Toronto Mission Trip: Part 3

Today's blog entry is by guest blogger Hillary:

Quiet, lost, scared, and broke. We spent Tuesday night as homeless thirteen year olds on the streets of Toronto.  We were told a scenario plunge us into the mindset of an abused runaway. Our group was divided up amongst the CSM hosts. Each person in our group was given a toonie (Canadian two dollar coin) and a transit token to buy dinner and travel because in the story all of our money was stolen. We each had to answer five questions about eating for two dollars, sleeping arrangements, employment, entertainment, etc. This activity was similar to other mission trips. Believe me it is hard to eat for only two dollars. There are no dollar menus in Canada. I ended up eating at Mc Donald’s along with Kylie. That was probably the best cheeseburger of my life. By the end of the experience, many of us were coming to terms with the harsh options on the streets. Many in the group decided that they would turn themselves in and return to a group home. I decided that if the situation was bad enough I would give the streets a while longer. I came to the conclusion that I would probably steal a bike for transportation and entertainment. I would sleep in a park during the day and work for a drug dealer at night. It was an eye opening experience for all of us because we had to drop our morals for the night.

As we moved to Wednesday morning, things moved to a happier note. The group traveled to the St. Lawerence Market where we participated in a program called LIFE Skills. The program involved observing surroundings, praying, and finally living out our faith.  We divided into three groups and set off for our adventure. I was with Cori, Kim, and Kylie. We decided to stop in a local park. While we were there a VBS program was there playing in the fountain. The little kids were splish splashing around in the water and chasing the pigeons nonstop. By the way, pigeons in Canada are enormous. After seeing all the despair, the kids were very refreshing. We were able to pray for them and their families. We, then, moved back to the market. At the market, we held open doors for people as well as one of the other groups. Fitz’s group purchased poster board and markers. They made signs that said things like “Have a nice day” or “Jesus love you”. We got quite a few stares and some thank yous. I’d say we got people wondering.

In the afternoon, we all went to Somali Homework Club. By today, the kids were really starting to open up. At the home Sydney, Kara, and I went to, we got Disney Princess stickers. Can you say awesome? All of the kids have a deep passion for learning. They have even been able to teach us about certain things especially Canadian money.

For dinner, we went to a Somali restaurant. I believe that it is by far one of the best restaurants. Mom, my new favorite food is goat. At the restaurant, we tried watermelon juice and could only eat with our right hand. During dinner, Cori made the mistake of pouring salt in Fitz’s LeBron wound. That led to an NBA-style trade of the people in Fitz’s van. Barry wanted to trade David for me, but made the mistake of not waiting for Fitz to release me from my contract. After lots of banter, David and I switched vans and so did Myles. My reward for moving to Barry’s van was picking the radio station. We listened to hair bands all the way back to the church. Yay for Bon Jovi!

Cori says, “Hi, Mom and Dad.”