My role within the house is changing as I take on more of the responsibility of managing it and discipling the women. I am grateful to have Elsie's guidance and mentoring in the process. She is supporting and encouraging me every step of the way, and also giving valuable feedback. Even when she points out my shortcomings, she does it in such a way that it doesn't feel like criticism, in fact, I feel blessed. I guess that's what it means to speak the truth in love.
We are continuing to go out in teams as we deliver the food to the food co-op members on Friday afternoons. I drove and blessed last Friday, and my first team were husband and wife missionaries-in-training who have come all the way from Korea to be eqipped for cross cultural service at Gateway in Langley(http://www.gatewaytraining.org/). Our delivery route was the skid row and China Town areas of downtown Vancouver. This couple from Korea were amazed and appalled at the poverty and depravity on Vancouver's streets as we drove through the old downtown core. There is nothing in Korea that prepared them for what they saw: dirty, aging, homeless men pushing shopping carts full of their meagre belongings along the sidewalks; women whose bodies are nothing but skin and bone because they are too caught up in drug addiction to care about food; drug addicte3d prostitutes in outlandish get-ups and garish make-up trying to look alluring to passersby; and young men and women sleeping on the streets covered up with blankets and sleeping bags. This couple was so outraged at what they saw that it caused me to realize just how hardened and desensitized our North American hearts have become towards the marginalized and "throw-away" citizens of our culture. Although they are there on the streets every single day for all to see, somehow they've become invisible to most of us. We don't want to see them; their problems seem too overwhelming for us and so we choose not to care. The Korean couple told me that in their country anyone who is caught with an elicit drug, even a marijuana joint, will serve a long jail sentence. They cannot understand how our government can let people drink and do drugs and sell them openly on the streets.
My second delivery run was a long one, and our "swamper" was Stanley, a mentally handicapped man who is one of our food co-op members. Elsie told him that his job was to carry the boxes, and so he valiantly carried every single box, even though some of them caused him to huff and puff - especially since we sometimes had to park a fair distance from some of the buildings we delivered to. Stanley opted out on the last delivery; he was too tired to carry one more box. It was a real blessing to have him along, and as we went into the buildings and greeted the various food co-op members, they were generally very happy to see Stanley and the rest of us. We didn't do any praying on this run, but we blessed a lot of people and got a praise report from one lady that I had prayed with on a previous run. God had come in and healed some of the grief she was experiencing after her sister's untimely death.
Connie is doing very well. Although going to school on a full-time basis is exhausting for her as she adjusts to her new schedule, she his hanging in there. She's learning to deal with disappointments and with the normal ups and downs of life without wanting to resort to addictive behaviour to comfort herself and zone out. I give praise and glory to God for all that He is doing in her life; a few short months ago she was among the ranks of those who are homeless and drug addicted in Abbotsford. Your continuing prayers for her are coveted. Please pray for Mun Hee, as well. She's our resident Korean missionary, and she is having a tough time lately.
Thanks for reading this and for praying for us may the Lord bless you abundantly!
Elsie and Jana, Connie and Mun Hee
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