The Pastor's Perspective

This final post will be divided into 3 sections. First will be today’s events. Second will be special thanks to all who helped, and third will be my thoughts on the week. Today was once again a travel day. After saying goodbye to the Websters, we headed towards Burlington, VT. We did schedule a few detours along the way. The first was a final stop at Tim Horton’s for their fantastic doughnuts, heavenly Timbits, and dreadful coffee. We then proceeded to the US Border with a couple of bathroom stops on the way. The border crossing was very smooth. We did ensure that all our passports were stamped for posterities sake. After an unsuccessful attempt to find and drive to New York State (who knew New York was so hard to find), we dropped off the cars and are now sitting in the airport awaiting our flight.

We would like to take a moment to thank all those who helped make this trip a good one. Thank you to Pastor Jim and the Pastoral staff for their permission and support, the deacons and the stew/fi for helping fund the trip, the parents for allowing their children to go on the trip, those who gave towards the trip, and the Websters and their church who we will mention in a moment. Your help had a lasting impact on these young people.

Going into this trip we had several goals that we wanted to see accomplished. Obviously we went to work, so our hope was that we would be a blessing to the Websters through that work. These kids worked very hard all week. Without complaint they did everything that was asked of them and more. The work they did was superb. We also hoped that they would see a few things in Canada that would spur their hearts towards missions. Seeing this accomplished greatly depended on the Websters and the people of their church. We found in the Websters a kindred spirit. Their compassion and love for people was as evident as their heart for God. They continually sacrificed their time throughout the week to take us throughout the region around Quebec City to show us both the needs and the culture of Quebec City. Through the Basilica and Old Quebec City we were exposed to a great need in the province for a Gospel influence. The Chute De Montmorency and Isle D’ Orleans showed us the splendor of God in creation. We continually challenged that that no matter what God calls them to, they have a responsibility to be involved in the great commission. Another desire was for the young people to see that Christian love overcomes cultural and language barriers. For this the people of the Websters church were vital. Benoit, Jeremy, Pierre, Mimi, Celine, Carol, and many other showed that even though we do not speak the same language we are brothers and sisters in Christ. There was a bond that nothing else can explain. My heart was full when Caleb commented on this fact Friday night. All week we have been focusing on a concept borrowed from John Piper for our devotions time: Don’t waste your life. This morning we challenged them with the concept, don’t waste your trip. If all they get out of this trip is a good time and a trip out of the country then the trip was a waste. However, if they keep in their hearts the lessons learned through this trip and fan the flame towards a greater heart for missions then the trip was far from a waste. It is to this end that we pray and asked that you would pray with us.

Pastor Dave and Heather

Au revoir!

well today we wrapped up all the projects that we have been doing this week. us girls went shopping with Mrs. Locke and Mrs. Webster doing last minute souvenir shopping and ended up bringing back two dozen krispy kreme donuts! we enjoyed a farewell dinner of Canadian pizza with a slideshow of the northern lights, and a testimony time, and singing a few songs both in french and english. it was the last time to see Pierre and Mimi so we took pictures with them and said goodbye and then were on our way to cirque du soleil. we did not have the best spots standing to see but we all had an amazing time! the best part was the trampoline people who jumped off of walls and did flips in the air landing on the wall. after that we all came back and enjoyed a round of apples to apples with Catherine and Lauren joining us.

these canadians are going to bed!
Lynnae and Allie

Quebec, The Old City

we left the church this morning at 9:00. We went to old Quebec and it was really cool.We watched a presentation on the history of Quebec before we went around in the city. Old Quebec is the only city in North America that is surrounded by a wall.We got to pose with Canadian guard; it was so cool. we also went around to different shops in old Quebec. One of which was a really cool gelato shop it was delicious. we also went to their Parliament building. We also tried beaver tail,a kind of pastry. We got to walk on the wall,which was really cool. We had dinner at a French restaurant and I had a crepe and i liked it a lot.

Matt Levin

Old Quebec is one of the coolest cities I have ever been in (aside from Denver.) One of the highlights of today was walking on the wall around Old Quebec City about 30 feet in the air. Today I finally understood why Quebec was such a strategic city to control the Saint Lawrence River. Another highlight was the food. I tried beaver tail, escargot, and crepe. They were all really good. The most exciting part of my day was buying a Quebec Nordiques t-shirt.

Jared Levin

Mecredi!

Today we began our day at nine o'clock like usual, today's forecast called for slight showers and cloudy skies. Unlike the other two days our day consist of sight seeing. The Basilica was our first stop on our days journey. The experience was very eye opening to us all. St. Anne, who was created by the Catholic Church, is supposedly Mary's mother, and in the basilica they had a piece of her arm. Unfortunately we did not see any nuns, but we did see this lady who was becoming a nun (we think). After the lovely basilica we went to the de la chute montmorency falls (google it). Before we took our gondola ride we ate our appetizing lunch of sandwiches, chips, apples, and carrots. While entering the park, we had to pay for parking and the french lady asked Pastor Webster if we wanted to pay extra for the gondola ride and he told her no, but when Pastor Dave drove through he asked if the car before him had paid for gondola rides ( the car before him was Pastor Webster's car) and the lady told him yes. So half of the group had tickets and the other half did not, but we ended up buying everyone a ticket so that nobody had to climb the treacherous stairs up the mountain. After we had taken all our pictures jared, caleb, matt, and lynnae took the stairs down while the rest of us made the wise choice of taking the gondola ride back. Everybody was extremely tired when we got back home so everybody took naps. Billy made meatloaf and meatballs for dinner with green and yellow beans and potatoes. Dinner was very delicious and everybody ate so much that we were all full.After dinner we rushed to get ready for church. Church was very nice; we met many new church members that we did not meet Sunday. We enjoyed fellow-shipping with the english speaking members of the church. Celine and Lauren took us to a very entertaining light and sound show in Quebec City. It was quite informative on the history of Quebec. Then we went home had some doughnut holes and went to bed. sleeping bill on the couch said the blueberry, puffy honey ones were really good.

Pictures will be posted on Pastor Locke's facebook Page :D

Reporting from live from Quebec
Maegan and Ashly

More Work and Stuff

Ok this is Caleb posting now haha. Today we met up for breakfast at nine (that's our meet up for breakfast time.) We had bagels and coffee. Jared, Megan, and Ashly all worked on painting a room that's used for Sunday school. They started painting with a BRIGHT yellow, and Mrs.Webster decided it was way too overwhelming, so they had to mix in half a can of white paint just to get it to the right type of color. In the meantime I helped Allison, Matt, and Pastor Dave peel paint off of a wall in another room. A group that was here before us painted the room but didn't use primer! Or at least didn't let the primer dry, we still dunno. After a while of doing that I went to Costco and Maxi(a quebec grocery store) with Lynnae, Mrs.Locke, and Mrs. Webster. Costco was a zoo and our bags of milk started leaking everywhere. I got to try a bunch of European types of cheese like Gouda fumé (smoked gouda). It was delliiiiiicous. When I got back I helped do some more paint scraping and we finished up in that room. In other words its extremely interesting to me to be surrounded by a culture that uses French completely. I've never been anywhere where English isn't the primary language. Mrs. Webster also told me and a few others about how translating french and English is so hard, and lots of interesting things about french and how it relates to English, etc. Now its the end of the day and I probably shouldn't be writing this because of how extremely tired I am.. Ok now here's Bill

Because of the rain we spent most of the day inside. We scraped and painted and the guys helped the Websters move some furniture in their house. In the evening we had a singspiration and then some watched a movie (Princess Bride). I made a wicked awesome meatloaf for supper tomorrow...hope it turns out. Highlights of my day: dropping paint chips into Alli's hair, passion fruit SWEET TEA for supper, and singing with other believers about our awesome God. - Bill

Off to Work We Go

We started our day at nine o' clock. Mr. Webster showed us his ministry video and then we soon started getting to work. Some of us started painting one of the Sunday school rooms, others were painting a stairway outside, Caleb mowed the lawn, and a few others stripped down a door and sanded it. we were working on the door, when stripping the paint we had to use acid so that the paint would easily come off. we learned quickly that if the acid fell on our skin or even on our glove it would result in us getting burned. We all gave our american cash to Bill and we got our Canadian cash in return! We were all intrigued at how clean it was compared to american cash. after work we all walked to the Canadian Walgreen (a pharmacy) down the street where we were able to use it for the first time buying candy. when we got back there was a rain storm, so not being able to go outside we decided to play hide-and-go-seek all over the church- hiding in all the nooks and crannys. for dinner we had hot dogs that was a lot like american hot dogs except for the buns. I have no idea how to describe them. We also got to all pitch in and make potato salad. After the day was pretty much done we all went into the livingroom and played some fun games.

Allie and Lynnae

Pictures

Pictures of the trip can be viewed on Pastor Dave and Heather's facebook page.

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

We started the Sunday morning service at 9:30. It was really cool to see Pastor Webster translate for Pastor Locke. When we would sing it was hard to follow but it was very cool. After the service we had Sunday school it was cool to see Pastor Webster to preach in French. Then we had an afternoon service at 2:00. We had really good ice cream twice today it was delicious. we also went around an island which was a lot of fun. we stopped at a beach, an old church, and a tall tower that we could see very far.

The Sunday services were a unique experience for us. Hearing French all around was a little intimidating at first, but once we said hi in French, the the people who were comfortable speaking in English would do so for us. We were able to visit a large island that had a unique view of the city and the St. Lawrence River. We had fun searching for seashells and clams. We had a little trouble at one of the ice cream places because they were having trouble swiping our cards so we had to use American cash. We found out also that the people will follow the Avalanche (Pastor Webster thought it would have been cool for us to have brought Avalanche gear.) We look forward to seeing what projects the Websters will have us do tomorrow.

Jared and Matt Levin

CANADA!

Today we started our day at a more reasonable time 10 a.m. We began with a lovely breakfast of squishy doughnuts and bananas. We had a scenic route through Vermont for like 30 minutes til we crossed over (oOOoooOOO). The border crossing went very smoothly, with no problems. We were indeed crazy tourists flashing our cameras at everything we saw. Unfortunately our first meal in Canada was Subway in Montreal thanks to Billy, real authentic right! But we did experience some difficulties ordering with the French speaking employees. After lunch we drove another couple of hours till we reached our final destination Quebec City! The Websters met us at the church, with dinner awaiting. Dinner was indeed authentic; it was Poutine (french fries with gravy and squeaky cheese, gouda to be specific =]). After dinner we met some church members Pierre and MiMi, Pierre was quite a character; we enjoyed talking with him. We practiced our songs and they sat and laughed at us because we were singing about codfish instead of Christ dying for us, so we now know the pronunciation. Post haste we transitioned into a lively game of soccer in the field right across the street from the church. Our team won! We've had a great day and are ready for a nice night of sleep.

Signing out,
Ashly and Maegan

Adventures in the Air

Today we took an early start to our missions trip to Quebec! We woke up at around 3:15 and got to the airport at around... Hm... I don't know, all the flights times and time differences eventually turned into a blur sometime in the middle of the day. This was actually my first time traveling by airplane and it was great to fly over downtown Chicago and two of the Great Lakes! Nonetheless, we arrived safely in Vermont this evening, had some delicious greek food for dinner, and now we're all more than ready to go to bed. Tomorrow we'll head north through the border and arrive to our destination all in good time. I look forward to seeing what the rest of this week holds!

Flying into Vermont, the "mountains" were covered in a thick, green blanket of trees. The Lord definitely gave us traveling mercies today and we were able to see some cool sights from the air, including Niagara Falls. Our flight to Vermont was pushed back due to bad weather...but not that bad...only about 3 hours :) Highlights of the day for me: McDonalds sweet tea at the airport, jumping on the bed at the hotel, and the pool with the cool water slide. Can't wait to see what tomorrow holds!

Caleb and Bill

Preparing for Departure

It is hard to believe that one week from today (July 22nd) we will be departing for Quebec. The anticipation for the trip is increasing with every day. The purpose of this blog is to keep you all updated while we are on the trip. Each day one of the young people will post a report of the day which will hopefully include their own memories, stories, and lessons learned. As we prepare for the trip you can pray for us in a few areas.

1. Health and safety throughout the trip.
We are flying to Burlington, VT and then driving up to Quebec City
2. Smooth passage across the border
Traveling with 6 minors poses some extra challenges
3. That we would be an encouragement to the Websters and their church
4. A greater burden for global missions in the heart of the missions team

Thank you for your prayers! Come back each day starting the 22nd to see how God is working on the trip.

Pastor Dave