I’m typing this last update from the airport in Buffalo, but I probably won’t be posting it until we are safely back at home. I wonder if anyone will read it now that we’re home. Hmmm…
Our trip ended well. Thursday evening was our free night. Everyone was ready for some good, American cooking so we ventured out to Johnny Rocket’s, a 50’s style diner – in the Times Square-esque area of Toronto. We brought our host Robin with us. The food wasn’t as good as I remember it being, but it was good to have a burger and fries after all the ethnic food we had been eating. And when ‘RESPECT’ buy Aretha Franklin played on the jukebox, all the waitresses – and Myles! – danced. Very fun!
After some Marble Slab ice cream, we dropped Robin off at the CTC station and we headed to the CN Tower, formerly the world’s tallest tower and the current holder of the highest observation deck in the world. It makes the Arch look puny. One part of the tower had a glass floor that we stood on that looked straight down over 1,100 feet in the air. I just looked up that the glass floor is only 2 ½" thick…and people were jumping on it!! Insane! When I pointed out that on one part of the observation deck there were windows that would be unlocked and pulled in to be cleaned, Sydney said that thinking about that “made her butt feel squinchy.” There was much laughing at that comment, as you can imagine. It was a very fun night that we had to blow off some steam.
Friday was our last day at ministry sites. In the morning we served at Booth Industries, a ministry of the Salvation Army. At this ministry, people with mental and developmental disabilities or illnesses are given employment to subsidize the government funds they receive. We served alongside these individuals doing such things as unpackaging and repackaging school paper, marking out bar codes on boxes of crackers, and making pallet dividers. Basically the work was really easy but it was a very inspiring thing to watch the employees find satisfaction and dignity from holding down an actual job. And we got to talk to and interact with many of them which was fun.
After lunch we had our last afternoon of tutoring. It was a bittersweet day. It was rewarding to be with our kids again, but it was sad when we were all done. I did like that we had this as an anchor site for the week because we really got to build relationships with the kids, but it just made Friday that much more difficult to say good-bye. My hope and prayer is not only that we were able to help our kids take one step forward in their education, but also that we moved them closer to meeting Jesus and following Him. I hope to run into Himanshu and Tej – David’s and my kids – again someday.
After a yummy Vietnamese dinner we had our final debrief. I think this week really made an impact in the lives of our students, as many of them expressed areas in their lives that they want to move closer to Jesus. I won’t go into details but know that they were all impacted in their own ways. My prayer for them is that this trip will be a significant mile marker in their lives of following hard after Jesus and that their lives will not be the same.
I am glad that our plans to go to Tijuana fell through because this Toronto trip was one of my top two favorite youth trips I have been on (the other being Chicago). Part of the positive feeling we all had about the trip was our host, Robin. She was outstanding and fit in well with our group. She was a lot of fun, seemed to enjoy our group, had a passion for her city and for helping the hurting, and knew what she was doing as far as her job was concerned. A host can make or break a trip, and she certainly helped make ours great!
On our way home, we had plenty of time to kill so we took in the Niagara Falls. WOW! What a site! It's amazing to see that kind of power. As we walked over a small bridge very close to the edge of the falls, I noticed how calm the river seemed. But then, just around the corner things changed as the water roared over the edge. God really knew what He was doing when He created that one!
In case you missed any pictures, you can see them on our Flickr site.
Thanks for praying for us last week! We certainly felt your prayers. Continue to pray for our students as they live out their commitments when they return home. Thanks for reading about our trip…
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