Vancouver Serve 2017 - Day 2

My day started out with a yummy breakfast with a selection of cereals, a delicious but odd texture of smoothie, and HOT eggs. It energized me for a busy “rest” day, where we started by attending church at Vancouver CRC . It surprised me how small the congregation was, as the SERVE team took up half the pews. The songs were mostly familiar, but it was neat to hear some unfamiliar toons. Unlike at Willoughby, the hymn books are used instead of words on the screen. The SERVE team and the leaders read a commissioning litany to send us off on our week of service, and we also celebrated communion.
After a lovely service, we ate lunch with some prayer partners. My prayer partner, an 11 year old girl who lived nearby, handed me a bracelet she said she’d made, and we instantly connected. Surprisingly, she’s the oldest kid in the whole church, but that doesn’t stop her from hanging out with the Sunday school kids.
After a scrumptious sandwich lunch, we hopped on the bus to the Sea to Sky gondola in Squamish. It was a beautiful sunny day, and seeing the sun shine on the water was brilliant on the way there. BEEP! And that’s all you need to board the gondola, other than the ticket, of course. We headed up, and it was amazing to see everything going up the slope. At the top, we completed a few short “hikes” to take funny pictures with our group for a photo contest, and survived crossing the suspension bridge. After going down the gondola again, we took a short walk to Shannon Falls and snapped a few pics. Before we knew it, it was time to board the bus again, and suddenly traffic slowed to a crawl. Flashing lights were up ahead. (Though no one really cared because they were asleep).
Finally, we zipped back to Vancouver CRC for yet another delicious meal, PIZZA! And since it was Emmalee’s 15th birthday, we celebrated with a Dairy Queen ice cream cake, which was too hard to resist, even for someone who is lactose intolerant. We ended our day with a meditation of songs and an inspiring message, before heading to our small groups to do devotions.
My highlight of today, though, was meeting some girls from the refugee centre. We were praying in a circle, and the cutest girls who spoke Arabic came and hugged each one of us, and tried to give us their stuffed dog and Samsung phone. Seeing them play so happily made me so glad that they came to a safe country like Canada, so they had no hesitation to connect with and draw with pens on the blondies they’d just met.
I’m having a great time so far!

-Rebecca V