a little rest

Hi there.

I’m taking a break from planning just to let you know how life is going. Well, my life is my internship right now because it’s taking so much room right now. I’m in the middle of planning and I am just looking forward to be done with that I have a good overall picture of what I’ll be doing till Christmas comes around.

My internship started weird, then quickly got really good until I actually had to teach (well, it was thrown at me, I had little time to prep. for it). Getting input from my CT has been tough and humbling. Every time I plan something, my CT changes things around, even though I’m planning according to some ideas she gave me a few days before. It’s tough for me to adapt so quickly. It makes me feel inadequate. But I am blessed to have the CT I have. It’s good that she is shaping me in the correct way. My CT has been sick lately so I’m enjoying teaching stuff that doesn’t need to be part of the overall picture.

I ‘ve been taking the bus to Pointe-Claire. It takes about an hour to get there in the morning and about an hour to go back. The first few times though, that I used the bus, it took me from 1:30 to 2:00 to come back. Quite frustrating. But now I know how to get around.

Thank you for continuing praying for me. I need humility and wisdom.

Come On!

My title is “Come On!” because that’s what I’ve been telling myself all afternoon long. But not with the usual “C’mon you can do it!” tone, instead it’s more like a “Can’t be true!” tone.

I noticed that my cooperating teacher (the primary school teacher I’m doing my internship with) seemed to freely talk about Christians and the Bible with people around her. She didn’t speak about it in a negative way at all, but there was nothing that could show me she was more than an average Bible-knower person who liked talking about these things. On top of that, she talked about studying John with a little group of people.

I was rather intrigued and hoped she was a sister in the Lord Jesus Christ. I’m still not sure about it, but we talked about these things over lunch for a big hour! It started out when she said she didn’t eat sandwiches, but loved thick slices of bread. I told her about the bread we made at Bethany, then Mennonite food, then… she wondered what kind of people Mennonites were and etc. I was the first Francophone Baptist girl she had ever met.

Our conversations went from denominations to going to church, religions, the meaning of Christian, seeking the Truth, the meaning of what following Christ meant, what hell is, the Kingdom of God… She even talked to me about C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity! I was quite impressed!

I don’t know if she is truly saved, I’m hoping to have more conversations with her and see what she really believes. You can pray about that!

I think that’s really amazing that God allowed me to get this cooperating teacher. It is encouraging to have such conversations!

Done away with

I felt quite good about my trip to my job tonight. I never work on Wednesdays (actually I’m down to one day a week because of my internship) but I paid them a visit.

Saturday November 24, 2007 will be my last day at VV. And I rejoice. It’s been a long long while I’m thinking of quiting. And especially these days as I am busy with my internship. I was just tired of giving all my Saturdays to my job, tired of the threats when I asked to cut down my hours, tired to be treated as a kid, tired to have just enough time for school, tired of the people who dislike their job there.

I’ll be looking for something better in 2008. I’m taking a break from working and will be concentrating on university and internship stuff, then I’ll fly to BC… and 2008 will be there.

Gabrielle can pray!

Last Friday I had a full day. Spent the morning in Pointe-Claire teaching, then went downtown at university for an internship meeting and then spent the evening at church for youth group.

What is funny is that our university supervisor started the meeting by saying something like, “Praise the Lord, you all got here safe”. I don’t know why but he likes saying stuff like, “Halleluiah!” instead of “Great”, he’s having a good time making fun of these expressions. Then e said something about prayer and that we should pray and thank God because we were all there. So a guy said, “Well, Gabrielle can pray! That, she can do!” the rest of the class laughed and the supervisor had no clue what was going on.

People didn’t laugh at me, they just know I’m “religious” as they say, so it was more like an inside joke for them. I really would have prayed if they would have asked me, well if they would have been serious. It’s strange but many times at university, I thought that the teacher was going to say “Let’s pray” at the beginning or end of a class, until I woke up and realized this was not a Bible college. Why? I am too used to church and Bible colleges meetings maybe.

Anyways, I keep praying for university people.

First Meeting

We had our first official youth night tonight. We (two people from two evangelical churches in our area) invited the young people from our churches and friends who have no youth, to join together and create a youth. We were 12 people (minus 4 leaders and a young couple who gave the Bible study), so I was quite happy with the number of people that came.

We are wanting to do something every other week, so twice a month. Once a month we’d have a meeting at church and one a month we’d have some sort of activity outside or whatnot together. I’m praying that it’ll create bonds among the young people of our churches and help them be true worshipers of God in Jesus Christ.

===

Internship is going well. I love my cooperating teacher. There are a lot of challenges ahead and I wonder where I will find the time to get everything done… but I am planning on being honest with my CT and myself and do my best, trusting God for the right ideas and etc. Yes, pray for me. I’m in this internship until Christmas… when I’ll fly to BC! Pray for my cooperating teacher!

===

We had a meeting this afternoon at university just to talk about how this first week went. I don’t remember why but our supervisor started the meeting by saying something about thanking God in prayer because we were all there safe (he was obviously saying it lightly). So then a guy said, “Gabrielle can pray!” and the class laughed (not in a negative way, but just taking it lightly). I’m happy that people say things like that about me and I hope it’ll be more and more, it is such a great opportunity because I’m spending 4 years of my life with them.

End of the story

Again, for those wondering about my internship, this is the latest news:

They finally got something for me and called me on Monday late in the afternoon (so this means I spent my firs day of internship in my pj’s at home). The bus system doesn’t seem to be working so well for me, in the afternoon anyways, so my roommate is graciously lending me her car. I hope I can find some kind of ways so I don’t need to drive and spend money for gas when I’ve got my monthly metro-bus pass.

I went to Pointe-Claire for my first day of internship on Tuesday onl to find my CT (cooperating teacher) totally unaware that I was coming. She hadn’t even agreed to take a intern along, there had been some bad communication between university and school board and etc. So I spent the morning sitting in the back of her classroom, feeling a bit bad even though I knew it wasn’t my fault at all. We then spent recess together talking about it all and by the end of the day she told me she had a good feeling about it even though it was not planned.

I am seriously blessed to have this CT. She’s got many years of experience and has had over 34 interns. She’s giving me all kinds of stuff for me to use later on and lending me books and etc. I think we’ll become good friends. Everybody in the school make me feel right at home and they joke with me already.

You can pray that I will be a light there. I’ll be spending all week days there apart for Wednesdays up to December 21. Pray that I can find another means of transportation, driving is quicker and simpler, but still. Thanks.

Teacher

It seems that there is always something that calls me back to praying for a certain teacher. You remember that I often wrote about a university teacher last year and how the teacher seemed to use a lot of Christian words and expressions but the teacher’s way of speaking about God-believers always frustrated me? (PS: it is hard to make up sentences without using he or she).

Well I was looking through a book the teacher wrote and gave us as something we had to read during this semester. Each chapter had a small quote by its title and the last chapter’s quote got my attention.

“Seeing many thing, but thou observest not.” Isaiah 40:20

The verse went quite well with the title of the chapter. I had a hard time actually believing that I was reading a Bible verse there, so I looked it up in my Bible, only to find out that Isaiah 40:20 was:

“A man too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple.”

Finally I realized that my teacher’s quote was from Isaiah 42:20. I felt like I should let the teacher know about it, even though the vast majority of people probably hadn’t noticed a thing. So I sent the teacher an email. I pray that this will open up in a conversation about the Bible, who knows.

 

Yes, again there is something that keeps me praying about this teacher. Oh and by the way, I should be in a school somewhere, but I still have no news from the internship man and I can’t get a hold of him. I don’t worry, this is frustrating that’s all.

 

Frustrating? Oh no!

For those of you who have been wondering about my internship and if they’ve found a spot for me in a school, well, here’s my story.

Beginning of October: Talk with the internship guy, conclusion: We’ll see what could work.

Mid October: Talk with the internship guy, conclusion: It’s tough to find anything, we’ll see.

A week before internship starts: Talk with the internship guy, conclusion: There are about two options… We’ll see what happens.

Last “open day” before internship starts: Get a phone call from the internship guy telling me there is a possibility at Pointe-Claire. The school should be phoning me in the afternoon. Nothing happens by 5pm. I call the guy to let him know. His plan: He’ll call the school and etc. on Monday morning and then he’ll phone me to tell me if I can go or not.

So that’s my story. I still have no official internship, although I am pretty sure I’ll be heading for Pointe-Claire on Monday.

People think I should worry and be stressed out. But I’m not. I’m not sure why, but I’m actually happy it’s working out that way. No, I don’t make much sense.

Disturbing

The small organic, vegetarian restaurant where we meet for Bible study with university Christians is quite an interesting place. It’s like a medium-size house with several large rooms where second-hand couches, chairs and tables are found. The music played is always changing, going from Elvis to some Indian melodies and the art displayed on the walls is always changing, this week there are photographs taken from other countries, sometimes they have paintings to sell and other strange stuff. So my two friends and I sat at a table with our organic root beer and fresh orange juice to read and think about a passage in James.

When we were towards the end of our study, a girl came from behind and seemed quite disturbed. She spoke with difficulty as if she had trouble putting her thoughts together. With an anger or rage I can’t really described, she looked at us in the eyes and throwing my friend’s belongings in the air, she said something like, “I hate people …. I hate people who…” and then she stopped, looking as if she was going to cry. I seriously thought that she had been listening to our conversations on faith and works according to James just behind the wall and did not agree with our beliefs. That was not the case. One of us started asking her questions, because we couldn’t figure out what she really meant. I won’t tell you everything she said because she contradicted herself and so did not make sense at all. She was loud and at one point she even insulted my friend. At other times though, she was quiet and reserved. We were “discussing” on love and we asked her if she had any friends or family, but she said she hated everyone, even her and then said the opposite later on. We invited her to sit with us, but she refused at first because she said we wouldn’t want to be her friend, we asked her why, but she wouldn’t answer, later on she asked us if we’d be her friend and for sure we said yes. I can’t remember when, but she sat down at one point. My friend noticed she needed to blow her nose and so gave her a tissue. Finally one of us asked her if she was on drugs, what she had taken. The girl stood up and left, throwing her used tissue at my friend and left.

Quite disturbing. But oh, so sad. Obviously she was on drugs and our conversations were leading nowhere, no matter the love and care that we showed her. I don’t know why this happened. We prayed for her but, what else could we have done.

It was interesting to listen to her even though she did not make sense. Her words seemed to me to be coming from her heart and she was overwhelmed with anger, bitterness and guilt that was inside of her. Satan holds people captive. Let us pray.

#109 dans Sur les Ailles de la Foi.

I was at a prayer meeting last Wednesday and it was held in a church nearby. Once a month the two small evangelical churches that are on the same street in Verdun do a prayer meeting together. So I was sitting there and noticed that they used a different type of hymn book. In French we have the “Célébrons Dieu” (Praise/Celebrate? God) that is probably considered the equal of the English Hymnal or Hymn Book and there is one that is even older than the Célébrons Dieu, it is called, “Sur les Ailles de la Foi” (On the Wings of Faith). I opened the Sur les Ailles de la Foi that was in front of me and started to skim and scan the pages. Some songs were written in the 1500s! I love old prayers and songs, they often are more profound then today’s songs (often, not all the time…).

So yesterday I got a birthday present from my roommates. Guess what I got? A Sur les Ailles de la Foi! I found a song that sounded familiar (well, the words) and figure out that there was a French version of the “Wonderful Cross”! I have found the words quite good in French, especially the third verse, here’s the literal French to English translation:

Have we ever seen a love so great, (Vit-on jamais un amour si grand)

unite to hurt so extreme (s’unir à douleur plus extrême)

And the thorn, on the brow of a dying, (Et l’épine, au front d’un mourant)

shine like a diadem? (Resplendir comme un diadème?)

The English says pretty much the same thing (See from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingle down, did ever such love and sorrow meet or thorns compose so rich a crown) but it feels as if it sounds worse and then outrageously glorious to me in the light of the comparison that’s done in French because of the word “mourant” (dying) that is not there in the English, and then the words thorns shining like a diadem. The English conveys the same wonder and glory, but it just hit me even more in an old, French version.