, and attitudes of just “looking like serving God” or serving men as if God needed me to do that, and brings it back to just loving God, and faithfully serving Him as an outflow.
My home… is not in Montreal, in Norway, or in Africa, or even in my hometown in beautiful BC. My stay on earth is temporary, how much more where I live while I am here? As much as I hate to admit or try to hang on to them, I’ve found that the contexts of identity, experiences and friendships are really for a season, but wherever I am or wherever I go, my home is with God – He is forever constant and steadfast, He walks through ALL my life’s different phases and places, and my identity is all-in-all in God. I am me for a purpose and that purpose is God - a truth that first brought me into a personal relationship with God, but had a chance to re-explore and vividly experience this summer.
To be honest, there were a lot of times when I really didn’t know what I was doing in Montreal. Why had God asked me to be there? What was His purpose for me in Montreal that couldn’t be accomplished elsewhere?
But as I head back to another semester of school with a renewed sense of faith, purpose and zeal for ministry, I know. I again found joy in serving God with other brothers and sisters and the commitment to a lifestyle of sharing Christ. And alongside just being faithful and serving God humbly as He calls, it was to learn all these little lessons. This particular “normal and real-life” missions trip really helped me to realize that the mundane things of day-to-day life aren’t always so overly exciting and amazing! You don’t often have those huge epiphanies when your life is forever markedly changed from that point on… but God still has so much in store for us in the day-to-day, and so much for us to learn. It just takes effort to look for those things, pick them out and reflect on them and pray through them so that they become life lessons, even for little things that I might’ve even heard a million times, but suddenly becomes real. Otherwise the little things pass us by seemingly not “amazing” enough to thank God for, or for God to use them to change us.
To sum up, we serve an awesome God… and my summer was really a good and perfect gift from Him. I’ll end my thoughts here with one little prayer I prayed at the beginning of the summer – that God’s ministry in Montreal and in my life this summer would uplift your spirits and build us together in a greater passion to see the nations reached with the message of Jesus.
My apologies for such a long summary… but I’m not sure I could have condensed such a rich summer into anything shorter! There are still lots more stories that I’d love to share with you personally some day if you want to hear them! Thanks again for journeying with me through the summer and thank you so much for all your support!
Que Dieu vous benisse richement! May God bless you richly!
Yours together for His glory,
Rainbow Choi =)
He has shown thee, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.~ Micah 6:8
Home sweet home!
Hello all!!
I am home, safe and sound, back in Vancouver after the last few months (and especially last 2 weeks) of a million sights, sounds, and experiences out East. As if seeing New York wasn't a big enough treat at the end of my Montreal/Trois-Pistoles experiences, I had a chance to reconnect with my friends from Project & Solin Hall back in Montreal, stop by Toronto to hang out with family there, see Niagara Falls with some friends from Project, and even connect with friends I'd gone to Tanzania with 2 years ago. Every moment of it was awesome!! Merci beaucoup, Seigneur!! (Thank you, Lord!)
Still unpacking and settling in back home, I'm still processing all that God's done and is continuing to do in my life and in the lives of everyone we've met and shared the summer with in Montreal, and for me, in Trois-Pistoles too. And without a doubt, He's done a LOT!
I look forward to sharing some thoughts to wrap up my summertime experiences as I wrap my head around some of it myself =) ... but for now, just a little hello again to let you know I'm home! and I'll be in touch (in person and here on my blog!) again soon!! =)
little update from the BIG town!
Hello from the Big Apple, New York!! It's been a bit of a change of scenery (and pace of life) from little Trois-Pistoles to New York City! Jenny and I have been here in Manhattan since Sunday night to explore this "Capital of the World"! And that it is... it's HUGE! I got to see the two things I really wanted to see - the Statue of Liberty and the U.N. Headquarters, among other fun things... Times Square, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Wall Street. And the World Trade Centre site too... I never would've thought that I'd ever be here to see all these big famous landmarks, but here I am! We were thinking of seeing a Broadway musical while we're here too, but it's costs way too much! haha... thats okay though, I've seen more than my share of very cool things this summer, and still have lots of fun ahead when we get back to Montreal and Toronto... and finally back to Vancouver in about a week! =)
NYC in pictures...
Crazy city!! Times Square area
(We weren't really THAT close...!)
The 8th Great Wonder of the World... the gigantic Empire State Building!
The World Trade Center site
Outside the United Nations Headquarters... with all 192 member country flags.
Did you know that inside it's actually international property, not U.S. property?
Inside the U.N. General Assembly chamber, where all the countries
meet to discuss the most important issues of the day...
if you've seen The Interpreter, this might look familiar!
Just 2 days!
Wow, 5 weeks have come and gone soooo quickly! On one hand, I've done so much, seen so much, learned so much immersed in this little French town on the St Lawrence River that it feels like I've lived here for a year or two! But on the other hand, I wrote a final exam today for my French course and I'm going to be leaving in just 2 more days! But I think the timing is just about right... I've enjoyed a lot of things about being here - the nature, the french - but there are some quirks about living in a small town that are just starting to lose its novelty.
I feel like there's still much "unfinished business" here spiritually... but theres also lots to praise God for here in Trois Pistoles. Our prayer group grew from 2 to 9, we learned to really praise and pray in a new language, and we saw prayers answered and God's work in us and in the lives of those we prayed for. One of the girls in our prayer group has been talking with another student, since the beginning of the program, who mocks God constantly, but somehow can't stop talking about Him. He's been asking lots of questions in the last couple weeks, and Vivien had a chance to share the whole gospel with him on the weekend, along with 3 of his friends. Another girl, after the first couple weeks, decided not only to pray daily with our afternoon prayer group, but also start a prayer group where she's living with her housemates. Another girl in our group had had a big conflict with another student here, and had it not been for the support and prayer of the group she would not have been able to handle it in a Godly manner. We've all been blessed and grateful by each other's support, and I know for me, I've really been encouraged by our time in prayer together! Keep praying for me and for all of us to use the time we have left wisely and boldly, and for God to do mighty things that we can't even imagine (or maybe have the opportunity to see) in the next 2 days!!
I wanted to post some more pictures and share some more stories, but the computer lab closes in just 2 minutes so I have to go for now!
What's next?? I'm leaving Trois-Pistoles this Friday night, and will be in Montreal on Saturday morning... Saturday night, I'm headed to New York with Jenny from Montreal Project for a visit for a few days, back in Montreal on the 10th, heading to Toronto on the 13th, and finally back to Vancouver on the 17th!! I'm not sure exactly when, but I'll be in touch again soon! =)
Unlikely opportunities
Opportunities to share about God have been coming up left right and centre! My friend Alicia had a debate in class on Friday on the topic of homosexuality… definitely a touchy topic these days but she had the chance to share a little about her views as a Christian. Tomorrow, I have another oral exposition… we record ourselves reading a text and the prof marks it for pronunciation. Last time we were given a text but this time we’re writing our own 300 word story using past tenses – only my prof will hear it but still very cool opportunity for a brief testimony! And on Friday, my friend Vivien has a 5 minute oral presentation in her class… on the topic of “Does God exist?” !!! Its really cool to see God’s provisions as we’re asking for opportunities to be His witnesses here in Trois-Pistoles. Pray for me & Vivien as we prepare and share our stories, and in advance for those who hear it to have open hearts.
On a different note….
A present from my friend Gen, who’s friends with the Dallaires, and went to get a copy of Romeo Dallaire's book signed for me!!! (Merci beaucoup, Gen!!) Shake Hands with the Devil is a Lieutenant General’s account of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 as the Force Commander of the United Nations troops, and how the international community (ie, developed countries with lots of resources like us) failed Rwanda – looked away and failed to intervene and save 800,000 Rwandan citizens caught in the middle of ethnic conflict. I’ve only read the preface and the first chapter but it’s definitely a powerful and important story.
In the preface, Romeo Dallaire explains the title of his book “After one of my many presentations following my return from Rwanda, a Canadian Forces padre asked me how, after all I had seen and experienced, I could still believe in God. I answered that I know there is a God because in Rwanda I shook hands with the devil. I have seen him, I have smelled him and I have touched him. I know the devil exists, and therefore I know there is a God.” Scary but true… I didn’t come to know God through knowing the devil… but I know that the devil exists because I know God.
For our struggle is not against the flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and agianst the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12. As hatred and war rage on in Lebanon, as people are persecuted and killed for things like ethnicity and religion, as troubles whether we see them or not run deep in every nation… put on the armor of God (see the rest of Ephesians 6) and pray... pray not only for those being persecuted… pray against the devil and pray for spiritual healing in this world.
Closer to home of our failure in development (of course not just our failure, but it’s undeniable that we play a hugely important role) I received an email today from my friend Atuu in Tanzania who is the director of a refugee camp in Kigoma, Tanzania. He’d set up a pen-pal program at the camp for the children, for Christians from developed countries to write to children at the camp, and I’d started writing to a beautiful little girl named Eliza last year. The email I received today was to let me know that Eliza had passed away as a result of malaria. I don’t know whether to cry in grief, shout in anger or what…. Things like this do NOT need to be happening in the 21st century world of advanced medicine and technology… and yet they still do, and people and governments still turn a blind eye. Pray for Eliza’s family – mom and dad and two little brothers, pray for the Lufugu Refugee Camp and the children and families there, pray for ourselves that we would understand and be turned towards the things that break God’s heart too, pray for the leaders of the world that they would make choices of wisdom and compassion.
Also as another note, if anyone would like to participate in the pen-pal program in Tanzania, the children really do love it and it’s really a touching opportunity to share and experience God’s love in another part of the world. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll put you in touch with Atuu. And if anyone is interested in sponsoring a child in a developing nation with a monthly donation of just $30-$40 that ensures their access to necessities like education and healthcare (you can also write to them personally!), check out the great programs offered by organizations like World Vision (www.worldvision.ca) or Compassion International (www.compassion.org).
Time flies!
It`s hard to believe I`m already half-way through my time in Trois-Pistoles... I just had my final exam for one of the two French courses I`m taking here, and I`m now in Quebec City again to hang out with Gen for the weekend. =) It`s a super break to be here with Gen after the last couple weeks with all the students at Trois-Pistoles, who`ve been fun to hang out with but also a bit draining sometimes as well.
Our prayer group is really doing well at Trois-Pistoles... at least for me, I`ve found that it`s been really encouraging, and by faith I know that we and our little town is being changed through our prayers. There have been 8 girls that come together to pray, and we are praying for more students to come join us yet.
Back in Montreal, God is still moving in big and super cool ways through prayer as well! my friend Brad just sent me an email... and it was so awesome I had to share it with you all. It`s about one of the guys, Val, in Solin Hall that we`ve been hanging out with this summer - cool guy on the 6th floor where I got to know people the best during my time there.
Funny story about prayer: We had our Tuesday night prayer meeting inthe courtyard at one of the tables there, and when we were sharing prayer requests, Emily said that Val had really been on her heart lately andthat we should pray for him. Twenty seconds later, he walked by andasked what we were doing. Jeremy told him we were having a prayermeeting, and he said, "Can I watch?" So he sat down and joined us forthe meeting. Totally one of those "God seems sooo random" kind of things.;)
Definitely keep him in prayer, and the rest of our friends in Solin Hall as well... God has been really touching the lives of the students there, and their change in attitude and heart towards God has been incredible.
Okay.. bedtime for me, but a couple more images from Trois-Pistoles before I go! =)
Hike up Mt. Xalibu last Sunday... beautiful, n`est-ce pas!
We made it!! (Not actually 17.2 km... my friend Michelle wanted to sign up but it was full, so we switched for an 11km hike up a different mountain instead... but equally fun!)
At the top of the mountain... we are IN the clouds!!
On the way back down.... rivers...
...and lakes....
...and at the beach a few days later... just cool clouds!!
Time flies!
Time sure flies! It`s hard to believe I`m already half-way through my time in Trois-Pistoles... I just had my final exam for one of the two French courses I`m taking here, and I`m now in Quebec City again to hang out with Gen for the weekend. =) It`s a super break to be here with Gen after the last couple weeks with all the students at Trois-Pistoles, who`ve been fun to hang out with but also a bit draining sometimes as well.
Our prayer group is really doing well at Trois-Pistoles... at least for me, I`ve found that it`s been really encouraging, and by faith I know that we and our little town is being changed through our prayers. There have been 8 girls that come together to pray, and we are praying for more students to come join us yet.
Back in Montreal, God is still moving in big and super cool ways through prayer as well! my friend Brad just sent me an email... and it was so awesome I had to share it with you all. It`s about one of the guys, Val, in Solin Hall that we`ve been hanging out with this summer - cool guy on the 6th floor where I got to know people the best during my time there.
Funny story about prayer: We had our Tuesday night prayer meeting inthe courtyard at one of the tables there, and when we were sharing prayer requests, Emily said that Val had really been on her heart lately andthat we should pray for him. Twenty seconds later, he walked by andasked what we were doing. Jeremy told him we were having a prayermeeting, and he said, "Can I watch?" So he sat down and joined us forthe meeting. Totally one of those "God seems sooo random" kind of things.;)
Definitely keep him in prayer, and the rest of our friends in Solin Hall as well... God has been really touching the lives of the students there, and their change in attitude and heart towards God has been incredible.
Okay.. bedtime for me, but a couple more images from Trois-Pistoles before I go! =)
Hike up Mt. Xalibu last Sunday... beautiful, n`est-ce pas!
We made it!! (Not actually 17.2 km... my friend Michelle wanted to sign up but it was full, so we switched for an 11km hike up a different mountain instead... but equally fun!)
At the top of the mountain... we are IN the clouds!!
On the way back down.... rivers...
...and lakes....
...and at the beach a few days later... just cool clouds!!
a thousand words!
Pictures! Sometimes worth more than a thousand words!
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BEACH!!!! I'M HOME!!!! =)
MORE beach!!! New friends Sarah (my superfun housemate!) and Luba
My crazy host-mom Johanne!
(We just came home the other day and found her hanging off the side of the porch dancing to music and painting away!)
Me and the big friendly giant (Andrew)! (Yes, I AM standing on a bench!)
Inside the Trois-Pistoles Church… pretty amazing for such a little town!
We had a chance to take a visit inside on Sunday and actually lots of students went! One girl I know whose lifestyle doesn’t seem exactly “God honouring” at the church knelt in a pew to pray… and she said later that she’s Catholic. Even with a lifestyle that doesn’t quite put God first, it was interesting to see that she (and probably many others in the church that day) have a sense of reverence for God. Pray for the students here to sense God’s presence more and more, and to know that He is real, and present not just in the church but in our heart and in our lives as we let Him. One of the girls, Natalia, that has started coming to our prayer group, when I asked them what kinds of expectations or hopes they had of God during their time in T.P. responded “Not really any, because the church here is Roman Catholic and that doesn’t really do anything for me.” Pray for her and the other believers here to recognize that God is living and active in our lives every day… pray that we will be able to recognize when He speaks and works in our lives!
Hiked up a littler mountain on Saturday.... view from top!
God, is this how you spell "beautiful"??
