Oh dear, oh dear, how do I tell you or even process what has been going on in the last two weeks, I will for the most part just skim the surface of what happened, and maybe try to give some highlights. I think this will be helpful for me, to give me time to think over some of the things that have happened.
So my two weeks of my missions trip were very separate from each other. One week was spent mostly in inner-city East Van, while the second half was spent on Tzartus Island in isolation at Copper Island Camp. I would like to start off by saying that I really enjoyed my missions trip, and I know it is where I was meant to be. It was in a way a 'practical' missions trip. It made me realize the things I can do in my everyday life, and even though I will be probably living in Saskatchewan and won't be able to particularly participate in the exact ministries I did, I know there is a lot of similar things available where I live.
So as I said I spent my first week in East Van. We stayed at a church called New Beginnings with no shower (and you know what that means? no showers... for a week, haha). We worked through a ministry called Inner Hope Youth Ministries which is run by two wonderful ladies named Carla and Jenny. We also worked with Union Gospel Mission (UGM) a lot, worked with New Beginnings, and some of us worked with Vancouver Urban Ministries (VUM). We did things like run 20 min. chapels, do after-school programs, help with youth group, a lot of painting and even worked in a thrift store! Something also we did that I really enjoyed is we gave two kids room makeovers from a program run by Inner Hope. They were both girls, and I got to do the one for a girl named, Rebel. I really enjoyed just being able to bless her, and if I do say so myself, the end result of the room makeover looked pretty sharp. This week was probably one of the most challenging weeks I have ever had, which at some points really sucked but I am glad that I was able to experience it.
On sunday, after doing a UGM chapel service we got a tour of some of Eastside Vancouver, mostly focused on E Hastings Street. I was prepared when we got this tour to see poverty and hopelessness, but to be honest when I saw it I realized I wasn't. I couldn't keep a hardened heart and just brush off what I saw. The one thing that really struck me of how obvious it was. Countless homeless people filled the streets along with drug dealers and prostitutes. I always thought that these type of things would be hidden, done in alleyways or behind closed doors, but it wasn't. As I walked the streets my heart was completely broken, I just wanted to cry. During this tour though I did see hope too. It wasn't that people were trying to reach out to these people. We visited many shelters, drop-in centers, and soup kitchens. It just is overwhelming with even all of these places of how prominent this depravation is. 
On Wednesday I had hit a wall. I was drained physically, mentally, and emotionally. The people we worked with and just the schedule had taken everything out of me. I was a complete grouch for most of the day, and probably the most angry/miserable I had been in over a year or more. I felt bad for my team, but at least my grouchiness resulted in some very amusing stories. It is funny to laugh at now, but then... not so funny. Apparently at one point I looked like I could of killed someone, not by any outbursts though. When I am grouchy or angry I am usually just silent and "brooding" giving a mean glance once in awhile. Just thought you might be interested to know just in case you encounter this dark side of me, haha.
So the next week we went to Copper Island Camp which is located on Tzartus Island off the west coast of Vancouver Island. This week I absolutely loved, I don't think there was anything I didn't enjoy about it. With no cellphone service, no computers, a beautiful view, a generator for electricity and not being able to flush toilet paper down the toilet, it was simple living, and I loved it. For a major part of the week we did manual labor from chopping wood to moving timber to arranging nails to chopping wood to then stacking wood to racking the ground for rocks to shoveling to chopping wood and then stacking wood, did I mention we chopped and stacked a lot of wood? It was a lot of physical labor but it was really refreshing compared to the week before.
On wednesday they gave us the day off to 'learn', and boy did I ever! I learned about a dead log which is dangerous to boaters so if someone spots one you are supposed to stick in a bright orange stake into the part that is visible. We also checked and set up crab and prawn traps which were really cool. We also went into Bamfield, a cute little village that is either accessed by water or a logging road. Lastly, on wednesday we hiked up a small mountain to visit an abandoned 'copper' mine. This week we also hate a full crab (it was messy!), legit clam chowder soup (with prawn eggs in them), and we even saw whales! The Orcas made my week complete, they weren't that close but it was still so awesome.
I found that during this week that I realized how much God provides from the orcas to the sunny days to my strength. I thought I would be exhausted this week and would have a really sore back from lifting heavy things since I have sciolosis. I was never tired throughout the whole week and my back was barely sore, it was truly a God send. This week I had also decided to be completely relient on God for my strength, and it is incredible to see the results of that! Also, I don't think we would have gotten merely as much done as we did if it was rainy the whole time, but God blessed us with good weather till friday.
Lastly, something I would like to share of this week is on the last day me and a guy named Nolan, whose family is from the reserve in Ukie, got to talk a little bit while wood-stacking together. It wasn't anything crazy but he told me about his culture, his clan, and even his 'Indian name', which I forget... even though I think he told me several times. It was really cool to learn about his culture since I didn't know too much about it other than the resident schools.
So that barely scratches the surface but it was truly an incredible experience. I have most of my photos on facebook if you would like to look at them. I didn't take many pictures when we were working because we were too busy, and I didn't take pictures of us doing stuff in East Van because I wanted to be sensitive to the people we were working with. They aren't circus animals or something, I feel they deserve respect so that is basically the reason of the lack of pictures for that part.
I really loved my team, even if it was mostly composed of girls. At first I was leery of this because I am not a fan of big groups of girls but it was completely fine! I loved all the girls on the trip (and the guys too), we were for the most part not dramatic, even though we did bicker a lot like a family in a joking way. At least we did it with love! Also, I have found I hadn't bonded a lot with the girls in Kaleo, but this trip gave me a chance to know a few of these girls really well, and I love them to bits.
I have found that when I talk about my missions trip with the other teams it has been hard to relate since I didn't really get the cross-cultural experience like they did. This has been a downer for me since I love travelling afar and seeing new places. I do realize though that this was the trip I was meant to be on and all of us were doing God's work, which was what was important, not foreign places, languages, or even souvenirs.
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