So the end of the year at Briercrest was really great...I ended up doing quite well in my classes and came out of the year with a GPA that I feel quite good about. My time in Saskatoon has already begun and the weather has proven to be very Saskatchewan-like making work outside 'interesting' to say the least. haha.
Pepsi has been good so far. I have been back for two weeks already and in most ways, it feels like I have not been gone at all. I only felt a little overwhelmed in the semi for about an hour that first Monday...now I'm cruisin around, taking corners and grabbin gears like days of old. haha I'm really excited to reconnect and chat with my old co-workers! In some ways they do seem like family.
As you may have read before, I am very optimistic for this year. 2010 is going to be amazing and I am looking forward to being available for God's use in whatever area He calls me to. So long story short, I felt that I was supposed to be a part of a group of people that just hung out in a park somewhere in Saskatoon with a guitar and a Bible and just trusted the Holy Spirit to arrange appointments with people and then possibly healing and teaching and following His call. I didn't want to go ahead with this until it was affirmed from someone else, and I had a few people in mind that I feel will be a part of this ministry. Unbenounced to me, James Q had been having a vision of that exact same thing with the singing and miracles and teaching and he was not sure who was supposed to hear about this, and since I was in it playing guitar, figured that it might mean something to me....so ya!! It obviously meant somethin to me and when we talked about it, we both got really excited and felt extremely humbled that we were being called in a fairly specific way to be used this summer. Keep thinkin about this ministry and what's happenin and feel free to ask me whenever you think about it.
So in church today, James wrote in the bulletin: "Do you want to go to the park today?" and I replied "Absolutely!" so after gettin the house even further cleaned this afternoon, me and James grabbed the guitar, our Bibles and a few Pepsi's to take for whomever we might encounter. (Never a bad idea-haha) So we drove down towards 20th-the lower income business district with many pawn-shops and missions and ended up stoppin at 'The Bridge' for my very first time. I know some people that are heavily involved there and we ended up stoppin in and crashed their afternoon service-Oops. LOL So after the end of the message and communion, we went and said hi to Steven and he called a couple of people together and they prayed for us and kind of sent us out. I know now that's the reason that we stopped at 'The Bridge'. Such a sweet time. Thanks! So we drove around for a bit and after stopping at one park in the meadowgreen area, we were about to set up and realized that the houses were nicer than mine and that there probably wouldn't be much foot traffic through the little park. We got back in the car, and drove down 20th back towards downtown and ended up goin down Ave J and there was a realllllly gorgeous park called Optimist Park and felt like it was a good place to chill, and that's what we did. Set up a blanket, and started to sing and laugh and read and pray. Just the two of us... haha There was a couple people that walked by and seemed to wonder why we were just chillin in shorts and hangin out on a day that wasn't warm by any stretch of the imagination. James read the first and last chapter of the Bible and it was really moving. Just realizing that God is truly the Alpha and Omega-Beginning and End. Three girls walked by and asked for some Pepsi that they saw in the crate sort of under their breath and I said, ya sure. Help yourselves. They laughed, came and grabbed some pop and kept on thru the park. Probably the most encouraging part was when we chatted with a couple of people that also couldn't resist the Pepsi offer. Patrick and Bridgett. He had loooong dark hair and played my guitar with precision. Such joy on their faces and seemed like really friendly people. We told them that we would be back soon and he seemed eager to come and jam with us. It was sweet. Then I saw some kids hangin around the water fountain by the playground so I went over and gave all four of them a can of Pepsi and they were really excited. I told them that we would be back soon and just might have more pop if they came and said hi to us. haha. It would be great to have some women out with us so we cannot be accused of anything-just to be safe.
Both James and I came away feeling so blessed, refreshed and encouraged. We think that this park will be an integral part of our summer and are very excited to start building relationships with the people who live in the area every Sunday. We are also thinking that we might go somewhere downtown on Saturdays. Please let me know your ideas, challenges, or encouragement. The body of Christ needs everyone to work together so if you can be a part of this in ANY way--from prayer to presence or presents (haha) I hope that you let either James or I know. A prayer team is necessary for this to move forward and we would love to know who is supporting us in fun adventure of obedience. Thanks for taking time to read this. Hopefully there will be many encouraging updates to come....
Love Daniel
