hello from Quebec

I am on the bus right now heading to Gaspe.  It is 2:45am.  I think I drank tea too late so that’s why I’m still awake.  That and there is internet on this bus and I had to catch up on some work.  Sad, eh? Doing work during spare time during a holiday.  But it’s not stressful.  When I become a full-time pastor though, I think I should make a rule saying no emailing work during holidays.  Just gets too distracting.  It’s because of the Chester Le event that is happening soon.  I am trying to coordinate volunteers.

On to the fun stuff.  I just spent two days in Montreal. We did white water rafting, biking on St. Helene Island, and went to the Art Gallery and the church near the Art Gallery.  We also had poutine which was really filling and we stayed at Selena’s uncle’s place so we also ate Indian food.  We met with Andrew Chao and his other church friends too and ate viet food, had a lot of laughs just chatting and eating.  So far everything is going alright.  Thank God because the weather was cooperating, and I was praying that everything would go smoothly (not just weather but safety and logistics)

However, there is a lot of brokenness that I am seeing in Montreal.  I cannot go into detail but basically I got a glimpse of what some hardships are like, both for homeless people on the street and broken people in a great big house.  Much prayer is needed for this city and all the other cities around the world where people live without much hope or joy.

On another note, I think going to Montreal really puts me in my humble place because turns out after all my French isn’t that good and I do have shyness that shows up more.  Not just with the language but also being in a “foreign” environment.  I need to let go of my pride and listen first, understand first, and love first without thinking that I am really that good.

The upcoming days we are supposed to go kayaking watching seals, whale-watching on a boat tour and canyoning.  Hoping everything works out and no accidents haha because I had some minor accidents already.  Fell off my bike over 3 times on St Helene Island (yeah, not enough training in biking, always freaking out when getting close to other people or things).  But don't worry, I just have scratches and bruises, and they don't really hurt.  I don't even need a bandaid.  In fact every time I fell, I laughed.  You probably think I'm weird but I am just thankful that God prevented me from breaking any bones or spraining anything. I will let you know how the rest of the vacation goes!

Good night and God bless!